{"id":21723,"date":"2021-07-19T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T19:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=21723"},"modified":"2021-07-21T19:58:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T19:58:14","slug":"hand-me-a-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/hand-me-a-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"Hand Me a Beer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Writer\u2019s Section had some fun yesterday. Warm, sure, that is the Piedmont in muggy summer. Nature\u2019s warm, moist embrace. Was there a case of beer evident in the discussion? Like the Texas legislators stowed away on their private plane to flee injustice in the Lone Star State?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In point of fact, there was a similar case of beverage on the edge of the Loading Dock. But some powerful thinking was produced, like the Texans who fled to Washington to exercise their right to filibuster in their home state by talking to people here in Washington who wish to abolish the filibuster in the U.S. Senate.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know. It is complicated trying to keep it straight until you remember it doesn\u2019t have to make sense. It is about situational power, consistency not required. \u00a0 But that is the case everywhere, and not always with the help of a potable beverage. DeMille has kids, one of whom is moving to Southern California for personal reasons. Getting ready included some stuff that did not used to be necessary. The Writer\u2019s Section all have lived in SoCal for reasons of military assignment, and without exception enjoyed the experience. The beauty and lovely climate made it a special place to be with friends and family and celebrate the California experience. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Times change, apparently a little more methodically than the climate. The Texas legislators were drinking \u201cMiller Light\u201d on their flight to freedom. The Writer\u2019s Section relied on the Eight Point IPA beverage produced by the Devil\u2019s Backbone brewery in Roseland. It is a robust brew that incentivizes bold thought. It being Sunday yesterday, thoughts were effusive and smeared with a certain sunlit spirituality.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo,\u201d asked Loma. \u201cWho liked the effort to clean up the Cuyahoga River back in President Nixon\u2019s time?\u201d Everyone raised a gnarled hand, except one. \u00a0 \u201cYou mean the river in Cleveland that used to catch fire?\u201d growled Rocket. \u00a0 \u201cYes. The reason the Environmental Protection Agency was founded. To clean the environment.\u201d Loma was pretty sure about that and reached for another 8 Point, clean and refreshing from the ice bucket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0 \u201cThey did a pretty good job. I haven\u2019t heard of any flaming estuaries in quite a while.\u201d \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey enforced Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Good work. That is one of the reasons America is pretty clean now. In fact, the Agency reported that from 2005 to 2018, total American CO2 emissions were cut by 12%.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cExcept global emissions, mostly from China and India, went up 24%. The Chinese are building a new coal-fired generation plant every day,\u201d said DeMille with a grin. Another bottle of 8 Point performed a lazy arc across the circle and landed with a refreshing crackle in the trash bin. \u201cAnd I think it is useful to remember you are sitting on a chair manufactured in Wuhan.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cLike something else.\u201d There was a general sigh around the circle and the Chairman lit up a Lucky in the designated place it was still permitted. \u201cAnd they still haven\u2019t proved there is any direct relation of the miniscule amount of CO2 in the atmosphere driving global climate change, which it does.\u201d \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat? CO2? Since when? Don\u2019t they make a new erroneous prediction about the end of the world every few years?\u201d \u00a0 \u201cNo, the climate changes all the time and it always has. But the consensus says it is CO2 that drives it. You have to believe in consensus Science. Everyone says so.\u201d \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Scientific consensus used to be that the sun revolved around the Earth.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cHand me a beer,\u201d said DeMille. Being our only nuclear-trained officer, he normally has a fairly good grasp of physics. He popped the cap on his fresh bottle and smiled. \u201cCalifornia is an excellent field study on how this all works. They are mandating a change to electric-powered vehicles while simultaneously shifting the load of the power from conventional sources to sun and wind. It will solve the world\u2019s problems.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rest of the world doesn\u2019t seem to care very much if they are still building coal-fired plants.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThey promise to get with the program in twenty or thirty years, once they have established reliable networks to provide electricity to all their citizens who need it.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat would mean the world will have ended a couple times by then by the consensus. But what about California? They are using coal-fired energy to build electric cars that they are prohibited from charging when the sun goes down, or the wind doesn\u2019t blow. That seems sort of crazy.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNope. It is the consensus. And everyone voted for it.\u201d Loma scowled as he reached for another refreshing beverage. \u00a0 \u201cWell, the machines say they voted for it, anyway. Once we get California regulations jammed down our throats all across the country we will all be fine.\u201d \u00a0 \u201cDoesn\u2019t California have to import electricity from places that still produce it when people need it?\u201d \u00a0 \u201cHand me a beer,\u201d said DeMille. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
www,vicsocotra.com \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Writer\u2019s Section had some fun yesterday. Warm, sure, that is the Piedmont in muggy summer. Nature\u2019s warm, moist embrace. Was there a case of beer evident in the discussion? Like the Texas legislators stowed away on their private plane to flee injustice in the Lone Star State?\u00a0 \u00a0 In point of fact, there was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-socotra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21725,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21723\/revisions\/21725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}