Zark's

Summer-Grade Gasoline Coming to a Pump Near You

Image Credit: EIA

By May 1, petroleum refiners are required to have switched to summer-grade gasoline.  Summer gasoline is required to have lower volatility, which means that evaporative emissions are reduced.  If the switch was not made, our cities would have more ozone and your engine might suffer from vapor-lock as well.

The summer grade gasoline is required to be at your local gas pump by June 1.  (California is required to start earlier.)  You will also notice a bump in the price - summer grade gasoline costs more to produce. 

Date of switch to summer-grade gasoline approaches tells that winter-grade has more butane.  You will notice in the map that high population density regions such as Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, St. Louis, and the northeast corridor are required to even cleaner, reformulated gasoline RFG.  The EPA has required even less volatility in the gasoline for these regions to reduce smog-forming particulates and pollutants.  Naturally, expect to pay more for the privilege. 

Speaking of gasoline, has it seemed harder to find a gas station around you?  Gas stations are vanishing from Washington's inner suburbs explains it isn't your imagination.  Rising property values and increasing wholesale costs for gasoline are pinching gasoline retailers.  Because the profit margin on gasoline is so low, many have almost become a small supermarket and car wash to be economically viable.  Many gasoline stations don't have that much real estate, or if they are in places like D.C., the property may be worth more than the business.  Hence, you may have to start driving farther to fill up your tank.

 

The Dilemma of Japan and the Dilemma of Dell

Map of Southeast Asia
Image Credit: CIA World Factbook

Sorry for the interruption in my blogging.  I had a working weekend in the Missouri Ozarks and turns out my internet connectivity was only slightly worse than this internet connection on my flight.  The day that I left, I read separate articles about Dell and Japan that I pondered over the weekend.  Because my internet connection is so slow, I cannot locate the original pieces to provide hyperlinks.  So my apologies to the original authors.

First about Japan.  Economically the nation is stuck in the doldrums.  It has unprecedented unemployment and simultaneously a rapidly aging population.  During the 1980s, Sony, Panasonic, and Hitachi ruled the consumer world.  Today their consumer divisions drain corporate profits.  So what happened? 

The consumer products of the 1980s had electronics, but they were mechanical wonders.  Did you ever remove the cover from a VCR and marvel at the mechanical genius?  Although not as complex, the cassette and later CD Sony Walkmans were largely mechanical.  Japan was the leader in these products.  They were the masters of mechanical engineering.

Today, the dominant genius in consumer products like iPhones and iPads is software, not mechanical wizardry.  The Japanese companies have never been able to develop software prowess.  It is puzzling, because the government of Japan recognized this early and invested heavily in the 5^th generation computer technology.  They even referred to the software bugs of the western companies as ‘spoilage’.  Was the Japanese alphabet too inefficient to compete with their western competitors?  Or it is something else?

The other topic I was pondering during my weekend of repairing pasture fences was Dell.  There was an article by a an IT company executive explaining why his company had decided to discontinue services to Dell.  He explained Dell treated his employees horribly, and their only business strategy was lowest cost.  It is hard to maintain leadership when the only goal is lowest cost.  Eventually a leaner, hungrier competitor will replace you. 

Over the weekend, I decided it also sacrifices the soul of the company.  When cost is the only important metric, supplier, employee, and customer relationships are continuously broken.  Over the past three months I have endured two separate warranty failures on Dell products.  I don’t possess sufficient vocabulary to describe how horrible my experiences with Dell service haave been.  As I described earlier, they have sacrificed the soul of their company.

In previous blogs, I have remarked; the future is not what we imagined, or tried to create.   Can we ever get this world back on track?  Or what should the world look like?

Supreme Court Rules Against Publishers

The Supreme Court just ruled that products made and sold abroad can be resold without violating U.S. copyright law. 

The case originated from a student having his relatives purchase international versions of textbooks abroad and then he would sell them to U.S. students on eBay.  In a lower court decision, Wiley and Sons had been awarded $600K against the student for selling the Wiley textbooks without permission.

The Washington Post article quotes Justice Breyer's opinion as, "We hold that the 'first sale' doctrine applies to copies of a copyrighted work lawfully made abroad."  This was not completely unexpected, because the Court had earlier ruled that US-made articles sold abroad could subsequently be resold without permission of the copyright owner.

After first sale, the copyright owner loses control of whether his product can be sold or resold.

This affects not only printed books but also software.  I wonder whether Microsoft expected this ruling and modified their marketing for Office 2013.  They have changed their licensing so that a physical copy can only be loaded on a computer once.  Tough luck if your computer dies and if you have to purchase a new one.  This was explained as pushing consumers and businesses to cloud subscriptions, but I wonder with today's ruling. 

I also found it remarkable that the liberal justices formed the minority opinion.  I would have anticipated the conservative justices to lean toward protecting business with a stronger copyright interpretation. 

...  Another interesting decision from the Supreme Court.

 

 

How Did We Get Here?

A southwest-looking photograph of south-central Turkey and northwest Syria. The coastlines of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel are visible along the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The island of Cyprus can be seen off the Turkish and Syrian coasts. Photo courtesy of NASA.
Image Credit: CIA World Factbook

Shock in Cyprus as savers face bailout levy explains that people in Cyprus have been hit with a 9.9 percent one-time tax on their savings.  Those with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts will only be taxed at 6.75 percent.

The situation is not black-and-white, because the BBC reports the large presence of Russian money in Cyprus was a factor in this monetary punshment by the European Central Bank.  But Germany wants to punish the Russian money launderers and if innocent Cyprus savers are hurt, this is capitalism, and the world has accepted that capitalism is an unbiased and impartial judge.  But note the tax is only on bank deposits - not wealth or other property.

Is capitalism moral? is a lengthy Washington Post opinion piece today.  Few will argue today that unlimited social welfare is desirable.  People must take responsibility for their lives and not live dependent upon the government.  On the other hand, with greater than 10 percent real unemployment, the nation has a humanitarian crisis.  The inequality gap is unconsciousable, with today's CEO earning 350 times that of the frontline worker, whereas fifty years ago, it was 50 times. 

It is a complex problem, and historically the American solution has been always been in the middle, at neither the left or right extremes.  Over the last 20 years though, there has been the group-think that capitalism makes the right decisions.  President Clinton articulated this sea change in his book, Back to Work.  And no, he doesn't agree with it.  I'll add that individuals seem to be far more altruistic than corporations.

So does the Cyprus example demonstrate the dangers of big government?  Yes.  But the situation was created by big business.  Further, it was big business - the German banks who demanded the punishment.

 

 

The Plimsoll Line

Plimsoll line on a floating ship
Image Credit: NOAA

No, a Plimsoll line is not the row of French guns that the Germans bypassed in World War II, nor is it the weighted line that carpenters use. 

Instead, it is a reference line that indicates the safe depth for a vessel loaded with cargo.  A commercial ship is properly loaded when the ship's waterline equals the ship's Plimsoll line tells that it varies with temperature and the type of water.

Wikipedia tells that Samuel Plimsoll was a British politician, 1824-1898, and after suffering through poverty as a young adult, he devoted his life to helping the poor.  One of those causes was the 'coffin' ships in which the owners recklessly exposed the lives of the crew by overloading them.  Although his bill in Parliament was originally rejected in 1875 due to the many members of Parliment having ownership in shipping companies, it was successful a year later.

Today the Plimsoll mark is found midship on the port and starboard hulls of cargo vessels.

 

 

 

Too Big to Fail

Image Credit: Federal Reserve

Do you remember how the Great Recession began?  It began quietly in December of 2007 and became dangerous in September 2008.  Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 15, 2008 after an unprecedented loss of asset valuation. On September 16, AIG similarly had a liquidity crisis.  However, it was deemed 'too big to fail' (TBTF), and the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury propped up the multinational insurance corporation.

Today, George Will writes, Time to break up the big banks.  He notes that the assets of the 20 largest banks in the country total 84.5 percent of nation's gross national product.  Compare that to the 5,500 community banks which only sum to 12 percent. 

He notes that the banks have actually grown larger in influence and power since the Great Recession began.  Aside from the financial risk associated with so much weatlh controlled by a small number of banks, he is also concerned their size gives them an unfair advantage over smaller competitors.

Mmm.  Okay, why not address Walmart, AT&T, Verizon, Exxon, and all the other semi-monopolies that have similarly become too big to fail?  Because of their leverage over the supply chain, smaller competitors cannot arise to challenge them. 

I believe George Will is correct; that we need to dismantle the large banks.  We also need to re-enable competition throughout all commerce.

 

Only Ride to the International Space Station Threatened

The Soyuz rocket is erected into position after being rolled out to the launch pad by train on Oct. 21, 2012, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The Baikonur Cosmodrome was one of the Soviet Union's science cities, such as Akademgorodok.  (The latter is a central location for my novel, Butterflies Escape.) 

The Cosmodrome was originally constructed in 1955 for ICBM testing.  It was the site of the first satellite in 1957, and mankind's first manned space launch in 1961. 

When the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991, a series of agreements between Russia and Kazakhstan have kept the Russian space program launching rockets from Baikonur.

Russia and Kazakhstan to Run Baikonur Together explains Kazakhstan has learned capitalism well, and attempted to increase its price to Russia.  The current lease is $115M a year and continues to 2050. 

Aside from the monetary dispute, Kazakhstan wants local jurisidiction of the space facility, unwilling to allow Russia having control. 

This chafing by the former Soviet Union republic has annoyed Russia such that the nation is building Vostochny space center in the Far East.  Until those or the Plesetsk Cosmodrome facilities are ready, Russia has to appease this monopoly supplier to the Russian space program.  The Space Daily article tells that Russia and Kazakhstan have created a commission to resolve national differences about the space facility.

 

Corporate Parent of Bell Laboratories Struggles to Stay Alive

Early Integrated Circuit
Image Credit: NASA

Bell Laboratories was once revered by engineers and scientists.  Today, we have to qualify that, because only the older generations remember the sheer breadth and talent of the commercially-funded research institution.

Among its accomplishments: a) transistor, b) radio astronomy, c) Unix operating system, d) C programming language, e) laser, f) photovoltaic cell, g) cellular telephone.  There are many others, but that is a pretty good list.

Behingd Alcatel-Lucent's Desperate Search for Cash reminds us that Alcatel acquired the former research giant in 2006.  The problem is two-fold. 

First, the parent business cannot compete with its Chinese competititors.  Its struggle to stay alive is sucking cash.  Like many western businesses, it has attempted to stay in business by cutting its workforce and achieve artificial economy. 

The second problem is related to the first - it is not possible for public western businesses to fund serious fundamental research and satisfy business analysts. Consider the transistor, photovoltaic cell, and laser.  Those are involved in almost every business product or transaction today.  Yet if the 1950s had been like the 2010s, would today be like the 1950s?  Okay - you know what I mean. 

This lack of investment is troubling.  I don't know how we fix it.

 

 

Keeping Cell Towers Alive When the Grid Goes Down

Hurricane Sandy's Storm Surge in New York City
Image Credit: U.S. Coast Guard photo by Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Josh Janney

It is becoming a larger problem during a natural disaster - the downtime of the cellular phone infrastructure.  Part of the reason is that we are accustomed to instant connections.  But also, the cellular infrastructure has displaced some of the traditional communications infrastructure.

The cellular industry does try to increase availability.  They have Cell on Wheels (COW) and also Cell on Light Trucks (COLTs) which they attempt to rush into natural disasters. 

Conventional backup power for cell towers is typically batteries or diesel generators.  Batteries are okay if the grid is operational within a couple of hours, but if there has been damage to the grid, talktime is going to be pretty short.  Diesel generators have a lot of moving parts and require considerable maintenance to be ready instantaneously. 

Calling All Fuel Cells tells that cell phone operators are exploring the use of fuel cells. These power sources require a tank of hydrogen or methane, not unlike diesel generators.  However, they do not require the maintenance of diesel generators.  The Department of Energy article tells that cell operators have ordered 1300 400 KW generators for backup systems. 

 

The Gray Shades Between Morality and Freedom

A tobacco leaf with tobacco mosaic virus.
Image Credit: Jack Dykinga, USDA Agricultural Research

It is a gray area, prohibiting the activity of someone when those actions predominantly only affect the individual.  We don't permit wild-wild west gun toting because innocent people get shot.  Western consensus has been that it is okay to permit someone to smoke cigarettes, which only decreases the lifespan of the individual smoking them.  There are some complications such as second-hand smoke and the costs to society in general and loved ones. 

I blogged recently, Why I am Against Legalization of Recreational Drugs, lamenting the passage of  laws permitting marijuana consumption in some states.  Europeans have been grappling with the assisted suicide. 

For me, I could never work at companies that made a profit in addicting others to products that are harmful to them.  The problem with such a philosophical stand is that humans can abuse lots of things that can also be used for the good.  But the shades of gray disappear in some instances as with tobacco and recreational drugs.  I am open to debate, but I don't see moral legitimacy in tobacco companies which I will extend to the companies rushing to capitalize on the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington. 

Mmm.  What evoked this thought was Australia smokers given plain packs.  Cigarette manufacturers in Australia may no longer place logos, color, or any marketing enticements on the packages.  Instead, the packages are dull green and brown, with anti-smoking messages replacing the former marketing.

Despite all this, I still remember a sermon from 20 years ago titled "God Loves the Tobacco Farmer, Too."  Morality is tough, isn't it?