This is the third, and final entry about Farecast on Musings from the Coast. For those who don’t know, Farecast is a travel service that allegedly has a model that predicts airfare cost and advises travelers based on that when to purchase a ticket. Sounds great, right? It doesn’t work.

A good idea poorly implemented is apparently still worth something, perhaps $115M. Which is what Microsoft ponied up to bring Farecast into the family. Now Microsoft is a smart company and they must have done due diligence before the deal, but they didn’t talk to dissatisfied former customers like me. I could have saved them a bundle by showing them empirically with Farecast’s own data that taking the opposite advice of given would lead to the best price for travelers.

Well, now that Farecast has gotten their payday, I want mine. Using Farecast cost me $500 over two trips, when do I get my money? The Farecast team that wrote and promoted this piece of bovine feces has had a liquidity event. Where’s mine? And what about all the other schlubs who tried this flawed model and lost money?

Good luck Microsoft, you’re going to need it.

“I’ve got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won’t last a round against the Republican attack machine. He’s a poet, not a fighter.”
-Tom Buffenbarger, Youngstown, Ohio

My how the world turns. What would Thomas Jefferson make of an African-American being positioned as the elitist poster-child by a former first lady while battling for the nomination to run for President?

Hillary, with her estimated net worth of $35M is likely to be, shall we say, a little more out of touch with the working class family than Obama with his estimated net worth of $1.3M (though I did notice a snippet that Obama’s 2007 income quadrupled to $4M.) Let’s stipulate that neither candidate is worrying about where their next mortgage payment is going to come from or how they’ll pay for the next tank of gas (I just paid $4.09/gallon for regular unleaded this morning.)

In any case, getting back to Mr. Buffenbarger’s assertion, is there a correlation between hybrid owners, birkenstock buyers, latte sippers, and/or trust fund babies?

Blogger Ethan over at UrbanSpoon.com has posted a brilliant article on the possible correlations and his findings are a bit surprising. Rather than let the cat out of the bag here, suffice to say there is a weak correlation between one of the attributes mentioned and support for Obama. It’s worth a visit to the original article to have the full context as it’s very well articulated and documented. And beyond that, it’s a little funny too. Hope you enjoy it!

And the notion that Obama is a poet, not a fighter. Well Ethan doesn’t take that one on. But I’ll weigh in here and say that better is always different and after decades of “fighters” – perhaps a step outside the box would be good for the nation, and perhaps even, the world. One of the world leaders I’ve always admired is Vaclav Havel, the former President of the Czech Republic and a world-class writer before he assumed the office. He wasn’t perfect, but he did catalyze huge change and manage to lead his country along a path into the 21st century pretty effectively…There is a precedent for different being much, much better.

It’s gone back to its primary home at the Renewable Energy Journal. There was just too much overhead posting in both places. So, if that’s what you were here to read, go there instead. I may post a digest of articles here on a periodic basis, but the Renewable Energy Journal is the place to go for your clean energy fix.

• Canadian Geothermal Potential – Just what heat is up there anyway?
• Euro Utility Renewable Map – Want to know how much renewable energy is active in Europe and how much it cost? This is the spot to find out.
• Switchgrass Gas – Forget ethanol, what about cheap gasoline made from switchgrass?

Attribution: Multiple Sources
Since our fellow humans who follow mythology seem to be a little unclear on what theories are, I thought that this was appropriate to remind them that theories are possible to test. While on planet earth there is this invisible force called gravity that keeps our collective butts on the sofa while watching TV. Anyone can test gravity, find something heavy, position it over a toe, and drop it. The pain felt post-drop is demonstrating that gravity the theory, is probably, and at least mostly, right.

What if we took a mammoth fossil, positioned it over an “intelligent design” proponent, and dropped it? That would test a few theories all at once…

Attribution: Unknown
Hope you all filed your forms appropriately! This year, in all seriousness, Turbo Tax was a life saver (and $ saver.) It found a couple of places to make some minor changes that saved us thousands. If you’re not using Turbo Tax, you’re missing the boat! No, I don’t hold Intuit shares and no, this is not a paid endorsement. Get Turbo Tax.