Now for the rest of the Saturday News Chum Stew. All of these times deal with the changes wrought by modern times…
- Wiping It Up. Our society is obsessed with cleanliness. We’ve all seen the effect of overuse of antibiotics, and keeping our children out of the dirt. Here’s another one. Toilet paper, it seems is no longer good enough. Nowadays, people need “premoistened wipes” to get themselves clean. The problem? The wipes, although small enough to be “flushable”, aren’t breaking apart and are clogging the sewer systems. Eschew their use in your sewer systems.
- Gourmet McDonalds. Two articles on McDonalds. First, McDonalds is getting healthier — in major markets, McDonalds will soon be providing the option to have salads instead of fries with your combo meals. In many ways, this is demonstrating that McDonalds may not be quite the evil empire — yes, they are interested in profits, but they don’t want the tag of being totally unhealthy. They’ll foist that title off to Burger King. In other McDonalds news, they have invited celebrity chefs into their kitchens to create gourmet food with the ingredients found in your normal fast food restaurant. Why have they done this? Simple — marketing. They want to show they use good ingredients, to draw people in. Remember, Ronald doesn’t love and care about you, he cares about separating you from what is in your wallet.
- Signing Books. Here’s another modern times problem: How do you sign an eBook? Apple has the answer. They’ve patented an approach for signing an ebook, and including a picture of you with the author on the signature page. Watch for it in a future version of the Apple software.
