The Government Diet

Way back....twenty years ago....a bunch of smart government guys got up and decided that they needed to tell us what we needed to eat.  Naturally, it had to be in a special shape....so we would remember this.  So, they chose the Food Pyramid.

Years have passed, and the Obama administration has decided that it now has smarter folks than what we had twenty years ago.....and they want to design a whole new scheme for what people ought to eat.

The new symbol....reportedly, will be a plate-shaped item.....and will have half the plate containing fruits and vegetables.

Cheese won't be mentioned....but according to one report.....there will be a spot for low-fat milk or a yogurt cup.

Does this mean anything?  No, for most of us....we never listened to the government in the first place.  Kids?  Well....some teachers will drag this out and quote the government in some fashion.....telling kids that pizza is evil and that bacon and sausage ought to be skipped entirely.

My honest belief is that around 2030.....we will get another Presidential administration....which will evaluate things, and probably give us a whole new view of the proper food groups.  And by 2050.....another Presidential administration....which will give us another entire view of the proper food groups.  If you sense things continually changing....yeah....that would be the right thing to perceive.

When and if you ever need the government telling you what to eat.....you might want to ask if there's a type of toilet paper that you ought to be using as well.  At that point....you will simply grin and start laughing.

The revised pyramid is part of the administration's crusade against obesity, led by first lady Michelle Obama.

A Day at the Park

 I spent the day over at the Nationals Park....watching a game between them and the Phillies.  Naturally, the Phillies won.

It was the first game that I had attended since 1994 (Royals).  It's an interesting experience.  The Metro dumps you off within 500 feet of the stadium.....so you don't have to park there ($35).  You can walk right up....no crime or weird folks to fight your way through.

It's mostly a new park (the Nationals came from Montreal, if you don't know baseball history)....although there's almost nothing to connect to the old Expos team.  At the front of the stadium are three statues....Frank Howard (the old Washington Senator #3 team), Josh Gibson (from the city's old black team of the 1920s and 1930s), and Walter Johnson from Washington Senator #1 team).  Yeah, no statues from the Expo era.

Course, you might note this era one, two, and three of the Washington Senators.  Yeah, the teams never won much of anything and they never made any real money because people simply didn't attend.  They all ended up leaving.  I'm not saying its an indicator of things, but it wouldn't surprise me in ten years when the team finally admits it can't make a profit in DC......and leaves.  The different between the old teams and this one?  Lots of private areas for VIPs to sit and drink booze with congressmen and senators....and they make the stadium lots of money.

As for the park?  I ended up paying around $40 for a ticket on the mid-level.  To be honest....it was smart because the sun was out and at least I had a bit of cover.

The food and drinks?  I paid $14.25 for a chilli dog, fries and medium Coke.  Later, I paid $8 for a Bud Lite.  Toward the end of the game....when I got pretty dehydrated....I finally bought some alcohol slushy drink....for $12.  Frankly, it's a fair amount of money for just one guy to spend on two hours of baseball.

The highlight of the day?  I stood and watched some couple buy their five-year old kid one of those 18-inch imitation baseball bats.  The kid proceeded to whack the guy (probably the dad, I can assume) on the knee with this little bat and must have hurt like heck for several minutes.

The sad thing is that guy could have brought the wife and two kids out....in their car....and probably spent over $350 for an afternoon baseball game.  That's a fair amount of money....for two hours of entertainment.  I can't say it's a wise investment.....but it's the state of baseball in America today.

For the DC Tourist

Down by the Iwa Jima statue in Arlington (by the cemetery)....there is the Dutch "Bell" Memorial.  Of the 500-odd memorials or statues around DC.....this probably near the bottom of the list of "must-see".  From a distance, it will interest you.  As you get near.....the rust stands out.

Whoever sat and designed the "bells"....probably should have studied up on rust and the necessity of maintaining a monument like this.

At the rate of things....I doubt that this monument is still standing in thirty years.

So if you are around the Iwa Jima Memorial and see some rusty-colored tower nearby.....that's the "bells".

The Single-Wide Issue

It has been a number of days since the Bama tornado business, and folks are to the point of establishing their temporary home until the old house is rebuilt.  Down in Cordova....outside of Birmingham about thirty miles....folks woke up this week to a curious episode where single-wide house trailers are forbidden by the town's ordnance.  This all came up because FEMA offered up trailers free to some folks.

The simple side to this.....some years ago....the Mayor, who is still in office....got this regulation put into place which forbid single-wide trailers from being brought in.  You were safe if you were already in town.....or if you were going to bring in a double-wide trailer.  But single-wides were hereby forbidden.

Naturally, some folks are now engaging the town council and they are a bit livid in how this worked out in the end.  So far, the Mayor is not backing down.  

Here lies the problem....which most folks from Bama will engage in and feel some hostility toward the single-wide trailer issue.  In the beginning when single-wides were being bought and delivered in Bama in the 1960s/1970s....there was some landscaping done, with a half-way decent driveway (maybe river-rock...maybe concrete or asphalt).    By the end of the 1970s however....folks started to just plant a single-wide on some property....just dumping it.  There was no thinking or planning....just plant it. 

As time went by.....neighbors and locals began to have this negative attitude about single-wide trailer folks. I'd hate to attach "welfare" to anyone with single-wides....but Bama folks tended to start thinking that way. 

By the mid-1990s.....double-wides began to arrive in Bama....and folks were putting some landscaping efforts into these and made them look "planned".  They would put in a driveway, and plant a few trees.  So eventually, the double-wide crowd was accepted.

So today....much to the amusement of anyone visiting in Bama.....you might bring up this topic of single-wide versus double-wide and find this odd group of people hating one and accepting the other.  The folks in Cordova area likely the same way.  

My guess is that the Mayor will be forced to accept the single-wide FEMA trailers one way or another.....or be forced out.  The problem is that you probably do have folks who want to live on their property for the next two years while they renovate their old house and bring it back to life.  The single-wide trailer makes sense. And if folks start to leave them permanently.....well.....there's not much you can say or do.