Business ideas from 10-year old Jessica, and sinking cities, in the opposite order

If we're not submerged by the coming rise in sea levels, we're going to need to make a livelihood. Thankfully,  over Thanksgiving weekend I came across some suggestions for businesses from my 10-year old self which we can all probably just pilfer as we move forward:

Pretty good list, huh? Who wouldn't want to buy "Fun Pads" from a ten year old?

(In case you're wondering, "*M.S.* TBITW" is the name that I and my business partner Robin eventually gave to the business we started. It stands for "Monica Stelles - The best in the west!" There is absolutely no logic to that name; we lived very much in the East, and Monica Stelles is nothing more than a bastardized version of the name of a tennis player my mom liked at the time. The checks with crosses across them represent ideas that we actually executed.)

Not to be hampered by making products, I also had the following ideas:

In retrospect I am not sure whether one dollar for seven classes was an appropriate price (seems quite low), but it was 1991, so I suppose a dollar stretched farther.

In 1992, I had apparently not yet executed my business class idea:

So I started brainstorming ideas for the business class. 10-year-old me didn't have totally terrible ideas, if 30-year-old me does say so herself. Of course, Robin probably helped.*

Below is a transcript  in case you can't read my cursive.**

Ideas for business class:

1. Get all set up
2. Have a snack
3. Get started
4. There are some things we need to teach:

1. Prices have to be reasonable
2. Do not copy from other businesses, like ours
3. Put a copyright sign on everything. That way NO ONE can copy you.
4. Have your business set up, so people can come & look at the stuff.
5. Have sales from time to time.
6. Keep the money safe.
7. Do not split the money in half. Save up for something for the business together.
8. Have a catchy name for your business.
9. If people don't buy, you may try lowering your prices, or getting better products.
10. But most of all, Just Have Fun!

Point number 9 above is particularly perceptive. And I really took point number 7 to heart--I *STILL* have the money that Robin and I earned (around $80) sitting in a Folger's can in my childhood bedroom. Robin - what do you think we should get for the business with that money? I think we were planning on a trip to Darien Lake, but that doesn't sound very business-y. Maybe a new software program to print out cards for Donna?

Anyway, you are all welcome for the ideas. I think we'll be just fine for the apocalypse now that we know how to run a business!

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*One person who probably didn't help was my poor sister. I was a meanie. Sorry, Andrea!

**"They'll make you write in cursive in middle school! You had better practice at home!" So many lies.

WE ARE AMURIKANS DAMMIT

The New York Times has a nice piece up today about whether it makes sense to rebuild in coastal areas that are repeatedly damaged by storms. For what it's worth, my personal answer would be HELL NO. But, you know, I hate people and freedom and bladdidy blah.

You should read the whole article, but if you're lazy, here's the gist:

Across the nation, tens of billions of tax dollars have been spent on subsidizing coastal reconstruction in the aftermath of storms, usually with little consideration of whether it actually makes sense to keep rebuilding in disaster-prone areas. If history is any guide, a large fraction of the federal money allotted to New York, New Jersey and other states recovering from Hurricane Sandy — an amount that could exceed $30 billion — will be used the same way.

Tax money will go toward putting things back as they were, essentially duplicating the vulnerability that existed before the hurricane.

...

Lately, scientists, budget-conscious lawmakers and advocacy groups across the political spectrum have argued that these subsidies waste money, put lives at risk and make no sense in an era of changing climate and rising seas.

...

"The best thing that could possibly come out of Sandy is if the political establishment was willing to say, 'Let's have a conversation about how we do this differently the next time,'" said Dr. Young, a coastal geologist who directs the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University. “We need to identify those areas — in advance — that it no longer makes sense to rebuild.”

"We simply can’t go on subsidizing enormous numbers of people to live in areas that are prone to huge natural disasters," said Eli Lehrer, the president of the conservative R Street Institute...

This is what I've been saying forever! Why are people building homes in places likely to get damaged, and then taking public money to rebuild them only so they can get damaged again? I mean, I believe in everybody's freedom to do whatever they want (within reason), but at some point they should do it at their own risk.

But not at your beach house.

Words cannot express how much I love this

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I think I'll try to teach this song to my nephew over Thanksgiving...good idea? bad idea?

You're welcome!

I'm in California on a blog hiatus at the moment. But do not fear, I am never not thinking about things to horrify you with.

How about this for today:



You're welcome!

Now, it's time for coffee and food. Non-hot dog food.