Secondhand Fat (Opinion)

I read this idiotic article by Reuters about how there should be an 18% 'sin' tax on pizza and soda because these items make people fat.

While I think this article is idiotic because there are so many things that cause people to be fat that singling out these two food items will do nothing but create money for the government.

What I truly found offensive were the comments below the article. I'm overweight. A few years ago I worked really hard, made myself miserable and lost 98 pounds. I finally decided it wasn't worth the work. I gained part of that weight back. I'm okay with it.

I am tired of people calling me names because I'm overweight. I have perfect sugar levels, extremely low cholesterol, and normal blood pressure. I wonder at those who sneer at my weight are at least that healthy?

I do have some back pain but I had it when I was thin as well. And all the exercise aggravated it. It hasn't bothered me since I cut back on the exercise. So should I exercise more and embrace the pain?

And I'm offended so many people think I should be taxed by my weight. Or the bigger idiots who think I should pay more for my health care. I'm not sickly. I'm fat. My heart is good, I'm not diabetic.

I have allergies. I doubt losing forty pounds will cure that.

People don't get secondhand fat so why don't you go away and leave me alone. I'm not hurting you.

You don't have to sleep with me, eat what I eat, or share in my calories. I'm sick to DEATH of the so-called obesity epidemic. The truth is I don't care. I've so many other things that are important to me that my weight isn't even on the top ten list.

It seems that my weight is all that people care about. It doesn't matter than I'm a good person. It doesn't matter that I rescue abandoned animals. It doesn't matter that I'm a really good writer. It doesn't matter that I was a Big Sister in the Big Sister program.

It doesn't matter that I'm an excellent friend.

All that seems to matter is that I'm fat.

I hate that who I am doesn't matter to anyone. All that matters is what I weigh. Because I'm fat, I have to be ten times better just be considered okay. Because I'm fat, I'll always be labeled as lazy. Because I'm fat, I'll always be labeled as romantically unwanted.

But just because I'm fat doesn't make me any less of a person.

And if this country tries to tax me for being fat, I swear I'll pack up and move somewhere else. I should be judged on WHO I am and not what I WEIGH.

Amazon and E-Book (Opinion)

I'm assuming you've all read about the Amazon and Macmillan Publishing brouhaha. If you haven't, let me summarize it for you.

Amazon sells e-books for $9.99. Macmillan Publishing wants Amazon to sell their e-books for 15 dollars. Amazon said no because they are trying to build their Kindle business and Amazon doesn't think their customers will pay fifteen bucks for an e-book.

(And they are right)

Amazon actually takes a small loss to post e-books for 9.99. Macmillan makes the same profit either way. So basically, Macmillan is trying to dictate to Amazon what the 'AMAZON' price for the book should be.

They've been negotiating and it fell apa rt so Amazon pulled all of the Macmillan books off their website when the talks crashed.

My Opinion

I think $9.99 is too much for an e-book. I think fifteen dollars is utterly ridiculous. You don't own an e-book. You can't transfer them to other readers or formats. You don't own the book. As you know from the problems with the 1984 book in 2009, your e-copy can be revoked at any time by the publisher.

I'll pay ten dollars for a paperback book because I can loan it out, keep it on my shelf to read later, or sell it. Once I read an e-book, it's worthless. Why should I pay the same amount for less?

And Macmillan Publishing has no right to tell Amazon what price to sell products for. Macmillan can price the content to Amazon at whatever price they like, but what Amazon sells it for is their business.

But I also think that yanking all of the Macmillan books off the electronic shelves is petty and the act of a bully (But that's another issue).

For me, it all boils down to this, I won't pay more than ten bucks for an e-book. I just won't. I don't want to pay ten bucks. I think six dollars is about the right price. After all, the publisher isn't printing anything, shipping anything, or storing anything.

As a writer, I know the writer gets very little from the e-sales. Plus, most writers just want to be read, many would sell e-books for less than print.

So where is all this money going? To bolster the failing print sales and line the pockets of publishing companies.

Everyone knows the Jobs just came out with the iPAD. Macmillan is trying to get Amazon to increase their prices to match they cost the iPAD will sell the e-book for. Gee thanks.

For that, I get a reader named after a sanitary product and I get to pay more for a book I don't own.

That helps Macmillan and Jobs, it doesn't do a thing for me.

I've been wanting a Kindle or a Sony e-reader but now I'm reconsidering. Do I want to invest that much into something that will end up costing me more in the long run?

Tirz