On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

Looking at this for a few minutes:

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2021/09/electric-cars-have-hit-inflection-point/620233/?utm_source=feed

I didn't think things were moving this quickly on the global scale in terms of cars and trucks. Yes, the manufacturing process is still messy as Hell. But are we making progress of some sort here? I think the answer to that question is "yes".

armiphlage, autopope, you might have some informed context to add here...? Anyone else?

Filed by Garrett M. Graff with Politico:

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/05/07/experts-knew-pandemic-was-coming-what-they-fear-next-238686

Call it stuff that civil defense planners, science fiction writers and citizens in general need to take interest in.

Does Doug Saunders have an intelligent point to make?

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/maximum-canada-how-big-is-enough-1.4728172

This might solve a few NIMBY-type issues in a few places...or a lot of places.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/invention-of-the-day-a-bladeless-wind-turbine/

Reactions?

Thanks to saskboy_wp for the clue-in.

Answering Andrew Barton's "Reaching Back for Century 21":

You took a look back at the way we used to view the possibilities of the future and compared it to how those same possibilities are being reshaped before our eyes. And how the problems of the present fuel the longing for a more optimistic framing of those future possibilities.

And then you got right to the thing that nags at me most about this past decade in particular, if you'll permit me to quote:

"The whole "welcome to the future" optimism that accompanied the turning of the millennium was dealt a rather thorough body blow by the collapse of the dot-com economy, the war on terror, and the ongoing global financial crisis. In 2012, no matter where you look it seems like things are getting worse, and the road ahead is pitch black."

And I remember: there were and are people offended by the prospect that the future could be brighter for everyone. Including people they despise with a fanatic's will to despise.

Some of them triggered the 9-11 Atrocities. Others took advantage of them to make things worse for other people. Same with the Financial Crisis in Progress. By accident, by design...not sure that it matters either way. The advantage was still taken.

The idea that there's someone out there with enough clout and a genuine, unholy hope of bringing about a new Great Depression because they believe they'll either get something they want out of the consequences...or at least prevent other people from getting what they want as a result?

Frightening as all Hell.

Also?

It offends me to my core.

I want the campaign to prevent those better futures stopped cold. I know that I'm already damned in the eyes of those specific circles of human society for that specific desire. That also frightens and angers me. Because there's consequences of those people making that decision about people like you and me. Quoth the Fourth Doctor in "The Face of Evil":

"The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering."

Has "Fifth Generation Technology" really been trademarked? Kady O'Malley seems to believe so.

David Brin finds much to praise in Obama's latest State of the Union address. The rest of us might have missed the best part, if he's right.

Mark Zuckerberg puts his corporate foot in it again. Not without my permission you don't, boyo, and no matter what your lawyers say my signing the terms of service means, I still don't grant it! If the advertisers dealing with you want to quote me, they can just ask me directly and I will decide, case by individual case.

Closing note: Seems like this past week, I've become popular with spammers as a target hereabouts. I've deleted a spam reply a day on average for the last 5-10 days. Interesting.

...and I thank davidbrin for pointing it out to me:

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/12/top-10-things-sci-fi-promised-us-that-didnt-happen-in-2010/

I'm glad to have avoided items # 1, 5 and 8 - so far - but as for the rest? I'd like to see some of those predictions come true before I die!

Something David Brin pointed out recently(among a great many other news items): here's the Wired article. The recent discussion of competition between fuel needs for vehicles and those of humans and other animals on CBC Radio's The Current had triggered a fair bit of ongoing concern for me. Could this work as a solution to that problem?