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“I don’t know who he is, but he just ordered J&B”

J&B RARE SCOTCH POURS MORE PLEASURE

Pennies More In Cost, Worlds Apart In Quality
From Justerini & Brooks, Founded 1749

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Let us send you facts and figures showing how the FEDERAL actually pay a for itself and mors in a year’s time. Write today for the complete FEDERAL story. Address Washing Machine Dept.

Federal Sign System (Electric) Lake and Desplaines Streets, CHICAGO Branches in 25 Cities

Talk about a gigantic contrarian indicator -- Institutional Investor (II) has declared that the equity party is over!

Institutional Investor: The equity party is over.

After a 25-year bender in which stocks catapulted Wall Street to such dizzying heights that financial firms managed to tip off a worldwide recession, the cult of equities is declining in earnest. The resulting hangover could fundamentally change the game for Wall Street.

Here are some of their key reasons why investors will err towards bonds over stocks going forward.

• Aging investors need bonds, not stocks. "About 22 percent of Americans, some 68 million people, will reach retirement age by 2020, and as baby boomers start drawing down their assets, they can’t risk wild fluctuations."
• Investors have seen too many stock crashes in the last decade. "“They’re saying, ‘We’ve seen two major market crashes in a decade, and this one is even worse than the first — and it’s not over. I’m done,’” says Harry Dent, the author of six books on the impact of an aging population on national economies."
• Pensions regulation now favors bonds. "New legislation has impelled pension funds to match the duration of their assets to their liabilities, and as a consequence they are adding bonds, greatly downplaying equities and making their portfolios more conservative. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 made corporations pay stricter attention to funding and prevented them from smoothing their plans’ returns over many years. ... John Haugh, an analyst from Bank of America Merrill Lynch who covers institutional investors, says this could result in $300 billion to $500 billion in U.S. pensions, endowments and foundations money flowing out of U.S. large-cap equities into international markets, alternatives and fixed income.""
• Investors have already fled stocks. "Don Phillips, managing director of Morningstar, says the decline of equity is well under way. Bond fund flows are at record highs even as investors lower their exposure to equities."

Great stuff, it's just that II's conclusion is completely backwards.

A new age of stock skepticism sounds like great news for patient buyers looking to pick up cheap stocks before they become famous.

Every single argument above is only bearish for those who follow a short-term greater fool theory to investing. While we might not be able to count on over-hyped stock bubbles anymore as much as we used to, if you buy a cheap company set to generate massive cash flow over the next five years, don't worry, investors will eventually notice what's going on regardless of how skeptical they initially were.

For hedge funds even, investor disinterest in stocks means that a lot of smaller companies might be very cheap, and open to shareholder activism as well. If the market doesn't recognize your company's cash flow as fast as you like, make the company pay out cash flow as a higher dividend. Or get your company sold to an industry player who can capture the value the market may temporarily miss.

Also, from a broader perspective, if debt is overpriced vs. stocks, it clearly benefits shareholders when one thinks about the funding of companies. Equity holders will be able to fund their companies via cheaper bonds (since bonds will be overly favored) rather than share dilution (stocks aren't hyped, so companies are incentived to fund a company via debt). Such a skew in investor-love for bonds vs. stocks ultimately leads to higher cash flow per share, from fewer shares and lower interest costs on debt funding. This is great if you plan to invest via equity over the next few years.

The mess of finance and investing theory can sometimes confuse us from simple truths -- if you're a future buyer, then cheaper, less hyped assets are better. Investor distate for stocks would mean a great buying environment going forward, and rather than the party being over... it would be just beginning.

Read the full Institutional Investor article here >

(Tip via Abnormal Returns)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Stocks Still Set To Rise As Slow Growth Equals Cheap Money
• Sky High Profit Margin Expectations Baked Into Stocks For 2010
• Healthcare Stocks EXPLODE Higher After Big Vote On Reform

As many of us prepare to take a few days off around during the Holiday Season, I wanted to let you know that 1 v 100 Live will have a special Holiday episode on December 26th @ 9p ET/6p PT that everyone can play…for free. 1 v 100 Live will be free for all Xbox LIVE members (Gold and Silver) from Dec. 24th to the 28th (in regions where it is available.)

Additionally, later today when you sign in to Xbox LIVE, watch for the brand new Games Music Marketplace. Look for specific Music stores for games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Lips.

When you’re browsing your dashboard, you can enter the the stores from this image:

 

 

That will bring you to the Music Games stores.

 

 

 

Here is the official press release on this and more.

 

Have a great Holiday and I’ll see you online.

Tetsuya Nomura is a busy, busy man. Right now he’s working on four confirmed projects that have yet to be released: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Final Fantasy Agito XIII, and The 3rd

As I write this letter, the climate negotiations in Copenhagen have come to a close. The resulting Copenhagen Accord—produced after excruciating round-the-clock negotiations—is an important step on the road to an international agreement. Its emissions reductions are clearly inadequate and important details have yet to be completed. But never before have both developed and developing countries made such clear and tangible commitments to addressing climate change.

WRI’s climate team was heavily engaged “on the ground” throughout COP-15, on issues ranging from avoided deforestation and adaptation to the arcane details of accounting and verification. Many of the final documents—including the Copenhagen Accord—reflect WRI’s work and expertise.

But our work is far from over; in fact, the most difficult work is likely ahead. No generation before ours fully understood the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. No generation after ours will have a better opportunity to chart a course that avoids a global environmental catastrophe. We have the opportunity and the capacity to act, both through strong U.S. legislation and an international agreement. But the window of opportunity—environmentally, economically, and politically—is closing fast. We are the generation faced with this task, and we must respond.

But we need your support to respond with the urgency demanded by this challenge.

With your help:

• WRI has become the go-to resource on international climate data, especially as it relates to greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
• We are helping design the tools that will be used to verify country-level reduction commitments—something developed nations insist must be part of a deal.
• Our climate team is playing a major role in creating the finance mechanisms that will help the most vulnerable countries adapt to the effects of climate change—a critical component of an agreement for most developing nations.
• WRI has also been an influential voice in ensuring that climate policies address emissions from deforestation in a way that is measurable and permanent, without sacrificing the livelihoods of indigenous communities that depend on forest resources.

But no international agreement will be complete or effective without a U.S. commitment that is backed by domestic legislation. And once we have legislation, a global agreement will assure others act as well. With your generous support, we are continuing to engage legislators in Congress to help them better understand international climate change efforts—including the vital role of China and other major developing countries—and the implications for U.S. policy.

We have come far in the past twenty-five years. Today we stand on the verge of a de-carbonized world that can have both economic vitality and environmental health. We have the tools and the technologies. What we need is the will. The choices we make today will determine what urgent issues like climate change will mean for people and nature tomorrow.

Please help WRI tackle these challenges with a special year-end gift.

Together, we can protect the environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Lash
President

OneRiot, one of the leading real-time search engines, just announced the launch of a new advertising product for real-time apps. RiotWise Trending Ads will give OneRiot’s partners a feed of ads related to currently trending topics on the Web. These ads can, for example, be integrated in a user’s stream of updates in Twitter apps or displayed as regular mobile ad units. Digsby, for example, plans to place these ads directly in its users’ streams, but because the units are delivered as a feed through OneRiot’s API, developers are free to use them in whatever way they see fit.

Sponsor

OneRiot’s ad network, RiotWise, launched about two months ago as a closed beta with roughly 20 partners. The new RiotWise Trending Ads program was built on top of this network. The network will feature a mix of CPM and CPC ads.

2010: It’s All About Monetizing the Real-Time Web

As OneRiot’s general manager Tobias Peggs told us earlier this month, “2010 will be all about monetizing the real-time Web.” Real-time advertising, however, comes with its own set of challenges. While Google AdSense, for example, can take its time to learn about what works best for a certain keyword, advertising systems for the real-time web have to work with a different set of signals and react to an environment that is always in flux. In this context, it makes sense for OneRiot to launch a product that focuses on trending topics and not on trying to match an individual user’s stream to the right advertiser.

Initially, OneRiot will work closely with developers to ensure that the initial implementations of the RiotWise Trending Ads work well for users. For now, developers will have to get approval to use the new ads by applying through the OneRiot Developer Network. The company plans to roll out the program more aggressively in the next year.

Discuss

A recent U.S. government raid on illegally sourced wood is a wake-up call to businesses.

On November 17, 2009, U.S. federal agents raided Gibson Guitar Corporation’s manufacturing facility in Nashville, Tennessee. The raid was part of an investigation into the illegal trade of a rare wood species allegedly used in some of Gibson’s renowned musical instruments.

According to press reports, agents purportedly seized wood, guitars, and documents in the first known enforcement action under the recently amended Lacey Act. Widely covered in the media, the raid is a wake-up call to businesses that are part of forest product supply chains that they need to heed the Lacey Act and avoid illegally sourced wood and paper.

Illegal logging –timber harvesting that breaks a country’s national laws – squanders approximately US $15 billion of assets and revenue for developing nations each year and is a driver of deforestation. As the single largest consumer and importer of forest products, the United States has the capacity to reduce illegal logging practices on a global scale.

On May 22, 2008, the U.S. Congress passed a landmark amendment to the 100 year-old Lacey Act, originally enacted to prohibit the transportation of illegally captured animals or wildlife products across state lines. The new law extended this protection to plants – including timber, paper, and other forest products – thereby giving the U.S. government a powerful tool to eliminate illegally sourced wood and increase transparency in the global forest product supply chain.

The November Gibson raid is the first high profile amended Lacey Act investigation, demonstrating that the U.S. government is taking illegal logging seriously – and that companies in both the United States and abroad need to already be in compliance.

In partnership with the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the World Resources Institute (WRI) has released a Lacey Act fact sheet designed to answer some frequently asked questions about the Lacey Act.

The four-page fact sheet, Are You Ready for the Lacey Act? (PDF, 4 pages, 231 Kb), provides companies with answers and counsel on a suite of issues, including:

• What does the Lacey Act entail?
• What is considered “illegal” under the amended Lacey Act?
• What risks do buyers, traders, and sellers of wood, paper, and other forest products face if they violate the Lacey Act?
• What can companies do to avoid becoming the subject of a Lacey Act investigation?
• Does certification mean that a forest product is exempt or already in compliance with the amended Lacey Act?

Download Fact Sheet (PDF, 4 pages, 231 Kb)

For more information, please contact:

• Adam Grant, Senior Associate, WRI, agrant@wri.org, (202) 729-7623
• Lars Laestadius, Senior Associate, WRI, larsl@wri.org, (202) 729-7633
• Anne Middleton, Outreach Coordinator, EIA, anne@eia-international.org, (202) 483-6621

This will also be one of the featured topics at WRI President Jonathan Lash’s Stories to Watch in 2010 press conference on January 7, 2010 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C.

What is the Lacey Act and how can companies comply? This fact sheet provides answers to frequently asked questions.

• Download Fact Sheet (PDF, 4 pages, 231 Kb)

On November 17, 2009, U.S. federal agents raided Gibson Guitar Corp.’s Nashville, Tennessee manufacturing facility. The raid was part of an investigation
into the illegal trade of a rare wood species allegedly used in some of Gibson’s renowned musical instruments. According to press reports, agents seized
wood, guitars, and documents in the first known enforcement action under the recently amended Lacey Act. Widely covered in the media, the raid is a
wake-up call to all businesses that are part of forest product supply chains that they need to heed the Lacey Act.
What is the Lacey Act? What risks do buyers, traders, and sellers of wood, paper, and other forest products face if they violate it? What can companies do
to avoid becoming the subject of a Lacey Act investigation? This fact sheet provides some answers to these and related questions.

1. What is the U.S. Lacey Act and why is it important?

On May 22, 2008, the U.S. Congress passed a groundbreaking law banning
commerce in illegally sourced plants and their products—including timber,
wood, and paper products. The new law is an amendment to the Lacey Act of
1900, named after the congressman who fi rst championed it. While the Lacey
Act has long been one of the most powerful tools for U.S. agencies fi ghting
wildlife crime, its potential to combat illegal logging remained untapped.
Now the Lacey Act sets a precedent for the global trade in plants and plant
products, acknowledging and supporting the efforts of other countries to govern their
own natural resources and putting in place powerful incentives for
companies trading in these commodities to do the same.

2. What does the law do to address illegal logging?

To address illegal logging and other illegal plant trade, the amended Lacey Act does
three main things:

• Prohibits all trade in plants and plant products—including furniture, paper, and
  lumber—that are illegally sourced from any U.S. state or foreign country;
• Requires importers to declare the country of origin of harvest and species name of
  all plants contained in their products (a provision that is currently being phased
  in); and
• Establishes penalties for violations of the law, including forfeiture of goods and
  vessels, fi nes, and jail time.

3. When does the amended Lacey Act go into effect?

The amended Lacey Act has been in effect since May 22, 2008. Companies or persons caught with illegally sourced wood or plant products can now be prosecuted and have their goods confi scated. The declaration requirement of the Lacey Act is being phased in by product type.1 Throughout this phase-in
process, enforcement of the act’s prohibition on trade in illegally sourced plant and plant products is already in effect for all types of products,
whether or not they are on the phase-in schedule.

4. What is “illegal” under the amended Lacey Act?

There are two components to a violation of the Lacey Act. First, a plant must be taken, harvested, possessed, transported, sold, or exported in violation
of a relevant underlying law in any foreign country or the United States. This constitutes an illegally sourced plant.
Second, a person or company must trade this illegally sourced plant in U.S. interstate or foreign commerce—in the act’s words, one must “import,
export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase.” It is only this second transaction that triggers a violation of the Lacey Act.
The Lacey Act does not impose U.S. law on other countries. “Illegally sourced” is defined by the content of a sovereign nation’s own laws. The law applies
equally to plants taken, harvested, transported, or exported in violation of the relevant laws of any U.S. state, territory, or tribal government, as well.

5. What are some examples of an amended Lacey Act violation?

Examples of Lacey Act violations include, but are not limited to:

• A company in the United States imports a shipment of wood fl ooring from country X made from timber that had been harvested without valid
  permits in country Y;
• A company in the United States purchases paper made from pulp sourced via illegal logging practices in country Y;
• An exporter purposefully mislabels a shipment to the United States as a less valuable species in order to avoid higher tariffs; and
• A veneer importer does not identify the correct country (or potential countries) of harvest origin for the species used.

6. How pervasive is illegal logging?

Illegal logging occurs in all regions of the world. Examples include timber theft; logging in a national park or protected area; logging CITES-listed
species (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) without a permit; failure to pay taxes or tariffs on a shipment of logs; and taking
logs without proper authorization. The extent of illegal logging varies dramatically by exporting country and species; in some countries, it is as high as
60–80 percent of harvested wood. An estimated 10 percent of annual wood imports into the United States is of illegal origin.

7. What are the penalties under the amended Lacey Act?

Lacey Act civil and criminal penalties vary according to how much the company or individual knew about the crime, as well as the value of the good or
shipment in question. Figure 1 describes the general categories and potential penalties.

8. What can a company do to comply with the amended Lacey Act?

It is each company’s responsibility to exercise “due care” and understand the origin of its forest products, keeping in mind that a Lacey violation can
occur at almost any point in a forest product supply chain. To help improve compliance, a company could:

• Ask its suppliers questions, such as: What are your supply chains? Can you trace them all the way back to the forest? What is the degree of illegal
  activity in that forest or region? Do you have proper documentation?
• Institute internal policies and procedures to track forest products. Available options may include barcode or other tracing systems, legality verifi cation,
  third-party certifi cation, stepwise programs offered by various organizations, or other public-private partnership models designed to help
  companies manage procurement of forest products.
• Use a robust risk management system to assess risk of illegality. Exercise extra care when procuring forest products from regions with known or
  suspected high rates of illegal logging. The Lacey Act is a fact-based rather than a document-based statute. If imported products turn out to be of illegal origin de facto, this fact will override
  any statement or document to the contrary. Illegal products are often accompanied by forged documents. Therefore, evaluating your suppliers and
  developing trust in them and the forest products they provide is as important as obtaining physical papers. Means of evaluation can include:
• Conducting independent research on suppliers via on-line sources and your business contacts;
• Establishing long-term relationships rather than buying on spot markets;
• Consistently questioning your suppliers about the origin of their products and documenting their answers; and
• Making supplier and forest site visits if possible.

9. Does certification mean that a forest product is exempt or already in compliance with the amended Lacey Act?

Third-party sustainable forestry certifi cation and legality verifi cation systems are very good approaches for demonstrating “due care.” They help demonstrate
to both governments and customers that you have taken proactive steps to eliminate illegal wood or plant material from your supply chain.
However, certifi cation and verifi cation are not required by the Lacey Act, do not serve as “get-out-of-jail free” cards, and do not relieve importers of the
requirement to submit appropriate import declaration information to APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of USDA) or U.S. Customs and
Border Patrol.

10. Of what value is the scientific name (genus and species) of plant products in the declaration requirement?

Scientifi c names of plant species are a means of obtaining precise information about the forest product being purchased. Relying on common species
names is imprecise, as a single species may have a wide variety of commercial or country-specifi c common names. Conversely, many distinct species
may share the same common name. Buyers who do not know the scientifi c name cannot be sure whether or not they are violating CITES or other laws
that protect endangered species.

11. Is the best strategy simply to stop sourcing from high risk countries?

Not necessarily. Examples of good and bad logging practices exist in every country. Certain high-value species and countries with long track records of
illegal logging clearly warrant particular vigilance, but that means “do your homework,” not necessarily “stay away.” Businesses with good practices
in such countries should be rewarded. The U.S. government will not be creating an offi cial list of “high-risk” countries. No matter from which country
you source, including the United States or Canada, you should know as much as possible about the wood material’s origin.

12. Where can I learn more?

For more information, visit www.eia-global.org/lacey or www.sustainableforestprods.org.
Or contact:

• Anne Middleton, Forest Campaign Outreach Coordinator, Environmental Investigation Agency, anne@eia-international.org, +1 202 483 6621
• Adam Grant, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute, adam.grant@wri.org, +1 202 729 7623

Download Fact Sheet (PDF, 4 pages, 231 Kb)

First, there were the failed banks.

Then, countries started to fold. 

2009 has been the year of shrinking budgets, and economic slowdown for many nations.

In 2010, sovereign defaults are expected to be the economic story.

While many of these survivors have their own troubles, their problems are so far from the dire situations in Dubai, Greece and the UK, that they’re great safe havens for investors.

We have our picks for the world’s safest sovereigns, based on a report of CMA DataVision.

See the governments that will survive the sovereign credit meltdown >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Deutsche Bank: Sovereign Debt And Tighter Money Are Big Risks, But Equities Will Gain 20%
• Morgan Stanley: First Comes The Banking Crisis, Then Comes The Sovereign Debt Crisis
• The 10 Countries Most Likely To Default

Filed under: Crossover, Subaru, Reviews

Even in the face of a bleak economy and dreadful auto sales, Subaru managed to have a breakout year in 2009. Products like the Forester and the Impreza helped Subaru achieve consistent year-over-year gains while the Japanese automaker continues to post stellar quality ratings through J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. And the accolades don’t stop there. The new-for-2009 Forester was crowned the 2008 Motor Trend SUV of the year, and this year Subaru accomplished a surprise repeat taking the award for the second straight year with the 2010 Outback.

However, the new Outback isn’t the capable, milquetoast lifted station wagon we’ve come to know and respect over the years. It’s now bigger. Quite a bit bigger, performing a similar wagon-to-crossover transformation that the Forester pulled off a year earlier. Granted, the Outback is only two inches taller and wider, and a mere three inches longer between the wheels, but the result is a wagon that looks much larger than the model it replaces. We’ve come to expect that kind of growth in a world of constant size and weight one-upping, but we had to wonder – has increased functionality come at the expense of entertainment once again? We snagged a six-cylinder Outback to find out.

Photos by Chris Shunk / Copyright (C)2009 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Review: 2010 Subaru Outback adds size, power and refinement for a big wagon winner

Review: 2010 Subaru Outback adds size, power and refinement for a big wagon winner originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More and more parents are revealing personal details (in words and photos) about their lives, their children’s lives, and their parenting in their blogs and on conversational sites like Facebook and Twitter. 

Is this because they have too much time on their hands, are bored with life, or want recognition (even if it means sharing a dirty diaper)?  They discuss their parenting errors, their children’s personal activities, and home life.

Will the children be appreciative of all this “dirty laundry aired” in future years?  Will you, at some future time, wish you hadn’t revealed so much?  Will it come back to haunt you? Sometimes when we act impulsively, because that’s the trend, we wish later we’d given more thought to what we did. 

Sharing can be encouraging and inspiring to others, if done with taste.  Humor has its place when we’re not poking fun at others, especially family, friends and colleagues who trust us.  I’ve often written about our family life in articles and columns over the years.  I frequently run an anecdote by the family member to see whether it will embarass them or not.  If they don’t approve, I won’t use it.  There are some incidents I won’t write about because it invades another’s privacy.  There are some family members I won’t mention by name or situation because they’re very private people. 

Also, what are we teaching our children, if we invade their and others’ privacy to achieve a “moment of fame” on the Internet? 

What are your thoughts?

Post from: Blisstree

Should Parents “Tell All” on Blogs?

Dressed in Army combat uniforms, red and white hats, elf ears, red elf shoes adorned with bells and sunglasses, two Task Force 38 Soldiers accompanied the cotton ball-bearded, sunglass-wearing “Santa Wootten” as they walked from office to office distributing holiday cheer here, Dec. 4…

Members of Task Force 38, with the 38th Combat Aviation Brigade of the Indiana
National Guard put their own spin on the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” addressing
suicide while making their audience laugh Dec. 4 here at the Freedom
Chapel…

Jolly Ol’ St. Nick and wife, Mrs. Claus, helped Brig. Gen. Al Dohrmann of the North
Dakota National Guard deliver a special holiday message back to North Dakota to
families of Kosovo Forces (KFOR) Soldiers serving here Dec. 13…

On the western side of the Pentagon, at the memorial to those who died during the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, volunteers had mounted 184 evergreen wreaths on
the fence — one for each person who died there…

National Guardsmen in seven states were called to duty over the weekend after a
record snowfall blanketed the Northeast…

Application spam is a very real issue that’s been plaguing online application stores (Apple’s in particular) for some time now. Some development houses resort to seeding these virtual shelves with hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of the same application with a slight twist or variation in hopes of  improving the chances of getting their applications seen.  This approach works for a handful of developers, but it is endemic to one of the more unpleasant aspects of Apple’s App Store, causing the overall user experience to suffer.

This issue has been discussed and acknowledged by Palm’s own Co-Directors of Developer Relations in various presentations and interviews in the past (including a recent keynote presentation delivered at Sprint’s 2009 Open Developers Conference), and it appears that Palm’s own App Catalog is beginning to see this phenomenon. Anyone who has been monitoring the recent growth of the beta App Catalog are starting to get a better feel for how this works.  The business model at issue: build a rudimentary application, make x number variants for it, where x is as large a number as possible.

These developments have lead to some interesting discussion over at the Palm Developer Network forums.  Some have been suggesting an outright ban for some of these applications, suggesting that Palm expand its role as the gatekeeper to deem which wares (beyond the already established guidelines of usability and performance) are acceptable for sale and which ones aren’t.  Others, such as Palm’s very own Chuq Von Rospach, have a much more practical outlook.

read more

Could Homer Simpson derail the nuclear renaissance?

Don’t laugh—the idea has some currency in Canada. Homer’s bumbling nature—you’ve seen him at work inside the Springfield nuclear power plant—simply reinforces public worries about the safety of nuclear power. Mr. Burns doesn’t much help the industry’s image. Three-eyed fish don’t help, either. And Lisa Simpson’s eco-activism is the icing on the cake.

That’s from philosophy professor Bill Irwin, who’s been making the rounds on Canadian radio in the wake of the decision by the province of Saskatchewan to nix plans for a new nuclear reactor. Dr. Irwin wrote “The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer,” one of his several books on the confluence of TV and philosophy. (Wait for Tony Soprano on cap-and-trade.)

The idea that the Simpsons could influence public attitudes toward nuclear energy isn’t so far-fetched: As much as we harp on mundane issues such as economics, lead times, supply chains, and the waste issue, it’s entirely possible that Homer has a bigger audience than MIT reports.

Indeed, public-opinion surveys show that nuclear-plant safety is at the top of the list of concerns among folks still leery of nuclear energy.

Still, it seems that Saskatchewan’s decision to hold off for now on the construction of a new nuclear plant has more to do with economics than with Homer or plant safety.

Simply put, nuclear power plants today are an expensive proposition. Without a hefty price for carbon emissions that makes traditional power sources less appealing, nuclear reactors are hard to justify—even if, in the U.S., nuclear power accounts for 70% of clean electricity.

In any event, to make nuclear power a bigger part of the energy mix, policy makers and the public will have to grapple with issues a lot weightier even than Homer. The big question is what weighs more in the balance: A few radioactive rods bouncing through a title sequence, or the need to shift the world’s energy mix away from carbon-intensive power sources.