I just read Nigel's zoo post, and I have the exact same feelings about the museums in Europe. Invariably, there are 50,000 people pressed up against the usher's rope in front of the Mona Lisa contorting their bodies to try to fit themselves and the painting into a snapshot. They all have the same attitude: "I've flown 5,000 miles to get here, and I'll be damned if I'm going home without proof that I set foot in front of the world's most famous painting". It is comical to enter places like the Sistine Chapel, and see the anguish on the tourist's faces when they're confronted the "no photographs" sign. Going through their minds: "Sheesh. If I had known I couldn't take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, I wouldn't have booked this vacation in the first place". As Marie just reminded me, Derek Harris reserved his place in the Pantheon of Needless Picture-Taking years ago when he took a picture of every single Rose Parade float on January 1, 1998. Adding to this feat is the fact that it required tons of film - the digial camera really hadn't been invented yet. If you're reading this Derek, you're a great guy - just a little shutter-happy.

This week, I heard 2 radio commercials back-to-back that caught my attention. One was from the California Assiciation of Realtors, and the other was from the Yellow Pages. Both industries attempt to make potential customers so afraid of not using their services that they will pay arbitrary sums of money for benefits that are debatable. Both are industries that are hopelessly inefficient, and may be completely undermined in the near future (or so I hope). The Yellow Pages are just silly. First, most people don't even use them anymore. Second, there are a few different companies out there that spend millions of dollars proclaiming that they are superior to the "other" phone book outfits. Then, they pepper my house with all manner of thick, ambulance-chaser-laden phone books. I will either toss them into the recycle, or use as booster seats. BTW - the only reason they advertise is so that they can comfort the unlucky businesses who purchased advertising in their pages. Consumers absolutely do not care, but if an advertiser hears "yellow book" and that's who they happen to use, it can certainly trigger warm fuzzies.

If the yellow pages are a minor annoyance, Realtors are like a disturbing infectious disease that has run totally out of control. Last year, Realtors hauled in $60 billion in commissions, while delivering only a fraction of that amount in value. They do this by preying on the fears of buyers and sellers, and operating a virtual cartel (I didn't arbitrarily apply that word "cartel" - it was used by the Consumer Federation of America). It is about this point in an anti-realtor rant that most people admit "there are some good realtors". While that may be true, it doesn't excuse the fact that on a (let's say) $500,000 deal, no 2 realtors in the world could contribute $30,000 in value, but that's how much they get paid. I'm rooting heavily for companies like Redfin, BuySide Realty, and BuySelf Realty. They may not do it, but somebody will surely visit creative destruction on this industry during the next 10-20 years.