New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlawed food donations to homeless shelters last year.

It’s all because the city can’t assess their salt, fat and fiber content, huffed Mr. Bloomberg.

Alrighty then.

I’m thinking Mr. Bloomberg’s nanny needs to read a little sociology. 70 years ago, in 1943, Abraham Maslow codified human needs in what has become a well known pyramid. Food and sex are the most basic needs. Healthy, safe food is important, but only after we meet the most basic requirement of finding something, anything, to eat in the first place.

Eastman Kodak developed the digital camera in 1975 but never invested in the technology. “Digital photography will undercut sales of our film business,” they rightly said. Kodak stock peaked in 1997 at over $94/share. The stock had dropped to 65 cents/share by 2011; the company is in bankruptcy.

Alrighty then.

I’m thinking that if you introduce a new budget item in a business like Kodak, one that may have no positive effect whatsoever on the company’s performance but one that mirrors past performance, many of the decision makers will allocate money to that cost and keep investing in it even as the company goes down the tubes. Likewise, if you introduce a new budget item in a business like Kodak, one that may turn the industry on its ear but one that defies past performance, many of the decision makers will never invest in the new line even as the company goes down the tubes.

A Florida Keys man named Mitchell about beat his Labrador Retriever puppy to death, got sentenced to nine months, and then his conviction was reversed by a three-judge District Court of Appeal panel.

Then-prosecutor Terre Hunnewell told jurors that the only way Mr. Mitchell was not guilty was if the eyewitness, two veterinarians, and three deputies all lied on the witness stand. The panel said Mr. Hunnewell’s argument “improperly placed the onus of demonstrating the burden of proof [on] the defense.”

Alrighty then.

I’m thinking the evidence outweighs a lawyer’s stupid summation (lawyers ask more stupid questions and make more stupid comments than almost any other population group) but appellate courts rarely consider, well, evidence.

I can’t make sense of any of that.

I’m also thinking Dr. Maslow left Common Sense out of his hierarchy. As a survival need it should maybe be at the base of the pyramid, underpinning even the physiological needs. It’s certainly lacking in New York City, Rochester, NY, and Monroe County, FL.