90% Of Green Stocks Will Go Bankrupt - So What? [View article]
Amory Lovins has been in China consulting about how to get to the "islandable" micro-grids that he speaks about.
Some of the natural-capital community speakers/doers have received better reception off-shore than on-shore.
The political clout of existing structures in the U.S. are not completely shutting off innovation here, but often things go on under the radar until they get to critical mass.
This makes it difficult for small investors to ride new technology.
I do not know what will happen with Ostara, for example, which makes high-quality golf-course fertilizer out of sewage, but until it goes public, small investors are not going to get in.
Who Loses If The Cloud Is Cheap As Chips [View article]
Thanks, Dana, and thanks to Michael Blair and gorgor for thoughtful questions. To the best of my recent knowledge, MatLab is private, but big. Do you watch companies like this as well? They are advertising for coders on NPR and elsewhere like mad, and this makes me interested in what effects they could have on the market, even though they are private and maybe hard to get a bead on.
Redacted Version Of The March 2013 FOMC Statement [View article]
Elites have effectively marginalized those voices calling for transparency and honesty. Nonetheless, the ability of the elites to control the conversation may be waning, in one of those tipping-point kinds of scenarios, as fewer people listen to the media they control. Even though I am libertarian-leaning, I get a lot of news from truthout and RT, in particular Abbey Martin, who does not pussyfoot around how she sees things. In parallel with that, we have people growing food in front yards, even when threatened with jail for it, and trading among themselves to go around the contrived economy. I can see how Bernanke thinks he is doing just fine from his own vantage point, but he does not seem to me to be looking 360 degrees around him. I wonder how many ordinary people he says hello to in an average week.
World Industrial Output Reached A New Record High In 2012 [View article]
I would rather comment as the coyote at the garden party.
What are the implications for world-wide pollution in fluorine-compound, mercury, arsenic, and lead levels in the environment?
I am also interested in the now-respectable discussion of endocrine-disruption chemicals, as documented by TEDX (important to capitalize all the letters for the Endocrine Disruption Exchange, to get there efficiently on the net). Theo Colburn has interesting things to say about genome-disruption, especially about the harm to boys and men, as that is where much of the research has now been replicated in many places.
I am awaiting a less legacy-corrupt environment where we have more necessities grown close to where they will be used and less heat/beat/treat in making, as outlined by Janice Benyus in her TED talks and in her other work.
I am frustrated by how long it has taken to be able to talk about these things without being name-called.
I used Bing for the first time the other day, on a coffee shop machine. Argh--the M cycles of aggravation and screens of "you can't go there." I could go there with a different searcher. I never want to have anything to do with Bing again, ever.
Fed's Financial Stress Index Falls To Pre-Recession 2007 Level [View article]
Am I the only one feeling a keen sense of irony about the fed estimating "financial stress?" Since when do they hang around with anybody from, say, Occupy or Idle No More, or even at the AGU where the biggest hit at the annual geophysical meeting was, "Is the Earth F***ed?"
I think it would be more accurate to trace the suicide rate for a realistic estimate.
What about Aaron Swartz and what about the military s-rate?
I do not love raining on the parade, but only some people are able to attend the happy parade.
Julian Simon: Still More Right Than Lucky On Commodities In 2013 [View article]
If I recall correctly, Simon discussed composite materials as suitable to be substituted in a number of industrial products and processes. This was a factor in Simon's position.
A contemporary person who discusses this is Amory Lovins.
Lovins has worked both sides of partisan and other boundaries more comfortably than Simon did.
Simon was coming from a libertarian angle.
Lovins has been put in a category with Paul Hawken, with whom he worked on natural-capital concepts. I make a distinction here because Lovins has worked with people who could be labeled this or that, depending. He seems to be a data guy who is comfortable taking his figures anywhere. When he gets where he is going, he talks data, and nobody can out-data him, that I know of.
I remember hearing Lovins and Hawken say they were surprised that their book was more popular with government figures in China than in the West. This was during Deng times. Sadly, most people I know feel China has moved away from interest in this sort of thing. The U.S. government subsidizes heat, beat, treat, monopoly (thanks to Janine Benyus for the heat/beat/treat part).
If China decides to pursue Fukuoka-style food productivity, for which there was a brief opening in some parts of China, they would do well indeed. I suspect that this kind of research is going on quietly all over the world, even in Russia and the U.S. and other countries that seem hopelessly bureaucratized.
On the U.S. front, I watched Hawken field a question from a very distressed young woman who was lamenting that young graduates were going with monopoly-companies of the status quo in the U.S., rather than working on principles of natural capital. Hawken had to say that change is slow, a reply that did not make the questioner feel better. It was an awkward moment on the promotion circuit.
Rent-seeking is a long-time practice that has been discussed in the U.S. a great deal. There is a long academic history on this topic.
Subsidy- and fine-print-seeking gets fewer column inches. My hunch is that these issues will get more in the near future.
The commodities markets are getting more complicated, with the vectors of corruption and influence more difficult to track and predict. Resistance to transparency has to get ever more convoluted on the part of those pretending to protect the entire population rather than just a thin slice.
Nonetheless, people on the outside working to track are getting more determined.
Both Simon and Lovins based some of their work on an inability of heritage advantage to stifle innovation, over a long run. I hope they are right.
Even before the antenna made a hole in my roof and had to go, I have not been interested in TV. I thought I would use the box as a video-playing machine, but I haven't even done that. I don't have patience for ads. Streaming Redbox is a little tempting, but if there is much hassle involved, it won't happen.
Intel has had an anthropologist on board for some time now. The best linear people understand that they need a contextual on board as well. The market has a mix of ways of thinking and buying in it, and idea people are needed as well as implementers. Wow, the editor let me use implementer. I thought I made it up.
Anyway, big companies need people who venture outside their groupthinks (editor did not like that last one).
Microsoft recruits artists, if I am not mistaken. Most of these companies see that they need a few non-geeks, so they can communicate with the rest of the world.
The Rich Will Not Abandon Dividend Stocks [View article]
Davephd - Do you know that the issuing entities are ok? I got out of muni bonds when I looked into muni debt in greater detail (not that I should have been in muni's in the first place, but they were safe for the time period I was in them).
THE STATUS QUO HAS TO GO - Americas Tipping Point [View instapost]
I agree with most of what you say, except I don't think it is going to be smart grid. People were joking about wanting a dumb grid after the hurricane. I think we will have islandable micro-grids (which cute phrase I got from Amory Lovins). Thanks for the post.
ARM And Linux Aim At Intel In The Data Center [View article]
Does the coming Maker revolution affect any of this, 3-d printers and all that? I confess I am a bit over my head here, but that does not stop me from dipping a toe in and hoping I will learn something.
I read this with great interest. Companies who buy other enterprises and then leave managers in the newly acquired business with no discretion to deal with customer-service issues will rapidly lose share to those who are more proactive. It does show up in the on-line news. It seems to me the phone-service area is now having challenges with this. As a customer, I'm pretty unsettled about what to do about it, and I am uncertain who can keep up with the changes well enough to consult. Even very technologically aware people I know are scratching their heads.
90% Of Green Stocks Will Go Bankrupt - So What? [View article]
Some of the natural-capital community speakers/doers have received better reception off-shore than on-shore.
The political clout of existing structures in the U.S. are not completely shutting off innovation here, but often things go on under the radar until they get to critical mass.
This makes it difficult for small investors to ride new technology.
I do not know what will happen with Ostara, for example, which makes high-quality golf-course fertilizer out of sewage, but until it goes public, small investors are not going to get in.
Who Loses If The Cloud Is Cheap As Chips [View article]
Redacted Version Of The March 2013 FOMC Statement [View article]
World Industrial Output Reached A New Record High In 2012 [View article]
What are the implications for world-wide pollution in fluorine-compound, mercury, arsenic, and lead levels in the environment?
I am also interested in the now-respectable discussion of endocrine-disruption chemicals, as documented by TEDX (important to capitalize all the letters for the Endocrine Disruption Exchange, to get there efficiently on the net). Theo Colburn has interesting things to say about genome-disruption, especially about the harm to boys and men, as that is where much of the research has now been replicated in many places.
I am awaiting a less legacy-corrupt environment where we have more necessities grown close to where they will be used and less heat/beat/treat in making, as outlined by Janice Benyus in her TED talks and in her other work.
I am frustrated by how long it has taken to be able to talk about these things without being name-called.
Nonetheless, change is coming about.
Heinz Follow-Up [View article]
Bing Inside: Death Exaggerated [View article]
Home Prices Surge In December, More Evidence 2012 Was The Year Of The Housing Recovery [View article]
Fed's Financial Stress Index Falls To Pre-Recession 2007 Level [View article]
I think it would be more accurate to trace the suicide rate for a realistic estimate.
What about Aaron Swartz and what about the military s-rate?
I do not love raining on the parade, but only some people are able to attend the happy parade.
Julian Simon: Still More Right Than Lucky On Commodities In 2013 [View article]
A contemporary person who discusses this is Amory Lovins.
Lovins has worked both sides of partisan and other boundaries more comfortably than Simon did.
Simon was coming from a libertarian angle.
Lovins has been put in a category with Paul Hawken, with whom he worked on natural-capital concepts. I make a distinction here because Lovins has worked with people who could be labeled this or that, depending. He seems to be a data guy who is comfortable taking his figures anywhere. When he gets where he is going, he talks data, and nobody can out-data him, that I know of.
I remember hearing Lovins and Hawken say they were surprised that their book was more popular with government figures in China than in the West. This was during Deng times. Sadly, most people I know feel China has moved away from interest in this sort of thing. The U.S. government subsidizes heat, beat, treat, monopoly (thanks to Janine Benyus for the heat/beat/treat part).
If China decides to pursue Fukuoka-style food productivity, for which there was a brief opening in some parts of China, they would do well indeed. I suspect that this kind of research is going on quietly all over the world, even in Russia and the U.S. and other countries that seem hopelessly bureaucratized.
On the U.S. front, I watched Hawken field a question from a very distressed young woman who was lamenting that young graduates were going with monopoly-companies of the status quo in the U.S., rather than working on principles of natural capital. Hawken had to say that change is slow, a reply that did not make the questioner feel better. It was an awkward moment on the promotion circuit.
Rent-seeking is a long-time practice that has been discussed in the U.S. a great deal. There is a long academic history on this topic.
Subsidy- and fine-print-seeking gets fewer column inches. My hunch is that these issues will get more in the near future.
The commodities markets are getting more complicated, with the vectors of corruption and influence more difficult to track and predict. Resistance to transparency has to get ever more convoluted on the part of those pretending to protect the entire population rather than just a thin slice.
Nonetheless, people on the outside working to track are getting more determined.
Both Simon and Lovins based some of their work on an inability of heritage advantage to stifle innovation, over a long run. I hope they are right.
Intel Tries To Reinvent Itself [View article]
Tech Imaginations In Short Supply [View article]
Intel has had an anthropologist on board for some time now. The best linear people understand that they need a contextual on board as well. The market has a mix of ways of thinking and buying in it, and idea people are needed as well as implementers. Wow, the editor let me use implementer. I thought I made it up.
Anyway, big companies need people who venture outside their groupthinks (editor did not like that last one).
Microsoft recruits artists, if I am not mistaken. Most of these companies see that they need a few non-geeks, so they can communicate with the rest of the world.
The Rich Will Not Abandon Dividend Stocks [View article]
THE STATUS QUO HAS TO GO - Americas Tipping Point [View instapost]
ARM And Linux Aim At Intel In The Data Center [View article]
What's Going On In CRM? [View article]