Can We Kill the Junk Mail Now...Please?

Junk mail has always been the bane of my existence.  Since moving to our new address in June, we now receive triple the amount of junk because of the previous occupants (one deceased, the other in an assisted living facility, the modern version of a permanent nursing home); all the lovely companies whose lists I worked so hard to get off of while at our previous address who somehow got wind (thank you, USPS) that we moved and  thought we’d maybe changed our minds about receiving all their stupid sales flyers; and our wonderful cable/phone/internet provider who immediately sold my name to a GAZILLION other companies.  Thanks to Time Warner Cable, I began receiving calls from telemarketers less than an hour after our service was set up.  I hadn’t had one of those calls since registering all our digits at the
National Do Not Call Registry years ago and forgot that we had to do it again. 

It only took a day or two to start receiving direct mail offers from both local and national businesses, services and big glossy advertisements (actually, the same one in triplicate at least thrice per week – I guess ‘three’ is the magic number, after all) from politicians (and don’t even get me started on the daily door-to-door harassment by those politicos – something I hadn’t dealt with since the last time I lived in a predominantly white neighborhood about a decade ago…coincidence?).

I fully expect the Fuller Brush Man , Encyclopedia Britannica and the
Javel Water guy to show up any day…which at least has kept my housekeeping skills pretty tip-top…just in case I’m in the mood to buy something I didn’t realize I even wanted or needed.  But I digress…

So, what to do with all this useless paper besides grumbling and recycling?  Well, after doing some research over these here internets I found a great website called Green America Today, which lists all the things we can do to free ourselves from those evil junk mail hooligans.  It seems simple enough, though the cynic in me has very little faith that these companies give a  Fig Newton (I used to really like those) about our trees, our environment, our preferences or our sanity.  But it’s worth a shot and probably burns more calories than grumbling.  Let’s hope it actually works.

Have a clutter-free weekend!

A Layperson’s Take on Climate Change

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Okay, I’ve had enough arguing about whether global warming is real or a hoax.  I’ve attempted to research facts vs. fiction in order to better debate the issue with friends who are staunchly at opposite ends of this.  “The Earth is heating up and we’re all gonna die in 2012!!!” cry some, while others claim, “Global warming is a myth, yet another get-rich-off-scaring-the-bejesus-out-of-everyone kinda scheme!”

Who is right?  Who is wrong?  What do the facts say? Well, that all depends on whose facts we’re reading.  You’d think the science would be clear on this.  But it isn’t.  Articles written for the layperson to understand the science behind climate change can be easily skewed in one direction or another depending on the author’s personal opinion.  We can’t really blame them, considering the sources of facts do not seem to agree with each other.

So, here’s my totally unscientific take on global warming:

It’s freaking hot here in the Northeast in the summer.  True, summertime should be hot, as opposed to cold.  But we seem to be averaging more days at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit than ever.  I know this because I have a thermometer hanging outside my garage that tells me so.  Although, I will concede this past summer was not quite as harsh as previous summers.  So, what the hell do I know?

Fish seem to be dying off in places where they used to thrive.  Have I seen this up close?  No.  But reports from fishing industry people along with video footage provided by investigative journalists are pretty convincing.  And, oh yeah – wild caught fish is pretty freaking expensive!  I’m guessing because they aren’t as plentiful as they once were?  Or is it just another part of the Great Wool over Your Eyes Conspiracy to make us all broke by urging us to eat lots and lots of fish and then raising the prices.  Again, what the hell do I know?

Icebergs….where’d they go?  I’m pretty sure we’ve all seen the photos of the shrinking icebergs by now….if only in the commercial where the poor polar bear is clinging to one tiny piece of ice while the narrator makes us feel bad because we’re not starving to death and it’s our fault the poor thing can’t find food anymore because we drive too many SUV’s around the planet.  Of course, they want us to give money to this cause in order to ‘help’.  I’m not sure how giving money will help the polar bear, but again what the hell do I know?

Katrina.  I don’t think I need to elaborate here.

So, I think we can all agree that the Earth is changing.  The climate is changing.  Weather is downright freaky and unpredictable – actually, it IS somewhat predictable thanks to all the weather satellites floating around the Earth’s atmosphere.  One thing is for sure, if my weather person tells me I should get the heck outta dodge, I’m going!  And, even if we don’t believe the sky is falling, what would be the harm in us all treading just a bit lighter on this planet?  Maybe not buy another gas-guzzler if, for no other reason than because gas is freaking expensive?  Why not recycle the stuff that we already know will not break down in a landfill in our lifetime?  Why not conserve our water usage if, for no other reason, water is freaking expensive now?  Why not at least attempt to buy food that was grown less than 100 miles from where we live if, for no other reason, it just tastes better and might even be cheaper?

Even if you don’t believe in global warming and climate change, why not make a few minor changes in your own life to lessen the impact – just in case the threat IS real?  Would it kill you to try?

Are We Being Tortured by Technology?

If you google the words “tortured by technology” you’ll find several websites devoted to “torture technology”, meaning actual devices one can purchase to enhance one’s repertoire of actual physical torture, such as stun guns and washcloths for waterboarding.  My search didn’t yield the kind of information I was looking for.  The kind of torture I’m talking about is something a lot less obvious and afflicts us while being disguised as information and entertainment. 

Remember when mail was just mail, not “snail mail”, and consisted mainly of correspondence and bills?  Now we are bombarded with advertisements, coupons, credit card offers, political boastings and “gifts” from non-profits looking for a handout.  Leave me alone with your constant begging for my money, my attention, my vote and my heart.  My mailbox and recycle bins are full and my shredder is tired!

Then came email.  Remember when only two people had your email address?  They were also the only other two people you knew who even had email.  Then came online shopping and that was good!  Convenient, easy and no paper catalogs to hold onto in case we wanted to order again – a most splendid invention!  But then it became too much.  We get tons of emails every single day from everyone and anyone.  We wind up on list upon list even when we only sign up for one. 

And now when you buy something online, there are suddenly more emails from various “partners” of the online store.  This is a friendly way of telling us “we’ve sold your email address and will do it over and over and over again”!  Of course, their claims of “we will never sell or rent your info…blah, blah, blah” would probably hold up in a court of law, all hung up on minute technicalities and intricate guidelines disguised as some semblance of protection under the law.  What law?  Who’s enforcing anyway?  Right – they’re partners, so that makes it okay.  But I’ve digressed too far…

You cannot download any page on the internet without your eyes being drawn in a million different directions at once toward a myriad of constantly blinking, spinning and dancing icons at all edges of the screen.  Some play obnoxious music.  Some talk at you.  Oh shut up! Please!!

Now television…. Do you remember when cable first came out?  The biggest draw of pay TV was no commercials.  Let me write that again: NO COMMERCIALS!!!  We have all now managed to work ourselves into the position of having to pay for what used to be free, save for the electricity used to power the television.  Now – no more antennas!  You now must pay for the privilege of watching ANYTHING!

As if that weren’t bad enough, our eyes and brains are now subjected to screen crawls at the bottoms and sometimes sides (sometimes simultaneously) of our TV screens along with the live reading of the “news” (yes, the quotes are intentional).  It’s just too frigging much!  Is it any wonder that half the world is suffering from some anxiety disorder or another?  We’ve not gone mad – we’re being tortured!

Is it even possible for anything to be simple anymore?  Perhaps our brains are being rendered demented and scattered by far too much stimulation at every turn.  Maybe it’s just me.  Perhaps I am still but a peasant at heart longing for simplicity in a modern land of complicated plenty.  Or maybe I just spend too much time looking at screens…