It was so bad that it made me realize I could be a screenwriter.
I think what happens is Zach Snyder gets together some good ideas for characters and stories (and some pretty mockup pictures), then he uses those to sell the project. Unfortunately from there, he doesn’t or isn’t able to flush those ideas into a compelling narrative with engaging characters. Everything stays very 1 dimensional.
I suggest a hard pass to everyone.
Shogun season 1. It was really well made.
Heard they were green lit for 2 more seasons. Unfortunately, it seems the first season was based on a book and there’s no book to base the next 2 seasons on.
There is history, but I’ve become very hesitant about shows that outrun their books (ex. GoT). So, hopefully they are the same quality, but not betting on it.
This report makes clear that the tripling target is ambitious but achievable – though only if governments quickly turn promises into plans of action. (emphesis mine)
Appreciate your view point.
My understanding is that the US is a net fossil fuel exporter with ~10% of exports going to China (source: https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=727&t=6). So that aspect of your argument should probably be reworked.
Relevant text:
Ukrainian crews say the fundamental problem is that the Abrams were built for advances aided by air power and artillery, which Ukraine lacks.
Russia, meanwhile, continues to make heavy use of drones in its attacks, which the Abrams struggle to defend against.
Just finished V Rising. I really liked it. For those who don’t know and are curious, it’s one of those games where, if you can’t beat a boss, you just have to get better. There’s some small things that make a fight easier, but it basically comes down to you understanding the enemy and learning to play better.
No particular order, but it seems I hit quite a few different genres.
It’s strange to me they tested mice. My understanding is that Porcine (pigs) models are usually utilized to evaluate potential GI/intestinal effects on humans. As human and Porcine GI tracts are similar (why you really need to cook pork or you can get diseases or worms from the meat).
The article mentioned cats, so the current list of know susceptible species seems to be bird, cow, mice, and cats. Not a great sign.
Same with golfing, bowling, darts, etc. I think part of the enjoyment of these types of sports/games/competitions is to see how close to perfection you can get.
Relevant section of the article where it lays out what has been changing and what still needs to change:
… graft has been all but exterminated in some of the worst affected areas - for instance, government services such as issuing passports, permits and licences.
He also tells the BBC that significant progress had been made in reforming education and police.
Problem areas
Mr Kalmykov admits, however, that the government has been less successful in eradicating corruption in using natural resources (e.g. in mining and forestry), regulating monopolies and in large infrastructure projects.
“Progress has been slowest where big interests and big players meet,” he says.
According to him, “in the next five-ten years the government should focus on cleansing the judiciary, which will make the general system of public administration healthier”.
Relevant sections of the article:
The EU Council finalized the agreement earlier on May 21, which would provide Ukraine with between 2.5 billion and 3 billion euros ($2.7-3.26 billion) annually, with most of it allocated to Kyiv’s military needs.
The European Commission then announced later in the day that the “resources will be available to support Ukraine starting from July 2024, with bi-annual payments.”
The distribution will be reviewed on an annual basis.
My understanding is that some of the benefits China would get from invading Taiwan is the control of Taiwan’s world-leading semiconductor industry. So making it public knowledge that any invading force (i.e. China) would not be able to take over their production capabilities is a small deterrent.
I really like your idea. It would be great insight to have.
The last paragraph I quoted talks about suburban population transport percentages. So assuming it’s the same for inner Paris, the remainder would be walking and then public transportation.
Some good stats in the article:
… bicycles already surpass cars as a means of transportation in the interior of Paris, accounting for 11.2% of trips compared to 4.3%. A similar trend is seen in trips between the suburbs and the city center: 14% are made by bicycle and 11.8% by car.
Rue de Rivoli, with its two-way cycle lanes and its dedicated lane for buses and taxis …
… Paris has more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of facilities adapted for cyclists, including more than 300 km (186 m) of bike lanes and 52 km (32 m) of provisional lanes, according to the latest available municipal data, from 2021. The rest are lanes shared with cars or lanes only marked with paint on the ground.
By 2026, local officials want the entire city to be suitable for two-wheel transportation. To this end, it has set aside $250 million, $100 million more than in Hidalgo’s first term.
… only 27% of the “bike plan” has been carried out despite the fact that 62% of Hidalgo’s second term in office has already elapsed.
… indicated that 11.2% of trips in Paris were made by bike between 2022 and 2023, compared to 4.3% by car. The change in trend is clear. In 2021, two wheels still represented 5.6% of trips, while cars were 9%, according to Belliard.
… the research indicates that residents of the nearest suburbs also prefer to use the bike, with 14% of trips compared to 11.8% for cars. The figures are even better during rush hour, when 18.9% of trips are made by bike and only 6.6% by car. Travel on foot, however, continues to lead mobility within the municipality with 53%, followed by those made on public transit, with 30%. The study was carried out with 3,337 residents of the capital region who agreed to be fitted with a GPS tracker.
Interesting piece of the journal article:
On the contrary, many analysts reject historical precedents as guides to contemporary policy. Perhaps they should take warning from the aforementioned infamous 1972 Club of Rome/MIT study, Limits to Growth (LTG) [99], which showed that, on a business-as-usual track, global society would face collapse by mid-21st century. As might be expected, many economists and techno-optimists roundly rejected this assessment—economists ignore overshoot and even grossly underestimate the damage from climate change; their concepts and models are divorced from biophysical reality [100]. However, subsequent studies show that the real world is behaving with disturbing fidelity to LTG modelling, particularly the two (of four) scenarios that indicate a halt in growth over the next decade or so, followed by subsequent declines and collapse [101].
[Emphasis mine]
Complete Abstract:
Homo sapiens has evolved to reproduce exponentially, expand geographically, and consume all available resources. For most of humanity’s evolutionary history, such expansionist tendencies have been countered by negative feedback. However, the scientific revolution and the use of fossil fuels reduced many forms of negative feedback, enabling us to realize our full potential for exponential growth. This natural capacity is being reinforced by growth-oriented neoliberal economics—nurture complements nature. Problem: the human enterprise is a ‘dissipative structure’ and sub-system of the ecosphere—it can grow and maintain itself only by consuming and dissipating available energy and resources extracted from its host system, the ecosphere, and discharging waste back into its host. The population increase from one to eight billion, and >100-fold expansion of real GWP in just two centuries on a finite planet, has thus propelled modern techno-industrial society into a state of advanced overshoot. We are consuming and polluting the biophysical basis of our own existence. Climate change is the best-known symptom of overshoot, but mainstream ‘solutions’ will actually accelerate climate disruption and worsen overshoot. Humanity is exhibiting the characteristic dynamics of a one-off population boom–bust cycle. The global economy will inevitably contract and humanity will suffer a major population ‘correction’ in this century.
Other interesting info from the article:
In a new sustainability report, the brand said this was an increase from the 2022 figure, which was 42.6 percent.
Albert Heijn is hoping to significantly increase this number in the coming years. It aims for 50 percent of proteins sold to be plant-based in 2025, going up to 60 percent in 2030.
I think this information was already posted a week or so ago, but if you haven’t seen it yet the relevant text is:
Chinese battery giant CATL, supplier to some of Australia’s biggest grid-scale project developers, has unveiled a new containerised battery energy storage system promising a one-third increase in energy density, a 20% reduction in overall footprint and a longer service life.
Stored in a 20-foot TEU container, the mass producible Tener has a 6.25 MWh capacity which CATL says represents a 30% increase in energy density per unit area and a 20% reduction in the overall project footprint.
The new battery also claims to provide zero degradation of capacity over the first five years of use, “a significant advancement”, which CATL says increase the lifespan of batteries.
“Tener is equipped with long service life and zero-degradation cells tailored for energy storage applications, achieving an energy density of 430 Wh/L, an impressive milestone for LFP batteries used in energy storage,” the company says.
The text is a bit vague about if this is an 80% cut from the total or 80% cut from the remaining, previously cut fees. Good news regardless though.
Article Text:
The [Biden] administration on Thursday finalized a rule that cuts costs for developing solar and wind energy on public lands.
The rule was expected to cut by 80 percent fees that are based on how much energy is produced through the year 2035.
A partial reduction is already in place based on [2022 guidance], but the administration said that the new rule contains further cuts and codifies them into the federal register.
The fee cuts become less dramatic after 2035 and will ratchet down in the following years to be just a 20 percent cut in 2038 and beyond.
The rule also seeks to expand energy production in designated “priority areas” by simplifying the process for issuing new rights to build wind and solar projects.
The administration announced additional milestones alongside the rule, saying that the Interior Department has now given the OK to enough renewable projects on public lands to power 12 million homes.
Interior Secretary [Deb Haaland] told reporters on a press call that the Biden administration has approved more than double the number of renewable energy projects than the Trump administration did during its four years.
“The previous administration did everything they could to hobble our department’s clean energy program, but we’re making up for lost time,” she said.
In addition to the cost cut and milestone, the administration announced that two major solar projects in California were now fully operational.
My recollection is you need to “talk” to each animal once a day, every day.