Two years ago, the  BBC said Japan was the future,  but it's now stuck in the past.  I agree. Among the detractions is ownership of real estate.  You buy a home, and after paying off your mortgage in, say, 40 years, it is worth almost nothing. Japan recently had the third-largest economy, is a peaceful and prosperous country with the longest life expectancy in the world, the lowest murder rate, little political conflict, a powerful passport, and the sublime Shinkansen, the world's best high-speed rail network.  Actually, about GDP and the economy, Germany has slipped past Japan into #3, with India in the next few months easing by Japan. When the author of this article, Rupert Wingield-Hayes, first arrived in Tokyo in 1993, a third of a century ago, he was effusive about the country being exquisitely clean and orderly.  Actually still is. But he noted that Hong Kong was an assault on senses and Taipei had horrible air pollution. He could have said...

Before NIMBY, a few notes: The debate yesterday between JD Vance and Tim Walz was a TIE .  CNN showed that Walz's favorability rating went from 46% to 59%, while Vance's improved from 30% to 41%. Recent Veep debates have been mixed. Here is a  list of the three best and worst Veep partners in recent history .  The absolutely worst was probably Sarah Palin in 2008.   GOP nominee John McCain wanted to pick his longtime colleague Senator Joe Lieberman, but instead impulsively chose little-known Palin, who became a Saturday Night Live hit.   One reason is that Tina Fey played such a terrific Sarah Palin . Worse, Palin gave a series of disastrous interviews. About her debate against Joe Biden, she lost, but kind of redeemed herself for her "folksy grit."   Some reviewers went so far as calling it a draw.   This is something you don't want to do, but if you are a masochist,  watch the entire 1.5 hour debate .  In 2008, Biden already ...

This blog site began fifteen years ago focused on renewable energy.  I of course regularly return to this topic.  Today another of my Wednesday postings on this subject. But first, the  latest on the Lahaina Apocalypse : Death toll up to 106. President Joe and First Lady Jill Biden  will visit Lahaina this coming Monday. Why the Maui wildfires were so deadly . The  New York Times  reported the following: China is the world's biggest polluter. The good news is that China already produces more electricity by solar/wind than any other country. Further, China had vowed to double its capacity of wind and solar power by 2030...and is on track to meet that goal, actually, by 2025. But how can it be #1 in fossil fuel pollution, and also #1 in the renewables? It is large. They are in a good transition. On the one hand, China's cleantech revolution is   surging ; on the other hand, China's consumption of coal and other fossil fuels is also   surging . ...