The first rule of good diplomacy is to stay at the hotel of host country’s president. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down. http://tytnetwork.com/go

A group of psychiatrists have sent an open letter to Barack Obama about Donald Trump’s mental health, pleading with him to seek help. They believe that his outbursts and behaviors indicate some sort of mental instability. And they’re probably correct. The Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

A recently conducted consumer survey from the strategy consulting group Altman Vilandrie & Co has found that around 60% of people in the US are unaware of the existence of plug-in electric vehicles, and that 80% have never ridden in one, much less driven one.To be clear, that 60% figure is indeed people who don’t realize there are cars out there that can be plugged into an electricity socket and charged instead of fueled with gasoline or diesel.Given that the survey findings are based on only 2,500 sample data points, though, it’s not completely clear how representative the sample pool is. Remember that there is a great deal of cultural variation across the US, and no less so with regard to EVs.

Source: Survey: 60% Of Americans Aren’t Aware Of Plug-in Electric Vehicles … At All | CleanTechnica

Gasoline isn’t right for cell phones, and it is no longer right for cars either…

The “New Nuclear” lobby is kicking off its New Nuclear propaganda for 2017 with its favourite tactic – FILM.They started this method with great success in 2013 with a very glossy and quite seductive advertisement calld “Pandora’s Promise”  That has now been rehashed many times, e.g on Youtube. It pretends to be a documentary about c limate change, but is really a hymn to new nuclear “Generation IV” technology, especially Small Nuclear Reactors, and to endless consumption of electricity.Then came the even more sophisticated and glossier television series, “Twisting the Dragon’s Tail”,  a subtle nuclear advertisement promotion that featured Australia quite strongly. Cleverly introducing the negative aspects of the nuclear industry, it finishes with that same message for boundless energy consumption via New Nuclear.These  so-called “independent documentaries” are  quite lavishly and expensively produced. Who pays for them?  That is a well-kept secret. Do  presenters like Derek Muller (Dragon’s Tail) understand how they are being used?“The New Fire” is currently under production, using, as those other ads did, very capable media professionals. We have no idea who is behind this project, but, with billionaires now in the Small Nuclear Reactor business, we can suspect those in the nuclear front group “Breakthrough Energy Coalition” 

Source: Nuclear lobby’s confidence tricks – film “THE NEW FIRE” | Nuclear Australia

AIP powered submarines have generally cost between $200 and $600 million, meaning a country could easily buy three or four medium-sized AIP submarines instead of one nuclear attack submarine. Bear in mind, however, that the AIP submarines are mostly small or medium sized vessels with crews of around 30 and 60 respectively, while nuclear submarines are often larger with crews of 100 or more.  They may also have heavier armament, such as Vertical Launch Systems, when compared to most AIP powered vessels.Nevertheless, a torpedo or missile from a small submarine can hit just as hard as one fired from a large one, and having three times the number of submarine operating in a given stretch of ocean could increase the likelihood chancing upon an important target, and make it easier to overwhelm anti-submarine defenses.While AIP vessels may not be able to do everything a nuclear submarine can, having a larger fleet of submarines would be very useful in hunting opposing ships and submarines for control of the seas. Nor would it be impossible to deploy larger AIP powered submarines; China has already deployed one, and France is marketing a cheaper AIP-powered version of the Barracuda-class nuclear attack submarine.It is no surprise that navies that operate largely around coastal waters are turning to cheap AIP submarines, as their disadvantage are not as relevant when friendly ports are close at hand.

Source: Nuclear submarines now obsolete? New Swedish technology indicates this « Antinuclear

Emerging this decade are the many challenges to the whole nuclear industries range of products from; medicine, reactors, weaponsNot to mention the always present 1940s backdoor issue that’s never been solved, that of nuclear waste managementThis submarine news makes a joke of our neocon naval purchase, particularly if the goal was to put nuclear reactors into the Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A at some future pointThe whole biased process used by those enamoured the nuclear industry is becoming increasingly obvious. Particularly, when this Swedish technological development must have been known about but discarded in favour of  the nuclear state, France. Who are a founding member of UN Security Council P5 and who as a group control all nuclear issues globally through the IAEA

Source: Australia’s proponents of nuclear submarines are way behind the times « Antinuclear

Katey Walter Anthony, a leading scientist in studying the escape of methane, at her research site where methane is collecting beneath the ice, in Fairbanks, Alaska, on October 21, 2011. With temperatures warming across much of that region, which scientists primarily believe is because of the rapid human release of greenhouse gases, permafrost is also warming, and signs are emerging that frozen carbon may be destabilizing. (Josh Haner/The New York Times)

Source: Dahr Jamail | We Have Released a Monster: Previously Frozen Soil Is “Breathing Out” Greenhouse Gases

Whale carcass prompts closure of Ahihi Kinau reserve on Maui

We’ve seen a lot of commentary on the fact that utility-scale solar power has become the least expensive source of electricity in many places. There is more than that to be found in the data in Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis, Version 10.0, however, and what it tells us is that solar and wind power have benefits apart from the simple facts that their costs are low.

Source: Solar Power Is Not Merely Least Expensive | CleanTechnica