A Thoroughly Musical Ford

Check this out –
        Making a musical Ford

Kim Komando wrote about this in early March, 2009 – I don’t know where or
when this ad actually aired, but it is incredibly ingenious – and it had to take
a ton of time and money to put it all together.

First Ford refused bail-out money.
Second, they didn’t go bankrupt.
Third, they are increasing market share and maybe increasing production, in the
spirit of the original Henry Ford.
Fourth: They put out the bucks for an ad like that!

This is definitely the kind of spirit and thinking that once defined America – and we need to foster that attitude and encourage such enterprise again.
(btw – it appears the ad was made in London, England …)

We’ve been a mostly GM and Dodge family for the past 25 years, but now I’m starting to think that maybe Ford really does have a better idea …….

Here’s Kim’s original article:
        Kim Komando: Ode to a Ford

[Thanks to Tom for putting this in front of my eyes.]

Bill Hearne, R.I.P.

The Rochester area lost a solid citizen on Thursday. Bill Hearne died while climbing Mt. McKinley in Alaska at the age of 61

He was one of the founders of the Oven Door Runners that runs on Saturday mornings at 6:30am (7am in January) year round from the Hitching Post Plaza in Bushnell’s Basin.

For the couple of years I ran with them, he was always there bright and early, and managed to be cheerful at that ungodly hour. Rain, shine or snow, he would have some challenging route picked out that would take an hour or two (or more) out of your early Saturday morning, and we would grab coffee and pastries afterwards at the Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters. (Mark Roberts captured the Saturday morning Bill very well in his 2003 piece – My First Long Run.)

Bill was also involved with music – he was a member of Mercury Opera Rochester, and would promote their performances to the running community – a “new age” form of cross-pollination bringing culture to the running heathens.

A “hail fellow, well met” , a Kodaker, an engineer – a true Renaissance Man in every sense of the word – he will be sorely missed.

Update – May 17, 2009:
In doing a post about Eva Cassidy, I was struck by how she was taken from this life years too soon, in much the same way many feel about Bill’s passing.

I’d like to think he might have enjoyed her version of the traditional Irish tune:         Danny Boy

Bill certainly had all the great spirit of a fine Irish fellow!

Rotten Eggs: Bad Drywall from China?

WAIT! No – don’t tell me….let me guess. Another basic, garden variety,
low-tech product made in China at an amazing low cost, by using
low wages, shoddy practices, and substandard or illegal materials.

But bad drywall??? What could possibly go wrong with plasterboard?
How about a constant rotten-egg sulfur smell – like hidden Easter eggs
that were not found for a few months.

This story appears similar to to previous stories where Chinese product defects
only came to light when:

• – children started dying (melamine in powdered milk)
• – children got sick (chemically tainted toothpaste, lead paint on toys)
• – people died in car crashes (tread separation on defective tires)

The list goes on and on. Western companies aided their own destruction
by investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new Chinese factories to take
advantage of the wage disparity. Unfortunately, it seems that the Chinese do
not as a whole share our traditions of trying to create the best product at the
lowest cost; the Chinese ethos seems to be “create the lowest cost product
regardless of the consequences.”

Europe Syndrome in America?

Last month Charles Murray gave a speech to the American Enterprise Institute titled:
        “Europe Syndrome”

It’s a good speech, and I would have liked to hear him deliver it in person.

Many of you might remember Randy Pausch – the Carnegie Mellon professor who developed terminal cancer. He gave his last speech “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” to a packed hall filled with students and friends, and before dying he expanded it into a best-selling book “The Last Lecture.”

Charles Murray’s speech was equally compelling to me, but discusses the “meaning of life” concept from a different perspective.

A Better Commander-in-Chief?

Say what you will about George W. Bush, but following September 11, 2001, he took whatever steps he felt necessary – with the consent of both parties in Congress – to secure and defend our country.   The record shows that he was successful;   we were not attacked again while he was in office.

Three news stories today painted a disturbing picture of our new Commander-in-Chief’s program:

1. Medvedev Announces Plan to Rearm Russia

2. Gates readies Big Cuts in Weapons

3. Obama might make wounded vets pay for treatment

Read them carefully – they may chart our country’s new direction. Each article sheds a little light on the “Obama Way”, which sadly reminds me of a world leader during the 1930’s.

Two Presidents – One Marine Corps

I have a high regard for marines and the Marine Corps.
The vast majority of marines consider their honor one of
their greatest possessions, and they highly value courage,
loyalty, and achievement – that whole “getting it done!” thing.

They say there are no “former marines” – you are a Marine for
life (with the exception of Jack Murtha – see notes at the end),
and their assessment and evaluation of the character of an
individual is based on what that person does, not what he
or she says.

Thus you might find the following YouTube video
informative, if not instructive.  It shows the response of
marines to our current and former presidents:
Marines’ receptions of the two presidents.

Of course, if you are one of the unenlightened folks who
think that Marines are close relatives of Neanderthals,
then their evaluation may not impress, but it carries a
certain weight with me.

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds of  Instapundit, and Roger
Kimball of Roger’s Rules for pointing me to the video.
Other bloggers who filed similar stories were
Gateway Pundit and The Astute Bloggers.

Notes:
John “Jack” Murtha is the despicable Pennsylvania congressman
who verbally tried and convicted the Haditha marines of
war crimes, while deflecting investigation into his own misdeeds.
He initially avoided some investigations back in 2004/2005  by
changing sides and coming out in opposition to the Iraq war,
after having initially supported it.  Thus any prosecutions would
have had the appearance of retaliation, and so he seemed to benefit
greatly by this change of position.   There are many vets and
marines that are disgusted with Murtha, and consider him,
along with Lee Harvey Oswald, to be an “Ex-Marine.”
There is much info about him on the web;  some of it is gathered
here.

Was Global warming Disproved in 2008?

Recently I e-mailed some friends a link to a story in The Telegraph
(London, England) by a fellow named Christopher Booker:
Man-made Global Warming Disproved in 2008

One of my friends replied:

Utter nonsense. Christopher Booker has no scientific
credentials whatsoever:
Denialists scraping the bottom

Here is my response (with a few edits and corrections since I first sent it off). What do you think?

Fixing Global Warming?

From the British newspaper – The Times of London.
This article analyzes the potential effects (miniscule)
and costs (enormous) of the current world-wide
plans to reduce global warming.
Why cut .0003 degree in Global Warming?

(Bjorn Lomberg is the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist.)

“Hate-Speech” Laws Run Amok

Hi folks –

We all know how great it is to be Americans, with our
core values and the Bill of Rights built into our Constituion.

But over the past 10- 20 years, there has been a steady
drumbeat of people who think we should try to more
closely emulate the example of our European friends,
and their counterparts in Canada.

Unfortunately, these trends seem to have had some unintended
consequences (as do so many well-intentioned gov’t interventions).
In Canada and Europe,  they have completely degraded and in some
cases even eliminated the freedoms we cherish so deeply here
in the USA – freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and in
some cases the freedom of religion as well.

In Canada, the author Mark Steyn has been brought up on
charges by provincial “Human Rights Commisions” because
some Muslims took offense at passages from his book
“America Alone” that was published in the US.
Mark Steyn’s Kangaroo Court prosecution

In another case, Ezra Levant, the publisher of the Weekly
Standard, was put through almost three years of hell
because he decided to reprint the Danish cartoons on
Muhammed in his Canadian newspaper as newsworthy –
to show what was causing all the brouhaha in Denmark:
Weekly Standard prosecution by Human Rights tribunal

And in Canada again, there is the case of the Rev. Stephen
Boisson, a youth pastor, who wrote a letter to the “Red Deer
Advocate” speaking out against the homosexual lifestyle. He’s
been persecuted for years by a human rights commission,
fined, and told he can not speak or write about the topic of
homosexuality ever again, and they ordered him to publish a
letter in the paper renouncing his religious views:
Rev. Stephen Boissoin case – Alberta Human Rights

In fact, before Mark Steyn’s highly publicized case, every
person brought up on “hate speech” charges before  these
Human Rights tribunals was convicted – often in a process that
took years and was not subject to normal rules of evidence or
law.  Kangaroo courts is too kindly a way to describe them.
In this link, you may have to scroll down to Ezra Levants remarks.
Ezra Levants remarks – I am a major crime scene!

And then there is Europe, where the Muslims have been burning
cars and buses in France for years, but the press is only
allowed to call them “unhappy youths” and is not permitted to
mention that they are immigrants or Muslims.
Frank vanHecke  and Vlaams Belang party persecuted

Things have been bad in Holland for a while, but they have
gone completely insane in Belgium.  You need to read  about
how they now use the charge of “racism”:
Bart Debie – former police officer – City councilman

It is unbelievable.- and this form of Euro political correctness
is spreading and gaining currency.

So when Barack Obama spoke before a throng of over 50,000
in Berlin, and speaks approvingly of going in the same direction
and getting on the same page as our friends in Europe, I get
worried.

Our freedomos were very hard-won, but they can be very quickly
eroded, eaten away by the scourge of political correctness and
the temptation to say that no one should ever be “offended”.

I think that the risk of being offended is the price you pay to
live in a free society.  Once the government starts to limit what
you can or can’t say (other than crying “Fire!” in a theater or
inciting to riot), then we have reached the point where we are
no longer free, “1984” has arrived, and we have to worry not only
about what we say, but what we write,  and maybe even what
we think.  Can the “thought police” be far behind?

Pat Acer
November 3, 2008