First Looks category archive

So much for the “throw-away” society:

Self-storage companies, which rent units to small businesses and consumers under names such as “Uncle Bob’s Self Storage (SSS),” produced the best risk-adjusted return among 10 U.S. real estate investment trust indexes in the past decade, according to the BLOOMBERG RISKLESS RETURN RANKING. They had the highest total return and the third-lowest volatility, for a risk-adjusted gain of 10.6 percent. Owners of offices, hotels and warehouses fared among the worst, hurt by price swings.

Americans’ paranoia about germs appears to be counterproductive:

Dr. Kurt Watkins of Peninsula Regional Medical Center (Salisbury, Md.–ed.) said modern America’s hygienic lives and shrink-wrapped food may be contributing to an increase in food allergies — a problem those who live and work on farms compensate for through exposure to animals and a less sanitized environment. A board certified allergy and immunology doctor with Peninsula Allergy and Asthma Associates, Watkins said the “hygiene hypothesis” is supported by the fact there are very little allergy problems in the third world.

(snip)

Calling the hygiene hypothesis the most compelling of theories about increased food allergies, he explained that allergies crop up as a result of the immune system perceiving something innocent as a parasite. If a child isn’t exposed to enough allergens at an early age, the hypothesis is that their bodies are less likely to develop tolerances.

“If you have a cat in the household when less than age 1, in infancy, then you are less likely to have asthma at age 5,” he said. “Studies show children who grow up on farms have less asthma, too.”

I had a friend who told that, when her daughter was young, she was sickly and frequently ill.

She asked the doctor what to do and the doctor said, “Let her play in the dirt.”

She did and the illnesses went away.

As one who both bicycles and drives, I find this rather appalling.

Via sfgate dot com:

Read more »

Off to drink liberally.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us.

When: Tuesday, April 24th, 6 p

Where:
Lubo Wine Tasting Room
1658 Pleasure House Road (Map)

More here.

Rex W. Huppke writes the obit. A exerpt recounts the dying agony of Facts:

Though weakened, Facts managed to persevere through the last two decades, despite historic setbacks that included President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, the justification for PresidentGeorge W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and the debate over President Barack Obama’s American citizenship.

Facts was wounded repeatedly throughout the recent GOP primary campaign, near fatally when Michele Bachmann claimed a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease causes mental retardation. In December, Facts was briefly hospitalized after MSNBC’s erroneous report that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign was using an expression once used by the Ku Klux Klan.

But friends and relatives of Facts said Rep. West’s claim that dozens of Democratic politicians are communists was simply too much for the aging concept to overcome.

Spring cleaning.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.

When: Thursday, April 14, 6 p.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

More here.

Off to drink liberally.

Drinking Liberally is a support group for liberals, where you can realize you are not alone.

When: 6 p., Tuesday, April 10.

Where:
Lola’s Caribbean Restaurant
328 W 20th St (map)

Details here. Meetup page here.

Act quickly or you’ll miss your chance:

Pennsylvania’s online auction of items confiscated at airports ends Monday morning.

(snip)

“We have sunglasses, corkscrews, the metal knives, Swiss army knives. Scissors, belts, hand tools. Just a lot of items,” he said. “Frying pans, kitchen items.”

Via PoliticalProf.

Back in Philly, an official of the Catholic Arch-Diocese of Philadelphia is on trial for covering up priestly abuse of children. The trial is happening because, unlike most of the other cases that have come out, this one was still within the Statute of Limitations.

Since I follow Philly news, having lived in that part of the world for three decades, I cannot escape news stories of this case. Here’s today’s Monica Yant Kinney column.

The more I read, the more I am convinced that, if this case did not involve a 2,000 year old religious institution with scads of dollars, a claim to be on a mission from God, and lots of fancy duds for its officials, this trial would have been superseded by a Federal RICO prosecution.

Things to do.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us.

When: Tuesday, March 27st, 6 p

Where:
Lubo Wine Tasting Room
1658 Pleasure House Road (Map)

More here.

Via Contradict Me.

Setting out window boxes on the deck.

They monger fear because fear is the enemy of thought.

Via Contradict Me.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out:

A new Israeli law is trying to fight the spread of eating disorders by banning underweight models from local advertising and requiring publications to disclose when they use altered images to make women and men appear thinner.