Friday, December 24, 2010

Guns and Knives


Okay, the no weapons policies of schools and such are a good idea, but it can be taken a bit too far.  We have not been given plastic knives in the cafeteria since elementary school.  How are you going to hurt someone with a plastic butter knife?  You can barely hurt someone with a regular butter knife, and only if they let you saw at them for a while.  You run up to try to stab someone: “Die!” *snap* “Dang it!”
Some schools have even outlawed a gun-shaped hand motion.  You know, where you clasp your hands together, pointer fingers out and thumb up? Yeah, that.  What are you going to do, load your fingers?
I have heard tell of a girl who had to walk or get a ride to softball practice a couple miles away because the bus driver wouldn’t let her take her bat on the bus.  I guess that’s halfway reasonable, but what about suspending a Boy Scout for bringing his trusty Spork to school? Or a man in college who kept his grandfather's penknife in his car?  How did the school authorities find out about that one?
I will kill you with my plastic knife and gun hands!  “Bang!” *snap* “Darn it!”

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Corn Sugar

Word is out that manufacturers are changing the name High Fructose Corn Syrup to simply Corn Sugar.  I read this in a kids’ newspaper called News for You.  The people lobbying to change the name say that “’Whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can’t tell the difference.’”  And the article itself says that there’s “little scientific proof” for the statement that HFCS is more harmful than regular sugar.  I beg to differ!  There’s plenty of proof.  I’ve heard it.  Sure, there’s no evidence that a teaspoon of HFCS is worse than a teaspoon of table sugar (sucrose), but HFCS is everywhere.  It can only be metabolized by one organ, the liver.  Sucrose can be metabolized by any organ.  A teaspoon can be metabolized.  But it takes less to overload the liver than all the organs of the body combined.  And when something can’t be metabolized, it turns into fat.  Which is unhealthy.
            Back on the topic of renaming it – HFCS and corn sugar are the same thing.  Renaming it doesn’t make it any better.  The companies just do this so that they can keep using it.  Like when prunes were changed to dried plums.  That’s what prunes are.  It doesn’t change anything except reaction.  Corporations don’t care about people’s health unless their consumers care about people’s health. 
Here’s a thought.  If it’s in a newspaper that corn sugar is the same as HFCS, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of consumers not knowing?