Here's an aspect of the slow downfall of the airline industry that is completely obvious, but somehow I had never thought of it. So we all know gas is super expensive and makes flying a lot more expensive, and that has been attributed as a major factor in the entire industry losing business.

But there's another factor, and that's hassle. The hour of security lines you have the go through, the stress of worrying about if you accidentally left harmless toenail clippers in the pocket of your carry-on bag, wondering if you, a 70 year old woman, will be targeted for a body cavity search, because you are easily mistaken for a 25 year old Muslim terrorist..... These things make people want to find other ways to travel, or keep them from traveling at all. It would be one thing if they were really protecting people, but they aren't. Israel has far higher security needs, but they manage to do a better job with far less hassle. Why? Because they look for potential terrorists, not nail files.

Eventually something has to change or none of our airlines will stay in business.

Today is my birthday, and there's a small party going on here, but I just wanted to write a quick note updating readers on my life.

So I finally got a good job, and it's still good, and things are going well. I have a lot less free time to read about politics and such, but I recently looked in to the PhD program in economics at Georgia State. The big issue is that they require multi-variable calculus, and while that might not have been a problem 10 years ago, I don't remember any of it now, and I don't really want to relearn it. Hell, I'm 31, I don't want to be stuck in a math class. But I may take some PhD level economic policy classes because I'm really interested in it. And maybe (but probably not) that will inspire me to relearn the math and get the degree. Do I need it? Hell no. But I'm really interested in it.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. I'm reading Shelby Foote's three volume narrative history of the Civil War, and really enjoying it, even though I'm getting through it very slowly.

I won't promise there will be more entries. I love this blog, but time is a big factor these days. At the very least, though, I promise to update every few months, or when major life events happen.