NickB79
NickB79's JournalJust a normal January day in Minnesota, 55F, sunny, me stacking firewood in a t-shirt and Crocs
Swatting at boxelder beetles and a yellowjacket wasp. And yelling at my hollyhocks and irises that it's not time to sprout yet, damn it!
Not a patch of snow left to be found.
This is really, really weird. It was colder, and we had more snow, on Halloween than the last day of January.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/01/31/winter-is-broken-record-high-reached-before-noon-in-the-twin-cities
How does one hypothetically establish a permanent ceasefire with Hamas left in power?
I'm asking for real answers from everyone calling for such a thing, because that part always seems to be glossed over. Let's say Israel fails at wiping out Hamas (good likelihood of that, IMO). How do you see a permanent ceasefire playing out in Gaza, if Hamas is left as the defacto government?
If your answer is free elections to remove them, I'd like to hear why you believe Hamas will be defeated democratically, and why they'd relinquish their current power peacefully.
Or, are we expecting Hamas to revoke their charter calling for the extermination of all Jews everywhere and suddenly start working to improve the lives of Palestinians instead of building more tunnel networks and rockets?
Will the current leadership be brought before the UN for their role in Oct 7?
What would be the punishment for potentially breaking the ceasefire? Would a multinational armed response from UN members be acceptable similar to the UN role in Bosnia in the 90's? Would armed UN soldiers patrol Gaza as a peacekeeping force? Would a single rocket attack be enough to qualify, even if the Iron Dome intercepted it?
Or would both sides cede land to establish a no-man's-land similar to the Korean DMZ?
If the goal is a truly PERMANENT ceasefire, these are just a few of the questions that need answers, IMO.
Electric truck development gets $131 million boost - sulfur is a winner
https://electrek.co/2024/01/24/electric-truck-development-gets-131-million-boost-sulfur-is-a-winner/The remaining $71 million is being split across 27 other projects, each focused on increasing driving range range, reducing battery costs, and advancing on-board EV charging systems and telematics. Among those projects, battery tech startups Lyten and Zeta Energy, as well as manufacturing company Coherent, stand out – because they’re working on lithium-sulfur batteries.
Each of the three companies received more than $3 million specifically to develop lithium-sulfur battery tech, which researchers at Argonne National Lab say could be more affordable to produce than ion-based batteries while also offering superior energy density to “conventional” li-ion batteries.
Despite the fact that numerous studies and at least one smart truck-maker have already written off hydrogen as a viable transport fuel, diesel engine manufacturers Cummins and Paccar were each awarded $3.5 million for R&D related to hydrogen internal combustion engines for heavy-duty vehicles.
Ford cuts F-150 Lightning production as EV demand softens
Source: Reuters
Jan 19 (Reuters) - Ford Motor (F.N), said on Friday it would reduce production of its F-150 Lightning pickup truck, as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has been lower than expected.
The No. 2 U.S. automaker said it would cut production at its Michigan Rouge Electric Vehicle Center to one shift starting April 1. In October, the automaker said it would temporarily cut one of three shifts at the Michigan plant that builds the electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/ford-reduce-f-150-lightning-production-2024-01-19/
I still maintain that a PHEV is the best path forward with trucks.
My 35-40 mpg hybrid Ford Maverick should arrive by July, because they're still badly backordered due to overwhelming demand.
Explosions reported near US Consulate in Iraq; Iran claims responsibility
Source: ABC News
Several explosions were reported near the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq, an Iraqi security source told ABC News.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps quickly took responsibility for the attacks, saying it was targeting the "headquarters of spies" and "anti-Iranian terrorist gatherings in parts of the region" with ballistic missiles.
Four people were killed, and six were injured in the attack, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council said.
There were no coalition forces or American forces killed in the bombing of Erbil, the Iraqi security source told ABC News.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/International/explosions-reported-us-consulate-iraq-iran-claims-responsibility/story?id=106390671
Today in London at the pro-Palestinian, but definitely NOT pro-Hamas, rally today
https://twitter.com/i/status/1746270282757644686Can we FINALLY drop the bullshit smokescreen that the pro-Palestinian protest movement isn't completely and utterly co-opted by Hamas, and fueled by raging antisemitism?
London protestors: "Yemen, Yemen make us proud, turn another ship around"
Looks like the pro-Palestinian movement has embraced the Houthi terrorists with open arms.
A fossil fuel plant is leaving Louisiana families with 'barely enough water for your toothbrush'
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/12/louisiana-water-crisis-fossil-fuel-plant-venture-global-lngBut all the while, an oil and gas company next door continued drawing millions of gallons of water from the municipal water supply, to construct one of the country’s largest fossil fuel projects ever built.
Public records obtained by the Guardian reveal that in some months between May and October of 2023, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Venture Global used up to a quarter of all water in Mazarac’s beleaguered district.
“We’re being told to conserve water,” resident Jordan Biggs said in September, “but Venture Global is getting to use all the water from our pumping stations to build cement for their big plant. And it’s just really disheartening.”
Building a massive fossil fuels export terminal, while the planet blows past 1.5C on its way to 3-4C in my daughter's lifetime.
A long time friend just posted this about the Houthi airstrikes on his Facebook page
I'm kind of shocked, frankly. We used to bitch about Trump together and both voted enthusiastically for Biden in 2020. He's Pakistani, and was terrified of a 2nd Trump term, to the point he was considering buying a gun for protection from MAGAt's. Now I feel like he's a totally different person than the one I thought I knew. He's a college educated, middle class engineer. He's brought his entire family to the US in the past 5 years, parents, brothers, sisters. He's smarter than this!
I almost posted a response that would have likely ended our friendship, but deleted it. I don't know what to think of him now, and it really sucks.
World's two largest coal consumers won't be weaning off the fossil fuel anytime soon
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/01/11/china-and-india-cant-wean-themselves-off-coal-anytime-soon.htmlThere are no signs of a slowdown, with the IEA saying coal consumption in India and Southeast Asia is projected to "grow significantly."
India's coal production rose to 893 million tons during the financial year ending March 2023, jumping nearly 15% from a year earlier. China's raw coal production from January to November in 2023 went up by 2.9% compared with the same period in 2022.
Demand for energy is still outpacing renewables installation.
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