That picture is the visual readout for the Chevy Volt on a cool late fall morning. Battery operated things don't work that well in cool/cold conditions, all Canadians know that, and electric cars of course run on batteries. If the temperature is less than minus 4 degrees Celsius (26F), the fossil fuel engine on the Volt comes on to help "condition" the battery, then shuts down after 3 or 4 minutes. The electric engine works optimally at 20 degrees Celsius (70F).
So as I look out on this frigid mid-December day, where I doubt that the temperature reached minus 12 Celsius (8F) with a minus 20C windchill, I wonder how the Volt would have performed. Probably not to well. The Volt doesn't like extremes of temperature, that is lower than minus 4C. Extremes!!
Gwyn Morgan has an interesting take on electric car dreams in the Globe today. I guess those booster cables will be really busy in the future. Can you boost an electric car?
Those of you that have read Ayn Rand's epic novel Atlas Shrugged, may have heard rumblings of late, that we are in fact living the novel. Atlas is shrugging, the novel is prophetic!
I suspect Rand thought exactly that, when the novel was published 53 years ago, but who knows. Certainly there are aspects of today's news stories that resemble Atlas Shrugged, but thats true of Orwell's Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four and other dystopian fictions.
The people at the Ayn Rand Institute however, want to stir the pot a bit and possibly catalyze some action through activism. They have sponsored a short video contest, submissions have closed (Dec. 8/10), the purpose being to continue the current rumblings. Why not? It's a great idea, some of the videos are very clever and the good news is, you may still vote for your favourite until Dec. 22nd, 2010. All the videos are located here, all deserve commendation, and I have posted one of my favourites below.
The entire enterprise anticipates Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 (the movie), scheduled for release on April 15th, 2011. Isn't that income-tax-deadline-day in the U.S.? Coincidence?
Tugwit-the-Terrible strikes again.
The fear of falling prices and thus the fear of a currency that could buy tomorrow, more than it bought yesterday (deflation), keeps government central bankers awake at night. Imagine borrowing a ton of money (like most countries already have), then having to repay it? Its much easier to repay the money if you could print some of it in your basement and scam the lenders. The sad truth is, that IS the job of central bankers like Ben Bernanke in the US (whoa to the Chinese). That's called inflation, and despite what Mr. Bernanke says, he LOVES inflation, he needs inflation, and will do anything to encourage it.
One of the first things central bankers do before they warm up the printing presses, is to hint to the media that deflation is possible, and that it is bad. I'm not sure why its bad, I like the fact that my computer today is faster, better, and CHEAPER, than my previous computer. I think that is deflationary, in fact my standard of living improves as prices deflate! Don't they? I'm confused, so I will let the people at the von Mises Institute explain.
After you have looked at that, watch this from Mr. Tugwit's Channel. Tugwit pulls no punches!
The following video was created by Tugwit the Terrible and can be found on Mr. Tugwit's Channel. You may have to watch this more than once, I did.
Just imagine trying to explain this scenario on a news program to the general public. Imagine the news anchor or reporter trying to keep the audience's eyes from glazing over.
I was very pleased to hear that Rep. Ron Paul has been named to chair the House Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee when the Republican majority takes over the US Congress in the new year. This will give Rep. Paul oversight on the Fed and maybe shed some much needed light onto its actions. Last year Ron Paul authored a book titled End the Fed. We can hope.
