The article is mostly correct. :)
Notes: out of the three, Latvia has serious energy storage - a 4 billion cubic meter (at normal pressure) underground gas store, sufficient to carry all three countries over the winter. So far, it's filled with fossil natural gas - but some day it could be filled with synthesized methane.
As a backup option, Estonia has oil shale - probably the worst fuel on Earth, so the price of emitting CO2 keeps those plants out of the energy market during summer. During winter, they come online though.
As for solar, we aren't planning to rely much on that. Solar capacity has of course skyrocketed, but only because it's very easy to install. For me, it provices a nice way to charge my car from April to October. But at latitudes 55 to 60, days are really very short in midwinter, so wind and waste wood are the likely candidates in future - after oil shale leaves the scene, but before synthetic gas becomes feasible.
Regarding pumped hydro - it can stabilize a day, but can't stabilize a week or month. Lithuania has a biggish (~10 GWh) pumped storage facility. The rest of Baltics don't have suitable terrain. Estonia has limestone banks, but they're under various forms of protection and even if one built a lot of pumped hydro, the low elevation difference (up to 50 meters) means one couldn't support the electric grid through more than a few days.
Regarding hydrogen - maybe. But hydrogen is difficult to store, so I'm betting on wind, and on sourcing technology from Germany to produce synthetic methane from excess power during summer, and pumping it to Latvia for storage.
Finally - connecting to the continental EU power grid allows importing energy when local wind isn't strong enough, and exporting any surplus. So far, all three countries are still in the ex-Soviet synchronization area (common with Russia and Belarus, but with no trade, just synchronization), and thus unable to connect with the EU synchronization area. Local power companies have been building synchronous compensators (devices that steer grid frequency) for the past 2 years to drop this dependency.
If things go as planned, Baltic countries will sever those connections and join the EU grid via Poland in winter 2025. Undersea cables already go from Estonia to Finland and Lithuania to Sweden, but in the current political conditions, I don't think anyone counts of them for sure (a Chinese-owned but Russian-crewed ship broke the Estonia-Finland gas pipeline last autumn when dragging its anchor during a storm - it's still unsure if the damage was accidental or not).
But that’s not what we found. In fact, experimental manipulations that reduced support for the protesters had no impact on support for the demands of those protesters.
We’ve replicated this finding across a range of different types of nonviolent protest, including protests about racial justice, abortion rights and climate change, and across British, American and Polish participants (this work is being prepared for publication). When members of the public say, “I agree with your cause, I just don’t like your methods,” we should take them at their word.
Wow, that is both new (at least for me) and interesting - thanks for sharing this article. :)
I note a potential weakness in the method of analysis: if negative framing (e.g. by the media) reduces support for the protesters as persons (but not their cause), it may still somewhat harm their ability to bring about change, since it probably reduces people's willingness to team up with them - but not another group which has the same cause but different methods.
So, if the goal is mass action (which has a component of mobilizing like-minded people to join) I would strongly recommend a protester to choose non-controversial methods (so that even grannies can join). :)
The Ugandan military playing security guards for a China-controlled oil project... I think explaining human rights over there will have to start from zero - and may have to be backed with "or else" statements - if there exists an institution in a suitable position to issue them. :o
Modelling suggests that the Solar System may have passed through a cold dense cloud 2–3 Myr ago, in agreement with geological evidence from 60Fe and 244Pu isotopes, putting Earth in direct contact with the dense interstellar medium with potentially substantial impacts on its climate.
In the article, researchers modeled the passage of the solar system through the galactic interstellar medium, components of which move at differing velocities and orbits.
They found that approximately 2-3 megayears ago, the solar system most likely entered a cloud of mainly cold hydrogen, and the density of the cloud was such that it should have considerably compressed the heliosphere (Sun's bubble of radiation and fields). Earth would have been outside the heliosphere either permanently or periodically. Currently the heliosphere ends far beyond the most distant planet, at approximately 130 Earth-Sun distances (astronomical units).
This would have greatly subdued the influence of solar wind on Earth, at the same time exposing the planet to interstellar cosmic rays. It is further speculated that studies which analyze Earth climate during the aforementioned period may benefit from accounting for this possibility.
Researchers sought confirmation for their model from geological records and found some, in the isotope content of iron and plutonium in sediments: iron 60 and plutonium 244 aren't produced by processes on Earth, so an influx would mean that solar wind no longer sufficed to beat back interstellar gas and dust (the latter containing radioisotopes from supernova explosions).
> "By studying geological radioisotopes on Earth, we can learn about the past of the heliosphere. 60Fe is predominantly produced in supernova explosions and becomes trapped in interstellar dust grains. 60Fe has a half-life of 2.6 Myr, and 244Pu has a half-life of 80.7 Myr. 60Fe is not naturally produced on Earth, and so its presence is an indicator of supernova explosions within the last few (~10) million years. 244Pu is produced through the r-process that is thought to occur in neutron star mergers22. Evidence for the deposition of extraterrestrial 60Fe onto Earth has been found in deep-sea sediments and ferromanganese crusts between 1.7 and 3.2 Ma (refs. 23,24,25,26,27), in Antarctic snow [28] and in lunar samples [29]. The abundances were derived from new high-precision accelerator mass spectrometry measurements. The 244Pu/60Fe influx ratios are similar at ~2 Ma, and there is evidence of a second peak at ~7 Ma (refs. 23,24)."
“It’s what we call ‘strategic incapacitation’ of groups that threaten the political order,” Walby said. “The tactics also include bogus or trumped up charges, early morning raids, and surveillance and strategic intelligence to know as much as possible about activist communications.
This wouldn't be the first time of a police force using the legal process (which is heavily tilted towards their convenience and the inconvenience of anyone suspected or accused) as a punishment. Needless to say, the process should not be tilted or burdensome, but in reality - it is.
I hope the Canadian legal system at least ensures compensation for false imprisonment and such things.
Activists would meanwhile benefit from adopting safeguards characteristic of partisans operating against a hostile government, even if their actions are peaceful and seek to inform the public. It's a shame that one has to view cops as an enemy force, but that's reality - they aren't friends of activism anywhere. In some places they just have unchecked power, while in other places their power is limited.
I would add:
- if you wanted direct and low-latency access to cameras (for machine vision)
1 C more temperature -> air can hold 7% more water vapour
...but the peaks of fringe events are quite a bit taller than +1 C. Raising the average by 1 C raises the peaks considerably more.
Summary:
But then, in the geologically abrupt space of only a few decades, this great river of ice all but halted. In the two centuries since, it has moved less than 35 feet a year. According to the leading theory, the layer of water underneath it thinned, perhaps by draining into the underside of another glacier. Having lost its lubrication, the glacier slowed down and sank toward the bedrock below.
/.../
“The beauty of this idea is that you can start small,” Tulaczyk told me. “You can pick a puny glacier somewhere that doesn’t matter to global sea level.” This summer, Martin Truffer, a glaciologist at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, will travel to the Juneau Icefield in Alaska to look for a small slab of ice that could be used in a pilot test. If it stops moving, Tulaczyk told me he wants to try to secure permission from Greenland’s Inuit political leaders to drain a larger glacier; he has his eye on one at the country’s northeastern edge, which discharges five gigatons of ice into the Arctic Ocean every year. Only if that worked would he move on to pilots in Antarctica.
It's not wild at all. :) The plan makes sense from a physical perspective, but should not be implemented lightly because:
- it's extremely hard work and extremely expensive to drain water from beneath an extremely large glacier
- it doesn't stop warming, it just puts a brake on ice loss / sea level rise
Eesti Konservatiivsest Rahvaerakonnast (EKRE) teisipäeva õhtul välja visatud endine juhatuse liige ja esimehe kohale kandideerida soovinud Silver Kuusik ütles, et oodata on uusi lahkumisi EKRE-st ning rõhutas, et rahvuskonservatiivset maailmavaadet saad edendada ka ilma perekond Helmeta.
Since Estonian readers know already, this summary is only for English speakers: after many years of haunting the political landscape with gradually growing vote counts, the Estonian Conservative People's Party (authoritarian right), has finally collapsed into a crisis.
It's not a crisis of values (they are all still conservative and many are authoritarian too), but a crisis of internal democracy due to the dictatorial habits of the "ruling family" - father and son Mart and Martin Helme.
Three prominent members, one of whom intending to challenge the party leader in internal elections, were kicked out during a board meeting, after which several more prominent members (among them several MPs and one MEP) either left the party of announced intention of leaving.
Everyone involved had adequate warning about the lack of internal democracy, it is just that they tolerated it longer than anticipated. The big bang comes after years of gradual kick-outs.
> ""If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by." - Sun Tzu
If the motor mount is hackable with reasonable effort, and the motor controller's interfaces are open, then in principle... yes.
Yet in reality, companies build extremely complicated cars where premature failure of multiple components can successfully sabotage the whole. :(
I've once needed to repair a Mitsubishi EV motor controller. It took 2 days to dismantle. Schematics were far beyond my skill of reading electronics, and I build model planes as an everyday hobby, so I've seen electronics. Replacement of the high voltage comparator was impossible as nobody was selling it separately. The repair shop wanted to replace the entire motor controller (5000 €). Some guy from Sweden had figured out a fix: a 50 cent resistor. But installing it and putting things back was not fun at all. It wasn't designed to be repaired.
Needless to say, replacing a headlight bulb on the same car requires removing the front plastic cover, starting from the wheel wells, undoing six bolts, taking out the front lantern, and then you can replace the bulb. I curse them. :P
But it drives. Hopefully long enough so I can get my own car built from scratch.
Since we didn't even have a radical left running this time, I picked an ordinary social democrat. One whom I've met and talked to, and who seems a reasonable person... and is already a MEP. He will narrowly continue to be a MEP.
As for priorities - the transition to a sustainable economy is indeed on the back burner currently. I like to imagine that everyone knows it must happen and soon - but maybe I over-estimate people.
The local hot topics this time were economic crisis and war.
Thanks for the news, but also - thanks for posting a proper summary. :)
(So many videos have only the YouTube-compiled summary, which is typically totally off topic.)
Interestingly, warfare also has the effect of:
-
causing houses to be abandoned, necessitating houses elsewhere while the abandoned ones likely get bombed
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decreasing the number of future consumers, whose future footprint would depend on future behaviour patterns (hard to predict)
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changing future land use patterns, either due to unexploded ordnance or straight out chemical contamination (there are places in France that are still off limits to economic activity, because World War I contaminated the soil with toxic chemicals), here in Estonia there are still forests from which you don't want trees in your sawmill because they contain shrapnel and bullets from World War II
I have the feeling that calculating the climate impact of actual war is a difficult job.
But they could calculate the tonnage of spent fuel and energy, that would be easier.
Nice to hear. :) The process seems doable in a suitably equipped factory. :)
Acting as if they were ever under attack by this video is mansplaining an best and strawmanning at worst.
Those are quite closely related branches of research. If you deal with one, you're almost certainly also involved with another, so much that teaching them on the same course makes sense. Human psychology is considerably more complex than animal psychology, but built of the same blocks - and both humans and animals can, to different degrees, be rational agents in natural or artificial games, where their choice of strategy depends on their psychological profile.
Please show the scientific process went in establishing that mistrust of strangers is a genetically evolved trait.
Here are some articles on the subject. The deepest-drilling article is not about humans, but dogs.
"Genetic mapping of canine fear and aggression"
We conducted genomewide association (GWA) mapping of breed stereotypes for many fear and aggression traits across several hundred dogs from diverse breeds. We confirmed those findings using GWA in a second cohort of partially overlapping breeds. Lastly, we used the validated loci to create a model that effectively predicted fear and aggression stereotypes in a third group of dog breeds that were not involved in the mapping studies. We found that i) known IGF1 and HMGA2 loci variants for small body size are associated with separation anxiety, touch-sensitivity, owner directed aggression and dog rivalry; and ii) two loci, between GNAT3 and CD36 on chr18, and near IGSF1 on chrX, are associated with several traits, including touch-sensitivity, non-social fear, and fear and aggression that are directed toward unfamiliar dogs and humans
So it seems that in dogs, there likely is a genetic factor involved in fear of unfamiliar individuals and agression towards them. It is no wonder, as countless generations of wolves have likely needed to decide how to relate to an individual from another pack, and this has sometimes conveyed them advantages or disadvantages.
Large Study Identifies Genetic Variants Linked to Risk Tolerance and Risky Behaviors
An international group that includes researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine has identified 124 genetic variants associated with a person’s willingness to take risks, as reported in a study published January 14 in Nature Genetics. /.../ The researchers emphasize that no variant on its own meaningfully affects a particular person’s risk tolerance or penchant for making risky decisions — such as drinking, smoking, speeding — and non-genetic factors matter more for risk tolerance than genetic factors. The study shows evidence of shared genetic influences across both an overall measure of risk tolerance and many specific risky behaviors.
So it seems that in humans, there are hundreds (or thousands) of genes subtly influencing different types of risk-and-reward calculations. Trust (or distrust) in strangers is a narrower part of a wider array of attributes which can be summarized as "risk tolerance". It has been noticed recently that genetic factors contribute, along with environmental factors, of course. It is worth noting that genetic factors aren't considered to be the biggest source of influence.
...and in practise, a person knowing about their genetic predisposition might apply this knowledge in related fields - e.g. when negotiating a risky deal, deciding whether to litigate or take retribution after being wronged, deciding whether to wear a life vest or attach a seatbelt.
Some person might know of their predisposition to seeking higher reward at high risk, and refrain from gambling. Another might know that their reward-seeking mechanisms are more susceptible than usual to chemical addiction, and avoid consuming certain substances. Another might know of their predisposition to averting loss, even if it also averts gain, and deliberately increase their willingness to take business risk. Another might want to compensate against their higher tendency to distrust strangers, or against a tendency to trust too easily.
Are you seriously comparing the breeding of crops with the human genome?
Yes. All life on Earth is related. Even plants and bacteria use the same sort of ribosomes to make their protein, and most air-breathers use the same sort of mitochondria to process oxygen. Altering plants so they would resist drought or flooding better is only some degree of knowledge away from giving oneself or others night vision, ability to heal bigger wounds, greater resistance to cancer or inability to get thrombosis.
Not hastily, though, as genomes don't have their goods in clearly labeled boxes.
Well, a heat wave cannot last forever. And in terms of cold storage - it's +30 C over here currently already for a week, it has been 1.5 months since the last snowfall - and the last pile of snow on the local airport is still melting. Darkened, not recognizable as the substance it used to be, but existing, without people making the slightest effort to protect it. :)
Someone claimed that they had "debunked" evolutionary psychology. I pointed out that it has quite a firm footing - nobody is doubting that evolution can produce psychological traits, and psychological traits can have evolutionary value.
So, the maximum effect to which one can "debunk" that branch of biology / psychology, is pointing out that "people are doing it wrong", and "people are understanding it wrong".
My comparison: I publish a video where I "debunk classical mechanics". In the video, I complain about mechanical problems with all sorts of products, point out that bridges can collapse (and indeed sometimes do), walls crack, cars are dangerous to crash at high speed, and that braking is difficult for roller skaters. Despite listing a whole slew of problems in applied mechanics, and despite having brought examples of people not getting their mechanics right... I have debunked nothing. Textbooks need not be altered.
This video accomplishes pretty much the same. I understand why it was made, but I would have made it very differently - and would have made it much shorter.
That statement alone is ample example of all the bullshit flying around in evolutionary psychology.
Actually, it is not. Willingness to trust outsiders and deal with them has an evolutionary aspect. Everyone's ancestors have needed to address this in their evolutionary past. Results have influenced their evolutionary success. An outsider could bring useful techniques or information, but could also bring a disease against which locals had no immunity, or take back information and bring about hostile interest. Determination of who to consider an outsider is moderated by rational thought and culture, but willingness to risk is also influenced by genes. So, even today, we are influenced - sometimes for good and sometimes for ill - by psychological traits which enabled some of our ancestors to make better / worse decisions in their environment. To make better decisions for ourselves, we should keep that in mind.
I chose my example for a reason. It is not bullshit at all. Building a grand palace of superstructure onto this little bit of understanding, that would be bullshit. To apply knowledge, one must know approximately where it ends. A fool doesn't and builds grand palaces onto one brick.
Thank you, but you don’t need to explain me why eugenics was a bad idea. :) I understand that.
I call bullshit again. You stated earlier that eugenics would work if we knew the “good” from the “bad” genes and called it more euphemistically.
Here, please read again. My words:
"I’m aware of what eugenics is / was, along with some other curious things that preceded (e.g. phrenology). I would say: a branch of science is likely to deserve the prefix “pseudo” if it has a single-minded goal to improve before understanding. Eugenics was such a doctrine."
From this paragraph, I expect a reader to understand (if they are willing) that I consider eugenics to deserve a prefix of "pseudo", that is, I consider it a pseudoscience. I bring another example of such a science. I also point out that eugenicists attempted to fix problems which they did not understand.
"Hypothetically, after gaining actual understanding of what genes are “good” or “bad” (quotation marks since “good” genes are only good in a given environment together with compatible other genes), eugenics might rise from the dead, but likely under another name and with a different character - since the original name has a ruined reputation and the original character was one of repression / discrimination. Indeed, maybe the resurrection has already happened, and the name is medical genetics - finding genetic patterns of risk and ways to avoid risk or fix results (apply gene therapy)."
In this paragraph, I make two main statements. I note down that eugenics took a character of repression and discrimination. But I point out that the goal of either fixing / improving genes or neutralizing the effect of bad ones - that didn't die with eugenics. People started understanding better. In these days, nobody wants to touch the world "eugenics" with a six foot pole, but genetically modified crops are growing on fields, and some patients are even receiving gene therapy. Databases are being compiled to detect genetic predisposition to illness or give personalized suggestions for treatment. I too have donated my genome for research to a local university, and I expect to learn some day what my genetic risk profile is - so that I could behave accordingly and avoid illness.
Then I proceed to explain why evolutionary psychology, behavioural ecology and game theory are extremely unlikely to end up in the rubbish bin where eugenics landed. And I fully stand by my opinion. :)
You could have just stayed silent,
Yes, my mistake was to think that people might benefit from pointing out problems with the information sources they consume. In reality, people get defensive, especially if an outsider comes to criticize (also a pattern which evolutionary psychology helps understand).
As stated before, I watched the beginning, end, and various samples from the center.
You can not invalidate criticism by publishing a N-hour video and complaining that the critics didn't watch every second.
Let's switch perspective for a moment: if I publish a 24-hour video titled "I debunked classical mechanics" and talked about journalism during 23 hours of it, I should not be able to deflect criticism with the claim that "you didn't watch all of it".
Part of my criticism is inability to come up with short and falsifiable points. Public communication about science pretty much requires doing that. Already in my first post, I mentioned that I thought the video was needlessly long.
And yes, I'm not a fan of misleading people. When I see someone doing that, yes, I will criticize.
A really long read, but highly informative. If someone has half an hour, I would recommend this article.
(Warning: graphic depictions of a broken legal system and a malfunctioning society.)
Rahandusministeeriumis valminud eelnõu seaduseks saamisel kaob ettevõtluskontole teenitud tulu maksustamisel kõrgem, 40-protsendiline maksumäär. Ühtlasi hakkavad kehtima uued maksumäärad neile ettevõtluskonto kasutajatele, kes on liitunud teise pensionisambaga.
For English speakers: boring but scandalous tax news from Estonia. If the proposed changes are passed into law, it will no longer be possible to pay a progressive income tax in Estonia even voluntarily (by having an automatically taxed "entrepreneur's private account"). It's surreal. The state budget is tearing apart after the COVID expenses, military expenses due to our dear eastern neighbour [both unavoidable, I would say] and meanwhile politicians find ways to ease the tax burden on the well-earning (I am one of them and have paid the higher tax tier on some years). And of course - the really wealthy folks who own actual companies - they never had to pay it. Me, I'm going to wait until the dust settles and publish something about this farce, as I think the progressive tax system should be expanded, not ended.
Lühikokkuvõte: Eestis ei saa astmelist tulumaksu enam isegi vabatahtlikult maksta. Päris rikkad pole seda kunagi maksma pidanud, aga nüüd ei saa seda maksta ka üksi tegutsevad väikeettevõtjad. Riigieelarve käriseb pärast pandeemiat ja sõda Ukrainas sunnib peale vältimatud kõrged kaitsekulutused, aga meil plaanitakse jõukamate klasside maksukoormust langetada. Sürreaalne. :o Ootan, kuni tolm langeb ja pilt selgineb, siis tuleb selle kohta artikkel.
World’s largest thermal energy storage to be built in Vantaa, Finland
For English speakers: I've previously written about the Helsinki thermal store. Now I'm happy to mention the planned Vantaa thermal store, which is going to be built for 200 million euros and will store nearly enough heat to keep Vantaa warm through the winter (specifically 90 GWh). It's going to be charged with waste heat and direct electrical heating during periods of renewable energy overproduction.
Olen varem kirjutanud Helsingi soojushoidlast, nüüd saan mainida Vantaa oma - see rajatakse ca. 200 miljoni euro eest ja suudab valmides salvestada põhimõtteliselt kogu Vantaa talvise vajaduse jagu küttesoojust. Soojushoidlat kavatsetakse täita jääksoojusega solgiveest, andmekeskustest ja 2 x 60 MW otsese elektriküttega taastuvenergia ületoodangu perioodidel. Väga huvitav projekt, millele õnnestumist sooviks.
Slovakkia uus valitsus püüab tugevdada kontrolli ajakirjanduse üle. Sealne rahvusringhääling kardab muutmist valitsuse häälekandjaks ning erameediat ähvardab majanduslik surve ja valitsuspoliitikute boikott. Seejuures on slovakid üks enim vandenõuteooriatesse uskuv rahvas.
For English speakers: an article from the Estonian public broadcaster about the Slovakian public broadcaster (and government). Unfortunately, there's some sad news - the new government of Slovakia is intending to tear down and rebuild from scratch their public broadcasting company. And everyone knows what that means: convenient people will be installed in the offices that count, so that news could be more favourable for the government in future. Stage 1 of authoritarian takeover. There is opposition to it, of course, and hopefully it won't get anywhere.
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Slovakkia kandist on nukrad uudised: uus valitsus juba sirutab kätt avalik-õigusliku meedia järele, eesmärgiga et suure ümber struktureerimise kattevarjus "omad joped" ametisse panna ja tulevikus omale meelepärasemaid uudiseid toota. Riigi autoritaarse ülevõtmise retseptis on selline liigutus tähtsal kohal. Loodetavasti ebaõnnestub.
Astmelise tulumaksu kehtestamist toetab 60 protsenti ja selle vastu oleks 30 protsenti Eesti kodanikest, selgus neljapäeval avaldatud küsitluse tulemustest, mille viis Ühiskonnauuringute Instituudi tellimusel läbi Norstat Eesti. Toetus astmelise tulumaksu kehtestamisele oli üle 50 protsendi kõigi su...
For English speakers: adopting a progressive income tax would be currently supported by 60% of Estonia's voters and opposed by 30% (support has previously been as high as 75%). The measure would be supported by 5 parties out of 6 and narrowly opposed by 1 party (which is split in the question). This has been the situation for 20 years. And the result? We have no progressive income tax, because politicians (who are nearly without exception high-income persons) aren't that keen on listening to the population in certain questions, and the population - easily distracted and clumsy at demanding stuff. :o
Nagu näha, toetaks meedet (jätkuvalt, juba ca. 20 aastat) nii elanikkonna enamus kui parteide enamus. Kõik peale praeguse peaministri erakonna toetaks astmelist tulumaksu, ja peaministri erakonnast kah pooled. Paraku ei ole seda juhtunud. Kurvastusega tuleb tõdeda, et poliitikuid (kes on pea eranditult kõrge sissetulekuga isikud) teatud küsimustes valijate soovid eriti ei huvita - valijad aga on hajameelsed ja oskamatud asjade nõudmisel. :o
I feared he would be martyred, when he returned to Russia after getting poisoned by the FSB and helping Bellingcat track down the agents who poisoned him (nobody in power did anything about them). Back then, his life was saved by a pilot deciding to make an emergency landing and a doctor suspecting a neurotoxin.
What finally took his life will be difficult to ascertain due to lack of transparency - a remote location, an extremely authoritarian system, war, politically controlled law enforcement and courts. Still, a day before death, Navalny appeared in court for another potential addition to his already 19-year sentence - in good spirits.
During Navalny's imprisonment, the regime made a sustained effort to break that spirit, issuing a constant stream of disciplinary punishments (a total of 27 times): for not placing his hands behind his back, for incorrectly introducing himself, for uttering a profanity, for failing to clear leaves in the yard, for citing the European Court of Human Rights’ demand for his release, for addressing the guard without using a patronym, and for declining to wash the fence.
They also transfered him to the far north and previously used sleep deprivement against him. I tend to assume that they also killed him, either directly or indirectly.
He was definitely not the perfect politician, but did things which a common politician never dares to do, which suggests having some principles. When they came for anarchists, he didn't forget them, but also spoke for anarchists.
Jens, Riin ja Kätri tahavad muuta kogu ühiskonda. Neile ei sobi klassikaline liberalism. Neid paelub hoopis tasaareng: iga inimese kohta kindlaks määratud ruutmeetrite ja reiside arv, mis päästaks meid kliimakollapsist. Noorte progressiividega vestles Anna Teele Orav.
Eesti Ekspress on pühendanud artikli Progressiivse Liikumise tegemistele. Kahjuks on nad selle toppinud maksumüüri taha. Kui ma maksumüürist tee ümber leian, kommenteerin all.
The paper Eesti Eksrpress has dedicated an article to the doings of the Progressive Movement. Unfortunately they have paywalled it. If I find a way past the paywall, I will comment below.
Eelmisel aastal toodeti Eestis esmakordselt taastuvatest energiaallikatest rohkem elektrit kui fossiilsetest kütustest. Muutuse peamine põhjus on fossiilkütustel põhineva elektritootmise vähenemine.
Summary for the English-speakers: last year Estonia, a country traditionally running on oil shale, has finally produced most of its electrical power from renewable sources. Renewables produced 2.6 TWh while fossils only 2.3 TWh - but the report is needlessly optimistic as 1.2 TWh out of the renewables still involved burning stuff (waste, wood chip and other biomass).
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Verstapostist on mööda saadud, aga tegelikkus ilusate arvude taga on, et pool meie "taastuvenergiast" emiteerib süsihappegaasi. Siiski on ka see parem kui mitte midagi. :)
Background: yesterday, there was heated discussion in the thread "military-industrial complex is a supervillain of causing the climate crisis" (link).
Among others, the thread creator posted a comment to the Guardian article "The climate costs of war and militaries can no longer be ignored", commenting it thusly:
> If you want more context or won’t take my word on how militarism will kill is all, you can read this article.
I replied, a copy of my reply is below for your judgement. My reply got moderated by someone with the reason "Comment does not address intent of original post and promotes weapons industry / war in Ukraine."
I think my comment both addressed the topic, did not promote the weapons industry but helping Ukraine defend itself (ironically, tools for military self-defense come from the weapons industry) and did not promote the war (in fact, I noted that war is expensive, resource-intensive and stupid), but did explain the dynamics of war and revolutions.
I consider this moderator misconduct, likely motivated by their political views - and have asked a server administrator to talk with the moderator involved, to ascertain if they can refrain from using moderator powers as a political club to hit people, or to secure their demotion from a moderating role.
The removed post, for your judgement:
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> The article is fine, and I second the recommendation to read it, but from the article to the slogan you present, things do not follow a logical path.
> Yes, war is both an incredibly expensive activity (diverting money that could be used) and a resource-intensive activity (the money goes into actual materials that almost surely destroy something or get destroyed) and an incredibly stupid activity (and it can snowball)...
> ...but the problem is that successful unilateral disarmament during a war tends to result in a situation called "defeat". If the defeat is not an attack being defeated, but defense being defeated, that is called a "conquest". Now, letting a conquest succeed has a historical tendency of the conqueror having more experience at conquest, and more resources to conquer with... which has, several times in history, lead to another conquest or a whole series of conquests. A regional war in Ukraine resulting in Ukraine being taken over by Russia has a high probability of producing:
> 1) a bigger regional war later, in which Russia, using its own resources and those of Ukraine, proceeds to another country, gets into a direct conflict with NATO and then indeed there is a risk of a global war
> 2) an encouraging effect after which China, noting that international cooperation against the agressor was ultimately insufficient, and deeming itself better prepared than Russia, decides that it can take Taiwan with military force
> However, a war ending with inability to show victory tends to produce a revolution in the invading country. For example, World War I produced a revolution in Russia and subsequently a revolution in Germany, with several smaller revolutions in between, empires collapsing and a brief bloom of democracy in Europe, before the Great Depression and the rise of fascism ate all the fruits. The Falklands War produced a revolution in Argentina. The Russo-Japanese war produced the 1905 near-revolution in Russia.
> It is better for Ukraine to not get conquered. It is better for Russia to be unable to conquer Ukraine. That result is also better for everyone around them. It's even better globally because it sets a precedent of large-scale cooperation defeating an agressive superpower, discouraging agressive superpowers from undertaking similar wars until memory starts fading again.
> Unfortunately, until we see indications that Russian society is getting ready to stop the war (this could involve starting negotiations on terms palatable to Ukraine, a change of leadership, a withdrawal, a revolution, etc)... the path to achieving that outcome remains wearing out the agressor: producing enough weapons and delivering them to Ukraine.
> Ultimately, both sides in a war wear each other down. The soldiers most eager to fight are killed soonest. The people most unwilling to get mobilized or recruited, and soldiers most unwilling to fight - they remain alive. If they are pressed forever, some day they will make the calculation: there are less troops blocking the way home than in the trenches of the opposing side. After that realization, they eventually tend to mutiny. Invading troops tend to do that a bit easier than defending troops, because they sense less purpose in their activity. In the long run, if nothing else happens, that will happen. There is just (probably, regrettably) no particularly quick shortcut to getting there.
Läti anarhistid korraldavad raamatulaada. Sellest kirjutab Soome anarhistide portaal "takku.net". / Latvian anarchists are holding a bookfair in spring. The Finnish anarchist portal "takku.net" reports about it.
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We announce the 1st Anarchist Bookfair in Riga 24-26 May 2024
We are going to continue the tradition of Anarchist bookfairs which have been held in Tallinn, Stockholm and London. We invite all the Anarchist and Antiauthoritarian publishers to present and sell their books, magazines, newspapers, cartoons, etc and everybody interseted to spend the weekend with us, take part in discussions and seminars. The event is open to everybody and no prior registration is required. The details of the programme will come later.
If you want to sell/present your printed matter, please, write to rigabooks@riseup.net We have a limited number of tables/stalls, order them in advance. The deadline for booking is May, 1 2024. We are going to hold a special round table discussion for Anarchist publishers, bloggers, writers, artists and translators. Let us know if you want to take part.
If you want to make a presentation/lecture/workshop/concert you are most welcome. Please write to rigabooks@riseup.net The deadline is 23.04.2024
When: 24-26 May 2024
Where: Riga, Latvia
Riga, the capital city of Latvia, is situated at the Baltic sea and it is an ideal meeting place for all those interested from the East and the West. Latvia has a glorious anarchist history dating from 19 century and of anarchist and libertarian socialist print in various languages, including Latvian, Russian, Yeddish. Latvia has beautiful nature and May is the best time to come, when there are not so many tourists and it is already warm. Latvia has very rich history of brewery and one of the best beers in Europe.
Elektri hind Nord Pooli Eesti turupiirkonnas kasvab reedel hüppeliselt: keskmine megavatt-tund maksab 890,54 eurot megavatt-tunnist ja õhtul kella 19-20 vahel lausa ligi 1900 eurot megavatt-tunnist.
For English speakers: electricity consumers in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are having "interesting times" at the moment. A sudden intrusion of arctic air has resulted in very low temperatures (down to -40 C in northern Finland) and resultingly, electricity prices are super high. In addition, one energy block in the Forsmark NPP is down in Sweden. The Finnish grid administrator has thus advised people to use electricity sparingly.
The unavoidable blame game of "why" will unavoidably follow. To state the most obvious, an excess of weather is excessive. :) But the pricing algorithm of Nord Pool (the common electricity exchange of Northern Europe) is such that the highest asker whose services are needed "makes the price" for everyone during that hour. Whether that is reasonable, is not obvious (and not trivial to prove or disprove).
However, the region also has a definite lack of energy storage. Lack of storage means that when a bad day comes, instead of graceful rise, some operators are warming up big power stations which use inefficient fuels from a stone-cold status, only to let them cool down tomorrow. Such activity costs the consumer a big penny.
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ERR kirjutab sellest, mis parasjagu turul toimub. Eestis saab nautida enamuse reedest elektrit hinnaga 0.8 € / KWh, tipptundidel aga 1.8 € / KWh. Soomes on võimalik itkeda hinnataseme juures 2.3 € / KWh. Kuidas sellist nalja ära hoida saaks? Või ei saagi?
Minu hinnangul - ikka saab. Olemas peab lihtsalt olema mingeid vähegi normaalse kütusega töötavaid varuvõimsusi, mille liinile toomine on natuke kergema klassi ülesanne kui mäe soojaks ajamine. :)
Olemas peab olema ka salvestavaid võimsusi. Siis hakkab hind kerkima sujuvalt, sedamööda kuidas ilmaennustust lugenud salvestajad päikeselisel päeval oma energiasalvi täidavad ja odavamad varus seisnud jaamad mitu päeva kuumana käivad (samuti selleks, et pahal päeval kõik energiasalved täis oleks)... selle asemel et ühe meeletu lõpuspurdi käigus üheks meeletuks päevaks ka kõige raiskavam tootmisseade üles kütta... ja taas jahtuda lasta. Selline tegevus lihtsalt peabki olema väga ebaefektiivne.
Hind tõuseks ikka, aga salvestusvõimsuste leidumisel sujuvamalt. Tervislikuma tootmisvõimsuste segu korral mitte nii järsult. Tegemist on lahendatava probleemiga. Lahendus võib olla kas tehniline (jättes Nordpooli veidi kummaline algoritm samaks) aga võib ka peituda turu reeglite muutmises. Kas viimane turule mahtunud pakkuja ikka peab "tegema hinna kõigi jaoks"?
Minu jaoks teoreetiline küsimus, kuna eilne päikesepaiste täitis kõik omad kõik varud üle ootuste.
Häid külmapühasid.
A topic about some pointless reddit, please ignore. / Teema mingi mõttetu redditi kohta, palun eirake.
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Hiljuti oli jälle võimalik näha Eesti redditit selle uues hiilguses. Kuna see oli mitmes kord, siis kannatus katkes - saatsin olukorra põhjustajad ning probleemi eirajad iga ilmakaare suunas ja tulin ära.
Diagnoos:
- arvestatav kogus totalitaarsuse ihalejaid
- kogunevad nagu kärbsed teatud teemadesse
- seal teemades on neil lokaalne enamus
- teevad üleskutseid vägivallale ja totalitaarsete ideede toeks
- üldine populatsioon ei viitsi nendega tegeleda, kuna on meelt lahutamas
- lisaks on provokaator reeglina "omade poolel", keskmise redditori aju tõrgub siinkohal
- reeglid ütlevad, et "meil on selleks moderaatorid"
- kuna mind võidakse bännida, järgin reegleid ja ei pea nendega kodusõda
- paraku, moderaatorid ei tegele
- ja Redditi adminid ei loe eesti keelt
Kui eelnevad tingimused on täidetud, siis ongi valmis kasvulava, kus liberaalid toidavad metsast leitud haiget fašismi - ja kui anarhist ütleb, et viige fašism metsa tagasi, siis anarhist on liiga radikaalne ja liberaalid ei vii - hoiavad ja toidavad edasi, küllap kuni hammustama hakkab.
Omaette fenomen on silmakirjalikkus ja musta valgeks rääkimine. See on seal kah kõrgelt arenenud.
Toda keskkonda ühelegi anarhistile poliitiliseks aruteluks ei soovita. Mudaaugus, kus pooltel on juba mudaplönn peos, ei saa arutleda, vaid muda loopida.
[this is an English translation of the original article in Polish, we occasionally publish the best cyber stories from Poland in English] A train manufactured by a Polish company suddenly broke down during maintenance. The experts
This article is about fixing, but with a twist - it's about fixing trains that their manufacturer sabotaged. :D
In Poland, it took the hacker crew "Dragon Sector" months of work to find a software "time bomb" that was sabotaging "Impuls" trains manufactured by Newag, once their maintenance was handed over to another company.
Let this be a reminder to everyone about closed source technology and critical infrastructure.
Living off grid often correlates with poorly accessible locations - because that's where the infrastructure is not.
On certain latitudes, especially near bodies of water, especially in remote locations - do not ask who the snow comes for - it always comes for you (and with a grudge). So, what ya gonna do?
Over here, a tractor being incomplete (it is great folly to go into winter with an incomplete tractor), snow is handled by an electric microcar. Since the microcar is made of thin sheet metal and plastic, it cannot carry a plow... but the rear axle being solid steel, it can pull one.
The plow is one year old, and was previously pulled by a gasoline car. It is made of construction steel: 8 mm L-profiles shaped like a letter A with double horizontal bars. The point of connection on top ensures it doesn't lift too much while plowing. It's currently fixed with an unprofessional and temporary C-clamp (there will be an U-bolt soon). It is pulled with a chain.
If snow is heavy, the L-profiles lift the plow on top of snow, and you have to plow the same road many times. Sometimes it veers off sideways. Generally, you have to catch the snow early with this system - if you're late, you're stuck. :)
Not many advantages, but dirt cheap. Don't go plowing public roads with such devices - it is nearly invisible to fellow drivers, and cops would get a seizure.
The majority of electrocatalysts selective for CO2 reduction to ethanol are based on Cu. Here the authors report a highly ethanol-selective Sn-based electrocatalyst, which is proposed to operate via a tandem mechanism.
Some Chinese researchers have found a new catalyst for electrochemically reducing CO2. Multiple such catalysts are known, but so far, only copper favours reaction products with a carbon chain of at least 2 carbons (e.g. ethanol).
The new catalyst requires a specific arrangement of tin atoms on tin disulphate substrate, seems to work in a solution of potassium hydrogen carbonate (read: low temperature) and is 80% specific to producing ethanol - a very practical chemical feedstock and fuel.
The new catalyst seems stable enough (97% activity after 100 hours). Reaction rates that I can interpret into "good" or "bad" aren't found - it could be slow to work. The original is paywalled, a more detailed article can be found at:
Carbon-Carbon Coupling on a Metal Non-metal Catalytic Pair
Overall, it's nice to see some research into breaking down CO2 for energy storage, but there is nothing practical (industrial) on that front yet, only lab work.
To make no excessive claims, I have to admit I burnt a fair bit of wood during the night. In the morning however, around 9 o'clock, the solar fence (nominal power 2400 W) was giving 600 W and steaming vigorously. By 10 o'clock, it had thawed and gave 940 W. Later, other panel arrays took over and wattage decreased. The energy was used to run a heat pump.
P.S. Knowing that server resources aren't infinite, I hosted the image externally, I hope that hosting on "postimages.org" works smoothly.
At least five people who spoke out against the war have been arrested so far.
The short war which Azerbaijan waged against Armenian-populated Karabakh after a months-long blocade is over (Armenian separatists lost, and will likely get ethnically cleansed out of the region)...
...but in the aftermath, it's worth pointing out that several high-profile Azeris did speak against their government starting a war - and were repressed.
The most worrisome case is the chairman of the confederation of trade unions, Afiaddin Mammadov. A provocateur who had previously injured himself threw a knife at him, and cops arrested him immediately after that, claiming he had injured the provocateur.
After years of anticipation and hard work by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer) team, a capsule of rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu finally is on Earth. It landed at 8:52 a.m. MDT (10:52 a.m. EDT) on Sunday, in a...
To my knowledge, this is the second time a sample is returned from an asteroid to Earth - only preceded by Hayabusa-2 fetching a sample from asteroid Ryugu. The capsule has been found and the sample stabilized with nitrogen. Fetching the sample required 7 years, studying it will require a bit of time too.
It is too early to speculate whether interesting discoveries will follow, but Bennu is considered to be an interesting asteroid - likely not a break-up product, but something that represents the original composition of the solar system.
Bennu is also considered a hazardous space object, ranked high on the Palermo scale of impact risk and kinetic yield, so knowing what it's made of can be practically worthwhile.
More information here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSIRIS-REx
Pritzker Molecular Engineering researchers led by Prof. Jeffrey Hubbell showed that their compound can eliminate the autoimmune reaction associated with multiple sclerosis in a laboratory setting.
> The inverse vaccine, described in Nature Biomedical Engineering, takes advantage of how the liver naturally marks molecules from broken-down cells with “do not attack” flags to prevent autoimmune reactions to cells that die by natural processes.
> PME researchers coupled an antigen — a molecule being attacked by the immune system— with a molecule resembling a fragment of an aged cell that the liver would recognize as friend, rather than foe. The team showed how the vaccine could successfully stop the autoimmune reaction associated with a multiple-sclerosis-like disease.