I have to admit, I’d not known about this magical date until recently.  A friend mentioned it over a beer, asking me what I thought and whether I would see the big box-office sensation, “2012″, coming soon to a theatre near me.  Hell, yeah, I’ll see that one–nothing like a good sci-fi, blow ‘em up, end of days kind of flick!   I couldn’t tell her what I thought about the concept, though, because I really knew nothing about it.  The next day, I took some time to ‘Google’ the date 12-21-12 to see what was up.  About two hours later, I finally came up for air.  Fascinating stuff.  I learned about the Mayan culture, the Hopi Indians, Edgar Cayce, polar shifts, the I-Ching, Nostradamus, Planet X and Nibiru.

Planet X, or Nibiru, is a planet newly discovered in our solar system in 1982.  This planet, headed towards the inner solar system, is said by NASA to potentially cause earthquakes, tidal waves, the melting and shifting of polar ice caps, sudden fluctuations in temperature and a polar shift.  Could this be the cause of our global warming and the significant melting of glaciers?  NASA acknowledges that they have been using the Hubble Telescope to keep an eye on Planet X, but information is being kept ‘top secret’ to prevent fear in the general public.  The Washington Post and The New York Times both published articles about the discovery of the planet–and then the supposed cover-up began.  Supporters of the 12/21/12 doomsday theory believe this planet, five times larger than Earth, could be responsible for our end. 

The Hopi Indians have nine signs that will bring about a great purification after a period of destruction and renewal.  The first eight signs have been ‘accounted for’ through various events in our history–the 9th remains.  It states, “you will hear of a dwelling place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash.  It will appear as a blue star.  Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease.”  Some believe this could be the reemergence of the Planet Nibiru, or Planet X as it causes the next ice age.

St. Malachy, a Catholic monk, said in 1100 AD while in a trance-state, that there would be 112 Popes before ‘Doomsday.’  Our current Pope is number 111.  Pope Benedict is relatively young and seems in good health, so if he suddenly passes on, and 112 is brought to power prior to 2012, well…… 

The Book of Revelations in the Bible is the most common ‘go-to’ for proof of the end of days.  The year is simply changed from decade to decade in order to reflect the latest popular date –1984, 2000, 2012 for example.  Now there is even a “Bible Code” that breaks up sections of the Bible into ‘clusters’ that provide prophetic secrets.  Regarding 2012, the ‘cluster’ reads, “2012 – comet – large – stone-like / stony – object – sped  Tongue-like – Sun – whole earth / earth annihilated – smitten / stricken – smitten.”  

Wow.  That is some compelling evidence.  The website www.december122012.com continues with hundreds of articles and videos backing up the notion of apocalypse–or a new world order. 

The author of the site says, “Although this date may not necessarily mark the end of the world, it is widely believed that it may indeed mark the end of the world “as we know it”. As you will discover throughout this website, the signs and indicators of dramatic and possibly devastating change seem to be all around us. Both ancient and modern day observers alike have foretold the possibilities of this date, and the coming events of our solar system seem to support their theories.” 

It is a nice idea that this time of divisiveness, war, mis-trust, natural disasters, and general unrest is not in vain–that is a necessary evil to lead us all to Nirvana.  I’d be willing to put up with the nonsense for another 1,100 days if I knew peace and love and joy were soon to replace war and hate and misery.  Wouldn’t you?

It was his wish to have a burial–he absolutely did not want to be cremated.  I understand that for many, this is a way to get closure, but the whole process seems archaic.  It is ghoulish to have a body evacuated of its fluids and flooded with preservative; be made-up to look ‘alive’ and then dressed in Sunday’s finest–sounds like something the docent in a natural history museum would explain to grimacing kids–along the lines of how an amputation was performed in the 1800′s. 

What’s even worse, is the concept of the open casket–such an indelible image.  The mourners gather at the funeral home (do they all order their carpet, couches and floor lamps from the same supplier?)  and parade past the body.  Larry hardly looked as I remember him.  He had a slight smile–somewhat of a comfort, but as you stand staring at him, it almost feels like at any moment he will open his eyes and ask, “What the hell are you looking at?”  Of course, that didn’t happen.  His eyes remained closed, his hands remained crossed.  It is the hands, I think, that are the most disturbing to look upon.  I probably shouldn’t have looked, but like the proverbial train wreck, I had to.  I was curious–I admit it. 

Prior to the service, the funeral director quietly came up and latched the lid with a most final ‘click.’  After wonderful words were  spoken, recalling bits and pieces of a life well-lived, the pallbearers carried Larry to the hearse, slightly straining under the weight of a coffin containing a man who was easily 6 foot 3.  We all somberly made the walk back to our vehicles for the ride to the final resting place.  Along the way, we recalled our favorite memories as we wiped away tears. 

Once at the serene and eerily quiet graveyard, the pallbearers once again rose to the task and placed the coffin a-top the open grave.  Final words were read, and, according to the family’s wishes, we all sat in complete silence as the grave diggers respectfully moved, almost as choreographed, to complete the interment.  The dirt was replaced, and we filed away as pieces of sod were laid.

What a day.

The process of cremation seems a more modern-day way to go.  It is cheaper, easier,  faster–and, dare I say, “Green.”  A memorial service can be held anywhere once the remains are placed in a convenient, easy to handle vessel.  How satisfying for the mourners to deliver their loved one to the wind at the beach, mountain, river, or even off a boat.  They are free again–not relegated to a cold, damp hole in the ground. 

It appears I am not alone in this thinking.  Back in 1975, only 6% of those who shed this mortal coil were cremated.  It is estimated in 2010, that number will be 40% or more than 1 million.  On average, there are 2.4 million deaths in the U.S. each year, so that means it is almost 50-50.  One reason for the increase is the Roman Catholic Church gave a reluctant thumbs-up to cremation in 1963.  It wasn’t until 1997, however, that ashes could be brought into the Church for a service!   The Jewish faith is still holding strong–they may never allow for cremation, so there will always be a market out there for the coffin-makers.

As the world continues to expand, one wonders if cremation will become mandatory when the graveyards fill and there’s nowhere else to go.  If you are still not sold on the cremation idea, here’s a thought:  For the same price of that coffin no one will ever see again, your ashes can be made into a genuine diamond!  I’m thinking I wouldn’t mind spending eternity as a sparkling precious gem worn proudly on a loved one’s hand and passed on for generations to come.  Now that’s cool.

In the end, though, regardless of what final choices are made, what matters is the memory we leave behind of how well we lived and loved.

Hardly a week goes by when we don’t hear another story of an NFL player in deep trouble.  Sometimes, rarely really, a player is a victim of a crime, like Steve McNair shot by his girlfriend.  Yet, if he had been at home with his wife and family where he belonged,  he’ d still be alive.  To me, it is staggering to find that last year, 58 players were arrested for crimes ranging from DWI to burglary to the horror of dog-fighting. 

Personally, it saddens me that 10 of those were Cincinnati Bengals.  Year after year, the Bengals lead the league with more than twice the average number of arrests.  Former Cincinnati Enquirer sports reporter Tim Sullivan said, “The Bengals have more depth at the criminal position.”  That is embarrassing.  Lucky for me, the Panthers have a better track record–well, putting aside Rae Caruth murdering his girlfriend. 

What’s a football fan to do?

Granted, the seats will be full at stadiums around the country this Sunday, but fans are taking notice of this pattern.  NBC Sports conducted a survey asking fans if they felt the NFL has an image problem because of all the rogue players.  The result?  90.3% answered yes. 

One participant commented, “You can’t have it both ways. We reward these men for violence on the field, then expect them to turn it off when they leave the club house.”  There is a certain truth to that, yet I don’t consider it an excuse for the consistent abhorrent behavior. 

Part of the problem stems from the fact that many players just don’t know any better.  They come from the roughest neighborhoods, some raised in violent homes and are suddenly awarded with tens of millions of dollars.  Is it really a disservice to give players so much so quickly?  Their already enlarged egos go ballistic.  They feel immortal, untouchable and their behavior becomes a reflection of those skewed beliefs. 

Boycotts and petitions are popping up all over the internet.  Citizens For a Sane NFL is a call for a boycott of games because of  Michael Vick’s reinstatement.  Others call for signatures on petitions because of outrageous ticket prices, and some ask Roger Goodell to take responsibility and culpability for his league.

The reason I continue to be a fan and support my teams, though, is that behind the bad seeds are a few good men.  Having been a part of the Panther’s franchise, my husband and I worked closely with team members and even stayed in their hotel on that amazing trip to Houston for Super Bowl XXXVIII.  While something absolutely needs to be done to curb the arrests, we can at least throw our support behind the ‘good guys’ on the field and feel better about our Sunday afternoon guilty pleasure.

A popular fashion magazine recently featured a cover with a side-view nude photo of an attractive, overweight model.  The cover, considered ‘ground-breaking’, drew a plethora of comments including, “Finally a picture of a normal person,”  “Thank you for including a photo of one of us.” Granted, most of the models in magazines appear in need of a few good meals,  but to consider this photo ’normal’ is indicitive of where our country is headed–straight to the plus-size department. 

It is fairly simple to connect the explosive growth of the fast-food industry to the ever-increasing waistlines.  While they’ve super-sized their fries, they also super-sized Americans.  The numbers speak for themselves;  in 1970, 6 billion dollars was spent on fast food in the United States, in 2006, 142 billion dollars. 

The commercials boggle the mind;  there is the Monster Burger (only 1,060 calories), pasta in a bread bowl with a free volcano cake for dessert, a chicken sandwich with two pieces of fried chicken used as the ‘bread’–with bacon and cheese in between, pizza with a ring of cheese at the crust.  It really should come as no suprise that 64% of Americans are now overweight and 30% of those are obese.

Many are concerned about the price of health care reform–I am concerned about the price of obesity.  It is estimated that this epidemic costs 147 billion dollars a year in health care related issues and is now killing 300,000 people a year.  A recent study found that American businesses lose  47.6 billion dollars annually due to the indirect costs of obesity–such as lost productivity and excess absenteeism among excessively overweight workers. 

Smoking and smoke-related deaths are on the decline due in large part to education, awareness and limits on advertising.  The message seems to be getting through.  What is the message on obesity?  Every fast food commercial hawks BIGGER portions for less money and the new items (except for a few salads) contain more calories than an adult needs in an entire day.  Should there be a ban on television advertising of fast food?  Should the fast food joints be taken to task for what they are delivering to the public?  Should there be warning labels on hamburger wrappers? 

People are busier now than ever before.  The days of mom presenting a home-cooked, healthy meal at 6:00pm are long gone.  Moms are racing from work to pick up the kids at soccer practice to take them to dance class and somewhere in the midst of the chaos have to grab something to eat.  The easiest option is to swing through a drive-thru or order a pizza.  The 21st century lifestyle is driven by quickness and ease– the seeming  price being a growing epidemic of overweight or obese children and adults. 

According to Professor Philipson of the Harris School, “It’s an issue of personal incentives. Food is cheaper, our jobs are more sedentary, and we don’t exercise because there’s a cost—in gym dues, in time away from our children, and in lower wages if we take one of those jobs that involve manual labor.”

Ultimately, it is our own responsibilty to stand in front of the mirror and take a critical look at ourselves and see the truth.  Overweight is not ‘normal’ and should not be sold as such.  Let’s start pushing ourselves to do more and pushing back from the table sooner.  

Contributor: John J. Souhrada

Oh, our innate voyeuristic nature was finally getting some (guilty) satisfaction  from this new concept called ”reality tv.” 

‘Survivor,’ one of the leaders of the ‘reality movement,’ seemed an interesting, if not scientific, study of our social interactions with each other in a stressful, competitive environment.  I admit–I was hooked.  It was fun getting to know the ‘player’s’ personalities, strengths, and, most important, their weaknesses.  There were the contestants you loved to hate, the underdog you had to pull for, and the painfully annoying ones you couldn’t wait to see voted out.  It was a somewhat satisfying, turn off your brain at the end of the day, entertainment. 

The first few times. 

I cannot believe ‘Survivor’  is STILL on and going strong–it has been done to death, but it must continue to pull the ratings because another season is just around the corner. 

From ‘Survivor’ sprang all sorts of new shows:  ‘American Idol’, ‘The Apprentice’, ‘Fear Factor’, ‘Dancing With the Stars’, ‘Amazing Race’.  Though I have passed on most of these (‘Amazing Race’ is kind of cool), I was still okay with the concept as a whole.  It was obvious that sitcoms were quickly headed the way of the rotary phone (which was fine by me, as the end of ‘Seinfeld’ was the death of sitcoms in my book) and reality drama was going to fill the void. 

Shortly the idea seemed to be, “if a little is good, then more is better.”  All of a sudden, the airwaves were saturated….’Project Runway’,  ‘Intervention’, ‘Groomer Has It’, ‘Top Chef’, ‘Flipping Out’, ‘Miami Ink’, ‘Deadliest Catch’, ‘Top Design’, ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’, New Jersey, Atlanta, on and on it goes.

Starting to become annoying, but still some good stuff–I enjoy pulling for my guy Sig, the Captain of the Northwestern, who helms one of the crab boats on ‘Deadliest Catch’, and ‘Top Chef’ is fabulous.  The whole  ’Housewives’ phenomena escapes me, but Bravo TV has obviously got a good thing going.

More and more ‘regular’ folks are looking for their 15 minutes, so more and more reality shows are giving them plenty of opportunity.  Now we begin sliding into a place that is sleazier, darker and oftentime, just gross.  This category includes such delights as: ‘Flavor of Love’, ‘Rock of Love’, ‘Sober House’, ‘My Bare Lady’ (you know, the one where porn stars learn serious theatre-yowza!)  T.O. has his own show now, as does MC Hammer, Hulk Hogan, Danny Bonaduce.  WHO is watching this?  Why do we care?   Are peoples’ lives so innane that they have to live vicariously through a washed up, has been, or never was?  What qualifies as ‘enterntainment’ is a sad comment on our society. 

There is a movie called “Idiocracy” that foreshadows where this all is headed.  I won’t give the story away, but it takes place in the future when the highest rated TV show is called ‘OW! My Balls’ which is a continuous loop of  gentlemen getting, well, I think it’s self-explanatory. 

This past week, producers of this orgy of reality shows got a bit of a wake-up call when a contestant currently on two VH-1 programs strangled his ex-wife and mutilated her to a point that she was identifiable only by the serial number in her breast implants. 

Wealthy, attractive Ryan Jenkins was vying to become a young lady’s suitor on a show called ‘Megan Wants a Millionaire.’  Imagine Megan’s surprise when she learned that a man she potentially wanted to date and possibly marry was capable of that.  A man that was supposedly vetted by the show and deemed safe and sane.  That’s a problem.  A scary problem, but maybe not that unexpected.  As that net has become wider and wider with every new show, it was inevitable that some unsavory characters would get in. 

Maybe this is a sign that it’s time for some responsibility and some sensibility.  Enough already–let’s take a step back and see if this downward spiral really is necessary for ratings.  Perhaps the writers and producers need to take the lead and stop with the pathetic spin-off of a spin-off reality shows.  At this current rate of the “dumbing down” of television, ‘OW! My Balls’ is closer than we think!

It seems that as of 2012, I am only going to find those nasty Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL’s) in my local grocery or hardware store, so I figure I better start thinking about making some space so I can stock up. 

My beef with the CFL begins with the simple fact that I hate the shape of them and the bright, unnatural light they produce.  I know they are making improvements so the quality of the light is more ‘incandescent-like,’ which is all well and good, but I still won’t like them.  It turns out I like them even less because someone is telling me that I will HAVE to use them and, as if I needed another reason to hate them, it turns out CFL’s have a smidge of mercury in them, too. 

Yes, I know that incandescent bulbs also have a bit of mercury; however, my bulbs do not have guidelines and warnings about breakage and disposal.

Here’s where it gets a little tricky.  On the epa.gov website, there is an entire page about the clean-up procedures that should be followed if a CFL is broken in your home.  It’s intense.  TWENTY separate bullet points detail how the air conditioning or heat needs to be turned off, windows and doors opened, the entire area evacuated for at least 15 minutes.  This is before you can carefully pick up pieces and place in a “glass jar with a metal lid!”  I kid you not.  Well, in fairness, if you don’t have a Mason jar handy, you can put the shards in a sealed plastic bag.  For remaining fragments, a piece of duct tape can be used for removal (and must be also discarded in the aforementioned jar or baggie.)  Vacuuming is discouraged, but if you must, the bag should be removed and, yes, placed in a sealed plastic bag.  God forbid you get this mess on your clothes or bedding—forget it—they just have to be tossed, no question.  The mercury could contaminate your wash machine and pollute sewage.  Intense, yes? 

Don’t even think about throwing these bad boys in the kitchen trash can when they burn out.  No sir. The CFL has to be taken to a local recycling center.  My worst fear when I break an incandescent bulb is that I will miss one of the small shards (that I sucked up with a Dustbuster) and get a piece stuck in my toe.  Ahhh, how we shall miss the good ol’ days.

That is all troubling enough, but there’s more.  I am confused by something.  While researching this, I stumbled upon an Energy Star website page of ‘FAQ’s’ about the Compact Fluorescents.  Now, Energy Star is a program touting products that prevent greenhouse gas emissions and was formed by the EPA and the US Department of Energy.  One of the questions is “What should I do if a CFL breaks?”  The answer floored me.  It says, “Because there is such a small amount of mercury in CFL’s, your greatest risk is getting cut from glass shards.”  Really? 

Then it goes on with the guidelines for clean-up—THREE bullet points that sound as soothing as a glass of wine and a bubble bath. 

*Sweep up, don’t vacuum, the glass fragments and particles

*Place broken pieces in a sealed plastic bag and wipe the area with a damp paper towel to pick up any stray shards or particles.

*If weather permits, open windows to allow the room to ventilate.

Pardon?!  What about the mandatory 15-minute evacuation with the A/C off? Or the Mason jar?  The duct tape?  The clothes and sheets in the trash?  Well, which is it?  The very same agency is telling two significantly different tales here and I don’t know what to believe.  Do I need to put on the Haz-Mat suit and evacuate my dogs or not? 

It appears that the EPA needs these bulbs to seem a bit less menacing since they will, obviously, also be used in places like hospitals, doctor’s offices, nursing homes and churches. 

Either way, I still don’t want to use them, so my solution is simple.  Stock up on those sweet, harmless, beautiful incandescent bulbs while you can!  I’ll see you at The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Harris Teeter, BI-LO……………