Science is unbiased and without motive, scientists are not.--Alaric Phlogiston
The Aluminum Association has been lobbying on fuel economy standards, lobbying disclosures show. For many parts, carmakers choose between aluminum and steel. Aluminum is lighter weight and more expensive. Fuel-efficiency mandates push carmakers toward aluminum components over steel ones.
This tells us two things about the hidden costs of these regulations. First, it reminds us that these regulations make cars more expensive to make and thus to buy. This is normal for environmental regulations.
Second, it reminds us that the manufacture of lighter-weight cars can actually cause higher greenhouse gas emissions than the manufacture of heavier cars. The high-heat smelting process involved in aluminum uses tons of energy, and the chemical process that follows inevitably gives off potent greenhouse gases. So measuring the tailpipe emissions only, as the U.S. rules do, misses much of the environmental impact of using aluminum to comply with fuel economy standards.--Carney
On Sunday, Italy’s head of state, President Sergio Mattarella blocked the formation of a new government supported by the far-right League and the anti-establishment 5Stars Movement, a sort of “grand coalition of the extremes.” The two parties wanted Paolo Savona, an 82-year-old technocrat who has fantasized in public about a “secret plan to leave the euro,” as the all-powerful economy minister. And they refused to back down when Mattarella pushed back. The Italian president probably feared the effect of Savona’s appointment on a number of treasury auctions this week, and that Italy losing access to the bond markets was a very concrete possibility.
What happens now? Mattarella has sent for Carlo Cottarelli, an International Monetary Fund technocrat who is widely known in Italy as an enemy of government waste. (He was a consultant in charge of the government spending review, before then-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi fired him.) Cottarelli may form a new executive and go for a confidence vote to the chambers. He’s unlikely to win a plurality, but will be able to stay on to the next election, which seem likely to be held in September or October.
Politics sometimes is gambling with other people’s money. League leader Matteo Salvini staged a dust-up over the appointment of Savona, so he can go back to the ballot in the hope of cashing in on a post-election surge in popularity. Mattarella, for his part, gambled that the next three months will see major changes in the Italian political scene, resulting in an electoral outcome completely different from the last one. Nothing is certain, at the moment.--Alberto Mingardi
Obverse:
From Latin obvertere (to turn toward), from ob- (toward) + vertere (to turn). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wer- (to turn or bend), which is also the source of words such as wring, weird, writhe, worth, revert, and universe. Earliest documented use: 1656. | noun: | 1. The side of a coin, medal, etc. that has the main design. |
| 2. The front or the principal side of anything. | |
| 3. A counterpart to something. | |
| adjective: | 1. Facing the observer. |
| 2. Serving as a counterpart to something |
The front of a coin is called obverse, the other side is reverse. The obverse is also called head because the front typically portrays the head of someone famous. The reverse side is known as tail even though it doesn’t show the tail of that famous person.
Nothing that Germans can do today will in any way mitigate the staggering evils of what Hitler did in the past. Nor can apologies in America today for slavery in the past have any meaning, much less do any good, for either blacks or whites today. What can it mean for A to apologize for what B did, even among contemporaries, much less across the vast chasm between the living and the dead?--Sowell
There is a righteousness about apologizing for the acts of others, an implied aristocratic superiority over both the offender and the offended.
What was...USS Thresher?
One would think, listening to pro-protectionist, that investment would always flow to poor countries at the expense of wealthy countries but that is not the case. Out of a worldwide total of about $21 trillion in international bank loans in 2012, only about $2.5 trillion went to poor countries – less than twelve percent. Out of nearly $6 trillion in international investment securities, less than $400 billion went to poor countries, less than 7 percent. In short, rich countries tend to invest in rich countries. One could debate the merits of this--certainly safety is a factor--but the idea that wealthy nations will undercut themselves is simply not true.
The brain has 86 billion cells and axons with trillions of synapses. Universe-like.
A significant day in history when, in 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia,, effectively ending the American Civil War.
Many do not understand the appeal of the Confederate cause because they have never read of it or associate it solely with slavery or can not see the complexity of virtuous behavior in a negative cause. But warriors may have more in common with each other than with their political leaders. I remember reading Bruce Catton's description of Lee's surrender in Stillness of Appomattox with the South lined up ready to fight with many battalion flags beside each other, some men carrying two battalion flags.
"Civil forfeiture is the power to seize property suspected of being produced by, or involved in, crime. In this “Through the Looking-Glass,” guilty-until-proven-innocent inversion, the property’s owners bear the burden of proving that they were not involved in such activity, which can be a costly and protracted process as people must hire lawyers and do battle with a government wielding unlimited resources. Law enforcement agencies get to keep the profits from forfeited property, which gives them an incentive to do what too many of them do: abuse the process. But, then, the process — punishment before a crime is proven — is inherently abusive."--Will
The essence of "civil forfeiture" is the assumption of its good intent. Everyone knows it is an illogical abuse of government power but it is assumed to have a good motive, "good motive" being the forgiving heart of the misuse of power.
Average per-pupil spending nationwide is about $11,000 per year, but according to the National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, D.C., was spending an average of $27,460 per pupil in 2014.
27 K!
Bill Ackman has seen his hedge fund's assets cut more than in half from their peak above $20 billion in 2015 as institutional investors flee Pershing Square's abysmal returns amid a roaring bull market.
The Swedish government, or at least its foreign minister, wants more women to be volunteer editors on Wikipedia ("Sweden tries to increase gender equality on the web," The Economist, March 8, 2018). The foreign ministry hosted "WikiGap edit-a-thons" in 54 of its embassies on March 8th. But anybody is already free to edit entries or create new ones on Wikipedia, often under the cover of anonymity. The problem apparently is that 90% of the content is created by individuals of the bad sex, most of them under 40 (according to survey data), and that 80% of Wikipedia biographies are about males. The Economist quips, "you cannot assume that all women want to write about women."
The main question Lemieux asks, is, "what should government do in that business, even if it is an angelic foreign government spending the money of its own taxpayers? The answer seems to be that women need state encouragement to do some of the one million edits that are made on Wikipedia every day. Presumably, this will promote the liberation of women."
President Xi Jinping promised foreign companies greater access to China’s financial and manufacturing sectors, including reduced tariffs on imported autos, amid rising trade tensions with the U.S. (wsj)
The main question Lemieux asks, is, "what should government do in that business, even if it is an angelic foreign government spending the money of its own taxpayers? The answer seems to be that women need state encouragement to do some of the one million edits that are made on Wikipedia every day. Presumably, this will promote the liberation of women."
President Xi Jinping promised foreign companies greater access to China’s financial and manufacturing sectors, including reduced tariffs on imported autos, amid rising trade tensions with the U.S. (wsj)
In 1963, the USS Thresher, an atomic submarine, sank in the Atlantic Ocean, killing the entire crew. One hundred and twenty-nine sailors and civilians were lost when the sub broke up and plunged to the sea floor 300 miles off the coast of New England.
A subsequent investigation revealed that a leak in a silver-brazed joint in the engine room had caused a short circuit in critical electrical systems. The problems quickly spread, making the equipment needed to bring the Thresher to the surface inoperable.
The head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence agency said the poisoning of a Russian former double agent in Britain was a "grotesque provocation" by the British and US security services.
This kind of shameless stuff should be a real warning to anyone with any hope for politics. While there should be a difference between world leaders and gang leaders, sometime that difference is only abstract.
Only four copies of the first edition of Thomas Paine's pamphlet, The American Crisis, were known to survive, but a fifth has come to light and heads to auction in New York on April 12, estimated to reach $75,000. Where did this Revolutionary War-era rarity turn up? In a garage in Mount Pleasant, Utah.
Four cabbies have shot themselves in recent months thanks to the plummeting value of taxi medallions, which have fallen into disuse thanks to the rise of ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft. According to the Post: NYC cabbies are being driven to the edge of financial ruin and despair as ride-hail apps like Uber and Lyft continue to take their customers.
AAAAAaaaaannnnddddd....a graph offered by a guy who thinks the idea of an efficient market would not allow everyone to be caught so by surprise:
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