Month: March 2025

The Green Energy “Transition”

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Here’s an excellent article that takes an objective approach to energy policy.  It looks at energy sources as an historical phenomenon.  One of my favorite quotes is, “We find a useful referee in this war of words with the recently released Eye on the Market 15th Annual Energy Paper by Michael Cembalest, J. P. Morgan’s chairman of market and investment strategy. As this 70-slide, deep-dive report pointedly notes, “after $9 trillion globally over the last decade spent on wind, solar, electric vehicles, energy storage, electrified heat and power grids, the renewable transition is still a linear one; the renewable share of final energy consumption is slowly advancing at 0.3%–0.6% per year [emphasis added].” One does not need a mathematics degree to understand that such anemic growth rates are not the hallmarks of an “unstoppable” juggernaut. Hence, Cembalest’s bottom line: “Growth in fossil fuel consumption is slowing but no clear sign of a peak on a global basis.” That is to say, no “energy transition” is in sight.”

I like a business analyst that has a rye sense of humor; “an unstoppable juggernaut.”  The Germans being the hyper-obedient victims of their past behavior have gone down the green road with both feet.  They shut down their nuclear power plants and without Russian gas their economy has been crushed.  They don’t have enough heating energy for their homes and they can’t run their heavy industries like auto manufacturing and chemical synthesis without fossil fuels.  I wonder if they were smart enough to leave the nuke plants intact just in case they came to their senses.  Nah, they’re too smart to have left themselves a emergency exit.  I’ll bet they knocked them down.

The gist of the essay is that there’s never a transition from one energy source to the next.  The old one keeps on at the same lever or even increases.  Eventually an even more productive successor just step changes itself into prominence.  Human muscle didn’t disappear when animals were domesticated.  Wind power didn’t eliminate oxen.  Neither did steam.  And steam still powers many applications even though fossil fuels became predominant.  And one day oil and gas will be overshadowed by nuclear or geothermal or whatever larger source is engineered.  We want more power not less.  That’s the lesson.

Guest Contributor – Milo Mindbender – 23MAR2025 – The Vote

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I am of the belief that voting is one of only two times the government actually asks for your opinion, the other being jury duty. If you don’t vote you shouldn’t bitch about what the government does, since you chose not to express any of your ideas.
I also do not believe that the franchise should be free to all. If you are not a taxpayer, but are voting you are asking the public to cash checks you have no financial standing in. By limiting the franchise to tax payers you reduce the influence of those who do not contribute. I can hear the gnashing of dentures now “What about the retirees?”, they earned the franchise during their working years and should retain it in their “Golden Years”, maybe establish something similar to the 40 quarters to be eligible for SSI, require 3 years of being a net tax payer in order to establish the franchise right. Make everyone “Get some skin in the game” to quote a former President.

Bridging the Generations (Part 3)

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Sorry I was missing from the site most of the day but today was a grandson visiting day here at the Compound.  Tertius (the third) is currently twelve years old.  And that works out because I can still keep up with him in a baseball catch and shooting pool without looking too feeble.  Against all odds (the recent weather forecast) the sun was out and it was about fifty degrees.  And after two half-hour catches, I can proudly say my right shoulder and elbow are both reasonably intact.

Camera Girl provided the requested bill of fare (spaghetti and meatballs, cookies and cream ice cream, lemonade) and I provided the requested cinematic presentation (extended version of “The Two Towers).  The conversation was limited to an in depth discussion of how Elrond and Aragorn could be related, his current progress in school band (baritone horn) and the trade-off between a lot of snow (which he likes) and not getting out of school until late June (which he is against).  I tried introducing the question of dark matter but I didn’t seem to spark his imagination with it.  Probably needs some background in physics first.  I guess seventh grade science isn’t that advanced.

I’m happy to find that we have maintained good relations and I recognize several of my traits in him (the poor kid) and am highly pleased that we both enjoy a baseball catch as a good way to pass time and get a little exercise.  Now, if he were sixteen, I’d probably be too old.  And come to think of it sixteen-year-olds have other interests than playing sports with old fogeys.   But currently I can throw it far enough and fast enough to keep him interested in the game.  And it’s actually good exercise for me too.

And at 6:30 pm I drove him home to his parents and told Camera Girl that all is right with the world and we must have done something right to have such nice grandkids.  To be honest, she probably did something right.  I’m just born lucky and hang around with the right people.

So, I checked the news to see what I missed today and so far, I don’t see anything new.  Trump, blah, blah, blah.  Musk, blah, blah, blah.  Resist, resist, resist.  Rinse, repeat.

I was glad to see there was a fair amount of interest in the Heinlein post.  I figure a lot of folks from our generation were fans back in the day of RAH.  I’ll say that reading his stories gave me an interest in space and when the time came to think of engineering as a profession, his stories made it seem more interesting than it might have without his influence.  Of course, he didn’t warn me enough about how stupid everyone in the executive suite would be.  But maybe it was a different time.

So now we have to prepare for our visit from Quartus (the fourth) in the next couple of weeks.  We have to nail down the menu.  I already know his choice in movies.  He’s going to demand at least a triple feature of Godzilla movies (Lord help me).  As far as sports it may be something esoteric.  Sometimes the kids have toys like tops or yo-yos or other less recognizable geegaws.  But now is the time to go through the research stage so that the actual event goes smoothly.  Who knows?  Maybe bowling or laser tag will be on the agenda.  Well, I better rest up.

Prancing Hippies Found Liable for $667 Million to Pipeline Company

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Greenpeace that ever annoying coalition of environmental dunderheads and nihilists has been found liable for their part in fomenting violent, destructive activities associated with a pipeline that was being constructed in North Dakota.

Add this enormous fine on top of the disruption to access to taxpayer money that DOGE is currently providing and it sounds to me that a lot of grimy, smelly hippies will be quite a bit poorer and disorganized for the foreseeable future.

Whales, polar bears and penguins, better start watching your backs.  You’re on your own.  The eco-terrorists have lost their piggybank.

Short Stories of Robert A. Heinlein – A Short Discussion

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For some unknown reason today, I was thinking of Heinlein’s short stories.  Heinlein was probably as well known for his short stories as for his novels.  I guess my first exposure to this part of his work was when I got a copy of the Green Hills of Earth.  And even as a dopey kid I could tell that Heinlein’s stories had a more polished and professional feel to them than many of his contemporaries.  His stories of the early days of human space flight sounded as if he had been there.  Maybe it was his engineering background.  He made something like a lunar construction site sound not only plausible but almost mundane.  Dealing with the pressure loss from a moonquake (“Gentlemen, Be Seated!”) sounded like something that you would be reading about in a newspaper story someday soon.

One that captured some of the consequences of subjecting humans to the rigors of Heinlein’s “torch ship” technology was “Skylift.”  A pilot runs a virtual suicide mission to reach Pluto with medical supplies in time to save the inhabitants of a research station from a plague.  Surviving multiple g’s of acceleration for an extended period is highlighted in this adventure story.

Of course, some of his short stories were of an entirely different sort.  One somewhat tongue in cheek story (“And He Built a Crooked House”) purports to describe what might happen if an architect built a house in the shape of an unfolded tesseract and then a California earthquake strikes and folds it up.  Very ridiculous but I think quite entertaining.

Then there’s one that could have been used for a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode (“They”).  A case of paranoid delusion but with a fun twist.

And of course, it wouldn’t be Heinlein without his tribute to robber barons in space, Delos David “D. D.” Harriman and his dream of putting a man on the moon (“The Man Who Sold the Moon“) and then his tragic finale (“Requiem“) when he tried to go there himself.  I always thought it was a nice touch using Robert Louis Stevenson’s epitaph for Harriman.

Under the wide and starry sky

Dig the grave and let me lie:

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I laid me down with a will!

 

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies where he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

 

I picked six of the stories I think of as vintage Heinlein.  I probably could include another dozen if I wanted to make this post overly long.  But I’ve included the list of Heinlein’s stories in case anyone wanted to pick their favorites for the comments section.  Enjoy.

All You Zombies Elsewhen Let There Be Light My Object All Sublime Solution Unsatisfactory
And He Built a Crooked House Free Men Life-Line Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon Space Jockey
A Bathroom of Her Own Future History Logic of Empire Ordeal in Space A Tenderfoot in Space
Beyond Doubt Gentlemen, Be Seated! The Long Watch Our Fair City They
The Black Pits of Luna Goldfish Bowl Lost Legacy Poor Daddy Waldo
Blowups Happen The Green Hills of Earth Magic, Inc. Project Nightmare Water Is for Washing
By His Bootstraps Gulf The Man Who Sold the Moon Requiem —We Also Walk Dogs
Columbus Was a Dope “If This Goes On—” The Man Who Traveled in Elephants The Roads Must Roll The Year of the Jackpot
Coventry (short story) It’s Great to Be Back! The Menace from Earth Searchlight
Delilah and the Space Rigger Jerry Was a Man Misfit Sky Lift

 

To Be or Not to Be a Barbarian

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Just when I think Leftists can’t get any more un-American they say, “Hold my soy latte” and show us just how miserably wretched they truly are.  Up here in New England one of the states (it doesn’t matter which one) is debating a bill to mandate 100% voting turnout for all elections.

Now I don’t know the details.  I don’t know how they’ll guarantee that the dying and the late-stage dementia patients are forced to vote.  I’m guessing if you don’t show up the ballot gets filled out for you by the Secretary of State.  I think they’re calling it the 100% Democracy Bill or something brilliant like that.

This sounds like a joke from our side; just a way to make fun of the leftist tendency to dictate behavior for “people’s own good” but this is actual legislation that’s currently under debate.  Actual politicians in this part of the country think this is consistent with the American constitution.  Well, all I can say is these people are insane.

But they’re also running the show up here.  The insanity is baked deep into everything they think and do.  They don’t realize how this looks to people on the outside.  This is so close to North Korea and Sadaam’s Iraq where “free elections” end up with the dear leaders garnishing >99% of the vote every single time.

Well, that’s enough about that.

I was thinking today about the definition of literary science fiction.  I guess it’s any science fiction that has enough character development and enough verisimilitude to the way real people act and talk and feel to convince “serious” literary critics that your story is literature and not entertainment.  I guess it has to be in some sense “real.”

Unfortunately, I understand that what it’s mostly become is racial and sexual grievance screeds very unconvincingly disguised as science fiction.  So outside of a specific population of people primarily dedicated to reading such stuff it’s not going to very interesting to most of the human race.

But putting this political sub-genre aside what is the difference between genre fiction like science fiction and fantasy and actual literary fiction?

Well, I think that’s still quite subjective but I get the point of some of the criticism of some genre fiction.  The story can be so stereotyped that the action feels cartoonish, the characters are one dimensional and the dialog is completely predictable.  I can think of some pulp stuff that seems that way now.  But by the same token, there are literary “masterpieces” that have long stretches of boring plot where nothing much happens.  And even the most widely hailed protagonists can have whole chapters where the story drags and the dialog is meh.

So, what’s the calculation?  Can a pulp story have 95% of the story composed of space opera and still be “literature” if the author gives the hero a scene full of heartbreaking humanity and emotional conflict?  Sure, we’re not expecting Conan the Barbarian to break into a Shakespearian soliloquy when one of his comrades is skewered by a neolithic monster.  But if you write a story that has an interesting plot surely there is no shame in trying to make, some of the characters at least, recognizably and honestly human.

Now, I’m not thinking about Hamlet showing up in any of my stories.  But Macbeth might as well be a medieval urban fantasy story.  It has witches and magic and ghosts.  Just because it’s in iambic pentameter and has “thou” and “thee” scattered around in it doesn’t make it any less a crime drama.  So, who’s to say that a genre novel can’t be legitimate literature?

Just something I was thinking about.