October 1, 2007, 7:52 pm
A while back I wrote about racism vs. tattoos, in the context of a story that claimed black players had more fouls called against them than white players in the NBA
My sense is that we make snap decisions about other people based on a
wide range of physical attributes, including height, attractiveness,
clothing, tattoos, piercings as well as visible racial characteristics
(e.g. skin color) and race-related appearance choices (e.g. cornrows).
It would be interesting to see where skin color falls against these
other visible differentiators as a driver of third party decisions
(e.g. whether to call a foul). My sense is that 60 years ago, skin
color would be factor #1 and all these others would be orders of
magnitude behind. Today? I don't know. While skin color hasn't gone
away as an influencer, it may be falling into what we might call the
"background level", less than or equal to some of these other effects.
It would be interesting, for example, to make the same study on level
of visible tattooing and the effect on foul calls. My sense is that
this might be of the same order of magnitude today as skin color in
affecting such snap decisions.
In a follow-up I posited that tattoos may be the new black.
Now, Via Overlawyered:
"Some San Antonio apartment complexes are refusing to rent to people with tattoos and body piercings."
October 1, 2007, 5:03 pm
Today I was working on a bid for a retail concession in a county park in California. In these bids we usually promise a set percentage of sales as rent in exchange for the concession and use of certain fixed assets. One of our standard clauses is to exempt gasoline sales (if there are any) from this rent calculation, because gas sales are so horribly low margin. Considering the licensing, environmental, and safety issues, gasoline is always a money loser for us that we offer either a) because it is expected, as in the case at large marinas or b) because it gets people in the door to buy other stuff. And I sell gas in rural areas where I have less price competition than in cities.
It is for this reason that I am always flabbergasted at how much time and attention the government and media tend to pay to retail gasoline pricing. The portion of my business that is clearly the worst, most unprofitable piece, so much so I have to make special contract provisions for it, gets all the attention for price gouging. It's like the FEC dedicating most of its labor to investigating Mike Gravel's campaign donations. I mean, why bother, there's nothing there.
October 1, 2007, 2:38 pm
My daughter was selected to perform as part of the opening number of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
October 1, 2007, 1:01 pm
Via Cato@liberty, comes this really outrageous incident:
The Gilpin County Sheriff's Office was
apologizing Monday after a weekend effort to help a research group led
to complaints about what appeared to be a DUI checkpoint - but wasn't....
Sgt.
Bob Enney said deputies assisted the Pacific Institute for Research and
Evaluation in stopping motorists at five sites along Colorado 119 for
surveys on any drug and alcohol use. Surveyors then asked the motorists
to voluntarily submit to tests of their breath, blood and saliva. At
least 200 drivers were tested, Enney said....
They were greeted by "youthful, college" surveyors dressed in jumpsuits and blue generic caps.
"We
had a 10-year-old in the back who's tired, we tell them thanks but no
thanks, we have to get this child back home to bed," Sequeira said.
He said a worker persisted, saying that the researchers would assist in driving the family home if they needed assistance.
When the Sequeiras again demurred, a supervisor offered them a $100 money order.
"We
say, 'No, thank you, we have to get our child home,"' Sequeira
recalled. "At this point, both clones start chortling at us and
ridiculing us."
The problem in this case is that many people don't take the time to even take a 5-minute survey over the phone, much less to pull over on the roadside and donate bodily fluids. Every market researcher understands this problem, and tries to deal with it. But the government has one tool in its bag that ordinary private firms do not have: The coercive power of the government. Whether they were tested or not, motorists who were in complete obedience to the law were forced to pull over by government law enforcement officials merely to increase their survey response rate. This is such a typical government solution that I think most people are desensitized to it.
