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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I just met some of the people who built the transponder that SpaceX will launch into orbit around the Earth tomorrow morning, enabling, for the first time, the tracking of all aircraft around the world, even over water.  Readers may recall that we still don’t know what happened to international passenger flight Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared somewhere into the Southern India Ocean in 2014.

I asked these people their impressions of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, which may have been indelicate, but I felt I had nothing to lose.  As I expected, they had great things to say about his business contributions, Tesla in particular, but were unwilling to comment on his character.

I told them my opinion, that a) There is no question that what he’s done to promote the cause of electric transportation has been great, b) It’s a shame that someone with $150 billion can’t use some of it to solve the mega-problems we all face, and c) It’s deplorable  that he’s empowering Donald Trump to spread his messages to the world’s people.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

As anyone could have predicted, Republicans are lining up behind the fight to ensure that the world suffers the most severe effects of climate change.  The reasoning is simple: Democrats accept the findings of science, and therefore, the GOP must reject them.

Here’s an article explaining how Montana’s governor has prohibited his state’s government agencies from analyzing the impacts of climate change.

A reader notes: The Montana voters voted for these ballistically stupid people so they may just deserve them. The problem there is that the effects of the Montana voters’ stupidity become part of the warming climate for the entire planet.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

This guy has a legitimate point.  When, precisely, had humankind’s conviction to God brought us better times?

Obviously, the existence of the United States is just the blink of an eye in comparison to the history of our belief in God, but that doesn’t change too much.  Would we have preferred the Spanish Inquisition?  The Catholic Church’s demand to have the scientists of the day tortured to death?

How much have we learned from Thor, Zeus, or Isis that has benefitted our lives?

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Maybe Chekhov is right.

Maybe Americans are in the process of becoming better people as result of being shown, over the past few years, how incredibly terrible we are.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

This article from a reader, who notes:  Unintentionally? Why the f*** would a preschooler have a gun in his hand anyway? Sooner or later, one of your children will die, and you will change the laws.

Sorry, but lawmakers in Texas could no easier ban hand guns than they could outlaw the death penalty or get rid of references to Christianity in the state’s public school system.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The reason we won’t see any of the hats shown here is that we all have a deep repugnance for admitting that we’ve been conned.

Having said that, let’s try to project what might happen to Trump over the coming years and predict how this may affect his support base.  What if he is indicted on the major crimes for which he’s currently under investigation?  What if he’s convicted of stealing classified documents, seditious conspiracy, and election tampering?  What if he’s held in custody to prevent his fleeing the country, then sent to prison for what is essentially a life sentence?

Are there people who will continue to claim that he is the victim of political persecution and a weaponized justice system?

Of course, but it’s clear that these events will force many people to realize what the rest of us Americans (and the vast majority of others around the world) knew the first time we heard him speak: Trump’s life has been one enormous con job.  His career as a criminal finally caught up with him.

Republicans think Democrats live for this day.  And guess what?  They’re right.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The chronology:

Somewhere between 2 million and 200K years ago, Homo sapiens was formed out of a not-yet complete understood combination of its ancestor species.

Its main differentiating factor: its huge brain, enabling humankind to assert its dominion over other animals, and solve problems related to our survival.

But those big brains turned out to be both a blessing and a curse, largely insofar as we deemed that we need leaders, but those aspiring to that level of power were often morally terrible people.  Ask yourself about the ethical character of Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un, Erdogan, Oban, and Donald Trump–and let me know what you come up with.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

A reader sent me this, noting: Fast food worker killed by a 12-year old with an AR-15 assault rifle. Texas, of course.

It certainly does seem that shooters using AR-15s are found disproportionately in states like Texas.  One might think that regions with the highest percentage of gun ownership would be the worst, but that’s not true; Texas is close to the middle of the pack.

What Texas is known for, on the other hand, is its blend of ignorance and hate, that is reflected all the way up to the state’s governor, who is almost constantly in the news for his assaults on schools, women’s rights, climate science, etc.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

As if we need further proof that the ultra-right-wing doesn’t know what it’s talking about, here are a few images that reflect their misbelief that Medicare is not a government program.

These are the same people who want government out of our lives, but welcome the fire department when their houses are burning down, or support the FAA because it prevents midair plane collisions, or back the police when they arrest child molesters.

Folks, a little bit of thinking would go a long way here.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s an article in which experts predict a rise of violence on the part of right-wing extremists in front of the 2024 presidential campaign, due to the hard-core crazies’ belief that the woke left is ruining the country, in part by rigging elections in favor of the “radical left.”

I’m not convinced.  The entire country has seen that our law enforcement is more than willing to send the hateful morons who commit assault and battery to prison. These people may not be brilliant, but they’re smart enough to know that a few years behind bars will be quite an unpleasant experience.

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