Category Archives: Soapbox

Emails, life events, and things in the news that catch my attention and annoy me enough to rant about or interest me enough to comment on yell and scream about. Usually things regarding religious and political groups that insist on regulating the lives and lifestyles others with stupid laws and random taxation.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Parenting the Children of Others

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I love when people get all upset about certain games/books/movies and act like society has just taken another step into depravity. I read books about serial killers. I have a collection of such books that take up almost a whole bookcase. I don’t know what draws me to the theme, but it’s what I read. As a matter a fact I read my first one at about age 13. My favorite serial killer books are ones that about killers from around the 1800′s long before the term “serial killer” was coined. They used to blame dime novels for youth committing despicable acts in the past. Yet I know of a ten year-old serial killer from that time (Jesse Pomeroy) that never read one (came up in court testimony). Yes, that’s right – child serial killers existed LONG before violent video games.

Violence in humans is not new. Violence is a part of human nature (don’t shake your head, it is, just look at our history). Some of us are more violent than others. Repress it, ignore it, or try to hide it – it ain’t going away. Reading books, watching movies, and playing violent video games – for some they are outlets for stress, entertainment, or a socially acceptable intake/outlet for our violent nature. I’d personally rather do any of the three than go to a public hanging or war. So untwist the puritan panties and just accept Grand Theft Auto IV has been released for public consumption.

Don’t try to tell me that I’m allowing my kid to see or know too much too soon for conservative sensibilities. I’ll raise mine and you raise yours. The neighbor or neighbor’s children playing a video game isn’t going to affect other lives anymore than gays being allowed to marry will affect heterosexual marriages. It’s not going to cause normal people to behave in antisocial ways. Nor does it make violent crimes seem acceptable. Even if books and movies are based on real life there is a huge difference between those and committing/experiencing real life violent crimes (Mostly the smells – If we had scratch and sniff TV I’d be right there with you. Some smells are just too foul). I don’t care how true to life Hollywood makes their movies or how much worse video games seem with their interactive format, the only people that try what they see in real life are ether not mature enough to view these things without supervision (hence ratings for the parental heads up) or they’re simply touched in the head and it wouldn’t have taken much for them to make the antisocial leap. Either way despite the frequency in which we hear about crimes on the news it’s not on the rise.

We were a much more violent society in the past than we are now the difference is that we have 24hr coverage of every little thing that happens, which makes it seem so much more prolific. Really if you want to assign some blame for the perpetuating of violent crime – I would blame the overcrowding of jails with petty drug offenses and releasing actual violent criminals back into society. Rapists and murderers should NEVER be released back into society, and yes, I’m one of those whack-jobs that thinks drugs should be legalized (not just marijuana).

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Earth Day and Household Cleaners

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In the spirit of Earth Day many newspapers gave earth friendly tips and wrote earth friendly articles on being friendly to the earth. The paper I read most often was no exception. If there’s a bandwagon all media covers the same crap, but because they’re all owned by corporations that are owned by corporations funded by ads of corporations they can’t won’t actually give anyone useful information. It’s like each day they give you a fresh new list of things to be concerned about and then say, “Do your own damned research”. I’m not asking that they bash on certain products – just hand us a freakin’ bone and let us know about the good products damn it!

The Everett Herald wrote an article in which the title questions the “greenness” of our household products. The title actually ends in a question mark, which is a very popular trend these days. I automatically flag it as a sign of poor journalism. Not that I’m any kind of journalist, but I read articles often and I know shit when I see it. Ending a title in a question mark is a cheap way of appearing to have a new critical view of the topic at hand. I can’t emphasize enough how cheap it is. It’s like seeking quality at Wal Mart.

In this article the writer does point out that,

Earlier this year, prominent environmental group the Sierra Club announced that, starting in April, it would lend its name and label to Clorox’s Green Works products line. The environmental group’s endorsement did not come without controversy. The Sierra Club will receive an undisclosed fee, which is based partly on product sales, for its endorsement.

What what what? Clorox isn’t environmentally friendly? – OHMYGOD you’re kidding! I thought it was like lemon juice. I always drink the stuff. Oh give me a break. Who really believed that Clorox Green Works was really “green” just cause it’s in the name?

Clorox, which says its green products work as well as its traditional cleaning goods, markets its new line as 99 percent natural.

Yeah, arsenic is natural too! I’m just sayin’.

Last November, TerraChoice, an environmental marketing group, released findings on “greenwashing” — the practice of misleading consumers about the environmental benefits of a product or service. The group reviewed 1,018 products and found all but one made false or misleading green claims.

Great, which ones are the friendliest? – Nobody says. Which one is the honest one? Give me the damn answer already! I went to the TerraChoice website and didn’t see these “released findings”. I went to their blog which conveniently starts last December not November, so no info there. The article in the Herald has a picture of four products, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day lavender scent surface scrub, Seventh Generation natural citrus scent kitchen cleaner, Country Save biodegradable all-purpose cleaner and Clorox Green Works natural toilet bowl cleaner. We can cross out the Clorox – is one of the other three the honest one? Are any of them?

TerraChoice works for EcoLogo, a government eco-labeling program based in Canada.

I went to the EcoLogo website and I’ve NEVER heard of the cleaning products they list, and I’m familiar with some relatively obscure cleaning products. Maybe they’re only available in Canada.

One of the more recent blog entries on the TerraChoice website mentions the launch of greenyour.com, which looks like a good site. It doesn’t just promote all sorts of products but also gives info on making your own household cleaners – just for example. Unfortunately, they don’t let you know which green product was the most honest and they list BioKleen as a good product. BioKleen uses GSE which makes my ass twitch.

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55 Flash non-Fiction Friday: Survival

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“You survived it didn’t you?” They say, “So it couldn’t be that bad.”
Maybe the bad times are dwelt on too much. However, unless we’re speaking of car accidents mere survival seems like such a low bar to set. Sure, there were good times. I do remember them, but the bad was much more far-reaching.

55 Flash Fiction Friday
Flash Fiction Friday is hosted by g-man.

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The not-a stuff

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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you’ll notice that we have a lot of stuff that I refer to as not-a-(descriptive term). For example our not-a-walker (more on the not-a-walker – and more on the not-a-walker), not-a-nanny (more on the not-a-nanny), and the not-a-Johnny-Jump-Up.

I think this all began years ago when I was chatting with my friend currently known as not-a-nanny and she mentioned her family was going to go have a picnic at their farm.  “Farm?  You have a farm?  Do you grow food or raise animals?”

“Neither.”

“Then it’s not-a-farm!”

I can’t remember if it was a counter or other table like surface she told me about the that her and her siblings sat on and their mother telling them that was not-a-seat.  It’s her fault I have a not-a-fireplace.  Actually there is a crack in the liner of our chimney which makes the fireplace unusable so I placed a cool antique cabinet in front that covers it all perfectly.

I guess I made the not-a-nanny a little sad when she read the first post with her not-a-nanny title.  She really is our nanny until Sophia gets her placement in the awesome large daycare facility.  I only call her the not-a-nanny because it’s not her true profession.

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Tax Tip

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Because Tuesday is April 15th AKA the day our taxes are due no later than midnight, I’m going to give you a tax tip: If you cashed out a mutual fund last year make sure to fill out the proper forms! Because Uncle Sam likes to pretend that he doesn’t know your mutual fund comes from your already taxed income. That greedy bastard will send you a letter making you think that you’re headed to Federal Pound Me in the Ass Prison.

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Train Wreck

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I returned to work on March 18th, which was a Tuesday. I chose to start on a Tuesday because I wanted to make sure I would have a short first week. I had planned on a quiet Monday that would replicate a day at work for me so that Sophia could spend time really getting to know her not-really-a-nanny, but it turned out to be a train wreck. No, really it literally was a train wreck. Kurt got up at his usual Monday morning time and hopped into the shower. He doesn’t really hop in the morning, but stay with me. While he was in the shower I heard a loud crash outside that sounded very much like the time years ago before we drew the line from “just dating” to annoying some (many) family members by living together in wonderful sin in his old apartment complex. One night some person either driving drunk or visually challenged at night, couldn’t avoid or could not see the giant green dumpster just in front of their car just before impact. On Monday March 17th that metal on metal impact was amplified from dumpster size to multiple train engine size and the car was now a semi carrying pizzas. Aside from the fact that I live close enough to hear the impact it was phenomenally cool, yes I’m morbid. Unfortunately, no one was hurt. I’m with Uncle George on this. I like multiple car accidents, massive hurricanes and serial killers.

Kurt said that he heard the train horn before impact and that it was longer than usual. Then he heard the impact, followed by sirens. I was half-asleep and only caught the impact. I was sure there had been an accident since the sound was clearly not the train just slowing down on the spur track while each successive car slows and pushes on its hitch. Seriously, it was that loud. And our house isn’t *really* that close to the tracks, but I had no idea that it could be so bad that the tracks bent into a pretzel. It was awesome. I woke up our not-a-nanny with, “do you want to take pictures of a real train wreck”. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think she normally wakes up so quickly. After Sophia’s morning nap, our not-a-nanny and I spent the day going back and forth on the roads the police would allow us on. I actually found a road off the Ford dealership that the police hadn’t determined to be dangerous yet where we got a great view of the three engines and the mangled track. I guess the whole thing really helped make up for the fact that I would be starting work again the next day. Although maybe it was a sign.

train wreck

train wreck road closed

From the local paper, The Everett Herald:

Train, truck collide in Marysville

By Jackson Holtz and Diana Hefley
Herald Writers

The collision happened about 5:45 a.m., said Marysville Fire District spokeswoman Stephanie Price. The truck driver and one train crew member were taken to an Everett hospital as a precaution.

The truck apparently was making a delivery to the Pacific Grinding Wheel Company headquarters, Marysville police Lt. Jeff Goldman said.

A spokeswoman at Pacific Grinding declined to comment Monday.

The engineer on the northbound train tried to avoid the collision, applying the emergency brake and blowing the train’s whistle, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway spokesman Gus Melonas said.

The train was traveling about 49 mph in the 60-mph zone, Melonas said. It was headed to Vancouver, B.C., from Pasco. Three cars were loaded with general freight and 69 other cars were empty, he said. It typically takes about a mile for a train that large to come to a stop.

The truck was stopped at a private crossing that’s marked with a cross-hatch and a stop sign but not equipped with signal lights or crossing arms. It would be up to the property owner to invest in any improvements, Melonas said.

Investigators on Monday were trying to determine why the truck was on tracks, Goldman said.

State Avenue between 136th Avenue and 116th Avenue was expected to be closed until early this morning as crews cleaned up the mess, Goldman said.

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Glassblowing Morning News

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glass blowing ovenThis morning the toga-wearing Tim Robinson (minus the toga) was in Bothell at a glassblowing studio that offers visitors the opportunity to blow glass with local glassblowers and an observation deck for viewing daily glassblowing. They showed a person putting a brick of glass into an oven via a hole and Timmy asks, “So what was that you called it?” The guy grins and says, “a glory hole”. Tim, without flinching turns to the camera and repeats, “a glory hole”. I don’t think he knows what that means. Either the King 5 morning news team is testing the profanity limits or the whole editing crew dropped the ball.

I’m not saying I think it should have been cut. I’m all about free speech, which is why I have a link to the ACLU on my side bar. I just can’t believe it was on the morning news considering 99.9 KISW had to take down some billboards that read, “Harder, Faster, Louder” and 100.7 KQBZ The Buzz had to bleep the word “bum“. I really don’t understand how and where the obscenity lines are drawn. Of the three I would think that “glory hole” would be axed out before the other two.

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Dignified news

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I was watching King5 News this morning. Tim Robinson, a “feature reporter” was announcing the arrival of a Roman art exhibit. He made this announcement on site dressed in a white sheet fashioned as a toga and saying, “Come down and see all this old stuff.” I’m not an art aficionado, but “old stuff”? Are you kidding me? I could be wrong, but I’m guessing that’s why don’t seem to get many of these art exhibits around here.

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Friend, Old and New

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When Kurt was a baby, his mom made him a blanket from scraps of yarn. From the stories I’ve heard along with the fact that he still has this “blanket” in our closet I’d say that he has an unnatural attachment to it. It was crochet with red and blue flowers and there had apparently been another color made with an angora yarn which baby Kurt didn’t like – He chewed all of the angora flowers off and spit them out.

Toddler Kurt named his blanket “friend” and used it as his superhero cape. One time when young Kurtie was sick he had “friend” balled up next to him and Kurt’s mom came by to cover him up with another blanket. Young Kurtie protested, “No, you’ll cover his eyes”. Kurt’s mom looked down to see “friend” arranged in such a way that two previously flowered gaping holes were staring back at her.

Young Kurtie was also upset every time his mother decided “friend” needed a washing. Kurt would stand at the washer the whole time and then watch “friend” tumble in the drier. Kurt would then complain that “friend” had lost its smell and proceed to rub “friend” all over himself to get the smell back.

This year for Christmas, I unwrapped all of the presents for Sophia. A couple of her presents were specifically from Kurt and I was not privy to their contents. The first present I opened on Sophia’s behalf from him was a green and white striped onesie with blue lettering that read, “I (green heart shape) Mommy”. All together now, “aaawwwww, how sweet!” The second present was his old “friend”, which would have been a very nice sentiment if “friend” wasn’t a stringy thirty-five year old brown semi crochet mass of musty fermented Kurt spit with a few red and blue flowers left on it. EEEWW!! Get this hepatitis and e-coli ridden thing away from my baby!

Kurt’s mom had no idea that he had wrapped his old “friend” for Sophia let alone that he still had the musty old ball of yarn in his possession. When Kurt’s mom saw me open the gift of “friend” for Sophia, she dug through the Sophia gift pile for a specific box. I opened it when Sophia’s turn came around again. Inside I found three pictures of young Kurtie with his “friend”. “Friend” was originally a WHITE crochet blanket with burgundy red, dark blue, baby blue, white, bright pink, baby pink, lemon yellow, and pistachio green flowers and a baby blue cloth backing. Under the pictures and wrapped in tissue paper was a new “friend”. We dubbed it “Friend 2007”. We’ll see what kind of memories this one creates. ;-)

Friend 2007

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Grapefruit Seed Extract

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In case you’re not part of the “dirty hippy vegan” club as Kurt calls it, GSE or Grapefruit Seed Extract is this wildly popular “natural” do it all medication/supplement, household cleaner, fruit and vegetable wash, and food and cosmetic preservative. Does that sound odd and maybe a little scary to anyone else?

I discovered GSE though researching parrot diet and nutrition. One thing that kept coming up in bird forums, books, and web sites was using GSE for sprouting to reduce risk of mold and for cleaning their cage because birds are very sensitive to the chemical products many use. I’ve noticed GSE all over the place since my initial search, and because of what I’ve found out about it, that makes me twitch. Some brands of GSE apparently are truly Grapefruit Seed Extract, and they do none of the above listed tasks any better than water. Other brands however, are not what they seem. I’m not saying that ingesting them will kill or maim. It might not even make people sick if used in the diluted amounts recommended by manufacturers as a vegetable wash, but if your goal is to reduce your exposure to chemicals, I’m afraid you may have been duped. Just to be on the safe side I would not add GSE to pet foods, take it as a pregnant woman nor feed it to an infant, but that’s just me.

From the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s site, 1999 tests that revealed preservatives:

Aspects of the antimicrobial efficacy of grapefruit seed extract and its relation to preservative substances contained.

Institute of Pharmacy, Ernst Moritz Arndt University, Greifswald, Germany.

The antimicrobial efficacy as well as the content of preservative agents of six commercially available grapefruit seed extracts were examined. Five of the six extracts showed a high growth inhibiting activity against the test germs Bacillus subtilis SBUG 14, Micrococcus flavus SBUG 16, Staphylococcus aureus SBUG 11, Serratia marcescens SBUG 9, Escherichia coli SBUG 17, Proteus mirabilis SBUG 47, and Candida maltosa SBUG 700. In all of the antimicrobial active grapefruit seed extracts, the preservative benzethonium chloride was detected by thin layer chromatography. Additionally, three extracts contained the preserving substances triclosan and methyl parabene. In only one of the grapefruit seed extracts tested no preservative agent was found. However, with this extract as well as with several self-made extracts from seed and juiceless pulp of grapefruits (Citrus paradisi) no antimicrobial activity could be detected (standard serial broth dilution assay, agar diffusion test). Thus, it is concluded that the potent as well as nearly universal antimicrobial activity being attributed to grapefruit seed extract is merely due to the synthetic preservative agents contained within. Natural products with antimicrobial activity do not appear to be present.

From the United States Department of Agriculture’s site (bold text is my emphasis):


Identification of Benzalkonium Chloride in Commercial Grapefruit Seed Extracts

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Date: August 12, 2005
Citation: Takeoka, G.R., Dao, L.T., Wong, R.Y., Harden, L.A. 2005. Identification of Benzalkonium Chloride in Commercial Grapefruit Seed Extracts. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 53:7630-7636.

“In this study we identified a new synthetic adulterant, benzalkonium chloride, in commercial GSE samples. This ingredient is a synthetic antimicrobial agent that is widely used in cleaning and disinfection agents. The presence of benzalkonium chloride in a commercial product designated for internal and external use by humans is troubling in light of its toxicity and allergenicity.”

From the Food and Drug Administration’s site (bold text is my emphasis):

Analysis and Evaluation of Preventive Control Measures for the Control and
Reduction/Elimination of Microbial Hazards on Fresh and Fresh-Cut Produce

Chapter VI

Microbiological Safety of Controlled and Modified Atmosphere Packaging of Fresh and Fresh-Cut Produce

“Antimicrobial compounds have also been used with traditional films such as low-density polyethylene (LDPE); for example, the fungicide Imazalil (IM) and the antimicrobial grapefruit seed extract (GFSE) have recently been used with bell peppers and lettuce, respectively (Miller and others 1984; Han 2000)…”

“…Lee and others (1998) investigated the ability of GFSE with LDPE films to inhibit growth of E. coli, Staphylocuccus aureus, molds, yeasts, and lactic acid bacteria, using the plate disk test. Films containing 1.0% GFSE in LDPE film inhibited E. coli and S. aureus as demonstrated by a clear zone; however, molds, yeasts and lactic acid bacteria were unaffected…”

“…Grapefruit seed extract is reported to be inhibitory to a number of human pathogens. There has been evidence, however, that any antibacterial activity of commercial preparations is due to the various preservative agents (triclosan, methyl parabene, benzethonium chloride) contained within the product. Researchers have found that products not containing any preservatives and several self-made preparations had no antimicrobial activity (Woedtke and others 1999). In the aforementioned study by Lee and others (1998), the composition of the GFSE incorporated in the film was not discussed or examined. It is obvious that if pure GFSE is to be used, its antimicrobial properties will have to be fully investigated. If the active antimicrobial ingredients in commercial GFSE preparations are preserving agents, they may be better targets for investigation.”

From the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s site, 2006 tests that again revealed preservatives:

Development and validation of an HPLC/UV/MS method for simultaneous determination of 18 preservatives in grapefruit seed extract.

Institute of Pharmacy, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. markus.ganzera@uibk.ac.at

Grapefruit seed extracts are used in cosmetics, food supplements, and pesticides because of their antimicrobial properties, but suspicions about the true nature of the active compounds arose when synthetic disinfectants such as benzethonium or benzalkonium chloride were found in commercial products. The HPLC method presented herein allows the quality assessment (qualitative and quantitative) of these products for the first time. On the basis of a standard mixture of 18 preservatives most relevant for food and grapefruit products, a method was developed allowing the baseline separation of all compounds within 40 min. Optimum results were obtained with a C-8 stationary phase and a solvent system comprising aqueous trifluoroacetic acid, acetonitrile, and 2-propanol. The assay was fully validated and shown to be sensitive (LOD < or= 12.1 ng on-column), accurate (recovery rates > or = 96.1%), repeatable (sigma(rel) < or = 3.5%), precise (intra-day variation < or = 4.5%, interday variation < or = 4.1%), and rugged. Without any modifications the method could be adopted for LC-MS experiments, where the compounds of interest were directly assignable in positive ESI mode. The quantitative results of several products for ecofarming confirmed previous studies, as seven out of nine specimens were adulterated with preservatives in varying composition. The samples either contained benzethonium chloride (2.5-176.9 mg/mL) or benzalkonium chloride (138.2-236.3 mg/mL), together with smaller amounts of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid esters, benzoic acid, and salicylic acid.

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