Some context: Earlier today I posted a blog challenge on my Facebook page agreeing to blog on any subject for at least a paragraph before midnight tonight, Pacific Time.
I did this on a whim because I’m stupid. Anyway, my sister put “Aluminum Siding” on the request list.
Aluminum siding came on strong during an era in which most of the male population had been subject to a military draft, so buildings that looked like metal drainage pipes were not considered terribly unusual. One of the houses in which I grew up had aluminum siding so you could hit it with a snowball and it would sound a little like the rattling of a chain-link fence.
There were supposedly some insulation benefits to it but I certainly never noticed. During the winter we still needed heat and during the summer we still needed AC. If aluminum siding was supposed to keep us at a stable temperature all year round as if we were living in giant rectangular Thermos bottle I would say it did not accomplish this job on its own.
I also once read that aluminum in the environment is a huge contributing factor in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. Given that the rise of aluminum siding preceded the popular election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency twice I would say that’s some pretty significant correlation going on.
Finally, if you’ve never seen the 1987 movie “Tin Men” starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito as aluminum siding salesmen in Baltimore you are missing a fun time. Incidentally, “Glengarry Glen Ross” was first staged in 1983 and I sometimes wonder if it was an influence on writer/director Barry Levinson.
Okay, that’s one down.
Next up: Pork Pie Hats for Michael S. King.
