Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Small modular nuclear reactors may end up being a good idea, but they have problems. They require more shielding overall compared to one big reactor. As of yet, they haven’t been built with more speed. They produce energy less efficiently than one big reactor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1r_WPtqLp0
“cars kill or injure 5.4 million cats a year in the United States, with 5,399,999 coming at the hands of human drivers. I found estimates of hundreds of cats killed by drivers each year in San Francisco. I’d guess that buses and trains—some of Waymo critics’ preferred transportation option—have probably squashed their share of critters.
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“[H]uman drivers killed 43 people in San Francisco last year, including 24 pedestrians, 16 people in cars and three bicyclists. None were killed by Waymos.” Many women and schoolchildren rely on them because of safety concerns, as a Google search of “taxi drivers and sexual abuse” will reveal.
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A study by Swiss Re, an insurance company with the obvious financial incentive to understand the relative benefits and risks, found the following, per Reinsurance News: “The Waymo Driver exhibited significantly better safety performance, with an 88% reduction in property damage claims and a 92% reduction in bodily injury claims compared to human-driven vehicles.”
Waymo’s data find 11 times fewer serious-injury crashes. Most crashes involving a Waymo were due to other vehicles hitting their taxis. That makes perfect sense given their Artificial Intelligence (AI) software is continuously learning, whereas as it’s increasingly difficult to teach some human drivers not to get behind the wheel after downing some martinis.”
https://reason.com/2025/11/28/self-driving-cars-will-make-the-world-safer-for-humans-and-cats/
“In theory, the CHIPS Act provided a mechanism for the federal government to retract the grant and get all or part of its money back should Intel fail to meet its obligations. It’s not clear whether the federal government would have exercised its option to take the money back, but it was an option—until Trump stepped in.
As the company flailed, Trump met with its CEO, Lip-Bu Tan. Trump first called for him to resign. Then in August, the Trump administration announced that the federal government would just take partial ownership of Intel. Essentially, the U.S. government would purchase a roughly 10 percent stake in the chipmaker, partially nationalizing the company. And funds from CHIPS would be used to do it.
Trump bragged about the deal, saying he planned to “do more of them.” The company’s stock price rose on the news, suggesting that investors liked it. But that’s probably because it was a good deal for the company, at taxpayer expense.
According to public financial filings, the federal government would disburse the remaining funds, about $6 billion, while clearing any obligations for the company to actually complete work on new domestic semiconductor fabs.
In exchange, the federal government would gain partial ownership—as well as all the financial risks stockholders usually have when they invest in companies. Those risks will now be borne by taxpayers.
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Trump gave Intel a federal bailout, removing the company’s public obligations and accountability while loading more financial risk onto the public.”
https://reason.com/2025/11/29/chipping-away-at-chips/
“Why Trump Couldn’t Stop the Electric Vehicle Dream”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/11/14/electric-vehicle-ev-charging-stations-biden-00641188
The Muslims defeating China led to Islam being prominent in Central Asia and to paper technology leaving China and changing the world due to captured paper makers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPegSsK3l5o
Trump’s Saudi Arabia deal may be a lie. Multiple countries have promised to invest big money in the U.S. in deals with Trump, and many have not materialized. Is this a real deal, or a misleading press release?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE-GSXaryTM
As the U.S. backs away from clean energy and limiting global warming on the president’s false belief that climate change is a hoax, China is stepping in as a leader globally, leading on the issue and selling its technologies and products to countries around the world. Despite its leadership and its massive renewable production, it still uses a lot of dirty coal. China’s clean energy partnerships around the world give it influence. The Trump-led U.S. is banking on past fuels and energy, while China is advancing into the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENJ6UmECe1Q
What Palantir Sees | “Interesting Times” with Ross Douthat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4I7UsmX8HI
Cheap long range drones are not as cheap as they seem because only a small percentage of them hit their target.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06rjhpAW3kw
How NATO Learns from Ukraine – Inside a NATO Innovation Event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkB2pX8eBEM