№ 731. Chinese in the Philippines & Southeast Asia

Geography Politics & Maps

№ 730. Flying is safe.

Safety Infographic

№ 729. Creative Writing

With his customary wisdom and wit, Vonnegut put forth 8 basics of what he calls Creative Writing 101:


1.  Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2.  Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3.  Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4.  Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

5.  Start as close to the end as possible.

6.  Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7.  Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8.  Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

№ 728. Renewable Energy

 

Our World in Data

A cleaner, more sustainable form of energy, renewables draw power from natural sources such as the sun (solar), wind (aeolian), ocean (marine), rivers (hydroelectric), and the Earth’s internal heat (geothermal). However, this also means they can be affected by environmental, seasonal and daily cycles that can limit their use or efficiency. As such, renewable energy cannot always consistently produce energy at all hours of the day – this is called intermittency. 

Solar and wind farms energy production in Europe have been known to fluctuate between 0 to 23 and 24GW of energy respectively during peak times. While these peak production periods provide a large share of energy, the sometimes unpredictable lulls are what define the intermittency of renewables. This intermittency is contrasted by the constant power output that can be generated by fossil fuel-based power plants using coal or natural gas, this has often been referred to as base-load energy. These power plants are able to provide a constant source of energy but do so at the cost of the environment. 

 Intermittency has always been an issue limiting the growth of renewable energy, but the development of high-capacity batteries capable of storing large quantities of power has changed that. Being able to store excess energy produced by renewable energy during peak cycles, storage provides power grids with the ability to tap into those reserves when the cycles dip – negating the intermittency of renewables. Recent studies have shown that the use of large-scale batteries in the United States could both help reduce renewable energy infrastructure costs and provide over 80% of the nation’s power demands through sustainable energy.

№ 727. Food Security in the 21st Century

UN Food and Agriculture Organization

№ 726. Taxation of Streaming Platforms

Canada has ordered large online streaming services to pay 5 percent of their Canadian revenue to the government in a program expected to raise $200 million per year to support local news and other home-grown content. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced its decision yesterday after a public comment period.


"Based on the public record, the CRTC is requiring online streaming services to contribute 5 percent of their Canadian revenues to support the Canadian broadcasting system. These obligations will start in the 2024–2025 broadcast year and will provide an estimated $200 million per year in new funding," the regulator said.

Tax Foundation

№ 725. Something Inside So Strong

№ 724. “Omnia ex scrineis praeter stilum”