Housing near mass transit will definitely increase in the future as people finally accept that they can’t afford to commute to work in a car. I lived in Europe for years without a car and didn’t miss it.

Atrios keeps telling people this, but few really believe him. You are making a great investment.

So why is that a big deal? Two words: “Peak oil.”

Take it from there :).

I am currently looking at houses. I am looking at houses close to old downtown areas where there are railroad tracks or mass transit corridors. My bet is that as energy becomes more and more expensive, what we’ll see is the United States developing the same sort of “donut” as the rest of the world, instead of the empty-middle donut that current U.S. cities resemble… i.e., the middle of the donut will be the juicy cream filled center of a tasty pastry where everybody wants to live, while around it will be just some stale tasteless dough that nobody really wants. Over the long term, I’m gonna make a killin’ ;).

At this point ocean liners are looking like a good investment. Of course, not so great during the hurricane season.

The upside is that anyone who decides to take a flight is either a moron or loves high-stakes gambling. The stakes don’t get higher than ones own life. Either way… wouldn’t be much of a loss. *shrug* Unfortunately though, it’s usually the truly innocent that pays the price (like kids dragged along by their moronic parents.) So much for the vaunted survival instinct, and the supposed super mothers instinct to protect their children.

Oh well… and so, nothing changes.

Actually, it would be if it weren’t being tracked and mapped, which means the insurance companies will look upon flying through it as a willfully reckless act in the face of the evidence, and refuse to cover the airlines for any losses caused by it. Boeing has already essentially told them to forget warranties if they fly into it. The military has already reported that it messes up engines.

I just hope they are lucky and no one has to die to show how stupid the IATA members are.

So Virgin asks it customers to take that kind of risk? There’s a kind of corporate craziness in that request, yet another indicator that corporate dominance of damn near everything these days is just plain bad for people. A company not structured to be hellbent on profit and nothing else would be, I’m confident, more respectful of human life. Bryan, have you ever risked a business customer’s life for the sake of your profit? Me neither. And neither should the big guys.