That I can sit here in the comfort of my own home, idly curious about irrigation in California’s Imperial Valley, and look up the 1950 Census of Agriculture’s California county-by-county data. 503,686 Q: How has irrigation in California’s Imperial Valley changed over the years? A: Great question, John! In 1950, there were 532,543 acres under …
Continue reading ‘What I Love About the Internet, Episode XIV’ »
Well here’s some good news: China’s strongest earthquake in 58 years may reduce the nation’s energy demand as damaged power plants and transmission lines force companies to idle some generators. The down side, though, according to Bloomberg’s Rob Delaney, is the quake’s possible contribution to food inflation. Oh, yeah. And all the dead people. That’s …
Matthew Nisbet: Conventional wisdom pegged Gore’s film and media campaign as changing the nature of the debate in the public’s mind, but unfortunately this interpretation doesn’t hold up to the data.
A couple of pieces worth reading in the morning paper by my colleagues on subjects of personal interest: Mike Coleman on the political realities underlying the energy grandstanding coming out of Washington Susan Stiger on the virtues of growing and eating locally
Eckleburg: Workstudy Student: Does Honey Go Bad? Me: After 3 years, it will start to vote Republican. Workstudy Student: [polite silence]
Obstructing traffic? Nora is traffic.
From the BBC: Great tits cope well with warming: Researchers found that great tits are laying eggs earlier in the spring than they used to, keeping step with the earlier emergence of caterpillars. (via Belshaw)
An economist has finally come forward with a cogent argument in favor of the gas tax holiday. In today’s New York Times, Bryan Caplan points out that voters are demanding that Congress do something. There is nothing Congress can actually do to help the situation. But since they’re likely to do something, the gas tax …
Make up your own story to go with this, or check out Dave’s.
Global food prices have leveled off, according to the Economist food price index out today. It’s settled at 251.5, down 0.6 percent from a week ago and up 61.3 percent from a year ago. I don’t understand it well enough to know for sure, but I’ve got to assume that 0.6 percent over a week …