But they keep all their clothes on
“Summer, New England” (1912 oil on canvas), by Maurice Prendergast (1858-1924), American painter
Through the mountains
“RR Crossing in a Valley” (watercolor), by William Talmadge Hall, in his “Obstruction to a Landscape’’ series. He’s based in Rhode Island and Florida but spent his early years in Vermont.
Llewellyn King: Harnessing power in new ways
The falls at such dams on New England rivers were used to power the region’s textile and other mills.
Northfield Mountain, in Northfield, Mass., FirstLight’s flagship facility, is New England’s largest energy-storage operation This giant water battery is capable of powering more than 1 million homes for up to 7.5 hours each day.
This article first appeared on Forbes.com
Virginia is the first state to formally press for the creation of a virtual power plant. Glenn Youngkin, the state’s Republican governor, signed the Community Energy Act on May 2, which mandates Dominion Energy to launch a 450-megawatt virtual power plant (VPP) pilot program.
Virginia isn’t alone in this endeavor, but it is certainly the most out front. There are many incipient VPPs clustered around utilities across the country.
A virtual power plant is the ultimate realization of something that has been going on for a long time as utilities have been hooking up various power sources, managed conservation and underused generation, known as distributed energy resources (DER). These, according to even small utilities, can contribute up to and possibly over 10 percent electricity to a utility system.
Organized and formalized and with enough coverage, DER becomes a VPP. Sometimes the terms are used interchangeably.
A virtual power plant not only depends on managed conservation and underused generation but also on some imaginative use of resources, like hooking up transportation fleets to discharge their batteries onto the grid when they aren’t in use. Electric school buses are frequently cited as playing a role in future VPPs. Conservation and solar roofs with related batteries are the backbone of DER and VPPs. Eventually, they are expected to be common to most utilities or consortia of utilities.
In Owings Mills, Md., an engineer and inventor with a slew of patents to his name, Key Han, dreams of a different kind of VPP, one which could, if widely deployed, provide a new source of baseload power.
Han, CEO and chief scientist at DDMotion, has pioneered speed-converter technology which, if widely deployed, would produce inexpensive, reliable energy in sufficient quantity to be described as baseload. Indeed, he said in an interview, “It would be a huge new source of baseload.”
Han’s technology converts variable energy inputs into constant speed outputs. For example, the flow of water in a stream is variable but with his speed-converter technology, the energy in the flow can be captured and converted to a constant speed output.
With his technology, grid-quality frequency can flow from many sources without extensive civil engineering or major construction, he told me. In particular, Han cited power dams, like the ones in New England which were built in the 19th Century to drive the textile mills.
“A simple harnessing module with a generator behind the spillway coupled with my technology can produce frequency that is constant and ready to go on the grid. If you have enough of these simple, low-cost generators installed, you have created a new baseload source, a virtual power plant of a different and exceptionally reliable kind,” Han said.
Another use of the same DDMotion technology would remedy what is becoming a growing problem for wind and solar generators: the lack of rotating inertia. Inertia is essential for utility operators to fix sudden changes in frequency caused by changes in generation or consumption (50 cycles in Europe and 60 cycles in the United States).
Lack of inertia has been blamed for the widespread blackout on the Iberian Peninsula and is becoming an issue for utilities with a lot of solar and wind generation, so called inverter power. This refers to the grooming with an inverter to power to grid-quality alternating current from its original direct current.
Here, again, his technology can inexpensively resolve the inertia problem for wind and solar generation, Han said. Either using a mechanical system or an electronic one, wind and solar systems could provide rotating inertia.
Increasingly, utilities are looking for untapped sources of power which can be bundled together into VPPs.
Renew Home, a Google-financed company, claims 3 gigawatts of electricity savings, which it says makes it the leader in VPPs. It relies on managing end-use load primarily in homes with load shedding of high energy-consuming devices during peaks. This is accomplished by using special thermostats and smart meters.
Industry experts believe artificial intelligence will be a key to extracting the most energy out of unconventional sources as well as fine tuning usage.
VPPs are here and many more are coming.
On X: @llewellynking2
Bluesky: @llewellynking.bsky.social
Subscribe to Llewellyn King's File on Substack
Llewellyn King is executive producer and host of White House Chronicle, on PBS.
Flaming landscape
“Red Fall Maple” (watercolor), by Sano Gofu (Japanese, 1888-1974), at the Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Mass.
Chris Powell: Distinguish among immigrants; Pratt & Whitney’s slow exit
Border between Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Mexico.
MANCHESTER, Conn.
Leftist research and social-service groups are working with news organizations to blur the distinction between legal and illegal immigration.
It happened again the other week as Connecticut's Hearst newspapers touted a report from Data Haven and the Connecticut Immigrant Support Network about the contributions of immigrants, legal and illegal alike, to the state's economy.
The report says: “Politics that deter immigration, including those targeted at people who are legally authorized to work in the U.S., will harm the Connecticut economy. In particular, deporting undocumented immigrants, who comprise 3% of Connecticut's total population (about 117,000 people), would potentially wipe out tens of thousands of jobs, given that 87% of these immigrants are working age."
This is triply misleading.
First, the report falsely suggests that there is clamor in Connecticut to expel legal immigrants. To the contrary, Connecticut is happily full of citizens and legal residents of all sorts of foreign ancestry.
Second, the jobs held by illegal immigrants in Connecticut would not necessarily disappear if illegal immigrants disappeared. That's because the labor- participation rate in Connecticut -- the percentage of the adult population in the workforce -- has been declining for decades, from 71 percent in 1991 to 65 percent as of April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is, there is slack in the state's workforce, and while many state residents are not highly skilled, a labor shortage might raise wages and draw unemployed people back into the workforce.
Third, the report holds that, insofar as they are working, legal and illegal immigrants are and should be considered the same.
But they're not the same.
Legal immigrants have been reviewed by immigration authorities for suitability to enter the country -- reviewed in regard to their intentions, behavior, health, ability to support themselves financially, associations, and any past immigration law violations.
But illegal immigrants typically have not been reviewed at all. Some probably have heard that state government in Connecticut obstructs and tries to nullify federal immigration law and provides financial and other benefits to illegal immigrants -- that the state believes that anyone who breaks into the United States illegally and reaches Connecticut should be exempt from immigration law.
That is the big issue here -- not the supposed economic benefits to the state from having a class of unenfranchised serfs working under the table, lowering wages for unskilled labor, but whether everyone entering the United States should be vetted and immigration law enforced or whether the borders should be as open again as they were during the Biden administration.
But in a debate in the state House of Representatives the other day, Democratic Majority Leader Jason Rojas argued that no distinction should be made between legal and illegal immigrants. “We should reject referring to them as illegal," he said.
Journalists covering the immigration issue in Connecticut seem to agree. They rarely put the question of undifferentiated immigration to its advocates -- not even to the governor, members of Congress, and Rojas and other state legislators.
Pratt & Whitney headquarters in East Hartford, Conn.
During the recent strike at Pratt & Whitney, a member of the machinists union wrote to the Waterbury Republican-American complaining that the company has been transferring jet-engine-parts manufacturing work out of Connecticut to a new factory in North Carolina, threatening job security for the company's workers here.
This is actually an old story. Sixty years ago Pratt & Whitney had more than 20,000 employees in Connecticut. Today it has only half as many in the state but 43,000 around the country and worldwide.
Expanding elsewhere has been the company's policy for decades. Part of it is economizing, since labor is usually cheaper and taxes lower outside Connecticut. But the bigger part of it is the politics of being a major military contractor needing to build congressional support throughout the country. Whether a weapons system works well can be less important than which states profit from it.
Loyalty to one's origins doesn't mean much in big business anymore. It doesn't help that state government, ever oblivious, keeps making Connecticut more expensive.
Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years (CPowell@cox.net).
Finding good bear bait
“If you can’t write something it’s because you don’t know enough. I tell my writers at work that if they are stuck they need to go do more interviews. The writing is hard if you’re trying to bluff people and pretend you know more than you know. It’s easy when you’ve done all the legwork.
“Let me give you an example from my own life. I write about Maine game wardens and I’ll often run into a problem. Wait a second? I’ll think. How does a warden trap a bear? What does he use for bait? I know doughnuts and bacon grease and lobster shells work, but I want my game warden to be an expert woodsman. And I’ll stop writing because I am blocked. The only solution is to call a warden and he’ll tell me that the secret ingredient in good bear bait is propane. Actually it’s a chemical called ethyl mercaptan, which bears love for some reason. I bet you didn’t know that. And neither did I until I made that phone call.’’
— From Paul Doiron’s commencement address at the University of Maine at Augusta in May 11, 2013. He’s a crime novelist and former editor of Down East magazine.
That’s why it’s so useful
“Math is Hard,’’ by Stephanie Todhunter, at Cambridge (Mass.) Art Association
Roadside distractions
“Billboard in a Cornfield” (watercolor), by Rhode Island-and-Florida-based artist William T. Hall, in his series “Obstructions to a Landscape.’’
Jury is still out on Copley Square changes
Statue of John Singleton Copley in Copley Square with Hancock Tower and Trinity Church
Famed Trinity (Episcopal) Church, on Copley Square
The fountain at Copley Square
— Photo by Eric Friedebach
Farmers market at Copley Square
— Photo by Caroline Culler (User:Wgreaves)
Lightly edited from a Boston Guardian article. Second picture from the top is from The Guardian.
(Full disclosure, New England Diary’s editor, Robert Whitcomb, is chairman of The Boston Guardian.)
The unfinished renovation of Copley Square Park, in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, which has been ongoing since 2023, has already been met with mixed reviews from residents. Copley Square is Boston’s most famous square.
The project was originally slated to be completed by the end of 2024, but the city extended the deadline to April 2025, anticipating the Boston Marathon.
The deadline has since been extended to September, and subsequently to the end of 2025. The current budget sits at $18.9 million, more than double the original estimated budget of $7.5 million in 2021.
“It’s premature to jump to definitive conclusions until we see the definitive outcome,” said Martyn Roetter, chairman of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, which was involved in the planning of the Copley Square redesign.
“The mayor said that this design is a result of endless numbers of community engagements and questions and surveys, which is kind of true. However, I can confirm that certainly NABB was opposed to this particular design. We would’ve preferred much more of a repair and restore operation.”
The opened section of the park currently features a wide concrete “event space,” as described on the project webpage of Sasaki, the consulting firm hired to complete the redesign.
“We did not have a space for public gatherings, like a block party, or the Boston Marathon setup, or the farmer’s market, or different demonstrations,” said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, the president of the Back Bay Association. Any events hosted on the grass at Copley, or along the Commonwealth Ave. Mall, she said, caused a lot of harm to the grass and were not sustainable.
“The plans for Copley Square had to do with having more hardscape, so that the city could host different events that would not do any harm to the grass. I did have the opportunity, when the farmer’s market moved into the new park, to really notice how well that works. I think it’s really creating a great public space.”
But residents are still unsure about having events be the focus of the space. “We don’t want it to turn into a smaller version of City Hall Plaza,” Roetter said. Sasaki, the consulting firm, also redesigned City Hall Plaza, which completed construction in 2022.
The city has also opened the “raised grove” section to the left of the plaza in Copley Square, which is a slightly higher gray concrete space that houses 10 trees and wooden benches along the sides.
The rest of the park, which is still blocked off, will include a small lawn in front of Trinity Church, and concrete paths cutting diagonally across to streamline foot traffic. The original Copley Square Plaza fountain will be preserved.
“Many residents and visitors have expressed appreciation for how the space is functioning,” a spokesperson for the Parks Department said in an email, pointing specifically to the success of the farmer’s market. “At the same time, some community members have shared that they’d like to see more green space in the park. We hear and value that feedback, and we’re excited that the final phase of the project, which includes an expanded lawn area near Trinity Church and the renovation of the iconic fountain, will directly address that need.”
Drawn back to the light, etc.
Androscoggin River, with the Free-Black railroad bridge in the foreground, in Brunswick, Maine.
— Photo by Jules Verne Times Two
“I'm drawn to New England because that's where my roots are, and I miss it. I come from many generations of New Englanders, and so, in my writing, I've been drawn back there to the landscape and the light and the type of personality that's revealed.’’
Elizabeth Strout (born 1956), a celebrated novelist, is a Maine native who divides her time between New York City and Brunswick. Much of her work is set in The Pine Tree State.
Making sense of life
“Let Me See” (acrylic on wood), by Elsa Campbell, in her show “The Art of Letting Go,’’ at the Atlantic Works Gallery East Boston, through May 31.
She says:
“I am inspired by color, line and shape using imagery that comes from my imagination based on events in my life. Art is how I make sense of life, portraying an inner landscape of the emotions, reactions and awareness of what it is to be a feeling person in the world.’’
‘Sparse, sincere rebellion’
U.S. World War I poster, 1917-18.
“On a thousand small town New England greens,
the old white churches hold their air
of sparse, sincere rebellion; frayed flags
quilt the graveyards of the Grand Army of the Republic.’’
—From “For the Union Dead,’’ by Robert Lowell (1917-1977)
Being tough
“Self Portrait as Lion” (framed collage), by Varujan Boghosian (1926-2020) in the show “Fragments of Memory: The Art and Legacy of Varujan Boghosian,’’ at the Armenian Museum of America, Watertown, Mass.
Democratizing investing (a bit)
Watching the stock-price ticker tape in 1918.
“Many people think of Boston as the birthplace of democracy in our country. They may not realize it is also the birthplace {in 1924} of the democratization of investing. It was there… that three stock salesmen {Sherman Adams, Charles H. Learoyd and Ashton L. Carr} created the first mutual fund and opened up what was once an exclusive province of the affluent to just about everyone.’’
— Anne Kates Smith, executive editor, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
From Wikipedia:
“The first mutual fund in the United States, and one of the earliest globally, was the Massachusetts Investors Trust (MIT), established in 1924. This fund paved the way for the modern mutual fund industry by offering a way for individual investors to pool their resources and invest in a diversified portfolio of securities.’’
‘Charmingly incorrect’
“Bound” (mixed media on canvas), by Skowhegan, Maine, artist Ryan Kohler at Portland Art Gallery.
Mr. Kohler writes in his artist’s statement:
“Charmingly incorrect is the result that I typically shoot for, rather than literal and precise. There comes a point where too much detail and obvious overstatement becomes detrimental to the power of a painting. Letting edges blur and being ambiguous with brushwork usually leads to more interesting results. This is something I am constantly thinking about while painting and I try to walk away from them when they are at an evocative and unpredictable state.’’
Before they learn what it’s like
“The Clubhouse Recuitment,’’ by Norman Rockwell, done in the first months of American participation in World War I.
Chris Powell: Big questions about growing poverty in Conn.
MANCHESTER, Conn.
Clamor at the Hartford Capitol for more money for various social programs suggests a comprehensive problem that has yet to be recognized by anyone in authority.
Many state legislators are supporting more state tax credits to help households support their children -- tax credits not just for low-income households but also for households with incomes as high as $250,000 a year. Such tax credits -- payable in cash if households don't have enough income-tax liability to offset them -- are a more sophisticated form of welfare.
More money is being sought to cover the rising numbers of people requiring state Medicaid insurance and to raise doctor payment rates that haven't been substantially adjusted for inflation for 17 years. About 22 percent of Connecticut's population is covered by Medicaid and about 40 percent of births in the state are to women on Medicaid.
State government recently established a “baby bonds" program for children born on Medicaid. The program assumes that without “baby bonds" the children will be raised in poverty and remain poor when they reach adulthood. So now state government is appropriating $3,200 for each child born on Medicaid and investing the money in the expectation of giving such children $11,000 or more when they reach 18.
Many legislators and Gov. Ned Lamont support a vast expansion of state-funded day care for households that can't afford it and even for households that can. The other week rallies were held throughout the state in support of state government subsidies for day care. As traffic went by advocates waved signs reading “Honk if you want affordable child care." That is, “Honk if you'd like others to pay for your kids."
Two months ago the General Assembly and Governor Lamont enacted an emergency appropriation of $40 million for schools to cover the rising numbers and costs of students needing “special education," many of whom are victims of neglect at home.
More money is being sought to help food banks assist the rising numbers of households that can't afford to feed themselves. The other week Connecticut Foodshare said food insecurity in the state increased 10 percent in the last year, with more than a half million people not sure of where their next meal is coming from.
The COVID-19 epidemic is long over but chronic absenteeism in the state's schools remains high. In New Haven's high schools it has reached 50 percent.
All these developments proclaim that poverty is overtaking Connecticut, which still likes to think of itself as a prosperous state.
While elected officials and social-service groups recognize the increasing needs, they aren't linking them and wondering about the underlying causes. No one in authority is asking: Where are all these people who can't support themselves and their children coming from?
The sharp rise of inflation in housing, food and energy prices during the Biden administration is a big factor. But poverty was worsening in Connecticut long before the inflation of the Biden years -- along with open borders and transgenderism -- caused voters to repudiate the administration in last November's election.
Of course elected officials must be sensitive to the growing inability of people to support themselves. But throwing subsidies on top of subsidies doesn't address the causes of impoverishment. Indeed, it may worsen inflation.
Any inquiry into the worsening impoverishment should ask questions that go far beyond inflation and additional subsidies.
For example, how does a welfare system that for decades has been destroying the family, robbing children of fathers in their home, help them grow up?
How are children helped by social promotion in Connecticut's schools, which now happily graduate illiterates and near-illiterates in the belief that self-esteem is more important than learning enough to become self-sufficient?
How is the cost of living reduced by letting municipal zoning impede development of less-expensive housing?
If, as the clamor at the Capitol suggests, Connecticut is falling apart under the weight of social disintegration, people in authority should summon the courage to acknowledge it and pursue its causes and not just keep trying to remediate its effects.
Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years (CPowell@cox.net).
Cory Mitchell: Four stories to think about regarding foreign students at Harvard
The Widener Library at Harvard, the flagship of the largest academic library system in the world, with more than 20 million physical and digital items.
From The Conversation (except for image above)
Corey Mitchell is The Conversation’s education editor
A federal judge in Boston on May 23, 2025, temporarily blocked a Trump administration order that would have revoked Harvard University’s authorization to enroll international students.
The directive from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and resulting lawsuit from Harvard have escalated the ongoing conflict between the Trump administration and the Ivy League institution.
It’s also the latest step in a White House campaign to ramp up vetting and screening of foreign nationals, including students.
Homeland Security officials accused Harvard of creating a hostile campus climate by accommodating “anti-American” and “pro-terrorist agitators.” The accusation stems from the university’s alleged support for certain political groups and their activities on campus.
In early April, the Trump administration terminated the immigration statuses of thousands of international students listed in a government database, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. The database includes country of citizenship, which U.S. school they attend and what they study.
Barring Harvard from enrolling international students could have significant implications for the campus’s climate and the local economy. International students account for 27% of the university’s enrollment.
Here are four stories from The Conversation’s archive about the Trump administration’s battle with Harvard and the economic impact of international students.
1. A target on Harvard
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has targeted the university.
The White House has threatened to end the university’s tax-exempt status, and some media outlets have reported that the Internal Revenue Service is taking steps in that direction.
But it is illegal to revoke an entity’s tax-emempt status “on a whim,” according to Philip Hackney, a University of Pittsburgh law professor, and Brian Mittendorf, an accounting professor at Ohio State University.
“Before the IRS can do that, tax law requires that it first audit that charity,” they wrote. “And it’s illegal for U.S. presidents or other officials to force the IRS to conduct an audit or stop one that’s already begun.”
Several U.S. senators, all Democrats, have urged the IRS inspector general to see whether the IRS has begun auditing Harvard or any nonprofits in response to the administration’s requests or whether Trump has violated any laws with his pressure campaign.
Hackney and Mittendorf wrote that the Trump administration’s moves are part of a larger push to exert control over Harvard, including its efforts to increase its diversity and its response to claims of discrimination on campus.
University of Michigan students on campus on April 3, 2025, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
2. International students help keep ‘America First’
The U.S. has long been the global leader in attracting international students. But competition for these students is increasing as other countries vie to attract the scholars.
In a recent story for The Conversation, David L. Di Maria, vice provost for global engagement at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, wrote that stepped-up screening and vetting of students could make the U.S. a less attractive study destination.
Di Maria wrote that such efforts could hamper the Trump administration’s ability to achieve its “America First” priorities related to the economy, science and technology, and national security.
Trump administration officials have emphasized the importance of recruiting top global talent. And Trump has said that international students who graduate from U.S. colleges should be awarded a green card with their degree.
Research shows that international students launch successful startups at a rate that is eight to nine times higher than their U.S.-born peers. Roughly 25% of billion-dollar companies in the U.S. were founded by former international students, Di Maria noted.
3. A boost to local economies
Indeed, international students have a tremendous economic impact on local communities.
If these global scholars stay home or go elsewhere, that’s bad economic news for cities and towns across the United States, wrote Barnet Sherman, a professor of multinational finance and trade at Boston University.
With the money they spend on tuition, food, housing and other other items, international students pump money into the local economy, but there are additional benefits.
On average, a new job is created for every three international students enrolled in a U.S. college or university. In the 2023-24 academic year, about 378,175 jobs were created, Sherman wrote.
In Greater Boston, where Harvard is located, there are about 63,000 international students who contribute to the economy. The gains are huge – about US$3 billion.
4. Rising number of international students
The rising number of foreign students studying in the U.S. has long led to concerns about U.S. students being displaced by international peers.
The unease is often fueled by the assumption that financial interests are driving the trend, Cynthia Miller-Idriss of American University and Bernhard Streitwieser of George Washington University wrote in a 2015 story for The Conversation.
A common claim, they wrote, is the flawed assumption that “cash-strapped public universities” aggressively recruit more affluent students from abroad who can afford to pay rising tuition costs. The pair wrote that, historically, shifting demographics on college campuses result from social and economic changes.
In today’s context, Miller-Idriss and Streitwieser maintain that the argument that colleges prioritize international students fails to account for the global role of U.S. universities, which help support national security, foster international development projects and accelerate the pace of globalization.
Read more: Foreign students not a threat, but an advantage
This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.