VC:VC Immense Egos

This is the first panel of a 1999 Dilbert cartoon about doctors. Written a year later it might have targeted Venture Capitalists, endowment managers or philanthropists, all of whose egos were inflated by the tech bubble of that time. How the mighty have all fallen.


Of course, now, it would have to be about bloggers :)

A tangentially related recent article in the Economist (Ivory-Towering Infernos) looks into the latest questions being raised about the symbiotic relationships of large university endowments and the private equity (including VC) funds in which they invest.

Energy Flow

Thanks to a recent pitch by an entrepreneur, I saw this amazing chart from the US Government Energy Information Administration. The diagram shows sources and uses of energy in the USA in 2007.

In these times of nationalizing everything, finding out we have such a soviet-sounding bureaucracy is little comfort. However, this may be worthy of Tufte (or at least, in the right direction), so enjoy. Click on the picture to see the full size.

The units are quadrillion BTUs. Those Brits are everywhere (BTU = British Thermal Units).

Britain, uniquely

Britain, uniquely, has power consumption habits related to tea and TV...

How I miss the BBC.

Bostonian of the Year: vote for the Bike Czar

Boston Globe Magazine is soon due to name a Bostonian of the Year. All of the contenders probably deserve the accolade (as do many more)... but the great work of Nicole Freedman, the wonderful Boston Bike Czar, is something new for Boston. Previously one of the worst cities in the USA for cycling, Nicole's work is moving us towards being a "future best city" (both according to Bicycling Magazine).

So I vote for Nicole as Bostonian of the year.

Click here to vote for Nicole.