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wbracken | 8 years ago | on: I’m the Wife of a Former N.F.L. Player. Football Destroyed His Mind

Honest question - football helmets have not changed that much in what, 25 years? Are there any efforts underway to use technology to improve the protection provided by helmets? What about a softer layer outside the hard plastic. What about crumple zones for lack of a better term - that means helmets are designed to absorb one large hit, then be replaced. I am sure there are studies underway, but seems like an area ripe for "disruption"...

wbracken | 8 years ago | on: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

Tangentially in the business. Two recent stories told to me:

1) Saw at Manheim Auto Auction (one of the largest) 300 Nissan Leafs run through the auction line in one afternoon ahead of some of our cars. Drop in "value" of leafs went down 10%+ in one day. All were recently off lease. 2) For similar reason, Santander is holding 4000+ cars on auction lots "waiting for pricing to stabilize". Reality is, when they run those cars through the auction, they will have to book the full losses. Say they anticipated 20% repossession rate and that they would get 80% on the dollar when auctioned on those losses. When they run them through now and get 50% on the dollar, their securitization pools will be creamed.

wbracken | 11 years ago | on: Why a Tennessee town has the fastest internet

I get why people here are jazzed about government offering the service (yeah! government cures all ills!). Let me offer another look.

Small town in GA does the same. Cable is offered through CNS. Here is the About CNS:

In 1995, the City of Thomasville began building a fiber optic network to serve local schools, libraries, businesses and hospitals with telecommunications and Internet services. After seeing success in this limited offering, it was identified that the community at large would be able to benefit from access to high-speed Internet. So, in 1998, in order to better serve the community, the City of Thomasville began construction of a new high-speed, fiber-optic network and in 1999, CNS, or Community Network Services, was created. In 1997, the Cities of Cairo, Camilla, Moultrie and Thomasville joined forces in order to better serve the citizens of each community. This multi-city partnership, titled the South Georgia Governmental Services Authority (SGGSA), enabled CNS to further expand its services to communities that were in need of high-speed Internet, television and telecommunications services, and, in 2001, these services were provided to all SGGSA cities. The best part about CNS is that it is funded locally, by the cities which it serves. This means if you are a CNS customer, you are investing in your own communities, not a corporation headquartered across the country.

The problem is, we are stuck with dated hardware and software and NO competition from Comcast/AT&T, etc. I wish I could show screenshots of the cable TV on demand interface - it looks like DOS. The cable box itself is the size of those old school VCRs that took up the entire cabinet. The internet has reported speeds up to 35 MBS, but the service is totally unreliable. Tons of dropped packets, etc. I have never seen past about 20 MBS even though we pay for 35 ($59/month).

The big cable companies won't enter the market because CNS has the monopoly and CNS isn't motivated to keep up to date because there is no competition and because it probably doesn't have the money to truly invest. Mediacom does offer service in the area, but reported 3-4 weeks before they could install and reviews of the service are terrible too.

I guess the point is, any monopoly sucks, whether a government run one or a corporate run one.

wbracken | 11 years ago | on: How tall can a Lego tower get?

I already knew legos were strong without this research.

For instance, I know for a fact from legos left on the floor by kids that one lego can hold my entire weight (240 pounds) when I step on it in the middle of the night walking to the bathroom with no signs of damage to said lego.

Further, I know that one lego can by itself topple a fully grown man.

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