A bottomless pit of contrivance?(from office.microsoft.com) A few days ago in Alberta, a heat spike was forecast. The power-generating giant TransAlta seems to have anticipated its own spike as two of its large coal-fired electricity generating plants were shut down for “unscheduled maintenance” creating a classic supply and demand divergence—huge demand with limited supply, with […]
TransAlta Culpa (Again) ? Read More »
If you are a believer in “free-markets” and laissez-faire, perhaps an excursion beyond Milton Friedman (& company) might prove useful. Here is one suggestion: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis © 2014 In trying to unravel a Wall Street mystery, several people, hired and headed by Brad Katsuyama of RBC (Royal Bank
High-Frequency Déjà Vu Read More »
In the 1970s, Robert D. Hare developed a Psychopathy Checklist-Revised [1985 / 2003] (PCL-R),1 setting out the following character traits and behaviors: glib and superficial charm denial grandiosity parasitic lifestyle need for stimulation sexual promiscuity pathological lying early behavior problems cunning and manipulating lack of realistic long-term goals lack of remorse failure to accept responsibility
A Plague of Psychopaths ? Read More »
(OR, Alas! Alas! Wo is US!) In remembrance of the 120th year of the death of Joseph Ferdinand Keppler (1 February 1838 Vienna – 19 February 1894 New York) … an Austrian-born American cartoonist and caricaturist, who greatly influenced the growth of satirical cartooning in the United States;[*] and the 125th year of the publication
AWAKE !!to the price-tag ofdelusion. Once upon a time, Adam Smith said: People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. (The Wealth of Nations, p. 148—I.X.I) Once upon a (more recent) time, foreigners
Has Anyone Noticed ? Read More »
Would the powers that be please schedule an open, global convention to discuss the despicability of bullying? Of course, we are beginning to name (and condemn) it for what it is, though we have a long way to go, particularly when it happens in families, or when the bully is especially powerful, wealthy, or famous.
A Plea to the Bully Pulpit Read More »
“The eastern version of the Spruce Budworm is Choristoneura fumiferana, which is one of the most destructive native insects in the northern spruce and fir forests of the Eastern United States and Canada. … The catastrophe theory of budworm outbreaks holds that particularly major infestations occur every 40–60 years, as the result of a cusp-catastrophe
The Spruce Budworm Syndrome? Read More »