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You are here: Home / Archives for rant

There’s Nothing Worse…

February 19, 2014 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

I am not a snob; anyone who meets me would agree.

snob manWell, except those of an obviously lesser bloodline, of course. But, who cares about them anyway?

Having placed that firmly on the table, I know I can be, um, shall we say, “particular” about certain things and at times, might be prone to splash myself with a faint — very faint — scent of curmudgeonly, especially around speaking and writing.

As illustration, this is the second month of the year, pronounced “Feb-RU-ary,” not “Feb-U-ary.” Should you doubt, you can find out that I’m correct at the li-BRARY (not the “li-BARY”).

I manage to keep my mouth about “Febuary” because one only has to deal with it for 28 days a year.

Yet, lasting seemingly in perpetuity is misuse of  “your” and “you’re.”

The former is possessive while the latter is a contraction for, “you are.” Therefore, one would not write, “Your looking thin,” nor “I love what your doing with the house.” One might however write,

“When you’re on your way over, please let your hosts know if you’re bringing your children.”

See, isn’t that nicer?

Finally can we clarify that those of us on diets are attempting to “lose” weight, not “loose” it? (Ironically, “loose weight” is usually what started us on the path to “losing weight.”)

However, the expression that causes my head to explode is the self-important exaggeration, “There’s nothing worse than…”

This rose to my awareness on a TV commercial for an on-line postage service. In touting its (not “it’s”) benefits, a gentleman exasperatingly laments, “There’s nothing worse than standing in line at the post office.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Gratitude, Happiness, humor, Newspaper Column, Power of Attitude, Rant Tagged With: attitude, frustration, gratitude, horrible, humor, keeping things in perspective, putting it in perspective, rant, standing in line, thankfulness

Busted! Hooray!

January 15, 2014 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

writing-care-on-window

My first wife was employed by a non-profit organization that took care of developmentally disabled adults.

Although affiliated with a nationally known organization, her particular office was managed more like a franchise. They got use of the brand but seemed to run independently — and with callous disregard for what was right and appropriate.

She would rant about the conditions in which she served, most notably about the unrealistic budgetary constraints provided to feed the residents. One example that stood out was that she was instructed to feed six residents with one can of tuna.

That was the tip of the iceberg. There were so many that the parent organization forced them to amend their name by adding “…of (our city)” to it. (Why they didn’t just make them drop it altogether I do not know.)

Eventually, after my wife complained loudly and forcefully enough, they took action: firing her.

Anyone who has ever been axed harbors revenge fantasies. Usually however, time paints them over and, despite a residual dislike for ex-employers, we move on, hoping for karma to do its thing.

Most of the time, we never know. Once in awhile, we get to see it in action.

Months after her dismissal, the national TV news magazine, 20/20, aired a report on fraud in non-profits, which, joy of joys, was focused where she formerly worked. We watched with smug satisfaction as Geraldo Rivera, microphone in hand, chased her ex-boss across the parking lot, trying to get him to “answer a few questions.”

Like I said, once in awhile, justice prevails.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Diet, Newspaper Column, Weight Loss Tagged With: advertising, diet, FTC, phony claims, rant, shams

What’s the Best Diet out of 600 Diets?

December 26, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus

Can you imagine a car company advertisement: “Never use another drop of gasoline again, and drive as far as you want”? What would happen to an investment firm that guaranteed to “double your money overnight with no risk”? Or how about mortgage companies that tout, “no money down, no interest, own your own home, whether or not you can pay for it.”

Oh, wait. The last statement did happen – and we are still dealing with the results. So why can so many in the weight loss industry make equally blatant false claims and still remain in business? More importantly, why do normally rational, intelligent people ignore what they know and put their faith in untested, poorly documented, heavily hyped diets listed on dubious web pages or shouted at us during 30-minute infomercials?

Like the coal fire in Pennsylvania that’s been burning for 50 years; no matter what we try, we cannot make the yearly onslaught of false claims and unreliable statistics that permeate the media at the beginning of each year go away.

If the results weren’t so dangerous (gambling with our health), some of the claims would be laughable: “Lose 20 pounds in one week!” “Don’t exercise or change what you eat — while dropping weight overnight!” Of course, there are always my favorites, the conspiratorial, secretive, clandestine ones: “The weight loss program the diet industry doesn’t want you to know about!”

I found a web page dedicated to reviewing virtually any diet it could find.

world cloud of 600 dietsListed there were 610 titles (yes, I counted) with an incredibly wide range of names. Some touted main ingredients including everything from cabbage, to cookies, to chocolate. Others tried to break through the noise by name dropping, authored or endorsed by doctors, celebrities, and chefs. The founding location of the diet was heralded many times, listing countries in every continent except Antarctica (but I’m sure that will change over time). They couldn’t agree on how long it takes to develop that new “super calm sexy slim bod;” figures ran the gamut from three hours to a longer-term approach of 120 years. Some whose names stood out to were the “World Peace Diet” and “Big Fat Boyfriend Diet.” I must admit the “Promiscuous Diet” and the “Martini Diet” did create interesting mental images. As an FYI, aside from words specifically referencing calories, diet or eating, the three most popular words in the titles were (in order): “Raw,” “Detox,” and “Life.” One could therefore logically assume that the “Celebrity doctor, St. Tropez, raw, detox, low-calorie, three-hour, world-peace, chocolate cookie, chef-designed diet that even-your-fat-boyfriend would like, diet” would be a huge hit.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Diet, Health, Newspaper Column, Rant Tagged With: diet, diet industry, diets, health, rant, weight loss, weight loss industry, weight loss program

Of Dietary Supplements and Flying Unicorns

February 22, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

Why is the diet industry replete with so many phony claims?

Recently, I was exposed to yet another “miracle diet product” that got my hackles up — and rest assured you don’t want to be around when I have elevated hackles.

The radio ad began something like:

“We are looking for a select few people in this listening area that want to be involved in a new weight loss study who want to lose no more than two pounds a day.”

Firstly, announcements referencing “this listening area,” are not from “this listening area;” they’re part of a national or regional campaign pretending to sound local. Should they be homegrown, they would say something such as, “We need people in Northern California…” Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with national advertising; however, the fact that it’s disingenuous raises the first in a series of red flags.

Speaking of such, let’s wave some more.

Indeed, there are countless people “in this listening area” who would easily want to shed the required poundage at approximately two pounds every 24 hours. It ain’t gonna happen. Granted, they reference “no more” than two pounds a day. I mean, who would be upset if all they shed was a pound a half a day?

In one month, I have the perfect body. How cool is that?

An important admonition: One cannot lose weight — and sustain it (and that’s essential) — that rapidly without sacrificing one’s health. Therefore, the set up is not only promoting unrealistic and unhealthy expectations, but it’s setting up “participants” to feel like failures should they lose the more realistic one to two pounds per week.

Being your dedicated diet detective, I ventured to the website to suss out the details. What I discovered was that we could purchase a new miracle supplement “electromagnetically encoded to copy the effects of homeopathic formulas.” To get the aforementioned results, one consumed a few drops regularly and followed a “VCLD” (very low calorie diet) of approximately 500 calories per day.

Let’s put that in perspective.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Change, Diet, Exercise, Health, Newspaper Column, Rant Tagged With: calories, change, diet industry, diet product, homeopathic formulas, low calorie diet, miracle diet, miracle supplement, northern california, perfect body, phony claims, rant, weight loss

Facebook Friend Invitations: The New Spammers

June 27, 2011 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

It’s time for a rant!

I have to vent!

I like Facebook (one might be able to tell by the time I spend there. Sigh…). HOWEVER,  just because I’ve agreed to be a friend does NOT mean I want to receive an invitation (more accurately called “advertisement”) to EVERY FREAKIN’ EVENT someone is doing. (Besides, I thought Twitter was the place for annoying advertisements… Just joking… )

Today, I got the next in a series of invitations to attend a law forum (do I look like a lawyer?) in Wyoming (am I even NEAR Wyoming?) telling me how to improve my failing law practice (I guess since I didn’t know I was a lawyer in Wyoming, it explains why my practice has not been doing well). I have received from this “friend” a new law forum invitation every week and they’re never near me and I always say “NO” (do you think he’d get the hint?).

Why do I continue to get all these Facebook invites?

I apparently have some “friends”  who don’t give a damn if I’m interested – or if I can attend – I’ve just become part of their daily broadcasts. I want to keep them as friends but I don’t want to merely be a vehicle by which they promote. Sure, go ahead and promote what you’re doing sometimes. I want to know. I want to help. I might even want to attend. But, be somewhat selective.

In marketing, I learned, it’s about:

  1. Know Me
  2. Like Me
  3. Trust Me
  4. Buy Me

If all you do is send me ads, oops, I mean “invitations,” and you don’t care if I fit, you don’t know me, to be honest, I won’t particularly like you, I certainly won’t trust you – and I can assure you that I will not buy from you. Most likely, the response will be “unfriend.”

If you think it’s something I might like, please invite me. (And I realize we all make mistakes so sometimes it won’t fit.) However,  If I just wanted a big ol’ list of advertisements in the morning, I’d get a penny shopper.

I’m sorry. I try to be positive. Once in awhile it just gets to me.

I feel better now. I am returning to sanity.

P.S. Now, please send this to everyone you know, whether you think it would be of value to him or her or not.

Filed Under: Conflict Management, humor, Personal, Rant Tagged With: advertisement, annoying advertisements, broadcasts, facebook, invitations, law forum, lawyer, marketing, rant, spammers

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