As someone who grew up in the Detroit area, I’ll be the first to admit that I have been taking tremendous pleasure in the woes of Toyota recently. It is nice to see the idolized Toyota on the ropes for a change. And when I read about the Runaway Prius the other day, I simply [...]
Posts under ‘News’
Life, Liberty and Highway Rest Stops
There is a reason that James Madison did not guarantee access to a free toilet in the Bill of Rights. It is because in 1789, despite recently winning independence from a brutal colonial Empire, no one could imagine a regime so oppressive that it would charge people to use the bathroom.
But of course it was [...]
You can ban cell phones but you can’t ban stupid [distracted driving]
One of the reasons that cell phone bans don’t seem to reduce traffic accidents is that in the scheme of things, talking on the cell phone is not one of the more dangerous activities that drivers regularly engage in.
And even if you do managed to stop people from yakking on the phone, they’ll just come up with [...]
A soda tax will hit your frappuccino too [soda tax]
New York isn’t the only place where politicians are pushing for a soda tax. Cash-strapped legislatures around the country are increasingly looking to soda taxes as a politically palatable way to raise funds under the guise of public health initiative.
Of course such a tax would hurt the poor most of all. But just because you [...]
Stock up on Coke, the soda tax is coming
The New York Health Department is apparently ready to move forward with plans for a soda tax, according to a report in the New York Post.
“It’s time to get it done,” State Health Commissioner Richard Daines told the Daily News. “We’ve talked about it, the evidence for health benefits is getting a lot stronger, and [...]
Why our meat is so cheap [chart]
If there is one thing that McDonald’s taught us, it is that Prosperity doesn’t taste like Tofu—it tastes like meat.
Perhaps this is why the most prosperous nation in the world spends so much money subsidizing the cost of meat. What, after all, is the good of all our riches if every man, woman and child [...]
ABC wants your money to prop up Disney Land (or so says Cablevision)
In the world of corporate negative advertising, it is usually cable and satellite companies that are the most hard-hitting. Comcast’s “Satellite TV is not all its dished up to be” ads were some of my personal favorites.
But a new ad out from Cablevision viciously attacking ABC might just set a new standard for corporate attack ads. Cablevision [...]
The spread of McDonald’s across the globe [map]
Running water, literacy, life expectancy, GDP per-capita. All of these are nifty measures for comparing the relative development of different countries. But for me, it all boils down to a much simpler question: Is there a McDonald’s there?
If a nation has a McDonald’s then it is civilized. If it does not, well, keep trying guys.
Previously [...]
Now the NYT wants to ban billboards too [distracted driving]
Not content merely to fear monger about the immanent national threat posed by motorists who chat on their cell phone, the New York Times has decided to take on a new bogyman: electronic billboards.
From the New York Times:
Safety advocates who worry about the dangers of distracted driving have a new concern beyond cellphones and gadget-laden dashboards: digital roadside billboards.
These high-tech billboards marry the glow [...]
That myth about how Coke dehydrates you
You know how whenever you’re thirsty and reach for an ice cold refreshing soft drink someone invariably tells you that soda will dehydrate you or only make you thirstier? Yeah, well it turns out that is total BS.
From the New York Times:
It was long thought that caffeinated beverages were diuretics, but studies reviewed last year [...]
