SWCAMBORNE

In Boulder Colorado last summer we ate at a very good restaurant on a night that they had a price fixe menu with wine pairings.  The wine was being poured by a young man who was a very specialized wine distributor.  He bought wine from small vineyards in the Piedmont area of Italy and sold it to fancy restaurants in Colorado and he was making a living at it.

I used to think that because of the internet, distribution was not a growth industry anymore.  And certainly when the producers or the consumers are huge they don’t need the services of a middleman so big distributors are dying.  Proctor and Gamble don’t need distributors.  And neither does Walmart.  But a small restaurant in Boulder Colorado that wants a unique wine list does.  And so does a small wine producer in the Piedmont.

Not just wine.  What about cheese from New Hampshire, specialty eggs from Georgia, bananas from Costa Rica.  In India they grow more than 30 types of rice.  As far as I know only one of them, Basmati, is distributed and promoted in the US.  If I was young and looking for a business to be in I’d seriously look at specialty distribution.  It has a low barrier to entry and very high potential rewards.

Driving up to Arenal Volcano from Highway One we saw some signs in Hebrew.

On the way back we stopped to investigate.  The Hebrew is advertising a Hotel/restaurant/tourism spot named Lands in Love. It was started by a group of 16 friends from Israel.  It is vegetarian and pet friendly.

Nurit ate a falafel plate and I had a Latte and we talked for a few minutes with one of the founders.  Of course they have zip lines.

it seems that everyone who owns two trees in Costa Rica has put in a zip line.

The founders wanted to start a tourism business in Israel but the bureaucracy was too difficult.  They looked other places in the world and settled on Costa Rica, because it was where they though they would have the best opportunity. In terms of immigration, ease of starting a business, opportunity, capital transfers etc Costa Rica turned out to be the best choice for them.

Clearly their unique selling proposition is “An Israeli place in Costa Rica.”  It seems to be working they have been open four years and have grown 80% plus each year.  According to our contact they operate on the principles of communal capitalism.

In the 1920’s the slogan of the Automobile Club of Southern California was “Good Roads”

The logo from a 1923 auto club map

It is time to refocus on “Good Roads.” But this time lets call it “Smooth Roads.”  Smooth Roads will improve the environment, reduce fossil fuel consumption, lower everyone’s carbon footprint and improve the general state of happiness.

Will smoother roads accomplish the startling claims above?  To find out try this mind experiment.  Imagine two roads from your house to the State Capital.  One is potholed, badly marked, ill maintained and hilly.  The other is smooth and generally flat with gentle turns and excellent signage.  Which one would you take?  Why?  Because the nicer ride would be easier on your car, easier on your nerves and it would consume less gas. You already do.  You take the interstate.  Imagine the interstate everywhere but better.  Now you have seen smooth roads

But you say: “Simon even if what you say is true, there isn’t any money to build these beautiful smooth environmental roads.”  But there is money to tax carbon, subsidize windmills and solar panels and to build expensive mass transit systems that nobody wants to ride.  If that money were allocated instead to “Smooth Roads” more energy would be saved and the general welfare would increase dramatically.

The good news is that after it is shown that smooth roads can reduce fuel consumption significantly there will be a huge constituency for getting it done.  Construction unions, construction companies, the states departments of transportation and the engineering profession are a few of the interest groups that would support the “Smoother Roads” initiative.  But the biggest constituency would be the driving public and they vote.

This is a win win idea.  I imagine a future when the roads are so smooth that all cars have the aerodynamic road-hugging look of Formula 1 cars and get 60 mpg.  Wow!  Please email this idea to Al Gore.

Yesterday while driving back to Pasadena from Norco.  I was plagued by a tailgater.  I wasn’t in the fast lane and I wasn’t driving slowly.   All of a sudden there was a car a few feet from my back bumper going 70 mph.   It scared me.  I contemplated slowing down, speeding up and slamming on the brakes.  Finally in desperation I invented the tailgateometer and now I’m giving the idea to you.  This brilliant devise automatically posts the license plate number of any vehicle that tailgates the owner to the website BadDrivers.com.

LAPD traffic

The technology already exists to do all of the steps of this process.  The remote components of  the tailgateometer consist of a proximity detector, a speed indicator, a digital camera, a gps and a 3g network phone.  All of these are cleverly combined into a compact box that peeks out from your trunk.  At the web site there will be scanning software to convert the image into alphanumeric characters and a web site that publishes the data.  The data will be sortable by location, time and by license tag number.

What about liability?  First there is no presumption of a right to privacy in a public place.  Second the picture will speak for itself.  Third the publishing of the information doesn’t presume to say who is driving the tailgating car or that they are guilty of any traffic infraction.

a tailgating incident in the Philippines

It is like having your own personal redlight camera.  The existence of a few thousand tailgateometers will have a real effect on peoples driving and will save lives.  It will be a particularly effective tool against young drivers who when they are in their cars today feel that they are anonymous and can get away with things like tailgating.  I not sure if the tailgateometer should be announced or concealed.  What do you think?

The cost in production should be less than $150.  Sell price could start as high as $800 and would have to be in the $300 range to sell real volume.  It would cost about a hundred thousand dollars to build a prototype.

Here is an idea for a web site that would have a potential to be great fun, a valuable service, a buzz generator and a money maker.  It will work in cosmopolitan cities around the world but I will focus it on Los Angeles and Las Vegas two cities I know best.

There are thirty two teams playing in the first round of the world cup.  List Here The first round of play starts in June 2010.  So there is plenty of time to organize a web site that promotes “World Class, World Cup Dining”  Sell ads to restaurants that specialize in food from the countries playing in the world cup.  Feature only one or two from each country.  Have printable discount coupons and a contest that is something like: the people who write reviews of all of the restaurants will get prizes and publicity and invited to a screening of the World Cup Final at one of the finalist country restaurants.

Now your saying who will bother to follow this.  Actually a lot of people might: foodies, sports fanatics’ soccer lovers and people who can’t resist a contest.  Certainly people who have a link to the competing countries will want to be part of the action.

The Cote d’Ivoire Flag

Your next objection if you’ve read this far will be: “but there isn’t a restaurant from Cote d’Ivoire in Las Vegas.” No but there is a restaurant owner who will be willing to learn the national dish of Cote d’Ivoire and gain the customer stream and publicity from the event.  Think about all of the struggling local video poker parlors that need a boost.