Oh Look, Something Involving Science Is in the News and Craig Is on a Soapbox. Everyone Act Surprised.

I've debated on posting something about all of the swine flu panic and have restrained myself because I don't want to try to sound like I'm putting myself out there as an expert (mostly because I'm not even remotely qualified to be one). In a turn of events that is surprising to absolutely no one, I can't keep my thoughts to myself and have to at least give you a little bit of commentary. 

I went to the store yesterday after work, and as I walked down an aisle I saw this.

That's where the hand sanitizer should be, but there are only a few bottles left. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are good and should be effective at eliminating influenza on your hands¹. So, I suppose it's understandable (though perhaps a bit sad) that people have reacted to stories of the potential spread of the flu by buying so much hand sanitizer that it's almost sold out. 

However, do you know what else does a good job of inactivating influenza? Soap. Yeah, just plain old hand soap. It doesn't have to be any special soap, just soap. With this in mind, it bothered me to see this right next to the almost completely empty sanitizer area.

Sanitizer is great for when you can't get to water, but the reality is that your best bet in avoiding illness is hand-washing. Seeing the Purell, Germ-X and every other brand of sanitizer sell out while hardly a dent was made in the stock of soap² seemed a sad, but perhaps fitting, metaphor for panic winning out over common sense.

¹It does work for influenza and for many bacteria, but there are still a lot of things from various bacteria to Norovirus that it doesn't do much for, so washing your hands is still more effective.

²I realize I may be oversimplifying the reasons behind the shelves being this way, but I'm trying to make a point.

I Talk About Food and TV a Lot, Don't I

It's no secret that I watch the Food Network. A lot. I've talked about it plenty on here already. However, there are some things that I don't really like (which, I'll try to point out without being too Anthony Bourdain about the whole thing¹).

When I watch shows on Food Network, I want to be entertained, but at the same time, I also want to learn something. That's why I love Good Eats. Alton Brown is entertaining, but at the core of it all he's a teacher. A recent episode of Good Eats was dedicated strictly to knives. He talked about choosing knives, maintaining knives, storing knives, and various ways in which the knife is to be used. Food was only used as a means to demonstrate the technique until the very end of the show where he took all those items he had been demonstrating on and turned it into a wonderful looking dish. Compare this style with things like Rachael Ray or Sandra Lee. You can watch any episode of the shows (the ones where they are cooking, not the other thousand RR shows) and you really aren't learning anything. Sure you can get a recipe, but you could have gotten that by going online. Maybe if you watch Sandra Lee enough you can learn to perfect your "tablescapes" by buying out an entire Hobby Lobby or how to decorate your Christmas tree with nothing but glasses for your favorite cocktails, but that's not what I want to see. Even look at Iron Chef America, which I have come to accept despite the fact that it isn't the original. Watch an episode of ICA and see if you don't learn something: a technique, how to chose the best ingredient, or even more about where your food comes from.

Recently, both Molto Mario and Emeril Live were cancelled. I was amazed by this for a couple of reasons. First, Emeril Live always seemed to be the flagship of the station, and I couldn't imagine the network without it. Sure, I had problems with the catchphrases and the audience's obsessive cheering for garlic and alcohol, but those are relatively minor. The other reason I was surprised that they would cancel either of these is that they worked. These were two talented guys with larger than life personalities³ talking to an audience (a few for Mario a lot for Emeril) who sat right there and watched them cook. They entertained and they taught. Molto Mario may have been more of a classic-style cooking show, but it was incredibly informative. Just a few minutes of that show provided tons of information about food and culture. It disappoints me to see that good shows are gone while we get Sandra Lee or one of the many reality shows they now have⁴.

This isn't going to stop me from continuing to watch the Food Network shows I like, but it does make feel that if things continue going this direction, there will be fewer and fewer of those shows.

¹ Not that I could be if I tried. In addition to not being talented, I don't have anywhere near enough vitriol.<sup>2

2</sup> Nor have I done nearly enough heroin.

³ see: Heat by Bill Buford.

⁴ The one reality show that gets a pass here is Dinner: Impossible, because the things Robert Irvine does under such time constraints is really remarkable. It's amazing to see the ideas come into his head on the fly.

Memorial Day Update

It's Memorial Day, which means it's time to have a day off (or in my case go in to work even though it's a holiday), have a cookout (or in our case, cook some brats on Jorge because there's no sense in heating up the entire grill for just that), and spend time with friends and family (which today meant playing a little Totally 80's Trivial Pursuit out on the porch while dogs chased squirrels and robins). I think there is something else about this day but I can never really remember what. (Ok, end of update on what we did today, beginning of soapbox)

Memorial Day is a day when we are supposed to remember those who have lost their lives in military service. It doesn't matter what the war is, it doesn't matter what you or I or anyone else thinks of any of the wars.^* The fact of the matter is that without the people who have been willing to give their lives over the years, the rest of us wouldn't be living the same lives we do now. That's the point of this holiday.

I've been fairly critical in past on this site of the magnetic ribbon movement, not because I have ever not believed in supporting the troops, but because (1) the profits were going almost exclusively to businesses rather than any sort of organization that would do anything to help and (2) it always felt lacking because it was nothing more than symbolic support (which is important, but only when coupled with tangible support). It does more for those of us here than those who need the support.

Remember that every soldier out there is the son, daughter, mother, father, husband, wife, brother or sister of somebody else. We ask many of these people to leave higher paying jobs when they are called up from the reserves. We ask them to leave their families for extended periods of time. We ask them to risk their lives, risk grave physical harm, risk emotional trauma the likes of which almost none of us can comprehend. We ask them to go places we would not go, and to face horrors we would not face, and when they return home, we ask them to please just go back to pretending that everything is the same it always was, because anything else would make us uncomfortable.

What am I asking? (and I'm talking to myself as much as anyone) I'm asking all of us to get up off our butts and do something. Go find a veteran and tell them thanks. Go find the family of someone who is serving overseas and find out if there is anything you can do for them. Find an organization where you can volunteer. Do a little research and find out where a donation is needed and would be used well (there are places with all sorts of information on the web that will tell you who uses donations for their cause and who uses them for salaries of the people running the organization). Don't just think about these people one or two days a year. They are still out there every day risking their lives, I think they deserve at least that much.

Sorry for the soapbox, but I've got to do it every once in a while about something, even if it is mixed in with the silly trivia that is the rest of this site.


^*In reference to the sacrifices that were/are being made and to the holiday. Of course it matters what we think, otherwise this is all in vain.