I'd imagine any federal employee union would have standing to sue here. Surprised I've not heard anything about it happening.

I have to wonder how many of those were written by AI as well.

AKA: reaching the Dunning-Kruger exit point.

The Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7635, in this Hubble image, is an emission nebula located about 8,000 light-years away.

The economics of covering California’s water system with solar panels Renewable power, less evaporation, lower maintenance, and more.

I can save you a search:
arstechnica.com/science/2021...

And thanks!

Thanks - jtimmer@arstechnica.com would work. Wasn't looking for an invite, but thought it would be fun to do a follow up to my earlier coverage.

Is there an announcement about this event somewhere? I'd be curious to talk to someone involved in the project.

I think your estimated capacity factor for the solar is off by over an order of magnitude.

In 2025, the world started construction of nuclear power plants that would generate 12 GW of power if completed.

In the same year, it installed 108 GW of batteries and 600 GW of solar capacity.

I like how the Palantir guy says "Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible" at the same time his compatriots have utter conniptions if they're ever asked to pay more taxes.

I knew I covered it, I just couldn't remember how long ago that was.

Makes me wonder about parking lot solar. Didn't make sense 5 years ago because building the supports was so expensive. Wonder if that's past break even now.

Thanks, fixed it.

The economics of covering California’s water system with solar panels Renewable power, less evaporation, lower maintenance, and more.

Here's the original coverage:
arstechnica.com/science/2021...

I covered a paper analyzing the potential of this back in 2021. Amazing to see things go from academia to real world implementation so quickly.

Key thing is that, once the panels get cheap enough, you can spend more on related infrastructure and still have favorable economics.

This thread elaborates on what I said in a very compressed form earlier. Definitely worth reading, because it drives home exactly how far off base Roberts is about the electrical power industry, a fact that seems to have bothered him not at all.

The one thing I'll say right now is that Roberts seems unconstrained by things he clearly knows nothing about. His reasoning boils down to "we must act immediately to stop this thing _that ended up happening anyway_".

(meaning the collapse of the coal industry in the US)

Ride of the Valkyries in Apocalypse now. If you don't consider that a song, The End by The Doors, same movie.

I notice he's not gone as far as considering "maybe I was wrong about the experts". Still, solid first steps.

I still struggle to understand the reality that cyclists in the real world are nice, generous people who want everybody out of cars, and cyclists on internet discussions are nasty gatekeepers who only want people on the right _kind_ of bike.

“Explaining theology to the pope” is the logical endgame of “debate me bro” culture

Only data available from the EIA is for January. It shows renewables at 96 TW-hr, nat gas at 151. If you add nuclear (ie, all carbon free) then you get 169 TW-hr, so I assume that's what the article should have said.

(Attn: @yaleegc.bsky.social)

To teach in the time of ChatGPT is to know pain LLM use is the most demoralizing problem I’ve faced as a college instructor.

Happy to have had @sjonearth.bsky.social provide a little perspective on what it's like to try to teach college students in the age of AI.

Please tell me that the argument is that the Republicans aren't self aware enough to care, so the only people it would register with are the Dems. Because if not....

Psychologically, conservatism is also associated with lower openness to new ideas, and college is an organized exposure to new ideas. There's an obvious tension there.

For a statement like this to be more than empty platitudes, then you have to have the right people involved - people willing to do nuance, uncertainty, engage in introspection, etc.

Saying "we want a conversation" ain't gonna get you there.

I've not responded with vitriol, but I do know that "productive conversations across divides" requires that the participants be willing to re-evaluate their positions. And going back to at least COVID, Bhattacharya has not given even the slightest hint that it's something he's capable of.

I suspect they'll have their hands full with reintegrating into the EU and getting constitutional reforms passed for a while before the obvious tensions start derailing things.

But again - not the right kind of journalist, could easily be wrong.

to see specific positions adopted or they'd stay home, it wouldn't have worked. Everybody in Hungary seemed to understand the assignment: make compromises today or there might not be a chance to influence policy again.

I'd add to this that my (probably limited) understanding is that Magyar had to assemble a very broad coalition that in previous elections would have been represented by several independent political parties. If people demanded purity tests, it wouldn't have worked. If people demanded...

Regret to inform everyone that Peter Magyar beat the world’s smartest illiberal populist in large measure by working incredibly hard for 2 straight years, meaning the rest of us are just going to have to get off our asses and do shit rather than just complaining.