Funny Stuff

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Microsoft Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my 50-page transcript I just proofread and saved that I swear I did not make any changes to after I saved it.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night - more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

25. How many times is it appropriate to say, "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

33. How many times do you have to say “I got it” to some people before they will shut the......???

Visual Studio 2010 bug

Yesterday I downloaded Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and have used it for about 12 hours so far.  I love the ability to move a code window to a second monitor.  It also seems to handle split mode much better for aspx pages.  However, almost immediately I ran into a problem inserting a <p>  tag.  Every time I tried to type it, intellisense would force a <panel> tag on me.  I actually had to copy and paste a <p> tag because there was no way to type it without intellisense replacing it with a <panel> tag.


Well today I found the solution.  You need to reset all environment settings to the default configuration.  I don't know why this is necessary since I never modified these settings.  I did find one post that said upgrading from Visual Studio Beta 1 could cause this problem, but I never installed Beta 1.


Anyway, If standard html tags do not show up in intellisense and are underlined with the following error displaying when you hover over the tag:


validation ($schema$) element 'br' is not supported


You need to do the following to fix it:


From the Tools menu select Import and Export Settings. This brings up the following:

Select Reset All settings

Now decide if you want to save your existing settings...

Here you select your primary development activities.  This is the same question you got when you installed Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2

It took longer than I expected to reset everything...

Once it is done everything should work and the errors should be gone.   If you had rearranged some things, like un-docking your Solution Explorer, these things will be back to the default position.

Thats it!

ASP.NET Databound Control Not Binding Before Logic Assigns SelectedValue

Ok, here is a frustrating problem I just spent hours figuring out.  If you use a databound list control on an asp.net page and debugging gives you this error when you try to assign the SelectedValue:

'YourControlNameHere' has a SelectedValue which is invalid because it does not exist in the list of items.

You are trying to set the SelectedValue before the control has been bound.  Moving the DataSource around will not help, although you might think having the DataSource control on the page before the bound control would do the trick.  Perhaps data are not bound to controls until after the page and all code-behind logic has ran?


In debug mode, if you look at the aspx source code that is rendered in your browser you will see that your databound list items did not render before the error stopped the page build.

Anyway, the answer is to force the control to bind before your code tries to set the SelectedValue.  Just stick this statement somewhere before you need the databound control:

YourControlName.Databind();


I am posting this here so that hopefully anybody else goggling this problem can find it.

Why We Need Socialized Medicine

We need socialized medicine.  Yes, I said the "S" word.  

Healthcare is the perfect problem for the government to solve.  Private companies will never be able to provide universal coverage because there will always be people who just can't pay, and people who it would not be profitable to cover.  

There are many things that only a government can do well.  Some of these are build roads, deliver the mail, defend the country and standardize commerce.  Can you imagine what our road systems would be like if they were ran by private companies?  How about if private companies managed the airspace used by the airlines?

Nearly everybody agrees that Medicare is a great system.  Why not just extend it to all Americans?  Sure, it would be very expensive. But it would also free corporations from the burden of providing healthcare to its employees.  One of the arguments you hear from those who are ignorant of the facts or who are getting rich from the current system is that people in Canada or France (where there is socialized medicine) have to wait for medical procedures.  My answer to that is "and so?".  Whats wrong with waiting for a non-urgent operation if it keeps costs down?  If your doctor says you need to have your gall bladder removed, but there is no really hurry and your condition can be controlled with medicine until your scheduled appointment date, whats wrong with waiting?  And if you are in a hurry, you can always pay out of your own pocket to have it done immediately.

I would be willing to bet that most of those who makes an unfavorable comparison to the Canadian or French healthcare systems have never actually been to Canada or France, and if they have they were too busy looking at Niagara Falls or the Eiffel Tower to bother asking citizens what they think of their healthcare system.

I have noticed folks really getting hung up on hot button words like "socialism" or "government healthcare" in this debate.  Apparently there are those on the right who think these are evil concepts.  But the truth is that we already have huge aspects of socialism in our government and our government is already playing a big role in healthcare.  If you think you live in a purely capitalistic society, you really need to be enlightened.  There are no pure capitalistic societies anywhere on the planet.  Ours doesn't even come close. There aren't even any pure socialist societies.  If you get hung-up on words like socialism, you really need to turn off that sports channel and do some reading.

The real problem with the healthcare debate is the complication of it all.  It takes real effort to understand the whole mess, and most people just aren't willing to devote time to understanding it.  Instead they grab a sound bite from some sitcom like Fox News and start regurgitating it to anybody who will listen.

In my less than humble opinion, nobody should be profiting from healthcare.  Yes, healthcare workers should make a decent wage.  But nobody deserves to make million dollar salaries by exploiting people's sickness or fear of sickness.  I'm not saying the government should run all of healthcare, only that government should replace the insurance companies.  What value to insurance companies provide?  None that I can see.  They just get in the way and siphon off a lot of money.  Insurance companies are just like casinos.  They are betting that you will not get sick, and you are betting that you will.  And we all know the house always wins in the end.

Do you actually know anybody who enjoys dealing with their health insurance company?  The entire industry has a huge credibility problem, and for good reasons.  They provide no real benefit to society and yet they extract (read: rape & pillage) tremendous resources from us all.  We are too scared not to have insurance so we pay them.  It is very much like those gangs who force business owners to pay "protection" money.  It's just extortion in its simplest form.  "Pay me or else...".

But things are looking up.  Currently 57% of Americans favor a government healthcare option.  Correspondingly, 43% of Americans are either too lazy to study the matter or are parasites profiting from the current system.

As I said, this is a complicated problem.  I certainly don't have the answers.  But we all know the current system is broken.  The first obvious step in solving the problem would be to remove the "hangers on" who add costs but don't actually improve people's health.  Let's get this system lean and healthy by shedding that ugly fat we refer to as the health insurance industry.

Great American Beer Fest

This weekend Denver hosts the Great American Beer Festival.  I went last year for the first time and it was great fun.  They hold it down at the Colorado Convention Center, which is something like half a million square feet.  Last year we arrived an hour early and there were already probably 10,000 people in line ahead of us.  The line circled around the building and so the point where we joined the line was very close to the beginning of the line.  I guess this was our Hajj, except that we walked clockwise instead of counterclockwise, and we only had to circle the edifice once instead of seven times before drinking from the well.

As I understand it, every able-bodied beer lover is obligated to make the pilgrimage to Denver at least once in their lifetime if they can afford to do so.

Last year 46,000 people attended over the three days.  Here is how it goes...

When you enter you get a little souvenir cup.  The cup is about twice the size of a shot glass, and is plastic because they know you will drop the damn thing about an hour into the fest.  With chalice in hand, you simply walk up to any and all of the 432 brewer's tables and they pour you a drink.  The $50 entry fee pays for all your drinking.  Last year they had exactly 2,052 different types of beer.  Very cool.  Of course that each brewery has more than one beer represented.

There were 106 types of American Style India Pale Ale, my least favorite type of beer.  IPA's are just too bitter for me.  I don't know how many different beers I tried.  Perhaps this year I'll keep track.  Not.

So you just take your little glass around to each table and hold it out for the pour.  They do provide water for rinsing your glass between pours, but most folks don't seem to bother.  I didn't see any obviously drunk people, although I'm sure there must have been a few.  Security was ample but restrooms were not, unless you're a woman.  A hard-core beer lover would seriously consider wearing an adult diaper and thus avoid loosing precious drinking time queuing up for the latrine.

The Great American Beer Festival is also a competition for the breweries, but most folks don't seem to care about that part.  The first GABF was in 1982 and it appears to be going stronger than ever.  Tickets sold out long before this weekend but if you really have to attend there are tickets available on Ebay and Craigslist.  Apparently the beer loving crowd hasn't heard about the economic down-turn.

I'll be making my pilgrimage this Saturday.  Look for me in line behind the guy wearing Depends.

Commenting on Comments

Alright, today I'm annoyed about comments.  Specifically, it annoys me that we can't settle on one method for commenting our programming code.  I looked up some of the variations and listed them below.  Personally I like // best because it is so easy to type.  That /* just annoys me because I always have to stop and think...is it /* first or */?  Visual basic uses REM, which is just silly to me because it makes your code look messy.  Although I learned VB back in college, I don't use it because I have this vision of people not taking your code seriously if you are programming it in a "Basic" language.  Of course I know VB can be quite complex and many enterprise level applications use it.  But still, I avoid it and also those "Dummy" books for the same reason I was in a hurry to get my training wheels off my first bike.  Nobody wants to think of themselves as a beginner, especially when they are a beginner.

These days if you are a windows web programmer, you are probably using C# and JAVA with the "//", MSSQL with "--", XHTML with "<!--  -->", CSS with "/* */".  Thats four different comment codes.  Get a grip you guys who write this stuff!

I'm sure there are more, but here are those I know of:

ALGOL 60, Assembly Languages

; comment

Basic, Visual Basic

' comment

REM comment

C, C++, C#, Java

// comment

/* multiline comment */

CSS

/* comment */

COBOL

* comment (the asterisk must be in position 7)

FORTRAN

c comment (c must be in position 1)

! comment (end of line comment)

Forth

( comment )

Haskell

{- comment -}

HTML

<!-- comment -->

Ada, mySQL, MSSQL, XML

-- comment

TCL, UNIX Shell, Pearl, mySQL

# comment

Visual FoxPro

* comment

Pascal

{comment}

(* comment *)

Joe Wilson, Poster Child for South Carolina

Joe Wilson. What are we to think of him? Last night he insulted the President of the United States live on national television. Anybody surprised? I’m not surprised and you shouldn’t be either. After all, the guy is from South Carolina. Nothing that comes out of this backwater state should surprise anybody anymore. Here are just a few of the reasons South Carolina is the ridiculous joke of a state we have all come to know and laugh at:

• Miss South Carolina Teen USA 2007, Lauren Catlin Upton. In case you have forgotten her, she is the proud product of the South Carolina public schools who demonstrated that you can graduate high school (Lexington High School to be specific) in this state while simultaneously being illiterate. If you haven’t seen her infamous response to a question in the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant in a while, check it out here . It turns out that beauty is, in fact, only skin deep. And probably only for a few years until all that southern fried food catches up with her.
• As of 2006, 18.5% of South Carolinians over the age of 25 didn’t graduate high school. That’s almost one in five! Source: National Center for Education Statistics .
• South Carolina is one of the few states that doesn’t require a Basic Skills Exam to be a teacher, and does not require an Assessment of Teaching Performance.
• South Carolina is in first place in at least one category…Mobile Home dwellers! Yes its true, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a full 18.2% of South Carolinians live in trailers as of 2007. Second place goes to New Mexico with 16.8%. Source.
• Coming in at number 47 among the 50 states, South Carolina’s per capita income is only $31,013 per year as of 2007. Source.
• And if you thought that the slow southern pace and relatively un-crowded roads would at least make driving a little safer, think again. South Carolina ranks #5 nationally in traffic fatalities per miles driven.
• Speaking of fatalities, it isn’t even safe to be born in South Carolina. The infant mortality rate the third worse in the nation, behind only Mississippi and Louisiana. Source.
• Oh, and if you do make it past childhood, you are more at risk of being a victim of a violent crime in South Carolina than any other state. Source.
• As of June, 2009, South Carolina has the 5th highest unemployment rate at 11.8%. Source.
• Can you say Governor Mark Sanford?
• And not wanting to stop at just ten, even though I could go on forever, don’t forget that these are the folks who started the Civil War because they no longer wanted to be Americans. The result was over half a million Americans dead. Even Al-Qaeda hasn’t been able to figure out how to kill that many of us. And just to rub a little spit in our eyes, they still fly the confederate flag on the grounds of the state capital in Columbia.

So now really, does it surprise you that South Carolina Republicans have an idiot like Joe Wilson for a congressman?

Converting ASP.NET Web.sitemap to Google Sitemap Format

It would have been nice if Google would recognize ASP.NET's Web.sitemap file. You need to use .Net's format for navigation controls like TreeView and bread crumbs, but you definitely want to give googlebot a sitemap it can read.

Fortunately somebody took the time to write a quick little converter. You can find it on Sourceforge. It is only about 28k and very fast. Sure, you could write one yourself in an hour or two, but why bother?

Yes, WordPress runs fine on IIS at Godaddy

Ok, I'm tired of all the blogs saying you can't run WordPress on a Windows hosting account at GoDaddy. It just aint true! I just installed WordPress 2.8.4 on a Windows hosting account at GoDaddy for the fifth time.

WordPress works fine on Godaddy with Windows hosting running IIS 7. Don't let anybody tell you it will only work on Linux.

If you are having problems with WordPress on Windows at Godaddy, check these issues in your Hosting Control Center:

1. Verify you are running IIS 7. You probably wont get it to run on IIS 6. You can have your IIS 6 account updated to IIS 7 at no charge. Just look for the option in hour Hosting Control Center at Godaddy.

2. Verify that your install folder is set as Application Root and "anonymous access" is checked.

3. In Hosting Control Center > Content > File Manager, select your install folder, click on "Permissions" and uncheck Inherit. Then check "Read", "Write" and "Reset all children to inherit".

4. In Content > IIS Management, select the Content Root folder and then click "Advanced". Make sure pipeline mode is set to 'Integrated".

5. In Content > Add On Languages, verify you are are running .Net Runtime 2.0/3/0/3.5 and PHP 5.x.

While there is probably no reason to choose Windows over Linux for hosting your WordPress site, many folks are already running other sites on their Windows hosting account and therefore can't switch to a Linux account. And of course if you need .ASP scripting, you must stick with Windows hosting.

What I don't get is why there always seems to be a zealous LAMP fan jumping on an IIS user asking for help? Did you ever notice that you don't see a Microsoft stack user chastising a LAMP user who asks a technical question? The way I see it, there are many good reason for choosing either stack. The true professional will select the technology based on the project at hand, and not on some silly loyalty to one product set.

Google Voice Arrives

I'm trying out Google Voice.

It is nice stuff. There is plenty written about it already so I won't go into great detail about it. But here are the basics:

• You get a free phone number
• All calls and texts are free
• You can block calls from specific numbers
• You can listen in while somebody leaves a voice mail message
• You can route your calls to any phone you like, or even to several phones at the same time
• You can have personalized voice mail messages for individuals or groups
• You can record calls and keep the recordings online and even share them
• You can do free conference calls
• Your voice mails are converted to text!

It's very cool! You can even click on the "Call Me" widget above and call me. I have it set to go directly to voice mail, but I could have it ring my phone. The best part about these widgets is that you can let somebody call you without giving them your phone number.

Once again Google has introduced disruptive technology. So far I am very impressed. Get your Google Voice account here: google.com/voice

Gov. Sanford Prefers Offshore Prostitutes

So having just finished my last post where I mentioned that South Carolina’s governor Mark Sanford’s mysterious trip to Argentina probably involved a woman, I pulled up Google News and had my suspicions confirmed! Oh how I love to be right (although it apparently happens less after you are married).

What an idiot. Why do these guys keep doing this when all around them they see others paying a huge political price just to get a little action? I mean really, is any sex worth giving up a career and suffering national embarrassment? I just don’t get it. But I must admit that I am thoroughly amused by the governor. I do love to see the self-riotous fall, and it’s just that much better when it is a Republican. Remember, this is the party of the Righteous Right.

According to Sanford's own tearful admission in today's news conference, he went down to Argintina to do the nasty with a woman he has been having an affair with for over a year. So I guess we can forget about those rumors of him running for President in 2012. He has resigned as the head of the Republican Governors Association, althogh the way things have been going for Republicans lately, he actually seems like the perfect spoksperson for the group.

Something Good Will Come Out of This

I am uplifted by the use of the Internet by Iranian citizens. Of course it is disheartening that the whole mess is happening in the first

place, but without the Internet, cell phones and social network sites, we would know very little about what is happening there. It makes you wonder about all the horrible things that must surely be happening in other places, but are not reported because the citizens don’t have access to this technology.

We all love to complain about the press. Somebody even coined a new phrase a few years back, the ”Mainstream Media”, which is generally used with a negative tone. I suppose “Mainstream” means all the media you are likely to have heard of. But really, we owe almost as much to the media for our freedom as we do to our military. This fact is lost on many people, but a free press it really what keeps citizens in charge. Without it we would never know about the bribes, lies, cheating, profiteering, scandals, and who knows what else. Ultimately it was reporters who brought down Nixon and countless lesser criminals. Perhaps a reporter will figure out what South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was really doing in Argentina. Whatever it was, I’m sure there was a woman involved.

And reporters have changed the way we fight wars. I am convinced that the reason we don’t carpet bomb entire cities like we did in World War II is that the public does not have the stomach for the images. Through the media, we have learned that not everybody in a country like North Korea is bad. In fact, this Iranian mess is a perfect example. Back in 1979 when Iran was holding our hostages most of us probably figured all Iranians were bad people and hated Americans. And because of the limited view we all had of the world (our views of Iranians and Iranian’s views of us), most Iranians probably did have a poor view of Americans. But today, we can all go online and learn the truth. But perhaps more importantly, the Internet has helped us all learn that the average American is not much different than the average Iranian, at least not in our basic feelings about family, jobs, income, retirement, health care, etc.

You see, when we feel that others are just like us, we generally don’t want to see them harmed. Conversely, the less we think somebody is like us the less we care about them. The path to abuse starts with de-humanizing the targeted group. For example, we justified enslaving Africans by labeling them inferior or savages. We did the same when we slaughtered the native peoples we found on this continent so we could rape their women and steal their land and treasures. Once we convince ourselves a group is “unworthy”, we have no problem imposing our will on them or even slaughtering them if it serves our purpose.

But the Internet has made it harder to justify our bigotry. When we see a young woman shot down in the middle of an Iranian street, we see a young woman die, not a nameless foreigner who we can’t relate to.

As technology marches on, I hope and believe that it will simultaneously bring us closer together and make it harder for intolerant governments to repress their citizens. These things never move as fast as we would like, but how many nameless Neda’s have died without the world as a witness? This time she has a name and the world won’t soon forget it.

Flying to the Philippines

The following is some very nice information I came across on a board I belong to.  I have added my comments in a few places, but mostly this is just some very good data for those of us who frequent the Philippines...

(As of March 1st 2007) 

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES 

Philippines Airlines was founded in 1941. This is the Shortest flying time from the U.S to 
the Philippines. Flights leave from San Francisco or Los Angeles daily. San Francisco 
flight is always a non stop with a flying time of less than 13 hours to Manila. Evening 
departures allows for an early morning arrival in Manila which allows you to connect to 
other flights on PAL to other Philippine domestic destinations. It also allows you to connect 
to the Cebu Express flight leaving from the International Terminal (your luggage is checked 
thru to Cebu) and you go through customs and immigration in Cebu City. 

As of December 2006, it claims to serve twenty-one domestic airports and thirty-two 
foreign cities. 

Currently the Cebu Express is daily and you arrive in Cebu at 7 a.m. Also true for the 
return. Cebu Express flight in the evening connecting to Manila for the flight to San 
Francisco with minimum lay over time. 

I have flown Philippine Airlines and would recommend it.  Their planes are clean and relatively new and the service is excellent.

http://www.philippineair.com 

CHINA AIRLINES 

China Airlines was founded on December 16, 1959. This airline has its hub in Taipei, 
Taiwan. This is the low priced leader for the industry. At times their fares are $100 lower 
than the competition. Night time departures from San Francisco, from Los Angeles, and 
New York (JFK) allow for a mid day arrival in Manila and they have a thru fare to Cebu 
using PAL. 

Flight requires a change of planes in Taiwan both ways. Luggage can be checked thru to 
Manila. You go thru customs and immigration in Manila. They have fares from every major 
US city. As of January 31, 2007, China now air has destinations in 67 cities in 25 countries. 

It should be noted though since 1970, this airline has averaged 7.16 fatal events per 
million flights, while the worldwide average is less than 1.0. 

http://www.china-airlines.com 

Northwest Airlines 

Northwest Airlines (NW) was founded in 1926. NW is the world's fifth largest airline in 
terms of RPK (revenue-passenger-kilometers) and it has the third largest fleet in the world. 
They offer morning flights to Manila in the U.S. and you arrive the next evening in Manila, 
too late to make a connecting flight to any Philippine domestic destinations. Returning 
flights leaves Manila in the morning and too early to connect from Cebu or interior
Philippines. 

NW Airlines is an airline headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota in the US. NW also operates 
flights from a hub in Asia at Narita International Airport near Tokyo and also operates 
transatlantic and Asian flights in cooperation with partner KLM from Schiphol Airport in 
Amsterdam. 

The international flights in the US, originate in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit 
and Minneapolis. You change planes for Manila in Seoul, Korea or Narita, Japan after 2 
hour lay over, same for the return flights. 

I have flown Northwest Airlines a few time to the Philippines.  Their prices are good but equipment seems a little worn.  Service could be better.  This is basically a cattle call, but like I said, the prices are good.  As it states above, you can't make domestic connections in Manila so you either have to hang around the airport or get a hotel for a few hours.  I spent one long night laying on the floor in the domestic airport in Manila trying to get a little sleep.  There were many other folks doing the same, and I did feel safe.  Situations like this are always a good opportunity to strike up interesting conversations with strangers just to pass the time.

http://www.nwa.com 

Eva Airlines 

Eva Air was founded Dr. Chang Yung-Fa in March 1989. Eva Air is based at Taiwan 
Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei, Taiwan. Eva Air has daily flights to Manila from 
San Francisco, Los Angeles and Newark. They offer interline on other U.S. carriers for 
other U.S. cities. They also go thru Taiwan, and change planes for Manila. Price is about 
the same, but best advantage to Eva Airlines is the Deluxe Economy Class. For only about 
$100 each way, you can upgrade to their "almost business class" Deluxe Economy with 
more room, bigger seats, wider, more leg room, better food, better service etc. Best deal 
going for this "almost business class" service. 

http://www.evaair.com.tw 

Cathay Pacific 

Cathay Pacific's hub and headquarters is in Hong Kong meaning all flights to Manila go thru 
Hong Kong. They do have a separate flight that goes to Cebu and is more than their Manila 
flight. This is a great option for those who want to avoid Manila. They have daily flights from 
SFO and LAX and also JFK. They use the same partner carriers US flights as China 
Airlines and Eva. Prices are on the high end compared to China Airlines and some of the 
others, but the convenience of their Cebu Flight makes up for it. Cathay Pacific is perceived 
by many to be one of the best Asian airlines. Like China Airlines, discounts are generally 
always available. Unlike China Airlines, some flights are sold out months in advance, and 
seats are hard to get during certain times. 

I have flown Cathay Pacific and have had no problems with them.

http://www.cathaypacific.com 

Korean Airlines 

An established airline with its hub in Seoul, Korea, Korean Airlines is very competitive with China 
Airlines for fares to Manila. As with all carriers except PAL, you go thru another city, country 
(Seoul Korea) and change planes for the flight to Manila. Reports of delays in Seoul are common 
and some Filipino Passport holders said they had to pay a transit tax in Seoul (but not U.S. Passport 
holders). They have interline connections for interior U.S. cities and very competitive in that market 
also. Arrival time in Manila is about Noon time, so there is little time to connect to Cebu and other 
interior Philippine Cities. They have no thru fare to other cities in the Philippines. 

http://www.koreanair.com 

Asiana Airlines 

This is another Korean airlines established on February 17, 1988. Asiana Airlines also goes thru 
Seoul, Korea and you have to change planes for the last leg to Manila. They also have some very 
low airfares. They are one of the newest airlines in Asia. As with all Trans-Pacific carriers now, they 
fly the 747-400 (newest and biggest Boeing 4 engine jet) to their hub and the European Industry 
Airbus 330 (4 engine 250 passenger jet) to Manila. 

http://us.flyasiana.com/ 

Japan Airlines 

Based in Japan, Japan Airlines is trying to get their share of the Manila market also with low fares. 
They have now added on select cities in the U.S. You go via Tokyo or Osaka and change planes for 
flights to Manila. Your arrival time in Manila is 9:20 p.m., to late for connections to Cebu or other 
cities. So you would require an overnight on the outbound. Same is true for the return, departure 
from Manila is 9:15 a.m. and that would be too early coming from Cebu or other cities and would 
require an overnight in Manila the night before departure. 

Japan Airlines is great.  Their facilities in Tokyo and Osaka are first class and their plane are nice.

http://www.japanair.com/ 

Continental Airlines 

Continental Airlines began service in 1934 as Varney Speed Lines. The airline which is based in 
Houston, Texas is the only carrier that flies to Manila and has a stop-over in Honolulu and/or Guam. 
Arrival in Manila is at night and makes connecting to interior Philippine flights difficult and you 
have to overnight in Manila. Fares are not as competitive as other carriers. Recently, Continental 
Airlines announced that it will acquire 24 more Boeing Next-Generation 737 (737NG) aircraft. 

We did the Manila - Guam - Hawaii - Dallas  hope once.  It actually wasn't so bad making all those stops because it gave you a chance to get out and stretch your legs.

http://www.continental.com/ 

Terry Gene Bollea, AKA Hulk Hogan

So what do you think about the Hulkster?  He certainly is colorful, whatever your opinion.  Here is the bio on the guy.

Born: August 11, 1953

Birth Place: Augusta, Georgia

Height: 6’ 4’’ (he says he is 6’7” but this is not true)

Weight: 302 pounds

Real Name: Terry Gene Bollea

Mom: Ruth Bollea, dance teacher

Dad:  Peter Bollea, construction foreman

Attended the University of South Florida but quit

Married: December 18, 1983 to Linda Claridge

Cheated: with Christiane Planete

Divorce filed: November 2007

 

Of course everybody knows Hulk was an actor whose primary acting jobs involved professional wrestling.  Is first wrestling act (match) was on August 10, 1977.  At one point he wore one of those goofy masks and called himself “The Super Destroyer”.   As for his stage name, he took “Hulk” from the Incredible Hulk, and Hogan was given to him by Vincent McMahon, the World Wrestling Federation chief.

Anyway, Hulk is in the news this week for saying “I totally understand O.J.”, when referring to his estranged wife.   I don’t know why anybody would be surprised but this, or how it even makes the news.  Why should we really care what this guy says? 

Although I never cared for professional wrestling, many people do and Terry made a good living at it.  Now he is pretty much washed up but hay, he is 55 and lasted longer than he would have had this been a real sport.  You have to give the guy credit for making himself rich and famous.  But now it is really time for him to exit the stage.  And I don’t say that because he is getting older.  It’s just that he is no longer relevant.  I guess he had a lot of fans, and perhaps they are interested in his antics.  But I would say most people really don’t care what he is doing or saying.

 

 

Why Do People Care About Sports?

I have never had any interest in following sports. Now, I don’t mean that I don’t like sports. I played organized sports in my youth. Occasionally I have even enjoyed going out to watch a sporting event.

But what I have never been able to understand is this fascination with the minutia of the games. Why do grown men get all worked up talking about how fast or strong some young guy is? Sounds a little funny to me, if you know what I mean.

Then there is this unjustifiable loyalty to the “home team”. In every circumstance, the players in all the major sports come from everywhere but the home town. How do you feel any loyalty to a team made up of guys from some other town or country? It doesn’t make sense. And look at the money wasted on sports. Doesn’t anybody other than me wonder why we dedicate an entire section in our newspapers to sports, a for-profit business? Why don’t we have an entire section for some other business like landscaping? I mean really, why do we give this enormous amount of free advertising to these businesses (sports teams)? It doesn’t make sense.

Here is what I see. Everybody reads the same sports reports and watches the same sports shows. Then the next day at work, they parrot back everything they read or heard, as if it is their own original opinion. Lame.

Then folks line up to get an autograph. What do you get out of that? Does it make you a better person? Does it make your life complete to grovel at the feet of some guy just to have him scribble on your ball cap? Does that somehow improve the quality of your life? Perhaps in some weird way it does. I just don’t get it.

Anybody that can name all the starting players on any team that they don’t personally play on just a little too obsessed. Just think of what they could do with all that time wasted following the antics of these young men. How much time could they give back to their family or to others that need help?

Now I don’t think all these people are somehow defective. I think they just got caught up in this behavior as youngsters, and don’t know any better. For many it is probably a good way to keep them content with otherwise stale lives. What better way to forget about the mediocrity of your own life than to tie your dreams to the local sports heroes? Just sit back and let your life tick away while you watch others live their dream. It is certainly easier than finding your own dream to chase.

Pandiculation?

Do you know what it means?  I didn't know before a few days ago.  Then suddenly I heard "pandiculaiton" several times.  Sounds like some kind of Chinese bear porn.  I looked it up and it isn't.  Here is the definition:

Yawning and stretching (as when first waking up) .

So it seems I have been pandiculating all my life.  In fact, I pandiculate several times a day.  I definitely pandiculate when I haven't had my coffee.  Which brings up another important thing: Starbucks.  Haven't been there in a while because of the economy.  Now I haven't been impacted in any way by the economy problems.  But for some reason all this doom and gloom talk makes me want to be conservative.  Perhaps that is why there is so much pandiculating going on these days.  People just can't afford Starbucks.  For those of us who are just as happy with gas station coffee, the economy is not a problem.  But if you have to have sugar, syrup, whip cream and the like before you can stomach coffee, you might be cutting back on those five dollar drinks.  

Actually pandiculating is probably good for you.  They say stretching is good for you.  Bill Gates must not pandiculate because the word is not recognized by my spell checker.

I did a search for pandiculation on google and came up with 15,100 results.  That is really pretty low.  My search did turn up a Time Magazine article from 1942 that talks about a device called the "Pandiculator".  Apparently it was some kind of gadget with a "T" shaped iron post on each end.  One end had a pulley and cable.  You would lay on this thing, strap down your head and crank a wheel that stretched you out.  Interesting.  The guy selling it claimed it would make you taller, healthier, younger and cure 'every conceivable condition".

I wonder if people back in 1942 knew what the word "pandiculate" meant?  They must have right?  How could you advertise a product with that name unless people knew what it meant?  You have to admit that it is a cool word.  My opinion is that any word ending in "iculation" is a cool word.

North Korea

So what do you suppose they are up to with this missile launch? They say it is a satellite and I believe them. It is probably a spy satellite this time.

There is no doubt Kim Jong-il is a wack-job. We probably should do everything we can to make sure he isn't a threat to any country we care about. But really, you can't blame him or Iran or any other country for trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Take a minute and think about the message we (America) send to these belligerent nations. We are sitting here on a pile of nukes telling them they can't have any. Now I do agree with that policy, but you have to admit it is hypocritical. It's like telling your kids not to smoke while a cigarette hangs out of your mouth.

If I were running some rat-hole third world country like North Korea, I would probably try to develop a nuke too. It is the only way the world takes you serious these days.

Of course we should keep trying to limit the number of countries with nukes for as long as we can. But eventually these rogue states will develop them. And eventually some country will use one on another country. I hope that day is a long way off, but really you would be niave to think it wont happen. I'm surprised it has taken this long.

Newt Gingrich

Well I havn’t thought about old Netw Gingrich in a while. I blogged about his love life about two years ago here .

He has been getting a little press lately for some reason. The republican party is really struggling to find a leader these days. I suppose Newt is better than his rotundity Rush Limbaugh.  If you don't know Newt, here is a little background:

• Born June 17, 1943 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
• Acutal name is Netwon Leroy McPherson
• Has had three wives: Jackie Battley (1962-1981), Marianne Ginther (1981-2000) and Callista Bisek (2000 to now)
• Current Home: McLean, Virginia
• Colleges: Emory University & Tulane University
• Religion: Catholic
• Political career in office: 1979 to 1999

On the religion front, Newt was a Baptist all his life but then three days ago (March 29, 2009) he converted to Catholicism.  This is the religion of his latest wife Callista Bisek.  I guess it was embarassing for Callista to d

rag a heathen to church so she converted him.  

Newt agreed with Geraldine Ferraro when she said "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."  No surprsie there.  Everything about Newt screams narrow-minded.

Gingrich really wanted to run for president in 2008.  He told his dozen or so supporters that if they raised $30 million, he would hit the campaign trail.  How embarassing for him when he couldn't even raise a fraction of that.  Of course he had a good excuse when he "decided" not to run.  He siad he couldn't run for president and also remain as chairman of American Solutions for Winning the Future, a radical right wing group that wants to drill for oil in public parks and further deregulate companies like AIG.

Always the dreamer, Gingrich has hopes of running in the 2012 presidental race.  He would be 69.  Can you say John McCain part 2?  Actually that isn't fair to McCain, who actually seems like a good guy despite his political ideals.  I'm sure Barak Obama and the entire Democratic party are hoping he will run.  The guy is an ethical and moral train wreck.  But at this point he is a good sponsor for the current state of the Republican party.

American Idol

Ok, confession time.  I watch American Idol.  The only other shows I watch are CNN and America’s Funniest Videos.  Like many American these days, I have lost the taste for scripted television.  I have always had a faint interest in American Idol, but my wife loves the show so it is something we can watch together.

I hated to see Megan Joy go tonight.  She wasn’t good enough to win but she is better than Anoop Desai and Scott MacIntyre.  I think Scott is ok but seems to be getting some sympathy vote because he is nearly blind.  I don’t have a problem with that really since this stuff is just entertainment and kind of silly.

My current favorite is Allison, I guess.  My favorite performance this season was Adam Lambert’s “Ring of Fire”.  I have always loved that song and I enjoyed this new twist on it.

I think the next three to leave the show will be Anoop Desai, Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre but not necessarily in that order.

It is a good thing Ford is not taking any bailout money since they are the primary sponsor for American Idol.  Actually this is probably a good move for Ford.  I wonder what they pay?

Work/Life Balance

How can you have work/life balance if you are expected to work 5 days and are only off 2 days?  I guess if you only work 8 hours per day, you do actually have more time off than at work.  But since getting ready for work, going to work, returning from work and dealing with work stress dominates most of the day for many of us, do you really get much personal enjoyment out of the remaining time you have to yourself Monday - Friday?

 

And then you loose those few remaining hours on Sunday laminating over the fact that you have to go to work the next morning.  I would rather work three 12 hour days or even four 10 hour days.  I guess some lucky people do have such schedules.

 

I like the job sharing idea.  At this point in my life, I would gladly split my work day and salary with another person wanting to do the same.  Any takers?

The Gay Gene?

Ok, I’ve been pondering something and I can’t figure it out. If homosexuality is a genetic condition why does it still persist in our gene pool? You would think that since homosexuals tend to have few, if any, kids that particular gene would eventually die out.

You could argue that this is evidence that homosexuality is not a genetic trait. And I suppose we don’t know for sure if it is. But if it is not genetic, it would have to be a lifestyle choice and that just doesn’t seem reasonable.

The best answer I can come up with is that there must be some evolutionary advantage to homosexuality. But what could it be? I don’t believe anything in nature is a mistake. I therefore don’t believe homosexuality is a mistake.

Could it be nature’s way of controlling populations? It doesn’t seem likely. For most of our existence, population hasn’t been a problem. Disease, predators and starvation effectively kept populations in control until recent times.

For a specific genetic trait to survive, it must have some benefit that outweighs its expense. In the case of homosexuality, the expense would be fewer offspring to pass along the gene. But the gene does survive so it must provide some survival advantage. What could it be?
One thing is for sure…homosexuals are having children or the gene would not survive. This is not surprising since it seems that many homosexuals first try traditional relationships, including traditional marriages before embracing homosexuality.

But now another question. Doesn’t it seem that homosexuals don’t seem to come from homosexual parents? Another point to the “lifestyle choice” crowd.

Despite these difficulties, I still firmly believe homosexuality is genetic. I believe we all carry the gene, but it is suppressed in most of us. But why does the gene persist, what triggers it and what advantage does it provide our species?

War Games

Civil War Reenactments.  Now here is something I have never been able to understand.  Every year we see various groups reenacting famous or not-so-famous battles from the civil war.  Yes, grown men dress up in costumes and toy guns and pretend to play war.  What the hell?  Isn't war terrible enough already?  Do we really need to re-live all the death?

And why the Civil War?  This was the deadliest war in American history.  At least 618,000 Americans died.  Thats more than the entire population of Boston, or about the same as the entire state of Vermont.  All because the South wanted to keep their slaves.  Ok, it was about slightly more than slaves, but mostly it was about slaves.  How is it entertainment or even morally acceptable to glamorize this horrible period in our history by playing war?  Why not also reenact the assignation of President Lincoln?  While we are at it, we could reenact the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Now certainly we need to remember these horrible events so that we can hopefully learn from them.  But these people make it into entertainment.  If they really wanted to make it realistic, they should bring in some real dead bodies and blood to litter all over the battlefield.  Then march out some real widows and children to wail over the loss of their husbands and breadwinners.

And whats with these southerners (but not all southerners) who continue to associate themselves with the Confederacy and/or its symbolism?  Don't they know their history?  Don't they know that they caused the massacre of 618,000 Americans because they didn't want to be associated with the United States?  Today their acts would be considered terrorism.

We are just so fascinated with war.  We always have been.  War provides the chapter breaks in the book of human history.  One would think we would outgrow war eventually.  But as long as there are those among us who find pleasure in playing war, we will always have the real thing for their further entertainment.

Why are the Arts Dominated by Liberals?

It's an obvious fact that the arts are overwhelmingly dominated by liberals. Why is that? It could be that conservatives are just no fun. Perhaps it's because most artists are broke and a good
conservative would never trade riches for happiness, although most do attempt to purchase happiness with riches.

My guess would be that a typical conservative is reluctant to think outside of the narrowly defined roles that have been defined for them by their parents and their church.

The arts are really the exact opposite of conservative thinking. An artist wants to explore the deep recesses of his mind for unique nuggets that will jolt him and his audience while a conservative goes about rejecting anything or anyone who challenges his hard-wired
beliefs.

But then why do conservatives share equally in the enjoyment of a few (and only a few) of the arts? I am not speaking of the thought provoking arts but rather those products produced for mass consumption such as mainstream movies and music? The answer is obvious in most
cases. The movies and songs that do best are the ones that reach the broadest market. To do that you must stick to universal themes that skim the surface of our shared interests while avoiding controversial issues. Our most popular movies are are either about triumph over
evil, conventional love stories or horrors.

Sent from my iPhone

Are Student Loans Always Worth It?

I was thinking about how good people can and often do bad things.  The opposite is also true; how many times have you heard somebody say "he seemed like such a nice man" after some dude goes on a shooting rampage?

Really I think most people will do at least one incredibly stupid thing during their lifetime.  Ever the over achiever, I have done many such stupid things.  So I am thinking about this today when I came across an article in the USA Today written by Jesse Jackson.  You see I blogged about Jesse on this blog a while back.  I still stand behind everything in that blog but I also found his opinion article right on point.  The article is here if you care to read it.  It is about student loans.

Everybody I know who went to college has student loans.  Well ok, actually I don't know if they all have student loans.  But many of them have mentioned it.  The question is, is it worth it?  Of course that depends on how much student loan debt you acquire and what degree you receive.  I met a friend of a friend out in Denver back in the fall who had $80k in student loan debt!  I couldn't believe it when he told me that.  Now I know it is common for doctoral students to rack up that kind of debt and sometimes much more.  But this guy didn't have that kind of degree.  I'm not going to mention the degree he had because too much information might help some who know me to figure out who he is.  But the point is that now he has a student loan payment the size of a house mortgage and only limited earning potential in the short term.

I know two people who owe about $50K in student loans and they both have degrees in psychology which pays crap because like teaching the employeer is almost always the government.  For years we have all been seeing those commercials talking about how a college graduate makes a million dollars more in their lifetime (or some similar number) than a non college graduate.  What they don't tell you is that these averages they quote are incredibly inflated because they include all those 

bank presidents, trial lawyers and stock brokers who make hundreds of millions over the course of their lifetime.  Of course there is no doubt that the average college graduate make more than the average non-graduate.  But what if you subtract out all the money spent on college, including interest on student loans, plus subtract all of the wages you could have been earning during those years in college, plus remove all those millionaires who skew the average?  I'll bet that million dollar difference is no longer a million dollars.

Of course there are many other good reasons for going to college.  I definitely think it is the right thing to do for most people.  But it is not the right thing at any cost.  And you shouldn't get caught up in which college you attend.  The fact is that with the exception of a dozen or so "big name" colleges, most employers don't care what college signs your diploma.  Too many young people make an emotional decision about where to go to college when it really should be a practical decision.  Education is really a commodity product.  The primary reason the top schools produce a disproportionate number of high achievers is that they only admit high achievers in the first place.  Those high achievers would have continued to be high achievers no matter what college they attended.

Additionally, I could go on at length about the cultural impact college has on students and if that impact is always positive.  But perhaps another time.

Yes, Jessica Simpson is Fat. Get Over It.

Well what are we to make of Jessica Simpson and all the press around her weight?  I case you missed it, Jessica has put on a few pounds.   The rest of the story is very predictable…late night comedians and the tabloids get lots of mileage out of her new found surface area while the feminists and other s rail on about impossible stereo types and eating disorders. 

But really, what has me blogging about Jessica Simpson is to point out the double message we get every.  You see, we are all very aware that many Americans are overweight.  In fact, most Americans are overweight.  But you let somebody criticize somebody for their weight and folks jump out from everywhere to defend her.  What is that about?  Certainly it is wrong to call people names with intent to hurt their feelings.  But is it wrong to be honest?  Is it wrong to say somebody is fat?  Should we use a clinical term like obese? 

You see, being fat is a lifestyle choice.  It is not a handicap.  But many times we act like it is a handicap.  If you choose to be fat, and it is absolutely a choice, then suck it up and accept the truth when somebody calls you fat.   If you are happy being fat, then good for you for not being in denial.

The overweight people in America hold us all back.  The evidence is overwhelming that obesity reduces productivity in the workplace and increases everybody’s healthcare cost.  And what about all the over looked costs of obesity like the wasted food that your body didn’t need?  And the extra fuel required to drive or fly you around.  These are real costs.

The fact is that we have a real problem with obesity in this country.  We all know it is true.   We can’t solve this obesity crisis if we keep worrying about insulting each other.  It’s time we call each other out.  If your friend is fat, tell him he is fat.  Isn’t that what a good friend would do?  We don’t do each other any favor when we keep our comments to ourselves.

Most women in this country are bigger than Jessica Simpson.  And most men are also overweight.   It’s time we stop pretending to be outraged when somebody dares to mention the obvious.  Jessica is overweight.  Get over it.  The truth hurts, but lying to ourselves hurts even more.

Winking Drummer Looks Like Paul Blart?

Now here is a silly story.  A firefighter named John Coleman was caught winking and waving at President Obama!  “No!” you say, “tell me it isn’t true.”  What a scandal.  Now tell me, who really cares?  Why does a story like this make the news?  You got some fat dude wearing silly clothes winking at the president.  Why does that matter? 

Coleman is or was the bandleader of the Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums.  While marching past President Obama during the inauguration parade, apparently he winked and waved.  Of course everything anybody does these days gets caught on camera.  Unfortunately for Coleman, Pipe Major Mike Engle witnessed the atrocity and suspended Coleman from the band for six months.  According to Engle, “Protocol and proper decorum had to be followed at all times…”

This story raises many disturbing questions.  First, and most important, isn’t this guy too fat to be a firefighter?  I mean really, if you were hanging out the window of a burning building looking for your savior do you really want to see a rotund dude huffing and puffing his way to save you?  I though firefighters had to meet physical fitness standards.  Another problem with this story is the part about “protocol and decorum.”  Now give me a break.  A bunch of guys put on some silly clothes and play bag pipes, and all of a sudden they are bound to some code of decorum?  These guys are taking themselves entirely too seriously.  This isn’t the military, and firefighters aren’t in the military.  Not even close.  They are just civil servants we pay to put out fires.  No doubt it is a tough and honorable job, but its more akin to delivering the mail than being in the military.  And if you are in the military you can’t be that fat.

Ok now my third problem with this story.  Doesn’t this guy John Coleman look like Paul Blart?  You know the actor from Mall Cop?

Google news shows 475 articles on this story today but only 379 stories about Starbucks cutting 6,700 jobs.  What does that say about us?  Are we just tired of hearing about the financial meltdown would rather read about a winking drummer?

President Obama Wants Your Car to Use Less Gas

In what he called "a down payment on a broader and sustained effort to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," President Obama directed the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish higher fuel efficiency standards for carmakers' 2011 model year. The standard, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), was established in 1975 in the wake of the Arab Oil Embargo.

 Yes, if you didn’t already know, the U.S. government does require automobiles sold here to meet minimum fuel efficiency requirements.  Here is the official definition for CAFE…

 CAFE is the sales weighted average fuel economy, expressed in miles per gallon (mpg), of a manufacturer’s fleet of passenger cars or light trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 8,500 lbs. or less, manufactured for sale in the United States, for any given model year. Fuel economy is defined as the average mileage traveled by an automobile per gallon of gasoline (or equivalent amount of other fuel) consumed as measured in accordance with the testing and evaluation protocol set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

 As I said, this all started in 1975.  The first goal was to be at 18mpg by 1978.  These new standards effectively brought the muscle care era to an end.  Of course the auto industry whined and moaned about the new regulations, and mechanics everywhere complained about the complicated changes brought on by CAFE as well as the tighter emissions standards being imposed.  But in the end, it has been a tremendous “win” for consumers.  Minimum standards rose to 19mpg for 1979, 20mpg for 1980, 22mpg for 1981, 24mpg for 1982, 26mpg for 1984 and finally 27.5 mpg for 1985.  These mandated increases, along with the tougher emission standards brought us innovative technologies such as electronic fuel injection, computer controlled engines and lighter cars that last longer.  If you were driving back in the 70’s, you remember that the exhaust systems that had to be replaced every few years now last for a decade or more.  This is a direct result of cleaner burning engines.  Do you remember spark plugs ignition contact points that had to be replaced every 20,000 miles or so?  It once was common to see your neighbor replacing his spark plugs on a Saturday morning.  My car has 77,000 miles on it and I have never lifted the hood except to change the oil and filters.  No car made in the ‘60’s, ‘70’s or even the ‘80’s would have gone half that distance without needing a tune-up.

Forcing cars to be more efficient has brought us better cars.  There is no debate here.  Some of us (me included) may be nostalgic about the “glory days” of the muscle car era, but as wonderfully intoxicating as those cars were they were expensive to operate, tedious to maintain, comparatively unsafe to drive and were completely wore out before they hit 100,000 miles.

So now I get to my point.  CAFE standards have remained at 27.5mpg since 1985.  That’s 24 years!  Actually the standards were briefly lowered from 1886-1989, thanks to Ronald Regan.  And correspondingly, we saw no new technology coming from the American automobile manufacturers.  Only after Toyota released the Prius in the U.S. in 2001 did the domestic automakers begin to think about hybrids.  The fact is that well meaning government mandates can and do spur advances in technology that wind up benefiting consumers.  How many wonderful new advances have we missed out on because CAFÉ standards have been stuck at 27.5mpg for the last 24 years?  When I was a kid in the 60’s, we all thought we would be driving hover cars by now.  Higher mpg requirements might not bring us hover cars, but you can bet we would be driving significantly more advanced cars than we drive now.

Now think about the following.  From 1978 to 1985 the mandated mpg standards were raised an average of 1.19 mpg per year.  If we would have continued that course through today, our 2009 vehicle fleet would average over 46mpg!  And to average 46mpg, the most fuel efficient cars would have to get much more than 46mpg, perhaps as high as 60mpg.

I’m glad to see President Obama turn his attention to this matter.  Although Ronald Regan deserves all the blame for killing the steady progress of CAFE standards and increasing our dependence on foreign oil, Bill Clinton could have spent more energy on the problem.  Clinton supported greater fuel efficiency, but indicated in 1993 that increasing CAFE standards would probably not be embraced. Today Obama announced he is asking for new CAFE standards by 2011, and 35mpg by 2020.  You can bet we will be seeing some interesting new things in the auto industry as they stretch to meet these new standards.