Yesterday South Carolina's state-owned electric utility announced it is seeking to sell two partially built nuclear power reactors. The reactor project was abandoned several years ago because, with cost overruns and delays, it was cheaper to buy power from almost any other source rather than finishing the project. The utility is now seeking bids from consortiums of companies that include someone who can handle the construction, someone who can handle the operations, someone who can handle the finances, and tech companies with data centers to consume the generated power 24/7.
The utility has indicated that it has no interest in owning or operating the reactors.
I would have thought the preemption doctrine, eg, no state may impose restrictions tougher than the FDA's. Of course, this SCOTUS seems likely to toss that with respect to mifepristone.
One interesting question we'll get to watch is whether the Court decides that rules and statutes can be overridden by EO without any process.
Random thought... How soon until the executive order forbidding states from imposing tougher constraints on growing conditions for food than the FDA has? One of Trump's energy EOs attempts to revoke California's waiver to impose tighter vehicle emission standards.
When I bought a dozen eggs last week, they were a couple of bucks more than the previous time. Causes: on the first of the year a new state law came into force requiring cage-free production, and avian flu is still running through the flocks.
I went and read the text and find it interesting that the name of the mountain is being changed, but the national park and preserve in which it is located explicitly retains the name Denali. Digging a little further, it turns out that "Denali National Park and Preserve" is a matter of statute. Several/many of the new EOs, including this one, have explicit language that says the order doesn't apply if it violates statute.
This is the same EO that renames the Gulf of Mexico. "Gulf of Mexico" is a term used in a variety of international agreements and treaties.
Back of the envelope, and making some assumptions -- eg, that you're doing that in 15 minutes -- says your average power output is 360 watts. From the internet, stair racers train at an output of about 270 watts, although for longer periods.
If a comment with a link is edited, WordPress automatically throws the comment into moderation. This is self-defense, as the changed comment body is not subjected to the same set of filters that are run when a comment is initially submitted.
When I was a wee lad, in northwest Iowa in the late 1950s and early 1960s, snow typically covered the ground from mid-November to mid-March. Plains/prairies blizzards could build drifts 10-feet tall (or more*). There was always a week where the high was -10 °F.
There was a conspiracy of mothers who would arrange to send** all of the children from about 10 down out to "play" at the same time on days when there was no school. Faced with, say, 5 °F air temperature and a 20 mph breeze but with a 10 foot drift available, children passed along skills for digging snow caves, even to the littles. Five or six children packed into a snow cave could raise the temperature to something fairly tolerable.
* North of town, where the road dipped to cross a creek, a good blizzard could pile snow 20 feet deep across the road. Picture this: a big yellow road grader, with a huge snow blower attachment on the front, with the diesel engine cranked up to where it was screaming, creeping into the drift at a speed easily measured in inches-per-minute, blowing a column of snow 50 feet up in the air. 60 years on, the memory is still sharp.
** Rolled might be a better description. Joint range-of-motion was severely limited :^)
I am old enough to have an archaic attitude: A computer that doesn't compute what I want, the way I want it done, is just a badly-designed boat anchor. I suppose I should update that, given the state of the data centers that train/run the LLM models. A badly-designed multi-megawatt heating element.
When I was in high school band, the director was a former Army Sergeant Major. He never scolded us; he never screamed at us; he never cursed. But he could calmly and quietly make it clear that you had disappointed him, and make you feel lower than dirt about it.
Amazon's Thursday Night Football has three of the studio analysts put together a three-factor parlay bet during their pregame show. With at least fine-print disclaimer on screen that neither Amazon nor the analysts have any association with the online sports book doing the instant money line for the parley, and that the money line for the bet is subject to change.
Some years back the Chicago Bears wound up losing a game because on a play inside the last two minutes, their running back went out of bounds and stopped the clock instead of sliding. The opponents had no time outs left and almost certainly wouldn't have scored a game-tying field goal as time expired without the 40 seconds that didn't run off the clock.
The CA legislature doesn't get the final say. Projects are complicated when the largest land owner in the state, who (per the SCOTUS many years ago) holds the most senior rights for water derived from that land, doesn't have to pay attention to state laws. Back in September the feds denied the permit for the largest reservoir the state was proposing. The Authority that would/will operate the Sites Reservoir conducted probably the largest and most detailed hydrologic and environmental study ever done for a project in California. The Army Corps of Engineers wasn't satisfied.
No new reservoirs have been built in California for the last ten years.
A dam does no good if there's no water available to store in it. Like all of the western states, California's water is rather grossly oversubscribed.
There are two dam projects underway in northern Colorado. One will raise an existing dam, the other will build an entirely new dam. Both will take many years to fill once built because the only water that can be used is "surplus", available only in very wet years.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/20/2025”
Yesterday South Carolina's state-owned electric utility announced it is seeking to sell two partially built nuclear power reactors. The reactor project was abandoned several years ago because, with cost overruns and delays, it was cheaper to buy power from almost any other source rather than finishing the project. The utility is now seeking bids from consortiums of companies that include someone who can handle the construction, someone who can handle the operations, someone who can handle the finances, and tech companies with data centers to consume the generated power 24/7.
The utility has indicated that it has no interest in owning or operating the reactors.
On “Trump Term Two, Day One, Executive Orders”
I would have thought the preemption doctrine, eg, no state may impose restrictions tougher than the FDA's. Of course, this SCOTUS seems likely to toss that with respect to mifepristone.
One interesting question we'll get to watch is whether the Court decides that rules and statutes can be overridden by EO without any process.
"
Random thought... How soon until the executive order forbidding states from imposing tougher constraints on growing conditions for food than the FDA has? One of Trump's energy EOs attempts to revoke California's waiver to impose tighter vehicle emission standards.
"
When I bought a dozen eggs last week, they were a couple of bucks more than the previous time. Causes: on the first of the year a new state law came into force requiring cage-free production, and avian flu is still running through the flocks.
"
I went and read the text and find it interesting that the name of the mountain is being changed, but the national park and preserve in which it is located explicitly retains the name Denali. Digging a little further, it turns out that "Denali National Park and Preserve" is a matter of statute. Several/many of the new EOs, including this one, have explicit language that says the order doesn't apply if it violates statute.
This is the same EO that renames the Gulf of Mexico. "Gulf of Mexico" is a term used in a variety of international agreements and treaties.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Cryptmaster”
And done again, for the time being.
"
No, this is completely different.
"
Mucking about again.
On “Weekend Plans Post: One Single Good Song in 2024”
Back of the envelope, and making some assumptions -- eg, that you're doing that in 15 minutes -- says your average power output is 360 watts. From the internet, stair racers train at an output of about 270 watts, although for longer periods.
"
If a comment with a link is edited, WordPress automatically throws the comment into moderation. This is self-defense, as the changed comment body is not subjected to the same set of filters that are run when a comment is initially submitted.
On “The Snow Bank”
When I was a wee lad, in northwest Iowa in the late 1950s and early 1960s, snow typically covered the ground from mid-November to mid-March. Plains/prairies blizzards could build drifts 10-feet tall (or more*). There was always a week where the high was -10 °F.
There was a conspiracy of mothers who would arrange to send** all of the children from about 10 down out to "play" at the same time on days when there was no school. Faced with, say, 5 °F air temperature and a 20 mph breeze but with a 10 foot drift available, children passed along skills for digging snow caves, even to the littles. Five or six children packed into a snow cave could raise the temperature to something fairly tolerable.
* North of town, where the road dipped to cross a creek, a good blizzard could pile snow 20 feet deep across the road. Picture this: a big yellow road grader, with a huge snow blower attachment on the front, with the diesel engine cranked up to where it was screaming, creeping into the drift at a speed easily measured in inches-per-minute, blowing a column of snow 50 feet up in the air. 60 years on, the memory is still sharp.
** Rolled might be a better description. Joint range-of-motion was severely limited :^)
On “Short Status Report on the Abilities of AI”
I am old enough to have an archaic attitude: A computer that doesn't compute what I want, the way I want it done, is just a badly-designed boat anchor. I suppose I should update that, given the state of the data centers that train/run the LLM models. A badly-designed multi-megawatt heating element.
"
An attitude to warm my heart. Back in my tech career, I would threaten recalcitrant machines with being dismantled for spare parts.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Cryptmaster”
Yes, literally for years. Amazing persistence.
"
Not even close.
On “A Society of Shame Attached to Everything”
When I was in high school band, the director was a former Army Sergeant Major. He never scolded us; he never screamed at us; he never cursed. But he could calmly and quietly make it clear that you had disappointed him, and make you feel lower than dirt about it.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Cryptmaster”
Done mucking around. This should be transparent to everyone, including our long-time troll :^)
On “Induction!”
Come for the snark, stay for the math.
I remember the first time I banged my head against mathematical induction. After a while, it just became automatic.
On “Saturday Morning Gaming: Cryptmaster”
I'm going to put a variety of comments here while I'm doing some software updates.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/13/2025”
Where are they going to self-deport to? Assuming you're trying to squeeze out 10% of the population, where are 34M Americans going to go?
"
Amazon's Thursday Night Football has three of the studio analysts put together a three-factor parlay bet during their pregame show. With at least fine-print disclaimer on screen that neither Amazon nor the analysts have any association with the online sports book doing the instant money line for the parley, and that the money line for the bet is subject to change.
"
Some years back the Chicago Bears wound up losing a game because on a play inside the last two minutes, their running back went out of bounds and stopped the clock instead of sliding. The opponents had no time outs left and almost certainly wouldn't have scored a game-tying field goal as time expired without the 40 seconds that didn't run off the clock.
On “Multiple Wildfires Rip Through Los Angeles Amid Historic Winds”
The CA legislature doesn't get the final say. Projects are complicated when the largest land owner in the state, who (per the SCOTUS many years ago) holds the most senior rights for water derived from that land, doesn't have to pay attention to state laws. Back in September the feds denied the permit for the largest reservoir the state was proposing. The Authority that would/will operate the Sites Reservoir conducted probably the largest and most detailed hydrologic and environmental study ever done for a project in California. The Army Corps of Engineers wasn't satisfied.
"
No new reservoirs have been built in California for the last ten years.
A dam does no good if there's no water available to store in it. Like all of the western states, California's water is rather grossly oversubscribed.
There are two dam projects underway in northern Colorado. One will raise an existing dam, the other will build an entirely new dam. Both will take many years to fill once built because the only water that can be used is "surplus", available only in very wet years.
On “Open Mic for the week of 1/6/2025”
If Trump's going to go with "Gulf of America" he probably doesn't mind dropping Mexico from its historical designation as part of North America.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.