SWCAMBORNE

Nurit and I were going on a short trip during the Christmas/Hanukkah break to Charleston for a wedding and to see Rebecca, Gene and Carole.  I have pictures but that will be another post.  We decided not to take our laptops because we now have Iphones and we can do email and access the web from them.  I wrote a few blog posts in advance so that I could keep posting dailyish and off we went.  Unfortunately I didn’t have the url necessary to access the edit mode on my page and so I wasn’t able to make the brilliant posts I’d written.  I’ll post them over the next few days and spend some time luring back my disappointed readers.

Here is an example of a symbiotic relationship.  At a new Mall in South San Diego County they put in a dog Park then they rented space next to the dog park to a Veterinarian.  Very good idea.  Everybody benefits.

On December 15 we drove over to Beverly Hills for a Stand With Us event and on the way we were treated to a magnificent sunset.  We took a, not very good, picture of it with the cell phone through the windshield.

Trust me it was incredible.  Last Friday night we were in San Diego and we saw another one.  It wasn’t quite as beautiful but the picture came out better.

Southern California is the promised land.

“May your stock rise up to meet you
May all your creditors pay you back
and may the Federal Reserve who print beyond all understanding
Bail you out also in the New Year.”

Simon

UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh is a libertarian.  He had this to say about education:

“I think that government funding for K-12 education is probably a good idea.  At the same time, it’s not clear to me that the government should run the schools.  The government funds food for the poor, but we don’t tell the poor to go to a government run food store.  If we did, we would be pretty sure that it would be a lousy food store.”

I agree.  The k-12 education model is not working.

A non liberal on the UCLA law faculty is a good thing.  He has a blog site called the Volokh Conspiracy which is creative.

Each year we get a few less Christmas/Holiday cards but in the remaining ones we get an increasing number of photo cards.  We also get more and more online cards and online holiday letters.  It has been an interesting evolution to watch.  If I was paying careful attention I’m sure that there are also ways to send greetings on Facebook and MySpace.  I just don’t know what they are.

Our 2008 Hanukkah card.

I have always justified sending cards by using the tradition and the effort arguments.  It is the way we have always done it, and if sending greeting at the holidays requires only a few clicks and no expenditure how sincere are they?

This year we received one holiday greeting that I think is a vision of the future of the genre in a post post office world. Peter Klein, who has always worked at the bleeding edge of technology, sent an excellent photo story of his families year and by doing so he shows a new way of sending holiday greetings.  It requires some effort but no printing or postage.  And the technology should be assessable to most people.

http://www.peterklein.com/Christmas%202008/1.htm

I’m not sure how this can be commercialized and by whom.  I would guess the Shutterfly and Kodak type companies have a shot at it.  Maybe the idea would be to sell some stock photos of winter scenes, yule logs, ice skaters, feasts etc. as part of a free package that people could then add their own family photos to.

Probably our last holiday card.

It is always exciting to get a glimpse of the future.  Thank you Peter.

“A leader is a dealer in hope.”

Napoleon Bonaparte

In the spirit of “The Key to Happiness is Low Expectations” Here are some pictures of my grand-kitties.

Basil

TicTac

Evelyn and Belle (on top)

Basil and TicTac are in Lillian’s family and Evelyn and Belle are with Rebecca in New Jersey.

Here is an idea that can save you money, show you care about the environment and support the post office all at one time.  It is a very simple idea.  First save the Christmas cards (Holiday cards for the PC) you receive this year.

Cut off the front covers.

If there is no writing on the back of the cover, as is often the case cut them down to postcard size.

Resend them next year as your holiday cards.  Postage on a postcard under 6″ X 4.25″ is only $0.27 (vs $.042).  You will save money, be green and the planet will be greener.  You can get the self-righteous glow without the cost of the Prius.

it works for the sparkly ones

And you can make a mated pair out of the big covers.

As a public service these are the definitions of two words that popped into popular usage this year.

Tranche: noun, a portion of something especially money. rhymes with launch

Cohort: noun, a group of people with a common statistical characteristic.  “He is in the early baby boomer cohort.”

I do it all for you.