Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - April 8th
Throughout history, controlling trade routes has been an important part of opening the world. Through various large companies and through government action, routes opened and people benefited - from the sellers to the buyers to the people and companies that facilitate the trade.
What was the Silk Road? A trade route. What of Marco Polo and other early traders? They looked to open trade.
The new world opened trade routes that now needed military ships to protect these routes. (And if you think about it, the stamp act, the tea party, and other pre-revolutionary war actions were fueled by this trade being unfavorable to the colonists)
The Panama Canal opened as a means to make trading with Asia easier.
Germany looked to disrupt trade routes in order to further their goals of European domination.
Oil and natural gas are always commodities that travel along some routes to literally fuel our lives.
In the early 20th century, wealthy industrialists made their mark, too. They looked to own certain passages, owned shipping companies, harbors and ports, and then sought to make easier ways for goods to be delivered.
And here we are in the 21st century and it's playing out again, and still.
Putin took Crimea and is still trying to take Ukraine. Why? At least in part because there are trade routes and ports to control.
And that brings us around to the topic at hand: Panama and Greenland
Why does T-rump want the Panama Canal? Because it is still a vital part of trade with Asia. And of course the US no longer controls the canal, and several other nations are working to create a new shipping channel through part of Panama to bypass the old canal. So there's money to be made that we are missing out on.
Funny enough, some of these venture capital companies now own a lot of ports that are useful in the area, but they could be even more profitable if they had a "friendly" agreement with the owners of the canal.
And then there's Greenland. It seems illogical that the US would show such great interest in it.
Except that with climate change comes melting ice, meaning that new shipping channels are starting to open much further north than they ever could have. And Greenland would be part of the shipping channel, a place where goods could be held before shipping to the Americas or other places further south.
And there's your proverbial killing two birds with one stone. Saying climate change isn't real while using it to your advantage to increase potential profits, all the while acting like 20th century robber barons, T-rump stands to reshape global trade. And meanwhile he can take any natural resources he wants from Greenland.
And he and his allies get rich.
It's so 19th and early 20th century diabolical. But in the great magicians trick, pay no attention to that. DEI! That's what we need to focus on!
Sigh. People generally need to wake up and pay more attention.
===
By the way, $100 billion divided by 300 million people means, on average, we will be spending $333 more a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it disproportionately skews down to lower income people, where the income is smaller and it takes a larger bite out of what people have already budgeted. |
Citing egg and dairy shortages over the holidays as an example, Buechel warned: "We're going to see that with more products within our grocery stores." Buechel said it's critical that customers understand what's happening to food supply chains as warming temperatures cause extreme weather events to become more intense and frequent. According to Bayer's 2024 Farmer Voice Survey, more than 60% reported "significant revenue loss" due to adverse weather over the past several years. "We have to bring some of these things to broader awareness so customers know these things are happening, which can tie back to climate change," he said. |
And of course, he's right. Here's another example of how the food supply (rice, in this instance) is being disrupted by climate change.
And here is a second example about orange crops being disrupted by climate change, and disease. And how the brand Tropicana may have to file for bankruptcy as a result of these (and some other) factors.
This is a clear, concise, and rational explanation by Neil Degras Tyson, that counters the salacious headlines. In short: we will be able to accurately predict what will happen soon-ish as the asteroid makes its way through the galaxy - thanks to science! And if it were to hit us, it's most likely to land in the ocean and have little to no impact. So when you hear the breathless report or read the all caps doomsday headlines, stop and think about it. |
Divya is a grad student at Penn State. Her graduate advisor challenged her to solve a problem. There's a supposed optimum solution for a rotator's movement., which was proposed by an aerodynamic engineer in Britain - but which appeared to be incomplete. After poring over the math and applying some scientific curiosity, she came up with a solution that makes rotation more efficient. And this finding can be applied to many things, but wind turbines will benefit directly. "I created an addendum to Glauert's problem which determines the optimal aerodynamic performance of a wind turbine by solving for the ideal flow conditions for a turbine in order to maximize its power output," As always, I remind you to always challenge the paradigm and consider that a theory is based on what we know and is observable - but a theory can always be adapted when we learn more. Scientific curiosity for the win! |
CrunchLabs was able to go inside Disney imagineering's labs and show us around! You can see many of the things they are working on. It's wicked cool. From a personal standpoint, this was always my dream job …. So it's really fun to take a peek at what they're doing. And I do appreciate that several imagineers remind kids that they can create the future through imagineering, engineering, or simply being creative. |
|
Dartsolar has unveiled its latest 2,000-watt, folding solar roof rack for any electric vehicle, adding up to 40 miles of range for free per day.
The concept is interesting. And it makes some amount of sense.
It's just a little early to get into this technology. A whole day of charging for about 40 miles? And the cost is near $2k
We're on the cusp of something amazing. But not quite there yet.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dartsolar-prototypes-2-000-watt-solar-charging-roof-rack-for-EVs.961709.0.html
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dartsolar-prototypes-2-000-watt-solar-charging-roof-rack-for-EVs.961709.0.html
Bonus item: Here's a story about an anonymous social media post related to some college girl; it went viral and the story even appeared on a national show.
Except it's all made up. And do I even need to mention how her life got upended. What is wrong with us?!
Comments
Post a Comment