ChrisT

Then where would the country celebrate Mardi Gras?

I guess you never saw the weapon of choice video - brilliant!

August 30, 2005 The Road to Hell Is Clogged With Righteous Hybrids By JOHN TIERNEY LOS ANGELES — Judgment Day has arrived in California, but not exactly as prophesied. The ones sitting on the right-hand side are the sinners. They're stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic while the righteous fly past them in the far left lanes. Those freeway lanes used to be reserved for car pools, but they've just been opened to a new group: those of us virtuous enough to drive the right hybrids. I'm not a good enough person yet to own a hybrid, but I've been passing for one. I rented a Toyota Prius for the pleasure of cruising the car pool lanes and parking free at meters, another perk available here in Los Angeles. I've enjoyed it all, especially the envious looks from guys in S.U.V.'s, and I can understand why hybrid drivers in other states and cities are clamoring for similar privileges. But even if these new privileges put more fuel-efficient cars on the road, I'm afraid the net effect will be dirtier air and more gasoline consumption. The promoters of hybrids are committing the sin identified by the ecologist Garrett Hardin in "The Tragedy of the Commons," the 1968 essay providing one of the foundations of environmentalism. The essay's title refers to a pasture that's commonly owned and open to all. Since every individual has an incentive to increase his own herd, the pasture will eventually be destroyed by overgrazing, just as other types of unregulated commons - the ocean, the atmosphere - will be damaged by overproduction and pollution when too many individuals pursue their own goals. This seems like an obvious lesson, Hardin wrote, but it must be "constantly refreshed" because each new generation repeats the mistake. As an example of "how perishable the knowledge is," he pointed to politicians in a Massachusetts town who declared that people didn't have to pay at parking meters during the Christmas shopping season. By giving away the spaces at a time of peak demand, the town encouraged some people to hog spaces and left everyone else unable to park. That's the same mistake being made with hybrids. In Virginia, where they've been allowed for years in the car pool lanes, the lanes have become so clogged that an advisory committee has repeatedly recommended their banishment. The same problem will occur in California, where some of the car pool lanes were congested even without hybrids. As traffic slows down, there will be more idling cars burning more gas and emitting more pollution, but politicians will be reluctant to offend hybrid owners by revoking their privilege. So it will be harder than ever to make the one change proven to speed up traffic and help the environment: convert the car pool lanes into what engineers call high-occupancy toll lanes. These HOT lanes would be free for the truly virtuous commuters - those in car pools, jitneys and buses - and available to anyone else for a toll that would vary with demand. By enticing just enough drivers to maintain a steady flow of high-speed traffic, the HOT lanes could handle many more vehicles per hour than today's car pool lanes, which are usually either too empty or too congested to accommodate the optimum number. With HOT lanes, everyone would come out ahead, drivers as well as environmentalists. As more drivers paid for a guaranteed speedy commute in the left lane, they would leave the regular lanes less clogged, so there would be fewer cars stuck in traffic jams, wasting gas and spewing fumes. With HOT lanes, you could still encourage people to buy hybrids by promising them a discount on the tolls, but there's a fairer way to promote environmental virtue. Instead of arbitrarily rewarding a few cars for having a certain kind of engine, set tolls for all vehicles according to their weight. Since S.U.V.'s and other heavy vehicles require more room to brake, they need more empty pavement between them and the next car, and they should pay extra for it. I realize that many Prius owners would rather have free privileges in the car pool lane than a discount in a HOT lane. But they'd be moving a lot faster, and they would still have one great satisfaction. As they contemplated how much more the Hummer drivers were paying in tolls, devout environmentalists would experience the "joyful sense" that Jonathan Edwards predicted for Judgment Day: "When the saints in glory, therefore, shall see the doleful state of the damned, how will this heighten their sense of the blessedness of their own state, so exceedingly different from it!" Email: tierney@nytimes.com

I enjoyed the melancholy tone of your TR...expand it. You have a voice. Desert Solitaire II?

thanks for the advice sobo I actually ordered my credit reports (all 3) last week via mail - let them do the work downloading, printing, etc. I naively assumed the reports would also yield a score but I suppose there are some lenders I can ask...

so how do you figure your SCORE once you have the REPORT in hand?

nobody could spray like trask - he was literally on every thread.

Funny word OW but otherwise a most eloquent post.

technical difficulties

The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks

Friends, Liquor and Fireworks at Hunter S. Thompson's Final Farewell By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 11:18 p.m. ET WOODY CREEK, Colo. (AP) -- With a deafening boom, the ashes of Hunter S. Thompson were blown into the sky amid fireworks late Saturday as relatives and a star-studded crowd bid an irreverent farewell to the founder of ''gonzo journalism''. As the ashes erupted from a tower, red, white, blue and green fireworks lit up the sky over Thompson's home near Aspen. The 15-story tower was modeled after Thompson's logo: a clenched fist, made symmetrical with two thumbs, rising from the hilt of a dagger. It was built between his home and a tree-covered canyon wall, not far from a tent filled with merrymakers. ''He loved explosions,'' explained his wife, Anita Thompson. The private celebration included actors Bill Murray and Johnny Depp, rock bands, blowup dolls and plenty of liquor to honor Thompson, who killed himself six months ago at the age of 67. Security guards kept reporters and the public away from the compound as the 250 invited guests arrived, but Thompson's fans scouted the surrounding hills for the best view of the celebration. ''We just threw a gallon of Wild Turkey in the back and headed west,'' said Kevin Coy of Chester, W.Va., who drove more than 1,500 miles with a friend in hopes of seeing the celebration. ''We came to pay our respects.'' Thompson fatally shot himself in his kitchen Feb. 20, apparently despondent over his declining health. The memorial, however, was planned as a party, with readings and scheduled performances by both Lyle Lovett and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The author's longtime illustrator, Ralph Steadman, and actor Sean Penn were on the invitation list, along with Depp, who portrayed Thompson in the 1998 movie version of ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream,'' perhaps the writer's best-known work. ''Over the last few months I've learned that he really touched people more deeply than I had realized,'' said Thompson's son, Juan. Thompson's longtime friend George Stranahan lamented the Hollywood-style production. ''I am pretty sure it isn't how Hunter would have done it,'' he said. ''But when your friends make a mistake you support them.'' Anita Thompson said Depp funded much of the celebration. ''We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design,'' Depp told The Associated Press last month. ''All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out.''

I forgot to mention...that particular combination will keep you as regular as clockwork!

Nice TR I also have a 77 year old buddy named Roy who skis my ass off. He skiied off the summit of Mt. St. helens a couple of years ago then put on a dress in the parking lot in honor of Mother's Day. Roy will not hesitate to pull out the rope and tow my car if I get stuck. A true friend.

Should we ask Crampon?

one handful shredded wheat, one handful grape nuts, dried cranberries, soy milk.

you little devil you

I'm sure Dru was just waiting for the right moment to unleash that avatar.

I have 8 1/2 in my collection - on of the few movies I own

I've had pneumonia (right after my one and only ever flu shot) but never SA. Sounds awful. Speedy recovery to lummox!

I was thinking the same thing except I was too busy lurking.

what are the symptoms of this particular infection?

hmmm never heard of it. I've been enthralled lately by a little movie called Whale Rider - makes me cry and we've also been watching Mr. Madonna's films such as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Waiting for Grizzly Man to show up at a theater near me. Wot's PCU?

kewl that makes two people I know who saw Otzi this past summer. In fact my friend Peter liked him so much he named a new fleece hat in his product line the "Otzi".

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the Palestinians make of the land.