Ruminations - 22oct2009 (updated 23oct09)

George Rebane

- Soft-soaping the dollar.
- The Sierra Bravos lose one (and then gain one).

Ever since I can remember, at our house we always stuck the worn thin piece of soap to the new bar so that none of it would be wasted.  I guess all depression era families and European refugees learned that little trick to save pennies.  When Jo Ann and I started our family, sticking soap together also became part of our routine.  For decades our favorite brand of shower soap has been Dial (‘… don’t you wish everyone did?’), and in recent years we’ve noticed some hanky-panky going on – they started carving out curves and reshaping the product which was supposed to better fit your hand and contours as you lathered up that powerful body.

Well, the new shape (technically a hyperbolic paraboloid, or simply a saddle) also made it harder to stick the old piece on to the new bar.  And at the same time they could deliver less soap in a package that still required its familiar outward packaging so’s you wouldn’t notice.  I like to think that all of this has been the idea of some junior birdman with an MBA who became product manager for Dial some years back.  But as a twofer, it is clever merchandizing – it disguises the shrinking dollar while encouraging a higher consumption rate.  As I’ve mused before – the good thing about capitalism is that it always seeks to game the system, and the bad thing about capitalism is that it always seeks to game the system.  Michael Moore, you hypocritical commie, call your office.

Did you hear the good news – there’s so little of it – from Washington.  To make the Senate version of Obamacare look like it will not add to the deficits (at least for a while), the Sierra Bravos in that august body came up with the so-called ‘doctor fix’.  This removed Medicare physician payments from the Obamacare cost ledger, and would allow that $250 billion deficit boosting expense to be passed as a separate bill not connected with Obamacare, even though it was still part of the overall nationalized healthcare package.  The Sierra Bravos in Congress are always busy trying to bamboozle us, and they really thought that we wouldn’t notice this little piece of garbage legislation.  Well, certain news media shined a light into their cesspool, and enough Democrats voted against this legislative legerdemain to kill it.  But don’t think that this is the end of such things.  The Sierra Bravos are still busy trying other ways to lie, cheat, and steal their way into passing Obamacare.  Keep your eyes and ears open.

(For newer RR readers, Sierra Bravo stems from the NATO phonetic alphabet used internationally for unambiguously spelling English words over voice links like military, ham, and air traffic radio.  In a somewhat lame attempt at a modicum of decorum, it is used in these posts to refer to certain of our electeds in Congress.  SB translates into ‘S… Bag’ where the S may invoke reader supplied adjectives like sleaze, scum, or even more pungent descriptors.  The deserts for such appellations are a matter of well-recorded congressional history.  Here's a short C-SPAN video that may serve as Exhibit A.)

This lawn sign picture was sent by a regular RR reader as a public service to show how both sides of a hotly debated issue may be respectfully addressed (click to enlarge).

[23oct09 update]  Those crazy guys in Congress, they're as regular as grandpa on a laxative. delivering their sack full day after day.  Today the Sierra Bravos passed the latest armed forces appropriation bill, but not before they attached a little addendum on hate speech and gay rights.  Some argue that this is written so loosely that it could lead to arrests and convictions on what you putatively might be thinking.  In any case, noble as its sponsors claim it to be, the damn thing could not fly on its own, so they attached it to a military spending bill during time of conflict - what patriots!.  Now you wouldn't want to deny our troops their guns, grenades, and geedunk while the towel heads are shooting at them would you?  File this under Exhibit B.

Comments

[Account Deleted]

Hey! We used to "mush" soap together - and it was the '50s and '60s, not the depression. We just didn't want to waste. Still use every last bit today. It's called "conservation" Gore and his left-wing friends should try it sometime. Maybe on their private jets or in their mansions. Just a thought.

[Dixie Redfearn]

I think the world is divided into 2 groups: People who stick the remnant of soap onto the old bar and those who happily throw it away! (We have one of each at my house.) When my mother died -- she lived through the Great depression -- I found some empty soap boxes full of those little slivers of soap. Was she going to melt them down into 1 bar someday? Save them in case the market ran out of soap? This is just one of those weird things that everyone has an opinion on.

[DaveC]

Ivory still has squared cakes. Easy to stick together.

[George Rebane]

Scott, we did mush soap - thanks for the proper term - after the depression and war years. My thesis is that such lifelong 'values' probably started during harder times.

Dixie, agreed on the two groups. Jo Ann's dad mushed soap, but she is not wild about the idea and tolerates my frugality. Of course, there's a way two satisfy both which I've considered implementing for years should my sweetie dig in her heels. Have two bars in shower - one mushed and one 'clean'. When the clean bar gets small, mush it onto the mushed bar and break open a new clean bar. No problem, no waste.

Dave, we tried Ivory years ago when the kids were young, but discovered that it was mostly air - 'it floats!' - and really wore down fast. Not sure how Dial and Ivory compare on pennies per ounce.

[Steve Enos]

I always stick the end of the line soap sliver to the next bar.

George, get off Dial soap and spend a little more money for quality soap, try Yuba Blue on Mill Street. Good soap will change your life!