Month: November 2008

Screw GM and Ford, I’m glad I bought a Toyota.
Unlike their counterparts GM and Ford, Toyota has always taken a long-term strategic view about their employees. Toyota understands that laying off thousands of employees for slowdowns or plant retooling is counter productive. They wisely utilize the time to redistribute their workforce to understaffed plants, provide additional training for the new products, and leverage their workforce to speed the transition for newer products. Their philosophy has avoided labor disputes and staffing shortages. It has kept the company as a leader in quality and profitability over its shortsighted competitors.
Amen

So, today is the “Great American Smokeout”. I stopped smoking over 9 months ago, thanks to a comment one of my neighbors made about Americans not wanting to be “uncomfortable”, thus explaining why some of us don’t quit.
I got through the first hours and days of withdrawal by remembering the simple fact that the urge to smoke lasts up to two minutes at most, figuring I could handle feeling “uncomfortable” for two minutes at a time.
I do occasionally think about falling off the wagon, but fear that if I tried even one cigarette, I’d end up dead, nicotine and the other toxins having such an immediate, radical effect on heart rate and blood pressure.
Meanwhile, not sure what value there is in having a smoke-out day. I used to resent having anti-smoking messages shoved in my face, and imagine most of my fellow addicts feel the same way.

Over the weekend, I asked my 3 grandkids this question:
Of your several ancestries (Polish, Italian, Ukrainian, English, Scottish), which do you relate to the most?
Robert (I knew he would) immediately replied, “English”. When he was much younger, he once expressed the wish to sit in a red velvet chair and drink tea.
Emmeline, sensibly, said she didn’t know enough about any of them to make a decision, but it might be Italian, since she likes the food.
Picking up on her lead, James, who loves tacos, said “Mexican”.

The media are making a big deal of Obama’s interviews with prominent Democrats who ran against him in the primaries, comparing his cabinet-building to Lincoln’s at the beginning of his first term in 1860.
Well, if attaining harmony and political advantage by including rivals in the running of the government is one of Obama’s goals, let’s hope he has better luck than Lincoln did.

Continue reading Better Luck

It’s a relief to know that Bill Clinton isn’t afraid to have his overseas financial dealings scrutinized should his wife be nominated for Secretary of State.
That potential impediment put to rest, it sounds like there would be clear sailing for Senator Clinton, and that should be a relief to those of us who respect the office.

Continue reading Madam Secretary?

I don’t care for Barack Obama for a lot of reasons. I didn’t contribute to his campaign or vote for him. But stuff like this is way, way, WAY beyond the pale.
I mean, really, the man has two young children and the worst he’s been guilty of is pulling a few political shenanigans, not capital murder.

We’ve had a stretch of off-and-on mild days, today included. It’s been a little rainy and a lot overcast, but definitely shirt sleeves weather. I was warm wearing a vest.

Continue reading Indian Summer?

Tory leader David “Golden Boy” Cameron was absolutely right, both morally and politically, when he attacked British PM Gordon Brown in Parliament this week for Brown’s repeated refusal to say whether his administration will thoroughly investigate the horrific death of 17 month old boy “Baby P”.

Continue reading What the Hell is Wrong with Gordon Brown?

“Beauty, contrary to what most people think, is not simply in the eye of the beholder,” said lead researcher Daniel Cohen-Or of the Blavatnik School of Computer Sciences at Tel Aviv University.
Attractiveness – for men or women – can be objectified by a computer and boiled down to a function of mathematical distances or ratios, Cohen-Or said, admitting that the work is likely to be controversial.

Continue reading Thank You, Dr. Cohen-Or

I hope that Steve Crisp, father of Brandon Crisp, the Canadian boy who died of injuries after running away from home, is proud of himself.
Worried about his son’s “obsession” with his XBox, Crisp took the gaming console away. So far, so good.
When Brandon threatened to run away, though, Crisp crossed the line from responsible parent to irrational control freak: he helped the kid pack. As he put it, “I really thought he would be home later that day with his tail between his legs.”
Tough. Macho. Good job, Steve-o. I hope you rot in hell.