Home › Blog › Page 165

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The leader of the Proud Boys is going to serve a minimum of 85% of his 22-year sentence, or 18.7 years, behind bars for his role as the most culpable of Trump’s foot-soldiers in the former president’s efforts to overthrow the U.S. government post the 2020 presidential election.

Are we satisfied that the leader of the largest club of hateful morons has lost most of his adult life to a hellish existence, simply because Trump commanded him to act in this capacity?

I’m not.

If the justice system can’t send Trump to prison, and if I were hearing this case, I’d be reluctant to hand down these extremely severe sentences against the idiots who followed the explicit instructions of the President of the United States.

Btw, I chose the photo above featuring Tarrio and Roger Stone in an effort to convey my disgust that Stone hasn’t yet been indicted for his part in this conspiracy.

Tagged with: ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The snarky meme here suggests that making changes in our society is useless, because we still have problems.

This logic may appeal to idiots, but those capable of reason understand that becoming more sensitive to racial minorities is a good thing in and of itself, and that it’s part of a long-term effort to promote social equity.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Many of us wish we could return to the 1970s, when we were almost completely unaware of the long-term environmental damage we were inflicting on our planet.

Alas.

With knowledge comes responsibility.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Journalist, author, and commentator Chris Hedges is one of America’s finest minds.

Here, he reminds us of one of the most devastating effects of Donald Trump on U.S. society, which the former president put into play according to his core policy: always accuse your opponents of the precise crimes you have committed.

We can all remember perfectly well that, before Trump got ahold of it, the term “fake news” was a reference to things like Newsmax, Fox News, etc.  Within a few weeks after he took office, however, he had vigorously used it to rename the entirety of mainstream media and anyone else who dared point out Trump’s true character.

Tagged with: , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
2GreenEnergy supporter Gary Tulie writes from his home in Buckinghamshire, England (near London):
Hi Craig, 
I don’t know if people in the US realise how much higher murder rates are in parts of the US than they are in the UK. 

(more…)

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

It’s true that China represents a threat to American hegemony on the planet.  Personally,  I expect all this to happen by entirely peaceful means, but the U.S. would be ill-advised to ignore China’s military buildup.

In any case, here’s what life was like here when the picture was taken, i.e., before our global economy in which all eyes are on China.  One hundred years ago, American:

Life expectancy was 53.6 years (vs. 79.1 today).

Real (adjusted for inflation) gross domestic product was 0.8 trillion (vs. $25.5 trillion today).

Then consider illiteracy rates, indoor plumbing, and all the other miracles that come with a booming world economy.

I know this is not a popular viewpoint, but I believe that the majority of the tension between the U.S. and China would dissipate the moment the United States drops its claim to leading the world financially and militarily, by forcibly excluding other large countries.

 

 

 

Tagged with: ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
Herman’s Hermits are an English rock and pop group formed in 1964 in Manchester and fronted by singer Peter Noone.
Hits include “Mrs. Brown you’ve got a lovely daughter,” “I’m into something good,” and “Can’t you hear my heart beat?”
It saddens me to report that Noone, who lives in  Montecito (near Santa Barbara, CA) is a garden-variety Trump supporter.
Of course, not all pop/rock icons are progressives; witness Ted Nugent.  But fortunately, the entertainment world is dominated by people with decent, humanitarian values.
Tagged with: ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Here’s a video presented by a gentleman who calls himself “Rich,” making me wonder, for a millisecond, why he didn’t use his full name.

It’s an offer to sell instructions on how to build a small solar PV array that generates electricity for “one-tenth the current price per kilowatt-hour,” using panels that are “100% efficient.”

Their introduction: “This free video presentation reveals an MIT-Designed “Smart Tower” capable of generating up to 20x more electricity than conventional solar panels.”

Coincidentally, I was just explaining to an old friend why all this is scientific bs.  The first and most obvious is that the “100% efficiency” claim violates the second law of thermodynamics.

Also, current day PV is ~25% efficient.  To say that these solar panels generate 20 times more energy means that they are now, not 100% efficient, but 500%.

My friend totally gets that part, but what she didn’t understand is why the theoretical limit of PV efficiency is far below that. It’s because the energy of the sun’s photons that are incident on the Earth’s surface have a huge range of frequencies, thus energies.  Some are too low to dislodge an electron in the substrate, and others are so great that, although they do dislodge an electron, the rest of their energy is lost.

 

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Epictetus said this, though not in modern-day Spanish.

It’s just another way of saying what is attributed to Bertrand Russell: “The problem with the world is that fools are completely sure of their beliefs, where wise men are so full of doubts.”

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Everywhere we look on social media we see references to the concept that Donald Trump is the leader of a cult, and that his supporters are incapable of understanding that they are following a sociopath.

Fortunately, it seems that his support base is shrinking, as the former president’s behavior becomes increasingly unhinged.

Having said that, with the general election 14 months away, we need to understand that Trump will receive votes from two distinct camps: a) what’s left of his support base, and b) those who would rather vote for an orangutan than a Democrat.

Tagged with: