Coincidence? Child misses bedtime again!

Something strange happened this evening. We visited my brother at his house and wanted to show him a very old jeep we've been working on. It has two seats made of metal and plywood. Doors, a windshield, turn signals and brake lights are optional. (turn signals and brake lights are coming soon). We drove the jeep to see him and parked it at his house being careful to park on the correct side of the street pointing in the correct direction.

We had a great time and left about 8:00 so we could get the kid home at a decent hour. As we got into the jeep, I noticed a populated police car on the other side of the street. As I started the jeep, the police officer drove by and rolled down her window and started talking about safety and car seats and such. Police officers serve the public at large and therefore I didn't really want to argue too much with her so we decided that I would take the old jeep home without the wife and kid and come back for them in a more modern vehicle with a car seat. I made it home without incident and drove the newish vehicle back to my brother's house to pick up the rest of the family.

Arriving at my destination, I left the vehicle to idle while I called my brother to let him know I had arrived. About the time I saw the wife and kid come out of the house, I turned off the vehicle and removed the key to help install the child in his seat. When all was situated, I hopped in and it wouldn't start. No clicks, but power to the headlights, dash, etc. It was like the clutch safety switch had gone out. We called a tow truck and the fellow who arrived we knew from a church we used to attend. Had a great time talking with him as we dropped the rig off at the dealership. Hopefully they will figure out what's going on with it.

Lastly, I read a news article about Chrysler going chapter 11 and idling all their plants starting on Monday. However, Obama said he will fix it and honor my warranty so who is to worry eh?

I think God is trying to tell me something, but I'm not sure what it is yet. All I know right now is the kid went to bed 2.5 hours late and someone could be walking to work tomorrow.

Rationality

I hope the government considered this scenario before they started throwing around unemployment money. Involve the government in simple matters like employment and all the sudden very strange things start happening.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A restaurant worker was accused of trashing the place in an attempt to get fired and collect unemployment compensation. A criminal complaint filed Thursday said a 35-year-old man showed up at a Qdoba restaurant and started throwing brownies and cookies on the floor.

The man then went into the kitchen and threw pots and pans around, then went into a storage area and threw boxes of hot sauce on the floor.

Police said the man told them he was trying to get fired and couldn't collect unemployment if he simply quit.

From http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090213/D96AVT480.html

The Econmoics of Fear

This is interesting. Pretty much everyone in the U.S. is in hock up to their eyeballs from the time they leave home until they retire. Contrary to what you may have heard, mortgages do count towards indebtedness.

Part of the debtor mentality is a constant, frantically suppressed undercurrent of terror. We have one of the highest debt-to-income ratios in the world, and apparently most of us are two paychecks from the street. Those in power -- governments, employers -- exploit this, to great effect. Frightened people are obedient -- not just physically, but intellectually and emotionally. If your employer tells you to work overtime, and you know that refusing could jeopardize everything you have, then not only do you work the overtime, but you convince yourself that you're doing it voluntarily, out of loyalty to the company; because the alternative is to acknowledge that you are living in terror. Before you know it, you've persuaded yourself that you have a profound emotional attachment to some vast multinational corporation: you've indentured not just your working hours, but your entire thought process. The only people who are capable of either unfettered action or unfettered thought are those who -- either because they're heroically brave, or because they're insane, or because they know themselves to be safe -- are free from fear.

From http://www.schneier.com. The original quote is from The Likeness, a novel set in Ireland, by Tana French.