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Parts of Hanford nuclear waste site have not been inspected in 50 years

February 22, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Yet again, Parts of Hanford nuclear waste site have not been inspected in 50 years The former defense site in Washington state has a troubled past. The latest lapse involves the Energy Department’s failure to analyze the cause of a tunnel collapse. washingtonpost.com Aaron Gregg

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, IT Failures, Nuclear Industry, Politics, Science, Thinking about Tagged: Dan Brouillette, Energy Department, environmental, Hanford nuclear waste site, Jacobs Engineering, nuclear warheads, plutonium, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Washington State

Reinbert de Leeuw, Dies at 81

February 22, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Reinbert de Leeuw, Dutch Champion of Contemporary Music, Dies at 81 He pushed conservative institutions to program the new, and was a noted conductor of major avant-garde works. … Mr. de Leeuw declared his all-embracing philosophy in the 1995 program booklet. The ambition of approaching contemporary music “with a universal language comparable to the language … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, Obituaries, Politics, Sea Stories, This Day in History Tagged: Bartok, Claude Vivier, Dutch, Erik Satie, Gyorgy Ligeti, Louis Andriessen, Messiaen., Netherlands, Shostakovich, Stravinsky

GAS BAG DUET

February 5, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

The gas bag pictured below announced he has advanced lung cancer – then the other bloated gas bag gives him a medal – what a travesty! I hope he enjoys his chemotherapy.

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Obituaries, Politics, Racism, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh

Madame Speaker, WE LOVE YOU!

February 5, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment
Posted in: Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, Politics, Racism, Thinking about, This Day in History, Trump Tagged: 2020 State of the Union, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Madame Speaker, Nancy Pelosi

Kasparov and Gessen – Experiences in Autocracy

February 4, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

From November 16, 2016, Masha Gessen writes in NYRDaily: Autocracy, Rules for Survival: Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. “The national press is likely to be among the first institutional victims of Trumpism. There is no law … [Read more…]

Posted in: Ethical and green living, Politics, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: autocrat, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Corbyn, Dissenters, Donald Trump, Fascism, Franco, Garry Kasparov, Green New Deals, Hitler, Khodorkovsky, Masha Gessen, Medicare for All, Mussolini, Nazis, politician, Putin, Russia, Soviet Union, Trump, Trumpism

Disinformation For Hire: How A New Breed Of PR Firms Is Selling Lies Online

January 11, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

I get a digest of the latest news on news and reporting from the Pew Research Center. One recently caught my interest was from Buzzfeed on the new “Black PR firms” who will, for a fee, generate, structure and support any lie you wish. Scary isn’t a strong enough word, terrifying is more apt. It … [Read more…]

Posted in: Content, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, Feminism, Finanace, Future of Work, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Thinking about Tagged: Art-Media, Artifical Intelligence, Black PR, BuzzFeed, Cat@Net, cybersecurity, deception, deception and influence operations, Disinformation, Facebook, fake fact-checking, influence, intelligence, Lies, marketing, online manipulation, operation, PR, Pragmatico, Public Relations, spam, The Archimedes Group, the Reporter, Twitter

PFAS – Trump administration threatens to give forever chemicals another reprieve

January 11, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

Over at the website for the Union of Concerned Scientists, Kathleen Rest posted this “Profiles in Cowardice: Chemicals, Climate, and a Toxic Disregard by the Trump Administration” which is worth the time to read.

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, Faits Divers, IT Failures, Politics, Racism, Science, Thinking about, Trump Tagged: climate change, climate science, EPA, forever chemicals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, Trump, UCS, Union of Concerned Scientists

Energy Vault

January 5, 2020 by sergneri Leave a Comment

From SwissInfo – Energy Vault Jan 3, 2020 Revolutionary idea to store green power for the grid By Armando Mombelli Stacking blocks of concrete with a crane to store energy and use the force of gravity to keep producing electricity when renewable sources are lacking: simple but revolutionary, the battery solution proposed by the Ticino … [Read more…]

Posted in: Climate Change, Ethical and green living, Finanace, Nuclear Industry, Politics, Science Tagged: battery, C02, electricity, electro-chemical, electro-mechanical, Energy Vault, fossil fuels, gravity, hydrogen-based systems, nuclear power, oil-industry, reservoir, Softbank, solar panels, Solar power, thermal, Vision Fund, wind power, wind turbines

Amsterdam Y2K

January 1, 2020 by sergneri 1 Comment

It was 20 years ago today … we were new to Europe. I had gone ahead in October of 1999 to find an apartment and get some basics set up. A stayed behind in Northern California to wind things down and take care of the odds and ends before coming in November to our new … [Read more…]

Posted in: Faits Divers, IT Failures, Politics, Thinking about, This Day in History, Uncategorized Tagged: 1999, Amsterdam, Basel, Biel/Bienne, Boxing day, Champagne, cyclone Lothar, Dam Square, December 26, December 26 1999, January 1 2000, millennium, Neuchatel, New Year, New Year's Party, Olten, Swiss rail, Switzerland, vuurwerks, Y2K

Booth and Lincoln

December 25, 2019 by sergneri Leave a Comment

I was intrigued by this article, which, as I corrected it, I noticed had mention of both Lincoln and the actor Booth in the column. Written in December 1860. it was years before the two would actually collide on the “world stage.” LETTER FROM NEW YORK. [FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] Towards the bottom of the … [Read more…]

Posted in: California Newspaper Archive, Faits Divers, Obituaries, Politics, Racism, Slavery, Thinking about Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, John Wilkes Booth, Secesssion
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