from the Smart Ones! Enjoy, probably without beverage.
For fun: another Cover Snark
from the Smart Ones! Enjoy, probably without beverage.
Category: Questions
CO2 pipeline setback: South Dakota Supreme Court rules in landowners’ favor
by Skylar Tallal Fri, August 23rd 2024 at 10:30 PM
DES MOINES, Iowa — Summit Carbon Solutions is facing a set back in its proposed CO2 pipeline project, as the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled in favor of landowners who sued to keep Summit from surveying their land.
It’s a reversal of a lower court decision, with the state’s high court now claiming it’s premature to categorize Summit as a ‘common carrier’ for public utility. It’s something Summit needs to be able to prove before it can use eminent domain.
“One of our main arguments is that Summit’s not a common carrier,” Jess Mazour the conservation program coordinator with the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter said. “So it really does change the game here in Iowa as well.”
Summit can’t start building its pipelines in Iowa until it gets approval in North and South Dakota.
The Sierra Club Iowa Chapter calls the decision a victory for landowners. Even though the Iowa Utilities Commission isn’t taking up the club’s reconsideration request, the club is moving forward with its plan to take the fight to court.
“We now have precedent on our side and we’re going to have a strong base for when we file our appeal in district court,” Mazour said.
A similar court case is already on the books in Iowa, with Iowa’s highest court set to hear oral arguments October 8 at the state capitol.
“A landowner in Hardin County, Kent, he was sued for denying Summit access to his land and we are fighting that and also challenging Iowa’s survey law,” Mazour said.
Eminent Domain has been a major issue in Iowa over the last few years. Some Iowa lawmakers joined the pipeline opposition but haven’t been successful in their efforts to change state laws.
The topic is also coming up on the campaign trail, specifically in Iowa’s congressional races.
Congressional Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) Iowa said carbon capture pipelines make sense for Iowa.
“So the carbon capture pipeline is only meant to lower the carbon intensity score of ethanol which makes it competitive globally,” Rep. Miller-Meeks said.
She said while eminent domain is a state issue, she hopes there will only be a limited number of landowners who don’t sign on voluntarily.
“Farmers and property owners need to look at the why the rationale and then determine if it’s in their best interest,” Rep. Miller-Meeks said. “Companies that are acquiring easements are looking at how do you make the land whole. How do you ensure farmers that you can grow crops in the near future?”
Iowa’s News Now did reach out to Summit for comment didn’t hear back.
Two for science on Monday!
Jelly plays Pong and gets better at with practice
August 25, 2024 Imma Perfetto
A hydrogel has learned to play the 1970s video game “Pong” and improved its ability to hit the ball by 10% with some practice.
Dr Hayashi, a biomedical engineer at the University of Reading in the UK, says: “Our research shows that even very simple materials can exhibit complex, adaptive behaviours typically associated with living systems or sophisticated AI.
“This opens up exciting possibilities for developing new types of ‘smart’ materials that can learn and adapt to their environment.”
The research is described in a paper published in Cell Reports Physical Science.
Video link, an example run of a hydrogel playing Pong.
https://players.brightcove.net/5483960636001/HJH3i8Guf_default/index.html?videoId=6360855643112
Credit: Cell Reports Physical Science/Strong et al.
What is a hydrogel?
A hydrogel, like gelatine or agar, is made of a 3D network of polymers that become jelly-like when water is added.
The hydrogel in this study is an “ionic electro-active polymer”, where the media surrounding the polymer matrix contains charged particles, in this case hydrogen ions.
As a result, it can deform when an electric current is applied to it.
Stimulation by an electric field causes the hydrogen ions migrate and, as they move, drag water molecules with them, causing areas to swell.
“The rate at which the hydrogel de-swells takes much longer than the time it takes for it to swell in the first place, meaning that the ions’ next motion is influenced by its previous motion, which is sort of like memory occurring,” says first author and University of Reading robotics engineer, Dr Vincent Strong.
“The continued rearrangement of ions within the hydrogel is based on previous rearrangements within the hydrogel, continuing back to when it was first made and had a homogeneous distribution of ions.”
It’s this property the researchers exploited to teach the hydrogel to play Pong.
How does a hydrogel play Pong? (snip-More on the page)
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Balloon carrying telescope at poles to spot exoplanets: get EXCITEd
August 23, 2024 Ellen Phiddian
NASA is about to launch a helium balloon carrying a telescope, to test its ability to see exoplanet atmospheres.
The Exoplanet Climate Infrared Telescope (EXCITE) is eventually destined to fly around the poles, collecting data above much of the Earth’s atmosphere, but its first test flight is due to happen from the USA in the next few months.
It will be launched for the first time from the Columbia Scientific Ballooning Facility in New Mexico.
“EXCITE can give us a three-dimensional picture of a planet’s atmosphere and temperature by collecting data the whole time the world orbits its star,” says principal investigator Peter Nagler, from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. (snip-More on the page)
Vance’s Trumped-Up Economics
Robert Reich Aug 25, 2024 (Posting Monday AM)
Friends,
Sorry to interrupt your Sunday but I think it useful in these final weeks before the election to give you the truth on important matters of public policy.
Today, Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance told NBC News that the tariffs Trump imposed during his term in office had not raised prices for Americans but had brought a significant number of jobs back to the United States.
Wrong on both counts.
In a careful analysis, researchers found the cost of Trump’s tariffs were “almost entirely borne by U.S. firms and consumers.”
That’s not surprising; tariffs function like taxes by raising the costs of imported goods. Trump’s proposal to raise tariffs on all imports as a means of raising revenue to offset a tax cut is obviously absurd.
Vance is also wrong about employment. Research clearly shows that the Trump tariffs did not bring jobs back to the United States.
Tariffs may be necessary for national security to protect critical industries such as semiconductors. But no one should be fooled into thinking they’re costless for consumers, or good for workers. The 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff made the Great Depression far worse than it already was.
That Vance would make these claims — which have been so convincingly debunked — should cause all of us some concern. He seems as unreliable as the person who named him his running-mate.
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/vances-trumped-up-economics
Some Headlines I started reading 8 hours ago. Now I am going for a nap. Enjoy.
“Kamala was protecting families,” she said. “And Donald was scamming students at Trump University and trying to make money off people losing their homes. That is the difference between a criminal and prosecutor”
He also blamed the governor for not stopping a local district attorney from prosecuting him and others for their efforts to overturn the results. “He’s a bad guy. He’s a disloyal guy. And he’s a very average governor,” Trump said then. “Little Brian, little Brian Kemp. Bad guy.”
Let’s talk about non-verbal cues, politics, Walz, and normal….
Fox talking heads and skin color
Yesterday in the news. Thanks to Joe My God for the posts I linked to here. This was my morning reading.
Read the full article. Watch all of the LOL clips.
The book further claims that the Queen believed that Trump and Melania must have “some kind of special arrangement,” considering his flagrant serial adultery.
Sentencing will be determined next week.
As you can see below, Reimer’s first arrest last year resulted in a money beg from a major right wing Canadian outlet.
Reimer’s previous non-drag related convictions resulted in sentences totally nearly three years.
As I said last month, it appears that the office of Secretary of State John Thurston [photo] deliberately withheld the above-cited rule about petition bundling. Thurston was a pastor before entering politics.
When hate costs you thousands of dollars.
Scottie's Playtime 