6.28.2007
If It's Safe Then Why Hide It?
(C) 2007 Stan Spire
Remember the NutraSweet logo? It was a fancy swirl emblazoned on all sorts of products, announcing that it was the perfect sugar substitute. Lately I haven't seen it too often when I'm shopping for food.
NutraSweet is a brand of aspartame. For years there's been some controversy about aspartame; safety issues have been raised. Links made to cancer and brain tumors. The approval process by the FDA for this particular ingredient has been criticized.
One story is a competitor hawking a different sugar substitute started a whispering campaign to ruin aspartame's reputation and so that's why the swirly logo hasn't been so prevalent lately. Or maybe it's because aspartame smells the same by any name; the US patent expired in 1992. So why not announce the inclusion of aspartame in big letters on the front of the container, even if it wasn't made by NutraSweet? Aspartame is still hailed as being safe for people wanting to avoid sugar.
Sugar has been around for generations. Its bad effects are known. Aspartame is relatively recent; no one knows what the long terms affects will be, if any.
Me, I don't wanted aspartame in any food products like yogurt because it upsets my stomach.
So you'll see me holding a cup of yogurt at the supermarket, peering at its ingredients, making sure it contains sugar, not aspartame. The print isn't the largest, to say the least. Also, one brand uses blue letters, not easier to read black print. And while words like milk or whey are put in bold, aspartame doesn't get the bold treatment, just a tiny asterisk. I have to carefully check the label for that one ingredient I'm trying not to ingest. It's amazing how small blue print hides the word; aspartame is lost in the list.
I didn't have this problem when the red and white NutraSweet swirl was prominently placed on the front of the package. It was easier back then to avoid eyestrain and an upset stomach.
6.20.2007
PIA Zadora Stalls Before Takeoff
By Stan Spire (C) 2007
The Plattsburgh International Airport (PIA) has suffered a setback. When it opened Monday, June 18th, the company lined up to provide fuel and handle maintenance had squelched the deal.
PIA is located at the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base. Clinton County closed down its old airport and moved its operations to the flight lines and runways left behind when PAFB was decommissioned.
Some have questioned the wisdom of the move. "Build it and they will come," works in the movies, but not necessarily in real life. The county only put up a portion of the funds needed to build the new airport, indicating that the local taxpayer wasn't going to be burdened. And what was the source for the bulk of the funding? Other taxpayer funds. So the taxpayer pays all the time, whether its local, state or federal taxes.
Did the taxpayer end up paying for another white elephant? It's not a good indicator of success when a company backs out of a negotiated contract, asking for additional items that the county couldn't provide.
So Clinton County is now searching for another fixed-base operator. Until then another company will keep providing fuel.
The operator that dropped out, Million Air, had intended to set up shop at PIA with a government contract to transport soldiers overseas. (And as my Granddad Spire used to say, they were also going to hit a hog in the ass with a brick.)
Million Air. Yuk, yuk. What a pun.
My nickname for the new county airport is PIA Zadora. That's a pun referring to a movie star named Pia Zadora who was more flash than substance. She was once married to a rich sugar daddy who took good care of her. PIA, on the other hand, mainly has taxpayers to provide the sugar, lumps and all.
6.13.2007
Crap Osmosis
By Stan Spire (C) 2007
Despite my protective mental membrane, crap molecules still seep in.
I don't have cable or satellite TeeVee. And with the few stations I pick up off the air, I don't watch that much. I avoid looking at entertainment rags. I seek out only real news on the Web.
But somehow trivial info slips through. I've never watched the TeeVee show American Idol, but I am familiar with the judges' names and even the names of certain contestants. A lot of buzz is generated about a wannabe pop star and the lamestream media is obligated to play up the story over real events.
Flip through the late night TeeVee talk shows and every host has to bring up the contestant's name and the vapid buzz accompanying it. Even the losers are brought out on these shows, their fifteen-minute fame serviceable for lame comedy bits.
At least such contestants project a positive image. "News" is created when image of a young female movie star or pseudo-celebrity becomes negative. Drugs. Alcoholism. Sex scandals. Arrests. Even jail time. All the news outlets and talk show monologists treat such incidents as major news. They aren't. They're just crap.
But the pop media gives the public at large what it wants. After all, learning about the controversy surrounding the present US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, ain't fun. Or even funny. Even though Gonzales has a direct effect on the lives of average Americans, John and Jane Q. Pubic would rather follow the story of a spoiled rich bitch going to jail, even though she doesn't have the power to screw up their existence.
The crap: it can't be avoided it when it's spread everywhere. It's in your face even during the briefest exposures to the media. You would have to blind yourself off to every headline or blurb. And by doing so, you also shut out important information and news.
The latest fads and crazes aren't news. In the end the buzz dies away, revealing the pseudo-event behind it to be what it was all along: meaningless crap. Time will prove how right I am.
Historians, 40 years in the future: do insignificant molecules named Sanjah or Paula Abdul or Lindsay Lohan mean anything to you? I didn't think so.
