an ounce of prevention ...

Quite a few years ago my mom thought it would be a good idea to give me a subscription to Prevention magazine, as I was interested in herbs and yoga and other tree-huggy things. The first two issues came and they seemed interesting, with articles extolling the virtues of green tea and pomegranates and all sorts of vitamin supplements. But after a few issues, it seemed that each issue was pretty much the same as the one the previous month, except for one small difference — whatever miracle herb or food that claimed to prevent cancer or give the reader luxurious hair and nails last month was supplanted by this month's miracle cure. And worse, last month's fabulous food now could cause cancer or make your hair or nails fall out.

When she asked me if I'd like her to renew the subscription, I politely declined and really haven't subscribed to any magazines since. Most magazines, under the gloss of peeks into celebrity homes and make-up tricks, also usually include one of those "You should start eating tons of fill-in-the-blank NOW and all your life's problems will be solved" articles. If print is dying I wonder if it's because dopey articles like these make up so much of magazine content. But this type of article is not limited to print. The internet and television advice shows are full of such scare-mongering/life-solving features.

A recent article on Slate's website tries to debunk the world of antioxidants and any healing properties they might have. Although I am in sympathy with its attempt to cast some science onto the snake oil claims that are frequently found in the aforesaid magazines, television and internet, it ended up pissing me off more than my third or fourth issue of Prevention ever did. The premise that all antioxidant supplements and juices, (pomegranate is held up as a prime example) are not only not good for you but might be really, really bad for you, but even kill you, brings scaremongering to a whole new level. Its focus on poor doctors not feeling comfortable steering their patients away from such naughty things as pomegranate juice seems skewed. By stating there is no evidence that antioxidants really help anyone, but also not really coming up with case studies on how they have actually harmed someone, the article comes off as just as vague and unreliable as the virtues proclaimed by the various vitamin and food companies it is trying to debunk.

The author quotes a 2007 study, "Whether this line of inquiry turns out to be hokum or the first step toward elucidation of antioxidants' role may take years to sort out," yet the heading proclaims that "Antioxidants don't work, but no one wants to hear it." Talk about your mixed messages and false advertising.

I prefer my grandmother's old saying, "Moderation in everything." I'm sick of everyone labeling things, food included, as "good" or "bad." Egg yolks were bad, now they may be good. Sugar is bad for some, but sugar alternatives are worse. Everyone is different, and doctors should work with their patients on individual nutrition plans and try to stay away from generalities. Folk wisdom is sneered at in the article, but some things do seem to work for some people (even if not for others.) I can't explain why acupuncture works for me, but it does. I can walk in with a throbbing, achy knee and walk out without it. When my daughter was 2 years old I would get every childhood illness she got at daycare, but in a far worse adult version. I got sick of getting sick and started taking echinacea and upping my vitamin C and a few other supplements as well as making some dietary changes and my immune system got a huge boost. I rarely get sick, but when I do, it seems a much more mild illness now than I'd get then.

The answer for me is that there are no answers. And there are no miracle cures. Try something, and if it works fine, but don't feel like you have to jump on the acai berry or whatever is being extolled as the latest miracle food band wagon. We should all try to eat and live as healthily as we can, but not stress it when the urge for something fried or sweet comes along. And doctors shouldn't try to make folks feel guilty because they like pomegranate juice once in a while.

whatever happened to the monocle?

I have 20/50 vision and have been wondering if a monocle would help or just make things more imbalanced. In the days of monocle wearing, did people want to squint when they read, or did they just want to look super cool?

From Queenie's Bee

The Black Monocle, 1961 [Le Monocle Noir]

From SuperHeroHype

i love lucy - happy 100th birthday, lucille ball!

Today is the 100th anniversary of Lucille Ball's birth. Like so many, I grew up watching I Love Lucy reruns and even her color shows, Here's Lucy and The Lucy Show. She was a clown and a beauty and a major mogul in Hollywood.

Lucy was a force to be reckoned with and there have been imitators, but no one really like her. She was funny doing solo schtick, but also a great team player, working with Vivian Vance and husband Desi Arnaz and William Frawley in the I Love Lucy shows, and later even with her kids on Here's Lucy.

She made everyone around her funny or funnier. I Love Lucy is a great time capsule of early television comedy, life in 1950s New York, and male and female relationships. Ricky may have swaggered and yelled at her in both English and Spanish, but Lucy always won the day. And I can visualize their midtown apartment better than I can my first New York apartment.

I love Lucy and my daughter does, too.

Happy Birthday, great lady of comedy.

Related articles

• LIFE Magazine Releases Never-Before-Published Photos Of Lucille Ball (thegloss.com)

shades of grey — a storm of swords

I am continuing to enjoy George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. A Storm of Swords is the third book, and as brilliant as the first two were, this one is even better. Martin manages to foreshadow without being obvious, so even if you guess an upcoming plot twist correctly, you don't feel superior or bored, but just caught up in the overwhelming inevitability of how his characters' lives and fates are intertwined. Throughout the book Martin has readers on their toes. Not knowing what is coming on the next page, he is daring you to turn it, even if you are afraid that a favorite character might do something stupid or die. But the story and the compelling characters are irresistible, even when you know that in Westeros and in Martin's books no one is safe.

"You know nothing Jon Snow" (from Jon Snow Caps)

The main action centers around the forces that are marshaling in the seven kingdoms of Westeros. War, the War of the Five Kings, came to the land in the last book, A Clash of Kings, when young and horrible King Joffrey Baratheon took the throne in King's Landing. In A Storm of Swords Joffrey's grandfather Tywin Lannister is the real power behind the throne and doesn't trust that the war is over. Young Robb Stark is still King in the North. Joffrey's uncle, Stannis Baratheon, backed by a powerful sorceress, Melisandre, suffered a major defeat, but his belief that he should rule is as strong as ever. Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands holds Winterfell and much of the North. In the East, Daenerys Targaryen is slowly making her way west, to reclaim Westeros for her family, which was deposed and annihilated by King Robert Baratheon and the Lannisters years ago.

Tywin Lannister and his son Jaime don't see eye-to-eye on Jaime's future (from  The Inner Bean)

While all the political wrangling continues, a more dangerous foe gathers its strength in the North. Wildlings, or the free folk, as they call themselves, are about to attack the Wall, led by Night's Watch deserter Mance Rayder. The motto of the Starks', Martin's epic's family of focus, is "Winter is Coming," and no one has had closer evidence of that than Eddard "Ned" Stark's bastard son Jon Snow and his friend Samwell Tarley, who are among the few left to guard the North at the Wall. Wildlings of all shapes and sizes — men, giants, mammoths — join forces to take down the Wall and invade the kingdom. But are they on a path of conquest or are they fleeing something too terrible to face — wights (zombies who rise as the temperature drops) and the Others, extremely lethal creatures, thought to be the stuff of legend, but proving themselves to be real and on the move.

Life in Westeros and its surrounding lands is bloody and brutal and oh-so-entertaining to read. Martin's characters are well-drawn. In A Storm of Swords previously "bad" characters like Jaime Lannister, whose nickname, aptly earned, "Kingslayer," and Sandor Clegane, or "The Hound," as he is more commonly known, become sympathetic, as the world they live in is composed of myriad shades of grey. Favorite "good" characters like Tyrion Lannister, a clever dwarf who has never been appreciated by his family, and Arya Stark, a young girl who has had to see her father die and is shuttled from one group of brutes to another as a hostage to ransom, see the world in black and white, which may not be the wisest of courses. Arya has been through so much that it is easy to forget that she is still a child, and children do not see in shades of grey. Tyrion has been so abused by his family and everyone around him that he is soon unable to see anything but revenge. Still, it is troubling to see favorite characters head down dangerous paths.

Sansa is just a kid, a pawn being buffeted and manipulated from one house to another (from gameofthronescaptures)

As much as there are swords and duels and men fighting aplenty in A Storm of Swords, the female characters are as interesting and complex and certainly as ruthless (Queen Cersei) as many of the males. Sansa Stark is a character that many readers have trouble with, considering her weak or uninteresting. She can certainly be spoiled and silly and meek and whiny. It is easy to forget that she is just a girl of twelve and has been trained from birth to mind her elders and behave like a young Lady. Not everyone can be a surperhero, but that doesn't make Sansa a negative character. She had to watch her dreams of handsome knights be crushed in the person of Joffrey and stand and watch her father die. Part of Sansa's inherent weakness is that she lost her direwolf, Lady (in the first book, A Game of Thrones). Her brothers and sisters have at times been separated from their wolves, but are still inexorably connected. But not Sansa, who must make do with trying to commune with a tired old dog one evening.

Some of my favorite aspects of the book, while not giving away any major plot points, are still a bit SPOILERY, so be warned. New and interesting alliances are formed in A Storm of Swords, between characters, mostly unwillingly, but creating great tension and even at times, teamwork:

Jon Snow and the wildling girl Ygritte

Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth

Arya Stark and The Hound

Sansa Stark and Littlefinger

Sansa Stark and Tyrion (if she had given him a chance to even be just her friend or protector)

Tyrion Lannister and Oberyn Martell

There were also some vividly rendered scenes, featuring the Moon Door at the Eyrie, the Brotherhood Without Banners utilizing the power of R'hllor, Jon and his fellow Night's Watch brothers and their defense of the Wall, Bran Stark the warg (shapeshifter) seeing the world through his direwolf Summer.

Martin has drawn his characters and their countryside so well that like Sansa and Jon and Arya I wanted to go back to their childhood home of Winterfell, too. Hopefully they will get their chance. The passage where Sansa built a snow castle of Winterfell was beautiful and sad. Less convincing or sympathetic in this book was Daenerys Targaryen, who seems to be developing quite a bloodlust. But her wondering who to trust and her handling of advisors Arstan Whitebeard and Ser Jorah Mormont was realistic for a teenage Queen, a bit out of her league.

But the most impressive and shattering chapter in the book was the Red Wedding. According to an interview, Martin put off "writing the Red Wedding until the very last," which I was interested to read, because it was truly one of the most unforgettable, disturbing scenes I've ever read, in any book. It was also hold-your-breath-as-you're-reading-it brilliant, as if it occurred in slow motion. It occurs about halfway through the book, and haunts the rest of it, with the repercussions echoing.

A Storm of Swords is a wonderful read and Martin a wonderful storyteller. There are truly haunting passages that may give the reader nightmares, but they will still be glad they have continued on this journey. Everyone in the book is in motion, although not necessarily bound for the destination they originally intended. Will all roads lead to the Wall, or King's Landing, or an early death? As we learn from the wights, death is not necessarily the end. We can only wait and see, and thankfully, it's possible to grab the next book in the series, A Feast of Crows and get reading.