Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Automotive Gridlock

A key point of the striking auto workers is concern over the push to all-electric cars. GM sure looks stupid for killing, and literally destroying, the EV1.

My concern about, and hope for, electric cars is, they could end up being an interim solution, like compact fluorescent lights were on the way to LED. CF was a mistake, leaving us with a lot of mercury to worry about. It would have been better to wait for LED, the way the decision was made to wait for digital HDTV to be ready, rather than approving analog HDTV. The battery problem is far from being solved, and with no essential breakthroughs in applied physics on the horizon it probably never will be.

There is also the essential question of whether or not the electric grid(s) can meet the charging demands of all those cars. The time it takes to charge a car battery means people will be lingering for much longer at highway rest stops, leading to serious congestion problems, as well as longer travel times.

Offering rest stop swap-outs rather than charging, as I’ve seen proposed, will never work. People won’t risk losing their expensive new battery for an old, defective unit. So we’re stuck waiting for a ubiquitous network of well-maintained charging stations.

Until hydrogen or refined sea water can be used reliably as fuel, I don’t see myself going all-electric. My next and possibly last car, that I expect to buy sometime in 2027, will be a hybrid, if that’s still available as an option.

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss – Literally

Arlo & Janis, August 15, 2022

Rep. Nancy Pelosi is running for reelection

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/08/1198438410/nancy-pelosi-running-reelection

As a registered Democrat, and being closer to 70 than I am to 60, I say to 83-year-old Nancy Pelosi, “NO, a thousand times NO!”

This bid for reelection by Pelosi is pure egotistical hubris. Her announcement shows a lack of judgment that is, in itself, proof that she should retire at the end of this term. Dianne Feinstein should quit immediately, as should Mitch McConnell. For their own sake, as well as the nation’s. RBG should have quit the Supreme Court, but instead she died while seated on the bench, and look at how that turned out.

They’re all too frickin’ old for national public office, including Donald and Joe. The only concern I would have with Biden dropping out of the race is that would most likely make Kamala the candidate. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer should throw her hat into the ring. Is that still an expression?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/24/how-gretchen-whitmer-made-michigan-a-democratic-stronghold

Take a look at this graph of United States births, highlighting the Baby Boom. It starts in 1946, the year Trump was born. I’ve never understood why it was supposed to have ended in 1964. My opinion is, the boom was over when the number of births matched ’46, which happened in ’61, when Obama was born.

Post-war American couples get down to business in the bedroom!

There has never been a president who was born in the 1950’s, the Baby Boom decade, and at this point it’s almost a certainty there never will be. What we have now is Democratic and Republican leadership that is too old to continue leading to the end of the decade, but refusing to accept that. What’s keeping these politicians going is competition amongst themselves, fueled by their unremitting egos. Or perhaps it’s the simple fear of death.

Just as in families, where children must take over for their elderly parents, younger elected officials need to exert more pressure on senior politicians until they see the harm they are causing by refusing to retire.

By the way, the graph also shows why immigrants are the solution to keeping Social Security going in the long term.

LATE NIGHT ASSEMBLE!

I miss seeing Stephen Colbert, and I see a reason for late night hosts to be concerned. The longer the striking writers continue to walk the picket line, the tougher it’s going to be to get viewers back in the routine of watching late night shows. I don’t have a Spotify account, but if I did I’d listen to Strike Force Five.

https://youtu.be/fYc0QpQHA6o?si=gLqLCUe_p2MgUATX

“Wherever else you get your podcasts” isn’t correct, because if Strike Force Five were available on TuneIn, and it isn’t, I’d be able to embed a player here. Spotify doesn’t allow that, which is one reason why I don’t have a Spotify account.

The problem for striking writers and actors is the massive amount of content that’s available for streaming. For now, viewers aren’t feeling a loss of new programming.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/12/business/media/hollywood-strikes-old-shows.html

DYOR SCAM

“Do Your Own Research” is a favorite slogan of conspiracy theory nuts. It was used during the pandemic to promote hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. Valid research leads to the conclusion they are not treatments for Covid-19. DYOR has found a home in cryptocurrency circles.

At my high school reunion last night, a guy from my brother’s graduating class was pitching crypto. He said he has a Bachelor’s in Economics from the Wharton School. I told him I have a Bachelor’s in Economics from a small state college.

The Wharton School’s reputation has taken something of a hit from Trump’s fondness for touting his attendance there. For me, the guy last night added another mark against Wharton.

He talked up crypto as though his concentration had been in marketing. “The collapse of so many crypto exchanges?” I asked. “Corrections are expected. The market is volatile.” “Inadequately regulated markets,” was my reply. Etc. Eventually he resorted to pulling out “Do Your Own Research,” and I said, “I already have, and I’m not interested.”

Doughboy on Dope

Heroes for Sale is a 1933 pre-code movie from Warner Brothers, the studio with a social conscience. Directed by William Wellman, it stars silent film actor Richard Barthelmess, who found some success in talkies.

Wellman directed the silent epic Wings, and he displays his skill with war scenes in the opening of Heroes for Sale. Barthelmess plays a WWI soldier who suffers from inoperable shrapnel in his spine and becomes a veteran with an opioid addiction.

He gets out of rehab and finds love with 20-year-old Loretta Young. The always excellent Aline MacMahon is along for the ride that includes a Capitalism vs. Communism theme.