Friday, December 9, 2022

Cash Bath

I was all ready for yesterday’s power failure by 6:55 am. All lights were turned off and I had candles lit, but the power did not go off until an hour later than was planned. I used my generator much of the morning to do emails and clinic work. Now that I know how to use it properly, it works very well. I can even use my hotplate to cook on instead of the barbeque.

Dan wrote to me in the morning to propose that we walk together with our dogs. I was thrilled to have company for a good long walk, and it was mild and quite bright outdoors. Then I went into the village for cat supplies (and some cookies).

In the afternoon, I was with Guido (Commisssario Brunetti). He has a family whereas Bruno had a huge circle of friends, and I miss his friends, there were so many interesting ones. And, of course, there were his lovers. Guido is a family man and so his social circle is not as active as Bruno’s. Instead of the sunshine and aromas of food and the fragrant landscape of the Dordogne, Guido comes with the malodorous canals and industry of the swampland west of Venice.

Today’s challenge is to finish the clinic newsletter. It takes forever to get approval on so much text and imagery and with so many opinionated board members. But the good news is that we’re supposed to have power, Internet and phone service all day. 

Oh my God!!! God does love me! Canada Revenue just dumped a shitload of cash into my bank account. When I was granted disability status, they told me that they would apply my lower tax level to the six years that I’ve been disabled, but I did not expect much. I’m stunned and absolutely thrilled. 

The evening was a treat because there were 2 new episodes of Three Pines to watch on Prime. I really like the show. 


An interesting article at The Washington Post looks at 1,200 possible scenarios regarding our planet's future climate (using the semi-arbitrary year of 2100 as an end point).  Most of the scenarios result in a global mean temperature rise of 2-5 degrees Celsius, widely considered to result in ominous or even extinction-level effects.

 

Of the "hopeful" scenarios, only 112 result in an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius or less by 2100.  The components of the scenarios (see the link for detail) involve such things as CO2 removal, decreased CO2 production, changing energy demand, reducing methane production etc.  If you narrow down the choices that permit "reasonable assumptions" about human behavior, there are no paths to keeping the mean temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
















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