The "waffle house index" was an idea that originated with Craig Fugate, head of FEMA. See Wikipedia:
Waffle House Index. The WSJ article Wikipedia references is interesting, but you can't read it unless you have a WSJ account.
A few years ago The Atlantic had a nice short bio on Fugate:
In Case of Emergency.
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"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
-Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz