Nibbled News

TV Ads Overly Concerned About Body Hair

“There's a reason why forty, fifty, and sixty don't look the way they used to, and it's not because of feminism, or better living through exercise. It's because of hair dye. In the 1950's only 7 percent of American women dyed their hair; today there are parts of Manhattan and Los Angeles where there are no gray-haired women at all.”
― Nora Ephron

 

 If you watch any amount of late night television you will eventually begin to notice that many advertisers are beginning to zero in on a major problem that is currently plaguing many, many people these days and apparently growing to pandemic proportions.

What is this threat that is affecting the lives of a great number of men and women these days? Namely,  the absence or the over abundance of body hair. Men and women are actually afraid that they have either too much or not enough of it in all sorts of places on their bodies.

Female viewers are constantly bombarded with a number of gadgets that are guaranteed to rid them of unsightly body hair from their arms, legs, faces and of course that most embarassing of all places the area immediately adjacent to their bikini tan line. 

Lotions, creams, high tech shavers and of course lasers are actively promoted daily to assure women that their concerns are being taken seriously by national advertisers. Informative infomercials employ the services of well known actresses who readily offer their own personal endorsements for the products reliability.

Many of these alleged panaceas even promise that unsightly leg hair and embarassing stubble will be gone forever with just  a few months faithful use of their laser enhanced system. The hair according to the advertisement will be effortlessly removed without the pain and suffering the competitor's hair removal system offers.

Men with thinning hair are also offered quick fixes which will make them look vibrant, sexy, dynamic and desirable. The actors in this commercial sport a full head of hair after supposedly using the restorative process for only thirty days.  They claim that their appearance and their overall confidence has been boosted. Attractive females rave about the new found confidence a full head of hair offers a man.

The commercial warns that this process is not for everyone. I suspect that men will readily shy away from a hair restorative system that requires that an acrylic product resembling human hair be surgically attached to their scalps. The cosmetic affect might be pleasing to the eye but can the invasion on a person's pain threshold and pocketbook justify the expense

A person viewing these "info"-mercials should realize that actors are supposedly portraying real people and events and what is viewed on the television tube is not always the gospel truth. We all want to look our best but we all should take a few minutes to realize that our personal assets are not dependent on an advertisers agenda.

 

 

 

 

 

Ever Try Reasoning With Your Dentist?

"You don't go mud wrestling with a pig because in the end you only wind up looking foolish and the pig tends to love the attention."  -- Anon.

Have you ever tried to engage in a somewhat intelligent and serious conversation with your dentist while you were sitting quietly  in his comfortably padded , genuine Corinthian leather oversized chair visibly trembling and waiting for the pain session to begin?

If you have ever tried this almost universal approach to personal anxiety reduction you would have immediately noticed that both the dentist and his well trained assistant have only one game plan in mind:  helping you through your current oral trauma no matter what it costs you or your ever vigilant insurance provider.

Last Thursday my friend Vic discovered that  a front crown on the upper right portion of his gum area had become extremely loose. He had difficulty eating solid food and the crown was rubbing against his gum causing him pain and overall irritation. The gum was extremely sensitive and required immediate attention.

 He tried to make an appointment with his regular dentist and hoped the visit would resolve his problem. He was told his dentist had the flu and was asked if any dentist would suffice. He answered yes any dentist would be alright.

On Tuesday he went for his appointment and discovered that the tooth had cracked and a part of it had broken away.  It would now need to be extracted crown and all. He did not plan on this happening since the last time a crown came loose the dentist was able to recement it successfully into place.

He was also told that it would be a good game plan to have his teeth cleaned and a few Xrays taken of his upper and lower gums to update his patient file information. He agreed to have these procedures done and luckily there was an appointment vacancy also available that very day.

The female hygienist performed her task in an efficient and friendly manner. She took extra care around the overly irritated and sensitive section of his upper gum. She finished the manual cleaning of his teeth, successfully scraped away the accumulated plaque deposits that had built up around his teeth and then offered him a fluoride rinse to complete the treatment.

He was then led to another dental office and told that the dentist would be with him shortly. A dental assistant entered the room a few minutes later and told him  she needed to take Xrays not only of the affected area but also his whole mouth. This was the dentist's orders. He complied.

When the Xrays were complete the dentist entered the room. He looked at the pictures and then  took his silver colored pliers and carefully removed the crown. He then relayed the bad news that the toothh had broken and the crown and post were useless. He would have to extract the remains of the tooth. The dentist then froze the area with a shot of novocaine and extracted the remains parts of the fragmented  tooth.

The dentist sat at a desk nearby and told Vic of the dental work he might require: permanent tooth implant ($3400); partial dental bridge to bolster gums chewing powers ($3300) ; and finally a back molar ($1100 for the root canal excluding the new crown.

Vic was shocked by this doctor's callous and unrealistic attitude towards his patient. This doctor and others in the building were all fixated on one thing: how much will your insurance carrier handle for you? He tried to explain to this money grubber that he was a retiree living on a fixed income. This made no impression on the doctor.

The next day Vic received a sympathetic telephone call from the dental office's billing secretary. A female associate tried to console him on the loss of his front tooth and asked him how he was handling the loss. He told her it was only a tooth and nothing more.  She assured him she understood his position and his desire to have the tooth replaced as quickly as possible.

The number of options she cited were far too expensive and unrealistic for a retired person lving on a fixed income. He said she was understanding of his financial situation but said she was going to forward a copy of the replacement cost of the tooth to his insurance company. The amount for the tooth alone was "$3800.

Vic said he was struck by the humor of it all. Surely, he reasoned, the materials used and the medical equipment involved did not warrant such  a high price tag. To him this was another example of how costly and unrealistic the cost of medical and dental charges and services have become.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seven Percent Solution For Our World?

 

 

Prayer is co-operation with God. It is the purest exercise of the faculties God has given us - an exercise that links these faculties with the Maker to work out the intentions He had in mind in their creation.  ( E. Stanley Jones)

This is the time of the year when the winter blahs and blues seems to take its toll on many, many people. Feelings of depression slowly creep into a person's psyche. Many folks want to give up on the positive side of life and in its stead embrace a negative, hangdog pessimism.

The shorter days and the darker nights takes its toll on a person's mental health. There is a solution to this perennial problem. We are not doomed to suffer and flounder in a sea of doubt and pessimism.

The short video at the beginning of this blog offers a solution that many people fail to realize may be helping to shape thier lifes and destinies. It is an inspirational video clip. It tells all of us that we are not alone and that there is a benevolent , universal consciousness uniting us all.

Life is meant to be shared and the fruits and the joys in life may come to us through the efforts of others who care for us. Enjoy.

 

 

Safeway Lagging Behind On Product Quality

The traditional mom and pop grocery store has these days almost been  entirely replaced  by the mega markets promoting their bulk buying offers and huge discounts meant to entice and secure customer support and loyalty.

We trust that the modern day players in the burgeoning food industry will also adhere to the same standards of quality, freshness and safety that the local entrepreneurs subscribed to.

Sometimes this trust is naively placed into outlets that care more about profits then customer safety and satisfaction. Many times there are too many fingers in the operational pie to guarantee anything substantial for the consumer.

Last Thursday the 19th of the month  I visited my local Safeway outlet and purchased a package of extra lean ground turkey breasts. There was a two dollar deduction listed on the front of the prewrapped package.

The contents appeared to be pink and wholesome and I looked forward to enjoying it in a chili recipe to be served on the upcoming weekend. The freshness label indicated that the product was good until the 28th of the month.

Saturday evening I noticed that a clear liquid had somehow mysteriously formed and accumulated inside the package. I had not placed the carton in the freezer but on one of the fridge's inner shelves. This was a procedure I had done for years.

The package was opened gingerly and the excess mositure was drained away. The chicken did not smell tainted so it was placed on an electric fry pan. It slid easily out of the container. A few minutes after the heat was applied a white, odorless ooze began to appear around the fringes of the bulky slab of the ground chicken.

As the electric fry pan started to cook the meat more and more of the white goo encircled the meat. After a few minutes the fry pan was turned off and the chicken was thrown into the garbage bin. It seemed to be too risky an item to eat.

I suspect that the product had been previously frozen and thawed and then placed in the meat section for sale. I did not know how many times this had been done. A number of times in the past whenever I had bought the same product and frozen it at home for later use the same reaction had occurred in the fry pan but to a lesser degree.

There were no external markings on the outside of the plastic wrapped container warning a customer that the product had been previously frozen. The two dollar discount seemed to justify the fact that the product had been handled somewhat badly.

The product line, Eating Right, is not processed in the store. It is an item mass merchandised and handled by a national conglomerate. Somewhere along the line the product may have been frozen during transport and then placed on the shelf in the meat section for sale.

Chicken has traditionally been associated with salmonella. This alone should inspire large retailers like Safeway to place a higher emphasis on caution when selling this product for consumer use.

I wrote an email to the Safeway business ethics division detailing the problem I had with this product line. I tried contacting the local retailer via their customer complaint hotline but their site has been experiencing technical difficulties the entire weekend. Go figure.

 

 

  

Tasty Treats For Santa Thing Of The Past

This year it seems that Santa 's highly anticipated Christmas Eve treats will be slightly altered from the usual kind he has been used to traditionally sampling as he fills our anxious children's stockings with gifts, toys and candy canes.

That small but welcoming glass of warmed egg nog, fragrant Japanese mandarin orange and tasty slice of fruit cake covered in a thick topping of almond icing usually left out for him to nosh will no longer be there for the old fellow to enjoy this Christmas Eve.

The all too familiar imported Japanese mandarin oranges are being kept off a number of grocery shelves due to the concern about radiation affecting the safety of the oranges. Some retail outlets are reportedly carrying the Japanese mandarins but are selling them at a reduced price.

Last year's earthquake and nuclear accident in Japan has made the festive treat an unwelcome marketing parriah at many markets. Chinese mandarins now grace many store produce sections but the oranges are not as tempting as the Japanese.

A number of super market chain stores are also refraining from stocking any type of egg nog from their dairy cases. A number of store managers I spoke with said that this was entirely a marketing decision on their part due to the fact that a significant number of their customers were experiencing high cholesterol and heart related problems. Even those few stores stocking the item did so in very restricted quantities.

Finally the traditional Christmas fruitcake glazed with that yummy almond icing is also being sold in restricted numbers. High cholesterol concerns and health issues especially for people over 50 years of age are the main concern for the boycott. Slumping sales over the past few years are guiding store managers from bulking up on the tasty holiday treat.

For those of us watching our waist lines, cholesterol level and blood pressure counts this was the time of year to forego the negative concerns and concentrate on the tastes, aromas and sweet treats the season offered. But this year economic concerns has skewed the types of goodies the consumer can look forward to enjoying.

This year it appears that Santa had better set his taste buds to enjoying celery stalks, carrot sticks, sesame seed crackers and of course a warming cup of decaffeinated green tea. It's not the traditional way to welcome the season but it is the healthful way to go.

Letting Her Steady Boy Friend Sleep Over?

As a parent would you lose any sleep if your teenage daughter innocently and somewhat matter of factly one day asked you if her steady boyfriend could sleep over?

Would this issue raise your emotional hackles , concerns and neurotic fears as to the safety and emotional well being of your daughter?

A representative number of present day authors have stated that an increasing number of parents in Holland have already crossed this highly charged emotional sea of concern and do allow their daughter's "steady" boyfriend to sleep over but with certain stipulations.

According to one published report Dutch parents have normalized such sexual liasons in the hope of indirectly maintaining an infleunce in their teens lives.

In the U.S. parents feel they lack the overall moral authority to sanction such actions because they engaged in sex at an early age.

Lines of communication between parents and teens are not seriously strained as they are in the United States where parents at times feel guilty for having themselves engaged in sex at an early age.

Parents feel that they are losing control of their teenagers. The want to protect them from harm not realizing that their "children" are maturing and not really abandoning the nest as much as seeking support , understanding and guidance from their parents.

The parental "not under my roof" attitude often leads to unprotected sexual activity, increased teen pregnancy and the transmission of sexually communicable diseases. Sex is entered into hastily and the back seat of a car or a seedy motel room is the birthplace for many years of bitterness and tensions.

The Dutch approach to sex is not a laid back attitude promoting sexual license. The boyfriend must be the daughter's steady and must also fit into the family scheme of things. This is not a one night stand situation. It is more of a preventative measure to ensure that parents and teens communicate in an honest and open manner.

Parents in the United States at times  are way too squeamish to have the necessary sex talk with their children. Boys are coerced into being sexual beings way before they are emotionally prepared to be.

Girls are often routinely treated by their loving and doting parents as asexual beings ... daddy's little girl waiting for the right Prince Charming to come into her life. Mr Right seldom does show up.

This current "sleep over dilemma" is a situation that can be easily managed if parents and teens be honest with one another, keep their lines of communication and trust open and seek guidance from school, church or health professionals willing to assist parents and teens with this emotionally charged situation.

Concerned parents can consult Amy Schalet's book, "Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens and the Culture of Sex" published this coming November. It is an informative read.

 

 

 

Impatient People Should Never Drive Buses

Ralph Cramden, a television character portrayed many years ago by Jackie Gleason, was a bus driver for the fictional Gotham Bus Company. He was a soft-hearted man who loved his wife, was frustrated by his lack of personal success and had a very short temper that many times landed him in hot water.

Although this portrayal was fictional there are many folks out there today who do drive a bus and also have short temper fuses waiting to be ignited by the proper stimulus. This potential emotional explosion could conceivably result in serious accidents , injury and death to their passengers.

Granted that we live in economically challenging times. Jobs are scarce and people are desperate to find and ultimately secure for themselves any kind of employment. But, in my opinion,  impatient people should never attempt to become bus drivers. They eventually become  a menace to themselves, their passengers and the general driving public as well.

According to many taffic safety studies a number of these drivers  over time tend to flaunt the safe driving rules of the road, cause more accidents and create more unsafe incidents than other less stressed drivers. Their stringent passenger deadlines when combined  with the  on-the-job expectations of their employers transform them into aggressive road raged ogres.

School bus drivers, public transportation drivers and special needs drivers for the handicapped over time eventually succumb to the urge to rule the road and dominate the flow of traffic. After all they are the larger vehicle on the road. Their passenger's safety and well being never enters into their equation for success.

The size of their vehicles combined with the number of passengers they carry at any one time helps them foster the belief that they are the supreme masters of the road . All other vehicles in the vicinity must submit to their dominance. To their way of thinking red lights are merely a deterrent to them completing their route successfully and on time.

Over the past few weeks I have seen school buses run red lights, drive faster than the posted speed limit in school zones and at times strand youngsters who were a few seconds late for their scheduled pick up time.

The parents were outraged but the drivers offered them the explanation that they had their schedule to meet. School administrators and union officials backed the drivers' reasons for the stranding of the young students. This smugness did not sit well with the parents who were forced to drive their children to school.

I was recently driving behind a small sized, specially designed vehicle for people confined to wheel chairs. The driver of the vehicle easily darted back and forth through traffic, ran a few red lights and took many of the turns at a rate of speed that shuffled his passengers about like eggs in an opened container. Many of the passengers were clinging to the hand rails inside the vehicle for safety and stability.

I realize that not all public transportation drivers fit the emotional description I have offered. Many of them are actually responsible, courteous men and women who take their jobs seriously and place their commitment to safe handling procedures at high levels. These folks ought to be commended.

There are however those drivers who put deadlines and schedules before safety. These folks receive more police citations for unsafe driving practices than normal. They want to please their boss and not tend to the safety of their passengers. They are the drivers that should be rooted out of the system and replaced by people who place passenger safety at the top of their list.

 

 

 

 

 

It's Time To Smarten Up About Grade School

"Remember in elementary school you were told that in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file from smallest to tallest? What is the logic in that? What, do tall people burn slower?"    — Warren Hutcherson

It is that time of the year when somewhat cranky and sleepy parents wake up their even sleepier children, get them ready for school , drop them off at the front door, drive away and expect the youngsters to do well and not create a social incident for the next eight hours of their day.

The problems inherent in this fabrication of reality lies in the fact  that both the caring parents and the dedicated teachers are equally guilty of placing their young charges under undue physical and emotional stress throughout their school day learning time.

Sometimes well meaning, insecure parents and overly enthusiastic   teachers in the educational system need to step back for a few moments from their immediate concerns, take an institutional deep breath and then try to get a realistic handle on the overall goal of education in our children's lives.

I live directly across from a grade school which includes grades K to six and see the same scenario every day. It's amazing that the children don't revolt out of frustration and stage a sitin to publicly protest the absurdity of it all.

 

The 75 lb Field pack

 

The kids from the youngest to the oldest are all transporting very large and bulky school packs on their back. As they walk to the school or are dropped off by their parents at the front door of the building they all exhibit a visible curvature of the spine. Their gait is slow and strained.... their steps unsure. You wonder what they are carrying in those brightly colored back packs.

 

Bring Your Own Toilet Paper- Kleenex

 

Again many penny pinching school boards are requesting that students bring their own Kleenex and toilet paper supplies to school. Again the supplies will be placed in a janitorial supply closet and used throughout the semester.  Cutting costs and involving parents more in their child's education might be the rationale prompting this proactive and innovative plan.

 

Forty Pencils Per Student

 

Many school boards due to financial cutbacks have asked parents to purchase at least 40 HB pencils for their children to use while at school. The arbitrary number ensures that the children will have a pencil to use for their work. However many parents report that the pencils will be placed in a classrom locker and shared with other students. This situation does not sit well with many of them.

 

Drop Out And Home School

 

These innovative demands are inspiring many parents to consider home schooling for their children. The computerized global village we now live in makes home schooling an attractive alternative to the traditional learning model.

At home computerized learning systems educate and provide learning opportunities for many adults. Many parents feel that the demands of havng their children attend a real world facility could make the learning experience a lot less intimidating in a virtual classroom.

 

Five Gig Memory Stick For Kindergarten

 

We live in an electronic age and computers are a major part of our everyday lives. Laptop computers and add on memory cards and external hard drives make everyone's lives simpler and more productive. But seriously does a kindergarten pupil really need to bring a five gigabyte memory stick to class to keep up with the other students? Many parents question the validity and the sanity of such a demand.

 

Laptops For Grade One Students

 

School boards are feeling the economic crunch of our current economic situation. They realize that their students need exposure to computers so that they can function properly and efficiently in our fast paced society. Parents again question the sanity of supplying their grade one students with a laptop computer so that they can compete in today's world.

 

Temporary Solution To The Insanity

 

As your children once again return to the classroom there are a number of short term fixes you as parents can do to ensure your youngsters get a good start to their day:

 

1. Get their eyes examined by a professional.
2. Feed them a healthy breakfast every day.
3. Buy them decent clothing for school.
4. Give them a hug before and after school.
5. Tell them you love them everyday.
6. Take an active part in P.T.A. meetings.
7. Hope that sanity will return soon to the world.

 

Jell- O -- It's A Tasty But Deceptive Dessert

"The jello jiggled in the bowl.
It jiggled upon my spoon.
It jiggled towards my mouth.
Ooops!!! What is this?"

 

Sometimes reality bites a person gently on the butt. Other times this very gentle nibbling transforms itself  into a more forceful,  rude awakening. 

It  is less user friendly and as a result a person's way of thinking or relating to an event or an object in the real world is drastically altered forever.  

 

This situation describes my recent late life awakening to the fact that Jello gelatin dessert should no longer be considered that jiggly, happy fun food that Bill Cosby endorsed so heavily in numerous television commercials.

Do you remember seeing the little cubes of Jello poised enticingly on the tip of his teaspoon ready to be easily devoured? Bill eagerly placed the spoon in his mouth, smiled and emitted a sigh of satisfaction and pleasure.

This is really a  Dr Jeckyll- Mr Hyde creation made from the ground hooves of a variety of animals, fish intestines and of course an assortment of other connective organic materials. These raw ingredients are treated with a special acid and boiled into submission for further industrial treatment and commercial usage.

This repulsive goop is processed to a point wherein salts, flavor additives and other materials are added so that the jiggly, tasty and mouth watering dessert we know and love is ready for consumers to purchase and enjoy. Chemicals are added to the mix to help consumers readily indulge their senses and treat their taste buds.

Jellified organics (Jello) could also appropriately describe that dry, scented powder that both we and our parents over the years prepared by simply doing the folowing:

1. Add one cup of boiling water to crystals.
2. Stir to dissolve the crystal in hot water.
3. Add one cup of cold water and stir.
4. Refrigerate for a few hours until firm.

Jello's at home preparation time has not changed that much over the years. The lineup of flavors has increased and over time a number of these have been dropped due to customer demand. My favorites were strawberry, grape, orange , wild cherry and blackberry.

All that changed last weekend when I learned the truth about the compositional nature of my favorite dessert. At first I felt relatively stunned and could not believe that the dessert had such a checkered chemistry about itself. When I verified the facts for myself via a Google search I felt betrayed and of course nauseous.

It is amazing that hospitals, senior citizen homes, school cafeterias and other such eateries offer this mess to their patients, customers and dependents. The easy preparation time and probably the low product cost could be the determining factor in the product's widespread use and general acceptance. 

However a significant number of people who believed this dessert to be non organic are definitely in for their own wake up call. At times the only difference between this gelatin dessert and let us say headcheese lies in the fact that the visible chunks of animal meat  and byproducts are cleverly concealed from view.

Product ingredients listed on the outside of the Jello box outlines the great number of salts used to enhace and possibly prolong the flavor, aroma, freshness, shelf life and useablility of the contents inside. Many people today get more than their required share of salts and fats in their diets.

Consumers battling obesity and high blood pressure concerns really do not need this type of assumed non organic dessert in their diets.

Dieticians and others responsible for the care of our sick, children and seniors should become aware of the true nature of this attractive dessert and ban its serving from their menus.

 

                                                                                  

Demote Sports Heroes To Entertainer Status

"People say athletes should be role models. I never looked up to any athlete, did you? I liked them. I didn't copy them. Did you ever listen to one of those guys talk? Would you want your kid to turn out like that?" --   George Carlin.

Autumn is the most fitting time of the year when concerned parents should seriously consider taking off the kid gloves and put the role of professional athletics in its proper place in the total scheme of things especially their children's lives.

Athletes are merely  high priced entertainers meant to help the majority of society find a means of enjoying a momentary escape from their daily stress filled lives.

Lessening the total awe and admiration afforded many athletes would permit our children to not have to needlessly struggle and strain during their formative years to notch their place in a sport hierarchy saturated primarily by large egos, drug abuse, chronic alcoholism and personal despair.

As a functioning group in our culture many athletes are highly skilled, over paid trained professionals whose sole purpose in reality is to provide moments of excitement, daring do and escapist fantasy for a bored and demanding public.

The majority of the unathletic publicly elevate the social status of these folks to hero worship dimensions. This group would necessarily include out of shape high school and university coaches bent on making a name for themselves and their schools in the press. Afterall, a certain tradition and inter collegiate rivalry must be maintained.

The autumn is also the time of year when the negative aspect of such hero worship does more harm than good for youngsters returning to the classroom setting. Overly zealous coaches begin drilling into their young charges the importance of winning at any cost.

Children are methodically conditioned to believe that their personal worth in society is linked directly to their performance on the playing field. Coaches relentlessly chide, cajole and eventually ostracise youngsters who do not give 100 per cent of themselves to the sport they are pursuing.

The psychological pressure increases dramatically if the high school student is attending an institution known for its football or basketball prowess and successes. The learning years in this type of pressure filled scenario morph into the yearning years --- students dread not so much for the learning aspect but rather the constant peer pressure to perform .

From what a person can gather from the media reports many higher priced athletes are dysfunctional personality types whose lives are mottled with the following social stigma: chronic mood swings; drug addiction, difficulty maintaing close interpersonal relationships; alcohol addiction and of course, overly inflated egos.

A significant number of these alleged heroes have spent the past off season summer months in a number of interesting places: a jail cell serving out their time for a D.U.I conviction; rehab facility for a drug addiction; family counselling program to smooth over their strained at home life setting; psychological counseling for a sport related incident involving a major head trauma.

Our heroes are afterall only human and subject to the same stresses and temptations that we all are subject to in life. It is how they handle the challenges they face that is important. Perhaps our heroes actually believe their own press reports and start to see themselves as people above reproach.

It is high time to reconsider our generally accepted notions of heroes and of course villains. Do we want our children to emulate these folks to such a degree that they actually become like them and suffer their fate?

This school year before you purchase your son's first athletic support or your daughter's gym outfit have a heart to heart chat with them. Try to ensure that the sport they have chosen to pursue is something they want and not something they believe you want them to pursue.