Riding Brooklyn’s Electric Bus – TransitCenter

Riding Brooklyn’s Electric Bus – TransitCenter

Electric buses are trending. As the world burns, municipalities around the country are seeking ecologically-minded solutions to reduce fossil fuel consumption, and some cities are turning to the magic of electric buses. And, if civilization persists, predictions expect the number of electric buses in the world to triple by 2025.

I really look forward to riding and seeing CDTA's electric bus 🚍 fleet around. It's a new technology and there is still certain to be issues but I think electric buses are the future of urban transportation. The technology needs to be continued to be refined and infrastructure built but now is the time to do it. 

Reparations, systemic racism, and white Democrats’ new racial liberalism – Vox

Reparations, systemic racism, and white Democrats’ new racial liberalism – Vox

Pollsters began to see a rapid, sustained change. White Democrats suddenly started expressing dramatically higher levels of concern about racial inequality and discrimination, while showing greater enthusiasm for racial diversity and immigration. (While political disputes around race are often found under the same umbrella as gender and sexual orientation, where attitudes are also shifting, the relatively recent, relatively sudden change that constitutes the Great Awokening is fundamentally about race and its relationship to national identity.)

There’s also a certain paradox to the Awokening. As white liberals became more vocal about racial inequality, more racially conservative Democrats left the party and helped power Donald Trump’s electoral victory. This backlash gives the impression that there’s a surging tide of white racism in America.

But just as slavery was not new during the pre-Civil War period, there’s absolutely nothing new about white racism as a force in American politics.  Desmond-Harris wrote in 2016 that Trump was “refreshing” not just “to people who share his views” but “to people who have always known that views like this exist.”

Trump has made white racial resentment more visible than it was before, but at the same time, white liberals have become much more attuned to racism — seeing more of it not necessarily because the world has changed but because their own attitudes toward longstanding features of it have changed.

Vanderwhacker

I was thinking the other day, it’s been a long time since I camped and spent much time in the Vanderwhacker Wild Forest. From the Vanderwhacker Mountain Firetower Trail to Lester Flow to just camping along one of the many roads up there, much can be done at weekend up there.

Another View of Vanderwhacker Brook Campsite

The last time I was up there was in May 2013, when I camped off of Northwoods Club Road and hike down to the gorge and paddled around Huntley Pond. That was fun, but I think if I go back I’d rather do Vanderwhacker Mountain and camp off of Vanderwhacker Road.

Open Window

I’ve kind of avoided going back up there, as it’s a pretty long trip and involves hitting rush hour traffic on the Northway,Β but I think it would be a good adventure, on a nice summer weekend, not too hot once the roads get harder, because often Vanderwhacker Road aka Moose Club Road is very soft.

North from Aiden Lair on NY 28

The Effects of Changes to Marine Fuel Sulfur Limits in 2020 on Energy Markets

The Effects of Changes to Marine Fuel Sulfur Limits in 2020 on Energy Markets

With a planned effective date of January 1, 2020, the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) new regulations (IMO 2020) limit the sulfur content in marine fuels that ocean-going vessels use to 0.5% by weight, a reduction from the previous limit of 3.5% established in 2012. The IMO adopted the plan for this policy change in 2008, and in 2016 reaffirmed an implementation date of 2020. The change in sulfur limits has wide-ranging repercussions for the global refining and shipping industries as well for petroleum supply, demand, trade flows, and prices. The shipping and refining industries have already begun making preparations and investments to varying degrees to accommodate IMO 2020 regulations. As the implementation date for the 0.5% sulfur cap approaches, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects that shifts in petroleum product pricing may begin as early as mid-to-late 2019. EIA anticipates that the effects on petroleum prices will be most acute in 2020, and the effects on prices will be moderate after that. However, the regulations will affect petroleum supply, demand, and trade flows on a more long-term basis.

What Does It Mean To Be A Millionaire? – Planet Money, NPR

What Does It Mean To Be A Millionaire? – Planet Money, NPR

Only one in every 400 U.S. households makes more than $1 million a year. But one out of every 15 U.S. households has at least $1 million in assets. (This measure includes things like stocks, bonds and investment properties, but it doesn't count equity in the home you live in.)

So shifting the meaning of the word away from assets and toward annual income is effectively redefining "millionaire" up the economic ladder.

That makes sense, given that a casual meaning of millionaire is "any very rich person" — and having $1 million in the bank doesn't make you nearly as rich as it used to.

Even 50 years ago, $1 million was worth a lot more than today: In 1961, $1 million had the same buying power as $7.5 million today. And the use of millionaire goes back hundreds of years.

So to convey the traditional meaning of the word millionaire, we'd need a word that means, say, "someone with $10 million in assets." But "decamillionaire" just doesn't roll off the tongue.