New, from me: Take the Palantir manifesto seriously, if not literally.
It reveals that our tech philosopher kings want public money, but without public accountability. This creates a dilemma for governments unaligned with its techno-fascist vision. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/palantir-w...
Once more with feeling: Technology that definitely generates carbon plus technology not yet proven to remove carbon at scale does *not* equal negative emissions
Many govts hope capturing carbon from power plants burning wood will cause "negative emissions." New Nature Sust. paper today finds this likely increases emissions for decades, generates no negative emissions within 150 years, and increase electricity costs ~3.5-fold.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
theres a bat shit Larry summers quote in everything (plastic waste in this case)
A HUGE, narrative-breaking moment for the UK car market
New EVs are now cheaper than petrol cars on average, says Autotrader
Last yr CCC said price parity was due by 2028 – and it's already here
And EVs are already MUCH cheaper to run than petrol
I bring a sort of Forbidden Vibe to InternalServerError that Rate Limit Exceeded don't really like
trying to post through it rn
Every major oil shock, put on the same timeline. The 1973 embargo was the longest lasting. The 1990 Gulf War was the biggest reversal. The 2026 Hormuz crisis is the steepest climb and drop. But the line isn't finished yet.
$186 shipping cost
HSBC CEO “The highest I’ve seen, and I’m hoping we don’t see more of that, but the highest I’ve seen is $286 for a barrel of oil that reached Sri Lanka”
That’s a delivered barrel so includes shipping, insurance, etc.
But it’s still an eye-watering price to pay.
FT full quote:
Interesting paper.
ehs.org.uk/wp-content/u...
While competitive authoritarianism was a useful term to mark the early 2025, perhaps we should think of new one? Internationalist authoritarian — because how else do you unseat a PM who has been in power for 16 years and is preferred by both US and Russia.
To scholars of democratic backsliding, it is difficult to overstate how big a deal today's election in Hungary, a country of less than 10 million people, is likely to be as a narrative milestone for our age, regardless of which way it goes.
But states do not need a perfect solar-plus-battery system to unlock major value.
Smaller systems can already supply well over 50% of demand significantly cheaper than the average power purchase costs 💰
Across India’s ten largest states, solar + batteries can meet at least 75% of electricity demand at an LCOE cheaper than today’s power procurement costs of these states’ distribution companies... ☀️🔋
ember-energy.org/lat...
Happy 56th birthday to Q-Tip!
youtu.be/WILyWmT2A-Q?...
Garden of Earthly Delights
Garden of Earthly Delights
High energy and electricity prices are hurting pocketbooks in many parts of the US.
US also has one of the cheapest electricity, especially for industries.
Both statements are true.
A rare, negative capex headline — with energy costs partly to blame.
@cnbc.com
www.cnbc.com/2026/04/09/o...
Arizona results are in: OUR CLEAN ENERGY CANDIDATES WON AT THE SALT RIVER PROJECT
a graph of ridership on the KC streetcar
Ridership on the Kansas City streetcar is also up 290% compared to this time last year after the opening of the main street extension to UMKC!
The system now has more ridership than the New Orleans streetcars, and is set to be extended to the riverfront this year.
a graph of Caltrain ridership
Ridership on the Bay Area's Caltrain also continues rising in the wake of the route's electrification, with passenger counts up 40% compared to 2025!
The route has taken more than 13.5M passengers over the last twelve months, the highest since COVID
Reddit should definitely add a sort by <2021
im definitely stealing this from someone but internet pre 2021 will be like low background steel
wrote this short paper when introduction of differential privacy algorithms in census data was being debated. Showed DP would substantially change measurement of air pollution disparities. No citations but was part of evidence compiled by IPUMS against DP, so a win
findingspress.org/article/7497...
Also highly recommend.
One of my absolute favourite things to read are accounts of astronauts having mystical experiences in space. Pretty much compulsory reading in meditation courses.
