A couple of months ago we were driving out of our neighborhood in north Seattle when an eagle with no toupee swooped down in front of our car, briefly touched the pavement in front of us and then soared up into the air with a murder* of crows chasing after it. We nearly came to a stop out of sheer wonder at the scene. This week some daffy ducks decided to go for a swim in the water of the bear enclosure at our local zoo. Unfortunately a group of children, as you can see in this video, watched one of the bears dive into the water and eat the cute ducks like snacks as if he were lounging at your local hot wings restaurant. Of course, we humans are animals too, somewhat but not completely elevated above our beastly instincts. Earlier this week we commented to someone that in the past what people said in private to family or friends they now state to the whole world on social media and other megaphone platforms. Like murderous crows, people will make the craziest comments about politicians, entertainers or athletes.
We ourselves will make all sorts of cutting remarks about various athletes in text threads while watching a basketball or baseball game, often while chomping on a snack like a bear. But those are private conversations. We’d never do so in a public manner such as on social media** or even on this medium you are reading now. For example, we will not repeat some of the ugly things we texted about the Los Angeles Lakers who thankfully lost to the Denver Nuggets earlier this week in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs despite the NBA doing everything in its power to ensure the decidedly evil Lakers victory by giving the Lakers three times the number of free throws as the Nuggets continuing a two season trend in which the Lakers have more than twice as many free throws as their opponents despite not driving to the basket any more often…but we digress. We are a data man, not prone to emotions but only soaring into the air to give you the cold dry facts of why batteries shouldn’t be ignored, self driving car progress in India and China’s role in fentanyl production. It’s this week’s International Need to Know, barricading ourselves inside university buildings to bring you important international information and data.
*whoever dubbed a group of crows a murder knew what they were talking about
**Except for our Annual Seattle Mariners Temper Tantrum on Facebook– the Mariners, as we all know very well, have it coming (but are doing great this year so far)
Without further ado, here’s what you need to know.
Batteries Included
A few weeks ago a friend sent us a Washington Post article headlined “Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem.” We were both puzzled by the article, which was about challenges to the grid because of solar power. And while it’s true we need to modernize and build out the grid in America, the article strangely only mentions a key solution, storage, in the last sentence. The reporter and Washington Post essentially wrote this entire article and headline because of the cute angle that solar power is a problem rather than trying to actually, well, inform the public. Because the truth is batteries are on a roll. According to the latest International Energy Agency report, “In less than 15 years, battery costs have fallen by more than 90%, one of the fastest declines ever seen in clean energy technologies.” And more and more batteries are being deployed, “In 2023 alone, battery deployment in the power sector increased by more than 130% year-on-year, adding a total of 42 gigawatts (GW) to electricity systems around the world.” Now it’s true to achieve climate change goals we need even more rapid deployment of battery storage. And some worry that currently most batteries are made in China. But the IEA report “shows that 40% of announced plans for new battery manufacturing is in advanced economies such as the United States and the European Union. If all those projects are built, those economies would have nearly enough manufacturing to meet their own needs to 2030 on the path to net zero emissions.” C’mon Washington Post and others, your job is to inform not to misinform because of cute (but misleading) new angles.
Self-Driving India
Self-driving cars have long been an interest of ours, to the point that many years ago we mis-predicted their imminent arrival. But as Matt Yglesias and others are pointing out, that there was over hype of autonomous vehicles does not mean they will never arrive. Companies continue to test them and Waymo has autonomous taxis running in both Arizona and San Francisco. And, the Indian company, Swaayatt Robots, is also in the game. They use not just lidar and radar but also cameras driven by new algorithms to navigate the treacherous roads of India. As you can see in the video below, driving in India is not like driving down the road here in Seattle or probably where you live either. The drive in the video reminds us of one of the most dangerous rides of our life in Vietnam some 20 years ago, when we navigated from Hanoi to Haiphong on an at most one lane road with gasoline trucks, bikes and other assorted vehicles swerving in and out of our way. Swaayatt Robot believes if self-driving technology works in India, with similar hazardous driving conditions, it can work anywhere. And they’re probably right. We will follow, at a safe distance, its progress.
Note: Speaking of difficulty navigating India. We read two interesting articles on India this week, including one sent by a reader and friend, focused on India’s darker challenges. More on this soon.
China Corner: Yes China Probably Promotes Fentanyl
We have long assumed that China’ government purposely helps to sell the precursor ingredients that allow the making of fentanyl in order to destabilize the U.S. but we’ve never written about it because we are in no position to investigate or prove the assumption. But Congress’s Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in such a position and recently released a report “The CCP’s Role In The Fentanyl Crisis.” The bi-partisan committee finds, among other things, that China’s government a) directly subsidizes the manufacturing and export of illicit fentanyl materials, b) gives grants to companies making these materials, and c) “Censors content about domestic drug sales but leaves export-focused narcotics content untouched.” Xi Jinping has repeatedly said China is in a competition with the U.S. and “…we will win the initiative and have the dominant position.” It’s naïve to believe that pushing fentanyl isn’t a conscious choice by China’s leaders. As the report states, “The PRC government does not police the mass exportation of these substances abroad…This is in stark contrast to the PRC’s prosecution, including of foreigners, for domestic drug trafficking.” This is not to say China is responsible for America’s drug problems. It is not. And if we’ve learned anything over the last 80 years, the drug war does little to prevent supply. But China is the supplier, and it is likely intentional.
