Like many Americans, I’ve been anxious about the 2020 election. I’m glad the votes were carefully counted and the media was patient in calling a winner. Usually, I go to political events in my community, and I’m able to get political buttons for my collection. Read more →

The Consumer Federation of America, along with more than a dozen international consumer and citizen groups, are urging regulators to closely examine competition and privacy concerns raised by Google’s proposed takeover of Fitbit. Read more →

On Labor Day in my community, we usually celebrate Harbor Days. I go to the waterfront and take photos of the boats, people, and booths selling food and summer fair items. This year, due to coronavirus, we had Harbor Days Lite. No tug boat races were held. People were encouraged to do other maritime activities at home or online. Read more →

DICK’S Sporting Goods is recalling about 63,000 Field & Stream safety ropes. The ropes can fail when used in freezing conditions, posing fall and injury hazards. The firm has received one report of the safety rope failing when used during freezing weather, resulting in a concussion and knee injury. Read more →

Continued vigilance in combating child drownings, especially since many families will be spending more time at home this summer due to covid-19, is needed according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.  Child drownings continue to be the leading cause of unintentional death among children ages 1 to 4 years old. There were, on average, 379 reported pool-or spa-related fatal drownings per year for 2015 through 2017, involving children younger than 15 years old. Annual fatal drowning rates increased gradually between 2015 and 2017, with a spike of 395 reported fatalities involving children younger than 15 years old in 2017. Residential locations, such as a child’s home, a family or friend’s house, or a neighbor’s residence, made up 71 percent of the reported fatal drowning incidents. “Water safety vigilance remains as important as ever, especially in light of ongoing public health concerns and community restrictions related to covid-19,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Robert Adler. “Our latest report confirms that most child drownings take place at home during the summer months. This year, with more families spending time at home, the delayed opening of many public pools, and a pause on many traditional group swimming lessons, I urge everyone to take critical safety steps to reverse the upward trend in fatal child drownings.”  Read more →

A majority of moms want to spend time with family on Mother’s Day. Mom’s also enjoy sleeping in when given the opportunity. An ideal Mother’s Day would include time for mom, time with the family, and some together time watching TV and movies as well as a special dinner. If you are looking for gifts, a majority of Mom’s said they would enjoy a gift card for an experience they can enjoy after the covid-19 pandemic has passed. Read more →

During the coronavirus Stay Home, Stay Healthy order in Washington state, I’m doing well. The time is flying by. It’s difficult to believe that we’ve been doing it for seven weeks. Why are things going well here? I’m working on my book “Follow the Money: My Life as a Financial Journalist.” Since I love blogging so much, it’s been difficult to get my book finished. Now, I work on my book first, then, I get a reward to write a blog post. It’s working. I’m three-fourths done with my book. The photo is my dining room table stacked with articles I’ve written: well over 1,000 print articles. When I finish writing about my Tacoma News Tribune articles, I’ll pause and sent my book proposal out to interested agents I met at recent writers’ conferences. While waiting to hear from them, I’ll undertake the huge task of writing the final chapter – describing my blogging work, which includes more than 6,000 articles. Read more →

It’s Rosacea Awareness Month. April has been designated Rosacea Awareness Month by the National Rosacea Society or NRS to urge those with the warning signs to see a dermatologist for diagnosis and treatment. It’s estimated that more than 16 million Americans have rosacea. It tends to strike people in their 30s, 40s, or older. “Although the occurrence of rosacea has been well documented over the centuries, virtually everything we now understand about the disorder in medical science has been discovered in the last 20 years,” said Julie Harper, M.D., clinical associate professor of dermatology at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. “As a result of these advances, dermatologists are now able to identify and prescribe specific therapies for the various signs and symptoms based on a thorough understanding of the underlying disease process.” Rosacea affects an estimated 415 million people throughout the world. Among the most famous rosacea sufferers is former President Bill Clinton. Others reported to have had rosacea include Princess Diana, actresses Renee Zellweger and Naomi Watts, singer Sam Smith, and comedian Amy Schumer. Read more →

I’m working on my book about my journalism career, so these days of staying at home are going by quickly for me. I have plenty of food (and toilet paper) and just found out I can order groceries, expect frozen food, from my local food co-op. I was ready to try Safeway or Fred Meyer thinking eating nonorganic food would be a lesser risk than going to the co-op to shop. Then, I wrote about the Dirty Dozen, a list of the produce with the highest pesticide residues offered yearly by the Environmental Working Group. Topping the list are strawberries, spinach, and kale. The EWG recommends that whenever possible, consumers purchase organic versions of produce on the Dirty Dozen list. Raisins, which hadn’t been tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2007, had the most pesticide residues. The EWG recommends eating organic raisins or prunes. Prunes, USDA tests found, had much lower pesticide residues than either conventional and organic raisins. Read more →

Things have changed dramatically for Americans due to the coronavirus. Most baby boomers are sheltering in place and waiting to see what happens next. What will it be? It’s all unknown. Meanwhile, boomer bloggers are writing about ways to cope with it all. Articles include: How to manage anxiety and to meditate. The benefits of a stacation. The importance of avoiding charity scams. Read more →