So there I sat, my car freezing over, not starting.  So, like anyone who likes to pretend they know what's wrong with their car, I got out and looked under the hood.  From what I could tell, everything seemed to be fine.  There was no sign of things on fire, and nothing looked like it needed to be stuck back together with gum.  I tried to start my car again, but no dice.  I called UP and waited for them to show up to help me get my car started. 

As I stood outside with the car hood up, waiting for UP, I encountered about 15 good samaritans looking to help a fellow human in need, all in about five minutes.  All of these kind people stopped and rolled down their windows, mind you on one of the coldest days we've had up here in a while, and asked me if I needed help, or if I had help coming.  I was amazed at the kindness generated towards me by all of these strangers.  Now, this was a busy intersection, but none of them had to stop, none of them had to say anything to me.  They did, and I was grateful.  As I stood there, I wondered if I would be a person who would stop. Would I be a good samaritan?  I like to think that I would be, but I don't think I would. Maybe when the next opportunity presents itself, my time will come.

I waited for a bit, and tried to start my car and it started, and kept running.  I informed UP when they got there that I was fine and thanked them for their concern.  I drove away with a smile despite the fact that my car is generally a wimp and can't handle a little cold weather.

Gross Domestic Product is used as an indicator of the economic health of a country, and also gauges a country's standard of living.  GDP therefore examines a country's productivity.  It blows my mind that New Jersey and Russia have similar production.  Other comparisons include California matching GDP's with France, New York matching GDP's with Brazil, and Texas matching GDP's with Canada.

From just these three states alone it would appear that our economy is very healthy.  However, I just read this morning that we are in a recession, have been in one for a while, and will not get out of it for another year.  So that is just confusing!  This map shows how much of an emphasis the US puts on production and business.  I don't know how accurate this map is, nor do I have any kind of answer for anything that I am writing about, but this map's information sort of took me by surprise. All I know is that we spend a lot, as consumers, and in government and businesses.  As a country we have a lot of money, it seems like we could just throw it around and make piles of it like we do with leaves in the fall, and give it to less fortunate countries, who have nothing to rake up.  Take a look, and ponder if you will...

1. Hulking rust-bucket off-shore oil drilling rigs sure are a nice way to deface our oceans but maybe one day we can make the experience much greener with an army of floating pumps. The units are currently in the planning stages.
2. We've already got alternative energy solutions that takes open area and fills it with legions of power pumps. On land we call them wind turbines. Wind turbine energy, like many of these natural earth powered ideas, can be fickle, or merely trickle. (Does that leave us in a pickle?) A green energy startup has developed turbines that boosts efficiency to 30%. No big deal? Well it wasn't that long ago that the solar energy community was jumping up and down with a 0.1% jolt that brought their resource to 40.8% efficiency. 

Read: Searaser device in uphill battle for clean energy 
Read: New Wind Turbine Generator Ditches Mechanical Transmission, Ups Efficiency 50 Percent