Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (innocent), E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (concealing), My Vivid Blog (direct), Word of the Day Challenge (genius), Ragtag Daily Prompt (cape), Your Daily Word Prompt (obstruct), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (fail). Photo credit: daily right side.com.
John Steiner, the blogger behind Journeys With Johnbo, has this prompt he calls Cellpic Sunday in which he asks us to post a photo that was taken with a cellphone, tablet, or another mobile device. I thought this might be fun so I decided to join in.
This photo was taken in 2013 at Mount Greylock State Park in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. Mount Greylock is the highest point in the state.
I was using my iPhone to take a scenic photo of my wife using her iPhone to take a scenic photo of the view. Nice, huh?
If you wish to participate in this fun cellphone photo prompt, please click on the link to John’s post at the top of my post to see his photo and to read his instructions.
Another excellent, insightful post from Jill Dennison. Her post clearly demonstrates the willful ignorance and blatant hypocrisy of today’s Republican Party and the Republican members of Congress. Unfortunately, the specific instances she cites are not the outliers in the GOP, they’re reflections of the norm.
Certain Republicans in Congress obviously believe that We the People are stupid. The hue and cry over President Biden’s plan to forgive a portion of…
The idea behind Who Won the Week is to give you the opportunity to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.
This week’s recipient of Who Won the Week is the state of California. Why am I giving my home state this honor? Well, it’s because California is taking definitive action to do something about climate change.
Under a policy approved Thursday by regulators, the state seeks a dramatic cut in carbon emissions and an eventual end to gasoline-powered vehicles. California will require that all new cars, trucks and SUVs run on electricity or hydrogen by 2035. If the goal is reached, California would cut emissions from cars in half by 2040.
The rules mandate that 35% of the new cars sold be plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV), EVs, or hydrogen fuel cell by 2026. That proportion will rise to 68% by 2030 and 100% by 2035. Californians will be able to keep driving gas-powered vehicles and buying used ones after 2035, but no new models would be sold in the state by that year.
This move gives the most populous U.S. state the world’s most stringent regulations for transitioning to electric vehicles. It is expected to prompt other states to follow California’s lead and to accelerate the production of zero-emission vehicles by automakers.
The policy still needs federal approval, but that’s considered very likely under Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.
Reaching the 100% goal by 2035 will mean overcoming some very practical hurdles, most notably enough reliable power and charging stations. The state now has about 80,000 stations in public places, far short of the 250,000 it wants by 2025. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents many major car makers, warned about the lack of infrastructure, access to materials needed to make batteries, and supply chain issues as being among the challenges to meeting the state’s timeline.
You may recall that in 1961, President John F. Kennedy said, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” That goal was achieved in 1969.
Surely, if we could put a man on the moon in less than nine years, we can address the concerns of the auto industry and get enough public charging stations on the road to meet the needs of an all-electric vehicle state in twelve years.
What do you think of California’s move to electric vehicles by 2035? Too ambitious? Not ambitious enough? Not practical? Reasonable?
So who (or what) do you think won the week?
If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.
Deb, over at Nope, Not Pam, has this weekly challenge called A Letter a Week where she gives us a place, an emotion, an adjective, a verb, and an animal all starting with the same letter. Then she asks us to write a post using those items and the letter she has given us, which this week is the letter V.
Victor decided he needed to slow things down in his hectic life and maybe even go off grid. He put on a blindfold, gave his globe a spin, and then placed his finger on it to stop the spinning. Victor pulled off his blindfold and examined the spot on the globe upon which his finger had landed. It happened to be pointing to a small group of islands in the vast South Pacific called Vanuatu about 1,000 miles east of Australia.
Victor Googled Vanuatu to learn everything he could about it, and after just a few hours of research, he decided that he would be make Vanuatu his new home.
After finally arriving at the island nation, Victor set about to vigorously explore the place to see where he wanted to settle down. One day, with a local guide he’d hired, he came across a compound that housed an animal he’d never seen before. He asked his guide, “Is that a type of llama or alpaca?” pointing to one that was staring back at him.
“No, sir,” the guide said. “That’s a vicuña.”
“What’s that strange sound it’s making?” Victor asked.
The guide laughed. “That’s the ogling sound vicuñas vocalize when they are looking for a mate during breeding season,” he said. “I think this one has taken quite fancy toward you.”
This, That, and the Other 