restbreaks for oysters and the specter of eurorationalization
From a NYT article on an EU ruling that Britain and Ireland can continue to use Imperial (non-metric) measurements for beer and other commodities:
The European Union has long tried to dispel myths that its zealous bureaucrats are trying to impinge on national cultures in their bid to harmonize standards in the world’s biggest trading bloc. Such myths have included that cucumbers sold in the European Union must not arch more than 10 millimeters for every 10 millimeters of length; that it is against health rules to feed swans stale bread; and that Brussels had decided that shellfish must be given rest breaks and stress-relieving showers during boat journeys over 50 kilometers long.
More than a little unconscious content – political and, erm, otherwise – welling up in those myths of rationalization and bureaucratic management, nay? No rest breaks, for shellfish or any of the rest of ’em, in our pound-eating, pint-guzzling bastion of neo-lib freedom, no sir…
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