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Weather: Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of showers in the morning, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 80s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent. Monday Night: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening, then partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the lower 70s. Northeast winds around 5 mph. Chance of rain 50 percent.
- Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
- Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
- Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
- tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
The three-member East Flagler Mosquito Control District Board meets at 10 a.m. at District Headquarters, 210 Airport Executive Drive, Palm Coast. Agendas are available here. District staff, commissioners and email addresses are here. The meetings are open to the public.
The Flagler County Commission meets at 5 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Boulevard, Building 2, Bunnell. Access meeting agendas and materials here. The five county commissioners and their email addresses are listed here.
NAACP Candidate Forum:Â The NAACP Flagler Branch hosts a candidate forum featuring local candidates in the Nov. 5 election for Palm Coast City Council, at 6 p.m. at the Palm Coast Community Center, 305 Palm Coast Parkway NE.
Nar-Anon Family Groups offers hope and help for families and friends of addicts through a 12-step program, 6 p.m. at St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church, 303 Palm Coast Pkwy NE, Palm Coast, Fellowship Hall Entrance. See the website, www.nar-anon.org, or call (800) 477-6291. Find virtual meetings here.
 Keep Their Lights On Over the Holidays: Flagler Cares, the social service non-profit celebrating its 10th anniversary, is marking the occasion with a fund-raiser to "Keep the Holiday Lights On" by encouraging people to sponsor one or more struggling household's electric bill for a month over the Christmas season. Each sponsorship amounts to $100 donation, with every cent going toward payment of a local power bill. See the donation page here. Every time another household is sponsored, a light goes on on top of a house at Flagler Cares' fundraising page. The goal of the fun-raiser, which Flagler Cares would happily exceed, is to support at least 100 families (10 households for each of the 10 years that Flagler Cares has been in existence). Flagler Cares will start taking applications for the utility fund later this month. Because of its existing programs, the organization already has procedures in place to vet people for this type of assistance, ensuring that only the needy qualify. |
Notably: It was a terrible sight made more spectral by the seemingly dying oak to the right, a tree I remember 10 years ago shading half the lot of the old courthouse, from where the shot above was taken: a shot of the now-empty lot, where the Flagler Playhouse used to stand with its old steeple and marquee until fire demolished it almost a year ago come Oct. 30. Even gutted and spiked with that stubborn steeple, there’d been something elegant about it, maybe from all the memories and characters we projected on it, maybe from Pirandello’s characters ghosting around the place, looking for a stage. The theater itself burned, its peripheral buildings did not. But a theater without a stage is a cemetery. If the Globe could burn, no stage is ever safe, though the Globe was built the following year. All the scene above needs now is a tombstone.
—P.T.
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The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Al-Anon Family Groups
Nar-Anon Family Group
Flagler County Beekeepers Association Meeting
Bunnell City Commission Meeting
For the full calendar, go here.
The uncertainty principle had profound implications for the way in which we view the world. Even after more than fifty years they have not been fully appreciated by many philosophers, and are still the subject of much controversy. The uncertainty principle signaled an end to Laplace’s dream of a theory of science, a model of the universe that would be completely deterministic: one certainly cannot predict future events exactly if one cannot even measure the present state of the universe precisely! We could still imagine that there is a set of laws that determines events completely for some supernatural being, who could observe the present state of the universe without disturbing it. However, such models of the universe are not of much interest to us ordinary mortals. It seems better to employ the principle of economy known as Occam’s razor and cut out all the features of the theory that cannot be observed. This approach led Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and Paul Dirac in the 1920s to reformulate mechanics into a new theory called quantum mechanics, based on the uncertainty principle. In this theory particles no longer had separate, well-defined positions and velocities that could not be observed. In-stead, they had a quantum state, which was a combination of position and velocity.
—Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (1988).
Ray W says
Thank you, Mr. Tristam, for the Hawking observation.
As a young college student, my small epiphany occurred while contemplating the impact of Max Planck’s equation that served as the foundational theorem for both Einstein’s theory of relativity about the impact of gravity upon photons and Bohr’s concept of quantum mechanics and its “uncertainty principle” (my natural science professor at that time had cast the Planck issue using the names of those two scientists). As I rode my motorcycle home from class, the thought struck me: What if mathematics did not always provide a single answer to a problem to the exclusion of all other answers? What if mathematics could only, in certain instances, provide approximate answers?
Planck’s equation used a mathematical equivalency symbol that permitted a range of answers to be equal. When Einstein famously sailed to a location off the coast of Australia to test his theory of general relativity by measuring the effect of the moon’s gravity on sunlight during a total eclipse, he determined that if sunlight deflected by the moon’s gravitational field within a certain range of degrees during the eclipse, not just one precise deflection, his theory would be proved. That allowed for a range of correct answers, not just one answer.
To me, if the foundations of both general relativity and quantum mechanics derived from a theorem that accepted a range of possible answers as correct, then both theories themselves would also accept a range of possibly correct answers.
That explained the uncertainty principle, which holds that the act of detecting the location of an electron would, by its detection, change the location of the detected electron (air expands when heated and contracts when cooled because electrons change their distance from a nucleus when energy is added or subtracted, i.e., their orbit changes when anything, including an act of detection, affects their state of energy). The uncertainty principle as applied to electron orbits is one of approximation, not precision. The impact of gravity on sunlight is one of approximation, not precision.
What I am describing is a product of abstract mathematical principles, not concrete mathematics. Five times five will always be twenty-five. But abstract mathematics sometimes provides unanswerable theories. The move, Silent Figures, delves into this concept. The scene in which the protagonist poses the idea that Euler’s Theorem might solve the mathematical problem caused by a change of travel between orbit and reentry is, to me, a great example of how abstract mathematics might provide multiple solutions to one problem, with emphasis on solutions, as opposed to answers.
As an aside, several “pestilential” FlaglerLive commenters openly claim that Democrats are “radical leftists.” Deluded, they just can’t see that Democrats are commonly pragmatic and who, as in my case, are more conservative than many of today’s Republicans, who long ago abandoned traditional conservative values.
I have listened over the decades to those pundits who claim that the American center has been dragged further and further to the right. Just the other day, Mr. Tristam said as much. Many years ago, I listened with interest to a judge who commented in the quiet of a closed courtroom that moderate Americans no longer exist; there are only (paraphrased) hard right and center right Americans.
I decided to look up the definition of both radical and reactionary.
Among several definitions, “radical” is defined as “a person who advocates for thorough or complete political or social reform. a member of a political party or part of a party pursuing such aims.” If this definition is accurate, then not anyone who advocates for reform can be called a “radical”; it is only those seeking thorough or complete change who qualify.
Among several definitions, “reactionary” is defined as “(a person or set of views) opposing political or social liberalization or reform.”
FlaglerLive commenters, please help me understand my quandary.
Ed P. is not alone among commenters when he describes Democratic policies as “radical.” But the current Republican political apparatus demands that “we” need to take America back, which implies that Democratic policies are the mainstream thought in America. If Democratic thought is mainstream, how can any Democrat be radical?
Today’s Republican Pary leaders claim that DOJ needs to be destroyed to stop its weaponization. The Supreme Court has already been taken back. The FBI needs to be defunded. The throats of federal civil servants need to be slit. The federal education apparatus needs to be scrapped.
All of these talking points use “radical” language that requires “complete social or political reform.” How can Democrats be radical when Republicans are the ones using the terms of radicalism? And if America has been dragged so far to the right that the best a Democrat can hope to be is a moderate conservative, how can anyone justify the use of the term “leftist” anymore to describe a Democrat?
Would it not be more accurate to describe today’s Democrats as centrist conservative reactionaries who oppose the radical right? After all, today’s Democrats are the ones still in favor of the rule of law, separation of powers, and individual rights.
And the Biden administration is deregulating the nation’s electricity grid. If that is not center right action, what is?
Laurel says
Well, the first thing that came to mind regarding the first part of your comment, was my favorite program, AutoCAD, and my least favorite computer company, Microsoft. With Microsoft Word (as in its other programs) there is usually one answer. If you don’t know that answer, you will not get the results you want. Tedious.
With AutoCAD, there are many ways to solve one problem. To keep it really simple, as an example, let’s say you want to drawn a simple, two dimensional, box. You can draw two right angles, four lines joined in couples, and join the coupled lines together. You can draw four separate lines, and join them together. You can draw two lines, copy and turn them, then join them all together. You can draw all four, consecutive lines and connect the beginning point to the end point. You can draw a box, save it as a block, store that block in a file, and pull it up into your drawing every time you need the square already created. AutoCAD is a cavernous program, with multiple ways to handle a problem.
Now, imagine nature! Nature is mathematical. Yet, with all the available possibilities, both nature and AutoCAD are precise. One, nature, is a barely fathomable system, while the other is a computer program created by us creatures, who are at a questionable state of evolution, though, if you connect two lines, end to end, properly, no matter how many times you zoom in on the endpoints, they will continue to be connected.
Which brings me to the second part of your comment. I’m right and you are wrong. I’m left and you are wrong. Whomever does not agree with me is wrong, and therefore “radical.” “Radical” is nothing more than a political term, these days, that separates you and me. We are separated by shame. Who wants to be “radical” in our society? Radical people don’t belong.
Anyone who does not agree with the current Republicans are “socialists.” Bernie Sanders is an admitted socialist, yet he is both loved and revered by Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike! Many people voted for Bernie Sanders who had previously voted for Obama or Trump. They wanted something different in their lives; they wanted change.
Ed P says
Ray W,
Democrat centrist conservatives reactionaries? Today?
That would be kin (first cousins for sure) to someone saying Donald Trump is the salt of the earth. A mensch. A gentleman. A gift from god.
You’ve asked me on multiple occasions to rethink a post, well let me return the favor. Appears a logical fallacy has lead you astray.
Ray W says
CNN reports that a large Minnesota coal-fired electricity generating power plant will soon shut down, as it has reached its 50-year age limit.
But one valuable asset will not be commissioned: its permitted connection to the national electrical grid. As CNN put it:
“Instead of letting [the connection] go to waste as the fossil fuel plant closes, Xcel Energy is going to leave it plugged into in to connect the largest solar project in the Upper Midwest, and one of the largest in the entire country, directly to the grid.
“Repurposing the so-called interconnection system is short-circuiting what could have been seven years of bureaucracy and red tape to get this electricity distributed to its customers.”
According to University of California Berkeley researchers, per CNN, “[t]he US could essentially double the capacity of its electrical grid overnight by plugging renewables projects into old fossil fuel power plants. … And projects could be plugged into existing plants, not just ones that are retiring.”
By plugging into an already permitted power plant, a solar farm can skip the normal seven-year permitting process.
Rob Gramlich, CEO of consulting firm Grid Strategies, LLC, compared the process to skipping a ride line a Disney ride line. “There’s a line everybody wants to get on, and then somebody just has this Disney pass to skip the line. It’s a sensitive topic to talk about, jumping around the interconnection queue. But the reality is, it’s there.”
Make of this what you will. Me? Years ago, Duke Power bought the grounds of the former Crystal River nuclear power plant near Homosassa Springs, including its four closed coal-fired power plants. Duke Power then built two combined-cycle natural gas turbine facilities (four turbines and two waste heat steam generators). Nuclear power plant regulations require clearing of land around any nuclear power plant in order to spot illegal entry all around the plant, so there is ample cleared land to build a solar farm around the closed nuclear facility and hook it into the grid without going through the permitting process.
More importantly, energy demands fluctuate throughout each day. Coal power plants are the most expensive to run, so they are the last on and the first off. Sometimes, active coal-fired plants do not run for months. Solar farms provide the cheapest form energy, but supply is intermittent. CCNG plants are cost-competitive and can run at any time of the day, throttling up or down as needed. It makes financial sense to build a solar farm on the Duke Power site and hook it into the grid. Take all the power from the solar farm when available and throttle up the CCNG facility when needed. Run the CCNG plant throughout the night and cut it back during the day.
Laurel says
Smart!
Ed P says
Any feedback from Trump/Gutfeld late night Wednesday?
You Tune Trump/Gutfeld and witness Trump in an unfiltered situation away from the debate or rally stage.
Could Harris do the same? You might get surprised.
Ed P says
You Tube