by BruceMcF
Mon Aug 30th, 2010 at 02:43:03 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
It seems as if many people have been paying more attention to the Beckapalooza in DC ... and the whole furor had me initially confused, as originally I thought it was something to do with Beck the Mongolian Chop Squad ...
But last weekend, there was an election in Australia, and on the night it seemed like it could be the closest in Australian history. As the week went on, that proved to be the case. And I got to thinking, listening to the various independents that hold the balance of power, that there could well be an unlikely working partnership available, where trains could help delivered a progressive governing majority on the most improbable of foundations.
NB: the grassfire in a dry lake bed shot that I use on occasion is in fact from Australia, suffering what has been characterized as a long running drought, but what seems more likely to be a secular shift to a dryer climate.
by BruceMcF
Mon Aug 23rd, 2010 at 02:02:18 AM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
In the firefly-dreaming edition of last week's Burning the Midnight Oil for Progressive Populism diary, RiaD raised the issue:
only that i'm a rural dweller, we must have a vehicle as there is no mass transit here. but we do pay very close attention to our trips to town (10+ miles) & city(40+ miles) and do as much as possible each trip. i would guess we actually use less gas living rurally than most city/urban dwellers.
we've got to start thinking differently as a nation.
become more citizens of the planet than american consumers
imo anyway.
... which set me thinking about the difference between One-Size-Fits-All solutions like Auto-Uber-Alles and A-Fit-For-Each-Size solutions. One size fits all makes is seem as if "that does not do this" is a massive obstacle ... when under A Fit for Each Size, it is a challenge to find the means of accomplishing that task.
by BruceMcF
Sun Aug 15th, 2010 at 06:52:12 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
Due at Agent Orange Wednesday, 5pm EDT
This week in The New Republic, Richard Florida presented his vision of High Speed Rail as the central strategic point of leverage in an economic "reset" to get us out of the doldrums resulting from the failure of the 20th century growth model to deliver ongoing, sustained growth any more ... though the way he frame it is:
As dismal as housing prices continue to be, they have yet to hit bottom in some places. Unemployment remains frozen at an overall level of nine-plus percent, and job creation has been anemic. If the crisis belonged to George W. Bush, the recovery has been Obama's--and it has been a fragile and tentative one at best. Along with billions of dollars in stimulus payments, the president has spent down most of his political capital. So what is his next step?
So ... what is the next step?
by BruceMcF
Mon Aug 9th, 2010 at 04:01:43 AM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
crossposted then reclisted at Agent Orange
Recently, Jerome a Paris and afew from the European Tribune published a piece in New Scientist on why having sufficient wind turbines in an energy portfolio has been observed to lower energy prices to consumers.
After tweeting that article, I started to receive tweets with links to the anti-wind conservative echo chamber, including The American Thinker, and the Oil-money founded and partly funded Cato Institue.
The piece I am looking at today is a brilliant example of the echo-chamber shell game: how you fill up the echo chamber with outdated, irrelevant, or partial and misleading facts so that there are "facts! facts!" that can be cited in social media, complete with demands "answer the facts!" by those who either are pushing a line for strategic reasons or have been taken in by the argument.
Entitled "Wind Energy's Ghosts", the information in the piece is familiar to anyone who has participated in online discussion of wind power or renewable energy in general and has encountered the oil or coal industry sponsored and inspired pushback.
front-paged by afew
by BruceMcF
Sun May 16th, 2010 at 11:03:35 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
If we reduce our oil consumption by 5% a year over each of the next twenty years, that allows use to be free of our oil addiction if we choose to be. But as I observed last week, since 60%-70% of our oil consumption is in transport, that means that in each decade, seven out of the ten 5% reductions have to come out of transport.
I set forward three of the seven for the coming decade last week: the Steel Interstates, national funding for sustainable power local transit corridors, and a target of 5% "Active Transport" - pedestrian and cycle transport.
I have written at some length on the Steel Interstate, but this was the first airing of the rest of the proposal. I promised to go into more depth this week ... and that's what I aim to do today.
by BruceMcF
Sat May 8th, 2010 at 11:26:35 PM EST
Previously, in What difference could 2nd Pref make for SE England Results? w/Poll, I took a look at a second dimension of electoral reform, the potential waste of your vote if your have the temerity to end up voting for a someone standing for a party other than the top two most supported parties, who are the two competing for the seat under First Past The Post.
The most immediate way to avoid this disenfranchisement of the supporters of third and minor parties is to allow each elector a first preference vote and a second preference vote. This can be done on the same ballot paper as used at present, with the first preference marked with an X or "1" and the second preference, if desired marked with a "2".
The simplest Instant Run-Off version is that the top two vote recipients on First Preference vote are the candidates for election, but the eliminated first preference votes are gone through again, and second preferences for one or the other are added to their tally. This can therefore be tallied on election night with some additional work, but not the days that may be required for full preference voting with elimination in rounds.
Assuming that Labor and Libs would deliver a net 80% of votes to each other (75% is a figure I just saw in a poll on LD support for an LD/Labour coalition), that Greens and Socialists would do the same for Labour, that the loonie rightwing fringe would do that same for the Tories, I worked through the Southeast, with the LD going from four to six seats, and Labour going from four to nine seats.
I put up a poll, and the winner of the poll on which to do next was London. It had one vote, Wales had one vote, and since my request to tell me what to do with PC vote in Wales had not taker, London it is.
by BruceMcF
Fri May 7th, 2010 at 05:31:37 PM EST
This is digging into the UK election results in the SE Region, using the BBC election results site.
I am going through the results, and performing an experiment based on arbitrarily allocated a net 80% of third and lower placed party second preference votes to one of the top two parties on first preference. Conservative (including loonie fringe) parties to the Tories, LD and Labor to each other, and vaguely progressive or radical to either LD or Labor. In LD/Labor marginals, I assume all second preferences net out so that the FPTP result stands ... but going in, I'm assuming that's not critical in the Southeast region.
Nothing fancy, just looking to see what patterns there may be in the vote patterns.
And what is the pattern with FPTP? The Tories got about 50% of the vote, and about 90% of the seats. The Lib-Dems got about 26% of the vote and about 5% of the seats, Labour about 16% of the vote and about 5% of the seats, and the Greens 1.4% of the vote and about 1.2% of the seats.
by BruceMcF
Mon Apr 26th, 2010 at 06:43:52 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
There was recently a fight over the 3C starter line for Ohio's High Speed Rail system, which Governor Strickland won ... and the presumptive Republican nominee for Governor took this position:
... GOP challenger John Kasich, who said money awarded to Ohio for the 3C rail project could be better spent on Ohio roads and highways.
These are High Speed Rail funds. Arguing that they could be "better spent on Ohio roads and highways" is a blatant effort to mislead Ohio's voters into thinking that this $400m will stay in state if Republican sabotage of the project succeeds.
And it seems that coverage has buried one of the ledes in this story - getting the presumptive Republican nominee on the record as a slimy politician willing to mislead the electorate in his efforts to sabotage investment in Ohio transportation infrastructure.
by BruceMcF
Sun Apr 11th, 2010 at 09:08:46 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
In his inimitable "twisting mainstream economics in as progressive direction as he can accomplish" style, Paul Krugman has made a splash among those following the challenge of our headlong and reckless pursuit of Climate Chaos with a column on the cost of policies to put the brakes on that reckless gamble.
Hat tip to A Siegal, who nailed a critical failing of Krugman's analysis:
Krugman falls into the trap of discussing the costs of dealing with climate change ... a robust cost/benefits analysis would ... result in a very serious statement as to the "huge risks and costs of inaction vs the very serious benefits of action".
In particular, it is a common failing of mainstream economics to assume an economy that naturally tends to full employment, so that policies that boost employment are a cost, when in the real world they are a benefit.
[Update] See also Peter Dorman's What’s Missing in Paul Krugman’s Climate Economics Primer ... this elaborates a part of his Point 3 - Economic Interactions.
by BruceMcF
Thu Apr 8th, 2010 at 04:32:57 AM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for a Brawny Recovery
The US March Jobs Report has come, and though there appears to have been some employment growth in the rose colored glasses retailing sector, in most other sectors, the headline is that the Job Free Recovery continues.
There are three main numbers to focus on when looking at the monthly employment report:
- employment
- the headline unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted
- the broad ("U6") unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted
... so let's have a look at them.
Promoted with slight edit by afew
by BruceMcF
Sun Apr 4th, 2010 at 08:24:55 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
I noted near the beginning of the Appalachian Hub series about the special advantages offered by rail electrification for this project.
Now that I have sketched out a process by which a national Steel Interstate network of corridors can, in fact, be built in this coming decade, this is probably a good time to come back and take a look at the challenges that are faced when putting the Steel Interstates through hilly and mountainous terrain.
Of course, if rail electrification was a particular benefit in mountainous terrain, one would expect to see it in places like, say, Switzerland.
Picture of a Swiss electric freight west of the Albula tunnel
by BruceMcF
Sun Mar 21st, 2010 at 08:09:22 PM EST
As is normally the case for the Sunday Train, written with a US audience foremost in mind. The Oil company funded belief tanks are up to their same old tricks ...
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
I'm shocked, shocked I say, that a belief tank partly funded by Big Oil and Union Busters would issue a piece attacking High Speed Rail. But they did, claiming that there is a "Coming High Speed Rail Financial Disaster".
Less shocking is that the argument in the piece is tissue-thin, relying on shell games and appeal to stereotype in lieu of evidence.
Of course, just because its an empty argument does not mean its a pointless one. When you are trying to prevent solutions to problems, FUD ... Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt ... can sometimes be as effective as genuine argument.
Well, I hope someone out there is able to frame great counter-arguments that are useful in cracking into Dr. Utt's (Economics) target audience of those with short attention spans and limited access to information. What I can offer here is raw material for those counter-arguments.
by BruceMcF
Sun Mar 14th, 2010 at 11:50:02 PM EST
You'd think there was no European content in this, but individual programs that can allow the US to cut its oil imports by 10% or more are programs with potential global impacts.
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
Last week I presented a draft of a national Steel Interstate plan. The focus was on the Institutional Framework required to be able to build it, including the source for the interest subsidy to finance its up front capital cost.
Possibly lost in the wall of words was an important point, which was focused on by some commentary: the users are paying the capital construction cost. As a country, we need it, so as a country, it makes sense to find a way to jumpstart it and have it available for the oil prices shocks that are coming in this next two decades.
... but once it starts getting used, that's what will cover the original construction cost. One way we can tell we are heading toward Economic Freedom is that it helps pay for itself.
by BruceMcF
Sun Mar 7th, 2010 at 09:12:32 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Energy Independence
It often seems there is a deep canyon lying between what we can do and what needs to be done as a community, as a local region, as a state, as a national region, or as a nation.
But the Steel Interstate is a national program that a coalition of determined groups of advocates scattered across the country could get going. It bridges regional interest conflicts, and offers a way to advance some of the interests of so many - Interstate motorists, advocates of freedom from cars, organized labor, the largely disorganized army of the unemployed, advocates of ecological sustainability, advocates of mitigating climate chaos, and Progressive Patriots, to name just a few.
Of course, I want to talk process, but it seems to be network maps that catches people's interest. So how I will go about this is alternating Map and Process.
by BruceMcF
Sun Feb 28th, 2010 at 08:54:44 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
When looking at the famously mis-titled "Vision for High Speed Rail in America" map trotted out last year, showing those of state-planned High Speed Rail corridors that have already applied for and received official designation as High Speed Rail corridors ... there are ghosts on that map.
The Ghosts of Trains Past, also known as the Amtrak long distance routes.
As discussed on November 8th of last year in Rescuing the Innocent Amtrak Numbers from SubsidyScope, some of these ghosts are healthier than others. One of the ones in the most dire shape is the Cardinal, responsible for the only line on that map that enters either West Virgnia or eastern Kentucky.
Why it does so badly, and how it might be fixed up a bit, after the fold.
by BruceMcF
Sun Jan 24th, 2010 at 03:27:24 PM EST
University of Newcastle economist Bill Mitchell ("Professor of Economics" in a University system where Professor means something far more than just "university teacher") addresses the disconnect between Ben Bernanke's economic universe and the real world in The Great Moderation myth. This is one of his (typically) long blog posts with the (normal) very high signal to noise ratio combined with (typical) substantial amount of detailed economic discussion which may be off-putting to those with poor tolerance for economic discussion.
However, in his post, he has two diagrams which perfectly capture an important element of the disconnect between Bernanke's world and the real world.
So, two diagrams and a handful of paragraphs on why Bernie Sanders is quite right: we need somebody different from Bernanke as Fed Chairman.
source of image is the linked to piece by Bernie Sanders in the Guardian's Comment is Free
by BruceMcF
Sun Nov 15th, 2009 at 08:06:48 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
Written for a Yank audience, all the usual apologies for Americentrism apply - also, find the bulk of the YouTube music clips at The Hillbilly Report.
Programming Note: I recently received for review a copy of Waiting on a Train by James McCommons, published by Chelsea Green Publishing. I'll likely be talking about it next week, but til then, you can read James Kunstler's Intro online at AlterNet.
Back in early September, I discussed the Steel Interstate in the context of the Appalachian Hub. The concept of the Steel Interstate is electrifying main rail corridors and establishing 100mph Rapid Freight Rail paths.
The broadest application of this concept is the proposal to Electrify STRACNET, the STrategic RAil Corridor NETwork.
The Appalachian Hub, recall, is a hypothetical Emerging / Regional HSR passenger rail network, modeled on the Midwest Hub and Ohio Hub plans.
And it is hypothetical, of course, because the state governments of the Appalachian regiona have been laying down on the job. The High Speed Rail corridor planning framework established under the Clinton Administration in the 90's is a bottom-up system, with states establishing High Speed Rail commissions, advancing plans to the stage of gaining designation as a HSR corridor, sorting out the financing, and applying for Federal funding.
by BruceMcF
Fri Nov 6th, 2009 at 07:53:40 AM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Breaking the Silicon Cage
Two weeks ago, I speculated on applying the "Teaspoon Model" to the problem of protecting small, niche, video streaming markets faced:
- on the one hand with Copyright Protection laws focused on protecting the cash flows of large media distribution middlemen; and,
- on the other hand, with a plague of bloodsucking bootleg streaming sites, surviving on miniscule revenue flows because they leech off of everyone - not just the creators of the work themselves, but also fansub and video-rip groups that make the content availbale for download, and free stream hosting sites for the streaming itself
Refer to the lovely Shakespeare's Sister for the teaspoon concept itself - the idea of this application is:
So this is what I was thinking. Perhaps a small, struggling company that wanted to reduce the density of the cloud of bloodsucking flies draining the work of the artists who create this material of market value could gain leverage not by trying to find the Super-Teaspoon - but by recruiting a supporting group, each armed with ordinary teaspoons.
There'd have to be at least one person at the company actually sending out the letters to the sites streaming the bootlegs - but they would be far more effective if backed up by ten or twenty people contributing a couple of hours a week tracking down where the material is located. Indeed, the "white hats" could drop in info on where to get the material legally while at the bootleg bloodsucker streaming sites, including the proliferating opportunities for legal free streams.
The objection has already been raised, "but everybody does it". But the experiment reported here shows, no, everybody does not sit around passively waiting to get a legal order to Cease and Desist. There are companies that do check out tips and clean out the trash and even YouTube does a far better job than MySpaceCDN.
Note: most graphics are samples from extant Photobucket and Flikr albums, but the "Storm in the Teacup" is an entry from a Photoshop contest, and "You're Both Idiots" is by ~ZeKarmaMisama who can be found at Deviant Art, and the teaspoon is by Western Australia artist Pearl Rogers
by BruceMcF
Tue Nov 3rd, 2009 at 12:20:30 AM EST
... or is NewsCorp just an Old Media Dinosaur that cannot keep up?
Burning the Midnight Oil for Breaking the Silicon Cage
Also available in Orange
Breaking the Silicon Cage is for breaking down those barriers that prevent us from leveraging the full potential of the netroots for progressive populist action - whether that involves using the internet for collaboration on works to be delivered live on the street, or breaking down barriers between different social networks on the internet itself.
The latter is what we have here. The progressive blogosphere, if people are to believe our words (though not always our actions) is an enemy of Rupert Murdoch and his Iraq-Invasion-supporting, Conservative-Politician-electing multinational media empire. We in the US know him primarily for the Faux News Channel, but in the UK and Australia they know him for his grossly biased newspaper oligopolies.
If Progressives were indeed intent on taking power (something Cassiodorus questions), we would be eager to take any shots at Rupert Murdch's Media Empire that we could.
Now, I'm game, and a few others have expressed their interest, but for the most part the reaction of the blogosphere is a big, "why should I become outraged by that in particular". If the thousands of US service members and hundreds of thousands of lives disrupted - hundreds of thousands of Iraqis kills and millions of Iraqi lives disrupted - is too big a reason to grasp for being outraged at Rupert Murdoch and his media empire ... then be outraged for the mother (above right) of Cpl. Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, killed in action in a War of Choice that Rupert Murdoch loudly banged the drum in favor of choosing.
by BruceMcF
Mon Oct 26th, 2009 at 07:11:05 PM EST
Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence
also available in Orange
One of the stories that came out into the press this week was the pledge by the US Department of Transport to look into extending the designated HSR corridors to include Pittsburgh / Cleveland.
This would extend the Cleveland/Chicago route via northern Indiana and connect with the Triple-C route at Cleveland (both currently competing for HSR Stimulus funding). This is a 145 mile alignment that would offer a 2:10 Express trip between these two cities as a 110mph corridor, for a 67mph route speed - and faster, of course, if later upgraded to a 125mph Regional HSR corridor.
The focus today is not, however, High Speed Rail - it is conventional rail. The focus is on how to take this alignment that hit the top northeast corner of Akron's Summit County and leverage it into effective rail service for the Canton-Akron area.
