Category Archives: 3) Fast Crash

The case for a fast, rather than a slow one. Most societies crashed in 20 years or less. There has never been or will be again a crash like ours, where the world of 7 billion people became utterly dependent on a non-renewable source of energy — fossil fuels.

Spermageddon: Sperm is declining around the world

Posted on January 16, 2025 by

The rate sperm concentration is falling globally from samples collected from 1972 to 2000 (orange) and since 2000 (red) Source: Davies 2022 Preface. I’ve been seeing this issue in science news for years now. Scientific data has accumulated long enough … Continue reading →

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Who Killed the Electric Car & more importantly, the Electric Truck?

Posted on January 1, 2025 by

Preface. Who cares about electric cars? Civilization ends when trucks stop running. Trucks can’t run on batteries because they’re too heavy, with 63 times less energy density than diesel. If all U.S. transportation were to be electrified, the existing electric … Continue reading →

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Why towns have a hard time adding EV, solar, heat pumps

Posted on December 10, 2024 by

Preface.  This article from IEEE does a good job of explaining how and why it is incredibly expensive for cities to cope with with L2 chargers, EV, solar, and heat pumps by zeroing in on Palo Alto, where there are … Continue reading →

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Building a national super grid in America

Posted on December 3, 2024 by

Preface. Renewables are not evenly distributed.  Just 10 states have 80% of hydropower (Homeland Security 2011), 10 states produce 75% of wind power (EIA 2017), and 10 states produce 79% of solar power (CE 2020). With a national grid, instead … Continue reading →

Posted in Blackouts Electric Grid, Electric Grid, Electric Grid & EMP Electromagnetic Pulse, Electricity Infrastructure, National Super Grid, Solar, Vaclav Smil, Wind | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The conveyor belt may be slowing down — Yikes!

Posted on November 12, 2024 by

Preface. The conveyor belt (AMOC: Atlantic meridional overturning circulation) may be slowing down. If it stops, floods, increased sea level rise, and disturbed weather systems. Until recently the IPCC and other scientists didn’t think this might happen until 2300 or … Continue reading →

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New war and energy alliances over next resource wars

Posted on October 29, 2024 by

Preface. My greatest fear is nuclear war over the remaining resources on earth, since that has the potential of driving us extinct.  But with the end of oil and endless growth capitalism depends on, the world will return resource wars … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, Over Oil | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Book review of “Siege: Trump Under fire”

Posted on October 25, 2024 by

Preface.  Wolff’s book continues the mordant humor of Fire & Fury.  His books are the best, by far, of the dozens I’ve read about the Trump Administration.  There will never be any books as insightful because Wolff was given unprecedented … Continue reading →

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Why do people vote for Trump?

Posted on October 18, 2024 by

Preface. Before the election, it was widely known that Trump was a gangster who bragged about grabbing women’s asses, lied over 30,000 times during his term, went bankrupt 4 times, and much more. So how could people have voted for … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Politics | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Book review of “Pandemic Politics: The Deadly Toll of Partisanship in the Age of COVID”

Posted on October 15, 2024 by

Preface.  This is a book review of “Pandemic Politics” about the myriad ways Trump mishandled the covid-19 pandemic. With the 2024 election coming up, it is a good time to remember how spectacularly Trump failed in managing covid-19. In 2016 … Continue reading →

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The evolution of the Republican party from 1960 to 2024: from moderate democracy to extreme authoritarianism

Posted on October 12, 2024 by

Preface (long). Over time the planks grew more and more religious, stopped mentioning voting rights in 1980 as well as a war on regulations, stopped supporting the equal rights for women, could care less about abortion to being against it … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking and Scientific Literacy, Politics, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment