SWCAMBORNE

I went to the Pet Expo with Lillian last weekend to see the pond equipment.  I have decided that I have to many large fish for the size and type of filtration system I have.  It is time to find new homes for some of these guys.  I don’t want to add more filtration.

This Fish is Available for Adoption

What are food supplements?  They are foods that make vague health claims.  They exist in a no-mans land between the regulations of  the USDA and the FDA.  (look up the acronyms yourself)  Consumer Reports says that food supplements aren’t regulated enough and cites some cases of people being hurt by taking them.  I say if people want to take Ginko Baloba or Glucosomine or Condritin let them.

Why should the Nanny State be trying to save people from acting irresponsibly.  The obligation of the government should be to make sure that the products are correctly labeled.  That they list their ingredients and perhaps that they say that they are not subject to the FDA or the USDA regulations.  Then let the buyer beware.

If food supplement manufacturers want to create a UL Labs like organization they can but the government doesn’t need to be involved.  Leave us alone.

On another related issue I seems that Consumer Union (the publishers of Consumer Reports) has never seen anything that in their opinion didn’t need more government control.  In many ways they are an enabler of the Nanny State.

Regular readers of swcamborne.com might be wondering why there has been no pond news since January.  The reason is that lots of bad things have been happening to the pond and I’ve been embarrassed to report.  For instance

• I replanted the Lilies and the fish dug them up and dumped the dirt out of the pots
• I tried to clean the gravel in the stream and hurt my back.
• The UV filter stopped working and I had to buy a new one.
• The fish kept eating the water hyacinths so I put an ugly plastic fence around them.
• Howard and I put some new large pots in the pond that immediately started to fester with swampy water and insect larvae.
• One of the large koi has a huge wart like growth on his/her head

Here is a picture:

But I’m working on all of the issues and I noticed that I had the same algae bloom issue last August.   So this may be a condition to manage not a problem to solve.

Stay Tuned

You can make more friends in two months by becoming more interested in other people than you can make in two years by trying to get people interested in you.

Dale Carnegie

American Lecturer and Writer

(1888 – 1955)

Author of How to Win Friends and Influence People

One of the most important books I ever read

While driving it is legal to eat, talk to passengers even put on make up or comb your hair.  But it is against the law to talk on your cell phone.  Why?  It seems that the Nanny State wants to micromanage what you do while you are driving your car.  This kind of behavior by legislatures will turn us all into libertarians.  I can’t  decide whether I’m from the “leave me alone wing” of the Republican party or the “leave me alone wing” of the Democrat party.

Gratuitous picture of Lillian’s new car.

Here is a very good idea for someone who wants to start a service business and is willing to travel.  Start a half day seminar program that teaches people who work as servers how to get more tips.  Proposed name:

Get More Tips Tomorrow Guaranteed

It will be a three or four hour class and will be live and interactive.  The target market will be people in tip producing jobs.  Wait staff, bell men and valets for instance.   The price would have to be in the $60 to $80 range.  But lots of people would take the class and the results could be very good.  it turns out that there has been lots of research about tipping but the results are not getting filtered down to the people who can use it.  The service providers.  This class will give them practical information about how to get more tips.

The idea for the class came to me at dinner the other night.  Nurit, Lillian and I were discussing an excellent  paper Lillian wrote for her Hospitality Management Degree about the effect of gender on tipping.  It is a really interesting topic that is hard to study and quantify.  Tipping seems to be mostly cultural and has very little effect on service.  Did you know that if the server touches you in the correct way you are likely to give them a larger tip?  What do you think happens if the server discusses the prices on the menu with you?

Epicurean Toothpaste is for people who want to taste food and drink.  They love food and don’t want it all to taste “minty fresh.”  Epicurean Toothpaste will have the same tooth cleaning qualities as Crest and Colgate but will not have the cloying mint or even worse wintergreen taste.  So when you sip that $70 Bordeaux you’ll actually be able to taste it.

Toms of Maine Toothpaste may have these characteristics but it has not been marketed to this perceived need.

I wrote the following right after I heard that  a judge had ruled California’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.  I hesitated to post it because…I’m not even sure why.

“I want gays to be able to live together under the same rules as heterosexuals.  Same sex marriage should legal.  Families deserve respect.

But I don’t think that the way to win this battle is through the courts.  Here in California we were about to win at the ballot box.  We were only three percent away.  That is just a few hundred thousand people.  Lets not end up with a tainted victory like abortion.  Which is legal because the courts said it is legal and lot of people are still mad about it.

We need a clean win for gay marriage at the ballot box not in the Court”

Check out the Changing Boundaries web site that Nancy H. built for me.

The site has a slide show, a very cool hovering magnifying glass and a movie.  All put together to persuade a few people that this is a really worthwhile exhibit.  I think this one will work.  The exhibit is put together with the theory that if you want to pet a dog first let it sniff your hand.  If you want to convince people that immigration is okay first show them some perspective.  We shall see.  Poco a Poco.

Please forward this link around:  http://www.changingboundaries.com/   and help me find some good venues for the exhibit.  Thanks

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.

H L Mencken

Thanks to Paul D for this one