Author: Jim Ulvog

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte and especially someone with 13,700 Twitter followers

There’s an old line from the newspaper era: Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. If you do, tomorrow you will see 10,000 printed copies of the next step of the argument.

The internet equivalent is:

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte.

Today’s addendum is: especially when said person routinely prints 13,700 copies of tweets.

(Cross post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

Francine McKenna got a threatening email from a guy who had a role in a failed company. You can read all about it: Benjamin Wey Sent Me A Threatening Email About AgFeed.

The company, AgFeed, is the recipient of litigation, a target of SEC investigation, and the subject of many news reports. Mr. Wey didn’t like Ms. McKenna’s coverage and threatened her with some sort of harm. I can’t quite tell what the harm will be (opinion), but there will be something. Continue reading “Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte and especially someone with 13,700 Twitter followers”

Sgt. Saunders, star of documentary series “Combat”, still in the labor force, with no immediate plans to retire

Sergeant Chip Saunders’ World War II exploits were chronicled in a 1960s television series, Combat!!, a reality show decades ahead of its time. The documentary series is available at Amazon here and here. A generation of youth grew up following tales of his experiences. Many of his peers found reward in hearing of his journey across Europe.

After he withdrew from public life for a season, this blogger is pleased to report that Sgt. Saunders is still at work, doing a little double dipping to increase his pension when he eventually retires.

Where is he now?

He keeps a low profile, but is currently a supervisor in the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank. I was able to track him down after a recent PR piece from the Richmond Fed unintentionally gave me a hint of his location. I can now confirm that formerly Sgt. Saunders is now a Lieutenant supervising a Quick Reaction Force in the Richmond Fed’s Law Enforcement Unit.

He continues to use a trusty, battle-proven .45 caliber automatic rifle as his personal weapon as he again leads a squad protecting American national resources.

Tracking down the WWII hero

Here’s the clue followed to track down Lt. Saunders: Vintage Thompson Machine Gun. The Richmond Fed has two of the trustworthy Thompsons in the Law Enforcement Unit’s inventory.

Continue reading “Sgt. Saunders, star of documentary series “Combat”, still in the labor force, with no immediate plans to retire”

35,000 tons of CO2 annually equals insignificant environmental impact (solar #18)

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The Ivanpah solar facility will need to increase the amount of natural gas burned in order to keep the facility running efficiently. Using an extra 601 million cubic feet of gas each year will not have any significant environmental impact.

Chris Clarke reports on the plant owner’s request on 3/27: Ivanpah Solar Plant Owners Want To Burn a Lot More Natural Gas. The application is found here. Most of the application is over my head, but I was able understand much of it.

To keep each of the three powerplants running requires having a gas-powered turbine running 4.5 hours a day. This is to help warm up the water and maintain production as the sun goes down.

Continue reading “35,000 tons of CO2 annually equals insignificant environmental impact (solar #18)”

More good stuff on surveillance – 3-28-14

Here is my eleventh list of good stuff on our surveillance society that I’d like talk about but only have time to recommend with a paragraph. One new perspective is maybe we should fully embrace the surveillance society and push the boundaries out further. Hmm.

2/25 – Schneier on Security – Breaking Up the NSA – Continue reading “More good stuff on surveillance – 3-28-14”

Update on solar and wind power, 3-24-14 – solar #17

Here’s a few articles on the environmental and economic issues with solar and wind energy.

Since the uncontained, unresearched, unquantified environmental damage from slice-and-dicers and wing-toasters is not particularly good, I can’t call this series more good stuff. So here are a few updates on opportunity cost, the views of wind power hardware will last forever, more solar farms approved, and regressiveness of solar subsidies.

Opportunity cost

One of many problems with massive subsidies for wind and solar energy is doing so diverts attention and effort from developing new technologies. Some amazing things not yet invented could possibly some day actually be efficient, competitive, environmentally friendly, and not kill off lots of protected birds, non-protected birds, endangered animals and threatened plants.

Walter Russell Mead makes that point on 3/23: Chinese Firm Races to the Bottom of Global Solar Market.

Continue reading “Update on solar and wind power, 3-24-14 – solar #17”

More good stuff on the open frontiers – 3-20-14

A few articles on technology, energy, and publishing that are worth a read and a brief comment. Reusable first stages of rockets, several updates on Yutu (Chinese lunar rover), commercial drones, lightly armed drones, and another shale field with big potential.

Education

3/4 – The Feed – Home-Schooling for Higher Ed – Mentioned this idea before. How ‘bout hiring a college professor to privately tutor you for your first year of college. Read the article and think about it a few minutes. Intriguing idea, huh?

Space

3/13 – Technology Review – SpaceX Set to Launch the World’s First Reusable Booster – Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 3-20-14”

Increased density of drilling in Bakken

Million Dollar Way has a complex post describing the increasing density of wells on each portion of land being drilled in North Dakota. Think 14 or 28 wells on 4 square miles. I’ll try to pull a few key ideas out of An Example of “Ears Pinned Back” — As CLR Calls It – In The Bakken.

Density in 2007

In ancient days, say about 2007, the concept was one well on a section. That according to the article.

Density in 2011

Continue reading “Increased density of drilling in Bakken”

What’s the disposal plan for the cadmium in solar panels? Solar #16

Cadmium is a heavy metal that can make humans quite sick. Cadmium is a major ingredient in one particular type of solar panel called cadmium telluride. Dangers of putting that into a few hundred thousand panels, risks of leakage into ground water, and lack of disposal plans 30 or 40 years from now might, just maybe, possibly, be worth considering today.

A few minutes of research starts to outline the issues. My learning points are in bold italics, with article for each idea, and my comments on the article.

  • Cadmium is bad stuff.

Continue reading “What’s the disposal plan for the cadmium in solar panels? Solar #16”

Radical drop in cost of shipping cotton when steamboats arrived on the scene

We are all amazed at the radical drop in cost of computing over the last 20 or 40 years. I have a number of posts on point and have more planned.

Watching new technology severely drop costs isn’t anything new. Here is just one more data point from the early 1800s for illustration.

I’m accumulating these ideas and hope to weave them together in a larger story some day.

Here’s a comment on the impact of steamboats on Mississippi river commerce from Professor Allen Guelzo in Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction, Continue reading “Radical drop in cost of shipping cotton when steamboats arrived on the scene”

Unintended consequences of solar power keep coming into view – Next, reflection off panels as a threat to airplanes – solar #15

I am particularly intrigued by the concept of unintended consequences. You try to do something to fix one problem and wind up causing another problem.

Here’s another unintended consequence for those massive solar farms out in the desert – blinding pilots who are flying over the highly reflective panels.

Chris Clarke at ReWire on 3/12 reports Desert Solar Power Plant a Risk to Air Safety, Say Pilots. (How does he crank out all those articles?)

Continue reading “Unintended consequences of solar power keep coming into view – Next, reflection off panels as a threat to airplanes – solar #15”

Tax revenue projections and first month of sales tax report from Colorado for state-legal-federally-illegal marijuana sales

As an experiment in the heavy hand of tax and regulation, I’ll be watching the results of Colorado and Washington legalizing marijuana. My hypothesis is the heavy sales tax burden and regulatory requirements will cause unintended consequences.

January tax revenue

First month of tax revenues in Colorado were announced this week. In January, the state collected $2.1 million in taxes and fees from recreational marijuana sales and an additional $1.4 million from so-called “medical” sales, for total of about $3.5M for the month.

Continue reading “Tax revenue projections and first month of sales tax report from Colorado for state-legal-federally-illegal marijuana sales”

A few other things I wonder about solar and wind farms – solar #14

Here’s a few more ideas on the downsides of solar and wind farms that I’d like to pursue when I can. In the meantime, I’ll throw out a few more concerns for my future research.

How many birds get missed in the official counts?

In addition to birds found at solar sites, how many are mortally wounded by the solar flux but have enough energy to fly another one or 20 miles before giving in to their injuries?

In addition to birds found at the sites, how many get eaten in between the surveys of the site?

Continue reading “A few other things I wonder about solar and wind farms – solar #14”