Eclectricity

War and Snacks

2007-11-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

The shortage of sugar in World War II led to a surge in popularity of salted snacks such as potato chips since salt and potatoes were relatively plentiful.

Too Logical for Europe.

2005-01-05T11:10:00.000-08:00

Speaking of the scattered legislative operations of the European Union and the logistical difficulties it produces, EU Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen observed:

To have all the institutions concentrated in Brussels would be an American solution. It would be effective, it would be clear, but we can't do that.

No wonder we can't get along with the Europeans.

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal, January 5, 2005.

I Came, I Saw, I Fumbled.

2005-01-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

This exchange apparently happened between announcers Keith Jackson and Dan Fouts in the 2005 Michigan-Texas Rose Bowl game:

Fouts: "They can say veni, vidi, vici."
Jackson: "Ah yes, how sweet the wine."
Fouts (after a pause): "Wrong play."

How Not to Do a Stick-Up

2004-12-30T06:48:00.001-08:00

Global Warming, Which Art in Heaven.

2004-12-27T16:01:00.000-08:00

Global warming is becoming a religion says an MIT prof. When you consider that the earth has warmed and cooled much more in centuries past than since 1900, he may be right.

Bringing Home the Bacon...And Venison.

2004-12-27T15:53:00.000-08:00

More women hunters are taking to the woods.

I Am (Redneck) Woman...Hear Me Roar.

2004-12-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Country music has a remarkable new voice--Gretchen Wilson. Her anthem about ordinary women, "Redneck Woman", rocketed to the top of the charts and stayed there for weeks. Her life story reads like a classic country song--high school dropout with an alcoholic, coke-addicted mother, who lived in a trailer and worked as a bartender for years before hitting it big because of her wonderful voice. Gretchen brings her defiant voice to a time when when the common people in the "red states" are in revolt against the snooty, sophisticates in the coastal "blue states". Here's to you, Gretchen, as you say "keepin' it country".

UPDATE: Gretchen's video can be accessed via this page and a CBS News article about her is here.
An article in USA Today can be access from the same page as the video.

Legally Correct Holiday Greeting.

2004-12-22T07:24:00.000-08:00

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all ...

... And a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "AMERICA" in the Western Hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Pistol Packing Mamas.

2004-12-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

Handgun sales to women are increasing according to the San Antonio Express News.

Action Man Toy Sparks Sea Rescue.

2004-12-19T08:03:00.000-08:00

Action toys are moving from looking real to engaging in real activities.

Shoo In for Darwin Award.

2004-12-15T14:34:00.000-08:00

These guys will undoubtedly win a Darwin Award this year, one posthumously.

Book Review: "Born FIghting" by James Webb

2004-12-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

James Webb, novelist and former Secretary of the Navy, writes about the Scots-Irish, one of the more influential and least publicized ethnic groups in the United States. The Scots-Irish were Scots Lowlanders from the Scotland-England border area, who emigrted to Ulster in the early 1600s. The turmoil from that emigration are still with us in Northern Ireland.

From about 1700 to the time of the American Revolution, perhaps 400,000 Ulster Scots emigrated to the United States to avoid religious discrimination at the hands of the Anglican Church and drastically increased rents on their farm land. Initially they were recruited by the State of Pennsylvania to act as a buffer against hostile Indian tribes, but soon they spilled down the Great Wagon Road into western Virginia and the Carolinas. The Scots-Irish often simply "squatted" on open frontier land not bothering to benefit of legal title.

They formed the bulk of the frontiersmen who crossed the Appalachians into Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. They also continued the Southerly trek in to Georgia and then swept across the South to Texas. Later they spilled over into the Great Plains and into the Rocky Mountains.

The Scots-Irish were fiercely independent, extremely prideful and eager to fight. They comprised a larger percentage of the Continental Army and did the bulk of the fighting in the Indian Wars. Nevertheless they were very religious. Most eventually abandoned their original Presbyterianism for the Baptist faith. Politically, they are fiercely democratic and will not do what they are told regardless of the consequences.

In modern American the descendants of the Scots-Irish form the bulk of the working people in America's heartland. Their culture is that of the poor Southern white and the truck driver. They gave us the Southern and midwestern twang as well as country music and NASCAR.

Webb gives an interesting explanation for their penchant for substandard housing. He says that the lives of the Scots Lowlanders were plagued by constant battles with the English. Their houses were burned again and again, and they soon learned not to build anything of value. This practice continued in America with their quickly-constructed and often quickly-abandoned frontier log cabins and, yes, even the trailer parks of today that gave us the "trailer trash" epithet.

The red state-blue state split in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections can be explained in part by the influence of the Scots-Irish. The East and West Coast intellctuals of the red states try to impose their social ideas from above much like the Anglicans tried to impose their religion on Scotland and Ulster in the old days. They ridicule the people of "flyover" country as "knuckle-dragging Bible thumpers" and "rednecks" and disparage their social and religious values. The red state denizens insist on making up their own minds and refuse to bow their "betters" as did the Presbyterians of old. They bask in the epithets and the ridicule of the intellectuals.

Webb has done an excellent job of providing a historic perspective on these influential people and their continuing influence on American culture today.

Parking Lot "Shootout"

2004-12-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

When an Oklahoma company fired several employees who had firearms in their cars on the company parking lot, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a new state statute permitting the practice. Several large companies have sued to enjoin enforcement of the new law. Whirlpool Corporateion withdrew from the suit after gun rights groups threatened a boycott, but others such as ConocoPhillips are continuing.

See here also.

Optical Illusion They Say

2004-12-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

Stare at it long enough and you will see a giraffe. Really.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

2004-12-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

A Michigan teenager goes on her first deer hunt.

A Liberal Takes Up the Gun

2004-12-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

Self proclaimed Massachusetts liberal, Joel Beck, goes to the shooting range...and survives. Sounds like he kinda liked it.

And here is another similar story.

Reason Enough To Buy A Good Trailer Hitch

2004-12-11T13:03:00.001-08:00

Duh, You Gotta Light?

2004-12-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

A UK study says smoking lowers IQ. Now we know why no on pays attention to those warning labels.

Hunting for Couch Potatoes

2004-12-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

If you thought hunting was a good way to get exercise, check out what Texan John Underwood has done. Underwood has stirred quite a controvery by offering on-line hunting on his South Texas ranch via his web site. Underwood set up a gun and camera on his ranch that can be controlled by a hunter via the Internet. For the time being cyber-hunters can shoot only at paper targets, but he is stocking his ranch with non-native game animals that are not controlled by Texas law. Soon cyber-hunters will be able to shoot at real animals. Animal rights groups are not pleased.

Get Into Dodge!

2004-12-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

Dodge City, Kansas, has honored former Deputy Marshall Wyatt Earp with a statue on its Trail of Fame. The statue shows him with a long-barreled Buntline special, a gun that many think he never used.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

2004-12-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

Michigan's Largest Tourist Attraction...Really!

2004-09-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

Several years ago when driving to Colorado from Iowa along IH 80, I noticed a large building at the Sidney, Nebraska exit. It had a huge parking lot filled with cars, trucks and buses. I passed it on several trips, and each time I wondered what it was. Was it a hotel? Casino? No, nothing made sense.

I finally decided to stop and investigate. The sign on the front said "Cabela's", which meant nothing to me. When I walked inside, I was astounded. Never have I seen such a monstrous sporting goods store! They even had a mountain in the middle of the display floor with a mounted mountain goat atop it. Cabela's became a regular stop for me when I drove to Colorado.

I now live in Michigan, and several years ago Cabela's opened a store at Dundee, Michigan, which is on US 23 not far from the Ohio border. It is the second largest store in the chain, and it is fabulous! Over 6 million people visit the store each year, and it is Michigan's largest tourist attraction.

The Dundee store is huge store with a myriad of items every conceivable outdoor activity, including many fascinating gadgets you won't find any place else. The store is dominated by an indoor mountain with all sorts of mounted wildlife on and near it. The cafe serves all sorts of wild game sandwiches and dishes. There is even an indoor trout stream. And they have a place to park your RV overnight.

Check it out. You'll love it.

Pledge Surprise

2004-09-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

I still like the Pledge of Allegiance and don't mind reciting "under God", but this story on the origins of pledge are a bit disturbing.

Davy Crockett's View of the Constitution

2004-09-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

Davy Crockett is not normally viewed as a student of government, but his ideas on the Constiution are right on.

In an 1884 biography of David Crockett, Edward Sylvester Ellis reproduces a speech by Crockett illustrating his commitment to the principles of limited government. It is a remarkable statement by an almost illiterate man, and it still resonates today.

One day in the House, a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The speaker was just about to put the question when Rep. David Crockett arose:"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living.

"I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on this floor knows it. We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett said: "Several years ago, I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some members of Congress when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. In spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made houseless. . . . The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done. A bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We rushed it through.

"The next summer, when riding one day in a part of my district. I saw a man in a field plowing. I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but rather coldly. "

'You are Colonel Crockett. I shall not vote for you again.' "

"I begged him tell me what was the matter."

"'Well Colonel, you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. You voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by fire in Georgetown.

" 'Certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing treasury,' I replied."

"'It is not the amount, Colonel, it is the principle. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man. . . . You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.'

" 'You have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people.'

"Now, sir," concluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday. . . . You remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men--men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people."

(Com)Post Mortem

2004-05-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

A Swedish company will freeze dry a dead body and pulverize it, turning it into compost that the bereaved survivors can use to fertilize a memorial tree.