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03/13/2005: Thought for the Day:
According to a 2003 planning document from the Alaska Department of Health & Social Services, in the late 90s a woman contracted botulism after eating "stink eggs" at a dinner party in Sitka. The stink eggs--basically a mixture of salmon roe and seal oil--had been fermented in Tupperware on top of the refrigerator. To confirm the toxin's source, two public health nurses had to go Dumpster diving until they found a discarded Tupperware container full of ripe stink eggs.
So you're the marketing manager for Tupperware's Alaska division. You've got time-honored and for all you know sacred native food-preparation practices on the one hand, botulism on the other, and your company's reliably, nay, proudly airtight container in the middle. You know there's nothing especially pernicious about Tupperware--in this context, even a bucket sealed with plastic wrap could cause trouble--but nonetheless the brand's good name is in peril. What do you do? Put a little slip inside each Tupperware container saying "Not Recommended for Making Stink Eggs"? Apply for a job at Sears selling socket-wrench sets? Well, suck it up, chum, things could be worse. You could be a public health nurse.
--Cecil Adams
Len on 03.13.05 @ 05:38 PM CST
