A local news investigation has found that the city of Dallas, Texas depends upon short yellow timing to maximize red light camera profit. Of the ten cameras that issue the greatest number of tickets in the city, seven are located at intersections where the yellow duration is shorter than the bare minimum recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), KDFW-TV found.

Source
(The story is from last November.)

Common game theory has held that punishment makes two equals cooperate. But when people compete in repeated games, punishment fails to deliver, said study author Martin Nowak. He is director of the evolutionary dynamics lab at Harvard where the study was conducted.

“On the individual level, we find that those who use punishments are the losers,” Nowak said his experiments found.

Those who escalate the conflict very often wound up doomed.

-Nice Guys Don’t finish Last

From the BBC
[regarding the protests in Lhasa]

“As I have always said, unity and stability under brute force is at best a temporary solution. It is unrealistic to expect unity and stability under such a rule,” the [Dalai Lama] said.

I just got off the elevator and as I stepped into the hall/foyer, suddenly two big sized guys set a sort of basketball pick and blocked me into the corner, before I could roll and move to the basket hallway exit, several other guards ran a full-court press, ushering Tony Blair to the hoop elevator. The guards jumped in the elevator, the hallway cleared and I was free to go outside and hail a cab.

Score: Tony Blair = 2, hauself=0

Typically I think of DC like I do SLC…nice city, if you could just get the residents to move. But with the political scene as hot as it is right now, it’s been fun to be in the center of it and hear the bar-stool analysts (= armchair QBs).

(Plus, I got to hear from Donna Brazile, Michael Murphy and Chris Matthews in person today as well as a host of others. Nice mix of perspectives.)

I’m heading to DC for a reception/event/thingy. The esteemed Senator from Illinois is on the guest list, but I’m sure he’s a bit too preoccupied to attend. Oh well. I just don’t want to get stuck talking to the Senator from Oklahoma all night.

“I looked him in the eye, and I could see into his soul.”

Jam Band Fan or Taliban?

Maybe I’m just a naive optimist. I still love to see it when people don’t just scream about the system, but actually try to DO something to change it.

You can sit on your ass all day and feel righteous because you KNOW the whole thing is broken. But at the end of the day…it will still be broken, and you’ll still be on your ass.

At least if you act and succeed, you learned and maybe changed something in the process.
And if you act and fail, you learned and maybe changed something in the process.

I’ll be keeping my eye on their progress…Unity08.

Now I think of myself as very pro-gay and I’m opposed to bigotry, however I was really taken aback this morning while listening to Dire Straits “Money For Nothing” on a Cable music channel (it was the 80’s channel if you must know) and they chose to totally blur out (not omit, just make electronically funny sounding) every part where they say ‘faggot”. For some reason I’m not down with that. It just kind of ruined the song.

I don’t know what “THE line” is, and I’m sure THAT debate will wage on for years and years. However, I just think we should all be a bit more considerate and a bit less sensitive. Does that make sense?

Just brilliant!!