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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s a fellow raising money on crowdfunder.com to make a machine that he describes as follows:

Lets (sic) fight climate change together. …. My first full size prototype will have 3 alternators around it each alternator producing 1.75kw so totaling 5.25kw of power from a 0.18kw motor.

Wow!  That’s an efficiency of 2900%!  Who would have thought it possible that some dip**** could have torn the cover off the first and second laws of thermodynamics!

Seriously, this guy is headed for prison, but not before he takes a few thousand bucks from some suckers.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

No it doesn’t.

Trump leaves office in a country half of whose population believes that the 2020 election was rigged, and that he was illegally removed from office by some mysterious conspiracy, just as he was working so selflessly and effectively to make America great again.

That 74 million voters can be duped in 2020 means that you and I live among 74 million people who will believe essentially anything, if it comes out of the mouth of a clever demagogue, and is supported by a “news” channel.

Are we to suppose that Trump was the last of his kind, and this type of lunacy can’t arise again in the future?

Are we to believe that the hatred of blacks, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, LGBTQs, and, to a certain degree, women, is simply going to evaporate?

Will our educational standards magically rise to the point that people can spot and reject bald-faced lies and other assertions that fly in the teeth of basic science?

The answer to all these questions, of course, is no.

That doesn’t mean that the country is doomed, but it certainly means that letting our guard down because “the episode is concluded” is a truly terrible idea.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It’s both funny and pathetic that the rest of the world can see what almost half of Americans can’t.

At left we see what the former president of Estonia says about Don Jr. and his comment on his father’s legacy.

A pike, no less.

Let’s hope that the United States is on the road to recovery in terms of morals, reputation, and intelligence.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Below is a good example of something that is absolutely true, though it’s just as absolutely worthless.  For NRA followers, a nuanced discussion of gun control is simply not going to happen. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

There have been a decent number of posts here recently on the importance of quality education as the underpinning of an effective democracy.  Here’s an article readers may find interesting; it covers the value of growing up in a bilingual environment. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

As I’ve mentioned, 2GreenEnergy “headquarters” is in a rural part of Santa Barbara County in Central California.  Just as liberal as the City of Santa Barbara itself is, the cow towns that lie elsewhere in the region tend to be very “God and country,” which means lots of flags, pickup trucks, cowboy boots, saloons, and guns.

“Trump 2020” signs and flags were everywhere during the campaign. “Biden/Harris” insignia were almost entirely absent, perhaps because Democrats feared vandalism.

Yet it was after the election that things got interesting. Who would take his “Trump” sign down, and when?

Until the inauguration, at least as far as I could discern, not a single sign came down, presumably out of participation in the “Stop the Steal” movement.  It wasn’t until several days later that things began to change. That makes sense.  Before the inauguration, the Trump message could be read as “I am a patriot.” After that, it could only be interpreted as “I’m a seditionist.”

Having said all this, here we are, four days into the Biden administration, and we still boast quite a few Trump signs, like the shot I just took at the top of the post.

The one to the right is a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, taken just a few blocks from the one above.  Dude, not only will I not tread on you, I really don’t want to come within 50 meters of you.  Ever.  For any reason.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It’s the birthday of rock legend Warren Zevon, who died of cancer at the age of only 56, but not before leaving us with this masterpiece, The Vast Indifference of Heaven.

There are dozens of variations on the theme of existentialism, but most of them assert that we live in a universe, devoid of meaning, that is coldly indifferent to our happiness.  While some people find this disturbing, others take delight in the idea that it is up to them to confer meaning onto their lives; they are fundamentally free to do anything they choose in order to make that happen.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Business is booming for survivalist e-commerce sites, and anyone can see why.   The coup attempt failed, but it showed the whole world what this could have been like had the U.S. Capitol and the 50 state capitols been stormed by the many millions of armed “Stop the Steal” people, if they had been properly and covertly coordinated.  The ad here offers four weeks of meals, packed and preserved for “an emergency.”

Everyone wants to “be prepared for anything.”  Speaking for myself, I’ll trade freeze-dried food for plenty of law enforcement and National Guard personnel, deployed to make sure the scene depicted here never happens.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Apparently, some people are suggesting that those with extreme right-wing views need to be “deprogrammed,” that controversial idea normally associated with wresting a loved one from the jaws of some sort of cult.  A few thoughts:

• There is a difference between “right-wing” and QAnon; subscribers to the latter have intractable beliefs that pose real danger to those around them.  Flag-waving, gun possession, segregationism, war-mongering, etc., are one thing; they should not be conflated with armed insurrection and murder.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

“It not a question of if; it’s a question of when,” remarks an astrophysicist on the prospect of our finding extraterrestrial life.

Here’s a wonderful article on a recent discovery, marking just one more data point in humankind’s quest to find life outside the confines of our home planet.  This one is an object, detected by the telescope atop Mount Haleakala in Maui, built specifically for this purpose.

Almost everything it observes are asteroids, zipping through our solar system at a cool 40,000 MPH.  This one however, has characteristics that defy every known scientific theory–except one: it’s the handiwork of an alien civilization.

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