Monday April 4th, 2011
It’s National Distracted Drivers Month
April is National Distracted Drivers Awareness month. Distracted drivers are a problem, but so are bad drivers, drunk drivers, tired drivers, old drivers, teenage drivers, dyslexic drivers, smoking drivers, woman drivers, men drivers, coffee-drinking drivers, smoking drivers, tourist drivers and singing drivers. The point here is that driving is dangerous regardless of what type of driver you are. It’s imperative to pay as much attention as possible to what’s happening out there.
Did you know that only nine states ban talking on the phone while driving and only thirty ban texting? That seems low. You can’t pay attention to a conversation while talking and texting, let alone driving.
Tuesday April 5th, 2011
More from Detroit
This ties into the weekly post from March 21st, when we mentioned Detroit’s slipping (used lightly) population. In an article from today’s New York Times, Monica Davey discusses Detroit’s efforts to combat the city’s emigration problem and the blighted neighborhoods it’s leaving behind. Detroit may serve as a blueprint for other affected U.S. cities should the efforts prove replicable. Hopefully the city can use its problems as an advantage.
Empty neighborhoods are depressing (not to mention dangerous). Empty cube farms and floors of office buildings evoke a similar feeling, I think, albeit without the danger. All that silence and empty space just makes you feel sad and wonder where all the people went. Just a symptom of modern hubris and poor planning, unfortunately.
Wednesday April 6th, 2011
More Detroit!
Though not in the sense of the city, as we’ve been detailing. Rather it’s the Ford’s, the patriarchal first family of the Motor City, in the news. Elena Ford was arrested on Sunday night for suspicion of drunken driving, with her 11-year old son in the back seat.
CNNMoney’s Alex Taylor provides an informative and quick recap of the family’s brushes with publicity, which had waned since a tumultuous 1970s. The story points to the pervasive Catch-22 of the ultra-wealthy; one bad decision can lead to a dismantled career and image, and possible familial exclusion. It’s unfortunate that one mistake can derail the hard work of an individual, no matter how wealthy or advantageous an upbringing may be. But…a pseudo-heiress to the Ford empire shouldn’t be testing fate in the product that her great-great-grandfather made ubiquitous.
The more I think about it, the more layered this story really is.
Thursday April 7, 2011
What Does a Million Really Mean Anymore?
There was a time not long ago where being a millionaire put you at the top of the wealth pedestal. Now you have to be a billionaire to get there. While a million is a lot of anything, how arbitrary is it in the automobile industry? Toyota just sold its millionth Prius in the U.S., after eleven years on the market. Quite an accomplishment! Toyota also claims that the Prius has saved American drivers 881 million gallons of gas. That’s a lot of millions. But what is that relative to?
In 2007, the U.S. was consuming 20,680,000 barrels of oil a day. One barrel equals approximately 42 U.S. gallons. So…20,680,000 multiplied by 42 yields…868,560,000 gallons. I don’t know exactly what a gallon of unrefined crude gives you for gasoline, but it’s interesting that over eleven years, the Prius has saved Americans one full day of gasoline use. By this crude approximation.
Yep…a million’s not what it used to be. And a pun is still a pun, even if it’s horrible.
