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Shipping profits during the pandemic

2023-06-29

"In 3 yrs from 2020 to 2022, the shipping industry generated as much profit as in previous six decades combined." Just incredible the way that the pandemic created ripples through different industries.

Wind and Solar generation are outpacing coal

2023-06-26

From Politico:

Wind and solar generated more electricity than coal through May, an E&E News review of federal data shows, marking the first time renewables have outpaced the former king of American power over a five-month period.

I believe two things are true at once: 1) we are not reducing emissions quickly enough; 2) the speed with which we are moving away from greenhouse gasses and towards electrification is underrated.

Smoking and obesity correlations

2023-06-26

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From Café Anne:

I've long suspected an inverse correlation between smoking rates and obesity rates. As society, it seems, we’ve merely swapped one distraction strategy for another in an effort to prevent the VOLCANO OF INNER PAIN from erupting into our everyday lives, haha!

The inverse correlation is nearly perfect. The percentage of people who smoke dropped from 42% in 1965 to about 12% today. Over the same period, the obesity rate climbed from 14% to 43%!

My conclusion? Symmetry is cool! Enjoy your sandwich!

The EV transition

2023-06-23

An analysis from Boston Consulting Group found that between 25 and 80 percent of gas stations nationwide could be unprofitable in 12 years — and that analysis was conducted in 2019, before a slate of new policies, including federal tax credits, were passed to promote electric vehicles.

From Grist.

It's not as simple as gas stations becoming charging centers because most people will charge at home (no one fills up their car with gas at home each night) and charging on the road takes longer and so is more likely to be coupled with things besides a convenience store.

Apparently repurposing the sites is easier said than done because of the contamination from the underground gas tanks.

Robert Oppenheimer learned Dutch in 6 weeks

2023-06-23

The Rest is History is doing Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, this week.

Here's a fact that blew my mind: he learned Dutch in just 6 weeks in order to give a technical lecture at a university in the Netherlands.

This makes me feel way less proud of the three years I've spent getting to A2 in German...