Another Sign Of The Carpocalypse

(I hope Jalopnik doesn't go 1-800-Call-Sam on me for using "carpocalypse".)

One of the horseman of the carpocalypse rode through my workplace.  We used to have a cafeteria in our building which was run by a major catering company.  Between the layoffs and people cutting back on spending, they couldn't make money at it.  

Gone are all the made-to-order stations, and the hot entree line.  The cafeteria was changed into a convenience store--prepackaged sandwiches and salads, candy, chips, and bottled drinks.  Prices also went up.

The horseman left with heads hanging on his saddle.  Two managers, a chef, several cooks, and others lots their jobs.  I heard him rapping on the way out as he rode, "I'm rollin' down a hill, snowballin' gettin' bigger..."

Cutting Back

I am, thank God, employed.  

However, I don't have high confidence that I will be employed at the end of the calendar year. Considering the way the economy is going, I guess I have about a 50% chance, assuming that there is no rebound in car sales.  

So, my family has been cutting back to save some more cash for our rainy day fund.

Here are a few examples of ways that I have been saving money:

• We don't have cable or satellite TV anymore, we are using one of those digital TV converter boxes on our 10 year old analog TV to watch free over-the-air TV.  With rabbit ears.  It works, and besides, TV is over-rated.  Everyone could benefit from more reading time.
• I don't subscribe to the local paper, instead I read it for free online (sorry Detroit News and Free Press).  I get a few other magazines such as Consumer Reports for free as hand-me-downs from other family members.  There's some thrifty advice you'll never read in CR: hobo your Consumer Reports!
  
• My family has nearly stopped eating out.  Except for the occasional lunch with my co-workers, or a night where we don't have the will to cook anything.
• I have gotten used to driving no more than a couple of miles over the speed limit.  My mid-sized sedan with its <2.5l>
• I am stretching my oil changes out to 6,000 miles (manufacturer suggests 3,000 miles on my wife's car and 5,000 on mine).
• I have cut back on beer and wine consumption.  I used to take a bottle of beer or a glass of wine every day, now I find myself stretching it out by drinking on weekends.  I do have a weakness for scotch, though...
• I have cut back on how much meat I eat.  I think I eat red meat less than once a week now, and chicken or fish no more than a couple of times a week.  I admit this is also to improve my overall health, but you can save quite a bit of money this way.
• I have cut back on buying gadgets, except for ones that have an actual useful purpose.  For example, my old Dell laptop (Windows XP, P4) works fine, no need for one of the new ones--I just replace broken parts, which are cheap and plentiful, when something breaks.  I did buy a new digital camera, but I sold the old one on eBay so it was not a big investment.
• My wife and I don't give each other expensive gifts for birthdays and holidays, just small items to express the thought.  

If you think about your spending habits more carefully, you might be amazed at how many places you are spending that you could trim back, with a little bit of adjustment.

Of course, I'm one of thousands doing the same thing.  As a result, the economic death spiral accelerates.  Restaurants are closing, food producers are hurting, newspapers are going out of business, magazines are getting skinnier (even Consumer Reports).  

Jerusalem Pizza #1

Jerusalem Pizza, a famous local kosher pizza joint, is doing a very cool thing. They are auctioning off the rights to pie #1, post-Passover, with all proceeds going to a local food bank. As of this writing, the pizza is worth $200, but I would expect it to go a bit higher by close on Tuesday. Auction link.

The Galileoscope

A team of astronomers went to work to come up with a low cost telescope kit, that kids could put together to learn about how telescopes work, and then use to observe the night sky. The result is the very cool looking Galileoscope, which costs only $15 individually, and reportedly has pretty good optics. For example, they used lens designs which reduce chromatic aberration, something that Galileo did not have in his day.

There is a short video about it here:


Here is another

Fiat's Multiair System

Fiat has developed an interesting engine system for improving fuel economy. called Multiair. This is another type of variable valve timing and lift device. Fiat's trick is to use a hydraulic path from the cam to the valve, which goes through an electrically actuated valve. By modifying the fluid flow through the valve through the engine cycle, Fiat can implement variable valve timing and variable lift.

Here's a short video on the subject.

SF Mayor: Closet Engineer

San Francisco's mayor Gavin Newsom is, apparently, a secret engineer. He thinks designing cars that get big fuel efficiency numbers at an affordable price is easy. From the Detroit News:

"With respect to Detroit, it is not good enough to advance by 2012 an ambitious strategy of having 14 different models at GM of hybrids -- when hybrids are yesterday's technology," Newsom said at a conference here sponsored by Newsweek on the future of the auto industry.

He said automakers must move more quickly to plug-in hybrids, noting hybrids like the Toyota Prius have been on the market since 1997.

"We need a very dramatic shift in mentality of Detroit," Newsom said.

Hybrids are "yesterday's technology"?!?

They still aren't entirely affordable, and not every model can make a profit at market prices. The batteries are still very expensive, as well as the power electronics and drivetrain. Hybrids still haven't caught on in volume, with one model (Prius) breaking the 100,000 unit/year sales rate.

If the California legislature had any cojones, they would tax vehicles with poor fuel economy, or institute a high fuel tax. But they won't because then the voters would throw them out of work.

So instead, they shout at Detroit, "Build us a unicorn!", as if Detroit has unicorns stashed away in the basement of ever R&D lab, under digital lock and armed guard.

Things just aren't that simple.

Medtipster: Finding Cheap Drugs

A guy I know (a friend of a friend kind of thing) works for a company that has recently launched a prescription drug search engine. Called Medtipster, the service lets you search for drug prices in your geographical area.

For example, if you need some antibiotic for your strep throat, you can type in your prescribed medicine, the dose, and your ZIP code, and Medtipster will show you a list of pharmacies in your area, with prices.

This is a brilliant idea, because it allows for pharmacies to compete with one another directly on price.