Lillian had an accident yesterday in Las Vegas.  She is okay but her car was t-boned and may be totaled.

The guy in the pickup truck who hit her ran a red light.  He was taking a risk and pushing the amber.  Why?  Partly because traffic engineers have been making signals longer and longer to increase traffic flow.  It takes time to clear an intersection every time a light changes so by changing the light less frequently there is more flow time.  That sounds good.  But an individual driver faced with an amber signal is more likely to go for it if he is faced with a five minute wait at a traffic signal.   Whereas if he only faces a three minute wait he will be more likely to wait and not push the light.  Hence less accidents.

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I have had a Tassimo Coffee maker for a couple of years now and I love the coffee it makes and the convenience.  I don’t like the cost or the waste involved in using it.  I saved the used pods for a month and they filled a small grocery bag.  The waste is appalling.

While others see a problem I see a business opportunity.  People who buy Tassimo or Kuerig machines are well off and for the most part socially aware.  Design a $100 pod recycler.  It would rinse the coffee grounds out of the pod and separate the foil from the plastic.  All this would be done in a nice clean easy to use way.

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In Albuquerque “appropriateness” is now a legal term.  I thought it was a parental term.

In an LA Times article about the imminent demise of Saab the author mentioned that the market was college professor types that wanted to conspicuously say that they opposed conspicuous consumption.  Most of Saab’s customers it went on to point out have migrated to Prius type cars.

Is owning a Prius a conspicuous way of opposing conspicuous consumption?

It a good thing to think about.

BTW I think owning a Kindle falls into this category. (I own a Kindle)

This graph is courtesy of Randy L. from the AEI who took it from a JP Morgan report.

I know that prematurity is an issue.  But couldn’t resources be better utilized fighting Immaturity.  Maybe it could be April as a tie in to April Fools Day

When we went to Redrock Canyon Park I bought a Senior Pass. I’m 62 and now young people have to subsidize my visits to National Parks.

The cost was $10 and it is good for admission to most National Parks, Forests and BLM sites.  It is another example of how the old are ripping off the young.  Because my cohort votes and whines we get into National Parks free.  I call it the Young People Surcharge.  Nurit and I are going to put $10.00 in a jar every time we enter a park using this card and then send it to the National Parks Foundation.

Why are the old so selfish?

“If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size?”

Sidney Harris
1917-1986

US Journalist

Thanks to Oscar G for this quote.

¤HAPPYº°¨¨°º¤ø °¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø¸CHANUKAH¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ø¤º°¨¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤HAPPYº°¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø,„CHANUKAH¤ø ¸„ø¤º°¨¨°º¤ø ø¤º°

….Copy and paste and keep the wave going!  However you spell Hanukkah.

Thanks to Guy H. a facebook friend for this one.

We were at LAX this morning to catch a flight to Santa Fe.  It was morning prime time and the line for the TSA screening was a half an hour long.  After eight years they can’t solve this service problem.  And these are the people that want to run more of the healthcare system?  Why would we allow the government to run Healthcare?  They can’t even get airport screening correct.

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