The iconic American “street food” traces its origin to 19th century German immigrants who brought frankfurters from their homeland.
In the 1860s, the term “hot dog” emerged in reference to these sausages being sold in buns at street carts. The popularity of hot dogs soared during the late 19th and early 20th centuries particularly at baseball games where the hot dog is virtually synonymous.at the sport.
In many college towns push cart hot dog vendors may be welcomed and even embraced as part of the local food scene. They can add variety and convenience for students, faculty, and staff by offering affordable and quick meal options. These towns may have regulations and policies in place to support and accommodate such vendors.
The case against hot dogs as a food primarily revolves around health concerns and potential risks associated with their consumption. Some of the key arguments include:
Processed meat and additives: Hot dogs are often made from processed meats that can contain additives, preservatives, and high levels of sodium. These additives, such as nitrates and nitrites, have been linked to increased risks of certain health issues, including cancer and heart disease.
High in unhealthy fats: Hot dogs are typically high in saturated and trans fats, which can contribute to elevated cholesterol levels and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Potential for contamination: There have been instances of foodborne illnesses associated with hot dogs, such as outbreaks of bacterial contamination, including E. coli or Listeria monocytogenes. Improper handling, storage, or undercooking can increase the risk of such contamination.
Allergens and dietary restrictions: Hot dogs often contain common allergens like wheat, soy, and dairy. Additionally, they may not be suitable for individuals with dietary restrictions or preferences, such as vegetarians, vegans, or those following specific religious or cultural dietary guidelines.
Environmental impact: The production and consumption of hot dogs contribute to environmental concerns. The meat industry, including processed meat production, is associated with greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation, and water pollution.
These arguments against hot dogs do not necessarily apply to all hot dogs or to every individual. Moderation, choosing healthier options, and considering individual dietary needs and preferences can help mitigate some of the concerns associated with hot dog consumption.
100 years ago, the Supreme Court made it clear in Pierce v. Society of Sisters: raising children is the responsibility of parents, not the government.
100 years later, the Trump Administration remains committed to protecting parental rights. pic.twitter.com/yduXdLShty
— Secretary Linda McMahon (@EDSecMcMahon) June 1, 2025
“…O chestnut tree;, great rooted blossomer, Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bold? O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
We sweep through the world’s three major time zones; updating our understanding of the literature at the technical foundation of education community safety and sustainability in those time zones 24 times per day. We generally eschew “over-coding” web pages to sustain speed, revision cadence and richness of content as peak priority. We do not provide a search facility because of copyrights of publishers and time sensitivity of almost everything we do.
Our daily colloquia are typically doing sessions; with non-USA titles receiving priority until 16:00 UTC and all other titles thereafter. We assume policy objectives are established (Safer-Simpler-Lower-Cost, Longer-Lasting). Because we necessarily get into the weeds, and because much of the content is time-sensitive and copyright protected, we usually schedule a separate time slot to hammer on technical specifics so that our response to consultations are meaningful and contribute to the goals of the standards developing organization and to the goals of stewards of education community real assets — typically the largest real asset owned by any US state and about 50 percent of its annual budget.
1. Leviathan. We track noteworthy legislative proposals in the United States 118th Congress. Not many deal specifically with education community real assets since the relevant legislation is already under administrative control of various Executive Branch Departments such as the Department of Education.
We do not advocate in legislative activity at any level. We respond to public consultations but there it ends.
We track federal legislative action because it provides a stroboscopic view of the moment — the “national conversation”– in communities that are simultaneously a business and a culture. Even though more than 90 percent of such proposals are at the mercy of the party leadership the process does enlighten the strengths and weakness of a governance system run entirely through the counties on the periphery of Washington D.C. It is impossible to solve technical problems in facilities without sensitivity to the zietgeist that has accelerated in education communities everywhere.
Michigan can 100% water and feed itself. Agriculture is its second-largest industry.
“Fireworks over Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome” | Jacob Philipp Hackert (1775)
At least twice a year, and during performances with flame effects, public safety departments in colleges and universities have an elevated concern about campus citizen safety, and the safety of the host community, when fireworks are used for celebration. We find very rigorous prohibitions against the use of fireworks, weapons and explosives on campus. Education and enforcement usually falls on facility and operation campus safety units.
That much said, we follow development, but do not advocate in NFPA 1123 Code for Fireworks Display, because it lies among a grouping of titles that set the standard of care for many college and university public safety departments that sometimes need to craft prohibitions with consideration for the business purposes of entertainment and celebration in education facilities. NFPA 1123 is not a long document — only 22 pages of core text — but it contains a few basic considerations for display site selection, clearances and permitting that campus public safety departments will coordinate with the host community. It references NFPA 1126, Standard for the Use of Pyrotechnics Before a Proximate Audience and NFPA 160 Standard for the Use of Flame Effects Before an Audience.
Something to keep an eye on. The home page for this code is linked below:
Partial listing. We have until July 15th to comment on committee action
Our proposal G153-25: Page 754
Michigan Modular G195-25: Page 859
“Clinical Need” definition for enhanced security: Page 765
“Electric Vehicle Charger” definition by the National Parking Association/Parking Consultant’s Council: Page 457
“EV Charging Space” definition: Page 458
“EV Supply Equipment” definition: Page 460
ADM20-25 Authority of building official in natural disasters and high hazard regions, p141
ASM3-25 Electrical equipment re-use, p195
G2-25. New definition for Animal Housing Facilities, p438
S57-25. Quite a bit of back and forth on wind and PV “farms, p1053, et. al (“Wind and solar farms are different from animal and produce farms” — Mike Anthony)
“Temple, Fountain and Cave in Sezincote Park” | Thomas Daniell (1819) | Yale Center for British Art
From time to time we break from our interest in lowering the cost of our “cities-within-cities” to enjoy the work of our colleagues responsible for seasonal ambience and public art. We have a dedicated post that celebrates the accomplishments of our gardeners and horticultural staff. Today we dedicate a post to campus fountains–a focal point for gathering and a place for personal reflection for which there is no price.
Alas, we find a quickening of standards developing organizations growing their footprint in the spaces around buildings now. They used to confine the scopes of their standardization enterprises to the building envelope. That day will soon be behind us as an energized cadre of water rights social justice workers, public safety, sustainability and energy conservation professionals descend upon campus fountains with prescriptive requirements for evaporation rates, bromine concentrations, training, certification and inspections. In other words regulators and conformity functionaries will outnumber benefactors and fountain designers 1 million to 1.
We will deal with all that when the day comes. For the moment, let’s just enjoy them.
We are happy to walk you through the relevant structural, water safety, plumbing and electrical issues any day at 11 AM EST during our daily standing online teleconferences. Click on any image for author attribution, photo credit or other information.
Purdue University
The Great Court at Trinity College, Cambridge
Regent University
University of Washington
Hauptgebäude der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Bayern, Deutschland
College of the Desert / Palm Desert, California
California Institute of Technology
Berry College
Utah Valley University
Universitat d’Alacant / Sant Vicent del Raspeig, Spain
FERC Open Meetings | (Note that these ~60 minute sessions meet Sunshine Act requirements. Our interest lies one or two levels deeper into the technicals underlying the administrivia)
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan
First Draft Proposals contain most of our proposals — and most new (original) content. We will keep the transcripts linked below but will migrate them to a new page starting 2025:
N.B. We are in the process of migrating electric power system research to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers bibliographic format.
Recap of the May meetings of the Industrial & Commercial Power Systems Conference in Las Vegas. The conference ended the day before the beginning of the 3-day Memorial Day weekend in the United States so we’re pressed for time; given all that happened.
We can use our last meeting’s agenda to refresh the status of the issues.
We typically break down our discussion into the topics listed below:
Codes & Standards:
While IAS/I&CPS has directed votes on the NEC; Mike is the only I&CPS member who is actually submitting proposals and responses to codes and standards developers to the more dominant SDO’s — International Code Council, ASHRAE International, UL, ASTM International, IEC & ISO. Mike maintains his offer to train the next generation of “code writers and vote getters”
Performance-based building premises feeder design has been proposed for the better part of ten NEC revision cycles. The objective of these proposals is to reduce material, labor and energy waste owed to the branch and feeder sizing rules that are prescriptive in Articles 210-235. Our work in service and lighting branch circuit design has been largely successful. A great deal of building interior power chain involves feeders — the network upstream from branch circuit panels but down stream from building service panel.
Our history of advocating for developing this approach, inspired by the NFPA 101 Guide to Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, and recounted in recent proposals for installing performance-based electrical feeder design into the International Building Code, appears in the link below:
Access to this draft paper for presentation at any conference that will receive it — NFPA, ICC or IEEE (or even ASHRAE) will be available for review at the link below:
NFPA 110 Definitions of Public Utility v. Merchant Utility
NFPA 72 “Definition of Dormitory Suite” and related proposals
Buildings:
Renovation economics, Smart contracts in electrical construction. UMich leadership in aluminum wiring statements in the NEC should be used to reduce wiring costs.
This paper details primary considerations in estimating the life cycle of a campus medium voltage distribution grid. Some colleges and universities are selling their entire power grid to private companies. Mike has been following these transactions but cannot do it alone.
Variable Architecture Multi-Island Microgrids
District energy:
Generator stator winding failures and implications upon insurance premiums. David Shipp and Sergio Panetta. Mike suggests more coverage of retro-fit and lapsed life cycle technicals for insurance companies setting premiums.
Reliability:
Bob Arno’s leadership in updating the Gold Book.
Mike will expand the sample set in Table 10-35, page 293 from the <75 data points in the 1975 survey to >1000 data points. Bob will set up meeting with Peyton at US Army Corps of Engineers.
Reliability of merchant utility distribution systems remains pretty much a local matter. The 2023 Edition of the NESC shows modest improvement in the vocabulary of reliability concepts. For the 2028 Edition Mike submitted several proposals to at least reference IEEE titles in the distribution reliability domain. It seems odd (at least to Mike) that the NESC committees do not even reference IEEE technical literature such as Bob’s Gold Book which has been active for decades. Mike will continue to propose changes in other standards catalogs — such as ASTM, ASHRAE and ICC — which may be more responsive to best practice assertions. Ultimately, improvements will require state public utility commission regulations — and we support increases in tariffs so that utilities can afford these improvements.
Mike needs help from IEEE Piscataway on standard WordPress theme limitations for the data collection platform.
Mike will update the campus power outage database.
Healthcare:
Giuseppe Parise’s recent work in Italian power grid to its hospitals, given its elevated earthquake risk. Mike’s review of Giuseppe’s paper:
Mike and David Shipp will prepare a position paper for the Harvard Healthcare Management Journal on reliability advantages of impedance grounding for the larger systems.
The Internet of Bodies
Forensics:
Giuseppe’s session was noteworthy for illuminating the similarity and differences between the Italian and US legal system in handling electrotechnology issues.
Mike will restock the committee’s library of lawsuits transactions.
Ports:
Giuseppe updates on the energy and security issues of international ports. Mike limits his time in this committee even though the State of Michigan has the most fresh water international ports in the world.
A PROPOSED GUIDE FOR THE ENERGY PLAN AND ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF A PORT
Other:
Proposals to the 2028 National Electrical Safety Code: Accepted Best Practice, exterior switchgear guarding, scope expansion into ICC and ASHRAE catalog,
Apparently both the Dot Standards and the Color Books will continue parallel development. Only the Gold Book is being updated; led by Bob Arno. Mike admitted confusion but reminded everyone that any references to IEEE best practice literature in the NFPA catalog, was installed Mike himself (who would like some backup help)
Mike assured Christel Hunter (General Cable) that his proposals for reducing the 180 VA per-outlet requirements, and the performance-base design allowance for building interior feeders do not violate the results of the Neher-McGrath calculation used for conductor sizing. All insulation and conducting material thermal limits are unaffected.
Other informal discussions centered on the rising cost of copper wiring and the implications for the global electrotechnical transformation involving the build out of quantum computing and autonomous vehicles. Few expressed optimism that government ambitions for the same could be met in any practical way.
Are students avoiding use of Chat GPT for energy conservation reasons? Mike will be breaking out this topic for a dedicated standards inquiry session:
The University of Wyoming Extension service provides research and education to farmers and ranchers; funded by federal, state, and local sources:
Agricultural production and management: The Extension service provides information and resources on topics such as crop production, livestock management, and farm business management.
Soil and water management: The Extension service offers expertise on soil fertility, irrigation, water quality, and conservation practices.
Pest management: The Extension service provides resources and support for integrated pest management, including information on insect and disease control, weed management, and pesticide safety.
Youth education: The Extension service offers educational programs and activities for youth interested in agriculture, including 4-H clubs and competitions.
Community development: The Extension service works with local communities to support economic development, tourism, and natural resource conservation.
The Extension service also offers consultations, workshops, field days, and other events to help farmers and ranchers stay up-to-date on the latest research and technologies in agriculture.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
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