According to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Largo-based Ker’s WingHouse did not infringe on Hooters (trademark-like) trade dress. In other words, Hooters doesn’t have an exclusive on buxomly waitresses in tight shorts and tank tops.
It took a lawsuit to determine that?
You reach a certain point in life – after having seen and done some things – such that you feel qualified to not just pass on advice – but to codify it into rules. Here are some – thanks to the internet – and courtesy of Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates and comedian millionaire and societal scold George Carlin.
Gates’ “Rules for Life” are aimed at high school students. Basically, it’s what they did not — and will not — learn in any classroom. To wit:
*Life is not fair. Get used to it.
*The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
*If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’til you get a boss.
*Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.
*Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
*Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very few employees are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
*Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.
Carlin’s acerbic, updated “New Rules for 2006” include, with some sanitization, these observations:
*Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There’s a reason you don’t talk to people for 25 years. Because you don’t particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.
*Don’t eat anything that’s served to you out a window unless you’re a seagull.
*If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you’re a dope. If you’re a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols. If you’re a grown man, they’re pictures of men.
*Competitive eating isn’t a sport. It’s one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What’s next? Competitive gas-passing? Oh wait. They’re already doing that. It’s called “The Howard Stern Show.”
*When I ask how old your toddler is, I don’t need to know in months. “27 months.” “He’s two” will do just fine. He’s not a cheese.
And here’s one more, this one attributed to the late holistic health guru, Dr. Bernard Jensen : “Life is short. Make it wide.”
Much continues to be made of the Senate’s recent failure to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Of course, it was a political diversion from more important stuff. And the rhetoric was predictably partisan; most of it grounded in raw, pandering expedience.
Having said that, it’s worth noting that:
*The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution makes some ponder the possibility that what happens in Massachusetts won’t always stay in Massachusetts.
*The law of the land (prohibition, separate but equal, restricted voting rights) as we know, can be as protean as a Supreme Court composition and societal mutation. What happens if Congress’ Defense of Marriage Act is overturned?
*Massachusetts Republican Governor Mitt Romney’s quote on the subject still makes the most sense. “Marriage is not an ‘evolving paradigm,'” stated Romney. “It is deeply rooted in the history, culture and tradition of civil society. It predates our constitution and our nation by millennia. The institution of marriage was not created by government, and it should not be redefined by government.”
It was only fitting that Mayor Pam Iorio was the keynote speaker at last week’s 20th anniversary Tampa Downtown Partnership meeting and luncheon. With a city-core visual aid and a pointer, she was preaching to the choir on her favorite boilerplate subject: the changing face — and focus — of downtown Tampa. Some asides:
*”Over the next 5 to 6 years” a virtual “city within a city” will come on line in the downtown core and Channelside. Upwards of 8,000 living units and 17,000 residents are anticipated.
*Would, however, that there were more apartments in the mix.
*The sort of growth now occurring – and now planned – is about 20 years ahead of what had been foreseen by most observers. Certainly not the $2.6 billion in investment interest.
*The Riverwalk will link Tampa Heights to Channelside, but the “key to our civic space” is Curtis Hixon Park.
*Ultimately, the city expects to have about “300 major events along the Riverwalk each year.”
*Iorio gave former Mayor Dick Greco his props for projects started under his administration, including the purchase of land parcels adjacent to the Riverwalk.
Notably, not even the Pamglossian mayor could wax effusive about the blight stuff that is Central Park Village redevelopment. “I’ll skip over that for now,” quipped Iorio. It was intended to be – and succeeded as – a bittersweet laugh line.
The squalid, northeast gateway to downtown has been hostage to a dysfunctional city-county dynamic, as well as Hillsborough County Commission grandstanding over a special taxing district. Most recently the commission – spearheaded by Commissioner Tom Scott – has demanded, among other last-minute requirements of city council, changes in the makeup of the city Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board. The CRA issue remains a point of contention pending the commission’s final vote June 21.
The sobering reality is that the further removed Central Park Village redevelopment gets from the large-scale Civitas project that the commission sandbagged in 2004, the more like “public housing” it’s likely to be. And the more parochial dithering there is, the more Bank of America, the key private investor, has to wonder about its commitment to Tampa’s political ground zero. And the more delays there are, the more construction costs continue to mount.
That’s a lot worth skipping over.
Ironically, the luncheon’s invocation was given by Commissioner Scott. Too bad he didn’t call upon the Deity for some redevelopment enlightenment.
The case can certainly be made that the “Doonesbury” comic strip has long belonged on the op-ed page. The case gets even stronger when creator Garry Trudeau uses his Sunday comics forum for an otherwise admirable “In Memoriam” salute to U.S. soldiers killed in “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”
The solemn dedication to America’s fallen deserves better than being juxtaposed next to “Blondie” and underneath “Marmaduke.” It just does.
“Doonesbury” is an editorial call. For most newspapers, it continues to be the wrong one.
If there’s anything conventional about the wooing of the Republican National Convention to Tampa in September 2008, it’s the sheer predictability that:
*Not everyone will see the Holy Grail of convention coups if Tampa wins out.
*As long as the actor Michael Norton is around to portray Teddy Roosevelt, there can always be a fun video to complement a serious PowerPoint presentation.
*This time Karl Rove won’t be weighing in with patriotic pandering in the form of “Ground Zero” symbolism.
*All those key players who think the GOP “owes us” for opting for New York in ’04 will soldier on and never say so on the record.
*Tampa’s host committee will inevitably find itself in the untenable position of not wanting to talk about a really big piece of public business until evaluations and negotiations with the sotto voce Republican National Committee are over, and the competition with other contending cities (Cleveland, Minneapolis, New York) finalized.
*There will be a blizzard of numbers – from expenses to economic impact.
*There will be arched brows and populist sound bites over the big cost tabs – in this case, an initially estimated $124.4 million. (Approximately two thirds of which — goods and services, rent, employment/staffing — will be spent in the local communities.)
*None of the early numbers will remain the same. Private fundraising will go up.
*There will be political posturing, intrigue and subplots. The color of money isn’t purely bi-partisan green.
*There will be speculation and tea-leaf reading, much of it to no avail.
*There will be an elephant in the living room, but it won’t be the GOP pachyderm. It will be the hurricane season — and the media will be in full, drumbeat-coverage mode during the August site selection visit.
*There will be something more that Jeb Bush could have done.
*Someone in the media will ask why Tampa doesn’t bid on Democratic conventions. (You have to get a Request For Proposal from a party’s national committee before submitting a bid. And it helps to have a coterie of loyalist power brokers and prominent party fundraisers to prompt such RFPs in the first place.)
*Florida Republican finance chairman and host committee chairman Al Austin, the nonpareil GOP fundraiser who’s been a delegate to every Republican convention since 1972, will be prepared to do whatever is necessary to close the deal.
*While Tampa is the would-be host city, the bid was submitted in the name of Tampa-St. Petersburg. Regional players are on board — even the former chairman of the Orlando bid committee. The Tampa-St. Petersburg bid is the de facto Florida bid, with Gov. Jeb Bush as honorary chair. This state hasn’t hosted a national political convention since the GOP visited Miami in 1972.
*After reviewing RFPs from both Democratic and Republican conventions, Orlando eventually passed. It shocked no one. It has an arena that isn’t adequate for the NBA, plus it’s a tourism and convention Mecca with bookings three and four years out. A national political convention could be a net business loss.
*While some have waxed worried, if not apocalyptic, about Tampa’s wherewithal to handle hordes – as in the hundreds of thousands — of demonstrators, host committee chair Austin remains his Republican unruffled self. At a recent media briefing Austin observed that “Some of the numbers you saw about New York were highly inflated
Congratulations to the University of Tampa baseball team that captured the NCAA Division II national championship less than a fortnight ago. The Spartans virtually went wire-to-wire as the top-rated D-II team in the country and topped off a remarkable 54-6 season in dramatic fashion by coming from behind to defeat Cal State-Chico, 3-2, in Montgomery, Ala., in the national title game.
UT outfielder Lee Cruz was Player of the Year, and two other Spartans were first team All-Americans. A school record five Spartans, including Cruz and fellow All-Americans Sergio Perez (pitcher) and Orlando Rosales (outfielder) were selected in Major League Baseball’s draft.
UT was – and has been over the years – that good. It was UT’s fourth such national title. Once again, UT made its hometown proud.
All that was missing was hometown media coverage commensurate with such success. UT won four games in Montgomery – and all were covered by stringers or “correspondents” for the Tampa Bay dailies. Local TV was no better.
Granted, UT is a D-II school, and this is a major metro market with pro sports, NASCAR fever, a D-I university in USF and lots of interest and allegiances to the Gators and Seminoles. And, of course, there are budgetary and personnel considerations. But there are also priorities. Being the very best warrants, well, better coverage.
“I think we were undercovered all year,” says UT’s Athletics Director Larry Marfise. “We can compete with any baseball program in the country.
“Look, I know the media can’t cover everything, and not having football probably hurts us overall,” points out Marfise. “But we’re an incredible story. I think the media’s missing some great human interest angles. I think it cheats the kids.”
One way for UT to garner more coverage would be to play some D-I teams, such as USF. Unfortunately, the bigger schools often look at D-II opponents as an “everything-to-lose, nothing-to-gain” proposition. Bigger is expected to be better. Stepping down in classification certainly doesn’t help a major school’s chances for post-season play.
Marfise has tried unsuccessfully to arrange a baseball game with USF – at Legend’s Field. “You get a local charity involved. I think it would be great for the community and local baseball,” he reasons. “But I understand. They’re trying to get themselves established in the Big East.”
Perhaps next season could be different. Perhaps a USF team with a losing record in 2006 would find value in playing – if not defeating — the defending D-II national champion and perennial powerhouse in front of an uncommonly sizable and spirited crowd.
Perhaps the media could get behind it and cover it for what it would be: an intriguing and fun match-up of well-regarded city rivals who could use the exposure.
Perhaps.
Alexander Radfar has a small retail carpet shop. But the bulk of his Oriental rug business is related services. He does appraisals, certifications and major repairs. He picks up; he drops off. He cleans – by hand. Very old school. No steam.
The steam he reserves for his other passion: Iran. The Tehran native came to the United States shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to study art and escape a sectarian sinkhole.
“I didn’t like where the government was going,” he recalls. “I couldn’t live in that religious atmosphere.”
While his father was a Muslim (Turkish extraction) and his mother a Christian (Russian side), he gravitated toward neither. If anything, he loosely identifies with the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. He also wears a mezuzah around his neck that shows an affinity for his best customers and friends, who are Jews.
Once here, he realized that not unlike Thomas Wolfe, he couldn’t go home again – at least not until the mullahs had returned to their mosques. His father told him to stay put in the U.S. He had served in the Iranian military, which was tantamount to being pro Shah.
“The government of Iran was not elected by the people,” Radfar says. “It’s a sad state of affairs. I wanted to show my anger.”
And he displayed it by getting involved in some anti-Iranian regime demonstrations in Tampa. His says his photo was taken by someone he didn’t trust.
He didn’t return for the funerals of his parents. The rest of his family is here.
Radfar, 55, loves his life in the United States as well as Tampa, where he has been for 26 years. He cherishes his American citizenship and proudly recites “Aug. 12, 1996” as the day he “became an American.” His English is excellent.
His take on today’s Iran is hard line.
“The Iranian people are good people,” he stresses. “They are friendly, warm people with a barbaric government that uses the bumper sticker of Islam. They are destroying that society in the name of Islam.”
He refers to Iran’s president, Mahmoud Amadinejad, as a “loose, wild dog that barks. And when it barks at night, it destroys the peace. And needs to be shut down. It’s no time for a ‘come here, puppy,’ approach.”
He says economic sanctions are not the answer. In fact, they would make Amadinejad “bark more,” contends Radfar. “The government has plenty of money and those with connections to the government can survive. They will kill to survive. I wouldn’t pressure him.”
Radfar, however, doesn’t like the military option either.
“If the U.S. were to send a million troops, Iran will have 10 million,” he says. “It is a power way stronger than Saddam. And then you would have (Supreme Leader Ali) Khamenei announcing a worldwide jihad against America.”
So what does that leave?
A way to “vanquish” Amadinejad and a change in metaphors. The Iranian government is a “fire ant nest,” Radfar says. “You don’t have to bomb the nest. You kill the queen.
“He travels a lot inside the country,” notes Radfar. “You hope for an ‘accident.'”
However the U.S.-Iran confrontation plays out, emphasizes Radfar, divided allegiances won’t be a factor.
“I am an American,” he underscores. “A real American. I would feel sorry for those people, but it wouldn’t turn me.”