Daimler to Convert Engine Production to Electric at Its Largest Factory
February 14th, 2017The simplicity of EV powertrains, compared to internal combustion, means that, “The plant will require significantly fewer employees.”
Via: Electrek:
Daimler has ambitious plans for electric vehicle production. It is among the few major automakers that not only have accepted the transition to fully electric propulsion in the auto industry, but who have also committed to converting production assets currently dedicated to internal combustion engine production. That’s a difficult move for large legacy automakers.
In one of its biggest move toward that goal, the company announced today plans for its major Untertürkheim plant to produce electric motors in a deal with workers.
Daimler employs over 19,000 people at the Untertürkheim factory, one of the biggest powertrain manufacturing facility in the world. There are a lot of complex internal combustion engines (ICE) coming out of that place, which produces everything from complete engines, axles, transmissions and other components.
Due to the transition to electric propulsion, which requires simpler electric motors, the company expects the modernisation of the plant will require significantly fewer employees.
Related: Mercedes Smart Brand Stopping Sales of Gas Powered Cars in U.S., Going EV Only
Flynn’s Takedown, “A Soft Coup”
February 14th, 2017In case anyone is keeping score, there was a faction allied with Trump that claimed that they were going to steal the election from Hillary, who was obviously well into the process of stealing the election for herself (see Bernie).
Post election, Hillary’s faction obviously hasn’t just shrugged its shoulders and said, “Oh well.”
Via: The Week:
The whole episode is evidence of the precipitous and ongoing collapse of America’s democratic institutions — not a sign of their resiliency. Flynn’s ouster was a soft coup (or political assassination) engineered by anonymous intelligence community bureaucrats. The results might be salutary, but this isn’t the way a liberal democracy is supposed to function.
Unelected intelligence analysts work for the president, not the other way around. Far too many Trump critics appear not to care that these intelligence agents leaked highly sensitive information to the press — mostly because Trump critics are pleased with the result. “Finally,” they say, “someone took a stand to expose collusion between the Russians and a senior aide to the president!” It is indeed important that someone took such a stand. But it matters greatly who that someone is and how they take their stand. Members of the unelected, unaccountable intelligence community are not the right someone, especially when they target a senior aide to the president by leaking anonymously to newspapers the content of classified phone intercepts, where the unverified, unsubstantiated information can inflict politically fatal damage almost instantaneously.
Related: Disclosing SIGINT Contents, “One of the Most Serious Felonies”
For the First Time, Wind on the Plains Supplied More Than Half Region’s Power
February 14th, 2017Via: Bloomberg:
Wind turbines across the Great Plains states produced, for the first time, more than half the region’s electricity Sunday.
The power grid that supplies a corridor stretching from Montana to the Texas Panhandle was getting 52.1 percent of its power from wind at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, Little Rock, Arkansas-based Southwest Power Pool Inc. said in a statement Monday.
As more and more turbines are installed across the country, Southwest Power has become the first North American grid operator to get a majority of its supply from wind. That beats the grid’s prior record of 49.2 percent and the 48 percent that a Texas grid operator reached in March, Derek Wingfield, a spokesman, said in an e-mail.
Insane Video of Oroville Dam Main Spillway Damage
February 13th, 2017Via: SacBee:
DroneSeed
February 13th, 2017Forestry jobs? *poof*
Via: Vimeo:
DroneSeed: First Video of a Drone Planting a Tree from DroneSeed on Vimeo.
Proterra CEO Thinks One Third of New Transit Buses Will be Electric by 2020
February 13th, 2017Via: Green Car Reports:
While electric cars continue to establish a beachhead in the consumer market, electric buses are making quick inroads with U.S. city transit authorities.
Several companies already manufacture electric buses, which now operate in several cities around the country.
But the CEO of electric-bus maker Proterra believes these vehicles will soon challenge their internal-combustion counterparts for dominance of city streets.
The market share of electric buses will expand much more rapidly than has been the case with electric cars, Proterra boss Ryan Popple said on Greentech Media’s Energy Gang podcast.
Popple predicted that by 2020, one-third of new fleet bus purchases will be electric.
He went on to say that electric buses will account for half of fleet purchases by 2025, and that by 2030, every new bus purchased will be electric.
TOSHIBA: ‘GOING CONCERN’ WARNING
February 13th, 2017Via: Bloomberg:
Toshiba Corp. shares fell as much as 3.1 percent after the Nikkei newspaper said the company will warn that it may not be able to continue as a going concern when it reports earnings later on Tuesday.
Toshiba is getting ready to announce a writedown of as much as 700 billion yen ($6.1 billion) in its nuclear power business due to cost overruns at a U.S. unit and diminishing prospects for its atomic-energy operations. Toshiba will report a net loss in the high 400 billion yen range for the nine-month period, which will probably wipe out shareholder equity, the Japanese newspaper reported.
Elon Musk: Humans Must Merge with Machines or Become Irrelevant in AI Age
February 13th, 2017haha oh sure.
Via: CNBC:
Billionaire Elon Musk is known for his futuristic ideas and his latest suggestion might just save us from being irrelevant as artificial intelligence (AI) grows more prominent.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said on Monday that humans need to merge with machines to become a sort of cyborg.
“Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence,” Musk told an audience at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where he also launched Tesla in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“It’s mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output.”
California: Evacuations Ordered Below Oroville Dam
February 12th, 2017Via: Mercury News:
An emergency evacuation was ordered for Oroville-area residents by the state Department of Water Resources, which predicted that the auxiliary spillway at the Oroville Dam could fail Sunday night.
Related: Feds and State Officials Ignored Warnings 12 Years Ago
Our 9,000-Year Love Affair With Booze
February 12th, 2017Via: National Geographic:
Alcohol isn’t just a mind-altering drink: It has been a prime mover of human culture from the beginning, fueling the development of arts, language, and religion.
