Notes from Day 11724

I'll get back to my travelogue soon (as soon as I free up some space with my host so I can post more pictures), but I wanted to get these few notes posted in the interim.

1) New Stuff to Read: Jenn's finally decided she wanted to toss her hat into the blogosphere, or something. Anyhoo, Yo Ambro! is now up and awaiting all's'y'all's consideration.

2) I Had A Thought the Other Night: There's an interesting phenomenon that's been going on in the Commonwealth of Virginia at least since the technology boom of the 90's, and that is that the bulk of tax dollars that are spent on the entire state, including the reddest part of the state from Lexington and Charlottesville on south and west, come from Northern Virginia, easily the bluest part of the state. It is an irony: the folks who would in theory (and likely in practice) be the most ardently opposed to the old liberal mantra of redistribution of wealth are the ones who bask in the sunlight of financial redistribution the most. This irony is not lost on the inhabitants of Northern Virginia. When I lived there, there was some (arguably tongue-in-cheek) talk about Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun counties seceding from the state. The result, an economist said at the time, would plummet what remained of Virginia into a third-world-like economic state, turning it into the next Arkansas.

So my thought was this: Has anyone ever analyzed this on a national scale? I mean, it makes sense to me that the great bulk of the national GDP is generated in the Northeast, the industrial Midwest and the Pacific Coast, where the bulk of Americans live and work, and where most of our cities are. This is also where America is at her bluest. So wouldn't it follow that there is a large redistibution of wealth going on in the very places where folks vehemently detest the notion the most? If anyone knows of any research to this end, or can find some fault with my thinking, I'm all ears.

3) Ad Campaigns I Like: For a while, I was ambivalent about the Six Flags guy (that dude in elderly-person make-up who dances around like a crazy person). At first, I thought maybe I might have been creeped out by him, or maybe that I was supposed to be creeped out by him. Turns out, I think it's a really good ad campaign. Not good in an Apple/Ridley Scott/1984 kind of way, or even in that Sprint Guy ("200 dacshaund") kind of way. I don't quite understand it, but it's just fun. I react viscerally to it. I see that dude and hear the cheesy techno music and I want to go to Great Adventure. And so it's a good ad campaign, in that it makes me want to spend money in the fruitless hope that I will be shakin' my money maker at Great Adventure when I am 90, like the ineffable Mr. Six (that's his official name), when I cannot begin to hope to shake anything remotely like that now, firmly entrenched as I am in my 30's.

But really, I do want to go to an amusement park this summer. It most likely will not be with Mr. Six, tho'.