US Nuclear Reactor Comes On-Line; Why Elon Musk Might Have Seemed Nervous -- October 19, 2015

Minor news item regarding US energy. Platts is reporting:

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed a series of measures needed before issuing an operating license to Tennessee Valley Authority for its 1,150-MW Watts Bar-2 unit, and could decide on the license in a "couple of weeks."

If issued, it would be the first operating license for a US power reactor since February of 1996, when NRC approved the operations of Watts Bar-1.

Macrumors is reporting that Apple drove electric motorcycle startup Mission Motors into bankruptcy.

Electric motorcycle startup Mission Motors has ceased operations after losing some of its key talent to competitors such as Apple, and failing to develop a viable business model, according to Reuters.

As soon as I read that post, it became a bit clearer why Elon Musk said the things he did, and then tried to walk back those comments. Macrumors had that story also. 

Elon Musk raised eyebrows yesterday when he called Apple the "Tesla Graveyard" in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt, but this afternoon he attempted to smooth things over with a series of tweets clarifying his stance on the company.

"Yo, I don't hate Apple," he said before stating "it's a great company with a lot of talented people." Musk says he loves Apple products and he's "glad they're doing an [electric vehicle]." [Sure.]

In the interview, Musk called Apple the Tesla Graveyard after being questioned about Apple hiring some of Tesla's "most important engineers." Musk laughed off the idea that important Tesla employees had left the company for Apple and said people Apple hired had already been fired from Tesla. "If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple," he said. "I'm not kidding."

Musk also made fun of products like the Apple Watch, the iPad Pro, and the Apple Pencil, comments that he explained in a bit more detail today. In a second tweet, Musk said he wasn't a fan of the Apple Watch's functionality, but expects it to be a much more compelling product in the future. 

Elsewhere it was pointed out that the customer base for both Apple and Tesla (especially Apple fanboys) overlap. One disses Apple at its own peril.

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Family Leave

Washington, DC, is proposing 16-family leave -- paid leave -- for all workers. I don't understand why they just don't propose 50-week paid family leave and two weeks paid vacation for all workers. Sixteen weeks is only four months and if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a full 18 years to raise a child.

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Political Theory

Turmoil in the House GOP with regard to new speaker? I don't think so. This is exactly what "they" want. Everyone knows that President Obama was able to get what he wanted by twisting the arm of one person when it came to the House, whether the House was in the hands of the Democrats (Pelosi) or the Republicans (Boehner). If there is no GOP house leader, a) whose arm does President Obama twist; b) who sets the agenda to move along Obama initiatives; c) who deals with Pelosi? This is all quite fascinating. I wonder if the real reason no one wants the GOP House leadership (until after November 3rd) is because that person will have to sign off on raising the US debt ceiling. President Obama has already said he won't even discuss the issue.

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Martha Gellhorn

I finished Caroline Moorehead's Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn. Very worthwhile reading. I have much of it outlined, making it easier to go back and re-read different selections based on my mood.

About a week ago, after reading a particular letter, I fell into a deep depression, and unable to really do anything for several days. Saturday night was probably the worse but a day of sports activities with the granddaughters changed all that.

This morning, I was back to "normal," but finishing the book -- as often happens -- puts me in an "ambivalent" mood.

I talked with either Arianna or Olivia -- I think it was Arianna -- about the word "ambivalent." I think it would have been Arianna because of her knowledge about "valence electrons" and the root "valent" in ambivalent. From the internet:

"simultaneous conflicting feelings," 1924 (1912 as ambivalency), from German Ambivalenz, coined 1910 by Swiss psychologist Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939) on model of German Equivalenz "equivalence," etc., from Latin ambi- "both" (see ambi-) + valentia "strength," from present participle of valere "be strong" (see valiant). A psychological term that by 1929 had taken on a broader literary and general sense. 

Wiki also has a nice summary of the etymology of valence as used in chemistry, and it does relate to "strength."

Somewhat ironic, I suppose. One would think that one might be weak to be ambivalent, when, in fact, "valency" suggests strength.

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Lost, But So Much Fun