The rising cost of oil has led to the expected spike in gas (petrol) prices all across the country. Stories abound of commuters switching to bicycles even for long distances, price-gouging by oil companies, and lawsuits against fuel re-sellers who are charging lower rates than their competitors in a bid to attract business (and also perhaps to put on a more driver-friendly image).
The best news story to date, though, was in today's online edition of the CNN news service. Drivers in California are resorting to a novel way of beating the clamp on their wallets: they simply allow their tanks to go dry, and stall up on the busy freeways and arterials of the state. Subsidized towing services ply the roads to rescue such victims, and greet the stranded vehicles with a free gallon of gas. That could be good for at least another 20-30 miles!
The frequency of such "requests" has apparently shot up in the past few days, and is expected to maintain an upward trend in the near future.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Monday, April 24, 2006
Ad-surfing
This is a brief rant about the amount of advertising on American television today. It is bad enough that nearly half the scheduled duration of a program is consumed by con-vertising: a deluge of inferior products (low on both concept and design), yet high on price, being sold as the best thing ever to happen to us. How did we (and our parents and grandparents) live without such nifty gadgets/diet supplements/electronics?
What is even more vexing is that the various broadcasting stations seem to have colluded to schedule their ads at exactly the same times! We no longer have the option of channel-surfing to escape these irritating bank-account-emptying schemes, as we encounter similar nonsense with every press of the button! The only way out seems to be to tune the TV out for the next five minutes. Go load the dishwasher, maybe. Or read a chapter of a novel, and still return to the TV show with plenty of time to spare.
Sometimes, the irritation is taken to the next level: almost every channel you visit is running the exact same ad! I wonder: do Bowflex and Magic Bullet make so much money swindling people, that they can afford to run so many paid ads on such a variety of channels?!
On a slight tangent, imagine several five-minute ad stretches within a half-hour program. The cast from the TV shows seems to be getting paid gobs of cash for "half-hour" episodes, when they essentially have to work only towards a fifteen-minute piece at best! Neat! Professional sport, here comes competition in the salary department!
What is even more vexing is that the various broadcasting stations seem to have colluded to schedule their ads at exactly the same times! We no longer have the option of channel-surfing to escape these irritating bank-account-emptying schemes, as we encounter similar nonsense with every press of the button! The only way out seems to be to tune the TV out for the next five minutes. Go load the dishwasher, maybe. Or read a chapter of a novel, and still return to the TV show with plenty of time to spare.
Sometimes, the irritation is taken to the next level: almost every channel you visit is running the exact same ad! I wonder: do Bowflex and Magic Bullet make so much money swindling people, that they can afford to run so many paid ads on such a variety of channels?!
On a slight tangent, imagine several five-minute ad stretches within a half-hour program. The cast from the TV shows seems to be getting paid gobs of cash for "half-hour" episodes, when they essentially have to work only towards a fifteen-minute piece at best! Neat! Professional sport, here comes competition in the salary department!
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Lights! Action! Now, cameras, please.
Exasperated with the duration of your commute to and from work each day? Had enough of waiting at numerous traffic lights each way? Well, help is on the way: just log on to eBay, and buy yourself an Opticon. Simply flash the device at red lights, and watch them turn green!
It is amazing that the technology directing traffic streams in busy cities and corridors has been left so exposed and unprotected. Imagine the possibilities...
So how did this "secret" product's existence come to light? An enterprising resident of Longmont, Colorado has finally been arrested for playing havoc with the traffic lights on his commute. The authorities had to resort to video surveillance, which paid off eventually: they noticed a white Ford pickup truck driving by the lights every time their timing went haywire. The owner of the truck, however, is gladly paying the $50 citation, content that the price he paid for the device has long been recovered in terms of precious minutes saved.
I have a few questions to pose, though. With the ease of video surveillance today, why did this guy use the same route every day? Maybe a little variety in terms of route selection could have prolonged his bliss! For that matter, even a less conspicuous vehicle may have slipped across the probing eyes for a little bit longer...
It is amazing that the technology directing traffic streams in busy cities and corridors has been left so exposed and unprotected. Imagine the possibilities...
So how did this "secret" product's existence come to light? An enterprising resident of Longmont, Colorado has finally been arrested for playing havoc with the traffic lights on his commute. The authorities had to resort to video surveillance, which paid off eventually: they noticed a white Ford pickup truck driving by the lights every time their timing went haywire. The owner of the truck, however, is gladly paying the $50 citation, content that the price he paid for the device has long been recovered in terms of precious minutes saved.
I have a few questions to pose, though. With the ease of video surveillance today, why did this guy use the same route every day? Maybe a little variety in terms of route selection could have prolonged his bliss! For that matter, even a less conspicuous vehicle may have slipped across the probing eyes for a little bit longer...
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Working on the Fly
Laptops are ubiquitous in airport terminals these days. Every way you look, people are studiously focussed on their LCD screens and MacDonald's burgers (with fries, of course), seemingly oblivious to the world outside a 2-foot radius. Sometimes, you will even see them laugh out loud after finding something hilarious in their official documents. Or maybe in the solitaire game they just won.
I thought I'd join the race, and try to get some work done while stuck in Terminal C at Dallas/Fort Worth recently. It probably serves me right for thinking I could get away with it: there was not one place for me to plug my power cord! The only source of electricity was in the middle of a narrow corridor leading to the restrooms.
I trawled the adjoining gates to no avail, and eventually gave up. Deciding to conserve my limited battery strength for later, I headed for the food court. I could at least copy the other activity that was gripping my co-passengers!
I thought I'd join the race, and try to get some work done while stuck in Terminal C at Dallas/Fort Worth recently. It probably serves me right for thinking I could get away with it: there was not one place for me to plug my power cord! The only source of electricity was in the middle of a narrow corridor leading to the restrooms.
I trawled the adjoining gates to no avail, and eventually gave up. Deciding to conserve my limited battery strength for later, I headed for the food court. I could at least copy the other activity that was gripping my co-passengers!
The Perfect Car
We must soon purchase a car. My predisposition to public transit notwithstanding, a car is increasingly becoming a requirement in the US. The choices are endless, but the tricky decision is a long-term one. Almost every single make and model manufactured in the wide world seems to be an option here. So how do we make a good decision? Suggestions and experiences are gladly invited.
As a first step, I started renting out a variety of cars when forced to hit the road (mostly to places that cannot be reached through a nice bus-train combination). Rental companies in the US seem to be fixated on handing out American vehicles. The assignment has always been the Chevrolet (Chevy) Cobalt. Now, "cobalt" conjures up the color blue in my mind. Remember the "cobalt blue" from your watercolor set? On both occassions, however, we were given flashy cars: a deep red, and a glaring orange!! Arrrgh! We were literally lighting up the road as we blazed away on the freeway!
Hue preferences aside, the Cobalt is simply inefficient. In a time when gas prices are skyrocketing to unprecendented highs, this car guzzles black gold. Granted that I was driving a lot, but I had to make fueling stops every day! There were other nagging design defects in this model. Even slight turns of the steering wheel would completely block off the speedometer. Worse, blocking out the sun from your eyes would also block the rear-view mirror! Talk about driving blind!
I have driven far too many other cars by now, thanks to my Zipcar membership (see www.zipcar.com. Hey! A free advertisement for this nice company!) The list includes the Scion xA, Scion xB, Prius (hybrid) and the Volkswagen Jetta.
I wrote a piece on the Prius some time ago. Here is some raving on the Jetta, which has been the best experience to date: it has a solid car body with an equally comforting weight behind the steering mechanism (the xA and xB were so light that even minor bumps on the road would jerk the wheel around). Amazingly smooth acceleration from the Jetta, even from rest. Very good views of the vehicles around you (the Prius' slick, aerodynamic design causes even pedestrians on crosswalks to be hidden, while the xB is so boxy that there is little to be seen even by twisting your neck backwards).
The Jetta, however, is a fairly small car. Leg room (especially in the rear seats) is not great. This has not been an issue so far, since I am the one doing the driving!
The hunt for a nice family car thus continues. Updated experiences will be posted from time to time. I may even attempt to describe the pros and cons for each model in detail.
As a first step, I started renting out a variety of cars when forced to hit the road (mostly to places that cannot be reached through a nice bus-train combination). Rental companies in the US seem to be fixated on handing out American vehicles. The assignment has always been the Chevrolet (Chevy) Cobalt. Now, "cobalt" conjures up the color blue in my mind. Remember the "cobalt blue" from your watercolor set? On both occassions, however, we were given flashy cars: a deep red, and a glaring orange!! Arrrgh! We were literally lighting up the road as we blazed away on the freeway!
Hue preferences aside, the Cobalt is simply inefficient. In a time when gas prices are skyrocketing to unprecendented highs, this car guzzles black gold. Granted that I was driving a lot, but I had to make fueling stops every day! There were other nagging design defects in this model. Even slight turns of the steering wheel would completely block off the speedometer. Worse, blocking out the sun from your eyes would also block the rear-view mirror! Talk about driving blind!
I have driven far too many other cars by now, thanks to my Zipcar membership (see www.zipcar.com. Hey! A free advertisement for this nice company!) The list includes the Scion xA, Scion xB, Prius (hybrid) and the Volkswagen Jetta.
I wrote a piece on the Prius some time ago. Here is some raving on the Jetta, which has been the best experience to date: it has a solid car body with an equally comforting weight behind the steering mechanism (the xA and xB were so light that even minor bumps on the road would jerk the wheel around). Amazingly smooth acceleration from the Jetta, even from rest. Very good views of the vehicles around you (the Prius' slick, aerodynamic design causes even pedestrians on crosswalks to be hidden, while the xB is so boxy that there is little to be seen even by twisting your neck backwards).
The Jetta, however, is a fairly small car. Leg room (especially in the rear seats) is not great. This has not been an issue so far, since I am the one doing the driving!
The hunt for a nice family car thus continues. Updated experiences will be posted from time to time. I may even attempt to describe the pros and cons for each model in detail.
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