If you live in the Washington, DC area and have a yearning for a Super Sized dose of cholesterol from Burger King but you're too lazy to drag your fat arse to their drive-thru, you can now just call 'em and they'll deliver. They're test marketing the idea of home delivery at four of their "restaurants" in our beloved nation's capital with an eye to taking the idea coast-to-coast. It seems they now have a "proprietary thermal packaging technology which ensures the Whopper is delivered hot and fresh, and the french fries are delivered hot and crispy."
If Lazy-Boy is as smart as I think they are they'll soon be coming out with a new, heavy-duty, double-wide reclining chair. I can see a big demand for it....in Washington, DC. And eventually coast-to-coast. Just think of the "expanded" contestant pool (pardon the pun) for The Biggest Loser! :)
S
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
I'd make a lousy diplomat
Doesn't anything newsworthy ever happen in Australia, or Denmark, or Chile? Every morning I pull up the news and find the same thing day after day: Iran this, Pakistan that, Iraq...Egypt...Afghanistan...Syria...Libya...etc. I'm sorry, but I flat don't give a rats ass what happens over there. That part of the world is just a giant hell hole as far as I'm concerned. It's almost as if blowing stuff up is their idea of having a good time. And let's face it....if there wasn't oil in that general area, the rest of the world would write it off, too.
Yes, I believe we should share our food and humanitarian supplies with people who are hurting wherever they are, but that generally isn't the way our foreign aid policy works. Most of our generosity goes to governments, who promptly split it up among the top politicians and generals, the people be damned. Last time I looked we had people right here at home who had bare pantries, and we had bridges and roads right here that were crumbling. And unemployed people right here who would love a job building / repairing those crumbling bridges and roads. And broke taxpayers right here who are tired of trying to buy friends all over the world. What is it Dr. Phil says? "....and how's that workin' out for ya?"
I doubt I'll get many comments to this post because, honestly, this is about as un-PC as you're gonna get. I don't care. This is my vehicle to vent. Venting complete.
S
Yes, I believe we should share our food and humanitarian supplies with people who are hurting wherever they are, but that generally isn't the way our foreign aid policy works. Most of our generosity goes to governments, who promptly split it up among the top politicians and generals, the people be damned. Last time I looked we had people right here at home who had bare pantries, and we had bridges and roads right here that were crumbling. And unemployed people right here who would love a job building / repairing those crumbling bridges and roads. And broke taxpayers right here who are tired of trying to buy friends all over the world. What is it Dr. Phil says? "....and how's that workin' out for ya?"
I doubt I'll get many comments to this post because, honestly, this is about as un-PC as you're gonna get. I don't care. This is my vehicle to vent. Venting complete.
S
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Sex sells
It seems there were some ruffled feathers at this year's Consumer Electronics Show over the presence of "booth babes". Anyone who's been to a car show is very familiar with what I'm talking about, but apparently they're just now becoming fashionable in the nerdy world of consumer electronics. The term simply means attractive, provocatively dressed young ladies who mill around by their sponsor's booth attracting attention. People, mainly men, walk over to get a closer look and are snagged by the product rep and given a pitch and some literature.
And quite frankly, it works. Sex (appeal) sells products. You think Go Daddy would be where it is today without Danica Patrick? So, I'm wondering....why aren't there "booth hunks"? Don't tell me women don't like to see good looking men. George Clooney? Daniel Craig? Matthew McConaughey? Ashton Kutcher? (I really don't get that one!) Dos Equis "The Most Interesting Man in the World"?
We all like to look at good looking people, whether they're in a movie, on a magazine cover, at a trade show, or just walking down the street. And there is a HUGE mega-billion dollar industry that tries to get us to believe WE are good looking people, too. (See, there is an upside to myopia!) So what's the big deal over "booth personnel"? ;)
S
And quite frankly, it works. Sex (appeal) sells products. You think Go Daddy would be where it is today without Danica Patrick? So, I'm wondering....why aren't there "booth hunks"? Don't tell me women don't like to see good looking men. George Clooney? Daniel Craig? Matthew McConaughey? Ashton Kutcher? (I really don't get that one!) Dos Equis "The Most Interesting Man in the World"?
We all like to look at good looking people, whether they're in a movie, on a magazine cover, at a trade show, or just walking down the street. And there is a HUGE mega-billion dollar industry that tries to get us to believe WE are good looking people, too. (See, there is an upside to myopia!) So what's the big deal over "booth personnel"? ;)
S
Saturday, January 14, 2012
On your mark....get set....GO....
....to McDonald's.
While there's nothing wrong with it, it just seems funny to me that McDonald's is a Top Sponsor of the Olympic games. They're paying $100M to the IOC to sponsor one summer and one winter game. "Big Mac....the Breakfast of Champions." I dunno.
What's next? The Buick Grand Prix of Monaco? The Poligrip/Depends Molokai Surfing Championship? Or to reverse things, the Red Bull Bingo Invitational?
Marketing gone terribly wrong. ;)
S
While there's nothing wrong with it, it just seems funny to me that McDonald's is a Top Sponsor of the Olympic games. They're paying $100M to the IOC to sponsor one summer and one winter game. "Big Mac....the Breakfast of Champions." I dunno.
What's next? The Buick Grand Prix of Monaco? The Poligrip/Depends Molokai Surfing Championship? Or to reverse things, the Red Bull Bingo Invitational?
Marketing gone terribly wrong. ;)
S
Friday, January 13, 2012
Will we never learn?
We seem to have it in our mind that "bigger is better". We Americans like things BIG. We Texans like thing REALLY BIG. Trouble is, as we're always prone to do, we take things too far.
Once this country's largest air carrier American Airlines is today in bankruptcy. Now comes word that Delta Airlines and US Airways both might make a play to buy American. We're supposed to have anti-trust laws to guarantee competition, but IMO meaningful anti-trust regulation / oversight fell by the wayside long ago. In just the last few years, Delta absorbed Northwest, United absorbed Continental, America West merged with US Air, Southwest snatched up AirTran, and pretty obviously American will be swallowed up by somebody, TBD.
The same with banking. I remember hearing experts say 20 years ago that some day there would be only a handful of mega-banks left. As there was a local community bank on every corner at the time I thought this a ridiculous prediction, but look were we are today. We're well on our way. Homebuilding: Today a handful of national homebuilders control over half the market, and their share is growing. Retailers: Think Wal Mart. 'Nuff said.
A hundred years ago we broke up "big railroad" and "big oil", rightly proclaiming it would be good for competition, and therefore for the people. I understand the principle of "economy of scale". I also understand the reality of "too big to fail" and "moral hazard".
Once again we're getting run over, and we just sit here and meekly take it. The people we've elected to look out for our interests are failing us. I guess we're getting what we deserve.
(Sorry for the boring post. I guess I read / think too much.)
S
Once this country's largest air carrier American Airlines is today in bankruptcy. Now comes word that Delta Airlines and US Airways both might make a play to buy American. We're supposed to have anti-trust laws to guarantee competition, but IMO meaningful anti-trust regulation / oversight fell by the wayside long ago. In just the last few years, Delta absorbed Northwest, United absorbed Continental, America West merged with US Air, Southwest snatched up AirTran, and pretty obviously American will be swallowed up by somebody, TBD.
The same with banking. I remember hearing experts say 20 years ago that some day there would be only a handful of mega-banks left. As there was a local community bank on every corner at the time I thought this a ridiculous prediction, but look were we are today. We're well on our way. Homebuilding: Today a handful of national homebuilders control over half the market, and their share is growing. Retailers: Think Wal Mart. 'Nuff said.
A hundred years ago we broke up "big railroad" and "big oil", rightly proclaiming it would be good for competition, and therefore for the people. I understand the principle of "economy of scale". I also understand the reality of "too big to fail" and "moral hazard".
Once again we're getting run over, and we just sit here and meekly take it. The people we've elected to look out for our interests are failing us. I guess we're getting what we deserve.
(Sorry for the boring post. I guess I read / think too much.)
S
Thursday, January 12, 2012
My first....
No, not that first. *wink*
My friend Stephen recently gave us a story about his first pet, a rat. My first thought was, "A rat? What an odd pet." Then I remembered my first pet, and all of a sudden his rat started looking pretty good.
When I was about 8 my dad took a friend and me to the state fair. Somewhere in there amidst all the booths and rides and hucksters we found a vendor selling tiny little chameleons and dad bought us boys both one. They had a string with a slip-knot on one end tied around the little lizard's neck, and on the other end was a safety pin. You attached the pin to your collar and let the critter crawl around on your shirt....mine eventually taking up residence on my shoulder. I can't remember if I ever even gave it a name, I say "it" because I had no idea if it was a male or a female. Looking back on the whole episode there were two factors that made this possible at all. One, my mom didn't go with us to the fair that year (no way in hell she would have let be bring a reptile back into her house), and two, this was before PETA.
When we got home my dad told me to take it straight to my room and don't tell mom. Somehow mom found it anyway, and let us all know in no uncertain terms she was NOT happy. I promised to take care of it, keep it in my room only, yada yada, and she agreed to let me keep him...er...her...er...
Until she changed her mind the next day. That's when I was called to the Principal's office to take an emergency phone call. Well, at least it was an emergency to my mother. It seems that my chameleon had slipped its knot and was loose somewhere in her house, and she wanted me home right then to hunt for it. You would have thought a Bengal tiger had escaped from the circus! Jeez, could that woman scream.
Long story short, we found the poor thing several days later sunning him/herself on a window ledge in the den. Right behind mom's chair. *ouch* I last saw it scurrying off into the shrubbery by the back door with my mother in hot pursuit, swinging a broom. Adios, amigo.
S
My friend Stephen recently gave us a story about his first pet, a rat. My first thought was, "A rat? What an odd pet." Then I remembered my first pet, and all of a sudden his rat started looking pretty good.
When I was about 8 my dad took a friend and me to the state fair. Somewhere in there amidst all the booths and rides and hucksters we found a vendor selling tiny little chameleons and dad bought us boys both one. They had a string with a slip-knot on one end tied around the little lizard's neck, and on the other end was a safety pin. You attached the pin to your collar and let the critter crawl around on your shirt....mine eventually taking up residence on my shoulder. I can't remember if I ever even gave it a name, I say "it" because I had no idea if it was a male or a female. Looking back on the whole episode there were two factors that made this possible at all. One, my mom didn't go with us to the fair that year (no way in hell she would have let be bring a reptile back into her house), and two, this was before PETA.
When we got home my dad told me to take it straight to my room and don't tell mom. Somehow mom found it anyway, and let us all know in no uncertain terms she was NOT happy. I promised to take care of it, keep it in my room only, yada yada, and she agreed to let me keep him...er...her...er...
Until she changed her mind the next day. That's when I was called to the Principal's office to take an emergency phone call. Well, at least it was an emergency to my mother. It seems that my chameleon had slipped its knot and was loose somewhere in her house, and she wanted me home right then to hunt for it. You would have thought a Bengal tiger had escaped from the circus! Jeez, could that woman scream.
Long story short, we found the poor thing several days later sunning him/herself on a window ledge in the den. Right behind mom's chair. *ouch* I last saw it scurrying off into the shrubbery by the back door with my mother in hot pursuit, swinging a broom. Adios, amigo.
S
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
"They got the elevator, we got the shaft"
I've become fairly knowledgeable about the financial deregulation of the 1990's (although I'll stop well short of calling myself an expert) and the door it opened up for the "blow-and-go"....actually more like "smoke-and-mirrors"....first decade of the 21'st Century. As we're now painfully aware, all that gee-wizz "financial engineering" that brought Wall Street (used generically to include the big banks, hedge funds, insurers, brokerages, etc) immense wealth actually produced little of real value. Many respected scholars and actual insiders to what was going on told us years ago that we were on a very slippery slope, but they were drowned out by the lobby for those raking in BILLIONS of dollars in commissions and bonuses. Those were heady days, and we didn't want to hear any bad news. Things turned out just like that old song said they would: "They got the elevator, we got the shaft."
Now here we are in 2012, an election year. Mitt Romney appears to be on a roll and will likely be the Republican nominee for President. He was one of those who profited mightily from those deregulated times, and so are his current financial backers. They really want to see him elected as they have visions of returning to the good 'ol days (for them at least). They assume he'll call off those who are clamoring for re-regulation, and based on what he's said so far in his campaigning, he will.
I'm no fan of Barack Obama, or more specifically, I'm no fan of the Obama administration. IMO, he has surrounded himself with advisers who are doing him and the American people a disservice. They are individually brilliant, but collectively inept. "What is" and "what could have been" are, sadly, two very different things.
So what will our likely choices be this November? More of what we have now (how depressing is that?) or a replay of what we had before (YIKES!). Some choice, huh?
S
Now here we are in 2012, an election year. Mitt Romney appears to be on a roll and will likely be the Republican nominee for President. He was one of those who profited mightily from those deregulated times, and so are his current financial backers. They really want to see him elected as they have visions of returning to the good 'ol days (for them at least). They assume he'll call off those who are clamoring for re-regulation, and based on what he's said so far in his campaigning, he will.
I'm no fan of Barack Obama, or more specifically, I'm no fan of the Obama administration. IMO, he has surrounded himself with advisers who are doing him and the American people a disservice. They are individually brilliant, but collectively inept. "What is" and "what could have been" are, sadly, two very different things.
So what will our likely choices be this November? More of what we have now (how depressing is that?) or a replay of what we had before (YIKES!). Some choice, huh?
S
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