The Handbuilt City

ChatGPT Fabricated A Plausible, But Incorrect, Biography Of Me.

March 19, 2023March 19, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments AI, ai ethics, artificial intelligence, charles seife, chatgpt, ethics in ai, gpt, nlp, openai, science

In December, science and mathematics journalist Charles Seife was disturbed to learn that he, according to OpenAI’s new natural language

midjourney ai image of neon illuminated district heating plant

Sustainability Cities & Urban Planning Energy Utilities

New Ideas For Utility Policy (Idea No. 2)

March 16, 2023March 15, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ASHRAE, district cooling, district energy, district heating, energy, glycol loop, magic-pak, PTAC, steam heat, utilities

In my last article, I looked at this question of “dig once” and how it might influence utility affordability and

red yellow and green stop light colored frames of black and white charcoal

Business & Economics Policy Infrastructure

Dig Once, The Most Important Policy You’ve Never Heard Of

March 15, 2023March 15, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments

What if it were possible for us to have our cake, eat it too, AND save 80% or more on infrastructure costs? No, this isn’t the opening to a late night infomercial– it’s the introduction to a neat little idea called Dig Once!

stock market crash electronic image midjourney ai

Business & Economics Finance Urban Planning Finance Tech

The Collapse Of SVB Is A Big Deal. It’s Not a Catastrophic Big Deal.

March 13, 2023March 13, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 1929, charles perrow, FDIC, federal deposit insurance corporation, federal reserve bank, glass-steagall, Great Depression, investment banking, matterport, mehrsa baradaran, NASDAQ, normal accidents, QQQ, savings and loan, silicon valley bank, svb, tech banks, tech bubble, tech crash, the color of money

The tech world and the finance world are both abuzz this week over the nearly overnight collapse of Silicon Valley

midjourney AI rendering of splotchy steel mill

Art & Design Tech

Midjourney AI: Escaping Down The Rabbit Hole

March 10, 2023March 10, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments

In recent weeks, I’ve done a cannonball off the high-dive into the deep end of the world of what I

midjourney ai comic book art, 1930s style

Policy Data & Analytics Energy Utilities

Can Utilities Be Held Financially Liable For Outages?

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ai generated art, ben dueweke, blizzard, caidi, climate, climate change, climate stressors on infrastructure, CMS, consumers, DTE, extreme weather, investor-owned utilities, maintenance, midjourney, midjourney ai, public utilities, sadie white coat, SAIDI, SAIFI, snowstorm, utilities, utility, utility industry, utility regulation, WACC, walker-miller energy services, weighted average cost of capital

In the aftermath of recent power outages that saw as much as 20% of the population of the state of Michigan without power, this article outlines some ideas on what specific things we should be asking about or thinking about in trying to hold utilities accountable.

Climate Michigan Energy Infrastructure Utilities

The Anatomy of a Power Outage in Michigan

March 5, 2023March 6, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments Consumers Energy, consumers outage, consumers outages, DTE, DTE Energy, dte outage, dte power outage, ERCOT, ercot disaster, february 2022 ice storm michigan, infrastructure, michigan power outages, miso, PJM, power grid, power lines, power outage, power outages, public utilities, utilities, utility company, voltage

The power went out. Then the ice melted. A few days later, the snow came, and the power went out– again. Now that the snow is gone, what’s next?

Business & Economics Small Business

The Mom & Pop Stores Are Dead. Long Live The Mom & Pop Stores.

February 22, 2023February 22, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amazon, big box, big box retail, black pipe, brass, contractors, farm & fleet, fleet farm, general store, grainger, hardware, hardware store, home depot, home despot, independent hardware store, independent hardware stores, menards, metalworking, pipe, plumbing, retail, retail apocalypse, steel

We’re constantly being told that the age of Amazon has arrived, and mom-and-pop hardware stores are dead, forever. There are elements of truth to this. But there is an eternal flame burning within the model of small, independent business– that is unlikely to ever be extinguished, no matter how big companies like Amazon or Home Depot may become.