Changes

KunstlerCast 342

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KunstlerCast 342

3/24/21l

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/120852504
Episode: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/kunstlercast/KunstlerCast_342.mp3

Hobbs Magaret is a regenerative cattle rancher in Central Oregon. Raised on the ranches of the Texas Panhandle and further educated at The University of Oregon, he has experienced two extremes of the contemporary American Experiment. Hobbs, his wife, and his daughter live in Sisters, Oregon, where they use regenerative and fossil fuel averse techniques to rehabilitate degraded ag land and sell beef directly to regional consumers. Visit his website at SistersCattleco.com and checkout his interesting videos at TikTok. The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger.

While I certainly thought James Howard Kunstler’s analysis of the election that was is kind of assine, the man is kind of critic our world needs as we plunge into the climate crisis while the politicians debate assine things as people keep dying from the COVID.

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On Roman calendar, the Ides occur on the 13th for most months, but it falls on 15th in March, May, July, and October. The Nones are 9 days before the Ides, and the Calends are first date of every month. Roman calendars count the days until the next Nones, Ides or Calends.

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While going to work or school in the darkness would kind of a drag, I wonder if it would reduce carbon emissions to go to year round daylight savings time ? 🌅

Right now, power demand is very low in early morning hours, but there is a lot of generation, especially from wind coming on top of all the base-load plants that can’t be shutdown when demand is low. An earlier start would mean that people would be turning their lights on earlier and ramping up heating and air conditioning earlier in the morning, when there is typically more of a surplus of electricity on the grid, especially in areas with a lot of wind power. It might be a good way to tame the evening ramp, when they most have to fire up the really dirty power plants to meet demand.
 
In 1974, they implemented national year-round daylight savings time. They weren’t wrong with year round daylight savings time when it came to regions with energy shortages in 1970s — at least from an energy conservation perspective. Maybe the 1965 black out wouldn’t have occurred, had it still been daylight savings time — and grid not heavily loaded when things started to go wildly out of control.
 
The 1965 black out occurred at 5:16 PM, at the peak of rush hour. It was a cold November evening, and with the time change, people had turned on their lights across New York, cranked up their electric heat, and the subways were going full-blast, all loading grid heavily compared to a few hours earlier. Had the sun still been out at 5:16 PM, the lighting load and heating load would have been a fair bit lower and fewer subway cars running, especially back then when more people worked 9-5 PM.
 
But it sure would make winter mornings very dark.

This is the third change of power in the White House during the social media era. 🖥

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This is the third change of power in the White House during the social media era. 🖥

While I refrain from posting anything political or commenting these days on social media, it’s interesting to read the views of my friends and colleagues on Facebook.

Some think it’s the greatest day ever. Others are horrified by the changes underway, their four years of progress undermined. Some are celebrating the new executive orders, boasting how proud they are to be an American with the new leadership in Washington. Others say, He’s Not MY President.

Rather predictable, I saw the opposite only four years ago. Whether you are heartened or saddened by today’s developments, you have to note that political fortunes are temporary and subject to change.

Whether you think it’s a time to embrace or refrain from embracing, whatever happens today is very fleeting in the grand scheme of things.

The Other America

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r. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1967 speech at Stanford. Here, he expounds on his nonviolent philosophy and methodology.

In this age of disorder and anger, I think his words are quite profound.

Women of Color Were Shut Out of Congress For Decades. Now They’re Transforming It. | FiveThirtyEight

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Women of Color Were Shut Out of Congress For Decades. Now They’re Transforming It. | FiveThirtyEight

The second is that a historic number of women of color — 49 in total, according to data collected by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University1 — will serve in the 117th Congress, including the first three Korean American women elected to Congress and the first Black women to represent Washington state and Missouri.