Below I’ve linked to a video gone viral that I wanted to share because it illustrates a phenomenon that we see all around us and, to some degree defines our civilization today.  I call it: “The good are getting better,” which means that the top players in each field are constantly improving.

Perhaps the most visible examples are in sports.  If you look at tapes of professional tennis matches or basketball games from 50 years ago, you think you’re looking at a different sport; players just keep getting stronger and faster each year, and so the way these sports are played today barely resemble what they were like when I was a young boy.  (more…)

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It’s the birthday of F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose affinity for the leisure class served as the driving force behind many of the classics he produced in the early 20th Century. Somewhere along the way, Fitzgerald wrote something that I’ve always treasured: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

It’s the lack of the “first-rate intelligence” that lies at the root of so many problems in the world today.  We want easy answers; we want to see things in black and white terms, but factually, today’s world doesn’t present itself that way; life in the 21st Century is more nuanced.  (more…)

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Here in the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the group that regulates the trading of stock in public and privately held companies, has recently lifted its ban on “general solicitation,” meaning that anyone can offer and sell securities to accredited investors.  We will soon have, and I’m not exaggerating, infomercials on late-night TV offering not only music collections of the 1970s (not found in stores!), but equity investments in start-up companies as well.  (more…)

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Production of energy is one of the most crucial challenges facing many countries across the world. Energy production method varies from one point to another but what makes it expensive is the cost of production. Bio gas is one of the most efficient gases that have gained worldwide recognition because of energy production. (more…)

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It’s always good to see credible people debunking the myth that renewable energy is expensive.  Though there are many possible dimensions to this discussion, Colorado ex-governor Bill Ritter takes the most obvious tack possible in his Wall Street Journal blog, i.e., explaining that, depending on various conditions, renewables are often far cheaper than coal – and even cheaper than natural gas.

I’ve always liked the cut of Ritter’s jib, ever since I saw him speak at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum a few years ago.  Nice going.

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Frequent commenter Tim Kingston sent me this article on public transportation, making the point that some cities, Los Angeles in particular, are not well-suited for trains, trolleys, buses, etc.

There is no doubt that this is true.  But I’m suspicious that the problem with Los Angeles is at least partly a matter of intent / bad faith, rather than logistics.  I base this on the fact that we have Metro lines all over L.A. County – but you can’t take the Metro to the airport!  You want to show some sort of honest attempt to bring mass transit to a city, but you can’t get to the airport?  Hmmmm.

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I just took a break from a bicycle ride at one of the local wineries and happened to strike up a conversation with a guy who had driven up to our valley from nearby Santa Barbara – the site of yesterday’s protest march against the Keystone XL Pipeline, which we discussed for a few seconds.  “Oh, I think we ought to build it,” he affirmed. “There’s no way that oil is going to stay in the ground; why shouldn’t we benefit?”  (more…)

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Please check out this article that a friend sent me on the use of shipping containers are the “guts” for small homes. I’d seen this concept applied to school rooms – for which I think, frankly, it’s a much better idea than in home building.  The validity of the whole idea is based on a couple of lucky facts:

• Shipping containers come to the U.S. in amazing numbers from Asia, and are either stockpiled here or returned empty – neither of which represents a happy, eco-friendly solution. (more…)

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If U.S. President Obama decides in favor of the Keystone XL Pipeline, we’ll soon be refining and burning enough bitumen (pictured left), after pumping it from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, to provide the equivalent of putting an additional 5.7 million cars and trucks on our roads.  Dr. James Hansen of NASA calls the pipeline “game over for the planet.”

That’s why I drove my family down to Santa Barbara this morning to join a couple of hundred other protesters, calling for Obama to disapprove the project.  (more…)

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It looks like this transition to electric transportation is taking root in the U.S.  August was the first month that sales topped 10,000 units.

I’ve always said that this transition has the potential to happen very quickly, once word-of-mouth sets in.  Your neighbor has a Nissan LEAF, he loves it, and you see it every day.  From that moment on, every time you pull into a gas station a gnawing feeling of envy (and perhaps anger/disgust) sets in. (more…)

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