Michael Giberson
From Aguanomics:
I was talking to a friend, and he mentioned that he’d hired an extra guy under the stimulus program.
“Yeah, they are paying 80 percent of his wages and overhead. It’s a win-win for him and me…”
“…but then I fired another guy; he just cost too much compared to the new guy.”
Lynne Kiesling
Steve Strogatz is a professor of applied mathematics at Cornell and a master of explaining abstract mathematical principles to non-mathematicians. He also posts occasionally on the New York Times’ Opinionator blog, and his post on Sunday was a real treat. Using the domestic conundrum of how to flip your mattress to maximize its longevity and inspired by a couple of recent publications, his delightful and clear post provides a wonderful introduction to group theory.
By looking into mattress math in some detail, I hope to give you a feeling for group theory more generally. It’s one of the most versatile parts of mathematics. It underlies everything from the choreography of contra dancing and the fundamental laws of particle physics, to the mosaics of the Alhambra and their chaotic counterparts …
The mattress group also pops up in some unexpected places, from the symmetry of water molecules to the logic of a pair of electrical switches. That’s one of the charms of group theory. It exposes the hidden unity of things that would otherwise seem unrelated …
I’m fascinated with symmetry and spatial relationships of objects, so I relished this post, and I hope you do too.
Michael Giberson
I don’t know the answer, so someone let me know if you do, but has the President of the United States ever declared a state of emergency over a local water main break before? According the the announcement, “The President’s action authorizes … Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts….”
The water main break already had been repaired (though the boil water order was not lifted until today).
Meanwhile, the local media is all excited by reports by a woman that “her son was charged $23.76 for a 24-pack of bottled water. The … family has since contacted the Attorney General’s office.”
Let’s do the math: 99 cents/bottle? Is this a crime? Not in Massachusetts, despite what the Governor and Attorney General want people to believe.
Here’s more from the Boston Globe:
Boston police were sent to a Tedeschi Food Shop in Hyde Park at 8:57 a.m. after the mayor’s office reported the store was charging $16 for a case of water, according to police and a mayoral spokeswoman.
The store manager denied the allegation. But really, the police were sent after a report from the mayor’s office? Do the city police and mayor’s office really have absolutely nothing at all to do these days?
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby asks, “What’s wrong with price gouging?“
ALSO NOTED: Eight Venezuela Butchers Arrested For Price Gouging. That’s rockin’ it to price gouging merchants Hugo Chavez style. I bet Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley is envious.
Lynne Kiesling
Yesterday Google announced that their ever-growing sustainability strategy now includes investing in wind generation. Although they pursue these opportunities through their philanthropic arm, they claim that they are looking for meaningful returns on their investments in addition to their sustainability impact:
To reach a clean energy future, we need three things: effective policy, innovative technology and smart capital. Through our philanthropic arm Google.org, we’ve been pushing for energy policies that strengthen the innovation pipeline, and we’ve been dedicating resources to developing new technologies, including making investments in early-stage renewable energy companies such as eSolar and AltaRock. Smart capital includes not only these early-stage company investments, but also dedicated funding for utility-scale projects. To tackle this need, we’ve been looking at investments in renewable energy projects, like the one we just signed, that can accelerate the deployment of the latest clean energy technology while providing attractive returns to Google and more capital for developers to build additional projects.
This moves adds to their portfolio of energy activities, including the Google PowerMeter and efforts to develop more energy efficient and green data center technologies and building techniques.
I do wonder, though, if such clean tech investments stretch the economies of scope in Google’s strategy. I’d love to know the exact arguments they have made internally in deciding on these renewable generation investments. While I think they take advantage of the expected policy environment (renewable portfolio standards, etc.), these investments are pretty different from Google’s traditional areas.
Michael Giberson
A significant water main break affecting over 2 million people in the suburban Boston area has lead the Massachusetts Governor Patrick Duval to declare a state of emergency. A boil water order is also in effect. Subsequently, the Governor directed the state’s Division of Standards “to closely monitor bottled water prices in areas affected by the weekend’s water emergency, including inspecting stores in the region and responding to potential consumer complaints of price gouging.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said her office “will be sending out inspectors to review reports of price gouging and also conduct spot-checks of local businesses …. If we discover that businesses are engaging in price gouging, we will take appropriate legal action.”
This is odd, because, so far as I can tell* no law in Massachusetts prohibits price gouging on bottled water. The state’s price gouging law only applies to petroleum-related businesses selling petroleum products at an unconscionably high price in limited circumstances. (Text of the state’s price gouging law; see also a state-by-state description of price gouging limits and the discussion of Massachusetts in Cale Davis, “An analysis of the enactment of price gouging laws,” pp. 46-47.)
So my conclusion is that the Governor and the Attorney General are intentionally deceiving retailers about the state’s price gouging law as a kind of underhanded moral suasion intended to deter price increases on bottled water.
ALSO NOTED: The Boston Globe story which includes the AG’s statement (linked above) also details the extensive extra efforts some local water bottling companies are going to in order to increase production and distribution efforts over the weekend.
In related action, just last week residents in Concord, Massachusetts voted to ban all sales of bottled water.
*I am not an attorney nor expert on Massachusetts law, I’m just an economist that studies price gouging. If I’ve overlooked some relevant portion of the state’s price gouging authority, please let me know.
Michael Giberson
The Los Angeles Times has the story: “A real-world battle over virtual-property rights.”
Apparently virtual world developer/promoter/host Linden Labs has changed its terms of service for Second Life over time to diminish the central importance of user ownership of virtual property created within the Second Life service. The most recent user agreement reportedly dispenses with the idea of user property claims and asserts Linden Labs’ right to allow or revoke a user’s license to use the service at the company’s discretion.
I dabbled in Second Life a few years ago, but never quite had the right combination of graphics, computer power and internet speed to make it an enjoyable experience. Somewhere a small backup file may exist with my old Second Life avatar (which, now that I think about it, had skin about the same color of blue that James Cameron later chose for the Nav’i in the movie Avatar. Weird.). Hadn’t thought much about going back. But maybe it is worth the trip, just to see how the property rights debate is unfolding in virtual worlds.
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