We’re out of gas and riding on air

• Sinister kangaroos. That’s not just a good band name — it’s also true science.

• “We’re always at a fork in the road, abandoning a universe of possibilities for the sake of just one, on the basis of inadequate information. And still we continue, as though a thousand futures were not crumbling with every step.”

That’s from Amy Seek’s God and Jetfire: Confessions of a Birth Mother, discussed here by Kathryn Joyce. Seek’s immediate subject there is adoption, but those sentences strike me as a poignant description of the human condition in general. We are born to sorrow as the sparks fly upward. Dare to eat a peach anyway and all that.

• This was the view from the back porch at the house we stayed at last week.

My native state of New Jersey is not without its charms.

• The price of gasoline has dropped about 6 percent on average over the past month across the U.S. Did you notice? Maybe, a little, but most drivers don’t notice these swings in the price of gas because the only thing constant about that price is its volatility. The price goes up 10 percent, then it goes down 10 percent. Then it goes down another 5 percent, and then it goes back up.

The national average right now is $2.59 a gallon, with the folks who study these things predicting it could fall below $2 next month. We’ll notice that because $2 is a kind of threshold number, and we’ll notice when it creeps back up above $2 again before we lose track after that of all the various prices we’ll be paying over the next year or so. That’s how this works. We may have a slight uptick in other economic areas if the price dips below $2, and a slight retreat when it rises back up to $2.59 or more, but drivers — and the overall economy — will take it all in stride, barely noticing.

That’s why, as Alex MacGillis says, “It’s Time for a New Gas Tax.” We’ll barely notice the additional pennies at the pump, which will quickly blur into the larger pattern of constant inconstancy and fluctuating gas prices. But without updating the gas tax, we will definitely notice the damage we’re doing to our roads, bridge and tunnels.

The argument against a gas tax is that it’s a flat and, therefore, regressive tax on consumption. That’s true, but I think it’s at least partially offset by the fact that it’s also a tax dedicated to a flat, and therefore progressive, public good. The alternative — continuing on our path of inadequately funded public infrastructure — is likely to be a future in which the wealthy create and enjoy private infrastructure, while the rest of us get screwed or charged for access to it (see, for example, broadband).

See also: “America could double its gas tax and it would still be incredibly low.”

• The Perseid meteor shower peaks this week, without interference from the moon, so this should be an amazing show. “The best time to go out is Wednesday night/Thursday morning after your local midnight,” Phil Plait tells us. If it’s not cloudy, you could see 60 shooting stars in an hour, so find someplace dark and have a long list of wishes ready to go. 

• “Eventually, they understood that Trinity College was not interested in the fast-food business.” Burger King is no longer fighting the Book of Kells in court.

• Yes, this is click-bait, but it’s fun click-bait: “Heavy Metal Lyric Or Bible Verse?” I would say that this quiz demonstrates that the Bible can get really metal, but I don’t think I can quite pull off convincingly using “metal” as an adjective.