In an historic first, humanity has been given advance warning that the Zombie Apocalypse is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Contrary to earlier reports, the evil corporate entity responsible for the end of life as we know it is not the Umbrella Corporation.
Umbrella Corp logo
Instead, government officials have announced that the responsible entity is a bankrupt company bent on self-preservation at the expense of humanity and what passes for civilization in this once Golden State. Enter one Pacific Gas and Electric Company. No not the cheesy 1960’s rock band but the once proud public utility.
Rock band Pacific Gas and Electric
The spark responsible for the anticipated chaos is the purposeful and simultaneous loss of electrical power in 30 California counties. The affected areas are expected to include Silicon Valley and peace loving Oakland.
PG&E 30-county blackout area
Here is the completed list of affected counties:
Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba
San Francisco blackouts expected here
Personally, my money is on the Raider’s fans to be the backbone of the lawlessness which will ensue; especially, if the blackouts go into overtime.
Raider fans eager to do their part
If this materializes as promised, look for Silicon Valley folks to transfer critical operations to other states with cheaper and more abundant power and less government red tape.
Oh, and here is a typical newsfeed of the warning being broadcast.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is warning customers that the utility may shut off power to 30 California counties this week because of a potentially widespread wind event.
The potential Public Safety Power Shutoff could impact more than 600,000 customers across Northern and Central California, the utility said Monday night.
The strong and dry wind event, forecast for Wednesday morning through Thursday afternoon, could impact much of PG&E’s service area, which includes northern, coastal and Bay Area counties. The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for midweek.
“If PG&E decides to implement a PSPS, the company expects to begin turning off power for safety early Wednesday morning,” the utility said Monday night.
If you live in one of these areas stock up on water and shotgun shells today.
Oh to identify the zombies, look for the stranger carrying your neighbor’s television set or dragging his wife down the street towards their gasoline powered vehicles. Zombies don’t drive Tesla’s in PG&E service areas.
Raiders fan rehearsing for Zombie Apocalypse
Stay tuned to this blog for further developments as the situation warrants.
When it comes to business and entertainment, China seems to be dictating American policy. Just as they govern their own nation with fear, American companies are succumbing to fear of the Dragon of the East. When given a choice, Americans are choosing profit over principle every time.
China has made a huge investment in Hollywood over the last several years. As a result, they have actively reshaped the plots and casting of many big budget movies. Sometimes the changes made headlines and other times it hasn’t. One of the earliest changes that I recall was the remake of Red Dawn.
Red Dawn 1984
In the original 1984 movie, troops from Cuba and Russia make a surprise attack on the United States and get bogged down in a protracted fight. A group of high school students wage a guerrilla war against the invader’s supply routes.
As Hollywood often does, they remade the movie in 2012. Since the Soviet Union had fallen decades before, they needed a new villain, an aggressor nation with the military might to take on the United States. The logical choice was China. However, a curious thing happened in the midst of post-production. The studio nixed the China thing and made the producers change the aggressor nation to North Korea.
Red Dawn 2012
Was China originally the country invading the USA?
Yes, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was originally presented as the invading regime, but after pressure from the PRC government and studio concerns on how it could impact the international box office, the film was digitally altered in post-production to replace all the PRC flags, posters and dialogue with that of North Korea.
Since then, it has become commonplace to change scripts or edit movies in such a way to get distribution in China. Even Hollywood “tent pole” movies like the Avengers have been altered to make it marketable in China.
Such changes are just the tip of the proverbial spear.
Today, two more news stories about compromising to please China are in the headlines. First up, the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The headline from ultra-rightwing publication Rolling Stone says it all.
In a Friday night tweet that he has since deleted, the Houston Rockets general manager expressed support for the legions of protesters who have taken to the streets of Hong Kong.
However, the problem for Morey is that the Chinese also love basketball. And thanks surely to the stardom of former Rockets great Yao Ming — now the head of the Chinese Basketball Association — Houston trailed only Golden State in popularity in the nation, per a recent survey. There appears to be too much money to be made in China for the NBA to stand up for human rights.
Yao himself responded to Morey’s tweet with condemnation, calling it “an inappropriate comment related to Hong Kong” and the CBA suspended its “exchanges and cooperation” with the Rockets. Chinese sportswear maker Li-Ning did the same, suspending its association with the team. The Chinese government also weighed in via its consulate, saying that it was “deeply shocked” by the tweet. The Rockets owner, Tilman Fertitta, quickly disowned Morey’s tweet:
Listen….@dmorey does NOT speak for the @HoustonRockets. Our presence in Tokyo is all about the promotion of the @NBA internationally and we are NOT a political organization. @espn https://t.co/yNyQFtwTTi — Tilman Fertitta (@TilmanJFertitta) October 5, 2019
The Rockets and the NBA could have stood up for Morey, for decency, and for the protesters and their human rights.
The NBA issued a sorry statement, declaring the league realizes that the tweet may have “deeply offended” Chinese fans and that they “have great respect for the history and culture of China,” as if that had anything to do with a bill that could be used to disappear journalists and critics of an autocratic regime. Morey, who The Ringer reports was at one point in jeopardy of losing his job, tweeted his own apology that read like it was dictated by his boss. Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai, a co-founder of Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba, published an open letter on Facebook that referred to protesters as a “separatist movement.” Even James Harden, the Rockets’ star guard, issued a mea culpa for some reason, even though he wasn’t involved.
That last bit of rank submission to an autocratic regime captured the full extent of the NBA’s sellout to China. Several politicians on the left and right, including presidential candidate Julián Castro and Rep. Ben Sasse (R-MO), called out the NBA’s cowardice. Even Rockets fan Ted Cruz took a principled stand:
We’re better than this; human rights shouldn’t be for sale & the NBA shouldn’t be assisting Chinese communist censorship. — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 7, 2019
Wow. Folks when Rolling Stone is singing the praises of Ted Cruz, you know that something is seriously wrong.
The next story probably won’t make it to your INBOX but it goes much the same way. Before getting into the particulars here’s a few nuggets of background. eSports is a big thing in a small segment of popular culture. This is where aspiring kids go to make millions of dollars playing video games competitively. A big hub of this activity is South Korea. Blizzard Entertainment was purchased a few years ago by Activision. Blizzard is best known for their World of Warcraft game. Hearthstone is a virtual card game that is modeled after Warcraft type characters.
Blizzard’s Hearthstone
The popular player ended a recent livestream with a call for his country’s liberation in a post-game interview. “Liberate Hong Kong,” Ng Wai said. “Revolution of our age!”
During the Hearthstone Grandmasters stream, the Hearthstone Pro was wearing a mask similar to those used by rioters in Hong Kong.
After the livestream ended, Ng Wai was immediately removed from the game’s Grandmasters rank and the developer is currently withholding his tournament prize money. The player also received a 12-month ban from the game’s professional events. The player will be unable to participate in Hearthstone eSports until October 5th 2020.
Unfortunately, government interference within China is a constant issue for its citizens. Even amongst the horrendous police brutality shown within the Hong Kong riots, the country still finds time for rampant censorship. With some developers being destroyed for slight anti-government inclusions, Blizzard’s huge Chinese presence does need to be protected in a business standpoint. From a moral and ethical standpoint, however, Blizzard is certainly not looking good.
For those of you that self-identify as low information voters, this is why I have problems with the way we conduct business with China. This also should help explain why I support President Trump’s efforts to change our relationship with China. Do I agree with everything Trump does with China? Probably not, but his instinct is correct. America businesses that put profit over principle are behaving shamefully.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that electric vehicles are a scam based on wishful thinking and junk science plus a healthy dose of government intervention to try to manipulate markets to be more favorable to these politically endorsed ideas. If you needed a little more documentation to share with friends to prove the obvious, here are three more articles for your consideration. Oh, if you look them up, there are links in them to even more evidence.
Article One
A Tesla Model 3 is touted as a zero-emissions car by government regulators, but it actually results in more carbon dioxide than a comparable diesel-powered car, according to a recent study.
When the CO2 emissions from battery production is included, electric cars, like Teslas, are “in the best case, slightly higher than those of a diesel engine, and are otherwise much higher,” reads a release from the German think tank IFO.
“It’s better read as a warning that new technologies aren’t a climate-change panacea. Recall the false promises about corn and cellulosic ethanol,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote of the study.
A study released in 2018 also found driving electric cars might come with higher emissions than diesel vehicles, largely because of lithium-ion battery production.
Likewise, a Manhattan Institute study from 2018 also found putting more electric cars on the road would likely increase emissions compared to internal combustion engine vehicles.
A battery pack for a Tesla Model 3 pollutes the climate with 11 to 15 tonnes of CO2. Each battery pack has a lifespan of approximately ten years and total mileage of 94,000, would mean 73 to 98 grams of CO2 per kilometer (116 to 156 grams of CO2 per mile), Buchal said. Add to this the CO2 emissions of the electricity from powerplants that power such vehicles, and the actual Tesla emissions could be between 156 to 180 grams of CO2 per kilometer (249 and 289 grams of CO2 per mile).
German researchers criticized the fact that EU legislation classifies electric cars as zero-emission cars; they call it a deception because electric cars, like the Model 3, with all the factors, included, produce more emissions than diesel vehicles by Mercedes.
They further wrote that the EU target of 59 grams of CO2 per kilometer by 2030 is “technically unrealistic.”
The reality is, in addition to the CO2 emissions generated in mining the raw materials for the production of electric vehicles, all EU countries generate significant CO2 emissions from charging the vehicles’ batteries using dirty power plants.
For true emission reductions, researchers concluded the study by saying methane-powered gasoline engines or hydrogen motors could cut CO2 emissions by a third and possibly eliminate the need for diesel motors. “Methane technology is ideal for the transition from natural gas vehicles with conventional engines to engines that will one day run on methane from CO2-free energy sources. This being the case, the German federal government should treat all technologies equally and promote hydrogen and methane solutions as well.”
So maybe Elon Musk’s plan to save the world with electric cars is the biggest scam of our lifetime…
It’s becoming a joke all around the world — the EVs in Australia powered by dirty diesel. But what’s the difference?
Most EVs in Australia are running on fossil fuel — the generators are just hidden behind longer extension cords. (Ones that carry 240,000V). EVs on our grid are running on 80% of fossil fuels every day.
The sign on the charger above says “Nullarbor” — the vast treeless and grid-free center of Australia — but this is actually a test site in Perth (the trees were the giveaway).
The 3,000 kilometer trip across the Nullarbor from Perth to Adelaide is such an achievement for an EV that it’s practically a news story each time one makes it.
Electric Car owners carry a chip about not being able to drive across the country as any real car owner could.
So Jon Edwards, a retired engineer from Perth, set up this test site in his backyard. He wanted to know if it could be a realistic stop-gap for our far remote roads.
To me, this looks like a chain of efficiency losses going from diesel to mechanical to electrical to battery to mechanical, but Edwards tested it with ten friend’s cars last December and estimates it works out slightly better on fuel use than just driving a diesel.
The charger is a Tritium Veefil 50kW DC (a big fast one) and took 9 hours to charge all 10 cars and used 108L of fuel. Good for fuel. Bad for time. (The 6,600km return trip across the Nullabor took 13 days in case you were wondering, though they were not in a race).
There’s a good reason EVs are only 0.2% of all new Australian car purchases — with vast distances, a fragile grid, expensive electricity and heavy towing loads.
Plus these fast chargers are like adding “20 houses” to our grid, so will cripple the system or require billions of dollars of infrastructure costs.
The dumbest thing is that as long as they run off fossil fuels, they’ll probably increase our CO2 emissions, doing the exact opposite of what they’re supposed to be doing, but yet perversely helping plants grow.
Their big environmental benefit being mainly achieved by failing to do what they are intended to do.
