SWCAMBORNE

“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

John Maynard Keynes

You are driving along the interstate at a comfortable 75 mph when a car passes you going above 80.  Behind it are two or three other cars trying to keep up.  Without thinking about it you find yourself accelerating to keep up with this group.  You have just been pulled into a speed vortex.

I think Speed vortexes are caused by a subconscious urge to either compete or belong.  The entire phenomenon needs more study.  A speed vortex is most likely to pull in like vehicles.  A small car speed vortex has less pull on SUVs.

Have you ever been pulled into a speed vortex?  Isn’t it nice to know that it now has a name.

“…and by the way, where are all of the tons of rubber that have been worn off tires since cars began?”

Mason Williams

The Mason Williams Reading Matter

1964

Helping my Mother-in-law move some thing around I came across some packets of carbon paper.  She gave them to me.

It is helpful to remember that less than 30 years ago “carbon” was used more with “paper’ than with “footprint.”  You can still buy some carbon paper on Amazon among other places.  But it may not come with “Miracle Mylar”

and will definitely cost more than 29 cents.

What other products have vanished?

Last week I posted a few pictures from our Colorado trip and a link to a beautiful album of pictures on Flickr.  The link didn’t work.  So here are a few more pictures and the corrected link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42316886@N00/sets/72157621158561366/

Elk not Moose

Great food at Jax

Rocky Mountain National Park

So now that the link works look at the whole collection on Flickr

“It’s true hard work never killed anyone, but I figure, why take the chance?”

Ronald Reagan

Here is proof that in 1932 you could buy a shovel for 78 cents:

Years ago I bought a copy of the 1932 McMaster Carr industrial equipment catalog.  It was a part of a small collection of industrial catalogs I had put together.  It sat happily on my bookshelf for several decades.

Now through a lovely coincidence McMaster Carr 32 is going back to McMaster Carr.  My friend Howard R mentioned in passing that his niece, Amy, worked as a manager at McMaster Carr.  I immediately offered the book.  This morning Amy accepted.  For me this is part of my personal divestiture effort, the motto of which is “Less stuff is more.”  In this case I get a threefer:  I will always have the digital photos above to fill my need for nostalgia, my heirs will have one less thing to get rid of when I die and the book will end up in a place where people will get real pleasure from it.

All of the driving on our Colorado trip made us think a lot about cars.

We connected cars with immigration when we heard on the radio that ICE was going to start auditing companies to see if they were hiring illegals.  See my story about the insanity of this idea. Why is it that Americans can keep near perfect track of our cars with VIN numbers and registrations yet we can’t or won’t keep track of people as carefully?  The idea of a national ID card is opposed by both the far left and the far right.  My idea a few years ago was to have Mastercard and Visa issue the cards so that the government could not abuse the system as easily or screw it up.  The “RealID” idea that gives the states the task of doing it for the Federal government is doomed because it has become too political.

We went on a driving vacation to Colorado at the end of June.  It was a great trip. This sure is a beautiful country full of nice people.

We saw Pikes Peak

and drove through Rocky Mountain National Park.

We saw the headwaters of the Colorado River

and some beautiful public and rock art:

You can see all of the pictures on Flickr by clicking here or this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42316886@N00/sets/72157621158561366/

When Gore Vidal was told about the death of Truman Capote, in 1984, he responded: “A wise career move.”

I think the same is true in this case.

His musical talent and showmanship were incomparable but his life was a series of tragic decisions poorly executed.

His death will allow his legend to grow without all of the ugly realities. 

“A wise career move.”