Lies About Sustainabiliy
This sounds good in principle, but is there any honesty here?
What are the processes by which these avocado pits are gathered and made into cutlery? How does that compare to plastic itself?
Tagged with: Lies About Sustainabiliy
To Speak or Not to Speak
What American writer Sophia Dembling says here is correct, but in many cases there are also risks to speaking up.
As long as we have this level of polarization in American politics, I’m reluctant to start (or join) a conversation that will either be tantamount to preaching to the choir, or to become the galactic waste of time that is arguing with Trump supporters and their familiarity with the content coming from Fox News.
Having said that, I had an interesting experience at a party a few months ago, where I must have been silent for a while early in the evening. A guy I had never met approached me later and said, “Until you started talking, I thought you were unintelligent.” It seems true that people read whatever they will into others’ silence.
Tagged with: arguing with Trump supporters
Our Specialty: Destruction
The realization we all need to have concerning the meme at left is that human health is only one category of things that the current administration is in the process of wrecking.
Put alternatively, if it can be destroyed, it will be destroyed, and that’s true regardless of the topic: democracy, rule of law, relationships with military allies, women’s rights, the federal government, international trade, education, environmental responsibility, or any appearance of sanity.
All. Gone.
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico: Why?
One thing Trump supporters adore about their hero is his fierce independence, his lack of concern for what others may think about him.
In the case of the Gulf of America issue, there must be people on his team urging him to “knock off this petty s***,” or words to that effect, and concentrate on matters that got him elected in the first place: mass deportations, lowering grocery prices, environmental deregulation, etc.
But again, the fact that he looks like a jackass to people all around the globe means absolutely nothing to him.
Tagged with: Renaming the Gulf of Mexico: Why?
Why “Drill, Baby, Drill” Isn’t Taking Us Anywhere
In his latest article in Forbes, energy analyst Robert Rapier explains why “Drill, Baby, Drill” is unlikely to have a substantial impact on oil production. “There’s a total disconnect between Trump’s desire to lower gasoline prices and any incentive for producers to drill more,” he writes.
Rapier goes on to quote Liam Mallon, President of ExxonMobil’s Upstream division, who recently reinforced this sentiment, stating:
“A radical change in production is unlikely because the vast majority, if not everybody, is primarily focused on the economics of what they’re doing.” Mallon’s perspective reflects a broader industry trend—oil producers remain focused on financial sustainability rather than short-term production boosts.
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We need to ask ourselves which seems more likely: Big Oil’s knee-jerk reaction to Trump’s political rhetoric, or their approaching the matter rationally, opting to do everything possible to remain profitable.
Tagged with: drill baby drill
Alien Civilizations
How will alien intelligences regard humankind, when and if we finally meet? It comes down to the criteria they impose.
Let’s hope it’s not kindness. Many of the planet’s formerly great societies, including our own, have taken a turn for the worse, in just the past few years.
In 2010, the democracy in Hungary was regarded as among the very strongest on the planet, certainly the most robust in Central and Eastern Europe. Now, a scant 15 years later, under Viktor Orbán, the country has sunk into dictatorship.
It’s almost certain that the United States is headed in the same direction. The document outlining Project 2025 and the course that Orbán took his country through are practically identical.
At some point in our lives, most of us have been drunk and said to ourselves, “God, I hope no one sees me like this.” That’s the state of the world right now. Let’s hope the aliens don’t see us like this.
Tagged with: Alien Civilizations
What Is “Woke?”
At left are the words of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the original television series “Star Trek.”
The concept that differences in ideas and cultures are something to be regarded as a “delight” is the very soul of “woke.”
Encouraging diversity and inclusion. Wow. “He was before his time,” as they say.
Tagged with: What Is "Woke?"
Elon Musk’s Kid???
You don’t have to be a great communicator like Winston Churchill or Ronald Reagan to know that deliberately distracting your audience when you’re trying to make serious points is a bad idea. That’s what made the decision to have a little kid, capable of doing or saying anything at any time, milling around when his dad was speaking.
Musk wants to assure the American public that his actions are honest, legal, and helpful? And he comes out juggling flaming torches?
And yes, Trump was clearly pissed about what was happening here.
Blaming Your Opponents for Your Own Sins and Errors
“White House says judges balking at Trump’s actions are provoking a ‘constitutional crisis.'”That’s rich, but it really is the single most common tactic that Team Trump uses as it attempts to undermine our democracy and put an end to rule of law.
Who’s actually causing the constitutional crisis: the people ignoring the law, or the judges who are desperately trying to keep it in place?
Ignoring Reality
What Aldous Huxley said here is absolutely true, and it applies so broadly across human society.
Most obviously, we have environmental collapse in general and climate change in particular. The longer we delay our efforts to decarbonize our energy and transportation sectors, the higher the price we will ultimately pay.
Unfortunately, most Americans aren’t really on board here, otherwise a plurality of voters wouldn’t have elected a president who immediately withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, abandoning the world in this existential struggle for survival.
