Last night’s opera was “Nixon in China.” It’s the first in John Adams’s American history trilogy; “Doctor Atomic” was the second. “Nixon in China” is fairly straightforwardly historical, until the second act, when a plot point of Mme. Mao making up a clownish exaggeration of a villain as Kissinger in a performance for the guests requires the storyteller singing Kissinger to double. The more you detest Kisinger, of course, the funnier it is. As with “Doctor Atomic,” actual journals and quotes from contemporary interviews were used in the libretto. The only character who is spared some mockery is Chou En-Lai, who at the time of Nixon’s visit was dying of cancer but also ersonally invested in the meeting going well – good reasons to treat him kindly. There is a piece which was contemplated being in the opera but withdrawn which is known as “The Chairman Dances” or, alternatively, “Foxtrot for Orchestra.” (I guess the idea of a mobility challenged Mao dancing for 12 minutes, energetically at that, was simply too much.) I’ve never seen the third opera in the trilogy, because it involves terrorism and ends up getting boycotted. Since I haven’t seen it, I can’t say whether the boycotting is justified, but I suspect it isn’t. Perhaps some day I’ll find out.
Yahoo!news – Tropical Storm Elsa is the latest evidence climate change is happening now
I’m not a big fan of yahoo news, but this was the only source I could find quickl which made the link to climate change explicit
Quote – While Elsa, whose maximum sustained winds are 45 miles per hour, is unlikely to inflict the same amount of damage as a stronger hurricane if and when it makes landfall, its formation on July 1 — following Ana, Bill, Claudette and Danny — fits into a pattern in which the changing climate makes conditions for life-threatening storms more favorable. Click through for the rationale.
Axios – Poll: Americans more worried about restrictive voting laws than election fraud
Yes, I know, this is one of those “file under No Shit, Sherlock” stories. But there’s so much denial of it.
Quote – Why it matters: 67% of Americans — including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents — said they believed American democracy is currently under threat, though the survey did not ask what they believed is threatening it. Click through for details.
Food for Thought
Just a little extra – Smithsonian Trivia for July 4. Their quizzes are generally tough but I managed 4 out of 5 on this one.
Glenn Kirschner – NY DA Trump Org Indictment Watch – First Criminal Indictment Expected Soon. Won’t likely be the Last
Now This News – UN Releases Report on Global Systemic Racism (sometimes the word “state” is used where we would say “nation” or “country” – the UN realli is talking world wide.)
Right Wing Watch has been kicked out of YouTube. So I’m going to start looking for them on Vimeo. This one features “prophet” Chuck Pierce (who is pretty clearly delusional.) Update: Yes it’s back already. Overwhelming support. Article tomorrow.)
Rebel HQ – The Deadliest Weather Phenomenon In DECADES!
Pigeon loses ability to fly. He adapts by becoming one of the dogs.
Beau – Let’s talk about how the Trump years impacted capitalism…. – This is priceless.
I’m trying to get little smarter about finding the news,since letting it come to me is not always enough any more. We’ll see how it goes in the long run. We can be glad Colleen is recovering even though the recovery is not yet complete. I also heard from Carrie B last night, and she has a couple of spots on her face which she worries may be cancerous, and is stalled waiting for a referral to a dermatologist. Prayers for her please.
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Short Takes –
Axios – Bill Barr on Trump’s election fraud claims: “It was all bullsh*t”
Quote – Barr said that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had been urging him to speak out against Trump’s false claims since November but would not do so himself. McConnell did not want to upset Trump as he needed Trump to campaign in Georgia. “Look, we need the president in Georgia,” McConnell said, according to Barr. “And so we cannot be frontally attacking him right now. But you’re in a better position to inject some reality into this situation. You are really the only one who can do it.” Click through for as much of this profile in cowardice as they are willing to print from a book not yet released
Insider – 14 years after a sexual assault in Tampa, a man has been charged with rape because he entered his own DNA into a genealogy database
Quote – DNA evidence was collected at the time but did not find any matches, and the case remained unsolved for more than a decade. In 2020, however, detectives revisited the case and began to search genealogy testing databases, including GEDmatch and FamilyTree, two services often used by people who are researching their ancestry, to find potential matches…. Florida was the first state to establish its own forensic genealogy unit in 2018. Similar units have since been created in California and Utah to solve cold cases. Click through for more. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, even to Florida.
The Guardian – Rattlesnakes everywhere: the odd consequences of California’s drought
Quote – Surprisingly, disease-carrying mosquitoes, which most people associate with wet times rather than dry, thrive in cities during times of drought when waters recede and grow still. Webb explains that human-made structures like pipes, pits and ponds are prime spots for stagnant water to become a breeding ground for the insects. “Fish and other animals that live in these systems die and the mosquitoes have free rein”. Click through for details, and a multitude of consequences, obviously, of climate change. And yet, some still deny it.
Yesterday was strange – not that nothing happened around the nation and the world, but that so many of the things that did happen were so odd. We can blame climate change for some of it, but not for all, certainly. I think I remember that Colleen’s delayed surgery was for carpal tunnel or somethiing of the sort – if so, she may be recovering just fine but not feel up to commenting yet. I hope that’s the case, but also hope to hear soon.
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Short Takes – News of the Weird today!
WFAA – ‘Once you see one, you’ll see another’: Have you seen one of these worms in your yard? They’re toxic. Here’s how you deal with them.
Quote – “The way this flatworm harms our ecosystem is it eats earthworms, which are necessary for our forests, our crops…our gardens to survive,” Morgan-Olvera said, “In order for it to digest earthworms, it secretes a chemical, or a neurotoxin, and that can cause an allergic reaction on your skin if you’re handling it.” Click through for full story, including what – and what not – to do.
NBC News – Vehicles stuck on Detroit freeways after torrential downpour
Quote – [I]t was predicted that the city would get close to two inches of rain Friday night, but nearly seven inches fell. “The intensity of these storms exceeded the design standards for pump stations and combined sewer overflow facilities serving the Detroit region,” Brown said at a press conference on Saturday. There was so much rain that there was nowhere for the water to go, he explained, other than flooding streets and basements. Click through for more. (But there’s no such thing as climate change. Right.)
NextShark – Australian Woman Who Woke Up From Surgery With Irish Accent May Be Stuck With It for Life
Quote – This week, Yen underwent a brain scan which confirmed “nothing wrong.” But she was diagnosed with Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a rare medical condition that may be triggered by neurological or psychological damage, according to speech pathologist Kirrie Ballard. “Foreign Accent Syndrome is a legitimate disorder. It’s described as a person’s speech changing, so that it sounds as though they’re speaking in a different accent to their habitual accent,” Ballard told 60 Minutes. Click through for the story. Bizarre, but true. And it says a lot about how we humans treat each other – none of it good.
This week:
You’re Being Gaslit – Why Your Gas Stove is killing you (mine isn’t, because I haven’t had one for longer than I’ve been married – 1976, to be exact.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
As the climate continues to change without regard to stupid humans who continue to do things which will accelerate that change ans, if we don’t stop, ensure out own extenction, those of us who can see what it going on have to be more determined, and smarter, at coming up with ways to stop and, if possible, even reverse the damage already done. As ideas go, this one seems to hold promise.
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Using captured CO₂ in everyday products could help fight climate change, but will consumers want them?
Consumer decisions could play a critical role in dealing with climate change. A study gauging perceptions was published May 13, 2021. FotographiaBasica via Getty Images
Would you drink carbonated beverages made with carbon dioxide captured from the smokestack of a factory or power plant?
How would you feel if that captured carbon dioxide were in your child’s toys, or in the concrete under your house?
The technology to capture climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions from smokestacks, and even from the air around us, already exists; so too does the technology to use this carbon dioxide to make products like plastics, concrete, carbonated drinks and even fuel for aircraft and automobiles.
That combination – known as carbon capture and utilization – could take up billions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions if the technologies were adopted across a range of sectors worldwide.
That’s why technologies that can reuse carbon dioxide to avoid fossil fuel use – or even better, lock it away in long-lived products like cement – are essential.
The key to carbon capture and utilitization’s potential is that these products have economic value. That value can give companies the incentive to deploy the technology at the global scale necessary to slow climate change.
Carbon capture technology is used to stop emissions at the source, particularly in industries like steel and cement production that have high emissions. Svante
Carbon capture technology itself isn’t new. Initially, captured carbon dioxide was used to force oil and gas out of old wells. Once emissions are captured, typically from an industrial smokestack via a complex chemical filter, they can be pumped deep underground and stored in depleted oil reservoirs or porous rock formations. That keeps the carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere, where it can contribute to climate change.
How do people feel about carbon dioxide-based products?
For many products made with captured carbon dioxide, success will depend on whether the public accepts them.
Two of us recently conducted one of the first large-scale studies to examine public perception of carbon dioxide-based products in the U.S. to find out. We asked over 2,000 survey participants if they would be willing to consume or use various carbon dioxide-based products, including carbonated beverages, plastic food storage containers, furniture made with foam or plastic, and shatterproof glass.
We found that most people knew little about carbon capture and use. However, 69% were open to the idea after learning how it worked and how it helped reduce the emissions contributing to climate change.
Participants in the survey were shown illustrations explaining carbon dixoide-based products. Lauren Lutzke/University of Southern California
There was one exception when we asked about different types of products people might be willing to use: Fewer people – only 56% – were open to the idea of using captured carbon dioxide in carbonated beverages.
Safety was a concern for many people in the survey. One-third didn’t know if these products might pose a health risk, and others thought they would. It’s important to understand that products made with captured carbon dioxide are subject to the same safety regulations as traditional materials used in food and consumer products. This includes filtering out unwanted pollutants in the flue gas before using the carbon dioxide in carbonated beverages or plastics.
When carbon dioxide is used as a raw material, it becomes chemically stable once it is used to create a product, meaning carbon dixoide used to create plastic will not turn back into a gas on its own.
What people may not realize is that the majority of carbon dioxide currently used nationwide is already a fossil fuel byproduct from the steam-methane reforming process. This carbon dioxide is used widely for purposes that include making dry ice, performing certain medical procedures and carbonating your favorite soda.
Overall, we found that people were open to using these products, and that trend crossed all ages, levels of education and political ideologies.
Carbon capture and use already has bipartisan support in Washington, and the Department of Energy is funding research in carbon management. Bipartisan consumer support could quickly expand its use, creating another way to keep carbon emissions out of the air.
Recently, Unilever and partners piloted replacing fossil-based ethanol with carbon dioxide-based ethanol for manufacturing laundry detergent, significantly reducing the associated ethanol emissions. Both are cost-competitive methods to capture and use carbon dioxide, and they demonstrate why carbon capture and use could be the most market-friendly way to remove carbon dioxide on a large scale.
How innovators can improve public perception
Some emerging technologies could help address the perceived risks of ingesting carbon captured from industrial emissions.
The most important steps may be educating the public about the process and the value of carbon dioxide-based products. Companies can alleviate concerns by being open about how they use carbon dioxide, why their products are safe and the benefits they hold for the climate.
================================================================ Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, frankly, capturing CO₂ sounds pretty good to me, and I particularly like the ability to actually make it useful in things like multiple-use plastics. I love glass, but I’m such a klutz that most of the time I’m afraid to use it (my inner cat likes to knock things off of surfaces whether I want to or not.) Actually, shatter-proof glass sounds good too (but they’ll mostly want that for windshields, and windows onfloors above ground level. I expect.) I wold even be willing to try it in carbonated beverages. But one person does not a market make. We’ll have to see how it works in real life.Anyone know any entrepreneurs who might be interested?
