From the Daily Grist: Finally..."The Environmental Protection Agency today said it has determined that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a danger to public health and welfare." Now that we have got that all cleared up...what will the Obama administration do to keep the big machine going while also 'regulating' CO2 emissions? Time will tell.
Energy: "A single kilometer‐wide band of geosynchronous earth orbit experiences enough solar flux in one year (approximately 212 terawatt‐years) to nearly equal the amount of energy contained within all known recoverable conventional oil reserves on Earth today (approximately 250 TW‐yrs). " This comes from a 2007 Pentagon report by the National Security Space Office. I got turned onto it by good ol' Grist, who is not one to hide the fact that the company that wants to do this project, Solaren, is "a stealthy Southern California startup founded by veterans of key players in the military-industrial complex, is betting on space-based solar power. The company's first customer: Pacific Gas & Electric." California Loooove!
Also, surprise! Our mega-centralized and government pet media has been giving us the run-around....not the first or the last time!
"After 24 years and billions of dollars spent trying, there is still no operating coal power plant using 'clean coal' technology. 'How many such plants are there?' asked former Vice President Gore at a the Clinton Global Initiative last year. 'Zero. How many blueprints? Zero.'"
Déjà vu: Terence McKenna keeps coming into my life...don't click this next link unless you want to be exposed to some radical thought: Alien Dreamtime. You were warned...Now on to other more earthly/bodily items.
On the mind: I have been trying to wrap my head around politics in Latin America and am proud to say that I have begun to scrape, with a toothpick, at the bedrock that is knowledge. With that said, what I advocate and claim to care about and because I think that I understand is likely going to be misguided. Take it with a boulder of sodium chloride, will you?
Our smooth-talking Pres. has been bouncing about in Latin America, upsetting some here at home by actually having a friendlier and more open dialogue approach that is simply "un-American," and making headlines by being so cozy with Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chavez.
People in Mexico have asked that Obama renegotiate NAFTA. This will not likely happen, but the evidence exists that letting US corn overpower Mexico's corn does only harm to the people of Mexico. A complicated issue...some schools of thought advocate more international intervention to pull countries/economies out of poverty, while others offer evidence that this intervention is at the root of underdevelopment (p. 425-...).
The power-hungry center is fed by the struggling periphery....elites foster neoliberal tactics and play into the hands of the American empire...oh the drama!
Weekend event: The xth annual Smoke Hole trip is this weekend! Get yer boats, boots and bags and head on down the crick! Rampin' an' a-stampin', hoppin' an' a-hootin'!
Wild stuff: Click this drone and check out what else these plasti-men are doing...
Corey B. had best step up his fiddle playing because these robots don't need no rest or arm slings...but we need rest and, a veces, arm slings! Heal it up mon!
