Silly Warning

Here's the dumbest newspaper headline of the day- "Will Japanese cars track radiation back to the U.S.?" Haha I'm not kidding. They really do think their readers are that stupid. Oh, the nonsense that will be thrown at consumers as the result of the nuclear accident in Japan will in many cases defy imagination. Nissan Motors actually did release a statement saying that it's cars aren't nuclear, and the article that told about this latest "fear" claims that the other Japanese car makers will do the same.

Nissan said it has started "this week to initiate the monitoring of vehicles made in Japan for any traces of radioactive material. Looking ahead, we will continue to implement all appropriate measures to reassure the public that all products from our company remain within globally accepted safety standards and until we are confident that any risk of contamination is completely removed."

My God! Only an idiot would think that Japanese cars or other products sold abroad would be filled with radiation. Apparently, the sellers think we are idiots. I hope they are not correct. Run for cover!! Fact is, the sun is hitting the earth with more radiation daily than that which is leaking from the Japanese reactors. Even if one were so uninformed to think that Japanese cars will be contaminated with radiation, that person would have to believe all cars are contaminated, given almost all cars made today have Japanese made components.

The fact that manufacturers have to reassure us about a nonexistent radiation concern shows the information overload effect today. We live in an age of a constant informational barrage. Some of the info is false or exaggerated, but that can still turn into urban myth if we are not careful to discern what we see and read. As media outlets compete to be the most attended to, they report more and more silly items, as in the case of the irradiated Japanese automobile. And there will always be many outlets to report such nonsense.

The public today tends to gather its news without discrimination, favoring trendy news sources and accepting whatever they read or see as being truth. This encourages even major media markets to report idiocy, as in the case of the glowing Japanese autos. Anyway...Haha I always did want a HOT Japanese car. Now I guess I can get one easily.

High Energy Drinks

Do your retail stores sell those "energy drinks"? They are everywhere here, particularly in convenience stores at gas stations and other spots where impulse buying is going to happen. The energy drinks are yet another fad and are basically high caffeine/sugar drinks that make people think they are more energetic by giving a slight "lift from the sugar and caffeine. The physical lift from them is probably less than the psychological one, but in the end they are another manifestation of the drug culture in which we live.

The most popular of them is the Red Bull drink, but the shelves are lined with them and they promise everything from a quick lift to increased sexual stamina. Americans seem to want a quick fix drug treatment for much of their desires. The medical community says there are links between caffeine in energy drinks, high blood pressure, increased alcohol consumption and even addiction among young people.

But no one seems to worry about it very much. There have been reports of people, including teens, with serious medical problems after consuming energy drinks are on the rise. For that group even the mildest of lifts can be a problem. The caffeine in energy drinks can lead to dehydration and caffeine makes insulin rise, which contributes to obesity.

But I wonder if those kinds of energy drinks ( drugs) really have enough effect to make a person spend money and risk medical complications. I doubt they are much more than a placebo. They surely show our fascination with drugs. I never take any over the counter medications, would not drink any of the energy drinks, and resist any prescription medications if possible. It might be that doing so has helped me be illness free almost entirely during my life.

I would like to read a study or to that deals with chemical ingested by people. I suspect that they may find that the more chemicals injected that are alleged to trick the body to do something the user wants, the more the body can react with symptoms of illness and other complications.

I guess for most, those drinks are not better or worse than the morning cup of coffee and donut. But they are expensive and when overused can cause problems. They also set the tone for the "drugs are great" mentality that encourages people to assume less responsibility for their own health. I'll stick to a donut and coffee. They taste better and come side effect free.

Silly Warning

Here's the dumbest newspaper headline of the day- "Will Japanese cars track radiation back to the U.S.?" Haha I'm not kidding. They really do think their readers are that stupid. Oh, the nonsense that will be thrown at consumers as the result of the nuclear accident in Japan will in many cases defy imagination. Nissan Motors actually did release a statement saying that it's cars aren't nuclear, and the article that told about this latest "fear" claims that the other Japanese car makers will do the same.

Nissan said it has started "this week to initiate the monitoring of vehicles made in Japan for any traces of radioactive material. Looking ahead, we will continue to implement all appropriate measures to reassure the public that all products from our company remain within globally accepted safety standards and until we are confident that any risk of contamination is completely removed."

My God! Only an idiot would think that Japanese cars or other products sold abroad would be filled with radiation. Apparently, the sellers think we are idiots. I hope they are not correct. Run for cover!! Fact is, the sun is hitting the earth with more radiation daily than that which is leaking from the Japanese reactors. Even if one were so uninformed to think that Japanese cars will be contaminated with radiation, that person would have to believe all cars are contaminated, given almost all cars made today have Japanese made components.

The fact that manufacturers have to reassure us about a nonexistent radiation concern shows the information overload effect today. We live in an age of a constant informational barrage. Some of the info is false or exaggerated, but that can still turn into urban myth if we are not careful to discern what we see and read. As media outlets compete to be the most attended to, they report more and more silly items, as in the case of the irradiated Japanese automobile. And there will always be many outlets to report such nonsense.

The public today tends to gather its news without discrimination, favoring trendy news sources and accepting whatever they read or see as being truth. This encourages even major media markets to report idiocy, as in the case of the glowing Japanese autos. Anyway...Haha I always did want a HOT Japanese car. Now I guess I can get one easily

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor has died. I think most who knew her films and her life story are saddened because Elizabeth Taylor did it all....both naughty and nice. She had eight marriages and seven divorces, four children and a brood of grandchildren, more than 100 roles in movies, at least 70 hospitalizations/operations, several life threatening illnesses including the removal of a brain tumor, and two trips to the alcohol/drug abuse rehab.

Yet it was all done with grace and humor, a far cry from the typical "movie star" celebrity of this generation, who are frequently mean spirited, dysfunctional, spoiled and downright unpleasant to observe. Liz Taylor once said about herself that , "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues." Liz had many. Her personal life's plot twists that captivated so many, but in a fun way. Liz Taylor was always in love with somebody, often to many men and married men. She claimed to be blinded by passion. But it wasn't the kind of ugly passion that we see in today's "stars".

Think Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, and many more who are far from lovable in their naughty exploits. the death of Liz Taylor brings us closer to the death of the fun Hollywood and continued growth of the mean spirited and boring tinsel town Hollywood. While Liz Taylor had compassion for all and made sacrifices to support AIDS victims, the pathetic Michael Jackson, charities of all sort, today's star is too self obsessed to notice anything except him or herself in a mirror.

I remember years ago taking my mom to see Elizabeth Taylor in a play that was touring in New Orleans. Not being a huge fan of Liz Taylor I was interested in seeing her performance, but my mom had a child-like adoration for Liz Taylor the person, not the actress. She saw Taylor as a woman who lived life broadly, sometimes naughtily, but always with grace and enthusiasm. I think she and many others admired Taylor for that and perhaps envied her too. I didn't understand it then, but I do now.

Surely, Taylor wasn't the best role model in the world, given her many escapes that strayed from what is the norm. But she never was mean spirited, self absorbed or malicious. She never had an unkind word for or about anyone, even those she disliked or who disliked her, and she showed that being beautiful on the outside doesn't imply one must become ugly on the inside.

Elizabeth Taylor did what few humans can ever bring themselves to do. She lived her life the way she wanted and never worried about how society would view her. And through it all she never engendered any hate from those who watched her show, either on screen or off.

Not Much St. Patrick's Day In Portland

This is my first St. Patrick's Day holiday away from New Orleans. It's a different feel here in Portland because the Irish presence in this city is far less than in New Orleans. I like Portland, but the atmosphere is so much different than New Orleans. When I left New Orleans after Mardi Gras I read about two big St. Patrick Day parades in the city scheduled a few days after that I have seen quite a few times. There is no St. Patrick Day parade here in Portland, and if there was one it would be far too sedate for me. Where else in the world except New Orleans do the float riders in a St. Patrick's Day parade throw the ingredients for a full Irish dinner to the spectators? Nowhere, I suspect. And many of those Irish parade riders have imbibed enough alcohol to make tossing a cabbage a dangerous event for those not paying attention.

New Orleans also has St. Joseph's Day parade and Portland, like most cities in the U.S. not only hasn't one but doesn't know what St. Joseph's Day is. The New Orleans St. Joseph's Day parade is the three days after St. Patrick's Day. No, those Italian New Orleanians don't throw meat balls and spaghetti to the spectators. but the marching groups in the parade do kiss as many women along the route as they can reach.

I'm also not seeing any of the Italian fig and other special cookies that are pervasive in New Orleans this time of the year. Fig trees abound in New Orleans, thanks largely to the Sicilian Italian immigrants who brought their fig tree variety to New Orleans when they immigrated en masse in the 1800's. They seem to grow very well in New Orleans and figs are easy to find.

And there are no St. Joseph's food altars on display in Portland. To my knowledge, only New Orleans and New York City have those. Those altars are placed in both churches and homes for public display, with all the food donated the next day to nursing homes and charities. Each altar gets blessed by a priest and presided over by a statue of St. Joseph. A stalk of lily blossoms, votive candles and a lace tablecloth are typically used to decorate the feast table are filled with beautiful and often elaborate foods, including meatless dishes such as stuffed artichokes, pasta and fish, as well as breads, cookies, pastries, cakes and other delicacies all supposedly to show thanks to St. Joseph for having so much to eat all year. It's quite beautiful to see. I guess instead, here in Portland I can look at the billboards advertising pizza specials.

I wonder if they pinch in Portland on St. Patrick's Day if you forget to wear something green? They do that in New Orleans. I should wear that T shirt I have that says- "Don't Pinch Me, I'm Wearing Green Underwear". Any pretty lady is welcome to inspect my underwear if she doesn't believe me. Fat guys should forget even challenging whether I have green underwear.

My daughter doesn't like corned beef, cabbage, lamb, shepherd's pie, any of the traditional Irish dishes. I think I'll take a holiday from cooking an Irish dinner and just feed her take-out pizza this year. After all, St. Joseph was Italian. Does that qualify as a religious gesture?

'May your pockets be heavy-
Your heart be light
And may good luck pursue you,
Morning, noon and night.'

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Little Brains Being Captured By Electronics

Want an example why the culture of the old world in which we have lived is dying. I just read a news blurb from an educational non-profit research group that approximately 80% of children between the ages of 0 and 5 use the Internet on at least a weekly basis in the United States. The little ones are becoming robots, I think. The days of running outside and playing, learning the natural world seem to be a distant thing of the past for most children. I wonder if childhood as it has been defined in the past is disintegrating as small children engage in "adult" activities as much or more as the traditional childhood ones.

If the little ones do not have enough of the experiences of childhood, will they be different as adults than we are? Teens have already been altered by their electronic/techno addiction and are far different from kids of previous generations. But now the smallest of kids are trading their Barbie dolls and sports games for i phones and computers. Will missing those unique and imaginative kid learning /play experiences make the next generation a more robotic and less creative one?

This study also shows that TV is the main activity of kids, with video the biggest attraction for them. Most small children today spend at least three hours a day watching television, and television use among preschoolers is the highest it has been in the past eight years. Of the time that children spend on all types of media, television accounts for 47% of it. No doubt heavy TV watching encourages other electronic media use, including the internet.

I remember being told by pediatricians to not let my daughter watch a Tv until after age two, as it interferes with normal brain development at that age. Yet, often parents today use the Tv as a baby-sitting device, invading the small brains of their infants and toddlers with a medium beyond their understanding.

Is all the electronic media use by undeveloped brains good or bad? I do not know, but think it will definitely make this generation different from those of the past. One absolute essential for small children is heavy socialization with peers. yet small kids today are forsaking much of that in favor of phones, TV, the internet and other electronic devices. I have noticed that even when small kids are "playing" with each other, they are often more engaged with their electronics than with other kids. The smallest kids parallel play that way in the earliest years, but it disappears when they learn socialization skills. Now the parallel play is extended years beyond the old level.

Kids are learning to relate to their electronics faster and better than to other humans. I find that a little disturbing. Do you?

Krewe Of Tucks

I am back from New Orleans and Mardi Gras....tired and trying to get organized here again but had a great trip back. I took some Bourbon Street Mardi Gras costume pictures, mine included, so when I have time to upload them I can show you some of them.As always, the food was great in New Orleans. I can't imagine many places with better food. Mardi Gras was fun and it was nice seeing familiar people and places again. I'll write some things about it later after I upload the photos and when I have the time to do so. Now, just something about the Mardi Gras parades.

The crowds this year were the biggest ever for Mardi Gras, given the late time of the year (warmer weather, college spring break etc. .makes for more travelers). I saw three parades this time, each different and in deferent locations. But one that is typical, and that I watched (one actually participates in parades in New Orleans, not merely watches them) is the Krewe of Tucks.It's typical of carnival organizations and most things in New Orleans because it started from a nonsense idea by the most unlikely of persons.

Loyola University students started this parade in the late 60's. The"krewe"' takes its name from Friar Tuck, an uptown pub where two college students drink allot (it's near their campus) and decided to create their own parade after unsuccessfully trying to become white flambeaux carriers (The flambeaux carriers were originally slaves and free men of color parading, twirling and fooling around in robes. Before floats were lighted with electricity it was a way of providing light for the floats to be better seen. Flambeaux carriers are rare now but are true performers who dance and put on terrific shows for the crowds who often throw spare change as tips.). See below a photo so the old style flambeaux carriers.

From there Tucks gradually grew into a full sized, well financed (all parades are private enterprises paid for by krewe members). The Krewe of Tucks parade is always a parody of something either serious or non consequential. This year, for instance, the theme was " iTucks, What's APPening", making fun of the addictive property of all the technology people seem enamored.

Here were some of the float titles in the parade: Farmville, Tweet This( it had a huge bird mindlessly tweeting on his phone), I Have No Bars, Byte Me, and Green Eggs and Spam. The techno title was tied in with some non tech point made by each float.

This year's Tuck's king waved a toilet brush scepter and the krewe themes throws were all toilet related.... miniature squirting toilets, plungers and Tucks-stamped toilet paper rolls. I caught a toilet plunger and there is a photo below from the local newspaper of someone else who caught one and who is putting it to good use.I saw this parade along historic St. Charles Avenue, the beautiful old oak lined avenue of mansions and charm. There were hundreds of thousands of viewers for Tucks (and for each of the other parades during Mardi Gras) and many had tents with barbecue pits along the parade route. It gets so crowded on St. Charles, and real estate on the parade route is so prized, families (illegally) rope off sections along the route 24 hours or more before the parades roll, often getting up in the middle of the night to stake out their plots.


The "stuff" along the route that people place includes the barbecue pits, mini kitchens, portable toilets, lawn chairs, stacks of coolers and rows of ladders for children to stand on to get up above the heads of parade watchers. It's like no other parade route in any other place.Tucks is the non traditional type of parade. The floats are not elaborate and the costuming and bands are unconventional. I like this type of parade as well as the garish super krewe parades. The unconventional types probably give more of the character of New Orleans, while the fancy ones will give you the oh and ah effect.

Anyway, I think you should one day see Mardi Gras parades and experience carnival as they do it in New Orleans. I can promise one thing, that it will be different from anything else you have ever seen.