Saw this announcement from the Menil Collection. A quick Google turns up this BBC article.
Author: Steven Guccione
Billionaire Needs Your Money!
A good article — from 2021!
Self-Proclaimed Billionaire Trump Now Begging Small-Dollar Donors For Money
Chatbot Responsibility
From PC Magazine. This is going to get interesting.
Air Canada Must Honor a Fake Refund Policy Created by Its Chatbot, Court Says
‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals
This has been known for quite a while. From the Guardian (UK)
‘They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals
Thanksgiving
I started reading There There by Tommy Orange and in the introduction I was introduced to an alternate version of Thanksgiving. In this one, the native Americans / Indians are slaughtered by European colonists just a few years after their arrival.
To be sure my memory, and perhaps education, on this subject is a bit confused. I seem to have mixed the Pilgrims, the Puritans and the Virginia Commonwealth settlers. They all arrived around the same time, and seem to have gone through the same quick cycle with the locals. Of course, the English had arrived in the middle of ongoing tribal conflicts. Being both naive and heavily armed all but guaranteed conflict with the natives.
Indian massacre of 1622
Clean energy was top driver of China’s economic growth in 2023
Clean energy was responsible for 40% of China’s economic growth in 2023. From CREA.
Clean energy was top driver of China’s economic growth in 2023
Moving a Woodpile
An old woodpile in the back was falling over. Decided to move it over a few feet and clean it up in the process. When I got to the bottom I found this fellow. He wouldn’t budge. I suppose he was upset that his house was gone. I eventually picked him up and carried him over to his new digs. Hope it all goes well for him.

Clanging
Ran across the word “clanging” in Cormac McCarthy’s Stella Maris. Had to look it up in Wiki. Reminds me of a popular American politician.
Ethanol Land Use
The US has subsidized the use of ethanol from corn to mix with gasoline as a fuel source, mostly for automobiles. It never seemed to be a great idea, since all of the production and transportation of this corn takes energy, but it is a locally produced product. I was wondering what the future of ethanol (and corn) would be in the US as vehicles transition to electric.
The USDA says about a third of all corn grown in the US is used for ethanol production. I was surprised by this number. There are almost 20 million acres of corn grown in the US. Roughly 6 million are for ethanol. There are 640 acres in a square mile, so this is a bit over 10,000 square miles. This is an area the size of Maryland, significantly larger than New Jersey.

















