If Only It Were That Easy
Funny cartoon, but only so if we can let go of the fact that the hats don’t cause the ignorance; it’s the ignorance that causes the hats.
Tagged with: MAGA hats
The Battle for Our Children’s Health
It’s good to know that the medical community is putting up a fight against the anti-science crackpots in the Trump administration.
Tagged with: nti-science crackpots in the Trump administration
What’s Going on Here?
The gorgeous meme at left poses an interesting question: Are things getting worse, or simply more overt?
Well, let’s compare today’s world with the one we lived in 50 years ago.
In 1975, with Gerald Ford at the helm, how much of the following were part of our lives?
• Corporate criminality
• Lawlessness in the office of the POTUS
• A president who uses the justice system to attack journalists critical of him.
• Rejection of basic science in our policymaking
• Overt destruction of the U.S. educational system
• The tearing apart of relationships with American allies
For my money, things actually are getting worse.
Tagged with: Rejection of basic science
EPA Proposes to Remove Itself from the Climate Change Mitigation Business
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (@epagov) released a proposal that would gut the 2009 Endangerment Finding and undermine the foundational scientific finding that global warming pollution endangers public health and the environment. At the same time, it’s repealing strong car and truck pollution limits and threatening other vital standards.
At left are the words of the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists; to say that they’re “concerned” is putting it nicely.
Tagged with: climate change mitigation
Why Discuss Political Philosophy?
Re: the opinion expressed at left, I’m not naive enough to think that I’m changing the political philosophy of any significant number of my friends who happen to be Trumpers with my blog and other writings.
That said, I find it important to communicate my beliefs, regardless of the effect they may have on others.
Tagged with: political philosophy
“Pure” Opportunity Here
Here’s a call for investors to pump money into a Michigan-based start-up that claims it will produce small commuter aircraft with drone-like rotors.
Oh. Well, I guess if it’s “pure” opportunity, it must be pretty special. I’d pass if it were just some sort of adulterated opportunity.
Tagged with: small commuter aircraft with drone-like rotors
Australia’s Solar Train
Let’s do some math and physics associated with the claim made here. The typical passenger train requires about 5 megawatts. If the average efficiency of solar PV is 25%, and its capacity factor is also 25%, and the solar irradiance is 1000 Watts/square meter, we need:
x square meters * 1000 Watts/square meter * 0.25 * 0.25 * 10 square feet / square meter * 1 acre / 43000 square feet / acre = 5,000,000 Watts.
That means we need about 20 acres of train roof to get that done. If the train is 20 feet wide, it needs to be almost a mile long. Does that describe the typical passenger train?
Tagged with: solar train
America CAN Make Progress
The quote at left comes from former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. While I don’t disagree, it would be possible to bifurcate this into separate pieces.
Piece #1: Get rid of Trump, and to whatever degree possible, everything he represents: lawlessness, authoritarianism, racism, the rejection of science, and the destruction of education. Until this happens, the United States is going nowhere but backwards into savagery.
Piece #2: Take the steps necessary to get corruption out of politics, beginning by overturning the SCOTUS decision “Citizens United.”
Is College a Good “Investment”?
We need to start by defining the word “investment.” In the strict sense of dollars in versus dollars out, the subject can be debated; there are plenty of wealthy people who made their money without degrees.
On the other hand, as we all know, there are many elements of a successful and rewarding life that have nothing to do with money, and many of them are enhanced via higher education.
Take involvement in political philosophy as an example. Very few 2GreenEnergy readers are Trump supporters, but think for a moment how happy you would be with yourself if you thought Trump to be an honest and effective servant of the American people, and that our country and our planet are better places because of his involvement.
How proud of yourself would you be if you believed that most scientists are corrupt, and know no more about their subjects than the average baseball coach or pastry chef?
Making an investment in one’s ability to distinguish truth from bulls*** is a good thing, IMO.
There’s a Good Reason that Trump “Loves the Uneducated”
A college education isn’t required to see that Trump is a sociopathic con man, but it helps.
