The World is Flat, by Thomas FriedmanAs the saying goes: If you want to live like a Republican, vote like a Democrat---take god care of the losers and left-behinds. The only way to be a flatiest is to be a compassionate flatiest.There are a lot of obvious things in this book, and Friedman chooses to emphasize them rather than the unobvious things, such as the fact that increasing inequality will make it harder for political leaders to keep tariffs low or push for free trade. Things like National Healthcare systems actually promote entrepreneuralship, which is another thing that Friedman doesn't get into.
I don't feel like I've wasted my time with this book, but I didn't come away knowing more than I did before reading it, either.
Steve & Linda Kramer, with their new tandem.
Western Wheelers gather for a ride.
My view on most climbs --- desperately trying to keep pace with riders much stronger than I am!
Climbing, climbing, climbing.
Mikhail climbing Kings Ridge Road
View of the ocean from Kings Ridge Road
Cheryl Prothero climbing Kings Ridge Road
Mike Samuel enjoying a nap while climbing Kings Ridge Road
A convocation of cows on Tinbarn road & Kings Ridge road
Steve Purcell admires a dog carrier
View from Seaview Road
Mike pauses for a moment to look at the view from Seaview Road
View from the top of Meyer's Grade
Dinner at Negri's
Dinner at Negri's
Mike Samuel & Mikhail
Lyresa & Cheryl along Highway 1
Cyclists climbing Coleman Valley Road
View from the top of Coleman Valley Road
Cheryl Prothero & MaryAnn
View from the top of Coleman Valley Road
Steve Prothero
View from the top of Coleman Valley Road
New Bike --- $1500.
Fitting by Terry Shaw --- $100.
Campsite at Cassini Ranch for 2 days --- $50.
Keeping up with Lyresa & Cheryl on Kings Ridge Road --- Priceless! Some things in life you just have to train for. For everything else, there's mastercard.
Bill Bushnell climbing a little knoll up Highway 1
Chris Hill of the Western Wheelers
View of the Coast from Highway 1
View of San Francisco Bay on the way up Mt. Tam
View from the top of Mt. Tam
Rivendell Reader #35The ultimate destiny of outdoor gear manufacturers is to be bought out, and end up selling women's clothing and accessories. Burberry outfitted the Shackleton expedition in 1914, and now its biggest market is women in Japan. Eddie Bauer used to be an expedition outfitter. Bean, Orvis, and Patagonia are going that way too.
I don't believe itIf you're rich, you can afford advisors who can get you fantastic rates and good advice. Heck, you could pay me for similar advice. It's us middle income folks who have to scrounge around for every penny...
Scott Burns endorses my position on I Bonds If you haven't invested in I Savings Bonds before now, this is the time.... To put that 4.8 percent yield in perspective, Bloomberg.com tells us the yield on 30-year Treasuries is only 4.51 percent. It's 4.19 percent on 10-year Treasuries and 3.88 percent on five-year Treasuries. While we can hold I Savings Bonds for as long as 30 years with interest tax deferred, we can't redeem them before five years without a penalty of three months' interest. The long-term yield may be uncertain, but these securities currently offer more yield with less risk.I've been putting my money where my mouth is. It's only May and I've already maxed out my $30k a year allocation in I bonds.
Why we buy, by Paco UnderhillA great book on the science of retailing and product placement.
There are two main strategies for coping with the presence of men in places where serious shopping is being done.
The first one is passive restraint, which is not to say handcuffs. Stores that sell mainly to women should all be figuring out some way to engage the interest of men. If I owned The Limited or Victoria's Secret, I'd have a place where a woman could check her husband---like a coat... If I were opening a brand-new store where women could shop comfortably, I'd find a location right next to an emporium devoted ot male desire---a computer store, for instance, somewhere he would happily kill half an hour...
Cavedwaller, by Dorothy Allison"I won't marry you, Nolan," Dede said. "I love you. No lie and I'll live with you. But I won't marry you. I won't marry no one."
In reply, Nolan put his mouth over hers and kissed her. His hands stroked her shoulders and slid down to caress her back. "Dede Windsor, you are the most difficult woman I ever met, worse than my mama. And you know damn well I'd rather live in sin with you than be carried off to heaven with any other woman in the world. Only thing you need to know is that I will want to be a real daddy to this child."
EE Bonds go into fixed ratesThis makes them an extremely bad deal. That takes them completely off the table for me.
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or SucceedJared Diamond's new book, in which he claims a cautious optimism:
I already mentioned the seeming political impossibility of inducing First World citizens to lower their impact on the world. But the alternative, of continuing our current impact, is more impossible. This dilemma reminds me of Winston Churchill's response to criticism of democracy: "It has been said that Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." In that spirit, a lower-impact society is the most impossible scenario for our future---except for all other conceivable scenarios.Yet the entire books rife with examples of not just other conceivable scenarios, but scenarios that have already happened. Of ancient people desecrating their environments to the point of no recovery. I fail to see how Americans will ever become environmentally conscious enough to act soon enough to prevent an environmental collapse in the world. We're even in denial about global warming.
Shimano touts dual control leversDo the people in the ad look happy? After seeing them, do you want to run out and buy a Shimano product? Or do they look like someone who just gave you the finger?
