Hybrid Thinking

Just a thought (and no link).

I just watched a bit on the news about another proposal for hybrids to be allowed in HOV lanes on Long Island w/o the normal high-occupancy since they are more fuel efficient.

Since hybrids are most miserly during city driving b/c stop-and-go engages the regenerative braking that recharges the batteries, wouldn't it make more sense to BAN hybrids from HOV lanes during peak periods (even if they have 2+ or 3+ occupants) to ensure that they experience as MUCH congestion as possible so that they get better mileage?

A VC w/a sense of humor

From the Globe re Summers' resignation:

Cambridge venture capitalist Howard Anderson wants to nominate Che Guevara as Harvard's new president.

''Why?" asks Anderson. ''He would be considered a 'moderate' by the Harvard faculty. He has a medical degree so he would be considered acceptable to academics. His Argentine background would appeal to the one-worlders. And he has been dead for 39 years so the faculty would have no problem getting him to roll over."

What Is the Value of Algebra?

Apparently it has no value or practical application. Usually when I feel the urge to smack people with the "you're too dumb to be ignorant" stick, it's because of some wacky mis-understanding of basic economic concepts (e.g. Bush sets oil prices, we invaded Iraq for the oil, OPEC is spelled B-U-S-H.) However, this clown Richard Cohen is doing a massive disservice to kids everywhere. It's a good thing these kids can't read.

Kid sues mayor, wins. That's not the real story...

The real story is that I think I've found a judge in a lower court that gets it. The basis of the case was that a kid wanted access to a list of e-mail addresses for one reason or another - it doesn't really matter. The city argued that they couldn't due to a law on the books. The judge, however, ruled that the statue didn't extend to e-mail addresses and then went on to say:

The city’s arguments here are of a policy rather than a legal character, and are more appropriately addressed to the Indiana Legislature rather than to this court,” Murray wrote. “The courts cannot fill gaps in a statutory scheme designed by the legislature.

Did you catch that last sentence? Words to live by.

Inside the port deal that's giving Bush headaches

Read the comments from the readers. It seems to me that these same people would be calling for Congress to impeach GW for square dance calling. Is this a cross-section of America or CNN?

Speaking of children's literature....

I checked for a few minutes to make sure this was Snopes-proof.

Click the link to see the latest in dopey democrat literature.

Maybe they can cross this book with Heather Has Two Mommies.

http://littledemocrats.net/index.html

Make sure to check out the sample pages: http://littledemocrats.net/samples.html

Why Mac?

Here's why, even if you yourself don't use one, you should make sure your parents get a Mac.

Exercise in wasting time

Have you ever wanted to play Pac Man on an 18-pixel square screen? How about Pong, Asteroids, or Space Invaders? Now you can.

Don't you just love the net?

Netflix throttles heavy renters

I had a feeling something like this was happening. When I first re-signed up for Netflix two months ago, I could send a movie out with Monday's mail and expect its replacement on Wednesday. Now, it seems, they sit on my return for a day or two before mailing out my next movie.

Case in point: I mailed back three DVDs one Monday morning. As of Tuesday afternoon, Netflix reported that it had received one of the movies and would mail the replacement that day. On Wednesday, it received the other two, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both of those movies' replacements were then not mailed until Friday. This happened various forms a number of times. Oh well, it's still a great value for me.

[Please note that 'heavy renters' refers to the number of movies rented, not the weight of the renter.]

Judith Light's Birthday

It's Judith Light's birthday today; she's 57. She was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and grew up in the house just around the corner from the house we Paci boys used to live in.

(It's also Carole King's birthday; we wore a hole in her Really Rosie LP when we lived there.)

Lack of Comments

In re: the matter of our readers no longer posting comments

Proposal: You Suck.

Discuss.

Art, Flags, Toasted Danish

British guy Mark Steyn makes some good points about provocative art vs. art that actually provokes someone.

Best Criticism of State of the Union

It's almost required that the president have something to say about how the government should involve itself in energy policy. While Bush didn't behave completely irresponsibly and call for a windfall profits tax, he iterated the usual laundry list of industrial-policy-based energy bromides. Here's hoping that gridlock rules when they try to enact most of these.

For a commonsense view, here's the libertarians at CATO with a statement so concise and meaningful that you should print it out and put it in your pocket to have ready when engaging liberals, protectionists, Buchananites, etc. Normally it's not good form to reproduce whole posts, but this demands an exception. (If you want more, follow the link and read the footnoted articles, too.)

"The President offered bracing new rhetoric about where he would like to take energy policy in the coming year, but he suggested little more than a bit more money for the same old programs that have failed in the past. In short, it reminds me of the metaphor about 'old wine in new bottles.'
"Regarding the rhetoric, it’s odd that the President would complain that America is 'addicted to oil.' Another way of putting it is that American consumers are attracted to the lowest cost sources of energy to meet their energy needs. It's a bit distressing to call that sensible inclination an 'addiction.'
"As far as the new subsidies for coal, wind, solar, nuclear, and ethanol energy are concerned, if those technologies have economic merit, no subsidy is necessary. If they don't, then no subsidy will provide it. Those subsidies have failed to produce economic energy in the past and there is little reason to expect that they will do so in the future.
"Nor is it the government's job to design automobiles. Although government funded R&D projects to redesign the internal combustion engine are nothing new, they have never amounted to anything. For instance, while the Clinton Administration was engaged in a similar undertaking called 'The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles' and producing nothing of consequence, Japanese auto companies -- without significant government help -- were busy designing the hybrid powered engines that are now all the rage within the auto industry. When government ties to pick winners, it usually finds itself stuck with losers and often sets the entire domestic industry back.
"Finally, achieving the President's goal of reducing Middle Eastern oil imports by 75 percent would be economically meaningless. A supply disruption in the Middle East would increase the price of crude everywhere in the world no matter where or how it is produced.
"There is nothing really new in this speech as it pertains to energy except more money for old programs -- the political equivalent of the triumph of hope over experience."