Grateful for those who gave their lives to protect our freedoms, as expressed in the Bill of Rights.
Wary of political and media campaigns that tell us what and how to think, and threaten our freedom to speak openly and express contrary opinions. In that regard, this video posted by Elon Musk is disturbing.
The Supreme Court will hear a case that could significantly scale back federal agencies’ authority, with implications for regulations affecting the US offshore program. The court could overturn a precedent known as the “Chevron doctrine” that instructs judges to defer to federal agencies when interpreting ambiguous federal laws.
Few Supreme Court doctrines have been stretched more by regulators and lower-court judges than Chevron deference, which says judges should defer to regulators’ interpretations when laws are supposedly ambiguous. The High Court agreed Monday to give Chevron a much-needed legal review.
One of the most important principles in administrative law, the “Chevron deference” was coined after a landmark case,Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 468 U.S. 837 (1984). The Chevron deference is referring to the doctrine of judicial deference given to administrative actions. In Chevron, the Supreme Court set forth a legal test as to when the court should defer to the agency’s answer or interpretation, holding that such judicial deference is appropriate where the agency’s answer was not unreasonable, so long as Congress had not spoken directly to the precise issue at question.
Old York Road near West Olney Avenue. December 14th, 1914.
I saw this old picture and was intrigued by the “Mobiloils” sign. I didn’t think Standard of New York had already evolved into Mobil in 1914. A couple of Wiki excerpts explain:
Following the break-up of Standard Oil in 1911, the “Standard Oil Company of New York” (or ‘Socony’) was founded, along with 33 other successor companies.
Socony merged with Vacuum Oil Company to form Socony-Vacuum. Vacuum Oil had used “Mobiloil” automobile lubricating oil brand since 1904, and by 1918 it became recognizable enough that the company filed it for registration as a trademark (it was registered in 1920)
Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol sings “American Pie” by Don McLean during entertainment portion of State Dinner with President Biden. pic.twitter.com/M91Tj4WrHa
“The 4776-meter-tall Pao Pao Seamount (right) in the South Pacific Ocean has been mapped by sonar. Many others haven’t.” NOAA OFFICE OF OCEAN EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH
This Science article underscores how little we know about the oceans.
With only one-quarter of the sea floor mapped with sonar, it is impossible to know how many seamounts exist. But radar satellites that measure ocean height can also find them, by looking for subtle signs of seawater mounding above a hidden seamount, tugged by its gravity. A 2011 census using the method found more than 24,000. High-resolution radar data have now added more than 19,000 new ones. The vast majority—more than 27,000—remain uncharted by sonar. “It’s just mind boggling,” says David Sandwell, a marine geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who helped lead the work.
Besides posing navigational hazards, the mountains harbor rare-earth minerals that make them commercial targets for deep-sea miners. Their size and distribution hold clues to plate tectonics and magmatism. They are crucial oases for marine life. And they are pot-stirrers that help control the large-scale ocean flows responsible for sequestering vast amounts of heat and carbon dioxide, says John Lowell, chief hydrographer of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which runs the U.S. military’s satellite mapping efforts.
Proposal: Let’s make April 20th International Offshore Safety Day to honor those who have been killed or injured, to recognize the many workers who provide energy for our economies and way of life, and to encourage safety leadership by all offshore operators, contractors, and service companies.