A POST I WROTE ON 8-15.

Since the first Republican debates, there is a concerted effort to lionize Megyn Kelly because she acquitted herself well as moderator, notably in attacking Donald Trump. But I can't ignore the fact that she is just another blonde propagandist for Fox News, which means she is not a serious journalist but merely a decorative reporter. So while many in the media are suddenly praising Ms. Kelly, I still see her as not much more admirable than Tokyo Rose or Axis Sally, who were also very good at their jobs.

THE INSANITY OF SIZING.

I wear a 9-/2 sized shoe. At least I did for most of my life. But about ten years ago, when I tried on 9-1/2 shoes they didn't fit. So I went to size 10, even though my foot had not grown at all. Within a few years 10 didn't fit any more. Now I wear a size 10-1/2. Why? There's no reason other than that manufacturers agreed to change the size. Why? I have no idea. Another problem. All my life I have had a 34" waist. My pants are 34". My shorts are 34". But when I buy underwear briefs the size 34" is much too tight. So I buy the 36" and up size, which fits fine. Until recently. The last time I bought the
36" and up, they were too tight. Did I gain weight? No. I lost weight. But I'm still 34". What is going on? When buying slacks or jeans, most manufacturers only have leg lengths to 30". Some makers have got to 29". But I'm 28". So every time I buy any pants, I have to pay to have them shortened. In the past few years, I have asked other customers what size leg they have. Many, many have said 28".
If there are so many men who have a 28" leg, why is that size not available? Who knows? As I wrote, it is the insanity of sizing. I'm sure there's a profit motive in it somewhere, but I cannot believe that Dockers is in cahoots with America's tailors.

A BIZARRE TAKE ON YOUNG LOVE.

E Harmony has lots of insipid commercials that promise eternal love for lonely people. But the oddest one is the new spot showing what appears to be an 18-20-year-old telling us he found his
true love (an attractive young girl) on E Harmony. I personally find it creepy to think that someone that young and attractive has to go to a website to find a girlfriend. What was wrong with him? What
is wrong with her?

THE QUEEN OF MYSTERY?

One of the world's most famous and successful writers is Agatha Christie. This is an amazing fact to me considering that she is a terrible hack with no real style or talent. I just finished reading And Then There Were None, supposedly the most successful mystery ever written. To my mind it didn't have a moment of tension, was full of plot errors, and had an absolutely ridiculous solution. Yet there it is, a major best seller, made into several movies, and oddly praised by many critics. Her output is astonishing, book after boring book, many ending with all the suspects sitting around in some parlor waiting to hear who killed whom. Then, of course, there is the utterly boring Hercule Poirot and the predictable predicaments of Jane Marple.  No, I haven't read many of her books, but having seen dramatizations, one can assume each is as dull, poorly plotted, and lacking in character development as And Then There Were None. The recent film versions of Murder on the Orient Express, was a boring film with a superb cast. A friend suggests that Agatha Christie was an author who wrote for people who can barely read, much like the Dick and Jane primers. I don't disagree. This post is sure to offend readers who actually like the novels of Agatha Christie. Having finished And Then There Were None, I picked up another novel recommended during The Great American Read on PBS. The book was The Call of the Wild by Jack London, which was so brilliantly written is was like going to a sumptuous feast after having dried toast and weak tea.

Note: My guess on what will prove to be America's favorite novel on The Great American Read: 

Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye.

REALLY WEIRD COMMERCIALS.

Two commercials that stand out as being very creepy are the following. And 30-spot for  AARP insurance shows an older couple confused by a maze of rules they don't understand. To demonstrate how AARP  cuts through complications, the spot shows a bulldozer plowing through a gorgeous garden maze that would have taken years to grow. What idiot approved this destructive concept? Another creepy spot for Kraft shows a man pushing a little girl on a garden swing.  She keeps saying, "higher" and eventually is  pushed so high she flies off the swing into the distance, an accident that would (in reality) have left her killed or crippled from the fall, but bizarrely she assures us that Kraft's dinner makes everything all right. Kraft, once pioneers in instructive commercials, now does some of the stupidest ads on TV,

COMMERCIALS I REALLY HATE.

The reason I hate the following commercials is that they so untrue. There seems to be no more truth in advertising, and companies can make a fortune lying to the American public. For instance Prevagen doesn't improve memory despite this nonsense about jellyfish, yet enough gullible American buy this rubbish (at about $35.00 a bottle) so the company can afford costly TV commercials every time you turn on the tube. Advil and Aleve have greatly exaggerated claims about the effectiveness and duration of their pills, which work well but not miraculously.  Bayer, the company that developed the gas the Nazis used during the holocaust, suggests that taking their aspirin during a heart attack of stroke will make all the difference in outcome. While there is some truth in this, any aspirin will do. The wildly popular lower-cased febreze says it eliminates odors. It doesn't. It just covers them up like everybody else. Oxi-clean is another over-promiser, as are so-called whitening toothpastes, dandruff shampoos, wrinkle creams, diet pills, and any number of brand-name
products that are in the hands of advertising agencies that couldn't care less about truth when it comes to making a profit for their clients.

FILLING A PRESCRIPTION

When I, at 75, found out I had a heart blockage, I immediately went into the hospital and had four stents installed. In the follow up, my doctor stressed, "You must take two Brilintas every day, possibly for a year or longer. " Following his advice seemed easy enough, although the $30 a month co-pay was kind of annoying. Recently when I was running low, I went to the pharmacist for a refill.
I was told he would have to get it approved by my doctor. I couldn't understand why a medicine I had to take for a year or longer had to be approved after two months. Still I had three pills left. But they were soon gone and the refill hadn't been approved yet by the doctor who practically suggested I would die without these pills. Later, after I had two days without the needed pills, the refill was approved. The only problem was that I had reached the gap in my coverage and instead of the pills being $90 for three months, they were $375.00. This made me think two things. How disgustingly greedy pharmaceutical companies are.  And what do poor or uninsured people do when they are faced with the outrageous costs of staying alive?