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My doctor, who knows that I understand physics and renewable energy in particular, asked me today what I thought about wind turbines on boats.

I explained that, since boats need their own ways to generate electricity, what is called “small wind” may make sense. Most ships have diesel-powered generators, and that’s an option for smaller craft as well, and solar is not an attractive option because of the small area.

Doctors generally don’t have time to kill, but he asked me further about small wind, to which I explained:

Because the area of a circle is proportional to the square of the radius, big is better.  If you can build a turbine with a radius 100 times larger than a small one, you’re going to generate 10,000 time more power.

Because the power generated by a turbine is proportional to the cube of the wind’s velocity, if you can site a turbine in wind conditions that are 10 times those on your rooftop, with trees and other buildings slowing the wind down, you’re going to generate 1000 times more power.

So, as usual, the answer resides in physics and math. 1000 times 10,000 is 10 million, which is why we see huge turbines on structures that lift huge turbines high above the ground, and it’s why the small wind industry has essentially disappeared.

If you don’t understand elementary school math and high school science, and you have money to burn, the investment offered at left may be right for you.

Rooftop Wind

Renewable Energy

Bravery Meets Tragedy: An Unending Story

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Here’s a story:

He had 3 days left until graduation.

STEM School Highlands Ranch. May 7, 2019.

Kendrick Castillo was 18. A robotics student. College bound. Accepted into an engineering program. The final week of school felt like countdown, not crisis.

Then a weapon appeared inside a classroom.

Students froze.

Kendrick did not.

Witnesses say he moved instantly. He lunged toward the attacker. No hesitation. No calculation.

Two other students followed his lead.

Gunfire erupted.

Kendrick was fatally sh*t.

But his movement changed the room.

Classmates were able to tackle and restrain the attacker until authorities arrived. Investigators later stated that the confrontation disrupted the attack and likely prevented additional casualties.

In seconds, an 18-year-old made a decision most adults pray they never face.

Afterward, the silence was heavier than the noise.

At graduation, his name was called.

His diploma was awarded posthumously. The arena stood in collective applause. An empty seat. A cap and gown without the student inside it.

His robotics teammates remembered him as curious. Competitive. Kind. Someone who solved problems instead of avoiding them.

He had planned to build machines.

Instead, he built a moment.

A moment that classmates say gave them time.

Time to escape.

Two points:

If you can read this without tears welling up in your eyes, you’re a far more stoic person than I.

Since Big Money has made it impossible for the United States to implement the same common-sense gun laws that exist in the rest of the planet, this story will reduplicate itself into perpetuity.

Bravery Meets Tragedy: An Unending Story

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Renewable Energy

Forced Transgendering of America’s Little Kids

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How often does this happen? How about never?

Trump loves to say that little boys go to school and come back home little girls.

He’s the most powerful person in the world for exactly one reason: We’re a nation of morons.

Forced Transgendering of America’s Little Kids

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Renewable Energy

Illegal Aliens and U.S. Veterans

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Two comments:

That the United States has homeless veterans is a national (and international) disgrace.

By definition, no one has the legal right to enter the U.S. illegally, but according to our constitution, everyone in America is entitled to due process.

Illegal Aliens and U.S. Veterans

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