The recent rains have been helpful. Sacramento Executive Airport went from 60% of a normal rainy season to 73%, with more coming next Thursday, so we can keep catching up.The Utah House of Representatives made a rap video about how a bill becomes law, and somehow it's worse than you would expect pic.twitter.com/Dq3U7RwGBu
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) March 1, 2018
The US electricity sector is in a period of unprecedented change and turmoil. Renewable energy prices are falling like crazy. Natural gas production continues its extraordinary surge. Coal, the golden child of the current administration, is headed down the tubes.
In all that bedlam, it’s easy to lose sight of an equally important (if less sexy) trend: Demand for electricity is stagnant.
Thanks to a combination of greater energy efficiency, outsourcing of heavy industry, and customers generating their own power on site, demand for utility power has been flat for 10 years, and most forecasts expect it to stay that way. The die was cast around 1998, when GDP growth and electricity demand growth became “decoupled”.
This historic shift has wreaked havoc in the utility industry in ways large and small, visible and obscure. Some of that havoc is high-profile and headline-making, as in the recent requests from utilities (and attempts by the Trump administration) to bail out large coal and nuclear plants.
...To be clear: For both economic and environmental reasons, it is good that US power demand has decoupled from GDP growth. As long as we’re getting the energy services we need, we want overall demand to decline. It saves money, reduces pollution, and avoids the need for expensive infrastructure.
But the way we’ve set up utilities, they must fight that trend. Every time they are forced to invest in energy efficiency or make some allowance for distributed generation (and they must always be forced), demand for their product declines, and with it their justification to make new investments.
Only when the utility model fundamentally changes — when utilities begin to see themselves primarily as architects and managers of high-efficiency, low-emissions, multidirectional electricity systems rather than just investors in infrastructure growth — can utilities turn in earnest to the kind planning they need to be doing.
In a climate-aligned world, utilities would view the decoupling of power demand from GDP growth as cause for celebration, a sign of success. They would throw themselves into accelerating the trend.
Instead, utilities find themselves constantly surprised, caught flat-footed again and again by a trend they desperately want to believe is temporary. Unless we can collectively reorient utilities to pursue rather than fear current trends in electricity, they are headed for a grim reckoning.
A California couple was arrested Wednesday after it was discovered their three children were living inside a box, officials said.
Deputies made the gruesome discovery while conducting an area check in Joshua Tree, according to a press release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
They found "a travel trailer, which appeared to be abandoned, and a large rectangular box made of plywood on the property," the release reads. "The property had no electricity or running water. Several large holes and mounds of trash and human feces were located throughout the property."
(CNN)A Las Vegas billboard was vandalized to read, "Shoot a school kid only $29," early Thursday morning.
The billboard originally read, "Shoot a .50 caliber only $29." It was an advertisement for a local firing range called Battlefield Vegas, which, according to its website, is a business owned and operated by veterans that features a "military-style complex" a block from the Las Vegas Strip, as well as additional "outdoor training areas."
The billboard company, Lamar, said it "immediately removed the billboard at the request of the authorities, and we're cooperating with law enforcement agencies as they investigate further."
A guerrilla artists collective called INDECLINE took responsibility for changing the billboard. A spokesperson for the collective said, "It was time for us to address gun reform and to do something louder than an AR-15."
President Donald Trump continues to stew in his anger with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who Trump believes has not properly defended him or gone after the FBI corruption alleged by conservatives, according to a Wednesday evening Washington Post report.
Trump has referred to Sessions as Mr. Magoo, a cartoon elderly man with poor vision, people who have spoken with Trump told the Washington Post.
Either way, the results of the study, while not completely a shock, are unnerving, especially a conclusion that domestic cats have a desire to kill humans and would likely do so if they were bigger and stronger.
Time to break out the thrift store formal and take a turn in the spotlight. On Oscar Night, “Lady Bird” has a chance to soar – and that’s inspired some creative celebration.
Sacramento-grown filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story is nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Saoirse Ronan, who plays Lady Bird, and Laurie Metcalf, her beleaguered mother, were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectfully. The Oscars will be broadcast live from Hollywood at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Starting with a 4:30 p.m. red carpet walk, the biggest local bash will be at St. Francis High School, Gerwig’s alma mater.
“We’ve never had an Oscar party,” said MaryAnne Kelly of St. Francis High School, “but we’ve never had an alumnus nominated for five Oscars before.”
On Sunday evening, a life-size cutout of Gerwig (Class of ’02) will greet 350 guests to St. Francis’ Oscar party. (Tickets – $25 – are almost sold out.)
...“We found old VHS tapes of (theatrical) shows Greta did when she was in high school plus a video of an Oscar party she had with friends,” Kelly said. Those vintage tapes will be part of a video tribute.
...“Lady Bird” already has put Club Raven on the must-see map.
“It’s a funny thing; people from all over stop by just to say they’d been here,” Barnes-Arguijo said. “When I first saw the movie at the Tower Theater, the crowd started cheering when they saw the neon signs (of Sacramento landmarks).”
That same mix of pride and curiosity has filled walking and running tours of “Lady Bird” landmarks. On Sunday, Sac Running Tours will host at least three “Lady Bird” tours, maybe four, in a pre-Oscar party on the move.
“It’s blown me away,” said Jenn Kistler-McCoy, owner of Sac Running Tours. “Way more people than I anticipated have wanted to go on a ‘Lady Bird’ tour.”
Kistler-McCoy, who started the tour Feb. 11, already has guided more than 150 people on a 3.2-mile loop through East Sacramento.
“It started out with just locals,” Kistler-McCoy said, “but now we’re getting people from Grass Valley and the Bay Area. We’re reaching people from a wide area.”
The tour stops at such sites as the McKinley rose garden, Club Raven and that big blue house on 44th Street.
“My favorite stop is the same as everybody else’s; I love the big blue house,” Kistler-McCoy said. “The owners (Chris and Amy Wood) have been just fantastic; they’re so receptive.”
For example, soap residue or water spots could effectively "blind" an autonomous car. A traditional car wash's heavy brushes could jar the vehicle's sensors, disrupting their calibration and accuracy. Even worse, sensors, which can cost over $100,000, could be broken.
A self-driving vehicle's exterior needs to be cleaned even more frequently than a typical car because the sensors must remain free of obstructions. Dirt, dead bugs, bird droppings or water spots can impact the vehicle's ability to drive safely.
Yesterday, I decided to drop some letters off at the mailbox- maybe ten blocks, round trip. Never thought I’d make it home. I don’t like this invalid lifestyle.On the afternoon of Feb. 20, detectives investigated a report of terroristic threats at the school, where they learned that a student had been completing a math problem that required drawing the square-root sign.
Students in the group began commenting that the symbol, which represents a number that when multiplied by itself equals another number, looked like a gun.
After several students made comments along those lines, another student said something the sheriff’s office said could have sounded like a threat out of context.
Police searched the student’s home, where they found no guns or any evidence that he had any access to guns. Authorities also wrote there was no evidence the student had any intent to commit harm.
“The student used extremely poor judgment in making the comment, but in light of the actual circumstances, there was clearly no evidence to support criminal charges,” the department wrote, adding that the school board had been contacted to determine any disciplinary action for the student.
After decades of making headlines, Padilla not long ago quietly slipped out of Sacramento. He had suffered a debilitating stroke, and his life today in a Denver nursing home is nothing like his previous existence. He once chased down criminals and took swings at those in power, but today he can’t walk on his own. The formerly imposing figure has withered to 140 pounds. Photos of him today evoke Al Pacino at the end of “The Godfather Part III.” The man who ruled an empire now sits and watches life pass by him.
Investigators say Marsh was armed with a shotgun, wearing camouflage and using an electronic coyote caller when he set up on the ground near a tree, according to the Taylorsville Times. Dunn, who lives in the area, told deputies that he heard coyotes screaming and believed they had trapped something in a tree, the Times reported.
He went to investigate and thought he saw something “brown and gray” that looked like a coyote, media outlets report. Dunn fired two shots with an AR-15, striking Marsh twice in the chest. Marsh then stood up and yelled “stop shooting, you hit me,” according to the Observer’s news partner WBTV.
The Washington Post published a map of the most isolated towns in the United States, as measured by how long it takes for residents to drive to the nearest metropolitan area. The researchers measured communities that had populations of more than 1,000.
The top three communities are all in Montana. Glasgow took number one, Scobey took second and Wolf Point took third.
...Other isolated communities topping the list include Battle Mountain, Nevada; Presidio, Texas and a handful of cities in Kansas.
All she did was ski up and down the halfpipe, slowly and carefully. The only flair she showed came at the end of her run, when she skied out of the halfpipe backward. Not very impressive flair!
This performance was not a surprise to anyone who knew Swaney. She has become infamous on the World Cup halfpipe circuit for attending as many events as possible. She performs no tricks. She rarely falls down. She always finishes at or near the bottom of the standings.
How, then, did this pedestrian skier make it into the Olympics? Loopholes! “Women’s pipe skiing World Cups rarely see more than 30 competitors, so it’s not hard to meet the Olympic requirement for a top-30 finish,” writes Jason Blevins of the Denver Post. Swaney, who has aspired since childhood to make it to the Olympics, chose the least popular sport she could find, so that even if she was the absolute worst international competitor, she had a chance to qualify for the games just by showing up at World Cup events.
A 6-year-old boy died after undergoing an MRI exam at a New York-area hospital when the machine's powerful magnetic field jerked a metal oxygen tank across the room, crushing the child's head.
The force of the device's 10-ton magnet is about 30,000 times as powerful as Earth's magnetic field, and 200 times stronger than a common refrigerator magnet.
BILLINGS, Mont. - A 53-year-old Illinois man who fell to his death in Yellowstone National Park last year was looking for a supposed hidden cache of gold and jewels.
KULR-TV reports that Jeff Murphy of Batavia, Illinois, was looking for the treasurer that antiquities dealer Forrest Fenn says he stashed somewhere in the Rocky Mountains several years ago.
Here's my bed in the ICU.
Status Board.
Nurse Rose (on the right). Great assistance, attitude, attention!
Computer monitor.
Dannette Vassar, Marc Valdez, Jan Isaacson, Steve Isaacson (photo by Nurse Rose).
Goodbye Room 4612; Hello Room 4316.
Fourth Floor Bridge Over L Street.
Nurse Benjamin and my new bed.
Start.
Sunday morning amble 
Sutter's Fort.
A patient on the sidewalk below with his IV rack gazes at the hospital's statue of John Sutter.
Finish.
Well, my cardiologist Dr. Xu signed off on my release, but he’s only the most-important in a hierarchy of doctors and nurses who need to sign off before I can be released. The others will come soon. Since I won’t get out before tomorrow I might well get my heart-wall MRI tomorrow rather than Tuesday.
Holy crap! Just got out of the MRI machine! Endurance run! Started laughing though, when it sounded like the high-tech machine was farting. Spelunking experience back in the day came in handy in this tight space. It's hard to hold your breath for controlled, extended times after a heart attack. Requires focus.
My helpful MRI operator. "Take a deep breath. Now breathe all the way out, and hold!"
From the nurses.
Final wheelchair roll out of the hospital, Monday evening, Feb. 19th, about 5 p.m. Mary Young arrived for a visit just as I was leaving. At home now, where I will hole up for awhile.
From the pedestrian skyway crossing 29th Street at L Street, two turkeys can be seen crossing 29th Street just outside the pedestrian crossing. Just weird.
