Linda Ronstadt on Donald Trump
I thought I’d make a brief comment on Linda Ronstadt’s statement below.
Is anyone who grew up in the second half of the 20th Century surprised to learn that she sees through Trump as the criminal sociopath he is?
Tagged with: trump criminal sociopath
News on the Electrical Grid in Germany
Couldn’t resist posting this, in which the German government refutes one of Trump’s misstatements about the stability of their grid.
It’s also funny to see all this extra mileage coming from “eating dogs and cats.”
Tagged with: Electrical Grid in Germany
From the Trump-Harris Debate
I thought I’d take this extremely powerful meme based on the recent Trump-Harris debate and make a borderline pedantic comment about grammar.
Each of these statements, if phrased correctly, would be in the form of what is called a “predicate nominative.” For example, “She is stronger than he.” That’s because the verb “to be” (in this case “is”) never takes an object.
Now, does this sound stilted, as if it’s coming from a 75-year-old English teacher? Yes, which is why I try not to use this construction, and instead write, “She is stronger than he is.”
In any case, and far more importantly, everything the author here is asserting about Harris is correct.
Tagged with: Trump-Harris debate
What’s Our Excuse?
We don’t have an excuse, but we do have an explanation, and that is that human society is built around money. “Money talks and bullshit walks,” as they say.
As you’re reading this, there are uber-wealthy people all around the globe working hard to ensure that our civilization’s dependence on fossil fuels continues unabated indefinitely, knowing that this is causing the ruination of our only home.
Direct Air Capture of CO2
A reader sent me this piece on removing CO2 directly from the Earth’s atmosphere. I respond:
I remain skeptical that ANY CONCEIVABLE technology can accomplish this feat. I can’t imagine how you run a gas (air) with concentration 0.04% CO2 (i.e., it’s 99.96% something else, mostly nitrogen) and you somehow pull out most of the CO2. Then you shove it far underground or concert it into long-lasting products. AND you do all this with energy that isn’t adding more CO2 into the atmosphere.
Most of the available literature on the subject comes from ExxonMobil and the other petroleum giants, and contains wordings like, “It’s possible that…” Sure.
I have a (legitimate) client whose technology plugs into point sources of CO2, e.g., coal plants and concrete manufacturing facilities, where concentrations are > 30%.
Tagged with: Direct Air Capture of CO2
Election Absurdity
The fellow quoted at left makes the same point that I have, repeatedly, over the past two years: it’s absurd that there is overwhelming evidence that one of the candidates running for president in November tried to overthrow the U.S. federal government.
Of course, this happens with great regularity all around the globe. In the developing world, free and fair elections in which well-informed voters cast ballots that are honestly counted are rare, if they exist at all.
The only shocking part of what’s happening here and now in America is that this country, in its 248th year, has no history of behaving as if its people were almost completely uneducated and impoverished, led by some tyrant or a military dictatorship.
It’s a tragic period. Let’s admit that and get used to regarding it as such.
Tagged with: Election Absurdity
The Natural Resources Defense Council on Agrivoltaics
At left we see a message from an organization whose motto is “stop solar.” As one might suspect, the propaganda here attempts to stimulate anger on the part of its audience, relying on broad ignorance of the actual truth, i.e., that “agrivoltaics” is an extremely well thought-through concept that provides a wide array of benefits to farmers.
From the NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council):
Recently, the field of agrivoltaics has emerged to explore ways of incorporating solar arrays into farmland without sacrificing that farmland’s arability, effectively allowing landowners to cultivate crops and generate clean energy harmoniously at the same time. Research indicates that growing crops beneath photovoltaic displays can actually yield a distinct set of agricultural and environmental benefits. 
Thanks to the shade provided by the panels, for example, the soil can retain more water, meaning it needs less irrigation. Panels can also help protect crops from hailstorms, high winds, and severe cold and heat, making them less vulnerable to extreme weather events. There’s even evidence to suggest that certain crops actually grow better, stronger, and longer under the protective covering of solar panels than they might otherwise, especially in hotter, more arid growing environments. As the already-hot-and-sunny parts of the world become even hotter and sunnier, the implications are enormous—for the climate, for crops, and for the farmers themselves.
Shame on these rotten propagandists.
Mark Cuban: Kamala Harris Is a Centrist
Thanks for this, Mark, but I’m afraid I have bad news: if Trump says Kamala Harris is a Marxist, the former president’s base is going to believe him without question.
Tagged with: Mark Cuban: Kamala Harris Is a Centrist
“Climate Optimism??” We Can Handle the Truth
Why on Earth would anyone want to ingest “climate optimism?” What’s the matter with the truth?
The truth is that our oceans and atmosphere are warming, largely due to human activity, in particular, due to the release of greenhouse gases. The scientific community is developing increasingly precise ways of measuring this, while both the private and the public sector in many nations around the world are working on a wide variety of solutions.
“It is what it is,” as they say. I’d be far happier with the facts, than with some slant on the subject, whether that slant is positive or negative.
Are governments getting on board in any meaningful way? Are glaciers melting? Are feedback loops appearing? Are there important breakthrough technologies on the horizon? 
What does the future of thorium fission look like? Fusion? What role are carbon markets playing, how is this likely to change over time?
Just the facts, ma’am.
Who, Exactly, Is “Pro-Natural Gas?”
Though it was not intended to be funny, I have to report that this made me laugh.
Other than being in the natural gas industry, is there any conceivable reason to be behind it?
If you’re an environmentalist, you’re in favor of phasing out gas (and all fossil fuels) as quickly as possible, in favor of renewables and nuclear. If you’re in coal in particular, you must have no problem not only with the greenhouse gas emissions, but also the heavy metals and radioactive isotopes that are poisoning the planet.
And call me weird, but to say, “It’s who I am” is so absurd it brought a chuckle out of me.
