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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

By mid-September, 100% of the U.S. military will be vaccinated against COVID-19.  Hey, what gives here?  Aren’t there theories that the vaccinations don’t work?  Actually cause the disease?  Are an attempt to control the population?   Sure there are.  But the military isn’t run by crackpots.  It has a critically important duty to perform, and ignorance is not part of its operating basis.

This situation is similar to climate change and the $1.3 trillion insurance industry.  There are theories that climate change is a hoax, that its effects are being exaggerated, that the climate naturally cycles back and forth.  That’s all fine, but trillion dollar industries didn’t get where they are by denying science and casting their fate to the belief systems of screwballs.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Under what circumstances would you buy property in Louisiana, knowing that, each summer, there is an ever-increasing probability that a category 4 or 5 hurricane is going to ravage your home?  It’s only a matter of time before real estate in that region of the country becomes virtually worthless.

Of course, a similar remark could be made about the Pacific Northwest and its propensity for wildfires.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A reader sent me this, noting, : The job market for conservative anti-vaccine radio hosts is really heating up. New job openings every week.

Good one!  If these jackasses could keep the disease to themselves and not infect innocent people, this really wouldn’t be the tragedy that it is now.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I had a talk with a friend last night that went like this:

Friend: Do you think the pandemic has been handled perfectly?

Me: I would say it’s been handled as well as possible, given that we’ve never encountered anything like this, we’re constantly learning, and the disease itself is mutating.  We’re trying to hit a moving target.

Friend: What about the bubonic plague? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Shown at left is a new concept in wind.  Let’s do some math and determine how well this will do against one big wind turbine of the same size.

Keep in mind that the power generated by a wind turbine is a function of its “swept area,” meaning the area of the circle made by the tip of the blades.

Let’s say this array is in the shape of a square with sides of n. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

A reader sent me this, remarking “long-term effects of Ivermectin.”  When my wife laughed so hard she almost lost consciousness, I thought I would write a quick post on it.

The anti-science contingent in the United States is growing larger and more ferocious with each passing month.  In turn, it’s becoming more dangerous to our civilization, as it impedes our ability to control the pandemic and mitigate climate change.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s a funny little meme on Americans’ pathological distrust of science.

Most of the people who reject science are selective in the type of science they reject.  Most of these nut-jobs accept that we shoot rockets into space and that doctors know how to set broken legs.

The line of demarcation seems to be scientific disciplines whose activities may benefit anti-capitalists and damage civil liberties.  Both pandemic control and climate change mitigation require some level of sacrifice.  Ergo, they are both fake.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The current insanity gripping America, featuring, as it does, superstition and ignorance, was foretold by many wise people.

Sinclair Lewis said, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Those under 50 years of age have probably never used one of these, and young people are even unlikely to know what it is.

Until the advent of the Internet in the mid-1990s, along with email (the “killer” app), the telephone was virtually the only way people communicated with one another electronically.

Today’s social media has changed all that, yet some say that the change has been a net negative, the desocialization of our children and the spreading of disinformation.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Excellent question.  It all depends on how and if we get through this disaster with the Trump supporters, the stolen election narrative, and all the anti-science garbage that is currently making it difficult if not impossible to control the pandemic.

This could turn out to be just a tragic but short-term event like the Salem Witch Trials.  Of course, the genie we have let out of the bottle here is far larger in scope: an entire country rather than an isolated area, and tens of millions of people, rather than residents of a small town.  Yet it is possible that somehow we’ll come to our senses, get our educational system back on track, and pull ourselves out of this mess. Finding Trump guilty of multiple felonies like election tampering and inciting a riot will be an important start.

On the other hand, this could be remembered as the definitive start of the demolition of American democracy, and the United States as a superpower.  For many decades, people have been saying that the “American Empire” is in the process of falling.  Perhaps the events of the last five years will be remembered as the time at which this slow erosion reached critical mass and the implosion occurred in very short order.

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