Favorites September 7th 2022

August 2022, Mountain View

Jeff, God of Biscuits Part II 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @lurkernonumbers

I take this as a sign Republicans don’t want another Dobbs on their hands. https://t.co/noz24aC9pH

Laura Litvan @LauraLitvan

Talks designed to win enough Senate GOP support to clear legislation protecting same-sex marriage rights are making headway and it appears likely that at least 10 Republicans will help move it through the chamber later this month, Republican Thom Tillis told me.

This is great news! Finally protecting this stuff with law is a much less tenuous place to be.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

How soon until we get an “it’s against my religion to pay taxes” case?

Chris “Subscribe to Law Dork!” Geidner @chrisgeidner

BREAKING: US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas rules that requiring employers to provide coverage for PrEP drugs (preventing the transmission of HIV) violates the religious rights of employers under federal law (RFRA). https://t.co/d85C3izqSF

On the other hand, SCOTUS is ready to hand out new 'rights'.

Science Is Strategic @scienceisstrat1

Shareholders have discovered climate change Cc: @Noahpinion @dwallacewells @ramez @MLiebreich

It's good that companies are suddenly taking emissions seriously. Also, Noah Smith made a Viagra analogy about the situation if you're into that kind of thing.

Jeremy Hoffman @jeremyhoffman

So the playbook for electricity demand surpassing capacity is 1. Ask everyone politely to use less. 2. Turn off people's power entirely. Not sure if this makes me a neoliberal, but shouldn't there be a step 1.5: increase electricity prices 800% for a few hours?

Danny Howard 🌻 @dannyman

You can look up your @PGE4Me outage block here and see if you're on the potential rolling blackout list for the day. Today is 4A thru 8S. https://t.co/bSPCwIVxJM

This seems like a reasonable question, one which I also was wondering about. Issac shared a 99p invisible episode on the subject, but more importantly pointed out that the price signal doesn't work when it's so fast and so large. (100x price spikes over just a few hours)

Ethan Mollick @emollick

It isn't just a population thing, Americans often don't realize how much higher per-capita earnings are, too: US GDP per capita: $66k France: $45k Japan: $40k China: $12k Using median incomes adjusted for purchasing power doesn't change much either: US: $60,884 France: $44,129

It's not a mirage caused by purchasing power. Americans are also relatively happy, and to totally blow your mind: we have shorter average commutes than Europeans!

the sharia cop @AliceAvizandum

becoming insane as I find out that the Thai government funds restaurants in the same way that the Saudi one funds mosques

vice.comThe Surprising Reason that There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in AmericaYou may have noticed that the ratio of Thai restaurants to Thai people in the US is high—and it’s no coincidence.

10x the population-to-restaurant ratio of mexican restaurants. Apparently "the government of Thailand has intentionally bolstered the presence of Thai cuisine outside of Thailand to increase its export and tourism revenues, as well as its prominence on the cultural and diplomatic stages". Genius.

Threads

• Thread about polysilicon production capacity, indicating that manufacturers are making bets on solar demand that are astronomical. 1 terawatt per year by 2025. That's 5% of world energy usage, every year!