Automakers to Trump: Don’t Force Us to Build Electric Vehicles
November 12th, 2016Ok, Trump should also get rid of the fossil fuel subsidies.
Via: Electrek:
Not even two days after Donald Trump’s election, automakers have started their lobbying effort to weaken the requirements for fuel consumption reduction. The current goal is for a fleet average of more than 50 mpg by 2025, which would require automakers to produce more electric vehicles in their fleet to compensate for popular gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs.
In a letter sent to Trump’s transition team yesterday, a powerful automaker lobbying group claims automakers cannot produce zero-emission cars at a competitive price and asks to lower the requirements for them to comply.
The group in question, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, represents almost every major automaker with US operations except Tesla.
Dozens Arrested, Police Cars Damaged in Second Night of Anti-Trump Protests in California
November 10th, 2016Soros, is that you?
Via: Los Angeles Times:
Dozens of demonstrators were arrested during a second day of protests in California on Thursday as demonstrators from the Bay Area to Los Angeles took to the streets forcefully denouncing President-elect Donald Trump.
In Los Angeles, 29 people were arrested overnight for impeding traffic when hundreds of protesters poured onto the 101 Freeway downtown, LAPD officials said.
In the loud and aggressive demonstration, many chanted, “Not my president,” and “Respect all women.” The mostly young crowd marched through the city before heading onto the freeway near Alameda Street.
The pack of hundreds — many screaming against both Trump and law enforcement, others riding skateboards on the freeway — caused a traffic backup that extended for miles.
The freeway was cleared and all lanes were reopened by 4 a.m. Thursday, the California Highway Patrol said.
In Santa Ana, an estimated 650 demonstrators marched to Bristol Street and McFadden Avenue, where they squared off with police. A brick was thrown into a police cruiser, two other vehicles were damaged and two businesses were vandalized, said Santa Ana police Cmdr. Phil Craft.
Officers fired bean bags to disperse the crowd, and 10 people were arrested, he said. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department assisted police with the crowd, officials said.
Trump Won: How Long Will the Media’s Infantile Tantrum Persist?
November 9th, 2016Have you ever seen anything like the media’s hysteria in the wake of the Trump victory?
I didn’t want Clinton and I didn’t want Trump, but seeing that Washington Post shit the bed so spectacularly is, I have to admit, massively satisfying!
I can’t ever recall experiencing schadenfreude to this extent.
Open Thread: President Elect Trump
November 9th, 2016Well, I got that totally wrong.
I very honestly believed that Hillary Clinton was going to preside over the next phase of the collapse of the U.S.
I struggle for words to express how badly I was dreading another Clinton regime. That bitch (and the scum around her) would have very definitely continued to implode the U.S.
While I’m very happy that she lost, I’m definitely not celebrating the Trump win.
At least the situation is far more interesting now!
The thing about Trump that scares the crap out of me the most is his pledge to round up people who are in the U.S. illegally. I’m very much for securing the border. I’m not for mass arrests. Danger. Danger. Red flag.
What’s he going to do? Deploy the U.S. Marines to places like Santa Ana and wide swaths of Los Angeles County?
Good luck with that.
Is this an improvement over Clinton’s apparent desire to start a war with the Russia, which could ultimately result in mushroom clouds?
See these stories:
Could Hillary Clinton Start a World War? Sure as Hell She Could – and Here’s How
and
The Lethal Lie of Hillary Clinton: Saving Lives with a No-Fly Zone in Syria
Anyway, I’ve been mumbling to myself for the past couple of hours, trying to understand how this Trump victory could have happened.
Did Trump win it fair and square? (From what we know about the lack of security with the electronic voting systems, I’d treat any result as arbitrary.)
Did Trump have help from Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik’s “counter coup” elements in the intelligence world?
A Cryptogon reader suggested that Trump could be installed so that the elite could collapse the system and then blame it all on Trump and the people who voted for him. Just like that, *poof*, the disastrous last few decades of Bush regimes (which include Reagan, Clinton and Obama) are transmuted into a vague stew of amnesia and hate for Trump. Is this in play?
Is there some other explanation?
Tesla Buys Grohmann Engineering
November 8th, 2016Via: Tesla:
After increasing our output target to 500,000 cars per year by 2018, we began searching for the best engineering talent in automated manufacturing systems. Today, we are excited to announce that Tesla has entered into an agreement to acquire Grohmann Engineering, a world-renowned engineering company in Prüm, Germany, which will become Tesla Grohmann Automation.
Led by founder and CEO Klaus Grohmann, Grohmann Engineering is one of the world leaders in highly automated methods of manufacturing. This transaction will bring Mr. Grohmann’s leadership, a world-class team and unique expertise in-house. Moreover, it will serve as the initial base for Tesla Advanced Automation Germany headquarters, with other locations to follow. We expect to add over 1,000 advanced engineering and skilled technician jobs in Germany over the next two years.
Under the continued leadership of Mr. Grohmann, several critical elements of Tesla’s automated manufacturing systems will be designed and produced in Prüm to help make our factories the most advanced in the world.
Related: Gigafactory 2 in Europe Will Produce Batteries and Complete Cars
U.S. Military Successfully Tests Electrical Brain Stimulation to Enhance Staff Skills
November 8th, 2016Via: Guardian:
US military scientists have used electrical brain stimulators to enhance mental skills of staff, in research that aims to boost the performance of air crews, drone operators and others in the armed forces’ most demanding roles.
The successful tests of the devices pave the way for servicemen and women to be wired up at critical times of duty, so that electrical pulses can be beamed into their brains to improve their effectiveness in high pressure situations.
The brain stimulation kits use five electrodes to send weak electric currents through the skull and into specific parts of the cortex. Previous studies have found evidence that by helping neurons to fire, these minor brain zaps can boost cognitive ability.
The technology is seen as a safer alternative to prescription drugs, such as modafinil and ritalin, both of which have been used off-label as performance enhancing drugs in the armed forces.
But while electrical brain stimulation appears to have no harmful side effects, some experts say its long-term safety is unknown, and raise concerns about staff being forced to use the equipment if it is approved for military operations.
Others are worried about the broader implications of the science on the general workforce because of the advance of an unregulated technology.
In a new report, scientists at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio describe how the performance of military personnel can slump soon after they start work if the demands of the job become too intense.
“Within the air force, various operations such as remotely piloted and manned aircraft operations require a human operator to monitor and respond to multiple events simultaneously over a long period of time,” they write. “With the monotonous nature of these tasks, the operator’s performance may decline shortly after their work shift commences.”
But in a series of experiments at the air force base, the researchers found that electrical brain stimulation can improve people’s multitasking skills and stave off the drop in performance that comes with information overload. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, they say that the technology, known as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), has a “profound effect”.
Research Credit: Jb
Toyota To Sell Battery Powered EVs by 2020 After Finally Realizing Fuel Cell Program Was a Disaster
November 7th, 2016Well, better to have just one lost decade than two lost decades.
Good job, Toyota.
Via: Electrek:
The news comes as Toyota is having difficulties selling the Mirai, its hydrogen cars, in the US. Despite cutting the price on several occasions, with now a lease at only $350 (down from $500) in California, the Japanese automaker can’t find a market for the vehicle and only delivered 782 units since it started deliveries last year – and that’s including the state buying dozens of them for their own fleets to justify the millions of dollars spent on refuelling infrastructure.
Several industry watchers predicted that Toyota would eventually turn to batteries in its effort to deliver zero-emission vehicles – it was more a question of when they would make the transition. Now a new report this morning coming from Japan’s Nikkei (via Reuters) claims that Toyota is planning to invest in a team in early 2017 to develop an electric car with a range of “more than 300 km (186 miles) on a single charge” and ready to hit the market by 2020.
Delhi Pollution: The Road to Hell
November 6th, 2016Via: Quartz:
New Delhi is ghastly right now.
So much so that the government in the national capital has shut down 1,800 schools for the first time ever, forcing a million students to stay at home to avoid breathing in the deadly smog that continues to shroud the city. This comes a week after firecracker residue from the Diwali festivities pushed the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) into the red zone.
Energy Giant Shell Says Oil Demand Could Peak in Just Five Years
November 6th, 2016Via: Bloomberg:
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s second-biggest energy company by market value, thinks demand for oil could peak in as little as five years, a rare statement in an industry that commonly forecasts decades of growth.
“We’ve long been of the opinion that demand will peak before supply,” Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry said on a conference call on Tuesday. “And that peak may be somewhere between 5 and 15 years hence, and it will be driven by efficiency and substitution, more than offsetting the new demand for transport.”
Shell’s view puts it at odds with some of its biggest competitors. Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest publicly traded oil company, said in its annual outlook that “global demand for oil and other liquids is projected to rise by about 20 percent from 2014 to 2040.” Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer, with enough reserves to last it 70 years, has said demand will continue to grow, boosted by consumption in emerging markets.
If renewable energy and other disruptive technologies such as electric cars continue their rapid advance, petroleum use will reach its maximum level in 2030, the World Energy Council has forecast.
FBI Clears Clinton – Again
November 6th, 2016Shocker.
Via: BBC:
The FBI says it has found no evidence of criminality in a new batch of Hillary Clinton emails, boosting her campaign two days before the election.
FBI Director James Comey told Congress his agency’s review had found nothing to alter its original conclusion.
