2017 Summer September 6 Wednesday

2017 Summer September 6 Wednesday

60 degrees this morning, walk 35:18 minutes

Better 60 degrees than the forecast 54 degrees!  Walk actually wasn’t that bad, I dressed for colder weather and, of course, overdressed.  Humidity was about 61 %.

Pace was about 11 seconds slower than my goal, so my slower pace continues for whatever reason.  

I realize it is “that time of year” when cooler weather arrives, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!  

Thoughts dwelling again on the advances of electricity and the advancements it allowed for society.  

There are several reasons for thinking about this, one of course is my listening to the “Great Course” on the Industrial Revolution.  The development of electricity led to longer social and work days, as “artificial light” provided by relatively safe electricity.

Perhaps as important, electricity (along with railroads, steamships etc.) provided for refrigeration which enabled fresh fruits and vegetables on a year around basis.

The course mentioned that in the early 1900’s people were asked about their satisfaction with life and people who had lived in the 1880’s etc. (this is approximate) were much happier with life primarily because of the benefits of electricity.  One of the major benefits mentioned were the benefits of a variety of food, hot and cold water etc.

Of course, associated with this is the fact we now assume electricity will be there, until it’s not there.  

Recently I read that some nuclear explosions can potentially interfere with the advanced “connected” electric distribution system and know them out potentially for long periods of time.  (Similar to the book I recently read where electricity was knocked out by sunspots for a long period of time.)

The effect of a long term electricity outage would be disastrous to say the least.  

Recently I read two articles (obviously by supporters of the lying bully coward and the old and gas industry), one touting the desirability of the United States becoming an “exporter” of natural gas, oil etc., for whatever reason they feel that is desirable.  (Sounds like the oil/gas/chemical extremist getting their “returns” for their “donations” and “political contributions” (read bribes).  

Why we would want to export out natural resources is short-term thinking to me.  

An associated article was about a how the “renewable” energy (wind, solar etc.) had reached it limit, which is pure hogwash.  Look at California where some areas have reached substantially lower energy cost by using renewable energy and batteries.  That is a very short-sighted article, obviously written by the minions of the lying bully coward and his political supporters who would love to see renewable energy be curtailed and are spending a lot of money on the lying bully coward and politicians to make it so.

That is part of my belief in batteries that can be charged by solar or wind or are simply long term batteries, but I'll have to ponder on that at another time.

That’s it for now, Wednesday, September 6, 2017.