Monthly Archives: March 2009

How to fix GM? A 4 Point Plan:

President Barack Obama fired GM CEO Rick Wagoner. He was replaced by Fritz Henderson, who had been Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer. While I agree that Wagoner should probably have been fired, I think his replacement should have been someone from the outside. Promoting from within is a good thing when a company is doing well, but not when the company is collapsing. General Electric, for example, has always promoted new CEO’s from within. But GE was not in trouble when Welch took over, or when he handed the reins to Immelt. IBM was in trouble when the Board brought in Lou Gerstner, an outsider, to, as he put it, teach that elephant to dance. GM is in serious trouble. As an insider, Henderson may be too in step with the corporate culture to change anything.  As an outsider I can see what Henderson might miss.

So how would I fix GM?

  1. Every car, light truck, and truck that comes off the lot should be a diesel  electric hybrid. Like the Toyota Prius, and GM could license the technology from Toyota, but it should burn diesel fuel. That would pave the way to bio-diesel.
  2. Offer a 2 kw solar electric system with every car. This should be priced at $15,000, installed. It’s $10,500 after the economic stimulus plan’s 30% tax break. It would It would charge the batteries, or power a small home during daylight hours.
  3. Give everyone stock options, and limit salaries to $390,000 – less than the salary of the President of the United States.
  4. Demand that the government – my new management – take over the burden of health care for all my employees, my retirees, and every other citizen. Medicare works well for my father. It would work well for me!

How economic dislocation leads to new efficiencies

Last night I passed the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. Signs outside said – “last 3 days – fixtures for sale.” And did what I often do – watch and observe. I can’t say much about what was happening with the regular stock – but started watching worker traffic and the flow of fixtures.
From what I could see, the regular workers were working very hard, answering every question they could, leaving no customers hanging for long, and making it clear they were coming back. For workers who have been limited to part-time and rarely make overtime rates, and aren’t getting placement help, this isn’t necessarily the behavior one might predict.

Jesse Bien, (pronounced “bean” like the legume, not “bi-en” like the Frecnh word for “good”) The person in charge of the fixtures liquidation – apparently with the help of no more than a handful of his own help (although they may have been selected Virgin employees). In the midst of a chaotic environment, he’s working hard, funny, calm, and very quietly and clearly in charge. Knowing enough about the value of everything that he was no pushover in negotiations – but pricing things low enough that my guess is that he’ll empty the place before whatever his deadline is. (There are a lot of wall units in a very nicely finished grade of what I think is 3/4 plywood Baltic Birch, ideal for retail display, and beautiful in other uses).

There’s always pain (human) and loss (economic) in a business failure – but if people like Jesse Bien are available – and used – to reallocate goods –

  1. the environmental impact of the business closing is limited, perhaps approaching zero;
  2. other businesses – existing and startup – who are lucky enough to know about it and make wise choices – reduce their startup costs and thus be more competitive.

The Greeks didn’t define “chaos” as the absence of order – they defined chaos as a state which contained the potential for order to emerge.

Our recovery from this economic crisis – indeed, from any disaster – depends on versatile, resilient people like this Jesse Bien. If he’d been in World War II, he would have been running logistics for General Omar Bradley; in a non-military disaster – what those of us who study them call  “hastily formed networks” – he’d be the guy who could see the biggest available picture, and who other people would naturally think ought to be in charge.

And yes, I bought some things; no he had (and at this writing still has) no idea about this blog. I’m used to negotiating prison sentences – among other things. I anticipated that the volume and noise would work for me, but I’m not in his league. Maybe not even playing the same game. But I think I got a deal that was fair to me and good for his client.

Maybe when he’s done with Virgin we need to hire him to straighten out the mortgage situation. My money says says he can get the best outcome possible.

It’s people like Jesse Bien that make the American economy dynamic and vital in good times, and pull us out of the mud in bad times.

Republican Alternative Energy: Coal, Oil, & Nuclear Power

“The Republican Road to Recovery”  according to John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, Thaddeus McCotter, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, John R. Carter, Pete Sessions, Kevin McCarthy, David Dreier, Roy Blunt, who signed it, “Keeps Energy and Fuel Costs Low.” It mentions wind and solar, but focuses on coal, oil, oil shale, offshore drilling, and nuclear power.

The document says “Republicans want energy independence with increased development of all natural resources, including renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.” It doesn’t mention “global warming.” It mentions the term “greenhouse gases” once, stating, incorrectly, that nuclear power doesn’t produce greenhouse gases. Mining, processing, and transporting nuclear fuel, and managing radioactive wastes, produces tremendous amounts of greenhouse gases.

It points out that “Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry … have long fought a renewable wind project in waters off of Massachusetts…. Cape Wind, would provide 75 percent of the electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket island. “

The document focuses on coal, oil, and nuclear power. These are not clean, renewable, sustainable energy sources.  Ultimately, therefore, it attempts to “greenwash” coal, oil, and nuclear power.

the Administration has already taken steps to hinder the leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) which is estimated to hold at least 19 billion barrels of oil, and Democrats have long championed the prohibition on drilling in the Arctic Coastal Plain – which is estimated to hold 10.4 billion barrels of oil. Furthormore, Democrats continue to block the procurement of advanced alternative fuels from sources such as oil shale, tar sands, and coal-to-liquid technology. U.S. Oil shale alone could provide about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Republicans also support opening the Arctic Coastal Plain to energy exploration and development.

And despite expert agreement that nuclear power is reliable, clean, and affordable without producing air pollution or greenhouse gases, Democrats continue to block its development.

Republicans realize that there are better solutions to restore freedom and security in our energy market.  Republicans recognize the importance of exploring for American oil and gas in an envionronmentally-sound manner and support immediately leasing oil and gas resources in the OCS through an an expedited and streamlined procedure.

Republicans support removing government barriers to new nuclear reactors as long as they meet strict security and safety criteria.

Americans realize that the future of energy is in alternative and renewable sources. In order to promote the development of renewable and alternative energy, Republicans support promoting the leasing of federal lands which contain alternative energy such as oil shale. … spurring a market by using fuels derived from oil shale, tar sands, and coal.

Conficker Virus, AKA Downadup Worm

In traditional warfare, as General George S. Patton (wiki) put it “The object of war is not to die for your country; but to get the other /guy/ die for his.”

In this new age of cyber-warfare we lose food, sleep,  time and money.  Personally, I’d rather lose a few night’s sleep, a weekend, and some cash than an arm, a leg, my sanity, my life, or one of my kids.

I’m inclined to think that “conficker,” aka “downadup” will bad. I know of four law firms in NewYork City that have been hit by viruses in the past week. Two were the conficker virus. The third was not. I don’t know the details on the fourth. Microsoft has offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the people responsible for conficker. Microsoft wouldn’t offer a $250,000 reward for chopped liver.

Here are the details:

Advice – if you’re using Windows, Mac, or Linux:

  1. Change your passwords. The best passwords are comprised of at least 8 symbols, consisting of a mix of  letters, numbers or punctuation marks.  To make it easy to remember, use “3” for “e” and “1 for ‘I’.  Use composite words, then mix ’em up. For example “baseball” could become “Bas3ba11.” And punctuation in the middle always helps. “Bas3-ba11!” Don’t use the same password for your banking that you use for Amazon, Facebook, Flicker, etc. Continue reading →

Nuclear Fusion in 10 or 20 Years

Thomas Friedman is right in “The Next Really Cool Thing” in The New York Times, March 15, 2009, when he concludes:

At the pace we’re going with the technologies we have, without some game-changers, climate change is going to have its way with us. Yes, we’ll still need coal for some time. But let’s make sure that we aren’t just chasing the fantasy that we can “clean up” coal, when our real future depends on birthing new technologies that can replace it.

Note that he pointed out ‘the fantasy that we can “clean up” coal.

Friedman also said:

“I don’t know if they can pull this off; some scientists are skeptical. Laboratory-scale nuclear fusion and energy gain is really hard…. we need to keep working on all forms of solar, geothermal and wind power. They work. And the more they get deployed, the more their costs will go down.”

Fusion may be the game changer. “Energy Gain” means we get more energy out than we put in. The prototype will cost $10 Billion – enough for 5 GW of wind capacity, and 1.53 GW of PV Solar. And fusion is at least 10 years away, maybe 20, maybe 50. We know how to build wind and solar. (On the other hand it takes 10 years to build a nuclear fission reactor.)

But pushing carbon below 350 ppm is a problem that can’t wait 10 years.  According to the World Watch Institute’s Vital Signs, 2007-2008, the 6.5 billion humans on the earth are using the natural resources of 1.25 earths.  This can’t go on.

Plastics in Paradise

Bird Foraging on The Beach

This shows a bird foraging on the beach in Zihuatenejo, Mexico. Note the pretty blue bottle cap at 1:00, the yellow ball at 8:45, and the white foam tray at 11:30. This is good stuff – it will last 1000 years.  No matter how many birds, dolphins, turtles,  eat it, and consequently die, it will still be a blue bottle cap, a yellow ball, and white foam.

Greenwashing Coal at the Center for American Progress

The Center for American Progress, which claims its mission to be “Progressive Ideas for a Strong, Just, and Free America,” has published “Carbon Capture and Sequestration 101.”  This is on the heels of the 2005  “Global Warming and the Future of Coal.”

In “Global Warming and the Future of Coal” they begin with a discussion of some of the problems of coal, then say:

“Fortunately, there is a potential pathway that would allow continued use of coal as an energy source without magnifying the risk of global warming. Technology currently exists to capture CO2 emissions from coal-fired plants before they are released into the environment and to sequester that CO2 in underground geologic formations.”

This implies that we WANT to use coal. I would prefer to power my house with solar and wind and eat tuna and not worry about mercury poisoning.

Continue reading →

Breakthrough In Methane Research

Dr Graeme Attwood is leading a team of scientists in New Zealand’s Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium are looking at ways of reducing the amount of methane farm animals produce – which in New Zealand accounts for 32 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

The scientists are looking at Methanobrevibacter Ruminantium, a member of a major group of rumen methanogens, which use hydrogen and carbon dioxide to form methane. The existence of these methanogens, bacteria which synthesize methane from carbon dioxide, CO2, and hydrogen, H2, means that these bacteria “eat” carbon dioxide, and hydrogen, turning them into methane, CH4 , and oxygen, O2.

CO2 + 2 H2, -> CH4 + O2

Continue reading →

Violence in Northern Ireland

Violence in Northern Ireland resulted in the deaths of two British soldiers, and the shooting injuries of two additional soldiers and two pizza deliverymen, shot on the rationale that delivering pizza to the British barracks was an act of political “collaboration.” Details and background via Wikipedia News.

7 March 2009, two British soldiers from 38 Engineer Regiment were shot dead outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim town, Northern Ireland. Two other soldiers and two civilian deliverymen were also shot and wounded during the attack. The Irish republican paramilitary group, the Real IRA, issued a statement claiming responsibility.[internal citations omitted]

Second Anniversary of Bob Levinson’s disappearance

Today marks the second anniversary of Bob Levinson’s disappearance. Tomorrow will be his 61st birthday.

From his wife Christine’s statement to the Sun-Sentinel Newspapers:

Today marks two years that my husband, Robert “Bob” Levinson, has been missing in Iran. Two years since our seven children and I last heard his voice, saw his warm, loving smile, and since we last hugged him hello or kissed him goodbye. After two years of constantly praying for his return, we continue to anxiously await word of his whereabouts. Bob disappeared on March 9, 2007, while on a business trip to Kish Island, Iran.Since that day, our family has been living a nightmare.

This has brought much darkness to our lives.

Our children and I have done everything possible to find out what happened to Bob and bring him home, but we still have no information.

The people and government of Iran have the power to help us find Bob and bring him home, and once again I ask, in the name of our seven children, son-in-law and two grandchildren, for their help.

Despite the lack of any information, we still believe Bob is alive and will someday be home with us. We will never stop looking for him, and we will continue to reach out to anyone who may be able to help us.

Tomorrow, March 10th, is Bob’s 61st birthday.

Today we are releasing a computer enhanced photograph showing what we think Bob may look like now, two years after he disappeared.

We hope that the media will publish this image of Bob, so people who have come into contact with Bob or seen him will recognize him and contact us.

We ask anyone who recognizes Bob or has any information to e-mail our website, info@helpboblevinson.com, or contact any U.S. Embassy or Swiss Embassy anywhere in the world.

In the past two years, our family’s grief has grown to despair. Bob has diabetes and a number of other ailments, including high blood pressure, hypertension, and gout, all of which require daily medication.

We greatly worry for his health and hope he is getting the proper care for his medical conditions, wherever he is.

Please remember Bob Levinson.

For more information – and what you can do to help, go to HelpBobLevinson.com

NPR Reporter arrested in Iran

Agence France Press reports that NPR Reporter Roxana Saberi – an American Citizen (and former Miss North Dakota) has been arrested on flimsy charges (purchasing alcohol) in Iran.

NPR, as of this writing (1040 Monday morning), doesn’t feature her arrest on its front page. Here’s a link to their Saturday coverage, including Scott Simon’s interview with her father.

From the Agence-France Press piece:

The journalist, a former Miss North Dakota, is a US national who also holds an Iranian passport because her father was born in Iran.

Saberi, who has reported for NPR, BBC and Fox News, has been living in Iran for six years, both working as a journalist and pursuing a master’s degree in Iranian studies and international relations.

She was also writing a book about Iran, NPR reported, adding that her father said she was planning to move back to the United States later this year.

Iran, which does not recognise dual nationality, has detained several US-Iranians in recent years.

In May 2007, US-Iranian academicians Haleh Esfandiari and Kian Tajbakhsh along with California-based peace activist Ali Shakeri were arrested and held for more than 100 days, on suspicion of causing harm to national security.

US-Iranian journalist Parnaz Azima had her passport confiscated in January 2007 for eight months after she arrived in Iran on a private visit. She avoided jail by paying bail of around 550,000 dollars after which she left the country.

Azima worked for the Persian-language service of Radio-Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is considered a “counter-revolutionary radio” by the Iranian authorities.

She was later sentenced in absentia to one year in prison for “propaganda against the regime.”

American former FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing for nearly two years since vanishing on the Iranian island of Kish in the Gulf.

The judiciary has denied holding Levinson, whose disappearance is a further strain in relations between arch-foes the United States and Iran.

Further:

New York Times coverage here.

Kelly Smith –  coverage at InForum (North Dakota)

MIT unveils 90 MPH solar car

Via the Autopia blog on Wired.com – “MIT Unveils 90 MPH Solar Race Car“, by Chuck Squatriglia:

MIT’s latest solar race car might look like a funky Ikea table with a hump, but don’t laugh. It’ll do 90 mph and is packed with technology that may end up in the hybrids and EVs the rest of us will soon be driving.

MIT Solar Team with "Eleanor"

MIT Solar Team with “Eleanor”

The university’s Solar Electric Vehicle Team, the oldest such team in the country, unveiled the $243,000 carbon-fiber racer dubbed Eleanor on Friday and is shaking the car down to prepare for its inaugural race later this year. “It drives beautifully,” said George Hansel, a freshman physics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the team. “It’s fun to drive and quite a spectacle.”

Eleanor is slated to compete in the tenth World Solar Challenge, a seven-day race across nearly 2,000 miles of Australian outback.

See also Mr. Squatriglia’s 10 Best Songs About Cars.