
Distributed Solar: The Democratizaton of Energy

Blogroll
- Fear and Loathing in Data Science Cory Lesmeister’s savage journey to the heart of Big Data
- Earth Family Alpha Michael Osborne’s blog (former Executive at Austin Energy, now Chairman of the Electric Utility Commission for Austin, Texas)
- Thaddeus Stevens quotes As I get older, I admire this guy more and more
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
- Comprehensive Guide to Bayes Rule
- Tim Harford's “More or Less'' Tim Harford explains – and sometimes debunks – the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life
- Harvard's Project Implicit
- Karl Broman
- Risk and Well-Being
- London Review of Books
- BioPython A collection of Python tools for quantitative Biology
- Number Cruncher Politics
- The Plastic Pick-Up: Discovering new sources of marine plastic pollution
- The Alliance for Securing Democracy dashboard
- Brendon Brewer on Overfitting Important and insightful presentation by Brendon Brewer on overfitting
- All about Sankey diagrams
- Los Alamos Center for Bayesian Methods
- Earth Family Beta MIchael Osborne’s blog on Science and the like
- Quotes by Nikola Tesla Quotes by Nikola Tesla, including some of others he greatly liked.
- "Talking Politics" podcast David Runciman, Helen Thompson
- Slice Sampling
- "The Expert"
- Hermann Scheer Hermann Scheer was a visionary, a major guy, who thought deep thoughts about energy, and its implications for humanity’s relationship with physical reality
- OOI Data Nuggets OOI Ocean Data Lab: The Data Nuggets
- Musings on Quantitative Paleoecology Quantitative methods and palaeoenvironments.
- Rasmus Bååth's Research Blog Bayesian statistics and data analysis
- Charlie Kufs' "Stats With Cats" blog “You took Statistics 101. Now what?”
- Healthy Home Healthy Planet
- WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION Cathy O’Neil’s WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION,
- Why "naive Bayes" is not Bayesian Explains why the so-called “naive Bayes” classifier is not Bayesian. The setup is okay, but estimating probabilities by doing relative frequencies instead of using Dirichlet conjugate priors or integration strays from The Path.
- Ives and Dakos techniques for regime changes in series
- AP Statistics: Sampling, by Michael Porinchak Twin City Schools
- Awkward Botany
- "Perpetual Ocean" from NASA GSFC
- James' Empty Blog
- Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard on how businesses can help our collective environmental mess Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard set the standard for how a business can mitigate the ravages of capitalism on earth’s environment. At 81 years old, he’s just getting started.
- Mike Bloomberg, 2020 He can get progress on climate done, has the means and experts to counter the Trump and Republican digital disinformation machine, and has the experience, knowledge, and depth of experience to achieve and unify.
- Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation
- Mrooijer's Numbers R 4Us
- Logistic curves in market disruption From DollarsPerBBL, about logistic or S-curves as models of product take-up rather than exponentials, with notes on EVs
- Label Noise
- Nadler Strategy, LLC, on sustainability Thinking about business, efficient and effective management, and business value
- Pat's blog While it is described as “The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher”, this is false humility, as it chronicles the present and past life and times of mathematicians in their context. Recommended.
- Brian McGill's Dynamic Ecology blog Quantitative biology with pithy insights regarding applications of statistical methods
- Survey Methodology, Prof Ron Fricker http://faculty.nps.edu/rdfricke/
- Flettner Rotor Bruce Yeany introduces the Flettner Rotor and related science
- Earle Wilson
- Leadership lessons from Lao Tzu
- South Shore Recycling Cooperative Materials management, technical assistance and networking, town advocacy, public outreach
- Darren Wilkinson's introduction to ABC Darren Wilkinson’s introduction to approximate Bayesian computation (“ABC”). See also his post about summary statistics for ABC https://darrenjw.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/summary-stats-for-abc/
climate change
- Climate change: Evidence and causes A project of the UK Royal Society: (1) Answers to key questions, (2) evidence and causes, and (3) a short guide to climate science
- The Sunlight Economy
- Paul Beckwith Professor Beckwith is, in my book, one of the most insightful and analytical observers on climate I know. I highly recommend his blog, and his other informational products.
- The Keeling Curve The first, and one of the best programs for creating a spatially significant long term time series of atmospheric concentrations of CO2. Started amongst great obstacles by one, smart determined guy, Charles David Keeling.
- Steve Easterbrook's excellent climate blog: See his "The Internet: Saving Civilization or Trashing the Planet?" for example Heavy on data and computation, Easterbrook is a CS prof at UToronto, but is clearly familiar with climate science. I like his “The Internet: Saving Civilization or Trashing the Planet” very much.
- “The Irrelevance of Saturation: Why Carbon Dioxide Matters'' (Bart Levenson)
- Ice and Snow
- Transitioning to fully renewable energy Professor Saul Griffiths talks to transitioning the customer journey, from a dependency upon fossil fuels to an electrified future
- The great Michael Osborne's latest opinions Michael Osborne is a genius operative and champion of solar energy. I have learned never to disregard ANYTHING he says. He is mentor of Karl Ragabo, and the genius instigator of the Texas renewable energy miracle.
- Energy payback period for solar panels Considering everything, how long do solar panels have to operate to offset the energy used to produce them?
- Simple models of climate change
- The Green Plate Effect Eli Rabett’s “The Green Plate Effect”
- On Thomas Edison and Solar Electric Power
- SOLAR PRODUCTION at Westwood Statistical Studios Generation charts for our home in Westwood, MA
- NOAA Annual Greenhouse Gas Index report The annual assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the radiative forcing from constituent atmospheric greenhouse gases
- Sir David King David King’s perspective on climate, and the next thousands of years for humanity
- "Lessons of the Little Ice Age" (Farber) From Dan Farber, at LEGAL PLANET
- Climate impacts on retail and supply chains
- Climate Change Denying Organizations
- "Betting strategies on fluctuations in the transient response of greenhouse warming" By Risbey, Lewandowsky, Hunter, Monselesan: Betting against climate change on durations of 15+ years is no longer a rational proposition.
- An open letter to Steve Levitt
- Anti—Anti-#ClimateEmergency Whether to declare a climate emergency is debatable. But some critics have gone way overboard.
- Bloomberg interactive graph on “What's warming the world''
- Exxon-Mobil statement on UNFCCC COP21
- James Hansen and granddaughter Sophie on moving forward with progress on climate
- The Scientific Case for Modern Human-caused Global Warming
- Climate Change: A health emergency … New England Journal of Medicine Caren G. Solomon, M.D., M.P.H., and Regina C. LaRocque, M.D., M.P.H., January 17, 2019 N Engl J Med 2019; 380:209-211 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1817067
- Climate Communication Hassol, Somerville, Melillo, and Hussin site communicating climate to the public
- `Who to believe on climate change': Simple checks By Bart Verheggen
- Klaus Lackner (ASU), Silicon Kingdom Holdings (SKH) Capturing CO2 from air at scale
- Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature
- Agendaists Eli Rabett’s coining of a phrase
- Social Cost of Carbon
- The Carbon Cycle The Carbon Cycle, monitored by The Carbon Project
- ATTP summarizes all that stuff about Committed Warming from AND THEN THERE’S PHYSICS
- "Getting to the Energy Future We Want," Dr Steven Chu
- “Ways to [try to] slow the Solar Century''
- Simple box models and climate forcing IMO one of Tamino’s best posts illustrating climate forcing using simple box models
- Climate Change Reports By John and Mel Harte
- HotWhopper: It's excellent. Global warming and climate change. Eavesdropping on the deniosphere, its weird pseudo-science and crazy conspiracy whoppers.
- And Then There's Physics
- "Impacts of Green New Deal energy plans on grid stability, costs, jobs, health, and climate in 143 countries" (Jacobson, Delucchi, Cameron, et al) Global warming, air pollution, and energy insecurity are three of the greatest problems facing humanity. To address these problems, we develop Green New Deal energy roadmaps for 143 countries.
- Andy Zucker's "Climate Change and Psychology"
- Risk and Well-Being
- Spectra Energy exposed
- David Appell's early climate science
- Équiterre Equiterre helps build a social movement by encouraging individuals, organizations and governments to make ecological and equitable choices, in a spirit of solidarity.
- weather blocking patterns
- Grid parity map for Solar PV in United States
- World Weather Attribution
Archives
Jan Galkowski
Category Archives: bryology
Dr Des Callaghan’s “Bryophytes around the world”
Dr Callaghan is a superb bryophyte photographer.
Posted in bryophyte, bryophytes, The British Bryological Society, zero carbon
Tagged bryophyte photography
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2026 March 14 [J 073.87] “Pi Day”
Geographic coordinates N42.227, W71.230, Westwood, MA, USA
Pohlia lescuriana
Posted in ABLS, blog, Botany, bryology, bryophyte, bryophytes, mosses, New England Botanical Society
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Climacium in Lawns
Posted in Botany, bryology, bryophytes, mosses
Tagged Botany, bryophytes, ecology, mosses
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2024Dec5J340 first snow Westwood: Full temperatures missing as yet
First snow: Cones specifying where sample temperatures etc will be taken described and illustrated in images below: This taken day before snowfall.
2024J281
Taken with 100mm Rokinon lens, OM-5 mirrorless OMD camera.
Posted in bryology, bryophytes, mosses
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Collection of Photos of Moss
As of 2024J266, with various cameras such as Google Pixel, Olympus TG-6 (of two of them), Olympus E-M1 Mark III, and OM Systems (Olympus) OM-5. Various lenses used in case of latter two. Which lenses should be recorded in metadata … Continue reading
Posted in bryology, bryophytes, mosses
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a variety of bryophyte macrophotographs
Posted in ABLS, amateur science, American Bryological and Lichenological Society, biology, Botany, bryology, bryophytes, citizen data, citizen science, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ecology, field biology, Hale Reservation, macrophotography, mosses, National Phenology Network, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, sampling algorithms, statistical ecology
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Adobe Lightroom for scientific photos
As some readers may know, now I’m retired, I am deeply invested in a multiyear longitudinal study of (primarily) mosses (Bryophyta) at 25 plots near my home. This has been running since end of November 2020, with the first month … Continue reading
Photo of the week: Repeatedly distressed Mnium hornum
This Mnium hornum community is located near a brook which occasionally overflows its banks and at a relative elevation lower than the brook floor. Because of unusual big rains in Dover, Massachusetts in 2021, this hornum community has been inundated … Continue reading
Cladonia coniocraea in a field of Polytrichum juniperinum
Cladonia coniocraea is a lichen. Polytrichum juniperinum is an acrocarp moss. In any case they are beautiful. Full size is available by right-clicking the image and electing “open image in new tab.” Try it. It’s worth it.
Posted in bryology, bryophytes, lichenology, lichens, macrophotography, mosses
Tagged mosses
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Moss Evolution
A lecture by Professor Ralf Reski.
Posted in biology, bryology, bryophytes, evolution, mosses
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Why I Retired
Today’s New York Times contains an article “For Some People, Working from Home Sped Up their Decision to Retire“, by Paul Sullivan. I also retired in 2020. But my motivation was quite different. Unlike many people, I had the option … Continue reading
Mosses of the Week, 4 June 2021
All photographs by Jan Galkowski, 2021.
Moss of the Week, 2021-05-31: Pohlia nutans
All photographs by Jan Galkowski, 2021.
Posted in American Bryological and Lichenological Society, Botany, bryology, bryophytes, mosses
Tagged Botany, bryophytes, mosses
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Field survey update for 2021-03-03 and 2021-03-10: Bryophytes, lichens, and Lycopodia in winter (LoSoMaaCoF)
Online data from principally bryological the longitudinal field survey described here has been updated in its: spreadsheet Photos for Site 1 Photos for Site 2 Photos for Site 3 Photos for Site 4 with the photos and remarks from 2021-03-03 … Continue reading
New Meetup: Massachusetts Mosses and Lichens
I have started a new Meetup group: Massachusetts Mosses and Lichens. I am inviting anyone with an interest in mosses and lichens to join in, particularly if you live in the “greater Massachusetts area”. Because of pandemic, there’ll be no … Continue reading
Posted in ABLS, American Bryological and Lichenological Society, American Statistical Association, biology, Botany, Brent Mishler, bryology, bryophytes, citizen data, citizen science, ecology, field biology, field research, field science, Hale Reservation, Janice Glime, Jerry Jenkins, lichenology, lichens, longitudinal survey of mosses, macrophotography, maths, mesh models, mosses, Nancy G Slack, National Phenology Network, population biology, population dynamics, Ralph Pope, science, spatial statistics, statistical ecology, Sue Williams, the right to know, Westwood
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Field survey update for 2021-02-24: Bryophytes, lichens, and Lycopodia in winter (LoSoMaaCoF)
Online data from principally bryological the longitudinal field survey described here has been updated in its: spreadsheet Photos for Site 1 Photos for Site 2 Photos for Site 3 Photos for Site 4 with the photos and remarks from 2021-02-24. … Continue reading
Why I care about and study mosses
For a guy who has spent most of his professional career developing, studying, and improving engineered systems, software, and applying mathematics to them, the idea of devoting a substantial part of the rest of his life to the study of … Continue reading
Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, astrophysics, bryology, bryophytes, carbon dioxide, climate, Cosmos, Ecological Society of America, icesheets, longitudinal study of mosses, longitudinal survey of mosses, National Phenology Network, Neill deGrasse Tyson, science
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Moss of the Week, 2021-02-19
Actually, mosses of the week. This pair of communities are part of my longitudinal study of mosses, some Cladonia chlorophaea lichens, and a few Lycopodium obscurum individuals. This is Site 3, community instances A and B. Instance A is Mnium … Continue reading
Field survey update for 2021-02-17: Bryophytes, lichens, and Lycopodia in winter (LoSoMaaCoF)
(Updated, 2021-02-23) Online data from principally bryological the longitudinal field survey described here has been updated in its: spreadsheet. This post is simply a matter of record, as are the additional rows in the spreadsheet. There were no observations on … Continue reading
Field survey update for 2021-02-03 and 2021-02-10: Bryophytes, lichens, and Lycopodia in winter (LoSoMaaCoF)
(Updated, 2021-02-23) Online data from principally bryological the longitudinal field survey described here has been updated in its: spreadsheet This post is simply a matter of record, as are the additional rows in the spreadsheet. There were no observations on … Continue reading
Field survey update for 2021-01-26: Bryophytes, lichens, and Lycopodia in winter (LoSoMaaCoF)
(Updated, 2021-02-23) Online data from principally bryological the longitudinal field survey described here has been updated in its: spreadsheet Photos for Site 1 Photos for Site 2 Photos for Site 3 Photos for Site 4 with the photos and remarks … Continue reading
On storing and logging moss specimens
(Updated 2021-02-21) The standard way of storing moss specimens — at least that’s taught — is to press them, like most botanical specimens, or to store them, dessicated, in folders like these: That’s from Ralph Pope’s (2016) Guide, Pope, Ralph. … Continue reading
Posted in biology, bryology, bryophytes, data collection, field biology, field science
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Field survey update for 2021-01-20: Bryophytes, lichens, and Lycopodia in winter (LoSoMaaCoF)
(Updated, 2021-02-23) Online data from principally bryological the longitudinal field survey described here has been updated in its: spreadsheet Photos for Site 1 Photos for Site 2 Photos for Site 3 Photos for Site 4 with the photos and remarks … Continue reading

