Lynne Kiesling Check out this very cool idea for reinventing capacitors with nanotubes to provide energy storage for portable devices. The capacitor, a 300-year-old technology for modulating current flow by storing small amounts of energy, stores energy via electrodes that separate a charge and thus maintain potential. But it can only store energy in proportion …
Lynne Kiesling Regular KP readers might have noticed my reticence to opine on the current net neutrality roilings (which is why I am grateful to Mike for picking up the slack). There’s a good reason for that: I don’t find either of the polemic, binary, extreme positions that are being argued and memorialized in legislative …
Lynne Kiesling Tim Worstall alerts us to a manifestation of government distortion of decision-making in Australia: a glut of grapes has pushed down grape and wine prices, and small producers are in danger of going out of business. The Telegraph article that Tim cites says that The problem is so severe that the industry said …
Wine Bankruptcies in Australia: More Ill-advised Government Policy Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article on a manifestation of the plenitude of capitalism: Wal-Mart is selling customized World Cup gear in the various countries where it operates around the world (US, Germany, England, Mexico, for example). My favorite: Garden gnomes in England kit. If that’s not culture-specific marketing, I don’t know …
Lynne Kiesling Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released the draft Report to Congress on Competition in the Wholesale and Retail Markets for Electric Energy on behalf of the Electric Energy Market Competition Task Force. This report, required by Section 1815 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, provides an overview and summarizes the progress …
Draft Report to Congress on Wholesale and Retail Competition in Electricity Read More »
Michael Giberson Wish you could tell the federal government just what was wrong (or right) with the state of competition in electricity markets? Here is your chance: Section 1815 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the Electric Energy Market Competition Task Force to conduct a study and analysis of competition within the wholesale …
Your Chance to Tell the Feds About Electric Market Competition Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Matthew Stewart, philosopher-turned management consultant-turned philosophy writer, has an essay in the Atlantic on “management science” (subscription required) that is amusing and interesting. [full text available here] Stewart goes through the origins of scientific management, its justifiable place in the dustbin of ideas (although it certainly scared the bejeesus out of Josef Schumpeter, …
Michael Giberson Martin Feldstein has a proposal for Tradable Gasoline Rations (TGRs) that is so incredible that it deserves its own song. I’m at work trying to adapt “Tiggers Song” (from Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too) to the Feldstein particulars. Here’s how far I’ve made it, so far: The wonderful thing about TGRs Is …
Lynne Kiesling Here’s an amusing cultural amalgamation: I am getting ready for triathlon season, and so am thumbing through the Tri Zone catalog that just appeared in my mailbox. When you do tris that are Olympic or longer, you want energy and hydration close to hand while you’re on the bike. Here’s a solution: the …
Michael Giberson I’ve mentioned Seth Roberts’ Shangri-La diet here before. I’m interested, because I could probably stand to drop 10 or 15 pounds, but I really don’t see myself as a “dieter” or “diet book buyer.” Of course I could try out the ideas based upon publicly available information about the diet, but then I …
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