Bill Gates: Climate change is a crisis, but not such a bad crisis that anyone should stop flying Gulfstreams

by philg

Happy World Immunization Day to those who celebrate (not to be confused with World Immunization Week, which WHO says is the last week of April). Let’s turn our attention on this sacred day to one of the world’s leading vaccine scientists and covidologists: Bill Gates. From the World Economic Forum, April 2020:

“Because our foundation has such deep expertise in infectious diseases, we’ve thought about the epidemic, we did fund some things to be more prepared, like a vaccine effort,” Gates said. “Our early money can accelerate things.”

It turns out that Prof. Dr. Bill Gates, M.D., Ph.D., also owns a company that fuels Gulfstreams (WSJ):

Also, “Bill Gates shifts tone on climate, criticizes “doomsday view,” drawing mixed reaction” (CBS):

In a memo posted online, Gates wrote that while climate change is still a major problem that needs to be solved, “People will be able to live and thrive on Earth for the foreseeable future.” Gates, who has invested billions developing green technologies to cut greenhouse gases, says doomsday climate scenarios over-emphasize cutting emissions while “diverting resources from the most effective things we should be doing to improve life in a warming world.”

Is it possible that Bill Gates has personally done more to accelerate climate change than any other human? He and his wife-turned-plaintiff have worked tirelessly for 25 years to accelerate human population growth. And Bill Gates will continue to try to maximize the number of humans emitting CO2 on this planet, says CBS:

The lengthy memo essentially argued that we should continue to innovate and back climate breakthroughs but not at the expense of funding for global health or development — “programs that help people stay resilient in the face of climate change.” He argued for putting “human welfare at the center of our climate strategies,” including improving health and agriculture in the world’s poorest countries.

It’s human “development” that got us into this climate change mess, right?

So… climate change is a crisis, but it isn’t such a bad crisis that anyone should stop flying Gulfstreams or suspend efforts to increase human population.

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The government is required to pay Americans who don’t work (SNAP) and forbidden to pay Americans who do work (air traffic controllers)

by philg

A judge appointed by Barack Obama ordered the federal government to pay Americans who don’t work (state-sponsored PBS), i.e., those who receive SNAP (“food stamps”). At the same time, we’re informed that it is illegal for the federal government to pay Americans who do work (air traffic controllers who drew the short draw and are required to work every day for the same delayed paycheck that government workers who are on vacation will receive).

Could the Founding Fathers have imagined a day when people who don’t work for the federal government and who mostly don’t work at all (see “The Role of Full-Time and Part-Time Work in SNAP” from AEI, 2023) have a superior claim on the fruits of taxpayer toil than do people who actually work for the federal government?

Separately, I’m pleased to see that the answer to Why won’t rich states fund SNAP and other welfare programs during the federal shutdown? is “some will”! Connecticut’s governor says that he will step in with other people’s money (from his taxpayers/subjects) and pay the SNAP royalty with state funds:

It is tough for me to understand why SNAP is a federal program, actually. Don’t state and local governments have a better idea of who might be hungry in their corners of the U.S.? And of what food costs in their corners of the U.S.? Also, the farther away from the average taxpayer these decisions are being made the less personal satisfaction a taxpayer can take in helping his nonworking brothers, sisters, and binary resisters (see Immigration kills pride in paying income tax?). Think of the righteous satisfaction that will now be available to the rich taxpayers of Connecticut (the 10th richest state).

Given that the FAA is primarily funded by user fees, i.e., taxes on airline ticket and on fuel purchased from Bill Gates to fuel private jets, why can’t it keep paying air traffic controllers from these fees, in the same way that that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office continues to pay patent examiners? ChatGPT explains:

1. Different legal frameworks for how “fees” are held and spent

🏛️ USPTO — Fees go into a revolving fund that stays available

  • The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office operates under a Permanent Appropriation — the Patent and Trademark Office Revolving Fund (31 U.S.C. § 42).
  • Fees collected from patent and trademark applicants do not go to the Treasury’s general fund. They are kept in the USPTO’s own account and are “available until expended.”
  • That means USPTO has multi-year, no-year spending authority: it can use fee revenue (and any surplus) during a lapse in appropriations.
  • As a result, the USPTO can continue operations — including paying employees — even when Congress hasn’t passed a new budget, as long as its revolving fund has sufficient balances.

🛫 FAA — Ticket and fuel taxes go into a trust fund, but still need appropriations

  • Airline ticket taxes, fuel excise taxes, and other aviation fees are deposited into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF), established by 26 U.S.C. § 9502.
  • Crucially, those funds are not automatically available for expenditure.
  • Congress must appropriate money out of the trust fund every year to specific FAA accounts (Operations, Facilities & Equipment, etc.).
  • When there’s a lapse in appropriations (a shutdown), FAA legally cannot obligate or spend AATF money — even though the Treasury is still collecting ticket taxes daily.

2. Anti-Deficiency Act — the key legal barrier

  • Under the Anti-Deficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341), federal employees can’t volunteer or be paid without an active appropriation unless they’re performing “excepted” duties (like safety-of-life).
  • Air traffic controllers are “excepted” — so they must report to work — but cannot be paid until Congress authorizes the expenditure.
  • The FAA’s hands are tied: even though tax revenue is flowing into the AATF, no one has authority to draw from it.

Maybe we need a new law that says that the FAA can draw on the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to fund its operations any time that there is a shutdown?

Related:

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Where are the 8K computer monitors and televisions?

by philg

I recently did some work in a law firm conference room where we were trying to review some PowerPoint slides that contained patent excerpts and, even after walking right up to the big flat-screen TV it was impossible to see text and figures clearly. A diverse (and therefore strong) group of female scientists of color created the first 8K television 22 years ago:

Why can’t we buy these today? Dell made a 32-inch monitor with 8K resolution and, therefore, an absurd PPI of about 275. It seems to be discontinued. Meanwhile, they continue to sell a 43-inch monitor with 4K resolution, an inadequate 100 PPI (it would be a great monitor with 6K resolution and, therefore, 160 PPI). At the typical desktop viewing distance of about two feet (24 inches), 150 PPI is supposedly near the limit of human perception.

100-inch 4K TVs now seem to be down to consumer prices ($1500). Especially if used as a digital picture frame and approached closely, it would be great to have more than the 44 PPI resolution that 4K affords. Samsung actually does make an 8K 98-inch TV… for $35,000.

I would love to know who is willing to pay 20X for the resolution bump! Zohran Mamdani, AOC, and Bernie Sanders should perhaps try to get a list of these folks and hit them with a new “fair share” tax.

In other TV news, I decided that our boys should be able to watch their beloved NFL in 4K. Our house is in the middle of an Xfinity-only ghetto and the neighborhood of 1/4-acre lots isn’t dense enough for AT&T or Hotwire/Fision to be willing to invest in burying fiber. Three cable boxes and basic cable TV are bundled into our HOA fee. I traded in two of our Xfinity cable boxes for the latest and greatest XG1v4 version (not regularly stocked at the local Xfinity store, bizarrely, considering that every customer now has a 4K television). After being plugged in for a day, and presumably after an Artificial Intelligence review of my weblog posts, both boxes locked themselves to showing only a single station: South Florida PBS. They wouldn’t respond to the channel up/down and Guide buttons on the remote. I would love to see this implemented on a national basis by President AOC! Imagine how much erroneous anti-Science thinking could be corrected if Americans were restricted to watching only PBS.

Circling back to the main question of the post… Why aren’t 8K televisions littering Costco and Best Buy? “There is no 8K content” doesn’t make sense in light of the fact that the latest smartphones can take still photos in 8K resolution (48 megapixels) and some can capture 8K video (e.g., Samsung, Google Pixel). Also, for progressives who claim to be defending the U.S. Constitution against the hated dictator, the idle screen of a TV could be a display of the sacred document (four pages handwritten or, typically, closer to 20 pages with modern typesetting). Lying down in front of the TV could be the progressive’s pit bull tearing apart a Donald Trump chew toy:

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Peasant vs. Elite electricity rates in New Jersey

by philg

A friend in central New Jersey has a new Tesla Model Y:

I just calculated my effective $/kWh rate on my first month of the EV charging plan. Regular rate is ~$0.24/kWh. After 9pm, I get charged $0.04/kWh. Last month of charging has cost me $10.

My response:

The peasant renter pays 24 cents for electricity at night. The elite homeowner with the new Tesla pays 4 cents, It’s a great country.

Loosely related, a plug-in hybrid at our local strip mall:

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Why won’t airlines give interest-free loans to air traffic controllers who are working without pay with pay

by philg

Due to the government shut down, air traffic controllers who are 100 percent guaranteed by law to be paid for 100 percent of hours worked are calling in sick so that they don’t have to “work without pay with (delayed) pay”. Now the FAA is cutting back on total volume so as to maintain safety with a reduced number of controllers who show up (CNBC):

Note the misleading statement about “gone unpaid since the shutdown began”. That would be like saying that a worker who has paid monthly has “gone unpaid since the start of the month”.

Cutting flights will cost the airlines a fortune due to the need to reschedule crews, passengers, aircraft, etc. Maybe a 6:00 am flight is only half full, but if it is cut the crew and plane won’t be where they need to be to operate a 9:00 am flight.

What if the airlines got together and offered interest-free loans to every controller, secured by the massive payday that all government workers, those who showed up and those who didn’t (the lucky “nonessential” ones and also the fake-sick ones), will receive as soon as Congress settles its differences? It could be done through the federal government, even. The airlines give the money to the Feds. The Feds issue paychecks as usual. The Feds then reimburse the airlines when the government reopens. Alternatively, the airlines could make the loans privately and directly to ATC employees.

Related:

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Replacementocracy

by philg

American-born New Yorkers said that they would vote for Andrew Cuomo (October 18 poll). Foreign-born New Yorkers said that that they would vote for Mayor Mamdani (charts below). What do we call the system of government that brought Mayor Mamdani to power? It doesn’t seem like “democracy” since many of the voters, like the new mayor himself, are only recently arrived. How about “replacementocracy” for when an election result is determined by the votes of immigrants? The neologism is literally “rule by replacements”.

The actual election results seem to be consistent with the above poll. Screen shot from last night:

Separately, it was interesting to watch Florida Realtor of the Year 2020 and 2021 compete against Florida Realtor of the Year 2026.

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An immigrant will take a Black man’s job today?

by philg

Eric Adams, who identifies as African-American, is on track to be replaced by an immigrant, Zohran Mamdani, today, just as predicted by this 2007 Harvard-NBER paper:

I’m sure that it is painful for some to see New York’s Blacks reduced to political irrelevance, but academics might be celebrating a successful prediction.

Separately, while I was on a JetBlue PBI-PVD flight recently a friend texted to ask my whereabouts. The reply: “Above the Mamdani Caliphate.”

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Are the Japanese way behind American car companies in self-driving?

by philg

All of the 2026 cars are out by now, I think. Are there any Japanese cars on the market that offers features comparable to the American leaders in self-driving (“advanced driver-assistance systems” or “ADAS” if we want to be precise)?

Tesla has the non-self-driving full self-driving for any road. GM has Super Cruise for a recent claim of 600,000 miles of mapped roads. Ford has Blue Cruise for about 130,000 miles of mapped roads.

Toyota has its 2018 “Safety Sense 2.0” on the Sienna minivan and a couple of slightly more refined versions on other models. Honda has “Honda Sensing” from 2015, with slight refinements.

If Toyota and Honda can’t do this in-house why wouldn’t they partner with Tesla, GM, or Ford? Toyota actually did partner with Intel/Mobileye during coronapanic (May 2021 press release), but that partnership seems to have been only about as productive as Intel’s DEI programs (“We’ve focused lots more on gender than race, and now we need to put emphasis on those areas together,” Gelsinger said at the CNBC event [in 2020, just as humans of all races and gender IDs were being felled by SARS-CoV-2]).

Here’s the GM Super Cruise map for the area near us. The system would make sense for doing the long trips that we currently very seldom do… maybe because we don’t have GM Super Cruise. It wouldn’t support 90 percent of the trips that we currently make. It also doesn’t seem like a system that could reduce accidents because it doesn’t even try to work on the kinds of roads where accidents typically happen.

Why are the Japanese engineering titans reduced to midget status in self-driving? Could it be that Japanese standards are too high? They don’t want to put their name on something that works well only some of the time? (This is how Apple was able to commercialize the Xerox PARC-developed WIMP (“windows, icons, menus, pointer”) style of computing. Xerox didn’t want to put its name on anything useless so it came up with a minimum price of $7,500 for a machine with ample memory and a hard drive. Apple didn’t have a reputation for building useful machines and thus was happy to ship a $2,500 machine with an absurd 128K of RAM and a floppy drive. Note that this January 1984 price is $8,000 adjusted to post-Biden dollars.)

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