Week 4

TDB: "When he spoke of 'entitlement' last week, Iowa’s Speaker of the House Pat Grassley was not describing his dynastic ascent to political prominence.The grandson of U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley was talking about food stamps"

The Guardian: "Justice department alleges Google tried to 'eliminate' ad market rivals in lawsuit. The US justice department and eight states filed a lawsuit against Alphabet's Google on Tuesday over allegations that the company abused its dominance of the digital advertising business, according to a court document"

H2 Central: "Yosemite Clean Energy to Receive $1 Million from State of California for Forest Biomass to Hydrogen Projects"

Expert: "Copper shortage getting real.. Along with the usual applications, in construction wiring and plumbing, transportation, power transmission and communications, there is the added demand for copper in electric vehicles"

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Battery-electric tech and the electrification goal in general is an extremely bad idea; relies heavily on a fragile, non-scalable tech whose base input is limited.

"@Hypx@mastodon.social

EU Innovation Fund grants €108 million to RWE’s waste-to-hydrogen project FUREC"

"I wondered, who else out there had envisioned a smartphone back in the day [with n]o store, no cloud, no company tracking everything you do and every call you make? In early 2014, Blackberry was faltering. Microsoft phones didn't solve that problem. I thought back to the phones I had once known and loved, and settled on Nokia. And it turned out they did! They did build a smartphone!

The Nokia N9 was absolutely gorgeous (still is), completely enchanting and amazing, and fully functional. It won design awards right and left. It ran using Linux, so people who wanted to give it commands like a little computer could go right ahead. A far cry from the walled garden of Apple, or the user interfaces that controlled what you could and could not do on your own phone.

But it was late to market. Nokia sold to Microsoft, Microsoft canned the project, and that might have been the end of the story...

... except that the people who designed this beauty's operating system took the IP, started a new Finnish company called Jolla, and kept working on it to build a new generation of phones with the same concept, now called the Sailfish operating system. Data ownership, autonomy, no walled gardens, gesture-based interfaces, the works.

Meanwhile, the people who used the phone loved it so much that they wrote entire libraries of code to keep it working. In other words, they built their own app store. They rescripted the phone so it could talk to upgraded network towers. And when Sailfish came out, many of them started using Sailfish too, helping the community to grow and the company to iron out the bugs"

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Sailfish - could it be the third alternative mobile OS, after Android and iPhone?

New Atlas: "China launches 100-mph hydrogen/supercapacitor train.. The world's largest rail vehicle manufacturer has rolled out a zero-emissions train running on hydrogen fuel cells with a supercapacitor buffer. The four-car train is capable of 100 mph (160 km/h), making it the fastest hydrogen train to date"

CNBC: "[T]he CEO of energy firm AES offered up his take [on natgas and H2] 'Now, what we can start to do today is … start to blend it with green hydrogen... we’re running tests that you can blend it up to, say 20%, in existing turbines, and new turbines are coming out that can burn … much higher percentages'"

Jung_E, crazy dystopia.. ok scifi. South Korea is getting some game, fine work is coming outa there

A lot of their tech uses neural networks - these so-called AI techniques are known as "stochastic parrots" - useful for generating benignly amusing text, but useless in driving people around safely.

Sounds like fraud

The Guardian: "Tesla video promoting self-driving was staged, senior engineer testifies.. A 2016 video that Tesla used to promote its self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities like stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light that the system did not have, according to testimony by a senior engineer"

In the previous Iraq map the weird borders on the upper right are not a mapping error; there truly is an isolated bizarre little region Nakhchivan that is part of Azerbaijan at the same time not connected to it. Armenia divides them both; you think 'ARM can cut off transport btw the two countries at will' and they did that once back in 1988. As a result, this post says, Nakhchivan became more self-reliant etc etc. What a strange history and associated borders.

"@TheEuropeanNetwork@mstdn.social

Germany will join the new hydrogen pipeline project between Spain, Portugal and France. The project, called H2Med, will connect Portugal and Spain with France and now Germany to supply about two million tons of hydrogen annually, or about 10% of the European Union's hydrogen demand, by 2030" via Deutsche Welle

TR nemesis Kurdish PKK and sister org YPG are closer to PUK - one Talabani made a visit to Rojova (YPG stronghold in NE Syria). Barzanis are seen as too close to Ankara, as their poodle (which makes them the poodle to poodle's poodle).

KRG, Iraqi central gov also have conflicts; after KRG 2017 indep referandum central gov attacked KRG, took 20% of its land including Kirkuk - major oil production center.

The loss of Kirkuk then became a PUK-KDP sore spot; PUK reportedly left the fight, KDP was gung-ho, and lost. Major loss of face for KRG especially KDP. Papa Barzani resigned after that one.

Iraq Kurdish map again; two families Barzani / Talabani are feuding, one is based at Erbil the other at Suleymaniah, + sign is Kirkuk.

u.sm_plot_kurd()
plt.plot(44.36168251,35.469605,'+') 

Trouble in Kurdish regional gov (KRG) of Iraq. The two major parties in it, KDP, PUK are not getting along..

TASS: "The West may be heading for 'a catastrophic stalemate,' at best, for Ukraine, Sherelle Jacobs, head of the Online Comment at The Daily Telegraph, wrote on Monday night.

She views a decisive Russian breakthrough in spring as an alternative scenario. According to her, while Western elites assume that a victory for the Ukrainians 'must surely be around the corner,' the fact is that Ukraine is increasingly on the back foot"

If such a win did occur BTW the Russian state would cease to exist - and that's not going to happen.

It would be very difficult in the following year, or the one after that as well..

Newsweek: 'From a military standpoint, I still maintain that for this year it would be very, very difficult to militarily eject the Russian forces from...every inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine,' [CJCS] Milley said"

Manchin was on Cuck Todd, says Biden should have a lot of regrets about how he handled classified docs. ROFL. WH got burned.

Reuters: "Pipeline operators Gascade (WINT.UL) and Fluxys (FLUX.BR) are stepping up the pace on plans for a green hydrogen pipeline in the North Sea by applying to the European Commission to qualify for fast-track approvals and funding"

AU is a good scientist; I agree with his general stance on how fundamental science needs to be conducted. The Standard Model needs to go.

A. Unzicker is disappointed with America - his new book is called Make Physics Great Again, he is blaming sci culture in US for setting back fundamental research.

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Hindustan Times: "Russian oil is getting mixed in Singapore and then re-exported, sources say"

🤣 🤣

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Pimps Of Joytime - Take The L Train #music

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H2 Central: "Alkaline Fuel Cell Power Corp Announces Prototype Launch of Jupiter 1.0, a Powerful Fuel Cell System for Homes and Small Buildings..

The planet Jupiter is made up of roughly 90% hydrogen, and similarly, this PWWR fuel cell converts hydrogen to heat and electricity at approximately 90% efficiency. Jupiter 1.0 is built to supply power during peak demand periods and serves as a back-up when required for homes and small buildings...

Jupiter 1.0, requires fewer components compared to conventional fuel cells and also eliminates the need for expensive, precious metals"

Reuters: "Lula floats shared 'trading currency' during Argentina trip"

Reuters: "Brazil’s Lula fires army chief in wake of pro-Bolsonaro riots.. In the immediate aftermath of the riots, Lula said he suspected collusion by 'people in the armed forces'"

H2 Central: "Ecopetrol, the largest oil company in Colombia, has signed the hydrogen company H2B2.. for its green transition... H2B2 is confident that the hydrogen energy market will be worth $10 billion by 2030, with an increase in electrolyser installations in the coming years"

H2 Central: "Brazilian chemical maker Unigel said on Wednesday it will invest up to $1.5 billion in its complex in the state of Bahia to produce.. green hydrogen, the first in the country to do so on an industrial scale... The plant, located in the city of Camaçari, should have the first of three phases inaugurated by the end of 2023, expanding capacity until it achieves production of 100,000 tonnes of hydrogen by 2027, or 600,000 tonnes of one of its derivatives, ammonia"

ARkStorm looks like serious shit. Read some of the scenarios - dam

"@weatherwest@mastodon.social

The recent storm sequence in California--as damaging, disruptive, and (sadly) deadly as it was--is still nowhere near the severity level of plausible events we foresee in the ARkStorm scenarios. The risks are rising in a warming climate...and we need to prepare"

We could gauge the effectiveness of the vax (and the system delivering it) using the 1% method. Deaths in US are 1.11 million, 1.11 / (330*0.01) equals 0.33 meaning 67% effectiveness.

Will Dr. Luigi go on trial for possibly triggering this pandemic?

Some nasty effin thing this virus is..

That would be the optimistic scenario, a lower bound. If we assume overall mortality rate of 1%, the outcome could reach over 10 million. Assume with an half effective vax, the final number could be at about 5 mil.

NDTV: "China Lifting Covid Lockdown Could Kill Upto 2.1 Million People"

"ZeroAvia Achieves First Flight with Hydrogen-powered Regional Airliner" via @Hypx@mastodon.social

MHI has tech for pure NH3 based power plants too. So many options.. with some coal, or completely without coal.. Such are the benefits of a solid base tech.

H2 View: "Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is set to conduct a feasibility study for the introduction of ammonia co-firing at a coal-fired thermal power plant in Thailand, in pursuit of a decarbonising power production with hydrogen-based fuels"

Detailed birdeye view is my thing

"@FionaGrayPhD@aus.social

Fast Fashion Facts:

• We buy 60% more than we did in 2000 but each garment is kept for half as long.
• Of the billions of clothing items made each year, over half are thrown away.
• The fashion industry employs millions of people but only around 2% earn a living wage.
• 60% of clothes are made from synthetic fabrics derived from fossil fuels.
• The production of textiles produces almost 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 per year"

H2 Fuel News: "China has the most hydrogen stations of any country in the world"

Obviously, mining as a means to encourage server availability was an obscenely stupid idea caused waste of precious energy.

Open social media can provide the backdrop for fantastic net-centric apps to be developed. Bitcoin bribed miners with mined money reward so their machines provided other services to users. OSM servers are already available for socmed purposes anyway, will probably outnumber miner machines pretty soon, and on that processing power many services can be built.. Digital currency is only one example.

"@anildash@me.dm

Really clear to me that the new web of fediverse.. is moving very quickly towards something pretty amazing. As much promise as all the hype of “Web3”, but open, interoperable, and no ties to crypto scams. A lot of incredible things are going to be built across this surface area in the next few years"

AFP: "The planned H2Med hydrogen pipeline is to be extended to Germany"

CNBC: "'China cannot be out, China must be in': France says it's diverging with Washington on Beijing ties"

The Independent: "Putin ‘massing significant forces in Zaporizhzhia’"

The Independent: "Outrage as Iowa Republicans want to ban food stamp users from buying sliced cheese, white rice, or fresh meats"

H2 Fuel News: "Hydrogen fuel cell market to hit $26.7B by the end of the decade. New forecasts issued by Emergen Research predicted a CAGR of 22.8 percent until 2030"

H2 Central: "Gasunie And STORAG ETZEL Team up in Hydrogen Storage in The Etzel Caverns in Germany"

The Guardian: "Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest provider are worthless, analysis shows.. Investigation into Verra carbon standard finds most are ‘phantom credits’ and may worsen global heating"

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Latest, data from here

u.sw_border_encounter('2022-Oct/sbo-encounters-fy19-fy22.csv')

YMD
202209    227547.0
202210    164837.0
202211    174845.0
202212    179253.0
Name: Encounter Count, dtype: float64

H2 Central: "Spain – The Government Increases its Commitment to Hydrogen with New Aid for 74 Million Euros"

Sure not exactly "a good guy" but he was fighting commies for you, how else did ppl think he achieved all of that?

Well you sided with US, and now in case of "an event" you'd have to fight the Chinese.. A tough spot.

But daddy would've been proud (although he was sort of sold out by US in the end).

Arab News: "Philippines’ Marcos says South China Sea keeps him ‘up at night’"

Al Monitor: "America's prestigious Harvard University said Thursday it would offer a fellowship to a leading human rights advocate after an initial snub over his criticism of Israel sparked a backlash"

TCD: "One Texas factory will soon be using clean energy to turn water into fuel.. The new facility in Wilbarger County, Texas, is using a massive amount of wind and solar power to create vehicle fuel from [water]. Beyond bringing half a billion dollars in tax benefits to Texas.. [it] is estimated that the factory could help us avoid more than 55 million tons of... carbon pollution"

Politico.eu: "No German tanks for Ukraine until America sends its own, Scholz tells US lawmakers"

First Post: "Saudi Arabia to trade in Indian rupee? Kingdom says open to discussions on settlement in currencies other than dollar"

TASS: "Indian payment system RuPay can be used in trade with Russia — expert"

TASS: "Hungary blocks another EU tranche to finance military aid to Ukraine — Polish radio"

Al Jazeera: "Are the US and Europe uniting or drifting apart?.. Many European countries hesitate to adopt the same Ukraine policies advocated by Washington"