Who’s behind zFacts, oil companies or what? Nope. I’m Steve Stoft and this is my web site. I’m building it with a little help from my friends and volunteers, but so far, it’s mostly my work. I’m a Ph.D. economist and my day job is consulting for electricity markets—California, PJM, ISO-NE. That provides 99.9% of the funding for this site. (Google ads are now providing about $12 / day). My professional web site is stoft.com, my blog is
zReason
.
What are your biases? At heart, I’m a scientist; that means I’m a skeptic. I don’t trust easy answers especially from politicians. I also don’t trust extremists, either left or right. But I don’t think these are biases; they’re based on observation. It’s hard to know your own biases, but I believe openness, information, and clear thinking are helpful—maybe those are my bias.
Why are you building zFacts? I like to figure things out, and I don’t like deceptions or misunderstandings, especially ones that harm people. So with zFacts, I get to investigate many of my interests and perhaps expose some deceptions and clear up some misperceptions.
Are you opposed to alternative energy? No, I love the idea of harnessing wind and solar. I’m just opposed to hyping things that don’t work to well-meaning people. Corn ethanol is not working. Brazilian ethanol may be. Home-based solar voltaics are a rip off.* The better hybrid cars are a great idea. With my physics and economics background, I’m sorting this out for myself and posting it on zFacts.
What about global warming, markets, poverty and neocons? I admit it; I’m curious about a lot of different things. Global warming is looking pretty likely, but the case is not quite closed. No need to wait till we’re 100% sure of getting mugged before we take action. Markets are amazing for what they can do, but are no more of a cure-all than antibiotics. Poverty is mainly a social-economic problem, but individual responsibility plays a key role in any solution. Neocons venerate clear thinking, secretiveness and deception. Unfortunately those keen on secrets and deceptions, also have secret agendas.
What’s on the zFacts agenda? I plan to keep working on puzzles I find interesting. Would you like to document an important scandal, figure out who really owns the ownership society, or just help organize the site? If you’re willing to work carefully I’d love have your help. Almost everything remains to be done.
