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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Since the emergence of Donald Trump onto the U.S. political scene, political pundits have been wondering how the former president has been able to capture the loyalty of so many working-class American voters, especially given that he has done essentially nothing for them.

Many speculate that it’s their frustration with their stagnant wages, and their struggle to get ahead in a world dominated by the super rich and the most powerful corporations.  Their anger and poor education has them in a place where they are unable to reason well, and eagerly accept the claim of a man who says, baselessly, “Only I can fix it.”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A reader asks: How does one gently correct someone’s poor grammar? I usually let it slide but I want to help them to sound better educated.

I have a few basic rules:

I feel I have an obligation to correct the grammar of my wife or my kids, though I try not to do this in public.

If you’re a friend and you make a mistake that is bound to be seen or heard repeatedly, e.g., a mistake in a business presentation, you’ll receive an email from me on the subject.

There have been people in my life who have asked me directly to correct their mistakes when I come across them.  This doesn’t happen frequently, but I eagerly accept the invitation when it comes up.

I try not to be pedantic.  There are grammatical errors that we learned not to make in second or third grade, e.g., “My parents sent my brother and I to a nice school,” or “I should have went to the store.”  I’m much more likely to address something like this than I am minor issues that few people care about, e.g., “Their mission was to boldly go.” (split infinitive), or “I appreciated him coming to me and apologizing.” (failure to modify a gerund with a possessive).

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The life expectancy of Japanese people exceeds that of Americans by seven full years (84 vs. 77).  Seven months would have been statistically significant, but seven years?  How is this even remotely possible?

We don’t know, and in truth, we probably never will, since all we have are data that speak to correlation, rather than causation.  They eat better.  They have fewer toxins in their environment.  They have very few guns, and therefore almost no gun-related deaths. They’re not monotheistic, and thus they don’t live in fear of eternal punishment. They live honest lives with very little corruption.

Contrast this with the United States, where all these features are completely different.  Take corruption.  We don’t dabble in it; we bathe ourselves in it.  Might not be good for the soul.

All this said, one thing that should most certainly be kept in mind is the set of life attitudes shown at left.  It seems completely plausible that a harmonious approach to life in general creates less stress and greater spiritual, emotion, and perhaps physical health.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Re: the photo here, a reader notes, “Personally I’d prefer JD Clampett over JD Vance.”

Every day of the week.

Wooooo doggies!

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The phrase “doubling down” might be cliché, but it certainly applies to what the Republicans are doing with respect to their extreme right-wing political positions.

While some political advisors have been suggesting that Trump soften his hardline stance on the oppression of women, given that he’s a convicted sex criminal and that more than 50% of the population is female, the former president is having none of that.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Young readers may not recognize this scene from 1975’s “Blazing Saddles,” where the black dude has been appointed the new sheriff of a town on the western frontier.  The bigoted white folks are extremely resentful, and here, the amiable town drunk is consoling him:

What did you expect? “Welcome, sonny?” “Make yourself at home?” “Marry my daughter?” You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.

Coincidentally, an old friend asked me recently what I believe makes up the Trump base.  I replied that a Trumper needs to be in one (or both) of two groups:

a) The extremely unintelligent, and/or

b) Those whose brains are wired, either via genetics or lived experience, to be indifferent to the needs of other people.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

I almost clicked on this, then suddenly noticed that it’s sponsored by Chevron.

Oh sure. I trust the international criminal organization, convicted of dumping carcinogenic waste into the rivers of Ecuador, deliberately poisoning the indigenous people, for an honest report on what causes fluctuations in retail gas prices–or anything else.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I highly doubt that Facebook gives a rat’s ass about your campaign, just like the vast majority of other Americans.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Here’s a new concept in electric transportation that I don’t expect to catch on.  Imagine you park your car somewhere on a sunny day, you unlock a roof-mounted container, and pull out an array of solar PV that you then unfold and drape over your car.  You plug the array into your car’s charge port.  When you’re ready to leave, you reverse the process.

While the car is parked, you get a maximum of 1200 Watts, meaning that you’ll need about 30 hours of sunshine to charge your base-model Tesla Series 3 from 20% SoC to 80%.

Aside from the issues of cost, added weight, wind-resistance, theft, and vandalism, how long will it take the average driver to conclude that this is a royal pain in the ass?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Why on Earth would anyone have expected anything else?  Concern for others is so far off-brand for Trump, it would be like McDonalds serving fresh-squeezed turmeric juice and wheat germ.

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