Techno Cryptics, ‘Ace of Hearts’ ♥ or a Nuclear Reversal of Fortune?
Microsoft and Constellation, who will be dealt the ‘Ace of Hearts’ at the wrong time?
At height of financial crisis, “Buffett’s side…would not challenge EDF’s offer…amid grumbling from some Constellation shareholders.”
Oracle prefers value investing and not splitting stocks unlike the “definitive investment deal” Constellation made with Électricitié de France. Appears 2008 ‘September merger deal’ was the wrong time for Buffett.
Bill Gates and Joseph Dominguez, is this the right time? Billy, will you do as the Oracle?
Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings was ‘able to quickly provide a significant amount of capital that was critical to Constellation Energy as they went through unprecedented financial times.’ (CNBC)
Gamble or Hedge?
Hmm, will Billy as Buffett, ‘take the money and run’? Or, will Joe ‘laugh all the way to the bank’?
It’s how one’s portfolio measures up.
Measurement and discovery is made which would astound even the great Enrico Fermi. Moore’s Law appears to be exhibiting a “Reversal of Fortune.”
Picture a Casino – House and the Gambler. House sees her profits exponentially increasing as more and more modernized play tables and slot machines are brought into the Casino bringing more and more people.
Gambler, after spending time in the House may win, but given enough time his good luck will run out and at the worst possible time, playing his last chip.
Let’s put House and Gambler in perspective.
Commodore Vanderbilt housed control of the railroads.
Andrew Carnegie gambled each time he paid more to the Commodore to have his steel transported.
Buffett’s BNSF Logistics, a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC, a Berkshire Hathaway company runs Railroad on fossil fuel.
Microsoft’s devices are transported via train or trucks after they leave the docks.
Gentlemen, time to show your hand.
Buffett’s bet on batteries is brilliant! But neither the ‘Gamble’ nor ‘Proctor’ count.
Billy’s bet on building nuclear fusion or fission plant seems to have fizzled out.
Joe appears to hedge his bets by holding the cards of Nuclear and Fossil.
My epowerearth.com (EPE) pointed out in April of 2021:
“Electricity is a force. Sir Michael Faraday argued and demonstrated this through his research and inventions in electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Understanding its potential value, Faraday reportedly made this point to William Gladstone, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Gladstone asked “what the practical value of electricity was.” Faraday responded, “One day sir, you may tax it.”
Or, charge it as a utility. Right, Constellation?
Nuclear Power: Future of our Planet or the NET?
In my April 7, 2021 paper I ask Microsoft, If YOU Build It, Will They Come? I pointed out that Superiority of EPEs nuclear power plants and reactor prototypes highlight the inferiority of others where the basic challenge lies in Input-Output viability.
Microsoft has reportedly been working on a fusion reactor since the 1990s, Tri Alpha Energy or TAE Technologies. So it came as no surprise when I read the 2007 Discover Magazine interview of the late Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft:
What are the biggest questions on your mind right now?
The health of the planet, whether it’s ocean health or energy. Should nuclear energy make a comeback? We have an investment in a fusion energy company that is quite interesting.
What kind of fusion research are you investing in?
“The company is called Tri Alpha Energy [which finances aneutronic fusion, a process that emits protons rather than neutrons, potentially making it much more efficient than current concepts]. Fusion has been predicted to be just over the horizon for decades now . . . There has been a lot of discussion recently on fission reactors, and I have been involved in doing some survey meetings recently. I think Bill is intrigued by that too. But it’s really speculative.”
TAE Technologies makes what can be construed as a promise or threat, “In order to ensure the future of our planet and a thriving ecosystem, we must adopt a safe, cost-effective, non-polluting, scalable, carbon-free energy solution.”
Future of our PLANET or the NET?
Microsoft, over two decades in California, with no apparent success (fusion or fission), it finally occurred to your CIO to just buy nuclear plant at Three Mile Island?
“Jacopo Buongiorno, a nuclear science and engineering professor and director of MIT’s Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, said Microsoft will likely pay above market price for electricity that is both carbon-free and reliable.” (AP)
Billy didn’t your CIOs and Engineers tell you “it is cheaper to restart a nuclear power plant than build one from scratch. Already intact are transmission lines, cooling towers, the control buildings and concrete containment structures”, says Jacopo.
After a century, Ernest Rutherford may still negate the viability of energy from power fission or fusion. “Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of the atom is talking moonshine.”
Still, who would have thought a molecule at an atomic, or nanoscale could unleash extreme destruction in our world.
CITIZEN NUKE
America’s Hearst Castle sits overlooking the North Pacific Ocean where it once housed the ‘Media Baron’ Citizen William Randolph Hearst.
Indeed, “No Man Is an Island” but you can own or lease one as an energy source – diesel or hydrogen. Just ask the U.S. Navy and Air Force who took residence in Maui. China, DPRK, Russia and Iran know.
Sure, Billy and Joe, your nuke plants are no castle. But now you have control of a Media Empire.
NPR recently disclosed, “Editor’s note: Constellation Energy and Microsoft are among NPR’s recent financial supporters.”
Gives a new meaning to ‘consider the source’ and ask, ‘Am I reading the God awful truth or dirty lies?’
NOT SURPRISED. I note in my 2018, my paper, “Citizen E, Amazon, and Hearst: Why Business, Political, Information, and Media Giants are Not Unprecedented.”
Remind all of the words of the late vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Charles Thomas Munger: “Good businesses are ethical businesses. A business model that relies on trickery is doomed to fail.”
CEOs in the ‘Hot Seat’!
CEOs and Board actions and inactions have landed him or her in the ‘hot seat’. As played out in the 1921 silent film, ‘Ace of Hearts.’ Mission was for the member dealt the Ace of Hearts to bring to an end the ‘The Man who had lived too long.’
Or, a century later, what I would RENAME, ‘The Men and Women who had lived too long.’
Unit 1 of Three Mile Island is said to be “renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center in honor of Chris Crane, who died in April and served as the CEO of Constellation’s former parent company.”
Microsoft and Constellation, who will be next to be dealt the Ace of Hearts at the wrong time?
Funny, Men of the Industrial and ‘Technology Society’ of the 1960s share a critical element with the NET techies of the 1990s who clamored for ‘disruption.’ Ironic, you critique industrial as dirty and dangerous. Yet, it is these precise critical elements – fossil, minerals, and nuclear industries – you heavily rely on for survival.
Really funny! Next Gens of 2030s, good luck in changing the climate. Forget plants, plastic, cows, and cars. Ready to shut down your devices?
Silicon Valley Cryonics Museum runs on Energy. Continually mined or nuclear sources secures Tech Executives will have no dull or dirty forever place.
Future gens, be ready to pull their plugs. How? Watch the classic silent film ‘Metropolis.’
Three Mile Island nuclear plant? In the words of John Garver, ‘who can still recall the smell and a metallic taste in his mouth. “It’s time to shut it down.”
Techno Cryptics, ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ lying under a Tombstone’s Warning. Poetic justice for your radiated burnt remains? 🙂
