By Gene Ayres,
Your Consumer Curmudgeon

Let's face it. Nobody wants a body stinkin' up the place. My pre-pubescent daughter still thinks she'll smell like a flower forever just by being cute. No need for, say, showers, or clean socks. This will change, and soon. Meanwhile, we grownups who know better fall all over ourselves stocking up on deodorants, antiperspirants, foot powders, body powders, body washes, scented this, and perfumed that, all in an effort to defeat the forces of nature that my daughter hasn't yet wised up to.

Of course, all we really need is a little soap now and then, with the fewer other ingredients (such as scents and deodorants) the better, both cost-wise and health-wise.

Read the rest of this entry

By Gene Ayres,
Your Consumer Curmudgeon

As we listen to politicians and pundits knock ideas around (usually with a sledgehammer) about how to save money and cut costs—so long as rich people don't have to pay, earmarks are protected, the military industrial complex continues with profits as usual and nobody is inconvenienced—here are a few suggestions, courtesy of people who are actually working to find solutions to our increasingly daunting problems.

First off, energy consumption. God forbid anyone should have to surrender their Escalade in favor of a disgusting hybrid, let alone give up their giant off roading truck with fat tires, just because somebody thinks they should save energy. Screw that. We may as well try to figure out how many politicians it takes to screw in a light bulb (answers welcome). But speaking of screwing in light bulbs, did you know that up to 5% of energy consumption in many countries, and even more in most American cities is being expended on street lighting? It's those big mercury vapor lights that are sucking up electricity like an SUV sucks up, oh never mind. But the solution couldn't be more simple, and it's what many, if not most of us are already doing at home: using low energy (LED) light bulbs. This would reduce energy costs necessary for lighting by 60% or more, according to the EU. These lights last up to ten years and use a fraction of the energy: usually 50-60 watts for a streetlight. As a case in point, one small city alone, Ann Arbor, Michigan, has saved $100,000 per year just by switching to LED street lamps.

Read the rest of this entry

Valentine Daze

By Gene Ayres,
Your Consumer Curmudgeon

In case you somehow didn't notice, the next commercial holiday, better yet official Hallmark Holiday (there is actually an official list of Hallmark Holidays), is upon us. This means lots of new business opportunities for your local Rite Aid, Walmart, Albertsons, Dollar Tree, and of course Macy's, Nordstrom's, etc., in case they didn't manage to empty your bank accounts last official holiday, i.e. Christmas/Hanukah, Kwanza, New Year’s (let's see, that would be what, about a month ago?).

Nicely timed at approximately four months from that October sugar fest, Halloween, you can now go all out once more to shower your loved one with future cavities, obesity, diabetes, and yet more $3 meaningless cards. And for your convenience, those once-coveted Cadbury chocolates will now be brought to you by the people who make fake cheese.

Read the rest of this entry

By Gene Ayres,
Your Consumer Curmudgeon

We've all read and I have previously written some of the horror stories about what's happening to the rain forests being converted to beef ranches in our zeal to get yet more and bigger Big Macs packed onto our ever expanding waistlines and corporate bottom lines.

I've also written about a dozen good reasons not to drink soda, not that switching to bottled water is any any better (I've written about that as well). But here are about a billion more reasons not to drink soda—at least not at your favorite fast food emporium, especially if you can't resist all those unlimited refills and supersized cups they give you.

A recent study by scientists at Hollins University and published by the International Journal of Food Microbiology now reveals that 48% of the beverages dispensed contained fecal bacteria, including Coliform and E. coli (11%).

Read the rest of this entry