Somehow we managed another shout-out from the mighty BoingBoing, this one for our videos. We just wanted to welcome all your Boingers out there who are coming to our site for the first time. You’ll find some fun stuff, like the Posters and the very, very cool videos. Don’t forget to check out Friday Follies. They are just totally random, but funny clips, videos, rants, you name it. You’ll find something in there to like, believe us.

And you’ll also find a lot of very pro-manufacturing stuff. We are manufacturers, we make stuff and we do it better than anybody in the world. Sometimes folks get in our way and bug us, like trial lawyers and enviros, and when they do, we say it. Hide the children.

Otherwise, explore and enjoy! If you’re bright and want a high tech career making stuff (and a bunch of money along the way), try out our Dream It, Do It website.

C’mon in — feel the manufacturing vibe.

This morning, the President nominated Judge Samuel Alito of the Third Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here’s a link to the White House announcement and here’s a link to Judge Alito’s biography.

The NAM’s Judicial Review Committee (JRC) will review Judge Alito’s record and qualifications according to our stated criteria. This is the same process we used for Chief-Justice Roberts and were using for Harriet Miers prior to her withdrawal.

We will make a public announcement once the Judicial Review Committee reaches its result. Here’s a link to our press release on the topic.

Congratulations to Judge Alito on his nomination.

Here’s a story from Sunday’s Washington Post by Ylan Mui entitled, “At Many Elementary Schools, The Party’s Over.” The gist of it is in the sub-heading: “Anti-Obesity Focus Curtails Celebration Sweets.”

Has it come to this…?

The story profiles one Jake Balcom, an 11 year-old elementary school student in Howard County, Maryland, summoned to the Principals’ office over the loudspeaker to celebrate his birthday. When he arrived, instead of the usual gooey treats, he got a handshake (What about germs…?), a pencil and a card. Said the card, “We hope you have a terrific birthday.” Right.

This is all part of a no-sweets campaign by — among others, the self-appointed Center for Science in the Public Interest. Whose interest is that again….? For Halloween at one school there is only allowed on “cupcake item” and one “candy item”. What the hell is a “Cupcake item”? Is it a cupcake? At another school, one mom eschewed the usual sweets for watermelon, grapes and bananas. Yum. How glad are you that you’re out of elementary school? And, if you want to read a real buzz-killer, check out the Center’s “Ghoulishly Great Ideas for…Trick or Treating“. It’s a total downer, with “tips” like, “At the party, serve no more than one sugary/higher fat item.” And there’s this tip: “Shift children’s’ focus away from candy to reading and writing Halloween stories.” Do they expect kids to come to these parties? Do these people have kids?

Back to our friend Jake: Once extricated from his nanny-state school, his buddies went to the movies and then repaired to his house where they “feasted”, says Mui — correctly — on sloppy Joe’s and birthday cake. At least the poor kid had a rightful birthday celebration before the day was done.

This is yet another story that’s funny, and not. Lawyers and nanny regulators are running amok. The Halloween disclaimer, below, is maybe not so far off base. How very, very sad.

Dare we say it? What the heck — at the risk of being sued, Happy Halloween!

Has anyone noticed that the linen closets of America seem a little emptier around the end of October? Here’s one idea as to where all those extra rolls of toilet paper went…

Although we don’t condone it (nor do most parents), Halloween sparks a greater level of mischievousness in children. And although NAM member company Procter & Gamble may not see a surge in Charmin purchases at the end of October, there’s a pretty good chance their product might be “decorating” the trees of neighborhoods across the country on Halloween.

John Hoberg & Co., predecessor to the Charmin Paper Company, was established in Green Bay, Wis., in 1891, and in 1928, Hoberg registered the Charmin name and design as trademarks for his new toilet tissue. Charmin became so successful that the Hoberg company later changed its name to the Charmin Paper Company.

Procter & Gamble acquired Charmin in 1957 and throughout the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, American consumers became so familiar with Charmin’s advertising that most people can still remember what Mr. Whipple pleaded to his grocery store customers: “Please, don’t squeeze the Charmin!”

As a result of our two posts this past week on the maps of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), we have annoyed a few enviros who cried “foul!” The first map, as you might recall, was from that bastion of conservatism, the Washington Post. It showed the context of the size of the drilling area to the state of Alaska. “Not true!”, cried the enviros, the map shows a huge area for drilling. And so we provided yet another map — this one from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources — that showed the drilling area is even smaller. The burr under their saddle is our claim that the drilling footprint in ANWR is about the size of Dulles Airport.

Well, it takes a big blog to admit when they are wrong and so we do today, with heads hung low. The enviros were right — the drilling footprint is not the size of Dulles Airport. According to this from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, Dulles Airport sits on some 10,000 acres. According to this article from Rep. Don Young (R-AK), the drilling footprint of ANWR is 2,000 acres. (His article also talks about the interests of the native Inuits in drilling — but hey, who cares what the natives think, right?) So in other words, according to our calculations, Dulles Airport is five times the size of the drilling footprint of ANWR. We promise to correct all future posts accordingly.

Please click here to drop a note to your Member of Congress and Senators to tell them to please keep pushing ahead with the plan to increase the domestic supply of energy.

Continuing our tradition of providing a “shout out” to the blogs who do the same for us, a faithful blog reader — one of our first — and self-professed geek — dropped us a note yesterday to say we were mentioned on BoingBoing. It’s a blog, as he says, for geeks, and a damned popular one at that. Subtitled, “A Directory of Wonderful Things”, they took notice of our manufacturing posters, and we are getting some good traffic as a result. Here’s a link to their mention.

Just wanted to say thanks to BoingBoing and to geeks everywhere. We welcome you all, welcome anyone with an interest in celebrating the making of stuff large and small.

So, to all those first time visitors from BoingBoing, welcome to the world of manufacturing. Its cool over here and we hope you stop by often. Each Wednesday we feature a neat poster and every Saturday a new video of how our stuff is made.

As regular blog readers know, the trial lawyers are running rampant out there, waiting to sue at the drop of the hat — that is, if the hat causes you to stumble, or to get sick with worry about stumbling. We know they were the first on the ground after Hurricane Katrina, wading past all the folks in need to sign ‘em up to sue somebody. This is a lawsuit-happy culture, as you all know.

This Halloween, as a public service, we want to make sure you protect yourselves from lawsuits. Thanks to the sharp-eyed folks over at the Center for Consumer Freedom. we provide you with this “Halloween Liability and Indemnification Agreement“. Please download it before you leave work today and run over to Kinko’s and make 40-50 copies. Heck, you can even use this link to do it electronically so they’ll be waiting for you when you get there. Grab a box of crayons and have the little monsters sign ‘em when they come to your house, apartment, condo, town house, hut, shack, cave or yurt tonight. As you’ll see, it should protect you from claims of obesity, cravings, furry teeth, tummy aches, and other actionable conditions. You may want to add a codicil covering tooth decay as well. If possible, please get a parent or legal guardian to sign, too. This way you can make sure the “trick” won’t come in the form of a lawsuit arriving on your doorstep in the morning.

Please use the “Send to a Friend” link below to forward this to anyone you know who is observing Halloween, i.e., those who have not been scared off or threatened by various “consumer advocacy” or “anti-witch” organizations. Make sure they protect themselves this Halloween! Don’t be the only one on your block without ‘em! You’ll be a sitting duck!

Remember when all we had to worry about was getting “TP’d”….?

It was 50 years ago that Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama and with that quiet yet powerful act, lit a movement that swept that nation and maybe even the world. Today and tomorrow she will “lie in honor” in the Rotunda of the US Capitol, an honor reserved for only 29 people throughout our nation’s history. Among those were Presidents and Unknown Soldiers of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Rosa Parks was a soldier of a different kind, in a battle for freedom just as important as those fought half a world away.

We remember her today and we salute her. In these days of media spin and multi-million dollar ad buys, she will serve as a constant reminder to citizens and schoolchildren who wonder if one person, one life can ever make a difference. By sitting she made a stand. In the process of that simple but powerful act she freed a Nation’s conscience and began a very long march for equality.

May her soul rest in peace. May her memory be ever restless in our all our souls.

As you may have read or seen or the news, Jonathon Prince is a young man who is running from LosAngeles to Atlanta to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. All money raised will go to Habitat for Humanity, to build homes for those displaced by the Hurricane. He plans to cover some 15-20 miles a day, and figures it’ll take him about 5 months to complete his 2,600-mile trek. This is a great and determined young man. An NAM alum, Ladd Biro, represents Jonathon and called our attention to it, asked for our help, which we’re happy to give.

Here’s the link to his “Run 4 Relief” website and here’s a link where you can contribute to his effort. As you well know., manufacturers have been at the forefront of the outpouring of generosity for Hurricane Katrina victims. Please join in this worthy effort and help support Jonathon in achieving this most special dream.

When it comes time to decorate, count on the Beistle Company for your one-stop haunted headquarters for all things Halloween. That’s because the Beistle Company is the oldest and largest manufacturer of decorations and party goods. They manufacture just about everything that you’d come to expect to find at a properly decorated Halloween party–the confetti, cutouts, danglers, garland, centerpieces, table covers-oh, and did we mention the six-and-a-half foot haunted clock? In all, some 334 products for Halloween. Here’s a link to see their complete list. If you’re not sure where you can find their products, here is a link.

The company was founded in 1900 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Martin Luther Beistle. Mr. Beistle started his company in the basement of his Pennsylvania home crafting decor for hotel lobbies with his wife and brother-in-law. In the beginning, Beistle lines consisted mainly of artificial plants and wooden products. The company had early success by becoming the first producer of honeycombed tissue to the United States. This helped the company thrive until World War II which was the only period in the history of Beistle during which no decorative products were produced. Parachutes and water-tight shipment wrappings became the war era production focus.

Today, the Shippensburg, Pennsylvania-based company has outlived other American holiday decoration companies and competes successfully against growing competition from China. The company publishes a 400-page catalogue with some 3,000 items for all occasions-not just Halloween. While the product lines have expanded over the years, the one thing that remains is their strong family ties: M.L. Beistle’s great-great-granddaughter, Tricia Lacy is President of the firm.

Tune in tomorrow, October 31st, for our final installment of Manufacturers & Halloween