Month: January 2013

Increase in speed of travel in 1800s

The time you have to invest getting from here to there is a major cost of travel. We are so astoundingly spoiled today since we can end our day anywhere in the U.S. starting from anywhere else. Within 24 or 30 hours you can get to just about any country on the planet.

We have to work to remember that  speed is a relatively new development. For most of human history the huge time needed to get from here to there was a severe limit on travel and commerce.

A post in Mother Nature Network, How fast could you travel across the U.S. in the 1800s, highlights maps that show travel times to get across the country.

For perspective, the maps are dawn in terms of travel time from New York City. I pulled together some of the travel times to show the improvements in speed.

Continue reading “Increase in speed of travel in 1800s”

Cline Shale – another name you want to learn – “The shale rush has just begun” – Peak Oil #17

One of the biggest reasons that Peak Oil is so astoundingly foolish is the assumption that there will never, ever be any more oil found under the ground. Another huge assumption is that those dirty, evil, money-grubbing oil barons will never, ever figure out a new way to get the oil out.

This month’s object lesson that both assumptions are completely wrong is Cline Shale. I will have another object lesson in a few days.

Yeah, I’ve not heard of Cline Shale before reading this afternoon’s post from Million Dollar Way – Peak Oil? What Peak Oil? Now We Have the Cline Shale.

Continue reading “Cline Shale – another name you want to learn – “The shale rush has just begun” – Peak Oil #17”

American middle class isn’t stagnating but is better off than in the ‘70s

A frequent comment at several blogs I follow and discussion on this blog is the dramatic improvement in life generated by technology over the last few decades. Look here, here, here, and here. For a longer term perspective, look here.

Don Boudreaux and Mark Perry expand the discussion beyond technology to explain the middle class is much better off today than in the 1970s.  Check out their article in the Wall Street Journal – The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class.

The claim they are addressing is the idea that only the richest people are better off over the last 30 years:

Continue reading “American middle class isn’t stagnating but is better off than in the ‘70s”

‘Tragedy of Fraud’ in e-book format – soon to be released

(Cross posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned will be released soon in Kindle format. This is a compilation of blog posts about the damage caused by fraud. It will also discuss the fraud triangle.

The sections of the book are: Continue reading “‘Tragedy of Fraud’ in e-book format – soon to be released”

New frontiers are open – Part 4

The new frontiers:

  • Oil Patch
  • Publishing
  • Education
  • Space Exploration

New frontiers have opened up, with incredible opportunities as wide as the prairies in the northern plains states. They also have the same high price of admission as the old frontier.

In the previous post, I talked about the oil patch and publishing. Now I’ll talk about education and space exploration.

Education

Continue reading “New frontiers are open – Part 4”

Mali update – afternoon of 1-27

Events are moving fast in Mali. Here is my brief summary, in roughly chronological order.

First, The Conflict in Mali is an interactive map from the Wall Street Journal. It has a very useful map, another tab with a list & background of the key players, and a timeline. Good resource to check. Locating the cities helps to understand the context.

I’ve been scratching my head about the French requests for heavy transport and in-flight refueling assistance from the U.S. Looks to this simple observer like they cannot project a force of 2,500 troops. It is a good start to have ability to lift the troops into a hotspot. That is only the start.

Just making a totally wild guess, the food, fuel, water, and parts needed to sustain such a force for one day probably weights more than the troops on the ground. And that is without ammo, explosives, jet fuel, and bombs. Further, 2,500 is not a particularly large force.

Continue reading “Mali update – afternoon of 1-27”

Is this really wise? We feed our cars almost as much grain as we feed our livestock.

We are diverting increasing amounts of corn into ethanol which goes into our gasoline. That is driving up grain prices. That in turn is driving up food prices here in the U.S. and around the world.

And that at a time when our domestic oil production is going through the roof.

Carpe Diem reminds us of two older articles in More on the lunacy of turning corn into demon ethanol.

The first is from Slate, in July 2012 – Food as Fuel. The second is from far left economist Paul Krugman from April 2008 – Grains Gone Wild.

In the Carpe Diem post, Prof. Perry says that anytime you have Paul Krugman agreeing with fifteen named sources (including commentators from both left and right) that ethanol is a lousy policy …

… you know that ethanol has to be one of the most misguided public policies in U.S. history.

Continue reading “Is this really wise? We feed our cars almost as much grain as we feed our livestock.”

New frontiers are open – Part 3

The new frontiers:

  • Oil Patch
  • Publishing
  • Education
  • Space Exploration

The American prairies

The opportunities opened up wide as the prairies and the Dakota sky with the signing of the Homestead Act.

A man and his family, or a single woman, or a former slave, could stake out a claim, work as hard as you wanted, and with a little bit of luck and constant hard work, make a go of it. Millions of people did.

The opportunity was there for the taking.

As I mentioned before, the land was free but the admission price to play was steep.

That frontier has long been closed.

Other frontiers have opened up, with the opportunities, also as wide as the prairies. Also with the same high price of admission.

Continue reading “New frontiers are open – Part 3”

Eagle Ford crude production likely passing the 400k bopd point in November ’12

I’m having difficulty tracking production levels in Eagle Ford. Haven’t figured out how to read the Texas Railroad Commission’s data (they regulate oil drilling in addition to the rails). Caught on to the North Dakota data a while ago, but that is easier since about 91% of the state’s oil production is from the Bakken field.

One thing I’ve learned is the data comes in slow. Thus it is revised a few times over the next several months after the first data is released.  This is a good thing – the regulators release data as they get it. 

Continue reading “Eagle Ford crude production likely passing the 400k bopd point in November ’12”

Deep background on Mali

If you are interested in what’s happening across northern Africa, especially Mali, here are two articles with more in-depth reporting than you will see anywhere else.

Adam Garfinkle in American Interest:

The articles in one sentence: the situation in Mali is vastly, phenomenally more complicated that you realized with implications going far beyond Mali that you hadn’t thought about.

Continue reading “Deep background on Mali”

US oil production in 2012 increased by the largest amount ever. And 2013 will probably be better. – #16

Article in the Wall Street Journal indicates 2012 saw the largest increase in oil production since we started producing oil in 1859.

Here’s the lede from U.S. Oil-Production Rise is Fastest Ever:

U.S. oil production grew more in 2012 than in any year in the history of the domestic industry, which began in 1859, and is set to surge even more in 2013.

Continue reading “US oil production in 2012 increased by the largest amount ever. And 2013 will probably be better. – #16”

Colleges look at reducing adjunct profs to under 30 hours to avoid health care costs

Mentioned back in November that a number of restaurants and hotels are thinking of cutting their staff back to 29 hours or less to avoid the upcoming requirement to provide full-scale health care to staff working 30 hours or more.

The Wall Street Journal reports in their article Health Law Pinches Colleges (behind paywall) that colleges are moving in this direction as well.

Several colleges mentioned are reducing the class load for adjunct professors so they will be working below the 30 hour cutoff this year. That means the colleges won’t have to either provide health care or pay a penalty.

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Mail update – U.S. starts supply flights, French forces retake city

Just a short recap of the last few days.

The U.S. has started flying supplies into Mali on behalf of the French forces (Reuters – U.S. beings transporting French troops, equipment to Mali). There are reportedly two flights a day to Bamako, the capital.

Continue reading “Mail update – U.S. starts supply flights, French forces retake city”

4 private companies are developing space flight capacity to lift cargo to International Space Station

The space frontier is open.

Popular Mechanics reports in The 4 Spaceships Vying to Send Crews to the ISS just what their title says.

There are four companies developing lift capacity:

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