I had the good fortune to sit next to Jonathan Jarvis (pictured at left), 18th Director of the U.S. National Park Service under Barack Obama, on a four-hour-long flight last night.
It was a lengthy time period sufficient to hear some pretty cool stories, my favorite of which pertained to the events shortly after he resigned when Donald Trump was elected in the 2016 presidential election. (more…)
A reader, apparently a Trump supporter, sent me the meme here, and wrote, “I’m beginning to question his (Fox News anchor Chris Wallace’s) loyalties,” spawning the following conversation: (more…)
Regarding the meme here:
My mother will be gratified to see that I’m quoting the (conservative) Wall Street Journal. (more…)
Shorty after Trump was elected in 2016, I told my wife:
You know, there is a non-zero chance that one of two things is going to happen: (more…)
The text here translates into English as “Little wind energy generator can make a house energy independent.” But doesn’t that seem like a stretch, just looking at it? If you were to put something the size of a small ceiling fan on your roof, let the wind blow through it, and convert that mechanical energy into electricity, does it seem feasible that it could power your HVAC, lighting, appliances, etc? (more…)
Question: With the realm of greenhouse gas emissions, animal protection, water and air pollution, and extraction, how many total laws protecting our environment and health have been, or are in process to become eliminated by the Trump administration at this point?
Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.
Relevance: The numeric answer here is quite precise, but the resulting damage to the environment and human health is completely unknown at this point.
To Dan Rather’s point here: Sadly, at this point it appears that it doesn’t matter where the “conscience of the nation” falls. We know that 72% of Americans want a trial with evidence and witnesses, and it’s not like McConnell isn’t aware of that. He knows that his conduct is abhorrent to the nation, but he simply doesn’t care. Unless something unexpected happens, and most of us pray it does, this looks like the end of the line on this, at least for now.
From Wikipedia: Casandra Brené Brown, PhD spent her career studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of five #1 New York Times best sellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, and her latest book, Dare to Lead, which is the culmination of a seven-year study on courage and leadership. Brown’s TED talk – The Power of Vulnerability – is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world with over 35 million views.
There were tears in my eyes when I first came across what she wrote above. In the presence of compassion like this, nothing’s impossible.
This piece on Canada’s viewpoint on the U.S. ends with, “The world is watching.” I’d like to believe that. At this point it’s probably more correct to say that the world was watching, but has long since given up, out of the sheer tedium of Trump’s repetitive antics. (more…)
It is well established that 13,000+ Americans die annually and hundreds of thousands become ill due to the heavy metals and radioactive isotopes associated with coal-fired power plants. Given that, it’s not clear why a study was required to conclude that coal plant closures save thousands of lives. In any case, here you have it.
