For the extroverts among you, the hottest costume for 2003 is the Hummer H2. I loved it in photos. Then I saw a real one in the, uh, well, “flesh” is not the right word. I saw it in the plastic.

Those cake-pan bump’s on the hood? Plastics, you can pop ‘em off with your fingers. Those black extender’s on the ends of the front bumpers? Tupperware tuff for those brutal commutes! Inside, the window sills are high. You look at the world through slits. For the first time ever, you see door-sealing rubber being used as a styling element. Read more…

Amtrak, the Trolley of modern railroading, is in the tank, surviving in the short term on a $205 million bailout last year in 2002. Our rail freight system is in lousy shape, with steadily reduced track age. (In 1916 the nation’s railroad peaked with 254,000 miles of track. Today it is less than half that, and much of it is in poor condition.) This has led to the absurd situation where it is economically more viable to pay a driver $30,000 to $50,000 a year to haul 70 tons of freight coast to coast in a diesel truck than it is to carry it on a freight train capable of 100 times that capacity. Read more…