Walmart suing Tesla for Solar panel fires

[Rick C]

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 2:34:32 AM UTC-4, Tom Gardner wrote:

On 24/08/19 01:21, Bill Sloman wrote:

Quite why John Larkin persists in posting this delusion escapes me. He was
probably taught it at primary school, and still hasn't mastered the critical
thinking skills required to reject this kind of indoctrination.

It is common in the US, and is reflected/caused by Hollywood
movies.

It isn't a recent phenomenon either. Errol Flynn infamously
fought the Japanese to a standstill in Burma. And it continues
with U571 etc.

Yeah, I guess you get your knowledge of the US from movies so you think people in the US do too, eh?

--

Rick C.

--- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
--- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[whit3rd]

On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 12:22:04 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:

I you fly across the USA and look out the window, there can be
half-hour stretches when all you see is trees. With good vision, you
might see a road now and then.

We probably have more trees than 100 years ago.

But less biomass. The stumps of old logged trees here are in the
ten-foot-diameter range, and the recent regrowth isn't
anything like that; more than an order of magnitude mass ratio.

An old-growth fir (here in Washington state) is worth a few dozen kilobucks,
and in eight decades (starting about the Alaska gold rush) got mainly cut down.
There was a big fuss when the remainder were declared protected (endangered
species need the big trees for habitat), but the last of 'em would have lasted
only a decade anyhow (that was thirty-odd years ago).

Small-bole trees (and mixtures of other vegetation) are easier to damage
in a fire than the old giants.

 

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 04:05:13 -0700 (PDT), Bill Sloman
<bill.sloman@ieee.org> wrote:

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 7:12:44 PM UTC+10, whit3rd wrote:
On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 12:22:04 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:

I you fly across the USA and look out the window, there can be
half-hour stretches when all you see is trees. With good vision, you
might see a road now and then.

We probably have more trees than 100 years ago.

But less biomass. The stumps of old logged trees here are in the
ten-foot-diameter range, and the recent regrowth isn't
anything like that; more than an order of magnitude mass ratio.

An old-growth fir (here in Washington state) is worth a few dozen kilobucks,
and in eight decades (starting about the Alaska gold rush) got mainly cut down.
There was a big fuss when the remainder were declared protected (endangered
species need the big trees for habitat), but the last of 'em would have lasted
only a decade anyhow (that was thirty-odd years ago).

Small-bole trees (and mixtures of other vegetation) are easier to damage
in a fire than the old giants.

This seems improbable. The vulnerable living part of the old giants is just underneath the bark.

At least pines have a thick barks, which can survive short wild fires,
only damaging the outer layer of the bark.

 

[Bill Sloman]

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 7:12:44 PM UTC+10, whit3rd wrote:

On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 12:22:04 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:

I you fly across the USA and look out the window, there can be
half-hour stretches when all you see is trees. With good vision, you
might see a road now and then.

We probably have more trees than 100 years ago.

But less biomass. The stumps of old logged trees here are in the
ten-foot-diameter range, and the recent regrowth isn't
anything like that; more than an order of magnitude mass ratio.

An old-growth fir (here in Washington state) is worth a few dozen kilobucks,
and in eight decades (starting about the Alaska gold rush) got mainly cut down.
There was a big fuss when the remainder were declared protected (endangered
species need the big trees for habitat), but the last of 'em would have lasted
only a decade anyhow (that was thirty-odd years ago).

Small-bole trees (and mixtures of other vegetation) are easier to damage
in a fire than the old giants.

This seems improbable. The vulnerable living part of the old giants is just underneath the bark.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 14:25:46 +0300, upsidedown@downunder.com wrote:

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 04:05:13 -0700 (PDT), Bill Sloman
bill.sloman@ieee.org> wrote:

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 7:12:44 PM UTC+10, whit3rd wrote:
On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 12:22:04 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:

I you fly across the USA and look out the window, there can be
half-hour stretches when all you see is trees. With good vision, you
might see a road now and then.

We probably have more trees than 100 years ago.

But less biomass. The stumps of old logged trees here are in the
ten-foot-diameter range, and the recent regrowth isn't
anything like that; more than an order of magnitude mass ratio.

An old-growth fir (here in Washington state) is worth a few dozen kilobucks,
and in eight decades (starting about the Alaska gold rush) got mainly cut down.
There was a big fuss when the remainder were declared protected (endangered
species need the big trees for habitat), but the last of 'em would have lasted
only a decade anyhow (that was thirty-odd years ago).

Small-bole trees (and mixtures of other vegetation) are easier to damage
in a fire than the old giants.

This seems improbable. The vulnerable living part of the old giants is just underneath the bark.

At least pines have a thick barks, which can survive short wild fires,
only damaging the outer layer of the bark.

Mature trees generally survive small fires. They don't survive giant
firestorms.

Our older giant redwoods have on average survived hundreds of fires.

 

On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 23:21:19 +0100, Tom Gardner
<spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 23/08/19 20:21, John Larkin wrote:
On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 18:37:34 +0100, Tom Gardner
spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 22/08/19 19:42, John Larkin wrote:
The UK solved the forest fire problem by chopping down most of the
trees.

As did the Easter Islanders.

I you fly across the USA and look out the window, there can be
half-hour stretches when all you see is trees. With good vision, you
might see a road now and then.

And other stretches when you see none.

Right. We have great deserts too. And a bit of ice. 3.5e6 is a lot of
square miles.

Do you think the Easter Islanders made a
good decision and tradeoff?

Since they killed themselves off, seems not. The US is net gaining
trees. Looks like we'll get more:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth

 

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 07:27:27 +0100, Tom Gardner
<spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 23/08/19 22:05, John Larkin wrote:
On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:00:37 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

On 8/23/19 3:42 PM, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 23:46:10 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

On 8/22/19 10:23 PM, Bill Sloman wrote:
On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 5:03:44 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:54:22 -0500, Jon Elson <elson@pico-systems.com
wrote:

On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:12:58 -0400, bitrex wrote:


Maybe California is America's Never-Never Land.

Oh, this has been true for 60 years or so, maybe more!

Jon

Post-Columbian USA was (mostly) populated by self-selected adventurous
people.

That leaves out the Puritans who wanted to practice religious intolerance of their neighbours to a degree that more cilivised countries wouldn't tolerate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_martyrs

The US is a remarkably religious country, even today. It isn't religious in a particularly attractive sense - banning abortions and persecuting gays seems to be the most obvious symptom of this heightened sensibility. Much of the adventurous character seems to manifest itself in new ways of being mean to the neighbours.


Biblicalism, holy-roller-ism, and "Cultural Christianity" provide a
great cover story for scoundrels to hide out under and run various
hustles and confidence-game swindles. along with patriotism.

"self-selected adventurous people" = hustler.


Hustlers don't invent or build stuff. Americans do.

American industry has come up with some pretty nice things but I think
the notion of American Innovation as a perpetual habit is a bit
overblown. it goes through cycles.

In the late 20th and early 21st century at least it seems American
industry has been at its most innovative when the industry in question
has the metaphorical gun to its head, competition out for blood and they
have no choice but to come up with something, and quickly, or it's
lights out. Apple as an example.

Apple was started by a couple of guys who met in the Homebrew Computer
Club. Microsoft, Google, and Facebook were started by dropout
amateurs.

I don't see that sort of thing happening much in other countries.

You have to know where to look.

One starting point would be an early 80s book called
"The Cambridge Phenomenon", detailing the interactions
between all the (then) companies in Silicon Fen.

I've no idea whether it has been updated since, but the
phenomenon undoubtedly continues.

I have seen some innovative niche-type small electronics-oriented
companies in the UK. A few in mainland Europe.

Kentech sounds like a fun place to work.

http://www.kentech.co.uk/index.html?/pulser_intro_tech.html&2

 

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 07:31:05 +0100, Tom Gardner
<spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 24/08/19 01:36, Bill Sloman wrote:
On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 7:05:52 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:
On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:00:37 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

On 8/23/19 3:42 PM, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 23:46:10 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

On 8/22/19 10:23 PM, Bill Sloman wrote:
On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 5:03:44 AM UTC+10, John Larkin
wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:54:22 -0500, Jon Elson
elson@pico-systems.com> wrote:

On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:12:58 -0400, bitrex wrote:


Maybe California is America's Never-Never Land.

Oh, this has been true for 60 years or so, maybe more!

Jon

Post-Columbian USA was (mostly) populated by self-selected
adventurous people.

That leaves out the Puritans who wanted to practice religious
intolerance of their neighbours to a degree that more cilivised
countries wouldn't tolerate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_martyrs

The US is a remarkably religious country, even today. It isn't
religious in a particularly attractive sense - banning abortions
and persecuting gays seems to be the most obvious symptom of this
heightened sensibility. Much of the adventurous character seems to
manifest itself in new ways of being mean to the neighbours.


Biblicalism, holy-roller-ism, and "Cultural Christianity" provide a
great cover story for scoundrels to hide out under and run various
hustles and confidence-game swindles. along with patriotism.

"self-selected adventurous people" = hustler.


Hustlers don't invent or build stuff. Americans do.

American industry has come up with some pretty nice things but I think
the notion of American Innovation as a perpetual habit is a bit
overblown. it goes through cycles.

In the late 20th and early 21st century at least it seems American
industry has been at its most innovative when the industry in question
has the metaphorical gun to its head, competition out for blood and they
have no choice but to come up with something, and quickly, or it's lights
out. Apple as an example.

Apple was started by a couple of guys who met in the Homebrew Computer
Club. Microsoft, Google, and Facebook were started by dropout amateurs.

I don't see that sort of thing happening much in other countries.

John Larkin wouldn't. ARM computers in Cambridge - originally Acorn Computers
when I got a job offer from them - weren't started by drop-out amateurs.

I know their first software manager, who was getting Ph.D, in psychology at
the same time, and his Ph.D. supervisor. The software manager was wise enough
to be unhappy about the other manager's skills and sold his share of the
company back to the other founders - Chris Curry and Herman Hauser - shortly
before it went bust for the first time.

Andy Hopper was active in the company (while remaining a lecturer at
Cambridge) and stayed associated with ARM computers. He might be the most
significant factor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Hopper

And Roger Wilson was central to the development of
the Acorn RISC Machine.

I'm not aware he was part of the financial/management
corporate structure.

The ARM example exactly makes my point.

The other interesting thing about Microsoft and Apple and Google is
that they are USA West Coast companies. Aligns with my
double-distillation of crazy creative people idea.

I found the old-world elistist culture of New Orleans, where I grew
up, stifling for technology innovation. So I moved to California.

I suspect that the cultures of many places - Europe, Japan, China -
have too much respect for degrees and authority to allow talented
amateurs to prosper. The UK is maybe not quite so restrictive.

 

[whit3rd]

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 11:32:36 AM UTC-7, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

> Our older giant redwoods have on average survived hundreds of fires.

The old giant redwoods got old _because_ of fires that keep the insects
down (we're talking about 3 millenia some of those trees). The longevity
was different in northern climes, other species won the local
size competitions in less fire-prone sites. A Canadian fir is reportedly 13m diameter,
California giant redwoods get to over 8m.

 

[Rick C]

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 9:20:30 PM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 20:41:33 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

Amazon rain forest catches fire and burns down when you let a
Trump-buddy run Brazil.

Fires have been burning in the Amazon and Africa long before Trump
arrived. Satellite photos of the fire locations:

FIRMS world fire map (last 24 hrs):
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/

EODIS world fire map (from May 8, 2012 to today):
https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=-195.96943162751677,-116.63597944630868,122.68681837248312,88.45888213087244&t=2019-08-14-T05%3A01%3A43Z&l=MODIS_Aqua_Thermal_Anomalies_All,MODIS_Aqua_SurfaceReflectance_Bands143
https://go.nasa.gov/2PbPyZa

How do you interpret those maps? In April it appears to show much of the US south in flames. Zoom in and it looks more like some backyard barbecues. WTF???

--

Rick C.

--+ Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
--+ Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 20:41:33 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

Amazon rain forest catches fire and burns down when you let a
Trump-buddy run Brazil.

Fires have been burning in the Amazon and Africa long before Trump
arrived. Satellite photos of the fire locations:

FIRMS world fire map (last 24 hrs):
<https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/>

EODIS world fire map (from May 8, 2012 to today):
<https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=-195.96943162751677,-116.63597944630868,122.68681837248312,88.45888213087244&t=2019-08-14-T05%3A01%3A43Z&l=MODIS_Aqua_Thermal_Anomalies_All,MODIS_Aqua_SurfaceReflectance_Bands143>
<https://go.nasa.gov/2PbPyZa>

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 18:44:13 -0700 (PDT), Rick C
<gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 9:20:30 PM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 20:41:33 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

Amazon rain forest catches fire and burns down when you let a
Trump-buddy run Brazil.

Fires have been burning in the Amazon and Africa long before Trump
arrived. Satellite photos of the fire locations:

FIRMS world fire map (last 24 hrs):
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/

EODIS world fire map (from May 8, 2012 to today):
https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=-195.96943162751677,-116.63597944630868,122.68681837248312,88.45888213087244&t=2019-08-14-T05%3A01%3A43Z&l=MODIS_Aqua_Thermal_Anomalies_All,MODIS_Aqua_SurfaceReflectance_Bands143
https://go.nasa.gov/2PbPyZa

How do you interpret those maps? In April it appears to show much of the US south in flames. Zoom in and it looks more like some backyard barbecues. WTF???

For EODIS, click on the little "i" with the circle around it in the
"Overlays" box on the left. It will give you some more detail.
The VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite)
Fire layer shows active fire detections and thermal anomalies,
such as volcanoes, and gas flares. Fires can be set naturally,
such as by lightning, or by humans, whether intentionally
or accidentally.

I went to April 15, 2019 and yes, it does look like much of the
eastern USA has fires burning:
<https://go.nasa.gov/33VZF7M>
One reason that you're seeing more fires on April 15 is that the lack
of cloud cover offers better IR sensitivity from the satellite view.
Sorry, but the NASA satellite data don't attempt to identify the type
or source of each fire. However, if you click on "Events" in the
"Worldview" box on the left, it should give you a list of current
fires and storms. There's also a check box to "Only show events in
current view" which will limit the list to fires and storms for the
orange dots show. If you then click on the name of the fire, it will
zoom to its location.

Getting back to the Amazon, please note the rather large number of
fires in the Amazon and south central Africa. Those are nothing new
and have been a regular occurrence for many years before Trump.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Rick C]

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 10:54:31 PM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 18:44:13 -0700 (PDT), Rick C
gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 9:20:30 PM UTC-4, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 20:41:33 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

Amazon rain forest catches fire and burns down when you let a
Trump-buddy run Brazil.

Fires have been burning in the Amazon and Africa long before Trump
arrived. Satellite photos of the fire locations:

FIRMS world fire map (last 24 hrs):
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/

EODIS world fire map (from May 8, 2012 to today):
https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=-195.96943162751677,-116.63597944630868,122.68681837248312,88.45888213087244&t=2019-08-14-T05%3A01%3A43Z&l=MODIS_Aqua_Thermal_Anomalies_All,MODIS_Aqua_SurfaceReflectance_Bands143
https://go.nasa.gov/2PbPyZa

How do you interpret those maps? In April it appears to show much of the US south in flames. Zoom in and it looks more like some backyard barbecues. WTF???

For EODIS, click on the little "i" with the circle around it in the
"Overlays" box on the left. It will give you some more detail.
The VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite)
Fire layer shows active fire detections and thermal anomalies,
such as volcanoes, and gas flares. Fires can be set naturally,
such as by lightning, or by humans, whether intentionally
or accidentally.

I went to April 15, 2019 and yes, it does look like much of the
eastern USA has fires burning:
https://go.nasa.gov/33VZF7M
One reason that you're seeing more fires on April 15 is that the lack
of cloud cover offers better IR sensitivity from the satellite view.

Reminds me of a Brad Paisley song a friend likes about a guy who tries to report to his insurance company the loss of cigars in a series of small fires. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGUAeVxFpI0

I wonder if these fires are trash barrels or reflections from car windows.

Sorry, but the NASA satellite data don't attempt to identify the type
or source of each fire. However, if you click on "Events" in the
"Worldview" box on the left, it should give you a list of current
fires and storms. There's also a check box to "Only show events in
current view" which will limit the list to fires and storms for the
orange dots show. If you then click on the name of the fire, it will
zoom to its location.

Getting back to the Amazon, please note the rather large number of
fires in the Amazon and south central Africa. Those are nothing new
and have been a regular occurrence for many years before Trump.

Looks to me like Central Africa is a lot worse off. Who is trying to blame any of this on Trump? Does he smoke?

--

Rick C.

-+- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
-+- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[Lasse Langwadt Christense]

lørdag den 24. august 2019 kl. 20.32.36 UTC+2 skrev jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com:

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 14:25:46 +0300, upsidedown@downunder.com wrote:

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 04:05:13 -0700 (PDT), Bill Sloman
bill.sloman@ieee.org> wrote:

On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 7:12:44 PM UTC+10, whit3rd wrote:
On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 12:22:04 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:

I you fly across the USA and look out the window, there can be
half-hour stretches when all you see is trees. With good vision, you
might see a road now and then.

We probably have more trees than 100 years ago.

But less biomass. The stumps of old logged trees here are in the
ten-foot-diameter range, and the recent regrowth isn't
anything like that; more than an order of magnitude mass ratio.

An old-growth fir (here in Washington state) is worth a few dozen kilobucks,
and in eight decades (starting about the Alaska gold rush) got mainly cut down.
There was a big fuss when the remainder were declared protected (endangered
species need the big trees for habitat), but the last of 'em would have lasted
only a decade anyhow (that was thirty-odd years ago).

Small-bole trees (and mixtures of other vegetation) are easier to damage
in a fire than the old giants.

This seems improbable. The vulnerable living part of the old giants is just underneath the bark.

At least pines have a thick barks, which can survive short wild fires,
only damaging the outer layer of the bark.

Mature trees generally survive small fires. They don't survive giant
firestorms.

Our older giant redwoods have on average survived hundreds of fires.

it seems they need fires, https://youtu.be/1pp5k9tbM_Q?t=1m32s

 

[bitrex]

On 8/25/19 1:38 AM, Rick C wrote:

I went to April 15, 2019 and yes, it does look like much of the
eastern USA has fires burning:
https://go.nasa.gov/33VZF7M
One reason that you're seeing more fires on April 15 is that the lack
of cloud cover offers better IR sensitivity from the satellite view.

Reminds me of a Brad Paisley song a friend likes about a guy who tries to report to his insurance company the loss of cigars in a series of small fires. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGUAeVxFpI0

I wonder if these fires are trash barrels or reflections from car windows.

Jeff is like "Don't worry! why humans have been burning down huge
sections of irreplaceable old growth rain forest down there regularly
for decades! it's a natural process"

Sorry, but the NASA satellite data don't attempt to identify the type
or source of each fire. However, if you click on "Events" in the
"Worldview" box on the left, it should give you a list of current
fires and storms. There's also a check box to "Only show events in
current view" which will limit the list to fires and storms for the
orange dots show. If you then click on the name of the fire, it will
zoom to its location.

Getting back to the Amazon, please note the rather large number of
fires in the Amazon and south central Africa. Those are nothing new
and have been a regular occurrence for many years before Trump.

Looks to me like Central Africa is a lot worse off. Who is trying to blame any of this on Trump? Does he smoke?

Elon Musk once opined on the reason he fled the continent to avoid
service in the apartheid South African military "I didn't feel
oppressing blacks was a good use of my time" I don't believe he's ever
said explicitly that it's a bad idea in general, just that it's a task
he prefers to be left to other more qualified people who feel it's a
good use of their time to do.

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 22:38:40 -0700 (PDT), Rick C
<gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> wrote:

>I wonder if these fires are trash barrels or reflections from car windows.

Trash barrel fires are too small to be detected and solar reflections
have the wrong IR frequency band profiles. It won't show barbeques,
small trash fires, smoke stacks, cooking fires, and other small fires.
However, volcanoes, controlled burns, swamp fires, large building
fires, municipal dump fires, agricultural waste burns, oil tank fires,
refinery gas flares, and such are possible. I'm not sure about
Burning Man. There's quite a bit in the FIRMS (Fire Information for
Resource Management System) FAQ on the topic:
<https://earthdata.nasa.gov/faq/firms-faq>

Fires appear in the M13 band of the spectroradiometer:
<https://ladsweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/missions-and-measurements/viirs/>
There's some complexicated algorithm that fire detections with
readings form the other IR bands and other satellites to eliminate
false fire detections.

VIIRS Active Fire - VIIRS vs MODIS
<http://viirsfire.geog.umd.edu/pages/viirsvsmodis.php>
The collection 6 improvements include:
Reduce false alarms in Amazon caused by small forest clearings.

Incidentally, if you zoom in close to the Amazon basin, you might
notice that the fires seem to be located in the brown agricultural
areas, while very few are in the green jungle areas:
<https://go.nasa.gov/2PcUygb> (Aug 25, 2019)
However, the same date in previous years show far fewer fires
appearing in the satellite photos (partly due to cloud cover):
<https://go.nasa.gov/33UJyHr> (Aug 25, 2018)
<https://go.nasa.gov/2PnKIb8> (Aug 25, 2017)
<https://go.nasa.gov/33UJE1L> (Aug 25, 2016)
<https://go.nasa.gov/33YBHJ2> (Aug 25, 2015)
<https://go.nasa.gov/2PnLkxs> (Aug 25, 2014)
What it does show is that burning the fields, and possibly the slash
and burn forest clearing, is an annual event in the Amazon.
<https://www.businessinsider.com/fires-in-the-amazon-rainforest-were-started-by-humans-2019-8>

Looks to me like Central Africa is a lot worse off. Who is trying
to blame any of this on Trump?

Yep. It happens every summer.
"Thousands of Fires in Africa Continue To Burn Bright"
<https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2019/thousands-of-fires-in-africa-continue-to-burn-bright/>

>Does he smoke?

Nope:
<https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-doesnt-drink-or-smoke-2018-1>
"President Donald Trump is healthier than he looks at
least partly because of two life choices: abstaining
from drinking and smoking."
Perhaps he would return to sanity if started smoking and drinking?

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Tom Gardner]

On 24/08/19 19:04, jlarkin@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 07:31:05 +0100, Tom Gardner
spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 24/08/19 01:36, Bill Sloman wrote:
On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 7:05:52 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:
On Fri, 23 Aug 2019 16:00:37 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

On 8/23/19 3:42 PM, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 23:46:10 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

On 8/22/19 10:23 PM, Bill Sloman wrote:
On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 5:03:44 AM UTC+10, John Larkin
wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:54:22 -0500, Jon Elson
elson@pico-systems.com> wrote:

On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:12:58 -0400, bitrex wrote:


Maybe California is America's Never-Never Land.

Oh, this has been true for 60 years or so, maybe more!

Jon

Post-Columbian USA was (mostly) populated by self-selected
adventurous people.

That leaves out the Puritans who wanted to practice religious
intolerance of their neighbours to a degree that more cilivised
countries wouldn't tolerate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_martyrs

The US is a remarkably religious country, even today. It isn't
religious in a particularly attractive sense - banning abortions
and persecuting gays seems to be the most obvious symptom of this
heightened sensibility. Much of the adventurous character seems to
manifest itself in new ways of being mean to the neighbours.


Biblicalism, holy-roller-ism, and "Cultural Christianity" provide a
great cover story for scoundrels to hide out under and run various
hustles and confidence-game swindles. along with patriotism.

"self-selected adventurous people" = hustler.


Hustlers don't invent or build stuff. Americans do.

American industry has come up with some pretty nice things but I think
the notion of American Innovation as a perpetual habit is a bit
overblown. it goes through cycles.

In the late 20th and early 21st century at least it seems American
industry has been at its most innovative when the industry in question
has the metaphorical gun to its head, competition out for blood and they
have no choice but to come up with something, and quickly, or it's lights
out. Apple as an example.

Apple was started by a couple of guys who met in the Homebrew Computer
Club. Microsoft, Google, and Facebook were started by dropout amateurs.

I don't see that sort of thing happening much in other countries.

John Larkin wouldn't. ARM computers in Cambridge - originally Acorn Computers
when I got a job offer from them - weren't started by drop-out amateurs.

I know their first software manager, who was getting Ph.D, in psychology at
the same time, and his Ph.D. supervisor. The software manager was wise enough
to be unhappy about the other manager's skills and sold his share of the
company back to the other founders - Chris Curry and Herman Hauser - shortly
before it went bust for the first time.

Andy Hopper was active in the company (while remaining a lecturer at
Cambridge) and stayed associated with ARM computers. He might be the most
significant factor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Hopper

And Roger Wilson was central to the development of
the Acorn RISC Machine.

I'm not aware he was part of the financial/management
corporate structure.


The ARM example exactly makes my point.

The other interesting thing about Microsoft and Apple and Google is
that they are USA West Coast companies. Aligns with my
double-distillation of crazy creative people idea.

I found the old-world elistist culture of New Orleans, where I grew
up, stifling for technology innovation. So I moved to California.

I suspect that the cultures of many places - Europe, Japan, China -
have too much respect for degrees and authority to allow talented
amateurs to prosper. The UK is maybe not quite so restrictive.

I've heard stories that, 35 years ago at least, Germany paid
attention to the academic degree and job title.

But that hasn't stopped them doing rather well in some respects,
if not in others.

There's more than one way to be successful.

 

[Bill Sloman]

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 5:35:31 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:

On Tue, 27 Aug 2019 20:14:10 +0100, Tom Gardner
spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 27/08/19 18:18, John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 27 Aug 2019 09:29:08 +0100, Tom Gardner
spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 26/08/19 23:25, John Larkin wrote:
On Mon, 26 Aug 2019 23:08:14 +0100, Tom Gardner
spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 26/08/19 22:22, John Larkin wrote:
On Mon, 26 Aug 2019 20:50:23 +0100, Tom Gardner
spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 24/08/19 19:15, jlarkin@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
On Sat, 24 Aug 2019 07:34:28 +0100, Tom Gardner
spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

On 24/08/19 01:21, Bill Sloman wrote:
On Saturday, August 24, 2019 at 5:43:00 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 23:46:10 -0400, bitrex <user@example.net> wrote:

On 8/22/19 10:23 PM, Bill Sloman wrote:
On Friday, August 23, 2019 at 5:03:44 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 13:54:22 -0500, Jon Elson
elson@pico-systems.com> wrote:

On Wed, 21 Aug 2019 21:12:58 -0400, bitrex wrote:

<snip>

There are reasons why a lot of invention happens in the USA, and
especially a few places in the USA.

Yup, but not /only/ in the USA.

But disproportionally so. There must be cultural reasons.

John Larkin's sense of proportion is decidedly pro-American.

For the future, China and the Chinese can be remarkably
resourceful, and it behooves us all to recognise that
before we wake up and find they've eaten our lunch.

The Chinese seem to prefer going after the mass export markets, for
established demand products, to build giant enterprises owned by the
kids of the politicos. I don't see much small-scale innovation, which
is where the Next New Thing often comes from. Not a lot of big
started-in-a-garage enterprises. Maybe they don't have enough garages.

There aren't a lot of big started in-a-garage enterprises anywhere.

One interesting thing that happened in the USA was, after WWII,
kilotons of wartime electronics was deliberately dumped on the surplus
market to seed a generation of kids. As in PMTs and klystrons for 99
cents, exotic CRTs and flashtubes and sniperscope tubes for a few
dollars. It worked.

Really? How?

Tech centers also have serious positive feedbacks, often seeded by one
company or one university. MIT and Stanford were big here; Oxford in
the UK. San Francisco is now drowning in positive feedback.

Cambridge seeded Silicon Fen, Glasgow and Edinburgh Silicon Glen.

I know about them because I was there. John Larkin wasn't and doesn't. I never got close enough to the Dutch and Belgian equivalents, but John Larkin has done stuff for AMSL's photolithography gear which is close to the Dutch technical university in Eindhoven (though it was more driven by Philips than the university).

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

[Rick C]

On Tuesday, August 27, 2019 at 3:35:31 PM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:

On Tue, 27 Aug 2019 20:14:10 +0100, Tom Gardner

Lots of innovation occurs elsewhere, and the inability to
recognise that is a weakness that can lead to long-term loss.

That's been a known syndrome for 2.5 millennia at least.
Hubris followed by nemesis, and all that.


There are reasons why a lot of invention happens in the USA, and
especially a few places in the USA.

Yup, but not /only/ in the USA.

But disproportionally so. There must be cultural reasons.

Not really. There is a lot of innovation that happens outside the USA, you choose to ignore it. I seem to recall the blue LED wasn't invented in the US.

It is truly amazing sometimes how ignorant you choose to be. I mean, this literally is your choice since it is so easy to educate yourself on such topics.

For the future, China and the Chinese can be remarkably
resourceful, and it behooves us all to recognise that
before we wake up and find they've eaten our lunch.

The Chinese seem to prefer going after the mass export markets, for
established demand products, to build giant enterprises owned by the
kids of the politicos. I don't see much small-scale innovation, which
is where the Next New Thing often comes from. Not a lot of big
started-in-a-garage enterprises. Maybe they don't have enough garages.

Garage startups may happen in a new industry since there is lots of low hanging fruit to pick. Larkin is focusing on a few examples of that in the US ignoring all the many, many examples in other countries. He also knows virtually nothing outside of electronics, so none of the other areas of science and technology show on his radar.

One interesting thing that happened in the USA was, after WWII,
kilotons of wartime electronics was deliberately dumped on the surplus
market to seed a generation of kids. As in PMTs and klystrons for 99
cents, exotic CRTs and flashtubes and sniperscope tubes for a few
dollars. It worked.

Yes, it worked to get rid of the surplus electronics.

More recently any kid who can afford a PC can get into all manner of interesting software development which is where most of the advances in technology will appear going forward. There just aren't many types of transistors remaining to be invented. Maybe some new LED colors. Any x-ray LEDs yet?

How about some folks here work on something that might actually be significantly important, like better controllers for solar cells that yield a higher output? Oh wait, Canadian researchers already did that.

Tech centers also have serious positive feedbacks, often seeded by one
company or one university. MIT and Stanford were big here; Oxford in
the UK. San Francisco is now drowning in positive feedback.

Too bad other places don't have universities.

Too bad you virtually never trip your posts.

--

Rick C.

+-- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
+-- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[Winfield Hill]

Bill Sloman wrote...

On August 29, 2019, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

Some Brit-originated but US developed technology was
important too, like radar and sonar and proximity fuses.

Radar was not only originated in the UK, but also largely
developed there.

That's totally correct, and the details make fascinating
reading. It's incredible how important the magnetron was.

That was developed in the US as a direct consequence of
the Tizard mision.

They carried final working versions, seeking to quickly
take advantage of manufacturing capabilities in the U.S.

I've written here about the 5D21 tube, and its amazing
20kV 15A capability. Using four of them, with a pulse-
forming transformer, to pulse magnetrons to 250kW, was
an important part. Maybe that was developed in the U.S.


--
Thanks,
- Win