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Weather: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Monday Night: A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 63.
- 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 Bunnell City Commission meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall on Commerce Parkway. To access meeting agendas, materials and minutes, go here.
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.
Notably: Creepy. Just: creepy. Or, as the Firstpost reporter elegantly put it, “quietly unsettling and undeniably fascinating.” The reporter was referring to last week’s half-marathon in Beijing. The humans were on one circuit. Robots were running parallel to them on a separate circuit, to avoid collisions and sudden trysts. A red robot won. Here’s how The Times’s Adeel Hassan described the weirdly headless horseman-like contraption Washington Irving would never have imagined: “It didn’t have to carbo-load, get a good night’s rest or lace up running shoes. Instead, the toughest challenge for the bright-red humanoid robot named Lightning was avoiding a collision with the more than 300 other robots running in a half-marathon race on Sunday in Beijing. While the approximately 5-foot-5 Lightning crashed into a barricade and fell during its final stretch, it was able to pick itself back up with help from humans, swing its short forearms to rebalance, and stride across the finish line in 50 minutes, 26 seconds, according to the state-run China Daily. Lightning’s time was faster than the human world-record holder, Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who finished a half-marathon in 57 minutes, 20 seconds last month in Lisbon. It was also faster than the 12,000 humans running the race in a separate, parallel lane. The men’s and women’s winners needed more than an hour to complete the outdoor course.” I remember in 1996 and 1997 when parts of the world were riveted on the match between Gary Kasparov and IBM’s Deep Blue, Kasparov winning the match in 1996 and Deep Blue winning it the next year. Modern chess engines have far surpassed Deep Blue of course, as now do running robots. Literally, metaphorically, frightfully and existentially, this new Galloping Hessian of the Hollow is a no-brainer.
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.
May 2026
Flagler Beach United Methodist Church Food Pantry
Flagler County Drug Court Convenes
Story Time with Miss Kim at Flagler Beach Public Library
Model Yacht Club Races at the Pond in Palm Coast’s Town Center
Palm Coast Democratic Club Recap Meeting
Town of Marineland Commission Meeting
Third Thursday Together in Flagler Beach
“Once on This Island,” At Limelight Theatre
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Scenic A1A Pride Meeting
Friday Blue Forum
Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock
“Once on This Island,” At Limelight Theatre
For the full calendar, go here.
In brisk and brutal fashion, the I.B.M. computer Deep Blue unseated humanity, at least temporarily, as the finest chess playing entity on the planet yesterday, when Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion, resigned the sixth and final game of the match after just 19 moves, saying, ”I lost my fighting spirit.” The unexpectedly swift denouement to the bitterly fought contest came as a surprise, because until yesterday Mr. Kasparov had been able to summon the wherewithal to match Deep Blue gambit for gambit. The manner of the conclusion overshadowed the debate over the meaning of the computer’s success. Grandmasters and computer experts alike went from praising the match as a great experiment, invaluable to both science and chess (if a temporary blow to the collective ego of the human race) to smacking their foreheads in amazement at the champion’s abrupt crumpling. ”It had the impact of a Greek tragedy,” said Monty Newborn, chairman of the chess committee for the Association for Computing, which was responsible for officiating the match. […] Mr. Kasparov, 34, retains his title, which he has held since 1985, but the loss was nonetheless unprecedented in his career; he has never before lost a multigame match against an individual opponent. Afterward, he was both bitter at what he perceived to be unfair advantages enjoyed by the computer and, in his word, ashamed of his poor performance yesterday. ”I was not in the mood of playing at all,” he said, adding that after Game 5 on Saturday, he had become so dispirited that he felt the match was already over. Asked why, he said: ”I’m a human being. When I see something that is well beyond my understanding, I’m afraid.”
–From “Swift and Slashing, Computer Topples Kasparov,” by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, May 12, 1997.
Pogo says
Homicidal string-less puppet with adjustable air intake pleas for mercy based on orphan status
… CGI video of murder horror scene to follow.
Ray W. says
Yesterday, Seeking Alpha published an article about a new Goldman Sachs (GS) investor note on projected fourth-quarter 2026 international oil prices; it revised its earlier projections, based on an assumption of mid-May “normalization” of Gulf state crude oil export volumes, to a new assumption of late-June “normalization.” GS now projects fourth quarter Brent crude prices at $90 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $83 per barrel.
Here are other bullet points from the GS note:
– Through calendar year 2025, on average, global crude oil supply outpaced global demand by 1.8 million barrels per day (mbpd).
– On average, second quarter 2026 global demand for crude oil will outpace supply by 9.6 mbpd, a swing to the negative of 11.4 mbpd.
– On average, since the outbreak of the Iran War, Middle East crude oil production has dropped by 14.5 mbpd.
– Right now, drawdowns from worldwide inventories of crude oil are some 11 to 12 mbpd.
Two conclusions by GS researchers are:
“Because extreme inventory draws are not sustainable, even sharper demand losses could be required if the supply shock persists longer.”
“The economic risks are greater than our crude base case alone suggests because of the net upside risks to oil prices, unusually high refined products prices, products shortages risks, and the unprecedented scale of the shock.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I have no idea how many investor notes are pouring out from various investment advisors. I am not presenting myself to the FlaglerLive community as an investment advisor.
I have no idea what tomorrow will bring in the now nearly traffic-free Strait of Hormuz.
All I know is that, on each side of the Strait, hundreds of crude oil tankers sit idle at anchor, some full, some empty. Each captain awaits the order to move. It’s been more than seven weeks of imposed oil flow restrictions.
Goldman Sachs built its earlier projection for its investors around a mid-May Strait opening. It now estimates Strait opening as late-June.
For who knows how long, crude oil production or delivery interruptions have dictated geopolitical tensions. Perhaps the most famous crude oil delivery interruption took place when FDR cut Japan off from deliveries of American crude oil. Pearl Harbor soon followed.
More recently, the 2020-21 worldwide pandemic shutdown caused a crude oil demand disruption large enough to induce widespread negative pricing, meaning crude oil prices dropped below extraction costs. Gasoline prices dropped to below $1.99 per gallon during the pandemic.
So, it was no surprise to me when OPEC voted in February 2021 to slowly phase in cartel production cuts of six million barrels of product per day; Saudi Arabia volunteered another cut of one million barrels per day. I almost immediately began commenting to the FlaglerLive community about OPEC’s actions.
Effectively, OPEC strangled the Strait of Hormuz by turning down its spigots. Some oil flowed, but not nearly as much as possible. Reporting at the time had it that the announced OPEC goal was to bring international crude oil prices up to at least $76 per barrel, as that amount was Saudi Arabia’s fiscal government breakeven point.
The OPEC strategy to choke off crude oil flows through the Strait worked. International crude oil prices slowly rose. Suddenly, one year later, Russia invaded the Ukraine. Sanctions on Russian crude oil and war-related disruptions on oil flows coming out of the Black Sea caused prices to skyrocket to as high as $125 per barrel.
But even at its most restrictive level, the 2022 Russian invasion-caused crude oil supply shortage, when added to the OPEC-caused supply shortage, was far less in volume than today’s Strait of Hormuz crude oil supply shortage.
But context may offer understanding.
In a normal worldwide crude oil marketplace, at any given time, more than 100 million barrels of crude oil are afloat in seagoing tankers. More oil is held in inland waterway small tankers and on barges. Even more crude oil at any given time is moving in pipelines and rail tank cars.
Tank farms filled with crude oil at rail and pipeline distribution points ensure steady movement of crude oil. Bigger tank farms at refineries and seaports hold large reserves of crude oil.
According to EIA estimates, excluding the crude oil stored in our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a maximum of some 500 million barrels of American crude oil can be stored. China, long known for its planning for national energy security, has a storage capacity of some 1.4 billion barrels of crude oil. Poorer countries cannot afford to maintain large stocks of stored crude oil for emergencies; they are the ones who bear the initial burdens of crude oil disruptions.
Slovenia has already imposed fuel rationing.
I continually pose the idea: of what value is energy independence?
Each government will set and reset its energy independence value point.
We seem to be the only country in the world that willingly chooses higher electricity prices over lower electricity prices, based on political talking points. Coal, the most expensive of today’s many electricity generating options, is king to one of our two political parties. Rather than continuing to pay high contracted prices to coal companies, FP&L bought two inefficient coal-fired power plants and shut them down, saving ratepayers millions of dollars.
Commenters proudly display their gullible ignorance. Our current administration forces by 90-day executive orders aging and inefficient coal-fired power plants to stay open beyond long-scheduled shutdown dates, costing utility customers to pay in the short-term millions and millions of dollars in extra costs. Long-term, if the political stupidity continues unabated, utility customers will be forced to pay billions of dollars in unnecessary costs.
Ray W. says
According to a USA TODAY story, sections of California’s San Joaquin Valley have become less and less fertile due to decades of water shortages and the lowering of ground water levels by over-pumping of aquifers. One area of the Valley, called Westlands, already has acreage standing fallow due to increasing salinity levels that poison the land and due to increasingly insufficient access to quality water.
California’s legislature has set out to better enable the transitioning of no-longer productive land into what one advocate calls the largest solar power and battery storage backup system in the world.
136,000 acres of repurposed farmland is to eventually generate some 21 GW’s of new electricity and battery backup power.
One fifth-generation Valley farmer told the reporter that he considers harvesting the sun’s energy as no different from harvesting crops. Besides, he argues, moving water around his fields by pumps is expensive. Having solar panels where he needs them cuts down on electricity transmission costs, i.e., he doesn’t have to sell all of the power he produces. He can keep some of it for his own use and save money.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I have already commented about a Texas “dry cotton” farmer who pivoted to sheep herding when he leased his arid Texas farmland to a solar farm operator. Win, win, according to the farmer. Yes, he had to pivot from something he knew how to do to something he didn’t. But he had learned and he wasn’t looking back.
Putting land to its highest best use is not always a detriment to a farmer. Grazing sheep underneath paying solar panels can be an economically effective supplement to a farm’s income. Much of the country is in drought condition once again. Only one year of the past four has seen widespread ample rainfall. Cattle head counts remain at historic lows. Beef prices are at record highs. But cattle are big enough to topple solar panels.
Story after story has grazing sheep as beneficial both to the soil and to the sheep. Shade from the panels reduces heat stress on the animals during summer. Heat stress on plants lessens, too. Soil fertility improves due to natural fertilization. Maintenance costs to the solar farm owner drop with sheep cropping weed growth around panel posts and underneath panels.
Ray W. says
Inside EVs Global reports that more than 60 EVs come standard with battery ranges in excess of 300 miles, up from 43 models in 2025 and 35 in 2024.
And, from interpreting real-world driving data collected from over one billion EV miles driven, Recurrent, an EV analytics firm, announced that those purchasing a 2026-model EV can expect the battery to retain 95% of its initial charge capacity after five years of use. In other words, a fully charged EV battery capable of providing 400 miles of range on day one of ownership will likely power the vehicle 380 miles after five years of use.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W. says
Finland’s President, Alexander Stubb, announced that, over the past four months, the rate of Russian war dead and wounded was quadruple that of Ukrainian dead or wounded. The Russians are losing, he said, between 30k and 35k personnel per month, per an RBC Ukraine article.
President Stubb rhetorically asked whether the Ukrainian military is in a much better place today than it was a year ago.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W. says
According to a story posted by The Cool Down, Tesla’s heavy freight semi-tractor now comes with a battery rated operable for one million miles. The reporter writes that testing shows that vehicle downtime for the Tesla tractor for any reason is 5%, i.e., a “95% uptime”, and that total operating costs for the Tesla are comparatively 20% less than the cost to operate a diesel-powered heavy freight semi-tractor.
As a separate issue, Form Energy, a burgeoning American “iron-air”, aka, “rust” battery maker, just announced air winning a contract to build its first internationally-based battery energy storage system (BESS). The company’s West Virginia factory output is approaching full production capacity. Rumor, per the reporter, points to a 2027 IPO, but the company is in its fifth round of private fundraising, having raised nearly $2 billion in sum.
The “iron-air” battery’s main advantage is that it slowly discharges electricity over up to a 100-hour period, compared to a four-hour period for most liquid-state lithium-ion batteries, meaning that Form Energy’s battery storage business model is far better suited to tandem with intermittent solar and wind projects. Since water, salt, air and iron are plentiful and cheap, the product’s inputs are easy to source and the battery is completely recyclable. One drawback is a loss of energy during charging.
And, from a Bloomberg story, a annual study published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), called “Global Energy Review”, reveals that more than 200,000 “heavy freight” EV trucks were sold around the world in 2025, nearly tripling the number sold in 2024.
Here are other statistics plucked from the IEA annual review:
– More than 21 million EVs were bought in 2025, up more than 20% over 2024.
– Year-over-year, in 2025, global data center electricity demand grew by 17%.
– Year-over-year, total global energy demand, a category different from electricity demand, grew by 1.3% in 2025. Electricity demand grew by 3% in 2025.
– Total worldwide installed BESS capacity expanded by 68 GWs in 2025, a 40% increase in capacity additions compared to BESS installations completed during 2024.
– Of all renewable energy sources added in 2025, solar comprised 75%, wind provided 20%, and nuclear and hydro accounted for the rest.
– 2025 EV demand on power grew by 38%.
– Of all the growth in 2025 worldwide power supply, including BESS growth, solar plants accounted for over 25% of the growth. Natural gas plants added 17% of all global power supply growth.
Make of this what you will.
James says
“… Lightning crashed into a barricade and fell during its final stretch, it was able to pick itself back up with help from humans, swing its short forearms to rebalance, and stride across the finish line …”
Would they have done the same for a human runner?
Probably not.
Just an opinion.
Ray W. says
CNN reports that Joby Aviation is nearing FAA certification of its all-electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) five-seat capacity aircraft (pilot and four passengers). Demonstration testing has begun from landing pads located in both Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan to JFK International and back.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Innovation! Ingenuity! Manufacturers other than Joby Aviation are reportedly close behind.
Aura Aero, the French company that considered Flagler County’s airport grounds for its American manufacturing base, claims to be on-track for 2030 as the release year for its 19-seat regional eight-motor electric commuter aircraft. The company just released optional cabin seating configurations, ranging from eight to sixteen passengers and three crew.