http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2011/12/high-street-blues.html

food production, banking

TRX
December 31, 2011
145:
> I tried to open a British bank
> account a few years ago but had awful
> trouble because I had been renting
> for a couple of years and all my
> utility costs were included in the rent.

Things have probably changed by now, but I when I sold a book to a British publisher back in the 1980s my first royalty check came in a check in pounds drawn on the Royal Bank of Scotland. The local banks wanted ~30% to convert it to dollars and cash it. I wrote the Royal Bank, then sent them the check and opened an account. At the time I was also selling software and getting checks or cash in foreign currencies; the Royal Bank accepted it all without complaint. I kept the account for over 20 years, mostly because it paid something like 7 percent interest, and the local banks barely broke 1 percent.

The point of all this being, I opened and operated an account with only a letter. That's not possible in the USA nowadays, due to various laws that supposedly are to inhibit narcotics trafficking.

I opened an account in British Columbia the same way, to deal with Canadian transactions. For a while I had a surge in sales to Australia (early '90s), but according to the Australian consulate in DC, I would have to open the account personally in Australia. Since I don't fly and it is too far to swim, I sent Australian stuff to the Royal Bank as well.


TRX
January 1, 2012
153:
A packet of Twinkies might last until the heat death of the universe. As a grocer, you can order Twinkies months or years ahead of your expected sell dates, and if they don't sell, they'll keep. If you need more, it's easy for the manufacturer to make them up.

Raw vegetables are different. First, their availability is seasonal. You can finesse things a bit by using greenhouses (expensive) or growing in the opposite hemisphere, which involves a lengthy truck- warehouse- ship- warehouse- truck- warehouse- truck chain. So stuff gets picked green because it takes a long time to get to market, or it gets picked less green to arrive close to its compost date.

Other than an occasional bell pepper, onion, or clove of garlic, the only vegetables I've ever purchased have been frozen or canned. My Dad got paid once a month when I was a kid, so payday was grocery day. There were no other purchases until the next month. When I moved out on my own I slipped to a two week cycle, though the unpleasantness of shopping has made me consider going to 30 days.


TRX
January 2, 2012
165:
>The death of the dinner party, for example.

I remember those.

It's hard to have a social gathering when more than half of the attendees are texting or talking on their mobile phones. Particularly the Bluetooth ones with the cockroach on their ear, who stride about shouting at people who aren't there.


TRX
January 3, 2012
185:
> Examining the lens, eyeball, and
> retina by creating a volume hologram
> of the eye using a low-power pulsed
> laser light source.

I went to an optometrist last year who did just that - I looked into a box that mapped the contours of my retinas and lenses, and he generated a lens prescription without the usual mucking about with the giant German lens monster.

The machine didn't look particularly new, nor was it (at least, the patient interface) very large.

Given the economies of scale for consumer electronics, I could see little kiosks at pharmacies or grocery stores, like the old coin operated weight or blood pressure machines. Drop in a few coins, look into the hood, it spits out a printout tape you can hand to an optical shop or send off to a mail-order vendor.