A long read from Al Jazeera.

As Louisiana’s coast washes away, the dead are the first to go

When I worked in tech the standard thing to do when then competition got the upper hand was to FUD. Spread Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. I see so much of this surrounding EVs these days. The latest ongoing FUD is that it costs more to fill up an EV than a gas ICE car. Not in this universe. Not even close really.

Here is the way it works, apples to apples. The size of your battery is like the size of your gas tank. The cost of electricity is just like the cost of gas. How much does it cost to fill your gas tank? Multiply the size for the tank by the price. A car with a 20 gallon tank filling up with gas at $3 a gallon will take $20 x 3 = $60 to fill up.

Now take an EV with a 75 kWh battery and power at $0.10 kW (the actual top tier here in Austin). 75 x $0.10 = $7.50 to fill up. That’s it. Everything else is a distraction.

In fact, it could be half this much using one of the lower tiers. I can’t fill up my lawnmower with gas for that. Can you pay more for electricity? More than retail? Yes, but you can also pay a lot less. The WaPo takes aim at this, misses and gives voice to FUDders everywhere.

Is it cheaper to refuel your EV battery or gas tank?

Despite the recent success of renewables, or perhaps because of it, the Texas electrical grid keeps coming up with new ways to thwart their ongoing growth. Recently, rules about reliability and “dispatchable” power have been passed. Similarly attempts to limit power line construction that would benefit renewables has been noted. This one seems particularly dangerous, with requirements on existing (renewable) resources that may be difficult to achieve. Anyone else concerned about taking 50 GW of otherwise very inexpensive and reliable power off line when demand is 80 GW?

How a grid rule change could derail Texas renewables

We just had the hottest July on record here in Austin, surpassing last year’s record July. The rest of the country and the world seems to be in a similar situation. Yet I only see lots of disconnected stories about the weather in the media. I suppose we can put the pieces together ourselves, but I can’t say I’ve seen a single chart of historical CO2 levels anywhere in the mainstream news. I did hear on the BBC that the is flooding in China and the Beijing subways are flooded. Over 30 inches of rain in a place that seldom sees significant rainfall.

it is difficult to watch the slow motion foolishness of an entire planet. Even economically the costs of doing something, anything to fight climate change is dwarfed by the costs of doing nothing. How bad does it have to get? I suppose we are finding out.

Heatwave sees hundreds fall ill at World Scout Jamboree in South Korea

Another one from the Honest Broker. American Graffiti was slightly before my time, but I remember some of my friends older brothers had the album. Of course it was the nostalgia model for that TV staple of my youth, Happy Days.

How ‘American Graffiti’ Invented Classic Rock (and Changed My Life)