Test flight #10

Win or lose, "the goal is always to collect as much data as possible," to learn what works and what doesn't, to test for weaknesses. Test flights take place so SpaceX can intentionally stress Starship.

If you want to fly to Mars, you have to get out of the office and up into real space so you can learn what you don't know: like how to build the world's first "reusable orbital heat shield." It's never been done. But it will be.

After two scrubbed launch windows, Starship test flight #10 got off the ground Tuesday evening. SpaceX posted a two-hour live video full of information about work they did after the last flight and what they hope for in this flight. Actual launch starts at 46:45.

ADU 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Another use for an ADU would be to post it on Airbnb if you live in a popular destination area.

In fact, the co-founder of Airbnb, Joe Gebbia, also co-founded Samara. If you want an ADU in your California backyard, they will come and install a prefabricated small house for you in just 6 weeks on your property. The whole process takes about seven months including your design choice, off-site build, land prep, on-site installation, permitting, and financing. 

Fyi: last week's "Nuclear Now" series told the story of Brazilian model Isabelle Boemeke, who made herself into a nuclear influencer. She happens to be married to Joe Gebbia.

ADU

Housing is getting more expensive. In some cases, building an ADU can help. 

ADU is an "accessory dwelling unit." It's a residence added to the lot which already has a bigger primary residence on it, to which it may or may not be attached. Local regulations vary, but there's usually at least a kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping room. 

It could be sold or it could be rented, in either case providing financial help to the primary property owner. It might be attractive to someone looking for a unit more affordable than a single family house on its own lot would be.

Another reason to have an ADU could be to provide housing to a relative or to a visitor. It could be your own work space, or studio, or a guesthouse.

(cont'd tomorrow)

AI & Nuclear 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

"Staggering" amounts of energy are needed for the coming build-out of artificial intelligence. Here's a comparison from the CNBC video below to illustrate it: just one ChatGPT query takes about 10x the power required for an ordinary Google search.

Even when new power plants come online, either public or privately owned by a tech company, our electricity grid is a concern. The average transformer is 38 years old.

Even water becomes a challenge. It's often used to cool down the servers so they can operate 24/7. One alternative is to use big air conditioning units instead of water.

It all adds up to huge consumption of resources.

AI & nuclear 1

Remember the "Metaverse," that virtual reality envisioned by Mark Zuckerberg? After billions of dollars of investment, there was enormous loss. The Metaverse virtual reality platforms still exist, but not as the company's primary focus. 

Instead, Meta has turned to artificial intelligence. Their new superintelligence research lab will be led by the founder of Scale AI (they paid $14.3 billion dollars for a 49% share in his company).

As MIT commented, building out AI will require "staggering" amounts of energy. So they're actively looking for nuclear developers with whom they can partner (read: invest $) to produce new power. That could include either big conventional plants, or the emerging SMR's (small modular reactors).

But of course fusion (instead of current fission) nuclear would be the breakthrough solution if the theory ever becomes practical. Meta has an agreement with Helion, as does Microsoft, for the delivery of fusion-produced nuclear power by 2028. 

Can Helion do it? It remains to be seen. We're hopeful. They've started on Microsoft's nuclear fusion plant:

Nuclear now 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

And why is nuclear power a concern for AI builders? Because artificial intelligence is being developed fast, and it's going to require much more power very soon. 

Last February the U.S. president and OpenAI announced the "Stargate" initiative, a collaboration between private companies and the government to develop artificial intelligence and the data centers that will power it. 

Running AI is energy-intensive. MIT says, "The energy resources required to power this artificial intelligence revolution are staggering . . ."

What sort of plants will supply the power? It's less likely to be coal, windmills or solar. Even relatively clean natural gas, being a fossil fuel, is considered somewhat "dirty." Both "Meta and Microsoft are working to fire up new nuclear power plants." 

More nuclear looks to be a common, clean choice (image).

from Technology Review

Nuclear now 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Isabelle used to worry about the environment, but changed her mind to believing that humans can solve the problem. Now she's excited about becoming an "influencer" to promote nuclear power on social media (image) . . using her cool factor as a model.

Can she get the attention of other cultural influencers? Maybe so: actress Gwyneth Paltrow helped launch her new book (which came out last week), Rad Future, in The Hamptons. 

Isabelle created on online persona, Isodope. You can see her social media posts there and some of them here on Youtube.

Silicon Valley leaders are really interested in nuclear power, she says, because of AI. The connection is in tomorrow's post.

from "The Brazilian Model Who Wants America to Go Nuclear"

(cont'd tomorrow)

Nuclear now

It's easy to make a rational case in favor of nuclear power, and people have been making that case for some time. 

No fossil fuels are burned, so nuclear power plants don't emit carbon, so they're "green" -- a big issue in today's cultural climate. They don't depend on wind or sunshine, so they're always reliably providing power. 

But there's a problem with the public's perception. A model and new author puts it this way: "For an entire generation, when they hear the word nuclear, the first thing that comes to their mind is mushroom clouds."

There it is, an image that holds the imagination of not only Gen Z but of many millennials and boomers as well.  Rational or not, fear of nuclear power holds us back.

This author is on a mission to change that. Here's her TED talk of 2022:

from "The Brazilian Model Who Wants America to Go Nuclear"

(cont'd tomorrow)

Interlace

Singapore, uniquely an island and a city and a nation, is also the home of unique public projects like their giant man-made trees. 

Densely populated, they still manage to find ways to incorporate nature into work places and living spaces.

Interlace (photo) is "an intricate network of living and social spaces integrated with the natural environment." Instead of a tall tower of apartments, there are 31 apartment blocks six stories high arranged in a hexagon around eight large courtyards.

Another unique, innovative idea for Singapore.

EV Competitor 3

(cont'd from last Friday's post)

Cars made in China are not banned in the U.S. But the last administration placed a 100% tariff on them in 2024, meaning the price of the car for an American buyer would in effect double. They also created software and technology restrictions. The two factors keep China-manufactured cars out of the U.S. market.

But Mexico seems to welcome them. BYD had plans to build an EV factory there, plans which are now on hold until they know what the current U.S. administration will do about trade policies. 

If BYD goes ahead with the plant, Mexico will gain 10,000 new jobs. But BYD will do more than that. The country has only ~3,000 public charging stations for electric vehicles. BYD's car sales will increase by a factor of 6, and Mexico has some serious catching up to do if those EV's are going to be charged.

Chinese firms know how to do it. They are already working with in-country firms to build renewable energy infrastructure, and have already invested a total of about a billion dollars.

China has gotten its foot in the door. We'll follow the story of the BYD plant in Mexico.

from USNews and Atlantic Council

EV Competitor 2

Follow up to this post

Ford Motors' CEO is worried about their market share: "We are in a global competition with China. And if we lose this, we do not have a future at Ford." It's not just Ford, but the whole car industry in America.

Those are strong words, very similar to Elon Musk's: “Frankly, if there are not trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world.”

Chinese electric car makers (about 130 companies) are a growing threat to American car makers. They've "studied American inventions, replicated them, and arguably surpassed them, selling them at scarily-cheap prices around the world." In the U.S., that price would be roughly $10k lower than Tesla.

Their EV leader, BYD, overtook Tesla in global sales in Q4 of 2023 (image). A writer for InsideEV's likes BYD's interior and software integration better than Tesla's, and says they're quieter too.

Some governments, including the U.S., worry that Chinese EV's cameras and sensors may collect data to pass on to their military. 

From "China Is Overtaking America. In an Electric Car."

Slavery legacy 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

From yesterday's video:

"White people didn't invent slavery. In fact, they were the first to end it [the story]." But students don't hear that in their history classes, so we have millions of citizens who were mis-led and ready to fight about it.

"Slavery is an ancient human evil, practiced by everyone [on] everyone . . . For over a thousand years, brown Arab slavers sold millions of black Africans across the Sahara. Then came the Barbary slave trade in North Africa. Arab and African raiders captured over a million white, Christian Europeans."

"So: which major power stopped slavery first? The British. In large part because of pro-human Christian values . . the same values America was founded on, the same values that drove white Americans to fight other white Americans to free black Americans in the Civil War."

What's the point he's trying to make? "In our capacity for good and evil, we are all equal."

Slavery legacy 2

Follow up to this post

One-sided arguments mislead people. Among the politically-left leaning folks in this country,  a one-sided story about race has dominated academia: that the white race is uniquely to blame for slavery. 

But it's just not true, as Coleman Hughes teaches at UATX. Most American students have been taught this one-sided narrative with twisted results like hopeless discouragement and contempt for their neighbors.

Kaizen Asiedu is a rising "influencer" online who has something to say about it.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Motivated dad

Bad news? We see plenty of it. It's encouraging to see a good report occasionally. 

Here's a story of disciplined self-sacrifice on the part of a legal immigrant dad for his family. He didn't go for what's easy, but for what's worth it. 

There's a lot of goodness in this story, including the men in the Bible Study.

As a Christian, the good things you do will tend to show others the goodness of God (Matthew 5:16).

Google loses one

Google is still fighting suits filed by states or the federal government a few years ago. One of them was decided and finished this summer. The state of Texas won it.

Attorney General Ken Paxton says, "In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law. For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services . . .They will pay for abusing our trust."

photo

After aggressive litigation by the Attorney General, a settlement was negotiated in place of a judge's legal decision. Google will pay the state of Texas $1,375,000,000: far, far more than Google has had to pay as a result of other similar suits.

This is in addition to a similar suit and settlement with Meta just a year ago, where they settled to pay Texas $1.4 billion. I hope the technology sector has learned that we the people will not tolerate massive, secret theft of privacy.

from Texas state website

Grok talks 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

If you watched yesterday's video, you found that the interviewer started with interesting science topics like the origin of life and the evolution of all species of life. Here are just a few of the questions he posed to Grok 4, and its responses:

• What is the mathematical probability that the first life cells could have formed by natural processes alone? A - "the mathematical probability of a minimal genome about 200-300 genes self-assembling through naturalistic processes is less than one in ten to the power 200 based on observed chemical constraints . . effectively impossible."
• What is the most logical conclusion about where life came from and the biodiversity of life forms on the planet? A - "the most logical conclusion . . is a directed process implying intelligent design. The evidence for an intelligent designer is overwhelming."
• Is it rational to say that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? A - Yes.

If science, logic, mathematical probability and observational science mean a lot to you, you will have to deal with this conclusion.

Grok talks

Is faith in the Christian God the most reasonable conclusion you could come to? 

Since artificial intelligence is seemingly going beyond mere human intelligence, this Christian believer had the idea of submitting that question to AI. 

He specifically told Grok 4 to consider only "strict logic, mathematical probability and observational science" (not religious faith or ideology). Based on scientific data, he asked it to answer some factual questions.

Eventually Grok 4 concluded that . . it is.

(cont'd tomorrow)

She's hunted 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

United Kingdom suspended extradition to Hong Kong in 2020 after the Chinese government cracked down on dissent. Chloe was one of the 150,000 fleeing government repression who allowed to come to the UK in 2023. 

One Hong Konger who dared to publish pro-democracy material has been held in solitary confinement since 2020. Sometimes families are interrogated. Recently dissidents are alarmed at the deepfake videos China has produced to intimidate them. Bounties like the one on Chloe were placed on 34 others. 

They're afraid that the British government seeks a friendlier relationship with China. It's even likely to allow a "super embassy" to be built on five acres in the middle of London that could become a surveillance hub for the Chinese government on the edge of the financial district. The U.S. is concerned about it.

Chloe and the others are worried they could become a trade-off for the government.

from "She Fled Repression"

She's hunted 1

At 20 years old, Chloe Cheung (photo) checks behind her back every time she leaves her home. She doesn't take the same route to work even two days in a row, and continually checks the rear view mirror while driving.

Though she lives in London now, there's a bounty on her head of a million Hong Kong dollars (about $128,000). She's living in constant fear.

Her crime? As a student back in Hong Kong, she protested against the government and in favor of democracy in 2019. When the government started arresting protesters, she fled to Britain. Maybe she expected a sympathetic welcome, because Hong Kong was ruled by the British under a lease agreement with China for 99 years.

That lease ended in 1997 and they officially pulled out. China re-established control.

from "She Fled Repression in Hong Kong"

(cont'd tomorrow)

Drug prices

Some people have to take a prescription drug for their health, not just for a temporary illness but for an ongoing condition, and it often costs them a lot. Harvard published a few reasons why that is so (photo). When it's expensive, that drug may take a big chunk out of their budget. The cost can be overwhelming for some. 

Researchers reported in 2022 that pharmaceutical companies charge Americans much higher prices than customers pay in other countries. The U.S. president is aware of this, and has told 17 of those companies that their pricing must be made more equitable.

According to that study, "Prices for brand-name and generic drugs were nearly three times higher in the U.S. than in 33 other countries in 2022 . . .[M]akers of prescription drugs set gross prices in the United States in 2022 at 278% of prices for the same drugs in the comparison countries."

If you are an American who must take an expensive drug and who struggles with the cost, things are going to change for you.

from Health Journalism

Robotaxi

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Elon is sometimes unrealistically optimistic about when those big goals will happen. But he was right that Tesla's robotaxi would launch finally in Austin, Texas, in June (or just sort of right, because it was limited).

Robotaxi is a driverless ride hailing service that is geofenced, limited by the city to an approved area. 

It's not just Tesla's concept. Waymo has been operating with 100 vehicles in Austin since last year, with a bigger approved area than Tesla has so far. 

Eventually Elon plans that Tesla owners can use their full self-driving cars for this service, and he sees it bringing in huge profit for both owners and for the company. Ark Invest thinks it likely, predicting a possible future trillion dollar enterprise.

This science blogger (video) thinks Tesla's "first trillion" will come from China, where robotaxis are already active.