My Battle with Diabetes, One Year Later July 31, 2005

I can’t help but think back, however, to those couple of weeks in October. Because I came awfully close to death right then and there. And while I was in hospital, mom explained her dire warning; my aunt had died of a heart attack because of hypergycemic conditions only two years and two month earlier. At that time, for a brief period, mom tried to switch us to diet colas and reduce the sugar that my sister and I were eating. Perhaps then she knew that the same thing could happen to us, and she wanted to try and stave it off for as long as she could manage. But it was never fully explained to us why this was so important, so vital. We simply could not comprehend that a simple blood disorder based on how much sugar you took in by what you put in your mouth and digested into your blood stream could cause such a permanent change of lifestyle, or could potentially end your life.

Radio Killed The Radio Star July 26, 2005

he FCC needs to get involved in this and investigate the charges. I know some record industry apologists are trying to pass this along as no big deal, but I’m telling you, it is. You’re not only talking about possible violations of federal law; you are talking about violation of the public trust. When you have a radio station that purports to play “nothing but the hits”, and then the listeners find out that the hits being played are bought and paid for by the record companies who expect you to haul ass to Circuit City and buy a whole album for $20 a pop, how can the consumer/listener trust that what they are listening to is actually a “hit”? And more, why go to the store and buy the album at all, when the listener knows its all a setup, designed by their record company to bulk up album sales for one particular artist? It is, indeed, a major problem. The integrity of the entire music business is at stake.

Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That… July 25, 2005

“The Riddler” may wear a bad suit with question marks all over it, but at least he’s honest about what he’s doing. He does tend to overstate what he’s selling, but he’s not making any guarantees about anything. In all his ads, his message has been consistent: “If you buy my stupid book, you can find out info about how you can get money from the government to do…X, Y, and Z!” He’s not saying, “I guarantee you’ll get $350,000 from the government tomorrow if you get my book (free) and a couple CD-roms for $100 today! Products that you’ll get if you just give me your bank account and routing number! SO I AND MY COHORTS CAN ROB YOUR ACCOUNT BLIND WHILE YOU SLEEP! AND YOU’LL GET NOTHING IN RETURN!”

Oy, those ads. It’s like if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen all of them.