This is a quick but heartfelt morning salutation from Maine with two purposes…..next Sunday I’ll explain today’s relative brevity. First, here’s recognizing Memorial Day and all that for which it stands. Here’s recognizing our lasting debt to the countless Americans who have given their lives in the service of our country. I think of the grandfather my brothers and I never met, killed in France just before the end of WWI.
I’ve started hearing rumblings about the American power grid and vulnerability to cyber attacks. Sure there’s been hiccups throughout the years, but this one isn’t keeping me up at night.
Those hiccups I mentioned, such as the post-9/11 power surge, have laid the groundwork for improving the American power grid’s resilience. Through technological advancements, decentralizing power generation, and network segmentation, the American power grid is reasonably equipped to handle most potential hacks. That’s a major pain for the green transition, but shockingly positive for security.
Other than a slight bump in sales during the holidays (shoutout to all the naughty kids), coal has been on the decline for quite a while now. With more environmentally friendly alternatives surging into the spotlight, how does coal fit into the energy framework?
Coal once played a critical role in the US, but political shifts are pushing more and more states towards eco-friendly options like solar and wind. Even natural gas is getting some attention as it becomes more economically viable and a cleaner alternative to coal.
Everyone is talking about Iran’s potential development of an active nuclear weapon. Before anyone gets too frightened at the prospect of this announcement, let me give you some food for thought.
Before we even touch on the technical stuff, we have to look the source of these announcements; which just so happens to be coming from ultranationalist members of parliament (you know, the MTGs of Iran). Now onto the real stuff. Building a functional uranium explosive device is no easy feat. It requires some seriously complex implosion tech, and don’t get me started on ensuring an accurate delivery of a nuclear explosion.
She’s running just fine and I had a wonderful new friend aboard with Penobscot Bay beneath us for a sumptuous long day. At times we didn’t have very much of Penobscot Bay under us as you can see in this picture of my makeshift docking technique at Isle au Haut, but when circumstances dictate, one does what one must.
I am going to simply allow a handful of images from the day speak for me….nothing particularly great, but still, a terrific start to getting out there where I so love to be.
The Montgomery Dam and its waterfall are a centerpiece to Camden’s beautiful and historic core along with the library, Harbor Park (designed by the world-famous Olmsted firm), and the amphitheater.
In 2017 voters allocated $50,000 for repairs to the dam. At the same time the Camden
Comprehensive Plan, endorsed and signed by the Select Board on behalf of the Town, included Montgomery Dam restoration in its suggested 10- year Capital Improvement Plan. Interestingly, the plan did not identify any problems along the Megunticook River.
But now Camden faces an imminent threat of losing Montgomery Dam because of grant requirements within the National Coastal Resiliency Program, a worthwhile endeavor designed to promote fish passage.
This resiliency program is administered by the Federal Fish and Wildlife Foundation, in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Defense and several private corporations.
Camden does not fit the grant requirements. In its attempt to meet them, the town parroted purposes of the grant, but without a sufficient statement of need.
Eastport, established as a town in 1798 and incorporated as a city in 1893, is one of Maine’s more fascinating locales.
In this episode of Chasing Maine, Roger McCord travels back to Eastport to present a cross-section of Eastport by interviewing three very different people in the community.
Parents are supposed to have 10 to 14 days to respond to accusations, but instead are sometimes waiting weeks or months while their children are placed elsewhere.
As I did at this time last year, I am treating myself to a bit of downtime…both in honor of Mother’s Day and giving myself some time aboard RAVEN to get her spiffed up for the season ahead. So, to that end I am recycling this “hug”…
Who doesn’t love spending their morning trying to understand what the Federal Reserve is doing? Oh, no takers? Well, let’s at least look at inflation trends and where I expect interest rates to go.
Thanks to COVID-related supply chain disruptions, inflation has stabilized around 3% (instead of the Fed’s magic 2%). Those baby boomers are also part of the problem. As they age into retirement, capital availability is going to decline and the Fed’s going to have rethink their strategy.