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April 25, 2024

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"It may mark the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of one of mankind's most cherished dreams ..."

I'm going to try to write these a bit differently for the next few days. Why?

• Partly out of necessity. I've been recovering from some kind of bug this week. It's affected my efficiency, and I don't want to fall behind.
• But also: I wonder, maybe these work better shorter anyway? Let me know what you think.

Today we're going to talk about a big moment in history that most people probably had no idea about at the time.

The date: April 25, 1954 (so 70 years ago today).

This was when Bell Labs, "the most innovative scientific organization in the world" back then, announced that three scientists (Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson) had created solar panels that actually worked.

How big a deal was this? A breathless New York Times article the next day called the development a "modern version of Apollo's chariot," and wrote about the future (a/k/a, now):

Now, there was a caveat at the time: Solar power worked, but it was very inefficient. Constructing enough solar panels to power a typical home for a year would have cost about $1.5 million (and that's in 1954 money).

But, efficiency vastly improved. In fact, an irony in writing about this today is that we're almost too good at generating electricity from solar.

In California, so many residents have solar panels on their homes—generating power and selling it back to the electric utility—that on the sunniest days, supply outstrips demand and prices dip into the negative. (But as Marlo Stanfield once said on The Wire: "Sounds like one of them good problems.")

These are the kinds of moments I'm looking for in Big Optimism. Either one of two things:

• Moments in the lives of people who later expressed the kinds of inspirational sentiments that we all seem to take value from, but where they didn't know at the time how things would turn out. We have some good examples coming up.
• Moments when most of humanity was happily oblivious to the fact that big things were happening right then, and that their lives, or lives of their children, or humanity writ large would be improved as a result.

I think the invention of solar panels qualifies. And I wonder what moments from today we’ll look back on the same way in the future.

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Yes, and ...

• A divided Supreme Court seemed skeptical that Idaho’s strict abortion ban conflicts with a federal emergency care law, but there appeared to be a split by gender as well as ideology. The four female justices, including conservative Amy Coney Barrett, pushed back the hardest against during oral argument. However, Barrett’s questioning doesn’t always give an indication of how she will vote, and the three liberal justices need at least two conservatives to side with them in order for the Biden administration to win the case. (The Hill)
• The Biden administration has finalized a new rule set to make millions of more salaried workers eligible for overtime pay in the U.S. The move marks the largest expansion in federal overtime eligibility seen in decades. Starting July 1, employers will be required pay overtime to salaried workers who make less than $43,888 a year in certain executive, administrative and professional roles, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That cap will then rise to $58,656 by the start of 2025. (MarketWatch)
• TikTok's CEO Shou Zi Chew posted a video to his platform after President Biden signed the comprehensive new law that says TikTok has to be sold to a U.S. buyer or banned from the U.S. market, declaring: “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere.” (Hollywood Reporter)
• Is California really a high-tax state? New findings question that claim, at least for lower income families. (Sacramento Bee)
• She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world. (CNN)
• Five military horses spooked by noise from a building site bolted on Wednesday near Buckingham Palace, throwing off riders and causing chaos as they galloped loose through central London streets and collided with vehicles during the busy morning rush hour. (AP)
• Where have all the barf bags gone? The once ubiquitous seat back stuffers seem to have been cast aside. What happened, and what do the avid barf bag collectors think about it? (Thrillist)