Desalination a solution for our water woes? Uh, not so fast…

As we creep inexorably toward the one-year mark without meaningful rainfall (how mind-boggling is that, anyway?), ideas that were once bandied about in sci-fi mode now start to take on some semblance of credibility. Like, for example, the idea that we have plenty of water available to Texas, it’s just a bit on the salty… Continue reading Desalination a solution for our water woes? Uh, not so fast…

Some Actual Facts About Oil Industry Taxes

One of our local TV stations made a provocative post on Facebook this morning, on the subject of the Congressional hearings about gasoline prices, and whether oil companies “should get these tax breaks as oil and gas prices continue to soar, even if it impacted business here in West Texas?” The comments were predictably appalling… Continue reading Some Actual Facts About Oil Industry Taxes

“The intricate economics of terrorism”

Loretta Napoleoni is an economist, journalist, political activist, and author. Her professional specialty is in the financing of terrorist activity, and how mainstream economic activity is affected by that financing. I found [via Bruce Schneier’s blog] the following video of a speech given at the 2009 TEDGlobal Conference, and it’s quite fascinating. In a relatively… Continue reading “The intricate economics of terrorism”