Grab Bag of Half Formed Thoughts

Apartment rent rates in California should have two different daily values, the insanely high one we pay now for when it doesn't rain and a midwestern rate for when it does rain. Charging normal apartment rates in California on days when it rains is like an ISP charging for days when internet access goes down. I'm cool with paying the mortgage on a 4 bedroom house and getting a 600 sq ft apartment with an outdoor walk to the washer/drier, but only if it comes with sun shine.

If cops can fine me for driving too fast on a sunny dry day with few other cars on the road, why can't I fine them for tail gating when it is raining?

Gas is $3.05! That's like free here. I'm going to start pouring a bit on the sidewalk for Elijah. If it gets under $3/gal I'm going to have a gas fire party at my apartment. Come to see the gasoline in a barrel burn and stay to see if the wooden apartment complex goes up in flames. Drill Baby Drill! Not to toot my own horn, but this is why I've been saying environmentalists shouldn't combine forces with other causes (oil independence, price of gas...) - if you say save the earth and save money on gas and then gas gets cheap it is easy to forget the core message. And if you push oil independence then more drilling starts to sound like a good idea (well, it still isn't, but it sounds like it). Of course on the other hand I don't like the new environmental commercials that show kids and scary music. I mean sure, it is all about the kids and you should be scared, but I think we can do better than scare tactics. And why do environmental groups send letters asking for money? Isn't that what they are campaigning against?

Why is it that when I spend $22 on organic chips and salsa at whole foods I worry about getting the $0.05 discount for bringing my own bag?

Am I a Palin certified real American? Almost all indicators point to no (such as my last comment). But I did grow up in the suburbs in Kansas and Ohio. Sure I'm skipping over the time in Paris and being raised Jewish and that since I turned 18 I've lived in Boston and California. But I really feel like where I grew up gives me a running chance of at least having been a real American even if I'm not now. Although is Overland Park real America? Or is it an island of fake America in a sea of real America? Seriously if you're from Overland Park I'm curious if you think it counts as Palin certified real America or not? I'd also throw in that while I did not do a lot of manual labor while I was growing up, I would count myself as hardworking when it came to school. Kind of ironic that being a hard working real American is what led to me becoming a costal elitist.

So a real American is someone in a small town working hard, especially someone working a salt of the earth job like farming, just to scrape by and putting in those long hours so their kids can have a better life and don't want the government getting too involved in their life. Hm, apparently the realest Americans are illegal immigrants.

If you are looking for new podcasts the first on my list would be the Bugle (Eric gets credit for introducing me to it). I think the first half is often funnier than the daily show. John Oliver definitely comes across funnier in the podcast than on the daily show. A podcast I picked up recently is The Moth. It is a bit more hit and miss, but if you're looking for podcasts it is worth checking out. It is real people telling real stories and some of them are amusing.

Why doesn't anyone specify that fivethirtyeight.com has to be spelled out? I've spent so long wondering why the hell 538.com is such a big deal!