I am sure you have noticed that women's bags are no longer just purses or handbags.
They are HUGE, and
The New York Times found massage therapists who are seeing lots of women suffering sore shoulders and backs as a result.
The story says:
In the last few years, bags have become ever more voluminous, and as women have fallen sway to their chunky charms, they have filled them up with necessities. These days many women are as burdened as mail carriers.
As a result, reports of shoulder soreness and stiff necks are on the rise and doctors, massage therapists and chiropractors are tailoring treatments for the bag-obsessed.
"In the last year or so, I've been seeing the same kinds of issues with adult women that I'm used to seeing with kids who carry heavy backpacks on one shoulder," said Karen Erickson, a chiropractor who has a private practice on the Upper West Side, and also serves as a spokeswoman for the American Chiropractic Association. "They're experiencing neck pain -- not just while they're carrying their purses, but all the time. A lot of women even get bad headaches."
"Lately, when a patient comes in complaining of these symptoms, I walk over and pick up her purse," she added. "Without fail, it weighs a ton."
For the past several months, Robin Ehrlich, the director of the Eastside Massage Therapy Center on the Upper East Side, has observed clients old and new staggering under the weight of huge purses and griping about neck pain. "It's an epidemic," Ms. Ehrlich said. "We're busier than ever before right now, and big bags are the reason."
A common side effect is that one shoulder becomes slightly higher than the other, she said. "A lot of women talk on their cellphones while they're carrying these bags, which only intensifies the problem, because in addition to balancing too much weight on one side, they're lifting the shoulder at the same time."
The story adds:
Marta Callotta, a chiropractor in Long Beach, Calif., said that she advises patients to clean out their purses once a week, and to use all the pockets so that the weight is dispensed evenly within the bag.
"At the end of the day, handbags are one of the biggest culprits for back pain right now," she said. "For a year patients have been coming in to me with these giant purses and complaints of soreness. This will keep happening until the trend dies down."
Robyn Fishelson, a spokeswoman for Bliss Spa, which has branches in London and five American cities, said that this year all locations are reporting an increase in massage clients with bag-induced back pain.
The Dying Pledge
The Christian Science Monitor opens the question of whether the Pledge of Allegiance has lost -- or is losing -- its place in American culture. The story says:
The wane of the pledge from American life is more tied to indifference than passion, says Barbara Truesdell, assistant director of Indiana University's Center for the Study of History and Memory.
"It used to be we'd hear it at town meetings and public gatherings," she says. Now, "it's just not a part of daily life."
The decline is perhaps most apparent in the classroom -- particularly blue-state high schools.
"I don't know of any high schools in the area in which the pledge is recited daily. It isn't here," admits a superintendent of a largely liberal suburban Boston school district who asked not to be named because of how contentious the subject can be. "If I insisted on it being recited here -- which is not my plan or desire -- my career would begin a quick and flaming descent."
But what about the laws in Massachusetts -- and more than 40 other states -- mandating the pledge?
The actual letter of Bay State law demands students say the pledge every morning. It even imposes a $5 fine on teachers who refuse or forget to lead the students for two weeks. But this law has been unenforced since 1977, the year the current wording was passed, says Kathleen LeBlanc, a legal officer with the state Department of Education. That's because forcing students, or teachers, to say the pledge violates a different American institution: the First Amendment.
Simply put, if students don't want to say the pledge, they don't have to. They can sit quietly at their desks or, in some schools, may continue their conversation over the rest of the class. If a teacher doesn't want to say it, he doesn't have to. A student volunteer can lead the pledge, or the principal can recite it over a loudspeaker.
All that Massachusetts public schools have to provide is the opportunity to say the pledge daily.
How much kids learn about the pledge is all at the discretion of their individual teachers, says [Lt. Peter M.] Hansen [Elementary School] principal Bill Griffin.
The Higher Cost of Christmas Decorations
The Wall Street Journal points out that the cost of Christmas decorating will be higher this year. Copper prices have caused some lights to cost 25 percent more this year than last year. Electricity prices are driving up the cost of keeping the lights lit, and the rising costs of plastic and steel make the prices of artificial trees and tree stands higher.
The story points out that there have been double-digit-percentage increases in some electric bills this year, and people who usually go all out decorating their yards are now scaling back.
Professional Holiday Decorators
I know of a couple of homes in a high-end gated community here in St. Petersburg, Fla., where people hire professional yard decorators to "do up" their yards. Here is the kind of stuff I am talking about.
You can click here to find a commercial decorator near you.
There are also companies that sell to such high-end decorators.
States Issue Gift Cards
Three states -- Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia -- have issued their own gift cards this holiday season. Stateline reports:
Kentucky, along with Ohio and West Virginia, sells electronic, stored-value plastic gift cards through its state parks system, redeemable for gift-shop merchandise like T-shirts or for park services like canoe rentals. The cards can be purchased in person, online or over the phone. Kentucky's "Unbridled Spirit" cards now also will be accepted at three popular tourist sites -- the Kentucky Horse Park, a sprawling ranch and museum devoted to all things equine; the Kentucky Artisan Center, a retail clearinghouse for handmade arts and crafts; and the gift shop of the Kentucky Historical Society, a state museum.
With more than 1 million annual visitors to the horse park and more than 600,000 to the artisan center, potential gift card sales are an "untapped resource," said Chris Gilligan, spokesman for the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet.
The Ohio gift card is valid at 174 state park locations and generated $124,000 in revenue last year. West Virginia's card can be used at 49 state park locations.
Police Use YouTube
My friend, Canadian journalist Mike Miles, sent me a story about how police are using YouTube to help solve crimes. Do your local police departments use online sites like this, too?
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
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