SWCAMBORNE

In his book World Without End one of Ken Follett’s characters explains that rebuilding the cathederal steeple is necessary for the survival of the city.

Ely

He argued that a tall steeple could be seen from far away and would attract people who had things to trade. Trade was necessary for the town to grow and so a steeple was a necessary commercial venture as well as a tribute to god and the church. This argument was made to get the merchants in town to pitch in the money to build the steeple and it may or may not be true. We do know that some towns, ventures, churches and instutions thrive and some do not.

Anker Wat

My question is in this era of electronic communication; What are the modern steeples? Advertising is the obvious answer but there are other currents running through society that cause some ideas to become wildly popular and some never reach visibility. Malcolm Gladwell considers this in The Tipping Point but he is not able to say “If you do ______ your venture will succeed.”

An Italian hill town

So what are the steeples today that draw our tastes one way or the other? Why New York and London? Not Buffalo or Newcastle?

Tropical Lily

Clear Water

Life is Good

Maybe we need a UV Filter equivalent for our lives?

We went to our third baseball game of the year on Saturday night and the Dodgers lost again. So far we are 0 - 3. Other than that it was a perfect evening it didn’t rain and the company, Lillian and Barbara, was very simpatico. Baseball is an anachronism. It moves slowly in a fast paced world and the players spit. I think it can survive the slow but I don’t know if it can survive the HD spitting.

excellent seats

Nurit and I are planning a road trip to Arizona and Colorado in August to finish visiting all of the National League West ballparks. Maybe I’ll make a sign that says “Stop HD Spitting” or “Kobe Doesn’t Spit.” and try to get on TV.
Life is Good!

In 1971 gasoline was $0.35 a gallon in California and a first class stamp cost $0.08 now gasoline costs $4.00 and first class postage is $0.42. Gasoline has gone up by a factor of 11 and postage has gone up by only a factor of 5. Not what I expected and I’ll admit to trying to find a spot on the curve where stamps had gone up more than gasoline but I couldn’t find one. Gasoline is getting relatively more expensive.

Don’t panic.  People are incredibly ingenious. A hundred years ago whale oil got so expensive we had to discover petroleum. What will be next?

Postage Rate Information courtesy of AKDart

Gasoline price information courtesy of California Energy Commission

“A price increase is a message about scarcity.

Price controls are like shooting the messenger.”

Alexander Tabarrok

“The difficult done immediately
The impossible takes a little longer
Miracles by appointment only!”
Steve Merlo