Killer Jewelry From China
Once again, products coming from China are found to contain a deadly poison. In this case it is inexpensive children’s jewelry sold at Walmart’s and Claire’s which has been found to contain cadmium which is being used as a cheap replacement for lead which has been outlawed. The normal replacement metal used is zinc, but because of plummeting cadmium prices, factories in China have switched to the more dangerous metal.
Cadmium is a highly dangerous metal. It is a known carcinogen and can prevent brain development in children. Items made with cadmium easily shed the poison especially when placed in the mouth. Since cadmium is not restricted in the use of jewelry there is no recall even though it is outlawed in the use of painted toys and is considered a toxic waste. Some of the charms purchased from Walmart’s contained more than 80% cadmium. There is no effective treatment to remove cadmium from the body because it binds strongly to a blood borne protein.
The solution is very simple. Don’t shop at Walmart’s. Don’t buy cheap jewelry from China. Buy American made products. They may be more expensive but they are much safer and help keep American workers at work.
Perhaps only at a tech company would the graffiti be so clever. A door emblazoned with the words that it is not an entrance is adorned with the René Magritte artwork, The Treachery of Images. For those unfamiliar with the work and not familiar with French, the words under the pipe are “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” which translates into “This is not a pipe”. And of course, it is not a pipe. It is simply a drawing of a pipe. So is this door really not an entrance? But then what is an entrance? If one uses the door to get into the building then isn’t it an entrance? Is it not an entrance simply because the sign says it isn’t? And is the outside in the door the actual outside or merely a reflection of the outside? If it is the outside then does that mean this door is not an entrance into the outside? Yes, it is the treachery of images, indeed.
Mikey can be very stubborn. Lately we had difficulty getting him to get on the bus. He would refuse to go out and when we drove him to school he would refuse to get out of the car. When we went to his Saturday recreation program he would also refuse to get out of the car. It was becoming increasingly difficult and frustrating to the point where we were ready to pull our hair out. 
We all like to keep something to read in the bathroom. Maybe a copy of Good Housekeeping, Redbook, or Cosmopolitan. Or maybe a a three day old copy of the Daily News. Whatever it is, it’s usually something you can pick up and browse through while you are… thinking. Anyway, it is fairly unlikely that you keep a copy of Charles Darwin’s, “On the Origin of Species” in your bathroom and I’ll bet it is really unlikely that you keep a first edition of that book worth $100,000 in there. But that is what a family in England has been keeping in their bathroom for the last 40 years. The owners had purchased it in the late 60’s for a “a few shillings” and only recently discovered that it was a first edition. But the real question is, did they ever read it or was it just there to impress visitors?
