Problems, Predicaments, and Technology

The gift shop building at the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Tennessee in 2021. The building was destroyed by fire in April 2022. I haven't been able to spend much time writing this summer, as I have been quite busy with a project which has taken far longer than I would have ever imagined. It might be autumn before I actually finish this article, come to think of it. This article combines some of my other articles in a slightly different manner and combines them with two videos and a website which explain the electrical grid. The reason I think it is necessary to explain precisely what the electrical grid is and how it is made up and the components which comprise it is because most people have no clue how complex and complicated this system of energy delivery really is. Furthermore, even fewer people realize what kinds of losses (see these articles here and here ) are incurred by this delivery system, which are extremely substantial. One thing I constantly see people who advocate EVs

Summit Overlook, Black Rock Mountain State Park, Georgia

People enjoying the scenery at Bridal Veil Falls near Provo, Utah, on US 189

  This is the Guard Shack at the Washoe Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company as it looks today (this picture taken in 2020). More info can be found at the Wikipedia page  and the park's page . 

Taken at the Hagood Mill Historic Site, South Carolina When I started blogging the year before last, I never thought I would write so many articles. In fact, I started it more for the files section than for any articles, although I had written several articles over time in an effort to save myself time posting the same links over and over along with a description of what they meant. I never considered the possibility of writing more than a few articles. However, it became obvious to me that some people actually enjoyed reading my articles and even though I think that most of it is terribly depressing, I think it helps others to know that there are folks like me who understand many of the same things they do. I'm slowly going back to some of the things which woke me up a decade or more ago and eventually led to the knowledge I now have to share with others.  My journey began on Netflix, believe it or not. I am a curious guy who really enjoys documentaries, and Netflix was a newer s

I have pointed out several of Nate Hagens' videos and some of his other work in the past, and I was critical of some of his ideas last year. Since then, his videos have been increasingly impressive; especially the series of Great Simplification videos he has done. The Great Simplification - Full Movie , which just came out last week, is really great AND not too long, at less than 33 minutes! I like the fact that he doesn't go into hopium or attempt to predict an overly optimistic outcome. Perhaps he has begun to realize that things aren't really getting better and that some dark clouds have begin to appear on the horizon? I agree with him that human society doesn't HAVE to go the way of the dodo, but certain outcomes have already been baked into the set of predicaments we now face as a result of our past behavior and I don't yet see any massive change of behavior which would result in a better outcome.  One of the great qualities of this new video is how it explai

Kure Beach, North Carolina

One of the most incongruent messages I constantly hear about climate change is talk of "solutions" and how "we can do it" which doesn't really agree with the science much at all (see  Agency - Do We Have Free Will?  and The Grand Illusion  for details) . I've been hearing these same messages for 40 years now, and I keep asking myself that if we can do it, why haven't we?   In fact, just the other day, I saw a claim that "if we don't change direction within three years that climate change will become irreversible." I almost laughed, since climate change is ALREADY irreversible on human timescales and has been for quite some time as pointed out in my article, Denial of Reality, quote:  " Most people think that climate change can be "fixed" or reversed, but current science shows that climate change is  irreversible  on human timescales. Another article shows that this is due to  ocean heat uptake  (OHU). Another  recent study  

  Poison Ivy growing prolifically on a hillside 

Keowee Toxaway State Park, South Carolina

  Issaqueena Falls, South Carolina

  White Sands National Park in New Mexico, a very unique gypsum sand desert

  I have written in here several times that no other form of energy can match fossil hydrocarbons in their energy density except for uranium, but uranium requires a nuclear reactor to be utilized; something that cannot be carried by hand (like a container of gasoline can). Oil is especially important not only because of its density, but also because of its portability and versatility. No other form of energy can be transported and utilized as easily as oil. Most of us are familiar with oil in the form of gasoline or diesel, but perhaps also in kerosene or fuel oil as well. Natural gas is actually higher in density, but requires slightly different storage and engines. This portability and versatility explains why so many power tools such as lawn mowers, chainsaws, spin trimmers, lawn edgers, and more are powered by gasoline. The same advantages are also why most cars, trucks, tractors, agricultural machines, mining equipment, and roadbuilding equipment all use gasoline or diesel as thei

My dad on the Hiawatha Rail Trail (the old Milwaukee Route) just outside the St. Paul Pass Tunnel (Roland Trailhead). More info:  https://www.ridethehiawatha.com/ Not that I have all that large of a following, but it has been quite a few weeks since my last entry, and I do feel that an explanation is in order. Normally, I wouldn't find many issues in my own personal life something worth sharing on a blog about science and the set of predicaments we find ourselves in as a species. However, in this particular instance, I do think it reflects an issue connected to the wider sense of what this blog is all about - accepting predicaments we have little or no agency over. The picture above was taken in 2012, almost a decade ago. I had suggested that my dad accompany me on a trip out west. I had been telling my parents stories of my trips out west for the previous decade or so at the time, and while my mom had been to the Pacific Coast with a friend of hers, Dad had never been that far wes