Well, the joys of traveling to the East Coast include those of having much to do, so I apologize to my dear readership for being away for so long. Between the San Francisco Zoo tiger maulings and the lady who flew into the Bay Area with a particularly resistant strain of TB, the news has kept the West Coast on pins and needles. Not to mention that we enter into 2008 without Benazir Bhutto, who died earlier this week after a bombing in Pakistan.
I sincerely hope that those of you who celebrated Christmas had a very merry and blessed holiday, and a joyous New Year to you all. I will be flying back to the West Coast on January 4, so look for some fresh 2008 posting after then. I will, however, leave you with some information that is proof that there is a generous person with the last name of Hilton still alive. See you in the New Year!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Ron Paul's $6M surprise
As the holidays bear down on all of us, probably bringing all kinds of holiday cheer and stress, the last thing you probably want to read about is anything about the Presidential elections. Alas, the first primaries are coming so soon! There's less than a year until the United States chooses a new President, and there are plenty of options, so I suggest you start here.
One of the reasons Ron Paul is so newsworthy is partly because of three words: no income tax. He made quite a splash a few months ago with suggesting this and also pledging never to raise taxes (who says they would?), but that wasn't the least of it. According to Wikipedia:
Well folks, it's off to the East Coast for me. I'll be blogging from a snowy location, don't worry, but I'll be out of action for the next couple days.
One of the reasons Ron Paul is so newsworthy is partly because of three words: no income tax. He made quite a splash a few months ago with suggesting this and also pledging never to raise taxes (who says they would?), but that wasn't the least of it. According to Wikipedia:
Paul has been described as conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian.[2] He advocates an attenuated, non-interventionist foreign policy, having voted against actions such as the Iraq War Resolution, but in favor of force against terrorists in Afghanistan. He favors withdrawal from NATO and the United Nations. Having pledged never to raise taxes, he has long advocated ending the federal income tax and reducing government spending by abolishing most federal agencies; he favors hard money and opposes the Federal Reserve. He also opposes the Patriot Act, the federal War on Drugs, and gun control. Paul is strongly pro-life, advocates overturning Roe v. Wade; and affirms states' rights to determine the legality of abortion.[3]I'm not sure about the whole NATO/United Nations thing; the one thing that this country needs is better foreign policy. But guys like him and Mike Huckabee are making a huge run and putting pressure on the other Repubs, notably Guilani and Romney. I have a feeling that this time around, America is going to be shouting for some "different" politicians than your average cookie-cutter pol in tailored suit and red or blue tie.
Well folks, it's off to the East Coast for me. I'll be blogging from a snowy location, don't worry, but I'll be out of action for the next couple days.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Broken Homes
I know I am probably preaching to the choir by even giving this article attention. Oh, but the joys of pointing out the American dream of keeping up with those so-called Joneses! That family who lurks on every residential street, sneaking ways into making you feel like a cheapskate, even though our credit limits are bursting and our subprime mortgages are skyrocketing.
Let me give you a little glimpse into my life right now. Before we moved to California, we owned a Pontiac Sunfire and a Buick Century (which is fitting, because its namesake just about reflected its age). The Century had been declared totaled in a low-speed crash, but was still drivable. The last time I drove it was to the junkyard, where it spewed white smoke the whole way. I had to nearly rip the rusted bolts to get the license plates off. And now, ever since I paid off the Sunfire, the two front window motors have busted (the passenger window is not rolled up all the way and is therefore taped), and someone stole my license plate, so now I have the new one taped in my back window. It has paint scrached off where my husband accidentally brushed a concrete barrier during an ice storm in Rochester. It got a flat tire last month, has milk stains from where Rach spilled her bottle, and is now considered the winter beater. The strap that keeps half the exhaust attached broke, so any time I hit a speed bump, the exhaust pipe bounces uncontrollably.
We live in a two-bedroom apartment that kisses 101 (main interstate to San Francisco). It's loud and dirty with the car pollution. Other people in our apartment complex drive Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and rotate brand-new cars into their lease schedule every year or so.
And you know what? Who cares? Does anyone get to take their fancy cars to the grave? Will we get to listen to our iPods in the afterlife? Good golly Ned. This is the plague that has snatched our middle class into a sickening spiral of spending: Even the feds tell us that more spending is good for the economy. But the uber-rich aren't spending their money in stores on stuff that is going to depreciate after two years, so you can leave out those spenders. It's the low and middle classes that are being called on to open their wallets, only because the ultra-rich know how to use their money in a way that will MAKE MORE OF IT. MORE MONEY. Not more STUFF. Why do you think the Spice Girls got together to do a reunion tour? I bet none of them knew what investing their money meant, then said "Oh, bollocks! We better go do a reunion tour." (That kind of thing happens more often than you think.)
Look, the famous are mostly like us low and middle class folks: They still have to work for their money. If they stop working, they money stops coming in. Maybe they'll float for a while, but when all is said and done, they work for their money. Money doesn't work for them. It's sickening how we put these folks on a pedestal and long after their riches. They're no different in their spending habits.
All right - so the point is, the Millers have a dreadful $50,000 in their HELOC (home-equity line of credit), which is simply debt; no savings to speak of, not even in emergency funds or college funds. When you look at the bottom line, the father is earning six figures, and their output is more than that! Spending more than six figures in Utah! And these people are supposed to be teaching the next generation that having the newest toy is the way to earn prestige, pride and satisfaction? How about constant disappointment at being outdone all the time, feeling the need to catch up constantly?
I... I just don't know. It's one thing to take out a huge loan or credit advance to try to do something on your own, but it's another to just nickel and dime yourself out of a decent retirement. This poor guy is never going to get to retire. Do they know that Social Security will probably run out by the time they're eligible? And why, oh WHY is someone who is nearly half their age outraged by their short-sightedness? They're not doing the kids any favors by buying expensive cell phones. Eventually they're going to be put in nursing homes, and their kids are going to go into all sorts of debt paying for that because they have no savings. And don't get me started on what would happen if these folks won the PowerBall. They'd be dead broke in three years, maybe less.
I'd say that about 90% of the population fall into this category, this category of "spender." That includes Hollywood darlings and Wal-Mart creepers alike. As I've mentioned in the past, being smart with money means you're going to need to learn how to live with old things and make them last. Spending money on depreciating items will just destroy the value of your dollar. Can we suck up our pride for once and learn that some sacrifice now might pay off in the future? (Maybe it's just easier for me to tell my kid to knock it off with the spending habits. She's not going to absolutely DIE if she doesn't have her designer clothes.)
Let me give you a little glimpse into my life right now. Before we moved to California, we owned a Pontiac Sunfire and a Buick Century (which is fitting, because its namesake just about reflected its age). The Century had been declared totaled in a low-speed crash, but was still drivable. The last time I drove it was to the junkyard, where it spewed white smoke the whole way. I had to nearly rip the rusted bolts to get the license plates off. And now, ever since I paid off the Sunfire, the two front window motors have busted (the passenger window is not rolled up all the way and is therefore taped), and someone stole my license plate, so now I have the new one taped in my back window. It has paint scrached off where my husband accidentally brushed a concrete barrier during an ice storm in Rochester. It got a flat tire last month, has milk stains from where Rach spilled her bottle, and is now considered the winter beater. The strap that keeps half the exhaust attached broke, so any time I hit a speed bump, the exhaust pipe bounces uncontrollably.
We live in a two-bedroom apartment that kisses 101 (main interstate to San Francisco). It's loud and dirty with the car pollution. Other people in our apartment complex drive Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and rotate brand-new cars into their lease schedule every year or so.
And you know what? Who cares? Does anyone get to take their fancy cars to the grave? Will we get to listen to our iPods in the afterlife? Good golly Ned. This is the plague that has snatched our middle class into a sickening spiral of spending: Even the feds tell us that more spending is good for the economy. But the uber-rich aren't spending their money in stores on stuff that is going to depreciate after two years, so you can leave out those spenders. It's the low and middle classes that are being called on to open their wallets, only because the ultra-rich know how to use their money in a way that will MAKE MORE OF IT. MORE MONEY. Not more STUFF. Why do you think the Spice Girls got together to do a reunion tour? I bet none of them knew what investing their money meant, then said "Oh, bollocks! We better go do a reunion tour." (That kind of thing happens more often than you think.)
Look, the famous are mostly like us low and middle class folks: They still have to work for their money. If they stop working, they money stops coming in. Maybe they'll float for a while, but when all is said and done, they work for their money. Money doesn't work for them. It's sickening how we put these folks on a pedestal and long after their riches. They're no different in their spending habits.
All right - so the point is, the Millers have a dreadful $50,000 in their HELOC (home-equity line of credit), which is simply debt; no savings to speak of, not even in emergency funds or college funds. When you look at the bottom line, the father is earning six figures, and their output is more than that! Spending more than six figures in Utah! And these people are supposed to be teaching the next generation that having the newest toy is the way to earn prestige, pride and satisfaction? How about constant disappointment at being outdone all the time, feeling the need to catch up constantly?
I... I just don't know. It's one thing to take out a huge loan or credit advance to try to do something on your own, but it's another to just nickel and dime yourself out of a decent retirement. This poor guy is never going to get to retire. Do they know that Social Security will probably run out by the time they're eligible? And why, oh WHY is someone who is nearly half their age outraged by their short-sightedness? They're not doing the kids any favors by buying expensive cell phones. Eventually they're going to be put in nursing homes, and their kids are going to go into all sorts of debt paying for that because they have no savings. And don't get me started on what would happen if these folks won the PowerBall. They'd be dead broke in three years, maybe less.
I'd say that about 90% of the population fall into this category, this category of "spender." That includes Hollywood darlings and Wal-Mart creepers alike. As I've mentioned in the past, being smart with money means you're going to need to learn how to live with old things and make them last. Spending money on depreciating items will just destroy the value of your dollar. Can we suck up our pride for once and learn that some sacrifice now might pay off in the future? (Maybe it's just easier for me to tell my kid to knock it off with the spending habits. She's not going to absolutely DIE if she doesn't have her designer clothes.)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Sharp[ton]'s Container
CNN has reported that The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the several Democratic Presidential hopefuls from 2004, is outraged that a federal probe is being opened to investigate that particular Presidential bid, including subpoenas to 10 of his associates for financial information from the bid, some of his for-profit businesses, and even personal financial information from Sharpton and his spouse. A hearing is set for the day after Christmas.
Sharpton, apparently, is angry about the whole thing, saying that it was "suspicious" that a probe was being opened so shortly before another Presidential campaign, and also because of his involvement in the Jena Six case, among others.
Can someone clear up when Sharpton hasn't been angry about this kind of thing? Anyone? The guy makes his living and his place in the spotlight by getting angry about all sorts of grave injustices, but this, I'm afraid, is quite a stretch, even for the Reverend. First: Since when has Al Sharpton not been involved in anything that includes a racially charged case or event? He's all over the news when blacks are at the injustice of the American system. He's on the news all the time. I doubt this is why the feds opened an investigation about him; the FBI and IRS are notoriously pokey about these kinds of things, and they've probably been tailing something suspicious since Sharpton abandoned his bid. It's not because you support the Jena Six, Reverend, I can tell you that much.
Second: You're not the only one who has been questioned about your Presidential bid, sir. Former VP Al Gore was grilled by Justice Department lawyer and released this transcript. Heck, even if Sharpton were elected President, the amount of federal probing going on should tell him that he is not being profiled - some of the most notorious investigations did indeed involve the Top Dude in the White House which, last time I checked, has always held someone white in color.
So, Rev. Sharpton, please don't flatter yourself too much. We all appreciate what you are doing to promote the equal treatment of blacks in this country, but blowing your top while promoting that agenda is unnecessary and, quite frankly, tiring and nearly cliche.
In possibly related news, I wonder if more black men took this kind of initiative to instead turn the finger inwards, just once in a while, to examine how they might help the civil rights agenda. (I'm not saying all black men are irresponsible babydaddys - take the tone of the article into consideration.) Everyone would do good to examine their conscience every once in a while, for sure, not just blacks. But the fact remains that there are going to be just as many people angered by Sharpton's outbursts as helped by it. Can we all find common, peaceful ground someday in which to start a discussion? Mudslinging never did anyone's campaign any good, Presidential or not.
Sharpton, apparently, is angry about the whole thing, saying that it was "suspicious" that a probe was being opened so shortly before another Presidential campaign, and also because of his involvement in the Jena Six case, among others.
Can someone clear up when Sharpton hasn't been angry about this kind of thing? Anyone? The guy makes his living and his place in the spotlight by getting angry about all sorts of grave injustices, but this, I'm afraid, is quite a stretch, even for the Reverend. First: Since when has Al Sharpton not been involved in anything that includes a racially charged case or event? He's all over the news when blacks are at the injustice of the American system. He's on the news all the time. I doubt this is why the feds opened an investigation about him; the FBI and IRS are notoriously pokey about these kinds of things, and they've probably been tailing something suspicious since Sharpton abandoned his bid. It's not because you support the Jena Six, Reverend, I can tell you that much.
Second: You're not the only one who has been questioned about your Presidential bid, sir. Former VP Al Gore was grilled by Justice Department lawyer and released this transcript. Heck, even if Sharpton were elected President, the amount of federal probing going on should tell him that he is not being profiled - some of the most notorious investigations did indeed involve the Top Dude in the White House which, last time I checked, has always held someone white in color.
So, Rev. Sharpton, please don't flatter yourself too much. We all appreciate what you are doing to promote the equal treatment of blacks in this country, but blowing your top while promoting that agenda is unnecessary and, quite frankly, tiring and nearly cliche.
In possibly related news, I wonder if more black men took this kind of initiative to instead turn the finger inwards, just once in a while, to examine how they might help the civil rights agenda. (I'm not saying all black men are irresponsible babydaddys - take the tone of the article into consideration.) Everyone would do good to examine their conscience every once in a while, for sure, not just blacks. But the fact remains that there are going to be just as many people angered by Sharpton's outbursts as helped by it. Can we all find common, peaceful ground someday in which to start a discussion? Mudslinging never did anyone's campaign any good, Presidential or not.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Outcast by Absolution
Only more heartbreaking than the fact that a 13-year-old girl took her own life when bullied by her supposed MySpace boyfriend is the fact that there was an adult who knew what was going on.
Lori Drew was a woman who probably had a lot of the things that middle-aged women expect to have: a husband, a family with the obligatory two children, a middle-class house on a road with an idyllic name in a neighborhood where kids know each other and neighbors wave as they pick up their morning paper or go for a jog. A life, it seems, that any 40-year-old woman might have dreamed when they were a teenager.
Yet now, that woman has been (voluntarily) confined to her home, for it seems that due to her actions, or non-actions, against a cybermystery boy named "Josh" has created the social version of excommunication: Lori Drew's house has been marked with the so-called X as the media swarms like black flies, searching for a juicy tidbit, while neighbors themselves have been either avoiding the whole issue or, to even add more drama, have been hearing about the acts of hatred upon the Drew household. Bricks through windows, changing their phone greeting, candlelight vigils in front of her house remembering Megan, you name it - they are being preyed upon as she had known that her child had preyed upon an innocent teenager.
The story goes that a teenage employee of Drew's, and her daughter, wanted to concoct a false profile on MySpace and pretend to be Megan's boyfriend, and Drew knew about it, but warned to only send "nice messages" to Megan. Since when do middle-school kids do that? What teenage child knows better than to even think that making up people on the Internet in order to gain personal access to another teenager's life?
What fascinates me most, however, is the role of the two mothers: Lori Drew and Tina Meier, Megan's mom. While Lori Drew allegedly knew of the messages that "Josh" was sending to Megan, Tina Meier was busy telling her daughter to not spend so much time on the Internet, and reiterating this directive when "Josh" started sending nasty messages and finally told Megan the world would be better off without her.
This last act of parenting was Tina Meier's regret: Megan was found hanging in her closet soon thereafter. There was nowhere to place the blame. Prosecutors are not bringing charges. Megan put blame equally on everyone, probably figuring there was no one left to love her. Megan had depression, but she had suffered from it for years. Tina Meier figured to take the blame herself, since any kind of damage to child, no matter how great or small, is naturally taken on by the parent, whether those around them are aware of it or not.
So vigilantes are placing the blame as a smashed window in Lori Drew's house, taking the steps that the government refuses to (as there was no law truly broken) and playing the act of a kind of social police (decency police? moral police? What's the best word?). What a study of human nature! We have taken advantage of our innovative minds by creating lives isolated by our jobs, houses and cars, and yet still operate as a pack, lashing out against those that fray the delicate social weave that we still are required to tend. Tina Meier says she couldn't care less about what is thought of Lori Drew, and she is right to ignore the woman, especially if she were to have any chance to heal from this tragedy. Where her parenting mistakes have mistakenly, indirectly, caused the suicide of a child, Lori Drew is now truly an outcast, not imprisoned by a judicial system, but one much crueler and unforgiving.
Lori Drew was a woman who probably had a lot of the things that middle-aged women expect to have: a husband, a family with the obligatory two children, a middle-class house on a road with an idyllic name in a neighborhood where kids know each other and neighbors wave as they pick up their morning paper or go for a jog. A life, it seems, that any 40-year-old woman might have dreamed when they were a teenager.
Yet now, that woman has been (voluntarily) confined to her home, for it seems that due to her actions, or non-actions, against a cybermystery boy named "Josh" has created the social version of excommunication: Lori Drew's house has been marked with the so-called X as the media swarms like black flies, searching for a juicy tidbit, while neighbors themselves have been either avoiding the whole issue or, to even add more drama, have been hearing about the acts of hatred upon the Drew household. Bricks through windows, changing their phone greeting, candlelight vigils in front of her house remembering Megan, you name it - they are being preyed upon as she had known that her child had preyed upon an innocent teenager.
The story goes that a teenage employee of Drew's, and her daughter, wanted to concoct a false profile on MySpace and pretend to be Megan's boyfriend, and Drew knew about it, but warned to only send "nice messages" to Megan. Since when do middle-school kids do that? What teenage child knows better than to even think that making up people on the Internet in order to gain personal access to another teenager's life?
What fascinates me most, however, is the role of the two mothers: Lori Drew and Tina Meier, Megan's mom. While Lori Drew allegedly knew of the messages that "Josh" was sending to Megan, Tina Meier was busy telling her daughter to not spend so much time on the Internet, and reiterating this directive when "Josh" started sending nasty messages and finally told Megan the world would be better off without her.
This last act of parenting was Tina Meier's regret: Megan was found hanging in her closet soon thereafter. There was nowhere to place the blame. Prosecutors are not bringing charges. Megan put blame equally on everyone, probably figuring there was no one left to love her. Megan had depression, but she had suffered from it for years. Tina Meier figured to take the blame herself, since any kind of damage to child, no matter how great or small, is naturally taken on by the parent, whether those around them are aware of it or not.
So vigilantes are placing the blame as a smashed window in Lori Drew's house, taking the steps that the government refuses to (as there was no law truly broken) and playing the act of a kind of social police (decency police? moral police? What's the best word?). What a study of human nature! We have taken advantage of our innovative minds by creating lives isolated by our jobs, houses and cars, and yet still operate as a pack, lashing out against those that fray the delicate social weave that we still are required to tend. Tina Meier says she couldn't care less about what is thought of Lori Drew, and she is right to ignore the woman, especially if she were to have any chance to heal from this tragedy. Where her parenting mistakes have mistakenly, indirectly, caused the suicide of a child, Lori Drew is now truly an outcast, not imprisoned by a judicial system, but one much crueler and unforgiving.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Spell it like Fergie: D.U.H.
Welcome readers - as is with every Christmas season, I've very nearly lost my head trying to get it all together. As my little family unit celebrates our Christmas the weekend before trekking back to the East Coast for the holidays, I have been operating on the fact that Christmas 1 starts on Decemeber 15, while Christmas 2 starts on the 23rd (with Spencer's mom and stepdad), and Christmases 3, 4, 5 and 6 on the 25th with my parents, Spencer's dad, my mom's family and then my dad's family. Yes. I have to count Christmases. I count myself blessed (no sarcasm - I really do).
Anywho, let that be my pitiful excuse for my edition of D.U.H. (Don't Understand How [this made the news]) in my blog. I might bring it back from time to time; this way, though, I do all the research and bring you back headlines that would, for lack of a better term, allow you to pull my brother's famous *headdesk* move and shout the above acronym in frustration. Or, if you're less bananas than I, mutter it under your breath and move on to better things.
All headlines are hyperlinked for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!
Stallone says filming 'Rambo' was dangerous (MSNBC)
Lawmakers upset over reports of sex, shoplifting by pages (CNN)
Man makes record books for distance thrown in car accident (not exactly duh, but yikes) (Fox News)
Romney vows to defend all faiths (BBC America)
Anywho, let that be my pitiful excuse for my edition of D.U.H. (Don't Understand How [this made the news]) in my blog. I might bring it back from time to time; this way, though, I do all the research and bring you back headlines that would, for lack of a better term, allow you to pull my brother's famous *headdesk* move and shout the above acronym in frustration. Or, if you're less bananas than I, mutter it under your breath and move on to better things.
All headlines are hyperlinked for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!
Stallone says filming 'Rambo' was dangerous (MSNBC)
Lawmakers upset over reports of sex, shoplifting by pages (CNN)
Man makes record books for distance thrown in car accident (not exactly duh, but yikes) (Fox News)
Romney vows to defend all faiths (BBC America)
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Honey See, Honey Do
As I mentioned in my previous post, for us adults, most of our carefree days are taken up by such small details as work, bills and mortgages/rent. And for you parents out there, your carefree days are probably completely gone for the next couple decades. Because when I got pregnant, holding that stick with two lines back in 2004 after a night of general drunken fun, I had to drop everything I was doing - drinking, going to the smoky bars - and start to learn what was going on with my body. All of a sudden, my body didn't care much about me, as I found out after those first 14 weeks of nausea and only eating mashed potatoes and dill pickles. My body only cared about the little human it was manufacturing, a little bean of a human that eventually grew into a beanstalk of a girl, gently breaking my skin into little rivers of reddened stretch marks and making my butt and boobs sink into the swamp. (Yes, Monty Python fans.)
But then I found an online community at iVillage, a group of women who were all expectant mothers, due in May 2005. Can you imagine? Dozens of pregnant women talking about the most incredible, disgusting, scary things that would probably send college students home to Mom and Dad, vowing never to look at the "perks" of college life the same way again, if they truly knew what pregnancy would do to a woman's mind. Women talking about how garlic can prevent a yeast infection if placed, um, at the source of the problem. (Ew.) Women who, by May 1, were dying to have baby out and asking if nipple stimulation was really the way to go to jump-start labor. (Um.) Teenage moms who had absolutely no knowledge of what was going on and eventually made iVillage their gynecologist, mother and Divine Intervention source. (Yikes.)
To be fair, I came away with 10 other women from that group who were quite sane-minded and we have our own little group, and there were plenty of other sane women. But for every woman with her head screwed on right, there was someone else waiting to stoke the fires of unfriendly controversy, to bear the claw of catty misconception, or wave the flag of self-righteousness.
But then once those little squirts were out of the womb, I remember a different conversation that wasn't all that gross - honey. As some you might know, honey is considered dangerous, nay, even poisonous, to babies under 12 months of age because of the risk of botulism. Some mothers were concerned about eradicating allergies in their babies, because local-made honey has all the local pollens in one convenient bottle, thereby allowing the body to build up immunity. Their doctors would wag their fingers and tell them absolutely not, until that first birthday, and then they would beg someone in the iVillage community to tell them that it was probably worth the risk.
But now, what with all the hoopla about those children's cough remedies and how they actually might be dangerous for children under six years of age, a study by my alma mater found that honey is actually a better OTC (over-the-counter) solution to suppress cough. Perhaps it's the sugary sweet, thick-coated relief that it provides for a raw throat and chest; perhaps it's the antioxidants and antimicrobial features that helps heal things quicker. Nonetheless, it's a sigh of relief for most parents who don't like pumping unnatural remedies into their kids and might want to try honey as an alternate the next time Junior starts hacking.
Granted, those parents who also view immunizations as "unnatural remedies" and refuse to immunize their kids are threatening the return of such devastating diseases like polio, but there's a reason why I don't frequent that mommy's place in iVillage any more. Alliances, enemies, trolls, and women shoving garlic in places other than their mouth. It was just too much. Even for a woman.
But then I found an online community at iVillage, a group of women who were all expectant mothers, due in May 2005. Can you imagine? Dozens of pregnant women talking about the most incredible, disgusting, scary things that would probably send college students home to Mom and Dad, vowing never to look at the "perks" of college life the same way again, if they truly knew what pregnancy would do to a woman's mind. Women talking about how garlic can prevent a yeast infection if placed, um, at the source of the problem. (Ew.) Women who, by May 1, were dying to have baby out and asking if nipple stimulation was really the way to go to jump-start labor. (Um.) Teenage moms who had absolutely no knowledge of what was going on and eventually made iVillage their gynecologist, mother and Divine Intervention source. (Yikes.)
To be fair, I came away with 10 other women from that group who were quite sane-minded and we have our own little group, and there were plenty of other sane women. But for every woman with her head screwed on right, there was someone else waiting to stoke the fires of unfriendly controversy, to bear the claw of catty misconception, or wave the flag of self-righteousness.
But then once those little squirts were out of the womb, I remember a different conversation that wasn't all that gross - honey. As some you might know, honey is considered dangerous, nay, even poisonous, to babies under 12 months of age because of the risk of botulism. Some mothers were concerned about eradicating allergies in their babies, because local-made honey has all the local pollens in one convenient bottle, thereby allowing the body to build up immunity. Their doctors would wag their fingers and tell them absolutely not, until that first birthday, and then they would beg someone in the iVillage community to tell them that it was probably worth the risk.
But now, what with all the hoopla about those children's cough remedies and how they actually might be dangerous for children under six years of age, a study by my alma mater found that honey is actually a better OTC (over-the-counter) solution to suppress cough. Perhaps it's the sugary sweet, thick-coated relief that it provides for a raw throat and chest; perhaps it's the antioxidants and antimicrobial features that helps heal things quicker. Nonetheless, it's a sigh of relief for most parents who don't like pumping unnatural remedies into their kids and might want to try honey as an alternate the next time Junior starts hacking.
Granted, those parents who also view immunizations as "unnatural remedies" and refuse to immunize their kids are threatening the return of such devastating diseases like polio, but there's a reason why I don't frequent that mommy's place in iVillage any more. Alliances, enemies, trolls, and women shoving garlic in places other than their mouth. It was just too much. Even for a woman.
Gone Phishing
...but instead of bringing in the catch, someone else is yanking it away. I usually don't like to kick off the month with a PSA, but the Internet sure is slippery, like our scaled friends of the sea.
I had my first official experience with a phishing site today. Luckily, they did not get away with my information this time - but I changed my password nonetheless, since I did click on the link. A fellow MySpace friend had posted a comment with a broken link, and usually, when people do that, it's a cutesy graphic denoting the particular special holiday of the month or wishing me a Happy Birthday or some other nice gesture.
But when I clicked on that comment, it directed me to the MySpace login page. Now, I know that those cutesy graphics will usually direct me to their homepage of their origin, but then I noticed that I was directed to a site called www dot myspacei dot com (this is so no one clicks on it through this blog). See that itty bitty change in the domain name? That's so a hacker can trick you into putting your login information and use your account to post nasty pictures and make generally boozy, frat-like comments on your bulletin board and gather your personal info, among other things.
So, be mindful of what you click, and don't take anything at face value. Nothing like a good ol' dose of reality to remind us of the days when things were innocent, carefree, and only had the daunting task of counting down the days to when Santa would leave a load of gifts under the tree.
I had my first official experience with a phishing site today. Luckily, they did not get away with my information this time - but I changed my password nonetheless, since I did click on the link. A fellow MySpace friend had posted a comment with a broken link, and usually, when people do that, it's a cutesy graphic denoting the particular special holiday of the month or wishing me a Happy Birthday or some other nice gesture.
But when I clicked on that comment, it directed me to the MySpace login page. Now, I know that those cutesy graphics will usually direct me to their homepage of their origin, but then I noticed that I was directed to a site called www dot myspacei dot com (this is so no one clicks on it through this blog). See that itty bitty change in the domain name? That's so a hacker can trick you into putting your login information and use your account to post nasty pictures and make generally boozy, frat-like comments on your bulletin board and gather your personal info, among other things.
So, be mindful of what you click, and don't take anything at face value. Nothing like a good ol' dose of reality to remind us of the days when things were innocent, carefree, and only had the daunting task of counting down the days to when Santa would leave a load of gifts under the tree.
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