What Caught My Eye Today - Gun Control, Samoa, Basketball, Potpourri

Gun Control - Those of you who follow U.S. political news are well aware of the push to pass stricter gun control laws in the wake of several recent mass shootings.  Our friends in the great state of Georgia have taken a slightly different approach to dealing with guns. Council members in Nelson, a small city located 50 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia, voted unanimously to approve the Family Protection Ordinance. The measure requires every head of household to own a gun and ammunition to "provide for the emergency management of the city" and to "provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants." However, it contains no penalties and exempts anyone who objects, convicted felons and those with certain mental and physical disabilities. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but "exempts" is the same thing as "excludes" or "prohibits," which begs the question, could a convicted felon actual own a gun and ammunition if he or she decides not to be "exempt" from the law? The proposal illustrates how the response to the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, varies widely in different parts of the country. While lawmakers in generally more liberal states with large urban centers like New York and California have moved to tighten gun control laws, more conservative, rural areas in the American heartland have been going in the opposite direction. While I personally favor tighter gun controls over the alternative, I understand the opposition to them. I find it hard to believe that anyone would need a military style firearm capable if discharging hundreds of rounds per minute for recreational purposes, but at the same time, where do you draw the line for reasonable gun control?  Quite frankly, I think this decision is best made at the local level by the citizens who will be most impacted by  gun controls, or lack thereof.  As an individual I have the choice of deciding if I want to live in a community that has gun controls or one that doesn't.

Samoa - Samoa Air has become the first airline in the world to do what was previously unthinkable: charge passengers by weight. The cost is 93 cents to $1.06 for each kilogram, or 2.2 pounds. I mean no offense to Samoans, but this doesn't seem that unreasonable to me. Have you ever met a scrawny Samoan?   Neither have I. The Samoa Air homepage reads "We at Samoa Air are keeping airfares fair, by charging our passengers only for what they weigh. You are the master of your Air'fair', you decide how much (or little) your ticket will cost. No more exorbitant excess baggage fee's [sic], or being charged for baggage you may not carry. Your weight plus your baggage items, is what you pay for. Simple."  You have to appreciate the candor in which they defend the pricing policy. A section of the airline's web site titled "How does pay what you weigh work?" outlines the steps in determining a passengers final airfare:

1. Select 'book online', and choose your flight
   So far so good.
2. Enter your details, including your estimated weight(s) of passengers and baggage
   So does the weight of your clothing count?  I don't know about you, but my shoes easily add 15 pounds.
3. Your airfare is then calculated using your weight.
   Even if you are the ideal weight, I'm thinking this has got to sting a little bit.
4. You travel happy, knowing full well that you are only paying for exactly what you weigh... nothing more.
   That might be a bit of a stretch. I've never seen a 300 pound traveler looking particularly thrilled with the prospects of getting on a plane.  Of course, that probably has more to do with the lack of legroom and elbow room.

Basketball - According to a formula that measures the unpredictability of each NCAA Men's Basketball tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams, the 2013 edition is the most unpredictable ever. Maybe that's why they call it March Madness. On a scale of 0 to 100 — with 0 meaning the higher seed wins every game and 100 meaning the opposite — the 2013 tournament checks in at 21.8 so far. Even if top overall seed Louisville wins it all, this year's tournament will break the previous record of 19.8, set in 2011 (the year Virginia Commonwealth and Butler made the Final Four, and a nine-loss Connecticut team won the title).  Predicting the whole Final Four was almost impossible this year. ESPN reports that 47 perfect out of 8.15 million brackets in its Tournament Challenge game made the right picks. That works out to about 1 in 173,000 brackets. Still better odds than Powerball. Yahoo Sports reports 9 correct Final Four picks out of more than 3 million brackets. Suffice it to say, I was not one of those 56. In fact, my bracket did not contain a single team in the Final Four. I didn't do much better on the women's either, picking just one of four Final Four teams, Connecticut.

Potpourri - This edition offers a bit of perspective on a variety of topics that affect us all but that we might not give much thought to.

• Charity - in 2011, the poorest 20% of Americans gave 3.2% of their income to charity while the wealthiest 20% donated 1.3% of their income. Studies suggest that those with less to give may have "higher empathy" because they are more exposed to need. That's a diplomatic way of putting it. However, before we cast stones at the wealthiest 20%, if you look at the actual dollars donated, the upper class does contribute the vast majority of charitable contributions.  Remember, perspective.
• Toilets - Of the world's 7 billion people, 6 billion have access to mobile phones, while just 4.5 billion have access to a working toilet. Kind of makes you think about how we prioritize basic needs, doesn't it?  
• Retirement Benefits - The U.S. government spent $3.7 million last year to support former presidents, paying for pensions, office support, travel and postage.  The most expensive ex-president was George W. Bush, at $1.3 million, followed by Bill Clinton at just under $1 million. Costs do not include Secret Service protection. If you ask me, $3.7 million doesn't seem that unreasonable, then again, I'm not sure how meaningful this statistic really is when it excludes the single largest expense associated with former presidents, lifelong protection.  It reminds me of a certain president who decided not to include the costs of waging two wars in the federal budgets.  
• Vacations - President Barack Obama took 131 vacation days in his first term. In his two terms as president, President George W. Bush took 1060 vacation days. Big deal. You know how many vacation days I've taken in the last 4 years--72. My company gives my 18 paid days off a year, which turns out to be rather generous.