Writing on the surface of a lime

The preschoolers were enjoying a birthday snack of blueberry muffins with OJ at the playground picnic tables when a red car came racing through the parking lot.

"It's going too fast," the kids told me. "We need a speed lemon!"

I wanted to make a speed lemon, but there was just a tired lime in the fridge. It's really hard to transform a lime into a car with a Sharpie pen. Ask.com and eHow.com offered no advice for my trouble with lime writing, just suggestions for making invisible ink.


Nadir is one of those crossword puzzle words. Lemon law is a crossword answer, too. I read an unflattering review of Ralph Nader's Seventeen Solutions in the Kirkus Review 8/15/12 issue.

nadir (n.) 

late 14c., in astronomical sense, from M.L. nadir, from Arabic nazir "opposite to," in nazir as-samt, lit. "opposite of the zenith," from nazir "opposite" + as-samt "zenith" (see zenith). Transferred sense of "lowest point (of anything)" is first recorded 1793.

Just for a sec I misread that low point as 1973, the year I finished high school.  Our principals kept telling us we were the worst class to ever darken their school door, but I don't think we were all lemons.

Several of my little students are unsafe at any speed, especially when they don't settle down and take a good long nap. Accidents happen when they are tired, but they are not all lemons, either.


Had a flashback to the days of Chevy Corvairs, Ford Falcons, Dodge Darts, Plymouth Valiants.  Exploding Ford Pintos, the Tylenol tampering scare, and tampon toxic shock syndrome profoundly changed our collective U.S. mindset.  We became consumers who expected to be protected by government from dangers in the products we buy and use. Yes, consumer advocacy and litigation made government bigger. Do we want to go back to the "let the buyer beware" era?

"Every time you open a bottle or package (of medicine, food or drink) that has tamper evidence features, a band around the lid or an interior seal, it is because of the Tylenol case," said Pan Demetrakakes, executive editor of Food & Drug Packaging magazine. 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products since 1972.


© 2012 Nancy L. Ruder