Byron says . . . (July 2018)

If interested, here’s what I sent out on-line to various forums or other communications.  

7-8-18 to Cleantech on Tesla Short Sellers, specifically deliberate slam piece by New York Times

Wallace  neroden • 2 days ago

The New York Times hit piece on Tesla had its reporter claiming that he couldn’t easily make the trip. Here’s a partial list of what the reporter did in order to make a story about running out of juice…

“As the State of Charge log shows, the Model S battery never ran out of energy at any time, including when Broder called the flatbed truck.

The final leg of his trip was 61 miles and yet he disconnected the charge cable when the range display stated 32 miles. He did so expressly against the advice of Tesla personnel and in obvious violation of common sense.

In his article, Broder claims that “the car fell short of its projected range on the final leg.” Then he bizarrely states that the screen showed “Est. remaining range: 32 miles” and the car traveled “51 miles,” contradicting his own statement (see images below). The car actually did an admirable job exceeding its projected range. Had he

not insisted on doing a nonstop 61-mile trip while staring at a screen that estimated half that range, all would have been well. He constructed a no-win scenario for any vehicle, electric or gasoline.

On that leg, he drove right past a public charge station while the car repeatedly warned him that it was very low on range.

Cruise control was never set to 54 mph as claimed in the article, nor did he limp along at 45 mph. Broder in fact drove at speeds from 65 mph to 81 mph for a majority of the trip and at an average cabin temperature setting of 72 F.

At the point in time that he claims to have turned the temperature down, he in fact turned the temperature up to 74 F.

The charge time on his second stop was 47 mins, going from -5 miles (reserve power) to 209 miles of Ideal or 185 miles of EPA Rated Range, not 58 mins as stated in the graphic attached to his article. Had Broder not deliberately turned off the Supercharger at 47 mins

and actually spent 58 mins Supercharging, it would have been virtually impossible to run out of energy for the remainder of his stated journey.

For his first recharge, he charged the car to 90%. During the second Supercharge, despite almost running out of energy on the prior leg, he deliberately stopped charging at 72%. On the third leg, where he claimed the car ran out of energy, he stopped charging at 28%. Despite narrowly making each leg, he charged less and less each time. Why would anyone do that?

The above helps explain a unique peculiarity at the end of the second leg of Broder’s trip. When he first reached our Milford, Connecticut Supercharger, having driven the car hard and after taking an unplanned detour through downtown Manhattan to give his brother a ride, the display said “0 miles remaining.” Instead of plugging in the car, he drove in circles for over half a mile in a tiny, 100-space parking lot. When the Model S valiantly refused to die, he eventually plugged it in. On the later legs, it is clear Broder was determined not to be foiled again.”

Broder got outed by Tesla’s built in data logging system.

(my reply):

This report of the NYT hit piece deserves notice in our news, not the little snipes and gripes short-sellers promote. FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, which hound-dogs the NYT’s mistakes and lies) could deconstruct it. I wonder if the same bot mechanisms which amplify negativity bias, that helped bring us Trump, are being used against Tesla.

Wallace  ByronBradley • 14 minutes ago

The same tactic is being used.

Take something out of context or something not true and

present it over and over and over and over.

We’ve allowed people like Hillary Clinton to be destroyed by a flood of misinformation. Warlike? Dishonest? That’s not at all who she is. But a large portion of the population believes that.

We’ve seen wind turbines presented as bird killers and health harmers. Same-same.

ByronBradley  Wallace • a few seconds ago

Right. How many times did Trump use the term “crooked Hillary” and how many times did he supply any evidence of that? He didn’t need to. Why use facts and reason when voters are swayed more by sneers, raised eyebrows, and tones of voice?

7-9-18 to Cleantech forum Astrobilogy topic, Mike Foss

I agree with you, Mike. We need a basic change in how we think about our precious, precarious planet. We could rescue Eden and make it flourish as never before – if we cared. My big gripe is how religions direct our caring to preposteous ideas rather than actual reality and its possibilities. Earth will reliably spin for thousands and millions of years. But will it be our garden home, or a hellish ruin we needlessly and stupidly created? We lack visionaries for our inherent caring. Instead, we’re putting children in cages and unleashing the poisons of profits, no matter their costs.

Later that evening to the DOJ for Oregon re fraud hassle during the day:

I was initially impressed with yet another Oregon attempt to serve us citizens with your clear and helpful site.  However, when filling in the online version it wouldn’t let me complete the process but repeatedly returned to the dates and prices section of the scam report, with no red indicators pointing out a problem, and not indicating how to get out of that loop to somehow fix it to complete the process.  I copied that part of it to send it in via email or land mail and could find neither address on that on-line approach.  I got the PDF version, largely the same form, and then found an address to send my copied part via snail mail.

You could make the site more user-friendly by giving advice on why it sticks or how to fix it.  You could also make it better by including contact information on the online page.

Otherwise, I appreciate Oregon’s efforts.  The federal FTC site is an empty joke, offering almost nothing.

Thank you,

That night to Cleantech forum on Heartland Institute oil fest coming in New Orleans

A lot of troubles would be solved if we passed laws that removed the mufflers from all cars (so we could hear the damage we’re doing) and routing the exhaust to right in front of the driver’s face. The “externalities” we now foist on others and the future would be made real and personal. (I say “we” because I sometimes still drive my Taurus, though hardly ever since I got an electric bike.)

And to same forum

Even better, get the biggest, baddest SUV they can find and run it full blast without the muffler inside their event so they can thrill to the sound and smell of power, celebrating what they’re doing. They should soak up a bit of what they’re inflicting on the world.

Frank,

I’m reading Patience with God and liking it.  You’re a good writer – straight-spoken and very accessible to read.

(We met when you visited Ashland years ago.)

Thought I’d forward you a link (in case you hadn’t seen it).  I’ve always hope you would write a sum-up of how the right used your family and Christians for their pernicious agenda.  (I say, “Republicans (& conservatives) are good at what they do, but what they do isn’t good.”)  Your insider view, growing up in that increasingly compromised and exploited community provides a vantage point for otherwise duped Christians.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120746516

Anyway, be proud of what you’ve done so far.  If you ever get Ashland way again, I hope we can meet and talk.

(I was the first minister for the UU church here back in 86-94 and am now emeritus at the Grants Pass UU, which I helped found.)

Byron (I go by my first name, Byron; you met me as Brad, my middle name)

Thank you so much for the kind note. I remember my visit to Ashland and would love to connect with you again. If you haven’t read it you might enjoy my little book “why I am an atheist who believes in God.“ Very best Frank

Thanks, Frank.  I also bought Crazy for God – haven’t read it yet.  Will check out Atheist.

As fascism and Christian end-times foolishness gains ascendency, your story is all the more pertinent.  Good Christians have been duped.  Somehow, they’ve identified with the soldier driving the spikes more than the innocent but accused.  How your family bought into and got used is helpful in Christian salvation from this growing meanness and war.

Yes, when you come to Ashland, we’ll talk.

7-23-18 to Cleantech on Trump:

ByronBradley  Wla Home • in a few seconds

This isn’t “political crap.” If we care about cleantech we should welcome such articles as this. With Russia punching through a natural gas pipeline to Germany, and Canadians trying to do that through southwest Oregon (and also trying to punch through a bitumen pipeline to their west coast) and with Saudi Arabia helping stoke the fires of hate towards Iran – we have disasters led by liars and warmongers. How can we be citizens of our country and sovereign freeborn beings of our planet and not cry out in analysis and anger? Trump is an iconoclast, wrecking the decent aspects of our republic while funding the worse, and he’s deliberately driving us all into debt to weaken our government and sicken our future. He never deserved to be president and should be removed. He, his enabling Republicans, and his growing police and military emphasis is a looming domestic and global nightmare. Cleantech is just one thing this madman egotist is attacking. We should speak about it more, not less.

7-30-18 to Kristoffer Spender kvspender@g

Kristoffer,

I’m sorry, I don’t have any footage of Shunyat or Vasavada.  I only have a couple of photos of Arwind Vasavada and none of my own of Shunyat.  I do have a thick file of things he sent me including some typed letters.  I sent scans of those to Olof.  Good luck on your project,  I knew I liked him but don’t know that much about him.

—–

Same day to Cleantechnica forum on EPA potential overrule of California standards, specifically a photo of a big pick-up belching out black smoke, saying “Fuck you, earth” and a second photo of a huge hurricane, saying, “Well, fuck you, too.”

Laurence Jenner  IMPOed • 6 days ago

That whole Mad Max thing with cars pumping out smoke like a steamboat is just…..I don’t have the words. Bonkers?

Zachary Shahan Community Manager

 Laurence Jenner • 6 days ago

Goes to show you how idiotic people can be. Wasting money, polluting their lungs & hearts, polluting their families’ lungs & hearts, and for what actual purpose?

• (Mine)

It’s called a fart in your face, the visible version of what the fossil fuel enthusiasts are doing to Mother Nature and the rest of us for the next few centuries.

Same forum, added to

Make America Gag Again

Make America Grope Again

Make America Garbage Again

Make America Grey Again

I added:

Make America Gripe Again

Make America Groan Again

(and to Steve Hanley’s point about Christian values lately:

ByronBradley  Steve Hanley • a few seconds ago

As I recall, Jesus tipped over the tables of the money changers in the Temple, he didn’t help set them up.

Same day, tweet to Michael Mann

Similar to cigarette denial tactics, we now hear “you can’t attribute [storm, fire, sea-rise, health problems] to climate warming” as if it were the only cause.  Rather, turn it around: “You can’t deny that human-caused heat is making our recent weather worse.”  @MichaelEMann

25 Likes and Retweets came in fast after his reposting this.