Hey. It's been a while. I'm on month number ... 6 (and a half) of unemployed/CERB. In that time I have - learned python3, including pandas, some numpy (mostly pyplot and seaborn), and some machine learning stuff to predict future patterns in data (mostly economic). - learned basic SQL - started to work my way through JavaScript - written most of a novel (still working on it) - released my first short fiction with a price tag attached to it (2 bucks - if you're interested in a smutty WLW romance let me know) - had a poem accepted to a local zine called "Kill Your Lawn" - written some other shorts that will need some editing but that can be sent out to submission calls. - replaced the clutch in my car (my dad was a huge help) - had, and recovered from, an orchidectomy ( a kind of bottom surgery for trans women) - learned how to sew - Had one roommate break lease and leave early (My other roommate and I said Yay!) - Had another roommate move in, then promptly die of a heart attack. (this was very unfortunate) - helped coordinate said roommate's family's access to the townhouse so that they could take their time moving out his stuff (he had a lot of stuff) I'm sure there are other things, too. Despite the length of that list it feels like I've not done all that much. It's been very hard to play music lately, especially the bass. I've been playing cello at socially distanced baroque jams on a friend's patio once a week - potent potables required, seriousness discouraged. As other writer friends have said, if I wrote a year like this into a book it would be dismissed by editors as unbelievable and unrealistic. A lot of things are really wrong. To grasp at any silver lining at all, at least this pandemic has highlighted the stark distance between those who can make a living in my country, and those who can't, and how much our disability system and employment insurance (our version of unemployment) have suffered a death by 1,000 cuts over the years. The need to reinvest in ourselves, as a country, has become obvious. Hope you guys are surviving. Things are hard everywhere.
everything is fine. everything is fine. it was 93F on Monday and I swam in a pool. It was 32F yesterday and snowed 2 inches yesterday. I have never switched my AC off and my Furnace on in the same day. everything is fine. edit: I know I'm being a little glib... but I gotta say - these cute little anecdotes aren't just anecdotal... like.. the science is becoming more, and more, and more clear. And we're actually seeing actual, abnormal, non-cyclical climate change. I'm trying to keep a lid on my temper... because hey... I'm the hypocrite heating my house right now with fossil fuels... so crap... how are we going to turn this around? (insert mild panic attack here)
Dude. Cannot imagine how weird that is, to go to such extremes in a single day. I mean, I've camped in the desert A LOT, and going from 90 during the day to high 20s at night is a thing that happens.... but... my friends in Colorado are going through the shit right now, that's for sure. And yeah, you are burning fossil fuels, but not enough to even matter. There's 10 companies that create something like 70% of the carbon emissions that are destroying our planet. What you, a single individual can do to mitigate that, or make it worse, is meaningless, really. Which can either be a crushing thought, or at least give you a little peace when you switch off the AC and turn on the furnace.... What a weird time we live in...
List of Weather Records Record extreme temperature differences Various current records have been standing since 1943, 1972, 1911, 1885, 1892 and 2020. When we measure so many things, we should not be surprised to observe new extremes, like the record 11-year hurricane drought. Today's record levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide aren't random variation, though. I think it's fair to look at commercial activity. Here are the top ten "Carbon Majors" and the percent contributions to cumulative emissions from 1988 to 2015. 4.5% Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco) 3.9% Gazprom OAO 2.3% National Iranian Oil Co 2.0% ExxonMobil Corp 1.9% Coal India 1.9% Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) 1.9% Russia (Coal) 1.7% Royal Dutch Shell PLC 1.6% China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) Source PDF: CDP Carbon Majors Report 2017 If you have ever bought products manufactured in China, or purchased gasoline, you do have some responsibility for carbon emissions. ExxonMobil doesn't profit by releasing carbon dioxide, they profit by selling you gas. The report distinguishes "Scope 1" direct operational emissions and "Scope 3" emissions from the use of sold products: But of course Scope 1 wouldn't exist if we were not buying the products. The best explanation for corporate behavior is customer demand. WanderingEng suggests voting; I was going to say that a single individual voting to mitigate carbon emissions is in fact meaningless. I think it's likely, in fact nearly certain, that after an election you can look back and conclude that your vote did not change the outcome. "Civic duty" and "making my voice heard" and "being part of something bigger than myself" are valid considerations, but my goal in voting would be to get the best candidate in office, and it seems clear that my vote won't in fact make that happen. I also don't have a reliable way to know which candidate will actually perform best, since campaign promises are often abandoned. On the other hand, your purchasing behavior does make a difference. You are a miniscule amount of ExxonMobil's total demand, but you control 100% of the demand that you are responsible for. Any time you walk instead of drive, you are reducing your contribution, and every step counts, every decision moves the needle. You don't have to be perfect, either. If you are concerned about animal welfare and reduce your consumption of animal products by half, which is pretty easy, you create half as much benefit as eliminating all use of animal products, which is very difficult. Be the change! TL/DR: If you're going to abdicate personal responsibility, skip voting, and no one will notice. Your behavior as a customer counts, and small choices over a lifetime add up to a significant part of your total personal contribution, which is all you should be held responsible for anyway.actual, abnormal, non-cyclical climate change
14.3% China (Coal) Scope 3 emissions account for 90% of total company emissions and result from the downstream combustion of coal, oil, and gas for energy purposes.
You're talking about Exxon, but I'll start with an easier counter example of electricity (for obvious reasons). I have little to no control over the energy sources that respond to my electric demand. My refrigerator will definitely kick on here in a bit. That isn't usage I can eliminate by biking or walking. When it does, fossil fuel plants will increase output and add to carbon emissions because all the zero emissions generation is already at max output. Having government support for zero emission, dispatchable energy sources can change that, but I as a user cannot. I can't vote with my money because I need my food to stay cold. For transportation, I think there are similarities. I need to drive places. Food is again an obvious one, and work is another. Is it possible for me to live near work and groceries so I could walk or bike most of the year? Maybe. Is it practical? Not really. Is it possible for everyone to do? Probably not. So I think it again falls to governments to support things like public transportation and electric car infrastructure. Further, we're talking about this and aware our actions and usages have impacts. But most people don't. How do we get them to do better? I argue it's again government to educate and provide means to have them change without even knowing (such as cleaner electricity, cleaner supply chain, and EVs as convenient as gas). I can't agree with this more. But I look at it kind of like using drugs. Arresting drug users has little effect on stopping drug use. Acting to push out suppliers while also providing individuals with means to not get sucked into drug use (e.g. social programs) sees better results. We're the drug users, and even if some of us get clean too many others won't.but you control 100% of the demand that you are responsible for
ExxonMobil doesn't profit by releasing carbon dioxide, they profit by selling you gas.
My main point is that blaming the corporations is a cop-out. The corporations do what they do because of customer demand. As long as people offer money for gasoline, there is a strong incentive to produce gasoline, even if Exxon is persecuted. We are the ones burning the fuels and releasing the carbon. A carbon tax would be a more efficient way to reduce carbon emissions, but people don't want to pay the price to achieve the goal, they want someone else to pay. There are familiar ways to reduce consumption, whatever the composition of the energy source. Good old Energy Star is a starting point. You can combine trips, make your next car a more efficient model, eat less meat. But do you have a way to change government? It's easy to imagine the way things should be, just as we can imagine a world running on solar power. I think you have a better chance of changing a few people's minds here than changing government behavior. You may have heard of the National Energy Education Development Project; I hadn't. How about energy.gov or the Center for Energy Education or The Fourth Generation. The information is out there, but it's hard to get people to pay attention. A carbon tax would get people's attention and provide incentive aligned with the goal. Do you have evidence for this claim? "In the United States, legalization has been associated with increased use by adults, but not by youth." one source I have a strong presumption that when something costs more, people buy less of it. A carbon tax isn't ideal, but in my view it has fewer disadvantages than alternatives, and has the advantage of probably working if the goal is to reduce carbon.Having government support for zero emission, dispatchable energy sources can change that, but I as a user cannot.
Further, we're talking about this and aware our actions and usages have impacts. But most people don't. How do we get them to do better? I argue it's again government to educate and provide means to have them change without even knowing (such as cleaner electricity, cleaner supply chain, and EVs as convenient as gas).
Arresting drug users has little effect on stopping drug use.
Other than to vote and to encourage others to vote and be informed on candidates who support good environmental goals. Because an individual can't move the needle on carbon emissions, we need to band together through government to do it. What you, a single individual can do to mitigate that, or make it worse, is meaningless, really.
Even voting isn't really going to help, because it won't affect the large corporations that are at fault. Sure, a minor regulation may require a carbon catcher to be installed on the smokestack of that factory, or a tarp over the train cars full of coal (dust) powering though downtown, but those are band-aids on a severed limb. The only force that will get these companies at the top to change is public opinion. A massive hit to their bottom line from a sustained and comprehensive strike across the nation. And that isn't possible with politics.
Emissions regulations do hit their bottom line, though. It's a big part (though not the only part) of why coal power is dying. Let them emit all the mercury, particulate matter, SOx and NOx they want and watch the industry come back.
Except, all regulations are heavily edited by people who listen to lobbyists. And the energy industry spends more on lobbying than any other industry. So sure, write some new SOx and NOx legislation. That draft goes out. Your calendar then fills up with lobbyists and industry "experts" who water it down in dozens of little ways - "You're going to kill too many jobs in Poughkeepsie, where you have a close upcoming race against someone from the other party..." - and the final regulation is mostly feel-good - like a new carbon catcher on the smokestack at the coal-fired power plant - and does almost nothing to address the core problem, which is that alternative energy sources aren't even being considered, much less built. Put all the carbon catchers on the smokestacks you want... you now have to do something with that carbon. To replace the power plant with solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, whatever, you have to hit the power company in their bottom line and make their coal-fired plant unsustainable, so the only fiscally responsible solution is to go with another form of power generation. (This is why carbon taxes always fail, or are so weakened they have little to no effect on the power company's bottom line.) Regulation absolutely has its place. I don't disagree with your point there. But regulation is a band-aid after the bad decisions have already been made, and an attempt to mitigate the knock-on effects of an original bad decision, instead of making a better decision and making the legislation unnecessary.
It is my daughter’s second day of virtual school. I am sitting at the kitchen table, and she is at her desk. It’s interesting to watch her interact from this perspective. She is smiling a lot but saying little. She just said her name and waved her arms. I am trying to image what it must feel like for her. We took her first day of school picture in front of her desk. She’s in 3rd grade. I remember my first day of 3rd grade clearly because I had grey parachute pants and I was so excited to wear them. Parachute pants are awesome. There has been a tremendous amount of parental stress around this school year. Personally, I haven’t been worried because my wife and I don’t have to leave the house for work. I really feel for parents that must juggle this and work, particularly those with multiple kids. From an educational perspective, if the school year did not happen, I don’t think it would be much of a big deal. Kids are resilient. We adults are the fragile ones. We are going to head back to the UP of Michigan in just over a week. I am getting internet installed at the cottage. My second cousin will be there doing the same, so my daughter will have playmates on hand after the school day. I just got my Uphold account activity. Someone donated 0.2 ETH to Hubski on 8/20. To Whom it May Concern, thank you. We also get about $10/mo worth of BAT from people using Brave and/or tipping. That makes a difference. https://hubski.com/donate
I know a lady, single mom and grandma, who has 7 school age kids under her roof. I'm sure some of those kids are traumatized in some way or other, I don't know why they live with their grandma. Just getting 7 laptops plugged with space to work would be a challenge. I'm sure their internet is not up to this. Portland Public Schools has done a great job getting a working laptop into every kids hand and I know there is a program to make sure they have internet but I don't know how successful it's been (probably ok because I haven't herd about it). We are in the middle of a wind storm with scattered wildfires that's screwing up power and internet, they had to turn off video during class yesterday to get audio to work. Your kid and my kid could miss a year of school and it would have little effect on their lives. Our kids also have bookshelves with 100 pluses books in them (I assume you do but I'd be surprised to be wrong) parents who have conversations with them and exposure to new ideas and stimulating content. Our kids are also baseline smart (I assume again). A kid who isn't smart and has little to no intellectual stimulation, who isn't read too and no one has a conversation having anything to do with anything but their misbehavior would be devastated by a year off. That's my impression from the things I've read about kids at the bottom, maybe katakowsj could say more.
A coworker is juggling kids at home while working from home. He sounds really frustrated, saying if daycare is closed he might as well quit work. I'm not sure what his wife does, but it sounds like she has to be out of the house. So if daycare is closed, he's with the kids full time. I think his kids are like 2 and 4 years old. My cats are asleep near me. One is on the chair next to me and the other is on a chair under the table behind me. They distract me a bit in the morning, especially the younger one who wants me to play with him and his toy such, but it's no worse than a coworker in the office talking about something I don't care about. I like working from home.
wasoxygen and I placed a wager in late 2016 about how long Trump would serve in office for. Our bet was (still is) $1 per week, with me owing $1 for every week for Trump remains and him owing $1 for every week of his term that Trump is out of office. The proceeds go entirely to Hubski. My thinking at the time was that he would resign or be impeached with a year, tops. Now I think the only way he doesn't finish is if he loses the election and gets Pence to pardon him after he resigns in the transition period. Unlikely, so look for a $208 donation from me on Jan 20.I just got my Uphold account activity. Someone donated 0.2 ETH to Hubski on 8/20. To Whom it May Concern, thank you. We also get about $10/mo worth of BAT from people using Brave and/or tipping. That makes a difference. https://hubski.com/donate
It has to be tough watching your daughter have a different schooling experience than you had ... but at the same time, this is her experience, and she doesn't have your experience to reference. So ... I wonder how kids will adapt to this experience, which is new for us, but "it is what it is" for them? Going to the UP with family and internet is going to be pretty amazing, I am sure. Almost a modern pioneer experience... living out in the woods, in a cabin, extended family living, working, and educating together... there's something very Little House On The Prairie about it. The modern pioneers. Walden 2020. Things are weird.
We are at the finish line of a herculean effort. We will have closed out a very difficult fundraise in the midst of the greatest economic collapse in generations. This will be an amazing feat. What's better is that we have an awesome new product to launch on the heels of the raise. We will continue to bank stem cells. We will continue to allow people to consent to donate those cells to FL so we can sell them to research institutions (we are very transparent about this and ~80% of people consent) but our new offering is born out of a patent that mk and the lab team developed. It's going to help a lot of people and by all accounts it's going to be very lucrative for the company. I'm extremely excited about it. I think we will get the company to "default alive" by Q3 2021. The family was just in DC for the weekend. We visited all of the outdoor monuments in the Mall... well not all, but many. It felt like a good, safe environment. We visited our dear friends in VA, one of which is cW. It was such an awesome time. The kids love it and we did too. Much needed. But back the grind and to mk's post here, back to homeschooling. It's been rough. We have been at it for 3 weeks now. My 9 year old is thriving, but my 6 year old is not. He's a super high energy kid. He had a hard time focusing in PERSON let alone being tethered to a chair for hours when only minutes are really about learning. So much of their time is spent helping kids log in etc. It's almost cruel of us to expect him to sit through that. I know I couldn't. I think I'm going to start waking up a bit earlier with him and going for a morning run. It will be good for both of us. But homeschooling online sucks. I think he'd be better served if we just homeschooled him ourselves. To cgod's point, our kids have all the resources, books etc. They're smart. We could devise a hands on experiential curriculum that far exceeds what he is doing now. Watching him hate this is breaking my heart. I'm gonna give it a few more weeks before making a decision, but it's not looking good.
thenewgreen the difference between kids can be amazing and super frustrating. My son (at any age) would happily sit in front of the computer and pretend to pay attention while day dreaming about god knows what. My middle daughter would be constantly finding excuses to be anywhere but in front of the computer. No amount of kind reminders, bribes, punishments, or other cajoling would keep her on task. She is still that way. My youngest would struggle, but would put every effort into the task. I can't imagine what it would be like to have all my children be able to sit and learn like this and not spend most of my day monitoring them. So glad the older two are already out of school. mk's daughter sounds like she is adapting well. I wish all kids could, not just mine, but really all kids. I feel for those parents with children that have various issues that keep them from being able to do it. My kids weren't even particularly bad, but just frustrating enough to make me question my own sanity.
I don’t think there is anything a teacher could do in this situation. But, it’s clear to me that some are better than others. My sons music teacher is a wizard. The guy uses puppets, different voices and is constantly engaging the kids. I think a big part of engaging the kids is to occasionally call on them unprompted, keeping them on their toes. This morning I tested having my kids go for a morning run. So far, he does seem more dialed in and relaxed. Granted, we are only 10 minutes in. We are lucky that our Au Pair is a trained elementary school teacher and she does a great job. I can’t imagine not having help and having a full time job. Or having several kids in the k-4th grade age. People are carrying heavy burdens these days. Aside: Last night I was on a call with a woman in NorCal and she has all of these concerns and a raging fire headed her way. It’s amazing to me that evangelicals aren’t seeing Trump as the first horseman of the apocalypse.
I'm very glad I am on a west-facing slope over the Puget Sound right now. The consistent onshore (eastward) breeze has kept the smoke to a minimum so far. But I fear the choking clogged air from the fires two years ago are just a short ways away. For the time being though, me and mine are comfortable and safe. (NOT going to make a snide comment about earthquakes... not going to make a comment about earthquakes... not going to tempt an earthquake...)
I started my secondment last week at the largest Dutch metropolitan transit agency. I get to help set up pilot projects and figure out if they're worth funding. Which is already a lot of fun. Last week was a bit hectic, but this week I'm more in the flow of things, and I'm already noticing an improvement in my mood. Feels like I started a new job, yet I still get to keep everything I built up over the years at my own company. But I get to offload a lot of tedious stuff simply because I knocked out 3+ days a week with my secondment and my longrunning other project, which is to help build the next generation of mobility apps. I think the improvement in mood is mostly because of the different type of work. It's funny, I'm now way more in meetings and discussions. My programming and GIS work is reduced to less than a day per week. I'm under much less pressure this way, not having to juggle half a dozen tight deadlines that depend on my ability to come up with scripts at breakneck speed. The problems dealing with programming and GIS are genuinely difficult, daunting and often nearly unsolvable; whereas the problem of dealing with other people is much easier, has more alternatives and less stress behind it. Made me realize (only now) how much easier my non-programming-colleagues have it usually. As long as I keep moving forward in the things that have my name on it, I'm good. Life here feels like it's almost returned back to normal. All the covid-nightmare businesses are still closed, but I'm seeing people fairly regularly again and am doing one or two days a the office again. Also didn't seem to get covid from my sister's 80+ people wedding, which I was worried about. Our country's problem is that our national CDC is incompetent and is now limiting testing because of mostly dumb reasons.
House Well, we finally settled on a color for our house. It is more grey than I prefer, but at least this time it is more blue than my wife prefers. We painted the house a light grey with blue undertones last time and it grated on me. I struggled with painting it last time and basically felt like a two year old fighting it. It took us weeks of nights and weekends to get it done. This time I am energized and we got a quarter of the house painted in a day. I got up early this morning to see it in the early morning light, and wow, I like it. Can't wait to see how it looks over the course of the day as the light changes. Family My daughter let us take our grandson for the weekend and we went north to celebrate our mother-in-laws birthday. This will most likely be the last time we see him before they move. We're hoping to get him this weekend, but who knows if my daughter will let us take him. Her anxiety is kicking in. Can't say I blame her, moving a 1000 miles away from everything and everyone she has ever known. That can be stressful for people that don't normally suffer from anxiety. Wife and I managed to get on the kayaks while visiting family over the weekend (actually, 9 of us went kayaking together) and again Tuesday after work. That makes 6 different lakes in a month. The smallest is just 60 acres, the largest 1,600 acres. My wife is afraid to be on the water where there are motorboats, so we have stuck to smaller bodies of water. Tuesday I convinced her to go on the big lake saying that there would not be many boats on a Tuesday evening. I was right, there were only 3 that we saw. It gave her a chance to experience some small waves from their wake and get more comfortable keeping her balance. It ended up being our longest trip too; we stayed for 2.5 hours. Eventually I hope to get out on the sound, but she isn't anywhere near ready for that. Maybe next summer. Work Things keep chugging along. I have always been sucked into various meetings (which I appreciate so that I can have an idea of why they are asking for certain projects). And since I end up touching nearly everything and working with nearly everyone, I have a pretty good overview of how things are and how people do and will react to changes. Someone noticed that a couple of years ago and started inviting me to Senior management meetings. When the pandemic hit, I was invited to join the Strategic Committee meetings. Now am apparently a member? So, I sit on the panel for All Staff meetings and get to meet with the Board of Directors this weekend. I appreciate being noticed, but .... I am running out of time to do my job. Everyone is happy and healthy, the dog is finally responding to training, the cat hasn't managed to kill anyone yet, we have stable jobs, and so much noticeable progress on the house. Life is Good (c).
Congrats on the painting. It's exciting how transformative paint can be. I painted our house several years ago, and it was no small task. Are you using a sprayer or brush/roller? I used a brush/roller, and I don't think I'll ever do that again. One side of it is two stories, and I am not a fan of heights. The peak was a sweaty-palm job.
We are using brushes for the most part. I don't trust rollers on siding (it is my issue, not the roller's). We painted it in a rush ten years ago. We spent so long scraping the old paint to get down to bare wood on the original part of the house that we ran out of summer. Even worse, on one side of the addition, I assumed the old paint was in better condition than it was and only put on one coat. It faded so bad that the light grey couldn't hide the original white underneath. That is what has really prompted us to repaint. The addition half of the house is basically three stories in the front, with a hillside that rises alongside the house so that it is only two stories in the back. But, that is the gable/peak side, so trying to paint the peak on a hill three stories up was very hairy. I built a platform to put the ladder on level footing, but it was made of scrap wood and didn't give me much confidence. I will build a better platform this time that will span the whole side of the house. We dithered on picking a color so long this summer that we are running out of painting weather. I refuse to let that rush me this time. I will get it done, get it done right. I don't want to have to do it again before I can sell it.