January 10, 2018

Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production

Photovoltaic glass shingles produce electricity from the sun

Tesla built factory in Buffalo with help from New York State

Tesla Inc. has kicked off production of its long-awaited electricity-producing shingles that Elon Musk says will transform the rooftop solar industry.

Manufacturing of the photovoltaic glass tiles began last month at a factory in Buffalo built with backing from New York State, the company said in an email Tuesday. It comes more than a year after Tesla unveiled the shingles to a mix of fanfare and skepticism.

The appeal: a sleek, clean solar product, especially for homeowners seeking to replace aging roofs. The tiles -- from most angles -- look like ordinary shingles. They allow light to pass from above and onto a standard flat solar cell.

Tesla, the biggest U.S. installer of rooftop-solar systems, piloted the product on the homes of several employees. The company expects to begin installing roofs for customers within the next few months.


More (Includes video): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-09/tesla-powers-up-new-york-gigafactory-solar-roof-assembly-line

January 10, 2018

The Daily Show: Trump Gets Dictator-y with the Justice Department

President Trump slams Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not protecting him in the Russia probe, and the Justice Department announces more Hillary Clinton investigations.

January 9, 2018

Stephen Colbert - Guest Michael Wolff: You Should Believe All Of 'Fire And Fury'

'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' author Michael Wolff takes Stephen through some of the biggest bombshells of his bestseller.

January 9, 2018

Stephen Colbert - Monologue and Opening - 1/8/18

How An Oprah Presidency Would Look



While Oprah's Golden Globes speech has many curious about her political ambitions, one man was way ahead of us.



Donald Trump Is Like, Really Not Smart



The President proclaimed his genius on the platform where our society's foremost intellectuals exchange revolutionary ideas: Twitter.



Stephen Miller Got Escorted Out Of CNN



White House political advisor Stephen Miller went on CNN's 'State of the Union' and lost his cool. CORRECTION: he never had a cool to begin with.



Stephen Interviews Jake Tapper's Interview Of Stephen Miller



The Late Show's host goes Stephen-a-Stephen with Trump's book-hating political advisor.

January 9, 2018

First Came the Snow Bomb, Now Comes the Salt Bomb

Pervasive winter de-icing of America’s roadways is destroying infrastructure and potentially harming your water.

After the snow from last week’s bomb cyclone melts, cities and towns across the northeast will find their roads and sidewalks still a ghostly white.

That fine white powder is salt, America’s favorite de-icing chemical. More than 15 million tons of the stuff is applied annually, only to wash away with snowmelt or spring rains. But just because it’s gone from your block doesn’t mean it’s gone for good. In fact, it may end up in your faucet.

Road salt is an influential part of a decades-long chemistry experiment local governments have unwittingly conducted on soil, waterways and infrastructure. Studying river data nationwide, research published Monday explains that 37 percent of all U.S. river systems have greater salinity, and 90 percent have seen a decrease in acidity, compared with a century ago. The two trends are related, scientists conclude, as urbanization and widespread use of chemicals such as road salt do serious damage.

Why is less acid bad? Here’s how nature usually works. Raindrops absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, turning them slightly acidic. It’s the same reaction that makes drinking a lot of seltzer potentially bad for your teeth. When that rain hits the ground, specifically rock and soil, the acid frees up ions from mineral salts—and washes such things as magnesium and calcium into rivers and out to sea, a process that scientists call “weathering.”

Much more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-08/first-came-the-snow-bomb-now-comes-the-salt-bomb



Road salt is loaded into a truck in the Boston suburb of Chelsea, Mass. on Jan. 3. Photographer: Bill Sikes/AP Photo

January 9, 2018

The Daily Show: Trump Confidently Declares Himself a "Stable Genius"

After the book "Fire and Fury" calls his cognitive abilities into question, President Trump launches into a Twitter tirade to insist that he's a "stable genius."



Can Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee Really Be Mistrusted?



The Daily Show wonders about Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee's credibility leading up to President Trump's “Most Dishonest & Corrupt Media Awards of the Year" #TheFakies



Between the Scenes - California Amends Its Jaywalking Law



California amends its jaywalking law, which Trevor can't believe was a thing in the first place



The Price of Social Change: Why California Is Paying Gun Offenders



Michael Kosta learns about communities in central California that are helping to curb gun deaths by offering travel and cash incentives to violent offenders.

January 8, 2018

Oil tanker burning off China's coast at risk of exploding

Source: ABC News

An oil tanker that caught fire after colliding with a freighter off China's east coast is at risk of exploding and sinking, Chinese state media reported Monday as authorities from three countries struggled to find its 32 missing crew members and contain oil spewing from the blazing wreck.

State broadcaster China Central Television, citing Chinese officials, said none of the 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis who have been missing since the collision late Saturday have been found as of 8 am Monday. Meanwhile, search and cleanup efforts have been hampered by fierce fires and poisonous gases that have completely engulfed the tanker and surrounding waters, CCTV reported.

The Panama-registered tanker Sanchi was sailing from Iran to South Korea when it collided late Saturday with the Hong Kong-registered freighter CF Crystal in the East China Sea, 257 kilometers (160 miles) off the coast of Shanghai, China's Ministry of Transport said.

China, South Korea and the U.S. have sent ships and planes to search for the Sanchi's crew, all of whom remain missing. The U.S. Navy, which sent a P-8A aircraft from Okinawa, Japan, to aid the search, said late Sunday that none of the missing crew had been found.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-joins-search-32-missing-ships-collide-off-52202592

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In this photo provided by Korea Coast Guard, the Panama-registered tanker "Sanchi" is seen ablaze after a collision with a Hong Kong-registered freighter off China's eastern coast Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. The oil tanker collided with a bulk freighter and caught fire off China's eastern coast, leaving its entire crew of 32 missing, most of them Iranians, authorities said. (Korea Coast Guard via AP)

January 7, 2018

Stephen Colbert on Trump: I love my country more than I love a good joke

The Late Show host isn’t exactly grateful he has so much material to work with right now.

After over a year of making fun of President Trump on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert acknowledges that the constant chaos of the White House regularly provides more comedic material than he and his writers know what to do with — but having so much joke fodder is not, he wants to emphasize, an overall plus.

“He’s communicating in [such] an uncontrolled way ... he does it so often that you always have fresh material,” Colbert said at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Saturday, where he was promoting his upcoming Showtime animated series, Our Cartoon President. “But I don’t want to describe that as a good thing. I would happily do with less.”

Still, Colbert continued, Trump is “president of the United States. There’s no escaping him. [Trump fatigue] is like having oxygen fatigue.” Which is why, he explained, he’s so grateful to have the outlet of The Late Show — and soon, Our Cartoon President: It allows him to vent his outrage with a similarly frustrated audience. “I have this great thing where I get to go out to the audience and we have this shared catharsis to laugh at, Colbert said. “If I didn’t have the show, I’d be much more tired of the president. It keeps it fresh, to be able to laugh at the devil.”


https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/1/6/16858788/stephen-colbert-our-cartoon-president

January 6, 2018

Stephen Colbert: Guest Neil deGrasse Tyson

The Mystery That Keeps Neil deGrasse Tyson Up At Night



There's one terrifying mystery of the universe that astrophysicist and 'Astrophysics for People in a Hurry' author Neil deGrasse Tyson loses sleep over.



Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Is This Thing A Spaceship?



Astrophysicist and 'Astrophysics for People in a Hurry' author Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the science behind the first observed interstellar object to visit our universe (which Stephen knows is full of aliens).

January 6, 2018

Stephen Colbert - Monologue and Opening - 1/5/18

Breaking: Trump And Russia, Again



Stephen and the team at 'Real News Tonight' do their best to keep the President's finger off the button. No, the literal button.



How POTUS Got His Mooch Back



Former White House Comms Director Anthony Scaramucci is going show-to-show in what appears to be an audition for another job in the Trump administration.



Your Ad Here: On The Moon!



That's one small step for man, one giant leap for capitalism.



One Week Older, 2018 Is Off To A Rough Start



A bomb cyclone, a bombshell book, and the President's 'button' euphemism on Twitter that somehow hasn't gotten us bombed yet.



Trump Adjusts To Life Without Sloppy Steve



The President is doing his best to make the Oval Office remind him less of his ex-chief strategist. It's just hard to get that smell out of the carpet.