Another Saturday and another news dump to brighten your day.
Nationally our election is over and the declared winner is…..Trump
Personal–The time has come for me to come clean about my health issues and tomorrow will be my post on that. Today I will be grilling elk sausage with butter beans, cheddar potatoes and corn bread.
Locally–we have been having record setting high temps or near record but we did get a few hours of light rain after about 60 days of none at all.
Onto today’s ‘Dump’…..
I begin with a couple of reports on energy…..
One of the complaints when it comes to solar power is that you usually have to link it to batteries. Even in areas with plenty of sun, you cannot have sunlight 24/7 all year round. At least, not on Earth. In space, however, you can. For decades, people have been considering options and possibilities of space solar power. Now, it might become a commercial reality in just a few years
UK-based company Space Solar is partnering with Reykjavik Energy and Icelandic sustainability initiative Transition Labs to develop a space-based solar power plant that can deliver about 30 megawatts of electricity – potentially enough to power between 1,500 and 3,000 homes – from 2030. The system will collect sunlight in space through solar panels and then transmit it as radio waves at a specific frequency to a ground station, where it will be converted to electricity for the grid.
The satellite is expected to be scalable and quite big. Even if a full version of their CASSIOPeiA power array is not built, we are talking about the heaviest single object in space that is not a space station, and when all the arrays are splayed out, much larger than the International Space Station.
The company aims to have a scaled-up version of the system in space by 2036, which would supply gigawatts of electricity.
Next is from the European mainland….Belgium….
You know, they say that complicated problems require creative solutions, but inventing a never-before-seen type of island and then building it off the coast of Belgium is definitely a new one to us.
Nevertheless, that’s precisely what’s happening: the European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved a €650 million (around US$705 million) loan for the construction of Princess Elisabeth Island – a landmass set to be the world’s first ever artificial “energy island”.
It’s a project being run by Belgium’s high-voltage grid operator Elia Transmission Belgium. Once complete, the company projects an output of 3.5 gigawatts of energy to help power the small European country – enough to power more than 3 million households, notes a statement from Elia.
Rather than generating power, like the huge offshore wind farms that populate the seas nearby, Princess Elisabeth Island will act more like a central hub for energy: “The high-voltage infrastructure installed on the island will bundle together the export cables of the Princess Elisabeth Zone wind farms,” the statement from Elia explains.
Innovative stuff….the best the US can do is ‘drill, baby, drill’.
Now a couple of environmental reports…..
I recall about a decade ago all the reports about the hole in our ozone layer? And now a bit of some good news.
The peak size of the ozone hole over the Antarctic in 2024 was the seventh smallest since recovery began, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have found. Even its maximum extent was smaller than it has been in five years, since the even smaller hole in 2019.
The monthly average was around 20 million square kilometers (8 million square miles), while the peak was reached on September 28 at 22.4 million square kilometers (8.5 million square miles). At its worst, in the year 2000, the hole was 50 percent larger and a lot more depleted.
“The 2024 Antarctic hole is smaller than ozone holes seen in the early 2000s,” Paul Newman, leader of NASA’s ozone research team and chief scientist for Earth sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement. “The gradual improvement we’ve seen in the past two decades shows that international efforts that curbed ozone-destroying chemicals are working.”
The magnetic shield over North America is weakening…..
The magnetic field over North America is weakening at an unusually rapid rate, while the field over the eastern hemisphere, including China, is strengthening, according to a study conducted by Chinese military researchers.
Scientists are still trying to determine the cause but an initial guess is that it may be related to the shift of the geomagnetic poles from the western to the eastern hemisphere.“The geomagnetic field is a natural barrier to protect the Earth,” wrote the project team led by Professor Fang Hanxian with the National University of Defence Technology in a peer-reviewed paper published last month.
More than 5,600 people with previously disqualifying medical conditions have been allowed to enlist in the military without having to get a waiver under a pilot program, a defense official said.
The Medical Accession Records Pilot, or MARP, is meant to “address the changing health landscape,” said Lin H. St. Clair, the Pentagon’s deputy director of accessions policy.
“MARP is a procedural change to medical accession standards and not a change to the underlying medical accessions regulation,” St. Clair told Task & Purpose.
Since its inception, the number of ailments covered by the program has grown from 38 to 51, St. Clair said. Under the most recent additions to the medical conditions covered by the program, recruits can enlist without a waiver if they have not been treated for dyslexia and other learning disorders in the past year, and if they have not been treated for airway hyperresponsiveness, including asthma, in the past four years.
Between July 2022 and August 2024, the program medically qualified more than 9,900 applicants, of which 57% ultimately enlisted, St, Clair said.
About 60% of the recruits who processed under MARP conditions had a history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, St. Clair said. The pilot program allows people with ADHD to join without a waiver if they have not been treated for the ailment in the past year.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-recruiting-medical-conditions/
Apparently there is a shortage of Americans that are proud to serve their country…..so lower standards to allow those medical damaged….is that a good idea?
Since we just had an election I thought I would close with an election related report….
Every four years, some liberal Americans threaten to leave the country if a Republican wins the presidency. Canada has become almost a joke—or maybe a fantasy—in certain left-leaning circles, not just a country but an escape hatch, a next life waiting if the election goes the “wrong” way. But some liberals insist that they’re not joking this time: They are very scared, and very ready to leave if Donald Trump is reelected.
I spoke with Americans from different backgrounds and communities about their plans to emigrate if Trump wins. Some are worried about their physical well-being, others about the future of same-sex marriage, and still others are distressed about the possibility of large-scale violence in the aftermath of his victory—or even his defeat. How many Americans are seriously considering leaving is unknown, but a New York Times callout to readers over the summer generated some 5,000 responses from across the political spectrum, including people who had already moved and others who were planning to. Whatever the true number, these Americans’ plans are evidence of the unusually tumultuous and threatening period the country now finds itself in. Some of them certainly will not follow through; emigrating is not easy, and many would lose benefits both hard and soft—Medicaid, jobs, friendships, familiarity—by leaving. But even so, their fear is great enough that they are seriously considering it.
(theatlantic.com)
There is already some reports that ‘Boomers’ are looking to retire to Spain or Portugal….
Finally there is a report that fits into the ‘Dump’ perfectly…..everyone is a buzz about the North Koreans in Russia…..there is something that just made my day…..
North Korean soldiers deployed in Russia have reportedly accessed the unrestricted internet for the first time, with many using this newfound freedom to view pornography, according to Financial Times journalist Gideon Rachman.
“A usually reliable source tells me that the North Korean soldiers who have deployed to Russia have never had unfettered access to the internet before. As a result, they are gorging on pornography.” Rachman posted on his X account.
This level of internet access marks a significant change for North Korea‘s troops accustomed to strict digital controls at home
(newsweek)
Maybe they will be too busy floggin’ their jolly to fight.
The US cannot confirm this report.
That is it for this Saturday I hope you enjoyed today’s ‘Dump’.
It is Veterans day weekend and if you are out and about please Be Safe and Be well….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
you wrote, “Apparently there is a shortage of Americans that are proud to serve their country…..so lower standards to allow those medical damaged….is that a good idea? ——- (well, look at how the election went…a preponderance of americans who hte their country electing an obvious mental giant to lead them out of their imagined quagmire.” Talk about “Lower Standards.” We have just hit the lowest we are ever going to experience. Like a wise old owl who runs a blog once commented, “Americans are stupid.”
True but I am thinking about his/her fellow soldiers….the dangers may multiply….chuq
Health issues blues, me too: triple bypass, aortic valve replacement, diabetic, degenerative spinal disc disease, prostate cancer, calcification aortic network, calcification lungs, stroke, osteoporosis, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, depression/anxiety, diverticulitis. Medicine problem – Eliquis will cost $1,900 a year even with Medicare and drug plan. Good news: clean and sober 22 years, 9 months, no cigarettes 28 months. Joy and happiness: divorced 40 years.
I will be revealing my health news tomorrow…..chuq