PAST LIFE REGRESSION
SEALED FOR YOUR PROTECTION AND AGGRAVATION
I happened upon the following Blog quite by accident. Glad I found it because it saves me the work of writing an almost identical piece myself–(I deliberately omitted the blog’s last line.)
After the 1982 Tylenol Tampering scare, where someone laced bottles of Tylenol with cyanide, manufacturers of nearly all food and drug products have begun making (and marking) their products ‘tamper resistant’ and the user must bear this cost built-into the price of the product. To make you feel safer, they have adopted the phrase “Sealed for your protection”
If you know me… I see things differently. It’s really not sealed for your protection.. it’s sealed for THEIR protection. No company wants to be affected with product tampering. They all learned from Johnson & Johnson, certainly the lawsuit repercussions could drive any healthy business into financial ruin.
How ‘resistant’ are these packages? Actually, some are very little.
Years ago a box of pills had a folded tab for easy open and close. Many are replaced with a glued flap… Tamper resistant? maybe not… Tamper evident? Yes.
English is a lovely language, probably the word ‘resistant’ has more legal or marketing sense than the word ‘evident’. Either way, we must tear off, zip, strip, fold, crack & peel off layers of plasticized foil just to get at the product. It is what it is… this is the world we live in now and it’s not going to be any less….(last line omitted)
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The Tylenol events that initiated the “sealed for your protection” regulations can be traced back to 1982 when 7 people died in the Chicago area after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol. The FDA responded to this crisis by requiring OTC medications to have packaging that is what we now call “tamper-evident.” After the seven deaths, the FBI investigated 270 more copy cat product tampering incidents and found a number of guilty individuals. It was estimated that the FDA’s new regulations initially cost between $500,000,000 and $1 billion as industry redesigned packaging, purchased new equipment and even built new manufacturing facilities. Now, the regulations cover almost anything ingested or used by humans from containers bought in stores.
This is what my father used to call “a fifty dollar reaction to a 10 cent offense.” Not that any death for any reason, should be marginalized.
An aside: in contrast, consider this massive governmental response to a fairly limited number of “deaths-by-poisoned- medicines” contrasted with the government’s puny reaction to people killed in schools and theaters and bars and homes in large numbers by military style weapons. (But that’s a topic for another blog: see “More Guns Needed?”) Or think about deaths caused by driving while texting or drinking, or exposure to radioactive materials etc.
Anyway, we now know who to blame or thank for the “protective packaging” and its various permutations that both save and plague consumers, old and young, healthy and arthritic, every day. Try this experiment: be in a hurry, and then try to get the top off (or back on) a bottle of Ibuprofen, Milk of Magnesia, Pepto-Bismol, eye drops–you name it–in the middle of the night, or with a screaming headache or child, or just sensing the first intense urges of diarrhea. At least we now know who to blame when we break our fingernails on plastic seals, or fail to release our heart medicine from its plastic-foil bubble, or cut our hands trying to remove rigid clamshell packaging surrounding a single little item, or lose the battle of getting into a bottle of Nyquill because it is impossible to push the top down with sufficient force while turning it at the same time.
In my case, I even go to war when trying to get into my single portion of apple sauce without spilling it— as the foil cover initially resists, and then splits when it finally succombs to my tugging. Never mind that the tab that is provided to pull the top off is both too small to be gripped effectively by large, old fingers or resists the grip of fingers that have been exposed to even the thinest film of hand lotion or cooking oil? All of these problems are exacerbated by the decisions of companies to really protect the consumer, (and themselves), by using Super Glue to affix the “removable” foil to the carton.
The only response that I have found to be even minimally effective is laughter–mostly at myself, as the applesauce spills onto my shirt or the counter, the slippery coated Advil pills scatter themselves all over the bathroom floor at midnight, or the bottle of MOM that I thought was closed and sealed tips over and spills down the shelves of my medicine cabinet.
As I say, laughter may well prove to be the best medicine and fortunately, it does not reside in a “tamper evident” container.
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MORE GUNS NEEDED??
An Overview of the 2nd Amendment
Second Amendment: The right to bear arms
What is the Second Amendment?
What is the Second Amendment?
There are two principle versions of the Second Amendment: one version was passed by Congress, while the other is found in the copies distributed to each individual state and later ratified by them
As passed by the Congress:A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
As ratified by the States: A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The Second Amendment Defined:
The Second Amendment is a part of the Bill of Rights, which are the first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution and the framework to elucidate upon the freedoms of the individual. The Bill of Rights were proposed and sent to the states by the first session of the First Congress. They were later ratified on December 15, 1791.
The first 10 Amendments to the United States Constitution were introduced by James Madison as a series of legislative articles and came into effect as Constitutional Amendments following the process of ratification by three-fourths of the States on December 15, 1791.
Stipulations of the 2nd Amendment:
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of the individual to keep and bear firearms.
The right to arm oneself is viewed as a personal liberty to deter undemocratic or oppressive governing bodies from forming and to repel impending invasions. Furthermore, the right to bear arms was instituted within the Bill of Rights to suppress insurrection, participate and uphold the law, enable the citizens of the United States to organize a militia, and to facilitate the natural right to self-defense.
The Second Amendment was developed as a result of the tyrannous rule of the British parliament. Colonists were often oppressed and forced to pay unjust taxes at the hand of the unruly parliament. As a result, the American people yearned for an Amendment that would guarantee them the right to bear arms and protect themselves against similar situations. The Second Amendment was drafted to provide for the common defense and the general welfare of the United States through the ability to raise and support militias.
Court Cases Tied into the Second Amendment
In District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm to use for traditionally lawful purposes, such as defending oneself within their home or on their property. The court case ruled that the Amendment was not connected to service in a militia.
Controversy
The gun debate in the United States widely revolves around the intended interpretation of the Second Amendment. Those who support gun rights claim that the founding fathers developed and subsequently ratified the Second Amendment to guarantee the individual’s right to keep and bear arms. Those who want more stringent gun laws feel that the founding fathers directed this Amendment solely to the formation of militias and are thus, at least by theory, archaic
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THE END OF EDUCATION
My daughter, Sarah, the homeschooling mom of my two grandsons, is always on the lookout for articles about education that she thinks might interest me. Last summer she Emailed me this one, and I can’t resist writing a blog of my own around the theme of change– a topic especially significant in my personal life as one year passes into the next, and also of great interest to me as a historian and citizen in this incredible experiment called America. How often I have heard the following arguments in one guise or another from well-meaning folks who know they have a firm grasp on the truth.
Maybe I have heard more of this than most people because I helped found one alternative school and led another.
Ballpoint pens…the ruin of education in our country
After writing my last post, I recalled an excerpt from a book that I had recently read. I dug through the book today and located the section that I had previously found so humorous. (I need all the humor I can get this week since I’m not in beautiful San Diego attending ISTE with friends and colleagues!) The following list can be found in Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology by Collins and Halverson (pg. 30). Their list highlights the many examples of how education has been very resistant to change.
- From a principal’s publication in 1815: “Students today depend on paper too much. They don’t know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?”
- From the journal of the National Association of Teachers, 1907: “Students today depend too much upon ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil.”
- From Rural American Teacher, 1928: “Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education.”
- From Federal Teachers, 1950: “Ballpoint pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American values of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Businesses and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries.”
- From a science fair judge in Apple Classroom of Tomorrow chronicles, 1988: “Computers give students an unfair advantage. Therefore, students who used computers to analyze data or create displays will be eliminated from the science fair.”
Photo credit: Sandor on Flickr
I read this list and wonder how future educators will view our resistance to change. How will they view our adherence to seat time rather than competency based instruction? How will they view our rigid school schedule? How will they view our assessment system that uses letter grades? This list could go on and on, but it becomes evident quickly when reflecting on our system that we do many things that don’t make much sense other than to stay in line with the current system.
Nick Sauers BLOG 1 to 1 Schools.net
Nick Sauers
Nick Sauers, Ph.D., is currently the Leadership Training Coordinator of the Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE) at the University of Kentucky. CASTLE is the nation’s only center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators. In his position with CASTLE, Nick works with administrators helping them develop their personal technology skills and deepening their understanding of the impact of technology on education. Prior to assuming his role with CASTLE, Nick has held positions as an elementary and middle school principal, teacher, and coach in public schools in Iowa. Nick blogs at 1to1schools.net, and he can be reached at nck0208@gmail.com.
ICARUS: FAILING AND FLYING
I guess I sort of look at my marriage as Jack Gilbert looks at Icarus flying in this poem. I got married, and after 33 years, was divorced, and they said: “He failed.” A beautiful and wonderful woman to relish each day for thirty three exciting years, two magnificent children, a constellation of dynamic in-laws, four inspiring schools, one crazy hardware store in the Adirondacks–failed? I don’t think so. So 1997 was merely the end of a major triumph. And I’ve had more since.
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Failing and Flying
by Jack Gilbert
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It’s the same when love comes to an end, or the marriage fails and people say they knew it was a mistake, that everybody said it would never work. That she was old enough to know better. But anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Like being there by that summer ocean on the other side of the island while love was fading out of her, the stars burning so extravagantly those nights that anyone could tell you they would never last. Every morning she was asleep in my bed like a visitation, the gentleness in her like antelope standing in the dawn mist. Each afternoon I watched her coming back through the hot stony field after swimming, the sea light behind her and the huge sky on the other side of that. Listened to her while we ate lunch. How can they say the marriage failed? Like the people who came back from Provence (when it was Provence) and said it was pretty but the food was greasy. I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell, but just coming to the end of his triumph. |
MY OTHER LIFE
NEW YEARS DAYAND MORNINGS
As the New Year dawns, I find guidance in Mary Oliver’s poems about “mornings.” I trust that you will also appreciate the wisdom contained in these three poems.
This selection comes from The Writers’ Almanac 12/30/2012. I include the program’s prelude as well as the three poems.
Happy New Morning.
NEW ENGLAND SNOW AND THE NRA
NEWTOWN ISN’T THE FINAL ANSWER–THERE’S HOPE
Whenever I get depressed about mankind, as I have been in this week since the Newtown killings, I run across an article like this one which turns my attitude around and gives me hope. In the dire surroundings of an urban landfill, beauty can be made to emerge. Hope can be created from garbage. Love it. Will try to do the same thing as I recall the events of last week.
**Story on ‘Landfill Harmonic: An Orchestra Like No Other’:
http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=5313
TIME TO BE A GOOD SAMARITAN?
A great question: “What does it say about a culture when schedules take precedent over the life in front of your eyes, when the ticking of a clock discourages compassionate behavior?”
The following article engages this question and reminds me that in my desire not to be disorganized or “waste time,” I often over-schedule myself and focus too much on the self-centered and material goals of my life. Many of the goals are worth, even noble. However, by over-focusing on these goals, I tend to miss opportunities to be compassionate, helpful, thoughtful, loving, kind, supportive, etc. I may reach my scheduled goals and miss the life that is happening all around me.
Here is an article by Professor Levine at the University of California, Fresno, that deals with this issue. Given the Holiday Season that is upon us,and how this Season affects me, I think the article raises some interesting points and merits attention.
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Time is money in the West. Workers are paid by the hour, lawyers charge by the minute, and advertising is sold by the second ($117,000 per second at this year’s Super Bowl). Think about this: The civilized mind has reduced time, the most obscure and amorphous of all intangibles, to the most objective of all quantities—money. With time and things on the same value scale, I can tell you how many of my working hours equal the price of the computer I am typing on.
Can I really? As a social scientist, I’ve spent much of the last 25 years studying the “personalities” of places. Much of this work has focused on the attitudes toward time held by those who inhabit those places. My colleagues and I have found vast cultural differences in definitions of what constitutes early and late, waiting and rushing, the past, the present, and the future.
Perhaps the biggest clash is between cultures that operate on clock time and those that work on event time. Under clock time, the hour on the timepiece governs the beginning and ending of activities. Lunch begins at 12 and ends at 1. Punctuality is the governing principle. When event time predominates, schedules are spontaneous. Events begin and end when, by mutual consensus, participants “feel” the time is right. Many countries exhort event time as a philosophy of life. In Mexico, for example, there is a popular adage, “Give time to time” (“Darle tiempo al tiempo”). In Liberia it is said, “Even the time takes its time.” In Trinidad it is something of a cultural bedrock that “any time is Trinidad time.”
Our own research has compared the pace of life in different cities. In an early study we conducted field experiments in the largest or other major city in each of 31 countries. One experiment, for example, timed the average walking speed of randomly selected pedestrians over a distance of 60 feet. Another experiment sampled speed in the workplace—specifically, how long it took postal clerks to fulfill a standard request for stamps. All measurements were taken during main business hours in main downtown areas under similar conditions. More recently, my colleague Stephen Reysen and I replicated these experiments in 24 cities across the United States.
We’ve found large differences in these studies. The fastest big cities in the international study, for example, tended to come from Western Europe and prosperous Asian countries, while those from traditional event-time countries (such as Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia) tended to be slowest. The differences were often substantial. For example, on the walking-speed measure we found that pedestrians in Rio de Janeiro walked only two-thirds as fast as did pedestrians in Zurich, Switzerland. (For further details, see, for example, Levine, A Geography of Time [Basic Books]). We’ve found these differences are to at least some degree predictable by demographic, economic, and environmental characteristics of the places, and, more importantly, they have consequences for the well-being of individuals and their communities.
The consequences are mixed. On the positive side, people in faster places tend to say they are happier with their lives. We believe this reflects the economic rewards that result from making every minute “productive”: Faster cities in our studies tended to have healthier economies, and we know from other studies that people who have difficulty meeting their minimal needs tend to be less happy. (A sidebar: Money does not, however, appear to affect happiness beyond poverty. There is little difference in happiness between moderately wealthy and very wealthy individuals.)
But a fast pace of life has its costs. In another series of experiments, conducted in many of the same cities, we compared the likelihood that a passerby would assist a stranger in need. In one experiment, for example, we observed the proportion of people who went out of their way to return an inadvertently dropped pen. In another, we observed the proportion who assisted a man with an injured leg trying to pick up a dropped magazine. Not surprisingly, there were strong differences between cities (see “The Kindness of Strangers”). Perhaps the most notable finding was a negative relationship between the pace of life and helping: People in faster places were less likely to take the time to assist a stranger in need.
The problem may not be speed per se so much as feeling rushed. In a now-classic experiment, John Darley and Daniel Batson gathered a group of Princeton University Seminary students for what they understood to be a study about religious education. The students were told they’d be giving a brief talk, either about the types of jobs seminary graduates are suited for or about the parable of the “good Samaritan.” They were then directed to walk to a recording studio across campus. Along the way, they passed a man slumped in a doorway who was coughing and groaning loudly. The students were divided into two groups. Half of them were told there was no need to rush in getting to the recording studio. Almost two-thirds of this group stopped to help the suffering man. The other half of the students were told they were late and needed to hurry to the studio. Among this group, only 10 percent helped. Ninety percent were apparently too busy to stop. “Indeed, on several occasions, a seminary student going to give his talk on the parable of the Good Samaritan literally stepped over the victim as he hurried on his way,” Darley and Batson recalled.
People may ignore strangers for a variety of reasons. They may be too busy to notice, or too busy to care. They may fear how the stranger will react. Or they might simply be uncaring jerks. To the stranger in need, however, reasons are beside the point. The only thing that matters is whether they get help.
When did it become acceptable in America to treat helping strangers as “wasted time”? Everyone in the world agrees—they should, anyway—that time is our most precious commodity. But peoples’ definitions of “wasted” are another great cultural divider. To a time-is-money clock-timer it refers to anything that distracts from the task at hand. To an event-timer, however, there is nothing more wasteful than carving one’s life into inflexible, inorganic units.
I’ll never forget a conversation I once had with an exchange student from Burkina Faso in Eastern Africa. I was complaining that I’d just wasted my morning yakking in a café instead of doing my work. He looked confused. “How can you waste time? If you’re not doing one thing, you’re doing something else. Even if you’re just talking to a friend or sitting around, that’s what you’re doing.” He said he was taught that what’s wasteful—sinful, to some—is to not make sufficient time available for the people in your life.
What does it say about a culture when schedules take precedent over the life in front of your eyes, when the ticking of a clock discourages compassionate behavior? There are plenty of experts in the United States you can pay to help plan your days more efficiently. Here’s another suggestion. Try beginning your day with a question people often ask in Brunei: “What is not going to happen today?” While you’re at it, don’t forget to give time to time.
Reprinted with permission. Dr. Robert Levine is a Professor of Psychology at California State University, Fresno. He is the author of the award-winning book “A Geography of Time”, and “The Power of Persuasion: How We’re Bought and Sold[H1] ”.