topicalhuman.com

Steve Pavlina has posted a long but very enlightening article here that discuss his methods of generating a lot of traffic for a website. I’m not going to add much to it other than link to it (sorry Steve…), as I don’t really have anywhere near the depth of experience in this subject that Steve obviously possesses.

I have a confession to make.

I hate how many people buy 4WD/SUV vehicles these days.

I hate how many people buy them and then proceed to use it for nothing more than commuting around the suburbs.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those militant hippies who think the vehicles are evil. I personally often go camping and hiking in the great outdoors, and a 4WD is often required for these little adventures. In fact, I spent considerable time in a Jeep Cherokee while recently on holiday with my friend Chris, and my brother Ben and his Mitsubishi Pajero.

Also, people in certain industries, such as agriculture, have a genuine need for these kinds of vehicles. So they have their place, I’m sure you’ll agree.

No, I don’t hate the vehicles. But I do hate the morons who sell them to other morons who don’t need them.

There, I’ve said it. I feel better now. But I guess now I’ve dropped that one on you, I had better articulate why I feel this way. I’ll try and do this in a more logical manner. So here goes:

1. There can be no doubt that 4WD/SUV’s create more pollution. Vehicles of this kind use significantly more fuel than most other cars, such as sedans, hatchbacks etc. In a world that seems to be increasingly dependent on a decreasing supply of fossil fuel, this is insane behaviour. Additionally, many of the manufacturers do not (have to) hold these 4WD/SUV vehicles to the same (stricter) standards for emissions such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides
2. I’ve known more than a few people that buy a 4WD/SUV because they feel their family will be safer in the case of an accident. This is not the case. In fact, these large, heavy vehicles can wreak tremendous damage on a “regular” car and it’s occupants. I have also read studies that show that a pedestrian struck by a 4WD/SUV has a much reduced chance of survival compared to a pedestrian struck by a sedan. With so many 4WD/SUV roaming the suburbs, this is a grave concern.
3. Okay, this is purely anecdotal, from my own observations, but I’ve noticed that most of the worst drivers I know have bought 4WD/SUV’s. Deep down, they know they are lousy drivers, and they want to protect themselves. But having poor drivers zipping about recklessly in 3 tonne vehicles is plain scary. (Please note that I’m not calling 4WD/SUV owners reckless drivers, instead that the lousy drivers seem to gravitate towards owning these vehicles. Important difference.)
4. Traffic is becoming a really major problem in just about every city around the globe. Don’t even get me started on the price of parking, or even the difficulty of finding a park. If a car is going to be used for a daily commute, with only the driver in the car it makes no sense for these large vehicles to be taking up so much space on the road or in the car parks.
5. Car manufacturer across the board make huge profits on 4WD/SUV’s. Now, I don’t begrudge them to opportunity to make money - I too am a businessman. But when they are making 30-40% profits, I expect them to be delivering a vehicle that is safe, both for the environment, for the occupants and for others on the road. If I’m buying a car, I don’t want to be paying a premium that is used to prop up other product lines that don’t compete in the marketplace (I’m looking at you Ford). I want to get value for money at all times. I don’t think you get that from buying a 4WD/SUV, unless (gasp) you need it for off-road use! The marketers will tell you that buying this kind of vehicle is worth it because of the positive lifestyle choices that present themselves by owning a 4WD/SUV, such as getting out into nature. This leads me to my last point…
6. Dishonest marketing. I reserve my most vehement vitriol for the manufacturers themselves, particularly their marketing departments. In the mid 1980’s sales of these vehicles accounted for about 2% of total sales. By the early 2000’s they accounted for over 20%, and growing. Why the increase? While the US car makers were getting thumped in the marketplace by the Japanese car makers with better, cheaper cars someone realised they still made good margin on 4WD/SUV’s. So they started putting a strong emphasis on selling these to stop themselves from going broke. Fair enough, but lifting their game in other areas would have also been a good idea. So in order to sell more 4WD/SUV’s they started to perpetrate the myth that owning such a vehicle would turn you into an outdoors type. Fast forward a few years, and they realised they had an easy market by selling to mothers by suggesting their family was safer in a much larger car. Meanwhile, these cars evolved from basic work utility vehicles to luxury suburban cars that were heavier and therefore more fuel-hungry. The really annoying part is that neither myth is even close to being correct. Less than 5% of 4WD/SUV’s ever get taken off-road (and most of these are taken off-road rarely). Being in a 4WD/SUV, and having more of them on the road is not safer.

I haven’t gone to all the trouble of finding and listing sources for the points I present above as facts, but I know I could if I had too. Just doing a Google Search brings up some really interesting points.

So, if you’re looking at buying a new car sometime soon, have a really good think about if you actually need a 4WD/SUV. If you do, fine - go and get one with my blessing. But if you are just buying one because of a false, marketing generated myth, please do yourself and everyone else a favour and buy something else.

Probably not, but if you beleive what Jim Kunstler predicts for 2006 it won’t be too far away.

He is the author of The Long Emergency, and has been warning all who will listen that the “western” world is about to hit some particularly hard times. This largely revolves around the declining availability of fossil fuels, which not only fuels your car, but pretty much the entire global economy.

The link to Jim’s post above is long, and written with statistics largely derived from the USA, but the implications are global. I for one don’t rank Jim Kunstler as a pessimist, but rather as a sorely needed realist.

This was just too amazing to pass up posting about, but I’ll keep my mouth shut and let you draw your own conclusions…

The Vatican enforces copyright on the Popes writings, and sends a very large bill to a Milan publishing house!

Okay, I can’t keep my mouth shut. I’m pretty sure that Jesus didn’t direct his disciples to go forth and preach the good news while protecting your commercial interests in an exclusionary manner.

Link via Doc.

I’m a big basketball fan, and I’m looking forward to the World Championships this year. One thing I’ll be very interseted to see is how well the USA bounces back from a humiliating campaign in the 2004 Olympics, where they struggled for a third place finish. As many basketball fans would already be aware, one of the oft-cited reasons for this result was the lack of a decent preparation. The USA team (particularly since the 1992 Dream Team) have been thrown together with little practice and been expected to win as a result of their talent.

It should be noted this approach worked most of the time.

However, the rest of the world has gotten a lot better, particularly with many of the best players for the various international teams now making a name for themselves in the NBA.

Although I loved seeing the Americans get beaten (who doesn’t love an underdog victory?), I’m glad to see the Basketball USA treating the American national team far more seriously. Three year commitments from players, working to get a good team (as opposed to a collection of telented individuals) and removing the perception that playing for the national team is a neat junket and good for a players personal PR are all positive moves.

It should be an excellent tournament. I’m really hoping the Australian Boomers figure in the top three, but I’m sure I’m not making a shocking prediction that the USA will walk off court with the gold medal this time.

I hate spam. I mean, what intelligent person doesn’t?

Well, engaging in spamming activities may have resulted in one Russian being brutally murdered. There has apparently been no official link between his spamming activites and his murder, but it will be interesting to see if it had anything to do with it.

Link found via Global Voices.

I’ve just been reading a really great post by Kathy Sierra entitled Crash Course In Learning Theory. Essential reading for anyone who is responsible for training or teaching, although it primarily does have a bias towards giving pointers for writing a learning blog. I know if I had to run a training session on anything at all, I’d be reading this before, during and after creating an outline.

I really liked the section about “chunking” to reduce cognitive overhead. I won’t bother rehashing it all here - go read it for yourself. It is fairly lengthy, but definitely worth reading.

Heading off on a related tangent, one of the points Kathy raised (using stories to help people learn) reminded me of a part from a Stephen Fry novel called Making History. The main character’s name (I think) was Michael Young, and he was a history scholar at Cambridge University. In one section is lamenting his inability to remember anything to do with mathematics or science. He can remember all sorts of facts to do with scientists, mathemeticians and the moments and circumstances surrounding their moments of discovery, but he is incapable of remembering the science or mathematics invovled. He has a wonderful knack for rembering stories, but not cold, seemingly isolated facts.

I find it interesting how different people are in the their preference for learning. It makes me wonder how many people over the centuries that have been judged to have little ability for learning, when all they needed was a chance to learn a different way.

I was reading the new posts over at GapingVoid, where I found this link to the Thora Institute. I have only read the first couple of posts, but it deals with issues affecting the black population of the USA, and seems to do so in a calm, fair and informed manner.

I found it interesting, but to be completely honest not very interesting, as I don’t live in the USA, and therefore its impact upon me is going to be fairly minimal.

However it got me thinking: Is there a similar website or online resource that address in a similar manner issues affecting the aboriginal people of Australia, or any of the migrant minorities that live in Australia, such as the Southern European, North African, Middle Eastern or Asian peoples?

As evidenced by one of my previous posts, there is still a lot of cultural differences and racial hatred that exists in this country. I thought an online resource in a similar vein to that of the Thora Institute that addresses these perceptions of different peoples could be useful. If you know of one, let me know in the comments below.

I’ve occasionally seen while travelling around eastern Australia, especially while camping and hiking, signs for the National Trail. I’ve not really known much about it, but tonight I did a Google search and I found a website here that seems to explain it fairly well.

It is a trail that stretches from Cooktown in the north of Queensland to Healesville in Victoria - over 5000 kilometres! It apparently was the brainchild of legendary Australian bushman and businessman, R.M. Williams.

I would love to have the chance to traverse this entire trail! Mmmmm….I wonder…..

I love this line from Guy Kawasaki: “The true purpose of cash cows is to fund new calves.”

The whole article is here, and touches on what he calls intrapreneurship. It’s about wokring within the constraints of a company to realise your entrepreneurial-type vision.

However, it is the above line about having the guts to kill off your own cash cow that really sticks with me. The time for slaughtering the cash cow is going to come, it just a case if you get to choose when and how it happens. If you don’t realise this you’re going to have it done for you by some upstarts working out of their garage. And you’ll lose.