h/t Jimmy
Humans as paradox
January 27, 2012
h/t Jimmy
The dark side of the sun in Germany
January 20, 2012
The dark side of solar energy: Der Spiegel graphic
The price for the headlong rush to renewable energy in Germany driven largely by a rampant Green party now has to be paid. Subsidies have exceeded 100 billion € but nothing of that has reached the consumer. But some developers and some entrepreneurs have made some not so small fortunes.
Der Spiegel is not known for daring to challenge political correctness and has been one of the staunch supporters of the global warming orthodoxy. But even Der Spiegel is apalled:
The costs of subsidizing solar electricity have exceeded the 100-billion-euro mark in Germany, but poor results are jeopardizing the country’s transition to renewable energy. The government is struggling to come up with a new concept to promote the inefficient technology in the future.
The new censors – McCarthyism by Hollywood
January 18, 2012
The new McCarthys in the US
- Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Diane Feinstein(D -California), Harry Reid (D- Nevada), Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
- Motion Picture Association of America, Chris Dodd (Lobbyist and Chairman of MPAA and former Senator)
- News Corp., Time-Warner, Sony and Disney
Benefits of shale gas are real and measurable
January 18, 2012The advent of shale gas has moved the peak of “peak-gas” into the future by some 250 years. This together with the fact that gas-fired power plant have the shortest construction times and the lowest investment costs of any form of power generation provides the possibility to hold down electricity generation costs. The increase in generation costs in recent times has been the natural consequence of the subsidy regimes for wind and solar power plants and the opportunistic rush to renewable power. Huge fortunes have been made by “green” developers as the subsidies have been milked – but consumers have only seen rising electricity prices.
Bloomberg reports:
A shale-driven glut of natural gas has cut electricity prices for the U.S. power industry by 50 percent and reduced investment in costlier sources of energy. With abundant new supplies of gas making it the cheapest option for new power generation, the largest U.S. wind-energy producer, NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE), has shelved plans for new U.S. wind projects next year and Exelon Corp. (EXC) called off plans to expand two nuclear plants. Michigan utility CMS Energy Corp. (CMS) canceled a $2 billion coal plant after deciding it wasn’t financially viable in a time of “low natural-gas prices linked to expanded shale-gas supplies,” according to a company statement.
145 counts of data fabrication against University of Connecticut Director of Cardiovascular Research: 11 Journals informed
January 11, 2012
Deepak Das
Another massive case of misconduct by an established scientist – not a humble post doc but a Director of Cardiovascular Research!! Once again a scientist of Indian origin in the US is involved – Prof. Deepak Das!
This time there are also clear commercial motives which takes scientific misconduct into the realms of criminal fraud!!!
Hartford Business:The University of Connecticut is rejecting nearly $1 million in federal grants awarded to one of its scientists found to have falsified many of his findings on the health benefits of wine.
Will SAS be acquired by Qatar or Lufthansa?
January 11, 2012SAS – which used to be one of my favourite airlines – needs new owners with access to larger markets and with financial muscle.
Lufthansa was – and still is – the most likely buyer. But in the last 2 days the rumors of interest from Qatar have been driving up the SAS share price. Of course the rumors have been denied.
But SAS is unsustainable as it is and something is due to happen with SAS ownership this year. And my guess would be that the clear fit and benefits would point to Lufthansa rather than Quatar.
Light blogging while on assignment
January 10, 2012I am travelling again on an assignment and blogging will be light for a week or so.
Tony Blair has income of £12 million, spends £8 million on administration but pays only £300,000 tax
January 8, 2012I am not Tony Blair’s greatest fan and don’t have very high expectations of him. Nevertheless, the manner in which he cashes in on his former position is breathtaking! Personal ethics are clearly unknown to him.
Paying 2.5% of his income as tax is a pretty impressive case of tax avoidance (which is probably perfectly legal and not tax evasion). But it makes him a parasite. Some parasites are useful but he is not one of them.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair channelled millions of pounds through a complicated web of companies and paid just a fraction in tax
Official accounts show a company set up by Mr Blair to manage his business affairs paid just £315,000 in tax last year on an income of more than £12 million. In that time, he employed 26 staff and paid them total wages of almost £2.3 million. ….
The data, all the data and nothing but the data
January 5, 2012(Reuters) – Unreported data from early trials of experimental medicines in humans can result in harm to future patients and needless costs for health systems, according to scientists writing in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday.
The role of statistics in research leads to obvious risks for the drawing of conclusions about causal relationships between parameters without actually increasing the understanding about the underlying mechanisms. In pharmaceutical and health research such conclusions provide enormous financial benefits for the researchers and their sponsors – and not always in the interests of the patients involved.
The k2p blog 