It’s interesting to see that Metro is now admitting that there have been problems with its radio system for nearly six years. Christy Goodman, my colleague at The Examiner, had heard rumblings to this effect a year and a half ago, but whenever we asked Metro officials to confirm the rumors, we were told that everything was just fine. I guess we didn’t ask the right people. Letting a problem go for six years is inexcusable, especially when the cost of the system was $60 million. Fortunately, transit police officers could get by when they wore both an old and a new radio. Again, I find it hard to believe that this issue was covered up and allowed to go on as long as it did, especially now that we find out that a solution could take a long time to implement.
Be smart about using your car
I like this perspective that comes to us from David in response to the piece about the Smart car that’s being sold in parts of Europe: “Hey, maybe it’s time to start teasing people about driving too much. There’s nothing really smart about the Smart car, anyway, is there? It’s more of the same. People need to be challenged sometimes about what they think is normal behavior. Isn’t it starting to become apparent that only losers have to drive everywhere? I mean, who would set up their life so that it revolves around moving four, five or even 6,000 pounds everywhere they go for every single transaction, major or minor? Cup of coffee? Move 4,000 pounds there and back. Need a shirt or a new pair of pants that weigh in at less than one pound? Move 4,000 pounds to the store and back. Nothing odd or excessive about that, right? Go to a movie? Move 4,000 pounds there, move 4,000 pounds back.
See, people are not even physically aware anymore of the actions they are taking. Let’s remind them what they are really doing and the laws of physics that must be overcome to actually do it. Ask your readers to move a wheel barrel around with 1,000 pounds of rocks in it one day per year, everywhere they go, so that they will be reminded of the energy it takes to move humongous vehicles, the size of small bedrooms, everywhere they go.”
That really does make it easy to picture how wasteful some of the trips are that we make every day. I think part of the problem is also that we can just jump into the car, turn a key and we’re off. In the old days, we’d have to dress in special clothing, depending on the weather, and then crank up the car to get it started (thank you Mr. Kettering for the electric starter). Even earlier, we’d have to gather a team of horses and hitch them to a cart or buggy to make the trip into town.
Each of these events required some forethought, some planning and some commitment. In addition to David’s thoughts, getting into the car and going is just too easy.
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to [email protected].
