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Brian DiNunno

@bdinunno

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01.11.2023
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Latest posts by Brian DiNunno @bdinunno

Buy two Carolingian brothers, get one brother free*

* does not apply to Bernards

10.03.2026 23:05 👍 14 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Will put to the test that Montgomery County could kill a transit-oriented affordable housing opportunity at a Saks Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters.

09.03.2026 19:43 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Speaks to push and pull of variable granularity vs. predictable regularity.

Photo has adaptive re-use of a what was once a rail-served flour mill on the left as a arts center and a tear down of former tannery buildings and electric street car barns on the right for a new hotel.

09.03.2026 14:29 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

When you launch your blog about quantifying agricultural impacts:

Swidden Figures

08.03.2026 21:10 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Probably good you didn't just go for the opposite trend to be contrary.

08.03.2026 19:13 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
a blurry photo of a smiling young woman, holding a pet dog on the dockside in happier times. The only known photo of Madeleine.

a blurry photo of a smiling young woman, holding a pet dog on the dockside in happier times. The only known photo of Madeleine.

black and white photo of a single stack, ex-merchant RN vessel

black and white photo of a single stack, ex-merchant RN vessel

To mark International Women's Day, meet Lt Cmdr. Madeleine Barclay. First Officer on HMS Fidelity.

To my knowledge, the first woman to officially serve as First Officer on a Royal Navy vessel deployed on combat duty. Achieving this involved a three-way war between Navy, SOE and the WRNS /1 🧵 #IWD

08.03.2026 17:09 👍 173 🔁 78 💬 2 📌 12

Imagine being a RETVRN guy about soulless mass produced playground equipment instead of the vastly more interesting, creative, whimsical, and dangerous work of Bob Leathers. Could NOT be me.

07.03.2026 18:50 👍 167 🔁 11 💬 13 📌 10
News | International Atomic Energy Agency

As with the reactors in Ukraine (just released their 343rd update on that situation), the best place to get consistent reliable information on these issues going forward is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

www.iaea.org/news

(7/n)

07.03.2026 18:41 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Map of the Persian Gulf, highlighting the locations of the Barakah and Bushehr nuclear power plants.

Map of the Persian Gulf, highlighting the locations of the Barakah and Bushehr nuclear power plants.

And as you can see from the map, the UAE reactors are built far from population centers, but also along a linear power grid, with not a lot of redundancy.

(6/n)

07.03.2026 18:38 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Google street view photo of UAE nuclear reactors and connecting power grid.

Google street view photo of UAE nuclear reactors and connecting power grid.

This 2021 google street view highlights how the UAE reactors are connected to the power grid.

(5/n)

07.03.2026 18:35 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

As has been unfortunately made clear during the Russia-Ukraine war, reactors are far from immune to escalating conflicts, which presents considerable challenges even if not targeted directly. Mostly about maintaining off-site power connections and onsite cooling systems.

(4/n)

07.03.2026 18:32 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

If you didn't know that the UAE has nuclear power plants, don't wonder. They are quite new. South Korean designed and built reactors (APR-1400), has robust containment facilities for the reactor buildings. Each of the 4 reactors is about 1.4 GW, with the last reactor coming online in 2024.

(3/n)

07.03.2026 18:31 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

The Iranian reactor is a Soviet-era design, but *not* the Chernobyl-type. Has a robust containment facility for the reactor. About a 1 GW plant, has been running for about 15 years. As you can see from the previous picture, it is water-cooled from the Gulf.

(2/n)

07.03.2026 18:30 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on the Persian Gulf.  

A Soviet-era design, but *not* the Chernobyl-type.  Has a robust containment facility for the reactor.  About a 1 GW plant, has been running for about 15 years.

Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on the Persian Gulf. A Soviet-era design, but *not* the Chernobyl-type. Has a robust containment facility for the reactor. About a 1 GW plant, has been running for about 15 years.

UAE’s Barakah Nuclear Power Plant.  A newer, South Korean designed and built reactor (APR-1400), also has robust containment facilities for the reactor buildings.  Each of the 4 reactors is about 1.4 GW, with the last reactor coming online in 2024.

UAE’s Barakah Nuclear Power Plant. A newer, South Korean designed and built reactor (APR-1400), also has robust containment facilities for the reactor buildings. Each of the 4 reactors is about 1.4 GW, with the last reactor coming online in 2024.

Lots of chatter about infrastructure around the Persian Gulf (refineries, desalination plants, terminals) that could indirectly affect a lot of people. Just going to mention two sites out there because escalation has *not* gone this far. Yet.

Bushehr and Barrakah Nuclear Power Plants.

(1/n)

07.03.2026 18:27 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I need to make a point of building a small cairn over it in the late fall instead of just leaving it stuck randomly in a raised bed.

06.03.2026 19:40 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Purple line construction in Silver Spring, looking westbound from Talbot Street Bridge.

Purple line construction in Silver Spring, looking westbound from Talbot Street Bridge.

Construction of catenary poles for Purple Line in Silver Spring, MD

Construction of catenary poles for Purple Line in Silver Spring, MD

Catenary extended to Silver Spring now.

06.03.2026 02:04 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Techno-economic feasibility of Borehole Thermal Energy Storage System connected to Geothermal Heat Pumps in Fairbanks, Alaska, NREL poster.

Techno-economic feasibility of Borehole Thermal Energy Storage System connected to Geothermal Heat Pumps in Fairbanks, Alaska, NREL poster.

The severe lack of robust geological data across much of Alaska (where there are people) is a limitation where geothermal could be very useful (heat + power). Currently have district heating plants running off coal.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

05.03.2026 17:04 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

As someone who was taken clothes shopping at the JC Penny's department store (now the Filmore) and ate a lunch counter on Colesville in what's now part of that AFI complex, this discussion makes me feel OLD.

05.03.2026 15:34 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Parking deck entrance and loading dock in a recently built mixed use building in Silver Spring, Maryland.  Shown to highlight what is needed for small footprint urban grocery stores.

Parking deck entrance and loading dock in a recently built mixed use building in Silver Spring, Maryland. Shown to highlight what is needed for small footprint urban grocery stores.

Yeah, grocery is not just another fungible "retail" category.

Here is the new MOM's in Silver Spring on the ground floor of a mixed use building. Underground parking, but more importantly the loading dock, with a wide enough alley for trucks to back in. If this isn't designed in, it won't happen.

05.03.2026 15:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Typical Aldi expectation for retail site of 22k sq.ft., 95 parking spaces, and most importantly, a truck loading dock.

Typical Aldi expectation for retail site of 22k sq.ft., 95 parking spaces, and most importantly, a truck loading dock.

Even the small footprint grocery stores (Aldi/Lidl/Trader Joe's) are bigger now. But they are more defined by having a full scale loading dock for large trucks than anything. It's all about being connected to the existing (highly-efficient) large truck logistics. The old centers don't have that.

05.03.2026 15:09 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

This evolution of the stores also speaks to a century of changing retail scales. The center point started as a grocery store (Sanitary) but eventually was a local drug store (Peoples). Mergers and footprint growth meant neither could fit there, now restaurants in a post-online retail world.

05.03.2026 14:59 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

Someone needs to make the Fairfax Striped Shirt

04.03.2026 22:23 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

People were already capable of going from:

"inorganic kitty litter (zeolite)" to

"an organic kitty litter (zeolite)" to

"an organic kitty litter"

and accidentally end up with guncotton in a 55-gallon drum dirty bomb.

Not looking forward to what the AI tools will do.

04.03.2026 19:24 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

USA: Energy for Dominance

Also USA: Where did everyone go?

04.03.2026 18:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Cookies are cancelled due to having diverse ingredients.

I mean, baking soda *and* baking powder? Suspicious.

04.03.2026 17:03 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Show them two cookies and ask them to write an essay on why they should get the cookies.

The best essay gets one cookie and the principal gets the other.

04.03.2026 16:55 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Having watched him play in person a few times over the previous couple of years, this one still hurts.

04.03.2026 16:23 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

If political also includes not allowing exports and being able to refine US-based oil ... otherwise still tied to global pricing (LNG exports create a similar, but less thorough connection on gas of course).

Also assumes the past decade oil patterns continues without change ...

03.03.2026 16:35 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Statement from the Public Health Agency of Canada on Canada’s Measles Elimination Status Following over 12 months of transmission across the country, PAHO confirms Canada's loss of measles elimination status. We are coordinating efforts with provinces and territories to restore the status...

Got some bad news on that front ....

www.canada.ca/en/public-he...

03.03.2026 04:04 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

The future is both MechaHitler and BacchuJesus.

02.03.2026 18:12 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0