Water Bottles - Part 2 of 2

I remember something from back when I got my small, medium, and large water bottles, but there were a few things that I didn't bother to learn and others that I've forgotten. Besides, that was several years ago and information has a way of becoming outdated as new developments are made and new information is disseminated.

Plastic items that can be recycled if proper facilities exist have an international recycling resin identification code inside the recycle symbol of three arrows chasing each other around in the form of a triangle. This symbol may be found on the bottom of plastic bottles and other items.

Following are the symbols for the various categories for plastic and a discussion pertinent to each code:

Also labeled as PET, is polyethylene terephthalate. These containers are almost the best for flavor and odor. Common uses are beverage bottles from .5 liter water bottles to 2 liter soda bottles, shampoo bottles, jars for food such as peanut butter, plastic film, and microwavable packaging. PET bottles have the most common resin used in disposable bottles, are the most recyclable, are able to substitute for coal in power plants, and the recycled products are able to be used to make clothing such as Polar fleece. The myths about them are flying indiscriminately.

One baseless rumor is that PET bottles should be used only once because they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a known carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter. The problem with this is that DEHA is not in PET bottles, at all, yet even respected publications such as National Geographic's Green Guide are helping spread the rumor. The other part of the myth, about BBP, isn't mentioned in any credible source that I've found. Because those that warn against it are the same that warn about DEHA, until I learn otherwise, I'm going to believe it's another myth, an instance of guilt by association especially since another Green Guide article says that PETE bottles do NOT leach toxins.

The other reason we shouldn't reuse PET bottles that I've read and heard about, and seen on various television programs is because bacteria builds up and they're hard to clean. Strangely enough, none of the advisors ever say the same thing about other bottles such as plastic canteens or other bottles that are similarly shaped. Along with other things I've learned, it's as though they want to keep us buying these bottles continuously for some reason (company profits?), wasting our money, and disregarding the horrendous amount of pollution that results.

A valid concern that isn't mentioned as often as the myths is about antimony. Antimony trioxide, a catalyst often used in the production of PET, remains after production and migrates out of a bottle into food and drinks. Even though its toxicity is low, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and, several years later in 2006, a team of geochemists at the University of Heidelberg headed by William Shotyk, investigated the amount of antimony migration. Both studies found that small amounts of antimony migrate from the PET bottles into water, but that the health risk is negligible compared to the tolerance level set by the World Health Organization.

What's important to us is that antimony continues to leach out over time. That means it's actually safer to reuse PET bottles than it is to consume the original liquid because they've been sitting for a while as antimony leaches out and accumulates. For this reason, we need to be sure to check the expiration date to ensure the original beverage hasn't been in the container too long and discard the liquid if it has. It's ironic that the conventional advice is to use a PET bottle only once, yet it's that first time that is most likely to contain the largest amounts of what we don't want to ingest.

Although safe, acetaldehyde may be unpleasant. Normally a colorless gas that forms in PET through the "abuse" of the material such as high temperatures and high pressures, acetaldehyde remains dissolved in the walls of the container and then diffuses into the product stored inside, altering the taste and aroma. It is safe, fruit juice has it naturally, but since water has no other flavors to conceal it, acetaldehyde in water simply tastes bad.

High Density Polyethylene containers are considered to be safe and non-leaching. They're freezable, translucent or opaque, and somewhat firm. They're used for things such as gallon jugs of water and milk and detergents.

Also labeled as PVC, polyvinyl chloride or vinyl should NOT be considered as safe for food or beverages because it has been linked to occupational cancers. Vinyl chloride is recognized by the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a human carcinogen.

Use one of the safe plastics instead of #3. It is no longer used in children's toys in many places although some adult toys are still made of it. If you've heard or read about the dangers of plastics and dioxins and phthalates, this is it, Number 3, vinyl or PVC. It's commonly used for plumbing and building materials such as plastic pipes, electrical conduits, and gutters. It's been ubiquitous in children's toys and teethers, and is in everything from cosmetics to outdoor furniture, including shower curtains, shrink wrap, water bottles, foods such as salad dressing, and liquid detergent containers.

If you find it as a water bottle or other food or beverage container, don't buy it because traces of the deleterious chemicals can leach out into food. Stores such as Target won't sell anything with PVC, and the state of California is considering banning it from being used for packaging consumer products. The European Union has already banned the most widely used plasticizer used in PVC, DEHP (di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate).

[Edited on May 13 to add this Note: I deleted Wal-Mart as a store that won't sell anything with PVC because I went to Wal-Mart last night, 5/12/08, and saw that the camping department has several rain coats and rain ponchos for children and adults that are made of PVC.]

Low Density Polyethylene is considered to be safe and non-leaching. It is flexible, almost unbreakable, and may be either translucent or opaque. Some of the many uses are dry cleaning bags, produce bags, trash can liners, food storage containers, water bottles, and computer components.

Polypropylene is also considered to be safe and non-leaching. It is used for such common items as bottle caps, drinking straws, yogurt containers, cooking and eating utensils, and food, food storage and water containers. Also, appliances and car bumpers.

Polystyrene is not considered as one of the safe plastics because it can leach styrene, a possible human carcinogen according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, into food. It is also suspected of disrupting hormones and affecting reproduction. The U.S. EPA monitors this toxin in America's drinking water. It is not easily recyclable and is blamed as being the second greatest pollutant behind aluminum. Several cities around the world, 20 in the U.S., have banned extruded PS. PS is commonly made into disposable cups, plastic tableware, meat trays, and carry-out food clamshell containers as well as packing peanuts and cases for cassettes and CDs. Extruded polystyrene is recognizable as Styrofoam and non-extruded PS, also known as expanded PS, is clear.

Since this covers everything not in #1 through #6, labels such as AS, PC, PLA, and SAN may be found instead of "Other." Be careful with this category because it contains both safe and unsafe plastics. I know of only four used for food or beverages of which three are considered to be safe:

1. AS (acrylonitrile styrene) is one of the plastics considered as safe. Despite its name, it has not been found to leach styrene. Being a plastic that's stronger, more rigid, resistant to temperature and chemicals, AS is commonly used in kitchenware such as dishes, bowls, utensils, and for dental products such as toothbrushes, as well as battery cases.

2. PC (polycarbonate), also sold as Lexan®. This is a great plastic because it is virtually unbreakable, is temperature-resistant, conveys and retains no flavors or odors and is available in a myriad of colors for many products ranging from baby bottles and sippy cups to water bottles to eyeglasses to riot shields to CDs to epoxy linings in tin food cans and some dental sealants. However, on April 14, the National Toxicology Program issued a Draft Brief on Bisphenol A (BPA) calling for comments by June 11, 2008.

On April 18, Nalgene bowed to its customers who have been concerned about reports of BPA leaching and is discontinuing its PC products in the next several months as is Playtex.

[Frankly, I suspect the NTP Draft Brief on BPA had more to do with Nalgene's decision because it had been defending its products containing BPA up to that point.]

Also on April 18, supposedly in response to Nalgene's announcement according to CNN, Health Canada announced that BPA is potentially harmful and may ban its use in baby bottles as well as take other measures.

As for retailers, outdoor co-ops, MEC in Canada and REI in the U.S., have pulled PC water bottles from their shelves and websites. Wal-Mart announced that it will discontinue selling BPA products for babies in Canada immediately. For the U.S., it will be in the following months. Both Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us expect the baby products they sell to be BPA-free by the beginning of 2009.

The debate on BPA leaching from polycarbonate has raged for a number of years and the bottom line appears to be that if you want a PC container for food or beverages, you better hop to it and get what you want while it's still available.

Please note that when people or articles say, "Nalgene bottles," they're referring to the #7 PC bottles that leach BPA. But, Nalgene also makes containers out of the #2 HDPE, #4 LDPE, and #5 PP plastics that are considered to be safe, so there's no need to throw out the baby with the bath water.

3. PLA (polylactide acid) containers are safe plastics made from renewable resources such as corn and anything else with a high starch content like potatoes and sugar cane. They are everything that's good about plastic with only one negative: They melt when they get too hot. For example, you don't ever want to leave them in a car in warm weather or you'll return to a melted mess. In the same vein, you must follow instructions to hand-wash only because putting these in the dishwasher will cause a melt-down.

Although plant-based plastics can't be recycled, they may be composted in your backyard compost heap or in a city landfill. It takes about twelve days for PLA containers to decompose. Compare that to petroleum-based plastic which doesn't biodegrade and would take 100 years to photodegrade if it wasn't buried in landfills where it doesn't get the light and air needed to disintegrate.

4. SAN (styrene acrylonitrile) is the final plastic on this list that's considered to be safe. As with AS, the word "styrene" in the name does not mean that SAN products leach styrene. For example, Brita pitchers made of SAN have been tested by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) and there's been no evidence of leaching. As with AS, SAN is a higher quality plastic that's stronger, rigid, and resistant to chemical and high temperatures such as boiling water. Common uses are kitchenware, dishes, bowls, other food containers, toothbrushes, packaging material, computer products, and optical fibers.

To recap, the plastics that are bad for food and beverages are #3 V/PVC, #6 PS, and #7 PC.

#1 PET/PETE is bad because the original and subsequent beverages may sit long enough for antimony to leach out.

The plastics known as being safe are #2 HDPE, #4 LDPE, #5 PP, and #7 AS, PLA, and SAN.

I sincerely hope this helps. After reviewing everything and considering my needs, I ordered the 12 oz. ATB (#4 LDPE) bottle from Nalgene.

[On 5/22, I called about my order and was informed that PC products designed for children are no longer being sold, including the mini-ATBs that have PC only in the dust cap. I wrote to protest. In the meantime, I'm using a .5 liter stainless steel Thermos® that I bought six years ago for my hot tea.]

Living My Dream

It hit me on Sunday. I'm living my dream come true.

I've been so busy, adding this blog to my busy-ness, that it didn't occur to me earlier.

Sparing you the details, two doctors told me in the latter part of 1992 that I had to find another line of work. After discussing it with my immediate circle as well as with counselors, after considering what I might do, with or without additional training or education, only my desire called out to God: All I want to do is write.

The year 1992 passed into 1993. I wasn't able to work for a year and was limited in my capabilities when I returned to the office. Continued pain and additional therapy filled my thoughts and my days, months, even years. I thought I'd never see the end of it although I tried to keep smiling. I was, and still am, so grateful for anyone who was kind to me and everyone who made me laugh.

Then, it happened. I was free to concentrate on my writing and forgot the rest. That's what dreams do. They take you away from real life to another world, another place, another time, another life, until you see how dreams and real life are interrelated. Until you're able to realize, as I did on Sunday, that real life is the dream and how much God has blessed us.

Psalms 34:8. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Lamentations 3:25. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

Psalms 100:5. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Thank You, Lord!

Reviewing My New Pens

The ink rollers aren't turning out anything like I expected. The Kaweco Sport, in particular, has raised a new issue.

Playing with my new pens, I discovered that the line from the ink rollers depends on the ink. The Pelikan is supposed to write a finer line than the Kaweco, but using the short standard international cartridge that came with the Kaweco, the Pelikan makes the same broad line that makes my writing sloppy and unattractive.

Switching over to the Sepia ink that I bought solely to have the great Montblanc bottle it's in, the Kaweco line shrinks down to only about .4mm. Very nice!

I've yet to try the drier Montblanc ink in the Pelikan, but since it followed the Kaweco by producing a broad line when I inserted the short cartridge, there's no reason to expect a drastic difference.

Have you guessed the issue?

I bought the ink roller pens to use up ink that I bought only so I could have the terrific bottles and now, I'm anticipating having to buy more bottles so I can have the ink.

How perverse.

(If you see discrepancies in the reasons I give for buying pens and ink, that's the addiction talking. The plain truth is that I just gotta have them as any true addiction demands. Good thing that I'm a writer, huh?)

So, the Kaweco Sport is turning out to be a nice writer. It's comfortable and lays down the fine line that I like.

The Pelikan is less so. Although it takes the long standard international cartridges, not only the short ones I reported previously, and would be better because I can go longer before needing to refill, it isn't as comfortable to use because there are hard ridges circling the grip. Also, the plastic clip feels like it would break if handled carelessly, although it makes a nice, clear, sharp, clicking sound when I play with it.

Yes, there's more to pens than merely writing with them.

Other than the dilemma raised by anticipating having to buy more ink that I intended to never buy again, the only disappointment is that the ink rollers aren't quite as effortless as my Parker Reflex rollerball. This translates to my not being able to write as long with them. The Parker rollerball Fine refills are among the best I've found (others are from Retro51 and Schmidt) and it's too bad that Parker discontinued the Reflex series a few years ago.

(If you'd like to have an excellent, inexpensive rollerball, Kingpen bought up the remaining Reflex stock from Parker and has the Reflex rollerball pen left only in green, a pretty emerald green, for $4.19 including a Medium refill.)

As for my new Pilot Petit1 and Platinum Preppy fountain pens - oh, my!

Forget what I said about my worrying about ruining fountain pens during travel. These pens are so inexpensive, yet are so comfortable and write so wonderfully, that it should be a crime for a pen addict not to have them.

I have to post the cap on the Petit1 to make it long enough to be comfortable, but once that's done, it's fantastic as is the Preppy. The only thing I can say against them is about the Petit1 - the posted cap lays against the base of my index finger which rubs it off if I don't post it securely. Other than that minor inconvenience, it's great. Anyone who has yet to try a fountain pen, or who tried a fountain pen and wasn't impressed, should give these tipped, Fine nib pens a chance. They write so much better than other fountain pens made by other companies, especially those priced under $7. At $3 for the Preppy and $4.50 or less for the Petit1, there isn't much money at risk and a whole lot of writing pleasure to gain. Accolades to Pilot and Platinum for producing such excellent writers for so low a price!

In regards to the Uni-Ball Signo UM-201, the lime green is great but the .18mm line is too fine for me. As a result, I ordered the .5mm pen.

That's right. The lime green ink compelled me to order another one along with more Petit1 and Preppy fountain pens for traveling. (Ahem!)

In View of Earth Day

It's easy for me to be on the band wagon for boycotting bottled water because I hopped on back in 1992 before there ever was a band wagon.

(It's nice to see others finally catching up to me.)

I just couldn't see any sense in wasting money on the small bottles that were becoming popular when gallon jugs are so much less expensive.

(Talk about throwing money away.)

No matter how poor your tap water is, with filtering devices, reverse osmosis, and bottled water available in gallon jugs and larger, there is no good reason to pollute by repeatedly purchasing those individual bottles. If you drink all of the recommended 64 oz. per day from 16.9 oz. bottles (3.79 bottles per day), at $7 per case of 24 bottles, it's costing you $1.11 per day ($7 / (24 bottles / 3.79 bottles per day)). It may not sound like much, but it adds up to $405.15 a year ($1.11 * 365 days). At $12 a case, it's $1.90 a day or $693.50 a year.

And if you go the convenience route and pay $1 per bottle, at 3.79 bottles, it costs $3.79 per day or $1383.35 per year.

(For one person!)

If you buy your own reusable bottle and fill it from gallon jugs costing $1 per gallon, the water costs 50¢ per day or $182.50 per year, cutting your cost to at least less than half simply by buying water in a larger container.

The store where I usually shop charges 64¢ per gallon, not $1, so it costs only 32¢ a day or $116.80 per year.

(Are you seeing how good it is to go Green?)

It gets better. By drinking reverse osmosis water at 25¢ a gallon, it costs only 12.5¢ a day or $45.63 a year.

And, after the initial cost of a faucet-mount filter or a filtering pitcher from such companies as Brita, Clear2O, and Pur, the only recurring cost is for replacement filters as long as you don't get something that requires a stupid battery that you don't really need, especially one that's not replaceable which requires you to buy a whole 'nother filtering device merely because the battery's dead.

(Beware the Evil Marketing Tactic!)

I buy filters in the 4-pack that costs $21 which works out to $5.25 per filter. Since each filter lasts about three months for me, that means only $21 per year for good-tasting water and a lot less waste than buying water in 16.9 oz. bottles.

And, if your tap water is fine, forget about bottled water entirely and forget about filtering. Just get a reusable bottle to fill and refill so you can drink your good tap water while you're out and about.

What would you do with an extra $400 to $1400 per person in your household? Save it? Invest it? Go on vacation? Buy something you've always wanted or the family needs and has been doing without?

Go Green by boycotting individual-sized bottles of water and enjoy the benefits for you and our environment!

So, There!

Every once in a while, someone I know comments on my speaking or writing vocabulary. The nice comments are along the lines of, "You have a good vocabulary." The others complain about my using big words. One aspiring writer who complained that I speak and write over his head said that he doesn't want a broader vocabulary because he doesn't need to advance beyond the reading capability of the people he wants to reach.

Frankly, I never understood the complainers because we've all been to college and, supposedly, can read and converse at the collegiate level. When I check my writing in Microsoft's Word, the reading levels usually come out between the 8th to 11th grades, right where I need them to be. Since I've never discussed it with anyone, I've wondered if Word miscalculated, especially in the light of the comments I've received.

Until now.

CriticsRant has a blog readability test that verifies what Word's been telling me all along, that those who complain about my vocabulary either weren't taught very well by their schools or they weren't paying attention to their teachers or something else totally unrelated to me:

To those who have been to college AND think I use words that are too big --

Nyah-nyah-nyah! Phffbt!

So, there! :P

Salivating

I yielded to my pen addiction, yet again, by ordering a Pelikan ink roller from Pendemonium and a Kaweco Sport Classic ink roller from Swisher Pens. Nathan Tardif, the inventor of Noodler's inks, figured out how to retrofit the Kaweco Sport ink rollers into eyedropper pens and it was one of these that I ordered.

These purchases are justified because fountain pens aren't always practical; two of my more expensive fountain pens dripped ink from the altitude and temperature changes of my last road trip to the extent that I was afraid that they were permanently damaged. Fortunately, they're not, but I wasn't able to use them during that time and my creativity feels constrained by the black ink of my Parker Reflex rollerball.

As colorful as they are, I don't like to use gel pens because they don't write as easily as fountain pens or rollerballs which use liquid ink. Over time, they're also more expensive than using bottled fountain pen ink and, being disposable, aren't earth-friendly.

Another reason for these purchases is the difficulty I had locating the .5mm Uni-Ball Vision rollerball. The 8-pack I found was the only one left and that was only because it had dropped from its peg to hide amongst the ballpoints boxed for bulk purchasing while it was waiting for me to come along and buy it.

With the ink rollers, I can use the fountain pen ink I already have. The pens use the short standard international cartridges made by several companies such as Pelikan, but I like to refill cartridges by using the syringe from my inkjet printer's refill kit because cartridges cost more than bottled ink and don't provide as many colors. To fill the Kaweco barrel with ink, all I'll have to do is uncap and squeeze the Nalgene drop dispensing bottle to which I transferred my bottled ink for traveling. The Kaweco is more practical, but writes slightly broader than the Pelikan's .5mm line. Since .7mm pens and pencils drive me nuts, it's anybody's guess as to how I'll like the .6mm line of the Kaweco.

I also ordered a glass dip pen. There is no justification for this; I simply wanted it. Glass pens are attractive and are good for testing ink. I don't test ink, but I've wanted one ever since I saw my first glass pen over 10 years ago, anyway. They are that attractive. Maybe I'll be able to use it for those seldom-used bottles of ink pushed to the back of my cabinet shelf because I don't like the colors well enough to keep a pen loaded with them. Maybe it will be only eye candy.

I'm mentally salivating in anticipation.

Liberty Forever

Standing behind a woman needing to buy stamps at a contract post office for the USPS this noon, I can't help hearing her discuss with the clerk about how the postal rate is going up to 42¢ on May 12 for first class stamps. The clerk is advising her to buy Forever stamps to save money. The customer doesn't care about saving a few cents.

"I always lose the penny stamps and end up sticking on another first class stamp because I won't bother buying another penny stamp."

Pricey.

"That's another good reason for you to buy Forever stamps," the clerk says. "They cost 41¢ today, but on May 12, they'll cost 42¢ and you won't have to buy penny stamps to make the higher rate if you buy them before then because they'll always be good for whatever the rate is for first class postage no matter what they cost when you bought them and no matter how long it takes you to use them."

Buy a bunch and bequeath them to the grandkids.

"I need stamps today," the customer says.

"So, would you like to buy Forever stamps?"

"How many should I buy?" the woman asks.

The man at the next counter interjects, "Buy as many as you can afford. If gas goes up like they're talking, we might see another postage hike fairly soon. I'm thinking we'll be seeing 45¢ stamps before too long."

"I don't know," the woman says. "I bought a roll of 100 stamps and it took me over four years to use them all."

The clerk explains, "These stamps are self-adhesive and come on sheets."

The customer hesitates.

It's my turn to pipe up. "I'm sure we'll see 45¢ stamps eventually and you won't have to buy a bunch of one-, two-, three-, or four-cent stamps for the interim hikes if you buy Forever stamps and haven't used them by then."

"Okay, give me 200 of those Forever stamps," she tells the clerk.

(Cough!) That's eighty-two bucks!

I had thought, last night, about buying more Forever stamps myself. I have a sheet already, minus three stamps, plus the Christmas stamps for the cards I didn't send last December. I'll have to get penny stamps for those since I'm unlikely to use them all in less than a month and the woman's idea of never again losing penny stamps sounds really good to me, especially since I either miscounted or lost a stamp after the last increase that left me with a stamp without it's rate-hike mate.

After handing over my packages, I ask for and receive my Forever stamps.

Looking at the Liberty Bell on them, it dawns on me how appropriate is the design. The Liberty Bell for our independence, and the Forever stamps because they're good forever.

Liberty + Forever = Liberty Forever.

The way it should be.

Pen Slut

Hi, my name is Gail and I'm a slut for pens.

[Other pen addicts respond: "Hi, Gail!"]

I'm partial to fountain pens and use other types of pens as the needs arise. As a result, I have to shop for refills or replacements only once every several years; the last time being six years ago. This gets to be aggravating because the stores in town don't usually have what I need, even though they carry it when I don't need to buy any.

Yes, I keep an eye on them. I see how they are.

Therefore, I can't find any Pentel medium ballpoint stick pens and it takes me a few weeks to locate the .5mm Uni-Ball Vision that I need. Instead of getting the single rollerball with black ink as planned, I succumb to the pretty colors in the 8-pack. Several days later, a friend receives a correspondence card from me written with one of the new rollerballs in the 8-pack...orange.

I've never before written with orange ink, but it was in the pack and looks really nice, all cheerful, spring-like, and rather frivolous; a party in a pen.

A few days after that, an orange lust causes me to decide to get orange fountain pen ink and a new pen in which to put it. Going to the website that has a pen that I like at an affordable price, with dismay, I see that the price has doubled. Ow!

Off I go to other websites to discover that Noodler's has come out with new colors and shades and more inks that are waterproof since I last shopped for fountain pen ink. Now, I can get waterproof turquoise and waterproof pink and waterproof gray and waterproof burgundy and waterproof orange and...

Oh-oh. The inks are adding up.

To make matters worse, that expensive Pelikan Souverän M400 Tortoiseshell & White (some call it Honey and White or White Honey) that I've lusted after ever since before I saw Judge Judy wield hers on her television bench is now discontinued and at half price. I put it in my shopping cart and concentrate on school pens that cost less than $20. That way, the expensive fountain pen is "mine" temporarily while I look for an affordable pen that can be mine for real.

In the process, I notice that a free fountain pen comes with a bottle of Noodler's Heart of Darkness. What's this? A free fountain pen? Why can't I like the shade of ink so I can have the pen? What kind of pen is it that it's offered for free? A Platinum Preppy? Gee, Platinums are reputed to be good pens. I've been wanting one, but not at the prices I've seen.

Can I get the pen by itself?

No, not at that site. No, not at another site. Yes, at this site, except they're sold out. No wonder, the Preppy is refillable and costs only $4 each or five pens for $15.

I google for reviews, attempting to assuage my lust. Most of the reviews are really good but for the few that suggest a glitch in quality control. For the price though, it can be treated as a disposable and I read that somebody did until someone else pointed out that it's refillable.

I finally locate the Preppy for $3 each at JetPens and put a pink one in my shopping cart. Whoo-hoo! Oh, look. JetPens has the refillable mini fountain pen, the Pilot Petit1 for $4.50. Goody-goody! I add an orange Petit1 to the cart and a brown one, too. And, the Uni-Ball Signo UM-201 gel pen for $3 in lime green. Of those, I get two. One is to give to someone I know whose favorite color is lime green. And...

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE DOLLARS later, I start deleting items from the shopping cart. I don't need the Pentel watercolor set (What was I thinking? I don't do watercolors!), or the Ohto Tasche or the Pilot Cavalier or Young Rex fountain pens (The barrels are too slender for me!), or the....

Delete! Delete! Delete!

Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted. Maybe the Preppy and the two Petit1s will provide enough of a fix to save me from buying all that ink.

The lime green Signo may revive the lust again, however, just as the orange Vision Elite did.

I've never before written with lime green ink.

The Princess, the Witch, and the Dragon

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there lived a princess, who was fair, kind, and loved by all who knew her.

Like every other story with a beautiful princess, our princess met her prince who is a mighty warrior and leader of men. Naturally, our princess and her warrior prince got married, planning to live happily ever after with their family yet to come.

Unbeknownst to them, however, a jealous witch cast a spell over them, calling upon an invisible dragon to take the life of their first-born, because the witch hated that the princess was living her dream come true.

Time passed and eventually a precious baby boy was born to our royal couple. As might be expected in a tale with a dragon sent by a wicked witch casting spells, the invisible dragon tormented the infant prince with its talons bearing down on his mother's belly while he was still in the womb, forcing him to be born prematurely. The tiny prince struggled valiantly for his very life under the blasts of the dragon's fiery breath, but, despite prayers and the best medical care, expired after only two days, leaving his parents bereft with grief.

Following the axiom that what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, our princess and her prince regained strength after the death of their beloved son, joining other families and individuals who have bonded together all across the land, vowing to march against the dragon so other parents won't have to suffer through the loss of their own children.

Spies have been hired to hunt down the wicked witch who has cursed other families in similar ways and troops are battling the dragon even as you read this true-life tale. With all the villagers helping to defeat these enemies, this story, too, will have a happy ending.

Please help Erica and Jim Davel honor Matthew's brief life by supporting their participation in their local March of Dimes March for Babies.

Did you know?

- Premature birth touches half a million babies and their families every year.

- Babies born prematurely are more likely to die or have lifelong disabilities.

- 120,000 babies are born with serious birth defects every year.

- Every baby deserves someone in their corner and the March of Dimes is there for them whether they are healthy or need help to survive.

Please join the Davels in the battle against premature birth and birth defects by walking with them or making a donation; the dragon and the wicked witch must be defeated.

For information on how you can help, please visit Matthew's team website:

http://www.walkamerica.org/matthewdavel.

Thank you.

[In response to Roxie's comment, I edited this post on April 5, 2008 to add the following:]

The March of Dimes maintains that it is neutral on the issue of abortion, that it does not see abortion as a solution to the problem of birth defects, and will not pay for abortions, directive abortion counseling, or abortion research.

However, according to the several entries I read on Google, some of which included copies of letters or policy statements from the March of Dimes, the March of Dimes believes that safe and legal abortions need to be available as every woman's right and that "therapeutic" abortion is an option, that is, aborting babies that prenatal testing determines to have birth defects, disabilities, and other abnormalities.

Because of the conflicting statements and actions, those who are opposed to eugenics and all abortions no matter what the reason, the March of Dimes is not likely an organization you'll want to support.

For those who sanction abortion only in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother, please be aware that some local chapters of the March of Dimes have ties to local health centers of Planned Parenthood which supports abortion for any reason. One watchdog stated that grants given to Planned Parenthood have been "for prenatal education services" which may or may not include abortion counseling.

If you wish to contribute to the cause, but not to the March of Dimes, please consider an alternative, pro-life, organization such as The Michael Fund or your local Children's Hospital.

To search the March of Dimes website:

http://search.marchofdimes.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe.

What's Your Internet Safety Score?

Before I get to the tests, there are four more downloads I got since my last post.

On my stolen laptop, I had WinPatrol by BillP Studios because it uses a heuristics approach for checking system changes instead of comparing against a list that must be updated and downloaded periodically as do the other security software I mentioned in "The Bad, the Great, and the Tedious." After I downloaded it for this laptop, I decided to add SiteAdvisor by McAfee, available for IE and Firefox, because it isn't expedient to read the Privacy Policy for every website I visit and the nefarious websites don't come right out and say, "This site distributes adware and/or spyware." I also downloaded Opera because it's now free, is the first of only two browsers to pass the Acid2 test, and because the bad guys are paying more attention to how they might exploit Firefox. The other browser that passes the Acid2 test is the new Safari for Windows by Apple which I also downloaded to try out.

Now for the tests.

SiteAdvisor's website has two tests of eight questions each to gauge yourself in regards to spam and spyware.

"Are you spam savvy? Can you tell which sites will respect your personal information? Can you tell which ones might sell or rent your e-mail address to spammy third parties? Take our Spam Quiz and find out. Can you spot the spammy Web sites?"

How did you do?

My score: "YOU GOT 8 OF 8 QUESTIONS CORRECT Rating: Safety Guru."

Whoo-hoo! Thank God for the teachers who taught me how to read, although I hate plowing through those Privacy Policy statements!

"They say it's hard to judge a book by its cover. We'd argue that it's even harder to judge the safety of a Web site by its looks. Think you can sniff out which sites are adware & spyware free? Take our spyware quiz and see."

Did you score higher than, lower than, or the same as on the spam quiz?

My score: "YOU GOT 6 OF 8 QUESTIONS CORRECT Rating: Tightrope Walker."

I'm not concerned about one of my wrong answers because I don't use file-sharing sites, but the other wrong answer was for lyrics sites and I have used a few of them on occasion. Now, with SiteAdvisor, I'll know which sites to avoid when I google to verify song lyrics.

How safe is your PC? Here are some tests for you to run on your computer to see if the nasties can get in and if they can send your data out or enslave your PC without your knowledge:

On the Gibson Research Corp. websute:

ShieldsUP!

LeakTest.

On the PC Flank website:

A quick test for now until you have time to do the rest.

A leak test

A stealth test

A browser test

A Trojans test

An advanced port scanner test and,

An exploits test.

There are also tests from other sites.

Some observations:

My ZoneAlarm Free passes GRC's LeakTest, but fails PC Flank's Leaktest which exposes a particular vulnerability. I used Firefox and didn't even have to open Internet Explorer as instructed by the PC Flank leak test. My laptop failed repeatedly until I figured out how to make it pass.

One important thing to note is that the little PC Flank window ALWAYS reports that the test failed, even when it doesn't, so be sure to check your results on the webpage. The last little window has a link to it, also. When your PC passes the test, you won't see your IP address, the date and time you did the test, or the text you typed. (I can't help wondering: If they're so good at making tests, why didn't they make their little window display the right test results? Harumph!)

How to disable this vulnerability and pass PC Flank's Leaktest if all else fails:

1. Set your firewall to request permission each time IEXPLORE.EXE is used.

In ZoneAlarm Free under Program Control, this is listed as Internet Explorer. Under Access and Server, click and select Ask so that question marks appear in all four columns. When you use IE (or OE or Outlook), ZA will pop up a window for you to select Allow or Deny. Do NOT check the box for "Remember this setting" or your PC will be able to leak your data EVEN WHEN YOU'RE NOT USING IE (or OE or Outlook)!

To pass the leak test, do not allow IE to access the Internet. (In ZA, click Deny when the pop-up first asks for permission. Whatever you answer the second time, doesn't matter. Your data's already leaked out if you failed the test.)

2. Do NOT use IE unless you absolutely have to for those websites that don't display decently with other browsers such as Firefox or Opera or Safari because your computer WILL be vulnerable during those times.

Comments on the other tests:

I haven't done all of the other tests listed because Atelier Web, Breakout #1 and 2, Copycat, DNS Tester, Firehole, and Thermite set off the Avast! alarm while I was downloading them, which was neat to hear, and I want to verify that Avast! was giving false positives, that the programs are virus- and trojan-free, before I run them. While a couple of websites recommend them for testing, upon hearing the alarm, I decided to check them out further because I've known of safe files in the past that were perverted by the bad guys after they became popular to take advantage of their safe reputation in order to slip malicious code onto people's systems. Other tests simply wouldn't work.

The cpil.exe has left some PCs with something that keeps trying to start IE. Some people clear it up by simply rebooting. Some have had to download and install a HIPS program to stop it. Since I'm waiting to see if my system is affected and what I'll have to do to clean it up if it is, please don't run it. I figured it's okay for me to run because, if I should have to rebuild my system if it leaves trash behind that can't be cleaned up otherwise - the worst case scenario, it won't bother me so much since I don't have any personal files on it, yet. But if someone else has to do it, who has personal files, that may not be backed-up, and who wasn't expecting to spend time cleaning up after the test much less doing a system rebuild, well, let's just say that I don't want to get put on anybody's bad list. Of course, since you now are warned about it, go ahead and run the test if you want. Just don't blame me if it keeps trying to start IE and you have to clean up after it to make it stop.

Ghost, when I allowed IE to access the Internet, proved once again, that we shouldn't be using IE. In all fairness, though, bad people have always looked for ways to break into anything containing value and there's no reason to expect them not to continue. Remember, people didn't use to have to lock their house doors and could leave their cars unlocked with keys in the ignition and now there are security systems for both homes and autos in addition to our having to use the regular locks. Computer crimes are just another venue for the bad guys.

Jumper acted like it wasn't working, giving an error because my laptop wouldn't let it create a file on my C drive named jumperleaktest_dll.dll, but it then proceeded to hijack my IE home page to change it to http://www.google.fr, a harmless change that demonstrates that a bad guy could make something worse happen, even though IE was never open during the test. Scotty, my faithful little watchdog from WinPatrol, caught it and warned me so I could stop it.

The TooLeaky test was passed because I told ZoneAlarm to Deny it the first time. After that, when I had ZA Allow it, it was passed because it couldn't run scripts, ActiveX controls, or plug-ins due to my setting them to Prompt which I denied when action was requested. I never did let them run during repeat tests, either.

(In IE version 6, see Tools -> Internet Options -> Security tab -> Internet -> Custom level. Under "ActiveX controls and plug-ins," set "Download signed ActiveX controls," "Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins," and "Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting" to Prompt. Set the others in that section to Disable.

Next, directly below, is a Download section. Set the three listed there to Disable. Be sure to remember doing this so you can change it back when you want to download files or fonts you want, except you won't be using IE as much after reading this post and conducting the tests, right?

Anyway, after that, there's another heading for "Scripting." Set the three there to Prompt. You may be tempted to set "Active scripting" to Enable because you're likely to be prompted a lot as I am; it's your PC, your choice, and your risk if you want to Enable it. Click OK to save changes.

While you're at it, you may as well go over to the Advanced tab and ensure that the box for Java is clear. Click OK to save changes. You can always go back to check the Java box if you need it.)

WallBreaker consists of four tests. The first and third tests are especially sneaky in that they got around ZA which didn't ask for permission for IE.

Remember, it's not just what gets into your computer from the outside that can mangle your hard drive, it's also what goes out that can hurt you and others.

1 Peter 5:9. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.