Egg recall enormous — sensible consumers are best solution
I’m sure you’ve read or heard something in the news about the humongous egg recall that took place last week. The latest numbers I’ve heard are that about 500 million eggs were recalled for fear they might be tainted with salmonella. (I don’t know that I’ve ever had salmonella, but I’ve heard it is incredibly awful.) That’s an incredible number of eggs. Us egg lovers are saddened by such a waste.
As always, I believe, the best solution to this and other potential food borne illness crises is to be sensible consumers. But first, take a minute to put that 500 million egg recall into some perspective.
Is it REALLY such a huge number of eggs to be recalled, given the enormous number of eggs Americans alone eat in a given year? Care to take a guess how many eggs we gobble down in a year?
Nope. You’re not even close, would be my guess about your guess.
According to information from the Commodities Research Bureau (CRB), Americans alone consumed 6.530 BILLION eggs in 2007, the latest year for which I could find a count. The CRB suggested that was a 10-year high and reflected increased egg consumption as more people were turning toward low-carb diets.
Now that’s a lot of eggs, boiled, fried, poached, scrambled, or however you like them. (My personal favorite is fried over-easy, but I’ve learned to appreciate my wife’s favorite cooking method, scrambled.) So at least that might help us put all this egg business in a little better perspective before we conclude that the sky may be falling.
The fact of the matter is, our food system is NOT and never has been completely safe. When we “buy organic” or just shop at a nearby mom-and-pop supplier rather than buying food that’s been shipped across the country or around the world — there’s still no guarantee that mom and pop or the local suppliers are offering better protected, safer food products. Little does not always mean better than big.
We can, however, expect regulatory agencies over our food and drug supplies to do their jobs. No one knows, yet, how the egg crisis developed. There’s no clear indication that regulators dropped any balls (or cracked any eggs?) on this one. Nevertheless, given the enormity of our nation’s food supply chain and the limited number of federal, state, and local regulators — we don’t always get the quality of service we expect.
Maybe the answer lies in more and better food regulations, at least partially. But above all, the answer lies with us, good old American consumers. We need to learn how to handle and how to prepare food in the safest possible ways — or be prepared to take the consequences of our negligence.
You really like those sunny-side-up eggs, do you? Then be warned that uncooked or undercooked eggs ALWAYS carry a risk of salmonella or other bacterial/viral infections. That’s because bacteria are every where, and many of them tend to thrive in the human digestive track. Not all of those happy little bacterial residents of our digestive tracks are nice guys, either.
You really like breaking a raw egg into the blender with other goodies for that special “power shake” concoction you’ve created? Well, for those same reasons, you’re doing so at your own risk.
Sure, trust the food producers, suppliers, regulators, your local grocery, and all the rest — but prepare all your food carefully and wisely. The life you save COULD be your own!
Nut-wing media, politicians know no shame about Muslim Center furor
If it were even remotely possible for those lambasting our eyes and ears from the nut-wing media — especially Fox News and most conservative talk radio — to feel any sense of shame, they ought to be ashamed about the way they’ve misled, distorted, and all around demonized plans by a Muslim community in New York to build a Muslim Center near “Ground Zero,” the former site of the World Trade Center.
Yes, they should be ashamed. And all the nut-wing politicians who’ve used the whole matter to upset the mindless masses who feed on their every shifting word should be equally ashamed.
Ask yourself this single question: How far from “Ground Zero” would be appropriate if we were to allow a religious community to exercise their rights under our Constitution to build a religious center? Two blocks (which I understand is the approximate distance being considered)? Perhaps six blocks? Or as some comedians have suggested — maybe in New Jersey?
What right do you and I, as non-residents of Manhattan or New York City, have to dictate zoning and building decisions for the residents and officials of New York City? If “Ground Zero” is indeed some sort of “hallowed” or “sacred” ground, perhaps we ought to let those who live and work near there decide what’s appropriate.
AND UNTIL THE NUT-WINGERS STIRRED THE POT ON THIS ISSUE, NO ONE KNEW OR CARED ABOUT THE WHOLE MATTER. That is, except for those directly involved in the matter. And they seemed to be doing just fine until some idiot nut-winger started weeping and waling about it and sounding the alarm — “The Terrorists Are Here! The Terrorists Are Here!” Or maybe just “The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!”
Seriously, dear readers, isn’t it time quit following every knee-jerk nut-winger who hasn’t the brains to string two real thoughts together and begin taking a careful, rational look at all these goofy things we’ve let nut-wing politicians push our nation into?
Here are some relevant thoughts you might want to consider about this Muslim Center planning and related issues:
1. Devout Muslim people were among those killed on 9/11.
2. There is an all-faiths chapel with Muslim worship and activities taking place in it AT THE PENTAGON ITSELF.
3. Muslim leaders seeking to build this center near Ground Zero were motivated by a desire to do it as a tribute of unity and peace honoring the victims of 9/11.
Those points are just some things to actually think about, for those of you who haven’t had your ability to think destroyed by a dependence on Fox News-less, Rush Lamebug, Sean Haint-he-he, Glen Bunk, Newt Groingrich and other such nut-wings.
If you’d like a reasoned, thorough presentation discussing how the whole “Mosque at Ground Zero” goofiness started and turned into such a mess, there’s an excellent story in The Washington Post you really should read.
How about we all try getting by with less ‘stuff’ in our lives?
OK, so this is my little “sermonette” (or just a rant?) for today: Maybe our nation and our world would be in better shape all around if we just all tried to get through life with less “stuff,” i.e., material possessions in general and luxury items specifically.
Sure, I know the yacht makers and luxury car manufacturers need to make a living, too. But what I’m talking about is all the individual and corporate GREED out there that leads to such crises as the mortgage industry meltdown and the Wall Street scandals. (Incidentally, if you honestly still think the stock market is even remotely predictable — at least for the short term — let me caution you to resist the urge. It’s higher stakes gambling plain and simple, on a level that would rival all of America’s casinos put together.)
Anyway, I started thinking about all the hardships we ALL suffer as a result of the very common drive to “own” or “possess” material stuff — a drive which we all have to some extent. Take me, for example. Most of the furniture I own (“we” own, as in my wife and I) is much closer to “decor by early Salvation Army” than it is something from Kichler lighting, or Macy’s, or even Target. (Although we own one or two very durable Wal-mart special items.)
Would we like a house full of fine furnishings and decor? I suppose so. But we’ve discovered the hard way that running out to buy something we want using a credit card or credit account opens a door we don’t wish to go through — the door that lets one more creditor creep in and snatch one more little piece of control out of our lives.
OK, that’s really about it. I urge you to rethink the importance of the “stuff” you possess or you want to possess. Is it worth the consequences that accompany it? End of “sermonette” now.
‘Stupid crooks’ should be a legitimate criminal classification
I read something in this morning’s local paper (yes, I DO still read newspapers) that convinced me that “stupid crooks” should be a bona fide classification under the law.
Three women, showing signs of being seriously drunk throughout the incident, ran up a $39 tab at a local Waffle House restaurant (if you don’t have a Waffle House where you live, you can still figure out from the name what sort of restaurant it is, right?). When it came time to pay, they simply fled the restaurant, jumped in a car and took off.
They left their three purses behind.
Funny, right? It gets better.
The restaurant owner quickly locked the purses in his office and called the police.
Before the police got their — two of the women CAME BACK TO THE RESTAURANT TO GET THE PURSES!!
See? I told you it got better.
The restaurant owner refused to give up the purses, saying the women needed to stay there to answer to the police. The two women, not being quite that drunk or that stupid, fled again at the mention of “police.”
As of press time, the police were using the ID in the purses (which included, among other things, a check stub for a meal at a Waffle House in a nearby state) to track down the women.
Catching crooks like these doesn’t require any fancy electronics, or surveillance cameras, monitors, or anything else. They practically catch themselves, don’t they??
Election follies moving into full mode — they never really ended
I have taken my “election year” vows again — I hope to be equally hostile to ALL major political parties as the politicians ramp up full-speed toward the political abyss we call elections.
Yet it isn’t really a serious election year, yet. Oh, sure, there are congressional elections coming up in the fall, but let’s get real, shall we? In America, the only election cycle the average citizen cares about is a presidential election cycle. There’s no glamor in the House and Senate.
In reality of course, the really important political action in our country IS the House and Senate manipulation and maneuvering that goes on. That and state and local elections are often perceived as boring — but, truly, they are the only elections where we as individuals stand a chance of reigning in the corruption and chicanery of the politicians.
And, months ago where I live, the various political lies, manipulation, phone calls, promotional items, brochures, etc., have begun flooding our lives.
So, here we go again, folks. Moving heavily into the good old American Election Follies. The hand basket is plunging downward at ever increasing speed …!!!!!
Be mindful of Internet credibility gaps and traps
When you’re browsing to and fro throughout the Internet, you should always be mindful of some real “credibility gaps” inherent in what you find. Not everything on the Internet is actually true — some of it (to swipe Stephen Colbert’s term) isn’t even very “truthy.”
I know. Quite a shocking concept for many of you, isn’t it? If so, perhaps you need to shut down your computer and go to a public library; reacquaint yourself with those blockey-shaped, multi-page objects we call “books.”
Seriously, with all the review and information blogs and other websites out there, how can you trust what you’re reading, even when it’s called a “review” or “information”? How do you know whether or not someone just made it up?
You don’t know whether or not someone made the stuff up. At least, however, if you can confirm the information with more than one source — preferably with off-line sources — you stand a better chance of getting to the truth of what you’re reading or seeing online.
Then, too, there are the time honored maxims of believability. Things like, “If it sounds too good to be true it probably isn’t.” That advice alone would save many of us hours of time, emotional/mental anguish, and even money in many cases. But of course scam artists and sales people thrive on the human tendency to WANT to believe in those things that are in our best interest, that excite us, that appeal to our selfish desires, greed, whatever.
My best advice when you find something online would be this: Don’t be gullible; and take a day or two to think about it before you believe, repeat, or buy whatever is in question. Remember, EVERYTHING you find online, from nuphedragen reviews and reviews of other weight loss products to “business opportunities” to home decor to pet products for Fifi and Fido — EVERYTHING can be faked. Or not.
So take a pause, think about what you read or see online, and relax. Go read a book.
Or, as long as you can still find one, read a newspaper.
TV show prompts me to look more critcally at self-help industry
Given the fact that the so-called “self-help industry,” or “self-help movement” is a multibillion dollar industry, I wonder that I’ve lived so many years without paying it much attention.
I saw a television special on ABC a few days ago — “Mind Games” I think it was — which recounted the horrific death of some people devoted to one of the contemporary “self-help” gurus in a sweat lodge gone wrong a couple of years ago.
That started me thinking. I went to our local library and found a copy of a fascinating book by one of the men who was featured on the show. He’s somewhat controversial, I guess, although my ignorance about the whole self-help thing is showing here. The book is called “SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless.” The author is Steve Salerno.
Whether you agree or disagree with Mr. Salerno’s approach to the topic, various parts of his book, the whole concept, or whatever — that book will make you think. I’ve always thought of these popular self-help leaders as either 1) phonies on a par with the fabled snake-oil salesmen of Old West days, or, 2) well-meaning people who genuinely believed what they were teaching. If they were in the first category, obviously they should be stopped as with anyone who’s a fraud. If in the second category, well, unless they directly harmed someone, I guess I always viewed them as some sort of “multiple vitamins of the soul”: Maybe helpful, maybe not, but probably not harmful unless you overdo them.
It seems, however, that a lot of folks really are overdoing it with these people and these “teachings.”
Anyway, make of all that what you will. I recommend you pick up a copy of the book and give it a look. I’m just part way through and it’s a real eye opener for me.
Fitness may be overrated as predictor of long life
I know this may sound like something I’m writing to excuse my own laziness and poor health habits, but I’m serious (at least sort of serious) about this: Fitness may be somewhat overrated as a predictor of whether you’ll live a long life.
Scientists published a recent study that says they are beginning to identify specific genes and combinations of genes in our fundamental makeup that lead to generally longer lives. Now, they aren’t saying that fitness and healthy eating, sleeping, and eating habits aren’t important. But they are suggesting that all the healthy living we do may ultimately not give us longer lives if our genetic makeup isn’t set up for it.
Does this mean we should live with wild abandon, eating and partying our way through life, knowing the length of our days on this globe are already determined by our genes and we can’t do anything about it? Should we tell all those expectant moms out there that the best prenatal vitamins in the world won’t influence the health of their new baby — but that the important thing has already been decided when mom and dad mixed their gene pools together?
That’s all pretty absurd, of course. No matter whether you have the “long life” genes or gene combinations — you still are going to live, barring an accident, long enough to want the best quality of life you can have in the years you have. So obviously, since we cannot control our genetic makeup and we aren’t really certain about what “long life genes” are or exactly how they work, we have an obligation to ourselves (and our families) to live as healthy as we possibly can.
Guess that means I’ll stick to the daily exercise and healthy diet routine — for a few more years at least. I hope.
If lovely calves aren’t your best feature, how are your abs?
I recently posted a confession that my calves may not be the fittest or best-looking part of my anatomy. Then I ran onto an article at the Huffington Post blog about a freshman Republican Congressman from Illinois, Aaron Schock, who’s stirring up controversy and causing hearts (of men and women) to flutter over his attractive abs.
Yes, that’s right. With our country facing a world of economic, social, and political crises, Rep. Schock’s getting more attention for his abs than his politics.
You can read more about all that at the Huffington Post website, and, to be fair, the fuss over Schock’s abs wasn’t his doing, although like all good politicians he admits he’ll take all the legitimate votes he can get for whatever reason.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything in the stories about the good congressman concerning any ab workouts or other fitness tips. (My abs are the sort that are better called “flabs.”)
Fitness includes good looking legs, I guess
I’m not so naive to think that I’ll win any Handsome Hunk of the Year Honors, at my age, no matter how much I improve my currently poor level of physical fitness. (I’ve hinted to my wife that she should think of me as a real “hunk” in the making. She seems to think the word “chunk” is more appropriate.)
But today, I read a news story on an Internet site that a major manufacturer of fitness equipment has launched a campaign that’s a “Search for the Best Calves” — and they don’t mean baby cattle. They’re inviting people to send them pictures of their lower leg muscles, i.e., their calves. The whole idea, I guess (my calves are so riddled with near-varicose veins I hate to look at them myself), is to crown some fitness fanatic as having the best calves in the world??
If you’re seriously interested in the “contest,” and have an urge to show off your calves, look for the contest on Google or some other search engine. I failed to find a link for it to include here. But I have been getting out for regular brisk walks more this week. Important to work on those old calves, I guess.
Moo.
« Previous Entries