March 11, 2019

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 11, 2018, Shkreli for governor.
Five years ago today: March 11, 2014, we're behind the Fallklands?
Nine years ago today: March 11, 2010, something about vitamins.
Random years ago today: March 11, 2012, fun with Face Research.

           Today was a reminder of how airline travel ceased to be a treat after 9/11. No, not the terrorist attack, and not how the rules changed. What was scary was how readily the American public bought into this massive inconvenience without a whimper. There is absolutely no need to check most passengers. There is a definite look to the bad guys, and that's who they should be harassing. Nobody cares if they complain. Let them fly someplace else. The average American has very little sympathy for the sniveling of fringe groups who refuse to assimilate. Let me explain something. American freedom does not give you have an absolute right to wear a turban to the airport because you have an equal right to NOT wear a turban to the airport. American freedom only means the choice is yours. You go looking for trouble, you'll find it.

           That was not the niusance today, it was NOVA syndrome, as I like to call it. If you give an idiot a messaging device, it vastly increases the odds he will use it to cancel a meeting. And do do regardless of whether the others are equipped to receive the message. It's not his fault you don't have the latest, greatest phone toy like he does. We got up at 2:00AM to make the flight, it was cancelled until 8:00AM, which misses the connection in LAX. Finally, there was a 2:45PM direct seat available. The notice of cancellation was texted, despite the fact that a known fraction of text messages are delayed or don't get received. It's worse when old millennial wannabes start with it.

           Here's that damn pricing oddity again, where prices are often highest where what's for sale is most plentiful. I should give this a name because all the big economic theories overlook this abberation to supply and demand. Here are pecans from Georgia at $7 a pound, a lot of is the shell. Why aren't pecans fifty cents a pound in Georgia, where they fall off the trees by themselves. The same reason seafood is most expensive at port cities and lumber is so expensive in Canada. Somebody has rigged the system.

Picture of the day.
Famous fake marker.
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           The American was was inefficient, that much is true. But it was inefficient in a manner that favored the consumer. It was no big challenge for the last two generations of "efficiency experts" to come along and destroy what was once the greatest economic system in history. It's not just the rise of the self-serve stations and how ablums displaced 45 singles. Look at that bag of pecans above. Who needs five pounds of pecans? It is a doctrine being displayed, and it is a doctrine of laziness. Suppliers don't like serving or selling small portions. In my American, they sold 500 items for a dollar each. Now, they want to unload the entire shipment on you and take the rest of the day off.

           This curiosity got my eye, an industrial strength dog toy. It's a great marketing pitch, but pick it up like shown here and it really isn't any different. And a reliable source nearby says these get demolished just as quickly as the others at a quarter the price. There was a plaque on the wall that got my attention, saying that education is when you read the fine print, experience is when you don't. Noticing I was the only one who chuckled, I'm obligated to ladle up something for the other pet store patrons. Let me think. Okay, I got one. You don't learn a thing from the second time the mule kicks you.

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