CityNerd asks 'Congestion Pricing: Will We Finally Learn?' A driving update

I just returned from my morning appointment and will drive into the office this afternoon. By the time I return home, Pearl's odometer will have rolled over another 1,000 miles, so it's time for a driving update.

I begin with Ray "CityNerd" Delahanty asking Congestion Pricing: Will We Finally Learn?

People always hate congestion pricing...until they see how good it is. Whatever you want to call it — "the valley of political death," "the hill of hysteria" — it's a dynamic that goes way beyond congestion pricing. Let's examine.

"[T]he hill of hysteria" — that alone makes this sequel to CityNerd explains 'Why Traffic Is Worse Than Ever (and can NYC fix it?)' worth watching. I'm going to start using that phrase from now on. As for the answer to Ray's question, I hope it's yes.

That's the big driving picture. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.

SciShow reports 'Everyone On Earth Has The Same Commute,' a driving update

I'm beginning today's a driving update with SciShow reporting Everyone On Earth Has The Same Commute.

There's a lot that unites us as humans. How much we sleep, how much we eat, how much we travel... wait, what? Yeah, turns out that the vast majority of human populations have the same average amount of travel time per day. Here's what the research says about why that is, and how learning this could shape our future.

Hosted by: Madelyn Leembruggen (she/her)

78 minutes? I've been on the low side of that average time for years, but I did enough to contribute to the average 20 years ago, when I drove 48,000 miles in one year and 40,000 miles per year from 2000-2005. I'm glad I'm no longer doing that. Follow over the jump to see how I'm doing now.

Stats for the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday! I closed For Wayback Wednesday, PBS Eons asks 'What Killed All These Pterosaurs?' by telling my readers "I'll get to the stats for the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on Flashback Friday..." Without any further ado, here is the first retrospective of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

As of 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2026, this blog had a lifetime total of 10,896,134 page views, 6,536 posts, and 4,274 comments. Minus the 5,222,122 page views, 6,168 total posts, and 4,180 comments as of just before March 21, 2025, that means this blog earned 5,674,012 page views and 94 published comments on 368 posts during the 365 days of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. My calculated page views round to the ~5,670,000 page views Blogger's counter showed during the past twelve months. I can't ask for any better given the level of precision available, so not only closer than last year, but as exact as I could measure. On the other hand, the 94 published comments are not at all close to the 125 comments Blogger showed on my dashboard. On the other hand, I can account for the 31 comment difference; all of them are spam that was never published or retroactively unpublished. The stats worked out this year!

Last year's trend of increasing page views continued. Not only did this past year's 5,674,012 page views on 368 posts during 365 days beat the year before's 758,914 page views on 370 posts during 365 days, it beat the year before that's 419,300 page views on 641,234 page views on 380 posts during 366 days. It also exceeded the page views during the entire preceding 14 years. Wow! I had written "May the trend" of "working less hard for more page views" continue, but this was beyond any of my expectations. The blog averaged 15,418.51 page views per post and 15,545.24 page views per day. That's nearly eight times as much as the 2,051.12 page views per post and 2,079.22 page views per day during the 14th year of the blog, the 1,687.46 page views per post and 1,752.01 page views per day the blog earned between March 21, 2023 and March 20, 2024 and the 1,106.33 page views per post and 1,148.77 page views per day between March 21, 2022 and March 20, 2023. I'm not expecting the trend of increasing page views per post and day to continue. I'd just be happy if the 16th year exceeds the 14th.

Both the published and total comments decreased from 123 to 94 and either 154 or 133 to 125, respectively. The published number is still above the 78 of two years ago, but the raw number has decreased from 199 through either 154 or 133 to 125. Since I don't have comment goals, I'm not concerned.

As for my commenters who aren't spammers, I'd like to thank them, beginning with continuing commenters Infidel753, Paul W., and Steve in Manhattan. I also want to welcome back K-dog and Degringolade, who didn't comment last year. Keep up the good work! I also want to thank Richard, Glen Tomkins, and fry1laurie for making their first posts here. Stick around! The exception is Riverboat Grambler, who pissed me off. Don't come back, Grumbler! Unfortunately, I seem to have lost longtime commenters Nebris, the first commenter on my blog, and Friend of the Court. In addition, last year's first-time commenters John R. Christiansen, E.A. Blair, and Steven C. Di Pietro didn't return. Come back, I miss you!

Follow over the jump for the rest of the analysis.

CNBC explains 'How America Got Hooked On Cars,' a driving update

I promised a driving update for today, so I begin with CNBC explaining How America Got Hooked On Cars.

Americans drive much more than in any other country – twice as much as the average German, for example. And the actual experience of driving isn’t quite as romantic as the image. Drivers are often stuck in traffic. Cars pump out pollution. Less walking means less exercise. Cars also can kill people. Some skeptics say, indeed–cars are awesome. But they got a lot of help from favorable policies and strong lobbies. CNBC spoke with some researchers and looked at numbers to get the full picture of why Americans became so dependent on cars.

This video reminds me of both CityNerd explains 'All the Ways Car Dependency Is Wrecking Us' and CityNerd explains 'Why Traffic Is Worse Than Ever (and can NYC fix it?)', both of which I used as regular posts and not as driving updates. It also reminds me of the history of suburbia in The End of Suburbia, which I last wrote about in depth in CNBC explains the problems of suburbia and their possible solutions. I don't miss the movie — "Treasures of the Earth: Power" is much more up-to-date, accessible, and positive — but I still want to explore its issues about transportation and land use. At least CNBC explored solutions in an encouraging way.

That's the general situation. Follow over the jump for my personal update.

'Snow White' and 'War of the Worlds' tie for most Razzie nominations ahead of 'Star Trek: Section 31'

I promised an examination of the Golden Raspberry (Razzie®) Nominations twice, so I'm following through with The 46th Razzie® Nominations.

Thank you to our fearless Razzie® Voting Members who picked through a vast amount of solid sludge to extract these fine pearls of mediocrity! And giving a special callout to Travis Morrow!

Go to Razzies.com for the full list of nominees as they duke it out for the $4.97 Razzie Statuette!

HOLLYWOOD, WE NEED TO TALK!

Where is that safer, happier and more inspiring place - Disneyland? Well, even Disney bungled that!

46th Annual Golden Raspberry (Razzie®) Nominations

Among the 2026 titles competing for the $4.97 gold spray-painted Worst Picture Statuette are:

The $320 million production of a well-regarded graphic novel, that despite the highly touted talent involved, fell flat on originality, execution and heart - The Electric State

A vanity project that doesn't move fast enough towards the ending - Hurry Up Tomorrow

A slow-paced unnecessary re-imagining of a classic, filled with drawn-out musical numbers, dopey CGI dwarfs, and enough mediocrity to leave the audience in a very unhappy place - Disney's Snow White (2025)

A convoluted mess beaming its audience to a frontier that could finally bring this once inspiring franchised journey to a screeching halt - Star Trek: Section 31.

And if butchering an H.G. Wells classic by stringing together video chats, surveillance cams and FaceTime with panic attacks makes for a compelling film experience - please allow the robots to attack and get it over with! - War Of The Worlds (2025)

For more, including checking their math, follow over the jump.

Ray 'CityNerd' Delahanty explains why 'Car Brain Is a Scourge on Society,' a driving update

Pearl the Prius passed 71,000 miles yesterday, so it's time for a driving update, beginning with Ray 'CityNerd' Delahanty explaining why Car Brain Is a Scourge on Society.

Car brain is insidious, and it seeps into seemingly everything. Let's explore.

I watched this yesterday, then experienced car brain as I drove to work. A man in a Mercedes tailgated me, then gave the "come on" gesture. I sped up to get away from him, then briefly tapped my brakes to tell him to back off. Dude, I'm already driving five miles over the speed limit along a stretch of road that the police patrol. Do you want me to break the law more so you can, too? He then passed me and had to wait for someone else to turn right to get to his destination. Hurry up and wait.

CityNerd Ray reminded me of a video I watched in school more than 50 years ago, Goofy - Motor Mania.



A classic Goofy episode from the 50's!
In fact, from 1950. Car brain has been around that long.

That's the general situation. Follow over the jump for my personal update.

'The Pandemic Made People Worse Drivers,' a driving update

As I predicted, Pearl passed 70,000 miles yesterday, so it's time for a driving update. I begin with SciShow reporting The Pandemic Made People Worse Drivers, among other things.

We all picked up new habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. But not all of them stuck. Here's the data on whether we're better or worse drivers, exercisers, social media community members, neighbors, and self carers than during and before lockdown.

I've known that the pandemic increased murders and bad driving for four years, since I wrote Americans speeding during the pandemic is increasing traffic deaths, a driving update.

In the past week of returning to in-person teaching and resuming my pre-pandemic driving patterns, I've observed several people driving just as Krugman described, weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds. While a few Michigan drivers were doing that all along before the pandemic, I think I've seen more this week than the pre-pandemic average. Based on the data and my personal observations, I agree with Krugman that "the pandemic and its disruptions seem to have done a number on social psychology in many dimensions. The worrisome thing is that troubled behavior seems to be persisting even as the country reopens." Here's to hoping that subsides when the pandemic is over, which it isn't.

I also knew about increased social media use, which persisted, and worse mental health, which the stats say has returned to the pre-pandemic normal. What I didn't know about were the Cannonball Run record, increased drinking, childhood obesity, strokes, and drug deaths, along with worse heart health. I can't say I'm surprised at any of them, except the Cannonball Run. I thought that was only a movie. I'm also relieved that driving is improving and the murder rate is decreasing. It give me hope that the rest of the craziness will subside as well.

That's the general driving situation. Follow over the jump for my personal update.

CNBC explains 'How China Proved It Can Shut Down Global Auto Production,' a driving update

I promised a driving update for the new car and I'm getting to it over the jump after sharing CNBC explaining How China Proved It Can Shut Down Global Auto Production.

China dominates the world‘s production and processing of rare earth elements, which are used in all kinds of things: sports equipment, national defense, and each of the roughly 16 million cars sold in the US every year. Over the last few years, the Asian country has been tightening access and suddenly restricted exports in early April 2025. The move sent shockwaves through the auto industry which can’t build cars without these minerals. CNBC Dove in to see how we got here, and how the auto industry might find its way out.

China's dominance of rare earth element production and processing is something I mention to my students every semester in both geology and environmental science. I first mentioned it here in 2012, and wrote an entire entry about it in 2019, when I warned China threatens to restrict exports of rare earths.

I point out that the U.S. is 100% dependent on imports of 21 minerals, chief among them rare earths, and that many of the countries that we import them from are not our friends, especially China and Russia. Not only do I tell my students this, but I say that China in particular could cut off exports of rare earths, which would cripple our ability to make many products.

Thanks to Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump's tariffs, it looks like the day I've been warning my students about for more than a decade has arrived. Sometimes, I wish I weren't right.

That's the general driving situation. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.

Ray 'CityNerd' Delahanty explains how 'Dunning-Kruger Is a Scourge On Our Roads,' a driving update

As I promised yesterday, today's educational entry is a CityNerd video about drivers and a driving update, since Pearl passed 70,000 miles yesterday. Watch as Ray 'CityNerd' Delahanty explains how Dunning-Kruger Is a Scourge On Our Roads.

I've often heard that EVERYONE thinks they're an above average driver. Well, I wanted to look at data to see if it's actually true, share research on how the Dunning-Kruger effect impacts driving, and look at wider consequences on our transportation system.

I've been blogging for 15 years and I've never mentioned the Dunning-Kruger effect until now? I'm amazed. I've had so many opportunities to apply it, especially during two administrations of "only the best people." *Snort*

That written, I'm not surprised at either people's inflated self-assessments of their driving skills or how poor they really are. I wish I weren't surprised that the people who did the worst actually upgraded their self-assessments after doing poorly. I guess they thought they did better than they expected. And I have to share the road with them? Ugh.

That's the general driving situation. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.

SciShow asks 'Why Do So Many More Pedestrians Die in America?' A driving update

Instead of a Wayback Wednesday look back at the previous blogging year's top posts, I have a driving update today. Before I look at Pearl the Prius's latest mileage report, I'm sharing something more general about driving, SciShow asking Why Do So Many More Pedestrians Die in America?

A huge number of vehicular fatalities are people who aren't in cars at all. Pedestrians are dying more than they used to and more in America than other comparable parts of the world. Here's why.

This should look familiar to long-time readers of my blog, as I covered this very topic in PBS NewsHour reports 'Pedestrian deaths in U.S. reach highest level in 40 years,' a driving update, where I wrote, "I think a lot of it is reckless behavior by people, especially drivers, not infrastructure," and "when Secretary Buttigieg talked about looking at car safety from the perspective of other people besides the occupants of cars, the features of SUVs Cheddar described are likely among them." I revisted this topic in Vox and CNBC explain 'Why Americans love' and 'are obsessed with big cars,' a driving update, when I remarked, "safety is an important value to drivers, but it's only the safety of the occupants of the vehicle itself. The safety of drivers of smaller cars and especially pedestrians suffers as a result." As for the infrastructure changes, I'll look for a suitable video from CityNerd to address them in a future update.

Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.


Pearl passed 69,000 miles yesterday, Tuesday, May 27, 2025, 78 days since she passed 68,000 miles on Monday, March 10, 2025. That translates to 12.82 miles per day, 391.03 miles per standard month, and 4,679.49 miles per standard year, which are more than the 11.11 miles per day, 338.89 miles per standard month, and 4,055.56 miles per standard year between her odometer rolling over 67,000 miles on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 and March 10, 2025. Then, I wrote, "I won't be taking that many breaks or driving the Tiguan that much before Pearl's next driving update, but I will be driving to only one work location beginning in May. I'll see then which was more important in the miles I drove." Fewer and shorter breaks and less driving my wife's Tiguan had more of an effect than driving to only one work location during the reporting period.

I skipped the year-over-year comparisons last time to focus on the first retrospective about the 2024-2025 blogging year, so I'm bringing them back with data from CityNerd names '10 Cities Where Driving Consumes the Most of Your Life,' a driving update. First, it took 74 days to drive Pearl 1000 miles, resulting in averages of 13.51 miles per day, 412.16 miles per standard month, 4,932.43 miles per standard year, and 4,945.95 miles per leap year. That's more than this year, so I'm driving less for the season. Second, it's been 358 days since Pearl passed 64,000 miles on June 3, 2024, which results in averages of 13.97 miles per day, 425.98 miles per standard month, and 5,097.77 miles per standard year. That's slightly more than the averages of 13.77 miles per day, 420.11 miles per standard month, 5,027.55 miles per standard year, and 5,041.32 per leap year I last reported for the period ending Tuesday, December 10, 2024. No wonder I decided to not drive to a third work location in the fall!

I expect even lower mileage at the next driving update because I'm driving to work only two days per week. That should be very late in August or early in September. In the meantime, stay tuned for one final retrospective about the 2024-2025 blogging year on Throwback Thursday.

Howtown asks 'How accurate was the Covid death count?' A Flashback Friday pandemic update

Happy Flashback Friday! For reasons I'll explain at the next Wayback Wednesday, I've changed today's post from the blog's year on Instagram and Threads to Howtown asking How accurate was the Covid death count?

After four years and dozens of studies, we know everything we're going to know about the death toll of the Covid pandemic.

Contrary to the conspiracy theorists and denialists, examination of excess deaths shows that, if anything, the U.S. undercounted COVID-19 deaths during the pandemic, although it was probably not that big and got smaller as the pandemic went on. On the other hand, I've always been skeptical that India had fewer people die from the disease than the U.S. The official number is 533,623. The polling data indicates 3.2 million deaths, although it could be as low as 3.1 million or as high as 3.4 million, at least six times higher than the official count. That, I believe. I also believe the actual global death toll is in the range of 16 million to 28.1 million with the most likely figure being 21 million, 3.1 times the total of official deaths. It also puts the death toll at the low end of the range for the 1918-1920 flu epidemic, "17 million to 50 million,[6][7] and possibly as high as 100 million, making it the deadliest pandemic in history." By the way, that last link shows an estimate of 27 million COVID-19 deaths. Yikes!

Stay tuned for another entry I can share in June.

Stats for the 14th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on Wayback Wednesday

I closed 23andMe files for bankruptcy, fueling privacy concerns by telling my readers "stay tuned for the first retrospective of the 14th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, stats." Here goes!

As of 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2025, this blog had a lifetime total of 5,222,122 page views, 6,168 total posts, and 4180 comments. Minus the 4,463,208 page views, 5,798 total posts, and 4,057 comments as of just before March 21, 2024, that means this blog earned 758,914 page views and 123 published comments on 370 posts during the 365 days of the 14th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. My calculated page views are close to the ~757,000 page views and 133 comments Blogger's counter showed during the past twelve months. That was closer than last year, but not exact. I think that's because Blogger counts whole days, which started at 8:00 P.M. March 21, 2024, but my count starts 20 hours earlier. Blogger lost all of those ~1,900 page views from those 20 hours. I tested this hypothesis by multiplying the next day's 2,290 page views by 0.833 (20/24) and got 1,908. Close enough. I can't completely account for the ten extra comments. I deleted six and there were eight comments during the first three weeks of March 2024 that Blogger might have counted, but neither add up, literally. Maybe I'll figure it out next year.

Last year's trend of increasing page views continued. Not only did this past year's 758,914 page views on 370 posts during 365 days beat the year before's 641,234 page views on 380 posts during 366 days, it beat the year before that's 419,300 page views on 379 posts during 365 days. That means I'm working less hard for more page views, as the blog earned 2,051.12 page views per post and 2,079.22 page views per day during the blog year just ended. Both are more than the 1,687.46 page views per post and 1,752.01 page views per day the blog earned between March 21, 2023 and March 20, 2024 and a lot more than the 1,106.33 page views per post and 1,148.77 page views per day between March 21, 2022 and March 20, 2023. May the trend continue during this year just started.

While the published comments increased from 78 to 123, the raw number, including never released spam decreased from 199 to either 154 or 133. Still, the number of published comments increased to 123, just edging out the 122 of two years ago. Just the same, I'm getting less spam and more published comments. Since I don't have comment goals, I'm not concerned. I'd prefer fewer quality comments than a lot of spam.

As for my commenters who aren't spammers, I'd like to thank them, beginning with continuing commenters Infidel753, Nebris, the first commenter on my blog, Friend of the Court, and Steve in Manhattan. I also want to welcome back Paul W., who didn't comment last year. Keep up the good work! I also want to thank John R. Christiansen, E.A. Blair, and Steven C. Di Pietro for making their first posts here. Stick around! Unfortunately, I seem to have lost longtime commenter Narb Xorbian, the best man at my first wedding. In addition, last year's first-time commenters H-bob, tronvillain, August Johnson, Noah, Marc McKenzie, Realityhold, and my student Ecogranite didn't return. Come back, I miss you!

Follow over the jump for the rest of the analysis.

NBC News and CBS News Detroit celebrate Pi Day

Happy Pi Day, International Day of Mathematics, and Science Education Day! After turning Pi Day into one of my trademark drum corps holidays last year, I'm returning to math and science with Pi Day: Celebrate The Magic And Mystery Of Math's Most Famous Number | Mach | NBC News.

Pi, the famous constant in mathematics and physics, is not only a principle found throughout the natural world but has for centuries served as a powerful composition tool and design principle.

In addition to pi's uses in math and science, NBC News covered its applications in art and architecture. That's cool.

Since this is a Metro Detroit-based blog, I'm taking a local look at the day with CBS Detroit's It's Pi Day! Time to celebrate 3.14!

The Michigan Science Center is here to explain what it means, and how important it is everyday!

I can tell Angela Cavanaugh has done this demonstration to elementary students visiting the Michigan Science Center; it's simple, clear, and accurate according to the level it's presented. As for the Michigan Beer Fest, that's going on this year, too, except it's next weekend, not this one. Other than that, Cavanaugh's promotion still works this year.

CBS Detroit wasn't done with Pi Day, uploading It's Pi Day! How Pi is used in meteorology after the morning show segment above.

Pi is a mathematical constant with over 50 trillion digits beyond the decimal point, so we will stick with the rounded number 3.14.

I never thought of pi's uses on meteorology before and didn't know that purple was the color for Pi Day, but thanks to Kylee Miller of Next Weather, I now know about both. That makes today a good day.

I close with this screen capture, which calls back to the opening of the first video, closing the circle of this post. I like closing circles, especially on a day about circles.


That concludes today's geeky celebration. Now, beware the Ides of March!

CNBC asks 'Why Did Volkswagen Kill The Beetle?' A driving update

My wife and I traded in Snow Bear yesterday, so it's time for a farewell post for her like the one I wrote for her predecessor, Dez. Since we got another Volkswagen, my wife's fourth and her third Tiguan, I'm opening with CNBC asking Why Did Volkswagen Kill The Beetle?

Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest automakers. It houses brands such as Audi, Porsche, and Bentley. But perhaps its best-known vehicle is the Volkswagen Beetle. Over its entire lifespan, Volkswagen sold over 22.5 million of all three versions of the Beetle. But in July of 2019, production one of the most iconic and important cars of all time came to an end.

That was a cool history of an iconic car, the New Beetle version of which my middle sister drove and my ex-girlfriend's daughter tried to convince me to buy. I didn't because I lived in the country and required a higher ground clearance just to get into my own driveway. My son got farther with his suggestion I buy an Aztek. I didn't, but my wife's vehicles have been sporty SUVs, so we went along with the trend anyway.

Speaking of the trend, watch MotorWeek from PBS preview 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan | MotorWeek First Look.

Ahead of the 2024 Los Angeles Auto Show, Volkswagen has unveiled the 2025 Tiguan. This utility is their best-selling model in the U.S., and it has been redesigned in a bid to retain that status and better compete in such a hot segment. Jessica Ray has the details.

I had no idea the Tiguan was so popular, but then again, the new car, which my wife hasn't named yet, is our third, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Follow over the jump for the numbers.

PBS Terra explains 'How Scientists Solved the Mystery of a 300-Year-Old Megaquake'

I closed PBS Terra explains 'The AMOC Might Be WAY More Unstable Than We Thought...Here's Why' with a preview of coming attractions.

I'm not the only one recycling a subject; PBS Terra's previous video is the latest in a series that began with PBS examines the risks from a major earthquake in the Pacific Northwest and continued with PBS Terra explains 'Here's EXACTLY What to Do When the Next Megaquake Hits: Cascadia Subduction Zone' and PBS Terra asks 'What's the ONE THING You Can Do To Survive a Tsunami?' I will almost certainly cover that in a future entry...Stay tuned.

Without any further ado, here is that video from PBS Terra explaining How Scientists Solved the Mystery of a 300-Year-Old Megaquake.

The 1700 Cascadia earthquake and tsunami was a massive natural disaster that reshaped the Pacific Northwest. Through tree rings, soil layers, and international collaboration, scientists have pieced together the exact timing of the event. As the region braces for another quake, can we prepare in time? Find out how new models and tsunami evacuation towers are helping coastal communities face the threat.

This video shows that it took the efforts of people in multiple disciplines, geology, biology, and history, to decipher the evidence and connect it all together into a coherent reconstruction of the event in 1700. It also shows, like the previous episodes, how people are preparing for the next event. One of those preparations are escape towers. As I wrote last year, "my first instinct if I can't get away from the shore would be to climb up, so I'm relieved to see people building vertical escape structures. Now to build more than three in the U.S." If they're all as well-stocked as the Shoalwater Tribe's, then the people should be in good shape to survive the tsunami.

Follow over the jump for the comments from last year's post.

CityNerd asks 'Carpool Lanes: Commuting Miracle or Enormous Waste of Space?' A driving update

I closed 'Strange Darling' leads Best Thriller Film nominees with seven nominations by noting "I have a driving update to write, since Pearl's odometer rolled over another 1,000 miles yesterday." That was on the 10th, so it's been nearly a week. Since I'm not going to write an entry about the home entertainment nominees at the Saturn Awards, I'm going to post that driving update.

Before I do, I'm sharing Ray "CityNerd" Delahanty asking Carpool Lanes: Commuting Miracle or Enormous Waste of Space?

Today we're looking at high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes -- all the permutations (occupancy restrictions, time of day restrictions, lanes vs. facilities, and HOT lanes, which allow single-occupant vehicles to buy their way into a less congested facility).

We'll go on some tangents, as usual, like how different metropolitan regions view HOV lanes differently, and how these kinds of facilities represent the dynamics of Anthony Downs' concept of "triple convergence."

CityNerd's conclusion that HOV lanes are better than nothing sums up what I wrote about the First carpool lane in Michigan as part of I-75 upgrade eight years ago.

[I]t does have something worth celebrating, a car lane. WOOD-TV mentioned it in MDOT begins 14 year project on I-75 near Detroit [dead link]: "The $90.8 million project, which stretches 18 miles, will add a carpool lane (the first in the state), resurface the highway and replace bridges among other things." That's a small thing, but it is an improvement over the current situation, which does not encourage carpooling.

I've driven on I-75 since, but haven't seen an HOV lane yet. I guess it will be in the segments that haven't been worked on yet. By that time, I might not see them, because I plan on being retired by that time, so I'll be driving less.

That's the big picture. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.

Take 'A 538 Election Road Trip', a driving update

As I forecast in PBS Eons on real paleo diets for National Fossil Day on World Food Day, Pearl passed 66,000 miles on Wednesday, so it's time for a driving update. I'll get to my personal driving update over the jump, but before I do, I'm sharing A 538 Election Road Trip | 538 Politics Podcast for a virtual drive across the U.S.

We talk plenty about the presidential race on the 538 Politics podcast, but of course, that is not the only thing on the ballot this November. Americans will cast their votes in races for the U.S. Senate and House, as well as dozens of ballot initiatives.

In this installment of the podcast, we’re going on a road trip across the country to cover as many noteworthy downballot races as possible. We start in the 538 podcast studio in New York state, where House Democrats are hoping for a better outcome than their lackluster 2022 performance, and we end in Alaska. Grab your favorite snacks and get in!

Hearing Nathaniel Rakich and the rest of the panel discuss how Republicans overperformed in New York Congressional contests reminds me of how much differently those elections turned out than expected when I wrote FiveThirtyEight and Sabato's Crystal Ball examine Congressional redistricting in New York State. Two years ago, I quoted Sabato's Crystal Ball, which wrote "If the Democratic plan pans out as intended, the number of Republicans in the New York delegation will shrink from 8 of 27 to 4 of 26." It didn't work out as intended. That map got overturned and replaced with a court-drawn map that eliminated Democratic advantages. Add in a local red wave, and the Republicans won almost enough seats in the Empire State to flip the House of Representatives all by themselves. If the original map had been maintained, then the chamber likely wouldn't have flipped; all else being equal, Democrats would have retained control.

The court-ordered map has since been replaced by one that was created by the redistricting commission and approved by the state's legislature and modestly favors Democrats. That might help return the U.S. House to the Democrats. Then again, maybe not, as three seats in North Carolina are likely to flip back to the Republicans, while one seat each in Alabama, Mississippi, and New York will elect Democrats, while Georgia shows no change. That will be a wash. Democrats will have to count on California to regain their House majority and hope Alaska doesn't flip. Even so, the House looks better than the Senate for Democrats.

Marijuana legalization is a cause I've been following since at least 2012, when I posted Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ballot. I wrote then "I told one of my students that there would be two changes in his lifetime propelled by his generation--marijuana legalization and marriage equality." The past dozen plus years have proved that prediction correct. Here's to that coming true in Florida and carrying re-legalizing abortion along with it.

I'm encouraged that Elissa Slotkin to replace Debbie Stabenow and Ruben Gallego to replace Kyrsten Sinema are favored to win their Senate contests in Michigan and Arizona, respectively, but I wish Kamala Harris was running even with both of them. Sigh.

That's my reaction to FiveThirtyEight's virtual road trip. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.

CNBC explains 'Why Automakers Are Invading Your Privacy,' a double driving update

I told my readers to "stay tuned" as "I plan on finishing the month with a double driving update" in the conclusion of I return after a power outage spanning four days and three nights. I begin with CNBC explaining Why Automakers Are Invading Your Privacy.

Cars are collectively a ‘privacy nightmare’ that has gone unaddressed for far too long, according to the Mozilla Foundation. A 2023 report from the group says privacy policies give automakers like GM, Nissan, Tesla and Toyota far too much access to personal data and latitude in what they do with it. Some high profile lawsuits highlight how car companies can and in some cases have collected data on drivers without their consent and passed it on to third parties, including insurance companies. Regulators and elected officials have taken notice and are planning legislation and other measures.

I just gave my first lecture in environmental science Thursday, just before my wife and I checked into a hotel so we could have electricity, and I opened it with a statement about values relevant to manufacturing and purchasing cars, such as profit, comfort, efficiency, and sustainability, the last of which was the subject of the lecture.* It looks like I might have to add privacy to that list, which put together in the run-up to GM's bankruptcy, before technology had reached its current level of sophistication and connectedness.

Speaking of which, this is not a new issue. Five years ago, Washington Post uploaded Cars now run on data. We hacked one to find out what it knows about you..

Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler cracked opened up a Chevrolet to find hundreds of sensors, an always-on internet connection and data from his smartphone — but few controls over his data.

Yikes, and that level of surveillance came from a 2017 car, which would now be seven years old, possibly eight if it had been made at the beginning of the 2017 model year! As the video pointed out, newer cars collect even more data. It's time to repeat what I last wrote in CNBC, The Hill, and Forbes report on the impact of cryptocurrency on the midterms, "this is another example of our living in science-fiction times or, as my friend Nebris says, 'SciFi is now.'"

That's the overall driving picture. Follow over the jump for my family's driving update.

CityNerd names '10 Cities Where Driving Consumes the Most of Your Life,' a driving update

Pearl the Prius's odometer will roll over 64,000 miles by the time I return home from work today, so it's time for a driving update. I begin with Ray "CityNerd" Delahanty naming (and shaming) 10 Cities Where Driving Consumes the Most of Your Life.

In 1974, Ivan Illich wrote that the typical American male spent 25% of his waking life either driving a car or working for the income required to pay for one. 50 years later, is this true? And, which cities consume the most -- and least -- of our time with driving?

I'm not surprised that the Inland Empire has the cities that require the most time spent driving or working to support a car. It's one of the things I miss the least about southern California after moving to Michigan 35 years ago.

That's the overall driving picture. Follow over the jump for my personal update.

Stats for the 13th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on Throwback Tuesday

As I wrote yesterday, "Stay tuned for stats!"

As of 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2024, this blog had a lifetime total of 4,463,208 page views, 5,798 total posts, and 4,057 comments. Minus the 3,821,974 page views, 5,418 total posts, and 3,979 comments as of just before March 20, 2023, that means this blog earned 641,234 page views and 78 published comments on 380 posts during the 366 days of the 13th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. My calculated page views are close to the ~640,000 page views Blogger's counter showed during the past twelve months, which I think covered April 1, 2023 to March 20, 2024, but wildly off from the 199 comments it counted during the same period. Blogger aggressively threw a lot of comments into the spam filter beginning about February 2023, including some that were not spam and which I had to approve to display again, which would explain the more than 100 comment difference. Blogger also aggressively held a lot of comments in the spam filter and never published them. That's O.K. I don't miss the spam.

I also don't miss the anxiety I was feeling when I wrote last year's post. This past year's 641,234 page views beats the year before's 419,300 page views on 379 posts between March 21, 2022 and March 20, 2023. It's also more than the 532,981 page views the blog earned between March 21, 2021 and March 20, 2022. Had I actually followed through on raising my page view goal to 25,000 per 29 days, which translates to 862 page views per day, I would have easily exceeded the 315,517 page view goal for the 366 days of the blogging year. Yay!

I'm also no longer working harder for fewer page views, as the blog earned 1,687.46 page views per post and 1,752.01 page views per day. That's much better than the 1,106.33 page views per post and 1,148.77 page views per day last year and the 1,452.26 page views per post and 1,460.22 page views per day the year before that. Whew. Still, I'm not tempted to increase my page view goals this coming year.

While the raw number of comments, including spam never released from the spam filter, increased from 168 to 199, the published comments remaining at the end of the blogging year decreased from 122 to 78. Since I don't have comment goals, I'm not concerned. I'd prefer fewer quality comments than a lot of spam.

As for my commenters who aren't spammers, I'd like to thank them, beginning with continuing commenters Infidel753, Nebris, the first commenter on my blog, Friend of the Court, and best man at my first wedding Narb Xorbian. Keep up the good work! I also want to thank H-bob, tronvillain, August Johnson, Noah, Marc McKenzie, Realityhold, Steve in Manhattan, and my student Ecogranite for making their first posts here. Unfortunately, I seem to have lost longtime commenters Paul W. and Sarnia Sam, while last year's first-time commenters Powers, Sicko Ricko, Expat, verbum, Buzzcook, Bruce.desertrat, and emjayjay didn't return. Come back, I miss you!

Follow over the jump for the rest of the analysis.