Waiting in my doctor’s office recently I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of The Economist among the wasted paper of Us Weekly, Star, and the latest medical literature on common skin disorders.

With some time to kill and a robust read in front of me, I dived in and learned that I don’t know as much as I thought I did about the difference between arbitrage pricing and capital asset pricing. While this self-described political, literary, and general newspaper has always been conversational in tone, the subject matter is definitely designed to enlighten.

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Hybrids can be truly wonderful things.

Some of the greats include the clock radio, Greek lore’s fierce Minotaur, and, of course, Tex-Mex food. The bad have brought us one-man bands and the Snuggie®.

The theory of hybridization spawned the creation of merged gas and electric vehicles. Combining an internal combustion engine with an electric propulsion system, hybrid vehicles are the conveyance of choice for the green-minded, and are now also opening new doors for the automotive manufacturing industry.

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To some, that still-running, 30-year-old piece of shop equipment is an indispensable tool, integral to day-to-day manufacturing operations. To others, the same machine is not worth the current scrap metal price, and is ready for retirement.

Sending it out to pasture and buying a replacement is always a complex process. Now, as information becomes more readily available, understanding this becomes even more important.

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Hockey goalies and baseball closers share a similar trait that makes them great at their jobs: the ability to forget a failure.

When these athletes get past a bad goal or a blown save, we can all learn a little from them as we continue to patch together this Humpty Dumpty economy of ours. Looking forward to new opportunities, rather than backward and lamenting about the good old days, will help keep momentum going in the right direction.

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Nerd-billionaire-philanthropist Bill Gates recently came out with a real doozy.

He said that if General Motors had kept up with technology like the computer industry had, we would all be driving $25 cars that get 1,000 miles per gallon.

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The Roman philosopher Seneca once wrote that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity, I think, maybe, he was on to something.

Status quo manufacturing is no longer a viable option for Canadian companies that need to compete with manufacturers not just across the street, but around the world. A new way of thinking is needed, as is a new way of working, in order to keep jobs, and profits, here. Good luck, while great to have, should play only a small role in the future of our businesses.

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As this year’s winter temperatures make the mercury drop faster than last winter’s Dow figures, energy costs become a front-burner concern, particularly if that burner is attached to a furnace.

According to Alberta Energy’s Natural Gas Price Index, natural gas prices have been trending upward ever since hitting a seven-year low in September 2009 and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Forecasted cold winter weather, a recovering economy, declines in production, and higher oil prices are all to blame. Thanks to these factors, the Alberta spot price for natural gas is almost double what it was last September.

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