Author Archives: Tom Lewis

Don’t Say Anything, But We’re Losing This War

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A house teeters on the edge of an eroding cliff in San Clemente, California. The sea will take this house, and thousands more, but we can’t talk about it.

The summer of 1942 was a special time in the modern history of the United States because for several months both coasts were under armed attack by hostile powers. German U-Boats were sinking Allied ships within sight of the Florida and Carolina coasts, wreckage and the bodies of dead sailors were constantly washing ashore. In June, Japanese forces invaded two islands in the Aleutian chain off the coast of Alaska, which they occupied for almost a year.

In the summer of 2019, both coasts of the United States are under attack by a hostile force far more formidable than Japan and Germany in the 1940s, one that is winning every pitched battle, while the leaders of the Federal government and of many states insist that the enemy does not exist. Continue reading →

The Next Worst Thing Yet: Facial Recognition

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Law enforcement and security forces around the world, as well as operators of airports and commercial buildings, are racing headlong for bragging rights for having deployed facial recognition technology to try to  spot bad guys and confirm IDs in all kinds of situations. From the FBI to ICE to several big-city PDs, agents have been caught trolling through drivers-licence files with software designed to identify illegal immigrants, wanted criminals, and other miscreants. 

It’s another huge and successful con, perpetrated by marketers of cameras and software on an endlessly gullible audience who want desperately to believe that artificial intelligence is not artificial, that machine learning is real learning, that robots can do everything humans can do only better. The inconvenient truth is that facial recognition does not work. Continue reading →

This is a ClusterHack

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At about 7 am last Sunday, the power went out simultaneously in five countries — all of Argentina, most of Uruguay and parts of Paraguay, Chile and Brazil. About 50 million people were affected as homes, businesses and cities were crippled for about 12 hours. One power company blamed another, one country blamed another, but eventually a consensus emerged: the system had been brought down by a cyber attack. 

It remains to be seen whether or not this explanation was a way of deflecting attention from the culpability of executives and governors who have presided over the long deterioration of electric grids everywhere. But it is true — and a great irony — that much of what utilities have spent in recent years to upgrade the grid has made it far more vulnerable to bad actors.  Continue reading →

Recycling: Garbage In, Garbage Out

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You can sort it any way you want it, but increaskngly, it’s all going to the same place.

Recycling has always been the friendly face of environmentalism, the feel-good thing that even Republicans would cheerfully do to save the planet. It became popular much like taking a daily aspirin to ward off a heart attack; it was always easier than the alternatives, things like strenuous exercise and rigorous dieting. Recycle, or pay a hefty carbon tax? Yeah, we all said, I can recycle!

It didn’t take long for a significant number of us to enlist, egged on by environmental organizations that discovered it was far easier to recruit members with pitches based on recycling than, for example, admonishments to forswear air conditioning. Just recycle, the implicit message was, and you can continue with your hedonistic lifestyle — as long as you separate the plastic trash from the aluminum trash.

Much like recycling, dumpster hiring, has emerged as a practical and environmentally conscious solution for individuals and businesses alike. It’s akin to choosing the easier path in our commitment to a greener planet – a bit like opting for that daily aspirin. When faced with the option of responsible waste disposal or potentially facing hefty consequences like carbon taxes, the choice becomes clear. And just as environmental organizations have successfully rallied support for their cause through recycling initiatives, dumpster rental services, such as those offered by https://grissmandumpsters.com/green-bay-dumpster-rentals/, provide a hassle-free means to continue our daily routines while responsibly managing waste-making sustainability a seamless part of our lifestyles.

The concept extends to skip bins as well, providing a practical solution for waste disposal. For those in regions like Adelaide, embracing solutions like cheap skip bin hire Adelaide ensures that the commitment to sustainability remains not only environmentally conscious but also economically viable, further fostering a culture of responsible waste management. By opting for skip bin hire, individuals and businesses can streamline their waste management processes, saving time and effort in the process. The hassle-free nature of this service also encourages more people to actively participate in responsible waste disposal practices. This, in turn, contributes to the overall cleanliness and aesthetic appeal of the community.

In the diverse landscape of waste disposal needs, roofing projects often generate substantial debris that requires specialized handling. For those in Hillsborough County, roofer dumpster rental becomes a practical solution to efficiently manage the waste generated during roofing projects. These dumpsters are designed to accommodate roofing materials, ensuring a safe and convenient means of disposal. Whether you are a roofing professional or a homeowner undertaking a roofing project, opting for a roofer dumpster rental hillsborough county offers a tailored solution that aligns with the unique requirements of roofing debris. This efficient and specialized waste management approach not only enhances the overall workflow of roofing projects but also contributes to maintaining a clean and organized work site.

Whatever the merits of the proposition, the instant that the number of adherents became significant, recycling became industrialized, in much the same way that a critical mass of believers turned the term “organic” — applied to supermarket stuff — into a punchline. In the 1980s, industry had one answer for every question, and when the question became how can we make a ton of money out of the rising tide of recyclables the answer, as always, was “China.”   Continue reading →

Apocalypse Now? This Week?

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The little known Old River Control Structure (bottom center) is a frail line of defense between the raging Mississippi River (top) and a total dislocation of the US economy, by way of the Atchafalaya River (bottom).

[Reposted from June because it’s happening again in July]

The United States economy right now, this week, faces a risk of catastrophic disruption that has been approached only four times in the last century. And CNN isn’t covering it.

The Mississippi River has for nearly a hundred years been trying to change course at the northern border of Louisiana, with catastrophic consequences for the economy of the United States. The river wants to switch to the course of the Atchafalaya River, and enter the Gulf at Morgan City, 65 miles west of New Orleans. This would cut off deep-water access for the Port of New Orleans and every industry located on the lower Mississippi River: taken together, the busiest port system in the world. Continue reading →

This is Your Last Warming

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“Storm over Glebe” by kateausburn is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Catastrophic floods of Biblical proportions have deluged the American heartland, from North Dakota east to Ohio and south to Louisiana. It’s been the wettest 12 months since they started keeping weather records in 1895. Planting of corn and soybean crops has been delayed or canceled over enormous swaths of the nation’s breadbasket, with as yet uncalculated consequences for America’s farmers — and food supply. Climate scientists say these conditions are going to get much worse in the coming years.

But, hey, President Trumpet was consorting with Sumo wrestlers in Japan last weekend, and tweeting his little heart out about Biden having a low IQ, and Mueller finding no collusion, and something something Hillary and something something Obama. For his traveling comfort, he was supplied with Fox News and Big Macs at all times, and a large tarp was draped over the name on the navy destroyer USS John McCain, which was also visiting Japan, so that the name of the national hero would not offend the president’s eye. We’re in good hands. Continue reading →

5G: The Next Worst Thing

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How about a room-size cell phone? No? Okay, wait, how about….

Cell phone makers and telecom companies are increasingly desperate to keep us in the habit of trashing our phones every year or two in order to be among the first to own the Next Big Thing. That made some sense when cell phones were progressing from flip phones that couldn’t do anything but make a phone call to the web browsers/movie screens/GPS navigators/music players/cameras that they are today.

But there hasn’t been a Next Big Thing for quite a while now, and it’s getting really easy to see them sweat. Recently we’ve been offered three — count ‘em, three — cameras on a single phone. No thanks. For $2,000 you could earlier this year have bought a double wide phone with a screen that folds out to IMAX size: “It’s huge! It folds! It breaks! After just a few folds!” No thanks.

But they have it now. They are sure they have it now, it’s called 5G. The explanation is a little technical, so hold tight: using a combination of ultra-high, ultra-low and ultra-middle radio frequencies, 5G networks will dramatically increase download and upload speeds and reduce latency. Yeah, I don’t know what that means either. Apparently, if you have been cursing your phone for taking more than four seconds to download a two hour, high-definition movie for display on your IMAX-size fold out screen, then 5G is what you want. Continue reading →

The Dopamine Hypothesis

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Since he’s coming anyway, perhaps we should just take something and enjoy the visit? Oh. Never mind.

The euphoria of the dying is well known but little understood. Stories abound of people who have been languishing toward oblivion but just before the end rally briefly with a burst of energy and optimism that astonishes their families. It has been proposed, although whether with any scientific credibility or not I do not know, that when the organism comprehends its imminent extinction it floods itself with dopamine, buoying the mood of the dying. It has also been speculated that people facing violent death, in a plane going down, for example, or at the hands of a murderer, are anesthetized by the dopamine rush and experience their final seconds as a kind of peaceful lark.

I don’t know if this dopamine hypothesis is valid, but it is comforting to believe it, whether we are contemplating our own end or that of a loved one. Taking the suffering out of the equation, once the end is at hand, would be, to say the least, helpful. As Shakespeare said in a slightly different context, it would be a consummation devoutly to be wished.

I am wondering if the same thing happens when a civilization, say for example western industrial civilization, reaches its expiration date. How else to explain the irrational exuberance of American consumers, investors, brokers, politicians and Uber drivers as they stride confidently toward what any rational mind can see is imminent destruction. They’ve gotta be on something. Continue reading →

Infrastructure Dreaming: Neither Ham Nor Eggs

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Once marvels of modern engineering, highways are mostly over half a century old, and starting to fall down.

 

If we had some ham, the old saying goes, we could have some ham and eggs. If only we had some eggs. If we had the money, the new saying goes, we could fix our decaying infrastructure. If we had the materials. But we don’t.

Infrastructure is a cold, hard word. But it means the house in which the industrial world lives — the electric grid, the water and sewer lines, the roads and bridges, dams, airports, seaports, on and on. And our industrial world in America is on the verge of being homeless because the house is rotting down, the electric lines sparking dangerously, the water lines leaking, the roads and bridges rotting away. Continue reading →

The 11th Commandment

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“1871 Ten Commandments” by silicon_press_uk is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

A couple hundred years ago, when Charlton Heston came down off Mount Ararat with the Ten Commandments inscribed on two stone tablets, he told the crowd of extras waiting for him at the foot of Rodeo Drive — I’m paraphrasing from memory here so a few details may not be quite right —  he said “Actually I have 11 commandments but the laser printer malfunctioned and we couldn’t get the last one on the tablets. But here it is. Number 11: Do not badmouth Israel.”

Today, just about the only commandments Americans take seriously are Number 9, the one about murder, and Number 11. Nobody breaks a sweat about swearing or adultery or working on the Sabbath, but if you say anything snide about Netanyahu you better be ready for a public stoning.

Just ask Ilhan Omar, the newly elected Congresswoman from Minneapolis. She had the temerity to observe in public that the Israel lobby gets whatever it wants from the Congress because it showers money on Congresscritters. She has further had the gall to suggest that it is not proper for the American government to require loyalty to Israel as a condition of serving on a Congressional committee or holding a public job. For these remarks she has been branded as anti-Semite and widely and hysterically condemned, mostly by her fellow Democrats.   Continue reading →