Grumpy Editor

Calif. solar facility output fizzles, despite bright location

 

Maybe it’s time to rethink solar plants.  An Associated Press story --- not getting far-reaching media attention --- finds the largest solar power-producing plant of its type in the world at the California-Nevada border "once promoted as a turning point in green energy, isn’t producing as much energy as planned,” notes Grumpy Editor. 

The second paragraph of the AP story raises eyebrows.  It mentions one of the reasons is that “the sun isn’t shining as much as expected.” 

That’s puzzling. 

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System facility, spanning five square miles of federal land in California, 50 miles south of Las Vegas, couldn’t be located at a better spot to capture the sun’s rays.  There is ample sunshine for the operation’s 350,000 computer-controlled mirrors that reflect rays to boilers atop 459-foot towers.

Among major cities, nearby Las Vegas ties with Phoenix as top U.S. locations in average annual sunshine with a high 85 percent.  That’s 3,825 hours of unblocked sun’s rays a year. 

Yet, the $2.2 billion solar facility is producing only about half its expected output for this year. 

What’s the hangup?  The California Energy Commission blames the sluggish output on “factors such as clouds, jet contrails and weather” having “a greater impact on the plant…” 

Really? 

Clouds (which are few) jet contrails (which are everywhere over the country) and weather (which is mostly dry and sunny at the California-Nevada border desert location)?  Hmmm. 

A research firm analyst says the facility’s early production facilities “do not paint a strong picture for solar-thermal technology development.” 

 

FYI, IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE… 

With the Thursday high temperature predicted to be 40 degrees under cloudy sky, look for shivering PETA activists at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to protest SeaWorld’s use of orcas (killer whales) by cramming several naked, black-and-white painted people into a bathtub set outside Macy’s flagship store in New York’s Herald Square…Oops!  Near the end of President Barack Obama’s Friday executive action speech in Las Vegas on immigration changes, KSNV-TV, Las Vegas, interrupted his remarks, dropping in a Cox Communications commercial…By the way, a pre-Vegas speech NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, not widely circulated, finds 48 percent oppose the president taking executive action on immigration, while 38 percent support it and 14 percent have no opinion or are unsure…And while the president spent the weekend in sunny Las Vegas, that included playing 27 holes of golf with former New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter in his foursome, Vice President Joe Biden was in the Ukraine, where he announced an increase in U.S. nonlethal aid --- including Humvees and radar equipment…As another cold spell hits a chunk of the nation, a Reuters story out of Oslo, Norway, mentions, “This year is on track to be among the warmest on record,” then reports the coldest U.S. November morning since 1976 “with subfreezing temperatures in all 50 states”…Forget the influence of usual U.S. developments such as corporate earnings and federal actions.  Friday’s surprise rate cut from China's central bank coupled with dovish comments from European Central Bank’s president sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring 91 points to 17810...Lowest price of the season?  A mailer from Motor Trend magazine pitches a subscription deal to non-subscribers, pointing out the annual cover price is $215.64, but with a “rate adjustment” one can grab “your revised rate” of --- $9.  And the magazine will toss in a free emergency flashlight…Radio station KNEB, 
Scottsbluff, Neb., --- 962 miles from Los Angeles --- beat by several hours the Los Angeles Times with word that 170 passengers and six crew members on board a Princess Cruises ship that docked in San Pedro (in Los Angeles Harbor) fell ill following an outbreak of norovirus…Join a state National Guard --- and see Africa?  Members of National Guard battalions from California, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, Iowa and Kansas have been ordered to mobilize for deployments to West Africa next spring to support U.S. and international efforts to stem the spread of the Ebola virus.

 

Netflix now accounts for more than a third of all Internet traffic during peak evening hours in North America.

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As U.S. fights, Afghan opium poppy harvest hits record

 

Despite 13 years of U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan, opium poppy cultivation continues to thrive, reaching a record this year, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Not making headlines, a United Nations report last week indicates the opium harvest this year jumped 17 percent from last year to about 6,400 tons.

One U.N. official calculates the drug trade accounts for 20 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product while the industry indirectly employs more than 400,000 people.  That’s equal to the population of Minneapolis. 

So much for the U.S. influence there, after spending $7.6 billion in Americans' taxpayer money over the past dozen years in efforts to eradicate poppy fields. 

Few remember that before U.S. troops entered Afghanistan in 2001, Russians (known as Soviet forces at that time) were involved in an Afghanistan War between 1978 and 1992 with a military that peaked at 100,000.

U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq wars is costing American taxpayers between $4 trillion and $6 trillion, which includes wounded veterans’ medical care and other factors, based on a study last year by Linda J. Bilmes, a Harvard University public policy professor.

 

FYI, IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE…         

Not quite on the same page.  In reporting Macy’s quarterly figures, a Thursday front-page “refer” in The Wall Street Journal mentioned the department store “posted weak sales as consumers held back on spending.” The main story’s second paragraph noted, “Macy’s cut its profit and sales forecasts for the year.”  But eight paragraphs later, readers saw, “Despite the sales shortfall, Macy’s profit rose 23 percent to $217 million for the period.” Then a few pages later in the “Stocks in  the News” section, the WSJ placed Macy’s under “The Good News” category, illustrating the retailer’s stock, on the news, was up $2.98 (or 5.09 percent) to $61.57, pointing out the bottom line “exceeded analysts expectations” and the company was “optimistic about its current quarter”…Get those computers ready for incoming techies.  In the wake of the flood of illegal “unaccompanied children” who crossed into the U.S. in recent months from Central America, the New York Times on Friday feels President Barack Obama’s overhaul of U.S. immigration policy “will provide more opportunities for immigrants with high-tech skills”…MapLight, a nonpartisan research group that delights in “revealing money’s influence on politics,” compiles a top 10 list of stocks owned by members of Congress using disclosure forms from 2013.  General Electric grabbed top spot, followed by Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Wells Fargo, Apple, IBM, AT&T, Verizon, JPMorgan Chase and Exxon Mobil…Look for the Boston Globe to debut an eight-page stand-alone business section Tuesdays through Fridays starting early next month…American Express mails a glossy pitch to some existing AmEx card holders, feeling it can lure current no annual fee users to fork over $175 a year for a Premier Rewards Gold Card…Getting in turkey-day spirit.  A seller of digital hearing devices courts candidates with a free hearing test plus free turkey certificate.  Yes, “this week only”…A Sydney, Australia, male TV anchor reveals no viewer noticed he wore the same blue suit for a year to prove how much tougher it is for woman to dress on television. 

Headline over a story in Fortune magazine’s Nov. 17 issue:  If the U.S. Economy Is So Good, Why Do We Feel So Bad?

It points out a recent Pew poll finds only 21 percent of respondents say the economy is in “good or excellent” condition.

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Swarm of earthquakes shakes up some news outlets

Swarm of earthquakes shakes up some news outlets

Grumpy Editor finds the Los Angeles Times newsroom gets excited over the word “earthquake” and via its website or print version almost daily reports shakers (no matter how small), mostly in California.  On Friday the newspaper came up with:  Swarm of earthquakes in Nevada desert is intensifying

The swarm’s location, to be precise, is about 525 miles from the L.A. Times building at 1^st and Spring Streets in Los Angeles.  The report pinpointed the location in Nevada’s extreme northwest corner, 50 miles southeast of Lakeview, Ore., a sparsely-populated area. 

The report, by a staff writer, pointed out “about 750 earthquakes, mostly magnitude 2.0 to 3.0, have struck the area” since July. 

Deep into the story, John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington, said:  “It doesn't necessarily mean anything big is coming, but it does raise the risk there will be a bigger quake in the future.  Ninety-nine percent of the time nothing too dramatic happens, but every now and then there is a good pop and everyone asks why we didn't predict it."

Other media picked up the report.  But the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s largest newspaper, didn’t run the swarms information until two days later.  It covered the subject in nine sentences via Reuters.  

CNN on Saturday mentioned, ‘The vast majority of the current Nevada swarm's quakes have been undetectable to people walking around on top of them.”

In San Francisco, where talk of earthquakes easily shakes up residents, KCBS radio’s website on Friday spotlighted the event under the headline:  Ongoing Earthquake Swarm In Nevada Increasing Chances For A ‘Big One’ 

USA Today jumped into the shaker act on Saturday picking up, in part, information contained in the L.A. Times and CNN stories. 

Most interesting, however, was the earthquake swarms story on Nov. 6 (a day before the L.A. Times version) in the Herald and News, Klamath Falls, Ore.  It was written by the newspaper’s editor, Gerry O’Brien --- from a press release.

 

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This just in:  Continuing its focus on earthquakes, today’s L.A. Now section on the L.A. Times website reports a magnitude 4.1 shaker at a depth of 6.8 miles in the Pacific with the epicenter 69 miles from Newport Beach in Orange County.

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IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…  

A reminder as frigid Arctic air makes its way today to the central plains and then eastward with temperatures 20 to 40 degrees below normal: A recent Gallup poll found concern over climate change ranked last among 16 issues voters cared about in the midterm  elections…In the “huh?” department.  The lead to a story in the Nov. 6 Wall Street Journal:  "Electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. reported a wider third quarter loss"…  Then the next day in the newspaper's “The Good News” portion of “Stocks in the News” feature:  Tesla stock was up $10.25 a share stemming from, as the WSJ put it: “The electric car maker beat earnings forecasts”…A top-of-the-hour ABC News item on radio Friday focused on Home Depot announcing about 53 million customer email addresses were stolen by hackers.  That was in addition to earlier reports that 56 million credit card accounts were compromised.  That news was followed by a Home Depot commercial…How many times with the same “warning” over the past few months?  Federal Reserve officials on Friday warned about market turbulence as the central bank prepares to raise short-term interest rates next year…Reuters decided to stop allowing readers to comment on its online stories…As Thanksgiving approaches, a reminder from the Associated Press Style Book on bread-related items:  With breadbox, breadcrumb, breadstick and cornbread, keep it a single word.  But not bread pudding…Operation United Assistance, the U.S. military mission to combat Ebola in West Africa, likely will last until 2016, according to Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

After Tuesday’s voting results, Harry Reid (D-Nev.), outgoing Senate majority leader who has shelved hundreds of House-passed bills, declared:  “I look forward to working with (incoming Republican majority leader) Sen. McConnell to get things done for the middle class.”

NIH, CDC wasteful taxpayer-funded programs cited

Grumpy Editor ran across a piece by Joseph Rossell, at media watchdog NewsBusters, who cited “the media’s unwillingness to point to wasteful spending” at both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that, combined, award about 64,000 research grants annually.

“The combined budgets of the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, FBI, DEA and Secret Service came to nearly $1 billion less than the NIH and CDC combined budgets,” Russell tallied.

He listed “15 wasteful programs totaling $15,135,574,669” while “NIH and CDC are still having trouble coming up with ways to fund their fight against Ebola.”

Among the rather strange taxpayer-funded programs:

NIH spent $3.2 million getting monkeys drunk exclusively on alcohol to determine what effect the beverage has long term on their body tissue.

Then there’s $90 million that NIH awarded to Chinese researchers for various public health research projects, including $2 million to develop a vaccine for a parasite disease common in China.

Less NIH funding ---$181,406 ---went to a University of Kentucky researcher to study how cocaine enhances the sex drive of Japanese quail.

Congress in 2004 voted to give NIH $1.5 million to spend on four sex studies: Mood Arousal and Sexual Risk Taking, Study on Sexual Habits of Older Men, Study on San Francisco’s Asian Prostitutes/Masseuses and Study on American Indian Transgender Research.

CDC, via ObamaCare, received $15 billion to convince Americans to make “healthy” choices through “Community Transformation Grants.”

Read other ways NIH and CDC spend taxpayer money here.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page at a correspondents’ seminar, declared:  “My big fear is that this administration has been more restrictive and more challenging to the press, more dangerous to the press, really, than any administration in American history in terms of legal investigations and so on. And I think access to the White House has just gotten worse and worse.”  She added, “Decisions are made in closed-door meetings, or with the silent stroke of the president's pen, or because some lobbyist got some congressman to slip his pet project into a bill during the dead of night. We have to take the blinders off the White House. The more people know about what's going on in Washington, and how their tax dollars are being spent, and who's raising money for who, the less likely it is that major decisions will be hijacked by lobbyists and special interests.”  Adding to that, in illustrating the clampdown on details, Bloomberg White House correspondent Margaret Talev noted the White House has stopped providing details on fine wines served at state dinners...With the media spotlight on tomorrow’s voting, Larry Kudlow, in his syndicated column, maintained “the vast majority of political journalists…are missing a very big story.” He called it “the beginning of a new conservative revolution,” pointing out “the Republicans are going to recapture the Senate, picking up more seats than most any forecaster expects.  And the House GOP is going to add to its majority”…In other election-time news, California Gov. Jerry Brown, when asked at a campaign stop in Modesto why he hasn’t done more to lay out an agenda for a fourth term, replied: “I have communicated more completely to the people of California than any other governor in history”…In early voting, a number of voting machines in Maryland and Illinois were electronically switching Republican votes to Democrat, raising suspicions that fraud could be at the root of the malfunctions.  Among those encountering the vote switch:  Maryland’s Queen Anne County Sheriff Gary Hofmann.  The same problem occurred in Chicago where an election official attributed it to a “calibration error”…Tipping off the bad guys:  News reports over the weekend revealed the U.S. is intercepting Syria president’s communications for information on Islamic State militants…The New York Times Co. informed investors to expect a drop in fourth quarter ad spending.  That sent its stock down 6 percent on Thursday.  The Times, which last month announced plans to cut 100 newsroom employees, is working to transform itself into a digital newsroom with specialized stories and online subscription packages.

No stop-the-presses surprise here.  Newspaper headline following Vice President Joe Biden’s appearance Saturday at a Las Vegas rally:  Biden urges Latino voters to turn out for Democrats.