Monthly Archives: June 2008

Preventing the October Revolution in Russia?

Posted on June 26, 2008 by NC

A question from Yahoo! Answers: What would you have done to prevent the October Revolution of Russia? Who is the “you” you’re referring to? Assuming you refer to the Provisional Government that itself ascended to power after an earlier revolution … Continue reading →

Posted in Answers, History | Leave a comment

What really killed the electric car

Posted on June 26, 2008 by NC

A question from Askville: Have you ever wondered what ever happened to the Electric Car manufactured by GM and Toyota and sold in California? Well, my hubby and I just watch a U-Tube video in 11 parts of the story … Continue reading →

Posted in Answers, Technology | Leave a comment

Hedge fund launches hit a low

Posted on June 26, 2008 by NC

HF Launches Hit Eight-Year Low Jun-26-2008 | From Euromoney The number of hedge funds launched in the first quarter was the lowest for a quarter since 2000, Financial Planning reports. This is chiefly because of volatile market conditions and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Clippings, Finance and Investments | Leave a comment

Paul Krugman on oil speculation (or lack thereof)

Posted on June 25, 2008 by NC

Speculation and Signatures Paul Krugman June 24, 2008 (Link to the original) One of the problems in the debate over the role of speculation in oil prices is that hardly anyone, even among the economists, is writing down models. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Leave a comment

Investing in times of high inflation

Posted on June 25, 2008 by NC

A question from Askville: What investments are best during times of inflation? It usually takes a while for the herd to shift directions (though I’m sure that many are betting on inflation already). What are the best areas to move … Continue reading →

Posted in Answers, Finance and Investments | Leave a comment

A weird McAfee issue

Posted on June 24, 2008 by NC

For some reason, McAfee System Guard started getting disabled. In my case, a combination of regular McAfee Security Center update and a run of McAfee Virtual Technician seem to have cured the problem (although Virtual Technician found no problems of … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | Leave a comment

New top-level domains in works

Posted on June 24, 2008 by NC

Domain Name System Set To Expand Jun-24-2008 | Source: Managing Intellectual Property The body that regulates internet domain names is set to permit the creation of an unlimited number of new top-level domains this week At its meeting in Paris … Continue reading →

Posted in Clippings, Technology | Leave a comment

Impact of oil prices on trade

Posted on June 21, 2008 by NC

Paul Krugman writes: I’ve written before about the CIBC study (pdf — second item) suggesting that high oil prices, by making shipping much more expensive, may reverse a significant amount of globalization. A new NBER working paper by Koopman et … Continue reading →

Posted in Clippings, Economics | Leave a comment

The Economist on alternative energy

Posted on June 21, 2008 by NC

From The Economist: * * * * * THE FUTURE OF ENERGY The power and the glory Jun 19th 2008 From The Economist print edition The next technology boom may well be based on alternative energy, says Geoffrey Carr (interviewed … Continue reading →

Posted in Clippings | 2 Comments

Notes to self: gasoline prices

Posted on June 20, 2008 by NC

Fuel taxes statistics from the American Petroleum Institute: http://www.api.org/statistics/fueltaxes/ Estimated gasoline price breakdown and margins from California Energy Commission: http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/ The Real Price of Gasoline, a report by International Center for Technology Assessment: http://www.icta.org/doc/Real Price of Gasoline.pdf * * * … Continue reading →

Posted in Clippings | Leave a comment