Friday Four

1. I have noted before that Little Man doesn't let his still-limited vocabulary prevent him from communicating. Sometimes, before we take off in the car, I offer the kids snacks or drinks. Since he hasn't realized he could just say no if he isn't interested, my son taps the item with his foot as I offer it, if he doesn't want it.

2. Is the hotel mini-bar on its way out? That's the impression I get from an interesting piece about this innovation from the 1960s. The article quotes one hotelier:

We had eight full-time mini-bar staffers who each checked 150 rooms a day [and] they simply couldn't get to every room every day. Plus, we found that guests weren't using the mini-bars as much as one would think. In Times Square, many retail outlets are open 24/7, so beverages and snacks are available everywhere, all the time. In addition, some mini-bar items have expiration dates, and we were throwing items away. It was a pure business decision: mini-bars were not profitable.

The article incidentally reminded me of the following question at Leonard Peikoff's web site:

A situation discussed in the New York Times: A man checked in to a hotel and ate the $6 box of Oreos in the minibar. Later that day he replenished the Oreos in the minibar with store bought Oreos before the minibar was restocked. Is this proper? [format edits]

To the answer, I find that, in today's cultural context, I can only add, "Yuck!"

3. Word to the wise: No matter how much your kid begs you for "more experiments", never store dry ice in a vacuum flask:

Well, I can't be the first person to do this, surely? Indeed, a quick google shows that the Thermos webpage explicitly says to not put dry ice in one as it may cause the top "to eject forcefully" -- a lovely piece of understatement there. So I found a dry-ice supplier in London, and rang them to ask what to do. [minor edits]

On top of this being a Very Bad Idea, nobody the author called after doing this had a clue what to do about it. He had to improvise.

4. Uber, having already broken new ground in personal transportation, is now experimenting with providing same-day delivery service. According to TechCruch, over 400 retailers are at least in talks with Uber regarding the idea.

-- CAV

Updates

Today: Minor corrections.