Pat Cleary.com

Those of you who were regular ShopFloor.org readers know of our proclivity for Friday Follies. It was always a bit frustrating that Fridays were our busiest traffic days. As we said, all that beautiful prose, and the only thing people wanted to see was the next funny video.

That point was driven home early on in ShopFloor.org's history when we posted this item on the annual rolling of the cheese down Cooper's Hill in Gloucester, England. As it turns out, traffic went through the roof as folks stared mindlessly at mindless men and women chasing a 7-lb roll of cheese down a very steep hill -- a bizarre contest that apparently has its roots in pagan ritual. Makes sense, those wacky pagans.

Somehow we missed the 2006 contest, but we wanted to post the 2007 contest today, as it occurred earlier this week, and should not be missed by any pagan or non-pagan. Of all the videos available on YouTube, this one was the longest and had been viewed the most and indeed, we thought it was the best, if you can use a word like "best" to describe something like this. As we said back in 2005, "Looking at this, we are left to ponder, is it any wonder we won the Revolution?"

Click here to see the video and behold stupidity run -- and roll -- amok.

For those of you who haven't seen this video that's been making the rounds, here's National Spelling Bee champion Evan O'Dorney being interviewed on CNN. It's at once painful and hilarious to watch. Like most past winners, Evan is home-schooled. In this 3-minute interview, he really makes the interviewer earn her pay -- and squirm like a scombridae, as you'll see.

Just make sure you get his name right...

Better late than never....

Was in Columbus, Nebraska last week visiting the good folks at Behlen Manufacturing, speaking to their biennial Suppliers Conference. Wrote about the last one over on ShopFloor.org back in June of 2005. This company continues to grow and amaze, a great employer and a great manufacturer.

We promised we'd post our slides here, got a few e-mails gently reminding us, so here they are.

Thanks again to the Raimondos -- Tony Sr., Phil and Tony Jr. -- for their hospitality and for running one fine American manufacturing company.

Interesting article in Sunday's WaPo by Johnny Weisman on a reported deal between Congressional Democrats and the National Rifle Association -- two groups that heretofore haven't exactly been considered allies. The legislation that is the subject of the deal is the first Congressional action that is part of the fallout from the Virginia Tech shootings in April. The intent of the bill is to strengthen background checks on gun buyers, incentivizing states through liberal federal largess "to keep the Federal background database up to date," as Weisman reports, so that folks like VT shooter Sueng Hui Cho would have been prevented from buying a gun. Up to now, the NRA has been loathe to make the background checks any more stringent, but public pressure after the VT shootings have moved them to the negotiating table.

This is certainly a step in the right direction but there's another side to this equation. We'd guess (and it's not really a guess) that most large Universities are currently defending plenty of lawsuits right now -- lawsuits filed by students and parents of students who had been removed from the University because they were seen as a danger to other students. While the Dems are busy laying blame on the NRA, why not pass a law that holds every University harmless that acts in good faith to remove a dangerous student from campus, or from its rolls?

Such an idea, of course, would never pass muster among the trial bar, the big funders of the Democrats. But if Congress really wants to prevent another Virginia Tech-type massacre, along with demagoguing on gun control, they need to also indemnify well-intentioned and responsible University officials from being sued for doing the right thing.

Let's see if Congress is willing to try to bring the trial lawyers to the table, or if they're just interested in making a political statement by wagging a Congressional finger at the NRA.

OK, so what should we make of The Sopranos finale? Was it brilliant or a bust? Does it mean that life goes on or does the five seconds of black screen at the end mean Tony got whacked, as this article implies? Remember Tony in the boat with Bobby, warning him that in the end, you never hear it, everything just goes black?

And then everything went black....

Today we present a special Father's Day edition of Friday Follies.

This contest -- "The Daddy of All Dance-Offs" -- was sponsored by Hallmark. Competitions were held all across the country over the past few months. At this link you can see the first-place winners from all eight locations. You'll see a few dads that, uh, need the exercise, but are nimble as can be. One guy even keeps his cell phone miraculously strapped to his belt throughout all the gyrations. You'll see 'em dance to the strains of MC Hammer, Smash Mouth and Barry White -- and you'll see them bust some pretty serious moves.

So here's to all you dads out there. Best wishes on your special day on Sunday. Click here to watch this week's Friday Follies. And please -- please -- don't try this at home.

Break it down.

The WaPo's Dana Milbank wrote this piece last Friday and accompanied it with this video about the ongoing Congressional debate over the energy bill. In the process, he notes the surplus of hot air in this town. We just want to remind Milbank that last year over on ShopFloor.org we posted this solution to America's energy problem, harnessing all the hot air right here in the Nation's Capitol. Nevermind that Ted Kennedy is fighting the creation of a wind farm near his house in Cape Cod, maybe he could get enough of his colleagues to agree to do it right here.

Just wanted to show we're not just carping about the problem, we're all about the solution.

While some in Washington are pushing for the ability to be able to "reimport" non-FDA-approved drugs from Canada and other countries, both the WaPo and the New York Times today -- both on the front page, both top right -- made a slam-dunk case against it. Remember that imports to Canada that are intended to be exported are not even inspected. And, although we might import from Canada, who knows where on earth this stuff originated? As you can see from the Post story and the Times story, some poisonous substances are being exported from China and other countries and finding their way into medicines in this part of the world.

Imported goods should be safe and the US should make every effort to religiously guard against harmful products and counterfeits, whether they're electrical parts, appliances, auto parts or pharmaceuticals.

Incredible that we, the founders of DobbsWatch.com would miss such a broadside at our old buddy Lou. But there it was hidden on the back page of the WaPo Sunday magazine. Guess we just got caught up with the Father's Day festivities, whacking at the piñata 'n all. But then a few former fans let us in on the secret -- breathless e-mails and voice mails, saying, "Did you love that piece on Lou Dobbs this weekend??"

What piece?

Well here it is, from the WaPo's Gene Weingarten. it begins thusly:

"As I write this, it is almost 6 p.m., and my family is assembling around the TV, eagerly awaiting the start of CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight," our favorite comedy show.

Now, if you're thinking: 'Hey, wait a minute, that's not a comedy show! That's a serious look at world affairs hosted by a dignified, award-winning journalist,"'then you either:

1) do not watch the show, or

2) are Lou Dobbs.

You get the idea -- it only gets better (or worse, if you're Lou) from there.

So click here to read "Below the Beltway" and enjoy.

Later today over at the Navy Memorial, the blogger-in-chief will be bloviating at a Washington Network Group event entitled, "The Power of Data: Without It, You're Just Another Lobbyist with an Opinion." It's nice to be invited by such a reputable group, so of course we said yes, We'll be joined on the panel by Jeanne Cummings, late of the Wall Street Journal and now of the upstart Politico, the lovely and talented Nancy McLernon of OFII, Bob Walker of Wexler and Walker and an economist (and our pal) with clear mind Michaela Platzer of ContentFirst.

In any event, should be an interesting panel, even though the blogger-in-chief is the lesser light who will be eclipsed by this enormous talent. Let's hope we don't get any tough questions.

So if you're not doin' nuttin', swing on by -- the event runs from 4 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Click here to register.