Tag: consumer awareness

Now that the world has crowned a new Super Bowl champion, we, as a society, can get back to doing regular stuff. In an effort to help you in your transition from NFL season to post/pre-NFL season, here is a related book review:

2011 Official Rules of the NFL, published by Triumph Books

It is my understanding that the 2011 NFL rulebook doesn’t go into effect until the 2012 season. So I hope it’s not too late for the NFL to make a few changes to the rules before the start of the 2012 season.

A few months ago, I wrote a review for the 2010 NFL Rulebook and strongly suggested that some of the NFL rules be changed. My review was basically an open letter to the NFL commissioner and it outlined some specific rule changes that I would like to see made. Unfortunately, ALL of my ideas were ignored by the NFL. Not one of my suggested rule changes was used in the 2011 rulebook. So I can’t give this book a rating higher than ‘one star’.

It’s possible that the 2011 NFL rulebook was finished and ‘in the can’ before the NFL became aware of my ideas. So I will be willing to raise my rating to four stars for this book if the appropriate rule changes are made within a reasonable amount of time (by the start of the 2013 season.)

Also, I'd like to suggest another rule change. This is something that I forgot to mention in my previous review: In the NFL, I think that the out-of-bounds chalk lines should be widened by about one foot.
How many times has your favorite receiver made an awesome reception only to have it called back by the referee because the receiver's foot was "out of bounds"? Why not give the receiver a little leeway? It's hard to stay completely `in-bounds' ALL the time. But a great catch is a great catch. If a player makes a great catch, he shouldn't be penalized for stepping out of bounds a little.

An alternative idea to widening the sidelines would be to give the referees the authority to make judgment calls on sideline catches. The more difficult the catch, the more leeway the player would be given on the boundary calls. For example, if a player makes a catch with a difficulty rating of 10 (out of 10), but he steps out of bounds by more than a foot during the catch, the referee would have the authority to call it a fair catch, and the player could continue running downfield if not tackled.

The field boundaries were never meant to be ABSOLUTE in the first place.

Note to NFL commissioner: If you ignore your fan base, someday your fan base will ignore you.

As is, this is a one star book. I hope next year’s edition will be better.

Book Review: Bats (Scary Creatures series) by Daniel Gilpin

Although there are a lot of interesting pictures of bats in this book, there are also a lot of false statements. For example, this book states that bats are the only mammals that can fly, which is not true. I've seen other mammals fly. Also, this book claims that bats have hair or fur, not feathers. This may be true in most cases. But in some cases, bats have feathers.

In spite of these factual errors, this book is worth buying because it does a good job of explaining why bats are scary and appropriate for Halloween. If the author had put a little more effort into researching the facts, this book may have been a 5 star book. (4 stars)

Book Review: The Atlas of Early Man: The Rise of Man Across the Globe, From 35,000 B.C. to A.D. 500 by Jacquetta Hopkins Hawkes

Although this book focuses on the alleged history of mankind from 35,000 B.C. to around 500 A.D., it states that prehistoric men were using tools TWO MILLION years ago. But it provides no evidence to support such an outlandish claim. Sure, there are lots of crude drawings of buffalos in this book, and some pictures of bones and things that I guess are shaped like tools. But there is nothing convincing. It almost seems like the author is making things up as she goes along.

Anybody can go out and find some crude drawings of buffalos on a cave wall. It doesn't prove that there were people living on The Earth two million years ago. I've made crude drawings of buffalos (and arrows) on rocks in the mountains many times throughout my life. In a few years, will scientists say that my drawings prove that prehistoric men used bows and arrows to hunt buffalo?

The chapters that discuss carbon dating are useless because carbon dating has been proved to be unreliable and fundamentally asinine. (1 star)

Book Review: If You Decide To Go To The Moon by Faith Mcnulty

A reviewer on Amazon dot com complains that this book mistakenly calls meteorites, meteors. But that mistake is really not a big deal. Meteors and meteorites are almost the same thing (most people can barely tell the difference between the two).

The mistake that bothers me in this book is the assertion that men have walked on the moon. By now, it is well known that men have not really walked on the moon. Teaching children that men have walked on the moon is a lot worse than telling a child that Santa Claus is real. At least Santa Claus brings children gifts. So there are some benefits to believing in Santa Claus. Plus, Santa Claus is a super nice guy, whereas astronauts are not nice guys. Did you see Buzz Aldrin punch that one guy? It’s pretty scary stuff. Evidently, astronauts are not governed by the same laws that you and I are governed by. Buzz was not arrested for the assault, even though it was caught on video tape. This means that astronauts are very dangerous people because, like the mafia, they are above the law and are protected by the law. Don’t be surprised if Neil Armstrong has done a lot worse than punch a guy.

By purchasing this book for your child, you are paving the way for your child to believe every ludicrous thing that he (or she) is taught in school or on TV. What’s next? A children’s book about the official 9-11 story?
(1 star)

Update: I’ve just googled, “Children’s books about 9-11”, and found that there are already children’s books pushing the official 9-11 story. There is even a coloring book. Yikes!

Product Review: Britta Replacement Filters

According to the instructions, these filters should be replaced after 2 months or 40 gallons. But I've been using the same filter for nearly 5 years, and have filtered probably more than a thousand gallons of water through it, without any problems.

These replacement filters are not necessary at all. Sure, they work great. So it could be argued that they deserve a 5 star rating. The problem is, they work so well that there is rarely ever any good reason to replace them. If your filter is lost or stolen, then I would recommend getting a replacement filter. But if your filter is still doing the job, there is no need to replace it. You wouldn't replace a trusty old dog with a replacement dog, would you? Why replace a trusty water filter with another water filter? It makes no sense.

After nearly five years of reliability, I'll admit that my water is now slightly browner once it's been filtered. But this is to be expected after nearly five years of daily use. The water still tastes great!

note: I usually add a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice to each batch of water before it runs through the filter. This could explain the longevity of the filter. I don't know. (3 stars)

Movie Review: Grizzly Man, directed by Werner Herzog (2005)

The truth about bears

Grizzly Man is one of my all-time favorite movies. It is about a kindhearted guy named Timothy Treadwell who gets double-crossed by a mean-spirited and ungrateful bear named Mr. Chocolate. For years, Timothy Treadwell does nice things for Mr. Chocolate, and Mr. Chocolate pretends to be friends with Timothy. But it's all a sham. Timothy ends up getting eaten by some of Mr. Chocolate's friends, while Mr. Chocolate does nothing to help Timothy. Maybe Mr. Chocolate is just a coward, and was afraid to help. But I tend to believe that Mr. Chocolate was in favor of Timothy getting eaten. We'll never really know for sure, because the script for Grizzly Man allows the viewer to come to his or her own conclusions.
But one thing is for sure; after watching Grizzly Man, my opinion of bears has been lowered significantly. I once viewed bears as honorable creatures. Now I view them as ungrateful creeps who think that it's okay to eat people whenever they want. Those bears should be ashamed of themselves for eating Timothy. Period. Fortunately, it was only a movie. (5 stars)

This week, I’ll focus on two of the most popular gifts for Christmas: Books and DVDs.

Since DVD movies first hit the market a few years ago, very few movie stars have found their way underneath the Christmas tree as consistently as Tom Hanks. So I’ll start with a review of the Tom Hanks movie, Cast Away:

Cast Away, starring Tom Hanks (2000):

I'll be using UPS from now on.

In this movie, Tom Hanks plays a corrupt FedEx worker who gets his comeuppance after he opens several FedEx packages that do not belong to him while en route to an overseas FedEx delivery. He opens packages and steals the following items from trusting FedEx customers: A pair of ladies figure skates, a volleyball, a dress, and a bunch of video tapes. He ends up delivering only one of the packages that he was supposed to deliver, and it takes more than four years to make the delivery.

I don't want to spoil the ending, so I'll let you find out for yourself how he gets his comeuppance.

Cast Away is a “pretty good” movie. Most people will probably enjoy it.
Unfortunately, I do not approve of FedEx workers opening packages that do not belong to them. It sends a bad message. So I can’t give more than 2 stars for my rating.

Bears (Scary Creatures) by Gerald Legg

The Scary Creatures series of books is specially crafted to teach children (between the ages of 9 and 12) the truth about certain unfriendly animals in nature. Last week, I reviewed, ‘Wolves’. This week, it’s all about BEARS!

Unlike some other bear books, this book places an emphasis on the fact that bears are NOT friendly. One look at the cover of this book tells the whole story.

If you are on the fence about bears, you won't be after reading this book.

The theme of the book is clear from page one; bears are not nice animals. The cover shows a very angry bear ripping its way through white fabric (“paper”). On a superficial level, this is meant to represent the idea that a bear is jumping through the pages of the book out at the reader. But on a subconscious level, I believe it’s meant to plant the idea that a bear could come slashing through the fabric of my tent wall at any moment while I’m camping. If this was the author's intention, I think it's a good idea.

Children need to be on their toes when camping in the woods. Bear attacks are a very real problem. It's not a good idea for a child (or an adult) to lose sight of the fact that a bear could be lurking anywhere, including just outside the tent at night. You don't want to be caught off guard when a bear comes slashing through your tent walls. (This is an excellent example of why ALL children should be taught how to use firearms at a VERY young age.)
(5 Stars)

Animal Farm by George Orwell

A lot has already been written about George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’. But after reading several reviews on Amazon dot com, I feel that most people have completely missed the point of this book. Animal Farm has nothing to do with communism. Animal Farm is about the age-old question: What would the world be like if animals could talk? It's pretty straight-forward. The only problem that I have with this book is that there aren't enough animals involved. Animal Farm limits itself by only including farm animals. I'd like to hear what wolves, bears, camels, and elephants have to say.

Hopefully, when he’s feeling better, Orwell will write a sequel to Animal Farm and include more animals.

(4 Stars)

With Christmas approaching, many readers are probably feeling the pressure to find the perfect Christmas gifts. So in an effort to help you in your Christmas shopping needs, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, I will be writing and posting reviews for a variety of products that are currently on the market. Products reviewed will include; books, toys, CDs, DVDs/movies, household items, and anything that might be given as a Christmas gift. I’ll be using a five star rating system. Hopefully these reviews will be helpful in your purchasing decisions. Here are the first three reviews in this series:

Toy Review: Nerf N-Strike Nite Finder (Nerf Guns) - 2 pack

With the crime rate skyrocketing, it is important for children nowadays to learn (at a very young age) how to use firearms. You never know when your child will need to protect himself (or herself) against a corrupt school teacher or a corrupt bus driver.

These Nerf guns provide an excellent way for your child to learn the fundamentals of using firearms, so that when he (or she) is old enough to start carrying a real gun (at around the age of 5) he (or she) will already be familiar with the feel of a gun, and will not be afraid to shoot at an enemy (if necessary). Of course it is important to teach your child the difference between right and wrong, and the difference between a friend and a foe. But with the proper guidance, your child will definitely benefit from using this product.

These Nerf guns will help your child become an excellent marksman, and a force to be reckoned with. (5 stars)

Candy Review: Milk Chocolate Plain M&Ms

When it comes to junk food, I usually stick with Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, and other Hostess products. But recently, my friend (Walter) recommended M&Ms. I'd never tried M&Ms before, so I bought a bag to see if they are any good. I didn't like them at all. In fact, I flushed most of the bag down the toilet (hopefully this didn't harm any alligators).

Maybe I've been spoiled by Hostess products, but when I buy a snack item, I expect a creamy filling. M&Ms do not have a creamy filling, and they taste awful. Avoid. (1 star)

Book Review: Wolves (Scary Creatures Series) by Penny Clark

This series of books is specifically designed to teach children (between the ages of 9 and 12) the truth about certain unfriendly animals in nature. This particular book focuses on the dangers of wolves, and it has a very menacing photo of a wolf on the cover. All of the books in this series feature full descriptions and menacing photos of the animals to help your child know which animals should be feared and avoided. After reading this book, or even just looking at the cover, there is no chance that your child will mistake wolves as being friendly or approachable. (5 stars)
Note: There are many books in this Scary Creatures series. Next week, I’ll be reviewing the one on bats, and after that, the one on bears!!!