Neck Rings / Neck Elongation

You've probably seen the brass neck rings worn by the women of certain tribes in Thailand that elongate their necks. I've always thought or been told that the rings elongate and stretch the neck, support the neck whose muscles have atrophied and that these women could not support their heads if the rings were removed, even that the head would flop over and they would suffocate. Well, not really. (another "truth" dispelled, regular readers here know I'm all about exposing those.)

A neck ring is a band of metal worn as an ornament around the neck. The Kayan tribe or Padaung tribe from the border region of Myanmar and Thailand begin to wear neck rings when they are children. Gradually with age the number of "brass coils" worn increases to elongate the neck. Actually they are not rings but continuous coils that are shaped out of one or more brass tubings.

The custom of wearing neck rings is related to an ideal of beauty: an elongated neck. Neck rings actually push the collarbone and ribs down. The neck stretching is mostly illusory; the weight and force of the rings cause the rib cage and shoulders to grow at an angle 45 degrees lower than what is natural, causing an illusion of an elongated neck.

When the coils are removed, there is no health danger or proven medical concern. In fact the women usually have their neck rings removed during childbirth or general maintenance of the rings. Sometimes women don't see their necks for 5 or 10 or 20 years. When they do remove the rings, it is even a source of fascination among the women themselves.

Free WiFi In-Flight for the Holidays

I told you in an earlier post how much I liked Virgin America (and Google is cool too). The two have teamed up to offer free in-flight WiFi on Virgin America flights from November 10 to January 15. Just bring your WiFi-enabled laptop on the flight and get connected.

http://www.freeholidaywifi.com.

Update: Larry King is a Still the Worst Interviewer

I was reading about the Balloon Boy, supposedly trapped in the flying saucer shaped hot air balloon and the frantic search that followed. The story read that Richard Heeney, the father of Falcon Heeney, the boy that was thought to be aboard a runaway balloon, was exposed for orchestrating this as a publicity stunt during an interview on Larry King Live. How in the world could Larry have found this out with his milk toast interviewing style? Could it actually be?

As I read on, Wolf Blitzer was the guest host on LKL. Of course, it couldn't have been Larry that pulled this off. The only way interviews get done right on LKL is if Larry is not doing the interviewing. Larry, it's time to unplug the microphone. Find a hobby and go enjoy yourself. But please leave interviewing to the pros.

Panoramas Galore

Here's a cool website. 360 panoramas and virtual tours of major places in the US and around the world. Either click on the pin to see the panaorama thumbnail or in the upper right corner there is a drop down menu of Panoramas with places around the world (Times Square, Grand Canyon, St. Peter's Basilica, Versailles, Trafalgar Square, Carnival in Rio, many more). You can zoom in (Shift key) or out (Control) and change the direction, speed and angle of rotation with your mouse.

Here is the URL. http://www.panoramas.dk/

BEWARE of Breast Cancer Charities of America

Received a call this morning from Breast Cancer Charities of America. During their intro on the call, they used the term "professional fundraiser" which made me suspicious. I instinctively asked how much of my donation would go to the charity. The caller covered the mouthpiece and yelled out "PERCENTAGE" and said they'd connect me with their supervisor. During the short wait I could hear the other callers, Boiler Room style. The supervisor made me ask the question again to which he answered 20%. 20%!! I told him we already make direct donations to several breast cancer orgs, as we do, and then told him his organization should be ashamed of keeping 80% of the donations to turn around only 20% to the charity. I then hung up in disgust.

We support the work done by charities involved in the research, care and rehabilitation of breast cancer patients. You can find many responsible places to donate through organizations such as:

• The National Breast Cancer Foundation
• Susan G. Komen for the Cure
• Avon Walk for Breast Cancer
• American Cancer Society

UPDATE 5/25/10: Finally reached Erica Harvey at BCCA! We discussed the thousands of visits you all have made to this blog looking for information about whether BCCA is a scam. I also told her that my blog post was based on the very bad experience I had when called by BCCA and the suspicions I had. She apologized for the bad experience I had, but didn't have much more to say. I offered her the opportunity to comment further to you on the validity of their fund raising, she declined. I asked her if the 20% was the actual amount that makes it to the charity to help women with breast cancer, she said she didn't have those numbers. Come on, this is the executive director of the Breast Cancer Charities of America and she doesn't know how much money goes to benefit patients? That information should be on the tip of her tongue. To conclude, my suspicions and doubts on the BCCA remain. Make your own decision but don't say you were uninformed. Vox Unum is now the #1 search result on Google for "Breast Cancer Charities of America Scam". Can more than 2000 people be wrong?

UPDATE 11/14/09: This post has gotten by far the most traffic on my blog, hundreds of views, showing I'm not the only one looking for info about these guys. I'm glad this has been helpful. If you have a story or experience you want to share, please leave a comment. Clearly, other visitors are coming here for more information and could benefit from you.

UPDATE 11/21/09: Below is a comment from BCCA's executive director Erica Harvey. I will call Ms. Harvey on our collective behalf to challenge the legitimacy of her organization and behavior of their callers. If you have had experiences or questions you'd like me to pose to her, please add your comment below. Please submit your comment below by Saturday Dec. 5, 2009.

No Wonder our Perception of Beauty is Distorted

I wasn't looking to do another post on the same theme as my last post, but here's another example of a reality that is different than what we might perceive.

The photoshop treatment and attempt at perfection is largely unobtainable in the real world. What we thought was real is not. One of my favorite movie lines is from Simone where Al Pacino's character says "Our ability to deceive has exceeded our ability to detect." Unfortunately it makes us suspect of much of what we see. Every magazine cover, every still photo (video is tougher but by no means impossible).

But this post is not just about the technical and marketing conspiracy to trick us into striving for the unobtainable stereotypes, it's about self esteem, especially for woman of all ages. Congratulations to Dove for sponsoring some videos on their web site about realistic perceptions of real beauty and dedicating some time, money and resources to this. Sure, it's in their best interests to address the market in this way, but hey, they're selling soap, not tobacco so let's not confuse PSAs to stop teen smoking by Phillip Morris with true beauty ads by Dove.