Supafamous

Even the Insured Feel Strain of Health Costs - New York Times

I’d generally wouldn’t mind a job in the US because the pay is so much better and the opportunities are so much better but I have real problems with American culture and perhaps more concerning is the way their health care system works. There are risks I’m willing to take if I were to go down to the US to work but taking a risk with my health that could lead to financial ruin isn’t something I’m willing to do.

In any case I still find it appalling that the US doesn’t have universal health care.

The trip to SF meant a rental car and the rental car world has been changing as more and more car companies are trying to reduce their fleet sales and/or they are selling higher grade cars to the rental car companies in order to use the rental car business as a marketing channel.

We got a Ford Fusion SEL V6 and it was a nice chance to sample the state of the mid size sedan, the meat of the market car that middle America largely prefers. I was offered a previous generation Accord or a Camry but it was 12 bucks more and neither car is $12/day better than the Fusion.

All in all, the Fusion isn’t a bad car. It was quiet, smooth, roomy and affordable for what it offered. It was very surprising how quiet the car was, compared to my parents two year 2000 mid sizers the Fusion was tomb-like. No wonder that people driving in mid size luxury cars are now downgrading to mid priced mid size cars, the improvements are trickling down quickly to regular cars.

On the downside the motor was a torqueless wonder - I thought it was a 4 cylinder at first. Power comes on a lot more above 3500 rpm at which point it’s pretty excessive for the average driver but below that it was gutless. Visibility was awful, modern car designers keep yanking the beltline up on their cars and the result is that it’s harder and harder to see out of the car. Apparently drivers think the high beltline makes the car feel safer - I feel safer when I can see what’s out there.

In any case mid-size cars are pretty amazing nowadays, the Fusion is in the lower middle third of all mid size cars and yet it was light years better than anything from 6-7 years ago. Competition is great in the car world.

My first thought when I heard that Walmart, Costco and other stores in the US were restricting rice sales:

White people eat rice?

2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 Goes 205 mph-Plus!

The best part is when he passes the 18 wheeler.

Off to SF for my cousin’s wedding. Back on Monday.

P.S. The number of people who do not give up their seat to the elderly, the disabled and the pregnant when on public transit is appalling. These people should be ashamed of themselves. I will write more about that when I get back because it’s really pissing me off.

How Were Wrecking Our Feet With Every Step We Take — New York Magazine

I largely wear thin soled shoes now with the exception of my workout sneakers but the workout sneakers are going to get replaced with something with thinner soles at some point - budget is the only reason I haven’t done it already. The change happened when I got my first pair of Adidas Tuscany sneakers, sneakers that were based off of old racing shoes of the 60’s and 70’s.

The thin soles were a revelation for me as I finally found shoes that allowed me to drive the way I wanted to drive. The stiffness and thinness meant more data was getting to my feet meaning I could drive with greater precision. It was just amazing. The stiffness goes against what the article says is good for you but overall, the experience was a vast improvement over what I used to wear.

Alas, Adidas feel to the fashion gods and instead of producing more of the same, they started modifying the shoe. They made the sole thicker, they put more ornamentation on them, they squared off the heel - all of it made the shoe worse. I still have the Tuscanys in my closet as I use them when I ride my bike (I don’t have clips or bike shoes yet) as their stiffness makes the bike easier to ride.

Adidas should bring it back.

Point 3 - Be Decisive. It doesn’t matter if you’re making the best decision or even a good decision. As long as your decision isn’t bad you’ll come out ahead more often than not and over the long term your aggregate returns will outweigh your losses. If you get a net gain out of your decision you’ve done what you needed to do.

Overtime life experience, maturity (and possibly an increasing intellect) will allow you to make higher quality decisions but decisions you must MAKE! Don’t dilly! List your options, eliminate those that are obviously bad, list the pros of each (2-3 pros per) and narrow down to 3-4 based on relative benefit then list your negatives. If you want, make a point system and then make a DECISION! Don’t bother trying to get all the information you need to make a fully informed decision - it’ll take too long and you’ll end up negating potential gains from making decisions quickly.

If your habit is that you make only solid decisions and then end up regretting not picking something better then you’re looking at it the wrong way. Ignore the regret. Think about the gain and move on. Don’t worry about bad decisions, if you make enough of them it means you’re gonna die.

Ted gave the lady a tuneup and today’s a beautiful day thus the first ride of the year got completed.

Stats: 24.52km, 76 mins, 19.5kph avg, 48kph max

A comfy, easy warm up ride - the gym limits me to 30 minute rides so getting to go out for longer was nice and the route (roughly Joyce to Edmonds) was pretty easy. I’m not ready to sustain the 27kph ride that Tina was recently on but I’m probably not far from it, just need a few more rides to loosen up and some race pace into the body.

I saw one near accident and one accident due to a doofus of a rider. Fault lays 50-50 for all the participants and again illustrates that most riders are poorly trained. The near accident happened when the rider came up on a slow bike and walker combo. Neither the slow rider or walker were paying attention to the people around them and the doofus didn’t call out his side, he just rode down the middle till the last second and the slow rider reacted by slowing to a complete stop and the walker just stood in the middle. Stupid. I went by them moments later and the couple were back at it, not paying any attention to their surroundings (we were on the paved path). I called out my side to them to get them to move over.

The accident happened when I got to Rumble to BC Hydro forest path, a winding, up and down path that connects the Rumble route. I had passed the doofus and had slowed down to get through the area as common sense dictated that you take it easy through there with all the walkers and bikes going through a narrow area. It’s not a no passing zone but it is a pass with caution area.

I had come up on a slow walker and an incoming bike and slowed up to let the incoming bike get through and then I was going to go around the walker. When I did go around the doofus also went to pass! He passed and then proceeded to keep his speed up way too fast (~23kph, I was about 16kph). As we hit a downhill twisty section a number of bikes were headed our way, one of them was a kid about 6 years old riding in the middle. The doofus either didn’t see the kid (he should have as I saw him from way back and had slowed down to give the kid room) or just didn’t care and the two of them collided as the kid freaked and hit the brakes causing him to dart into the doofus’ path.

The kid fell off his bike, skinned his knee (I had to come to a complete stop as doofus had veered into my line) and started crying (his mother was there). The doofus apologized and said to the kid that he had ridden right into his path.

The doofus appeared to be a reasonably experienced rider but he’s obviously an idiot when it comes to common sense and basic riding rules. Maybe I should have run him off the road so his riding season would have been over quickly.

Game theory explains dinner-party dates

Where have all the good men gone?

This is how you come to the Eligible-Bachelor Paradox, which is no longer so paradoxical. The pool of appealing men shrinks as many are married off and taken out of the game, leaving a disproportionate number of men who are notably imperfect (perhaps they are short, socially awkward, underemployed). And at the same time, you get a pool of women weighted toward the attractive, desirable “strong bidders.”

Where have all the most appealing men gone? Married young, most of them—and sometimes to women whose most salient characteristic was not their beauty, or passion, or intellect, but their decisiveness.

The article seems to imply that women should marry early because the good guys are gone later and that men should marry later because the good girls stick it out.