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MOV Climate Corner: Dollars and (common) sense

With the 2024 elections behind us and a second Trump administration preparing to take control in a few short weeks, I find it to be a time of reflection on the last four years. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Despite the rhetoric around America’s political realities and what the future may hold, we must also look back at the consequential policy of the Biden administration and the indelible impact it had on clean energy and climate. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act set a new standard for prioritizing clean energy and climate issues, putting hundreds of billions of dollars toward ...

Cliff Crane on the Steamboat CARRIE BROOKS

The steamboat CARRIE BROOKS chugged along down the icy Muskingum River one frigid winter day in the 1870’s. Engineer Cliff Crane was on duty in the engine room. Near Malta-McConnelsville, Ohio, Crane stepped out on the stern to oil the bearings of the paddlewheel shaft. Spray from the ...

Smart phones have slowly taken over our lives

Why can’t people stay off their phones? I’m a bit concerned that as a species we are losing our ability to communicate with people F2F. That’s “face to face” for those of you who haven’t let cell phones take over your life. Statistics show that nearly everyone has a cell phone now, and most of those phones are smart phones. To call them phones is really a bit of a misnomer. Steve Jobs, the cofounder of Apple Inc. summed it up best when he introduced the iPhone in 2007. “So, three things: a widescreen iPod with touch controls; a revolutionary mobile phone; and a ...

How to approach the year ahead

My idea of a good start to the new year is a good night’s sleep. I sympathize, however, with the woman who posted that she wasn’t going to stay up to welcome in the new year, but she was going to stay up to make sure the old year left! 2024, with its strange Presidential election, excessive food and fuel costs, storms, floods, and shootings won’t be missed by many people. But what will 2025 bring? No one really has a clue; It could make 2024 look like a cakewalk. That’s the thing about change: There’s always an element of uncertainty, and uncertainty creates fear. Joshua 1 ...

Prince Louis and Francis the Baker

In July 1839, King Louis Philippe I of France received an American visitor, a Mr. Hughes, the American charge d’affaires in Stockholm. After introductions, conversation turned to the King’s visit to America in the late 1790’s. King Louis: “Have you ever been at Marietta?” Mr. ...

Y2K+25: Computers didn’t stop the world 25 years ago

For all of us a certain age – you know who you are – it has been 25 years ago since a world meltdown was predicted because of changing of computer clocks from 1999 to 2000. Y2K, geek shorthand for Year 2000, caused issues because early computers used only the the last two digits of the year in order to date files. This was done early on because memory was such a valuable commodity and dates such as 1999 took up more memory to store than simply using 99. As time kept ticking toward the end of the century people started getting seriously concerned that the computers of the world ...