1. Swine Flu
I think swine flu is dangerous, and the governments were right to worry. I've read a lot about the 1918 influenza pandemic, and we don't ever want to see another one of those. This flu was more dangerous than bird flu, because it passes easily person-person, rather than needing a live bird as the link. It's because the governments got aggressive that it has been contained (more or less).
I think swine flu is dangerous, and the governments were right to worry. I've read a lot about the 1918 influenza pandemic, and we don't ever want to see another one of those. This flu was more dangerous than bird flu, because it passes easily person-person, rather than needing a live bird as the link. It's because the governments got aggressive that it has been contained (more or less).
That said, I think the media have shamelessly milked it for all it was worth, causing needless anguish in the process. And I think they guy who wore a paper facemask to the Logies last night was poseur.
2. Recreational Shopping with <12s
Usually, just don't. Most children don't browse. They don't "do" recreational shopping.
Children like to go shopping if you are going to let them browse until they find something they want, then buy it for them, then take them straight home again. A visit to Maccas/icecream/Krispy-Kreme may be demanded and (somewhat) enjoyed, but will then render the children overstimulated and sugar-high for the next 24 hours.
If you must take your child with you when you go shopping, think of it like the perfect 3 year old's party: there is a game, there is cake, then we go home within the hour.
Children can't filter the way adults can, when kids get glassy eyed and bratty, they are not acting up, they are simply responding to the environment they are in. I laugh at parents who threaten: "If you don't behave, we're going home RIGHT NOW!" and you can see the child look all hopeful...
Under 7s find shopping difficult, because they're naturally programmed to want to touch things dangled at eye height - and you won't want them too. There is very little good here.
3. Faux-Environmentalism
I'm no expert, but I feel that some of the fashionably "green" products are... dodgy. I have recently read articles encouraging the use of plant dyes, for example. I had done a natural dye course, and while the dyes themselves are natural, if you want them to have any light-fastness at all (ie not fade within a couple of weeks) you have to use a mordant. Mordants are all sufficiently toxic, that except for vinegar, you can't legally pour the leftovers down the drain - they need to be removed by a chemical waste specialist.
I also have my doubts about using candles for earth hour. Most decorative candles aren't beeswax, and where they are, they were possibly shipped in from China, thus negating the green cred effect. The ones made from stearate are a by-product of petrol, basically. The soy candles are very nice, but I suspect that the turning a soybean into wax process may be more consumptive than I would like.
I know it's the latest fashion, but do your homework or just don't bother.
4. Bubble Skirts
Of all the unlikely fashion resurrections. I was so unfashionable in 1984, that I cut the lining out of my only bubble dress, so it was a 'normal' dress. The noughties incarnation has a daggy limp little bubble that reminds me of nothing so much as the way your cossie daks looked when filled with sand after you were dumped by a wave at the beach.
5. Popular Assumptions About the Overweight
Today I read a spray arguing against expert medical opinion that we have had no success in fighting the battle of the bulge, and governments should focus their energies on encouraging people to not get fat in the first place. The (average weight) journalist encouraged the overweight to "have a bit of willpower" and eat less. And not use the excuse that "we don't have time."
In spite of what the latest fad diet, or tv-reality show may tell her (and you), there is solid evidence that once people gain an ample amount of weight, they are going to have a really difficult time getting rid of it. Or the reality tv-show would not exist, among other things.
In fact, the low calorie diet + exercise is not proven to work for this population, however much it may help the "mums trying to lose a bit of baby podge" community.
Which is why I think the personal trainer from Northcote who is force feeding himself junk food in order to "understand" his overweight clients is an idiot.
Phew! Glad I got that off my chest. Have a good week.
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