"Typical, Just Typical"

The Madison City Council recently considered a ban in the city of vehicles whose "sole purpose was advertising." There is one jewelry store that uses a modified van with "billboards" where the cargo area would normally be. That vehicle and one more. The Weinermobile. Yes, the Weinermobiles are based in Madison, which is the headquarters of Oscar Meyer. The geniuses on the City Council hadn't even thought though the proposal or thought about the Weinermobile. Here is something that is a delight for everyone who sees it. Heck, Oscar Meyer is running a "Win the Weinermobile For a Day" contest. (The Progeny says he couldn't use it because his 6-3 frame won't fit in it. Yes, he has been in the driver's seat.)

A local paper had a great comment on the proposal:

This whole flap seems to be symbolic of the City Council's biggest flaw. Some members try to solve problems that haven't been clearly defined, hardly exist or have little to do with city government and the concerns of ordinary citizens.

Proponents of the failed mobile-sign law argue they were being proactive and never intended to target the Wienermobile, which could have been exempted.

We would pick different words to describe their efforts: hyper-reactive and silly.

These are the folks that are the epitome of "nanny-state."

"We are smarter than you and know better. Let us take care of you."

Hybrid Camrys

In the announcement regarding Toyota's plans to build hybrid Camrys in the US, there was buried the following little amazing fact.

Toyota sold 11,345 Prius vehicles in April alone, Mr. Press said. "That's more than the entire Mercury car line; the Prius outsold...Volvo and Jag cars combined, just to give you a point of reference," he said. Sales of Mercury cars totaled 10,371 vehicles in April, while Volvo and Jaguar sold 6,686 and 2,870 cars, respectively, during the month.

One car in Toyota's lineup, a single little hybrid, outsold the entire Mercury line or, in other terms, the entire Volvo and Jag (incidentally Ford-owned lines) lines combined. The Lexus SUV hybrid and the Camry hybrids will be off the charts sellers. One need look no further for the reason for GM and Ford junk status in every sense of the word.

I am able to laugh at the nimrod who counseled me (berated and argued with me is more accurate) back in '83 not to buy one of those new sedans. It was the company's first shot at a mid-size sedan and this putz was certain it was going to be problem packed. I still bought the new Camry and have owned Toyotas ever since. (I bought my first one in '76.) No comments are needed on the wedding 'present' '81 Chevette, which was unloaded ASAP.

Further comment: Right there in the last paragraph is the whole GM vs. Toyota struggle. In the early 80's Toyota was coming out with a 20+ year best selling model and GM was foisting the Chevette on a 'til then, loyal GM-buying public. I have never owned American since that POS (figure it out for yourself, given the context) Chevette and can't even imagine considering one today when I think about what models to even have on my potential buying list.

Sins of the Grandmother

From today's WSJ.com - Science Journal:

"Last month, scientists reported that a child whose grandmother smoked while pregnant with the child's mother may have twice the risk of developing asthma as a child whose grandma didn't flood her fetus with carcinogens. Remarkably, the risk from grandma's smoking was as great as or greater than from mom's. Kids whose mothers smoked while pregnant were 1.5 times as likely to develop childhood asthma as children of nonsmoking moms. Kids whose grandmothers smoked while pregnant with mom were 2.1 times as likely to develop asthma, scientists reported in the journal Chest."

Because a woman's total supply of eggs are developed before her birth and the effect upon that development by her mother's actions and nutritional intake provide one theory for this phenomenon. There is not a transgenerational link for men as men develop sperm throughout their lifetime.

"In people, the type of "nutritional insult" to the fetus doesn't seem to matter. Too few calories, too little protein, too few other nutrients can all lead to diabetes, hypertension and other ills decades later. "That suggests that what links diet to adult diseases is something quite fundamental," says Simon Langley-Evans of the University of Nottingham, England. The key suspects: changes in DNA activity in the fetus or in the balance of hormones reaching it via the placenta.

Alarmingly, the list of what can be passed along to the next generation is growing. If you are undernourished as a first-trimester fetus, you won't pad your hips and thighs with enough fat tissue. If, as a child or adult, you take in more calories than you expend, the extras get stored in and around abdominal organs rather than on the thighs and hips, says Aryeh Stein of Emory University, Atlanta. One result is a body shaped like an apple (which brings a higher risk of heart disease). Another is a higher risk of gestational diabetes, in which blood glucose levels rise during pregnancy and too much glucose reaches the fetus. Babies born to moms with gestational diabetes have a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes."

I have told the Progeny to observe what that cute 19-year-old girl's mother looks like at 45. Because, that cute little thing will eventually turn into her mother. Now, there's one more reason to observe the Mom even closer for serious candidates.

Goin' to Dubuque

I've got two days of meetings in Dubuque, Iowa. The old joke about the city, which is/was nicknamed Da-Puke, was that it was the ugliest city on the Mississippi. It has cleaned up a great deal, but the main "entertainment" opportunities are still in East Dubuque, IL, which are strip clubs. That about sums it all up.

The Wonder of the Internet

And in the blink of an eye, anything you can imagine is available on the Internet. Case in point: the complete knitting instructions to make your own Jennifer Wilbanks 'hide from the media' blanket. I especially love the last line of instruction. And with plenty of time before Halloween, so you can be ready with your costume.

Yarn Required
Lion Brand Yarn Wool-Ease Worsted
80%Acrylic, 20% Wool
197 yards /3 ounces

Color A: Rose Heather 140 - 2 skeins
Color B: Colonial Blue 117 - 2 skeins
Color C: Ranch Red 102 - 1 skein
Color D: Gold 171 - 1 skein

Needle
Size 7 US / 4.5mm

Gauge
4.5" sts x 5 rows = 1” in garter stitch

Blanket
With A, Cast on 120 sts.
Working in garter stitch;
(work 10 rows in A,
14 rows in B,
10 rows in A,
20 rows in B,
14 rows in A,
20 rows in C,
8 rows in A,
20 rows in C) repeat once.
Work 10 rows in A.
Bind off loosely.

Finishing
Steam block. Place over head.

by Annie Modesitt
http://www.modeknit.com/blog

From Growing Up in Florida to This

I now live in Wisconsin which has about three and a half months of what could reasonably be described as warm weather. It's May 6, and it snowed a little earlier in the week. There was frost the other night. You get the picture. There is a very real reason public swimming pools don't open until Memorial Day. Anyway, I succumbed to the temptation and actually went to a tanning salon the other week. Something I swore I would never do. I was simply a pasty, sickly white. And I was tired of it, having lived in Florida until I was 22 during which time I was bronze surfer boy. I had it all except sun-bleached blonde hair. And even at my respectable age, I just couldn't take not having any color but hospital sheet white to my skin.

I then realized how tanning salons are the ultimate in 'get it now' culture. I spend more time undressing and redressing than I do under the lamps. When my high school friends would going 'sunning' it was an all day affair and all the lotions and you have to time your turn-overs and blah blah. Now, in and out in 10 minutes. And yes, I like how I look. Or is that the middle age in me talking?

What?!

Yesterday, the Board that runs Marquette University in Milwaukee met to discuss changing their athletic teams mascot. This was prompted by an alum last year offering $1 million to the University if the Board changed the mascot name back to what existed prior to 1994. In 1994, the mascot name was changed from Warriors, which was deemed racially insensitive to the Golden Eagles. The public awaited the decision expecting either to remain with the Golden Eagles or go back to Warriors (with the joke being that we found out what price racial sensitivity has).

The decision: Gold. That's it. Not Golden Eagles, just Gold. The Marquette University Gold.

Silver is said to outraged at the slight, while no official word yet from Bronze.

Also, the graphic is a straight ripoff of the University of Missouri as noted below.

What design genius!? Interlock the U and M and put "Marquette" across it so there's no doubt it's not a Mizzou logo.

A Tale of Two Worlds

From an Economist article on the closing of Cannon Mills factories by Pillowtex in North Carolina in 2003:

When Pillowtex finally closed the doors, one in three of its workers lacked a high-school education; one in ten could not read or write; and nearly half of them were more than 50 years old.

From today's Wall Street Journal story regarding the sale of Neiman Marcus:

Indeed, for its new suitors, Neiman's offers entree into the rarefied world of the super-wealthy uber-spender. The stores' top 100,000 customers generate $1.2 billion in sales, with each shopper averaging about $11,000 a year.

And I remember back in college a professor argued there was no such thing as class in America. The sad thing is I paid money for that hooey.

Next Halloween's Most Popular Costume

Five bucks says you'll see at least one at every party.

Fun in Milwaukee

I asked the Espousa yesterday morning what she had on the agenda for the day. Only picking up dry cleaning and some meds at the pharmacy. Get them done and we'll go to Milwaukee to see the "Pearls" exhibit. This is the best show I've seen at the Museum in several years. Very interesting and well done. Incidentally, I was one of the very few males in the whole exhibit. Interesting. The Milwaukee Museum is already advertising a Vatican exhibit for spring of '06. Guess that'll be a biggie.

Then we drove Milwaukee's north side. The real money side. Old money and manses as big as a city block. There was a purpose to my sidetrack as I wanted to find the Milwaukee Croquet Club's courts. I think I found them but will have to investigate further. The trip back home was broken by some stops for some walking through a couple malls and stores. One item we did buy was a four movie DVD pack from Suncoast Video ($9.99) done by AMC (the old movie cable channel) that had a Mr. Moto, Bulldog Drummond and an Ellery Queen movie as well as another I can't remember right now. I'm going back to a Suncoast to see what else they might have.