And here we go again... but with a great twist!

So last week I wrote about the TRACO-Peerless issue and I mentioned that another similar situation was happening on the primary glass side. And thanks to several readers, I got confirmation. Cardinal Glass decided to take a shot at Guardian by having a note out there basically saying that Guardian’s published and tested performances on their Low E glass were wrong. The piece focused on the emissivity values and quite frankly stunned me for many reasons. First it was the whole “taking a shot” angle that I mentioned last week. Second was the fact the Cardinal not only accused Guardian of having wrong totals but they also listed one CARDINAL product as being wrong. (So you are accusing them of something you may be guilty of?) And of course third was the fact that Cardinal is basically not only accusing Guardian of being wrongful, but in turn they are saying that YOU CAN’T TRUST THE NFRC!
These were NFRC tested totals. Cardinal is basically saying they are wrong… hmmmmmm So the mighty NFRC, which Cardinal loves CAN’T BE TRUSTED! Someone wake up Marc LaFrance! Seriously this is an amazing accusation which leads me to ask… if NFRC totals are wrong, why are we suffering through this crap again? As for the issue at hand, Guardian obviously tested everything via NFRC and their procedures and their numbers came out to what was published. Knowing the folks at Guardian, and especially their Science and Tech guys, I am pretty dang confident that there is no way they are in the wrong here. Obviously someone is jealous.... So I think Cardinal is misguided here, while they try to take a shot at Guardian, at the end of the day the finger is actually pointed at NFRC! (Note Cardinal went and had samples they acquired of the Guardian product tested and came up with different totals than the NFRC ones...)
And like last week, when you take a shot like this, to me it shows a serious weakness. To make claims like this instead of trying to sell the products on their merits really shows some desperation. Anyway color me stunned that Cardinal, the biggest NFRC booster around, would basically tell the world that YOU CAN’T TRUST NFRC TOTALS!! Classic!

Maybe the NFRC needs a 3rd party to check their 3rd party stuff eh?

Elsewhere…

-- Speaking of NFRC… class act Chuck Knickerbocker of Technical Glass Products has a tremendous and passionate post online about the NFRC. You can access it HERE. Chuck’s reaction is what most people will have as it starts to go more and more mainstream…

-- Congrats to PPG and Rob Struble on winning a national marketing award from the Business Marketing Association. I know I pick on PPG from time to time, but I have a ton of respect for Rob and the work he does and it’s great that he and his group are getting some recognition. There’s no doubt they deserve it as Rob has consistenty positioned and marketed PPG extremely well over the years.

-- CONFLICT OF INTEREST ALERT! Over the last few years the ICC (International Code Council) has fought back attempts by AAMA to have their 3rd party certification track be considered an equal to NFRC. The NFRC trots out their tried and true supporters and the ICC buckles- despite the logic involved. Anyway now look who is advertising in the ICC newsletter/website…. NFRC… wow… isn’t that special? So the ICC takes ad dollars in from a group that needs their endorsement and support. Filthy. So AAMA, why don’t you advertise in there… maybe it will help your case?

-- Twitter… yes I broke down and now do Twitter. And for the last two days I am taking tons of fun abuse about… Twitter….

-- Now while I may Twitter I actually don’t watch American Idol (doesn’t Twittering and watching AI go hand in hand?) so I am one of the people who have no idea why the outrage over Paula Abdul not coming back to the show. My brother on the other hand is an AI expert so I’ll have to ask him for the proper insight. Now that Paula has time on her hands she can come to Atlanta and work Glassbuild…

Off to the LINKS…

-- Another article on the Cap & Trade… this one talking about costs. It’s funny health care came about and Cap & Trade really fell to the background… just wish it would fall all the way off the radar…

-- Long, but worthwhile read on the problems at Harvard… and for those of us in the building industry you can see the BOOM and the bust, just by reading what Harvard did over the last few years. By the way the author of this piece Nina Munk wrote an awesome book about the AOL downfall called “Fools Rush In” and that too is a great read.

-- From the “Link Chick” and this will make you laugh… and cry… a highway sign in dire need of spellcheck!!

Video of the Week:

Also from the “Link Chick” the classic video about a 7 year old taking the family car for a drive… this is some amazing stuff… and at 7 my man is very advanced!