Failed ad: cat tails

Maybe I am a stickler, one that loves things to be correct too much, but ads, news, and writings that get things botanically or scientifically really wrong bothers me tremendously.  Such as this ad for allergy medication Singulair.  Someone came up with the great idea to base an ad on 'cattails or cat tails'.  Well, if only... cattails, the plant (Typha), was allergenic (it is not or only mildly so), or looked like a grass (it does not). The photo is of a grass (timothy probably, Phleum, also sometimes called 'cat's-tail', but that is not common knowledge) spreading its pollen.  Having a common cattail plant there wouldn't have been a great design, I guess... So now, readers of this ad think that 1) cattails are allergens, and 2) look like grass, because of this miseducation from Merck.  Sorry guys, this will be one of my prime examples of lack of botanical knowledge in the advertising community. Embarrassing. 'Pinsamt', as we say in Swedish.  Would anybody put a sheep in an ad and call it a pig?  Didn't think so. But that is what happened here, but with plants.

Oh, no, it is not just this ad, I just found some more with similar issues.  They are doing the same thing with thistles (not allergens), and willows ('catkins', true, but not allergens either...).  This is like when people think they are allergic to goldenrods because they happen to flower at the same time as the ragweeds.... 

My son's allergy doctor didn't like when I asked her exactly which weeds my son was allergic too, because all she could say was 'weeds', that is what was written on the test results.  Same with 'trees', another positive allergy test.  I tried to explain to her that insect-pollinated plants didn't have large amounts of wind-dispersed pollen, so not all weeds and trees are allergenic...  Why are we letting ourselves be dumbed down in the flow of information? Isn't it better to know the truth even if it is slightly more complicated? Or am I just a cranky scientist?

A wonderful time capsule find from 140 years ago

I was looking around today for some information on how weeds came to the US, and did some little googling and then I got stuck oogling the scanned copies of Hardwicke's Science-Gossip from the late 1800s (late 1872-1885 to be exact) on Google Books. Here you can find anything scientific, curious, and worth reporting, from the small to the large. Here is an excerpt on how some weeds showed up in the US, including butter-and-eggs/yellow toadflax (Linaria, called 'gulsporre' in Swedish). The culprit might have been a Mr. Ranstead in Pennsylvania.

Priests stuffing their pillows with thistles?  What do they think they are, martyrs?

And more:

(real old-fashioned plagiarism by Mr Pratt, aha!)

(And mining insects on ground ivy, or a fungus, or what?  Imagine all the amateur scientists exploring the world around them.  We need more like this today, there is so much unknown out there. 

(Mosquitos are brain-sucking monsters, in my favorite place of Gunnison, Colorado, USA, no less.)

"It will be an incalculable boon to every person who can read and think."  A bit hyperbolic, are we?  The ads are hilarious and wonderful and a true snapshot of the times. 

I apologize for the bad quality of the text images, but that is what I could get from the Google scans. You can explore more here.

Costa Rica nightlife

Catching bats at night, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

One of the most amazing experiences in Costa Rica this year was when we got to catch bats in the early (but dark) evening using mist nets, the same kind of nets you use to catch birds. Usually the bats would 'see' (hear) the nets and avoid them, but we set up the nets near a water hole where they get some needed drinks before they go out hunting. During about 1.5 hours after darkness had fallen at 6 PM we caught 9 bats from 6 different species. Some larger, some really tiny. Our project leader was bat expert extraordinaire, Don Wilson from the Smithsonian. There are photos of several of the species we caught on my Flickr website. Some were male (easy to see!) and one female was pregnant.

Part of the experience was also to get chewed up and bitten by many many chiggers, tiny little mite-like creatures that suck blood and give you big itching welts for days after wards. They are so small they crawl through sock and pant-fabric, unfortunately. I probably had 100 bites, but most are healed by now. We have chiggers in our yard in New Jersey as well. Not much to do about them.

Fear-inducing advice forcing people away from outside

• Keep windows and doors closed as much as possible to prevent pollen from blowing into your home and car.
• Avoid going outside between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m., when pollen counts are highest.
• Don't hang dry your clothing outside, as pollen can be transferred to your clothes and into your home that way.
• Shower and wash your hair before bed so you don't spend the night covered in allergens.
• Exercise indoors during the pollen season.
• Wear a paper mask while gardening to protect yourself from flower and weed pollens. 

This was sent to me in an e-mail today from a website specializing in healthy living.  The e-mail was about seasonal allergies and these were the only practical advice they gave.  Based on this, if you suffer from hayfever and asthma you should never go outside, just stay inside and don't get any fresh air, and definitely not in the mornings. No wonder there are kids who never go outside with this kind of fear-mongering.  It is like pollen are EVIL things.  If you are seriously allergic I understand the issue, but this was sent as a general information e-mail to anybody with even slight allergies.  "Wear a paper mask while gardening", don't save energy and don't help the world become more sustainable by avoid using the dryer in the summer for the laundry... and run the air conditioning all the time inside your house or car with the windows closed...  I e-mailed them and wondered why they gave such unhealthy, energy-gouging and unsustainable advice to everybody.  A Culture of Fear, indeed.... 

A linguistic note as well - pollen is pollen in plural, not pollens, and flowers can be weeds and vice versa, but I think that is too botanical for the unnatural e-mail writer from Sparkpeople.com. The information on their website is a bit more toned down, but still fear-inducing.  I can just see millions of moms keeping their kids inside for fear of pollen, possibly in an air environment that is even worse for other reasons.

Now just remember, there are evil things out there.... animals and flowers and fresh air and such.

It has been a slow time here on the edge of the mountain...

... since the last post, because both PP and I got sick in the horrible cold-flu that is whisping around in these neighborhoods.  We have been coughing, sniffling, and headaching, and used up more cold medicines this past week than we usually use in a whole year.  Bad stuffy noses and sinuses...

Since there wasn't much else to do than to let the viruses run their course in our bodies we have also watched some movies and finished some projects.  Clint Eastwood has graced our TV screen with his face several times (the Gauntlet, not one of this best) as has Robert de Niro (New York cop with a son in trouble in City by the Sea). Gosford Park is an English 1920s murder mystery where everybody could have done it, and it portrays the servants in a the giant mansion in an unusual and interesting detail.  Maybe a bit too slow and long, but that could have been because of the medicines too. A Perfect World with Kevin Costner was great, about a prisoner on the run who kidnaps a boy and their developing relationship, probably 1940s - not the usual good vs. bad people movie, and of course Clint Eastwood directed and acted in it too.

Still, my current favorite is Ken Burn's Civil War series, a documentary in 9 episodes made for PBS.  It is great, and captures the history and people involved in the Civil War in US.  All interview, still-life photos and he lets the story take its time, and it is the opposite to the snippet-rush-fast-special effects-stress movies and documentaries that are more common today.  For me that never really learned much about American history in school, this is like a wonderful education and charting new historical territory.

While watching movies I knit and knit, mostly scarves and hats, but also other things.  My favorite online knitting site is a mecca for free patterns and ideas - check out Ravelry.com (it is free to sign up). Right now I am working on a gray 1940s WWII Watch cap, not sure for whom, and is just about to start a lacy scarf for myself in a color called neptune.  There will also be new knitted cotton dishcloths that can be thrown in the washer every week, instead of linen ones that are thin and fall apart, or wettex that turn slimy and gross.  Here are some hats I have knitted recently.

How to find food at the supermarket

It is easy, just use this chart... (courtesy of Darya Dino at the Summer Tomato blog)

Things that are not needed in the world

cat mints!, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

At least I think so.

Roadtripping... part 2: Rhode Island

Driving across Bear Mountain Bridge in New York State, which crosses the Hudson River north of New York.  Great bridge, horrible driving directions from Google Map.  The trip from New Jersey to Rhode Island took me several hours longer than necessary. But the weather was gorgeous.

The old, historic Biltmore hotel has its Grand Ballroom on the 17th floor, and seems to be a relic of the gilded past. The views are grand, the plates have golden edges, and the AC was turned on too high so we froze. But it was fun! Especially when they auctioned off two 2 feet (60 cm) long penis-protectors made from gourds by natives from New Guinea, signed by the previous owner. The gourds were signed, I mean.












In Providence you can have your eyes checked on the street without any fees. Guess what street number this clinic has?




















On our way home from Rhode Island we decided to check out the ocean shore. That didn't really worked like we had planned. We were met by a giant thunderstorm with fierce rain at Point Judith lighthouse so we didn't even get out of the car. Half an hour later the sun shined again, but then we were on our way again. Rhode Island's coast is rocky, like most of Sweden's, and not the sandy, muddy mess we have along New Jersey. Rocks are better.

More photos from Rhode Island here.

They have great sweet potato fries in Connecticut.

Stamp of the Day: Garbage pickup

I have to admit that I never thought there would be stamps about garbage disposal ('sopor'), but there is.  And from Denmark of all places.  Relevance to this blog?  There is garbage pickup at our house tomorrow, and since LA is at Astronomy Science Camp this week it fell on me to get the garbage can to the road. I took the opportunity to wash about 8 waste baskets and garbage cans from the house with the garden hose, a step in the right direction of getting a cleaner house. I found these stamps while I was looking for stamps on the theme 'sweat', because we are having a horribly humid day here in New Jersey.  Did you know that we sweat calcium and magnesium, and even small amounts of lead? Hot and humid weather... not fun. I can feel the metal being excreted through the pores...

Trying something new, VB6

VB6, that it is. That we are trying out, PP and I. It is not a new kind of car engine, dish soap, or camera lens. We read an article by Mark Bittman, and got hooked. He is the food writer for The New York Times, and VB6 stands for... Vegan before 6 PM. Vegan was too much a stretch for us, so we are doing Vegetarian before 6 now. So you get to splurge on fish, poultry and meat at dinner, but cut it out for breakfast and lunch to cut down on calories and bad fats. It is certainly an easy way of eating more veggies and salads, and it doesn't get boring. We will see how long we can keep it up (and yes, I doubt I want to do this in Sweden, I am dying for herring and potatoes for lunch.) Doesn't this look appetizing?

Concrete legs- a bad thing

This is a Concrete Sculpture by Diane Cochran.
It illustrates the feeling I have today, my legs are heavy and "made of concrete". Every step is heavy and hurts. My condition is unexplained still, but is called FMS, Fibromyalgia Syndrom. The researchers don´t have the explanation of this disease yet.
I hope they will find the cure some day.

Strange combinations

The Catholic patron saint St. Fiacre is in charge of (hold on!): gardeners, French cab drivers, and people suffering from haemorrhoids and veneral diseases.

What a combination. I can understand the connection between medicinal plants in gardens and diseases, but what are the French taxi drivers doing in there? Like Magnus, Brasse, and Eva said in the Swedish childhood TV program: - En ska bort! (one has to go). [this is kind of an internal joke for people that grew up in the 70s in Sweden]

Interesting heritage: Swedenbitters

Here is something I never saw in Sweden:
SWEDENBITTERS, a bitter herbal of many herbs made in Canada, I think. You buy a bottle with dried herbs and prepare it like this:

Empty contents of package into a wide necked bottle containing 750ml vodka. Shake daily. After 8 days, strain through a clean cheese cloth of fine mesh. Shake the bottle before using.

So, a shot of herb-infused vodka that supposedly helps against colds, digestion problems, liver problems, infections... you name it. I found it interesting that out of the 14 herbs in the recipe, only 3 are wild in Sweden.

Better food in my kids' school!

Great news!
Acting Governor Richard J. Codey today announced that, by September 1, 2007, New Jersey school districts will be required to adopt a comprehensive statewide policy that will ban soda and junk foods, and teach better eating habits. (link)
Kids (AREA and LA), are you ready for no fries, no soda, no candy? I want you to report back next week what is different from last year. Is the school's lowfat pizza good? Let us know.
Some of the new rules:
The following may not be served, sold or given out free as promotion anywhere on school policy at any time before the end of the school day: Foods of minimal nutritional value, as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This includes a ban on soda. Items listing sugar in any form as the first ingredient. All forms of candy.
Finally some progress in the mainstream food culture in USA.

Eat this: Seal oil

I can't believe it! In Aftonbladet today there is an ad for Norwegian seal oil (Iglo Selolje). How would you feel about eating some Omega-3 fats from some clubbed greenland seals? That is what this is! I can easily eat some fish oils and plants, but no whales and seals...

photo: Jean-Pierre Sylvestre

More info in Swedish-Norwegian from the same site:
"I spekket på grönlandssälen finns det höga koncentrationer av Omega-3 fettsyror. Eskimåerna använder säljoljan för att bibehålla sunt hjärta, gott immunförsvar, kretslopp, mjuka leder och vacker hud. Det är dokumenterat att molekylerna i säloljan ar uppbyggda på ett annat sätt an i fiskoljan, och att människor kan ta upp säljoljan bättre än fiskoljan. Man tror att det beror på att säljen är ett däggdjur." Källa: Fiskeridirektoratet (Norge)
No mention that the eskimos primarily use the seal as food, because there isn't much else to eat in the Arctic. For those of you that can read Swedish, note the funny misspellings too!

Diet Coke Plus

I read in Newsweek magazine that the Coke company has created a new type of Diet Coke that "supposedly" contains 15% of someone's average amount of vitamins per day. What do you think? Good or bad?

Oh wait, I looked at their website and it said that it is only two kinds of vitamins!

(I think that Coke is trying to rule the world.)

This cat needs a diet Coke.