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OT: The News Thread

Habitants87 said:
So to sum up, I don't see fascism, I don't see economic ruin, I don't see organised state sanctioned/tolerated violence and hate speech against minorities and immigrants. I don't see everyone who votes and supports them as racist. I do foresee a end to the EU, a period of adjustment followed by a return of mainstream parties at some point when people feel that they get the message.
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Oh good
 
in other news, Fillion is done.

http://time.com/4660869/french-election-francois-fillon-marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron/

Fillon surged in polling in late 2016, as he barnstormed through France pushing for belt-tightening measures, including cutting 500,000 civil-service jobs. Then, in late January, the weekly investigative paper Canard Enchaîné revealed his wife Penelope had earned €900,000 over a period of 12 years, while Fillon was a French Senator and then Prime Minister, for an assistant's job she appeared never to do, as well a contributor to a literary journal whose editor did not recall her. Fillon also hired two of his five children for seemingly phantom jobs, paying them about €84,000 in additional funds. Then last Thursday, Britain's Telegraph newspaper released a 2009 videotaped interview with Penelope Fillon, in which she said she had never worked for her husband.

Instead, two candidates linked only by their claims to represent a popular insurgency are emerging as the frontrunners: the far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen; and Emmanuel Macron, a former Rothschild banker, just 39, who speaks fluent English and who was Hollande's former Economy Minister until September, when he quit the government to launch his presidential bid as an independent candidate
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I wonder how Macron will do matched up versus Le Pen. He has started a new party and I doubt it has much in the term of organization and a ground game yet.
 
Solar power news:

Coal is kind of never coming back

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/st...R_POWER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- The plunging cost of solar power is leading U.S. electric companies to capture more of the sun just when President Donald Trump is moving to boost coal and other fossil fuels.

Solar power represents just about 1 percent of the electricity U.S. utilities generate today, but that could grow substantially as major electric utilities move into smaller-scale solar farming, a niche developed by local cooperatives and non-profits.

It's both an opportunity and a defensive maneuver: Sunshine-capturing technology has become so cheap, so quickly, that utilities are moving to preserve their core business against competition from household solar panels.

"Solar growth is so extensive and has so much momentum behind it that we're at the point where you can't put the genie back in the bottle," said Jeffrey R.S. Brownson, a Pennsylvania State University professor who studies solar adoption. "You either learn how to work with this new medium, solar energy, or you're going to face increasing conflicts."
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and the Chinese are ahead of the curve

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/china-solar-energy/

Not only is it the world’s most populous country, it’s now also the world’s biggest producer of solar energy. On Saturday, the National Energy Administration (NEA) noted that the nation officially claimed the title after doubling its installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity last year. By the end of 2016, China’s capacity hit 77.42 gigawatts, and while this is great in terms of raw numbers, it’s a lot less impressive relative to the country’s massive population.

As it stands, solar energy represents only one percent of the country’s energy output. But this may soon change as China devotes more and more of its attention towards clean energy. The NEA says that China will seek to add more than 110 gigawatts within the next three years, which could help the nation up the proportion of its renewable energy use to 20 percent by 2030. Today, it stands at 11 percent.

Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/china-solar-energy/#ixzz4XxcPOIkx
Follow us: @digitaltrends on Twitter | DigitalTrends on Facebook
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Maybe I should add Mandarin to my duo lingo profile?
 
My son just won an architectural competition. He designed and engineered a zero footprint house. I wasn't crazy about the modern aesthetic design of it but the judges seemed to like it. He's all about having designs like these replace common construction. I reminded him people can't afford the cost. Yet.

The next generations are into renewable/zero footprint.
 
Bleedsblue&white said:
Remember habsaddict telling us how solar power would never go anywhere?

My son is entering his co-op year, Engineering at Carleton, and he's taken the renewable/sustainable course, good choice for his future.
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I tried to tell him. Technology doesn't stop moving forward and all of his bluster about the fundamental problems were either straight wrong or simply engineering hurdles nobody had jumped over yet. Solar still can't be baseload...but in 30 years when battery tech is a generation or two improved?
 
Habsy said:
My son just won an architectural competition. He designed and engineered a zero footprint house. I wasn't crazy about the modern aesthetic design of it but the judges seemed to like it. He's all about having designs like these replace common construction. I reminded him people can't afford the cost. Yet.

The next generations are into renewable/zero footprint.
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millenials.
 
He's a good kid. I'm proud of him. He has the balls to argue with pops about pretty much everything.
 
Habsy said:
My son just won an architectural competition. He designed and engineered a zero footprint house. I wasn't crazy about the modern aesthetic design of it but the judges seemed to like it. He's all about having designs like these replace common construction. I reminded him people can't afford the cost. Yet.

The next generations are into renewable/zero footprint.
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awesome for him

you are right re the footprint stuff but some are total hypocrites about it. I knew a guy who didn't want to drive due to a carbon footprint but the ******* had no shame. He would ask for lifts to dinner meetings, to get home etc.
 
MindzEye said:
"They just don't understand how the world works" should be replaced with: they think previous generations have done a shit job building the world we've given them
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... even though you just hired us yesterday, give us positions of power today, we deserve it, but if we screw up, only positive feedback please"
 
Habsy said:
My son just won an architectural competition. He designed and engineered a zero footprint house. I wasn't crazy about the modern aesthetic design of it but the judges seemed to like it. He's all about having designs like these replace common construction. I reminded him people can't afford the cost. Yet.

The next generations are into renewable/zero footprint.
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What, no Greek revival?

(But anyway, kudos.)
 
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