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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Perhaps “idiots” is the wrong word.  The actual driver behind our electing the people shown at left is that many of us are desperate to be told that what we believe is true, even though if it’s plainly incorrect.

Take the assertion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.  Even Fox News went on camera and told its viewers that this was categorically false, that there was no evidence to support the claim, that they made it up, and they apologize for doing so.

Is that good enough for the people who vote for Marjorie Taylor Greene?  Of course not.  If you want to win a House seat from that part of rural Georgia, and you’re not willing to say the election was stolen, then you’re going to lose. It’s that simple.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Re: The meme here, to use a term from economics, I would say that the “marginal utility” of a living wage is quite high, but it trails off after that. It’s kind of like your first sandwich when you’re hungry or your first coat when you’re cold.

FWIW, I believe that societies that are organized around the principle of a living wage, i.e., what one finds in the rest of the developed world, are better in every way than what we have here in the U.S.

Their people are happier, healthier, more productive, better educated, less violent, kinder, and less prone to substance abuse. Moreover, they don’t vote for criminal sociopaths to lead their country; that’s a special bonus.

If you ask people from Sweden, for instance, if they resent paying higher taxes than what we Americans pay, most of them will laugh at you.  I do this routinely, and I’ve never heard anyone say, “Oh, no, poverty, ignorance, and mass shootings are our national objectives.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science
I mentioned my friend Glenn Doty, both a Christian and a chemist/physicist, in a recent post about the future of Christianity, in which I argued that religion is largely impervious to attacks from science, insofar as a significant percentage of our population is ignorant of, and in many cases, opposed to the application of science in our problem-solving.
Glenn responds:
I think that you are conflating all evil/stupidity with religion-inspired evil/stupidity.
However, if you look at the trend line for Christianity, it effectively falls off a cliff with Millennials and Zoomers. Access to information made the kind of stuff that I just rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth through absolutely insufferable to many of the younger generations.
But then came the American fascist (MAGA) movement, and the church did not oppose it, which means the church has no purpose and no legitimate faith. That forced me to reject the church in order to preserve my faith.
Between the young rejecting the church because it clings to easily disproven nonsense, and the faithful rejecting the church because the church rejected Christianity, I think there are some pretty turbulent times ahead for modern religion.
Your story is illustrative of what I like to call “The Biblical Jesus versus the Republican Jesus.” You are one of many thoughtful and kind people I’m proud to know who simply follow the teachings of Christ and carry with them none of the trappings of ultra-right-wing politics.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

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I have a few reactions to this meme that I hope readers will find meaningful:

Work, in the right context, is actually closer to play.  I’m reminded of what Dustin Hoffman said, “I’m a horrible vacationer.  I look at a beach sunset and imagine how I would represent it to a film audience.”

Here’s what I told my kids when they were young, though I don’t suggest that it’s an original idea: “You’re going to be spending a large percentage of your waking hours doing something that’s called ‘work.’  So find something you love, and get damned good at it.”

And here is what one of my philosophy professors told me as a young man: “I have a life that I enjoy 52 weeks a year.  It never occurred to me to have a life I dislike so that I can take a two-week vacation from it.”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

With Trump’s crimes all over the media, a bible-thumper as House Speaker, jackasses like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the concerted effort to ban abortion, one would think there would be massive defections from the Republican Party.

Astonishingly, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s a product for people with virtually no understanding of science.  The efficiency of electric heaters is very close to 100%.

If I were Elon Musk, I’d have a team of people hunting down criminals who were using my likeness to sell fraudulent stuff. He probably can afford the expense.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Tocqueville wrote this in the early 19th Century, and there is no doubt that he made an excellent point, given the times.

Had he been alive today, however, I doubt he’d be singing the same tune.  Technology, while it is making our lives healthier, longer, and more pleasant, represents grave threats as well, in the form of environmental collapse, AI, weaponry, cyber-crime, and employment.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s well-known that millions of Americans spend a great deal of time watching football on television, particularly on Sundays, when most of the professional games are played.

Though I was paying only casual attention to yesterday’s contests, I happened to notice the announcers in two different games used the word “hate” to describe the feelings that fan bases of certain rivals have for each other.

Hate? Really?  Do the Philadelphia Eagles supporters hate the Dallas Cowboys fans? Maybe this is an accurate term for a small percentage of deranged people, but most people who hail from the Philadelphia vicinity simply feel some sort of natural allegiance to the local team, which by no means requires us to hate people who come from Dallas, or any other city.

Making statements like these serve to promote hatred, a commodity of which there is already a superabundance in the world right now.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Over the years, I’ve commented on attempts to raise investment capital via business plans that are strong on identifying a problem, but are extremely weak on offering a reasonable solution.

Here’s a great example, whose founders claim to have an answer to providing EV charging solutions to renters.

The only information the promotional video provides is that the electricity come from the grid, and charges the car with a 110V (house current, unacceptably slow) circuit.

They write:

That’s why Power Hero has been focused on enabling apartment residents to charge their EVs at home, in the building where they live, on their own outlet (whatever that means). That’s our PowerPac product scheduled for market introduction in 2024. Our investors get it.  Don’t Miss Out

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

The meme here came from a reader/friend who is both a Christian and an extremely senior chemist/physicist.

FWIW, I disagree with his assessment; I see no evidence that our civilization is becoming more scientific in its thinking, or more likely to apply reason in its problem-solving.

And it’s not like we have to strain to find examples of this.  After all, we have Israel, followers of Judaism, bombing the bejeepers out of Islamic fundamentalists whose terrorist tendencies are based on the self-evident truth that Allah is superior to the God of Abraham.

Here in the U.S., we have a Speaker of the House who claims that his guiding principles as one of our top lawmakers are found exclusively in the Bible.

At every turn, we are beset by anti-vaxxers, climate deniers, and, of course, Trump supporters.

Those who believe in the actual teachings of Jesus: peace, compassion, mercy, kindness, will not fall weaker from the attacks of rationality.

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