Apparently the region has enough blood, since they’re turning down people who didn’t make an appointment to donate blood during the blood drive on campus today. But they said I could go over to the Red Cross facility (a couple of miles from campus). “They usually can handle walk-ins,” I was told.

I’m sure it would be more convenient for the Red Cross to know exactly how many people will come in.

I’m also sure Wal*Mart would like to know how many blue widgets they’ll sell tomorrow. But they manage to get along without perfect knowledge. And since selling blue widgets isn’t really all that important compared to saving lives, which organization do you suppose would be more capable of improvising, adapting, and overcoming life’s vicissitudes?

It’s not like they were giving the stuff away. Back in 2002 it cost $215/pint. (Or $215 for the blood and another $465 to process it; I can’t make sense of the press release, due not to its writer but its subject matter, i.e., medical costs are involved.)