No-body expects the Alaskan Politician
With apologies to Michael Palin and Darby Conley
When Hilary Clinton lost the Democratic primary to Barrack Obama, the talking heads were all a twitter over the prospect of her supporters letting him twist in the wind. This made no sense to me as the positions adopted by Clinton and McCain were incongruous. Then my wife pointed out that issues have nothing to do with winning an election. Elections are little more than a popularity contest. Obama won by cultivating his image. It is a cult of personality. John McCain must have had the same realization when he picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Forget pandering to women or energizing the base. Sarah Palin was selected because she is a better story than any other Republican and just maybe Barrack Obama.
Power is corrupting, period
There are no exceptions
The course was POD (Problems of Democracy). The teacher was exasperated. I was confused. Eleven years of public school didn’t explain the philosophy of the US government and now that the different branches, levels, parties, and coalitions were diagramed before me, the system seemed too complex to function. The problem was, the teacher was an adult and I wasn’t.
Jevons Paradox
What the nineteenth century can teach us about fuel efficiency.
In 1865, the most prolific economic mind on the planet was occupied with coal. More specifically, William Jevons was trying to understand why the consumption of coal in England continued to increase despite ever more efficient steam engines. What became known as the Jevons Paradox explains why increases in efficiency result in higher total consumption. The news has yet to reach Washington.