Upside Down and Backwards
When ideology trumps reality, strange, stupid, ignorant things happen. Ofttimes things not only get difficult for citizens – and make little common sense – but it also gets things backwards.
We just experienced a pandemic. Our economy basically shut down and people were ordered to stay home except for groceries, liquor, gas and home improvement.
While that was happening COVID-19 spread through the population. Incentives were given to a number of pharmaceutical companies to develop a vaccine to make people immune. That “warp speed” idea ended in the creation of vaccines by several companies. Clinical trials showed the vaccines were about 95% effective.
That 95% was/is great – better than what it was or would be without the vaccines. It made sense for most people – especially our most vulnerable senior citizens – to get vaccinated against the virus.
The CDC reported two weeks ago that in the over age 65 group, 98.5% of those had received at least the first dose, while 85.8% were fully vaccinated. The all-age rate was 68% with 81% of all adults vaccinated.
On November 10, 2021, there were 1,446 new cases in the country, down from a peak 49,545 In August. So, on the whole, the pandemic is over. The downside is there are a few people getting COVID who have been vaccinated.
But perspective and data tell us the vaccines are not a guarantee.
Yet we have a federal government and some states and local governments that are requiring all employees, including those in the private sector, get vaccinated or provide weekly proof of not carrying the disease – or lose their jobs.
Why are ‘emergency approved’ vaccines that are not 100% effective required of every worker? There’s no scientific data to support that mandate.
There’s no data I’m aware of that supports the idea that having had the disease with commensurate naturally created antibodies requires a vaccination at all for immunity. The CDC hasn’t even looked at the prospect.
And since this America, the vaccine mandate trumps individual choice based on religion or for any other reason, including the unknown effects on fertility. Unvaccinated people are not unpatriotic. Describing them as killers is totally unwarranted and libelous.
Further, there’s no scientific data to support that wearing of a cheap, cotton mask inhibits the spread of COVID in any setting.
Yet, people have and will lose their jobs for not being injected. Some venues also require mask-wearing, including some school districts and Congress. It makes no sense.
Treating the unvaccinated the way our government is, is upside down, backwards, and unpersuasive – and wrong on every level. And people know it.
Let’s turn to another major topic where things are backwards – green energy.
Everyone would like to see all of our energy requirements supplied by ‘green’ resources.
The problem that’s ignored in instituting a full-fledged, green energy agenda limited to wind and solar – is those technologies are not developed enough to supply all the energy required in America. It’s a cart before the horse situation.
Wind and solar cannot – at this time – supply enough of the reliable energy we require. Not only are those technologies not ready – advanced enough – the expense and risk/benefit analysis make them high risk on every level in addition to being too expensive.
Yet to listen to the proponents of the Green New Deal you’d think all we need to do is simply stop burning fossil fuels and change over to wind and solar.
In that supposedly perfect dream world, we’d all be driving an EV and have solar panels on our roofs and a windmill in our backyard to supplement the electricity generated by our power plants.
Do we ever hear about the total additional electricity that would be required if we substituted electricity for gasoline and diesel fuel? Estimates are we’d be required to generate 25-30% more electricity. That would require building a lot more power plants.
In addition to generating the gobs more electricity than is possible by solar and wind – we’d need piles of more batteries for both commercial and personal use.
The current state of storage batteries requires four metals to manufacture – copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt. The sun and wind are infinitely renewable, but those metals are not.
According to a recent study by the International Energy Agency (IEA) titled: “The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions,” the demand for lithium in 2040 could be 50 times greater than today and for cobalt and graphite 30 times greater – if the world moves swiftly to replace oil-driven vehicles with EVs and the batteries for electrical power plants when needed. Such rising demand will, of course, incentivize industry to develop new supplies of such minerals, but potential sources of them are limited and the process of bringing them online will be costly and complicated. In other words, the world could face significant shortages of critical materials. If solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars are deployed on a increasing scale, these rapidly growing markets for key metals and minerals could be subject to price volatility, geopolitical influence, and even disruptions to supply.
There could be further complications. Argentina, Chile, The Congo and Peru provide 80% of the world’s copper. The Congo provides 80% of the world’s lithium. China provides 70% of the other rare earth elements. Do we want to become dependent on those countries for the sustaining of our electrical grid?
Solar panels require photovoltaic cells, meaning lots of silicon. Who produces the most? China – over half – and Russia.
So, when we take a step back from being committed to ignorance, we see it’s not so simple as buying solar panels from China and producing windmills, currently requiring lots of silicon also for the blades.
We exposed the problems with disposal of those solar panels and turbine blades previously. Not so simple.
As the opening statement says, ideology doesn’t supplant reality. Reality will prevail, regardless.
Somebody has to take the leadership responsibility to tell the whole truth. Green energy is a wonderful idea, and we should pursue it. But setting arbitrary deadlines for achieving total reliance on it is irresponsible when reality is addressed, head-on.
Does everyone move from Michigan (and many other States) when the sun and wind are the only sources of electrical energy allowed – and the people can’t get it at any price?
Another example: “defund the police.” Enough said.
Upside down and backwards. When will reality and truth prevail again?
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/which-country-produces-the-most-silicon.html
SPIDER Bites
2020 census data: 20.1% of Florida’s population is over age 65 – followed closely by Maine at 20%. Florida was/is the fastest growing State at 14.4% over 2010, 2nd in total numbers to Texas. Florida’s Hispanic population growth outpaced the nation’s, up 22.5%. In our public-school enrollment: 36.4% are white, 34.9% Hispanic, 21.5% Black. Overall, the white population declined as a percentage for the 1st time in history.
The Rittenhouse verdict has the group thinkers dealing with a case of perplexing denial of the justice system. Prosecution, defense, judge, jury, and the law: it beats the heck out of false narratives and mob justice.
The Florida legislature concluded a 3-day, special session last week, passing 4 bills aimed at blocking any kind of vaccine or test mandates by the federal government, local civil jurisdictions, or corporations. ‘Freedom’ is still attracting an estimated 750 people a day to the State – and our housing boom continues.
The University of Michigan Sentiment report cites inflationary prices for things like food and gasoline have reached Main Street. Here’s an excerpt: “Consumer sentiment fell in early November to its lowest level in a decade due to an escalating inflation rate and the growing belief among consumers that no effective policies have yet been developed to reduce the damage from surging inflation. One-in-four consumers cited inflationary reductions in their living standards in November, with lower income and older consumers voicing the greatest impact.” $6 gas at places in California. Going anywhere?
Inflation has many consumers using credit more rather than change spending. Federal Reserve data shows consumer debt skyrocketed 8.3% in September. It can’t last.
Most golfers know that dimples on a golf ball reduce drag. Here’s the physics. Any object flying through the air faces the force the air exerts on it. It slows it down. But it also creates lift. The air’s force exerts a lot of pressure on the front of any object flying through it, but as the air parts and goes around the object, a low-pressure area is created directly behind it. Lift is what counteracts the weight of a solid to keep it in flight through the air. As the air hits the dimples on a golf ball, small pockets of turbulence are created. This creates a small layer of air close to the surface of the ball. The air flowing over the ball thus sticks closer to the ball’s surface and flows off the ball further back. This creates a smaller wake, which means less drag and a ball that flies farther and smoother. The spinning motion of a golf ball causes the pressure beneath the ball to be greater than the pressure above, which causes lift. The dimples optimize the spinning effect by cutting down drag and increasing the ball’s lift. It’s called aerodynamics. Without dimples, golf balls would only travel about half the distance they do. I don’t know why the surfaces of planes, trains and automobiles don’t have dimples.
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk reacted to last week’s Bernie Sanders’ tweet “We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period” by responding “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.” (BTW, I don’t tweet)
The labor shortage and vaccination mandates have businesses looking to robots even more rapidly than they already were. Up 37% from a year ago, some 300,000 more industrial robots entered the labor force in the last year. They’re also now also entering the services industries in a big way.
