Tons of Microplastic Rain Onto Western U.S.
June 27th, 2020Via: EarthSky:
A new study estimates that more than 1,000 tons of microplastics from the air – equivalent to more than 123 million plastic water bottles – rain down onto protected areas in the western U.S. each year.
The discovery of the microplastics was a surprise. A research team was analyzing rainwater samples from national parks and wilderness areas across Colorado, as part of a pilot study on a new type of field equipment. They were shocked to find that the samples contained microplastics – plastic fragments less than 5 mm (.2 inch) in length – including a rainbow of plastic fibers, as well as beads and shards.
Utah State University assistant professor Janice Brahney is lead author of the study, published June 12, 2020, in Science. Brahney said in a statement:
We were shocked at the estimated deposition rates and kept trying to figure out where our calculations went wrong. We then confirmed through 32 different particle scans that roughly 4% of the atmospheric particles analyzed from these remote locations were synthetic polymers.
College Removes Word ‘Freedom’ From ID Cards Because It Reminds Some Students Of ‘Slavery’
June 26th, 2020Via: SummitNews:
A university in Pennsylvania is to remove the word ‘freedom’ from ID cards after a few students created a petition complaining that the word is offensive to minorities because it reminds them of ‘slavery’.
Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania now plans to change its “Freedom Cards” to “RMU ID Cards,” Campus Reform reports after students created a petition that argued black students feel “dehumanized” by the term ‘freedom card’.
‘No Amount of Money’ Can Undo the Damage if President’s Niece Mary Trump Publishes Tell-All Book
June 25th, 2020Via: Daily Mail:
The Trump family have claimed that ‘no amount of monetary damages can ameliorate the loss’ if Mary Trump is allowed to publish her tell-all book about them
In their application for a temporary restraining order, the Trumps said that they would suffer ‘irreparable harm’ if Mary’s book is released next month as planned.
They argued that Mary agreed not to write a memoir back in 2001 under the terms of a settlement which resolved a bitter family dispute over the estate of family patriarch Fred Trump Sr.
The agreement said that due to Donald Trump being famous and his sister Maryanne being a federal judge ‘the family made the decision collectively to enter into an agreement that would maintain the confidentiality of the family’s private matters’.
Texas Residents Told to Stay Inside
June 24th, 2020Here we go again.
Via: Dallas Morning News:
Gov. Greg Abbott sternly warned Texans of “rampant” spread of coronavirus that took the state to a new high Tuesday of more than 5,000 new cases in a single day.
Saying Texans should stay home unless they have a good reason to venture out, Abbott late Tuesday afternoon gave local officials more powers to limit public gatherings during the upcoming Fourth of July weekend.
How Fast Are Apple’s New ARM Mac Chips? It’s Hard to Tell
June 24th, 2020Actually, it’s hard to imagine how severely AMD’s upcoming Zen3 CPUs are going slaughter these scaled up iPhones.
Via: The Verge:
For years, Apple has steadily revealed how the ARM-based chips in its mobile phones were catching up in performance to the beefier silicon you’d find inside a laptop or desktop — in 2018, the company claimed its new iPad Pro was faster than 92 percent of portable PCs. At some point, it seemed inevitable that Apple would turn the more efficient chips into the primary processors for its Mac computers, too.
Now, it’s official: Apple is migrating the Mac to its own homegrown silicon, starting later this year.
But are Apple’s ARM chips actually powerful enough now to replace the likes of Intel and AMD? That’s still an open question — because at Apple’s 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company shied away from giving us any definitive answers.
This time, the company’s typical array of charts, benchmarks, and “fastest ever” claims for each new generation of homegrown ARM silicon were completely MIA. Apple wouldn’t chat about it when we asked. Even a prerecorded chat with one of its silicon architects didn’t provide much insight. Instead, the company showed a handful of canned demos and made some vague promises that the future might be faster.
Bayer Pays $10BN To Settle Thousands Of Monsanto Glyphosate Lawsuits
June 24th, 2020Via: ZeroHedge:
After decades of widespread use as company scientists played down research showing a definitive link between the product and growing rates of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Monsanto parent company Bayer has agreed to pay up to $10 billion to settle claims that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, causes cancer.
Citing people familiar with the matter, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the company has agreed to settle tens of thousands of glyphosate-related lawsuits in the US for between $8 billion to $10 billion.
Of that number, $2 billion is considered a “reserve” which can be used to settle future claims.
The rest will be used to settle all of the lawsuits pending in the United States from users of the controversial weed killer, the number of active lawsuits against the Roundup purveyor recently numbered more than 50k.
Pentagon Releases Images Of Stealth Jets Dropping Inert Nuclear Bombs
June 24th, 2020Via: ZeroHedge:
As the Pentagon builds an “F-35 friends circle” in the Asia-Pacific region,” mainly around China – new images have surfaced of stealth jets conducting mock nuclear attacks with inert bombs in the California desert.
The Aviationist reports the F-35 Joint Program Office has released a series of pictures showing various drop tests of inert nuclear bombs between 2019 and 2020. The tests were conducted with all variants of the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
Construction Begins on World’s Biggest Liquid Air Battery
June 24th, 2020If you’re like me, you’re thinking, “The efficiency has to be very low.”
I found this on the Wikipedia entry for cryogenic energy storage:
In isolation the process is only 25% efficient, but this is increased to around 50% when used with a low-grade cold store, such as a large gravel bed, to capture the cold generated by evaporating the cryogen. The cold is re-used during the next refrigeration cycle.
Efficiency is further increased when used in conjunction with a power plant or other source of low-grade heat that would otherwise be lost to the atmosphere. Highview Power claims an AC to AC round-trip efficiency of 70%, by using an otherwise waste heat source at 115 °C. The IMechE (Institution of Mechanical Engineers) agrees that these estimates for a commercial-scale plant are realistic. However this number was not checked or confirmed by independent professional institutions.
It will be interesting to see how it goes.
Via: Guardian:
Construction is beginning on the world’s largest liquid air battery, which will store renewable electricity and reduce carbon emissions from fossil-fuel power plants.
The project near Manchester, UK, will use spare green energy to compress air into a liquid and store it. When demand is higher, the liquid air is released back into a gas, powering a turbine that puts the green energy back into the grid.
…
The new liquid air battery, being developed by Highview Power, is due to be operational in 2022 and will be able to power up to 200,000 homes for five hours, and store power for many weeks. Chemical batteries are also needed for the transition to a zero-carbon world and are plummeting in price, but can only store relatively small amounts of electricity for short periods.
Liquid air batteries can be constructed anywhere, said Highview’s chief executive, Javier Cavada: “Air is everywhere in the world. The main competitor is really not other storage technologies but fossil fuels, as people still want to continue building gas and coal-fired plants today, strangely enough,” he said.
Fewer Children Dying During Covid?
June 23rd, 2020Via: The HighWire:
Data shows deaths are up over previous years. At the same time, childhood mortality is down over 30%. What is behind this dramatic decline in child death?
30% Of Americans Didn’t Make Their Housing Payment In June
June 22nd, 2020Via: ZeroHedge:
A stunning 30% of Americans didn’t make their housing payment for June – a figure that is likely going to ripple through the housing industry in coming months. According to a new survey by Apartment List, the rate is similar to May and shows that even though other industries are rebounding, the situation has not yet improved meaningfully in housing.
