Wooster

Hydroelectric production has dropped by about six percent since last year, causing it to slip from 6.1 percent to 5.8 percent of the total production. Depending on the next couple of months, that may allow solar to pass hydro on the list of renewables.

That’s a little disappointing. Hydro seems to always be forgotten amongst renewable sources. Granted, it’s the most location specific of the renewables, but still.

Damn! It’s Aaron Waltke himself! Will do my part good sir! 🫡

Covid vaccination is at an all time low since roll out, we have new strains, and everyone is back from sharing bugs with relatives at Thanksgiving.

Christmas is up soon.

Not sure if this counts, per se, but Solar Panels. Specifically, via a loan.

My electric bill is insane, thanks to the powers of capitalism and monopoly. So I figured installing solar panels would be a good investment. Sure it takes ten years to break even, but I’d rather be paying my way through that than paying my electric utility.

Well, the problem I ran into was that the interest on a loan would effectively negate any headway I was hoping to make per month.

I still plan on doing solar, but not before either interest rates at least quarter themselves or I save up enough to practically pay for it up front.

My local power company is a price gouger… but my state has mandated that we can select our source provider with zero penalties for switching… even between other sources.

It’s not a ton… since the ‘delivery’ fees are straight up highway robbery and not under the control of the outside provider… but it’s still something.

Currently doing research on solar and how much I need to save to afford the up front costs.

The UN's 2021 global emissions gap report showed that governments' energy plans would lead to about 57% more oil, and 71% more gas in 2030 than is consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5C.

2030 is the current deadline for US automakers to dedicate no less than 50% of their production to be EVs. I’m certain there’s a lot of fine print under that… but still, I’m curious how that impacts those 51% and 71% ratios compared to current production. Like, how much headway are we expecting to make (or lose?) by 2030?

It’s plainly obvious more needs to be done… I want to know how much headway we’re making.

"In the absence of that sorely-needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can…”

Isn’t that basically admitting that this new department can’t do anything and just posturing?

Or am I missing something?

Edit: In retrospect, the biggest value this department might have is having it be under Republican leadership down the line. An entire department explicitly against gun violence may cause some in-fighting about reasonable measures… as opposed to the current status quo.

That is of course assuming the entire department doesn’t just get tossed and establishes itself as having some teeth.

I guess I’ll bite the bullet and kick off the Tuvix debate.

Tuvix isn’t the first Trek episode to involve transporter hybrids, and it wasn’t the last; but it stands out amongst the Trek fandom and cemented Janeway as a ruthless executioner.

I maintain that the only reason it’s controversial is because Tuvix was more loved than the sum of his parts.

I personally like Neelix, but it’s undeniable that he’s a contender for one of the least popular main characters in the franchise, and certainly the least favorite on Voyager.

Tim Russ is an amazing actor, but Tuvok is a very subtle character. If you pay attention to him, he’s funny and insightful. But if you don’t focus on him, you can forget he exists.

So, by replacing a despised character and a forgettable character with an outstanding character, you’re left with an audience who has no attachment to the status quo.

If, instead, “Tuvix” was built with popular characters, like Janeway, the EMH, or Seven, the audience would have no qualms about a return to the status quo—or at least not nearly to the degree we’ve seen over the years.

Skip ahead to Twovix

The transporter meat blob was dismissed as non-sentient by Tendi, but it clearly had all the intact personalities of its components. Without further analysis can we be certain of that assessment? Why not send it to The Farm™️?

If we come to the ethical conclusion that the transporter meat blob’s very existence was suffering, why restore the transporter patterns to their components rather than their Tuvix’d counterparts? The simplest answer is that they’re more trouble than they’re worth.

No one cares about the meat blob.

No one cares about T’Ilups and co.

Everyone cares about Tuvix.

We let our attachments dictate our ethics then use logic and evidence to justify them.