The NYT reports: IN the push to free the auto industry from its dependence on oil, all kinds of alternatives are being tried. Consider now the refreshing concept of cars that run on air. The idea sounds simple: compress air and release it to operate a piston engine. But the execution is difficult, and in […]

HOW TO THINK LIKE A NON PARTISAN EXPERTby coberly Suppose you take your somewhat nerdish 13 year old son out for adrive. You pull gently away from the stop light, and your son, whohas been doing some reading, remarks that gas engines are not veryefficient at low speeds. In fact, at ten miles per hour […]

Afferent Input has become Dr. Afferent Input, PhD as of last Wednesday. In two weeks he will be moving to Berlin, Germany, for two years. He has promised to open an AB office in Germany and resume posting when settled. Congratulations AI.

by rdan Lawrence Lindsay talks about Social Security on CNBC Worldwide Business. CNBC narrator re-hashes propaganda lines, sort of asking but implying will run out of money, and gets unexpected answers from Lawrence.

by reader CoRev The Greenhouse Effect. How it Works From Anthony Watts site, we have this graphic describing the heat wave length absorbtion properties of the Green House Gases (GHG). Water vapor is a far more pervasive and heat absorbant (see the above chart) GHG than any of the other GHGs. That does not imply […]

by Cactus I can’t stand baseball. Nevertheless, it is clear to me that if someone were to claim that, say, left-handed batters who refuse to swing at the first two balls that come at their direction when they’re at bat are more likely to hit home-runs than other baseball players, within a very short period […]

A new weekend begins.

by reader ilsm There are many ways to erode government management and the public trust aside from careerist public officials: Two other ways I have seen are hiring out Advisory and Assistance Services and the second is contracting out entire functional organizations. The second is referred to as A-76. Mark Mansfield Director of Public Affairs, […]

U.S. Crude Oil Imports from All Countries (Thousand Barrels) Decade /Year 1967 411,649 1977 1,935,012 1987 1,705,922 1997 3,002,299 2007 3,656,170 The chart indicates a doubling of imported oil in twenty years. Population has doubled since the sixties. How is the US going to maintain per capita consumption at these levels? How can a market […]

Part of a staff report from reports from EIA and others mentioned. It occurs to me also, is there a difference between a ban and a moratorium? In a Nutshell _ On the Outer Continental Shelf, 82% of federal natural gas and 79% offederal oil is located in areas that are currently open for leasing._ […]