SOME HISTORY: A video clip of the Japanese surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri on September 22, 1945.

RANDOM THOUGHTS on health, health insurance, health care, and health control from the retirement lane. According to this article in the New York Times, the root cause of obesity is too much food ...

The 1970's saw a striking rise in the quantity of refined carbohydrates and fats in the U.S. food supply, which was paralleled by a sharp increase in the available calories and the onset of the obesity epidemic. Energy intake rose because of environmental push factors, i.e., increasingly available, cheap, tasty, highly promoted obesogenic [??] foods.

... and the solution is not enough nanny state.

[T]hree of the most ... health-saving measures: a 10 percent tax on unhealthy foods and drinks; more obvious nutrition labeling ... like a red, yellow or green traffic light on package fronts [skull & bones?]; and reduced advertising of “junk foods....”

May I also note that the 1970's saw the morphing of health insurance to government-mandated health care to now-government-mandated health control (ObamaCare)? Perhaps the root cause of obesity is too much government.

ASTEROIDS: deflect them when you can mine them. I suspect the environmental extremists prefer the 'do nothing' option; let the asteroids cleanse the Earth of those pesky humans.

GOTTA LOVE HER. The owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team, Robert Sarver, came out strongly opposing AZ's new immigration laws. Arizona 's Governor released the following statement in response to Sarver's criticism of the new law:

"What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into basketball games without paying?

What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn't be ejected.

Furthermore, what if Suns' ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?"

-- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

From my email.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane. From the news lately, it's increasingly clear that Democrats are the party of irresponsibility; Republicans are the responsible party.

DARPA is building test bed for virtual satellite clusters. More here.

The 'building block' concept is certainly interesting, especially in the sense that they system is easily reconfigurable and there is little chance of single-point failure, but now there are complexity issues. Each building block of the constellation has to have its own power, propulsion, communication systems, etc., where a single satellite does not.

It's not clear to me that the advantages of clustering outweigh the disadvantages.

WANT A HIGH MPG DIESEL AUTO? Well, you can't have it in the U.S.

 

The mpg claims appear to be correct.

HILARY ROSEN WAS RIGHT: Ann Romney doesn’t speak for women in the workforce. Linda Hirshman is a hard-left feminist, so she obviously speaks for all working women.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane: "Julia" is the Obama administration's ideal feminist. Instapundit has much more.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane. Have you noticed that when Liberals talk about 'saving the planet' it's always your planet they want to save, never their own?

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane about 'spreading the wealth'. The Obama administration's concept of spreading the wealth reminds me of an old Abbott & Costello skit that had them dividing up some money.

Bud Abbott to Lou Costello: "Here's a dollar for you, and a dollar for me. Here's 2 dollars for you (giving him another dollar); and 1, 2 dollars for me (giving himself 2 dollars). Here's three dollars for you and 1, 2, 3 dollars for me...."

I wish I could find a video of that skit, but alas, no luck.

JOE NOCERA: My Faith-Based Retirement: "The 401(k) is a failed experiment. It is time to rethink it.”

Oh, absolutely. I started my 401(k) well after Mr. Nocera did, kept to a few simple rules (diversify; leave alone) and now -- at 67 -- I have more than enough money to live on even if Social Security and my pension go bankrupt.

That's because I have faith in my ability to take care of myself and my family. No, Mr. Nocera, the fact that you're incompetent doesn't mean that the 401(k) is a failure; it means that you're incompetent.

Much, much more over at Instapundit.

GOVERNMENT getting smaller in the U.S. A welcome trend, if true. But this is the New York Times reporting....

OBAMAFAIL: "The marketing team at Obama HQ might as well be focus-grouping Rachel Maddow and Debbie Wasserman-Schulz.” And Chris Matthews.

A SCLEROTIC GOVERNMENT: Each recession is longer and deeper than the one before it.

IF YOU’RE OF A CERTAIN AGE, older than dirt and a lot of rocks, you may remember amusing yourself on a long drive down the “blue roads” of yore reading the Burma Shave signs.

For those who never saw any of the Burma Shave signs, here is a quick lesson in our history of the 1930's, '40's and '50's. Before there were interstates, when everyone drove the old 2 lane roads, Burma Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside in farmers' fields. They were small red signs with white letters. Five signs, about 100 feet apart, each containing 1 line of a 4 line couplet ... and the obligatory 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream.

Here are more of the actual signs:

DON'T STICK YOUR ELBOW
OUT SO FAR
IT MAY GO HOME
IN ANOTHER CAR
BURMA SHAVE

TRAINS DON'T WANDER
ALL OVER THE MAP
'CAUSE NOBODY SITS
IN THE ENGINEER'S LAP
BURMA SHAVE

SHE KISSED THE HAIRBRUSH
BY MISTAKE
SHE THOUGHT IT WAS
HER HUSBAND JAKE
BURMA SHAVE

DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD
TO GAIN A MINUTE
YOU NEED YOUR HEAD
YOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT
BURMA SHAVE

DROVE TOO LONG
DRIVER SNOOZING
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
IS NOT AMUSING
BURMA SHAVE

BROTHER SPEEDER
LET'S REHEARSE
ALL TOGETHER
GOOD MORNING, NURSE
BURMA SHAVE

CAUTIOUS RIDER
TO HER RECKLESS DEAR
LET'S HAVE LESS BULL
AND A LITTLE MORE STEER
BURMA SHAVE

SPEED WAS HIGH
WEATHER WAS NOT
TIRES WERE THIN
X MARKS THE SPOT
BURMA SHAVE

THE MIDNIGHT RIDE
OF PAUL FOR BEER
LED TO A WARMER
HEMISPHERE
BURMA SHAVE

AROUND THE CURVE
LICKETY-SPLIT
BEAUTIFUL CAR
WASN'T IT?
BURMA SHAVE

NO MATTER THE PRICE
NO MATTER HOW NEW
THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE
IN THE CAR IS YOU
BURMA SHAVE

A GUY WHO DRIVES
A CAR WIDE OPEN
IS NOT THINKIN'
HE'S JUST HOPIN'
BURMA SHAVE

AT INTERSECTIONS
LOOK EACH WAY
A HARP SOUNDS NICE
BUT IT'S HARD TO PLAY
BURMA SHAVE

BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL
EYES ON THE ROAD
THAT'S THE SKILLFUL
DRIVER'S CODE
BURMA SHAVE

THE ONE WHO DRIVES
WHEN HE'S BEEN DRINKING
DEPENDS ON YOU
TO DO HIS THINKING
BURMA SHAVE

CAR IN DITCH
DRIVER IN TREE
THE MOON WAS FULL
AND SO WAS HE
BURMA SHAVE

PASSING SCHOOL ZONE
TAKE IT SLOW
LET OUR LITTLE
SHAVERS GROW
BURMA SHAVE

From my email.

OBAMA ON SHARING: I get the credit, you get the blame.

MSNBC'S MARTIN BASHIR speaks ill of the Romneys. It's never too early for desperation from the Left.

POOR BABIES: On Being A Progressive Blogger. Maybe they should rethink their 'everything ought to be free' philosophy.

HOW TO FOLD the longest-flying paper airplanes.

Instructions for folding are here.