TangentFoxOfficial
@tangentfoxofficial.bsky.social
Pinned
Finally started drawing on the hat my girlfriend got me for Christmas. Give me ideas for what to draw on the rest of the hat!
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
48. That exception of course is the fossil fuel producer. They are hostile to energy productivity for the same reason John Henry didn't like the steam shovel. They can't compete with it. Wins for consumers come at their expense. Wins for the climate come at their expense.
December 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
48. That exception of course is the fossil fuel producer. They are hostile to energy productivity for the same reason John Henry didn't like the steam shovel. They can't compete with it. Wins for consumers come at their expense. Wins for the climate come at their expense.
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40. So yes, we have a grid with lots of stuff. The most reliable backup in that PJM analysis was nuclear and load sited demand reduction. Diesel gen sets. Pumped hydro. Battery storage is a big deal and a bigger one as costs fall and longer durations are available. Gas peakers too.
December 20, 2025 at 5:17 PM
40. So yes, we have a grid with lots of stuff. The most reliable backup in that PJM analysis was nuclear and load sited demand reduction. Diesel gen sets. Pumped hydro. Battery storage is a big deal and a bigger one as costs fall and longer durations are available. Gas peakers too.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
39. Moreover, wholesale power markets include variable time of use rates and in some cases capacity payments to pay a premium to sources that can ramp up on a moments notice. Here is a list of what PJM used last year (% is the likelihood that the given source would be there when called.)
December 20, 2025 at 5:15 PM
39. Moreover, wholesale power markets include variable time of use rates and in some cases capacity payments to pay a premium to sources that can ramp up on a moments notice. Here is a list of what PJM used last year (% is the likelihood that the given source would be there when called.)
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
38. Every utility manager and operator knows this. NERC standards explicitly require that in any given utility control area you cannot have a coincident failure mode that affects more than 10% of your load. The scary scenario (night time blackouts!) doesn't happen and won't.
December 20, 2025 at 5:10 PM
38. Every utility manager and operator knows this. NERC standards explicitly require that in any given utility control area you cannot have a coincident failure mode that affects more than 10% of your load. The scary scenario (night time blackouts!) doesn't happen and won't.
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37. I will concede. Night is real. Some days I can't fly a kite. It is also true that sometimes coal trains are stuck, gas pipelines fail, warm weather derates thermal power plants and unplanned outages happen.
December 20, 2025 at 5:08 PM
37. I will concede. Night is real. Some days I can't fly a kite. It is also true that sometimes coal trains are stuck, gas pipelines fail, warm weather derates thermal power plants and unplanned outages happen.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
34. And of course you also need to fuel the ship that carries the LNG to another country - which means that environmental impact of exported natural gas is primarily driven by methane leaks and liquefaction / distribution. The burner tip comparison is just a vapid industry talking point.
December 20, 2025 at 4:56 PM
34. And of course you also need to fuel the ship that carries the LNG to another country - which means that environmental impact of exported natural gas is primarily driven by methane leaks and liquefaction / distribution. The burner tip comparison is just a vapid industry talking point.
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32. That's of course not the norm. And because methane is such a potent greenhouse gas (>80x as bad as CO2 for the first 20 years after release) even a minor leakage rate in the collection and distribution makes natural gas worse than coal from a global warming perspective.
December 20, 2025 at 4:49 PM
32. That's of course not the norm. And because methane is such a potent greenhouse gas (>80x as bad as CO2 for the first 20 years after release) even a minor leakage rate in the collection and distribution makes natural gas worse than coal from a global warming perspective.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
29. Now look at the US bars on that chart. Yes, bars plural. Because US production is not monolithic. Conventional oil production (offshore gulf, southwest) uses relatively little energy to lift the oil to the surface and as a result is much cleaner than "other US" (aka fracking).
December 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM
29. Now look at the US bars on that chart. Yes, bars plural. Because US production is not monolithic. Conventional oil production (offshore gulf, southwest) uses relatively little energy to lift the oil to the surface and as a result is much cleaner than "other US" (aka fracking).
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
18. Because natural gas is used for so much of US power generation, increasing gas exports = higher gas prices = higher electricity. One climate negative impact of that is that after years of decline, we now are seeing an uptick in domestic power generation from coal.
December 20, 2025 at 4:05 PM
18. Because natural gas is used for so much of US power generation, increasing gas exports = higher gas prices = higher electricity. One climate negative impact of that is that after years of decline, we now are seeing an uptick in domestic power generation from coal.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
11. That's a good thing! We're just as warm, just as able to travel as we were 20 years ago, and rising vehicle efficiency, EV deployment, etc. is giving consumers more useful energy with less oil expense. That's good for consumers, even if it hurts producers.
December 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
11. That's a good thing! We're just as warm, just as able to travel as we were 20 years ago, and rising vehicle efficiency, EV deployment, etc. is giving consumers more useful energy with less oil expense. That's good for consumers, even if it hurts producers.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
3. Leadership is about doing what is necessary, not just what is popular. Read literally anything our founders wrote about virtue, and the inherent risks to a society based on democratic processes to sustain the rule of law to the extent that unvirtuous people gain power.
December 20, 2025 at 3:05 PM
3. Leadership is about doing what is necessary, not just what is popular. Read literally anything our founders wrote about virtue, and the inherent risks to a society based on democratic processes to sustain the rule of law to the extent that unvirtuous people gain power.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
I mean jfc CNN just *sat down and interviewed* a group of Christian nationalist leaders who want to repeal women’s right to vote! open.substack.com/pub/jessica/...
December 20, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I mean jfc CNN just *sat down and interviewed* a group of Christian nationalist leaders who want to repeal women’s right to vote! open.substack.com/pub/jessica/...
Dear Blusky DON'T UNLOAD THE WHOLE FUCKING PAGE BECAUSE MY CONNECTION DIES FOR A FEW MILLISECONDS.
It should be self-evident how fucking stupid of a design decision this is.
It should be self-evident how fucking stupid of a design decision this is.
December 21, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Dear Blusky DON'T UNLOAD THE WHOLE FUCKING PAGE BECAUSE MY CONNECTION DIES FOR A FEW MILLISECONDS.
It should be self-evident how fucking stupid of a design decision this is.
It should be self-evident how fucking stupid of a design decision this is.
Irony of luck? Unlucky enough to be born in a time and place that makes transitioning fully impossible, lucky enough to be born at the time where I avoided many consequences of society pretending it was possible for most of my life - because I was forced to wait so long it became impossible again.
December 21, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Irony of luck? Unlucky enough to be born in a time and place that makes transitioning fully impossible, lucky enough to be born at the time where I avoided many consequences of society pretending it was possible for most of my life - because I was forced to wait so long it became impossible again.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
AI will never be as much of a pervert as I am.
December 21, 2025 at 3:56 AM
AI will never be as much of a pervert as I am.
I am most angry at AI right now because YouTube's automatic captions removed the ability to recognize the terms ABI and API in favor of always inserting AI when these acronyms are mentioned now. Great. Thanks.
December 21, 2025 at 7:30 AM
I am most angry at AI right now because YouTube's automatic captions removed the ability to recognize the terms ABI and API in favor of always inserting AI when these acronyms are mentioned now. Great. Thanks.
If you see me post and immediately delete it, it's because I know just how stupid I was and took slightly too long to realize it.
December 21, 2025 at 2:09 AM
If you see me post and immediately delete it, it's because I know just how stupid I was and took slightly too long to realize it.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
I’d rather have nice safe emotions about shows on the entertainment media; having them about things real-life humans said and did just led to stupid decisions.
December 21, 2025 at 1:35 AM
I’d rather have nice safe emotions about shows on the entertainment media; having them about things real-life humans said and did just led to stupid decisions.
I have a 5,000 word document about how I fucked up managing my server and how to fix it, and another one that's 1,000 words because I was too overwhelmed trying to process all that info.
But like, now I gotta go through both of these and figure out where I am in managing things now.
But like, now I gotta go through both of these and figure out where I am in managing things now.
December 21, 2025 at 2:07 AM
I have a 5,000 word document about how I fucked up managing my server and how to fix it, and another one that's 1,000 words because I was too overwhelmed trying to process all that info.
But like, now I gotta go through both of these and figure out where I am in managing things now.
But like, now I gotta go through both of these and figure out where I am in managing things now.
Good news: Pro-vaccine propaganda is so ever-present that when trying to search for information about a COVID vaccine that was pulled after it killed people, everything I can find denies it.
Bad news: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was actually pulled because 9 people died from a clotting syndrome.
Bad news: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was actually pulled because 9 people died from a clotting syndrome.
December 20, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Good news: Pro-vaccine propaganda is so ever-present that when trying to search for information about a COVID vaccine that was pulled after it killed people, everything I can find denies it.
Bad news: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was actually pulled because 9 people died from a clotting syndrome.
Bad news: The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was actually pulled because 9 people died from a clotting syndrome.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
It's the weekend, baby
December 20, 2025 at 1:07 AM
It's the weekend, baby
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
I'm not even a fucking scientist/researcher, and I actually look at the studies I reference when I choose to reference them to support an argument. It's not fucking hard. Time-consuming, yes, but not difficult.
December 20, 2025 at 3:56 AM
I'm not even a fucking scientist/researcher, and I actually look at the studies I reference when I choose to reference them to support an argument. It's not fucking hard. Time-consuming, yes, but not difficult.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
The anti-vaccine movement is a mass exercise in sadism and wild negligence. These people are your enemy and they want to hurt you, and especially, your kids. It's why they're all also anti-trans.
December 20, 2025 at 2:49 AM
The anti-vaccine movement is a mass exercise in sadism and wild negligence. These people are your enemy and they want to hurt you, and especially, your kids. It's why they're all also anti-trans.
Reposted by TangentFoxOfficial
this is a good reminder of how things that are shitty but have been accepted as normal and inevitable can actually turn out to be abnormal and evitable with some science, time, education and political will
December 19, 2025 at 8:44 PM
this is a good reminder of how things that are shitty but have been accepted as normal and inevitable can actually turn out to be abnormal and evitable with some science, time, education and political will