Angry Bovines

I spotted an article on the Consumer Reports web site, regarding TSEs (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies) .. there's some good information about mutant proteins and prions in their article : Mad cow update: How to limit your risk.

I read yesterday that the government is considering mandating RFID tags (along with retina matching) for cattle, instead of those easy-to-change ear tags. The Canadian program is called NLID (National Livestock Identification for Dairy). I think that's a really good idea; there's far too much risk that an errant rancher will try to bypass the law when one of their cows turns sick (so-called "downer cows") and they risk the loss of income. Something should be done so that the ranchers don't lose their investment if they have to dispose of an animal, rather than butcher and sell it.

Jill-Bob elaborated: "sometimes downer cows are as such because they have a broken leg or other affliction completely unrelated to Mad Cow or some other illness. Heck, maybe it just has a cold and doesn't feel like getting up and walking. "

I suspect we haven't heard the end of Mad Cow quite yet. For example, there's an article in a Singapore paper about the health risks of all US beef, given common (lax) slaughter practices: Muscle cuts are mad-cow safe? Bull!

Feed Me, Entertain Me

Several years ago (when I lived in the suburbs of Los Angeles), I went to a restaurant called Ed Debevic's. It was a recreation of a 1950's diner, where the staff was encouraged to act the part, in addition to just getting diner-style food. The neon sign said "Eat at Ed's"; they were always busy. A plus was the local talent pool: many of the staff were aspiring actors and actresses (but this one was located in Torrance, which is a long way from Hollywood and the hiring directors). I remember a gum-chewing waitress "named" Shirley who sat down and had a (50's era) conversation with us. I wish there were more places like that; life is too boring.

The only apparent web presence of Ed Debevic's is on the FeaturedFoods.com website, so I'm not sure if they changed their affiliation, or if I never had it right in the first place. Sadly, the only remaining location is where Ed's started: Chicago. I thought they were part of the legendary Lettuce Entertain You (Let Us=Lettuce, get it?) group, but I could be wrong. Here in Dallas, the only representative of that group is Maggiano's Little Italy®, which has two locations.

I nosed around a website listing restaurants in Torrance CA to confirm that Ed Debevic's isn't there any longer. I did spot a few places that I fondly remember, including El Pollo Loco ("the crazy chicken") which was an excellent chicken QSR (Quick Service Restaurant). I deem them excellent because they actually seemed to care about delivering a healthy product.

John Lewis? nah, too plain ... let's try Jona Lewie

Last night, I watched an old movie on VHS (does anyone remember tape?) : The Graduate (1967) .. on my new Sony DVD-VHS deck. I like the way that new VHS decks do a "smart rewind" of the tape, going very fast until it nears the end, at which time it slows, so as not to rip the tape apart. The new deck will work better with my other Sony stuff, but its arrival created the need to shuffle things, so I moved the Sharp DVD-VHS to the bedroom, and now the Sony VHS-only unit (from the bedroom) will be seeking a new home.

I now have 3 electronic gadgets to dispose (others are a first-generation satellite receiver and another VCR, all of them working but just older stuff). I found the old remote controls and manuals; now I just need boxes. I should list them on eBay, which is better than paying the newspaper for a classified ad (they don't refund if it doesn't sell).

Deep Thought #20: classified advertising used to be a cash cow; I wonder how long that'll last, in this age of the Internet?

I no longer have any VHS-only units in the house, which suits me just fine. I'm also happy to see how prevalent the combo units have become; even a year ago it was rare to see them in the stores, and now they're everywhere. Heck, I even mailed a letter (remember those?) to Consumer Reports a few years ago, asking them to review these dual-purpose units, since they had not previously done so (I received a form letter thanking me for my suggestion).

I remembered that I even owned that tape of The Graduate after doing a periodic "removal of duplicates" from my movie collection. No matter how much I try, I seem to buy DVDs of movies that I already own on VHS, so I end up with duplicates. Somehow, I ended up with 13 of those, so I took them to Half-Price Books and sold them for about $1 each (I should go back to the store today, to see how much they were marked up).

Rather than take the cash, I bought 2 CDs and my first-ever book-on-tape (it's for a book that I already own, but will be referring back to, so I wanted the quick way of finding out everything that's in the book). Once I got the cassette tape home, I nearly panicked when I didn't remember if I still had anything other than a portable unit on which to play it! Fortunately (!) I'd forgotten that there's a "dubbing deck" in my stereo component rack (allows quick copies of cassettes).

Two of my favorite "Christmas songs" are upbeat-yet-dark: one is a 1980 diddy called Stop the Cavalry, by Jona Lewie; it caught my attention on a Doctor Demento collection. Not knowing anything about Jona, I Googled and found: Jona Lewie's biography. Turns out he was a member of Terry Dactyl & The Dinosaurs, producing a one-hit wonder called Sea Side Shuffle. My other favorite is Weird Al Yankovic's Christmas at Ground Zero. After listening to them both, I am a happy camper.

Will go to the Angelika tonight to see Bubba Ho-Tep (a story about what really happened to Elvis and JFK, when they collaborated in a west Texas nursing home (obviously a documentary!).

Friday Five

What was your biggest accomplishment this year?
stringing together a bunch of small things into big things. this goes for both work and home. at home, it was combining lots of small projects, when added together, making for big changes overall (wow .. is this the same house?). this includes complete repainting; conversion of one room to a real exercise room; re-roofing (after the April hailstorm); gutter covers; removal of the old phone jacks, cable TV jacks; garage cabinet installation; etc.

What was your biggest disappointment?
not hitting my target weight by year's end. i came within 10 pounds, then would slide back to 14 over, then back to within 10, but can't yet break the barrier. it has got to be mental, at this stage. i've seen numerous plateaus over the course, and they seem to disappear rapidly, in search of the next (lower) mesa.

What do you hope the new year brings?
it won't happen, but .. i'd like to see Usama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda group Get A Clue. Osama: your bullying tactics (yes, including mass murder) make you worse than the perceived wrong you are seeking to right. My suggestion? Change your tactics. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi were on the right track .. non-violent change of thought is the answer, but much harder. IMHO, life's most difficult lesson is tolerance.

Deep Thought #19: what happens if you meet extra-terrestrials, compare notes, and find that (insert name of random religion) doesn't exist on that distant planet? Doesn't that make your religion a sham? (and yes, this requires faith that We Are Not Alone)

Will you be making any New Year's resolutions? If yes, what will they be?
no; they're a waste of time. this doesn't mean i won't have goals to meet, but resolutions are intended to make other people think you're serious about stuff.

What are your plans for New Year's Eve?
no plans yet .. i typically won't decide on anything until i'm within 48 hours of The Big Event, anyhoo. maybe i should do something radically different this year? hmm.

Speaking of suspicious ...

An out-of-state relative forwarded a long, boring story about some yo in Houston who got a $200 ticket for not slowing down while passing a parked (flashing lights on) ambulance.

Those emails commonly smell of being fake, so I tracked down the reference to Senate Bill 193 (SB193) and found that there is a new law on that issue. Along with many others, SB193 is conveniently explained on the TexasMotorists.org web site (they're affiliated with the National Motorists Association (NMA)); the specific page is New Laws and Announcements - NMA Texas.

Although TexasMotorists.org is a decent web site with good, factual information, I'm a suspicious guy. I wondered about the National Motorists Association, so I used one of the web tools to find who owns the domain name, and found it registered to James Baxter of Waunakee, Wisconsin. The web site lists him as President, and someone else as a Communications Director, but few other details.

The home page of the NMA goes so far as to taunt MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to prove that their figures are correct (the exact quote is: "NHTSA and MADD proclaimed that 17,970 people were killed by drunk drivers in 2002. We say prove it!"); this will not win the NMA any friends, except amongst those who willfully drive drunk. For all I know, the NMA is a guy working out of his basement, and his Communications Director is a drinkin' buddy who lives down the street (hey, I could be wrong).

of BodPods and El Toro

The BMI calculator says that I should weigh between 129 and 173, to be in the [normal] range for someone 5'10" tall. That's 151 ±22 pounds with an associated BMI of 18.5-24.9. Okay .. I like precise numbers for which to aim.

The George told me about the BodPod, but I suspect those are outlawed in Texas; it doesn't look enough like El Toro (the bucking bronco machine @ Gilley's).

I agree with the BodPod's premise: "The scale cannot tell the difference between a pound of fat and a pound of muscle" but I have one of those body fat analyzer scales (from Measurement Specialties, found at the local Bed, Bath & Beyond) which uses a small electrical impulse to make those measurements. Caveat: it doesn't work if you're wearing socks (darn!).

and while I'm in the neighborhood ...

Yesterday was the annual Last Friday Before Winter Break, Let's See How Much Meat We Can Consume at Texas de Brazil (one of 3 Brazilian steakhouses in the Metroplex). I felt like I was attending a study group of Atkins dieters.

Jill-Bob mused at joining the 50 States Marathon Club but she can't be serious! However, a sample would be kewl .. heck, I'd go with her to the Brookings Marathon in South Dakota next May, if only to see nearby (412 miles) Mount Rushmore. Brookings is a mere 950 miles from Dallas, with easy directions: take I-35 to I-29. I wonder if I could squeeze my KPS - 1800 in the boot of Ziggy Z?

Unrelated: Modern Kids Don't Smile When They Visit Santa is fundamentally flawed; the sample size is a mere 30 children.