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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

….. “what this economy is going through?”

Like most other seniors in the U.S., my portfolio is going through the roof.  Now, this guy is Canadian, a country with different economical conditions than our own.  If I were advising  a client called “U.S. Money Reserve,” I would suggest choosing a quote from an American, rather that a Canadian, a Brazilian, a Korean, or a Spaniard.

But in any case, gold?

A few years ago, I heard a wealthy friend tell someone, “I’ve never known anyone who made money in precious metals.”  He then immediately corrected himself as follows:  “I’ve never known any smart person who made any real money in precious metals.”  He made that correction because, there are always a few lucky idiots who buy gold at a certain price and sell it a few months later at a higher price.

There are also a few people every month who go from poverty to extreme wealth by “investing” in lottery tickets.  They didn’t make a smart move, but a small fraction of them do make it happen.  Walk into any liquor store, and you’ll meet people who believe that they are the one who’s going to beat the odds today. Very few of them do, but they doesn’t deter them in their thinking.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
As a reader noted on the photo she sent here: “I laugh at the stupidity, but I weep for my country.”
I’m with you.  We’re not in a good place.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

A couple of things look a bit strange about this piece, supposedly from CBS News on the three-wheeled EV for which the company has been raising capital from investors since 2025 without a single car ever to see the road:

The name of the company and its car, Aptera, is consistently misspelled and mispronounced “Uptera.”  Does that sound like a mistake that CBS and its gaggle of editors, proofreaders, and fact-checkers would be likely to make?

I’d also like to know why we’re still, after close to 20 years, interested in a manifestly unsafe vehicle with a range of 40 miles (if the sun’s shining).  Does that sound like something that American drivers want?

Another thing about American drivers: they don’t want to look like freakish morons.  Does the design shown above seem like something that someone (anyone) would like to be seen piloting around town?

If the investors who kicked in their dough in the year in which GW Bush beat back John Kerry to go into his second term had made a single dime, or could be honestly predicted do so at anytime in the future, this whole enterprise might have a bit of credibility.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Philosophers have posited that there are aspects to our lives and the universe around us that are unknowable, e.g., the immortality of the soul and the existence of God.   That seems to apply to the meme here.

Stuff like this can be addressed from a scientific perspective as well.  Stephen Hawking strove to understand why the universe exists in a certain state–and why it exists at all.  But he never got there, and so, speaking strictly for myself, I will content myself with the conclusion that there is no answer here.

Note that this doesn’t mean that our lives are meaningless.  We are free to (some would say “forced to”) convey any purpose and meaning we can conceive.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It’s possible that American democracy will not survive (at least) four more years of Trump, given  the way he is consolidating power around him.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Americans need to face the truth about the 2024 election: half of us voted for a man with zero integrity, whose only loyalty is to himself.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

The removal of dams is a good thing environmentally, but only if there is a low-carbon way to offset the loss of that clean energy onto the grid.

There is a feature-length documentary on this subject called “Dam Nation” that doesn’t mention the grid once.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Let me first point out that there is no such rule prohibiting ending a sentence with a preposition.  Anyone who asks, “For what are you looking?” as opposed to “What are you looking for?” is a fool.

Now, to the matter at hand, when I was a little boy, my mom corrected me on the verbs “lie” and “lay,” which are easily confused, perhaps because the past tense of “lie” and the present tense of “lay” are the same word (“lay”).

 

Lie – intransitive verb (doesn’t take an object) To recline

Present: Lie – I lie down on the sofa.  Please lie down here.  The dog lies on its bed.  Don’t bother me; I’m lying down.

Simple past: Lay – Yesterday, I lay down on the sofa.

Present perfect and past perfect: lain – I have lain on the sofa many times.

Gerund: Lying — Lying in the sun feels good.

 

Lay – (transitive verb, takes an object) To put an object somewhere

Present: Lay – I lay the book on the table.

Simple past: Laid – Yesterday, I laid the book on the table.

Present perfect and past perfect:: Laid.  I have laid books on that table many times.

Gerund: Laying — Laying down a winning poker hand and raking in the pot feels good.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s an example of the sad fact that any idea can be introduced to the American public without an iota of truth, and will be immediately adopted as fact by a significant number.

This is even worse than things we sometimes hear, like:  Increasing levels of CO2 in our atmosphere are improving life on Earth, because plants use it to make their food.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The author of the meme here poses an interesting question, but I honestly don’t believe it has a straightforward answer.

A couple of things are certain:  a) Trump is intensely driven to become the most powerful person on Earth, one with unassailable control of the wealthiest country on Earth, and b) he’s absolutely ruthless; he’ll do anything, regardless of how grossly immoral, to achieve his  goals. Wait till you see what he does to his enemies in the Justice Department unless he is, by some miracle, stopped.

To our country’s (and the world’s) great misfortune, Trump came along at a time when the average American had just lost his ability to distinguish an honest, hard-working public servant from a criminal sociopath.

As the author concludes:  Here we are.  

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