Author: Rich Horner
Energy Policy: 2-Same Technology, Different Speeds
June 30, 2026 The previous essay in this series found that nations which had already invested in their own clean energy generation absorbed measurably less damage from the Hormuz crisis than nations still dependent on imported fossil fuels. That difference traces back to specific policy decisions, made years — sometimes decades — before the crisis…
Week 6 – Clarity, and Moving On
June 29, 2026 A couple of weeks ago I wrote about finishing radiation without getting the clean ending I’d pictured — no bell, no ceremony, just confusion and a closed office door. I said I was hoping for some real answers when Dr. Greenfield got back. This week, I got them. I walked in with…
Getting back into our groove
June 26, 2026 These images are from in and around Claypoint Park on Back Bay Boulevard, where a Bronzed Cowbird had been spotted. We didn’t find it — yet — but we had plenty of other residents to admire. From Claypoint Park, we headed to Old Beaver Pond and were treated to a family of…
Energy Policy: 1-Same Crisis, Different Bills – Who Pays for a Closed Strait
June 26, 2026 As this essay goes to publication, the Strait of Hormuz has reportedly reopened. Following a memorandum of understanding reached in mid-June, the United States lifted its naval blockade and Iran committed to ensuring normal ship traffic through the Strait, toll-free, for the next sixty days. Tankers are moving again — more than…
Villa Coco
By Andrew Sean Greer Genre: Humorous Literary Fiction / Coming-of-Age (Bildungsroman) / Farce Audio Length: ~8–9 hours Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini (One of the industry’s top narrators, especially renowned for his flawless Italian accents and dry comedic pacing) 📖 No-Spoiler Synopsis Broke, directionless, and fresh out of an undistinguished undergraduate career, our unnamed young narrator…
May 23 Medley
A few random shots over these couple of days between storms, each is identified as well as the location. Click any image to view full size and browse the gallery. “I drifted into a summer-napunder the hot shade of Julyserenaded by a cicadae lullabyto drowsy-warm dreamsof distant thunder…” Terri Guillemets, Summer-nap
The Next Two Chapters in Our Energy Story
June 23, 2026 Seven essays in, the question that started this series — what happens when a critical strait closes, how the world survives on stored reserves, and what it takes to reopen — has been answered as fully as the facts allow. A natural next question follows close behind: if workable alternatives to oil…
Oil Dependency: 4-The Next Generation
June 23, 2026 The mineral extraction costs documented in the previous essay are real — but they are not necessarily permanent features of the electric vehicle transition. Scientists and engineers working on next-generation battery chemistry are not simply trying to improve on lithium-ion. They are trying to replace its most problematic ingredients entirely. Three technologies…
Gifted a Novel
By John Daniel Genre: Coming-of-Age / Environmental Fiction / Western Regional Literature Core Themes: Nature, Isolation, Family, and Human-Animal Affinity 📖 No-Spoiler Synopsis Set against the rugged, unforgiving backdrop of the rural American West, Gifted follows a young man named Micah Pruitt. Micah possesses a rare, almost spiritual affinity for wild creatures and the natural…
Oil Dependency: 3-The Hidden Cost of the EV Battery
June 19, 2026 The transition to electric vehicles does not eliminate environmental damage—it relocates and transforms it. Trading a fossil-fuel problem for a mineral-extraction problem is a meaningful improvement in many respects, but the full picture demands honesty about what that extraction actually costs. Three minerals sit at the heart of the modern lithium-ion battery:…
