The first original road or recognized trail out of civilization.....into the depths of the frontier....to New Orleans.....was the Natchez Trace. The first guy who wandered through this "trail" came to report that it was "miserable" but passable. This 1742. When you take into account various hills that had to be climbed, the streams and swampy areas to be crossed, and the 440 miles required.....it was a pretty tough trip.
A guy could generally make around twenty-five miles a day on horseback in these type of conditions, so you can figure the Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi trip took about eighteen days. Even when you got to Natchez.....you really weren't in New Orleans yet....you still had another four days minimum to make it into the 'big easy'.
It wasn't until 1801....roughly sixty years later....that the US Army was brought in to "fix" the Trace. The Army stuck around for several years and accomplished a fair amount of the renovation. Then contractors were hired to work the final effort. Somewhere around 1809/1810....the Trace was upgraded to the level that wagons could make the trip with some ease. That opened up a big deal for trade and commerce.
That was the sole road in the entire region until 1817.
Through various political efforts.....money was put aside in 1816 for General Jackson....then the military commander in the new frontier....to build a second road that would go from Nashville (his headquarters) to Madisonville, Louisiana (a couple miles outside of Jackson, Mississippi). It's length was 436 miles. Even when you finished the trip to Jackson....you were still four days of travel away from New Orleans.
The survey of the route took place in 1817 and work started immediately. What can be said was that thirty-five bridges had to be built as part of the overall plan. There's not a precise history to this piece of American history. One newspaper account talks of 300 men who were involved in one phrase, and another separate account talks of fifty men.
The road was completely open from beginning to end....around May of 1820. There's a number of seventy-five-thousand man-days of labor attached to the road. Whether it's accurate or not.....is questionable.
If you draw a straight line from Nashville to Madisonville, Mississippi.....that's pretty much accurate. The road has to intersect and go through Florence, Alabama....because this was one of the rare points on the Tennessee River where you might cross on horseback or wagon....without the aid of a bridge or ferry.
For me....it's an interesting route because it will come down through Lawrence County, Tennessee. It will take a straight route similar to Highway 43 which exists today, from Summertown to Lawrenceburg. Somewhere about four miles north of Ethridge, Tennesseee....to the east of Jackson Military Road....was Anderson Creek (not related to Anderson Creek of Alabama).
At some point around 1820 (the year that his second wife gave birth to daughter Nancy).....my ancestors gave up on Indiana as a possible settlement point, and headed south. Some words indicate the initial plan was for Wetumpkia, Ala....in the far south of the state. One might speculate that the period of an extended stay around Dugout was chiefly because of the birth of Nancy.
Various events occurred and the small group of travelers instead stepped off the Jackson Military Road and traveled about two miles eastward, to Anderson Creek, Tennessee. Here in some clearing, they set up a camp to stay for a couple of weeks. This location would be called "Dugout". There might have been people who used Dugout before this period, but it was a name that would stick around for decades.
Dugout, Tennessee today? Non-existent. There's Dugout Road....that's the only reminder of the small community that existed there along the creek. A community existence of Dugout? It probably hasn't been uttered since the early 1900s.
Somewhere in the history passed down by various folks, there's a false attribution of Dugout being on Second Creek, which runs near Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Second Creek officially starts along Rabbit Trail Road....about three miles south of Leoma, Tennessee (a good fifteen miles south of Dugout). The origin of the Creek starts around where Glendale Road intersects with Rabbit Trail Road.
What I would speculate is that the family members on this little trip spent some recovery time at Dugout, and drove on for a day along Jackson Military Road, and came to Leoma. The Road would normally head southwestward toward Florence. For some reason, they departed Jackson Military Road and headed along Rabbit Trail....then using the flat land around Second Creek as their path. They would cross the Tennessee line and make it along to the Whitehead community.
One might imagine a trading post in the local area of Whitehead, and the family members discussed things with the locals, and made a decision to stay there in the region. No one says much over the population in the local area. Within five miles of Whitehead.....I doubt if there were more than two-hundred people. The trip had ended.
No one says much over the journey....likely taking six weeks of active travel, with stopping points probably in the Nashville area and Dugout. It would have been a miserable experience because of the physical efforts involved and the emotional strain.
The ancestors to this little group have been almost two hundred years in the same area.
It's an interesting little story, with a slice or two of history added.
Sunday, 5 April 2015
Saturday, 4 April 2015
The Card Game
Generally, if you work for the media or any gimmick society....you got a "card".
You can play the "racist" card....when you need sympathy for blacks or attack anyone who needs to be brought down a step.
You can play the "sexist" card....when you need to go after guys in general.
You can play the "ableism" card....when you need to go after people who have a problem with issues of physical or mental handicaps.
You can play the "classism" card....when you need to spank some folks over their rich nature or economic advantages.
You can play the "anti-seminism" card....when you need to go after Jews.
You can play the "gay" card....when you need to go against people who have issues with gays.
There are literally hundreds of 'cards' that you can play when the mass movement needs some creative inertia out of thin air. The key? Hatred and resentment. That's the end product to the "card" game. You can use dozens and hundreds of formulas to play the card, as long as the final product equals hatred and resentment.
Turning a pizza business into a "card" game? It was tough, but fairly creative. Next week? A barber shop? A tattoo parlor? A muffler shop? A women's gown shop? A sports team from Seattle? A marijuana shop in Pueblo, Colorado?
The "card" game revolves around you being able to identify yourself as part of a bigger group, a tribe, or a mystical creation. As long as you feel isolated....the "card" game thrives. The minute that you start to ask questions....to develop some process of reasoning over the problem or issue...the "card" game starts to end. It can't sustain itself in that type of open discussion.
It's like the gimmick of tolerance and intolerance. The distance between the two can be measured in 1/1,000th of an inch. The fact that you can proclaim yourself absolutely tolerant in one brief statement.....then strangely state your intolerance to the opinions or ideals of others, makes your position in life questionable. At that moment....your transparency of tolerance slips from a ten to a zero.
The redneck card? The church card? The government bureaucrat card? The Tea Party card? The anti-environmentalist card? The climate change card? The Latino card? The anti-drug-thug card? The anti-cop card? The anti-bank card? The anti-capitalist card? The anti-Republican card? The anti-Democrat card?
There is a perpetual game being played out in society....for change and power. The cards are the tools to bring about both. If you deny the cards....the game ends. It's that simple.
You can play the "racist" card....when you need sympathy for blacks or attack anyone who needs to be brought down a step.
You can play the "sexist" card....when you need to go after guys in general.
You can play the "ableism" card....when you need to go after people who have a problem with issues of physical or mental handicaps.
You can play the "classism" card....when you need to spank some folks over their rich nature or economic advantages.
You can play the "anti-seminism" card....when you need to go after Jews.
You can play the "gay" card....when you need to go against people who have issues with gays.
There are literally hundreds of 'cards' that you can play when the mass movement needs some creative inertia out of thin air. The key? Hatred and resentment. That's the end product to the "card" game. You can use dozens and hundreds of formulas to play the card, as long as the final product equals hatred and resentment.
Turning a pizza business into a "card" game? It was tough, but fairly creative. Next week? A barber shop? A tattoo parlor? A muffler shop? A women's gown shop? A sports team from Seattle? A marijuana shop in Pueblo, Colorado?
The "card" game revolves around you being able to identify yourself as part of a bigger group, a tribe, or a mystical creation. As long as you feel isolated....the "card" game thrives. The minute that you start to ask questions....to develop some process of reasoning over the problem or issue...the "card" game starts to end. It can't sustain itself in that type of open discussion.
It's like the gimmick of tolerance and intolerance. The distance between the two can be measured in 1/1,000th of an inch. The fact that you can proclaim yourself absolutely tolerant in one brief statement.....then strangely state your intolerance to the opinions or ideals of others, makes your position in life questionable. At that moment....your transparency of tolerance slips from a ten to a zero.
The redneck card? The church card? The government bureaucrat card? The Tea Party card? The anti-environmentalist card? The climate change card? The Latino card? The anti-drug-thug card? The anti-cop card? The anti-bank card? The anti-capitalist card? The anti-Republican card? The anti-Democrat card?
There is a perpetual game being played out in society....for change and power. The cards are the tools to bring about both. If you deny the cards....the game ends. It's that simple.
Governor's Task Force?
From my homestate news (Alabama).....the word is out that the governor (Bentley) will do an executive order. Yeah, it's shocking....even governors have executive order capability. It's supposed to come out on Monday.
The deal? Well....he thinks there is a health crisis in the state and he is forming a task force on health care improvement.
Generally, you can expect this task force (probably seven to ten folks) to meet a couple of times and discuss what you can do with limited or marginal funding. It's a fairly limited debate.
You could tax the heck out of sugar products, alcohol, or fatty foods (even taxing Burger King and McDonalds in some whacked-up fashion). You could do some kind of kid's educational program and mandate it for all Bama schools. You could get the two major universities in the state (Auburn and Alabama) to use their media and health students to build video clips or advertising campaigns to help the state.
The thing is....folks tend to eat greasy foods, consume fat at an alarming rate, drink full-up sugary drinks by the six-pack, smoke a full pack of cigarettes per day, and enjoy a fair amount of alcohol when possible. It's not easy to force some habit to change.
Not to cast doubt on the governor's task force, but other than paying for hotel expenses at some fancy resort in Orange Beach for them to meet up for a couple of weekends to discuss matters....I just don't see much coming out of the deal.
The best approach? I'd give up on the bulk of folks in Alabama. I'd take my ideas and match them up against six to twelve-year-old kids. Forget regular heath classes in school....you need to 'turbo-ize' the health studies program within the state and actually give them the concept. Toss in more physical activities for kids and younger adults. Maybe twenty years down the road.....you might see more of a change.
That's my two cents on the subject.
The deal? Well....he thinks there is a health crisis in the state and he is forming a task force on health care improvement.
Generally, you can expect this task force (probably seven to ten folks) to meet a couple of times and discuss what you can do with limited or marginal funding. It's a fairly limited debate.
You could tax the heck out of sugar products, alcohol, or fatty foods (even taxing Burger King and McDonalds in some whacked-up fashion). You could do some kind of kid's educational program and mandate it for all Bama schools. You could get the two major universities in the state (Auburn and Alabama) to use their media and health students to build video clips or advertising campaigns to help the state.
The thing is....folks tend to eat greasy foods, consume fat at an alarming rate, drink full-up sugary drinks by the six-pack, smoke a full pack of cigarettes per day, and enjoy a fair amount of alcohol when possible. It's not easy to force some habit to change.
Not to cast doubt on the governor's task force, but other than paying for hotel expenses at some fancy resort in Orange Beach for them to meet up for a couple of weekends to discuss matters....I just don't see much coming out of the deal.
The best approach? I'd give up on the bulk of folks in Alabama. I'd take my ideas and match them up against six to twelve-year-old kids. Forget regular heath classes in school....you need to 'turbo-ize' the health studies program within the state and actually give them the concept. Toss in more physical activities for kids and younger adults. Maybe twenty years down the road.....you might see more of a change.
That's my two cents on the subject.
Friday, 3 April 2015
The Frontier Story
There is this epic point of my family history where the family members leave 'civilization' (namely....Surry, North Carolina). It's the area or county around Mount Pilot and Mount Airy....from the Andy Griffith series.
It's a combination of two reasons....property prices are escalating and crops have burnt out. The general strategy of farmers throughout the 1600s and 1700s of the new colony in America was to plant the only two crops that made cash money.....cotton and tobacco...YEAR after YEAR. Naturally, land nutrients shifted around and without fertilizer.....you started to notice less and less production after the fifth year of same crop usage. Dutch farmers in more northern states knew of the issue and had several crops....which they tended to shift around on properties....to help with nutrients. Of course, this meant a smaller profit scale but more stability.
So, the two sons of "Joseph" (1753-1829) set in motion this migration past the state line and into the wild frontier. Joseph doesn't have a big rich history tied to himself. At one point, he did own 200 acres of property, served with some distinction in the Revolutionary War, and had a total of two sons and two daughters.
The two sons? "Jim" and "William". Jim was born in 1784 and William in 1787. Jim is my ancestor.
Jim ends up marrying Maggie Boggs, who was born in 1797. He was roughly fourteen years old at the time. Maggie (born in 1785) would have been twelve years old. On the outer edge of the frontier....the age deal probably was somewhat typical at the time.
Over the next eighteen-odd years....there's only one child from this marriage. Somewhere around 1813....Maggie passes away. There's a decision made that year by Jim to pack up and leave for the new frontier, with his brother. Their original target was Indiana but discovered two years into this episode that the winters were too harsh. The move from NC to Indiana....sometime around 1815. The move to Alabama? Around 1817/1818.
The original arrival point? Dugout, Tennesssee. It's a an area on Second Creek and near Lawrenceberg. For a while, they camped out there, and then made it further south to the Whitehead area where there was a trading post of some type. The trip ended at that point. They both stayed on and settled in the local area.
Alabama property sales started in the 1819 period, so they likely settled and purchased property.
For all practical purposes.....these two were in the new frontier for barely a year or two....then civilization arrived (statehood).
It's a combination of two reasons....property prices are escalating and crops have burnt out. The general strategy of farmers throughout the 1600s and 1700s of the new colony in America was to plant the only two crops that made cash money.....cotton and tobacco...YEAR after YEAR. Naturally, land nutrients shifted around and without fertilizer.....you started to notice less and less production after the fifth year of same crop usage. Dutch farmers in more northern states knew of the issue and had several crops....which they tended to shift around on properties....to help with nutrients. Of course, this meant a smaller profit scale but more stability.
So, the two sons of "Joseph" (1753-1829) set in motion this migration past the state line and into the wild frontier. Joseph doesn't have a big rich history tied to himself. At one point, he did own 200 acres of property, served with some distinction in the Revolutionary War, and had a total of two sons and two daughters.
The two sons? "Jim" and "William". Jim was born in 1784 and William in 1787. Jim is my ancestor.
Jim ends up marrying Maggie Boggs, who was born in 1797. He was roughly fourteen years old at the time. Maggie (born in 1785) would have been twelve years old. On the outer edge of the frontier....the age deal probably was somewhat typical at the time.
Over the next eighteen-odd years....there's only one child from this marriage. Somewhere around 1813....Maggie passes away. There's a decision made that year by Jim to pack up and leave for the new frontier, with his brother. Their original target was Indiana but discovered two years into this episode that the winters were too harsh. The move from NC to Indiana....sometime around 1815. The move to Alabama? Around 1817/1818.
The original arrival point? Dugout, Tennesssee. It's a an area on Second Creek and near Lawrenceberg. For a while, they camped out there, and then made it further south to the Whitehead area where there was a trading post of some type. The trip ended at that point. They both stayed on and settled in the local area.
Alabama property sales started in the 1819 period, so they likely settled and purchased property.
For all practical purposes.....these two were in the new frontier for barely a year or two....then civilization arrived (statehood).
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Volvo Coming
Over the weekend....Volvo finally put out an announcement.....they will build a plant in the US...their first plant to manufacture Volvo cars.
Rumor has it that North Carolina is one of the states, with at least two additional states involved in negotiation right now.
Most Americans have zero knowledge over Volvo and probably would never buy the car.
From the historical prospective.....there are three eras of Volvo.
The first era, from 1927 to the early 1970s.....was the Swedish era (my term). They were a Swedish company and built cars for sale primarily within the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland). What you can typically say was that it was an engineer's car....built a decade ahead of most technology that you saw with the automobile industry. They weren't booming....but they were making a fair profit.
In the early 1970s.....the second era came.....where Volvo branched out into Europe and the US. What made their cars better than everyone's cars was the safety factor. They put every possible safety option known at the time into the standard Volvo cars. The legend was.....if you got into a Volvo and had an accident.....you survived.
The problem with the second era Volvo cars was that they were "plain" and expensive. You paid twenty to thirty percent more for a Swedish-made Volvo. There wasn't any sports-car version, and no one under the age of thirty would buy a Volvo.
Chinese investors came after 2008 and bought the company.....they were in serious jeopardy at the time like several major car companies. Thus....we enter the third era....where the company survives but with Chinese ownership.
If you sat down and listed the forty top safety items that could be put into a car....you'd discover that Volvo tends to have every single item in the standard car (it's not optional in their mind). Between that and the Swedish manufacturing costs.....that's the primary reason why Volvo cars cost so much in the US.
Would a US plant change the perception and the cost? I imagine that they've figured the formula and might be able to find a model or two that fits into the prospective of an American buyer.....for the right price. It's an enticement to get you....the buyer....into a Volvo franchise and get you to first base to buy your first Volvo. Maybe ten years down the line.....as you get ready for a replacement vehicle....you'd want to spend the extra $15,000 and buy the typical $45,000 Volvo SUV or four-door car.
I've never owned a Volvo....but I've ridden in a couple. It's like a plain sports-car version of a Lincoln Towncar. The ride is perfect....the style is professional....the horsepower is there, and you find no flaws.
I agree....it'll take a while and most Americans will just ask where the heck it's made. But after a brief ride from a dealer's model......you might start crunching the numbers and realize that the safety factor in the Volvo adds $100,000 onto the value of the car. Maybe it'll help you survive an accident....which is something that you typically don't think about with the Mustang or Dodge Charger.
Anyway....Volvo is a name you might hear more often now.
Rumor has it that North Carolina is one of the states, with at least two additional states involved in negotiation right now.
Most Americans have zero knowledge over Volvo and probably would never buy the car.
From the historical prospective.....there are three eras of Volvo.
The first era, from 1927 to the early 1970s.....was the Swedish era (my term). They were a Swedish company and built cars for sale primarily within the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland). What you can typically say was that it was an engineer's car....built a decade ahead of most technology that you saw with the automobile industry. They weren't booming....but they were making a fair profit.
In the early 1970s.....the second era came.....where Volvo branched out into Europe and the US. What made their cars better than everyone's cars was the safety factor. They put every possible safety option known at the time into the standard Volvo cars. The legend was.....if you got into a Volvo and had an accident.....you survived.
The problem with the second era Volvo cars was that they were "plain" and expensive. You paid twenty to thirty percent more for a Swedish-made Volvo. There wasn't any sports-car version, and no one under the age of thirty would buy a Volvo.
Chinese investors came after 2008 and bought the company.....they were in serious jeopardy at the time like several major car companies. Thus....we enter the third era....where the company survives but with Chinese ownership.
If you sat down and listed the forty top safety items that could be put into a car....you'd discover that Volvo tends to have every single item in the standard car (it's not optional in their mind). Between that and the Swedish manufacturing costs.....that's the primary reason why Volvo cars cost so much in the US.
Would a US plant change the perception and the cost? I imagine that they've figured the formula and might be able to find a model or two that fits into the prospective of an American buyer.....for the right price. It's an enticement to get you....the buyer....into a Volvo franchise and get you to first base to buy your first Volvo. Maybe ten years down the line.....as you get ready for a replacement vehicle....you'd want to spend the extra $15,000 and buy the typical $45,000 Volvo SUV or four-door car.
I've never owned a Volvo....but I've ridden in a couple. It's like a plain sports-car version of a Lincoln Towncar. The ride is perfect....the style is professional....the horsepower is there, and you find no flaws.
I agree....it'll take a while and most Americans will just ask where the heck it's made. But after a brief ride from a dealer's model......you might start crunching the numbers and realize that the safety factor in the Volvo adds $100,000 onto the value of the car. Maybe it'll help you survive an accident....which is something that you typically don't think about with the Mustang or Dodge Charger.
Anyway....Volvo is a name you might hear more often now.
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
That Religious Law Business
Let's say that you ran a Jewish bakery and did cakes for customers. One day....a guy walks in and he wants a Nazi cake....with the expression "Work Makes You Free" on the top (the expression used in death camps).
You politely refuse. He threatens with a court order, then takes you to court because you refused him as a customer.
Let's say that you ran a simple Amish cake business (note: you are Amish in this scenario, if you were wondering), and a gal comes in who wants a cake made with the comment "Happy Birthday, your loving whore" on top of the cake in icing. Your Amish tradition is such....you refuse to take the order.
You politely refuse. She threatens with a court order, then he takes you to court because you refused her as a customer.
Let's say that you ran a simple plain bakery and a guy comes in and wants you to make a cake with the expression written in icing on top "F**K Obama". You think about this for a minute....being a middle-of-the-road guy.....NOT a Republican or Democrat....then say no, you just don't do cakes like that....NOR do you want your reputation to get around that you do sleazy cakes like that.
You politely refuse. He threatens with a court order, then he takes you to court because you refused him as a customer.
Up in Indiana....folks thought long and hard about where this business of pushing people around in their private business operations and the potential abuse of the court system, then started SB 101...the Religious Freedom Act....which limits what the state and it's judges can do in a case where you turn down a customer.
Fifty years ago....you could refuse anyone. No shoes....crappy words on a t-shirt.....maggots in the hair....drunk behavior....drugged-up behavior....cursing...etc. You could make any reason and just say no.....I won't serve you or do business with you.
That worked up until the last decade when people felt you might use sex in some way against someone special. These days....if you asked for a bondage-like message on a wedding cake, with whips and handcuffs.....some folks might be disturbed about that and want to refuse to make the cake. Submission of the wife to the husband? Someone might want a cake with that scenario figured into the situation.
Yeah, we got creative, and 'stupid'.
There are guys who used to come up on a Friday afternoon with their private business and shut down everything at 5PM (two hours ahead of the normal quitting time).....so employees would have a chance to attend a kid's football game that night. They made decisions on their own "dime". In today's world.....folks would get all disturbed about some private business owner making his own decision and want to inflict law into the mess.
Today, I read that the Seattle folks and Washington state folks.....got all disturbed about the Indiana law and have banned state travel to Indiana. Pretty serious. But then you'd ask this stupid question....in twenty years....what formal meeting or business gathering in Indiana did they ever have or attend? What.....maybe two meetings in twenty years and maybe a dozen state or city folks attending?
It's a gimmick. You laugh over the results and figure their best punch.....was a fairly lame punch with no effect. Indiana folks retaliating and forbidding travel to Seattle and Washington state? Well....same results.
States act like they are some foreign third-world country....like Peru, and they can make thing happen of great consequence. Well....no.....it's just not that way. And all of this over gays? Would they get tough if Nazis wanted their cakes done in a special way, or anti-American-Indian people wanted their cakes done in a special way?
All of this brings me to this final observation. Is there anything wrong with folks getting a plain Duncan-Hines cake mix deal....and making a plain old chocolate cake....without anything on top except 'happy birthday' written in icing? A plain four-dollar cake? Yeah. All this political chatter....when you really don't need to get hyper about special cakes. That's it.
You politely refuse. He threatens with a court order, then takes you to court because you refused him as a customer.
Let's say that you ran a simple Amish cake business (note: you are Amish in this scenario, if you were wondering), and a gal comes in who wants a cake made with the comment "Happy Birthday, your loving whore" on top of the cake in icing. Your Amish tradition is such....you refuse to take the order.
You politely refuse. She threatens with a court order, then he takes you to court because you refused her as a customer.
Let's say that you ran a simple plain bakery and a guy comes in and wants you to make a cake with the expression written in icing on top "F**K Obama". You think about this for a minute....being a middle-of-the-road guy.....NOT a Republican or Democrat....then say no, you just don't do cakes like that....NOR do you want your reputation to get around that you do sleazy cakes like that.
You politely refuse. He threatens with a court order, then he takes you to court because you refused him as a customer.
Up in Indiana....folks thought long and hard about where this business of pushing people around in their private business operations and the potential abuse of the court system, then started SB 101...the Religious Freedom Act....which limits what the state and it's judges can do in a case where you turn down a customer.
Fifty years ago....you could refuse anyone. No shoes....crappy words on a t-shirt.....maggots in the hair....drunk behavior....drugged-up behavior....cursing...etc. You could make any reason and just say no.....I won't serve you or do business with you.
That worked up until the last decade when people felt you might use sex in some way against someone special. These days....if you asked for a bondage-like message on a wedding cake, with whips and handcuffs.....some folks might be disturbed about that and want to refuse to make the cake. Submission of the wife to the husband? Someone might want a cake with that scenario figured into the situation.
Yeah, we got creative, and 'stupid'.
There are guys who used to come up on a Friday afternoon with their private business and shut down everything at 5PM (two hours ahead of the normal quitting time).....so employees would have a chance to attend a kid's football game that night. They made decisions on their own "dime". In today's world.....folks would get all disturbed about some private business owner making his own decision and want to inflict law into the mess.
Today, I read that the Seattle folks and Washington state folks.....got all disturbed about the Indiana law and have banned state travel to Indiana. Pretty serious. But then you'd ask this stupid question....in twenty years....what formal meeting or business gathering in Indiana did they ever have or attend? What.....maybe two meetings in twenty years and maybe a dozen state or city folks attending?
It's a gimmick. You laugh over the results and figure their best punch.....was a fairly lame punch with no effect. Indiana folks retaliating and forbidding travel to Seattle and Washington state? Well....same results.
States act like they are some foreign third-world country....like Peru, and they can make thing happen of great consequence. Well....no.....it's just not that way. And all of this over gays? Would they get tough if Nazis wanted their cakes done in a special way, or anti-American-Indian people wanted their cakes done in a special way?
All of this brings me to this final observation. Is there anything wrong with folks getting a plain Duncan-Hines cake mix deal....and making a plain old chocolate cake....without anything on top except 'happy birthday' written in icing? A plain four-dollar cake? Yeah. All this political chatter....when you really don't need to get hyper about special cakes. That's it.
Breakfast at McDonalds All Day?
There's a rumor out today of a test going on at one McDonalds in the US (in San Diego as the story goes)....where they intend to take a number of breakfast items on the menu and just keep them up all day long.
Over the past year.....McDonalds has hit some business peak and gone a step backwards. The CEO was let go a month ago and they are in the mind to take aggressive steps to regain business. But this gimmick of breakfast all day?
I have had breakfast at both McDonalds and Burger King over the past few years. To be honest.....it's my absolute last choice. Other than the sausage biscuit at both.....it's a one-star breakfast in my mind. There's no real taste and the quality just isn't noticeable. I might give a thumbs-up on the pancake menu but that's a marginal thumbs-up.
Making a difference? I'm guessing around some retirement communities....there might be some interest in this idea, but I doubt if you'd sell some breakfast item after noon to more than twenty people.
The other day here in Germany.....I walked by a Subway location and they had introduced a breakfast menu.....an odd selection but there were a dozen people standing there....sipping coffee and eating some kind of egg-sausage combo.
Threatening the business angle of Waffle House? No....it's hard for McDonalds to meet the greasy quality, salty texture, and fatty nature of my favorite breakfast enterprise. I admit....it doesn't matter....6AM, noon or 6PM.....I'd still order the breakfast menu at Waffle House. Maybe McDonalds figures you'd eventually get addicted to their gimmick.
Over the past year.....McDonalds has hit some business peak and gone a step backwards. The CEO was let go a month ago and they are in the mind to take aggressive steps to regain business. But this gimmick of breakfast all day?
I have had breakfast at both McDonalds and Burger King over the past few years. To be honest.....it's my absolute last choice. Other than the sausage biscuit at both.....it's a one-star breakfast in my mind. There's no real taste and the quality just isn't noticeable. I might give a thumbs-up on the pancake menu but that's a marginal thumbs-up.
Making a difference? I'm guessing around some retirement communities....there might be some interest in this idea, but I doubt if you'd sell some breakfast item after noon to more than twenty people.
The other day here in Germany.....I walked by a Subway location and they had introduced a breakfast menu.....an odd selection but there were a dozen people standing there....sipping coffee and eating some kind of egg-sausage combo.
Threatening the business angle of Waffle House? No....it's hard for McDonalds to meet the greasy quality, salty texture, and fatty nature of my favorite breakfast enterprise. I admit....it doesn't matter....6AM, noon or 6PM.....I'd still order the breakfast menu at Waffle House. Maybe McDonalds figures you'd eventually get addicted to their gimmick.
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