Our political economic analysis for the 21st century

https://docs.google.com/a/unity.edu/spreadsheets/d/1qm5iWUCNpPVxJWkbSVbcZM2K5YpmkI5ncO2TduovcCU/edit?usp=sharing

Environmental Protection Agency v. EME Homer City Generation: The interstate air emissions standards ruling is in.

Monday's ruling has implications for climate mitigation too, since it essentially legitimates the "cap" theory part of cap and trade. It also re-legitimated the old liberal arts "great books" notion that classic English-language literature, from Chaucer through Shakespeare to Twain and Steinberg, remains a fundamental font of modern culture. It simply goes to show, you can know everything there is to know about math or technical subjects like climate change or solar power, all my bread and butter stuff, but you need to know where our language comes from too.

I'm re-reading Bryson's Shakespeare, The World as Stage, and was reminded of just how many everyday phases we use came from such literature, especially Shakespeare himself.

In this case, Justice Ginsberg ruled directly from the King James Bible, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.”

http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/04/opinion-analysis-paying-for-blocking-ill-winds/

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/29/us-supreme-court-air-pollution-ruling-obama

I liked Mr. Art Lien's courtroom sketch of Justice Ginsberg delivering her apparently biblical ruling in this case so much, I though you should see it. I could almost hear the words coming out of her mouth.

But only a thumbprint. Go to the original post to see the real thing.

 

And down goes all before them. Still be kind, And eke out our performance with your mind.

(Henry V, Act III, chorus) 

Vehicle safety report

This afternoon, 13 students and one instructor from PS 3003 Sustainable Energy performed safety checks and pulled trouble codes on 39 student and staff vehicles. We checked lights, fluid levels, tire wear, and tire pressure. We also "pulled" check engine light "trouble codes" using a computer-based code-puller device, and dispensed advice as to what to do about them.

Several more dangerous safety concerns were noted that would have almost certainly related in a summer travel "fail" and possibly a stranding, or worse, an accident:

The following is our report:

• At least five vehicles with disturbing low engine oil levels. We added up to two quarts of oil. By the time a four quart oil sump is down to two quarts, there's only half the oil there should be circulating to do the job of cooling and lubricating the engine. If you are losing or using oil like this, you should monitor your oil every time you add gas to the tank, and find out where the oil is going. You want to know.
• Several cars with failed disc brake calipers, resulting in rusty and/or scored brake rotors. One car had a brake caliper stuck on, a dangerously defective condition. In some makes of modern cars it is possible to check brake rotors for scoring, and to check the brake pad for wear, through the spokes of aluminum allow wheels. If your car is built like this, take advantage of this opportunity to check your brakes more regularly.
• Several "customers" reporting "not worried" or "not bothered" by check engine lights being on. The problem with this theory is that the check engine light may come on one day for something fairly safe, say a small leak in the evaporative emissions system, but while the light is on, a more problematic defect can occur, and the driver never know. If your check engine light is on, you should find out what the codes mean. If you choose to ignore the defect, you need to regularly pull check engine codes, in case an additional defect occurs while the light is on.
• Many vehicles had tires that had only a millimeter or two of tread remaining. One had completely bald front tires. The Maine regulations require at least a millimeter all round, but this isn't enough for wet Maine spring driving conditions, especially in a rear-wheel drive vehicle. These students were advised to get new tires, and, until then, to pull over in heavy rain storms.
• At least four vehicles had one or more tires with dangerously low tire pressure. When your tire pressure drops below 15 pounds per square inch or so, the wheel can no longer keep straight on the road and that corner of the vehicle will wobble dangerously on corners. The best that can happen is that you wear out a tire prematurely. The worst that can happen is that you get a nasty wobble at high speed on a corner or while passing on a highway. This can lead to loss of control, even a rollover accident. The remedy is to check your tire pressure more frequently. If the pressure in one or more tires is regularly down, you have a slow leak. Take it to a shop and get the leak fixed.
• One vehicle with dangerously high tire pressure, above 50 psi. The correct tire pressure is not the maximum tire pressure written on the tire. It's the recommended tire pressure given in the owner's manual or written on a small sticker on the drivers-side door. Too much air in your tires can be dangerous too, just like too little air. You'll bounce more very time you hit a bump, and can bounce yourself clean off the road. You'll also wear out your tires unevenly.
• Two vehicles, check engine light indicates loose gas filler cap. Recommend purchase OEM replacement  filler cap. Other check engine lights indicate evaporative emissions control failures probably secondary to filler cap problem, but recommend monitoring
• One vehicle check engine light indicates lean mixture. Recommend check spark plugs for sign of overheating and/or knocking, if found fix tuning to increase mixture, or try higher octane gas.
• Various vehicles check engine lights for oxygen sensor.

That concludes our 2014 spring vehicle safety report.

PS: I recived the following this afternoon:

Hi Mick,

Since I don’t have all of the names of the students who so diligently looked over our cars today, I wanted to send you an email in the hopes that you will pass along my gratitude for the service you all provided.

Thank you and take care.
With appreciation,

Brenda
Brenda Bonneville
e-Communications Manager

Vehicle checks today!

Dear students:

As part of the overall and superior customer service provided provided by Unity College, consider taking advantage of free vehicle check-outs today, April 28th, 1.00 - 4.30 pm in front of the Activities Building.

Is your vehicle sustainable? Resilient? Adaptive? Or does it require mechanical mitigation. Or are you just tired of the gratuitous misuse of important terms in the sustainability debate?

Either way, don’t miss the opportunity today to have it checked out thoroughly. And don’t risk being stranded someplace remote, dangerous, or worst of all, uncool!

Before you get in the olde jalopy and drive off into the sunset for a long, hot El Nino summer (50-50 chance, right now), let the experienced mechanics and other techy-geeky students of this year’s team of volunteers check the poor beast out.

We will check your tire pressures and pump them up if necessary, check and top off the oil and other fluids, clean your windows (dirty windows are a major source of vehicular accidents), and finally and perhaps most usefully, if your CHECK ENGINE light is on, we will use our computer reader to “pull” your trouble codes so you can finally know just what it is that your poor neglected automobile has been trying to tell you all these months.

(Did you know you can save lots of gas by keeping your car’s tires at the proper pressures? And that tire pressure changes as the weather warms and cools with the seasons, so you have to check them regularly! Did you know that a blown oxygen sensor is easy to fix and can save on gas too? Did you know that low oil level can kill your car’s engine? Well, now you know.)

Each participant will receive a written report on the serviceability of their vehicle, with details of any trouble codes and what they mean.

The college accepts no responsibility for the use or misuse of any of the information we give you about your vehicle, or for your car’s safety after you leave the campus, but we do suggest that it’s always better to know than not to know. In most cases.

(Employees are welcome too. Thanks to the Maintenance and Student Affairs departments for aid in providing this service.)

Be safe, drive safe.

Mick Womersley
Professor

Intrinsic properties...

Rare that a journalistic article about business and economics is mathematically competent. But here are the "intrinsic properties" of computer and internet innovations", at least according to The Observer's  John Naughton today:

"They are: near-zero marginal costs (which confer massive advantages on early movers and investors); network effects (which lead to winner-takes-all outcomes, as has happened with search and social networking); the way in which online phenomena follow power law statistical distributions that apply when a few players capture the overwhelming bulk of the action, leaving everyone else scrabbling around in a "long tail"; and technical lock-in (of the kind that has enabled Amazon to exert an iron grip on cloud computing)."

Final exam dates, places and times for my class sections

This, following the Unity College Final Exam Schedule for Spring 2014:

PS 3003 Sustainable Energy

Monday May 5th, 12.30-2pm, TLL 104


EC 2003 Economics of Resource Conservation and Sustainability

Monday May 5th, 4.30-6pm, KH 203


GL 4003 Global Change

Tuesday May 6th, 7.30 - 9am, KH 121

Enjoy!

Cultural Cognition update

http://www.culturalcognition.net/blog/2014/4/23/what-you-believe-about-climate-change-doesnt-reflect-what-yo.html