BusinessWeek has a fascinating article about the organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctos Without Borders). It says the organization was begun by doctors who served with the Red Cross in Nigeria during the Biafran war. Those doctors wanted to speak out about what they considered to be genocide, but the Red Cross wouldn’t let them. So they started their own organization which would make it a core value to speak out in such situation.

The article says, “If MSF members encountered violations of human rights, they were not, as the [Red Cross] encouraged in Nigeria in 1970, to exercise ‘discretion.’ They were to raise hell and make sure the world knew about it.”

I love that!

Kaci Hickox, the nurse who was quarantined after returning from Sierra Leone, where she treated Ebola patients, worked with Doctors Without Borders. Considering the ruckus she raised, sounds like she was a perfect fit.

I’m a real dunce when it comes to cars. I don’t know how they work. If a problem occurs, I can pop the hood and look at the engine with interest, but it might as well be a Star Trek warp drive. I don’t know what I’m looking for. In fact, it’ll probably take me 10 minutes to figure out how to pop the hood.

My brother, Stewart Dennie, got all the mechanical genes. My wife, Pam Dennie, is far more mechanical than I am. So this article about car-care myths was helpful to me.

I remember when I got a Toyota Corolla back in 1989 and took it in for its annual tune-up. The service guy (a friend) told me, “All you’ll ever need to do with a Toyota is occasionally replace the dome light.” That was my introduction to the tune-up myth. This article takes it much furthers.

Back in the 1980s, I read “On the Road with Charles Kuralt,” a delightful, folksy book with short chapters. One chapter told about a lightbulb which had been burning almost continuously since 1901 at a firestation in Livermore, Calif.

I just came across an article about the bulb. It is STILL burning. The bulb was made by the Shelby Electric Company. General Electric bought out Shelby and discontinued their lightbulb. Kind of like how oil and car companies buy out the patents for fuel-efficient technologies, and bury those patents.

Today, the average lightbulb lasts 1000-2000 hours. LED bulbs last up to 50,000 hours. The Shelby lightbulb has been burning for nearly 1 million hours. It has achieved celebrity status. It’s called the Centennial Light, and has its own continuous Bulbcam.

Back in the early days of lightbulbs, companies bragged about the longevity of their bulbs. But in 1924, General Electric and other companies formed the Phoebus Cartel, under the pretense of standardizing lightbulbs. Actually, their goal was “planned obsolescence.” They limited the life expectancy of bulbs to 1000 hours (GE had achieved 1200 hours decades before), and fined companies that exceeded that. They also halted additional research on lightbulbs.

Capitalism, or shall I say greed, at work.

Here’s a story from 9/11 which has gone largely untold. Maj. Heather

Penney (one of the first female F-16 pilots) and Col. Marc Sasseville were on duty when word came that Flight 93 was headed toward Washington DC. They took to the air to bring Flight 93 down…but without any weaponry. It would have taken an hour to arm the planes.

“I’m going to go for the cockpit,” Sasseville told her as they geared up.

“I’ll take the tail,” Penney replied.

A suicide mission to end a suicide mission. Quite a story.

Of course, it wasn’t necessary for them to ram their F-16s into the Boeing 777. But the fact that they took off, totally expecting to not come back…very inspiring.

I’ve been a big fan of Flo the Progressive girl. But lately, things have been blah. The commercials no longer make me smile. Geico continually launches new ad campaigns, keeping the brand fresh. I’m afraid that Flo the Progressive Girl has run her course. Time to retire, Flo.