November 26, 2009
A Thanksgiving blog for the workaholic in you
By: Bob Ulrich
Who works on Thanksgiving? That's what I wanted to find out when I checked my e-mails today. There were nine e-mails listed as having been sent Thursday, Nov. 25, 2009.
The one that caught my attention first was from Nokian Tyres plc. It informed me about a decision by the European Union concerning tire labeling. I wasn't surprised by the e-mail, because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Finland, much less Europe.
Anyway, the announcement that tires will have to be labeled with their fuel efficiency, wet grip and rolling noise performance starting Nov. 1, 2012, was positively received by Nokian. The labeling "will help consumers to decide which tire to purchase," said CEO and President Kim Gran.
The decision will require suppliers of tires for passenger cars, light trucks and heavy-duty vehicles to inform consumers about fuel efficiency, wet grip and noise classes in all technical promotional materials (retreaded and racing tires are exempt from the requirement).
The tire labeling will grade tires from best (green 'A' class) to worst (red 'G' class). For those of you unconcerned because this is a European decision, a United States version is closer than you think. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's own labeling system, which will include wet weather traction and tread wear gradings in addition to a fuel efficiency rating, is in the rulemaking phase.
"Please, do NOT buy my photos!" was in the subject line of an e-mail from Photographers Direct. "If I'm not going to buy the photos," I thought, "why do I want to read the e-mail?" I deleted it.
Hybrids-EV sent out its weekly newsletter, "Hybrids and Electrics Weekly." For the purpose of this blog, I opened that one. The first of 23 headlines read as follows: "Ford invests in its engineering base for electrification" (that's the state of being electrified, according to Merriam-Webster).
It had something to do with setting up an "electric vehicle university," but I wasn't interested. None of the remaining headlines piqued my curiosity, either.
Torque PR sent an e-mail announcing a market slowdown for car sales in central and eastern Europe. Evidently the slowdown is a trend, according to JATO Dynamics. On the bright side, Fiat is doing well.
Reuters sent me two news items. I chose to read "No Thanksgiving rest for retailers in sales race" over "Dubai debt worry ripples across assets." Did you know that domestic shoppers may stretch tight budgets this year to reward loved ones after months of thrift? Wal-Mart Stores, the Gap, RadioShack and Walgreens are open today to take advantage of that. I wonder how many tires Wal-Mart will sell today?
One e-mail was race-related. The Steeda Q650R Mustang won at PBIR (Palm Beach International Raceway). The item, courtesy of the "StangTV Newsletter," mentioned that the car won on Nitto tires.
Street Legal TV News sent me another newsletter (I would guess the newsletters were automatically set to go out on Thanksgiving -- no person required). It promoted Jay Leno's Camaro. The item did not mention what tires he used to on the twin-turbo Camaro, which was shown at this year's Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA, Show in Las Vegas.
Hmmm, the StangTV and Street Legal TV newsletters and Web sites are set up exactly the same. Just an observation.
The ninth e-mail was from Kontakt about "Anfrage." Never heard of Kontakt, and don't know what anfrage means.
Waitaminute, I just received another e-mail: "Get NFL playoff tickets now" from StubHub. I ought to reply that as a Cleveland Browns fan, I won't need to buy playoff tickets now or in the foreseeable future. But I don't have time -- I need to get to the in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner.
Happy Thanksgiving! And don't work too hard.
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