Thursday, November 17, 2011

Economics of Solar Power...

Megan McArdle (by far my favorite economics blogger) has a nice piece up about the economics of solar power, answering the question “Should we be bullish on solar?”  She covers something that most discussions miss: the “whole system” costs of solar, especially the battery problem...

Nitobe Memorial Garden...

In Vancouver, British Columia, Canada.  Gorgeous!  Via BPOD...


Jamul Indian Casino...

Lakes Entertainment's latest quarterly report is out, and it looks much like the last few.  They've recognized another $800k in “impairment losses” (definition below) related to the Jamul casino project, and are still using the same “we haven't given up quite yet” language when talking about it...
Impairment Loss: A special, nonrecurring charge taken to write down an asset with an overstated book value. Generally an asset is considered to be value-impaired when its book value exceeds the future net cash flows expected to be received from its use. An impairment write-down reduces an overstated book value to fair value.

Five Sweet Little Old Ladies...

Via my mom:
Sitting on the side of the road waiting to catch speeding drivers, a Massachusetts state trooper sees a car puttering along at 24 mph. He thinks to himself, "This driver is as dangerous as a speeder!" So he turns on his lights and pulls the driver over.

Approaching the car, he notices that there are five elderly ladies - two in the front seat, and three in the back, wide-eyed and white as ghosts. The driver, obviously confused, says to him, "Officer, I don't understand. I was going the exact speed limit. What seems to be the problem?"

The trooper, trying to contain a chuckle, explains to her that "24" was the Route number, not the speed limit. A bit embarrassed, the woman grinned and thanked the officer for pointing out her error.

"But before you go, Ma'am, I have to ask, "is everyone in this car OK? These women seem awfully shaken."

"Oh, they'll be all right in a minute, officer. We just got off Route 128."
And yes, it's entirely plausible that my mom was one of them...