Buffalo airport hotel and movie theatre
News ·Monday March 3, 2003 (link)
I worked from home on Monday, and when you read about my trip back you'll see why. I was no fit sight to be out in public.
Let's see... immigration got upset at me because the letter only had 2 of the 4 things on it (but let me in anyway which was decent of them) - yes, my fault, but I looked on the INS site so they oughtta get their ducks in a row. In my haste, I forgot / forwent to fill up my rental car and had to donate my right arm to pay for gas; because of the border wait I was late for my flight, so eventually (after talking to several carriers and Travelocity) was told I could get a standby Monday morning (this was around 1600 Sunday maybe?), so I passed the night reading / watching Road to Perdition (a great movie, by the way) on my laptop, and sleeping (in a row of seats at the end of the terminal, with a convenient power outlet).
Continental opened at 0500 (and you better believe I was at the front of the line) and I transferred my ticket to a standby for Newark (Newark to Memphis was fine, only the first leg was full)... so I waited at the gate to waylay some people and hit them hard enough to guarrantee myself a spot on the flight... somehow caught a cold in Buffalo airport sitting out all night... wrenched my leg on the Newark to Memphis flight getting into those tiny seats... oh yeah, I lost a box of Laura Secord chocolates that my family gave me at the airport somewhere (maybe security thought they were a suspicious package so they "confiscated" them for "review" later), I stank, I have the Buffalo Airport "don't let Arabs put flamethrowers into your baggage" warning that they repeat every five minutes (plus there are three other stupid warnings) burned into my brain (had to keep pausing my movie, argh).... the straps on my laptop case broke at some point so I was carrying it around under my arm....
But I did get the visa, and my license renewal sticker, and to see my family, and friends at Upward Bound and at Brockview, so it was mostly a good weekend. I also wrote a minesweeper-solving program (it was too loud where I was first sitting at the airport to hear my movie, and why bother solving one minefield when you can solve them all?), whose source will be posted in my archive.
I'm reproducing a comment I wrote about capitalism and free markets here, for those that care:
Whether or not (as some say) WHBT....
Capitalism on a level playing field is good. What do I mean by that? Well, if I manufacture widgets, and my factory produces toxins by the gallon, is it cheaper for me to-- Pay to have them cleaned up as much as possible and then pay again to have the remainder stored in a hazardous waste landfill site, or
- Dump them in the nearest river.
Of course this factory needs workers. Would it be cheaper for me to- Pay them a fair living, that is, at or above a government-set minimum wage (or be fined and/or shut down), with maximum eight hour shifts, lunch and
coffee breaks, pay health and accident insurance, and give required vacation and sick days, or
- Pay them a dollar a day to work from sunup to sundown, and if any are injured or die on the job (or off), fire them and hire more from where they came from (what are these "human rights" of which you speak?).
Obviously the latter is much cheaper for an employer than the former; naturally, labour is being moved to countries where companies can get away with these things, because it affects the bottom line.
This is bad for countries that require companies to care for their workers, the environment, etc., because they will lose jobs to those that don't.
The short-term gains look good to companies that can move work to exploit "less regulated" countries, and they are: lower costs = lower prices = higher volume and more profits, but they are not good for the economy as a whole because local workers lose their jobs, and thus lose their buying power and end up costing rather than paying taxes.
I for one would be quite willing to pay more for (say) a pair of shoes if I knew it meant that it would help keep local jobs, but I suspect that many, or even most people aren't so forward-looking - until it's their job. But I won't pay more if there are cheaper alternatives - I don't like to throw away money when I can get more for it - so, I think it should be up to the government to give us this level playing field, and insist that companies only traffic in and with foreign companies that hold to the same (e.g.) employment and environmental standards as local companies do. Yes, the liberals will cry, but really, I don't care. Even capitalism should be fair, and government's purpose is to look out for all of its citizens, not just those that own interests in foreign sweatshops.
