According to Daniel Fisher, the best thing about Shale gas is that we know where it is. Will the future of fracking skip the water? More on the American energy boom.

Are we making too big a deal out of fat? There are, without a doubt, reasons to be concerned about the health ramifications of the obesity epidemic. I don’t think that’s all that’s going on here.

I am definitely keeping an eye on Motorola’s xPhone. It could be the avenue through which niche features become available again.

Tim Worstall thinks that smartphones will go the way of PC’s and that Samsung and Apple may be in danger. He should be right, but I think he’s wrong. Anyone want to guess why? Hint.

Since I don’t expect government action to provide a solution, I am hoping that geoengineering might. There’s a lot of debate about geoengineering going on.

The same policies that would help women in the workplace might keep them from advancing.

I don’t have the problem with the minimum wage as a concept, but given the enormous differentials in cost of living, does it make sense to have a national minimum wage?

Sometimes rural subsidies help out the not so rural.

China is throwing its lot in with Ubuntu Linux. Or at least their own version of it.

The legal challenges of ridesharing. We need a word for shipmentsharing.

Nobody fears tax simplification like TurboTax fears tax simplication.

The anti-Google Glass people are real killjoys. I can sort of understand why we might not want people using them on the road, though.

Note to self (and any Neil Gaiman fans): Check this out.

The administration is pushing the FAA to either allow electronics during takeoff-landing or to justify the prohibition. Which is the way it should. This is really one of those quasi-populist, relatively small-time lifestyle issues that I don’t understand why it’s so hard for politicians to want to get out in front of. (Flex-time is another one.)