Category Archives: Rants

Build a waaay better mousetrap.

No this isn’t about building a better mouse trap but it is about catching a rat, advertising rats.  A new website developed by Edgar Dworsky, exposes the truth behind the little asterisk that shows up on an ever increasing percentage of ads now a days.  I love the sites name, mouseprint.org as it describes the size of the print being used by so many unscrupulous advertisers.

Here is a description of the site:

“mouse print” is the fine print in advertising, in a contract, or on a product label, often buried out of easy sight. In the worst cases, the mouse print changes the meaning of, or contradicts the primary claims or promises being made. Sometimes, the catch is not even disclosed.

The website, MousePrint.org, literally turns advertising on its head by focusing on an ad’s asterisked fine print footnote rather than the headline. The goal is to help educate the public about the catches or “gotchas” in disclaimers, and to encourage advertisers to abandon the motto, “the big print giveth, and the little print taketh away.”

MousePrint.org, like its sister sites, Consumer World and MrConsumer, are consumer education sites produced by consumer advocate, Edgar Dworsky.

Contact: edgar(at symbol)mouseprint.org

Overweight People Outnumber the Undernourished

Recent estimates by the World Health Organization claim that there are over one billion overweight adults worldwide with nearly 300 million of those being obese.  Think about that for a moment. 1,000,000,000 people who have an increase risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke.  How is our already overtaxed health care system going to handle this?  How long before governments realize the pandemic which is obesity?

Most of the obese individuals are of course in the wealthier, developed world but that is quickly changing as it is thought that by 2010, the third-world countries will have more overweight adults than their wealthier neighbors. Sadly though, according to the WHO, there are still 800 million people who are undernourished, mostly in the underdeveloped countries. What this tells me is that there is an ever growing gap between the rich and the poor but the rich seem to be getting sicker and sicker so maybe things will even out in the end.

Pathetic Individuals

Some people come into this world with the intent of helping others and some come into the world to hurt others. Then there are people so angry with the world they feel it is important for them to tear others down. I have devoted much of my life to helping others through my work in Rotary, Carbon Based Corporation, and other avenues of service. The most important though is my work to help my daughter Tasya deal with the effects of epilepsy. My parents led me to believe the first choice is best. Still, there have been bumps in the road, and choices I made were not always the right ones but I know that my intent was always to help those less fortunate than me.

It has come to my attention that there is an individual out there attempting to attack my reputation once again with the same tired, old, psychotic ramblings that they have hurled at me and countless others who have dared to disagree with them. This person has gone so far as to join newsgroups (Yahoo) and falsefy their identity and write e-mails about me that were so far from reality as to boggle ones imagination. My only theory is that they are suffering from manganese induced schizophrenic episodes.

Since I know the person is likely to read this blog, I’d like to give a little shout out to them and let them know that the calls I’m getting from friends they’ve talked to has been nothing short of a laugh fest. One said that the persons vitriolic diatribe against me was so pathetic they kind of felt sorry for the person.

They come at me with all of these negative, angry accusations, some actually based on a smidge of reality, but so blown out of proportion as to make them look pretty damned pathetic. The more they do it, the better I look in the eyes of the people they talk to.

The bottom line here is while this person continues to piss on me from a distance, as I tell my friends, I’m not getting wet anymore. So, if they want to continue with the childish behavior and continue to harass me, and tell lies to people, that’s ok. I’ve come to expect nothing less from them. It saddens me to think that this person is so angry that they waste so much energy on trying to bad-mouth me. If they would use that to help others, maybe the world would be a little bit of a better place to live.  If not, oh well, I guess I’ll just have to listen to my friends continue to chuckle.

Quick news

Most physicians typically give people with pneumonia a seven to 10 day regime of antibiotics.  Recent research published in the British Medical Journal (June 10th) suggests that a three day treatment regimen may be just as effective.

One of the greatest mysteries in earth’s history was the mass extinction known as the Permian-Triassic extinction 251 million years ago. There has been a lot of speculation but it seems that a 300-mile crater found under the Antarctic ice may be the evidence scientists have been looking for. Five times larger than the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, this meteor was the granddaddy of them all.

According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 13th, 2006, mammalian hearts may contain stem cells.  This may lead to a new generation of treatment for victims of coronary heart disease if we can get rid of the present administration in the White House whose misguided veto of federally funding stem cell research will set back research by 5-10 years.

Pollution claims another victim

The Chinese river dolphin, also known as the baiji, may be just the latest victim of that countries growing pollution problem. Once numbering in the thousands in the Yangtze River, there were thought to be only 100 surviving until a recent 9-day search couldn’t find a single one.  The baiji is now a symbol for the pollution of the waterways of China just as the giant panda is a symbol of the destruction of the forests of that great country.

How many more species dying will it take for us to understand.

Eating Chicken Nuggets and Fries. How bad could it really be?

According to Danish researchers Stender, Dyerberg and Astrup, in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine (April 13, 2006, pgs 1650-1652) the amount of trans fats in fast food like chicken nuggets and french fries is higher in the United States then other places in the world.   The differences were somewhat staggering. In Denmark and Germany, the amount of trans fat in a meal of nuggets and fries was 1 gram and in New York City it was 10 grams. The amount of trans fat used to cook in many European countries was 10 percent and in the U.S. it was 23 percent.

The journal Nature had a nice little synopsis in their April 20th, 2006 issue on page 975 of the Danish study. They point out that 50% of the food samples had levels of trans fats that increased the risk of heart disease, 38% of the fats used by KFC in the Czech Republic were trans fats and only 1% of the oil used in cooking contained trans fats in Spain. 

Bottom line here is that we, as consumers, need to step up our avoidance of places like McDonalds and KFC until they completely halt their use of trans fats. If we make better choices in our day to day lives, we can make a difference.

Be Safe While Driving

I just got into my office and felt an overwhelming need to write this blog as I just seen the aftermath of a horrific car accident between an SUV and a Ford Mustang Convertible.  It was icy this morning here in Reno and I was taking it easy, keeping well below the speed limit even though I drive an all-wheel drive Saturn Vue. Drivers were zooming past me, running red lights, acting kind of stupid if you ask me.  When I came up the hill, not 1/2 mile from my office I saw that a big white Suburban had just crossed the median and slammed into a blue Mustang.  It couldn’t have happened more than 2-3 minutes before I got there. When I looked over, I saw the ashen looking face of a young man, no more than 30 years old, folded in half, not moving. The sight is something I shall never forget. Next to the car was the driver of the SUV looking panicked and horrified, not knowing what to do, almost begging for help.

The police had just gotten there and I can still see the face of the officer; shocked, yet controlled, trying to see if there was anything he could do. It didn’t look like there was anything to do barring a miracle.

I’d just like to say, please take it easy out there.  Slow it down a little, watch what your doing, pull over if you need to use your cell phone and take care.  This morning, two young men woke up like any other day. Now, sadly, one will never wake up again and the other will awaken every morning knowing what happened today. I can’t help but wonder what life would have been like for those two men had they taken it a little slower.

Be careful out there.  Life is a truly precious thing.