Global Competitiveness

2017 Global competitiveness report has been published, and Switzerland tops the overall rankings for the six years. This year, U.S. landed the second place and Singapore has slipped to third. The most significant change was the Hong Kong improved the score to sixth from ninth last year.

US Utility Regulation

Once a set of decisions about projects and investments, kinds and levels of expenses, and their booked costs are accepted, regulators allow utilities to recover operating expenses in full, as well as capital costs plus an opportunity to earn a commission approved "rate of return" on invested equity.

The rate of return is made up of a return on debt (bonds) and a return on equity (stocks), weighted to reflect the proportional shares of total capital each type of security provides. 

This system of compensation is predicated on the assumption that nearly all, if not all, utilities are creating investor value every time they make capital investments. That may have been appropriate when the primary social goal of the utility sector was to grow enough to provide universal service, and economies of scale were clear. 

http://www.westerngrid.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/CostValue-Part1-Revenue.pdf

Adjectives used to describe animal-like appearances or behaviors

bovine (cow)

feline (cat)

canine (dog)

ovine (sheep)

porcine (pig)

lupine (wolf)

murine (mouse)

equine (horse)

leporine (rabbit)

vulpine (fox)

ursine (bear)

taurine (bull)

cervine (deer)

elapine (viper)

caprine (goat)

ranine (frog)

vespine (wasp)

anserine (goose)

Wind profiler

Wind profilers are Doppler radars with which we can grasp the wind speed and direction in the atmosphere.

 

• US NOAA Research
• Japan Meteorological Agency

 

 

Foreign bond names

There are funny names of the bonds which was issued by the different entity, like company or government, but is issued and traded in an country and the local currency:

 

• Yankee bond (US)
• Maple bond (Canada)
• Bulldog bond (UK)
• Kangaroo/Matilda Bond (Australia)
• Kiwi bond (New Zealand)
• Panda bond (China)
• Dim sum bond (Hong Kong)
• Samurai bond (Japan)
• Kimchi bond (Korea)
• Masala bond (India)
• Baklava bond (Turkey)

 

You can find another story here.

 

 

Hurricane

These days, within the weather forecast, we frequently hear the name of spaghetti models, which shows the multiple trajectory forecasts of hurricanes.

 

Spaghetti models (also called spaghetti plots) is the nickname given to the computer models that show potential tropical cyclone paths. When shown together, the individual model tracks can somewhat resemble strands of spaghetti.

 

There are so many different spaghetti models:

•XTRP

•TVCN

•NHC

•BAMD

•BAMM

•BAMS

•GFDL

•UKM

•NGPS

•AVNO

•AEMN

•HWRF

•CM

•APxx

•CLP5

 

CMBS Default Study

CMBS Default Study from Kroll Bond Rating Agency, implying fewer defaults with higher losses.

 

US Energy Information Administration Data

Production is quadrillion British thermal units (Btu), but sometimes the unit of Megawatt hour (MWh) is used. The conversion is 1 Btu = 2.93E-7 MWh.

 

Historical Total Energy: https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/index.php

Projections: https://www.eia.gov/analysis/projection-data.cfm