From Jeff Berardelli, Chief Meteorologist at WFLA in Tampa.
Best SNL Skit in Years: MAHAspital
Upper Great Lakes Brace for Historic Blizzard
Ukraine Show Value of Resilient Clean Energy in War Zone
Russia has systematically bombed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the start of the invasion. Before the winter of 2025–2026, half of the country’s energy infrastructure lay in ruins. Total damage to the energy sector is estimated to exceed 56 billion dollars.
Ukraine’s response is to replace the large, centralized power plants with decentralized renewable energy sources. Wind and solar installations spread across the landscape are harder to hit and easier to repair. A coal power plant is a single large target that one missile can take out. Doing equivalent damage to a wind farm requires around 40 missiles, according to Jeff Oatham at DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy company. Attacking decentralized solar installations is not economically rational either, as it would require a large number of strikes with limited impact on the overall energy system, according to Ukrainian energy expert Olena Kondratiuk.
Since the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has added over three gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity. The country’s grid operators plan to nearly double renewable energy production over the next four years.
Continue reading “Ukraine Show Value of Resilient Clean Energy in War Zone”Offshore Wind Overcomes Trump Barriers – Sending Cheap Power to New England
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont on Facebook:
Revolution Wind is officially sending power to the CT grid. 
The Trump administration tried to stop this project twice, but we fought back and won to keep it going. Why does this matter?
By diversifying our energy supply with local offshore wind, we’re delivering power at $0.09/kWh which is a big difference from the regional average of $0.30/kWh.
I also want to send a huge thanks to the CT Building Trades workers who helped make this project a reality. Let’s keep moving forward!
Revolution Wind was one of five major East Coast offshore wind projects the Trump administration halted construction on days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed all five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government did not show that the national security risk was so imminent that construction must halt.
The Biden administration sought to ramp up offshore wind as a climate change solution.
But President Donald Trump, who often talks about his hatred of wind power, has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built. He has signed a spate of executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Friday night that Trump “reversed course on Joe Biden’s costly green energy agenda that gave preferential treatment to intermittent, unreliable energy sources and instead is aggressively unleashing reliable and affordable energy sources to lower energy bills, improve our grid stability and protect our national security.” Rogers added in a statement to AP that the administration “looks forward to ultimate victory on this issue.”
Continue reading “Offshore Wind Overcomes Trump Barriers – Sending Cheap Power to New England”Sleeper Cells? Mysterious Broadcast has Radio Sleuths Baffled
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
A mysterious shortwave broadcast appeared on the first day of the US Iran war — a voice in Persian calmly reading random number sequences.
Radio enthusiasts believe it may be a numbers station, a type of spy radio station historically used to send encrypted coded messages to intelligence agents. These broadcasts were widely used by spies in the Cold War, allowing governments to communicate with operatives in secret.
RFE/RL captured this numbers station audio recording on March 10. Soon after, someone tried jamming the signal with electronic interference.
Numbers stations are considered Cold War spy tech, used by intelligence services like the CIA to communicate with agents around the world.
Is this mysterious signal connected to modern spying operations during the US Iran war?
Listen to the broadcast and decide for yourself.
Hormuz 101: Straight Talk about the Strait
Bloomberg energy reporter Javier Glass has a quick, essential guide to the facts on the ground that will affect the ongoing war in the Gulf.
Music Break: Robert L Hunt – Shot Him 8 Times
Old buddy Robert Hunt, long time musician, told me he woke up at 2 in the morning a few days after the Alex Pretti shooting with the line “shot him 8 times” repeating in his head.
“Yeah, I know they shot him 10 times, but that was the line I was getting, so I spotted ’em 2.”
4 days later he came out of the studio with this angry, gripping piece.
Getting Ugly on the Road to World War III
Robert Pape, Political Scientist, University of Chicago, via email:
The early phase of the Iran war is already displaying several recurring strategic patterns that have appeared repeatedly across modern conflicts. These patterns do not predict every event. But they help explain why wars that begin with expectations of rapid success often expand into much larger and more dangerous confrontations.
Four patterns are already visible.
1. The Escalation Trap
The first pattern is the Escalation Trap, a recurring dynamic in modern war in which early battlefield success produces strategic disappointment, and leaders respond by escalating rather than reconsidering the strategy.
The sequence unfolds in three stages.
Stage 1: Tactical Success, Strategic Failure
The war began with a coordinated U.S.–Israeli strike on Iranian leadership and military targets. The opening campaign destroyed facilities and killed senior officials. In purely military terms, the operation appeared successful.
But the political objective—rapid regime collapse or capitulation—did not occur. The Iranian state remained intact, and the government quickly reasserted control.
This gap between battlefield success and political outcome is the first step of the Escalation Trap.
Stage 2: Escalation
When early success fails to produce the expected political result, leaders often double down. Because the stronger side possesses overwhelming military power, decision-makers assume they hold escalation dominance—the ability to climb the escalation ladder faster and higher than the opponent.
Doubling down becomes an obsession.
· More strikes.
· Broader targets.
· More days of bombing.
Too Hot to Walk the Dog – Extreme Heat Days Limiting Human Activity
The number of days where extreme heat makes it too dangerously hot to walk the dog, sweep the porch and engage in other ordinary pursuits has doubled around the world over the past 75 years, according to new research.
Scientists determined that on average, those 65 and older experience a month a year when heat prevents them from routine activities. Parts of Asia, Africa, Australia and North America are becoming unlivable for senior citizens, the researchers said. Younger adults also are losing time as climate-driven heat restricts their lives for 50 hours a year.
Overall, more than a third of the global population resides in regions where heat severely affects daily life, according to the peer-reviewed paper published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Research: Health.
While previous research has shown the impact of extreme heat on human health, authors of the new study said it’s the first to document the consequences of rising temperatures on everyday life.
“Extreme heat isn’t just affecting our ability to survive or work physically demanding jobs, but also just to do simple, light, daily tasks,” said Luke Parsons, a climate scientist at nonprofit environmental organization the Nature Conservancy and lead author of the paper.
Continue reading “Too Hot to Walk the Dog – Extreme Heat Days Limiting Human Activity”