Of Sunshine and Leaks

Sunshine

Scott Adams mentions recent reports on Trump wanting to put solar panels on "The Wall."

Persuasion, etc., aside, this is the first time I've heard something related to large-scale solar that almost makes sense.

I ran numbers once in a discussion of Solar, and realized that at then-current output, solar panels could provide the reported needs of the US in an area the size of a corner of Nevada.

This sounds pretty awesome - it leaves a LOT of teh US alone - but the issues were several.

First - baseline power. I have to look no further than the nearest metals plant to find examples of something that draws a fairly constant, large amount of power that can't just shut down when the sun goes down or it's a cloudy day. Batteries you say? Batteries to power one large server room for a couple hours come in sets larger than tractor trailer rigs. Suddenly that free energy ain't so free.

The space is also deceptive. The panels will not be transparent. They will throw shade for most of the day under a large swath of ground under them - which means spacing them apart. Incidentally, you'll also need maintenance roads, etc. - so all of a sudden your tying up  a lot more space. Don't get me started on the bird-frying mirror arrays.

And maintenance. All those panels will have to be inspected. Trucks will be needed to go out. For the maintenance overhead of one large turbine/steam plant, you'll only be able to the panels supplying a fraction of that power output.

Distribution rears its ugly head. At high enough latitudes, or places like the Smokies, you're not going to have lots of sunny open ground nearby - and long transmission runs from the sunny parts of the country present their own engineering issues and vulnerabilities.

Nevertheless, as the quality and output of solar cells improves, as the management circuits and systems to prevent fluctuations from taking out the main grid improve, and for applications that are completely off grid, I'm sure that it will find more and more use.

But how is the wall relevant? Well, the ideal side to mount panels would be on the Mexican side, so theft and sabotage will be issues, but you'll have a ready- built structure with maintenance roads that will need power available right there for lights and other infrastructure. As an ex-nuke I can almost squint and see how, in this application, it almost makes sense.

Michael Moore

On another topic, given how SJW's project, and have an unerring talent for attacking people with the very things that they are vulnerable to, what am I to make of his recent effort to provide a awkwardly-named "Trumpi-leaks"?

Two Stupid Statements

We've had some doozies recently for dumb statements.

For example, Kathy Griffin and the whole "severed Trump head" thing. Stefan goes into some serious detail here:

Then there's the uproar over Bill Maher, which finds Razorfist going to bat for him. Sortof.

I'll leave you with these for now - but I'll be going into why, despite both having free speech, these cases are different.

Vassal and GMT Games

For those who don't know, GMT is the company responsible for the absolutely amazing Commands & Colors: Ancients (of which I have a copy) and Talon which has shown up at Castalia House on more than a few occasions.

They're also known for a series of "COIN" counterinsurgency games such as Cuba Libre, Liberty or Death, On a Distant Plain, and Fire in the Lake. I haven't had a chance to play these yet, but everything I've heard is phenomenal.

Finally, they're known for quality parts and components.

Here's a problem - a lot of their games are out of print. You'll see the status for Space Empires 4x, Commands & Colors, and Talon as being on the P500 list, and not slated for reprint yet.

So, I'm perfectly willing to sink a few hundred dollars into Talon, SE4x, and pending a couple playthroughs, on Cuba Libre, etc., but I can't buy the games without selling a few organs because they're basically unavailable.

Unlike some, it doesn't bother me much. Why?

This is a company that has stayed in business for decades, and puts out high quality games, and I cannot help but think that this policy of "don't print a game until we know people are interested" has something to do with it. Also, sometimes they print stuff just because - my understanding is the first of the COIN series never crossed the threshold but the company believed in it anyway - and it's since justified that choice.

Of course, for some of us, it means that if we want to playtest a game first, especially if we don't hear about it until after the first run has sold out, we're stuck. Though, since every game of theirs I've played has been uniformly excellent, I'm sure with a little more budget and storage space I'd be dropping cash on more hex boards than I can count on. And if I don't like it, I'm sure someone will take it off my hands to break even.

Finally though, it allows something I've noticed that is rare in current boardgames - and yes, I'm specifically looking at Amarillo Design (Federation Commander, Star Fleet Battles) and Fantasy Flight - a set of high quality, endorsed Vassal and cyberboard modules for many of their games (Like C&C) and full downloadable rules. By contrast, Fantasy Flight deliberately has the modules crippled so you need to have the actual game on hand to refer to critical components.

Girl Friday

Enjoy the weekend. The last few have rather sheer tops (in case you're still at work, etc...)

Psycho-Pass

Over at Wasteland and Sky, the "100 best anime" series has come to an end.

There are a lot of items new to me on the list. Of the ones I'm familiar with though, I generally agree.

First - please, God, no for Attack on Titan. Yes, the quality of the animation is excellent, and it's a big deal, but it's such a dark, depressing mess embodying the worst of the zombie genre - though the monsters in question have more in common with the nightlands than traditional zombies. Maybe it picks up later, but five episodes of death, chaos, destruction, and angst in... I quit.

And Psycho-pass. Yes, I just complained about a dark series, and Psycho-pass, which deals with free will, good, and evil, is dark. That said, it's amazing. Despite my love for Gurren Lagann and Full Metal Alchemist, if there's a show on that list I'd recommend to someone who thought the Matrix or Blade Runner were deep, that would be it. They'll get something with kick ass action that's also more thoughtful.

For some more commentary on it: