Phillip Stevens

Watching Vance again, speaking on AI. So many critical policy inflection points; energy, censorship, surveillance, employment, regulation, and of course AI. youtu.be/MnKsxnP2IVk This could be one of the clearest and most ambitious strategic technology statements since the 1960’s and the JFK “moon” speech, guiding at least the next 12 years of USA technology policies.

Scott Bessent in Texas - Economic Club of Dallas youtu.be/be5D5m7_7kA?si…

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BREAKING 🚨⚛️ Japan restarted Reactor No. 6 at the Kashiwazaki–Kariwa nuclear power plant on Jan 21, 2026, the LARGEST nuclear power plant in the world with ~8.2 GW across 7 units!! This marked the first TEPCO-operated reactor restart since 2011, after nearly 15 years offline & extensive safety, regulatory, & security upgrades. FYI: Shortly after restart, operations were paused due to a control rod alarm. Key point (bc this always gets missed): A control rod alarm during startup isn’t a failure. It’s the system doing exactly what it was designed to do: stop, check, & verify before moving forward. Some context 👇 After the Fukushima Daiichi event, Japan shut down all 54 reactors. As of today: • 15 reactors have been restarted • About 11 more are planned • Japan is targeting around 30% of its electricity from nuclear going forward ⚛️ This isn’t about pretending risk doesn’t exist. It’s about understanding it, managing it & making informed decisions to keep decarbonizing our world 🌍

The Bondi massacre was preceded by two years of governmental failure to deal with unAustralian Jew hatred and complacency towards Islamic extremism. Now the moral failure of the Labor government has been compounded by the political failure of the Coalition. When a palpably inadequate government faces an opposition seemingly in deep crisis our country is in trouble. Good very rarely comes from laws that are revised on the run, and passed in haste with who knows what unintended consequences.

I won’t get a chance to speak on the Hate Bill tonight but rest assured my vote will be placed squarely against its passage. Sadly the Bill will pass.

She’s not wrong

Noting that last night in inner city Melbourne, 7 Doctors performed emergency surgery on two patients. Where would we be without such examples of successful diversity? abc.net.au/news/2026-01-0…

@MarkWRowley Except the bottom row was funny.

Australia is rapidly going down the drain. Dragged in by Victoria. They need to change their number plate to "The indoctrination state". Why is a Premier on a diplomatic visit? Where is Penny Wong?

If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.

Nuclear fission is the Universe’s primary energy source; electromagnetic radiation (including visible light) is a secondary byproduct of this reaction, dispersed by enormous distance. Wind is at best a tertiary byproduct of that diffuse electromagnetic input. Ideally we need the primary energy dense source here on earth, under direct control. Elon wants to sell batteries. Hence his position.

Someone needs to explain the concept of energy density to @ElonMusk. The sun does provide us with a near-infinite supply of energy. At first glance, it seems like a no-brainer that we should harness it and use technology to convert it into useable electricity. ☀️ But, when Musk claims that “People don't get it,” he is dismissing some very legitimate criticisms of the drawbacks to solar photovoltaic (PV) technology that people (like me) bring up. The issue isn't that the sun provides a constant supply of energy (and a lot of it at that). The glaring issue is that capturing that energy and being able to 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 convert it into enough electricity to power modern civilization is a lot more challenging. This is for two reasons: 1⃣ While the sun is always shining, sunlight does not always reach the ground. Electricity can only be generated by PV can during the day and the amount during the day is contingent on latitude (more efficient in the lower mid-latitudes and tropics) and sky cover, which fluctuates with weather. 2⃣ The laws of physics mandate that PV technologies cannot physically be made much denser than they are in their current form. As a result, solar PV has a rather large land footprint in comparison to nuclear fission or fossil fuels (coal and natural gas). On a sunny day at noon, about 1,000 watts (Joules per second) of solar radiation impinge the surface covering an area measuring one square meter (m²). But, because it is diffuse, being able to concentrate all of it into a smaller area is practically impossible and the fact that once you consider correction factors for latitude; day and night; seasonal effects; and cloud cover, that figure is a lot smaller. Let's do some math. 👏 The areal power density (Pd) can be calculated with the equation: Pd = [rated capacity (in watts, W) × capacity factor] / land area (in m²) For a fair apples to apples comparison, let's assume that each type of power plant and solar farm have a rated capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW) [equivalent to 1 BILLION watts). Solar PV requires between 5 and 10 acres of land per MW of capacity. So, a 1,000-MW solar PV farm would require 5,000 to 10,000 acres of land. By contrast, nuclear reactors require 0.3-1 acre per MW capacity, natural gas plants require 0.2-0.8 acres per MW, and coal plants require 1-4 acres per MW. 🔗thundersaidenergy.com/downloads/is-t… Solar PV also has a capacity factor (a measure of just how efficient an energy source is, including factors like weather conditions or downtime for maintenance) of 23.4% as of 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It is worth nothing here that solar [by far] has the lowest capacity factor of any electricity generation source. By comparison, nuclear fission, natural gas (combined cycle) and coal have capacity factors of 92.3%, 59.9% and 42.6%, respectively. 🔗energy.gov/ne/articles/wh… Using the formula above, we find that solar has by far the lowest power density: ⚛️ Nuclear fission: 228.0 - 760.0 W/m² 🔥 Natural gas: 185.0 - 740.0 W/m² 🏭 Coal: 26.3 - 105.2 W/m² ☀️ Solar PV: 5.8 - 11.6 W/m² 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫 (at its best) 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 (at its worst). This means solar PV takes up a lot more land than gas or nuclear, yet powers far fewer homes. And, because solar is intermittent, it requires even more land for the battery and fossil fuel backup. Rooftop solar has its place (and a very bright future). It is marketable. But, clearing tens of thousands of acres of land to build solar arrays is not only environmentally destructive climate virtue signaling, but it is inefficient from an energy and economic standpoint. It would be more suitable to use just a tiny fraction of that land to build a 1,000-MW nuclear power plant. Consumers understand this. Although solar PV capacity has grown exponentially in recent years, especially in China, it still makes up less than 3% of the global energy mix [as of 2023]. This is because when solar is added to the electric grid, it just increases overall electricity consumption as opposed to displacing fossil fuels. 🔗ourworldindata.org/energy-mix This is documented in the peer-reviewed literature (e.g., Mahalik, 2023). 🔗link.springer.com/article/10.100… Solar PV isn't inherently bad, but physics renders it an infeasible solution to our energy needs and environmental problems. For what it's worth, I respect Elon a lot. He's done amazing things whether it is his involvement with Tesla, SpaceX or restoring freedom of speech to social media through his acquisition of Twitter. But, I'm not sure why he doesn't (seem to) understand this about energy.

@eevblog Shh. Next they’ll be taxing windows. grok.com/share/c2hhcmQt…

WTF is going on in Australia? Literally every day for the last week there has been ever more retarded ideas floated. What's the plan here, throw enough shit at us that we'll be happy eat the least pleasant tasting shit?

@eevblog Same thing with Fitbit. Versus the equivalent featured Garmin they’re about $200 cheaper, which is the value of selling your personal medical information to third parties.

The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 action camera comes with Ransomware out of the box. You MUST give them all your private data to register the camera through the app or it won't work. I'm sick of this crap, don't buy Insta360 or DJI products. And change your profile picture to a Clippy.

Anytime, day or night, Melbourne Airport @Melair guarantees a shitty experience. Whether it is the 40 minute Biosecurity wait, or the ground transportation disaster, there is always something.

Southbound.

Northbound. Long-haul. 78N.