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Mar. 26th, 2004 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hafoc
This and That...
1. State Police Blue
Michigan State Police cars are deep blue, with an old-fashioned red 'bubble gum machine' light on top. I never thought to ask why. That's just how things are. It's their trademark, so to speak.
They take it very seriously. The State Police Royal Blue is a matter of great pride around here. You never used to see any car that color except State Police, because even when they sold an old cop car as surplus they always repainted it before they did. I think perhaps they don't do that any more, but for decades they did.
So I was chatting with Sergeant Vinnie near the coffee machine t'other day and happened to mention the Royal Blue. He chuckled. "You know where that comes from, don't you?"
"Well.. no, actually."
"Back in the thirties," Vinnie said, "the State bought a batch of cars from Ford. And the top cop back then went to them and said 'We want our cars painted a distinct color, so everyone will know it's us the instant they see the car.'
"Well, the guys at Ford said 'We can do that, but custom paint is expensive.'
"This was during the Depression, you understand, and money was tight. 'Don't you have anything laying around that you could use, and we wouldn't have to pay for something custom?'
"Well, the Ford guys thought, and looked around their factory, and they said "We have tractor paint. We paint our tractors this dark blue color.' And the Top Cop looked upon it, and lo, it was good, and so it is. The State Police cars are painted Ford tractor blue."
I don't know why that seems funny to me.
2. Kids and Cigarettes
I was feeling really snarky the other day, so I went out and had one of my monthly cigars. That got me to thinking.
Here we still have smoking and non-smoking sections in resteraunts. But what about kids? Think about it. How do kids and cigarettes compare?
They both smell bad. They're about even on that score.
As for health effects, second hand smoke at any given meal might increase your chance of cancer by a factor of about one in twelve hundred billion. Whereas a nearby baby gives you about a one in two chance of being exposed to Every Infectious Disease Known to Mankind.
And cigarettes are quiet. Very, very quiet.
So how come we have smoking and no smoking sections in restaurants, but not squalling and no-squalling sections? Why can they ban smoking from movies but not screaming babies? It just doesn't make sense.
3. Dog crap
And why I'm in a Fieldsian mood, how about dog droppings? With the melting snow (no, it's not all gone yet, dagnappit) the vast amount of dog poop around my mailbox is coming to view. How can one Labrador Retriever crap so much?
My neigbor would take his dog for a walk twice a day. "Taking the dog for a walk" is a euphamism for taking your dog to crap and piss on someone else's property so you don't have to clean up your own. I caught the guy doing that once, having his dog piss on the snowbank by the mailbox. "Don't do that," I begged. I have to SHOVEL that snow." He laughed at me, until he saw I was serious, and then he looked offended. Apparently thought my request was completely unreasonable.
Why do dog owners think that dragging their pets to someone else's property to shit is acceptable manners?
Well, that guy's house is for sale now, so perhaps I won't have to put up with that crap next year. Life is good.
1. State Police Blue
Michigan State Police cars are deep blue, with an old-fashioned red 'bubble gum machine' light on top. I never thought to ask why. That's just how things are. It's their trademark, so to speak.
They take it very seriously. The State Police Royal Blue is a matter of great pride around here. You never used to see any car that color except State Police, because even when they sold an old cop car as surplus they always repainted it before they did. I think perhaps they don't do that any more, but for decades they did.
So I was chatting with Sergeant Vinnie near the coffee machine t'other day and happened to mention the Royal Blue. He chuckled. "You know where that comes from, don't you?"
"Well.. no, actually."
"Back in the thirties," Vinnie said, "the State bought a batch of cars from Ford. And the top cop back then went to them and said 'We want our cars painted a distinct color, so everyone will know it's us the instant they see the car.'
"Well, the guys at Ford said 'We can do that, but custom paint is expensive.'
"This was during the Depression, you understand, and money was tight. 'Don't you have anything laying around that you could use, and we wouldn't have to pay for something custom?'
"Well, the Ford guys thought, and looked around their factory, and they said "We have tractor paint. We paint our tractors this dark blue color.' And the Top Cop looked upon it, and lo, it was good, and so it is. The State Police cars are painted Ford tractor blue."
I don't know why that seems funny to me.
2. Kids and Cigarettes
I was feeling really snarky the other day, so I went out and had one of my monthly cigars. That got me to thinking.
Here we still have smoking and non-smoking sections in resteraunts. But what about kids? Think about it. How do kids and cigarettes compare?
They both smell bad. They're about even on that score.
As for health effects, second hand smoke at any given meal might increase your chance of cancer by a factor of about one in twelve hundred billion. Whereas a nearby baby gives you about a one in two chance of being exposed to Every Infectious Disease Known to Mankind.
And cigarettes are quiet. Very, very quiet.
So how come we have smoking and no smoking sections in restaurants, but not squalling and no-squalling sections? Why can they ban smoking from movies but not screaming babies? It just doesn't make sense.
3. Dog crap
And why I'm in a Fieldsian mood, how about dog droppings? With the melting snow (no, it's not all gone yet, dagnappit) the vast amount of dog poop around my mailbox is coming to view. How can one Labrador Retriever crap so much?
My neigbor would take his dog for a walk twice a day. "Taking the dog for a walk" is a euphamism for taking your dog to crap and piss on someone else's property so you don't have to clean up your own. I caught the guy doing that once, having his dog piss on the snowbank by the mailbox. "Don't do that," I begged. I have to SHOVEL that snow." He laughed at me, until he saw I was serious, and then he looked offended. Apparently thought my request was completely unreasonable.
Why do dog owners think that dragging their pets to someone else's property to shit is acceptable manners?
Well, that guy's house is for sale now, so perhaps I won't have to put up with that crap next year. Life is good.
