Monday, January 05, 2009

New Blog: MetroI70

In a very forward-looking attempt at embracing all forms of communication, the MO Department of Transportation has started a new blog to take input from the public about the future of I-70 through Kansas City. It also has links to presentations and the planning process. Good stuff for all of us public policy wonks!

If you don't have time to make their public meeting tomorrow night you might consider dropping a comment or two over there.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Definitely not major league

Times Square is getting a wind and solar powered billboard. Meanwhile our own Power and Light District has a small LED display powered by a whirly gig...

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Darn kids and their addictive trash bags


Every year the neighborhood kids hit me up selling everything from flowers to trash bags. I don't mind. I too did my time hounding the neighbors. For little league it was World's Finest Chocolate bars. For school it was popcorn in decorative glass decanters. I don't remember what I had to sell for Cub Scouts but I'm sure it was useless also.

At least today's kids are forced into peddling things that are actually useful. Back to those trash bags. They're the best! Big, tough and available in colors. The problem is, what to do when you run out and there's no poor kids out hawking them at your door? I need some bags man! I need me some of the good stuff! Aren't there any organizations abusing kids by making them sell trash bags door to door this time of year?

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Fairfax and Claycomo. The new Armco?


Years ago it was every high schooler's fallback position. If college wasn't a shot in your bag, you could either sling brake pads at one of the car factories or sling hot bricks in the steel furnaces of Armco Steel. It didn't take a college education to do either and the pay was good. Then Japan got into the car business. In order to build cars they needed steel, so they got into the steel business too. Soon the modern Japanese steel plants began outproducing and underpricing American steel. And soon the big names like Sheffield, Pittsburgh and Armco were out of business.

The days of the behemoth steel plant are long gone. There comes a point were economies of scale give declining returns. But in the 90's, a new business model emerged. The mini-mill began to do what even cheap Japanese steel couldn't do. Produce a high quality product, cheaply and save the cost of shipping by locating near the customer. These mini-mills used modern technology, required fewer employees and had much lower operating costs. American steel was back, but with an entirely different look.

I think what we're seeing with the Big 3 automakers is a repeat of the collapse of the steel industry. Sure we can prop it up for a while, just like we did for domestic steel companies with high tariffs on imported steel. But a free market abhors a vacuum and in the end a dead business model is just that... Dead.

New automakers are emerging with business models similar to the steel mini-mills. Small, fast and reflexive, they do not have the vast bureaucracy that prevents traditional automakers from bringing a car to market in a matter of months instead of years. Companies like Phoenix Motorcar, Tesla and Fisker are American manufacturers who may soon become the norm instead of the exception. In business, like in gunfighting there are two kinds of players; the quick and the dead. We've already seen that Detroit is not quick. My only hope is that some of these new players in the automotive field will Consider Kansas City.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Put your PC to work

IBM and Harvard want you to help them solve some technological puzzles. Using your idle PC's processing power, a simple program crunches numbers for researchers who are using the web as one giant super computer. Similar to the old SETI screensaver program that parsed data looking for extraterrestrial radio signals, the World Community Grid asks you to sign up your PC to parse data for projects like AIDS, cancer and cheap solar cells.

You can sign up for everything or mix and match projects. It's all free and you get the satisfaction of knowing that if you leave your PC on, it's doing something more worthwhile than recording TV programs or serving web pages.

Click here to get started. Let me know if you sign up, or if you already have and what your experience has been. No word yet if Harvard is going to have a program in which your PC solves our current economic crisis.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

The Conditional "No Soliciting" Sign

I work from home. It's a luxury I'll admit, but it does have its downsides. One of them is the periodic annoyance of people ringing my doorbell. This sends my dog into a full scale meltdown which of course means I have to descend from my attic lair to the first floor to calm my dog and find out who is ringing my doorbell.

Ninety percent of the time the person at my door is an unwelcome intrusion. If only there were some way to filter out the 90%. A simple "No Soliciting" sticker in my storm door might discourage everyone from ringing my doorbell and I don't want that. Somehow I need to figure out a sign. I don't mind politicians and school kids hawking trash bags, but the rest need to leave me be.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Tip til it hurts

Now certainly doesn't seem like the time to be eating out a lot. The economy seems to worsen every day and we all fear for our jobs. Why on earth would I be advocating being a good tipper? Bear with me.

Let's say you stay home slurping Ramen noodles and fearing the arrival of a pink slip. How is that going to help you, or the economy? Sure the noodle makers are happy, but what about the lost revenue for that locally owned restaurant you used to frequent? What about your own mental well-being? I survived many a black Friday in the 90's. Unfortunately at the time I was doing the very thing I now advocate against. I was worrying myself prematurely gray, not going out as much and in general living an unhappy life. It did me no good to worry and the money I saved by "scaling back" realistically would probably only have bought me an extra week or two before having to move into a cardboard box.

This time around I'm refusing to let the Sword of Damocles rule my life. I still have my job so I'm trying to make sure everyone who depends on people like me still have their jobs too. I eat out at great places like Accurso's and Cafe Al Dente. I make sure I tip well for good service. Hopefully that tip goes right from the server's pocket and right back out into the economy. Economists call that the "Money Multiplier" effect.

I realize I alone can't spend us out of an economic downturn, but unless I'm unfortunate enough to lose my job, the least I can do is help other people not to lose theirs. And if I have some really good meals and a good time doing it? That's just an added bonus.