1glenn comments

Shades of Nazi Germany. Very scary.

Back in my days with the USAF in the 1970s I helped to launch a lot of low earth orbit satellites, so I find this subject particularly interesting.

Looked it up, and apparently a Super Typhoon is comparable to what we know as a category 5 Hurricane.....the worst of the worst.

The article I was reading said that the most catastrophic Super Typhoon was called Bhola, and struck East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in 1970. There were 300,000 casualties. Hard to imagine such destruction. I suspect the low altitude of Bangladesh, plus the lack of weather satellites in those days, contributed to the high death toll.

The first successful weather satellite, TIROS-1, operated for 78 days, and was launched in 1960. NASA started the first comprehensive weather observation system with the Nimbus satellites, but transferred those duties to NOAA, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admistration, in 1970. NOAA's purpose was the "bettor protection of life and property from natural hazards.....for a better understanding of the total environment..." The cost of NOAA is born by the US. It is hard to overstate the importance of early warning for typhoons.

There are too many people on both sides of this conflict who have no desire for peace, unless it is achieved at the expense of eliminating the other side.

Here in California there are many former Palestinians and former Israelis who fled the war zone, looking for somewhere saner to live. A Jewish friend told me he came here because, although he is a devout Jew, he strongly disapproves of the way Palestinians have been and are treated. A Palestinian business associate of my son-in-law said that he was invited by his brothers to return to Gaza and take part in the fighting, but he told them, "Why would I want to do that, when I have a business and good life here in California?"

Those who can leave, have. Those who stay and try to work to end the injustice are targeted for death by radical extremists on both sides. There are no easy solutions, only easy death.

IMO, the Georgia 14 year old can perhaps be rehabilitated, I have no way of knowing that, but our society would rather lock him up and throw away the key than make an effort at raising him responsibly, or even evaluating him. To kill four people, he must be seriously deranged.

Got my first rifle at the age of twelve. But, in those days, machine guns were strictly illegal. Not like today, where a thirteen year old can get an AR-15 for Christmas. That is insane.

Neither teenagers nor adults need to own assault rifles.

BTW, I too retired in my 50s. The wife kept working longer than that, but it was her choice. I loved my job, and wanted to work a few more years, but not sorry to retire. (Got injured, and couldn't do the job anymore, at least according to the doctors. IMO, I could still work circles around anyone else at work, even with only one good arm.)

JeffLee, right on.

We have been retired for awhile, and traveled a LOT. Getting a bit old now for traveling, but not ready to give it up completely.

Funny thing about our kids......they can go traveling and be out of touch for weeks at a time, and think nothing of it, but if we go out of town for a month, they start panicking. "Don't do that again! We don't like you being out of touch for so long!"

We definitely do not feel irrelevant. If the grandkids or great grandkids need watching, or a ride, we are still the preferred choice to contact. We try to get together with the kids for dinner a few times a month, but we don't cook anymore. It is too much work. When I was younger, I did most of the cooking. The kids loved it, and I enjoyed it.

I know this ride can't last forever, but we don't feel irrelevant. Just old.

The only person I know who partakes in a frequent flyer program is rich enough to get something out of it. For me, I like the cash back credit cards. We don't enjoy flying, anyway. Found a good deal on first class tickets last time we flew, and that made the experience a little less awful.

Just when I thought I had seen it all, this comes along. No one being hurt, but a surprise none the less. Perhaps young men are just too immature to go out on a satisfying date at that age.

At this point in time, it is past time for the Fed to reduce interest rates.

As someone who voted for Reagan, and many other old school Republicans, it is my opinion that he, like the Cheneys, would vote for Harris/Walz in this election. Trump is unAmerican.

If the Greenland ice cap collapses, we are looking at a sea level rise of about 20 feet, which would impact billions of people, not just those in the low elevation coastal zone.

If the Antarctic ice sheets collapse, which is not beyond the realm of possibility within the next century or two, there could be more than another 100 feet of sea level rise. That is in addition to the 20 feet from a Greenland ice sheet collapse. Building dikes and sea walls just won't suffice.

Globally, about 900 million people live in what is called the low elevation coastal zone. We couldn't even build a sea wall to protect the nuclear reactor at Fukushima, do we think we can build sea walls for 900 million people?

While still a monumental task, taking action to stop man made global warming sounds much more practical.

By adapting, do they mean moving further inland? Because anything else is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

In terms of CO2 emissions per person, Australia is among the highest in the world. Some of the countries that are even worse than Australia?

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Kuwait

Qatar

Oman

Bahrain

Trinidad and Tobago.

In fairness, the CO2 emissions per person for the USA as a whole are only slightly better than Australia's, while the CO2 emissions per person here in California are only about half as much as Australia's.

Where there is a will, there is a way, as they say.

Back in 2000, about 20% of our in-state electricity generation in California came from burning coal. Today that figure is about 0.2%, soon to be zero, for the state with the 5th largest gdp in the world. Most days, more than 50% of our state's electricity is produced by sources that do not depend on polluting the atmosphere, and the percentage of electricity produced without CO2 dumping increases every year.

As others have pointed out, Xi's "financing" is not the same as foreign aid, and can be a death knell for the economies of the loan recipients.

A generation ago, many American factories were shut down, while their machinery was shipped overseas, mostly to China. American workers even had to train foreign workers how to use the machinery before they were laid off from their jobs. The GOP controlled Congress of those times passed legislation, and Bush signed the bill into law, giving tax breaks to American companies that shipped their businesses overseas. Fast forward to today, and there are complaints about keeping American factories open, instead of shipping them overseas? There may be details to be worked out, but a solution that is good for all sides should be possible.

Back in the 1960s, before the US had trade deficits, excess American capital was heavily invested in European factories. This caused an uproar among many Europeans, and was seen as a takeover by America. After a decade or so passed, and American capital retreated from Europe, coinciding with the mounting trade deficits facing America, it became obvious that as long as the factories in Europe stayed open, who owned them temporarily was not the overwhelmingly important issue that it had appeared to be.

Americans need to learn the lesson that Europeans learned 50 years ago. Who owns the factories is not as important as keeping them open.

On paper, "Kiss of the Spider Woman" sounded pretty bad, but I enjoyed it immensely. So, wait and see.

While I admire Mr. Craig as an actor, I will wait for others to test the waters before deciding whether or not to take the time to watch his newest venture. The background of the plot sounds boring, but I hope I am wrong. It may yet be a great work of art.

Any country that wants to encourage tourism will not have a punitive tax on tourists. Sounds like the Kiwis are trying to say, "Please, don't come here!"

For thousands of years, including today, Greeks have been painting their roofs white to maximize the reflection of solar radiation away from their buildings.

In North Africa, the Romans would build underground to stay cool.

There is much we can learn from older civilizations.

Archeologists working at Santorini have unearthed ancient (at least 3,600 year old) bronze-age, Minoan buildings with hot and cold running water in their residences. They used readily available geothermal sources for the hot water. Which is not strictly related to the subject of the article, but illustrates the ingenuity of ancient peoples.

Back when I still used a wrist watch, I opted for a G-Shock. IMO, the best for the buck.

Most of the water used in Israel, for both consumption and for crops, is desalinated. The technology has reached the point where the desalinated water in Israel is cheaper than the water we in Southern California ship from the delta region. Greece, bounded by salt water and with mostly sunny days for solar power, should get on board the bandwagon.

The largest desalination plant in North America is now in San Diego. The average water bill per family has gone up by $5 per month, but they are no longer worried by droughts.

My point is that a special type of paint is not needed; just put any white paint on the roof.

Back before air conditioners were installed in American cars, the Big Three used two-tone paint jobs to help cool them down. Two tone paint jobs involved any color of paint on the hood and sides, and white paint on the roof. The idea, obviously, being that white paint kept the interior cooler than any other color. Once A/Cs came along, the need for two tone paint jobs evaporated.

Still, IMO, it is practical even today to paint at least the roofs of cars white.

America's policy regarding Iran has shifted depending on who is the President. Democratic presidents are interested in promoting democracy and human rights, Republican presidents much less so.

President Eisenhower backed the overthrow of the legitimately elected (and non-Islamic) government in Iran in 1953, and things have gone downhill since then.