Archive for 2013

FROM NASSIM TALEB’S ANTIFRAGILE: “Amateurs in any discipline are the best, if you can connect with them. Unlike dilettantes, career professionals are to knowledge what prostitutes are to love.”

SHUTDOWN THEATER UPDATE: Obama Shuts Down Amber Alert Website. “Just 17 percent of the government is shut down, and Friday the Obama administration allowed union representatives to return to work. So, union members could return to work, but the website to alert Americans to missing children had to be taken down?”

They don’t call it shutdown theater for nothing.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How Intense Study May Harm Our Workouts. “Tire your brain and your body may follow, a remarkable new study of mental fatigue finds. Strenuous mental exertion may lessen endurance and lead to shortened workouts, even if, in strict physiological terms, your body still has plenty of energy reserves.” This doesn’t surprise me. It’s one reason I started, years ago, working out in the morning instead of the afternoon.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 150. Plaudits for Paul Caron, who’s been covering this nonstop for five months now.

I HOPE VLADIMIR PUTIN ENJOYED HIS MOMENT IN THE SUN: Iceland On Cusp Of Oil Boom.

Iceland is sitting pretty for what will likely be the world’s next oil boom. The USGS estimates that the Arctic circle holds roughly 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil, and as the world warms, that ice is melting, uncovering billions of barrels of black gold. Countries are licking their lips at the possibility of tapping these reserves, and tiny Iceland is well-positioned to take advantage. The North Atlantic Current keeps the country’s harbors ice-free, making it an ideal jumping-off point for countries like China who are eager to invest in new oil plays. And, as the New York Times reports, Iceland is working towards developing some of this Arctic oil for itself. . . .

The energy landscape is already radically different from what is was even 10 years ago thanks to the shale boom and the rise of LNG. We’re far from the first to say it, but it bears repeating: Arctic hydrocarbons promise to be the next big shakeup. At the macro level, the world’s energy outlook is changing faster than it ever has, largely due to the rapid acceleration of technological innovation. Fortunately, the majority of these changes are for the better, confounding Malthusians and buying scientists more time to further develop renewable technologies.

And safe, clean mini-nuclear reactors.