Monthly Archives: April 2007

Toilets

How does a 42 pound 6-1/2-year-old boy clog the toilet EVERY TIME? And it’s not as if he uses too much paper.

I purchased some Sunsweet Pitted Prunes and he will eat one every day! I bought the Cherry Essence prunes, the link is to Orange Essence prunes.

I need one of these (commercial here).

SciFi Friday is Back!

The last episodes of Stargate SG1 are starting on SciFi tonight. Season 10 is the last for this series. Amanda Tapping will be joining the cast of Stargate Atlantis for Season 4.

Stargate Atlantis comes back again tonight as well.

And a new series, Painkiller Jane, starring Kristanna Loken of Terminator 3.

SciFi channel tonight!

At 7, 6 central there is a program on SciFi called Behind the Mythology of Stargate SG-1 which looks to be interesting as well.

Remember Me

This video was made by a 15-year-old Ohio girl. Watch. Thank you Lizzie Palmer!

Link to You Tube Page.

CBS Fires Imus

Okay. I’ve been silent on this for a while but this is just too much.

The guy is an idiot. He always has been. He’s made comments like this before.

But people are insulted all the time. People have their feelings hurt all the time. People are offended all the time. Some people are offensive all the time.

Personally, rap music offends me. I’m not suing R Kelly, Snoop Dog, et al. for the sexist content of their songs. I never listened to Imus.

CBS statement says that the language wasn’t good for kids. What kids listened to Imus? Plenty of kids listen to rap and hear that language every day. Plenty of kids use that language daily. In school, on the playground, at the park.

“There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society,” CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said in announcing the decision. “That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision.”

The man is an idiot but shouldn’t have been fired over it.

When will the lawsuits start? The guy’s out of two jobs now, so how much will they get if they do sue?

Agent Cool Blue Recall

Listerine’s Agent Cool Blue for kids has been recalled, all lots, all flavors:

Press release:

MORRIS PLAINS, NEW JERSEY – April 11, 2007 – McNEIL-PPC, Inc. (the “Company”) today announced a voluntary nationwide consumer recall of all lots of the GLACIER MINT™ and BUBBLE BLAST™ flavors of LISTERINE® AGENT COOL BLUE™ Plaque-Detecting Rinse after the Company determined that the preservative system is not adequate against certain microorganisms. The Company has been in full communication with the FDA regarding this issue and the decision to implement a voluntary recall. The Company is recalling all bottles of AGENT COOL BLUE™ Plaque-Detecting Rinse, an estimated 4 million, from both retailers and consumers.

The Company conducted a thorough assessment and concluded that the risk of illness in healthy individuals following use of this product is very low. However, there could be a significant health risk to individuals with weakened or suppressed immune systems. To date, there have been no consumer adverse health events reported that are related to this issue.

The recall affects all existing bottles of AGENT COOL BLUE™ Plaque-Detecting Rinse. Consumers should discontinue using and properly discard the product, and may obtain a full refund through calling the Company’s toll free consumer line 1-888-222-0249 and mailing in the back label, including the UPC code. Additional information can be found at the product website www.agentcoolblue.com.

Introduced in 2006, AGENT COOL BLUE™ Plaque-Detecting Rinse tints plaque blue for better brushing. Consumers can readily distinguish this product by the cartoon character on the front of the bottle. Only AGENT COOL BLUE™ Plaque-Detecting Rinse products are affected by this action. No other LISTERINE® branded products are affected and they remain safe and effective for use as directed.

“We have voluntarily initiated this recall of AGENT COOL BLUE™ Plaque-Detecting Rinse because our primary concern is that consumers have complete confidence in the safety and effectiveness of our products,” said Paul Sturman, President, Consumer Healthcare North America, McNEIL-PPC, Inc. “This voluntary action is in keeping with our longstanding policy of providing timely and effective consumer information about all our products.”

AGENT COOL BLUE™ Plaque-Detecting Rinse has been sold to consumers through supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants and other retail outlets, and is sold to dental professionals’ offices nationwide. The Company is contacting dental professionals and retailers directly as part of their recall notification process.

We have been using Agent Cool Blue for a while and it makes the kids WANT to brush their teeth. This stuff is far better than the little red tablets they had us chew during dental hygiene week at elementary school, especially since you could use this every day. I hope that the preservative issue is resolved quickly and McNeil-PPC can get Agent Cool Blue back on the shelves as soon as possible.

You can download the refund request form here. Peel the back label off the bottle (carefully, to include the UPC and lot number) and send the form and the label in for a refund.

Idol

The lighting for Jennifer Lopez’s song was scary. I don’t speak Spanish so I have no idea what the song was about.

Bottom Three:

Phil

Hayley

Chris

(Sanjaya makes it another week – into the top 7)

Bottom Two:

Phil

Hayley

(Chris did do a good job on his song last night)

Bottom One: Continue reading

Duke Lacrosse Case

“Precious” is Crystal Gail Magnum. She has quite a history. The young men have been exonerated, but still must overcome obstacles. I wish them nothing but the best.

Dieting Tip

Dieting tip: measure out 2 tablespoons of dip (one serving) and only eat as many chips as you can dip. Generally, you’ll eat about one serving of chips instead of the whole dang bag!

Later This Afternoon

After further snowing (which now seems to have stopped) the same bush as below looks like this:100_0997.JPG

Today is garbage day here and one of the recycling trucks got stuck for about half an hour in an intersection because of the snow. I don’t have a picture of the actual truck in the intersection, but I have prepared this graphic representation for you (you’ll have to imagine the snow):
truckintersection.gif

There were a few power blips today as well so I went out and got one of these today for the modem and wireless router. That should allow me to continue to post something if I’m in the middle of it.

What I Woke Up to This Morning

411snow1.JPG

The globe may be a bit warmer now than at other times in her very, very long life, but please honestly explain how the human race, in just about 100 years of industrialization, could have screwed her up so royally. Please explain how the human race (really only the U.S.) can fix it all. This is extreme arrogance. To think that we, as humans, cause climate change and to think that we can “fix” it.

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Typhoons, Volcanoes, Monsoons, Cyclones,  wildfires. The only item in that list that may have a human cause is wildfires. Many wildfires don’t have a human cause, but admittedly, some do. Some are caused by human accident or negligence, and some deliberately. How ever, it can be said that some naturally caused wildfires may have been able to have been prevented if controlled burns and undergrowth clearing had been allowed. Tonnes of carbon from an uncontrolled wildfire may not have made it into the atmosphere if smaller, controlled burns had been allowed.

I remember when the ozone hole over the Antarctic was expanding at an “alarming rate” and we humans had to do something about it RIGHT NOW or WE WILL ALL DIE.

Chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs were determined to be the cause. The inclusion of CFCs in aerosol spray cans was stopped. CFCs as refrigerants were pretty much discontinued. There are still some out there, especially in older cars. The levels of CFCs in the lower atmosphere have been reduced, but we won’t know for a long time whether the reduction and/or elimination of CFCs has really helped.

Every year during Antarctic spring (September-December) a hole in the ozone layer develops and it closes up again by mid-summer (February).

Is the ozone hole recovering? Some reports in the media suggest that the ozone layer over Antarctica is now recovering. This message is a little confused. Recent measurements at surface monitoring stations show that the loading of ozone destroying chemicals at the surface has been dropping since about 1994 and is now about 6% down on that peak. The stratosphere lags behind the surface by several years and the loading of ozone depleting chemicals in the ozone layer is at or near the peak. Satellite measurements show that the rate of decline in ozone amount in the upper stratosphere is slowing, however the total ozone amount is still declining. The small size of the 2002 ozone hole was nothing to do with any reduction in ozone depleting chemicals and it will be a decade or more before we can unambiguously say that the ozone hole is recovering. This assumes that the decline in ozone depleting chemicals continues and that there are no other perturbations to the ozone layer, such as might be caused by a massive volcanic eruption or Tunguska like event. It will be the middle of this century or beyond before the ozone hole ceases to appear over Antarctica. What we saw in 2002 is just one extreme in the natural range of variation in the polar stratosphere and is the equivalent of an extreme in ‘stratospheric weather’. By contrast the ‘weather’ in 2003 moved to the opposite extreme and we saw one of the largest ozone holes on record.

Natural Variation. The climate has natural variations as well. Ice Ages, Warming, back and forth. The Sahara was once lush and populated.

At the end of the last Ice Age, the Sahara Desert was just as dry and uninviting as it is today. But sandwiched between two periods of extreme dryness were a few millennia of plentiful rainfall and lush vegetation.During these few thousand years, prehistoric humans left the congested Nile Valley and established settlements around rain pools, green valleys, and rivers.

The ancient climate shift and its effects are detailed in the July 21 issue of the journal Science.

SUVs and CFCs didn’t have anything to do with that.

mm-5