Dr Keith Walker @SteelFolk@qoto.org

A daily reminder:

Climate Change is a CO2 problem. We will not solve it without drastically cutting fossil fuel emissions.

There are moments when a conversation leaves you speechless and immediately expands your worldview. When I chatted with United States Army veteran, feminist, writer and trans activist Charlotte Clymer, that is exactly what happened.

As many know, the Republicans have targeted the trans community with particular viciousness and ferocity in the past two years and we want to understand what’s behind it a bit more deeply. At a more fundamental level, we want to hear from trans people like Charlotte about common myths and misconceptions and what it’s like to be trans in America today.

Importantly, those of us who are horrified by the legislative attacks on trans identity and hate crimes against trans people want to know how we can best be allies in this struggle.

Please consider taking the time to hear directly from Charlotte about what is currently happening: https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/five-questions-with-charlotte-clymer

Fab map of the world's electric/telecom/oil/gas infrastructure, v @stewartbrand on Twitter, https://bit.ly/3LuNUNu, makes clear the cause of Fukushima: its sea wall was too low to protect against tsunamis. Onagawa Nuclear plant, 50mi to the north, closer to the quake epicenter, w/ sea walls built to the correct height of 10m, easily survived the magnitude 9.0 quake.

#Nuclear #energy is safe.

It was done right at Onagawa;
It was done right at DiabloCanyon;
It will be done right in the future.

There’s something very worrisome happening in Ohio that we should all be aware of. If it succeeds, it could serve as a blueprint for the GOP nationwide. But there’s an opportunity to stop it—and all of us, particularly folks in Ohio, can help. I explain in today’s piece. https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/the-gop-is-trying-to-steal-democracy?sd=pf

The alps lost a whopping 3.5 m of ice cover last year, according to new glacier monitoring data from Switzerland. This means a decrease in ice volume by 6% in just one year.

https://climate.copernicus.eu/esotc/2022/land-cryosphere

#climate #climatechange #science #alps

Yes, the climate has always changed.

But, the speed of recent change is unprecedented.

More importantly, we understand why.

Burning fossil fuels & deforestation adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere which warms the planet.

Simple physics. Understood for more than a century.

#EarthDay

Well, looks like Team Takei let the cat out of the bag, but it’s true. Today is my birthday! Admittedly, I’m going to be a bit shameless because of the occasion and ask you to help me win a bet. I told Brad that since I’m turning 86, I could get at least 86 readers to upgrade to a paid subscription to my Substack, #TheBigPicture.

I understand many might not be familiar with the platform, so today's piece on The Big Picture breaks down the different ways you can support my Substack and help me win this bet (take that, Brad)! See you there: https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/george-takei-big-picture-birthday

"We don’t know how many banks are actively avoiding regulation and exposing their stakeholders to excessive risk. But as we have seen, it only takes a couple of rogue banks to destabilise the whole system."

Coppola Comment: we need to talk about banks, again. https://coppolacomment.substack.com/p/we-need-to-talk-about-banks-again?r=2bre7b&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Happy Monday morning 🌻 These hummingbirds with the yellow under their beaks are confusing me,which ones are they?

Looking for some help

A week or so ago, there was an article I saw get boosted a few times. It was about ants or some animal in Africa and the noteworthy part was that the (western?) researchers quoted the local community leaders as experts on the critter based on a long history of living together and included them as authors.

Can anyone help me find that article again? Boosts much appreciated!

The GOP has yet to realize that running on an anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-vaccine, pro book ban, anti-trans, pro-Russia platform isn’t going to win over new voters. It’s going to bring ruin upon their party.

And they will have deserved it.

Coppola Comment long read on the fractional reserve crisis playing out in crypto and in parts of the wider financial system. Shadow banking is back.
https://www.coppolacomment.com/2023/04/a-fractional-reserve-crisis.html

After witnessing a white doctor refuse to treat a sick, elderly Native American woman who later died, Susan LaFlesche Picotte decided to become a physician to help her people. Born in 1865, she grew up on Nebraska’s Omaha reservation.

In 1889, Picotte became the first female Native American to earn a medical degree in the U.S. She raised funding & opened Wathill Hospital in 1913 - the first private hospital on a reservation. https://drsusancenter.org/dr-susan #HistoryRemix #history #science

Still many yrs away, in part b/c of scant $$, there's gr8 promise in #nuclear #fusion.

The Internat'l Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is using a Tokomak design (this vid). https://bit.ly/3UGqwiX

The nxt step in fusion design is the Stellarator: plasma is confined by rapidly changing magnetic fields, shaped by complex magneto-hydrodynamics computations on a supercomputer.

Germany is building one! https://bit.ly/43ztfyI (Ignore the over hype!)

The future is nuclear!
#science

If you care about horse welfare, don't watch the #GrandNational. Don't bet on it. Don't go to Aintree.
https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2023-04-13/first-horse-dies-at-grand-national-as-calls-for-stricter-safety-measures#:~:text=Four%20horses%20died%20at%20Aintree,the%20on%2Dcourse%20veterinary%20team.