300 Years of FOSSIL FUELS in 300 Seconds

by Bill Hayes

Watch 300 Years of FOSSIL FUELS in 300 Seconds.

What the Right Gets Right

by Bill Hayes

In What the Right Gets Right in the New York Times, Thomas B. Edsall, a professor of journalism at Columbia University, asked liberal thinkers what the right gets right. He got a number of answers. Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at the University of California at San Diego, responded:

It recognizes “the importance of material incentives in shaping behavior, and the difficulty in keeping bureaucracies under control and responsive to citizens.”

It is skeptical of “the application of social science theories to real world problems” and cognizant of “human fallibility/corruptibility.”

It places a high value on “liberty/autonomy.” [more]

Arab Revolutionaries and Poland

by Bill Hayes

Fareed Zakaria reports that Arab revolutionaries are looking at Poland to see how that country made the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy.

Like Fracking? You’ll Love ‘Super Fracking’

by Bill Hayes

In Like Fracking? You’ll Love ‘Super Fracking,’ Bloomberg Businessweek reports on even more powerful fracking technology to reach pockets of oil and natural gas.

Few energy industry practices have sparked more controversy than hydraulic fracking. First, wells are drilled horizontally below the surface, allowing a single bore or pathway to reach vertical pockets of oil and natural gas trapped between formations of shale and other rock. Then high-pressure jets of water, sand, and chemicals are pumped into the ground to create fissures through the rock so oil can seep out and be retrieved. Regulators, environmentalists, and academics are studying whether the practice can damage the environment.

Undeterred, oil services companies including Baker Hughes and Schlumberger are continuing their quest to devise ways to create longer, deeper cracks in the earth to release more oil and gas. These companies are no longer content to frack—they want to super frack. [more]

Know Your Thatcher

by Shruti Modi

Know Your Thatcher in The New Yorker discusses the new movie The Iron Lady, the deep emotions it has revitalized in the United Kingdom, and the impressive performance by Meryl Streep.

In election years, Margaret Thatcher, whom Americans remember facing down the Soviets and waltzing with Ronald Reagan (he called her “the best man in England”), makes a trusty reference. Hillary Clinton, smarting from Barack Obama’s jibes at her personality in 2008, invoked Thatcher as a feminist role model. “Guess who stepped to the plate in 1990? Margaret Thatcher,” she said, before continuing, “I don’t know how likable she was.” Now Mitt Romney’s campaign has retooled Thatcher’s old slogan “Labour Isn’t Working” as an indictment of Obama’s record on jobs. Campaigning on January 6th in New Hampshire, Romney cited Thatcher’s maxim on socialism: ” ‘Sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money.’ ” [more]

Interview of the Day: Robert Reich

by Bill Hayes

Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times interviews political economist Robert Reich, who is a professor at UC Berkeley and who worked as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration.

The economy we had in the 1950s — it doesn’t look like that will be back in our future.

We can’t go backward, but the economy of the 1950s, ’60s and early ’70s was far more equal, and America grew faster in those years on average than it’s grown since. If you look at Germany over the last 10 years, until the past year, you see rapid growth combined with a far more equal distribution of [the] gains and very high wages going to average working people. What’s the secret? Two things: Germany has focused intensively on public education, particularly skills that are relevant for the new high-tech world economy; and secondly, Germany has a much stronger labor movement than the United States. [more]

It’s All Right, Ma

by Shruti Modi

In It’s all right, Ma, The Economist looks at Taiwan and its evolution from being ruled by a dictatorship to a democracy. It also notes that Taiwan’s recent elections indicate there may be a chance for democracy one day in China.

THE presidential and parliamentary elections that Taiwan held on January 14th were unusual. No party was engulfed in scandal, as was the ruling party at the time in 2008. No candidate was shot at, as the incumbent was four years before that. China issued no dire warnings, as it did in 2000. Nor did it reinforce such warnings by lobbing missiles into the seas around Taiwan, as it did in 1996. Indeed, perhaps most striking this time round was the reaction the polls aroused in China. There, some saw President Ma Ying-jeou’s re-election in a peacefully contested race as evidence that democracy might one day have a chance in China too. [more]

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth

by Bill Hayes

In The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School, Alexandra Robbins argues that many of those alienated in high school will have the last laugh.

From the New York Times Book Review:

Her fundamental argument is simple. Many of the traits that correlate with “outsider” status among high school students — originality, self-awareness, courage, resilience, integrity and passion — reveal themselves as assets later in life. (If you’re geeky enough to know the definition of “schadenfreude” as an underclassman, you’ll probably get to experience that very feeling at a high school reunion one day.) [more]

Below is a promo for the book.

Winners of the Google Science Fair

by Bill Hayes

In 2011, three young women got the top prizes of the first Google Science Fair. Below the three — Lauren Hodge, Shree Bose, and Naomi Shah — tell about their projects.

Carlyle’s Bid to Block Shareholder Suits

by Bill Hayes

In Carlyle’s Bid to Block Shareholder Suits, Bloomberg Businessweek reports on a novel move by the private equity company that is about to go public.

Carlyle Group, the Washington (D.C.) buyout firm that’s preparing to go public this year, wants to bar future shareholders from filing individual and class actions. The firm revised its offering documents on Jan. 10 to say that investors who purchase company shares must settle any subsequent claims against Carlyle through arbitration in Wilmington, Del. That could limit the ability of stockholders to win big awards for securities law violations such as fraud, several attorneys say.

The Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings in recent years upholding the right of companies to require the use of arbitration to resolve disputes with consumers. Carlyle is seeking to extend this concept to public shareholders …. [more]