11 MAY 06: THE DATING GAME
Uh-oh -- I don't mean to disappoint you with that title. This is NOT a post about me suddenly having a love life....
Our topic actually is the dates on products sold in supermarkets. WRBL revealed Wednesday night Rainbow Foods on Buena Vista Road has been selling baby formula which "expired" months ago. Perhaps the store's living up to its name - because rainbows really have no end.
The Georgia Agriculture Department inspected Rainbow Foods this week, and noticed baby formula on the shelves with a "sell by" date of February. I've heard of aged steaks and beer, but this seems a bit over the top for me....
Samantha Johnson of Columbus believes the baby formula sold by Rainbow Foods made her baby daughter sick. She admittedly didn't check the dates on the cans she bought, but later found they were three months past the expiration date. The lesson here is obvious - not all oldies are goodies.
One of the baby formula brands Samantha Johnson bought was Similac. I recall church pastors preaching against this years ago -- saying it's Simi-lar to mother's milk, but Lac-king in a lot.
The manager of Rainbow Foods says he tries to avoid selling outdated items in his store. But apparently some items are slipping through the cracks, and.... well, check that. We WISH they'd slip through the cracks, and wind up in dumpsters.
Searches for expired food in supermarkets used to be a favorite consumer topic on Atlanta TV stations. The milk could be two days out of date. The cheese could be a week out of date. And really now, does anybody ever buy those cans of lima beans?
Rainbow Foods is not the only supermarket with a dating problem. You may recall we spotted a Winn-Dixie store on South Lumpkin Road selling expired milk several months ago [8 Jan]. We have NOT been back since - so for them, it's a Loss-Dixie.
But sometimes, food items can mislead you with their labels. The Walgreens on Wynnton Road has cans of Pringles potato chips with offers to "win a camera." The giveaway ended last December -- but the imprint on the bottom of the can says the chips still are good until next November. Those are some strong preservatives....
E-MAIL UPDATE: Now back to Wednesday's numbers game on Georgia graduation exams....
+ as low as 496 in social studies. Isn't this a bit like the military allowing "precision bombs" which are four miles off target?
Isn't 496 a little arbitrary? Why not 495 or even 490? Who is to say there should be any standard? Just give them all a gold star, a certificate of participation (which someone will have to read to them) and a blue ribbon.
I'm wondering if I should take a different view of the state of our educational system and view it as thinning the pool of potential competitors in the job market.
I can see in the future employers providing remedial reading, writing and math classes to employees That's OK though. At least the graduates will feel good about themselves.
You make my point well, Buck - but after thinking it over, maybe I was being a little harsh. After all, being close to a hole in golf might get you a "gimme" from your opponent.
Remedial math classes in the workplace might be a good idea. It might have saved HealthSouth and Enron a whole lot of trouble....
But truth be told, some colleges have been teaching "remedial writing" for decades. My Reporting I class in journalism school was that way, as a surprised instructor spent the first three weeks giving the class review lessons in grammar. I felt a bit superior - until after graduation, when I had to write news bleary-eyed at 4:00 a.m.
(The only person I remember now from that journalism class was a seven-foot-tall guy who always sat in the back - and Paul Mokeski went on to play N.B.A. basketball for several years, instead of reporting.)
The debate about school standards continued Wednesday, with news that 85 Georgia schools and 40 Alabama schools fell short of the federal "No Child Left Behind" requirements. Things may be so bad that the children can't even read "Left Behind" books.
But Phenix City Superintendent Larry DiChiara contended it's unfair to label schools as "failures," if they fall short of the federal education standards. OK, then let's borrow from the Miss Georgia pageant - and label them the first runners-up.
Now let's check other items from Wednesday's news:
+ Severe thunderstorms moved across Columbus, with a recorded wind gust at the airport of 53 miles per hour. That was stronger than the local winds from Hurricane Ivan two years ago - and let's see some fast-talking car salesman try to top it.
(It was very dark over my home at 5:30 p.m., and WRBL noted it was a "green thunderstorm." That meant the color in the sky - not what happened to the grass when all the rain fell, or the leaves of the trees crashing onto roofs.)
+ Columbus Fire Chief Jeff Meyer told WRBL all of Georgia lacks sufficient helicopters and emergency personnel, in case a major disaster strikes. I can see it now - the first e-mail from "IsOurStateSafe."
+ Former Georgia School Superintendent Linda Schrenko pleaded guilty to two federal corruption counts, and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Schrenko was charged with diverting federal education money for personal use - and I sure hope her fellow inmates like that facelift she has.
(I'd forgotten Linda Schrenko was the first woman ever elected to a statewide office in Georgia. Now her political career is Schrenko-wrapped.)
+ Instant Message to "Mix 96.7 FM" in Auburn: Are you kidding me with that commercial? If I don't listen to your station, I "hate kittens"?! I'd have to hook a big antenna onto a kitten on a rooftop, to hear you in my neighborhood.
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