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Weather: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers. Highs in the mid 80s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower 70s. East winds 5 to 10 mph.
- 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:
Story Time for Preschoolers at Flagler Beach Public Library, 11 to 11:30 a.m. at the library, 315 South Seventh Street, Flagler Beach. It’s where the wild things are: Hop on for stories and songs with Miss Doris.
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Central Park, from noon to 2 p.m. in Central Park in Town Center, 975 Central Ave. Join Bill Wells, Bob Rupp and other members of the Palm Coast Model Yacht Club, watch them race or join the races with your own model yacht. No dues to join the club, which meets at the pond in Central Park every Thursday.
‘No Sex Please, We’re British,’ at Daytona Playhouse, 100 Jessamine Blvd., Daytona Beach. Nov. 7, 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. Adults $25, Seniors $24, Youth $15. This riotous comic farce notched up a staggeringly successful sixteen-year run in the West End! Peter and Frances could reasonably expect to look forward to a calm, happy start to their married life together. Owing to an unfortunate mistake, however, they find themselves inundated with pornographic material from the “Scandinavian Import Company”. Senior bank officials, Peter’s snobbish mother, and a prim, respectable bank cashier become inextricably entangled in the rambunctious events that follow.
 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: The scene above was glimpsed at the Flagler County Republican Party’s campaign tent at the county library on Election day. Note that Sheriff Staly’s bobblehead is in the foreground, with Donald Trump, as a grenade–as a grenade? is anyone a the REC keeping tabs on the megatonnage of irony here?–relegated to the background. The bobblehead was actually part of a fundraiser for the Sheriff’s Office’s annual Shop with a Cop event, where over 100 kids from needier families get to Christmas shop with a deputy and a $200 gift card. The bobbleheads sold for $30 unsigned, $50 signed, raising $9,000 for the event (sheriff’s employees donated $25,000). Thankfully, Trump did not blow up that one.
—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.
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
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
For the full calendar, go here.
I see politicians in Colorado, in Tennessee, in South Carolina moving against my own work, tossing books I’ve authored out of libraries, banning them from classes, and I feel snatched out of the present and dropped into an age of pitchforks and book-burning bonfires. My first instinct is to laugh, but then I remember that American history is filled with men and women who were as lethal as they were ridiculous. And when I force myself to take a serious look, I see something familiar: an attempt by adults to break the young minds entrusted to them and remake them in a more orderly and pliable form. What these adults are ultimately seeking is not simply the reinstatement of their preferred dates and interpretations but the preservation of a whole manner of learning, austere and authoritarian, that privileges the apprehension of national dogmas over the questioning of them. The danger we present, as writers, is not that we will simply convince their children of a different dogma but that we will convince them that they have the power to form their own.
—From The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2024).
Pogo says
@And so it went
Ray W, says
Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service says Russia recently “partially halted operations” at three crude oil refineries due to a lack of “Western equipment and components” currently unavailable to the country due to Western sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded a neighboring democratic country that America swore 30 years ago to protect in exchange for the Ukraine giving up its nuclear missile deterrence system.
At issue is the simple engineering fact that parts break and equipment wears out.
Apparently, Russia is unable to obtain the needed crucial replacement parts, equipment and components from China. Russian equipment manufacturers “cover only around 30-45% of market needs and only in specific components (pumps, compressors, reactors, etc.).” No one else will sell them what they need.
What with Ukrainian missile strikes on numerous Russian refineries, the country in the short term may no longer be able to completely meet both contractual refined energy export obligations and its domestic need for refined products.
Make of this what you will.
Me? America negotiated an agreement to provide defense assistance to the Ukraine if it agreed to sell its nuclear stockpile; we didn’t want the stockpile to fall into adversarial hands. The Russian Federation was a party to the agreement; it promised to never invade the Ukraine if it gave up its nuclear warheads. Congress enacted a law to strengthen our agreement.
In a February 2014 election that the Ukrainian people now call the “Revolution of Dignity”, a pro-Russian Ukrainian president was ousted from office. The Russian Federation then invaded much of eastern Ukraine. Since 2014, Russians have occupied significant portions of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. The 2022 invasion merely expanded their then-eight-year occupation.
President Obama did little to aid the Ukrainians, thereby appeasing the Russians. President Trump arguably did even less, thereby appeasing the Russians even more. President Biden continued the appeasement by putting the issue on the backburner until February 2022. Since that time, the West has responded in many ways unexpected by the Russian Federation.
The more gullible among us claim the war started when Biden was in office!
Ray W, says
In a Reuter’s editorial column, the author highlights the dollar’s 2% rise in value against a “basket” of world currencies yesterday on the news of Trump’s election.
According to the author, the last time the dollar rose 2% in a day occurred when the British approved Brexit on June 24, 2016. The Sterling’s 8% plunge in value that day, among other things, lifted the strength of the dollar by 2%.
As an aside, the author writes that the Sterling has never regained its lost strength; it is down 25% on a “trade-weighted basis”, meaning Britain suffered a permanent loss of global purchasing power from voting to leave the EU’s currency over eight years ago.
“The dollar rarely fluctuates anywhere close to 2% in one day because vast flows are required to move such a heavily traded asset that much. The greenback is on one side of almost 90% of all foreign exchange trades, and the global FX market’s average daily turnover is $7.5 trillion.”
During both the pandemic and during September 2022 when the Fed lending rate rises were peaking, the dollar “racked up daily gains of around 1.5%.”
The author opines that “investors do appear to be pricing in expectations that the new administration’s fiscal and monetary policy will push inflation, bond yields and the dollar higher.”
Make of this what you will.
Me? I am not an economist. At best, I am a curious student. Maybe inflation will rise if Trump’s policies are implemented, and maybe bond yields will rise and maybe the dollar will rise, too, just as investors seem to think. After all, they are the ones who might be risking billions or tens of billions of dollars on these issues and they all want to be among the first to take the chance. These events involve extraordinarily complex economic interactions and many things can happen.
James says
That Trump grenade would be a wonderful addition to the munitions we’re sending to Ukraine… unfortunately I think it was intended only for domestic use.
Just an opinion.
James says
Well that, and probably because that grenade is most likely made in China (or Taiwan, or Pakistan, or… or… or…) and how would that look to the Russians?
Perhaps they’ll see some irony in it as well. Perhaps not.
Just another terrible observation.
Ray W, says
According to an Interesting Engineering story on the status of the international battery manufacturing sector:
“In July, Samsung made big waves in the EV industry by revealing that its pilot solid-state battery manufacturing production line is now operational. As per the company, its batteries could offer 600-mile range and will take just 9 minutes to get charged. Moreover, it promises a staggering battery lifespan of 20 years.”
Before Samsung’s announcement, “Toyota had unveiled its new solid-state battery technology, which claimed to reduce the weight, size, and cost of EV batteries by 50 percent.”
A Chinese major battery innovator, CATL, recently announced that it is entering into trial production of 20 Ah sulfide-based solid-state batteries, among other types of batteries, which the author deemed a “promising technology”. Purportedly, CATL has a 1000-member team dedicated to battery research and development.
He also wrote: “CATL’s current prototypes are impressive. They offer an energy density of 500 Wh/kg. To put that in perspective, this is an improvement of over 40% compared to existing lithium-io batteries, which typically max out at around 350 Wh/kg.” Charge speed and cycle life of the sulfide batteries “still needs further refinement.”
A few weeks before release of the sulfide battery news, CATL actually “launched its Freevoy Super Hybrid Battery, which aims to expedite the development of an advanced hybrid car range.” According to CATL, “this ‘world first’ hybrid vehicle battery could ‘achieve a pure electric range of over 400 kilometers [250 miles] and 4C superfast charging, heralding a new era for high-capacity EREV [extended range electric vehicles] and PHEV [plug-in hybrid electric vehicles] batteries.” The Freevoy battery is said to provide 175 miles of range after 10 minutes of charging.
Ford’s CEO drove an electric car during an extended visit to China. He had one flown to the U.S. He recently commented during a podcast interview that he has been driving the car for the past six months and he doesn’t want to give it up. He asserted that the American car industry is far behind the Chinese EV sector.
Make of all of this what you will.
Me? Battery technology seems to be on the verge of surpassing internal combustion (ICE) technology. Who knows the limits, but it strikes me that battery technology is in its infancy. I have commented on graphene-aluminum ion batteries in development, on sodium-ion batteries in development, among other battery types in development.
If solid-state battery technology is indeed in its infancy, then perspective might be needed.
Ford’s Model T utilized a 2.9 liter four-cylinder side-valve (flathead) 20-horsepower engine that was heavy on maintenance and repair.
In my youth, the standard oil replacement regimen was 3000 miles, unless one owned a Beetle; it had a 1500-mile oil change recommendation. Today’s engines carry a minimum of 7500 miles between oil changes. Some recommend 15,000 miles. Today’s ICE have far fewer maintenance requirements that the cars of my youth.
Today’s base Ford car engine is a turbocharged 1.5 liter three-cylinder producing 190 HP.
My point is that Americans have always possessed the ingenuity and the talent to innovate to our advantage. Cars are so much better than they were even a few years ago. Many of our universities are the research envy of the world. We had and still have the manufacturing capacity and experience to lead the world.
Yet we ceded a crucial and lucrative emerging battery manufacturing sector to other nations some 15 years ago, just as we ceded solar panel research and development to the rest of the world and wind turbine research and development to the rest of the world.
Why and how could we do such economically stupid things? I have long argued that the American surrender occurred when Solyndra failed some 15 years ago. What was a common type of business occurrence that should of been of little significance came to influence the nation’s attention because federal grant money was lost in the failure.
The professional lying class of one of our political parties then distorted the story so much that we simply gave up trying to innovate in the solar panel field. The malaise came to include wind power and battery technology. Solyndra came to represent in the American consciousness failure caused by Democrats.
The gullible among us took up the cry and never dropped it. Even today there are delusional FlaglerLive commenters who claim that EV technology will never surpass ICE technology.
Ray W, says
Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Jerome Powell spoke today after the bank’s decision to lower interest rates by .25%, reported the Wall Street Journal.
“The economy is strong overall and has made significant progress towards our goals over the past two years. The labor market has cooled from its formerly overheated state and remains solid. Inflation has eased substantially from a peak of 7% to 2.1 percent as of September. We are committed to maintaining our economy’s strength by supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to our 2% goal.
“Today, the FOMC decided to take another step in reducing the degree of policy restraint by lowering our policy interest rate by a quarter percentage point. We continue to be confident that with an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance strength in the economy and the labor market can be maintained with inflation moving sustainably down to 2%. We also decided to continue to reduce our security holdings. …
“Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. GDP rose at an annual rate of 2.8% in the third quarter, about the same pace as in the second quarter. Growth of consumer spending has remained resilient and investment in equipment and intangibles has strengthened. In contrast, activity in the housing sector has been weak. Overall, improving supply conditions have supported the strong performance of the U.S. economy over the past year.
“In the labor market, conditions remain solid. Payroll job gains have slowed from earlier in the year, averaging 104,000 per month over the past three months. This figure would have been somewhat higher were it not for the effects of labor strikes and hurricanes on employment in October. …
“The unemployment rate is notably higher than it was a year ago, but it has edged down over the past three months and remains low at 4.1 percent in October. Nominal wage growth has eased over the past year and the jobs-to-workers gap has narrowed. Overall, a broad set of indicators suggest that conditions in the labor market are now less tight than just before the pandemic in 2019. The labor market is not a source of significant inflationary pressures.
“Inflation has eased significantly over the past two years. Total PCE prices rose 2.1 percent over the 12 months ending in September, excluding the volatile food and energy categories. Core PCE prices rose 2.7 percent. Overall, inflation has moved much closer to our 2% longer-run goal, but core inflation remains somewhat elevated. Longer-term inflation expectations appear to remain well-anchored, as reflected in a broad range of surveys of households, businesses, and forecasters, as well as measures from financial markets.”
Make of this what you will.
Me. Our economy remains strong. It hasn’t been destroyed. We are economically better off now than we were four years ago.
James says
But will we be better off four years from now economically… philosophically, spiritually?
Those are some of the questions to think about… or not.
Perhaps it’s just time to move on.
Just say’n.
James says
Ok, just one last one…
That Trump grenade would make an excellent Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloon.
The ratings would go through the roof.
Just say’n.