Mosaic Daisy

I love small cars! So I am not insulting the Mazda2 or the Ford Fiesta, they are cute! But I wonder, are they just rebadged vehicles, or are they different? I know Ford/Mazda have a couple of twins.

What bugs me about cloned/rebadged vehicles is… Why do they need to compete against their ownselves? Make a car, make it right.. not remake it several times with different names.

When I saw the Mazda 2 I had deja vu, I then went to double-check the Ford Fiesta. Remarkably similar, though at least not identical… now there are a lot of these little guys out there, it just might become hard to find your car in a parking lot soon? Kind of how sedans had become to tragically “white-bread”.  For another freakishly similar vehicle,  take a look at the Honda fit..

So how do they differ? not by terribly much…. Read the rest of this entry »

A flash back to Bewitched, besides loving Bewitched, one of the things I enjoy is observing the technology of the 1960s… the oven specifically draws my attention. It is a Frigidaire Flair. What a neat design, eye level ovens and a pull out cook-top. Why did it have such a short-term popularity? How did design take a step back and stick to the common freestanding ranges we have today? Yes you can get a separate cooktop, wall ovens, or a slide-in range… but the Flair is so dramatically different, yet went poof after the 1960s.

On Kitchen & Residential Design, they include several pictures from the Bewitched set.. and a question that I think says so much (as they are talking about the declining life span of appliances)…

So which do you think came first? Short-lived appliances or people unwilling to maintain the appliances they already have?

Kansas Historical Society talks about the Frigidaire Flair. They note the Flair was created to use space efficiently. That makes this a design that SHOULD make a come-back, right?

The Mershons donated their stove to the Society in the spring of 2008. It is in the collections of the Society’s Kansas Museum of History.

DanLangon.com includes an image of the Old Frigidaire Flair oven from the early 1960s.

Owners manual & Tech Talk on the Flair on Obvious Diversion.

I just posed about the tramp affect dying out (finally). But there will always be lingering bad choices. Take Rutgers University choosing “Snooki” to speak at the school. Really?? And why did they choose her? Because the students chose it, yet the article states the students are outraged about this choice. There are Rutgers students who are ashamed by the choice. I like one student’s statement..

“My tuition dollars wasted on Snooki. Rutgers probably could have paid her with a case of beer,” another student wrote.

The school defends that choice as being an ”entertainment” choice. I can not help but think of the South Park episode where the kids had to vote on a new school mascot. The kids made it a Turd Sandwich & Giant Douche, do you get the feeling that was the choice the students of Rutgers had?

Her advice sure should make parents feel better (sarcasm):

Snooki offered advice to students in the session, telling them “study hard, but party harder.”

I have never watched the show she is on, but it is impossible to avoid hearing about this trash. I even caught a second or two of her being interviewed on some other show, and e-gad who would find her entertaining, not to mention be able to tolerate listening to her. It is a nerve shredding shrill shriek.

I wonder what future enrollment be like for Rutgers?

Ps.. I can not help but wonder if this girl thinks it is still the 80s? Let’s see braided head band, check… over sized gold earrings, check.. flash-dance shirt, check… farrah hair, check .. over done eye-make up with what appears to be bluish eyeshadow, check.

It is about time. Though it would be impossible to imagine celebrities getting more slutty (vs Hilton, Spears, Lohan and many others). Finally the tables are turning…

Bad Girls Are So 2008: Gone are the days of panty-less club hopping from the likes of Tara Reid, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. Today’s starlets are hard-working and wholesome, and it is paying off with movie roles and endorsement deals. 

Who has to spot light turned to?

“Twilight” is the most lucrative teen franchise today and the starlets from the series, Kristen Stewart, Ashley Greene and Anna Kendrick are never photographed out at the clubs, drinking, or smoking, and their public relationships are totally PG. 

These women are aware of their impact on girls, they want to offer a positive role-model. YEAH!!!

AND.. magazines also are looking to promote the better behavior and  worth ethic. And YEAH!!!

Greene appears on alternate covers of the fashion magazine with two other up and coming good girls, Emma Stone and Freida Pinto, all chosen by the publication because of their work ethics and role model behavior. The three have a combined 14 movies coming out in the next year, and producers are clamoring to sign them. 

The positive image, it is a win-win for everyone. Those who employ actors/actresses benefit when the celebrity arrives on time and ready to work. People want to see these positive people, and not just because they are a train-wreck!

When things are going that well, companies look to these positive images for marketing/endorsements too.

It is about time, the direction things were heading was becoming horrifying. So the tramp is finally no longer “fashionable”. There is hope yet!

I am not a fan of beauty salons. And there are certain things I refuse to do, like have my nails done. I found a great article that further talks about things everyone should be concerned & wary about, even if you are not receiving those procedures/treatments.  Check it out in full: Unsafe at the Salon? 

What do you think when you hear the word Formaldehyde?  My first thought comes to the preserving of worms or other animals used in middle-school dissections, or for embalming procedures. How about for hair straightening? So which is worse, “suffering” with curly locks or cancer?

We all have heard the problems with manicure & pedicures , re-using wax, not cleaning/sterilizing tools, and other cross-contamination issues. I would prefer not to pay to receive a fungus, but another concern is the uv-drying lights resulting in skin cancer. So if you are not concerned about fungus and cross contamination, you may want to avoid skin-cancer by requesting a fan-dryer instead.Sure this is not wide-spread, but everything starts somewhere. Think about how popular manicure and pedicures have become over the years, it is only a matter of time before the cases increase.

Peels which have increased in popularity in spas instead of with a dermatologist, the risks are surfacing there too.. 

 has seen patients come in with white doughnut shapes around their mouths after getting peels from inexperienced salon technicians who left the solution on for too long, permanently damaging the pigment there. “There’s nothing in the world that will put the color back in your skin after that,” Dr. Terezakis says.

A great tip/advice:

Before you try any new treatment—even if it’s just new to you—”look for any clinical studies on the active ingredients,” Dr. Jacob says.

Not comfortable combing through scientific research? Skin Deep (cosmeticsdatabase.com) has compiled thousands of reports on ingredient safety, and the FDA (fda.gov) issues readable consumer warnings on ingredients.

Don’t forget your doctor, they are another person to ask.. yet these are cosmetic choices, but they do come with health risks, some are extremely serious risks. So just because it is cosmetic does not mean the risks should be glossed over or ignored. If there is not enough info out there on the product or procedure, wait, don’t be the first experiment.

ALWAYS check out the salon or spa too.. check reviews, ask friends, check the Better Business Bureau for complaints.

They also discuss “Medi-Spas”, which like many things can vary from area to area, state to state. Refer to the article for their take on “medi-spas“.