Good Morning Blog-land!
June begins….hurricane season begins and Summer is just around the corner….what better time for some interesting stuff from the news?
Let me begin with some personal stuff….
My ribs are healing up nice…..very little pain but the act of sneezing is an adventure.
We are enjoying the fruits of our garden….plums are sweet and very juicy….blueberries are excellent…..tomatoes are perfect and the peppers are abundant both sweet and jalapenos….figs are a few weeks away but looks like a good crop if I can keep the damn squirrels out of them.
Temps have been in triple digits most of the week…..a preview of what we can expect when Summer arrives.
Enough about personal stuff….onto bigger and better things.
Here we go yet again.
Let’s start with a repeat of the Titanic disaster recently….
Remember when OceanGate’s Titan submersible imploded mid-journey to the Titanic wreckage last year, killing five people aboard including at least one billionaire?
The spectacular accident has seemingly failed to deter a different wealthy person from risking life and limb to get to the Titanic. Ohio real estate billionaire Larry Connor told The Wall Street Journal that he plans to journey to the underwater wreck — but this time in an advanced two-person submersible that is supposedly safer and more reliable than the janky Titan, which was never certified for safety and used experimental materials like carbon fiber in its hull.
“I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way,” Connor told the WSJ.
Days after the Titan implosion, Connor called up Patrick Lahey, CEO of Triton Submarines — which the WSJ described as “one of the leading makers of personal submersibles.”
“We had a client, a wonderful man,” Lahey told the WSJ, describing Connor. “He called me up and said, ‘You know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to [Titanic-level depths] repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that, and that Titan was a contraption.'”
https://futurism.com/the-byte/billionaire-titanic-wreck
Here’s an idea….if these fools have that much cash then maybe they could save their lives and pay the taxes they should and do some good for the country.
Does anyone remember the Jetsons?
Flying cars and all….
One state is taking the show to heart…..
If you’ve long dreamed of living life like the Jetsons, complete with flying cars, Minnesota might be the perfect destination. KFGO reports that Gov. Tim Walz has signed off on a transportation bill supported on both sides of the aisle that includes language on the use of “roadable aircraft,” aka flying cars. The new legislation—called, naturally, the “Jetson bill”—allows for such vehicles to drive on state roads and highways, though they can’t take off or land on public thoroughfares unless it’s an emergency. Per a release, the flying cars would have to stick to the same rules of the road as other non-air-friendly vehicles.
“Believe it or not, the way things are going with technology, we’re actually looking at flying cars coming maybe as early as 2025,” GOP state Sen. John Jasinski said in March, per the Star Tribune. That outlet notes that multiple companies are working on flying cars, which aren’t yet available for public use. Some say they could reach the market in two years’ time, which may make Jasinski’s prediction overly optimistic. The FAA wields control over the “flying” part of flying cars, while states will have jurisdiction over the “car” part on local roads. Just one other state has made legal provisions for flying cars: New Hampshire, which passed a similar law in 2020
Speaking of cars….Americans are not buying new cars as often as they use to….
Cars, trucks, and SUVs in the US keep getting older, hitting a record average age of 12.6 years in 2024 as people hang on to their vehicles largely because new ones cost so much. S&P Global Mobility, which tracks state vehicle registration data nationwide, said Wednesday that the average vehicle age grew about two months from last year’s record. But the growth in average age is starting to slow as new vehicle sales start to recover from pandemic-related shortages of parts, including computer chips, reports the AP. The average increased by three months in 2023.
Still, with an average US new-vehicle selling price of just over $45,000 last month, many can’t afford to buy new—even though prices are down more than $2,000 from the peak in December 2022, according to JD Power. “It’s prohibitively high for a lot of households now,” says Todd Campau, aftermarket leader for S&P Global Mobility. “So I think consumers are being painted into the corner of having to keep the vehicle on the road longer.” Other factors include people waiting to see if they want to buy an electric vehicle or go with a gas-electric hybrid or a gasoline vehicle. Many, he said, are worried about the charging network being built up so they can travel without worrying about running out of battery power. Also, he said, vehicles are made better these days and simply are lasting a long time.
New vehicle sales in the US are starting to return to pre-pandemic levels, with prices and interest rates the big influencing factors rather than illness and supply-chain problems, Compau said. He expects sales to hit around 16 million this year, up from 15.6 million last year and 13.9 million in 2022. As more new vehicles are sold and replace aging vehicles in the nation’s 286 million passenger vehicles, the average age should stabilize, Compau said. And unlike immediately after the pandemic, more lower-cost vehicles are being sold, which likely will bring down the average price. People keeping vehicles longer is good news for the local auto repair shop. About 70% of vehicles on the road are 6 or more years old, he said, beyond manufacturer warranties.
I knows it is true for me for I am driving a 2003 Toyota Echo.
I have been writing in the past about the outbreak of ‘brain worms’ and there is a new wrinkle to this tale…..
Six members of a family became infected with brain worms after undercooked bear meat was served at a family gathering. The CDC reports on the strange case from 2022, in which a 29-year-old Minnesota man was the first to be diagnosed. Over a two-and-a-half week period, he was hospitalized more than once with symptoms including fever, swelling around his eyes, and sore muscles. He told doctors that six days prior to his symptoms appearing, he’d attended a family event in South Dakota during which bear meat was served, CBS News reports. The black bear had been harvested in northern Saskatchewan and the meat frozen, then thawed for the gathering and served in kabobs. Because of the dark color of the meat, no one noticed it was rare until people had already started eating it, at which point it was cooked more thoroughly and re-served.
But it was too late: Trichinellosis, a roundworm that can infect humans who eat wild game, is resistant to freezing and must be killed by heating meat to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees. The parasite can also cross-contaminate other foods: Some of the infected relatives, including a 12-year-old girl, had only eaten the vegetables that were cooked and served alongside the bear meat. Trichinellosis larvae can move through a human host to muscle tissue and organs, including the brain. Three of the infected family members had to be hospitalized. All six affected relatives—who ranged in age from 12 to 62 and hailed from South Dakota, Minnesota, and Arizona—recovered.
Maybe leave Smokey the Bear in the woods where he belongs not on your grill.
Have you noticed the uptick of ads for EVs? There is always a down side to anything these days.
Besides lithium and cobalt for the batteries driving electric vehicles, another valuable material is needed to make all the cars that need to hit the roads in order to fulfill the Biden administration’s lofty EV transition goals.
However, a newly published study by Cornell and University of Michigan professors suggest that there might not be enough to go around.
As per a new study titled “Copper mining and vehicle electrification” by Cornell professor Lawrence M. Cathles and University of Michigan Earth & Environmental Sciences professor Adam Simon, copper cannot be mined quickly enough to make the wires and other components needed to fulfill the current goals toward renewable energy.
In a statement, Simon argues that much more copper is going to be needed for all the wiring that goes into the newfangled electric cars that are at the center of the environmental policy, as well as the new wires that will deliver the electricity from the grid to juice them up.
“A normal Honda Accord needs about 40 pounds of copper. The same battery electric Honda Accord needs almost 200 pounds of copper. Onshore wind turbines require about 10 tons of copper, and in offshore wind turbines, that amount can more than double,” said Simon. “[…] the amount of copper needed is essentially impossible for mining companies to produce.”
In closing the bummer news for us peons that live in hurricane alley…..
Get ready for an active hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting the greatest number of named storms this hurricane season since the forecasts began in 1998.
NOAA expects above-normal hurricane activity this season, with 17 to 25 named storms including eight to 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes of category 3, 4 or 5 strength, packing winds of 111 miles an hour or more. The federal agency based its unprecedented forecast on a confluence of factors, most notably near-record sea surface temperatures that are as warm now as they normally are in August.
“That forecast is the greatest number of storms that we’ve forecast,” said Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service. “Now is the time to prepare.”
There you go….the Dump for the first Saturday of June.
If the weather is nice where you are then please go out and enjoy your day….and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”