Rowe (Inadvertently) Explains Why We Are Doomed On Energy

In my many posts on energy commenters make the point over and over again that I am too gloomy and don’t offer solutions. My lack of optimism comes from actually KNOWING how the BUSINESS of utilities works, which is independent of the technology, operations, or dreams of a “nuclear renaissance” or “alternative energy” or anything else.

There are only a few utilities that actually matter in the USA. There is Southern Company (NYSE: SO), which benefits from some old-school regulation in the South that actually encourages investment in base-load generation, and is currently building 2 nuclear units at the site of an existing nuclear plant at Vogtle. Another one that does matter, because of its scale (enough market cap to borrow to fund a nuclear plant) and the fact that it already is a big nuclear operator, is Exelon. And an interview with Rowe, the Chairman, explains in his own words, better than I ever could, how doomed we are if any sort of “new thinking” is needed to get us out of the impending base-load crisis.

Here is the dynamic leadership style of Rowe, in his own words:

There are probably only four or five real decisions I make in a year. There are an awful lot of things I just quietly ratify. I find it very hard to get officers to let you in before the food is cooked. Their natural tendency is to want to bring it to you all packaged. By then all you can do is say yes or no. And you usually say yes.

Awesome. And here is a Q&A about hiring, where he admits he isn’t very good at it:

Q. Let’s shift to hiring. How do you do it? What qualities are you looking for? A. Well, it’s not one of my greatest strengths

Most importantly, look at the cutting edge thinking he brings to the question of what he’d ask in an interview:

Q. If you could interview somebody for only five minutes and ask just two or three questions to check for this sense of responsibility that you touched on, what would you ask?

A. I’d probably ask them if they’d seen the old Gregory Peck movie of “Moby-Dick” where the Quaker sea captain says to Ishmael, “Are you man enough to pitch a harpoon down a live whale’s throat and jump after it?” That’s probably what I’d ask. And Ishmael of course gives the perfect answer. He says, “Well, I am, sir, if it be absolutely indispensible that I do so.”

Really? This is the type of question you’d ask – about Moby Dick? I can’t make this stuff up.

Cross posted at LITGM

Manzi on Manufacturing

Jim Manzi is a thinker/writer who often has interesting things to say; see for example his piece What Social Science Does–and Doesn’t–Know. He has a new series at NRO about U.S. manufacturing competitiveness: why it matters, and how it can be improved. Here are the first two posts: Part 1, and Part 2. As additional posts are added, they will be easily findable via googling.

See also my post Faux Manufacturing Nostalgia, which is about cultural influences on the situation of U.S. manufacturing; also A Manufacturing Renaissance?

Live up to the Snake! (Name the Snake.)

I have been going off about how we have to have a countervailing image to the Obama 2012 image in the zero, on a blue field, which I am already seeing all over the place.

The Gadsden snake in the zero, on a red field, is a good placeholder until the GOP has a candidate — and hopefully after.

We need a GOP candidate whose name can proudly be matched with the snake.

We need a GOP candidate who is serious about cleaning up the mess.

We need a GOP candidate who is not a squish.

We need a GOP candidate who will live up to the snake.

We all need to live up to the snake.

We need a name for the snake.

I don’t think the snake has ever had a name.

There’s a first time for everything.

I propose Ronald Gadsden Rattlesnake, a/k/a Ronnie Rattlesnake a/k/a Ronnie Rattler.

Ronnie for obvious reasons.

Your proposals are solicited. It will have to be really good to be better than Ronnie Rattler.

Snake 2012 stuff here.

Accounting for the End

I’d like to thank the members of the ChicagoBoyz community for their condolences on my mother’s passing last month. They’re deeply appreciated. I’m comforted by the knowledge that she’s in God’s all-caring hands, that she’s free of mortal cares or sorrows, and that we’ll be reunited forever in God’s good time.

One aspect of my family’s recent experience is worth sharing. It’s a data point of some interest to CB readers for many of the same varied reasons that bring us together here.

My mother suffered three major bouts of breast cancer over the last 16 years. Her cancer was likely triggered, and exacerbated, by the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) she took for five years prior and ten years following her first cancer diagnosis. Recent studies suggest that HRT’s benefits are limited to treating one post-menopausal condition and then only for a limited time. Extended use greatly increases the risk of developing breast cancer. Mom’s 15+ years went well past any red line. She didn’t stop HRT until after the third, ultimately fatal, bout with cancer.

Read more

Seventy Years Ago This Day

Barbarossa
Barbarossa

On June 22, 1941, a day that will live in infamy (everywhere else but America), the Wehrmacht poured over the barely established line of partition between the Hun-dominated Third Reich and the Georgian-dominated Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. So began Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion in human history.

It was named for Frederick I Barbarossa, the twelfth century Holy Roman Emperor and Hohenstaufen powerhouse who went east on Crusade only to drown ignominiously in an obscure Anatolian river along the way. After his death, Barbarossa became a sort of Hun Arthur. Hun legend told that Barbarossa hadn’t died in the swirling mountain currents of the Saleph. Instead, Barbarossa was sleeping with his knights in a cave under a mountain in Hun-Land named Kyffhauser. Once the ravens stop circling this mountain, Barbarossa will arise and lead the Hun back to his ancient greatness.

Barbarrosa looking for ravens
Barbarrosa looking for ravens

Or something.

Read more