Author: chuck goolsbee

Ronald Reagan on the Detroit Bailout.

A voice haunts Washington from the grave:

I love the imagery. I’ve always said that in the Bush II Era that we have become the Soviet Union:

* Toppling regimes and installing puppets? Check
* Suspension of Due Process & Habeas Corpus? Check.
* Surveillance of our own citizens? Check.
* Restrictions on Travel? (almost!)
* Gulags in hostile environments? Check.
* Party control of the media? Check Fox News!
* Rigged Elections? Check!
* Government control of the means of production? Coming soon!

And of course the clearest sign of all:

* Sending steroid-pumped Professional Athletes to the Olympics? CHECK!

Good thing Ronnie’s Alzheimer’s kept him happily ignorant in his declining
years, but I’m sure he started spinning once in the ground.

Speed in fact, does not kill.

No humans were killed or injured while making this photograph, while travelling in excess of the posted speed limit.

How often do you hear that old saw “speed kills” or “speed is the leading cause of car crashes” etc? The nannies all want us to slow down, “for our own safety.” As an example: about a year ago my home state of Washington lowered the speed limit on a long, straight section of I-5 I drive almost every day, from 70 down to 60 MPH. They did this in response to several horrific incidents where drivers crossed the median and went head-on into the opposite lanes. Every time one of these accidents happened there would be a State Patrol spokesperson on TV, or in the paper claiming that speed was the cause. So they added more speed patrols, handed out more speeding tickets, and eventually lowered the limit.

I never bought the idea that speed had ANYTHING to do with any of these accidents. Inattentive drivers was likely the cause in my mind. Inattentive, distracted, and poorly trained drivers. Talking on telephones. Watching DVDs(!) Talking on telephones. Spilling coffee. Talking on telephones. Did I mention talking on telephones? The State Patrolmen never did. All they ever talk about is speed.

Well, The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a comprehensive study, the first one in almost 30 years, seeking to understand the ACTUAL causes of car accidents. Guess what came out on top? Speeding? Nope. 41.3% of accidents are caused by driver errors which have nothing to do with speed. Not seeing hazards (20.9%), being distracted by something inside the car (10.6%), being distracted by something outside the car (3.7%), and just plain old inattention (3.6%), Unknown error being the remaining 2.5%)

So where did the KILLER SPEED end up?

Single digits: 8.4% were “too fast for conditions” which means that some percentage of those were UNDER the posted speed limit. Another 4.9% were “too fast for curve” which means that some percentage of those were UNDER the posted speed limit. By the way, the combination of falling asleep at the wheel and having a heart attack while driving added up to 5.5% so Speed seems pretty benign and remote compared to yakking on your cell phone, or just plain old not paying attention!

But of course lack of attention ads NO REVENUE to state and local coffers through fines.

At no point does this study heap any serious blame on speed, and speed alone. So next time some moron tells you that driving fast is dangerous, ask them to prove it.

You can read the whole study here.

A tale of two photos.

I have the “HowGOESit” desktop widget for OS X. GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites.

They just hang out up there, sending data down here. You can grab their output off the Internet – usually mere minutes after it is taken. Is that cool or what? We really do live in amazing times. I often look at the latest GOES image for where ever I happen to be, which 99% of the time is here in Washington. Not long after I posted about “December in Seattle” the weather decided to prove me wrong by going spectacularly clear. The above image was taken the DAY OF my timelapse movie… you can see western Washington blanketed by low clouds. The Cascade volcanoes stand a bit above, or in the case of Mt. Rainier, WAY above the clouds. (See Paul, the sun always is shining here… it just doesn’t make it all the way to the ground!) The Cascade Crest in Oregon is clearly delineated by the clouds as well. Very cool.

Then two days later, we get this:

Oh well, the weather can prove me wrong, but it just can’t shut me up. 😉