Environmental Economics

The hazards of antiquated technologies

I think I need a new pen.

Picture of the day

via media.kentucky.com

Here is the caption:

Kentucky Wildcats fans jam the YUM center in Louisville for UK practice for the NCAA second round action on Wednesday March 14, 2012 in Louisville, Ky. Photo by Mark Cornelison | Staff MARK CORNELISON

I've held off reading or thinking too much about UK vs UofL tomorrow, but I clicked on this story in Thursday's Lexington Herald-Leader:

In the commonwealth's never-ceasing battle between Wildcats blue and Cardinals red, the front line is easily identified. Jefferson County is the epicenter of the conflict.

On the week of our state's ultimate hoops Armageddon, this is life in a divided city.

I moved to the county directly northeast of Jefferson in the 6th grade. There was plenty of both red and blue and I didn't really realize I had to choose a team to follow until college. When I met someone who lived out in the state, they'd find out where I was from and ask if I was a Kentucky or Louisville fan. Even though UofL had more recent success and one of their national championship teams had a preseason scrimmage at our high school, I chose UK. As a result of all that, and living in North Carolina for almost 23 years now (27 if you count my first four) I can't really dislike UofL and find myself pulling for them ... except when they play each other.

We watched the regular season game at my sister's house this year. They had two UK fans and two UofL fans. That was fun. Tomorrow night we're having UK fans over (and at least one Texas/Tennessee fan [Texas/Tennessee fan?]). Go UK.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/28/2130051/mark-story-blue-red-battle-fierce.html#storylink=cpy

Trill

Twitter / @JayBilas:

Just passed Gene Simmons of KISS in NOLA. He was in such awe of my swag, it caused him to swallow his own tongue. 911 called.

Hat tip: Awful Announcing

Return of the Friday Beer Post: Bohemian Style

The greatest song of all time performed...

in its entirety...

drunk...

in the back of a police car.

Come on, admit it, you've done this before.

Or is it just me?

Anyone?

Beuller?

The action starts at the :32 second mark. 

 

"NEW Economics Journals at De Gruyter"?

What's up with B.E. Press? I thought the idea was to offer an alternative to for-profit publishers (i.e., who is this De Gruyter person anyway?)

De Gruyter just added over 100 journals to its extensive and high quality journal collection, and to celebrate the good news, we are pleased to offer you a free taste of our newest titles in economics! All articles published in 2011 and 2012 are now available for free!

The Menu

Accounting, Economics, and Law
Asian Journal of Law and Economics
Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance
Basic Income Studies
Business and Politics
Capitalism and Society
Entrepreneurship Research Journal
Forum for Health Economics & Policy
Global Economy Journal Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines
Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization
Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis
Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis
Journal of Econometric Methods
Journal of Time Series Econometrics
Review of Marketing Science
Review of Middle East Economics and Finance
Review of Network Economics
Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics
The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy
The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics
The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics
The Economists' Voice

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In order to activate your free access to the journals listed above, simply register with De Gruyter Online, log in and go to your personal user account “My De Gruyter”.

via www.degruyter.com

The pony express about this change hasn't made it to Boone, NC yet. Are there any env-econ readers who are better plugged in that might explain?

*The email says Walter.

"Faculty/staff intramural team runs the court"

I got cut from the team this year:

After a long school week, one can only assume professors and staff members are ready to relax - but others are geared up for a game of basketball. That’s how Staff Infection came to be.

Staff Infection is an intramural basketball team made up of faculty and staff. It was started by Dwight Turner, an analyst with Information Technology Services. ...

Turner organized the team six years ago - it was originally the  result of an informal lunchtime basketball program faculty and staff members participated in during the week. ...

Over fifty teams of Appalachian State students played intramural basketball this season, but none of them are like Staff Infection. The team is older and less athletic than the rest of the field, but it brings a certain amount of intimidation with its fast-paced, aggressive style of play. ...

Most of the intramural teams don’t know how to handle playing a team like Staff Infection. They can’t sleep on the court, because the team loves to get out in transition. Staff Infection can also consistently play fast because it has the deepest bench in the league, usually bringing 10 to 15 players to the court. ...

via www.theappalachianonline.com

Not that I'm bitter or anything.

One university's response to budget cuts

Quality over quantity:

NCSU’s enrollment grew nearly 20 percent in the decade ending in 2010, but university leaders began throttling back and now plan to increase the number of students more slowly – to about 37,000 by 2020. That’s a rise of about 6 percent from the current enrollment of about 34,800.

Most of that growth would come from graduate students and transfers, as the university fine-tunes its enrollment mix to fit long-term goals. Those include student success and having a greater impact on the state’s economy by spinning off more start-up companies and providing more workers with the kind of graduate education that gives them an edge in high-tech industries, Provost Warwick Arden said. ...

Another aspect of the plan is boosting the number of tenure-track faculty. That’s crucial for improving the quality of education and inevitable if NCSU is going to increase the number of graduate students, to boost the quality and amount of research, Arden said.

In the period that enrollment was growing 20 percent, the number of tenure-track faculty increased just 1 percent, and non-tenure track instructors jumped by 23 percent. Given that there may be little in the way of additional money available, the university will have to change its spending priorities to hire more tenure-track faculty, Arden said.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/03/29/1966185/ncsu-slowing-growth-aiming-for.html#storylink=cpy

via www.newsobserver.com

I assume they won't be hiring more lazy tenure-track professors.*

*Note: I slept late this morning, just didn't feel the urgency to get to work. A 24-30 hour work week is really a grind.

Oil price quote(s) of the day

"There is no rational reason for high oil prices," writes Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, in today's Financial Times. Well, I can think of one-- if oil prices were lower, the world would want to consume more than is currently being produced.

via www.econbrowser.com

"Bid to save the earth"

From a reader, who we will call "Bruce Johnson" (one of the < .01% picking the final four correctly):

Now in its third year, Christie's Green Auction: Bid to Save the Earth begins Thursday with an online sale featuring over 100 lots. Highlights include a personalized, private visit to the Château Latour vineyard, a five-night stay at the Parrot Cay Resort in Turks & Caicos and an afternoon shopping spree with Barneys New York creative ambassador Simon Doonan, among many other one-of-a-kind experiences and luxury items.

via links.email.christies.com

His line: "The ultimate WTP experiment?"

Cost estimates

A 9.4-mile light-rail extension should open for service by March 2017, and the Charlotte Area Transit System said Monday it has a firm price for the project: $1.16 billion.

...

In 2007, CATS said it could build an 11-mile extension for $700 million.

But the project was delayed, and proved more complicated due in part to placing rails in the median of North Tryon Street.

In 2009, the project was estimated to cost $1.18 billion. That cost caused CATS to reduce the scope of the project, having it end on the UNC-Charlotte campus instead of a park-and-ride lot at Interstate 485.

Those changes pushed the cost down to $977 million.

Since then, the price has increased due to CATS increasing estimated financing costs ($93 million); higher costs to relocate freight rail at 36th Street ($36 million); higher real estate costs ($11 million); and a larger reserve ($45 million).

via www.charlotteobserver.com