Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

As something of a follow-up to my previous entry, and for Lisa's benefit because I'd mentioned it to her this past weekend, here's the story about Chinese Chopsticks Made in America.

Purely from a logistical point of view, it makes more sense to me for the USA, with lots of wood of the right type, to make chopsticks for export to China than for China, with a wood shortage, to import raw logs. Besides, I bet the shipping rates are really good, due to the huge imbalance of trade: most of those containers heading west across the Pacific are empty, so shippers are likely happy to have something other than air to transport. (Despite what I do for a living, I don't have any particular special knowledge of trans-Pacific shipping.)

I also think it's foolish that most or all toothpicks here are made in China, considering that it's likely that much of the wood was shipped to China from the USA or Canada.

Over on another community -- some of you reading this may still be following that discussion, too -- I had reason to question the economic assumptions of someone claiming that we're in a "bad economy." I asked how long we've been in a "bad economy." The reply, cut-and-pasted here exactly so I can't be accused of misquoting, was:

i think our economy has been in a primarily steady decline since the 50's with the occasional boost.

This is someone a few years younger than me. I was born in 1965 and grew up in different parts of northern California. I am not from a wealthy family, nor have I won a lottery. I'm pretty middle class, I reckon. For the record, I do not think that the US economy has been in a sustained 50-plus year decline.

It makes me think that the dot-com boom did even more harm than we thought at the time: it convinced some people that the running with a high fever is the "normal" state, and than anything else is a depression.