Bryan Alexander

Chartbook 414: Slouching towards (Red-Green) utopia. Voicing the muted politics of China's renewable energy revolution. It can’t be said too often.

Very good analysis of China as electrostate from @adamtooze.bsky.social :
open.substack.com/pub/adamtooz...

Meanwhile, Trump threatens to attack Nigeria:

Spider the cat offers us a paw bouquet:

"Political purges, funding cuts and a growing hostility towards expertise have unsettled the US research community, evoking memories among Chinese-Americans of a dark chapter in history and prompting some to look to China for stability [:]The Cultural Revolution."

-new South China Morning Post

Some of my students and I in Halloween spirit.

Good work, Climate Central!

I liked this costume at the gym today:

From our local Nextdoor tonight:

(I live in DC area)

Tonight's Unabomber reading:

Now what's this I see in the just-released Johns Hopkins University Press catalog?

Heading to town in my Dumbledore costume.

My kids and I really enjoyed Spooky House. Some good scary tropes - haunted house, magician - and all friendly and warm.

Another thoughtful future glimpse from @davidstaley8.bsky.social

Not the best thing to wake up to:

My good friend saramin is playing the full soundtrack to The Shining right now on WCBN:
wcbn.org

Private University in Boston Sees Credit Rating Slashed to Junk by Moody’s A private university in Boston has taken an unusual strategy in an attempt to right its stressed finances: cutting the number of undergraduate students.

Moody's downgrades Simmons University's credit rating to junk.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A fascinating report of drone warfare in Myanmar.
Similar to Ukraine but some key differences:
-rebels are falling behind the government
-drone usage weakens some military and gender hierarchies

static1.squarespace.com/static/628c9...

Builder.io: Visual Development Platform Builder is an AI-Powered Visual Development Platform that helps teams generate, iterate, and optimize web and mobile experiences in seconds instead of sprints.

www.builder.io

Tonight's AI seminar explored AI-human teaming, critiqued AI in terms of labor and democracy, and tested out a website builder.

What might the combination of AI and XR mean for higher education?

Join us this Thursday as we host Dr. Muhsinah Morris of Morehouse College to explore.

georgetown.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

This is very bad news for climate action worldwide. It represents a big step back, reflecting a larger withdrawal among decision-makers and money people, and will influence others to do the same.

I would say it's a technocratic document, but everything he approves of is business and nonprofit action - i.e., little about state policies or actions.

Nothing on behavior change: eating more plants, flying less, recycling more, etc.

Note the silence on nearly all regional and Earth system dynamics. Nothing on ocean acidification, sea level rise, AMOC, ice sheets, sea level rise, food systems, increased # and intensity of various storms, drought, flooding, etc.
All he notes is a bit of temperature increase.

Here's the document: www.gatesnotes.com/home/home-pa...

I have many thoughts about Bill Gates' new statement on climate change. Not sure I'll have time today to write them up in full, but a few to start with:

-He's reacting to what's he's hearing publicly and - more importantly - privately, from politicians and donors.

Trump UCLA Demand: $1.2B Fine, Nix Trans Athlete Wins, More A faculty lawsuit forced the university to release a 27-page draft “resolution agreement,” which would also require UCLA and affiliated hospitals to stop “performing hormonal interventions and ‘transg...

Details of what the Trump administration demanded of UCLA:
www.insidehighered.com/news/diversi...

World’s climate plans fall drastically short of action needed, analysis shows Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed

The world is deeply unserious about dealing with climate change. We need to reduce emissions by 50% in 5 years and we're nowhere near that.

In a webinar now with a series of speakers.
When the 3rd one started the chat went off.
I asked why. Someone responded: to make us focus on the speaker.

Similar here. Anger, anxiety, and dread.