44 thoughts to “Open Thread, Non-Petroleum, November 11, 2020”

  1. I just wanted to wish all you folks on POB safety and good health as this pandemic accelerates. This is a hard time for many of us and any sense of community is more important than ever. Bonne Chance.

      1. Yeh, all the best folks stay safe as possible.

        It is difficult for us over here in Australia to get our heads around the situation in your country . . . on several different fronts.

        I saw a little quote the other day . . . . .

        “The forest was shrinking, but the trees kept voting for the axe . . . for its handle was made of wood and they thought it was one of them”

        I found it strangely moving . . . but then again, people tell me that I’m strange.

        2. “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” ~ Malcolm X

    1. A lot of the people in those low population areas are, indeed, pretty dense.

  4. New Study Found 80% of COVID-19 Patients Were Vitamin D Deficient

    A new study that looked at 216 people with COVID-19 found that 80 percent didn’t have adequate levels of vitamin D in their blood.
    The study also found that people who had both COVID-19 and lower vitamin D levels also had a higher number of inflammatory markers such as ferritin and D-dimer, which have been linked to poor COVID-19 outcomes.
    A different study found that COVID-19 patients who had adequate vitamin D levels had a 51.5 percent lower risk of dying from the disease and a significant reduced risk for complications.
    Medical experts theorize that maintaining adequate vitamin D levels may help lower risk or aid recovery from severe COVID-19 for some people, though more testing is needed.

    UK’s Prime Minister considers handing out free vitamin D in coronavirus fight

    The UK Prime Minister could follow Scotland’s example by offering free vitamin D supplies to those shielding as the country hunkers down in the latest round of lockdown.

    Now the Pfizer has announced their 90% effective vaccine, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Will we see a spate of “articles” questioning the efficacy of high dose vitamin D and warning us how toxic vitamin D is? My favorite vitamin D advocate, Dr. Michael F. Holick often tells the story of a lawyer who following his advice was taking what he thought was 1000 IU of vitamin D per day. It turns out the product he was taking was mislabelled and he was in fact taking 1,000,000 IU a day for several months. Holick advised him to stop taking the supplement and drink lots of fluids and he quickly returned to normal.

    Here is Holick’s definitive position on vitamin D intoxication:

    Vitamin D Is Not as Toxic as Was Once Thought: A Historical and an Up-to-Date Perspective(Mayo Clinic Proceedings)

    1. Your New Normal™

      “…And don’t forget your electric vehicle to help balance the grid! So perfect! We have everything all figured out! For you! Welcome back!”
      (Viable planet not included. Masks mandatory.)

      This comment, sponsored by BAU, Green™.

    2. How can a wetland even start on fire when the land is literally wet? Scientists probably don’t know either, but I bet they are already asking Biden to send them a few million buckaroos to help “study” this phenomenon better. The swamp is going to be coming back worst than ever in the coming months.

      1. The wetlands have dried up because of climate change. Also, most wetlands dry up part of the year. You cannot be too bright and not know that.

        No, they are not asking Biden a damn thing because he will not be president until January 20th. And Washington is right now swampier than at any time in history, so it cannot come back.

        I wish all you Trump swamp rats would just crawl back into your swamp and shut up.

        1. “I wish all you Trump swamp rats”
          Ron:
          Please leave my family out of this. Those “rats” are skunks.
          TIA
          Rat

        2. Wow. Kunstler has really gone full tin-foil hat.

          In the past he’s described himself as an entertainer, a clown. But there’s no sign of irony or humor…

          1. Yeah, he’s either lost it, or just become a pandering prostitute.

          1. The description of a supercomputer switching ballots seems to not be familiar with how elections actually work, and the precinct level checks that make it dubious at best.

            That description of the Hammer and Scorecard software seems to have been invented in 2012 as part of a conspiracy theory as to how Obama won the 2012 election. The origins all seem to come from partisan actors – no independent sources have been found.

            Google makes it s easy to find the descriptions of the conspiracies, and the debunking of those same conspiracies.

            Some of that debunking even comes from the Trump administration.

          2. Ron,

            When all the sources of a story are partisan, it’s difficult to give them much credibility – especially in this day and age.

            It’s like the stories of how opening the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to drilling is going to lead to massive increases of oil. The petroleum industry themselves discount those stories.

            Or the millions who attended the Million Maga March this past weekend….

            I’m a skeptic.

            Edit: Ahh! My apologies! I didn’t realize there were two Ron Patterson’s.

        4. I did not post this Kunstler bullshit link. I used to like Kunstler, I read “The Long Emergency”. Some of it was okay but it was really silly in places. No, it was really stupid in places. But Kunstler has gone off the deep end. I never read books by him or his blog anymore.

          So when you see a post supposed to be by me that quotes Kuntsler or lists one of his links, It was not for me. It was from this joker impersonating me.

      2. Brockley- “How can a wetland even start on fire when the land is literally wet?”

        Many areas of the world that are ‘swampy and wet’ have dry seasons- every year.
        They can flood heavily during the wet season, and get bone dry in the dry season.
        And as the world gets hotter the dry seasons get more severe, and these areas can burn, especially around the margins.

        It is not complicated. Even many of the Fox news. q anon, trump cult crowd can understand it, especially if presented in cartoon format.

        1. Actually to understand something you have to be conscious to reality. Lacking that characteristic is a requirement for Trump followers and, in fact, most hard right wing zealots.

    1. “…I do invest savings in the fast growing renewable energy sector.” ~ Hickory

      At least you’re declaring your ‘conflict-of-interest’. Thanks.

  8. Solar and wind capacity to overtake coal and gas capacity by 2024
    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/iea-wind-solar-gas-coal-oil-renewables-climate-change-environment

    This is capacity, not output, but gas capacity has always been low, because a lot of plants are seldom used peaker plants, and coal capacity factors have fallen precipitously in recent years.

    From the supplier point of view, the capacity means the maximum possible sales, so seeing this fall as a percent of total consumption is not welcome news.

  9. “Among global stations with a record of at least 40 years, 72 set, not just tied, a new all-time heat record in October. Seventeen of these stations broke their previous all-time record on multiple days. No stations set all-time cold records”

    Yes, that is 72-0. If this was the Superbowl score than everyone would realize that global warming is winning by the greatest margin in modern history.

    If you are not impressed by all-time records from individual weather stations, then how about all-time national records in the year 2020. The score here is-
    “As of November 13, 2020, eleven nations or territories had set or tied an all-time national heat record…No all-time national/territorial cold records have been set thus far in 2020”
    Yes, that is like a world series game with the score 11-0. A [very hot] blowout.

    And , oh yeh,
    “Arctic sea ice extent during October 2020 was the lowest in the 42-year satellite record, surpassing the previous record from 2012”

    “October 2020 was the fourth warmest October since global record keeping began in 1880, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, NCEI, reported November 13. The only warmer Octobers occurred in 2015, 2019, and 2018.”

    “Global temperature records are more likely to be set during the peak of the solar cycle, and during strong El Niño events, when the extra heat from the tropical Pacific Ocean is given up to the atmosphere. Remarkably, the record warmth of 2020 has occurred during the minimum of one of the weakest 11-year solar cycles in the past century, and despite the transition from a weak El Niño to a developing La Niña event, when cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean helps cool global temperatures.”

    https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/11/october-2020-was-fourth-warmest-october-on-record-noaa-and-nasa-report/

  11. I just deleted all the posts from the fake Ron Patterson. As a result, all replies to those posts were automatically deleted also. I apologize for that but this Trumpite is your typical Trumpite. He only knows how to cheat and lie.

    1. Ron,

      If the pest keeps it up, there are tools and techniques to figure out who’s posting under your name.

      1. Great, I just posted you an email. He uses my email address but a different IP address. Perhaps there is some way to use that.

        1. Ron,

          Create a new email address for your account and ban your old email address.

          1. Scripting to validate new posts would also work.

            Wouldn’t help with his psychological issues though.

      2. I got this:

        IP Address ……….. Country … Region ………………… City
        77.111.247.242 Sweden Ostergotlands lan Linkoping

        I cannot imagine why anyone living in Sweden would be interested in promoting Trump and his stupidity.

        1. The same IP lookup system puts me in Wickenburg Arizona. Close but I am in Las Cruces New Mexico. I have never been to Wickenburg Arizona.

          1. There’s another one on the petroleum thread also.

            Likely he’s using TOR and laundering his IP.

  13. This land used to have vegetation covering the surface throughout the year.
    The soil had roots and organic debris, as well as innumerable microorganisms. worms and insects living within.
    Rainfall would percolate into the soil rather than running off in muddy rivulets carrying away the soil.
    Bird flocks would sweep across the landscape, filling up on seed and insects.
    Small and large mammals of many types would live here.
    It was earth.

    Now it is a sterilized factory for the ‘production’ of one species, and for the exclusive use of one other species.

  14. In January 2018, President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on imported solar panels despite protests from much of the industry, sending jobs in one of the nation’s fastest-growing employment engines tumbling for the following two years.

    Now the solar industry is asking President-elect Joe Biden to cut short what was widely seen as Trump’s biggest blow to solar energy during his single term.

    On Tuesday, Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group representing more than 1,000 companies, said it wants the Biden administration to revoke the four-year tariffs a year early.

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/solar-industry-joe-biden_n_5fb416f3c5b6aad41f73bc57

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