Favorites July 12th 2022

San Diego Zoo, June 2022

Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein

John Bolton: “As someone who has helped plan coups de etat — not here but, you know, other places — it takes a lot of work”

I can’t believe he just… said it, although I guess you gotta establish your credentials somehow? Seems to be referring to the 1991 Haiti Coup?

Paul Byrne @ThePlanetaryGuy

I mean, look at it

Just amazing photos from JWST, although perhaps more important than that is that they've also managed to use it to make atmospheric measurements of an exoplanet. (Which unfortunately doesn't result in cool photos)

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper

key thing about heat pumps is they are so efficient that it actually saves energy to burn natural gas in power plants and use that electricity for heating instead of gas furnaces, even with all the transmission loss

Kevin J. Kircher @kevinkircher

Italy reduced emissions from home heating more in the last *8 months* than in the previous *20 years*. How? The government pays the full cost of a heat pump install, plus a 10% bonus to the user. This is what serious electrification policy looks like. https://t.co/lrueTirAXk

There's a great video on the subject from technology connections. But the amazing efficiency doesn't even require the fancy underground version, this is just normal air cooled heat pumps.

Benjy Renton @bhrenton

Important note from Dr. Jha: "Getting vaccinated now will not preclude you from getting a variant-specific vaccine later this fall our winter."

I got a second booster (fourth dose) a couple months back, good to know the Omicron booster will still be available.

Sophie Novack @SophieNovack

My god, the editor’s note on this video, before showing police idling in the hallway for more than an hour: “The sound of children screaming has been removed.”

Tony Plohetski @tplohetski

BREAKING: We have obtained a video recording captured from inside Robb Elementary, along with body camera footage from a responding officer, that shows how dozens of officers responded to the active shooter. https://t.co/Vq4RL3FvES

About an hour into the video, someone standing around in ballistic gear gets some hand sanitizer from the wall dispenser. And of course, the video leaked, because the footage still hasn't been officially released.

Robotbeat🗽 ➐ @Robotbeat

This is it. The explosive part of the exponential/adoption curve. Right now, when gas prices are crazy high and there’s demand for such policy, we should increase EPA fuel efficiency standards such that all new cars and trucks have to have a plug in them within, say, 5 years.

Bloomberg Green @climate

The US is the latest country to pass what's become a critical EV tipping point: 5% of new cars sold are powered only by electricity 🧵 https://t.co/PTpIgasAAa

Bloomberg's claim is essentially that in other countries, once a country passes 5% of new cars being electric, you reach 25% in a very short time. Looking back, the rate of increase of Electric car sales is wild, so I guess looking forward could be just as crazy.