Cactus League

The LA Times sports page has a page 1 cactus league preview this morning, noting that all games are in Phoenix (no Tempe games) this Spring. I link to the LAT web-site (hjemme side), but I get the paper.

What strikes me is the lack of football coverage - at last. The beginning of football season always makes me sad, as football coverage tends to outweigh baseball, even though way more baseball tickets are sold over the - admittedly - longer season. The truth is, that football coverage in the LAT tends to be much more dense (in so many ways) and crowds out even the World Series coverage.

But I digress, my point is it strikes me that the season is on the verge of beginning and Phoenix is only 5 hours away.

Also, Plaschke makes a nice note about visiting Dodger Stadium when it is empty. A point I consciously have not made before but which, given his public forum, it might be smart to make just to keep the Dodgers ownership on notice that any changes to the centerpiece of this town ill be subject to scrutiny.

Wealth Graphic in America`

From the Jan 22, 2011 Economist special report (page 6)

Picture inequality today thus:

Imagine people's height being proportional to their income, so that someone with average income is of average height. Now imagine the entire adult population of America is walking past you in a single hour, in ascending order of income.

The first passers-by, the owners of loss-making businesses, are invisible: their heads are below the ground. Then comes the jobless and the working poor, who are midgets. After half an hour the strollers are still only waist high-since America's median income is only half the mean. It takes nearly 45 minutes before normal-sized people appear. But then, in the final minutes, giants thunder by. With 6 minutes to go, they are 12 feet tall. When the 400 highest earners walk by, right at the end, each is more than two miles tall.

Car Buying in the Way it Should Be

It's possible to bypass a car company's web site and shop on-line in another country. England, for example (since we won't have to translate from another language). This may provide insight into the different car buying choices of Americans and the English.

If we are the land of opportunity, the land of choice, then why do car companies treat us like morons when it comes to car buying? Contra VW England. If you shop for a car there, say the new Tiguan, you get the following: four choices of style, each available in two or four wheel drive:

Then you configure the style with one of four engines:

Then you mate the engine to a transmission, either manual or automatic (note: a manual transmission is the first choice - that's driving):

Only at this point do you need to get to the less important options like wheel size, color, and whether the car has heated leather seats. Remember (1) Choose model, (2) choose engine, (3) choose transmission. Note that the choice of 5 models times 4 engines time 2 transmissions gives you 40 possible configurations.

Now let's see what you get here.

First, there are only three models:

From that configuration, your choices get narrowed pretty qyickly: you can get a maunual only in the base trim, and you cannot get all wheel drive. You can choose all wheel drive only for the automatic. So your choices are 1 + 2 x 3 = 7. ????.

Personally, I don't understand the limited options for a manual tranmsission. They are so much more fun to drive and, by VW's admission, they are faster and get better gas mileage. Compare the following two posts.

First the manual: note 0-60 in 7.8 seconds and 19/26 MPG.

Then the automatic: note 0-60 in 7.9 seconds and 18/24 MPG.

Okay, I recognize a lot of people prefer automatic transmissions. But grant me that the manual transmission is the ideal mode of sport driving. Do you really want to see a Porsche ad where the driver is not shifting? Would James Bond not plant the car into a 180 degree spin without jamming the Aston Martin into first? Grant me that the popular conception of driving may differ from driving in practice. It stands to reason that the car companies should actually want to support the minority of drivers that actually can drive, no? Why does VW USA not push the cars that are more fun to drive, faster and get better mileage? Why do we not want to drive those cars that are more fun, faster and get better mileage?

Also, note the following picture. In Europe, VW makes pickup trucks and the Eurovan. Why can't we get those here?

On a last note, anyone who has been to Europe knows the general level of incorporation of neat technology, at least in the parts that count, is higher than here. The VW USA website is pretty clunky. Check out the VW UK site, especially the Toareg offroad animation here. Also, lastly, since the UK cars are so cool, and assuming you could get the same features on the Continent with right hand drive, why did VW USA discontinue their European delivery program? I note that Audi, VW's upscale sister, does have such a program.

From the Department of

Not Saying What They Mean

A curent Geiko add suggests the product is a deal by rhetorically asking something like "is a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" and cutting to a parody of the Antiques Road Show with a lady being surprised that her statute of a bird in the hand really is worth two in the bush at auction.

Doesn't this misapply the saying, a bird in the hand is worth [more than] two in the bush? The point is that something that is too speculative, i.e. catching two birds in the bush, is worth less than appearances, i.e. a risky opportunity to get two is really worth [less than] one of a sure thing (a bird in hand). The commercial suggests getting Geiko is really a good deal. But isn't the better view of what the commercial is saying is that its product is risky and hard to value, and worth less than it might appear at face value? Or is it just saying that 1 = 2? Either way, faulty logic is not exactly what I would look for in an insurance product.

Or the kind of message I would pay a marketing department to produce.

A More Literate Government

I'm back from a couple of months interpreting code, where I stumbled - er - came across the following site.

The IRS says it can publish select Capone files under FOIA under the theory that since he never filed tax returns, there was nothing to keep confidential. In a less charitable mood, it strikes me that the released files are a good advertisement for a more glamorous line of work. It also strikes me that, at least in days gone by, a more literate approach to work was taken. Did our government really talk like this?

This could have been lifted from a James Ellroy novel:

"That Al Capone is shrewd, there is no doubt, which, togehter with his native Italian secretiveness, has made this case a most difficult on to handle. Al Capone never had a bank account and only on one occasion could it be found where he ever endorsed a check, all of his financial transactions being made in currency. Agents were unable to find where he had ever purchased any securities, therefore, any evidence secured had to be developed through the testimony of associates or others, which, through fear of personal injury, or loyalty, was most difficult to obtain."

Nice on the substantiation.

Also, the end of the document there is a neat recreation of Capone's income detailing partnership income allocations to his partners, including "town officials", income attributed from his wife (the IRS neatly created a joint return) as well as providing for deductions of somewhat obscure origin - $1.00 "for all years".

Yes. Marketing Not Backed By Logic.

The August 28th Economist makes my points for me. I don't recall the newspaper (its description - not mine) coming out with a stated position against green incentives, but it seems to me there has been one of late.

Why fluorescent lighting is not energy efficient:

Assuming that ... solid state lights will be about three more times efficient than fluorescent ones and that the price of electricity stays the same in real terms, the number of megalumen-hours consumed by the average person will, according to their model, rise tenfold .... The amount of electricity needed to generate that light would more than double. Only if the price of electricity were to triple would the amount of electricity used to generate light start to fall by 2030.

In short, for fluorescent or LED light bulbs, making them available increases the demand for their product: light. The more light is used, the more energy is used. This is similar to the observation that increasing the size of roads leads to more congestions. As more cars get drawn to the highway, the collector streets get jammed. Or as you increase the size of your desk, the paperwork starts to back up.

Do I need to point out that we need to re-tool factories to make the lights? Isn't that an energy expenditure that needs to be considered? It is not readily apparent to me that building/re-tooling an industry is particularly "green" (though it surely is good for jobs). Also, I can't recall a discussion where the problem of disposing of all the outmoded incandescent and, in particular, fluorescent bulbs has been addressed.

Lady's A Hero

Can't resist the story. Reminds me of a story within a story from Le Carre, where one of the old hands does a good turn by telling the parent's of their ne'er do well son, recently deceased, about how his stories of working for the secret service were true. He shows them a medal (not the son's) and tells them they can lok at it, but they cannot have it n the interest of national security, etc.

Drum roll for this (H/T the Guardian online):

Wartime spy laid to rest

22/09/2010

Last week, penniless Eileen Nearne was just another little old lady who died alone in her seaside flat. But yesterday hundreds turned out to honour the heroine whose daring life as a wartime spy was revealed after she died last week.

The Church of Our Lady in Torquay, Devon, was packed and loud speakers were set up outside. Modest Eileen, who never spoke about her life as a secret agent in the Second World War, was described as "the bravest of the brave".

Two British Legion pipers greeted the coffin, which then passed through a solemn guard of honour. Eileen was captured three times by the Gestapo but details remain top secret. It is thought her files at the National Archives in London will be opened following her death.

Read more here.