QuickTake: Honda's Going to the Dogs

Product differentiation--Honda style

A car designed for the dog lover. Honda's got it, as you can see in the picture. That glove compartment doesn't contain gloves, but a dachshund. The glove compartment is designed to hold your pet in safety. So is the popup crate by the back seat.

The W.O.W. Concept vehicle, which stands for wonderful, openhearted wagon, isn't for sale yet. But, we know that carmakers test the public's interest by showing their latest concepts at car shows. To take a look at the W.O.W in person get yourself over to the Tokyo Auto Show.

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QuickTake: The Unofficial Bill Gates Website

Watch Out When You Drive Through Albuquerque or the Police'll Get Ya

When you're the richest man in the world, it stands to reason you'll be the target of unwanted attention. That's part of the price of celebrity. Case in point: The "Unofficial" Bill Gates Website. In his mugshot photos, Bill was clearly a lot younger and I'll bet a lot less wealthy than he is now. I wonder if he'd be treated the same today as he was then if he were pulled over for speeding.

Enough idle speculation. The point of this post? If you want to know more about Bill Gates or Microsoft, the Unofficial web site is a good place to start.

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Stop the Cruelty--Boycott France Now!

The dogs and puppies in the picture were used as live shark bait. The practice is common on Reunion Island, which is controlled by France. Kittens are also used for this purpose.

The Sea Island Conservation Society is trying to stop the barbaric practice you're seeing in this post. Would you like to help stop this cruelty? This page has the addresses of public officials who have the power to stop it.

In the meantime, my advice is "Boycott all things French."

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Melissa Says: Firemen Suck!

I'm presenting this story verbatim from the NOLA web site. It tells one woman's horrific encounter with a group of firemen during the worst of Hurricane Katrina. While this story played out in St. Bernard parish, the lessons about the lying, cheating, stealing, and worse by so called "public servants" could apply anywhere in America. Just because someone wears a uniform doesn't make them a "hero," contrary to the crap dispensed to delude unthinking, gullible Americans after 9/11.

Melissa's story: Escape from Arabi

Melissa Sass of Arabi writes:
My husband and I stayed behind in our home in Arabi with 3 dogs. We were fine until the final hours of the storm. That's when the water came in. We went up in the attic, hacked a hole in the roof, and hoisted the dogs out first due to the fact that the water would saturate the ceiling and they would fall through.After the storm, we went out on the roof and waited to be rescued. About 9 hours later, a man named Jigger in a boat came by and saved us. We saved several other families that night. He brought us to the levee and told us to go to the Domino Sugar Refinery, they are using it as a shelter.

It was too dark to go to the refinery and they had standing water. I knocked on a door and a man let my husband and I sleep on his balcony on the second floor. The next day, we walked to the refinery and waited several hours to get in. An employee of the refinery brought us in by bulldozer through the water. Once in, we saw there was about 100 people there, pets and people.

There was about 25 firemen from the St. Bernard Fire Department. They were awful. The fought all the time, they yelled about how they didn't want to share the food and water with us. It wasn't until the chief came in that they changed their tunes. He calmed them down and rationalized.

But still, some firemen were still horrible to the survivors. They were taking showers and not telling people where the showers were. They kept all the food and water by them, so if you was thirsty or hungry, you needed to go and ask them for something, and when you did, they acted so mean. People started to leave to the Superdome and to the West Bank on buses and boats.

About four days there, the firemen left. They took ALL the food and water with them. In order to get any food/water, while they were loading up, you had to go and take the food and water from them! They didn't even offer to take anyone with them. People asked to go, but they stated that there was no more room for anyone.

After the firemen left, it was peaceful. No one fought, no one was on edge. A day later, some firemen came back for the food and water that was left behind. People at the refinery fought for it and won the battle. Nothing physical, but very verbal. The firemen had guns, but that didn't change the way others felt, that was our livelihood!

On Saturday, my husband and I (with one dog left, one jumped out the boat as we were being taken off the roof, and one ran away) boarded a tug boat and was brought to St. Charles Parish where we were greated by the nicest police officers ever! We met our family there and now we are trying to get our lives together.

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QuickTake: Will Gothic Lolitas Catch On in the USA?

It's called the gothic lolita look. It's supposedly big in Japan. Will it catch on elsewhere?

Fashion is pretty unpredictable, so I won't venture a guess. What I can say is that if the look does catch on, lots of money is going to spent updating wardrobes.

Isn't that what Keynesian economics is about? More consumption spending is good for the economy. Since fashion changes so often, the world of fashion helps to keep that marginal propensity to consume high.

The downside? Critics of fashion point to the social waste associated with planned obsolescence. Would it be better to spend to solve social problems or spend on a new look? Ultimately, it's consumers who will decide.

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