I met up with Zimbabwe Smurf AKA Dave Sherman in Denver a few years ago, just a few months before he was to move to New Zealand and in his words:
arrive at the almost-empty airport at 7:00 in the morning, sitting in the lobby, hungry, cold, tired, with our backpacks and nothing else. We had nowhere to live, nothing to do, no one we knew, no car, no warm clothing. Remember this feeling. It is the meter-stick by which to measure our progress.
I’ve noticed that many drivers in the Bay Area have tail lights that are burned out. Burnt out tail lights are an eyesore and illegal and it becomes a real safety concern when enough lights on a car are burnt out. At the same time, it’s very difficult for a driver to tell when a light is burnt out without periodically inspecting their vehicle. Whenever I come to a Stop sign next to someone with a burnt out tail light, they are always grateful for me rolling down my window and telling them, but there’s no way a good Samaritan can reach even a small fraction of the drivers out there.
I would like to suggest that Caltrans occasionally put notices on some of its electronic signs, the same signs that sometimes read “Click it or Ticket” etc. A good sign might be, “Today is a good day to check your tail lights.” or “Are your tail lights burned out?”
PS. Don’t watch to the end, it’s embarrassing. Alexis can (please!) verify for my avid viewers that on the very last poker game I played just before being on the show I won with 4 aces and a joker, 5 of a kind, so I initially gravitated to the aces, oop! And of course, I was a bit tipsy soooooo.. :-)
Rumor has it that there may be some cell phone service at Burning Man. This is generally unpopular…
Rick: My normal phone has been turned off for the duration of the burn. Until then, if you need to contact me, give me a call on my uber secret non work phone. The number is …
Lee: Be warned that there is a scavenger hunt going on at Burning Man. “A person talking on a cell phone” is worth something like 1,000 points. If they catch you, they will put you and your phone in a burlap bag and drag you out to the trash fence.
Rick: I have no intention of using my phone at BM unless someone is bleeding. I also am tired of recruiters calling…
Lee: Awww. Come on, That’s 1,000 points! I’d clean up!
Somefriends have been commenting on a nature-vs-nurture paper concerning adoption. I haven’t read through the whole paper but I found a snippet that strongly implies the chart draws from incomplete data and is completely irrelevant.
and here is the snippet from page 14 calling this graph into question.
The survey measure of family income is much higher for the non-adoptees than for the adoptees: $61,000 per year versus $42,000 per year. But this huge difference narrows to $1,600 when I control for age, education, and gender.
I don’t know the origin of the graph for sure but it appears to be from marginalrevolution.com.
Every time I get behind the wheel, I find myself driving behind a car with at least one broken tail light. Whenever I get the chance, I pull up to the car and tell the driver. They’re always thankful that I told them but it’s not often that I get the opportunity. Of course the problem is that when you are driving, you can’t easily tell when one of your tail lights is out unless you have a friend help you.
So I hereby declare, by the power invested in my by the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution that October 1st each year is “Check Your Tail Lights Day!”
I’ll be arriving Monday afternoon or Tuesday.
If you want to try and hook up with me at Burning Man, find my red Sebring convertible parked at 4:20 and L(ineage). My tiny 2-man tent will be just a little outbound from L. The tent is tan and brown with a silver tarp covering it and some plastic flowers tied to the rebar stakes.
I’m not a “420” nut but you’ll certainly have no trouble remembering where I’m staying :-)
I got schooled, Scam Schooled! I went to Encore Karaoke Lounge, 1550 California St. 2nd Floor, SF tonight and… well, you’ll find out why I suck at poker when the show goes live on September 3rd. Watch me suckin down Coors Light ™ and trying to beat a Royal Flush with 4 Aces*.
I got to talk with Mike (Brian’s right-hand man) and Brian Brushwood (who is a damned cool, witty and energetic guy) and Mitch (a camera man and editor)
* (I was a little tipsy and on the last poker game I played I won with 4 aces and a joker, 5 of a kind, so I gravitated to the aces, oop!)
