Tom McMahon

What A European-Designed Car Needs To Succeed In The USA

2008-07-24T22:09:00-05:00

According to Joe Sherlock, it needs four things. Here's Number 4:

4. Bling. Americans buy McMansions with "street presence" because we don't understand the term Understated Elegance. For domiciles and/or transport. The Simpsons once had an infomercial for "the mobilier - the car chandelier." Too many European cars have understated interiors. We like interiors featuring (not necessarily in this order): Tu-tone stuff, wood (or near-wood), fancy buttons, chrome, brushed chrome, things which glow or light up at night, 3-D lettering with a swoopy script typeface, gadgets with big buttons. Everyone blames the recent demise of SUVs on high gas prices. Maybe so, but I believe that people got turned off when car makers failed to take these machines to the next level of luxury - timbered ceilings and fireplaces. Speaking of bling, you'll never find a car in Europe equipped with a "gold package." To Europeans, a Gold Package is something you smuggle into Switzerland in a body cavity during wartime.

Dad At The Old Country Buffet

2008-07-24T21:56:06-05:00

Dad At The Old Country Buffet

My brother Tim took the original photo.

Two Late July Ramblings

2008-07-24T21:51:21-05:00

When was the last time you had an RC cola?
Why we stopped at three kids: Because I remembered reading that every 4th child in the world was Chinese. (another very, very old joke)

My Mom's Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe

2008-07-24T19:08:53-05:00

Another recipe from the 1976 Tonica Band Parents cook book Family Tree of Cooking:

Carrot Cake
Janet Heider

2 Cups Flour (presifted)
2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Salt
2 Cups Sugar
1&1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 Cup Oil
4 Eggs
2 Cups Carrots (Grated, Uncooked)
1 (8 1/2 oz.) can Crushed Pineapple (drained)
1/2 Cup Pecans (chopped)

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, soda, salt, sugar, oil, and eggs;mix well. Add carrots, drained pineapple and nuts. Turn batter into 3 greased and floured pans or a 9x13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool well, then frost.

Frosting:

1/2 Cup Margarine
1 (8 oz.) Package Cream Cheese
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 lb. Confectioners' Sugar

Cream butter with cream cheese and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar. If too thick, add a little milk.

News Of The Day

2008-07-24T07:47:48-05:00

News Of The Day

More here. (via)

Ryan Wonders Just What The Heck You're Looking At

2008-07-24T07:35:08-05:00

Ryan Wonders Just What The Heck You're Looking At

Just The Right Word

2008-07-23T21:23:31-05:00

From the AtlanticBlog:

On July 29, 1977, the AEI held a forum on academia and politics, chaired by John Charles Daly, and including Robert Bork, S.I. Hayakawa, Irving Kristol, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. It begins with this bit of wisdom from Moynihan.

Daly: How deeply has the academic community affected government policy?

Moynihan: Sam Hayakawa and I agreed ahead of time that we would say academia.

Daly: I knew I was going to have a problem. I must confess that I asked Professor Hayakawa how to pronounce that silly word. I have been pronouncing it four different ways all day, and I doubt very much I will have it right before the night is out, but I will try.

Moynihan: You can remember the pronounciation by thinking of academia nuts.

No quarrel with that.

Dad With A Magnifying Glass

2008-07-23T21:14:01-05:00

Dad With A Magnifying Glass

Gooseberry Meat Relish

2008-07-23T21:08:03-05:00

Another recipe from the 1976 Tonica Band Parents cook book Family Tree of Cooking:

Gooseberry Meat Relish
Rhoda Nicholson

4 Cups Gooseberries
1/2 Cup Cider Vinegar
2 Cups Brown Sugar (firmly packed)
1/4 tsp. salt
--
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a 3-quart saucepan; mix well. Cook over medium heat for 30 to 40 minutes, or until thickened, stirring frequently. Add spices about 10 minutes before cooking time is up. Pack in hot sterilized jars. Seal at once. Makes 4 (1/2 pint) jars. Excellent with pork.

Washington Crossing The Delaware: The Original Painting Was Destroyed In World War II During An RAF Bombing Raid On Bremen, Germany

2008-07-23T06:27:00-05:00

Washington Crossing The Delaware: The Original Painting Was Destroyed In World War II During An RAF Bombing Raid On Bremen, Germany

From the Oxford University Press blog:

It is Washington Crossing the Delaware, painted by Emanuel Leutze in 1850. Today it hangs in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Visitors who are used to seeing it in reproduction are startled by its size, twelve feet high and twenty feet wide.

The painting itself has a history. The artist was a German American immigrant of strong liberal democratic principles, who returned to his native land and strongly supported the Revolutions of 1848. ... In 1848 and 1849, Leutze began to work on the great canvas. An early study survives, complete only for vivid figures of Washington and Monroe and a single soldier. It is painted in strong primary colors, bright with hope and triumph. After he started, the European revolutions failed, but the artist kept working on his project in a different mood. The colors turned somber, and the painting came to center more on struggle than triumph. Leutze recruited American tourists and art students in Europe to serve as models and assistants. Together they finished the painting in 1850.

Just after it was completed, a fire broke out in the artist’s studio, and the canvas was damaged in a curious way. The effect of smoke and flame was to mask the central figures of Washington and Monroe in a white haze, while the other men in the boat remained sharp and clear. The ruined painting became the property of an insurance company, which put it on public display. Even in its damaged state it won a gold medal in Berlin and was much celebrated in Europe. It became part of the permanent collection of the Bremen Art Museum. There it stayed until September 5, 1942, when it was destroyed in a bombing raid by the British Royal Air Force, in what some have seen as a final act of retribution for the American Revolution. Emanuel Leutze painted another full-sized copy, and sent it to America in 1851, where it caused a sensation.

Scream: George W Bush Third Term Version

2008-07-23T04:53:00-05:00

Scream: George W Bush Third Term Version

Beet and Bing Cherry Salad

2008-07-23T01:48:00-05:00

Another recipe from the 1976 Tonica Band Parents cook book Family Tree of Cooking:

Beet and Bing Cherry Salad
Marian Guenther Schmoeger

1/4 cup vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tsp. Corn Starch
Juice and Rind (Grated) 1 Orange
1 Can Bing Cherries (drained)
1 Large or 2 Medium Cans Beets (drained)
1/2 Cup Beet Juice
1/2 Cup Water

Combine all ingredients excepts beets and cherries. Cook until thick, then fold in beets and cherries. Heat through. May be served hot or cold.

Note: Use diced, small whole or shoestring beets.

Note from Tom McMahon: I haven't tried this, but I'm posting it because it looked interesting.

The Quintessential Classic Jewish Christmas Joke

2008-07-22T19:39:31-05:00

This one so old it was around when the Dead Sea was still sick. But with all the toys now made in China, I think this joke is on its deathbed. From jewishmag.com:

The teacher was very curious about how each of her students' celebrated Christmas Eve "Tell me Patrick, what do you do on Christmas Eve?" she asked.

Patrick addressed the class. "Well Miss, me and my twelve brothers and sisters go to midnight Mass and we sing hymns, then we come home very late and we put mince pies by the back door and hang up our stockings. Then all excited we go to bed and wait for Father Christmas to come with all our toys."

"Very nice Patrick, now Jimmy Brown, what do you do?"

"Well Miss, me and my sister go to Church with Mum and Dad and we sing carols and we get home ever so late. We put cookies and milk by the chimney and we hang up our stockings. We hardly sleep waiting for Santa Claus to bring our presents."

Remembering there was a Jewish boy in the class and not wanting to leave him out of the discussion, she asked, "Now Jimmy Cohen, what do you do on Christmas Eve?"

"Well Miss, it's the same old thing every year. Dad comes home from the office. We all pile into the Rolls and drive to his toy factory. When we get inside we look at all the empty shelves and sing "What a friend we have in Jesus". Then we go to the Bahamas."

Pop Quiz Clock

2008-07-22T18:41:24-05:00

Pop Quiz Clock

(via)

Like My Grandma Used To Make: The World-Famous Prune Cake Recipe Of The Late Mrs. O.H. Ryan Of Tonica, Illinois

2008-07-22T18:09:22-05:00

From the 1976 Tonica Band Parents cook book Family Tree of Cooking:

Prune Cake
Mrs. O.H. Ryan (My Grandma)

3 eggs (well beaten)
1 cup sugar
1 cup dairy sour cream
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. allspice (optional)
1 cup cooked prunes (chopped)

Buy the dry prunes, soak overnight in water; cook and cool, remove the seeds, then chop the prunes and set aside.

Mix sugar, dairy sour cream and eggs well. Add spices, baking soda, and baking powder to sifted flour. Beat thoroughly. Add prunes. Bake in a square or loaf pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Note from Tom McMahon: The allspice was written in the cookbook by my Mom, and is not in the original recipe.