Rants


2
May 07

If you want gas prices to go down, use less gas

Gas pump photo by B TalI’m both amused and annoyed by the various schemes going around by email to lower gas prices. I got two today: one that’s calling for a don’t-buy-gas day and one that’s calling for a boycott of a specific chain.

Clearly people don’t really get the whole supply-and-demand thing. Demand is still demand, regardless of what day it is or where you do your demanding. The market is not going to reduce costs of a limited-supply commodity unless demand goes down.

Though it certainly wouldn’t be popular, I think the best long term outcome for the US would happen if gas prices continue to rise. I’d be in favor of pretty drastic measures to get people to stop using so much gas. So much of what we do use is wasteful (seriously, why do you need an Expedition for a commuter vehicle?), and maybe we could positively impact one of our other “great outrages”, the cost of health care, if people actually started walking and biking more (not to mention reducing the long term effects of city pollution).

Enough ranting for me. If you’re bored, go replace your incandescents with CFLs.


22
Jan 07

A reminder about my personality

Just in case I forget (again), I’d like to state for the record (and hopefully for future reference before I sign up for something contrary to this note):

I do not like open-ended projects. I like finite tasks, things that can be checked off a list and marked “done.”

Any chance I’ll remember this the next time someone proposes something ongoing forever? Probably not, but I can always hope…


11
Jan 07

Wow, they really DO sell everything!

branchial cleft cyst on ebay


15
Dec 06

I wear my sunglasses at night…

Sunny?  At night?


1
Nov 06

Vocabulary review: “humbled” vs. “honored”

Why do people think these words are synonymous?

Look them up: humbled vs. honored

Funny, to me they seem to be kind of… um… opposites. And yet…

The response has far surpassed our expectations and we are extremely humbled by the huge interest.

That quote seems typical lately of the kind of stuff I see by developers of exciting software, by bloggers who’ve been dugg, whatever. The obsessive word nerd in me is slightly irked. :)

Fortunately for you, I have the attention span of a gnat, and I’ll get over it momentarily.