"Costco phasing out books, a sign of the times..." 'James "Kimo" Rosen' (Kimo's world #342)

James "Kimo" Rosen is a retired professional photographer  

amongst other things is a humorist writer.

Rosen currently resides on the tropical island of Kaua'i

                                                 with his best friend and spiritual adviser,                                  

                                             Ivanka "Costco" Obama, The bipartisan Dog!

                    Sunrise/Weather Photos, October- 2022

           These photos appeared on Hawaii News Now

   Blog #2096~Kimo's world #342                                          

Costco phasing out books, a sign of the times

 "These times they are a changing" never rang more true than in this post-COVID- Smartphone era.

Costco's recent decision to phase out selling books in all Hawaii and Alaska locations is a sad sign of the times.

 People these days seem to lack interest in education and history and are enamored in their narcissistic worlds of social media encompassing the majority of their free time when they're not working. This is most of the time since so many people don't work anymore.  

You would think with so many people not working that books would be more popular than ever.

Almost every business

I go to is looking for help from fast food restaurants, and public transportation to hospitals and doctors' offices. The magazine and newspaper racks have been empty in doctors' waiting rooms since everyone is busy on their smartphones in their own world trolling a story in the Garden Island news or elsewhere.

"Progress," The computer age has made young people not even able to communicate one on one in person without an App on their smartphones.

Kids are now living with their parents into their 30s and this is considered the norm. Communication skills are at an all-time low, couples tend to meet online in lieu of meeting in person.

Everyone wants to start out as a CEO or famous actor and not put in any hard knocks or blood sweat and tears. Everyone is a star with their own Youtube

channel or blog, or Tik Tok video. I am guilty myself of blogging. There are so many ways to stream and watch TV and so many TV shows and at times it's overwhelming and near impossible to get off the couch.

Obesity and type two diabetes are out of control and rampant. One thing that is positive with all that's transpired post-COVID and with all the narcissism of smartphones and social life being a fraction of what it was ten years ago is teenage pregnancy is said to be way down,

Wouldn't it be wonderful to throw away cable TV, streaming venues, smartphones,  social media

and go back to 3 channels on the TV, a telephone with a cord that is shared by the family, and no social media and enjoy a good book again?

I got carried away all because

Costco will stop carrying books at my local store. Banning books is never a good sign for society.

"A home without books is a body without a soul"Marcus Tullius Cicero

“A house without books is like a room without windows." Henry Ward Beecher

''A life without books is a thirsty life" Stephen King

I plead with Costco, I can handle phasing out books, though not happy with it.

I cringed and was very upset when you shut down the photo section but thank God lived through it.  Please whatever you do, I beg of you just don't ever ban or get rid of those world-famous $1.50 all beef ¼ lb hot dogs with refillable soft drinks and the $4.99 rotisserie chickens!

Now that would be detrimental and near impossible to live with! (LOL)

Hana Hou!(Encore)

"The mysterious placebo effect..." 'James "Kimo" Rosen' (Kimo's world #341)

 

James "Kimo" Rosen is a retired professional photographer  

amongst other things is a humorist writer.

Rosen currently resides on the tropical island of Kaua'i

                                                 with his best friend and spiritual adviser,                                  

                                             Ivanka "Costco" Obama, The bipartisan Dog!

                    Sunrise/Weather Photos, October- 2022

           These photos appeared on Hawaii News Now

   Blog #2095~Kimo's world #341                                          

The mysterious placebo effect

 Your mind can

be a very powerful healing tool when given the chance. The idea that your brain can convince your body of a fake treatment is a real thing called the placebo effect.  Believe it or not, science has found that under the right circumstances, a placebo can be just as effective as traditional treatments of medicine.

My Doctor is concerned

my hypochondria is getting worse so he put me on more potent placebos!  I'm addicted to placebos. I could quit but it wouldn't matter. (LOL)

Jokes aside, most doctors know it's the prescription pad and what they write on it that is

the special sauce or hidden ingredient for healing. Pharmaceuticals are not always necessary, however belief in recovery is, and therefore a doctor may prescribe a placebo in lieu of a name-brand or generic drug taken three times a day.

There is an interesting study by Beecher and Lasagna, a group of patients who had just

undergone surgery and were alternately given morphine and placebos. Those who took morphine immediately after surgery registered a 52% relief factor; those who took the placebo first had 40%. the group also discovered the more severe the pain, the more effective the placebo.

There is much to be said about the placebo effect. It works best when you don’t know you’re

the victim. You could be in a test group where ten people are given the actual test pill and another group of ten is given sugar pills believed to help cure them of their disease or ailment.

People on the streets who buy fake drugs may purchase baby laxatives mixed with

other ingredients and are told it is cocaine and will experience a cocaine high because they believe it's cocaine. The same with pakalolo, those who purchase a blend of oregano and other legal herbs and are told its marijuana might get high through the placebo effect.

I remember when I was a kid watching a hypnotist on TV hypnotizing a person

eating onion and telling them it was an apple and the person honestly believed they were eating an apple.

The human mind works in mysterious ways, mind over matter has always intrigued me. If you believe in something strong enough it can work!

The witch doctor succeeds for the same reason all of the rest of us succeed.  Because according

to Dr. Schweitzer in the book Anatomy of an illness, "Each patient carries his own doctor inside him."They come to us not knowing the truth."We are at our best  when we give the  doctor who resides within each patient to go to work."

The placebo is the doctor who resides within.

The bottom line, medicine is young and what we know now is nothing to what we will know in a hundred years.

It’s funny the

way the Garden Island news always continues my Wellness column over to the obituary page.  I guess it’s better than starting on the obituary page. As my father always said, "it's a good day when you wake up and you're not on the obituary page."

Hana Hou!(Encore)