Trader Thorne

Maybe the ailing car retailers of 2009 could benefit from watching this old training video. It's short, but in six parts, the subsequent five of which are after the jump.




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The Big Snit

Personally, I would happily watch a TV show titled "Sawing for Teens."

Television-Related Disorders

Two television-related disorders reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Television Angina: Observed at a clinic for coronary diseases... This affected 20% of those patients with angina pectoris who watched television programs and was provoked by seeing violent incidents on the screen... commercials were innocuous, but Westerns and plays or films depicting violence or excitement often provoked anginal attacks. (JAMA, Apr 25, 1959)

Television Legs: Canada has discovered the syndrome of "TV legs," thereby demonstrating what should have been obvious, namely, that if a youngster habitually slumps in front of a TV screen for hours at a time, he will not end up as physically fit as his forefathers did. A physical fitness director in a thriving Toronto suburb surveyed 300 children in a day-long series of tests, and showed that 55% could not pass the minimum tests and 85% failed the maximum tests. The most common fault was a lack of flexibility in the legs and lower back, traceable to spending long hours sitting in front of TV sets... It is going to be difficult to find a set of controls who do not view TV and thus to assess the exact part played by this pastime in promoting ill-health. (JAMA, Apr 19, 1958)

Temple Explodes the Chicken Cube

One menu listing "temple explodes the chicken cube" I would dismiss as random Engrish. But two menus? Maybe this is a popular dish.

[News] It’s Your Call, Kid

The title is from the Globe & Mail's story yesterday about the "consensual living" philosophy as it applies to your little urchins, who are presumed, even the toddlers, to be rational people with at least substantially well-developed senses of perspective. CL says every family member's needs are equally valid, regardless of age. No reward and punishment, no coercion, direct or indirect. Everybody–even the babbling 2-yr-old—is assumed to be in command of himself and to know what's good for him (or to realize that some decisions are beyond his 2-yr-old brain but that he'll have the sense to raise the issue politely with the other members of the family). The Globe & Mail's lede: Savannah Leavey, 6, has worn her Halloween cat costume all the time (except for washing) every day for nearly six months, and mom's fine with this (though mom sounds like she's got an issue or two, herself). Not sure how many devotees there are, but the Yahoo Group has 900 members.

Core Principles:
(1) Everyone's wants and needs are equally valid, regardless of age.
(2) Children can be trusted to know their own minds and bodies.
(3) Punishments and rewards are tools of manipulation, unneeded when family members work as a team.
(4) There is a creative solution that works for everyone.
(5) Each family member has a positive intent and desires harmony.
(6) When all are secure that their needs will be met, they will branch out and help others meet their needs.

Globe & Mail (Toronto) /// Consensual-Living.com

Today's Newsrangers: Robert Ward, Garrett Kiefer, Joe Church

Trunk Monkey

Perhaps not quite so funny since several deadly chimp attacks. Visit here for the history of this campaign.

Death by Molasses

We're a couple of months late with this one: sorry! The 90th anniversary of the Great Boston Molasses Flood, which killed 21 people.

[News] A Carousel of Losers

Thomas Meehan, 59, drove to the State Patrol office in Tacoma, Wash., to register his car, as required by law, but you'd think he would've sobered up first. KIRO-TV (Seattle)

A Brookeville, Ind., couple (Lloyd Conn, 34, and Tiffany Hollins, 21), who are registered with the local parole office and theoretically know they can be visited at any time, were visited Monday (and troopers found a gun, a meth lab, and five pickup-truckloads of what they suspect are stolen goods). Kentucky Post

Apparently Walter Aaron, 26, couldn't think of a better way to pick up quick money than to steal an excavator from a construction site and smash through a SunTrust bank in Atlanta. (He was still behind the wheel when cops arrived.) WGCL-TV (Atlanta)

Recurring: Two men in Austin, Minn., called police to report that someone broke in and stole their marijuana (along with smoking devices that had "sentimental value"). They can't be charged with a crime, though, because, well, the thief completely cleaned 'em out. Post-Bulletin (Rochester, Minn.)

Recurring: Eric Fortune, 19, Denmark Township, Ohio, goaded his stepbrother to shoot him in the leg so he could see what it felt like. (It hurt a lot; he started crying.) Star Beacon (Ashtabula)

Your Daily Jury Duty
["In America, a person is presumed innocent until the mug shot is released"]
Here's a chance for Jury Nullification: Could it really be a crime that a woman happens to be completely naked below the waist in public as she is picking up dog litter? Oughtn't we to free Susan Bell? Portsmouth Herald [LINK FIXED]

[News] More Things to Worry About Today

Readers' Choice: DUI on a lawnmower, a mobility scooter, a horse, fine. Now, DUI on a tricked-out barstool. Associated Press via CBS News [photo!]

I've known 100 lawyers who'd take this case for free: Air-O-Matic's iPhone app Pull My Finger was the best-selling electronic whoopie-cushion until recently when InfoMedia's iFart overtook it, but it wasn't fair, said A-O-M because InfoMedia was using its "trademarked" p-m-f phrase in its marketing (because InfoMedia says the phrase is way-generic and therefore un-trademarkable). Denver Post

Your Daily Loser
Marckenly Estima, 23, an enterprising rapper in Port St. Lucie, Fla., wanted police cars in the background of his new video, and he and his cameraman were chatting it up with officers in the parking lot of the police station when the cops ran his name through the computer and found a warrant for skipping out on a trial. TCPalm.com

Today's Newsrangers: Paul Music, Bruce Alter, Gerald Sacks, Karl Olson, Emory Kimbrough, Gary Goldberg, Scott Langill, and many finders of the barstool story.

Follies of the Mad Men #61

[From Playboy magazine for September 1971.]

Oh, yeah, a belt your Dad would wear back in 1971 could trigger all that groovy hippie stuff. Note the sign that uses Frank Zappa's name for cachet. Did he sue, I wonder?

All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.