Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Another "I told you so" moment. First the after-the-fact admission: Ezra Klein: The president has now told at least two journalists that "there’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.” He obviously believes it. But what, exactly, does he mean? Jared Bernstein: The president definitely had some initial frustration that projects were taking longer to get …
Continue reading ""Shovel Ready" Was a Non-Starter From the Get-Go"
If they take this to it's logical conclusion, that is: A global deal on emissions curbs by airlines struck late on Friday will allow the European Union to press ahead with plans to charge airlines for emissions permits from 2012, the European Commission said on Saturday. The EU agreed in 2008 that airlines should be …
Continue reading "Guess We'll Have to Go Back to Going to Europe via Boat"
In the middle of his lengthy article about America's "One-Child Policy," Jonathan Last makes an interesting observation: Finally, we could address the dirt gap—the underlying cost of land, which drives the cost of living and gives rise to the dramatic differences in fertility we see across the country. People often make decisions on where to …
Continue reading "The Relationship Between Public Works and the Birthrate"
It's the logical "next step" from the smart highways, cars that drive themselves: It may sound like science fiction, but the research arm of the Transportation Department is at work on this future right now. With many modes of transportation already using automation as standard operating procedure, cars guiding themselves and avoiding crashes might not …
Continue reading "Cars That Drive Themselves: The Next Step"
At the end of his piece Why God Did Not Create the Universe, Stephen Hawking makes the following statement: Although we are puny and insignificant on the scale of the cosmos, this makes us in a sense the lords of creation. This statement is part of a long train of inconsistent thinking on this subject. …
Continue reading "Stephen Hawking and the Arrogance of Insignificance"
The New York Times informs us that Bush-era legislation will help make it cheaper to find college textbooks: You might call it the college student’s first lesson in exploitation: paying $100 for a textbook, then getting a mere $12 when reselling to the campus bookstore at the end of the semester. College textbook prices rose …
Continue reading "Now They Tell Us: Finding Cheaper College Textbooks"
It's amazing, but some places are allowing their paved roads to revert to gravel ones: Paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue. State money for local roads was …
This gem of wisdom, from Engineering Tips: I would like to offer a suggestion that in your dealings with your co-workers, colleagues, fellow industry professionals, bosses, underlings, secretaries and the general public, put on your happy face and be polite. Your rewards may be few or none for doing the right thing, but YOU WILL NEVER …
Continue reading "You Will Never Be Forgotten for Being a Jerk"
This, from a comment on the Oil Drum: So you have to ask WHY? Why make it worse?...there really can only be one answer and that answer does not bode well for all of us. It's really an inescapable conclusion at this point, unless you want to believe that every Oil and Gas professional involved …
Continue reading "A Really Scary Scenario for the BP Blowout: Obama's Chernobyl"
While most are riveted on BP's mile deep gusher in the Gulf, my attention was drawn to another type of scientific and technological challenge with possible catastrophic consequences: earthquake engineering. My colleagues in the geotechnical engineering field have drawn my attention to a monograph entitled Technical Review and Comments: 2008 EERI Monograph "Soil Liquefaction During …
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