Category: linkdump

See also:  Jan 1-16 and Feb 1-15 (View all)

Russell Gold on the failures of the Texas energy grid.

Wait, how can this be? I’ve come across so many great articles during this time but must have forgotten to blog about it. Oh, well.

View Previous Roundup and Next Roundup (View All)

Don’t Look Up film

I’ll add some thoughts about Adam McKay’s Netflix movie, but first let me give some quotes:

No metaphor is perfect, but there are two aspects of it that do afford a comparison with the climate problem. One is that it’s something that’s going to happen in the future that’s not having much effect today. The other thing that is dramatically true in that case, and is also true in the climate case, is that the longer you wait, the harder it is to do anything about it and the more expensive it is to do anything about it. If you catch this meteor or asteroid when it’s still very far away, you don’t need very much energy at all to knock it off course. But if you wait until the last minute, you have to exert huge forces on it. And at some point, you don’t have enough energy to do anything about it. And the climate is similar in that sense. If we had started doing [climate action] 40 years ago, we wouldn’t have had to spend very much money and we’d be fine today. You keep putting it off, putting it off, and hoping it will be the next generation’s problem and not ours, and it’s getting more and more expensive. And at some point, you won’t be able to do anything about it.” (Climate Scientist Kerry Emmanuel)

Here’s is a 15 minute video discussion with Mehdi Hasan about Don’t Look Up — with the scriptwriter and Michael Mann about the meaning and significance of the film and its metaphorical resonances. (Start at 38:51).

Here’s a review page by the online film critics.

Eleanor Cummins writes about imagining environmental disasters:

To be both hilarious and motivational is a tall order, but it’s the bar writer-director Adam McKay set for himself. Contrary to the critics’ opinions, a quarter-million IMDB star reviewers seem to think that McKay cleared it. The last act—smarter and more somber than the rest—may have even roused some of them to further action (including this writer, who walked out of the theater finally committed to dietary changes). But whatever one’s reaction to this latest climate film, at the very least, we’re talking about it.

While rage, even when repellent, and sadness, even when all-consuming, are worthy of representation, imagining a response to the crisis seems hardest of all.

For there’s a strong case to be made for a “more the merrier” mindset with “cli-fi” in every genre. We now live in a world that is “trans-apocalyptic,” as climate futurist Alex Steffen recently told Elizabeth Weil. “We’re in the middle of an ongoing crisis, or really a linked series of crises,” Weil elaborated, where our lives are increasingly “defined by ‘constant engagement with ecological realities,’ floods, dry wells, fires. And there’s no opting out. What does that even mean?” Art could help us find out. The more TV shows, books, and movies depicting climate change—and the more variety of climate consequences depicted—the better. But “the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture,” novelist Amitav Ghosh wrote in The Great Derangement in 2016, “and thus of the imagination.” While rage, even when repellent, and sadness, even when all-consuming, are worthy of representation, imagining a response to the crisis seems hardest of all.

Cummins is a science journalist dabbling in the arts. She recommends the Icelandic movie WOMAN AT WAR as a good story that imagines dilemmas posed by environmental commitment.

Update: I watched Woman at War on Kanopy. Okay, it isn’t perfect — it’s hard to believe that a potential mother would be so hellbent on environmental sabotage, but I loved the “Icelandic touches,” and having a soundtrack performed by live players was also amusing. I’m guessing that Iceland is battered both by environmental sensibilities and economic realities. Great scenery too!

Here are two podcast interviews with David Roberts of Volt: with Adam McKay (writer/director of Don’t Look Up) and Anat Shenker-Osorio (a leading messaging expert). Here’s what message Ms. Shenker-Osorio says that climate change people should be publicizing:

 No matter what we look like, or where we come from, most of us want to care for our air, land, and water and leave things better off for those to come. But today, a handful of politicians and the fossil fuel CEOs that fund them are trying to divide us from each other, hoping that if they can distract us from the fact that they are profiting off of poisoning, our families will look the other way, while they put the clean energy solutions we know work out of our reach. By rejecting their lies and joining together across race, across origin, across ZIP code, we can make this a place that we’re proud to leave our kids for generations to come.

This is a good message — but it sounds a little formulaic.

See also:  Dec 1-16 and Jan 1-15 (2022) (View all)

First, Smashwords ebook sale is from Dec 17-31; check my Robert’s Roundup of Ebook Deals to see my recommendations.

Here’s a nice and revealing interview with Paula Jean Swearengin . Swearengin is an anti-coal activist who ran for Senate twice (once as a primary challenger against Joe Manchin). Now she’s abandoned the Democratic Party to join the People’s Party. Her insights from running twice as a Democrat are revealing: she says that West Virginia are more cynical about the Democratic Party which has promised lots but never delivered. She also is critical about other Justice Democrats (like AOC) for abandoning Medicare for All movement and not “sharing the wealth” with other progressive candidates. She complained about how national fundraising groups that end up not delivering all the money they raise; it’s better to support the candidate directly. Paula Jean has learned a lot about the political process; I hope she finds a way to use this knowledge to get elected in some way.

Nice analysis of the breakup of the Thwaites ice shelf.

Once the ice shelf shatters, large sections of the glacier now restrained by it are likely to speed up, says Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a leader of the Thwaites expedition. In a worst case, this part of Thwaites could triple in speed, increasing the glacier’s contribution to global sea level in the short term to 5%, Pettit says.

Even more worrisome is the process that has weakened the ice shelf: incursions of warm ocean water beneath the shelf, which expedition scientists detected with a robotic submersible. Because Thwaites sits below sea level on ground that dips away from the coast, the warm water is likely to melt its way inland, beneath the glacier itself, freeing its underbelly from bedrock. A collapse of the entire glacier, which some researchers think is only centuries away, would raise global sea level by 65 centimeters. And because Thwaites occupies a deep basin into which neighboring glaciers would flow, its demise could eventually lead to the loss of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which locks up 3.3 meters of global sea level rise. “That would be a global change,” says Robert DeConto, a glaciologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “Our coastlines will look different from space.”

I’ve been a big fan of Craig Ferguson’s talk show. Here is a two part interview with Stephen Fry.

Perfect Bid: Contestant who Knew Too Much. Great story about a Price is Right contestant who beats the system.

Comedian Ali Siddiq does a lot of racial-themed humor and I find it hysterical. Here’s his piece about how white people taught me to complain.

Here’s a nice and nuanced discussion about how pivotal a role that slavery played in the American Revolution. God, I wish I had taken more history classes at college!

Why Mary Bailey is the true heroine in It’s a Wonderful Life:

“Mary Bailey is the true hero of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ” says Caleb Norris, a film buff with whom I chatted about our shared Mary devotion. “And some mopey ­man gets all the glory.” Mary deals with the same leaky roof and small-town limitations as her husband with one major difference: She never complains. She doesn’t need an angel named Clarence to descend from heaven and inform her that she’s actually led a wonderful life. She knows intuitively that wonderful lives are not made by collecting passport stamps or military honors; they are made by investing in the community around you and wallpapering the bejesus out of an old Victorian. “Why must you torture the children?” she asks George when he takes out his foul work-mood on the family. Why indeed? She’s the one who’s been home all day with a sick toddler and a clanging piano…. The entire movie celebrates the personal sacrifices of a nice man while ignoring the identical sacrifices of a nice woman. Why? Because “It’s a Wonderful Life” assumes something that society assumed in the 1940s and sometimes continues to assume to this day: A wife is supposed to sacrifice, buck up, make do, slog through. But when the husband does it, the whole town must take note.

Propublica investigates the lax regulation of ethylene oxide. This has led to a series of cancer deaths in Texas, especially around Laredo.

A climate scientist talks about what resonates from the Adam McKay movie Don’t Look Up.

We live in a society in which, despite extraordinarily clear, present, and worsening climate danger, more than half of Republican members of Congress still say climate change is a hoax and many more wish to block action, and in which the official Democratic party platform still enshrines massive subsidies to the fossil fuel industry; in which the current president ran on a promise that “nothing will fundamentally change”, and the speaker of the House dismissed even a modest climate plan as “the green dream or whatever”; in which the largest delegation to Cop26 was the fossil fuel industry, and the White House sold drilling rights to a huge tract of the Gulf of Mexico after the summit; in which world leaders say that climate is an “existential threat to humanity” while simultaneously expanding fossil fuel production; in which major newspapers still run fossil fuel ads, and climate news is routinely overshadowed by sports; in which entrepreneurs push incredibly risky tech solutions and billionaires sell the absurdist fantasy that humanity can just move to Mars.

(CLIMATE SCIENTIST PETER KALMUS)

I saw DONT LOOK UP yesterday. Not a great movie — the characters are cartoonish, but the plot is unbelievably cynical (and sobering) and there are touches of surreal horror everywhere. It certainly captures the feeling of being powerless in a society that overlooks real social problems and yet only seems to notice pop culture trivia.. I’m currently reading 3 novels that address climate change — FLIGHT BEHAVIOR by Barbara Kingsolver and MINISTRY FOR THE FUTURE by Kim Stanley Robinson. Also let me mention a third climate change title by an environmental activist from south Texas, LUZ AT MIDNIGHT by Marisol Cortez.

See also:  Nov 16-30 and Dec 17-31 (View all)

Observation: My new blogging strategy of posting empty posts at the start of the month or two week period looks awful rough and polished, but it’s working overall. I usually end up polishing older posts a bit, so eventually things look ok.

Overjoyed to see the Third rock reunion. I wrote in the comment section my proposal for the sequel:

Stone Phillips Jr, the lovechild of BG Head and Vicki Dubchek wants to visit his birthplace on Earth, and build a bigger, badder version of Monkeyworld — (Or a BIG GIANT WALL, or something crassly commercial like that). The gang has to find him and stop him (and solve global warming in the process) before some alien hunters dissect him and sell the story to Fox News. Also, they want to look up old friends and catch up on soap operas. Don Orville would have some lowly job as a security guard as a big box store until Sally finds him and recruits him to help the investigation (but not before inspiring him, seducing him and revealing she always was a space alien). . August Leffler will be a crusading journalist trying to expose the evil oligarchy financing Stone Phillips’ empire — completely unaware of his alien provenance. Nina would be Dean of Students at Pendleton, while Vincent Strudwick would be Pendleton’s president. Neither would know about Mary Albright’s whereabouts — only that Mary is off doing undercover fieldwork with some secretive scientology-like cult. Turns out that Stone Phillips Jr. gets all confused and builds Monkeyworld inside a videogame simulation. The old gang is chased by debt collectors who are looking for someone to pay for the astronomical credit card bill from Season 6. At some point there has to be a shot of a lovelorn Don staring into space and wondering where Sally is now. Other things I’d like to see: one of them getting a messed up body and have to trade it several times, Mary’s sister Renata (aka Megan Mullaly) has to be visited to provide clues about Mary’s whereabouts, Transistor Harry needs to get hacked by either Russians or some unknown band of aliens, Tommy gets Internet famous by accident and tries unsuccessfully to gain more followers, Sally has to team up with Don to find Stone Jr. until they find him locked up in a room playing a massively multiplayer online game version of Earth (aka “Monkeyworld Planet”) leaving it unclear which is the simulation and which is the reality. Gosh, I could write 5 episodes in no time. You could never recover the original magic of the 3 camera show with live audience, but a one camera show would still work — and you wouldn’t need to create a conceit of aliens learning about X; all you really need are catching up with old characters and being surprised at how things have changed in a mere 20 years…

(I wrote this in response to another commenter who said,

They could totally do a series of specials where the cast returned to Earth in present day. Having to wear older versions of their human selves so as to not rouse suspicion. Dick goes on the hunt for Mary (because that is the real reason they have come back, though he’s told the crew otherwise) in the hopes that she can remember him again. Sally coming to terms with being a cougar, Tommy not understanding why he’s not “down with the kids” anymore, Harry getting caught up in fake news and possibly becoming a viral social media star just because of the way he is.
There’s so much they could fit into a set of 45 minute specials that – with the right people writing – could really give the fans something awesome to look back on. 🙂

Mom and I have been watching the Peter Jackson Get Back documentary. Finished part 1 of 3, and it is extraordinary and historic. Perhaps some of the edits are designed to maximize the dramatic tension (and the performers were always aware they were being filmed), but it is amazing their process of tinkering with song lyrics to get it right. I predicted that Don’t Look Up would win Best Picture at the Oscars. Now I’m thinking that Get back will get nominated for Best Picture category (even though World War 1 documentary They Will Not Grow Old is probably as deserving.

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite 2021 Signature edition — mainly for testing ebooks, but also for the bigger display. In the past I have not really used the Paperwhite as much as I would have liked, but this version might actually be usable.

Nice 25 minute visual essay about Max Headroom. Two details: He’s a glitchbot (an imperfect robot) and Max Headroom is actually not an animated character but a real actress whose makeup was made to appear like a robot — along with an animated background.

First interview with Reality Winner on 60 minutes. You might remember that I nominated her for Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

David Wallace-Wells has another missive about the current climate change calamity.

Max Liboiron explains the true way to approach plastic pollution:

When we teach pollution science, which is different than litter science, what we teach people is that it’s called a stock-and-flow problem. The best metaphor is, OK, you walk into your bathroom and your bathtub is overflowing. Do you, a) turn off the tap, or b) get a mop? I mean, eventually you’ll do both, but you better turn off that tap before you start mopping up or you will never stop mopping up and you will never catch up to the water spilling out. That’s a great model for job security but a horrible model for dealing with pollution. … The question doesn’t become, is cleaning up worth it compared to turning off the tap? We know turning off the tap is better. Full stop…. I’ve been saying turn off the tap the whole time. Turn off the tap, turn off the tap. That’s what we do. And we can name who is keeping the tap running. Coca-Cola. ExxonMobil. We have their phone numbers.

Also, he talks about how geologists will name the anthropocene era:  This new epoch, this new species era, is characterized by human activity. The big argument amongst the geologists is what [geologic] signal are we going to use to mark this era? The two contenders are plastics or nuclear fallout from atomic bombs.

Curb Your Enthusiasm’s 15 Rules for Living.

The connections haven’t been made yet, but I’m guessing that the school board protests (about Critical
Race Theory, “dangerous books” and mask mandates) are quietly being funded by a major conservative donor which after extensive testing identified it as a wedge issue after abortion and gay marriage have been abandoned. It seems very suspicious that these cultural issues have suddenly become prominent. NPR investigated this at the end of October, and identified some usual suspects (but not one big contributor like Americans for Prosperity got behind banning gay marriage). Aha, according to Washington Post, Koch bankrolled some anti-mask grassroots initiatives. That still does not explain to me why book banning and CRT is coming up so frequently in Texas.

Two articles about the horrors of the oil and gas industry along the Gulf Coast. First, multiple Texas coastal towns are building oil/LNG export terminals to export LNG and oil shale. Environmentalists have filed lawsuits and launched protests to little avail.

DEEP SPACE NINE DOCUMENTARY: (RECOMMENDED) The actor who plays Garak (Andrew Johnson) introduces it with a very entertaining speech.

See also: Nov 1-15  and Dec 1-16 (View all)

Emily Atkin spots the b.s. in an Exxon CCS on the NYT podcast about misinformation. “There’s so many misleading aspects to this ad,” said Ben Franta, who studies the history of climate disinformation at Stanford University. Because of its strategically vague language and presentation of micro-facts without context, he said, “You read it and it gives you the impression that carbon capture is new and effective and we’re gonna scale it up, when in reality none of that is the case.”

Wow, Atkin mentions paltering, a term referring to misleading people with truthful statements and letting readers read more into these statements than was supported. Here’s a longer explanation of paltering:

OSCAR PREDICTION TIME: I predict that Adam McKay’s picture DON’T LOOK UP will win BEST PICTURE in 2022. (Opens on Netflix December 24). Sit tight and assess!

IF YOU TRAVELED BACK TO 1986 AND TOLD PEOPLE THESE THINGS, THEY WOULD THINK YOU WERE CRAZY: 1. There’s only 8 planets now, 2. we can make money by filming ourselves play games, 3. You can legally walk into the bank with a mask on to get money to legally buy weed next door on your way to your friend’s legal gay wedding. 4. People are able to instantly, reliably, fact check any statement via a powerful, heldheld, internet connected, computer yet are more prone to misinformation and being wrong than ever, 5. Computers eventually reach the point where we have to prove that we’re not robots in order to use them. 6. A billionaire flies a giant penis into space while wearing a cowboy hat. 7. The Treasury department was going to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, but then there was a massively popular rap musical about him and they decided not to. 8. MTV will no longer play music videos and instead play reality shows that no one asked for. 9. Meathead, Laverne, and Opie are some of the most respected directors in Hollywood. Also, that guy from Bosom Buddies won Best Actor twice.(From REDDIT)

If I had to add one thing, I’d mention that communism fell pretty quickly in Eastern Europe

Great zoom conversation between great cli fi novelists Barbara Kingsolver and Kim Stanley Robinson.

Here’s a moral argument for destroying fossil fuel infrastructure.

We could destroy the machines that destroy this planet. If someone has planted a time bomb in your home, you are entitled to dismantle it. More to the point, if someone has placed an incendiary device inside the high-rise building where you live, and if the foundations are already on fire and people are dying in the cellars, then many would believe that you have an obligation to put the device out of action.

This is the moral case which, I would argue, justifies destroying fossil fuel property. That is completely separate from harming human bodies, for which there is no moral case.

And this particular moral case for direct action is, I believe, overwhelmingly strong, if the realities of the climate catastrophe are recognised. On that premise, how could the physical integrity of fossil fuel property possibly be given precedence?

There are far easier solutions than destruction: nullifying leases on public land for petroleum exploitation, cashback carbon pricing, boycotts.

I’m mystified by the 2nd trick David Blaine performs before Jimmy Fallon. I asked in a comment: I’m trying to figure out the middle trick ( 3:20 )about the 9 of diamonds. How many cards did Blaine have to pre-position to make sure it contained Fallon’s card choice? Do you think the 5 cards in the first trick (Ace, 4, 4, 7, 10) forced Fallon to avoid those numbers? If Fallon had chosen a strange card (like the Queen of Spades or Ace of Clubs), do you think Blaine would have simply chosen to do another trick? (I’d love for a commenter to give an intelligent reply).

Here’s a long and good profile of Mehdi Hassan as a debater and TV interviewer.

Here’s a masterpiece of a conservative-leaning BBC interviewer asking Ben Shapiro about his beliefs. It is a master class about to interview. Here are some things I admire:

1. Andrew Neil asks a simple question and then shuts up and waits for Ben Shapiro to give a full answer. It’s a real trick not asking overlong or leading questions.
2. When Ben Shapiro tries to turn the tables on the interviewer with a liberal bias accusation, Neil doesn’t take the bait and just continues forward.
3. Neil (and his staff) expertly pick previous statements that appear to contradict what Shapiro is arguing for in his book. Points off for mentioning that Shapiro’s videos are called “Ben Shapiro destroys X” without following up to say that these videos appear on Shapiro’s own channel, so it is probably Shapiro himself who wrote that label. But the quotes that Obama is a fascist seems well-chosen.
4. The hard part about real time interviews is that you have to listen very carefully to what they are saying and not be thinking so much about what you need to ask next. For example, I would have leapt at Shapiro’s asinine statement that GOP ideas are new while liberal ideas are old. But Neil had to pick his battles. On the other hand, it isn’t that interesting whether liberal ideas are old or new, so maybe that was not a good point to pounce on.

See also:  Oct 17-31 2021 and Nov 16-30 (View all)

Wow, late getting this up. Yippee, my Personville Press published another story collection by Jack Matthews — Second Death of E.A. Poe and other stories. Normal price is $3, but for the next 2 days, the price is 99 cents at Amazon. My description, “In contrast to previous story collections (which lean more to the cerebral or poetic), the Matthews stories collected here are down-to-earth yarns: gently satirical and reminiscent of John Cheever’s fiction. Most are like pleasant strolls through Midwestern neighborhoods, glimpsing random people at backyard parties, cafes and parking lots.”

I am preparing a new Climate Change Cheatsheet (2021 Edition). (For now it mainly has graphs and charts). I prepared a version in 2014 as a handy reference which probably needs updates. Thankfully, there’s a lot more coverage of the topic, more research, more scientists, more think-tanks, more tools.

Here’s a dispiriting report about how after COP 26, Biden Administration will soon have the largest oil and gas lease sale in US history on November 17. According to the article, the Biden’s position is that they can’t obstruct a sale authorized under the previous administration, but critics say that Biden could do a lot to prevent this firesale from taking place.

Clive Thompson on how to tell when you’re done with research (a short explanation of saturation theory).

New data tend to be redundant of data already collected. In interviews, when the researcher begins to hear the same comments again and again, data saturation is being reached… It is then time to stop collecting information and to start analysing what has been collected. (source)

Thompson comments:

I feel like I suffer from the opposite. When I’m researching a new subject, I’m prone to feel I’ve never reached saturation. If I decide I’ve done enough research to begin writing, the moment I’m at my keyboard I get a stab of panic: Wait, do I really know what I’m talking about? Maybe I should interview one more expert! Or read another book! Because the truth is — as all genuine experts know — the complexities of any given field are enormous. There’s always more to learn!
But the type of “saturation” I’m describing isn’t about becoming a deep expert in a subject. Even if you spend a few months doing serious research into a new subject, you’re only going to — at best — amass the strong grasp of a layperson. You’re not going to reach the insight a serious professional has for their field, or a devoted long-term hobbyist has for theirs.
But when you’re writing for a general audience? You rarely need that level of extreme expertise (though if you have it, that’s awesome). You’re looking for enough understanding to write something that’s usefully informed. That’s when the feeling of saturation is a useful guide.

NPR reports that accounting errors by the Trump Administration’s Department of Commerce, mistakes at the Census caused them to have to ask former employees to repay them . I can vouch for the accuracy, because I received a letter asking me to pay back $250!

Third Rock had a reunion a few days ago — can’t wait for it to go on Youtube. My eyes always tear up at the final scene where they sing the mission song.

A week ago SNL had a crazy but somewhat familiar sketch called What Up with That? Kenan Thompson played a musically-inclined talk show host for BET network who has three guests, but ends up never interviewing them because he’s too busy singing the show’s theme song (and variations). This sketch is utterly stupid and mindless — it was probably easy to write and rehearse, but I can’t help it. I like watching these sketches — a lot! (and reading Youtube reactions as well). I created a playlist of all of them — with my favorite 3 at the top . Watch out for the way that track suit guy (Jason Sudeikis) leaps onto stage — there is substantial debate about whether these are actual jumps or whether he is using a trampoline. (Several commenters who were former audience members say unequivocally that they are natural jumps). It’s worth remembering that the brilliant Not Ready for Prime Time players (who never actually appear in the sketch) are responsible for making the sketch so groovy.

Ian Millhiser is a crackerjack legal reporter who has published several books about the Supreme Court (one of which I own– haven’t gotten the latest one though). Here’s his frightening take about the new Conservative justices are resurrecting the nondelegation doctrine to remove the power of federal agencies to regulate. Here’s another analysis of a case about whether Puerto Rico residents are entitled to receive Social Security benefits.

Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds show up at each other’s talk show appearance. (Here and here) Hilarity ensues.

I discovered a foolproof way to determine if you are actually dreaming: Say “Hey google, what is the capital of Tanzania? What about Tunisia? Madagascar? What’s the population of Ghana?” In last night’s dream I kept asking Google Home the same question and was exasperated that it didn’t seem to be working.

How to determine whether the universe you are living in is a simulation requires more time and effort. (more)

Star Trek trivia contest between Patrick Stewart and Pete Buttigieg — it’s surprisingly close!

See also: Oct 1-16 and Nov 1-15 (View all)

MR DINOSAUR SPEAKS: “Let me tell you — and you kind of think this would be obvious, going extinct is a bad thing. And driving yourselves extinct? In 70 million years, that’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! At least we had an asteroid, what’s your excuse? You’re headed for a climate disaster, and yet every year governments spend hundred of billions of public funds on fossil fuel subsidies. Imagine if we had spent hundreds of billions per year subsidizing giant meteors. That’s what you’re doing right now!”

Note: I’m leaving the Social Media Dumps at top of my blog for their corresponding month, but in fact most of my work is not done on these linkdumps but the Robert’s Roundup of Ebook Deals and the music discovery posts. These things take forever to complete (I’m still working on the September column for both posts).

Word for the decade: solastalgia.

Paula Kael reviews the movie Bladerunner.

Here’s an ongoing list I’m keeping about favorite sitcoms by decade. I’ll be adding to it over time.

Here’s an incendiary anti-Manchin video. Maybe we can persuade him to step down?

FUN COMIC SONG (OR VEILED POLITICAL ALLEGORY?) This funny & slightly irritating multilingual song by this Malaysian and Taiwanese singer pokes gentle fun at “little pinkies” (slang for Chinese nationalists), Chinese firewall censorship, Pooh (i.e. Chinese president) and NMSL (slang for “Your Mom is Dead”) Here’s a list to some fun Chinese Internet slang.

I’ve been a Wikipedia editor since 2006. I’ve even created several new articles. I submitted an article for review, and it’s been in the waiting queue for approval for more than 7 weeks. General observations:

1. Wiki rules are much more complicated than they used to be 5 years ago. (Examples here, here, here and here). The documentation is really incredible, but there’s so much of it.
2. At least half of the newly submitted articles are about living people or companies.
3. Initial quality of submitted articles is a lot higher than it used to be.
4. The rich text editor is easier to use and more powerful. Great job! At the same time, it is very hard to use correctly and according to policy.
5. Templates are a monster subject. Here’s the “quick guide.” Good luck figuring it out.

After doing a lot of research, I have figured out the best way to upload images (i.e., photographs) to Wikipedia:

1. Ask the photographer to register with Wikimedia Commons . Direct them to go here.
2. Have them fill out the form and assign it creative commons sharing rights.
3. Then any person can assign it categories and tags for the sake of findability. Here’s an example of a photograph taken of me which was uploaded by the photographer himself. Here’s an example of an artsy selfie-photograph of me which I uploaded myself.

It is also possible to submit documentation supporting that the artwork was work-for-hire and that the copyright owner doesn’t have to be the creator, but oh, that’s complicated.

It’s NSFW, but here’s Great long AVN profile/obituary of Gloria Leonard, porn star who later became a magazine editor and advocacy for the porn industry. Fun fact: She used to hit the college circuit to have debates with conservatives about porn, and she in fact visited my college campus at Trinity. I even remember asking her a question at the event — though for the life of me I don’t remember what about.

Leonard is also remembered as the mistress of the bon mot—what are called nowadays a “sound bite”—most notably her oft-quoted line, “The difference between pornography and erotica is the lighting.” It was also said of her, in a phrase she often repeated, “She’s as famous for what comes out of her mouth as what went into it.”

On the relationship between Chicxulub impact crater (the one that killed the dinosaurs) and climate change:

By analyzing the fish fossils inside, researchers determined that global temperatures were stable for a long time before the asteroid impact, but then, afterwards, temperatures quickly rose and stayed about 5 degrees Celsius warmer for about 100,000 years.

MacLeod says it’s notable that the impact pumped up carbon dioxide over a short time span that, geologically speaking, is comparable to what humans have been doing in burning fossil fuels since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

“The atmosphere was loaded for a very brief interval of time, and the consequences of that change in atmospheric composition lasted for 100,000 years,” MacLeod says. “So it illustrates, I think, really strongly, even if we went back to 1850 levels of carbon dioxide emission, it’s going to take a 100,000 years for the carbon dioxide that we’ve already put in the atmosphere to cycle through the Earth’s systems.”

Lots of information about climate change and Biden’s infrastructure plan. Outlook is extremely gloomy. Actually a lot of the sources are on NYT, Washington Post, so let me find sources elsewhere.

• Manchin’s home state of West Virginia is extremely vulnerable to climate change.
• Lancet report warns about the medical harms from climate change. (WP) NPR has a no-paywall version — and of course there’s the Lancet site itself

As a climate change activist interested in climate policy, it’s hard to describe my feelings these past few weeks. DISMAYED at the failure of the Senate to settle on a sensible climate policy, OVERWHELMED by the amount of media coverage (even I can no longer keep up) and PESSIMISTIC about the upcoming Glasgow climate conference (which China, India, Russia and Brazil won’t be sending leaders to). DAILY PODCAST had Coral Davenport yesterday — where she basically described the ugly process of letting Manchin write the climate bill — and then backing away from the bill he himself wrote. Like I said, the amount of news is overwhelming even for environmentalists. The best source of info has been the twitter and substack newsletter of David Roberts , Climate Crocks blog and the FB/Twitter of scientist Michael Mann.

Overall, we have topnotch environmental reporting around the country, but nobody really cares or notices. The main obsession is with gas prices (ugh!)

Here’s the best explanation of the climate change problem that I’ve seen –– told with graphs. I know a lot about the data being presented (for a layman anyway), and I know that a lot of assumptions are grounded in a moderate estimate of climate sensitivity. That is not guaranteed at all.

I mentioned before that I go on Twitter a lot mainly as a lurker. I still think Twitter like any variation of social media limits your expression. It can get maddening. I for one refuse to embed any tweet on my blog! (Just like I won’t embed tiktok, etc). Today I learned quite accidentally that the QUOTE TWEET function is a HIDDEN dropdown option on the retweet icon. What a stupid interface for a social media platform! (This tutorial explains how to do it right). I have relished not going on twitter — it’s a surefire recipe to have your thoughts drowned out by other random and frequent bullshit. About 6 months ago I relented and decided to post my monthly columns there. Now that I know how to quote other tweets the right way, I’ll be posting somewhat more frequently. (No more than once a day aside from a special occasion). So you might want to start following my twitter now which is @NAGLETX. Ouch I see that the default option of WordPress is to embed tweets and youtube.

Merrill Goozner on US’s failure to develop its lithium recycling program:

Lithium-ion batteries, which first became commercially available in the early 1990s, are now ubiquitous in computers, cell phones, cameras, and other electronic devices. Worldwide, only about half those batteries are currently being recycled. The rest get thrown away or lie dormant within products no longer in use (like the old computers and cell phones gathering dust in people’s homes).

Most of the battery recycling taking place today is in China and Europe, which have far more stringent regulations than the U.S. The Energy Department estimates only 5 percent of America’s discarded lithium-ion batteries get recycled. Call2Recycle, a nonprofit consortium promoting battery recycling, counted collections of just over 1,000 metric tons in 2020, which is just 12 to 15 percent of rechargeable batteries available for recycling, a spokesperson for the organization said.

Mark Jacobson on solving climate change with existing technology (rather than waiting for other solutions).

Already in many places, solar plus batteries is cheaper than coal or nuclear and is replacing both. In fact, battery costs have declined 90 percent in the past 10 years. No miracle is needed in this area, just more rapid deployment. Thus, we have no need for modern bioelectricity, nuclear, or carbon capture attached to fossil or bioelectricity…Electric vehicles are commercial and replacing fossil-fuel vehicles of all types and weights, aside from long-distance aircraft and ships, the longest-distance trucks and trains, and heavy military vehicles. Such long-distance, heavy vehicles are part of the last 5 percent of energy technologies that may take until 2035 to 2040 to commercialize. However, such vehicles can and likely will run on hydrogen fuel cells. To produce hydrogen, we will use existing and improved electrolyzers powered by renewable electricity. Thus, no biofuel, such as ethanol, biodiesel, or bio-jet fuel, is needed.

This Australian progressive group produced a fun & cynical & (yes!) informative look at the risible claims about the “promise” of carbon capture and storage (Authorized by the Department for Prolonging the Fossil Fuel Era — and Making YOU pay for it)

See also: Sept 16-31 and Oct 17-31 (View all)

Babylon 5 Reboot. Best news I’ve heard. J. Michael Straczynski is incredibly talented (even though I couldn’t get into the glitzy futurism of Sense 8). Hopefully there will be cameos from some of the (still living) actors. Babylon 5 did so many things differently than the Star Trek universe that I really learned a lot about storytelling in general.

Here’s a nice video clip from the TV version of the Martian Chronicles. I read this in 6th or 7th grade, and it had a great impact upon me (more than Farhenheit 451 certainly). The writing was simple and unembellished, but dramatically they worked great.

Kate Arnoff writes about the unjust sentencing on Stephen Donziger:

“The rules in place to protect Chevron are simply much stronger than those in place to protect the planet, in no small part thanks to the amount of fossil fuel cash sloshing around Washington. How is it, after all, that a judge in New York can invalidate a ruling made in and about Ecuador? For all of the party’s sunny rhetoric about helping the environment, directly challenging the fossil fuel industry head on remains a third rail for all but a few Democrats in Congress; starting to unravel the thicket of rules that allows them to operate with virtual impunity around the world is almost unthinkable. In that context, a multinational oil company being held accountable threatened to set an uncomfortable precedent.

Words cannot capture how angry I am about the way Chevron abused the judicial system. Chris Hedges publishes another commentary:

The persecution of Donziger fits a pattern familiar to millions of poor Americans who are coerced into accepting plea deals, many for crimes they did not commit, and sent to prison for decades. It fits the pattern of the judicial lynching and prolonged psychological torture of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. It fits the pattern of those denied habeas corpus and due process at Guantánamo Bay or in CIA black sites. It fits the pattern of those charged under terrorism laws, many held at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, who cannot see the evidence used to indict them. It fits the pattern of the widespread use of Special Administrative Measures, known as SAMs, imposed to prevent or severely restrict communication with other prisoners, attorneys, family, the media and people outside the jail. It fits the pattern of the extreme sensory deprivation and prolonged isolation used on those in our black sites and prisons, a form of psychological torture, the refinement of torture as science. By the time a “terrorist” is dragged into our secretive courts the bewildered suspect no longer has the mental and psychological capability to defend themselves. If they can do this legally to the demonized they can, and one day will, do it to the rest of us. The Donziger case is an ominous warning that the American legal system is broken. 

Ralph Nader, who graduated from Harvard Law School, has long decried the capture of the courts and law schools by corporate power, calling the nation’s attorneys and judges “lucrative cogs in the corporate wheel.” He notes that law school curriculums are “built around corporate law, and corporate power, and corporate perpetration, and corporate defense.” 

Victor Klemperer, who was dismissed from his post as a professor of Romance languages at the University of Dresden in 1935 because of his Jewish ancestry, astutely noted how at first the Nazis “changed the values, the frequency of words, [and] made them into common property, words that had previously been used by individuals or tiny troupes. They confiscated words for the party, saturated words and phrases and sentence forms with their poison. They made language serve their terrible system. They conquered words and made them into their strongest advertising tools [Werebemittle], at once the most public and most secret.” And, Klemperer noted, as the redefinition of old concepts took place the public was oblivious.

Kaiser Family Foundation polled people to find out the reasons gave by people for the high COVID spread:

Democrats:

• 89% not masks and distancing
• 87% refusing to get vaccine
• 75% Delta more infectious

Republicans:

• 55% immigrants and tourists
• 41% Delta more infectious
• 40% vaccines not effective

(source: this graphic and the related article).

About thought-terminating cliches and Deepity. (from the Rationalwiki).

Animal psychologists try to figure out if the language buttons provide insight about whether pets really miss us when we’re gone.

Here’s a nice in-depth comparison of the economies and social structure of California and Texas.

Climate policy guru David Roberts writes a long piece about how climate policy involves lots of different fields that don’t factor in the “political economy” angle:

Unlike disciplines with some academic or professional standards of rigor, political punditry and advocacy are a veritable festival of gut instincts, guesses, bad logic, bad faith, and confirmation bias. Pundits rarely offer empirical evidence; they rarely assess the accuracy of their prior predictions; they rarely change their minds.

It drives scientists, economists, and, uh, ex-philosophy students out of their heads. It is tempting to try to claim some authority, to claim that a background in economics (or some other technical field) confers the status of referee, making the final calls on the merits of various policies.

But it doesn’t. There are no real “experts” in politics, despite many claims to the contrary. The best we can hope for is to develop a few empirically informed heuristics (including those from economics), to remain open and alive to new evidence, to find trustworthy guides to the current political economy, and to strive toward, for lack of a better word, wisdom.

See also: Sept 1-15 and Oct 1-15 (View all)

Reddit discussion about the similarities and differences between the Irish Potato Famine and Holodomor (the Ukraine famine in the 1930s). Also discusses the economic writings of Amartya Sen.

Some research into copyright and fair use. 2 legal experts comment on how fair use should be used in modern society. Very perceptive article. They also wrote a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts.

Legal guide to podcasting.

Here’s a profound discussion about news media, social media, censorship and propaganda. Lots of good insights and references. This discussion was posted two days ago, and very current. They reference a new book by Yochai Benkler which is here.

NEW TERM: CONTEXT COLLAPSE: “the flattening of multiple audiences into a single context; i.e., ” “trying to comfortably chat with your mother, bar buddy, work colleague, and ex-boyfriend at the same time.”

Nardwuar interviews raunchy comic Whitney Cummings. Nardwuar is a great interviewer, but Cummings truly had no idea what was going to happen.

Outrageous! One peculiar thing about Texas government is that there’s something called Texas Railroad Commission which regulates (or rather, fails to regulate) the entire oil and gas industry in Texas. Apparently the TRC Commissioner Christi Craddick (who was elected by the people) owns a considerable amount of O&G assets and yet doesn’t recuse herself from the multitude of decisions relating to oversight of those companies. Here’s the PDF of the whole report.

See: August 16-31 and Sept 16-30  (View All)

CNN report on the healthiest and most sustainable seafood to eat.

Ted Baxter is finally right about something:

Chris Perez (husband of slain Tejano singer Selena) announced on Facebook today that he has resolved a lawsuit with Selena’s family. This is good news, and actually Perez deserves his fair compensation. Apparently, when Selena died, she had no will, so the husband would stand to receive 100% of her estate. However, two months after her death. Selena’s father made him sign an agreement to receive 25% of the Selena company’s earnings. Perez (who was 22 at the time) was in mourning and hadn’t even consulted an attorney.

I’m not sure we say Selena’s father defrauded Chris Perez, but certainly he didn’t disclose to Chris Perez his legal rights at the time. Then he maintained strict control over the Selena name (which was trademarked). Also, the father sued Chris Perez a few times, mainly over a memoir he wrote about Selena and his plans to develop some sort of TV show about their marriage.

It’s interesting because this disagreement mirrors the cultural disagreement between the two of them as presented in the 1990s biopic of Selena starring Jennifer Lopez. I had the good fortune to see Chris Perez perform in Houston in the early 2000s– what a class act — great musician who really wrote a very personal memoir many years later, when he felt the time was right.

RIP Norm McDonald. I only discovered his comedy recently. Faves: Moth Joke, Logic Professor joke. Also, his compilation of OJ Simpson jokes from SNL were hilarious (here’s part 2).

Great (and devastating) opinion piece on 9-11 by a leading Moroccan-American author Laila Lalami . FUN FACT: Her “Moor’s Account” novel is a fictionalized account of a Muslim man who went with Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca in the 1530s through Texas and southern parts of the US:

The fact that the United States itself went on to attack, and wreak even greater violence against innocent civilians around the world, was largely omitted from official narratives, as it was in the museum. This erasure is not accidental. After the initial phase of fighting, the Pentagon did not release regular and precise reports of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We got out of the body count business years ago,” Mark Kimmitt, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and former State Department official, said in 2018. “The numbers, while relevant, are not something that we quote, nor do we keep in our back pocket.” The work of counting the civilian dead fell instead to human rights groups, research centers and special sections of newspapers.

Likewise, the speeches of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were more likely to offer assurances that the nation was “staying the course” or “fulfilling our commitment” than to give an honest accounting of the wars. Every time I heard them speak, I wondered what goals they wanted to achieve. Was it the surrender of the Taliban? The capture of Osama bin Laden? The fall of Saddam Hussein? The staging of elections in Iraq and Afghanistan? Each milestone was reached, and yet the wars continued, largely out of sight. Within the first few months of combat operations, news of the wars disappeared from front pages. Nightly news broadcasts spent so little time on the wars that yearly coverage was measured in seconds per newscast.

See:  Aug 1-15 and September 1-15  (View All)

You have written some famously bad blogposts (here and here) predicting who will win the race for president. In 2016 and 2020 I was ridiculously wrong, but had a lot of fun predicting things. I’m thinking of writing up a 2024 election version — and to be wrong again. The real question is whether anyone will run on the Democratic Party ticket; I’m tempted to say it will be Inslee, Klobuchar and Kamala Harris. On the Republican side it will be Nikki Haley (duh!), Ron DeSantis and Paul Ryan. Possibly Ben Sasse too. (and because of DeSantis, I predict far right-wingers like Tom Scott and Rick Scott won’t run). Incidentally, I’m currently 55 and even though it’s not bad or anything, it’s hard to imagine someone younger than me winning the presidency.

A typographer makes his Oscar picks — solely on the basis of fonts on the poster. He designs types himself and has an online “book” with suggestions about using fonts and typography on the web.

Nestflix.fun is a Netflix parody consisting of fake movies (which usually appear in TV shows or films). My favorite is a whole page listing movie parodies from Arrested Development.

Fun with Glass and Trampoline. Here’s a more perfectly realized choreographed number (and longer too). Kudos to YOANN BOURGEOIS for devising this performance concept.

To give you an idea of how strange my life is: 1)my floor lamp beside my bed fell on me in the middle of the night (breaking the main light bulb) and 2)my TV has been powering up at random intervals. (I have to unplug it to prevent that from happening). UPdate: I think I’ve found the cause. My PC seems to be sending bluetooth signals to my TV.

Pet peeve: I inevitably keep dozens (if not hundreds) of browser tabs windows open. I’m always in the middle of something — these WordPress edit windows are especially easy to misplace. I just want to kill everything and start again.

Here’s a good diagram illustrating plot.

“Comirnaty!!??” Seriously, the marketing department couldn’t come up with a better name for the Pfizer vaccine than that? I can barely pronounce or spell it. Why not give it a memorable name and just move on. (MY suggestions: Bongo-Pongo, Perkosan, Gradifex).. Or reuse names of comic book heroes or rap stars or other celebrities designed to appeal to a demographic –i.e, Spiderman, Cool Juice, BigPicasso, LambofGod. Think outside the box.

Article about a Shapeshifting cam girl rewriting the rules of digital porn. Apparently the digital artist (in her 30s) used various graphical tools to make herself look younger (and prettier?!). Here’s her instagram account pics, which are sort of PG-13 rated, sort of NSFW. She’s managed to monetize everything, so good for her, although I’m not sure she’s getting that adulation only for the money.. Good case study though.

I’ve been really amazed at the Jane Ferguson on-the-ground reporting in Kabul, Afganistan. She is one of those amazing PBS reporters who manages to get accepted in Muslim countries under fire. Actually CNN has a good reporter in Kabul as well — not to mention the English-speaking Afghanis. The big question is that if 70% of Afghanis have access to smart phones with Internet, how will the Taliban be able to crack down?

I’m preparing a wiki page for a writer and am floored by the amount of wiki guidelines. (Look at this wiki style guide and this help page on citing sources. Hey, here’s the draft of that article in the submission pile. Let’s see if they approve or massacre it some more.

I stumbled upon an old blog post complaining about politicians who use the phrase “Make no mistake.” NAGLE’S ADDENDUM ON POLITICAL RHETORIC:  Whenever a politician uses the word “strongly” in a speech, you should always substitute that with the word “stupidly” to capture the exact same meaning.

“It’s completely lovely—and also bonkers,” said her mother, Laura. “Betty climbs in Lacey’s long hair like it’s some kind of jungle.”(About a teen girl who has adopted a bumble bee). There’s a killer line at the end.

““Up to 50 kilos of fish caught in Brazil are thrown away for every kilo that arrives on land; more than 400,000 tons of marine life were discarded between 2000 and 2018 in just four states.”(Source)

I’m used to John Oliver uncovering some little known scandal, but his clips about Housing Discrimination, the Pace program (a home renovation program) and how EMS programs around the country are underfunded are shocking. Apparently some EMS technicians don’t even get health care or a living wage.

Comedian Fumi Abe did a hilarious set on Stephen Colbert. Watch that name.

Comic reporter Jordan Klepper (from the Daily Show) interviews a lot of anti-vaxxers. He really is an incredible comedian.

Here’s a profile on Brit comedienne Flora Anderson.

Some shrewd analysis about sitcoms by comedian/writer Olivia Cathcart. Why the show What We Do in the Shadows shows how TV serials have more comedy potential than movies.

While the Shadows movie is indeed fantastic, the very premise it set up was always more conducive to TV. The point of the film wasn’t to send these vampires on some grand quest to carry out an evil plan, it was a look into the average day-to-day lives of vampires who, other than eating humans, live relatively mundane lives. If TV is a diary, then a film is a book report. With the show, Shadows is able to perpetually expand their world and fill in gaps from the movie, namely adding more female characters like Nadja to the main cast as well as guest appearances from Kristen Schaal, Vanessa Bayer, Greta Lee, Sondra James’ little Joanie, and former Great British Bake Off contestant Helena Garcia (honestly, case closed right there). And then there’s Colin Robinson, the energy vampire who feeds off people’s energy, nearly boring them to death in cubicle-filled office spaces and town hall meetings. Such an off kilter character might seem out of place in a movie about blood-sucking vampires, but here these subplots can run parallel to the main story without feeling distracting. On that same note, more writers on staff means more jokes from more perspectives, while too many contributors on a film script often leads to a disjointed story.

See also her wondering why late night talk shows still exist (post-Conan and post-Covid)? (I’m a big fan of late night talk shows. They are celebrity-obsessed (not to mention obsessed with anything new). But it’s nice to follow the host and cast.

Here’s my take on talk shows and Covid. Stephen Colbert was mostly terrible during COVID, Jimmy Fallon was fun and silly and still could play games and run music vids. Seth Meyers was even more brilliant and entertaining; he was perfectly comfortable transitioning to No Audience. Trevor Noah and his gang has really been killing it with every episode. Great sketches, great interviews and fast-paced. Very intellectual too. Now that things are returning to normal with talk show audiences, Colbert is much more entertaining and can really milk a joke when he wants to.

About the political thing, our country has experienced a national tragedy with Trump; if talk show hosts weren’t sounding the alarm, I don’t know who else could be. It’s good though that talk shows have stepped back and focused more on traditional entertainment. Talk shows used to be even-handed towards both parties, but the lack of a credible conservative leadership has made it impossible to treat them as anything more than a bunch of crazies — especially when it comes to climate change and vaccine mandates.

How much is ton of carbon dioxide? The U.S. EPA has found that a typical 22 MPG gas-based car emits about 5 tons of carbon dioxide per year. On average, you emit one ton of CO2 for about every 2,500 miles you drive—about the distance from Boston, Massachusetts to Salt Lake City, Utah. (The US annual carbon footprint is about 16 tons annually). Concludes the report:

Most of the CO₂ humans emit doesn’t come from everyday activities like driving. In fact, when we say that the average American emits 16 tons of CO₂ a year, most of this isn’t from our direct emissions. Instead, it’s from large-scale processes, like making electricity or manufacturing products and building materials, which are averaged across the whole population. For example, the World Steel Association estimates that, for every ton of steel we produce, almost two tons of CO₂ are added to the atmosphere.

A while back my ebook press published Hanger Stout, Awake about a teenage boy who competes in contests to see who can freehang from a bar the longest. Apparently, some Youtube celebrity has challenged all kinds of people to freehang for money. For those interested, I wrote a nice essay about that novella, pondering the ephemeralities of youth.

I am saddened to learn about the deaths of US servicemen and Afghani citizens in Kabul (presumably at the hands of terrorists). It’s important to remember that US soldiers are often asked to provide protection for international humanitarian efforts in risky places and can become a target for bad actors. (To a lesser extent, this happens also with UN peacekeeping troops). Without having these spaces secured, it can be hard to run humanitarian operations. It is only on tragic days like today that we can appreciate the risks and sacrifices that enlisted people take during such missions. We should honor them for that.

Here’s a 16 minute audio interview with James Loewen from 2015 (audio link is in middle of page).

After Ed Asner has died, I was recalling favorite Mary Tyler Moore show moments with him. Here’s him with Ted Knight. Hilarious scene. The most interesting (for me at least) is that the scene is so unimportant; all Ed and Ted are doing is hamming it up to absurd levels. I saw an interview with Asner where he said the serious drama Lou Grant (which I never watched!) was his best performances. I look forward to watching it somewhere.

See    July 16-31 and August 16-31  (View All)

Malcolm Gladwell talks about his latest book about understanding strangers. He talks about the TV show Friends, where it’s easy to interpret the words and gestures of characters — which is the opposite of real life. Some other shows which are easy to decode: Larry Sanders Show, Third Rock from the Sun, Brooklyn 99, Taxi. (all favorite shows btw). These shows have types and then have actors who give them unique and quirky qualities.

Here are two tweets which just astonished me:

• PAULA JEAN SWEARENGIN: It’s a fair assumption to think I have millions of dollars because I run for office. Most of our representatives come from privilage. I am a single mom and never made $25,000 a year in my life. Paula Jean Swearengin, who ran for US Senate twice in West Virginia. She ran against Joe Manchin in 2018 and then against Republican Shelley Moore Capito — losing both by substantial margins, but putting in enormous efforts both times. She was also featured in the Netflix documentary Knock Down the House (about how first time politicians ran political campaigns). She’s West Virginia’s version of Bernie Sanders, she’s a great speaker, and even though her main issue is opposition to coal, she embraces a lot of other progressive cause. I found out about her from a 3 minute speech she gave at a coal mine protest — which was one of the most remarkable political speeches ever. Perhaps it was her first political speech ever. Despite losing massively, she became a much measured and better speaker and capable of talking about policies and reading the room. Also, her volunteer staff punched well above their weight. She has learned a lot and I would love for Paula Jean to stay in politics. (Her twitter feed is always remarkable).
• SETH MACFARLANE: Tucker Carlson’s latest opinion piece once again makes me wish Family Guy was on any other network. Look, Fox, we both know this marriage isn’t working anymore. The sex is only once a year, I don’t get along with your mother, and well… I’ve been having an affair with NBC. This is certainly the case of biting the hand that feeds you, but it’s amazing and sad that MacFarlane lacked the insight to see a disconnect between his personal values and the values of the company which run his shows.

Thomas Geoghegan on that time I ran for Congress:

VIDEO Training cats to do tricks with dominoes.

To my delight, the South Park people are contemplating buying the Casa Bonita Mexican Restaurant. They used it as the setting for the hilarious Casa Bonita restaurant episode. Totally worth it. I was looking up a South Park clip and came across this gem. Here is Cartman Bra being interviewed by NPR interview Julie Rovner. Would like to see that full episode without paying, but can’t find a way! Wow, here’s a 1997 interview of Trey & Matt on South Park with Jay Leno and an outrageous trailer to their comedy movie Orgazmo (which is pre-South Park!)

To my amazement, I see that they made another sick comedy in college called Cannibal — the Musical. It’s available for free on Youtube. I’ll admit, it never occurred to me when I was in college that college students could make passable movies — maybe I would have tried to make a few myself! (Instead I was writing plays and stories in creative writing classes).

An interior designer imagines and reconstructs the spartan set for the Honeymooners TV show. She also draws inspiration from famous movie sets.

Don’t ask me how I surfed to it, but here are interviews with people who survived the Titanic. Here and here. “An iceberg? I’ve always wanted to do see one!” The most amazing was the inteview with Frank Prentice who dived from the top before it started sinking. Two more interviews here. 16 minute interview from 1960 here. Here’s a 50 minute audio recording by survivors.

IPCC 6 just hit the streets today. Here’s a 42 page Policymaker’s Summary PDF (which is surprisingly hard to find on the ipcc site). Carbon brief gives a very interesting deep dive into IPCC6 . In particular I was interested in climate sensitivity (aka, what is the effect of doubling CO2 over preindustrial levels?) IPCC AR6 report gives a central estimate 3.0C, with a likely range of 2.5-4C and a very likely range of 2-5C. (Likely = 66-100% and Very likely = 90-100%)

Here’s a succinct summary of IPCC6 and climate scientist Gavin Schmidt writes several responses and analyses here and here. According to a guest article, the best estimate of when 1.5ºC warming might be reached in the AR6 report is around 2034.5 (the year on which the 20-year period 2025-2044 is centred), with lots of wiggle room. (More symbolic than important is when the North Pole will first have an ice-free summer, which could be happening any year now).

Climate sensitivity is a vital scientific question, but even more vital is how quickly will we be able to reduce carbon emissions? (“we” meaning “the entire world.”) I am very pessimistic at the ability of our country (and even developing countries) to reduce emissions. It requires a lot of capital and a lot more planning and political will to do this. My prediction (based on not a lot of study) is that the world will underdeliver on its goal by a significant amount — leading to the possibility that we may end up tripling our emissions — an almost unthinkable possibility). As a result, there may be a need to do “negative emissions” (figuring out a mechanism to remove CO2 from the atmosphere). Technology Review has the lowdown about what negative emissions are all about the tall price they exact in the future.

See also Emily Atkin’s cynical take on responses to IPCC 6 (one of which was sponsored by Chevron).

I have to say, I am not particularly impressed by Biden’s infrastructure plan — which has been watered down. Frankly, I’m surprised that carbon fee and dividend hasn’t been a centerpiece of any climate change legislation.

Just for kicks I will google my name and see what comes up. My blogposts no longer show up at top; instead I see lots of obituaries for various Robert Nagles around the country — and 2 wedding announcements! Apparently I am married either to someone named Medora or Alicia, take your pick. Still no TikTok vids about me (although there is one for Robert NAUGLE). Several Robert Nagles are dentists and real estate agents, but my favorite is the item on RATEMYPROFESSORS: “Robert Nagle is the worst professor I have ever had in my academic career. He knows very little about his subject and will brag about his 10 years experience of teaching a class incorrectly. I would avoid him at all costs, even if it means waiting until the next semester to take this class,” and “This professor does not like women!” Hey, with praise like that, it’s no wonder that my namesakes across the country are kicking the bucket! Just to be on the safe side, maybe I should consult a psychologist who specializes in my ailment.

Had an argument with my mother about which kinds of plastics can be easily recycled. Here’s a great deep dive by NPR into how oil and gas companies have sold the myth that plastics can be recycled (when in fact only categories 1 and 2 are easily recycled). This 2020 Greenpeace report (PDF) covers the material in even greater detail. Some materials are recycled at relatively high levels: more than two-thirds of paper and about a third of aluminum. But for plastic, the rate is just eight percent. Another 16 percent is incinerated. The vast majority of plastic — that remaining 76 percent — ends up in landfills. Here’s a screenshot from a PBS Frontline investigation:

See   July 1-15 and August 1-15  (View All)

Miami Herald reporter Julie K Brown described how Kenneth Starr used his political connections to get the Trump DOJ to review Epstein’s case. Related: In 2018 David Brock (ex-conservative who runs Media Matters) talks about how Kavanaugh and others really hated Bill Clinton. The gang who was behind the Paula Jones lawsuit are the who’s who of Trump’s extremism.

Wow, I just checked my spam filter for something and noticed that in the last 2 weeks I have been pelted with junk email asking me to buy toenail clippers. What’s the deal? Maybe I buy some clippers once a decade (or two?). I can’t even remember the last time I used them. To the spammers who are are trying to lure me with the prospect of low-cost toenail clippers, maybe you should try a different product?

Related: Aaron Osborne defends single payer with lots of recent research. Here’s more research. Osborne has written some mythbusting articles: defending anti-poverty programs and understanding the effects of increasing the minimum wage

With regard to minimum wage, I use the livable wage calculator to figure out what income you need to meet the level needed to afford basic experiences. The biggest problem behind raising minimum wage is the propagation of the idea that there is a labor shortage and that companies have no choice but to raise wages. These stories arise because major companies are shooting off press releases about wage increases, but somehow these wage increases only seem to occur to a segment of the company’s workforce (and not everybody), plus this may apply to one national region but not the rest. It can be hard to figure out how low-paying retail jobs are, but in my experience, starting pay at these jobs tend to be lower than what these business articles are reporting. I live in a part of the country where wages are low to begin with, so that complicates things as well.

Related: low wages and the tip-based economy (2019).

One author points out why the opponents of raising minimum wage tend to win the argument at the end:

The claim that if wages go up, jobs go down isn’t a description of reality at all. Nor, in my opinion, does it reflect legitimate economics. It is a negotiating strategy. It is a scam, a con job, a threat—more precisely, it is an intimidation tactic masquerading as a legitimate economic theory. I believe this is where being a businessperson and not an economist leads to greater clarity. Very few economists have ever run a business or negotiated wages. But the first rule in the businessman’s handbook on wage negotiation and suppression is always, always, when they ask for a raise, threaten their jobs. It works like a charm, and has since the invention of capitalism. You see, the claim if wages go up, employment goes down isn’t made because it is true. It’s made because if people like me can get people like you to believe it is true, I’m going to get richer, and you are going to get poorer. The lower your wages are the higher my profits will be. It’s that simple.

I realize this is harsh, but I believe this claim is best understood as a way of subtly and legally threatening the economic, and hence, physical security of the most vulnerable people in our society. If you haven’t already lived through it yourself, imagine what life must be like for a typical minimum wage worker, barely hanging on, always a paycheck away from financial ruin and the economic abyss. And by abyss, think homelessness—think real hunger: not the hunger that comes from working through lunch or from starting a new diet, but from not having enough money in your pocket at the end of the week to buy food. Imagine seeing your own children go without the basics that all children need to succeed and to thrive. Imagine not having enough savings or credit to smooth over the rough patches; imagine not having a safety net, because your friends and family are as desperately poor as you. It must be terrifying, particularly if you have children, to be constantly threatened in this way.

Nick Hanauer, Democracy, (reprinted on PBS Newshour)

A recent roundup of reactions from climate science about all the weather events:

“The scientific community has done a really good job, projecting when we would get to like 1.2 degrees Celsius, which is about where we are now,” Kalmus said. “The community hasn’t done as good of a job projecting how bad climate impacts would be 1.2 degrees Celsius.”.. It’s already worse than what I imagined. I feel like the heat dome event in the Pacific Northwest moved up my sense of where we are at by about a decade, or even more,” said Kalmus. “I think a lot of my colleagues probably feel the same.

How to escape quicksand. (Starts at 1:10). TL;DR version is to put your hands on one side and twist the opposite leg to the side of you to gain enough momentum to get it above ground. That will make it easier when you do it with the second leg (although you may have to alternate a few times).

Larry David does a twisted tribute to Steve Martin at the Mark Twain awards.

Here’s a profile of Dr Mercola, a leading “COVID disinformer” according to the Biden Administration.

I am a giant fan of Eurovision — embarrassingly so, and I am delighted to see that Eurovision — which blocks a lot of stuff to US viewers is making available full shows of earlier years. It looks like these shows stay up only for a short time though. Currently the 1980 show is available to US viewers on Youtube. It is a lot less flashy, with more original language songs; I even heard Arabic from the Morocco performer (their first year).

I’ve started wearing a mask again — shazbut, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Probably the most shocking thing was ready the comment section in a NYT article about breakthrough infections and reading that a number of vaccinated people are reporting being infected and getting sick anyway. None of them are getting hospitalized or anything like that, but these people report being out of sorts for a week or more. The thing I really want to know is whether breakthrough infections are causing problems related to long COVID. That’s what keeps me up at night.

“An analysis by Media Matters found that the NBC, ABC, and CBS morning shows devoted 212 minutes to Bezos’ little jaunt. In comparison, those same shows spent 267 minutes covering climate all of last year.” (Source).

Nice interview with Mel Blanc — the “man with a 1000 voices.” This was on public access TV in 1979, but Dennis Tarden is a well-respected interviewer (who hails from Austin, no less).

It’s strange. I’m a heavy consumer of news, and yet these posts contains a small fraction of newsworthy stuff. Maybe it’s because I assume that certain news stories get ample attention. I’m just mentioning the things that don’t get mentioned elsewhere.

Here’s a report on Chinese censorship and Hollywood. Little by little the Chinese government has been taming Hollywood (and the videogame industry) to remove any speech which might offend the authoritarian Chinese government.

Biden must persuade Germany and Austria to stop the “Schroederization” of Europe by Anders Åslund and Benjamin L. Schmitt. Apparently, further German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has been paid by Putin/Gazprom to lobby Western Europe to have a massive gas pipeline from Russia to Western Europe. Germany has been trying to influence Russia through expanded trade, but the reverse has happened (also, it is contributing to climate change).

I’ve been shocked and horrified by the downfall of the Texas unemployment insurance system. I mentioned in a previous column that my unemployment was canceled inexplicably after the deep freeze in February, and the appeal process has just not taken place (noting that historically Texas has been very slow in handling appeals). Now it appears that the State of Texas claims that massive fraud is siphoning off unemployment funds from Texas. In a May 2021 piece by Jody Barr on KXAN, there are reports of many people’s benefits getting stalled because Texas Workforce claims that cybercriminals have been stealing 1 billion dollars from the agency. I am skeptical. All the accusations seem to come from Texas Workforce, very few arrests have been made, and the so-called evidence is the observable increase in unemployment claims. Perhaps fraud has increased; I don’t know. I have been waiting 5 months for the Texas Workforce to acknowledge that they seriously erred on my case. My case has nothing to do with identity theft or fraud, but I fear that it has been a victim of the agency’s obsession with rooting out fraud. Update: Wow, just realized that the agency also messed up on the accounting as well…par for the course.. Update 2: Well, at the end of August, they had the hearing and ruled in my favor (as I predicted). To my delight, apparently I was owed more money than initially expected, and it seems that I am eligible for 3 more months of unemployment — albeit with conditions. They are going to paperwork me to death. That’s okay because I’ve been close to getting some sort of job.

Annie Lowrey has written the definitive piece on this phenomenon: The Time Tax. She documents in excruciating detail how state governments set up meaningless rules and means tests to complicate aid programs. The aim and the result — is to discourage people from using the system in the way that was intended:

This is not easy to do, by design. The United States has no unified social security agency. Instead, federal, state, and local offices administer dozens of different programs with different rules and application processes. Some are direct-benefit programs; others are complicated tax expenditures. Some are entitlements, where everyone gets the benefit if they qualify; others are rationed benefits, where submitting an application means spinning a wheel and hoping for the best. Some benefits have easy online applications; others are old-fashioned paper nightmares. (And many digital systems are just as bad as the analog ones.) The Johns Hopkins political scientist Steven Teles has memorably described this system as a “kludgeocracy.”

Let’s take a tour d’horizon. The unemployment-insurance system was the primary bulwark against the economic ravages of the coronavirus recession, keeping the country’s finances afloat. It is, in fact, not a bulwark, but a patchwork of 53 unemployment-insurance systems, many of which are meant to frustrate users. Its designers’ goal was to “put as many kind-of pointless roadblocks along the way, so people just say, ‘Oh, the hell with it; I’m not going to do that,’” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis admitted during the pandemic. “It was definitely done in a way to lead to the least number of claims being paid out.” An estimated 9 million Americans left jobless by the pandemic never got a single unemployment payment.

Or consider the tentpoles of American assistance for working families: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps; the earned-income tax credit; and the child tax credit. Food stamps reach some 40 million Americans in 21 million households. In many states, applying for them involves a quick online request, a quick approval, and a quick turnaround to start getting benefits. But not always. SNAP is workfare, meaning that adult participants judged to be “able-bodied” need to log their work hours or demonstrate that they are looking for a job. Folks get thrown off the rolls constantly for, say, not having a functioning computer. (These work requirements do not boost employment, by the way.)

TEXAS 10,000+ COVID CASES TODAY: Shockingly, today’s numbers are approaching peak levels. It appears that Governor Abbott’s executive order prohibiting schools from requiring masks now appears short-sighted and even dangerous.

Paste magazines has some great pieces about sitcoms with some analysis. Here’s Greg Garcia (creator of My Name Is Earl) talks about how he wanted to end the series:

I had always had an ending to Earl and I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to see it happen. You’ve got a show about a guy with a list so not seeing him finish it is a bummer. But the truth is, he wasn’t ever going to finish the list. The basic idea of the ending was that while he was stuck on a really hard list item, he was going to start to get frustrated that he was never going to finish it. Then he runs into someone who had a list of their own and Earl was on it. They needed to make up for something bad they had done to Earl. He asks them where they got the idea of making a list and they tell him that someone came to them with a list and that person got the idea from someone else. Earl eventually realizes that his idea started a chain reaction of people with lists and that he’s finally put more good into the world than bad.

See also: a defense of Peggy Hill (on King of the Hill), an encomium to Columbo, and Third Rock from the Sun. FYI, I wrote a post about how to write a sitcom (still holds true today). In my alternate timeline I would have been a full time sitcom writer).

BRITISH COMEDY. The funny takes of British comic actress Flora Anderson (Twitter). What great calling cards! Below is Flora being a horse. Also, see Flora being the generic wife of movie hero and a sexy talking phone.

https://youtu.be/oyPvethCEpQ

Finally, I just realized that I have never mentioned having a Twitter account. Here’s my current twitter account @nagletx and in fact I abandoned my original twitter account @idiotprogrammer because it had too many letters. Fun Fact: I had actually run into the Twitter guy Evan Williams back before he had even started twitter (but was doing blogger). I exchanged a few casual words with him — he was the wunderkind at SXSW and he could care less who I was. I had sat next to him at one or two events. Then Twitter made its big premiere in March 2007 at South by Southwest. I got what it was about, but I could care less. (I did find it moderately useful at a local geek event where people were having a chat commentary about my talk via twitter. I really don’t engage on twitter at the moment — although I follow it more closely for lists which I use for special topics. Also I use a private list of 16 people which I check most. These are people on twitter who post interesting/heady stuff, rarely retweet and don’t post a lot of garbage. I guess you can what I’m reading/enjoying by looking at my LIKE tab (I mainly like things as a form of bookmarking).

Speaking of social media, although I’m no fan of Facebook, I’m happy with how I use it… I mix politics with personal stuff and pop culture stuff and self-promotion (a teensy bit). I grasped what FB was from the outset — its benefits and dangers. I also saw the privacy challenges it posed. I simplified things by just making all my posts public — the default setting is for only your friends (or friends of friends) to see something. FB, like Snapchat, is all about the ephemeral; it’s not really interested in helping you to create an archive of your thoughts or interactions. Indeed, search on Facebook is so incredibly clumsy that I download an offline copy of my posts for reference and of course sticks things onto this blog.

See   June 16-30 and July 16-30 (View All)

I’ve always been a fan of Robert Cialdini — a marketing professor whose book, Influence changed my life. I read it in Albania when I was a Peace Corps volunteer. In 2016 he did a sequel called Pre-Suasion — which was more academic. I’ve heard some of his talks which are on Youtube. Here’s a dynamite talk he gave about these ideas . Later, In 2015 he and linguist Steve Pinker gave a 2 part talk which is great and fun. Steve Pinker talks mainly about writing style (familiar stuff, but entertainingly told) and Robert Cialdini talks about how to use reciprocity in business situations. Cialdini actually is off his game for the first 10-15 minutes of the talk (he was not expressing himself well, but eventually he hit his stride — especially during the Q&A.

Here are the 2021 SXSW keynotes.

This tweet/thread from a veteran NYT financial reporter explains the significance of the charge that Trump.org “falsified business records.” EICHENWALD CONCLUDES: “given that those of us who covered his business for decades – back when he (Trump) was a democrat/reform party/whoever would have him – and always knew he was a crook, all I can say is, what the hell took so long? “

Beloved Houston comic store Third Planet sues neighboring hotel Crowne Plaza for allowing its guests to throw debris and yes — fire extinguishers off its balconies. The amazing part is that the lawsuit includes a comic book retelling of events. You can view/download the entire comic book here.

CARDIO EXERCISE TREAT: For about 5 years I would do various exercise DVD in my apartment. This vid by Denise Austin was always favorite. The cardio kickboxing and integrated strength training is pretty amazing between minutes 15-30. enjoy. This exercise uses an exercise stepper, which I used to use regularly. It’s a good tool, allowing you a greater variety of exercises. By the way, I really need to lose those Covid pounds, so I’m developing a new exercise routine. In 2006 I wrote a review page of exercise DVD’s — it still is relevant — indeed, many of the DVD’s can be bought for next-to-nothing or are on Youtube. I’ll mention my favorites (written 10 years ago!)

• Billy Blank’s Tae Bo Cardio Circuit 1 Tae Bo is boxing/kickboxing with an emphasis on cardio. It was started by Billy Blanks. This workout is really fast, not too complex and only 36 minutes. Highly Recommended. 
• Crunch Boot Camp Training with Sue Hitzman. Rigorous fast-paced workout with lots of weird moves. Some emphasis on upper body strength. I didn’t like the camerawork; spare me the quick cuts, I just want to follow the moves! Personality-wise, Hitzman is a little too tough for me, but she’s an effective trainer. I don’t love this workout (too many pushups!) but I used my entire body for this one. 
• Ultimate Fat Burner (Denise Austin). Austin is bubbly and chipper and always talking (“You can do it!”) The exercises aren’t that much fun, but they are well-organized and make for a great workout. Highly recommended, especially the circuit training. Also, is by far the best produced. I get exhausted very quickly from this, and my only complaint is that there is a bit too much emphasis on upper body stretch (biceps, etc). The exercise using the step bench is among my alltime favorites! Finally, the camera prominently show you the foot movements. Note: you need free weights and a step bench. Highly Recommended. (I own). Update (one year later). This still is my favorite video, but if you want to get a lot of mileage out of it, I would buy a sturdy step bench.

Here’s a random Youtube playlist from these exercise DVDs.

As someone trying to improve his exercise regimen while overweight and 55, I see several challenges: 1)boredom. Some of these routines are very monotonous. 2)limited floor space. At the moment I have very little floor space. I am essentially exercising in place and 3)I am more interested in cardio health rather than strength, though Denise Austin’s video does manage to do most.

HILARIOUS COURT ARGUMENTS. In December 2016 Supreme Court Justices (current and future) debate the wrongful death of Romeo & Juliet. Starts at 5:43. Elizabeth Prelogar (the primary advocate) is currently Biden’s acting solicitor general (whose primary duty is arguing before the Supreme Court). Also, sitting among the panel of judges is Kavanaugh (before he was nominated for the Supreme Court) and Ketanji Brown Jackson (a heavy favorite to be Biden’s pick for the next Supreme Court opening). Also present are Samuel Alito and other federal judges. Prelogar is very clever and witty and likeable — a really important quality for Solicitor General. If that gig doesn’t work out, she should try standup comedy.

See  June 1-15 and July 1-16  (View All)

Governor Abbott has mostly been driven by ideology and he’s overreached several times over the past year — even for a conservative-leaning state. I’m expecting at least a mild Democratic bounceback in 2022 and 2024. In contrast to 2018 (where TX Dems made significant inroads and Beto increased enthusiasm) , in 2020 Republicans kept their majority in the Texas legislature, and even made gains in congressional races. During COVID and the February blackouts, the governor basically was the problem, while county and local officials were earning respect from everybody. The part time TX legislature has been consumed with ideological bills — they are out of sync with what Texas has been going through.

When the subfreezing power outages occurred in February, Abbott immediately blamed the renewable energy industry. He has overruled cities and counties on practical issues related to COVID. He and Attorney General Paxton have joined several lawsuits against the federal government and Democrats, most of which he has lost. Abbott has passed laws restricting abortion, complicating voter rights and making it easy to carry guns, made countless executive orders and sided with right-wing crazies way too many times. Frankly, I lose track of all the awful things Abbott and his group have done. Now it appears that Abbott wants to spend $250 million on a Texas border wall. (Or maybe we don’t have the budget for that?)

Jon Schwarz: The GOP is the party of ideas, with two strong intellectual currents. The first is that Social Security and Medicare will inevitably lead to Stalinism, and the second is that Social Security and Medicare are Stalinism. (A later tweet says This tweet is actually out of date, the strongest intellectual current in the GOP today is that Social Security and Medicare are space lizard plots to steal your children and harvest their adrenochrome. (Googling, I see that adrenochrome is one of the Qanon talking points).

JOYCE CAROL OATES: that heart-sinking sensation when you type in your old faithful password & are told: “invalid.” worse yet, the stunning message: “you are locked out.” — poor Kafka, in all his paranoia, had not a clue what awaited in 2021.(Tweet)

For the record, I don’t like to embed tweets or even link to them.

RIP Ned Beatty. This American actor starred in the fantastic & hilarious Irish comic-biopic HEAR MY SONG about the long-missing Irish singer Josef Locke. You can rent it for $4 on Amazon. Amazingly, Beatty sang all the Locke songs in the movie -one of my alltime favorite movies! (I cued it to one of his songs). Here’s a clip of Beatty singing a Locke song. Favorite throwaway line: I’d rather be in jail than in love again…

John Oliver does a lowdown about summer heat in prisons. Apparently 70% of Texas prisons do not have AC — and Texas has already spent millions defending lawsuits. This is a scandal I’ve known about for a while. I have a family member in prison and he tells horror stories. Apparently even if the state spends money on fans on alternate ways to cool — these alternate methods don’t actually reduce temperature but merely reduce the perception of heat. For aging populations sustained period of raised temperature can aggravate chronic conditions.

Aside, I’m currently working on a new website for my publishing venture Personville Press. I’ve learned that WordPress has grown into a big monster. I’m actually changing my mind about whether to do WordPress and go back to installing Drupal (which has always been a big monster).

Study: The February power outages in Texas were primarily caused by failures in the fossil fuel infrastructure and specifically in one coal/natural gas plant within 20 miles of where I live. The study reports:

.. all major fuel sources except solar failed to meet ERCOT’s expectations during the February freeze, but natural gas was “responsible for nearly two-thirds of the total (electricity) deficit.”

“Cascading risks: Understanding the 2021 winter blackout in Texas,” 

In a 2020 piece by the environmental advocacy group Public Citizen, the WA Parish plant — the one which went completely offline in February is owned by NRG and is considered one of the largest polluters in Texas among stationary sources. This pollution is calculated to cost 178 deaths per year — making it among the deadliest industrial facilities in the US.

As it happens, another Fort Bend project, ACCIONA will provide 750 MW of renewable capacity in Texas. This is compared to 2700 MW total capacity of all the Parish power plants (Further proof that the primary problem isn’t fossil fuels that we aren’t building renewable energy plants fast enough!)

Here’s a different study analyzing the February outages with a summary table below:

Comments about this table:

1. It really is striking how little renewable energy was being generated at that time — compared to Gas and Coal.
2. Solar production more than doubled — although that may statistical noise.
3. In terms of actual generation, it’s clear that gas and coal underperformed, although that may simply be plant-dependent.
4. Coal and gas is said to be more reliable, but in fact, coal plants are frequently offline for maintenance during winter months. Natural gas is more likely to be on, but bad planning and weatherization probably was the major culprit.

Texans have already read that the entire Texas power grid was minutes away from a complete shutdown.

Katharine Hayhoe on how individuals avoid thinking about climate change.

We humans are really good at psychologically distancing ourselves from things that we think will matter in the future, but not now, from how much money we save for retirement, or how much we exercise, or don’t, or what we eat and what we shouldn’t.

And it’s same with climate change. It turns out, in the U.S., almost three-quarters of the people would say, oh, yes, climate change is real, it will affect future generations, it will affect plants and animals, it will affect people who live in countries far away.

But when you say, do you think it will affect you, the number drops precipitously to just over 40 percent. That gap is our biggest problem, not the gap of people who say it isn’t real, the gap of those of us who say is real, but we don’t think it matters.

PBS Newshour

Austin vs. Houston revisited in 2021 (by Evan Mitz). I enjoy these kinds of articles (and I wrote an Austin sucks piece a long ago). I know a lot about this subject. Here are my 2021 takes:

1. Houston restaurants are 10x better than Austin’s. No comparison. Austin’s are overpriced, limited and too crowded.
2. Houston’s traffic is just abominable. At least with Austin, there’s a decent chance you’re not going to be stuck in traffic on a particular day.
3. Houston still is run and supported by the fossil fuel industry. Sure, there’s the medical field, but mostly there are dying dinosaur industries which inhabit the skyscrapers.
4. Houston’s downtown culture is lively, but it takes forever to reach it.
5. Finding a job in Houston is way easier than finding one in Austin — just be prepared to drive 45-60 minutes to get to it.
6. Houston has a much better music scene, mainly because of its population. Anyone at SXSW or Austin City Limits eventually hits Houston. Miller Theatre has a lot of free outdoor shows, and you can catch some amazing things.
7. Houston is a lot more vulnerable to hurricanes and heat waves (and power outages). On the other hand, our water supply is in much better shape than Central Texas.
8. It is theoretically possible to rely mainly on public transit in Houston (though not easy). The new trains inside the loop have really revolutionized things. By contrast, Austin has bus coverage in several areas, but nothing like the extensive park and rides of Houston.
9. In terms of education and universities, University of Houston has been growing in overall reputation, and there are still distinguished graduate and professional programs (at Rice, UH, UT Health Science, Baylor, South Texas College of Law). UT-Austin might rank better nationally, but Rice has a better music school, UH has a better creative writing program.
10. Houston museums are fantastic and world-class.
11. Unlike Austin, Houston is still a place where you can make a decent living (and the work force is much more varied). The main challenge is that job sites are all over the map, and you’re constantly tempted by jobs which are 60 minutes away by car and 2 hours by bus. Houston has 669 square miles, while Austin is 271.

See  May 17-31 and June 16-30  (View All)

Egad, it is so annoying only having one monitor! (I’m transitioning computers and am using one for my old computer).

This tongue-in-cheek look at gas stoves reveals some unsettling truths. “Gas stoves emit a lot of the same pollutants that come from our car tailpipes in our home… Burning gas from our stoves is actually contributing 10% to our carbon emissions.” (says Brady Seals from Rocky Mountain Institute). Here’s the PDF of the report. Rocky Mountain Institute may not be a household name, but it was founded by Amory Lovins, who is a leading researcher into renewable energies.

I found some remarkable TV shows on the various streaming services: Undone, Kim’s Convenience (last season). Also watched earlier seasons for ground-breaking NBC series, Superstore.

SEX ROBOTS & COMEDY: Netflix’s Whitney Cummings does a 30 minute comedy routine about why having a sex robot wouldn’t be so bad — then she appears onstage with a sex robot of herself which she paid for. Hilarity ensues…

Last week CBS 60 minutes had a great segment about the health of the 90+ population and a medical study trying to learn from them. Among the insights: “Half of all children born today in the United States and Europe is going to reach their 103rd or 104th birthday.” according to neurologist Claudia Kawas. Another key insight: It’s hard to diagnose Alzheimer’s or dementia on the basis of brain scans. Some brain scans show lots of  beta amyloid (the alleged cause of Alzheimers) but no memory loss — and vice versa.