Occasionally I like to apply some mathematics to claims that are made about renewable energy technology.
Pictured here is something called Kitepower, another variation on the theme that we’ve seen so many times over the years. (more…)
A failing educational system, a television “news” channel based on falsity and twisted half-truths, denial of science, a voracious appetite for presidential lies.
A breeding ground for tyranny.
Prejudice. Judging before the fact. A preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. I find myself doing that nowadays, and it doesn’t make me proud of myself.
The photo here depicts a woman at a political rally, but for which party? She’s not wearing a red hat, or carrying a confederate flag. She could be arguing why it’s important for the next president to replace RBG or explaining why black lives matter.
Nonetheless, I look at her and say: Trump Supporter.
Maybe this is just a poor excuse, but I can’t help myself.
Here’s a chart showing the number of acres consumed by wildfires in California since 1990. Keep in mind that, at 2.2 million acres, we’re only part way through the fire season; that’s because of the hot, dry, Santa Ana and Diablo winds that start blowing as we move into the fall.
Here’s my suggestion for a tourism slogan that I think would work well, since it’s honest, and candor is in short supply:
Get here now. The United States is diseased and dying, flouting health regulations, under water, on fire, economically depressed, ignoring science, besieged by neo-Nazi violence and police homicides, regressing 75 years socially and judicially, and under the leadership of a criminal sociopath. Almost half of us want four more years of this, but in case that doesn’t happen, make your travel plans today.
Kidding aside, this really is a historic time in world history. People have been claiming that we’re seeing the end of the American Empire for decades now, but most of us thought that this would be a slow process. Then came the man in orange.
Since the United States has ~4% of the world’s population and ~24% of COVID-19 fatalities, it’s pretty clear to anyone that Trump’s claim is just one more of his endless stream of lies.
But let’s admit something critically important: that the blame needs to be shared. (more…)
In the absence of human intervention, nature tends to fix things.
She simply needs to be given a chance. (more…)
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promises to achieve 100% renewables by 2030 if her party wins re-election in October. The plan calls for an accelerated schedule and the use of pumped hydro energy storage to make clean energy universally available.
This woman has made the study of pathological liars her life’s work. I haven’t, and you probably haven’t either. But doesn’t this ring true?
We tend to wonder how it’s possible that one man, who just happens to be the most powerful person on Earth, is capable of telling more than 22,000 lies in less than four years in office. The reason we wonder about this is that lying is abhorrent to our basic nature.
Everyone lies, but most of us are extremely cognizant of what we’re doing at the time, and wish the circumstances were otherwise and we could just tell the truth. Trump, on the other hand, has no relationship to the truth whatsoever, and simply says what makes him look best at the time.
There are so many horrific elements of the Trump presidency, but it’s possible that the greatest single tragedy is that 40% of Americans either are blind to Trump’s character as a liar and a criminal, or, more likely, simply don’t care.
I have to give this guy credit; he’s the total package, with the gun, the beard, the paint peeling from the porch railing, and the Confederate flag.
He actually would have won a prize even without the pig, but the porcine element launches him into a category all by himself.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner, as my daughter likes to say.
The note at left lies at the crux of much of what is wrong in our world today. We, especially Americans, feel entitled to an ever-expanding set of rights (now, including the right to infect others with COVID-19). But we have little sense of obligation to those living around us–now, or in the future.
Only about half of Americans self-identify as “environmentalists.” The other half has very little concern about the quality of the planet available to our fellows, and even less about what we will be leaving for our grandchildren. Isn’t that astonishing?
