FreeLook BookStore

Home

Our Picks

Classics Club

E•Zine

About Us

Extremely Trivial Archives

What else is Trivial!

A letter to our editors
       One of our readers wrote us about a piece of Trivial News — theone in which we noted that, as silver is a heavy metal, it's not a good idea to ingest it in quantity, and that companiespeddling "Magical Cures" in the form of condiments containing silver salts were doing their customers no favors. Our reader, who is with a company called FacetsGlass, responded:
       "As one of only a couple of companies who supply the blue glass inserts to condiments I was suprised that you think no one uses silver tableware these days. You would be amazed at how many do... and even more amused by the people who throw away the inserts with the salt and mustard, although that keeps us in business. The reason that condiments had liners or were gilded inside, was to stop the decay of the salt or mustard on the silver and to stop the contents tastingsilvery. I don't know if this would actually harm someone but better to be safe than sorry and to buy an insert just in case."
       What? Of coursewe use silver tableware! But then, re-reading the story, we thoughtmaybe it was a little ambiguous so we altered it somewhat to clarify the meaning and published a revised version. We try never to make a mistake, but we're human, too. And if you ever catch one, please let us know.
       Then we climbed into the Glass-insert-maker's website, and was itever interesting! What a fascinating way to earn a living. We alwayswondered how they got those colored glass bottles inside those prettyfiligreed silver covers. If you're curious too, take a look at theirsite, which is at http://www.facetsglass.co.uk and find out! (But be sureto bookmark US before you go, so you can read more of our thrilling Trivial News!)
        You'recurious and want to re-read that story? No prob. Here it is:

Dodge that Silver Bullet!
       Although folklore suggests that silver is harmful only to werewolves and vampires, in truth, it is a heavy metal similar to mercury and lead, and although products containing it are safe to use — silver tableware, dishes, jewelry, etc. — the metal is probably not very safe to consume in quantity.
        Okay, but why the fuss — does anyone really mistake the silverware for snack food?
        Maybe not, but according to Cutis magazine, some recently developed dietary products include small amounts of silver and advertise it as a "magical" ingredient that will cure a variety of illnesses. Alas, however, the Cutis article warns that adding silver to your diet will only make your fingernails turn blue-black and make you sick! So reservethe silver entrees, folks, for Stephen King-type emergencies!

Grab these neat Census Facts

The Real Luxury
       What is the greatest luxury? Ask the truly weary person, and the answer is simply, Enough Sleep!According to the National Sleep Foundation of Washington, D.C., fewer than half of us get enough sleep during the week, and the chronic sleepiness of that weary 60% is severe enough to interfere with daily activities. Worse -- during the past year a scary 27% of drivers fell asleep at the wheel!But the sleep-tide is turning, says a recent Wall Street Journal article. Sleep is in and naps are becoming the ultimate perk of the truly successful. So skip the power lunch, Pal. Take a power snooze instead!

Weather satellite prediction: Hot and sunny every day.
       The weather on the sun, that is. Space physicists also predicted gusty winds over Sol's north pole this autumn, and the Ulysses spacecraft will be there to have a look at it and report back to the home base at JPL.
       This pass was planned to take advantage of solar maximum, the time when the Sun is more active. "During that period, the solar wind is patchier, gustier, because the sources of the wind are more irregular," said Dr. Edward Smith, the project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Ulysses, which is managed jointly by JPL and the European Space Agency.
       Why now? Why irregular? Because the Sun's internal magnet flips every 11 years. When that happens, there's a rise in solar activity, the magnetic field becomes disordered, and the surface of the Sun gets more active, shooting up fireworks of coronal mass ejections — bubbles of gas and energy.
       Up there, so why not here? Yes, our Earth's magnetic field does reverse itself once in a long time, but you needn't worry about that just yet. It takes place only once every 200,000 years.

Did you miss Nature's Fireworks Last Time? Always more to come!

Is your cash insured?
         When it comes to FDIC insurance, most bank depositswill be protected if the institution runs into trouble andis closed--either because each customer's deposits totalless than $100,000 or because they qualify for additionalinsurance coverage. But some customers with more than$100,000 at one bank may exceed the FDIC insurance limitand these funds would not be protected if their bankfailed.

Peppermint without the mint?
         Researchers have just created a "cooling"-tasting compound based on malt, rather than mint. After shuffling carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms around like playing cards, chemists at the German Research Center for Food Chemistry have come up with a substance that's 35 times more mouth-cooling than menthol (and with 250 times more skin-cooling power). They predict that before long you'll have cool chocolates, cool water, cool toothpaste, and maybe even cool lemonade, right out of a test-tube.
          Hmmm. Why don't I think that test-tube lemonade sounds cool?A Look at the Stats
         On January 6, 2001, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated, using year 2000 census figures, that the population of the U.S. was 283,419,862 persons. World population was estimated at 6,120,334,572 persons. Big changes take place all the time. More and more people in the world!

Counting the Computers
        "Since 1984, the U.S. has seen a better than five-fold increase in the proportion of households with computers," said Census Bureau analyst Eric Newburger consulting data collected in August 2000. And in year 2000, more than 80% of the households with computers had at least one member using the Internet at home. (Wow! that's 44 million households!) The first time the Census Bureau collected data on Internet use was in 1997, and at that time, fewer than half of the households with computers had someone who was able to go online.

Do You Just Love Your Job?
       A review of public attitudes toward work was prepared recently by the American Enterprise Institute. A survey of polling results over a span of 28 years suggests appears that Americans really do, well, like their jobs! Unlike a recent Dilbert cartoon that suggests that "there is nothing to life but the job, complaining about the job, and death," 80% of Americans consistently report that they are very satisfied or at least moderately satisfied with their work. And more than half (52%) said the most important thing about their work is that it gives them a sense of accomplishment. A mere 23% were in it solely for the money. (Of course, we don't know the size of the samples, how they were selected, or what occupations were represented ... or left out. But as far as it goes, this is a great thought.)

The Undiluted Truth
       Read the label, warns the FDA Consumer, a publication of the Food and Drug Administration. The magic words are “100% Pure” or “100% Juice” — that identifies the real thing, complete with all its nutrients. Anything labeled "Cocktail," "Drink," "Punch," or "Beverage”" is less than 100% juice. It usually contains sweeteners and at least some added water. The label will tell you how much real juice is included. “From Concentrate” means that water was removed during processing (often while the product was shipped or stored) and later replaced. The label must indicate whether it’s all juice, or just a fruit drink. “
       "Fresh Squeezed Juice"” is usually located in the produce or dairy section. It’s the juice of real fruit, all right, but it’s not pasteurized. Although some people really prefer unpasteurized products, the FDA has recommended that high-risk consumers such as children, elderly persons, and persons with weakened immune systems drink only pasteurized juices, as some cases of severe food poisoning have been traced to unprocessed, commercially prepared fresh juices and juice drinks. And in case you're wondering, 98% of all the fruit and vegetable juices sold in the U.S. are pasteurized.

More Star News — The Little Satellite that Just Wouldn't Lie Down!

At Last! An Answer to An Age-old question!
        A mathematical study conducted in Virginia in 1995 answers the question that has been bothering you all your life: Is it quicker to cruise the parking lot until somebody pulls out — or just park at the far end and hike it? Now we know: If you’re in a hurry, pick a row and pull into the closest space, even if it’s at the far end of the lot. That strategy gets you from the parking lot entrance to the store’s door in an average of 61.3 seconds. But if you hate to walk, keep cruising. It will cost you some 10 to 14 seconds more, but it saves you about a 57-foot hike.

"It's better to give than to lend. And it costs about the same." — Sir Phillip Gibbs

Okay — where is it?
        Year after year as homeowners mow their lawns, they daydream about a science-fiction future when robots will do the mowing while their owners watch from the shade. And three years ago, a prof at the University of Florida's Machine Intelligence Laboratory reported creating a working model of what was tentatively called The Lawn Nibbler. The robot was projected to cost between $600 and $1,000. It ran on a rechargeable battery and cut with the same kind of nylon cord as a Weed Eater. Its electric motor moved it at about 1 foot per second, and if the mower was run fairly frequently, constantly "nibbling" away at the grass, the battery needed recharging every four or five days. A radio wire buried around the property helped the robot recognize its boundaries, and a navigational system scanned the surrounding area so the Nibbler wouldn't run over the lawn furniture and your dog.
        Great! Thousands of teen-age boys have waited, eager and hopeful. Their dads are even willing to cough up the cash. But that was three years ago! Where is it!
        Get going, you Florida engineers — I want my lawn mowed NOW!
        Please note that this is not, repeat not, a disguised ad for this product. Just a plea for help from a desperate homeowner!

When stuff breaks down, should you discard or repair?
        By the time they're 5 years old, about 35% of all vacuum cleaners have either broken down or been repaired, reports Consumers Union. The same is true of over 30% of the side-by-side refrigerators and more than 20% of the top-freezer refrigerators. About the same percentage holds true for clothes washers and dishwashers. And by age 5, some 15% of all the clothes dryers and electric ranges have also had serious problems. So ... when an appliance stops working, what do you do? Fix it or throw it away?
       The definitive answer is . . . it depends. When an older major appliance breaks down, it may be a costly hassle to repair. (Solid-state assemblies — the innards of most major appliances today are solid-state — are relatively easy to make but hard to fix, so repairs cost a lot.) So find out what the repairs cost before authorizing them. CU's rule of thumb is that if the cost of fixing an older appliance equals or exceeds half the price of a replacement, and you can afford the replacement, don't bother with repairs. (Gosh! There goes the landfill, though!)

Sunglasses for your home
        A bunch of dazzling researchers at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the University of California have figured out how to produce windows that darken when a bright light (like summer sun) shines on them. Then when it gets shady, they clear up again. A transparent film of nickel hydroxide and titanium dioxide is spread on the window glass and — bingo! — windows that will draw their own shades! Great for homes with broad western exposures. The best part is that when the glass coating comes on the market, it should be relatively inexpensive.

What became of the Kaffe-klatsch?
        Although people are still ordering double lattes and capuccinos at classy cafes, those neighborly coffee sessions at the kitchen table are almost a thing of the past. The number of U.S. consumers ten years old and older who identify themselves as java hounds fell to a low of 47.2% early this year, and even they drink only about 3 cups a day, compared to 3.5 cups in 1995, says the National Coffee Association.Has this turned our kitchens into deserts then? Certainly not! They're still a great place for tea, soda pop, computers, homework, and gossip. (And seconds on dessert, of course!)

Lay off the hot stuff!
        Long hot season? It's easier than you think to reduce urban heat, says Hashem Akbari of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency program, Urban Heat Island Pilot Project, five metro areas — Baton Rouge, Chicago, Houston, Sacramento, and Salt Lake City — have been testing ways to turn down the summer heat in our cities and homes. And UHIPP has come up with two surprisingly easy remedies.
        The first solution is to make the surface areas of buildings, roads, and parking areas from light-colored, reflective materials. In general, every 1% increase in surface reflectivity yields a 1-degree decrease in temperature, so on a sunny day a black roof, for example, can easily be 90 degrees hotter than the ambient air, while a light-colored roof that reflects 80% of the sun's rays will only be about 25% warmer!
       The second solution is even easier — plant trees! The shade under a tree's canopy is 3 to 4 degrees cooler than the air above it. Water vapor released by the leaves also cools the air, and when the leaves cool down at night, the air inside the leaf canopy cools down too, so it can absorb heat from the air during the day. A tree with a 15-foot leaf canopy has a cooling effect of between 14,000 and 28,000 Btu per square meter per day — about the cooling power it takes to keep a 1500-square-foot dwelling comfortable for the same interval! So don't wait for Arbor Day, folks. Do it now!

Know thyself? If I knew myself, I'd run away!   -- Goethe

$1.4 billion for scary jump-starts
         Americans spent almost one and half billion on pills, drinks and powders to help power up their athletic performance, But watch those supplements, sports-fans! Consumers Union reports that supercharger sports drugs (at least the few that really work) may also cause premature puberty, early onset baldness, heart and kidney damage — and actually feminize guys instead of making them more macho. Major offenders: androstenedione, creatine, and the stimulant ephedra (also present in the herb ma huang). Stay cool, check the ingredients, and keep your hair on!

Our dangerous times: All centuries are dangerous. It is the business of the future to be dangerous. It must be admitted that there is a degree of instability which is inconsistent with civilization. But, on the whole, the great ages have been the unstable ages.     -- Alfred North Whitehead

At Last! A Kind Word for Old Ladies!
          Older is definitely better. And Old Gals make better leaders. At least so say researchers reporting on 28 years of data gathered tracking some 1,700 individuals in the Amboseli Elephant Research Project. (Didn't we mention that it was elephants we were discussing?) The report, determines that matriarchs over 55 years of age — and those represent the years of discretion in almost anybody's book — were better at distinguishing between friendly and unfriendly groups of other elephants. That's important to the safety of the family group, as "stranger" packs are more likely to initiate quarrels and harass young calves. The age of the herd's leader was best indicator of itsreproductive success, the study found.
          Unfortunately, older elephants are alsolarger elephants, and they have longer, more valuable tusks, and thus are singled out by hunters. Herds that are deprived of their leaders (who are hunted largely for their teeth! Yikes!) are more vulnerable to mishap. The research group, led by Karen McComb and Cynthia Moss of the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, hope that this datawill help dissuade African range managers from taking older female elephants
          Herd leaders recognize one another by sight and by "contact" call. Older matriarchs can recognize more than 100 distinct calls from other herds.

Green Labels
          A new USDA ruling recently established uniform standards fororganic foods. To be labeled "Organic," foods can no longer use sewer-sludge fertilizers (ugh!). Most synthetic fertilizers are also off limits, as are synthetic pesticides, genetic engineering, growth hormones, irradiation, and antibiotics. Labels must distingish betweenproducts that are "100% Organic," and which contain only organic ingredients, and those that are merely "Organic," and which must have at least 95% organic ingredients. Various other labeling indicates lower levels of organic ingredients. Farmers and other producers have until August 2002 to come into full compliance.

A few more statistics
         The 1999 median family income in the U.S. was $40,816. (The median is the midpoint, the point at which half the families made more, and half made less.) And in the first three months of 2000, U.S. homeownership reached 67.7%.

The sweet scent of someone special
         She tests the air, finds exactly what she wants, dives, lights, and — oops! That little she-mosquito latched onto a glass bead scented with skin chemicals of the one member of the mosquito repellent research-team whose skin scent was the most alluring to those little vampires. And the team is well on their way to creating a better mosquito repellent. Their research, reports Science News, was helped along by an incidental study that proved mosquitoes would strike certain human scents up to 77% of the time and others only about 23% of the time. And that proves mosquitoes really do bite me more than they bite you!

These are the good old days.
         According to Consumers Union, our cars develop fewer problemsthan they used to. In the 1980s, close to 20% of all three-year-old cars were developing problems with the fuel system, the electrical system, body integrity and rust. About 15% were having problems with air conditioning, suspension, brakes, paint, trim, or hardware. And over 10% had problems with the cooling system, the ignition, or exhaust. Twenty years later, current records for three-year-old cars show that all these numbers have dropped sharply. Electrical systems and brakes are still a problem, but less so than before, standing at about 10% now. And exhaust and rust problems have been virtually eliminated. How about that! Good news!

Oh yum!
          Bon Appetit recently ran a survey to learn its readers' faves. What do they like to cook? "Italian!" say 71%. They also they prefer Italian food (by 59%) when eating out. And 63% voted pizza as their favorite takeout! Asparagus was the top veggie.
           Predictably, the best-likedcookies were choc-chip, and the top dessert was cheesecake, but the most-chosen ice-cream was — surprise! — vanilla. Chocolate came in second with 38%, followed by butter-pecan and coffee flavors which tied for third place. How close do these preferences match your own choice?

How Much is a Dollar Worth These Days?
        The dollar's changing value is debatable, but the new "gold" dollar coin actually costs the Mint only about 12 cents to make.That makes it a better investment for the U.S. Treasury than a paper dollar, because individual coins last about 30 years. Dollars bills are much cheaper at 3.5 cents each, but they last only 18 months, on the average. So here's the math: there are 360 months in 30 years, and 20 sets of 18 in 360; one coin lasts 20 paper-dollar lifetimes. It costs the Mint 70 cents to make 20 paper dollars. So even though there is no real gold in them thar bills (merely 88.5% real copper, 6.0% real zinc, 3.5% real manganese and 2.0% real nickel) there's real money in every coin for Uncle Sam. (Source: Science News, Vol 157 4/1/00)

Home Sellers: Be Aware of Capital Gains
         According to syndicated columnist Robert Bruss, your $250,000 home sale tax exemption ($500,000 for married couples) applies not only to the profit on the sale of your latest residence, but also to any deferred "residence replacement rule" gains for pre-May 1997 principal residence sales. Run this by your CPA if you're selling your home.

From Our Denver, Colorado Correspondent:
         Attention fellow sybarites: I just came across this in a footnote to Naguib Mahfouz's Miramar. The court of Sultan Khumaraweyh ibn Ahmed ibn Tulun (864-905) "was renowned for its luxury — the Sultan took his siesta in a garden of gold and silver fruit trees, floating at the center of a pool of quicksilver on a leather air-mattress tethered by silver cords to silver mooring-posts, guarded by a blue-eyed lion." (Shades of Yeats's Sailing to Byzantium!) Some people just know how to live. (EM)

Each issue we feature new trivial news! Want to be a FreeLook Correspondent? All that it takes is an e-mail address. Contact our submissions editor  for information! It doesn't have to be important stuff — trivial is okay — but it always helps if it's fun — real news!