BioBelt Could Be Wisconsin’s Future
By converting its energy-rich organic wastes into heat and electricity, Wisconsin could become the capital of the Midwestern BioBelt. That is the assessment of bioenergy experts who are planning the Renewable Energy from Organics Recycling conference at the Madison Marriott West from September 12 through September 14.
Monthly Archives: August 2005
ATC on Armstrong’s 1999 Tour Blood Test
The French daily sports newspaper L’Equipe reported Tuesday that six urine samples taken from U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong during the 1999 Tour de France have recently tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug EPO, or erithropoietin. Armstrong won the Tour de France in 1999, the first of a record seven straight titles. Melissa Block talks to Charles Pelkey of the magazine Velo News.
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NYC: $212M on Surveillance Cameras
New York City is spending $212 million on surveillance technology: 1,000 video cameras and 3,000 motion sensors for the city’s subways, bridges, and tunnels.
Why? Why, given that cameras didn’t stop the London train bombings? Why, when there is no evidence that cameras are effectice at reducing either terrorism and crime, and every reason to believe that they are ineffective?
Costco Selling Health Insurance in California
Costco, the members-only discount retailer, is testing sales of individual health insurance policies. The pilot program launched last month in California. It targets mom-and-pop business owners, and those without a job or without job-provided health insurance.
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Talking Straight on Wisconsin Economic Development
I like Mike Ivey’s take on Wisconsin’s economic development efforts:
If holding conferences and talking about high-tech were the sole gauges of economic development success, Wisconsin would be booming these days like Dublin, Ireland.
Unfortunately, every other state from Alabama to Oregon is trying to market itself as the next Silicon Valley or Research Triangle.
And Wisconsin is having a particularly hard time shifting gears from its traditional old economy of manufacturing and agriculture into a new economy world where brains count more than brawn.
This type of distasteful cheerleading does no one any good. I’ve worked for entrepreneurs on the west coast and started a business here some years ago. I think our problem is an aversion to risk taking, which manifests itself in our schools and government. These entities typically discuss a “same service’ approach year after year after year, which makes no sense.
There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but we need many more people to take a few risks. We also need a simplified business tax and regulatory scheme. The paperwork is simply out of control.
Channel 3000’s Podcasts
Channel3000 posted several podcasts (mp3 audio files available via a RSS NewsReader) including an interview with Governor Jim Doyle.
Gladwell on our Healthcare System
One of the great mysteries of political life i the United States is why Americans are s devoted to their health-care system. Six times i the past century—during the First World War during the Depression, during the Truman an Johnson Administrations, in the Senate in th nineteen-seventies, and during the Clinton years—efforts have been made to introduce som kind of universal health insurance, and eac time the efforts have been rejected. Instead, th United States has opted for a makeshift syste of increasing complexity and dysfunction Americans spend $5,267 per capita on healt care every year, almost two and half times th industrialized world’s median of $2,193; th extra spending comes to hundreds of billions o dollars a year.
Tyler Cowen offers a number of counterpoints, links really, to Gladwell’s words.
Rolling Stones Setlist
The Rolling Stones are touring, again. Here’s their setlist.
Northwest Machinist Strike: Well Laid Plans Kept Their Planes Flying
Over the last 18 months, the airline analyzed every job represented by the mechanics’ union at every airport and calculated the skills required to fix each of its planes. It then decided how many of those workers it actually needed and what kind of replacements it would require in the event of a strike.
Some differences between the airline’s old and new approaches began to appear.
Before the strike, union rules specified that only members of the mechanics’ union, known as AMFA, could deliver planes to airport gates. But on Saturday, the pilot of a Northwest 757 in Detroit, upon discovering his plane was not ready, hopped into a pickup truck and went to the hangar to fetch his plane, rather than keep crew and passengers waiting, airline officials said.
Meanwhile, members of the machinists’ union, which usually handles tasks like baggage handling and customer service, took on the task of cleaning Northwest’s cabins between flights at its hubs here and in Minneapolis, a job that was previously done by the mechanics’ union.
Northwest is the Dane County Regional Airport’s (Still without WiFi!) largest airline. More.
5Mbps for $50 – Move to Iowa
Madison continues to fall behind in true 2 way broadband, as Jon Van illustrates:
The Mudd Group uses high-speed optical fiber lines supplied by the Cedar Falls Utility, a municipal operation that offered affordable high-speed data connections years before the local cable TV operator or phone company made such services available.
Municipalities from Lafayette, La., to Philadelphia are moving to provide residents with broadband connections, while in others, such as Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles, voters rejected the idea. The initiatives, which proponents say boost local economic development opportunities, are spurring intense battles across the nation with cable and phone companies, which believe the competition is unfair.
The issue is whether it’s appropriate for government entities to use taxpayer money to invest in infrastructure that is also a commercial technology because it’s offered by cable and phone companies.