February 2010

Local Politician Threatens to File Price Gouging Claims Against Gasoline Retailers Opposing Tax

Michael Giberson From the Fredericksburg, VA, Free Lance-Star, “GAS-TAX PINCH OR GOUGING?“: Spotsylvania County Supervisor Hap Connors threatened yesterday to file price-gouging complaints because of a lobbying association’s campaign that blames a Virginia Railway Express tax for increased gas prices. The county became a member of the commuter rail service Monday and enacted a 2.1 …

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Evs Need to Avoid Charging During Peak Hours? Nonsense!

Michael Giberson From time to time you see reports of electric utility executives or analysts worried about a forthcoming avalanche of electric vehicles (EVs) that will, just maybe, overwhelm utility distribution systems. What happens if everyone comes home from work and plugs in at the same time?  What happens if drivers want to recharge on-peak …

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How to Fake Sincerity in Reporting Quarterly Results

Michael Giberson The Wall Street Journal reports on research analyzing quarterly reports (nearly 1/2 a million of them from over a 27-year period) which discovered strong circumstantial evidence that companies tweak their results to improve reported earnings.  The evidence? The number 4 occurs less frequently than chance would dictate in the tenths of a cent …

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Weekend Cooking

Lynne Kiesling We did a lot of cooking this weekend, including taking advantage of my Christmas holiday baking — I made double batches of pie dough and pizza dough and froze half of what I made for later. I had also frozen some Michigan tart cherries from the farmer’s market last June, so the mid-February …

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Poet, Ethanol, Independence and the Flag

Michael Giberson Cellulosic ethanol is purportedly the future of biofuels, at least if you listen to ethanol’s supporters.  While the topic of cellulosic ethanol is a subject of some interesting research, digging around the internet for information mostly turns up flag-waving lobbyists seeking more help from the federal government. In a recent news release, ethanol …

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