An Archaic Revenue Model

Archaic, kind of like ad-based revenue models.

Handed down from generation to generation, revenue based on advertising has been around since the dawn of the newspaper (possibly even before? I don’t know my advertising history). Unfortunately, little has changed in terms of media revenue models. Sure, there’s subscription based revenue models, but that’s hardly viable in the age of free, instant information (take note, New York Times). One would think VC’s would be more cautious investing in companies based on a primarily advertising-based revenue model especially since it’s not a recession-proof revenue model. It’s okay if that’s one component of a company’s revenue model, but not the only component.

However, while there is a façade of cautious investing, investors have on rose colored glasses when it comes to internet companies with popular appeal, but zero ability to be cash positive or zero ability to create a sound revenue model. This is especially true when it comes to Facebook–a startup created by a Harvard dropout which incidentally has become one of the most visited sites on the web. Whether or not Facebook’s value is inflated is an argument that could be made into a thesis–arguments going in either direction. However, the fact remains that Facebook has valuable market data on its users, yet, has been unable to effectively utilize it. What is the point of sitting on top of valuable market data if it doesn’t profit from it? On the other hand, should their revenue model consist partly of selling private user information to a third party, or giving third parties access to personal user data, this could undermine user’s trust in Facebook and result in a decline of users sharing their personal information with the social networking site, which would consequently deflate Facebook’s value.

Not only has Facebook burned through their revenue, but they’ve burned through their VC funding. Although Facebook is looking to create more personalized targeted advertisements (a venture which, if successful, would prove Facebook critics wrong, and could potentially be a threat to Google), it has yet to capitalize on the personal information its users entrust in the site. In fact, it’s current method of targeted advertising is fairly unsophisticated. I often receive targeted advertising in Swedish, or it’s based off of the information I put in the “Personal Information” part of my profile. For some reason I also receive a lot of shopping related advertisements. I have no idea why as I hate shopping. Overall, Facebook is a social networking site surrounded by hype, but lacking in substance. And by substance, I mean, benefiting from its vast database of personal user information.

Which brings me to my next point, although Facebook is lacking in the ability to be cash positive, it’s not nearly as hype-inflated as startups based on Facebook applications. For starters, why base the foundation of your startup on another statup (which, to reiterate, has yet to create a sound revenue model). An advertising based revenue model is hardly sound, especially considering that model is a copy of the model used by traditional media (and look at the state of traditional media now). A startup based on creating Facebook applications is a lot of hype, with little substance. Sure, they have access to select personal user information, which allows them to use this information as a marketing tool–possibly even utilizing this information to sell to third parties, but as far as monetizing on the product and service they’ve created, most Facebook applications have hardly been able to add any tangible value. Should Facebook start some sort of monetization off personal user data, Facebook applications can kiss their chance at monetizing goodbye. Creating a startup based off of Facebook applications is hardly innovative, and surrounded in overrated hype. Creating a viable revenue model that’s not based on advertising, with a foundation not based on another startup, now THAT is innovation.

Personal Legend

I recently read The Alchemist for the first time after a friend said I reminded him of the main protagonist. It’s an incredibly inspiring book (and now, one of my favorites) and I recommend it to everyone who has not read it yet. After stumbling across a series of failures and downs, I’m glad I came across this book now as it puts everything in perspective.

Everyone has a personal legend, that is, a goal that one must journey through life to attain. This is what keeps us going, and what gives our lives meaning. Upon fulfilling the personal legend, we can either embark on fulfilling a new personal legend, or become content with the one we have fulfilled. Unfortunately, too many people either forget about their personal legend, or, in their desire to attain their personal legend, they forget about the journey one must embark on. It’s easy to desire something, whether that’s fortune, fame, love, etc., but much harder to actually work towards it. We are constantly surrounded by people in the former group, those that have forgotten their personal legends. As children, or even as college students, we have hopes, dreams, and ambitions. We have not yet become jaded and cynical–that comes about sometime in our 20′s when we enter the work force. Too many of us become corporate drones, living each day as the next with minor variables. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we have achieved virtually nothing–sure, maybe we completed analyzing data for an assignment, or we managed a few accounts, maybe a prospective client just signed a deal. This, however, does not add significant meaning to our lives, it merely adds security.

We think having money, or security, adds meaning, but it’s simply an allusion our minds portray to keep us from realizing our failure in achieving our personal legend. Slowly, but surely, we become cynical and jaded becoming content with our systematic way of life. And then there are the super-dreamers. These people dream about fulfilling their personal legend, but that’s all they do. They are often much less content with life than the former group. They want the reward without the hard work.

My personal legend lies in my desire to change the world. This doesn’t necessarily mean to cure cancer, eradicate the world of poverty, bring about world peace. Simply put, I want to facilitate people’s passions, including my own. I can’t expect anyone to do the journey for me. I may meet people along the way that help me out, direct me back on the path of my journey when I’m about to stray, even if they do this unintentionally, but ultimately, it is up to me to work hard to fulfill my personal legend. The failures in life aren’t really failures; they are roadblocks requiring us to take a detour. Those of us that stay focused must realize this and find another way to fulfill our personal legend rather than giving up and going back. I realized this as I was finishing the book. My failures aren’t failures unless I don’t learn from them and adapt. They are only truly failures if I give up.

Each person’s journey is different, and each person’s journey takes a different amount of time to complete. Even if you never fulfill your personal legend, just by journeying towards it, your life has fifty times more meaning in it than those that have forgotten their personal legend, or those that desire to attain it without working hard themselves to reach it.

I <3 Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi at a Commonwealth Club of California Speaker Event in San Francisco

My sister interns for the Commonwealth Club of California, and one of the perks she receives from interning is being able to go to speaker events they put on, for free! Considering the economy and the fact that she’s working, well, for free, she jumps at the chance to go to a speaker event, and I jump at the chance to tag along. On Wednesday, April 15th, the Commonwealth Club brought none other than Ms. Speaker-of-the-House herself, Nancy Pelosi. She had a book signing at the end, and since it’s about women in power, I decided to buy a copy for her to sign; it’s called, Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters. There are many reasons why I absolutely admire her, but I won’t go into all of them (mainly because it’s 1 AM, and for some reason, I’m writing this as opposed to being asleep in my bed). When I interned for the Democratic National Committee, on the application to apply for the internship, it asked who our favorite politician was, and why. So of course I put Nancy Pelosi. Reasons being: She’s completely awesome, first Female Speaker of the House, she’s completely awesome, closest a woman has gotten to the Presidency in this country, she’s completely awesome, she’s living proof that women don’t need to give up family to pursue a career or vice versa, she’s completely awesome, she signed my copy of her book, and did I mention, she’s completely awesome? Well, okay, I didn’t put down “she’s completely awesome” on the application, obviously…I’d like to think I can articulate my words better than that.

At the event, she spoke about a number of topics (of course the Economy was mentioned), but what stood out to me was what she said regarding health care reform. According to Pelosi, we may soon be seeing health care reform sometime this year. I’m sure I’m not the first to say it, nor will I be the last, but, I’d just like to say, it’s about damn time. I’m not a fan of my $40 copay. My favorite answer to a question was her answer to a question someone asked regarding the difference between working as Speaker of the House under President Bush and his administration, versus under President Obama and his administration. While under Bush, she mentioned that Bush would often remind her of the chain of command, “One, two, three…see that? That’s the chain of command”…One being Bush himself, two being Cheney, and three being herself. On working under President Obama, she sighed (a good sigh, obviously), and said, “With President Obama, he has a great intellect. Having a great intellect saves a lot of time.” I couldn’t agree more.

Happy (early) Unimaginative Consumerist-Oriented Day

For serious. I don’t think there’s a holiday as uncreative as Valentine’s Day. No, I’m not being bitter or cynical–well, maybe a little of both. But perhaps, for the first time in years, this holiday can actually be of use. And by use, I mean, superficially boosting our economy for one day’s worth of spending by consumers. Hey, if it’s good for the economy, I’m all for it! Take note lust lovebirds, if you’re still looking for that last minute present (in addition to the cards, roses, chocolates, blah blah blah) for your significant other, here are the top 5 gadgets on my list of gadgets I’m currently coveting (I’m not kidding, I seriously do have a word document called “List of Gadgets I’m Currently Coveting). Maybe it’ll inspire something (a more creative holiday perhaps? Naw, that’s asking for too much) in some of you…maybe.

1. Eye-Fi Memory Card: I have friends that will constantly bug me for pictures. It’s not that I don’t want them to have it, it’s just that, well, to be frank, I have better things to do than upload pictures immediately after an event. You know, things such as, oh I don’t know, watching my artificial plant grow. So imagine my joy when I heard about this. A memory card you NEVER have to take out of your digital camera! The good folks at Eye-Fi created a memory card that uses wi-fi technology to transfer photos from your memory card to your desktop, wirelessly and without a card reader! The perfect present for the busy soulless corporate working bee (or lazy couch potato).

2. Amazon Kindle 2:

This would be the glorious Amazon Kindle 2. For a booknerd, gym junkie not unlike myself, this is perfect. Gone are the days of turning pages and stinging papercuts. And if you’re OCD, like myself, you hate it when book covers and pages are bent. The Kindle allows for users to load books wirelessly onto the device. Users can then read whatever it is that they loaded anywhere–on the treadmill, back of a taxi, on public transportation, while waiting for your girlfriend to try on her 12th pair of jeans that looked exactly like the previous 11 she tried on.

3. Victorinox Presentation Pro:

Swiss Army Knife meets the 21st Century. How hot is this? A Swiss Army Knife with a laser. There’s also a USB thumbdrive, and a fingerprint scanner. Though I have absolutely no use for a Swiss Army Knife, much less one with a laser, I want this for the sheer awesomeness that this exudes. Those that have to give presentations often, however, will find this fairly useful as this also has bluetooth technology with the capabilities to connect to your laptop (Windows-PC platform only) to more effectively change slides. Evidently, there is also a Presentation Pro Flight model which has everything the knife pictured has, except for the “knife” part of Swiss Army Knife, thus allowing one to carry it on board a flight (hence the Presentation Pro Flight, hah, how clever Victorinox is). Too bad this isn’t in stores yet. Maybe your significant other will be okay with a rain check on their present? I know, this post is such a tease

4. Aptera:

No, that is not a bug that time traveled back to the 21st century. That is an Aptera, and the perfect present for the eco-conscious. Despite looking like something out of The Jetson’s, this is a vehicle I would definitely rock–it receives over 100 miles per gallon. So use your own discretion when bragging to your gas-guzzling, SUV owning buddies. I am also immensely jealous of anyone that has test driven this. Just a note, I don’t believe they’ve started selling these yet, though I’m pretty sure they’re taking pre-orders.

5. Gentlemen MP3 Player:

An MP3 player that looks like a tie clip. Hot? Most definitely! I don’t wear ties often–well, ever, actually. In fact, the last time I can recall wearing a tie was in 7th grade for “Tie Day” at school. And although the obvious target demographic for this product are men, women can wear this clipped under the collar of our shirt or blazer. Much like the Presentation Pro, I’m coveting this for the sheer awesomeness it exudes. So as you’re working on mindnumbing pie charts and crunching numbers, clip this on as an extra accessory to lessen the boredom of your average workday. You’ll look like you’re working hard, when you’re probably hardly working. Or rather, enjoying your workday a little more as you’re working hard.

PS: My birthday is on January 25th

Yea? Your Mom..

..and mine too, are on Facebook. Sometimes she’ll “poke” me, other times she’ll friend request me. Sorry mom, I love you, but I cannot add you to my Facebook. Not that I have anything to hide, it’s just a little weird being connected to my mom on Facebook. According to Facebook’s statistics, their fastest growing demograph are those over the age of 30. Makes sense considering many people under 30 are already on Facebook. So long and farewell to the days of web 2.0 parental ignorance. Which brings me to my next point: If our parents are joining Facebook, what’s next? It’s not as if they’re going to start Twittering. Oh dear God, please don’t let that happen. Though, I do have to hand it to my mom–she has much more meaningful Facebook connections than I do. Kudos to you mom! The only people she’ll add are relatives and friends. I on the other hand, I need to delete some people. It’s too bad Burger King had to get rid of their Whooper Sacrifice. Thanks Facebook for getting rid of a good thing, that was almost as brilliant as Yahoo rejecting Microsoft’s offer last year. And by brilliant, I mean, completely stupid. With the Whopper Sacrifice, I could have had a sure-fire excuse for deleting 10 of the most useless people I’m connected to on Facebook, AND gotten a free Whopper without feeling bad. Saying goodbye to that boy that sat 2 seats in front of me in Chemistry sophomore year in highschool=easy peasy. Saying goodbye to free food=never. So who would I delete exactly? Well, I’m not connected to my mom (or yours, hah!), so I’ll have to start from my Newsfeed. Here are the 10 people I would delete for a Whopper:

1.) That girl I was friends with, but not really, in high school–The Frenemy. The Frenemy went from being “in a relationship” to “engaged.” Intrigued, I click on it. Meh, I’m still cuter, funnier, and smarter than her. And I spot cankles. Delete.

2.) The Ex. The Ex posted an item. I know I shouldn’t click on his profile–curiosity did kill the cat, but then again, satisfaction brought it back. *Click* Who is that girl that keeps writing on his wall? I’ll look at that later *right-click, open link in new tab*. Time to Facebook stalk The Ex. He’s unemployed with virtually no career ambition, lives, almost literally, in his parents basement, and is still a tool. Uninteresting, Delete.

3.) Girl That Keeps Writing on Ex’s Wall. Upon closer inspection, turns out, we’re Facebook friends. I met her once, through a friend of a friend of a friend at some mutual person’s place a year ago. I do a wall-to-wall, and see some lame flirtage going on. Wow, they both lack wit. I am clearly smarter and funnier than her. Feeling better about myself, I do the one thing I can do: Delete.

4.) Jock from High School. Let’s just make one thing clear, I was never the “popular” or “cool” kid in high school. So when Jock from High School added me a long time ago, I thought, eh, whatever, Confirm. Jock from High School changed his network from city, state, to Clown College. Jock from High School also added new photos. They’re pictures of him and his buddies, 5 years later, 30 pounds heavier, and a beer gut, doing keg stands. Gee, that’s real attractive, I’m sure employers would love that. Delete.

5.) That Weird Emo Girl I Sat in Front of in AP Statistics Senior Year of High School. That Weird Emo Girl is depressed and wanting to punch a wall. Or so says her newly updated Facebook status. I’m a little freaked out. Delete.

6.) The Cheating Ex. The Cheating Ex is no longer listed as “in a relationship.” Oh wait wait, there’s another update: The Cheating Ex is single. Well this is intriguing, so I click on his profile. His BFF just commented asking what happened. Appalled that someone would actually openly ask, but feeling slight pangs of guilt for being happy (well, not really, heh), I do some Facebook stalking. Karma is fantastic. Turns out, he was cheated on. And that is what I like to call irony Delete.

7.) Boy I Haven’t Spoken to Since 2nd Grade. He just posted a link. Actually, make that 10 links–because that is what he does. Fill my Newsfeed with his postings. I like to call it Newsfeed Spam. Thank you for your postings, Sir Spam-a-lot. Delete.

8.) Distant Relative I’ve Never Spoken To. I come from a very large family, and have probably only met about 1/4 of my relatives. Distant Relative I’ve Never Spoken To is now friends with The Ex. Small world. Delete.

9.) Douchebag I Met Freshman Year of College. Douchebag still wears his hair so spiked, that it would put Dragonball Z characters to shame. Douchebag has just changed his profile picture. I click to go to his profile, and it’s a picture of him in front of the mirror taking his own picture–with his shirt off. Note to Douchebag: This is not Myspace. He also has a status update, it says, “Douchebag has just bought a Murse to go with my outfit for tonights hot date with Girl That Keeps Writing on Ex’s Wall–gonna get me laid!” Seriously? A murse? Delete.

10.) You. Yes, that’s right, You. You, whom I barely know. You, who keeps poking me and I barely even know you. You–who googled “samihah azim blog” after reading in my 25 Things note on Facebook that I in fact, have a blog (Yes, WordPress is fabulous and lets us know about searches from Google and other search engines). You–I’ve only met you once 5 years ago, and I’ve never spoken to you after that. You–we’re not really family friends and I’ve never spoken to you, but you add me anyways. You–mutual friends of ex’s. You–I haven’t had a conversation with you in years. You–you made a series of bad decisions since high school, I also haven’t spoken to you since high school. You–I don’t even know you. You–your mom. Turns out we were connected on Facebook. Delete x10.

PS: There are some embarrassing baby photos of you on your mom’s facebook, in case you wanted to know.

It’s the Economy, Stupid

One of Bill Clinton’s campaign slogans when running against Bush 41 was, “It’s the Economy, Stupid.” As applicable as it was in the 90′s, it’s even more so now. As I was reading today’s daily dose of doom and gloom economic news, I couldn’t help but remember something Robert Reich said a few months ago at UC Berkeley. Back in September, I went to Berkeley (my alma mater, Go Bears!) for a Cal in the Capital alumni reunion.

For this reunion, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, current UC Berkeley professor, and overall brilliant genius, was the guest speaker. He said something that night that was so simple, yet so complex. A 5th grader could grasp the simplicity of what he said, but for some reason, our Senators and Representatives could not. He essentially said, this nation needs a bottom-up approach to the economy rather than a top-down approach. He gave the analogy of building a house. The most important part of the house isn’t the façade, rather, it’s the foundation. With a weak foundation, the house will topple over. Likewise, by strengthening the base of our economy (i.e., ensuring that the working class have jobs and increasing the purchasing power of the middle-class), we are, in essence, strengthening our foundation. I would take this analogy a step further by suggesting that a house with a strong foundation has a better chance at withstanding an earthquake or other natural disaster. Much like a house, a country with a strong economic foundation has a far better chance at weathering tough economic times.

It’s amazing how often people forget such a simple concept. What affects the working class negatively, will eventually make its way up. I used to work in finance, and in the early part of 2007, when the job market was beginning to weaken and the subprime mess hit, I often heard coworkers discuss how it didn’t affect them. These conversations were followed by much laughter, and the optimistic (and now laughable) idea that the market, at the end of the year, would end either up a little, or up a lot. Well, clearly that hasn’t been the case, especially with November’s 401k-murdering bottom. There was one particular conversation where someone mentioned that jobs being lost were merely part-time jobs that high school kids would take after-school, that the subprime crisis “only” affected people with poor credit, and the type of people with subprime credit tended to have a poor educational background and were generally not working professionals. Riight. Wishful thinking perhaps? Because obviously the subprime crisis, though not entirely directly, has in fact impacted working professionals.

Let’s go back to Economics 101–which, evidently, our Ivy League/Top 10 School Financial CEO’s slept through. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say you have a guy named Average Joe. Average Joe is, well, average. Average Joe also happens to work 9-5 at a factory that manufactures cars in, ooh I don’t know–Michigan. Then there’s Sana the Engineer. Sana the Engineer works as an engineer for the same company that manufactures the cars at the factory Average Joe works for–she lives in Silicon Valley. Then of course, we have Dr. Patel. Dr. Patel is a dentist in a small town in Texas where Average Joe has relatives. He is also in Average Joe’s health provider network–so Average Joe can go to him when he visits his relatives in Texas. This brings us to the 4th member of our 6-degrees of seperation network: Mr. Waldervilt the III. Mr. Waldervilt the III is the CEO of X Investments headquartered on Wall Street. Coincidentally, Mr. Waldervilt the III’s firm specializes in private equity and, well, investments, and is the primary investment firm for the car manufacturing company that Average Joe and Sana the Engineer work for. Average Joe and family live in a cute one-story house with a white picket fence; down the road from Average Joe are bigger two-story houses. Average Joe wants to refinance his house. However, he was considered subprime because of his credit, and thus, would have a tough time getting a better rate. Fear not Average Joe! Appraiser Friend is here to your rescue! Average Joe’s appraiser friend comes over to appraise Average Joe’s house. Being a good friend, Appraiser Friend inflates the value of Average Joe’s one-story, white picket fence house to match closely with the two-story houses near him. Joe goes to refinance his house, and his lender, believing that Joe’s $187,000 dollar house is actually worth closer to $600,000 agrees to refinance at better rates despite the fact that Average Joe not only has bad credit, is high risk, but would likely never be able to afford a $600,000 house on his salary (not to mention, Average Joe also has a family to take care of, as well as medical bills).

Sana the Engineer also lives in a house. But her house is closer to $2.5 million since it’s in the heart of Silicon Valley where everything is ridiculously priced. But it’s okay, because Sana is an engineer making close to $130,000 (combine this with her engineer husband’s salary, and they are prime borrowers). Dr. Patel lives in virtually the middle of nowhere, so the price of his house combined with his salary allowed for him to have already paid off his mortgage years ago. One day, Mr. Waldervilt the III and company notice that investing in subprime is hot and all the “cool” kids on Wall Street are doing it. They invest in bundles of subprime mortgages where the risk is high, but instead of getting a return of 3-4% (which is what they would get with prime/low risk mortgages), they would be getting 10%. Mr. Waldervilt the III is blinded by dollar signs, so he doesn’t realize that as he’s refurnishing his office with $87,000 rugs (because money ain’t a thang baby, when you got subprime investments! Oh snap!) and taking his executives out for a retreat at an exclusive hotel in California spending close to 1/2 a million dollars, Average Joe is having trouble with his mortgage payments. Average Joe and family cut back on expenses–this includes all discretionary spending, and of course trips to the dentist.

Average Joe’s neighbors decide they too need to cut back on spending just to make their mortgage payments. Mr. Patel notices a decrease in patients and has to lower the cost of overhead; so he lays off a few people. These people were planning to buy a car from the company that Average Joe works for, but cannot now afford one. The car company Average Joe works for now has a supply of cars that exceeds demand. Since these cars are NOT fuel efficient, and oil prices suddenly increased dramatically, they saw a further drop in demand. “Darn! Why didn’t we invest in alternative fuel/energy research for our cars?” they think. But alas! It is too late now. Demand is low. So the car company located in Michigan has no choice, but to reduce overhead. They do this by shutting down a factory, and downsizing their other factories. Unfortunately, Average Joe, whom we have come to love so dearly, has also been laid off. He can’t make his mortgage payments or go to the dentist. Sorry Dr. Patel, but at least you have a house with no payments to make.

Sana the Engineer on the other hand, is enjoying sunny California, and isn’t too worried about job security. After all, the company is still going to come out with new models of cars and will always need engineers. Unfortunately for Sana the Engineer, the company decides they need to downsize even more, and since no one is buying gas-guzzling machines, they have no reason to keep engineers. So they lay off a bunch of engineers and high tech professionals in their Silicon Valley office. Meanwhile, the base of the economy is slowly weakening as the lower-middle class and upper-middle class are losing their purchasing power. Mr. Waldervilt the III finally snaps out of his dollar-trance and realizes that his investment bank that had weathered out the Great Depression was in big financial trouble. Because consumer confidence was low, and people weren’t spending, stocks were dropping. The private equity injected into the company Average Joe and Sana the Engineer worked for was quickly eroding its value, and since Average Joe couldn’t pay his mortgage, the high risk subprime mortgages that Mr. Waldervilt the III’s investment bank had invested in accrued no value or money.

These high risk investments had just become toxic on his company’s balance sheets. The car company Average Joe and Sana the Engineer formerly worked for couldn’t keep up with their finances and debt, and had no choice but to file for Chapter 11. Mr. Waldervilt the III’s investment bank loses its stock value by 63% the next day. Mr. Waldervilt the III has no choice, but to lay off 20% of the working professionals that work for his firm, and shut down their Hong Kong office. With no income, Sana the Engineer and her engineer husband decide that they can’t afford to live on just one person’s salary with such a large mortgage payment for their $2.5 million dollar home. They decide to put it on the market. Unfortunately, no one is buying a house. They slash the price from $2.5 million, to $1.5 million, and they keep slashing until they can slash no more. Unfortunately, no one is buying houses and they can’t pay their mortgage–the bank repossesses their home. Average Joe’s formerly “$600,000″ house is also repossessed by the bank and loses its inflated value. Dr. Patel still has his original house, but cannot afford to spend on the luxuries he once did–further contributing to the decline in stock value of so many companies facing a lack of consumer demand. And what of Mr. Waldervilt the III? Well, he resigned with a golden parachute. His severance package was 75% of his salary for a year, and he still received his bonus–for failing.

Moral of this story: Like a house, an economy with a strong foundation will have a better chance at weathering tough, economic storms.

There’s No Reason to Siphon Gasoline..

Seriously. Gas prices are cheap right now (good time to buy shares in oil and energy, no?). I don’t care how bad the economy is doing, it’s not nice to steal gasoline from other people’s cars. Case in point: Saturday night, I got together with a few friends for my birthday dinner in San Francisco. If you’ve ever driven in San Francisco, you know how impossible it is to find parking, so I parked in one of those garages where you give your keys to the attendant since they move the cars around. Anyways, I had a full tank of gasoline pre-dinner. After leaving the garage, I noticed the needle on the gauge was at the 1/2 way mark. Obviously a 1/2 tank of gas doesn’t just disappear into thin air. Which brings me to the point of this post: with all this technological innovation, and research on alternative fuels, why not create some sort of anti-siphoning device to have fitted into cars? Such a device apparently exists for trucks in the UK. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just so long as it works, and allows for people to park their cars in peace. Seriously Congress, make yourselves useful for once, pass legislation requiring all new cars to be fitted with anti-siphoning devices by 2010.