Random Thoughts
Blockchain Government Reports… Why?
The Trump administration wants to be crypto-friendly so the commerce department is putting the US GDP data onto blockchains Why? Nobody knows. If the goal is to guarantee the authenticity of the sender and the integrity of the data, then just use a digital signature. Blockchains are used to track unique items, units of digital currencies like bitcoin, stock certificates, vehicles. Things that are unique and whose ownership and ownership transfers need to be tracked. GDP data doesn’t have unique instances. There is no reason to do this and it belies a compete misunderstanding of what blockchains are for.
How Congestion Pricing Should Work
In Georgia, we have the PeachPass: a method of congestion pricing for “fast lanes” on certain highways.. Other states have similar programs by different names. No matter the name, the more congested the highway is, the more it will cost to take the express lanes. But this really isn’t the right pricing scheme. The express lane pricing shouldn’t be based on how congested the regular lanes are. It should be based on how much time the express lane will save you. With the current pricing scheme, if the express lane is moving just a slowly as the regular lanes, you still get billed at a premium rate. The right way would be to clock how fast the express lane is moving and the speed of the regular lanes, and set the pricing on the difference between the two. The more time you save, the more it’ll cost you. This could be easily done with modern AI.
Jerry Lewis Telethon Cringe
It’s Labor Day weekend again and folks my age will let our minds wander back to the days of the Jerry Lewis Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy. Entertainment interleaved with appeals and donations from corporations or civic groups. It was reasonably fast-paced and well-produced.
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There were perennial guests like Wayne Newton one of the most successful performers in Las Vegas and also one of its worst businessmen. I’ll let you look up a list of his misadventures. They’re eyebrow-raising. The telethon would feature performers from Liza to Carlin, oddball performers like Mummenschanz and folks you’ve never seen before or since. It was designed to be good fun for all. Catch some excerpts on YouTube.
The few minutes that sticks out to me wasn’t fun. Jerry told us he was going to do something different. Instead of showing kids in wheelchairs with weak, wasting bodies, he wanted to show us healthy strong kids: his sons. He wanted all children to be strong and well, so he brought out his six sons for the audience to see. What I saw broke my heart. Jerry had six sons, I could tell they and I were of contemporary age. Yes, they were healthy, but in pain. Their heads were all bowed, shoulders stooped, gait shuffling. Everything about their body language screamed “I don’t want to be here” as they dragged themselves across the stage. I felt for each of them. A few Labor Days ago, I looked them up. I found that Jerry had disowned each and every one of them. I’ll let you do more research if you want, but I think Jerry had a darker side that never showed on Labor Day Weekend.
