Barry Bonds is causing people to be Homeless

No, not actually physically but the cost to the US Federal Government for the prosecution of a baseball player who was a steroid user is in excess of $10 million according to every source I can find. The trial is expected to continue another year at least so that number isn't going to get any smaller.

At building costs of $100 per square foot that means that the US of A could've built 100,000 square feet of social housing rather than prosecute Barry Bonds.

So bottom line, the Government of the United States would rather have Barry Bonds in jail than 200 new housing units.

Yeah, I know it's not that simple:

Bonds "lied under oath"

Bonds "cheated the American public" ........... yada, yada, yada.

But really. when the economy is in the crapper and the Governments of the world are handing out trillions of dollars to keep Armageddon at bay, don't you find millions being spent on the prosecution of a baseball an incredible waste of time and money ?

On the positive side of things recent reading about Barry did lead me to find out what an orchidometer is, and No it has nothing to do with flowers.

Mexican Buses

We recently returned from 10 days in Mexico, nothing adventurous just Puerto Vallarta, for a much needed infusion of warmth and sunshine.

Among the many differences between Vancouver and Puerto Vallarta are the transit systems. Now I know that the GVRD is a much larger area with more diverse needs than PV but still a few observations are in order:

In Puerto Vallarta the buses run about every 3 minutes well past midnight

In Puerto Vallarta the drivers make change, and calculate multiple fares.

In Puerto Vallarta it is generally unnecessary to be at "a bus stop", just stick out your hand and the bus will stop. Similarly simply pushing the buzzer, or pounding the roof if there is no buzzer, will get the bus to stop pretty much right away.

In Puerto Vallarta the buses often feature live entertainment.

In Puerto Vallarta, on longer routes, food vendors enter the bus at "time stops".

In Vancouver the transit system runs a huge deficit, in Puerto Vallarta the drivers are independent contractors and there are lots of them so I assume it's a money making proposition.

Perhaps a fact finding trip for our Transit Executives is in order.