..have a daily panel of Sparky shaking a pundit by the necktie? That's what this country really needs.

I happen to believe that large clothes should cost more than smaller ones. Why? More materials needed to make it. Sure, super-large XXX things usually are a mite higher in cost. Size 6 shouldn't cost as much as size 16. Logical.

..and unfortunately, wrong. Practically the entire cost of clothing is tied up in labor; the difference between a size 6 and a size 16 is about 1/2 yard of cloth, or about 1/10 of a seconds' output from a modern loom. The human effort required to sew those two garments is roughly equivalent (and it is arguable that a smaller garment may actually be more difficult and time-consuming on the fine stitches).

This is why practically every piece of clothing an average American owns is made in China; not because they have superior loom technology (they don't), but because they have cheap(er) labor.

The airline industry (with the notable exception of those two paradigms of common sense, Southwest and JetBlue) continues to operate under the delusion that they can lose money on every flight (due to fuel cost) and somehow make it up in volume (fees).

Rather than have the cost of a ticket reflect what it costs to transport the passenger and her luggage X miles, the airlines have allowed themselves to be controlled by a completely artificial pricing market of their own devising.

All that happens, of course, is that people change their behavior in response to the system: charge to check a bag, folks just carry on the largest one they can get away with. Conversely, some of us might start bringing a bag just to take up "our" bin space...

"No, he slipped in the tub and cracked his skull...

Before he met you, he always took showers!

I blame you for this!"

"And don't forget to bring your checkbook!"

Can we please have these scanned about 20% larger?

(I know I can zoom the page, it just makes the blur larger...)

--Gene

..painted on the side of a railroad boxcar rolling through Bangor, Maine. It was Pan Am's. That gorgeous blue with the globe and the lettering that looks like it's whipping in the wind.

Which reminds me that the Boeing 314 Pan Am "China Clipper" flying boats are what aircraft should aspire to.

As to the Aviocar, it's obviously a 2:3 scale replica of a C-130 Hercules, one of the most beloved of ugly aircraft...

--Gene

would at least end the campaign on a bright note...

Most cable/satellite set-top boxes (STBs) consume practically the same amount of power whether "on" or in "standby". This is typically around 40 watts for a non-DVR box, with DVRs adding another 10 watts. Twenty-four hours a day, whether you're watching or not. That's 350-440 kilowatt-hours per year.

Since most consumers get their box from the cable supplier, there is rarely even a choice to request a more energy efficient box, and the older, less efficient boxes will be out there for years.

Of course, there is zero incentive for the content providers to supply more efficient boxes, as they don't have to pay for the energy consumed by them.

..maybe it will get Americans to WASH THEIR HANDS.

When one buys an item on Ebay, one pays the agreed price plus shipping and handling.

When one sells on Ebay, one pays:

• To list the item
• To host photos of the item
• To purchase questionable "sales aids" like bold type
• A commission to Ebay based on selling price
• A fee to Ebay-owned PayPal to handle most payments

It is a fallacy to think that items purchased on Ebay can then be resold there and recoup the purchase price, let alone make a profit.

The roommate is a compulsive shopper and appears to becoming agoraphobic. Any suggestion that she spend more time on Ebay is contraindicated.

From various MSM stories, besides the big banks, funds holding debt are:

Group G Capital Partners LLC

Oppenheimer Funds

Stairway Capital

Perella Weinberg Partners

Elliott Management

Only 38 more to dig up...

Number 1: AirMall magazine. A mass of tree-pulp hawking the same crap that Sharper Image went bankrupt selling. Wouldn't the airline benefit by not carrying that 200 lbs of paper from coast to coast?

Number 2: The airlines' own in-flight magazines. If you have to satisfy the vanity of the airline CEO, just hang his portrait in the front of the cabin; don't waste fuel and money producing 2nd rate journalism so you can sell ads for destinations that your passengers aren't going anywhere near.

Number 3: Stop the illusion that we're getting something "new" by re-sealing it in a plastic bag. We KNOW you're handing out the same headphones, blankets, and those little lice-haven pillows OVER and OVER.

Note to airline caterers: paperboard crushes flatter than plastic. As anyone who ever ate at McDonald's knows, the bag the food comes in is a very handy trash receptacle. Hand out bag/box lunches. As others have pointed out, if you provide the food, we won't be so inclined to bring our own on board.

Does she think that "calls are answered in the order they are received", or it's just luck that a caller gets on the air? EVERY call is pre-screened, and the caller's position is displayed on a little screen for the bloviate behind the microphone.

Callers are SELECTED based on their viewpoints. As with any unscientific poll, Talk Radio is subject to manipulation. For all of the 10 callers hollering about "keeping the gummint out of their Medicare", there could be 500 whose differing opinion is never permitted to be heard.

Which doesn't even include the millions of people at work who either can't hear the program or take the time to call in, wait on hold, and then be ignored.

Call-in shows are not a democracy.