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OPINIONOPINION

 Mountain Views NewsSaturday, August 31, 2024

RICH JOHNSON 

NOW THAT’S RICH

STUART TOLCHIN

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

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Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
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Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

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Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

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Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee


PUT THE LIGHTS ON

BECAUSE YOU WANTED OR NEEDED TO KNOW

How did we get this far through life without knowing the contents of what 
you are about to read? We may never know. Thank heavens the internet and 
Fox News have afforded us the luxury of instant access to this particular 
heap of useless information. 

So, let us begin unraveling this week’s column…hotbed of useful information…shall we?

A regular pencil has enough graphite to draw a 35-mile long line. For example, if you live 
in Pasadena or Sierra Madre, you could draw a pencil line all the way down to Manhattan 
Beach. Who wants to sign up to do it?

“Hello” did not become a greeting until the invention of the telephone…Hello!

If Elon Musk built a car that could drive “straight up” it would take an hour to drive up and 
reach space. I suspect coming back could be a lot quicker thanks to our friend gravity…bang!

Think about this: We were able to put a man on the moon before we could figure out how to 
put wheels on luggage.

If you are an average person here in the good old US of A, you will spend about 6 months 
cumulative total waiting at red lights. Not exactly time well spent. What do you do during 
those moments stuck at the red light? Any suggestions?

How did students erase before the invention of the eraser? (We ask the big strategically 
relevant questions here). Up until 1770 writers used wet bread as erasers before modern 
rubber tools were invented.

If you are a regular human being you will produce enough saliva in your lifetime to fill two 
swimming pools. Whatever you do, don’t dive in.

What do shoplifters shoplift more of than any other food? Worldwide “cheese” is the most 
shoplifted food…nearly 4% of the world’s total cheese inventory. (And you don’t think this 
column is important?)

If you’re keeping score and you are average, in your lifetime you will eat the weight equivalent 
of 6 elephants. Bon appetit!

How hot is a lightning bolt. Experts tell us five times hotter than the surface of the sun. 

Are you a regular human being? (I’m often asked that question). If you are typical, you will 
blink 15-20 times per minute. Live to be 80 years old and that’s 5 years of your life with your 
eyes closed…blinking.

How many trees are there on planet earth? Scientists tell us 3 trillion. That means there are 
more trees on earth than stars in the milky way. Do the math. Experts tell us there are only 
100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. That’s all?

Wrap your brain around this one…a day on the planet Venus is longer than a year on the 
planet Venus. Huh? Now, read very slowly and it should make sense. Venus rotates very, 
very slowly on its axis. It takes 243 of our 24-hour days to complete one spin or rotation. On 
the other hand, going around the sun (which takes us 365 days) Venus accomplishes in 225 
Earth days. 

How often does lightning strike? Worldwide about 8.6 million strikes a day. Do the math 
and that’s 100 strikes per second.

Since we are in the middle of a national election cycle, I thought I would end the column 
with a somewhat patriotic bit of trivia…

Our current U.S. flag was designed by a high school student for a class project way back 
in 1958. The student, Bobby Heff, received a “B-” for his grade. When the U.S. Congress 
selected Heft’s design, then President Eisenhower called Bobby personally and invited him 
to come to Washington D.C. His teacher changed the grade to an “A”. (By the way, Bobby 
probably got the B- because, in 1958, when he designed the flag with 50 stars, there were 
only 48 states).

Final note to our Presidential contenders, Kamala and Donald: George Washington gave 
the shortest inauguration speech at 135 words. William Henry Harrison gets credit for the 
longest inauguration speech at 8,445 words. 8,445 words took President Harrison 2 hours to 
speak during a heavy snowstorm. President Harrison caught a cold and died one month later 
from pneumonia. Since inaugural speeches are still uttered outside, I caution each candidate 
to exercise brevity in the delivery of their speech. Plenty of time for more ear bashing in 
warmer weather.

SERENDIPITY

Do you know the word? Please do not confuse 
it with “synchronicity” which is similar but 
markedly different. Synchronicity refers 
to one moment in time wherein seemingly 
unrelated events occur simultaneously and 
yet are upon reflection deemed to bring delight or make us sit 
up and take notice. Synchronitious events occur concurrently; 
they are highly improbable coincidences with no seeming 
causal link but may turn out to have great significance in our 
own life. “Serendipity” is very different. It is an occurrence 
which at the moment has no particular positive significance but 
is later revealed to be highly advantageous.

The most frequently described example of serendipity is the 
scientific discovery which has had an extremely positive effect 
that has benefitted all of us. I am describing the discovery of 
penicillin which is considered to be one of the most important 
scientific discoveries in the history of medicine. The story of 
the discovery has been described as “The yellow brick road 
to penicillin: a story of serendipity” and is understood to 
have resulted in the subsequent creation of antibiotics. These 
antibiotics have saved multiple millions of lives; but my point 
is that at the time of its discovery penicillin was not thought of 
to have any positive consequence. The discovery resulted from 
a chance realization by Alexander Fleming who had gone on a 
vacation after failing to clean up a mold spill.

Upon returning home some time later he observed that bacteria 
from another adjacent lab had flown into his lab and multiplied. 
He observed that evidence of the bacteria was everywhere except 
for a spot where the spilled mold remained. He determined that 
the mold had killed the bacteria but at first did not realize the 
significance of the discovery. With the help of other scientists 
in other fields the significance of the bacteria-killer (antibiotic) 
was identified and understood, and Sir Alexander Fleming 
was awarded the Nobel Prize, and the rest of the world has 
benefitted.

 The serendipitous event that I am now going to describe has, 
I believe, an importance to me as the chance discovery of 
penicillin. On June 27, 2024, my wife and I were of a plane flying 
home from Boston. On the plane there were television screens 
showing the ongoing debate between President Biden and ex-
President Donald Trump. President Biden looked terrible. He 
appeared old, feeble, and confused. During the prior months I 
had agonized over President Biden’s condition and was certain 
that he would be defeated in the coming election. President 
Biden had emphatically stated his refusal to step aside.

If President Biden were to be the candidate, I was certain that 
Donald Trump would be elected President. Prior to the Debate 
all polls reflected the likelihood that Trump would be elected 
and I, and almost everyone I knew, was in despair. Friends were 
talking of the need to move out of the United States but look, I 
am over 80 years of age and relocating does not seem possible.

Soon after the debate, which seemed such a disaster, wonderful 
things happened. 

Respected Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi prevailed upon 
the President to step aside. He did so unwillingly but almost 
immediately everything changed. There was new positive 
energy in the Country. Vice President Harris revealed herself to 
be a wonderful qualified, reasonable candidate. Her selection 
of Tim Walz to be her running mate was brilliant and I am 
optimistic that she will be elected. This election will be the 
direct propitious result of the debate which at first seemed so 
disastrous. Yes, where would we all be without penicillin and 
antibiotics. It is silly to compare but there is no question that 
the televised debate which in the moment seemed so disastrous 
has resulted in wonderful consequences. We will be more able 
to appreciate these consequences after the election but for the 
moment I feel pretty good and that was not true a month ago.

BE SURE TO VOTE!!! 

Mountain Views News 
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TOM PURCELL

AMERICA'S LAST 
TRULY FREE MARKET


All anybody 
needs to know 
about a free 
economy is alive 
and well thanks 
to social-media 
flea markets, 
such as Facebook Marketplace.

 While procrastinating every 
morning, I review this site 
looking at cars, lakefront homes 
and a wide variety of highly 
entertaining items people are 
trying to hock.

 Facebook Marketplace offers 
a hands-on lesson in how free-
market economics really works.

You see, commerce and trading 
are what humans do. They are 
the basis of wealth creation and 
a thriving civilization.

 Somebody with something to 
sell is eager to find somebody 
who is willing to buy. The 
seller and buyer work out an 
agreement, then make an 
exchange, and everybody is 
happy.

 Purity and honesty are at 
the heart of these simple 
transactions.

 An item is only worth what 
somebody is willing to pay for it. 
And as millions of transactions 
take place daily — and the seller 
tries to fetch as much as possible 
while the buyer tries to spend 
as little as possible — a natural 
market price evolves.

 Consider the market for used 
leather couches.

 Some people think that since 
they paid $2,000 for a new 
leather couch a few years ago, 
they can still fetch $1,700 for it 
now — even though their cat 
scratched the leather and their 
dog chewed one of its legs!

 Unfortunately for them, 
their couch is only worth what 
somebody else is willing to pay 
for it.

 And they’re not willing to pay 
anything near $1,700 for several 
reasons.

 First off, most people don’t 
want furniture in their house 
that was used by somebody 
else. Reduced desire for the item 
you wish to sell equals reduced 
value.

Second, other people may be 
more motivated to get rid of 
their leather couches than you.

Maybe they just got divorced, 
or they’re moving across the 
country and need to liquidate, 
or maybe they’re rich and just 
got a new living room set and 
want to unload the prior one.

 Whatever their motive, some 
people just want to sell their 
couch for pennies on the dollar, 
which beats down the value of 
your couch all the more.

 That means your used, cat-
scratched, dog-chewed leather 
couch is probably worth about 
150 bucks on a good day!

 That’s the breaks of economic 
reality — and nothing is more 
real than a free-functioning 
economy.

 But what if a vote-seeking 
politician promised people who 
wanted to buy leather couches a 
$1,000 subsidy to help them — a 
Couch Stamp, if you will.

 All of the sudden, there would 
be an unnatural demand for 
leather couches that would 
quickly drive leather-couch 
“values” from $150 to $1,000 
and surely more.

 The entire used-couch market 
would be disrupted by the vote-
pandering politician and the 
taxpayers would have to pick up 
the tab — or more money would 
have to be borrowed — to pay 
for the costly disruption.

 Thankfully, the government 
hasn’t bailed out the used-couch 
market-place just yet, which is 
why Facebook Marketplace is 
such a wonderful example of 
people freely buying, trading 
or selling their goods without 
in-terference.

 As a bonus, Facebook 
Marketplace also offers 
entertainment in its purest 
form, as some fool tries to get, 
say, $300 for a used commode 
that is probably worth about 20 
bucks.

 It’s a delight to watch the 
humbled seller keep lowering 
his price to meet the unflushable 
realities of the used-toilet 
marketplace.


Mountain Views News

Mission Statement

The traditions of 
community news-
papers and the 
concerns of our readers 
are this newspaper’s 
top priorities. We 
support a prosperous 
community of well-
informed citizens. We 
hold in high regard the 
values of the exceptional 
quality of life in our 
community, including 
the magnificence of 
our natural resources. 
Integrity will be our guide. 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com