Struck me as iconographically significant! This is the great empire land of the Industrial Revolution belching coal fire's black smoke to prove that man could blot out the sky, where all the architecture of its greatest city was once covered with a thick black patina. Where shivering little poor urchins ran after the coal truck to pick up stray pieces for a few minutes warmth that their parents couldn't afford or their Fagan didn't want to buy for them. (Aside: Would Charles Dickens serials been as popular if readers didn't feel a need to escape from their environment?)

Ah, coal mining, part of their romantic 19th-century heritage:

The Welsh mining village of How Green Was My Valley

Cavaet: only related to the general topic of "coal".

This post reminded me that last night in some news program on while working, for Earth Day I saw a segment of someone interviewing some Chinese gummint functionary explaining how China's energy needs were so yuge that they couldn't give up coal as part of the equation yet but were making great strides in using clean coal technology because the people demanded a environment where life could still exist. And proudly explaining some of that technology. And i went to googling the news trying to find that story.

And I couldn't find it.

What I did find was actually more interesing. The Donald Pumpkin president may actually have made a coal-related deal as in the mostly bullshit "art of the deal"

China Turns Back Norks’ Coal Cargoes

@ The American Interest blatantly describes what may have happened by giving the chronology, that which many other articles on topic by more objective news outlets only suggest. If this was a The Donald deal, it totally explains his flip-flop on China and what he tweeted about China helping with North Korea, not to mention China turning round to buy American coal to keep those American miner voters working. (When the new figures come out it will be LOOK HOW SALES OF AMERICAN COAL HAVE SUDDENLY GONE UP!)