Thursday, April 30, 2020
Your customer sent you files via WeTransfer
|
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Prediction; More utility momentum heading in renewable direction
From: Monty Bannerman <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>
Date: Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 10:59 PM
Subject: More utility momentum heading in our direction
To: Monty Bannerman <mbannerman@tnag.net>
Greentech Media News: Struggling Distributed Wind Sector Eyes Role in Microgrids Market - good luck at that.
http://feeds.greentechmedia.com/~r/GreentechMedia/~3/lgYGHlgBxzI/distributed-wind
Fed to Keep the Printing Presses Hot and Running
Federal Reserve officials restated their pledge to hold the benchmark interest rate near zero and will keep buying bonds, judging that the coronavirus pandemic "poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term."
The Federal Open Market Committee said in a unanimous statement Wednesday in Washington that it "will use its tools and act as appropriate to support the economy."
Officials Wednesday left unchanged their vague guidance on the future path of rates. The statement repeated language from March 15 saying the committee would keep the benchmark target range near zero "until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals."
Managing Director
Tel: +1 646-402-5076
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Solar and Wind NOW Cheapest Sources of Power in Most of the World - Batteries following their path
NYTimes: Trump’s Response to Virus Reflects a Long Disregard for Science - "Donald Trump is the most anti-science and anti-environment president we’ve ever had,”
US Stats: The United States on Tuesday surpassed one million known coronavirus cases
“The DeFi Series — An overview of the ecosystem and major protocols” - Blockchain in the distributed finance space where all the big banks are making bets
Monday, April 27, 2020
Trump 'can't imagine why' US disinfectant calls spiked and takes no responsibility
N.Y.C. Corona Deaths Reach More than 6 Times the Normal Annual Flu Level
From: Monty Bannerman <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 6:37 PM
Subject: NYTimes: N.Y.C. Corona Deaths Reach More than 6 Times the Normal Annual Flu Level
To: H <operatorsm1@gmail.com>, Shelley Goldberg <shelleyrg3@gmail.com>, Helen KAPLAN <HelenK@thinkkaplan.com>, Rebecca Van-Nichols <rvan@tnag.net>
Miami Herald: Florida coronavirus cases push past 32,000. Death toll increases to 1,088
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article242313416.html
BBC News: Message to Governments - Coronavirus recovery plan 'must tackle climate change'
Coronavirus recovery plan 'must tackle climate change' - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52418624
BBC News: Coronavirus: New Zealand claims no community cases as lockdown eases
Coronavirus: New Zealand claims no community cases as lockdown eases - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52436658
Saving Fukushima - how humans are the most critical element in resilency and in emergency operations
* duration: 26:22, Played: 19:17
* Published: 4/27/20 12:05:02 AM
* Episode Download link (24 MB): https://chtbl.com/track/29E8DG/https://pdst.fm/e/cdn.simplecast.com/audio/30654d/30654d57-0d19-41e0-93d3-e7bd44453f4c/3f70725f-ee2e-4a50-a951-b9444ae78768/teamistry-ep4-fukishima-vfinal_tc.mp3?aid=rss_feed
* Show Notes: https://www.atlassian.com/podcast
* Episode feed: Teamistry - https://feeds.pacific-content.com/teamistry
Bill Gates’s Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Ready in 12 Months. Foundation will focus 100% of its resources
See Covid Initial Impacts and How paying for health care is changing
|
FIFTY-TWO THOUSAND, FOUR-HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE
FIFTY-TWO THOUSAND, FOUR-HUNDRED AND FIFTY-NINE Americans died from the coronavirus as of Saturday. At least. Which means that, by now -- 81 days since the first recorded death -- we're close to losing more of our countrymen to this virus than we did in Vietnam.
Sunday, April 26, 2020
CleanTechnica: Lithium-Ion Energy Storage Cost vs. Pumped Hydro and Flow Battery Cost Curves
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/25/how-long-can-lithium-ion-energy-storage-actually-last/
Salon: Dr. Birx complains to Fox News' Jesse Watters about press coverage of Trump's coronavirus briefings - not the best command of the english language but she does have an "orange pot calling the kettle black" kind of point
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/26/dr-brix-complains-to-fox-news-jesse-watters-about-press-coverage-of-trumps-coronavirus-briefings_partner/
NHS Active Storms Live Feed Available - API KMZ available in Internal Layers file
NHC Active KML Feed
Overview
The NHC Active Keyhole Markup Language (KML) feed is a compressed (KMZ) file – https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gis/kml/nhc.kmz – available for download that utilizes the "network link" functionality to display all of the active NHC KML/KMZ files and can automatically update to look for refreshed and new data. This file can be viewed in Google Earth and other KML viewing software.
Listed below are the KML/KMZ files currently found (when available) in the Active KML feed:
- Advisory Forecast Track
- Advisory Cone of Uncertainty
- Advisory Watches & Warnings
- Preliminary Best Track Points
- Storm Surge (Probabilities, Heights)
- 120h Wind Speed Probabilities (34kt, 50kt, 64kt)
Please see the NHC GIS page for more details on the individual files.
Technical
The 'nhc.kmz' file comprises of a single KML file (nhc.kml) that is zipped and bundled into the KMZ. The bundled 'nhc.kml' file utilizes a NetworkLink to reference a live frequently-updated file on NHC's web servers, available here: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gis/kml/nhc_active.kml. The 'nhc_active.kml' file also consists of multiple NetworkLink calls to the current KML/KMZ files on NHC web servers.
Examples
Listed below are past examples of the 'nhc_active.kml' file from the NHC KML feed and are posted as a courtesy for developers and others interested in parsing these files. Warning: format may change.
Disclaimer
This is a protype and may not be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Timely delivery of data and products from this service through the Internet is not guaranteed, and you should not rely on this service to make life-threatening decisions.
Feedback
If you have any feedback, please send questions or comments directly to NHCwebmaster@noaa.gov.
Saturday, April 25, 2020
The Washington Post: The White House tried to move a reporter to the back of the press room, but she refused. Then Trump walked out. - Bully on the pulpit scared of a woman who stands up to him
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/the-white-house-tried-to-move-a-reporter-to-the-back-of-the-press-room-but-she-refused-then-trump-walked-out/2020/04/25/a5d16cc6-8714-11ea-ae26-989cfce1c7c7_story.html
The Independent: 'Unfit, unwell, unacceptable': Anti-Trump Republicans turn president's disastrous disinfectant cure comments into scathing attack ad
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/trump-coronavirus-disinfectant-republican-attack-ad-covid-19-a9484131.html
The Guardian: Trump says briefings 'not worth the effort' amid fallout from disinfectant comments - Now pouting like the whiny excuse for a man he is
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/25/donald-trump-stays-away-from-briefings-amid-fallout-from-disinfectant-comments
NYTimes: We Need Herd Immunity From Trump and the Coronavirus
New York Daily News: Spike in NYC residents ingesting householder cleaners: Poison Control Center - if its happening here, picture what's happening in Trump country
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-new-yorkers-household-cleaners-trump-20200425-rnaqio5dyfeaxmthxx2vktqa5m-story.html
Friday, April 24, 2020
Re: Fantastic image of a star cluster taken by the Hubble Telescope to celebrate its 25th Anniversary
cell: +1 305-984-1177
tel: +1 646-402-5076
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2020 4:44:48 PM
To: mbannerman1.watts@blogger.com <mbannerman1.watts@blogger.com>
Subject: Fantastic image of a star cluster taken by the Hubble Telescope to celebrate its 25th Anniversary
https://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/h25/uploads/image/original_image/27/hs-2015-12-a-full-jpg.jpg
Constellation: Carina
Distance: 20,000 light-years (6,130 parsecs)
Instrument: Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3
The glittering tapestry of young stars flaring to life in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image resembles an exploding aerial shell in a fireworks display. The vibrant image is being released to celebrate Hubble's 25 years of exploring the heavens.
The sparkling centerpiece of Hubble's silver anniversary fireworks is a giant cluster of about 3,000 stars called Westerlund 2. The cluster resides in a raucous stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina.
The stellar nursery is difficult to observe, because it is enshrouded in dust. But Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 peered through the dusty veil in near-infrared light, giving astronomers a clearer view of the nebula. Hubble's sharp vision resolves the dense concentration of stars in the central cluster, which measures about 6 to 13 light-years across.
The giant star cluster is only about 2 million years old and contains some of our galaxy's hottest, brightest, and most massive stars known. Some of the heftiest stars are carving deep cavities in the surrounding material by unleashing a torrent of ultraviolet light and gale-force stellar winds (streams of charged particles). These are etching away the enveloping hydrogen gas cloud in which the stars were born.
The image reveals a fantasy landscape of pillars, ridges, and valleys. The pillars, composed of dense gas, are resisting erosion from the fierce radiation and powerful winds. These gaseous monoliths are a few light-years tall and point to the central cluster. They may be incubators for new stars. Other dense regions surround the pillars, including reddish-brown filaments of dense gas and dust.
Besides sculpting the gaseous terrain, the brilliant stars can also help create a successive generation of offspring. When the stellar winds hit dense walls of gas, they create shocks, which may be generating a new wave of star birth along the wall of the cavity.
The red dots scattered throughout the landscape are a rich population of newly forming stars that are still wrapped in their gas-and-dust cocoons. These tiny, faint stars are between 1 million and 2 million years old and have not yet ignited the hydrogen in their cores to shine as stars. But Hubble's near-infrared vision allows astronomers to identify these fledgling stars. The brilliant blue stars seen throughout the image are mostly foreground stars.
Because the cluster is very young, it has not had time to disperse, which occurs over time for these so-called open clusters. Astronomers can study this cluster within its star-birthing environment to gather information on how it formed.
Westerlund 2 is named for Swedish astronomer Bengt Westerlund, who discovered the grouping in the 1960s.
Monty Bannerman
Managing Director
Cell: 305-984-1177
Tel: 646-402-5076
Fantastic image of a star cluster taken by the Hubble Telescope to celebrate its 25th Anniversary
https://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/h25/uploads/image/original_image/27/hs-2015-12-a-full-jpg.jpg
Constellation: Carina
Distance: 20,000 light-years (6,130 parsecs)
Instrument: Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3
The glittering tapestry of young stars flaring to life in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image resembles an exploding aerial shell in a fireworks display. The vibrant image is being released to celebrate Hubble’s 25 years of exploring the heavens.
The sparkling centerpiece of Hubble’s silver anniversary fireworks is a giant cluster of about 3,000 stars called Westerlund 2. The cluster resides in a raucous stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina.
The stellar nursery is difficult to observe, because it is enshrouded in dust. But Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 peered through the dusty veil in near-infrared light, giving astronomers a clearer view of the nebula. Hubble’s sharp vision resolves the dense concentration of stars in the central cluster, which measures about 6 to 13 light-years across.
The giant star cluster is only about 2 million years old and contains some of our galaxy’s hottest, brightest, and most massive stars known. Some of the heftiest stars are carving deep cavities in the surrounding material by unleashing a torrent of ultraviolet light and gale-force stellar winds (streams of charged particles). These are etching away the enveloping hydrogen gas cloud in which the stars were born.
The image reveals a fantasy landscape of pillars, ridges, and valleys. The pillars, composed of dense gas, are resisting erosion from the fierce radiation and powerful winds. These gaseous monoliths are a few light-years tall and point to the central cluster. They may be incubators for new stars. Other dense regions surround the pillars, including reddish-brown filaments of dense gas and dust.
Besides sculpting the gaseous terrain, the brilliant stars can also help create a successive generation of offspring. When the stellar winds hit dense walls of gas, they create shocks, which may be generating a new wave of star birth along the wall of the cavity.
The red dots scattered throughout the landscape are a rich population of newly forming stars that are still wrapped in their gas-and-dust cocoons. These tiny, faint stars are between 1 million and 2 million years old and have not yet ignited the hydrogen in their cores to shine as stars. But Hubble’s near-infrared vision allows astronomers to identify these fledgling stars. The brilliant blue stars seen throughout the image are mostly foreground stars.
Because the cluster is very young, it has not had time to disperse, which occurs over time for these so-called open clusters. Astronomers can study this cluster within its star-birthing environment to gather information on how it formed.
Westerlund 2 is named for Swedish astronomer Bengt Westerlund, who discovered the grouping in the 1960s.
Monty Bannerman
Managing Director
Cell: 305-984-1177
Tel: 646-402-5076
NYTimes: The Tax-Break Bonanza Inside the Economic Rescue Package
Major Activist Exxon Shareholders Seek Board Change, Lobbying Disclosure Votes
Thursday, April 23, 2020
“I’m The President, And You’re Fake News”: Donald Trump Lashes Out as he is Questioned for Calling For Testing of Injections Of UV Rays, Disinfectants To Kill Coronavirus - You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried!
https://deadline.com/2020/04/coronavirus-donald-trump-briefing-washington-post-1202916609/
NYC (and my borough) Stats
Managing Director
Tel: +1 646-402-5076
NYTimes: Cuomo Says 21% of Those Tested in N.Y.C. Had Virus Antibodies - this raised some potentially very big questions
NYTimes: Hidden Outbreaks Spread Through U.S. Cities Far Earlier Than Americans Knew, Estimates Say
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Greentech Media News: Clean Air, Clear Skies and Fresh Megawatts Cause Europe’s Solar Records to Tumble
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/clean-air-clear-skies-and-fresh-megawatts-see-europes-solar-records-tumble
NY Stats
New York State recorded another 474 virus-related deaths, Mr. Cuomo said at his daily briefing on Wednesday. The new deaths brought the state's overall fatalities toll to 15,302.
It was the third straight day that fewer than 500 deaths were reported, a sign that the outbreak might be leveling off after several days of more than 700 deaths.
The number of virus patients in hospitals also fell for a ninth straight day, Mr. Cuomo said.
NJ Stats
NYTimes: Santa Clara County: First Known U.S. Coronavirus Death Occurred on Feb. 6 - Resets the time the virus was circulating
Three post-virus scenarios. Only 1 good. And it requires a major change of control in November
ENDGAME — So what happens after we kick the virus?
Nobody really knows, but companies and governments are placing giant bets on what our post-Covid future will look like. It could look like anything from a fascism-friendly world dominated by China to a glorious resurgence led by America and Europe, according to a new report due out Thursday and previewed by POLITICO. The authors, former intelligence official Mat Burrows and Peter Engelke of the Atlantic Council, lay out three scenarios — from worst to best. And they are some doozies:
SCENARIO 1: THE GREAT DECELERATION — Everyone loses. "The United States, Europe and China all struggle to recover despite major fiscal and monetary efforts. The recovery stretches well into the 2020s, aggravated by the fact that it takes much longer for a vaccine to be developed than hoped for." The West flails as President Donald Trump wins reelection and the EU becomes paralyzed. Inside China, discontent grows as Communist Party leaders struggle to revive the economy. Yikes: "By the mid-2020s, deglobalization is speeding up, yielding slow economic growth everywhere. Poverty levels are rising in the developing world and there is the potential for open conflict between the United States and a China-Russia alliance."
SCENARIO 2: CHINA FIRST — Beijing wins. China capitalizes on the crisis to build ties across Asia, undermine democracy worldwide and ruthlessly suppress dissent at home. In the U.S., the country lurches leftward even as Trump wins reelection — leading him to enact Sen. Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax during his second term. Food riots break out across the Middle East and North Africa, while collapsing oil prices force Saudi Arabia into the Chinese orbit.
SCENARIO 3: NEW RENAISSANCE — The rosiest option imagines a "V-shaped recovery" and a reinvigoration of U.S. global leadership. Wealthy countries band together to vaccinate everyone around the world, free of charge. Under pressure, China closes its wild animal markets, and Western countries propose a "superagency" to prevent the next worldwide crisis. China and the U.S. set aside many of their differences and get to work on a "Marshall Plan" for developing countries ravaged by the disease.
In any scenario, things could go badly wrong. The virus could wallop poor countries that have yet to be hit hard, like Pakistan. Social distancing measures could remain in place longer than anyone expects, meaning "the recovery will be difficult and extended, causing substantial damage to the social and political fabric in many regions." In the U.S., "there is a growing risk that the middle class will suffer another drop in its standard of living."
The health and economic catastrophe could morph into a crisis for America's claim to global leadership if the U.S. recovers slowly and "if authoritarian powers, particularly China, more effectively weather the storm." And there's a baleful feedback loop at work here, the authors warn: "The coronavirus pandemic may end up reinforcing Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China's authoritarian tendencies on the one hand, and an 'America First' reaction on the other."
Their most depressing warning? This thing might NEVER go away. "We must be prepared for the coronavirus to become a 'recurring fact of life,' like the ordinary flu," they write. "But much deadlier."
Managing Director
Tel: +1 646-402-5076
Greentech Media News: 4 Ways Batteries Are Getting Paid for Multiple Values in 2020 | GTM Squared
http://feeds.greentechmedia.com/~r/GreentechMedia/~3/qZavThp-Hm8/all-the-ways-batteries-are-getting-paid-for-multiple-values-in-2020
PCMag: Smart Microgrids: The Future of Sustainable Power
https://www.pcmag.com/news/smart-microgrids-the-future-of-sustainable-power
Greentech Media News: NextEra Energy Looks to Spend $1B on (their own) Energy Storage in 2021
http://feeds.greentechmedia.com/~r/GreentechMedia/~3/g6WmGX6MBTc/nextera-energy-to-spend-1b-on-energy-storage-projects-in-2021
Seeking Alpha: Exxon Mobil: Double Down As Oil Trades At Negative Prices
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4339101-exxon-mobil-doubling-down-oil-trades-negative-prices
The Hill: Report: Banks earned more than $10 billion in fees processing small-business loans | TheHill
https://thehill.com/policy/finance/494065-report-banks-earned-more-than-10-billion-in-fees-processing-small-business
Financial Times: Daimler and Volvo team up to create €1.2bn fuel cell company
https://www.ft.com/content/302431ed-dedc-4f18-ae71-21e89d5d4f6e
Business Insider: The battered $700 billion US ( fossil) energy industry is now worth roughly half of Microsoft amid oil's record plunge
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-energy-industry-worth-half-microsoft-oil-price-crash-record-2020-4
The Hill: Cuomo: NY, NJ and CT to launch contact tracing program with help from Bloomberg | TheHill
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/494108-cuomo-ny-nj-and-ct-to-launch-contact-tracing-program-with-help-from
Can EDF Make Big Money in Small-Scale Renewables? | Greentech Media
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Miami Herald: New projections show that South Florida is in for even more sea level rise
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article237997454.html
POLITICO: Cuomo commits to reopening New York state regionally - Boils down to everything outside of the NYISO Congestion Zone
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/04/21/cuomo-commits-to-reopening-new-york-state-regionally-1278366
The New York Times: Republican-Led Review Backs Intelligence Findings on Russian Interference and Supports No Trump Assertions
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/us/politics/russian-interference-senate-intelligence-report.html
Give me liberty and give me death - disfuntional, dangerous and desperate moves toward a very wrong purpose
From: Paul Krugman <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 12:30 PM
Subject: Give me liberty and give me death
To: <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>
| |||||
|
|
Much of the U.S. economy is currently shut down, and rightly so. But now there's a backlash against the restrictions that have slowed the coronavirus's spread. |
It's not a broad-based popular rebellion — those much-hyped demonstrations at state capitols are more astroturf, organized by right-wing groups with close ties to the Republican establishment, than genuine grass roots protests. And irresponsible politicians like Georgia's governor, who is reopening gyms and beauty salons even as Covid-19 rapidly spreads in his state, are clearly responding to top-down pressure from Donald Trump rather than popular demand. |
But it's happening all the same. Why? |
The answer, I'd suggest, is that the Trump administration and its Senate allies are botching pandemic economics — and at some level they know that. So they're desperate to wish the problem away before the failure of their response becomes too obvious. |
To be fair, the problems posed by Covid-19 are both novel and incredibly fast moving. Still, both logic and other countries' experiences have given us a pretty good idea of what we should be doing right now. First, lock down high-contact economic activities, to slow the viral spread. Second, provide generous disaster relief to those whose incomes have been cut off by the lockdown. Third, rapidly ramp up testing and tracking, so that when we (cautiously) restart normal life we can quickly identify and neutralize any emergent hot spots. |
The trouble is that we're falling down badly on (2) and (3). |
True, Congress voted a lot of money in enhanced unemployment benefits and small-business loans. But it's becoming increasingly clear that the money isn't reaching the Americans who need it, largely because the federal government didn't take responsibility for how the money was spent. |
| |||||
Enhanced unemployment benefits are a really good idea. But the federal program is being run through state unemployment offices, which have been starved of funds for decades — in many cases because conservative state governments wanted to make benefits hard to claim. As a result, there is a huge backlog of unprocessed claims, and millions of Americans have yet to see a dime. |
It didn't have to be this way. Canada introduced an Emergency Response Benefit for those losing income as a result of the coronavirus, implemented directly by the federal government and easily accessible via a government portal and hotline; the program began paying out up to $2,000 a month almost immediately. |
Meanwhile, those small business loans are being run through private banks, under criteria that let huge restaurant and hotel chains claim that each of their locations is a small business; not surprisingly, these giants, which have strong relationships with big banks, quickly snapped up almost all the money, with little flowing to the intended beneficiaries. |
And behind this failure to provide economic relief, we're not seeing anything like the rapid rise in testing we need to start reopening safely. |
| |||||
A different president might have responded to these developments with a crash effort to fix the problems, the way the Obama administration dealt with the initial 2013 Obamacare debacle. But Trump being Trump, he's disavowing any responsibility, instead pressuring states to ignore the health risks and abandon the social distancing that has blunted the pandemic. |
If you ask me, this isn't just cruel, it's politically stupid. As we've just seen, viruses move fast. A few days ago we were starting to see signs that Covid-19 might be peaking. But relax our vigilance, even a bit, and a second, bigger wave of deaths could easily happen well before the election. |
But Trump and his allies don't seem able to wrap their minds around the idea that it's their job to solve problems, not shift the blame. And I don't know about you, but I'm getting even more scared than I was. |
Quick Hits |
Only 1 in 8 Floridians approved for unemployment benefits have actually gotten any money. |
Coming next: the state and local fiscal crisis. |
Here's the Canadian application portal for emergency aid. |
Americans have rallied around their governors. Trump, not so much. |
| |||||
Feedback |
If you're enjoying what you're reading, please consider recommending it to friends. They can sign up here. If you want to share your thoughts on an item in this week's newsletter or on the newsletter in general, please email me at krugman-newsletter@nytimes.com. |
Facing the Music |
|
I was literally around the millionth person to see Curt Smith of Tears for Fears performing "Mad World" with his daughter, but it's still worth sharing. |
|
|
