I used to think that paired opposites were a given, that love was the opposite of hate, right the opposite of wrong. But now I think we sometimes buy into these concepts because it is so much easier to embrace absolutes than to suffer reality. I don’t think anything is the opposite of love. Reality is unforgivingly complex.

— Anne Lamott

From her great book Bird by Bird.

Open Keys

Open Key, Personal

I could write about many things, but instead I think I will relate the fact that for the second consecutive day, I locked my keys in the car. The details are inconsequential, and it’s a story everyone has heard before, so let’s start discussing solutions. In computing the key [pun] to failsafe systems is redundancy, so I have decided to take the same approach with the entry system to my car.

I’m going to allow anyone who thinks they would be willing to hold on to a key to my car to apply by email to receive a copy free in the mail. Only requirements are a name, phone number, and meeting my secret requirement which I will not disclose here.

Now I’m sure many of you are concerned with the security model of having numerous copies of my car keys floating around, but the manufacturer (Chevy) of my vehicle already thought of this, separating the entry and ignition functions into two separate keys. This has its advantages and disadvantages, as evidenced by the Saturday lockout when I had my ignition key but not the entry key. Access to my vehicle is something I’m willing to allow because trustees of the keys will be people I trust not to steal something from my car in the first place.

I have a number of people “pre-approved” for keys, including my parents, Grandmother, sister Charleen, Josh, Sarah, Sarah, Rachel, Rene, Rebbecca, Elissa, Iram, Mat, Chris, extended family, and selected staff at Kaveh Kanes, Tropioca, and Get Wired, but like I said before anyone is eligible. These people have been carefully selected for proximity and accessibility—at any given point in my life, I am never more than 5 minutes from at least one of these people. So there you have it! A trade-off of security versus accessibility in real life. We’ll see how this goes…

These limited edition PhotoMatt keys will be accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity and will be available in several styles to complement any key ring. They will also be hand tested by yours truly to verify that they truly work. Get yours while they’re hot. (Limit one per person.)

Cookie Price Differences Explained

Economics, Web Standards

Well after much Googling, I found two definitive sources that say there are price differences in cookies. I found an article (word document, view as HTML) from the Wall Street Journal that talks about a price war in Michigan between neighbooring councils that had prices at $2.50 and $3.

Girls are told that if customers ask about the price difference, they should explain the economic factors at play — that the Metro council serves four times as many members as its “sister” council, and runs three more camps. Michigan Metro says its troops receive a profit of at least 45 cents on each box sold; in Macomb County, the minimum is 32 cents.

Oh that’s wonderful. Item 9 on this Girl Scout FAQ confirms that prices are set indivdually by over 300 councils.

Such scenarios have been repeated in other parts of the country, as many of the nation’s 330 Girl Scout councils go through their annual pricing debate. Officials say they can’t adopt the simple solution—setting one national price—because their parent organization, Girl Scouts USA, follows the Sherman Act, which prohibits price fixing.

With each council individually incorporated as a nonprofit organization, Girl Scout officials say the law, originally designed to rein in robber barons, could apply to them as well. “In being good citizens, we choose to abide by the spirit of the law,” says Girl Scouts USA spokeswoman Ellen Ach. At a national meeting of council leaders last month in San Diego, Girl Scouts USA officials reiterated their position that prices shouldn’t be discussed among local councils.

So there’s a legal reason for the price differences, but I think it’s highly unlikely that the Girl Scouts of America would be prosecuted under the Sherman Antitrust Act, though personally I think the prices are a bit high. It’s supply and demand, and I think people would buy more at a lower price. They are also outpacing inflation: my simple calculations using the GDP Implicit Price Deflator, which is Greenspan’s favorite measure of inflation, gives me that if a box of Girl Scout cookies was $2.50 in 1996 it should be about $2.80 now, give or take a few cents. There haven’t been any changes in quality I know of, they have a great distribution model, and I don’t see why their costs would have gone up at all to justify that sort of price increase. Just my two dollars and fifty cents…