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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-12-02, Page 4PAGE 4 iGNALSTAX, WEDNESDAY,,DECEMBER 2, 1981 DAVE SYKES There is something about the Chrletrnaw season that I can't quite comprehend. It's as if, once the calendar Is turned to November, the numbers fall off and it's suddenly a week before Christmas, November and Decem)ier appear to whiz by each year and the speed in which they pass is proportionate to the amount of work hanging over my head. It a busy season at your favorite weekly and one which we • don't mind bringing a sudden end to. By the time this responsible piece reaches the bird cage the calendar will be proclaiming the month of December. Moat of you, no doubt, are beating your head against the wall and loudly wondering where the time went. In retrospect, December is the longest month of the year for children. It seems to last forever. Conversely, Christmas sneaks up on adults much too quickly. But if there is some measure of console. 414.•' tion to be extracted from the month of December, it is the joy of the party. That's right, fair folk, December is the month of the party and no excuse is required. Tis the seamen to be jolly. Whether you're decking your halla, caning upon a midnight clear or cavorting with three wise men., It's ream enough to warrant a party. The spirit le generated by the month and whether it's an intimate affair et home, a rowdy pub crawl with friends or an offensive party at the office with group groping, parties abound this time of year. However, while boozing bozoa are quick to slurp comforting beverages art work, at home or at the neighbours because "well it is the season", they must often pay for their partying efforts the following morning. In simple terms, that translates into a humungus hangover. Your head feels like a football stadium with 00,000 people raucously jumping up and down on tiny, impaired brain cells. You have a ham - miring headache that is both intense and dull simultaneously. You wish It would explode and relieve you of the misery. Your earn are ringing and any type of nolle feelslike a brick landed on your head. You can hear the children tiptoeing on the carpet as 0 they were rolling skating in your head. Maybe they were, you couldn't open your eyes to notice and at that point didn't care. Indulgence means a hangover and a hangover means you'll be hurtin' for certain the next morning and perhaps, for much of the day. Is there any way to avoid the pain? Well, you can either avoid alcohol or just keep drinking. There is a new hangover handbook that was just released and it maintains that ancient remedies, such as the ingestion of crushed swallows beaks, have some medical validity. It seems the little beekies can help 1 overcome calcium deficiencies brought on by alcohol. So, if you plan to patty at all during the festive season, remember to pack a few swallows in the pocket of your trouser. Hangovers are mainly attributed to toxicity, maladapted neurons, loss of vitamins and minerals and lack of proper sleep. And, to be brutally honest, a small amount of alcohol the morning after could just help those inebrlatedcells on the road to recovery. Admittedly, that cure is difficult to stomach, and its efficacy cannot be sub- stantiated by this correspondent. I am not sure I am willing to try either. Short of that cure, partiers can stand in .the corner and giggle all evening at nothing in particular or simply wear a lampshade and people will assume you've been drinking. Hope your party season is pounding success. SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Swatted In 114$ and published every Wednesday et Dederick, Ontsrlo, Member of the CCNA s s OWNA, Adver. Using 'offsets vvg lest, aub*erlptlems peyehle In advance 4111.61 In Connie, 11.00 se U.O.A., '11.411 to e11 ether sour• MIL s Mole seeks W. Display advertising roles available on request. Oleos* ask fel Nato Cord Ne. 11 iHedlvs Or. Miser 1, 1101. Wend elan mall Nugalralien Ntlndter 1010. Advertising 11 estopted an the rendition that In fke event of typegraphlsel error, Ike edwrtking sped occupied by the errenseu* Item, together with reasonable eliswoisse ter stgneIure, will net be therged Mer bat that balance et Ude advertisement will be Mid ter at the op. pliable vele. In fits event Me lypigrepbMMol over advertising geed* or services ata wrong mia, float or services may net be sold. Advertising Is merely an efter,to sell, end may be withdrawn et any tints. lfw Slono1,111tor 1s not responsible for floe less or MnwN rl unsefctled mwlwuApls, photos or other awferlahs ural for reproducing par. pis' Second class mail registration number -0716 PUBLISHED BY:SIGNAL.STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER•Prosident and Publisher DONALD M, HUBICK•Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES.Editor P.O. BOX 220, HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK 000INICH NIA 416 dsa FOR ®USDIESS 0R EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524.8331 ' Crowd psychology The mass media in North America, and television in particular,. is certainly guilty of fostering and per- petrating erpetrating a negative economic philosophy. 'they. repeatedly gd�well on and overuse the words', dooms , gloom andrecession. .: •. r kM. ��C-. Y �,',�^'4A There is one thing for certain. "a..? The 'economy is not" stable as it was a few years ago. But another certainty is that compared to the economy on a national scale, things are not all that bad in this contnctunity; The larger centres of the nation are feeling the crunch more than smaller communitles. Somehow, the effect is, substantially tempered in smaller communities. This community, for example, never booms, but, on the positive side, never busts. The Major enemies of the way people think about the economy are the national television networks in both Canada and the United States. Residents here are suf- ficiently exposed to both. As well, large circulation newspapers have contributed in a big way to the negative attitude to the economy. The philosophy, 'what we think, we become', has held fast through recorded history. If people think something is true, then it is. The converse is equally evident. If people think they cannot do something, they can not. While the state of the economy is sick, there is a drastic difference between the flu and a terminal illness.. The economy of this community can be likened to a mild case of the flu although the gloomsters would like everyone tial believe it's a terminal illness. • People learn many things through repetition. The phrase doom and gloom is one that some people believe characterizes the economy simply because the national networks and newspapers have used the words over and over and over again. This is crowd psychology, A mass mind and a maga way of thinking. It is a proven fact these are businesses and Salesmen selling as much as they ever' did, Why? They choose not to believe the pessimistic prophecies or accept them as fact. If everyone chooses to believe that things are as bad as 'significant others' would like them to believe, then that negative reaction and approach' will surface in the way they talk, walk and conduct daily business affairs. Let's choose not to think in the negative manner ad. vocated by others. Let's Choose to tune out the resistive words and get on with business as usual, ROS A childish approac The historic Canadian constitution has not been sent off to Britain but the House of Coronions was jubilant last week after unanimously endorsing an amrnendment to gurantee native rights, Originally, native rights had to be dropped from the charter, to reach an accord with the nine provinces but, the MPs cheered asthe atnmendment was passed. But, while the federal government and provinces are coming to terms on an equitable charter, Rene Levesque is asserting what he believes is Quebec's right to veto the deal. Federal officials believe the move by Levesque is just an initial step to lead the case back to the Supreme Court of Canada, Debate has been a slow process and final vote was not expected until this week. Levesque is seeking compensation for any province that opts out of future changes and some are willing to extend that courtesy only to Quebec, because of its special status, The Liberals appear unwilling to compromise with Quebec over any issues and look on compensation as simply an incentive for Levesque to pursue separatism. While the referendum was not exactly a success for Levesque, he is still looking for some measure of escape within the charter, His right to veto the federal initiative is also under question, The entire constitution fiasco smacks of childish behaviour in some respects and Canadians are growing weary of the gone. Mugging the clue [MAO READERS Photo by Cath Wooden SHIRLEY KELLER Signal -Star- Publishing Ltd. has interests in a publication in the region. of North York. Topic Newsmagazine isn't a newspaper. It isn't a magazine. It is a marvellous combination of the two that has captured the hearts of readers in that area. Recently, the staff at Topic uncovered a story about a Queensville artist, .Fransi Anderson: Irransi had been experiencing severe headaches, muscle spasms in her back and chronic, ulcerated sorethroat and mouth She went to her doctor who gave her some medication. it was of no help to her ser she wee referred to an allergist, No relief. The painful symptoms persisted. ?rand began some detective work on her own, One of her specialties is hand painting on silk, She began to wonder if there was something in the new French dyes she was using that would cause her distress. The bottles in which the dyes came had no labels and no listed precautions, So she called the supplier of the dye. She was told there was nothing toxic in it, Fransi pit in some calls to the various government agencies including the Department of Hazardous Products. Nothing. Regulations governing art supplies are very loose it seems'; Contents are not required to be listed on bottles. Federal government agencies da not even know what these products contain in some cases. Apparently importers and retailers are responsible for making sure the products they are selling do not exceed the government's ac- ceptable limits of certain toxic chemicals and do not contain any of the banned chemicals. And the retailer relies on the word of the importer. If there is: a consumer complaint, the gover- nment tests it. Otherwise, testing is done periodically and at random. In October, Fransi quit using the dyes. She no longer has headaches and severe back pains. Her throat has cleared up and she feels better, although she still experiences muscle spasms, With some financial support from the Newmarket Arts and Crafts Council, Topic staff Commissioned some lab work on the dyed Frans' was using. Research found the exact contents of the dYes couldnot be identified. Another artist, Giarelise Folch of Oakville reported she had been using the same French. dyes during her first pregnancy two years ago. Clarelise's son was born with no ear canals. Coincidence? Who knows? But Clarelise isn't taking any more chances. She doesn't use the dyes any more. "1 refuse to work with them,", she states flatly. Monona Rossol of the Art. Hazard Hotline in New York feels "the whole art material area is outrageous". She says that thousands of new art chemicals could be coming into Nath America each year, with very little testing done on them, But one big area of concern is dyes - specifically textile dyes which are broken into several types. Dyes such as acid, azoic, basic, direct, fibre -reactive and vat all have specific hazards. One of the worst could be what is known as direct dye, first developed at the turn of the century. Direct dyes are used for dyeing cotton and line. They are the most common dyes used by craf- ters. More importantly, easily available household dye products are direct dyes. Some studies indicate that direct dyes are highly toxic by inhalation and ingestion and possible through skin absorption. The Topic articles should make many people stop to think. And somebody should ask some questions. Topic Editor Marney Beck is asking a few. "Our findings seem to put the importer in a bad light, but should he, in fact, be responsible for this outrage? The government has more financial resources than an individual importer. Why does the government put the onus on the importer to do expensive chemical testing of products he sells or put blind faith in exporters' assurances of safety?" Marney queries. "If other consumer products have to be labelled, why are dyes exempt? More im- portantly, why have the dyes and art materials' in general slipped between other carefully - monitored government controlled categories like foods, drugs and industrial chemicals?" asks Marney. If the problems of Fransi and Clarelise in- trigue you, or if you have any comments about this matter, write to Marney Beck at Box 1090,` Bradford, Ontario LOG ICO. Or send me your letters and I'll see that Marney gets them. I had my clock -radio a full year before 1 figured out how to use all the snooze, wake- up, go to sleep, auto, manual, and alarm buttons. Now 1 trust it to waken me from my nocturnal slumber at a designated time every morning. It sure beats the o1' heart- catiptilting alarm clock, The AM dial is tuned into C BK.in London, because that's the station that comes in the best and doesn't play country and western music. Naturally, when the radio clicks on to the same station every morning, one gets rather arttached to the voices which issue from it. This morning, l woke up rather distressed at the fact that one of the voices was miss- ing. I wasn't awake enough to hear why dee- jay Dick Williams was gone, but later read in the London Free Press that he was fired. It bathers me when I Frear that sorneone has been fired from their job. 1t means that one has to take a side in the issue, recognize who was at fault, and either dismiss the fired party as a weiner or raise him up as a martyr. However, these definitions are difficult when it comes to a firing like the one of Dick Williams. His job, like those of other media personalities, entailed establishing a per; sonna. His persona was obviously a suc- cessful one, with the London radio ratings to prove it, So why would he be fired? Nobody seems to be talking about it, although C1I31d issued a statetnent that said he was dismissed because of "broadcast ir- regularities." I don't think I would recognize a broadcast irregularity if hit me in the side of the head, especially at 7:30 in the morning. I would hazzard a guess that broadcast ir- regularity means saying things on the air that management doesn't like. Which brings us to the aspect of a media personality that we never see - his relationship with manage- ment. Williams suggested that the Free Press look up statements made by another morn- ing deejay from CJBK who was fired two years ago: The deejay said the station "tried to mould me into something I'm not...It's tough to perform when management tells you, 'As I pull the hammer back on this pistol, tell me the funniest joke I've ever heard without moving your lips." If I were not in a job that required filling up a certain amount of blank space every week with some creativity like a deejay is required to fill the space between the ads, 1 might not understand that statement. To use a different metaphor, it's like being a race horse. Von are racing towards your audience, with management on your back, whipping your rear when you move too slow. and pulling on the reins when you move too fast, When that finish line is reached, nobody is sure whether the horse could have done it without the jockey, or, whether the jockey could have steered any old horse to victory. The perfect combination occurs when neither the horse nor the jockey knows br cares if they could have won without the other, just as long as they keep winning. Human nature cannot tolerate teamwork forever. It is difficult to name a media or enter- tainment personality that has stayed with . the same management for his or her entire career, : .ly because the temptation to define suc, and the need for power are too great. So that's why I never know who to cheer for in firings like this. Not that it is really any of my business, O's just that Dick Williams was so much nicer than my alarm clock..., CATH WOODEN