G. David Felt

Just got an email that our Austin HQ Campus is powering down and will go dark for an indefinite amount of time so that the power can go to the family homes in the area to keep everyone warm. We have been running on backup generators, but we are moving work for hardware / software projects to datacenters out of the state to allow those that can work to continue. Crazy weather in Texas.

@Drew Dowdell Lots of news stories all saying the same things about why Texas grid cannot handle the winter storm and it follows what you say, where there seems to be differences is in the grids. Saw this as the most common image. Is it pretty close to being right? Course now I am seeing this one on CNN, Bloomberg and AP.

Blue Spruce

Ford Announced their $1 Billion investment in their German plant to convert to 100% Plug-in Hybrids and EV auto's by 2025 and 100% EV only by 2030. Ford also states they want their commercial business to by Plug-in Hybrid and EV by 2024 at the latest. Seems a revolution is afoot and we will see a transformation that will change how we use auto's. Ford invests $1 billion in German electric vehicle plant (cnbc.com) As the story says, this is a Transformative Decade. CEO's from Daimler to Kia to Ford have all stated that for European sales, ICE will be pretty much dead by 2030 as they convert much faster to dedicated EV platforms and skip for the most part the Plug-in Hybrids. This is to affect the rest of the world also as Asian countries are also following Europe. Americas countries are going to be an interesting watch. Consolidation and change will affect some places more than others and of course the electrical grid will play a roll in how fast places change over or if they do at all.

I say that is your States Failure. In Washington State, the power company, PSE for most of the state and PUD for those counties that regulate heavier than the state all have requirements that all tree's are cut back at least 6ft from the power lines. All spring, summer and fall you see the tree trimming services are out under contract with the power companies trimming all trees back. Still you get the occasional power outage, but for the most part, I have not had power loss in decades and I have lots of trees here in Washington state, so a very common issue especially when a wind storm blows in or snow before the trees drop leaves, you end up with spot outages. I agree with you that I wish the power companies would be required to bury the lines in older neighborhoods. The cities and new neighborhoods are required to be all under ground, but still have plenty of above ground if you buy an older home like I did. Over all, I would take regulated power over the mess in Texas! Lived there for 1 year, never again, worst place ever to live. Food is a different thing, yummy BBQ!

Squishy

Nothing like a Subaru before Subaru built them!

Intelligence

Well here is the latest from Jaguar Land Rover. Pretty much ICE is dead by the end of this decade for them. You can watch their video and read all the details, but this is the bullet list of what is happening: New global strategy – Reimagine – announced for the British company under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer, Thierry Bolloré A sustainability-rich reimagination of modern luxury, unique customer experiences, and positive societal impact Start of journey to become a net zero carbon business by 2039 Reimagination of Jaguar as an all-electric luxury brand from 2025 to ‘realize its unique potential’ In the next five years, Land Rover will welcome six pure electric variants as it continues to be the world leader of luxury SUVs All Jaguar and Land Rover nameplates to be available in pure electric form by end of the decade; first all-electric Land Rover model in 2024 Clean-hydrogen fuel-cell power being developed in preparation for future demand Streamlined structure to deliver greater agility and promote an efficiency of focus Global manufacturing and assembly footprint to be retained, rightsized, repurposed and reorganized Collaborations and knowledge-sharing with industry leaders, in particular from within the wider Tata Group will allow the company to explore potential synergies on clean energy, connected services, data and software development leadership On a path towards double-digit EBIT margin and positive cash flow, with an ambition to achieve positive cash net-of-debt by 2025 with a value creation approach delivering quality and profit-over-volume JAGUAR LAND ROVER REIMAGINES THE FUTURE OF MODERN LUXURY BY DESIGN | JLR Corporate Homepage International

Phoenix

winter

Open

Man the last few weeks of snow on the west coast have been so crazy. Europeans cannot drive in the snow either.

Mulch

@A Horse With No Name We started a reorganization project as we convert the family room into our workout room and get the wife's hobby stuff organized, had the garage bay filled and working it when the storm hit. I agree, was sad to see my SS baby sitting in the snow.

Sauce

Delusional with a CAPTIAL D, Days of $18K auto's are over. EVERYTHING is more expensive especially due to a FAILED Trade war that increased costs for US Consumers. Facts! Welcome to the 21st Century! Average New-Vehicle Prices Jump Nearly 4% Year-Over-Year in August 2020, According to Kelley Blue Book - Sep 1, 2020 (kbb.com) Driving is a privilege earned and NOT a right. We have already covered the average cost of an auto and no company will go backwards. Your $25K auto is the new $15K auto. Reality sucks, but you have a choice, further education, further career growth or stagnant income.

Filet

Snowing in Seattle and everyone not born here is freaking out. About a foot or so.

And if you actually looked at the web site you would see that it clearly states these are renders of what the actual EVs are expected to look like as they get things started for this EV startup. Awesome way to plow your side walk, driveway, etc. @Robert Hall This would make clearing your driveway fun and probably easier. Looks like for sale @ Tamiya USA Shoveling Snow Is a Lot More Fun With a $2,500+ RC Mercedes-Benz Unimog Snowplow (thedrive.com)

I found the perfect weekend road rally or just plain fun play car for @A Horse With No Name They do have an interesting EUV too. Check out the web site for this EV Startup. ALPHA ACE™ RESERVATION — Alpha Motor Corporation (alphamotorinc.com) Alpha Motor Company has the following EV cars for sale. Naw, that is your new Jeep Knock off!

Shell has announced that they hit peak oil production / gas production in 2019 and have been for the last 5 years diversifying their business to cover from green energy such as wind farms to charging businesses to carbon capture to help other businesses reduce their carbon foot print. Shell like BP Oil plans to be carbon neutral by 2050. Shell admits it's past peak oil, eyes carbon offsets as a business opportunity (greencarreports.com) Affordable EVs are here, perfect for @ocnblu You can get yours on Alibaba for only $3,200 and they will ship it to you for your doorstep delivery.

Instrumental - See you again

Adios Amor Very cool audio only using two traditional Korean instruments to play Chandelier (Sia) and Wrecking Ball Mash up.

Royals