#Best Solar and Wind Company

[kpsolargroup]

The Journey of the Best Solar and Wind Company

Introduction:

Embark on a captivating adventure into the sector of the Best Solar and Wind Company, where in innovation meets sustainability. In this exploration, we find the first-rate story at the back of their success and their unheard-of dedication to remodeling the renewable strength panorama in Gujarat and the past.

Pioneering Renewable Energy Solutions

Discover how the exceptional sun and wind company blazes a path inside the renewable energy sector, pioneering modern answers that harness the strength of the sun and wind. Explore their ground-breaking initiatives and visionary tasks that pressure the transition to smooth strength.

Excellence in Gujarat and Beyond

Explore the business enterprise's profound effect in Gujarat, where they stand as a beacon of excellence within the renewable energy industry. Learn how their tasks illuminate homes, corporations, and groups, powering a sustainable future for generations to come back.

Innovation at the Heart of Success

Delve into the agency's tradition of innovation, in which ambitious ideas and modern-day technologies converge to push the bounds of what's feasible in solar and wind energy. From advanced solar panel designs to subsequent-era wind generators, innovation drives their quest for excellence.

Sustainability as a Core Value

Discover how sustainability is ingrained in every element of the organization's operations, from assignment development to execution and beyond. Explore their dedication to minimizing environmental impact, promoting green practices, and fostering a culture of stewardship.

Empowering Communities and Partnerships

Learn how the best solar and wind company goes beyond simply generating power, actively engaging with communities and forging strategic partnerships to create lasting fine trade. Explore their projects in training, task creation, and network development that empower those they serve.

Conclusion:

As we conclude our adventure into the area of the best solar and wind company, one aspect will become abundantly clear: their unwavering commitment to innovation, sustainability, and community empowerment units them apart as true leaders inside the renewable power revolution.

[kpgreenengineering]

Discover the Best Wind Structure Fabrication Company by Unleashing the Power of Precision.

In the realm of wind structure fabrication, precision is not just a desirable trait; it's a fundamental requirement. Every component, every weld, and every measurement must be exact to ensure the structural integrity and longevity of these massive installations. When seeking the best wind structure fabrication company, precision becomes the defining factor that sets one company apart from the rest.

The Importance of Precision in Wind Structure Fabrication

Wind structures, such as wind turbines and wind farms, are exposed to extreme environmental conditions, including high winds and turbulent weather patterns. This makes precision in fabrication crucial for ensuring the safety and efficiency of these structures.

Why Choose a Company That Embraces Precision?

Precision is not just about accuracy; it's about efficiency and cost-effectiveness. A company that values precision in fabrication will minimize material waste, reduce rework, and ultimately deliver a superior product in a shorter time frame. This efficiency translates to cost savings for the client and a faster return on investment.

Key Attributes of a Precision-Focused Fabrication Company

Advanced Technology: Look for a company that invests in state-of-the-art technology for fabrication, such as CNC machining, laser cutting, and robotic welding. These technologies ensure the highest level of precision in every aspect of the fabrication process.

Skilled Workforce: A precision-focused company will have a team of highly skilled engineers, fabricators, and welders who are experts in their craft. These professionals understand the importance of precision and take pride in delivering flawless results.

Quality Control: Quality control is paramount in precision fabrication. Look for a company that has stringent quality control measures in place at every stage of the fabrication process to ensure that every component meets the highest standards of quality and precision.

Experience and Reputation: Experience speaks volumes in the world of wind structure fabrication. Look for a company with a proven track record of delivering high-quality, precision-fabricated structures and a reputation for excellence in the industry.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when seeking the best wind structure fabrication company, precision should be your guiding principle. Choose a company that embraces precision in every aspect of its operations, from technology and workforce to quality control and reputation. By unleashing the power of precision, you can ensure that your wind structures are built to last and perform at their best for years to come.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Month - August 2024

1.Negative Power Prices Hit Europe as Renewable Energy Floods the Grid

European power markets are experiencing a notable shift as renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar, become a larger part of the energy mix. On Wednesday, power prices in several European markets, including Germany, dipped below zero due to a surge in green electricity production.

2. Taiwan introduces ban on performances by captive wild animals

Live performances by wild animals held in captivity, including performances by dolphins, tigers, and other non-domesticated mammals, will no longer be permitted in Taiwan under new Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) regulations.

3. FTC bans fake online reviews, inflated social media influence; rule takes effect in October

The FTC voted unanimously to ban marketers from using fake reviews, such as those generated with AI technology, and other misleading advertising practices.

The ban also forbids marketers from exaggerating their own influence by, for example, paying for bots to inflate their follower count.

4. Chinese drones will fly trash out of Everest slopes

Come autumn, Nepal will deploy heavy lifter drones to transport garbage from the 6,812-metre tall Ama Dablam, south of Everest. This will be the first commercial work an unmanned aerial vehicle does in Nepal’s high-altitude zone.

The heavy lifter from China’s biggest drone maker, Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), will take on tasks traditionally handled by Sherpas. Officials believe it will help reduce casualties on Everest.

5. Swiss scientists have found a way to use the whole cocoa fruit to make chocolate and not just taking beans and discarding the rest.

Kim Mishra (L) and Anian Schreiber (R) cooperated on the new chocolate making process

Food scientists in Switzerland have come up with a way to make chocolate using the entire cocoa fruit rather than just the beans - and without using sugar.

The chocolate, developed at Zurich’s prestigious Federal Institute of Technology by scientist Kim Mishra and his team includes the cocoa fruit pulp, the juice, and the husk, or endocarp.

6. Six-year-old boy found in Vietnam forest after five days

A six-year-old boy who was missing for five days has been found deep in a forest in Vietnam. Dang Tien Lam, who lives in the northwestern Yen Bai province, was playing in a stream with his nine siblings on 17 August when he wandered into the hills and got lost, local reports said.

He was found on Wednesday by local farmers who heard a child's cry while they were clearing a cinnamon field close to the forest.

7. Lego plans to make half the plastic in bricks from renewable materials by 2026

Lego plans to make half the plastic in its bricks from renewable or recycled material rather than fossil fuels by 2026, in its latest effort to ensure its toys are more environmentally friendly.

The Danish company last year ditched efforts to make bricks entirely from recycled bottles because of cost and production issues. At the moment, 22% of the material in its colourful bricks is not made from fossil fuels.

----------

That's it for this month :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation here:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Also don’t forget to share this post with your friends.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Millions of solar panels are piling up in warehouses across the Continent because of a manufacturing battle in China, where cut-throat competition has driven the world’s biggest panel-makers to expand production far faster than they can be installed.

The supply glut has caused solar panel prices to halve. This sounds like great news for the EU, which recently pledged to triple its solar power capacity to 672 gigawatts by 2030. That’s roughly equivalent to 200 large nuclear power stations.

In reality, though, it has caused a crisis. Under the EU’s “Green Deal Industrial Plan”, 40pc of the panels to be spread across European fields and roofs were meant to be made by European manufacturers.

However, the influx of cheap Chinese alternatives means that instead of tooling up, manufacturers are pulling out of the market or becoming insolvent. Last year 97pc of the solar panels installed across Europe came from China.[...]

The best estimates suggest that about 90 gigawatts worth of solar panels are stashed around Europe. That solar power capacity roughly equates to 25 large nuclear power stations the size of Hinkley Point C.[...]

The sheer scale of the problem was revealed in a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

It warned that although the world was installing at record rates of around 400 gigawatts a year, manufacturing capacity was growing far faster.

By the end of this year solar panel factories, mostly in China, will be capable of churning out 1,100 gigawatts a year – nearly three times more than the world is ready [sic] for. For comparison, that’s about 11 times [!!!!] the UK’s entire generating capacity.

For some solar power installers, it’s a dream come true. Sagar Adani is building solar farms across India’s deserts, with 54 in operation and another 12 being built.

His company, Adani Green Energy, is constructing one solar farm so large that it will cover an area five times the size of Paris and have a capacity of 30 gigawatts – equal to a third of the UK’s entire generating capacity.

“I am installing tens of millions of solar panels across these projects,” says Adani. “Almost all of them will have been imported from China. There is nowhere else that can supply them in such numbers or at such prices.

“China saw the opportunity before others, it looked forward to what the world is going to set up 10 years on. And because they scaled up in the way they did, they were able to reduce costs substantially as well.”

That scaling up meant the capital cost of installing solar power fell from around £1.25m per megawatt of generating capacity in 2015 to around £600,000 today – a decrease of more than 50pc – making it cheaper than almost any other form of generation, including wind.[...]

“Up to 2012 there was a healthy looking European solar panel industry but it was actually very reliant on subsidies and preferential treatment.

“But then European governments and other customers started buying from China because their products were so much cheaper. And China still has cheap labour and cheap energy plus a massive domestic market. It’s hard to see Europe recovering from those disadvantages.”

Trying sososo hard to make this sound like a bad thing [23 Mar 24]

[probablyasocialecologist]

Veiled by discussion of headline global trends in new renewables capacity investment is the fact that almost all the incremental progress is currently being made in one country: China. Trumpeting 2023’s 50 percent growth in annual global capacity installations as a global achievement is wrongheaded, given that China by itself delivered nearly 80 percent of the increment. And the IEA, for its part, expects China to continue to be the sole meaningful over-achiever. It recently revised upwards by 728 GW its forecast for total global renewables capacity additions in the period 2023–27. China’s share of this upward revision? Almost 90 percent. While China surges ahead, the rest of the world remains stuck. This raises a crucial question. What is different about the development of solar and wind resources in China from the rest of the world? The main answer is that in China, such development is capitalist in only a very limited sense. Certainly, the entities centrally involved in building out new solar and wind farms in China are companies. But almost all are state-owned. Take wind. Nine of the country’s top 10 wind developers are owned by the government, and such state-owned players control in excess of 95 percent of the market. Moreover, the state is far from being a passive shareholder in these companies. The companies are best seen as instruments wielded by the state in the service of achieving its industrial, geopolitical, and – increasingly – environmental objectives. The best example of this concerns the gargantuan ‘clean energy bases’ first announced by President Xi Jinping in 2021. To be built mainly in the Gobi and other desert areas by 2030, these new bases will have a combined capacity of in excess of 550 GW – more than Europe’s total solar and wind capacity at the time of this writing. Such development is as far from ‘capitalist’ as is imaginable. This is the state, in its most centralized and authoritative form mustering whatever resources it needs at its disposal to ensure that it delivers what it has said it will deliver. Add to this the fact that the banks financing all the new renewables development in China are generally also state-owned and directed, and a stark reality comes into focus. This is essentially central planning in action. Does the profit motive figure? To be sure, it does. But usually only marginally, and it is ridden roughshod over whenever Beijing deems fit.

[mysticmellowlove]

Subby with Fem!Reader wife who is like the shit. I mean she is very well known around the world for her humanitarian philanthropic projects that she has made absolute bank from. With being the boss she is, she has to travel a lot for work and events.

But what about her poor little (he’s actually tall as hell) husband? She brings him along everywhere. Where ever she goes everyone will always see him there. Holding her hand in paparazzi pics, or standing on the corner of a stage when she is giving speeches.

He said he would be a househusband for her but because she has so much money(and let’s assume he has money from something) that she has house attendants and such so she doesn’t need him too. Instead, she puts him in charge of projects and basically makes him her lap dog that she carry’s in her Birkin everywhere she goes. He just loves being with her and traveling the world for work with her. What a dream.

note; just a lil something something

warnings; fem reader

You two are the world's power couple

With your organisation you usually were on the move all the time, getting to see the world in its most natural forms

Beautiful jungles, stunning deserts, the far reaches of the oceans, some of the most secluded islands... they were all in the palms of your hands.

You had been to Tuvalu most recently to assess the situation there, tornado victims in America, bushfires over in Australia... you had even raised awareness about oil drilling off the coasts of some of the most beautiful places on earth

And right next to you was your husband, a dedicated techie and an intense simp

He runs a tech start-up, one that tries to find alternatives to building and powering their products to lessen the strain on earth

This includes synthetic materials compared to earth's resources, implementing a solar-powered screen and trying to work towards an alternative to wind turbines in coastal areas.

That's why you two did collabs, it's why you two met.

You were drawn to his innovation and he was drawn to your passionate causes

Together you were almost unstoppable, two rich people who actually wanted to help others

Most of your shared money went to charities, building homes, helping the disadvantaged and putting in place plans for the future

Of course, you had a couple of vacation homes in some of your favourite places but those were also used as home bases for your travels.

UN meetings and WHO research, you two were the main funders of these branches and you attended nearly all of the meetings.

Sometimes things got busy though, so you'd send your devoted husband on a little trip

While you took care of things over in America he'd be over in Asia, networking with some of the best technology companies while also offering aid to humanitarian projects

There was hardly a moment when the two of you could actually be alone, either there was work to be done or your house's attendants would be buzzing away

When it was quiet though you two loved to spend some time together, just in each other's presence

He loved to massage you, not because it was an opportunity to touch you but because... it was an opportunity to touch you

His most favourite thing to do though was to rest his head on your tummy and let you play with his hair, he found it relaxing!

He'd let you do anything to him basically but you were always so gentle with him

He's a very spoilt man who gets almost everything he wants

All he has to do is give you puppy dog eyes and he's under the table eating you out while your heeled foot is stroking his cock

He loves being inside you as well, just cockwarming you

If you want him to do something all you have to do is ask but if you want to make things a little more interesting wear a short skirt and then ask, maybe bend over so he can see the swell of your ass

Such a needy man, he'd be on his knees begging for a taste

[idontknowreallywhy]

Resurface 17 - Redraw

Previous bits

Writing art is not my forte but Virg doesn’t have access to a piano right now so he insisted. I hereby blame any clumsy wording / inaccuracies on this being Scott’s POV so… yeah it’s the flyboy’s fault.

💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚

It had been a little over 48 hours since Scott had last been in the same room as Virgil. While at one end of the feed a brother was happily chatting away to his invisible-to-everyone-else best friend, the unseen brother at the other huddled on the couch, curled protectively around his tablet lifeline and was politely rebuffing anyone who hovered with offers of irrelevancies like sustenance and reassurance. And company.

He felt bad about that. He had a nasty suspicion John was berating himself for revealing those details about the past and at some point very soon Scott was going to need to fix it. But it wasn’t now. The rest of them needed to concentrate on Virgil anyway.

Speaking of which…

Virgil had got fidgety and was stretching his arms behind his head in an achingly familiar way. Gordon, who was on duty again, was heavy-napping on one of the other beds and didn’t stir. The squid had taken the brunt of his brother’s care upon himself and he needed the sleep and so this was fine. Kayo and John were distracting Alan. Scott was keeping watch and could raise the alarm if the patient got out of bed. He didn’t though, merely shuffled his pillows around a while before appearing to notice the sketch pad and new set of pencils that had been left on his bedside table at his big brother’s insistence. Scott felt a little rush of justification as Virgil seized the pad and opened it to a fresh page, tapping his chin thoughtfully with the end of a pencil.

Scott watched as his brother began to sketch some light sweeping strokes across the page. The tension in Virgil’s expression melted away and Scott felt a little of himself beginning to thaw too.

After a few minutes, the artist laid the pad down beside him while he reached over to to select a different grade of pencil from the tin. Even upside down Scott recognised the sketch as the beginnings of one of Virgil’s many sky backgrounds - rays of sun peaking through soft clouds, the hint of a light wind mysteriously depicted through graphite on white. So many things could emerge next - a cityscape, a portrait, a whale leaping from the ocean… It could be an abstract of a solar eclipse or a detailed study of one of their ships. Perhaps a flock of birds over a silhouetted volcanic island. Whatever his eventual intention, Virgil so often began with the sky and everything else followed.

He picked the sketchbook up again and proceeded to add something smaller and more detailed. Scott entertained a hope that it might end up being Two and One flying home side by side - had three of those displayed in his suite - one watercolour, one acrylic, one mixed media collage and he was more than happy to add a pencil version too if Virgil allowed it. The eyebrows of intense concentration had been deployed and Scott had begun to smile at the familiarity of this when the merely concentrating look hardened into something else.

Virgil started to add much heavier lines, the knuckles of his right hand white as he held the book steady and the left almost a blur as he dug the pencil in hard and dragged it rapidly to and fro across the page. Scott wondered how the paper could possibly withstand such a ferocious onslaught of carbon - he half expected it to catch fire if his brother didn’t gouge a hole straight through it first.

Scott watched in helpless dismay as his the look of distress on his brother’s face deepened and was on the point of calling Gordon to wake him when Virgil seemed to run out of steam and slumped back into the pillows, sketchpad clutched to his chest. He closed his eyes and took a couple of breaths before propping himself up again and gazing at what he had drawn. He didn’t move at all for several minutes. Scott unconsciously leaned sideways as if he could change the angle of the security camera to see what it was then swore to himself. This was wrong. He should just be able to go and ask… he always asked and Virg always showed him… maybe somewhat shyly but he’d always show him. He didn’t dare defy Grandma, not when he was so clueless about all of this, but his gut told him she was wrong - Scott should be there by Virgil’s side.

This was wrong. She was wrong.

He had to try again.

He stood and started towards the stairs to go and reason with her when another movement from the screen caught his attention. Without removing his eyes from the sketch pad, Virgil leaned over to the bedside table and patted around until his fingers closed over a large eraser. He spun it in his fingers for a few moments then appeared to remove something then added some small detail, his expression intense but unreadable, even to the brother who knew him best.

Some small noise must have alerted Gordon who suddenly flung himself on to the bed and enveloped Virgil in a hug.

The sketchpad slipped to the floor and Scott slowly sat back down again.

💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙

[runawaymun]

WIP Wednesday!

I was tagged last wednesday by @that-angry-noldo to share a snippet of what I am working on :D I LOVE this game yay!!

Here is a snippet from Beneath a Boundless Sky:

Still, even though Thalionel preferred Arwen’s company, he had to admit the mornings when Lord Elrond took him out for a ride were the best, because often they went out onto the hiking trails around the city, and there was always something interesting to look at, or to ask about, or to find. That was how he had discovered this chunk of rock. He hadn’t known what it was at first. He’d just caught the glint of the sun on its glossy surface. There was an entire trail of it down the side of the mountain. He had hopped down from Trastadweg and gone to look at it more closely, and that was when Lord Elrond had warned him to be careful, because obsidian, as he had called it, was sharp.  “The mountain made it,” Lord Elrond had said as he slipped off of his own horse to join him at the flow. “Just like it makes the hot pools.”  Thalionel had only vaguely listened as he’d explained something about melted rock and rapid temperature changes. Mostly, he’d stayed focused on the chunk of rock he’d picked up from the pile. It was as big as his fist. Rough on one side, and glassy on the other where the rock had broken in one, clean cut.  It had been a trick to get it into his pocket without Lord Elrond noticing. Thalionel wasn’t sure if he’d succeeded. He just hoped that Lord Elrond didn’t suspect what he meant to do with it.

To be honest though upon editing it's likely this will change slightly!! I am thinking about writing it out into a full present scene, rather than keeping it as a past-tense memory. I think it will suit it better and we need more Elrond and Thal time anyway!

And here is a snippet from To Partake (it was hard to pick something for this actually because so much of this chapter feels a little spoilery to share, but I do like the writing in this section a lot):

Elrond writes Erestor another note to let him know where he has gone, and when he estimates he will return, slips it under his door, and then starts down the winding staircase of the tower. His footsteps echo in the cool silence of the early morning. As he passes people, each gives him a wide berth, avoiding his gaze as if to ward off any possibility of interaction. It’s nothing particularly new, but it is a little different than the stares he’d gotten upon his arrival. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he wonders if word about his summons to Gil-Galad’s solar —and Gil-Galad’s black mood— had traveled around the court.  It had probably been the fault of the guards. Heniriel is not a gossip, or else she would not hold such a high position.  He keeps his head low as he heads out beneath the stars to the far end of the citadel. The closer he gets to the kitchens, the more the air begins to smell like fresh bread. It makes his stomach rumble. The kitchens are a set of buildings attached to the northern side of the castle, close to the king’s quarters, the banquet hall, and the ambassadorial suites. Elrond elects to pass through a courtyard full of babbling fountains, since it looks empty enough. He follows the cobblestone footpath to a tall rock wall with a door in it which opens out onto the kitchen gardens, where carefully tended beds of herbs and vegetables lay slumbering beneath the starlight. Beyond are the King’s orchards. Elrond loves to spend time there. He will have to find a moment soon to slip away and say hello to his favorite apple tree. For now, he takes the path as it curves to the left, heading toward the kitchen proper, and more importantly: the bakery, where the citadel’s baker is likely to be starting on the day’s bread.

no pressure tags for: @the-commonplace-book @creativity-of-death @raointean @valasania-the-pale @niennawept @jaz-the-bard & anyone else who wants to play!!! I want to read what you're working on :D

[raggydraws]

This Reminds me of College

Surya and Tabatha attempting to teach themselves Merikih to varying degrees of success Tags: Surya & Farmer, Potentially OOC, Tabatha has ADHD and is HYPERFOCUSED on Merfolk, Surya and Tabby are best friends, Author doesn't write often please be nice, HC: Surya knows about the Merfolk because that lab is small and there's no way he doesn't, an attempt at Indonesian words, Gen Fic, Surya and Tabby are both smart individuals but hanging out with your friends can and will kill brain cells for the lols, No Beta we die like Pufferfish, Merikih is italicized

If Dr. Jiang had tried to keep the existence of merfolk from Surya; she hadn’t tried very hard. Given the fact he’d been standing right behind her, also looking through the monitor eyes of Kibble, when Tabatha had stumbled upon two of them didn’t help.

Of course he immediately swore himself to secrecy about them, Dr. Jiang, er, Ling as she insisted, hadn’t even gotten the chance to argue why they shouldn’t go blathering about it to the whole island. It just made sense not to. Her entire research basis, the solar pillars and the super corals, hells, the oil spill itself and the presence of the monstrous company that caused it in his new home alone kept his mouth shut.

Talk and innocent people would probably die. Morbid.

Plus it would’ve really put a dent into the bet about Dr. Ling he had going with Tabatha.

The farmer in question had also resurfaced and crossed town in record time to come yell their own arguments about keeping a closed lid on the existence of merfolk. How they had done so when Surya had seen them get winded walking upstairs would forever be a mystery to him.

But they’d all gotten through it, swore themselves to never speak of it again, especially if this were a one off thing, although Dr. Ling took Tabatha’s diving suit in for an upgrade in the off chance this wasn't a fluke. 

Which eventually led to Surya standing on his friend’s porch with a pot of lodeh and his old college textbook on dead languages. He let himself look over their garden plots as he waited for the brunet to answer the door, marveling at how much automation they’d managed to set up in such little time. Six plots with small, albeit makeshift, sprinklers with two much larger plots that Tabatha likely had to water by hand themselves, all with little budding plants just waiting to grow and be harvested. Surya was impressed, remembering his Paman Joko mentioning that their neighbor had either already had a hand in farming or at the least had gardened quite a bit before moving here. He mentally took note of the plot with young melon vines just beginning to sprout, wondering if he could convince Tabatha to part with one or two once they were fully ripe, before the door to the cabin swung open.

“Surya! Welcome, welcome, come in watch your step-” Tabatha ushered him inside with a bright smile, quickly shutting the door behind him. “Sorry, don’t want all the cold air getting out.”

“Oh, did your walls not get re-insulated when Bibi and Paman gutted the place?” Surya asked, setting his pot of lodeh onto the rickety fold out table set up in their small living space.

“Oh no I’m sure they did, it’s just a habit from living in shitty Pokyo apartments.” 

“Ah.”

Tabatha locked the door, likely another habit from previously living in a crowded metropolitan area, and joined him at the table with an eager grin.

“Thanks for bringing food by the way, I would’ve made something but,” They gesture sheepishly and vaguely to their barebones cabin. “I still don’t have a lot to work with at the moment.”

“Of course, it’s no trouble. Hopefully Bibi can get a kitchen set up for you soon.”

“Fingers crossed.”

The two sat down to eat, exchanging pleasantries and talking about their days apart. Tabatha only volunteered part time at the lab, carving out time for cleaning sights around coral reefs between their farm and also getting used to their new community. Surya would go days without seeing the tall brunet, only for them to show up to the lab soaking wet and with enough kelp to power a small generator, and the two would easily slip back into jokes and banter before disappearing from sight again. It was safe to say that Tabatha was one of the two friends that he had, and he was honestly all the more glad to have them. Soon enough they finished their dinner and tucked away any leftovers in whatever tubberware Tabatha had laying around, finally moving onto the actual reason Surya had come over in the first place.

Teaching themselves a presumably dead language, because Dr. Ling refused to do so.

Because it would be useful! Because you never knew what could happen and what if Surya needed to dive with Tabatha one day and didn’t have a built-in translator? What if the merfolk came to them? It totally wasn't because this was the most unbelievable thing that's ever happened to anyone, ever. Or the fact that Dr. Ling knew way more than she was letting on but wouldn’t tell them.

And it definitely wasn’t because Surya was a man of science and Tabatha was riddled with ADHD and this was their new, shared hyperfixation. 

It wasn’t.

Neither of them knew what the language was actually called yet, and Surya hesitated to dub it “Atlantis” due to their location, which spurred Tabatha into giving a surprisingly informed rant about how Atlantis was actually more likely to be based on a mix of a volcanic event in the Mediterranean and Plato spouting bullshit than a real civilization that fell below the waves. It reminded him that Tabatha was a lot more smart than they let on, somewhat downplaying their intelligence for the sake of their self imposed title of ‘Lab Thembo’.

Tabatha retrieved the regulator mask of their diving suit, strapping it into place as Surya began flipping through his old textbook and getting out a fresh, blank notebook. They wouldn’t be able to write down any actual words or an alphabet, as all the pictures they did have of the language were on Kibble’s hard drive and the little robot was sitting in the lab at the moment. But they would write down similar vowels or repeating patterns and also have it for the excuse that this was for science and not shits n giggles, should Dr. Ling happen to stumble upon it.

“Alright, you ready Suri?” Tabatha asked, fitting the regulator over their mouth as Surya gave them the go ahead. The brunet breathed deeply, making sure the gear didn’t interrupt their airways while not attached to any tanks before speaking as clearly as they could.

“Can you hear me?” Their voice cycled through the speaker with a warm crackle, and Surya frowned in disappointment.

“Loud and clear…in English.”

Tabatha grimaced in confusion and removed the regulator, eyebrows lifting into their hairline once they realized that they had forgotten to turn the translator on. Flipping the slider to ‘ON’ the brunet put their gear back into place and Surya eagerly waited to hear the elusive language of real life merfolk.

“What about now?”

The words were strung together in a lilting, rhythmic pattern and it made Surya pause, blinking in surprise at how pretty it sounded. It also almost sounded familiar somehow, his first thought being something akin to Latin or even his own native language. It definitely was different enough for him not to pick it up right away but close enough that it pinged in his brain as something he should recognize.

“Oh wow.” 

“Is it working, Surya?” 

“No idea what you just said!” He cheered, practically beaming as he scribbled down their first new findings. Tabatha cheered as well, their voice coming out of the translator as a bright, elongated tone akin to a lofty held note in a song. 

They sat on Tabatha’s floor for what felt like hours, simply babbling sing-song like words back and forth between themselves. At some point the young man found himself sprawled across the wood floor to stretch out his legs, while Tabatha happily rambled on about something he couldn’t understand, only the occasional word standing out as it went untranslated. Surya recorded some of the basic sentences, sending them to Tabatha’s phone for the two to practice later when the mask started hurting for the brunet to continue wearing. They shook their head after peeling it off, huffing in annoyance as fluffy brown hair fell into their eyes. Surya snorted.

“I need a damn haircut.” Tabatha said, blowing a raspberry at Surya while simultaneously spitting hair out of their mouth. Their eyes then widened for a second, scrambling to their feet in haste and practically running over to their wardrobe. Surya lifted himself off the floor, leaning back on his hands with a laugh at his friend.

“Dude, what are you doing?”

“I got an idea!” They exclaimed, pulling the rest of the diving suit from the sparsely occupied dresser. “Did you bring a swimsuit or anything?”

“Uh, no?” Now sitting cross-legged and watching with a bit of worry as Tabatha ran into their tiny bathroom. “Why?” The plan had just been to see if they could glean anything from the translator and hang out while doing so. The thought of needing his swimming trunks or his own diving suit hadn’t crossed his mind once.

“You’ll see!” Came the muffled reply from the bathroom. A minute or two passed and Surya used the time to pick up the small mess of paper and pens they’d made on the floor. “Alright get in here! Bring the mask too!”

“Uh,” Surya lifted himself from the floor, scooping up the regulator as he did and reluctantly walked over to the bathroom door. “Are you decent?” He felt silly for asking and sillier for the probably obvious flush creeping up his neck.

This was probably why his Bibi Dinda and Paman Joko kept throwing him ‘looks’ every time he went to hang out with Tabatha. The farmer had no time or formality with social cues or implications. It was impulses and ‘I’ll deal with it later’ all the way down with this one.

The door opened and Tabatha’s head poked out from the threshold with a wry grin.

“No, I'm completely naked Suri.” They deadpanned as they spread out an obviously full covered arm from the doorway. Surya threw his hands up in mock surrender.

“Hey, I’m trying to be a gentleman here.” 

“Be a gentleman somewhere else we don’t have time for that,” Tabatha grabbed the mask from him and disappeared back into the bathroom. “Now. Get. In. Here.”

Surya rolled his eyes fondly and stepped into the bathroom.

He burst out laughing immediately.

Tabatha stood in their small, honestly kind of sad, shower in their full diving suit, sans air tanks, with their hand on the faucet. Surya immediately knew what they were going to do. He’d seen an old college roommate do the same thing to clean his diving suit after accidentally swimming into a cloud of algae.

Tabatha’s eyes crinkled with a tell-tell sign of them grinning, as well as they could, with the regulator covering their mouth and turned the faucet on.

Surya couldn’t fucking breathe.

“W-wha-what are you doing??” He managed to gasp out between bursts of laughter, wiping the tears forming in his eyes at the sight before him. Tabatha shrugged, answering in that sing-song language again that now sounded a little like they were gargling with the shower head on. Surya gasped for air, intermittently broken up by short fits of giggles as he tried to calm himself down. The brunet turned the faucet off and pulled the regulator away from their face, spitting out any stray water that had found its way past the haphazardly put-on mechanism.

“So,” They asked after giving Surya another moment to gasp down air. “Did that sound any different?”

“Is THAT what you were doing?”

“Duh!” The brunet gasped, absentmindedly tossing a hand out and covering Surya’s feet in water. “I remember it sounding different when I was fully submerged.”

“So you got into your shower to test that?”

“...I might’ve only just now remembered that I have a pond…”

“Oh my goddess Tabby,” Surya looked down forlornly at his now wet socks. “Is that why you asked if I brought my swim trunks?”

“...yes.”

“And you immediately got into your shower??”

“YES, SHUT UP!”

Surya was very lucky he was near the door when he started laughing again as Tabatha flung as much water at him as they could. After calming down again and much apologies, the two gathered up some gear and wandered outside to the closest pond on Tabatha's property. The summer evening was warm enough to be comfortable even without a proper wetsuit on, but Surya still lamented that his socks were now uncomfortably squishy. Tabatha offered to hang them out to dry and he declined, deciding that if he stepped on something hard then that was just how it had to be.

With towels, water-proof recording gear, an old pair of swim trunks Tabatha let him barrow and the brunet all put shoving their diver’s goggles over his head, the two sat on the small wooden platform that hung over the nearest pond. Even though it was attached to one of the many streams that ran through Coral Island, they determined that current wouldn’t be strong enough to pull himself or Tabatha in and therefore deemed it safe enough for a little free diving. 

Surya let Tabatha fall backwards into the pond first and followed suit when a thumbs up broke the surface. The water was cool against his skin and the pond, while small, was big enough and deep enough that the two of them could stand with only having to squat a little bit. He sat for a moment to enjoy it before Tabatha called over to him with the sing-song language.

“Hello! Fancy seeing you here~” Their eyes crinkled, smiling under the mask as Surya recognized the ‘Hello’ but not the rest.

“Hello!” He replied back clumsily, water filling his mouth briefly. The language carried through the water just as well, if not better, than it did in the air and still with the same pretty, melodic tone. They both resurfaced briefly, Surya to spit the water out of his mouth and Tabatha mostly to gather more air and ask if he was alright before they submerged again.

Once again they swapped words back and forth, practicing simple ‘hellos’ and ‘goodbyes’, ‘how are you’ ‘thank you’ and ‘you’re welcome’ until they could repeat the words without having to think about strange rising and falling of the vowels. Eventually they resurfaced for the last time, as the sun began to fully set and their muscles ached from keeping themselves in place under the water. But they continued without the translator, practicing their tone and pronunciation without the safety net of Dr. Ling’s mysterious handiwork. By the time the two saw fit to finally towel themselves dry and head back to Tabatha’s cabin, it was late and Surya felt fairly confident in his barebones basics of the merfolk language.

“Did you wanna take the rest of the lodeh home with you?”

“No, that's for you! I don’t want my friend starving before they get a kitchen.” 

Tabatha huffed a small laugh, wrapping their arms around his middle and squeezing him tightly, butting their head gently against his shoulder. Surya returned the hug, patting them on the back before stepping away and heading towards his Bibi’s and Paman’s home in the forest. He’d return home later than intended with still damp hair, wet socks and borrowed board shorts, staving off Archie’s questions for the next morning and rolling his eyes at another one of his Bibi’s ‘looks’ before heading to his room and collapsing into bed.

He dreams of song-like languages and fish-tailed people below the waves.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this New York Times story:

When President Biden signed the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, it was expected to set off a boom in renewable energy, with hefty tax breaks that would make solar and wind power cheaper than fossil fuels.

So far, however, that dream has only come partly true. Solar panel installations are indeed soaring to record highs in the United States, as are batteries that can store energy for later. But wind power has struggled, both on land and in the ocean.

The country is now adding less wind capacity each year than before the law was passed.

Some factors behind the wind industry’s recent slowdown may be temporary, such as snarled supply chains. But wind power is also more vulnerable than solar power to many of the biggest logistical hurdles that hinder energy projects today: a lack of transmission lines, a lengthy permitting process and a growing backlash against new projects in many communities.

If wind power continues to stagnate, that could make the fight against global warming much harder, experts say. Many plans for quickly shifting the country away from fossil fuels envision a large expansion of both solar and wind, because the two sources generate electricity at different hours and can complement each other. A boom in solar power alone, which runs only in daytime, isn’t enough.

Some of the early predictions that the Inflation Reduction Act would help slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions roughly 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 depended on a rapid acceleration of both solar and wind power this decade.

Wind and solar power are often lumped together, but they have important differences that partly explain why one is slowing and the other is thriving right now.

For one, wind power is much more sensitive to location. Wind turbines in a gusty area can generate eight times as much electricity as turbines in an area with just half the breeze. For solar power, the difference between sunny spots and less sunny spots is considerably smaller. That means developers can’t just build wind farms anywhere.

In the United States, the best places for wind tend to be in the blustery Midwest and Great Plains. But many areas are now crowded with turbines and existing electric grids are clogged, making it difficult to add more projects. Energy companies want to expand the grid’s capacity to transport even more wind power to population centers, but getting permits for transmission lines and building them has become a brutal slog that can take more than a decade.

“Getting wind projects built is getting a lot harder,” said Sandhya Ganapathy, chief executive of EDP Renewables North America, a leading wind and solar developer. “The low-hanging fruit, the easier access places are gone.”

The wind industry has also been hampered by soaring equipment costs after the pandemic wrecked supply chains and inflation spiked. While those factors initially hurt solar, too, the solar industry has adjusted much faster, with China nearly doubling its manufacturing capacity for panels��over the last two years. Wind supply chains, which are dominated by a few manufacturers in China, Europe and the United States, have yet to fully recover.

The cost increases have been devastating for offshore wind projects in the Northeast, where developers have canceled more than half the projects they planned to build this decade.

Wind isn’t languishing only in the United States. While a record 117 gigawatts of new wind capacity came online last year globally, virtually all of that growth was in China. In the rest of the world, developers weren’t installing wind turbines any faster than they were in 2020.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Chapter 4. Environment

The only way to save the planet

When it comes to protecting the environment, nearly any social system would be better than the one we have now. Capitalism is the first social arrangement in human history to endanger the survival of our species and life on earth in general. Capitalism provides incentives to exploit and destroy nature, and creates an atomized society that is incapable of protecting the environment. Under capitalism, ecocide is literally a right. Environmental protections are “trade barriers”; preventing a corporation from clear-cutting land it has purchased is a violation of private property and free enterprise. Companies are allowed to make millions of tons of plastic, most of it for throwaway packaging, despite the fact that they have no plan for disposing of it and not even any idea what will happen with it all; plastic does not decompose, so plastic trash is filling up the ocean and appearing in the bodies of marine creatures, and it may last millions of years. To save endangered rhinoceros from poachers, game wardens have started sawing off their valuable horns; but the poachers are killing them anyway because once they are extinct, the value of the few remaining bits of rhinoceros ivory will go through the roof.

And despite all this, universities have the audacity to indoctrinate students to believe that a communal society would be incapable of protecting the environment because of the so-called tragedy of the commons. This myth is often explained thus: imagine a society of sheepherders owns the grazing land in common. They benefit collectively if each grazes a smaller number of sheep, because the pasture stays fertile, but any one of them benefits individually if he overgrazes, because he will receive a greater share of the product — thus collective ownership supposedly leads to depletion of resources. The historical examples intended to corroborate this theory are generally drawn from colonial and postcolonial situations in which oppressed people, whose traditional forms of organization and stewardship have been undermined, are crowded onto marginal land, with predictable results. The sheepherding scenario assumes a situation that is extremely rare in human history: a collective comprised of atomized, competitive individuals who value personal wealth over social bonds and ecological health, and lack social arrangements or traditions that can guarantee sustainable, shared use.

Capitalism has already caused the biggest wave of extinctions to hit the planet since an asteroid collision killed off the dinosaurs. To prevent global climate change from bringing about total ecological collapse, and stop pollution and overpopulation from killing off most of the planet’s mammals, birds, amphibians, and marine life, we have to abolish capitalism, hopefully within the next few decades. Human-caused extinctions have been apparent for at least a hundred years now. The greenhouse effect has been widely acknowledged for nearly two decades. The best that the reputed ingenuity of free enterprise has come up with is carbon trading, a ridiculous farce. Likewise, we cannot trust some world government to save the planet. A government’s first concern is always its own power, and it builds the base of this power upon economic relationships. The governing elite must maintain a privileged position, and that privilege depends on the exploitation of other people and of the environment.

Localized, egalitarian societies linked by global communication and awareness are the best chance for saving the environment. Self-sufficient, self-contained economies leave almost no carbon footprint. They don’t need petroleum to ship goods in and waste out, or huge amounts of electricity to power industrial complexes to produce goods for export. They must produce most of their energy themselves via solar, wind, biofuel, and similar technologies, and rely more on what can be done manually than on electrical appliances. Such societies pollute less because they have fewer incentives to mass production and lack the means to dump their byproducts on others’ land. In place of busy airports, traffic-clogged highways, and long commutes to work, we can imagine bicycles, buses, interregional trains, and sailboats. Likewise, populations will not spiral out of control, because women will be empowered to manage their fertility and the localized economy will make apparent the limited availability of resources.

An ecologically sustainable world would have to be anti-authoritarian, so no society could encroach on its neighbors to expand its resource base; and cooperative, so societies could band together in self-defense against a group developing imperialist tendencies. Most importantly, it would demand a common ecological ethos, so people would respect the environment rather than regarding it simply as raw material to exploit. We can begin building such a world now, by learning from ecologically sustainable indigenous societies, sabotaging and shaming polluters, spreading a love for nature and an awareness of our bioregions, and establishing projects that allow us to meet our needs for food, water, and energy locally.

[darkmaga-retard]

David Blackmon

Sep 18, 2024

British oil giant bp announced Monday that it is selling the business unit that manages its suite of US onshore wind power operations as part of its ongoing efforts to simplify its overall business and become more competitive with peer companies like ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, and Chevron. In its release, the company said it will continue to invest in both solar and wind ventures through Lightsource bp, a joint venture in which it currently holds a 50% interest but plans to become 100% owner later this year.

When I published an analysis of this announcement by bp at the Substack I maintain, one reader asked, “why in God’s name an oil company is spending billions of shareholder dollars on expensive, inefficient, and intermittent energy sources? Who runs these companies?” It’s a good question, one that I and others who write about energy in the current rather bizarre societal atmosphere are asked quite often. It’s also a question often asked of the executives themselves, in many instances by shareholders and investors who are disappointed at the poor returns such intermittent energy projects tend to generate in comparison to the companies’ core oil and gas business investments.

For the executives it’s a hard one to answer directly, mainly because somebody is going to be angry regardless of how they respond. So, they’ll typically rely on their investor relations, legal, and communications teams to provide them with a non-answer answer that tries to please everyone without really saying anything of substance. This is what is known as “bridging” the question.

It’s much easier for me, mainly because I don’t have shareholders or big investors to please (though such investors would certainly be welcomed), and the 2nd amendment still exists despite the best efforts of the Biden/Harris administration and the censors at LinkedIn, where I was suspended this week for reasons still unexplained to me.

[masterofdemise]

MFB: Solar Swap AU Basic Character Information

Figured I don’t talk about the Solar Swap AU in detail enough, so I’m going to do that here and provide some brief descriptions on the different people and the ideas I have right now.

For those who don’t know, Solar Swap AU is an alternate universe where the Nemesis Bladers and the Solar System Bladers switch roles (ie: Nemesis Bladers are the good Legendary Bladers and Solar System Bladers are working for Nemesis). Metal Fusion and Metal Masters are basically follow the same events with maybe one or two very minor detail changes (Hades Inc. called Zeus Inc. instead)

The AU mainly revolves around Pluto and Dynamis, who have had a rivalry/feud for many years, both over who has the better company and over Nemesis. Solar Swap follows Pluto, Gingka, and his friends as they search for the legendary bladers to stop Dynamis and Nemesis.

 Now, onto the basic descriptions for the people that have been changed:

Pluto

CEO of Hades Incorporated. Pluto is the Legendary Blader of well, Pluto (he refers to himself as a Legendary Blader of Hades, not like it’s much better since that is his last name too). His second-in-command and best friend is Johannes. He has had his rivalry against Dynamis since he was a youth. Much like his canon counterpart, he is the direct descendant of King Hades and a strong advocate for Hades’ Law. He is the one that explains the whole situation to Gingka and the others, leading them to go on their search for the rest of the Legendary Bladers.

Dynamis

CEO of The Olympus Corporation. Dynamis may wield Jade Jupiter here, but his end goal is to revive and use Nemesis as a means of ending the world. There is no “I will take over and rule the world”, he just wants to get rid of everything. He employs the rest of the Solar System Bladers (Yuki, Tithi, King, Aguma) to do his bidding. He is responsible for orchestrating all the events of Fusion and Masters. Dynamis is a descendant of King Zeus in this alternate universe.

Johannes

Pluto’s best friend and bodyguard. He may not be a Legendary Blader, but his skill and battle mastery is not to be underestimated. He often accompanies Pluto to keep him safe from harm, but sometimes is tasked with quite mundane tasks every now and then. He is the older brother of Motti.

Yuki

The second-in-command of Dynamis, he wields Mercury Anubis and his magical abilities to take down anyone who gets in his way. He has his own rivalry with Johannes and the other members within Olympus Corporation. He often finds himself confronting Pluto, Gingka and company as they try to look for the star fragments.

King and Tithi

Both were hired by Dynamis to work for the Olympus Corporation. Thanks to their exceptional talent in Beyblade, they have quickly rose the ranks within the company. Despite that, because of their young age and kinder nature, they’ve been left in the dark when it comes to information about Nemesis’s revival. They get along and look up to Dynamis a lot, not realizing his true plans for the world.

Aguma and Bao

Being offered to make the Beylin Fist the top school in the blading world, they have been working for Olympus Corporation as leaders of the defense division. They are responsible for training new recruits as part of the agreement made between them and Olympus Corporation. They were promised to be a part of the world takeover, but are not aware of the complete destruction aspect. The two of them still participate in ToRyumon to search for the legendary bladers.

Herschel

A wandering vagrant and the Legendary Blader of Uranus. He goes where the winds take him, and that leads to him being the ToRyumon partner for Johannes after Gingka takes Pluto as his blading partner instead. Herschel joins the group until Destroyer Dome, where he departs with Keyser to continue the search. He eventually reconvenes with the group during Beyster Island.

Keyser

The Legendary Blader of Musca, he is a detective tasked with investigating the Olympus Corporation for suspicious activity due to their connection with Zeus Incorporated. He participates in Destroyer Dome to see if he can find more information, but is found by Pluto and the others. He ends up going along with Herschel to continue their investigation. He joins back with everyone else during the Beyster Island tournament.

Cycnus

The Legendary Blader of Cygnus. He is Dynamis’s top blader and the one he sends for the toughest and most grueling missions due to his aggressive and unforgiving nature. Cycnus is the one that fights against Pluto, Rago, and Kyoya during the Neptunis Island Incident (similar to Mist Mountain). Cygnus’s existence has been completely hidden from the public, much akin to a trump card. He ends up moving to the side of good after he is betrayed by Dynamis during the revival ceremony.

Rago

The Legendary Blader of Neptune, he is a lighthouse keeper in a small town. He spends a lot of his time preserving and researching information related to the old kingdom of Atlantis. With the arrival of the star fragments, Rago goes off to Neptunis Island, that still has remaining technology from the old kingdom of Atlantis. He uses the old magic canon to shatter the star fragment so that the pieces wouldn’t fall into Dynamis’s hand. He used to know Dynamis when he was a young child, but the friendship fell apart after Rago left with his family to live elsewhere. Rago is forced to work with Dynamis after getting cursed to do his bidding, but is eventually let go after the spell is broken by the Legendary Bladers.

-

That is all I have for just the character information. I won’t dump this in Metal Record because if I do write Solar Swap, I want it to be its own fic or separate entity. I have, SO MUCH more information, but I would need individual posts for that. If people are interested in this AU, please feel free to message me or send an ask because I’d love to answer questions that people have.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - November 28, 2023

🐑 - Why did Fiona the sheep become a mountaineer? She was tired of the "baa-d" jokes at sea level!

1. Pope Francis dines with transgender women for Vatican luncheon

Pope Francis hosted a group of transgender women — many of whom are sex workers or migrants from Latin America — to a Vatican luncheon for the Catholic Church's "World Day of the Poor" last week.

The pontiff and the transgender women have formed a close relationship since the pope came to their aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were unable to work. Now, they meet monthly for VIP visits with the pope and receive medicine, money and shampoo any day, according to The Associated Press.

2. New York just installed its first offshore wind turbine

The first wind turbine installation at South Fork Wind, New York State’s first offshore wind farm, is complete.

The 130-megawatt (MW) South Fork Wind will be the US’s first completed utility-scale wind farm in federal waters.

3. Anonymous businessman donates $800k to struggling food bank

But this Thanksgiving, a longtime prayer of food bank leaders was finally answered: an anonymous benefactor donated the full $800,000 they needed to move out of a facility they've long outgrown. That benefactor, however, preferred to stay anonymous.

"Very private company, really don't want attention," said Debbie Christian, executive director of the Auburn Food Bank. "It's a goodhearted person that just wants to see the work here continue, wants to see it expand."

4. Empowering woman saving hopes and mental health of suffering Ukrainian kids

Kenza Hadij-Brahim is at the forefront of promoting Circle of Toys

Hadj-Brahim is helping to launch the Circle of Toys initiative. A project that provides Ukrainian children in need of some normality with preloved toys. This new initiative connects people with old toys they might otherwise throw away, with Ukrainian families in need who want to provide some comfort to their children in this distressing time.

Find Refuge said : “The endeavour is driven by a sincere purpose: spark joy, foster play, and bring a hint of normalcy back to the young lives in Ukraine.”

5. TWO LOST CITIES HIDDEN FOR CENTURIES WERE JUST DISCOVERED IN BOLIVIA

Researchers have found these areas not only housed structures and pyramids but it has been uncovered that there were advanced irrigation systems, earthworks, large towns, causeways, and canals that cover miles.

Dr. Heiko Prümers from the German Archaeological Institute, who was also involved in the study comments that “this indicated a relatively dense settlement in pre-Hispanic times. Our goal was to conduct basic research and trace the settlements and life there. The research sheds light on the sheer magnitude and magnificence of the civic-ceremonial centers found buried in the forest”.

6. Sheep dubbed Fiona rescued from cliff in Scotland where she was stuck for more than 2 years

And at last, some positive climate news:

7. Three positive climate developments

Heating

When the Paris Agreement was adopted, the global reliance on fossil fuels placed the world on a path towards a 3.5C rise in temperature by 2100. Eight years on, country commitments to reduce their carbon footprints have pulled that down slightly, putting the world on a path for a 2.5C to 2.9C by the end of the century.

Peak emissions

Annual greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change have risen roughly nine percent since COP21, according to UN data. But the rate of the increase has slowed significantly. Recent estimates by the Climate Analytics institute find global emissions could peak by 2024

Rising renewables

Three technologies—solar, wind and electric vehicles—are largely behind the improved global warming estimates since 2015.

---

That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation here:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog this post with your friends.

[tabl3]

Some things™ about the rewrite

Chase and Taylor made a pact to get their little brothers set up

Leo doodled a bunch of L + L shit on his notes (he's so cringe I love him)

Blue Tornado has wings

Solar Flare is selective mute. when she wants to communicate, it's normally by sign language (which work bc her wife is deaf) Gamma Girl wasn't born deaf, but became so due to explosions from her powers.

Techertz think they're hiding their relationship Perfectly

The team always steals Kaz's clothes bc they're big and comfy

Alan is semi-immortal like Horace. he's Skylar's age in the sense that they're both about 40 earth years old

Kaz often has to go down to Mission Command to bring Chase to bed

Skylar and Bree wind up in the kitchen at 3am a lot, either chatting, trying to cook, or dancing to One Direction (it's iconic for them in my rewrite)

Horace is legitimately afraid of Tasha. He works fine enough with Douglas, approves of Bree for his daughter, thinks Chase is the most impolite person to exist, and greatly fears Adam and Leo in his hospital bc they break everything lol

Bree's (non-related) best friend is Taylor

Chase's is Skylar

Kaz, Oliver, and Skylar are each others' obv (plus Gus and Jordan (Kaz and Oliver are the closest ofc))

Leo's are Kaz and Taylor

Tasha and Douglas are each others'

Adam's are his siblings lol (esp Naomi)

Chase feels for Oliver what he does for Leo, making them have an older/younger brother vibe now that they've reconciled

Skylar keeps forgetting Chase is older than her lmao

I aged the SuperParents™ up bc the Flames needed a bigger gap from Oliver

Snowstorm is the youngest hero, age 28. Blue Tornado is 31, Solar Flare 32, Gamma Girl 34, Megahertz 40, Tecton 43, and Horace biologically 47

Naomi plays with the (non-powered) action figures of her siblings, often showing Douglas and Tasha the epic battles (which they love)

How their dysfunctional ass family dynamic w AJ works: Chase: overbearing helicopter mom, Kaz: irresponsible (let's drive this car as fast as we can while dropping mentos in coke) dad, Bree: wine aunt, Skylar: beer aunt, Oliver: uncle that crashes on the couch and tells him to do his worst impulses for his entertainment

Douglas and Tasha are completely platonic, just co-parents and support for each other

Blue Tornado split with his fiance, also amicably co-parenting his young son. He doesn't talk very much bc he's naturally shy, and mostly just enjoys being in his coworkers' company in silence

(he has a crush on Snowstorm)

[5oclockcoffees]

The Santa Anas

There is something uneasy in the Los Angeles air this afternoon, some unnatural stillness, some tension. What it means is that tonight a Santa Ana will begin to blow, a hot wind from the northeast whining down through the Cajon and San Gorgonio Passes, blowing up sand storms out along Route 66, drying the hills and the nerves to flash point. For a few days now we will see smoke back in the canyons, and hear sirens in the night. I have neither heard nor read that a Santa Ana is due, but I know it, and almost everyone I have seen today knows it too. We know it because we feel it. The baby frets. The maid sulks. I rekindle a waning argument with the telephone company, then cut my losses and lie down, given over to whatever it is in the air. To live with the Santa Ana is to accept, consciously or unconsciously, a deeply mechanistic view of human behavior. I recall being told, when I first moved to Los Angeles and was living on an isolated beach, that the Indians would throw themselves into the sea when the bad wind blew. I could see why. The Pacific turned ominously glossy during a Santa Ana period, and one woke in the night troubled not only by the peacocks screaming in the olive trees but by the eerie absence of surf. The heat was surreal. The sky had a yellow cast, the kind of light sometimes called "earthquake weather". My only neighbor would not come out of her house for days, and there were no lights at night, and her husband roamed the place with a machete. One day he would tell me that he had heard a trespasser, the next a rattlesnake. "On nights like that," Raymond Chandler once wrote about the Santa Ana, "every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen." That was the kind of wind it was. I did not know then that there was any basis for the effect it had on all of us, but it turns out to be another of those cases in which science bears out folk wisdom. The Santa Ana, which is named for one of the canyons it rushers through, is foehn wind, like the foehn of Austria and Switzerland and the hamsin of Israel. There are a number of persistent malevolent winds, perhaps the best know of which are the mistral of France and the Mediterranean sirocco, but a foehn wind has distinct characteristics: it occurs on the leeward slope of a mountain range and, although the air begins as a cold mass, it is warmed as it comes down the mountain and appears finally as a hot dry wind. Whenever and wherever foehn blows, doctors hear about headaches and nausea and allergies, about "nervousness," about "depression." In Los Angeles some teachers do not attempt to conduct formal classes during a Santa Ana, because the children become unmanageable. In Switzerland the suicide rate goes up during the foehn, and in the courts of some Swiss cantons the wind is considered a mitigating circumstance for crime. Surgeons are said to watch the wind, because blood does not clot normally during a foehn. A few years ago an Israeli physicist discovered that not only during such winds, but for the ten or twelve hours which precede them, the air carries an unusually high ratio of positive to negative ions. No one seems to know exactly why that should be; some talk about friction and others suggest solar disturbances. In any case the positive ions are there, and what an excess of positive ions does, in the simplest terms, is make people unhappy. One cannot get much more mechanistic than that. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1969, Joan Didion.