Now this is science. Next time I sink all four wheels of my car into deep sand in the desert near Blythe (as I have done twice in the past), maybe they’ll have published the amazing driving techniques I can use to drive away without getting out of the car, digging under the car with my hands, jacking up the car, digging to get the wheels uncovered, and putting stuff under the wheels to drive away. OTOH, I’ve done it in about four hours, versus five weeks. (Note: Adam Houston was along for one of these adventures.)

Would you want to do 150 MPH (top speed) in this thing? Or 0 to 60 in 4 seconds?

Amazingly, it is not easy to tip.

It is an odd thing to have one of your favorite mythical worlds spun in an unpleasant way. I came across a mind-twisting article on Harry Potter, the capitalist pig. Nevermind that J.K. Rowling is richer than God now; the fantastical world she created was a lift to my spirit every time I entered it. Maybe it is because I have been raised in a competitive, capitalist environment all my life, and furthermore find competitiveness and also greed to be intrinsic to human nature in all but, as we would say, the most “saintly” among us (when thinking of the greed aspect), but I can’t fathom how the competitive drive could be conquered on a large scale within the real world, and how that would even be healthy. Competition causes us to rise to greater challenges, and without the constant battle, we would be complacent and jaded.

Not that I don’t tire of the battle to survive many days… especially when paying rent and other bills. In the U.S. the balance is probably shifted too much toward a “lord of the flies” mentality. And the consumerist aspect of our culture truly is poisonous. The latter and former things are somehow conflated, though, to make wholly “evil” the very process by which evil is battled in Harry Potter’s world.

I welcome comments that address the mindset of the essay’s author. (Does this explain the lukewarm reception of Lance Armstrong by the French and other Europeans? This year he has certainly approached Le Tour with the mindset of dominance.)

Bonus link. Look for some familiar ideas and entities strewn throughout.

And if management changes, whaddaya bet that the home page becomes as littered as all the others?

I apologize for being the pessimist today.

The site requires you to create an account with a username and password to gain access to the otherwise free content. I’ve had mine for years without any more trouble, though. Click on the big question mark if you only want the questions.

Discovered on Salon: an answer for packrats — who are really, many times, waste haters (myself included). Perfect name. Why didn’t anyone think of this sooner?

Freecycle

Fast Company‘s cover article for December is a good overview of what Wal-Mart is doing to our economy. It is more even-handed than many others very critical of WM, so perhaps more useful for discussion with frequent shoppers whom we all know.

“The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know”

Then there’s the PBS StoreWars report, which is more polarizing. And for a real exposure of the oxymoron “Wal-Mart ethics,” try here.