Last week it seemed that I and many people close to me were having a collective bad day. One of my dearest friends, who is pagan, and very in tune with universal movements attributed it to a phenomenon called Mercury in Retrograde, during which the planet Mercury looks as if it is going backward. She says this phenomenon throws the world out of whack, which is just as good an explanation as any that I could come up with. But then, just before Mercury got his act together, this Monday, came the Ides of March, which all of us who read Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" know can also be a pretty bad day. So, I thought I would dedicate this post to her. Hopefully we are spinning in the right direction for now, and things are looking up.
I'd also like to include an addendum to the conversation we were having about cruelty free cosmetics. I contacted a company whose products I have used for years, but they are no longer on PETA's "good list" because they are now owned by a giant conglomerate the does use animal testing. They directed me to a statement from the ECG (Evil Corporate Giant) in which they stated that they completely understood consumer concern about animal testing, and said they are working hard to eliminate animal testing from their products. They also said, however, that their primary concern is that their customers not have allergic reactions to any of their products or product ingredients. It dawned on me as I read the statement that we, the consumer, have probably asked for this with our litigious behavior. They don't want to be sued by a customer who has a reaction to their products. Now, I would be happy to volunteer to test products as long as treatment was paid for, but I'm not sure how many consumers would be with me on that. So, on the one hand, we can't seem to escape animal testing-either directly or indirectly, so it would be easy to just say, "Well, screw it, I'll buy whatever..." And on the other hand, we all want risk free results. So we may be stuck for now. We'll have to keep an eye on what happens in the EU now that their ban on animal testing is on.
Now, I have a question about the laws of physics. Wouldn't it be logical that larger items would displace smaller items in closed spaces? So, why is it that in my purse, the smaller things, such as my wallet, always float straight to the bottom, and the larger things, such as my notebook computer go to the top?
Spring is upon us now, and it seems that eggs are in everything. So, since everyone seems to love deviled eggs, and their are typically a dozen eggs deviled for any given event, why does my deviled egg plate only have egg shaped spaces for eight eggs? There is empty space in the middle, where I usually put the other four eggs. But does that make sense?
And can anyone tell my why these words were printed on a bag of ice: "Ice. Tasteless. Odorless." Really? Is there any other kind of ice?
I've also wondered recently if some parents ever stop and think about the names they are giving their babies. Or am I the only one who feels an inappropriate desire to giggle when I meet someone called "Randy." Do the parents of LeRoy and Regina really think their children are royal? And poor Patsy-do they know they are sentencing her to a life as a fall guy?
Why do people keep falling for some ridiculous beauty myths? Such as if you drink from a straw it will make your lips wrinkle. How silly is that!!! Do we suppose that people who don't wrinkle never drank from a straw? And did you know that your pillow case wrinkles will also cause actual wrinkles to one day appear on your face? DNA and sun damage cause wrinkles. Or can we never escape from the warning, "Your face is gonna freeze like that?!"
I hope this question doesn't offend, but I am quite curious about nail salons. It seems that nearly all of them are owned by Asian women, and all the staffs are Asian women. The owners, in my (admittedly) limited experience are Asian American, and the nail techs are immigrants. Are there people in Viet Nam telling ladies that if they come to America they will have a guaranteed job, and will be able to live the American dream? I don't mean this in any racist way-but Asian owned salons and techs are pervasive, and these women work very hard, long hours. I just can't help wondering how this tradition or movement got started.
Now if I might ask a political question: Is a lack of understanding of language the reason that the filibuster is being abused so dreadfully now? About two weeks ago Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky filibustered a cabinet nominee. Now, I have to say that I find Senator Paul to be a rather loathsome character, and I think he's wrong on just about everything. But I do agree that our use of drones is a huge problem. The question about language though, came to me because the Honorable Senator's actions were referred to as a "talking filibuster." A filibuster is supposed to involve talking. That the threat of a filibuster is now called a filibuster, and is being used to hijack democracy rather than protect the minority party from being silenced by the majority. Perhaps if the language were respected this process would not be so onerous.
Lastly, there is a movement afoot to remove reproductive choice from women, despite the fact that this question was determined by the Supreme Court of the United States forty years ago. Now there are some states that are trying to pass laws that claim life begins at conception, and therefore, any abortion is murder, even if a fetus is not viable. There have been very emotional campaigns that insist fetuses feel pain, that they are, in essence, human at conception. Now, in the United States, perhaps because of the Judeo/Christian traditions in our country, little boys have been circumcised shortly after birth. Many doctors tell parents that the pain is minimal and harmless. I see a problem here...if zygotes are considered living human beings, why would anyone claim that they can't feel pain? I have been told the same thing about fish-that they don't have nervous systems and don't feel pain. But the last time I was fishing, I caught the first and only fish that day. The fish was attached to a tether and was doing its best to escape. I don't know if it was the hook in its jaw that tied it to a stake in the shallows that was causing the poor thing pain, but I could see that it felt fear, and I believe pain, though I can't prove the pain part. But doctors are basically telling parents that their sons feel no more than a fish, and yet women are told that their fetuses are human and feeling pain from conception? Do they really think women are not smart enough to see the discrepancy here?
I'd also like to include an addendum to the conversation we were having about cruelty free cosmetics. I contacted a company whose products I have used for years, but they are no longer on PETA's "good list" because they are now owned by a giant conglomerate the does use animal testing. They directed me to a statement from the ECG (Evil Corporate Giant) in which they stated that they completely understood consumer concern about animal testing, and said they are working hard to eliminate animal testing from their products. They also said, however, that their primary concern is that their customers not have allergic reactions to any of their products or product ingredients. It dawned on me as I read the statement that we, the consumer, have probably asked for this with our litigious behavior. They don't want to be sued by a customer who has a reaction to their products. Now, I would be happy to volunteer to test products as long as treatment was paid for, but I'm not sure how many consumers would be with me on that. So, on the one hand, we can't seem to escape animal testing-either directly or indirectly, so it would be easy to just say, "Well, screw it, I'll buy whatever..." And on the other hand, we all want risk free results. So we may be stuck for now. We'll have to keep an eye on what happens in the EU now that their ban on animal testing is on.
Now, I have a question about the laws of physics. Wouldn't it be logical that larger items would displace smaller items in closed spaces? So, why is it that in my purse, the smaller things, such as my wallet, always float straight to the bottom, and the larger things, such as my notebook computer go to the top?
Spring is upon us now, and it seems that eggs are in everything. So, since everyone seems to love deviled eggs, and their are typically a dozen eggs deviled for any given event, why does my deviled egg plate only have egg shaped spaces for eight eggs? There is empty space in the middle, where I usually put the other four eggs. But does that make sense?
And can anyone tell my why these words were printed on a bag of ice: "Ice. Tasteless. Odorless." Really? Is there any other kind of ice?
I've also wondered recently if some parents ever stop and think about the names they are giving their babies. Or am I the only one who feels an inappropriate desire to giggle when I meet someone called "Randy." Do the parents of LeRoy and Regina really think their children are royal? And poor Patsy-do they know they are sentencing her to a life as a fall guy?
Why do people keep falling for some ridiculous beauty myths? Such as if you drink from a straw it will make your lips wrinkle. How silly is that!!! Do we suppose that people who don't wrinkle never drank from a straw? And did you know that your pillow case wrinkles will also cause actual wrinkles to one day appear on your face? DNA and sun damage cause wrinkles. Or can we never escape from the warning, "Your face is gonna freeze like that?!"
I hope this question doesn't offend, but I am quite curious about nail salons. It seems that nearly all of them are owned by Asian women, and all the staffs are Asian women. The owners, in my (admittedly) limited experience are Asian American, and the nail techs are immigrants. Are there people in Viet Nam telling ladies that if they come to America they will have a guaranteed job, and will be able to live the American dream? I don't mean this in any racist way-but Asian owned salons and techs are pervasive, and these women work very hard, long hours. I just can't help wondering how this tradition or movement got started.
Now if I might ask a political question: Is a lack of understanding of language the reason that the filibuster is being abused so dreadfully now? About two weeks ago Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky filibustered a cabinet nominee. Now, I have to say that I find Senator Paul to be a rather loathsome character, and I think he's wrong on just about everything. But I do agree that our use of drones is a huge problem. The question about language though, came to me because the Honorable Senator's actions were referred to as a "talking filibuster." A filibuster is supposed to involve talking. That the threat of a filibuster is now called a filibuster, and is being used to hijack democracy rather than protect the minority party from being silenced by the majority. Perhaps if the language were respected this process would not be so onerous.
Lastly, there is a movement afoot to remove reproductive choice from women, despite the fact that this question was determined by the Supreme Court of the United States forty years ago. Now there are some states that are trying to pass laws that claim life begins at conception, and therefore, any abortion is murder, even if a fetus is not viable. There have been very emotional campaigns that insist fetuses feel pain, that they are, in essence, human at conception. Now, in the United States, perhaps because of the Judeo/Christian traditions in our country, little boys have been circumcised shortly after birth. Many doctors tell parents that the pain is minimal and harmless. I see a problem here...if zygotes are considered living human beings, why would anyone claim that they can't feel pain? I have been told the same thing about fish-that they don't have nervous systems and don't feel pain. But the last time I was fishing, I caught the first and only fish that day. The fish was attached to a tether and was doing its best to escape. I don't know if it was the hook in its jaw that tied it to a stake in the shallows that was causing the poor thing pain, but I could see that it felt fear, and I believe pain, though I can't prove the pain part. But doctors are basically telling parents that their sons feel no more than a fish, and yet women are told that their fetuses are human and feeling pain from conception? Do they really think women are not smart enough to see the discrepancy here?
2 comments:
I will say this...my son cried and cried after his circumcision. I was told to give him tylenol.If there was no pain, then why did he cry, and why was I instructed to give him tylenol???
Can't answer ev'rything, as usual. But sincerely lol'd re: the baby name paragraph.
Post a Comment