Just another one of those things I've never given much thought about............

 

The underlying idea here is energy and power aren’t the same. Energy is how much you’ve got. Power is how fast you can use it.

-as culled from today's Stephen McBride post

unwavering..................

 

Let your energy impact the people you're talking to, as opposed to the other way around.

     For a recent and slightly cynical college graduate, Randy's sunny optimism could sometimes stretch the limits of belief.  Ask him how his day was going, and he would say, "You know, man, I'm trying to make today the very best day of my life."  I might have rolled my eyes, but that kind of unwavering positivity turned out to be impossible to resist . . .

-Will Guidara, Unreasonable Hospitality

Was hoping for the sports.............

 

via the daily timewaster

reality...........................

Eventually, reality rears its ugly head, and we recalibrate around what reality permits

-Mark Mills, as excerpted from here

on unlocking human doors...............

 

     It is a secret which every intellectual man quickly learns, that, beyond the energy of his possessed and conscious intellect, he is capable of a new energy (as of an intellect doubled on itself), by abandonment to the nature of things; that, beside his privacy of power as an individual man, there is a great public power, on which he can draw, by unlocking, at all risks, his human doors, and suffering the ethereal tides to roll and circulate through him: then he is caught up into the life of the Universe, his speech is thunder, his thought is law, and his words are universally intelligible as the plants and animals.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his essay The Poet

Life is full of tradeoffs:..............

 

 .............if we want more "big data" and artificial intelligence then we might have less green energy.

Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity.  They are sprouting up all over Central Ohio.  If the push for all electric vehicles doesn't fade, there is little chance the electric grid will be able to keep up.  Sooner or later, we need to reconsider building new nuclear power plants.

Probably true..............

 The world is careening toward a climate crisis, and by that we do not mean nasty weather or impending human extinction. The real challenge lies in adapting to a changing climate without undermining an already stressed global order, not to mention imperiling democracy. . . .

Perhaps the biggest obstacle lies in geopolitical realities. In China, India, Vietnam, and much of Africa, the demand for affordable and reliable power has clear priority over achieving “net zero” in the near future. Ultimately what the West does may matter more to its own self-righteousness than the planet itself.

-Joel Kotkin, from here

Belief.......................

 There’s no need to sign up for the endless uphill battle of marketing against a positive trend. Sell something you believe in, to people who are eager to believe in it as well.

You’ll do your best work on behalf of an audience and a cause that deserves it, appreciates it and applauds it. If it’s just a job, you’ve sacrificed your best energy for a paycheck.

Pick your client, pick your future.

-Seth Godin, from here

On civilisation and belief.....

 Civilisation requires a modicum of material prosperity—enough to provide a little leisure.  But, far more, it requires confidence—confidence in the society in which one lives, belief in its philosophy, belief in its laws, and confidence in one's own mental powers. . . .Vigour, energy, vitality: all of the great civilisations—or civilising epochs—have had a weight of energy behind them.  People sometimes think that civilisation consists of fine sensibilities and good conversation and all that.  These can be among the agreeable results of civilization, but they are not what makes civilisation, and a society can have these amenities and yet be dead and rigid.

-Kenneth Clark, Civilisation

A missing piece...................

       Clouds never truly disappear.  They change form.  They turn into rain and become part of the ocean, and then evaporate and return to being clouds.

       The same is true of art.

      Art is a circulation of energetic ideas.  What makes them appear new is that they are combined differently each time they come back.  No two clouds are the same.

     This is why, when we are struck by a new piece of art, it can resonate on a deeper level.  Perhaps this is the familiar, coming back to us in an unfamiliar form.  Or maybe it is something unknown that we didn't realize we were looking for.  A missing piece in a puzzle that has no end.

-Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

On a scale of problems, this one is near the top...

 But there’s a problem: despite more than $2 trillion in spending on renewables over the past three decades, there is scant evidence that an energy transition is underway. Last year, according to data from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, in both the US, and the world as a whole, the growth in hydrocarbons—oil, natural gas, and coal—far exceeded the growth of wind and solar by huge margins.

-as cut-and-pasted from here

About those electric vehicles............

 Pushing EVs is essentially selling snake oil with limited benefit at astronomical cost.

-as culled from here

via

Chart of the day.............................

 In the history of man, most serious progress can be traced to increased supplies of inexpensive energy.  Making energy expensive in the United State to "save the planet" seems foolhardy when you look at this:

source and larger image may be found here

Nope............................

 more fun here

The truth of this has been tested.............

via 

Rolling............................

The Marshall Tucker Band..................24 Hours At A Time

 

Inversely.......................

I would say that the quality of our society will be inversely proportion to the level of political energy. One of the toxic effects of social media is to elevate the level of political energy. We would be much better off with people putting energy into their relationships and their work.

-Arnold Kling, from here

Can I get an Amen...................?

 Normal people just want America to produce more energy. And maybe when it’s all said and done, that’s the most humanitarian thing we could do.

-Arnold Kling, from here

Uh-oh..........................

Walter Russell Mead eyes the politics of a coming "Green" wave.  Careful what you wish for - it gets complicated.  A wee excerpt:

Those who dismiss ideas like the “green new deal” as mere left-wing fantasies miss the enormous appeal of these programs for corporations looking for new business opportunities. It isn’t only renewable energy companies looking for government mandates and funding. It’s major auto manufacturers dreaming of replacing every gasoline-powered car and truck on the planet with an electric vehicle—and reaping the public-relations reward of looking virtuous. It’s construction companies looking to replace the existing energy infrastructure.

a kind of energy.........................

     I'm terribly thirsty now and wish that I could go and dip my face in the river, but I am conscious of not wanting to seem weak.  As I look at Alex and Renias, it appears that in six hours of walking, of intense focus and vigilance, and with no food or water, they have not broken a sweat.  It is a kind of energy I have witnessed in people who have merged "work," "mission," and "meaning."  These people don't take holidays or need days off.  They outwork everyone not from some kind of gritty determination, but from a place of pure pleasure.

-Boyd Varty,  The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life