Funny I have finally gotten around to reading Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States which covers similar ground. From the Baffler.
Year: 2021
Cheap Renewable Energy
Seems to be the beginning of the end for non-renewable energy. Not a moment too soon. Note the slopes of the lines, too. From Visual Capitalist.
Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources is Now Cheaper than Ever
January 6 Capitol Riot
Required viewing.
Direct Drive 2.0
The mower project has been put aside for a few weeks. It seems I stripped the adaptor that connects the motor to the transmission. It was lightweight aluminum and I wasn’t sure it would hold up well, and it didn’t. I started looking at shaft adaptors again. I considered these originally but I was mostly worried about damaging the motor and transmission shaft. I found this shaft adaptor on Amazon that looked interesting. Turns out with a small amount of filing it was an all but perfect fit. It is also lightweight aluminum but it is a larger device that is certainly an improvement from the bolts and drilled pulley I had rigged up.
i was loathe to take everything apart again, but it wasn’t so bad. I was able to get the adaptor fitted to both shaft ends and even gave it a brief test. Seems solid and had less vibration. I will put the seat and fenders back on and try it out in a proper test run in the next few days.
We thought it wouldn’t affect us
One problem with the idea of “global warming” is that people in cooler climates might think “I wouldn’t mind it being a few degrees warmer”. Unfortunately it isn’t going to happen like that.
‘We thought it wouldn’t affect us’: heatwave forces climate reckoning in Pacific north-west
U.S. Legal Misogyny
Noticed these three stories near the top of my news feed today. Ladies, ever get the feeling the US legal system is heavily stacked against you? No matter how rich or famous you are?
Rich, famous guy convicted of drugging and raping dozens of women has conviction overturned.
Bill Cosby released from prison after conviction vacated
Famous actresses involved in “sex cult” run by man set to prison.
Allison Mack sentenced to 3 years in prison for her role in NXIVM sex cult
Famous singer still under her father’s “conservatorship” a dozen years later.
Britney Spears’ petition to remove father from conservatorship denied by judge
Global Climate Change
Lots of stuff almost everyone knows, but all in one updated article. Changes should have been made in the 1980s.
Big oil and gas kept a dirty secret for decades. Now they may pay the price
Losing Control, Locally
I first noticed this when Austin passed an ordinance against throw away plastic grocery bags, and the state stepped in and removed the ban. I thought the conservatives liked local control of issues.
The most bizarre was perhaps a proposal to bypass selective local noise ordinances. The bill was crafted to apply only to Austin and was sponsored by rural representatives far from the Music Capital. I’m not sure if they were being paid off by someone or if it was just a spiteful move of some sort. Either way it is a strange way to run a state.
It’s not just voting and Covid: How red states are overriding their blue cities
And I Still Can’t Find a Parking Space
I have heard one third of the land in cities is used for cars. Not hard to believe.
America has eight parking spaces for every car. Here’s how cities are rethinking that land
Good Guys With Guns
Bad Guy With Gun shoots and kills police officer. Good Guy With Gun shoots BGWG. Next police officer on scene sees GGWG holding rifle over body of slain officer and slain BGWG, and shoots and kills GGWG. So, yeah, GGWGs can help in rare circumstances, but having lots of unidentified people with guns can only lead to this sort of confusion. In the end the only real difference this GGWG made was getting himself accidentally shot and killed by police. This is why police wear uniforms and drive marked cars.
Steven A. Guccione 