Consumer Manipulation

Doing business with some companies might be fraught with dangers. They want your money... continuously but without any responsibility to help if there is a problem.

Reading company billing right can be scarey. One I read was saying if you think their is an error with your meter they will read it for you and if it is found to be accurate the tenant will be charged 250 dollars for all their trouble. And of course if you don't agree you have to deal with arbitration.

Nursing homes, lenders, jobs and even landlords are now putting into contracts that they want binding arbitration instead of regular court. It is a legally binding This might mean you have to foot the bill for the arbitrator and the venue. It also means you do not have your day in court. The contract may state that the arbitrator is picked by the one who formed the contract. They are supposed to be an a neutral third party entity but might be influenced by the fact of continuous business might be had with the right decision. In other words, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. The smaller entity is not on a equal playing field as the larger entity. You are being manipulated out of your right to complain in front of a judge.

In some instances the contract might preclude you from suing them in court and have to use a arbitrator but they can sue you if they want.

Banks have gotten into the pay day lending by attaching transaction fees when they honor ATM, Debit or checks if there is not enough in the bank to cover it. This basically is a high interest loan in disguise. The amount can become prohibitive. Some banks even enrolled their customers automatically which allowed customers to spend beyond their means. The amount of overdraft fees could be more than what originally was bought and each day a fee was attached sort of like a lone shark would do.

There are other types of financial institutions that will also give you a small pay day loan and attach large interest rates to it. They don"t check your credit or anything because they have more lucrative ways to get money from you. They will get a post dated check and maybe your car title, no partial payments and no court of course. Arbitration if you think there is a problem.

The Total Edible Watermelon

The watermelon  is a very good and nutritious food product. Not only is it delicious it is nutritious also. And practically the whole thing can be eaten. That's right. Not only the juicy red inside but also the the whitish rind, the seeds and even the outside green skin. Many people have heard of pickled watermelon rind, but there are many other dishes that can be made from watermelon rinds. The raw food community cuts up and will put practically the whole melon in the blender. The seeds can be used in various ways like roasted and salted or as thickeners and drinks like horchata de melon.

Just like any raw produce the watermelon has to be washed before eaten. Since it has a thick smooth skin it can also be scrubbed with a produce or vegetable brush.

Citrus Peels

Citrus peels

One way of keeping things out of the landfill and saving money would be to use whatever you buy to the fullest. I am a believer in using the total food and vegetable. Citrus fruits are very popular to eat. Most of us eat the fruit and throw away the peel and seeds. There are uses for the peel and seeds of an orange, lemon, lime or grapefruit.

Citrus peels can be candied and used alone or in fruit cakes and other desserts. The candied peel can be rolled in sugar or dipped into chocolate. They are made into marmalade using the seeds and pith to make the pectin.

The peels can also be boiled in water and the liquid sweetened to make a beverage. The drink can be mixed with other juices or can be consumed alone. The peels can be mixed in white wine for a distinctive flavoring with a sweetener.

They can be used as flavorings in soups, stews and other types of cooked food. For instance you can flavor baked chicken by stuffing it with citrus peels or adding the peels to a marinade or a dry rub.

Why Green Tea?

I recently was watching a show on television and the celebrity doctor was telling the audience about using green tea. He was making claims even though the jury is still out on whether all the purported health claims have any merit. Apparently you would need to drink many, many cups to maybe get some benefits. They have extracts and pills which defeat the purpose if you believe in getting your nutrients from your diet. It becomes another supplement. It almost seems like green tea is a separate plant than black tea or white tea. People have been drinking tea for a long time yet all of a sudden all you hear is about the marvels of green tea. White, green, oolong and black tea are from the camellia sinensis plant. White tea is made from young leaves before they are fully opened and do not have the grassy taste green tea has. All the teas are said to have various antioxidants and more studies are being done on them. But with all the green tea marketing, black tea is the least expensive. Black tea due to being fermented keeps its flavor much longer than the white and green. So if you stock up on food that would be a concern. I personally like black tea, I don't drink enough for it to be a health drink if any of the claims are true. I won't substitute it for vegetables.

We Have Alot of Garbage

It seems very foolhardy of us to think we can just throw things away and that's the end of it. That land for garbage is infinite. We cover up landfills but the garbage is still there. Things are built on top of landfills like apartment complexes and schools but again it's still under there. Garbage is in our oceans causing harm to sea life. People drive to and throw garbage in woods and parks. As we learned in school, matter is neither created or destroyed it just changes form. We need to change the form again of the garbage we have made back to a less destructive form. As a society we need to be serious about it. I was reading a book about food habits of families in different parts of the world. The family sat together with food for a week in front of them. The most obvious was the larger amount and the cost of food that some of the families ate as opposed to the sparse amount of others. One thing that was telling was the amount of packaging that industrial countries use. It was hard to compare visually because the packaging made it seem like a lot more food, taking up more space. As we know the box might be half full from "settling ". Or cans might keep the same size even though the amount in them has shrunk.