Brownian motion is the random motion of particles suspended in a medium (a liquid or a gas). In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper where he modeled the motion of pollen particles as being moved by individual water molecules, making one of his first major scientific contributions.

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From an Israeli newspaper comes a story with this title and sub-head: “Israeli study: Babies born to vaccinated moms have COVID-fighting antibodies. All 40 infants in Jerusalem research have antibodies, suggesting they are born with immunity to coronavirus, according to Hadassah doctors.”

The caveat that the presence of antibodies in newborns doesn’t prove they will protect against the virus is noted in the piece. However, Dr. Dana Wolf, head of the virology department at Hadassah Medical Center, strongly believes they will.

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Recently, most of the country changed the time on their clocks to move into Daylight Savings Time. According to a report from CarInsurance.com, data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that the few days following the change is the second most dangerous period to drive in the US. Take an hour of sleep away from a sleep-deprived country and…

In general, driver fatigue, caused primarily by lack of quality or quantity of sleep, is among the leading causes of traffic accidents in America. My marvelous mom was an intelligent person. She used to rail against the bi-annual clock changes. The fact that Arizona doesn’t engage in the foolish practice was not a reason we moved here, but it is a nice bonus.

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I always knew I wasn’t the only WordPress blogger who disliked the Block Editor and favored the Classic. This post is called “[T]he tyranny of the new and shiny at wordpress.” By the way, the post author is way more adept at using a computer than I am. He has also been blogging on WordPress since 2013.

I have also thought that the WordPress push to move every blogger to the Block Editor–or Blockhead Editor, as I call it–smacked of tyranny, while granting this issue is not really important enough to use that description. Once again, I have to state that it is likely I will discontinue blogging on this platform if I HAVE to use the new editor.

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From BMW CEO Oliver Zipse via Phil LeBeau of CNBC: “BMW has no plans to stop developing internal combustion engines because demand for ICE vehicles will remain robust for many years to come.” Finally, an automotive CEO who understands the real world!

The “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” approach to EVs taken by so many car companies ignores reality. First, well over a BILLION ICE vehicles are being used all over the world with millions more still being manufactured every year. Second, some segment of the vehicle-buying public will continue to prefer them for “many years to come.”

Do we really want to put all of our transportation chips into the EV basket given that makes us extremely dependent on raw materials from other countries? In addition, upgrading the electric grid to accommodate millions of EVs being charged every night will not happen overnight. For the nth time, blind adherence to ideology is almost never a good idea.

A picture I took of an example of a very famous BMW, a car that influenced design and has become legendary despite only 252 examples ever being produced, the 507:

 

 

In what I consider to be a practical policy, BMW has committed to having half of its new vehicles being electric by 2030. Remember that, at present, EVs have only a 2%-3% market share and that share has not really grown much in the last few years. (Hybrid sales have increased, however.)

Although I won’t be around to see it, I think it’s very likely that EVs will become the dominant paradigm in personal transportation some time in the future. However, ignoring the realities of the present is fraught with peril. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Oh, history is replete with examples of the folly of human beings trying to predict the future.

 

#BrownianMotionThursday

#AlbertEinstein

#COVIDMoms

#DaylightSavingsTimeIsStupid

#SaveTheClassicEditor!

#BMWRealists

#BMW507

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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