Weight Loss Guaranteed

It's a sad commentary on today's society when TV shows like The Biggest Loser and I Used to Be Fat even have to exist.


Isn't it bad enough that people don't care what they are putting in their mouths and are too lazy to cook for themselves? Isn't it bad enough that people are fat, now so are our pets?

Listen to this sales pitch by Science Diet for its weight loss system for dogs: "94 percent success rate. Results in 30 days." It goes on to say that weight loss has "never been easier". Sounds a lot like the weight loss pills and programs advertised on TV and in print for humans. And, like many human weight loss program, this one comes with preportioned meals.

Science Diet also offers a product called Therapeutic Weight Reduction Program. The program not only offers preportion meals, it also offers online support. Yes, online support for a dog who doesn't even know he is on a diet.

The icing on the cake, however, is the pet weight loss challenge the company is sponsoring. Contestants enter before and after photos of theirs pets to show how much weight their pets have lost. Finalists win a vacation to a "secret" location where they can win "up to" $1 million and will meet Alison Sweeney, the hostess of The Biggest Loser.

So there we are, our pets are fat because their owners are fat. Maybe they should both get off the couch and take a walk, no expensive weight loss system purchase necessary.

How Young is Too Young?

How young is too young to wear makeup? If you're the parent of a daughter you may have already faced this issue.


geoGIRL is a new makeup line being sold in Wal-Marts throughout the U.S. The line includes 69 different products. Its target audience is girls between the ages of eight and 12.

According to Wal-Mart, the line is supposed to be an age appropriate option for tweens who want to wear makeup. Wal-Mart also says it is up to the parent do decide when a child is old enough to wear makeup.

So what do you think? Is 8-12 years too young for makeup? Is Wal-Mart giving girls options or making it easier for them to bend to peer pressure?

Another Reason to Check Your Bank Statements

Colorado mom, Kimberly Figg, was shocked to see that hackers broke into her checking account and used her three-year-old daughter's name to buy porn. The child's name is not on the bank account account yet the hackers used her name to pay for a porn subscription via electronic check. Figg's bank, Wells Fargo, then cashed the check without questioning it.


When Figg investigated further she discovered the 800 number listed for the company, BBU Interservices, is not the company's phone number at all, but the number of a third party that handles transactions for BBU and a number of a other companies.

Hundreds of other people across the country have filed complaints about BBU Interservices after their bank accounts were also hacked.

The Colorado Banker's Association says any company you send a check to, either on or offline, has enough information to steal from you, and that a small amount of money wouldn't raise red flags with any bank. The porn subscriptions were all $29.95.

The FBI believes this might be a a new bank scam, so keep an eye on your banking statements.

21st Century Pen Pal

"Skype is everywhere," that's what a local teacher said last week on the evening news. Her classroom was being featured because it is using Skype to communicate with a classroom down South. She said they were using the web chatting medium because it was so prolific.


And while I can't agree with the teacher that Skype is everywhere, this story illustrates to me how times have changed. When I was in school, one year we had pen pals. Our pen pals came from the U.S. Postal Service and we communicated with them using handwritten letters. There was a huge lag time between communications and, because we were elementary school kids, we eventually got bored and quit writing.

The classroom featured in the news story is taking pen pals to a high-tech level. The students were communicating via e-mail as well as Skype. The teacher feels this is a good way to teach kids about life elsewhere as well teach them about technology. She's probably right. But it also teaches something else, something she probably never though of, impatience. We're too impatient nowadays to wait for a card or letter to come in the mail. Instead we have to e-mail, text or instant message. We need to have instant responses and we get irritated when we don't get them.

Sadly, the days when people wrote handwritten letters and awaited their response is gone. Maybe even the days when people had conversations over the phone are gone. Makes you wonder how many of these children will grow up to keep romantic e-mails and text messages the way their ancestors kept love letters. It just doesn't have the same nostalgia to it, does it?

Yeah, There's an App for That

Just when you thought you had heard everything, something new comes along. This time it's two new apps for your smart phone.


The Confessions App -- This app is sponsored by the Vatican. It's not meant to replace in church confessions; it is meant to be a helpful tool to work in conjunction with the church confessional.

The Girl Scout Cookie App -- Yes, you can now order Girl Scout cookies from your phone. This means you never have to lay eyes on a girl scout to buy them or even leave your couch for that matter.

In our shortcut happy society, there probably soon will be an app for everything under the sun. Need to buy sunscreen? Yep, there will be an app for that. Too lazy to go on vacation? Yep, there will be an app for that. Want to place a bet at the local racetrack? Yep, there will be an app for that. Need your toilet unclogged? Yep, there will be an app for that, too.

In the meanwhile, however, you can use your confession app to confess you're guilty of gluttony after you eat too many of those Girl Scout cookies.

Inappropriate TV Viewing

Is it just me or are there a number of inappropriate shows on TV nowadays? No, I don't mean shows that contain sexuality, language and violence, I mean shows that flaunt affluence.


The worst offenders are on HGTV with shows like House Hunters and Selling New York.

When House Hunters debuted, it was about average homeowners searching for modest sized homes. As time went on, they began to feature more and more expensive homes. Now, you're hard-pressed to find an episode that features a home costing under $500,000. Even worst is the companion series House Hunters International. While a few of the episodes feature people who have moved to other counties, the majority focus on Americans buying their second homes.

Selling New York focuses on a New York City brokerage which specializes in properties that cost over a million dollars. The brokers take home more in commission from one sale than most of us make in one year. Their average commission is in the six figures.

TLC will soon be debuting a new show called Outrageous Kid Parties. It's about exactly what it sounds like - over the top kids' parties. The commercial for the premier shows the parents of a girl, who appears to be six or seven, planning a birthday party with a $15,000 budget.

Shows like these are truly despicable if only because they are so unrealistic. We are living in a time when people have no job security, unemployment is high and homes are being foreclosed upon. These people struggle to pay the bills and buy groceries. They don't have money to spend on parties yet alone $15,000 parties. They don't have money to spend on vacation yet alone buy a vacation home.

Maybe the networks just want us to see how the other half lives. Or rather I should say how the upper 10% of society lives. Even in the best of times, the vast majority of us will never own a home worth millions of dollars. These show succeed at doing nothing more than pointing out that we are the have nots and a select few are the haves.