Alvaro Papa Silva
@apapasilva.bsky.social
Renewable Energy Development & Strategy Consultant
Chicago | Energy and Sports Nerd
Chicago | Energy and Sports Nerd
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
you've gotta admit the NCAA has an incredible sense of comic timing
Now official: College athletes and school staff can bet on pro sports, beginning on Nov. 1.
All three Divisions have voted to approve the change, per the NCAA.
All three Divisions have voted to approve the change, per the NCAA.
October 23, 2025 at 4:07 PM
you've gotta admit the NCAA has an incredible sense of comic timing
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
Time for 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of November 2025.
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon
www.worldscientific.com
October 20, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Time for 2025 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread. If you like these, you might like the second edition of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website until end of November 2025.
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
www.worldscientific.com/worldscibook...
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
BREAKING: Marco Rubio's State Department announces publicly that it is exercising unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in revoking people's visas based on comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
October 14, 2025 at 10:22 PM
BREAKING: Marco Rubio's State Department announces publicly that it is exercising unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in revoking people's visas based on comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
“Living car-free is the most impactful behavior by far in terms of reducing emissions.”
🚲🥗🚗 Small choices matter, but big change happens when systems support them.
WRI Climate ranked 19 climate-friendly behaviors to show which ones cut the most emissions and why policies & businesses must make them accessible.
See the list 👉 bit.ly/4q0pWvC
WRI Climate ranked 19 climate-friendly behaviors to show which ones cut the most emissions and why policies & businesses must make them accessible.
See the list 👉 bit.ly/4q0pWvC
October 13, 2025 at 11:46 AM
“Living car-free is the most impactful behavior by far in terms of reducing emissions.”
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
I'm at the scene where ICE abducted multiple people from Lincoln and Foster this morning.
A WGN producer was among the people taken, allegedly because she was among a group of bystanders who tried to intervene. ICE agents hit this car while making their getaway.
A WGN producer was among the people taken, allegedly because she was among a group of bystanders who tried to intervene. ICE agents hit this car while making their getaway.
October 10, 2025 at 2:55 PM
I'm at the scene where ICE abducted multiple people from Lincoln and Foster this morning.
A WGN producer was among the people taken, allegedly because she was among a group of bystanders who tried to intervene. ICE agents hit this car while making their getaway.
A WGN producer was among the people taken, allegedly because she was among a group of bystanders who tried to intervene. ICE agents hit this car while making their getaway.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.
October 6, 2025 at 1:44 AM
We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
Pope Leo urged the world's 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-line anti-immigration policies. For @reuters.com:
Pope Leo, after Trump critique, urges Catholics to help immigrants
Pope Leo urged the world's 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-line anti-immigration policies.
www.reuters.com
October 5, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Pope Leo urged the world's 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-line anti-immigration policies. For @reuters.com:
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
In the US, PM₂.₅ from wildfire smoke already kills about the same number of people as guns and cars (~40k each), but this will increase significantly with climate change. 😐
September 19, 2025 at 12:41 PM
In the US, PM₂.₅ from wildfire smoke already kills about the same number of people as guns and cars (~40k each), but this will increase significantly with climate change. 😐
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
People have historically invested in the US because we attract the best and brightest, have robust contract law protections and a stable, independent monetary policy. Trump has reversed all of that. www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...
The U.S. added just 22,000 jobs in August, confirming dramatic slowdown in the labor market
The August report is the first since President Donald Trump fired a top Labor Department official over accusations of releasing inaccurate data.
www.nbcnews.com
September 5, 2025 at 1:42 PM
People have historically invested in the US because we attract the best and brightest, have robust contract law protections and a stable, independent monetary policy. Trump has reversed all of that. www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
top five all time Dudes Rock clip
August 14, 2025 at 3:44 AM
top five all time Dudes Rock clip
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
Chicago is pancake flat because it rests on what was once the bottom of Lake Michigan (or rather, the proglacial lake that preceded Lake Michigan). The ancient lakeshore is easy to see in this "elevation" map that I made by joining the lake's bathymetric data with a digital elevation model.
August 6, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Chicago is pancake flat because it rests on what was once the bottom of Lake Michigan (or rather, the proglacial lake that preceded Lake Michigan). The ancient lakeshore is easy to see in this "elevation" map that I made by joining the lake's bathymetric data with a digital elevation model.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
Not at all a coincidence that this type of clean-energy comms - which presents a positive case in forceful terms rather than trying to dance around the issue - is coming almost exclusively from non-US firms. The comparison tells us a lot about why the IRA failed. More below:
1/9
1/9
July 30, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Not at all a coincidence that this type of clean-energy comms - which presents a positive case in forceful terms rather than trying to dance around the issue - is coming almost exclusively from non-US firms. The comparison tells us a lot about why the IRA failed. More below:
1/9
1/9
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
June 21 is Show Your Stripes Day—a time to spark conversation about how our world is warming.
This video shows how @noaa.gov temperature data for the U.S. is turned into the iconic stripes visualizations you may see shared today and tomorrow.
@edhawkins.org
This video shows how @noaa.gov temperature data for the U.S. is turned into the iconic stripes visualizations you may see shared today and tomorrow.
@edhawkins.org
June 20, 2025 at 2:59 PM
June 21 is Show Your Stripes Day—a time to spark conversation about how our world is warming.
This video shows how @noaa.gov temperature data for the U.S. is turned into the iconic stripes visualizations you may see shared today and tomorrow.
@edhawkins.org
This video shows how @noaa.gov temperature data for the U.S. is turned into the iconic stripes visualizations you may see shared today and tomorrow.
@edhawkins.org
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
I suspect that fact that the vast majority of LLM users don’t seem to have received this (really very simple!) message is because the AI companies have a vested interest in us not understanding it. “ChatGPT is smart, it just makes mistakes sometimes” is much more marketable than the truth.
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:36 AM
I suspect that fact that the vast majority of LLM users don’t seem to have received this (really very simple!) message is because the AI companies have a vested interest in us not understanding it. “ChatGPT is smart, it just makes mistakes sometimes” is much more marketable than the truth.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
The breakaway GWCA region urgently seeks recognition by Lincoln Square to form an independent Ravenswoodistan before sectarian NIMBY violence spreads further from the capital
May 2025- Heart of Lakeview neighbors cedes all land and pledges fealty to ELVN, upending decades of peace in the area. Nearby associations look on in unrest. Will alliances form? Will ELVN strike again? Is SELVN next?
June 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
The breakaway GWCA region urgently seeks recognition by Lincoln Square to form an independent Ravenswoodistan before sectarian NIMBY violence spreads further from the capital
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
One of the USA's superpowers has been the ability to attract the brightest from around the world to study here, many of whom then stay and add so much to our country. This new overt hostility to international students and universities in general is already destroying this remarkable advantage.
*US ORDERS HALT TO STUDENT VISA INTERVIEWS: POLITICO
Trump team orders stop to new student visa interviews, as it weighs expanding social media vetting
The directive came in a Tuesday cable obtained by POLITICO.
www.politico.com
May 27, 2025 at 6:24 PM
One of the USA's superpowers has been the ability to attract the brightest from around the world to study here, many of whom then stay and add so much to our country. This new overt hostility to international students and universities in general is already destroying this remarkable advantage.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
The story of Chicago's population decline is a story about children. Since 1970, the adult population has been relatively stable and may even be rebounding. But the drop in children is remarkable; it seems to be in freefall. People under 18 make up 86% of the city's total population loss.
May 1, 2025 at 4:24 PM
The story of Chicago's population decline is a story about children. Since 1970, the adult population has been relatively stable and may even be rebounding. But the drop in children is remarkable; it seems to be in freefall. People under 18 make up 86% of the city's total population loss.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
United States' capital markets used to be the envy of the world.
Thanks to Donald Trump, investors are losing confidence and are taking their money elsewhere.
Thanks to Donald Trump, investors are losing confidence and are taking their money elsewhere.
May 1, 2025 at 1:33 PM
United States' capital markets used to be the envy of the world.
Thanks to Donald Trump, investors are losing confidence and are taking their money elsewhere.
Thanks to Donald Trump, investors are losing confidence and are taking their money elsewhere.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
Attorney general Pam Bondi authored a memo instructing ICE to utterly ignore the fourth amendment in conducting Alien Enemies Act arrests and “deportations” to foreign prisons.
Exclusive: DOJ memo offers blueprint to Tren de Aragua deportation plan
Trump administration officials directed police to circumvent courts and pursue gang members into their homes without a warrant, a new document shows.
www.usatoday.com
April 25, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Attorney general Pam Bondi authored a memo instructing ICE to utterly ignore the fourth amendment in conducting Alien Enemies Act arrests and “deportations” to foreign prisons.
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
love this for us
Almost every line of this story would have been simply unbelievable a few months ago:
—Pioneering cancer researcher;
—*Arrested* at airport in Boston;
—Now indefinite ICE detention in Louisiana;
—"Crime": not declaring some frog-embryo samples for research.
Read it.
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
—Pioneering cancer researcher;
—*Arrested* at airport in Boston;
—Now indefinite ICE detention in Louisiana;
—"Crime": not declaring some frog-embryo samples for research.
Read it.
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
New images could change cancer diagnostics, but ICE detained the Harvard scientist who analyzes them
Without scientist Kseniia Petrova’s expertise, no one can fully unlock the data’s potential, putting crucial advancements in early cancer detection at risk.
www.nbcnews.com
April 22, 2025 at 12:30 PM
love this for us
Reposted by Alvaro Papa Silva
Actually. How the US benefitted from outsourcing its research interests to experts in universities.
April 19, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Actually. How the US benefitted from outsourcing its research interests to experts in universities.
Actions like these, on a permitted and contracted project, will contribute to erosion of trust in capital markets that make the United States more akin to a developing country. 🔌⚡
The federal government’s stop-work order for Empire Wind 1, New York’s largest energy infrastructure project in 50 years, goes against the federal administration’s own prioritization of independent and locally produced energy. Read my full statement. ⬇️
April 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Actions like these, on a permitted and contracted project, will contribute to erosion of trust in capital markets that make the United States more akin to a developing country. 🔌⚡