Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/28023
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 – Daily News – 5A FEATURES E-cigarette simulates smoking sensation DEAR DR. GOTT: I was at a meeting sev- eral nights ago. During a break in the program, a gentleman excused himself to go outside so he could smoke what he called an e- cigarette. I didn’t have the time to ask him much about it but am certainly intrigued by it. I’m a smoker and would consider this as a sub- stitute. I don’t have a regular doctor but would defer to your views on the matter. DEAR READER: Elec- tronic cigarettes are promot- ed as an alternative to inhaled tobacco products. It is a battery-powered “ciga- rette” that provides a vapor- ized propylene glycol/nico- tine mixture through inhala- tion, providing a sensation similar to inhaled tobacco smoke, even though there is no tobacco, combustion or real smoke. The unit is made of stainless steel, with a lithi- um-ion battery that heats a filament devised to vaporize liquid nicotine in a refillable cartridge. I understand dis- posable e-cigarettes are also available. A Chinese phar- macist invented the original unit in 2003, and it was introduced to the market the following year. Export com- menced in 2005/2006. I saw an individual using one of these devices and can offer the following. The unit this gentleman had was sub- stantially heavier than a reg- ular cigarette. When puffed, the LED glow tip lit up as though the “cigarette” were lit. A nicotine canister deliv- ers a small amount of nico- tine to allow a user to reduce his or her nicotine intake. On exhaling, water vapor is emitted. While he may have purchased a top-of-the-line unit, it cost the gentleman about $139, was ordered through the mail, and came with eight filters. A filter is about 30 cigarettes, compa- rable to a pack and a half. Filters can be purchased without buying the complete package — again through the mail. He indicated a number of stores nationwide now carry e-cigarettes, which would eliminate the mail system and the waiting involved. When the tip of the unit flashes instead of glows, this is an indication the “cig- arette” should be recharged, similarly to a cell phone. Unfortunately, I neglected to Dr. Peter Gott ask how long a charge lasts. What was most amazing to me was that the gen- tleman I spoke with took a puff, exhaled “smoke” rings, and put the unit back in his pocket. Because of the perception of smoke, the process has the slang term “vaping.” No heat, no lighter, no cigarette pack in a pocket, no loose tobacco, no smell. What will they think of next? Because FDA analysis detected carcinogens when their regulators did prelimi- nary checks in March 2010, they imposed a ban on the import of e-cigarettes pend- ing a regulatory review for any potential health risks. It appears there are no health warnings on the products. E- cigarettes haven’t been com- pletely regulated, are not considered tobacco prod- ucts, and no restrictions for minors are in place. Further- more, because of a lack of the designation as a tobacco product, this could have an impact on prior prohibitions in restaurants, bars, airplanes and a whole host of other locations that heretofore dis- allowed such activity. The FDA has announced that it intends to regulate electronic cigarettes and related prod- ucts. I personally cannot answer whether the unit emits more or less nicotine than the real thing, nor do I know the long-term health effects involved. Tests per- formed by the FDA found that cartridges labeled as containing no nicotine did, in fact, contain it and that three different electronic- cigarette cartridges with the same label emitted a markedly different amount with each puff. I will print a follow-up when more details and long-term results become known. Dr. Peter H. Gott is a retired physician and the author of several books, including “Live Longer, Live Better,” “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Diet” and “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Cookbook,” which are available at most bookstores or online. His website is www.AskDrGottMD.com Finicky father falters Dear Annie: I’ve been with my husband for 14 years. I have a career and make good money with excellent benefits. But ‘‘Ben’’ hasn’t found himself quite yet. He is now in his early 30s and has studied architecture, business, machin- ing, personal train- ing, mechanics, help him along, or should I just accept the way things are? Am I crippling him because of my success? Everything else about him is perfect. — Married to Undecided Annie’s Mailbox by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar computers and more. He has started a few businesses, all of which fizzled. He has trouble making decisions about a career, and whenever he gets close to finishing what he starts, he second guesses himself and starts a new path. None of the men in his family are par- ticularly confident. I believe he is afraid to fail. Ben’s mother has always been the family leader and is extremely critical of her husband and children. Anytime he begins a new endeavor, she shoots him down. I try to give him praise to counteract her, but it isn’t enough. While I don’t mind bearing the load financially, I really want to see Ben come into his own. I think it would help our marriage and set a good example for our children. We recently had a baby, and it’s looking as if Ben will be a stay-at- home dad. This is fine with me, but I wonder if he will ever find a career and thrive in it. Is there anything I can do to Dear Married: You are not crip- pling him. Ben’s problems may stem from attention deficit disorder, his par- ents or some combination of psycho- logical issues. It would probably take a bit of therapy to unravel the causes and work on changing the way he approaches his life. If the two of you are willing to invest the time and money, suggest he talk to a psycholo- gist. Dear Annie:A few years ago, I had my first name legally changed. I never liked the one I was given at birth. Had I known how easy the process is, I would have done it when I was 18 instead of waiting until age 29. All of my friends call me by my new name, as do my co-workers and in-laws. However, in my immediate family, only my sister acknowledges the change. It would mean a great deal to me if my parents and aunts and uncles would call me by my chosen name instead of my birth name, but they refuse, saying, ‘‘We have been calling you this for almost 30 years. Don’t expect us to switch now.’’ They read your column every day. Perhaps if they see this they will under- stand and change. — Kentucky Dear Kentucky: Don’t count on it. We suspect it is a bit hurtful to your par- ents that you changed your name from the one they gave you. For them, we’d recommend tolerance, pretending your old name is a ‘‘family nickname.’’ But if that isn’t possible for you, try helping them out. Pretend you don’t hear your old name. Give them a minute to remember the new one. Remind them gently when they forget or refuse to use it. Dear Annie: I chuckled when I read the letter from ‘‘Won’t Lose My Job for Her,’’ whose co-worker sells makeup out of her desk. I used to work at a bank, and a co-worker sold snacks and soda out of an unused filing cabi- net. Granted, she never asked anyone to handle sales while she was busy (that would be irritating), but everyone was quite happy with the arrangement. We had snacks and drinks for a cheaper price than the often-broken vending machines, she made a little pocket money, and a couple of times a year she’d take some of her profits and throw the office a lunch party. — Arca- ta, Calif. Dear Arcata: We can see how you would put up with this, since it didn’t inconvenience you. But we cannot imagine any business owners would approve. Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please e-mail your questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.net, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 5777 W.Century Blvd., Ste. 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. Band to release studio-quality tracks LOS ANGELES (MCT) — Ah, the good old days, when sonic philistines debated the merits of vinyl over compacts discs. This week, Radiohead may well spark a debate over FLAC versus AAC that could bring a misty eye to audio historians. Radio- head's new release on Tues- day isn't about alphabet soup. Rather, the band is offering fans, via a London company called 7Digital, their first chance to down- load its latest album, "The King of Limbs," in higher- quality digital formats. FLAC stands for free lossless audio codec and, at 24 bits, is said to feature the same audio fidelity in which bands record their songs. In the mastering process, when recordings are made ready for copying on to CDs, the accuracy is taken down a notch, to 16 bits, a process that has annoyed recording engi- neers and bands because some of the nuances of their music can sometimes be lost. But the losses are mini- mal when compared to what happens to music files when they are compressed into downloadable formats such as MP3 and AAC, which stands for advanced audio coding. These for- mats were spawned in the 1990s to allow listeners to squeeze more songs onto devices such as the iPod, which debuted in 2001 with a whopping 5 gigabytes of memory. That was enough to hold "1,000 songs in your pocket," according to Apple honcho Steve Jobs, but only if they were aggressively compressed. That sales pitch, along with the introduction earlier in 2001 of the iTunes music store, led to a mass migra- tion from high-fidelity audio and toward the conve- nience of lo-fi digital songs. A decade later, Radio- head is swimming in the other direction — back toward high-fidelity releas- es. Working with digital music company 7Digital, the British band plans to sell a high-quality download of its album for $11.99 (the version also comes bundled with a CD-quality copy and an AAC compressed copy). Will listeners go for quality? Ben Drury, chief executive and co-founder of 7Digital, believes at least a certain segment of the mar- ket will. "I'm definitely not say- ing this is the mass-market format of the future," Drury said. "Certainly, people who spend significant sums on hi-fi equipment have been vocal about the poor quality of MP3s. But that's been quite niche." What's changed in the last few years is the increas- ing number of households that have installed home theater systems around their flat-screen TVs to get sur- round sound. And when they're not watching movies, many pipe through music. "Millions of people who use their PlayStation 3s to watch Blu-ray movies are typically hearing 24-bit sound," Drury said. "Per- sonally, I find it annoying that I can get better quality audio watching a movie than when I listen to music." Will that be enough to move the needle on sales of high-quality so-called loss- less audio? Certainly, music companies are keen to find out. A "yes" will mean they can charge a higher price for premium quality songs or get people to repurchase albums at higher quality. The early signs are encouraging. Drury said test releases done by 7Digital have indicated that as many as 40 percent of consumers opt to pay a few extra dollars for the higher, CD-quality ver- sion. Taylor’s unpublished love letters up for auction CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Before becoming a bride eight times over, Elizabeth Taylor was a 17-year-old starlet scribbling letters to her first fiance, charting on pale pink stationery his pro- gression from her one-and- only to the one who got away. ‘‘I’ve never known this kind of love before — it’s so perfect and complete — and mature,’’ Taylor wrote to William Pawley on May 6, 1949. ‘‘I’ve never loved any- one in my life before one third as much as I love you — and I never will (well, as far as that goes — I’ll never love anyone else — peri- od).’’ Taylor, who died last week at age 79, was engaged to Pawley in 1949, just before her first mar- riage. More than 60 of the letters she wrote him between March and October of that year will be auc- tioned in May by RR Auc- tions of Amherst, N.H. It bought the letters two years ago from Pawley, who lives in Florida. The unpub- lished letters — some writ- ten in purple fountain ink on pink paper — provide a glimpse of a teenager’s tran- sition to adult screen star. She frets about her weight (’’As I’m sitting here — writing to you, I’m just stuffing myself on a box of candy — honestly I’ve got to stop eating so much“) and passing her high school exams. And she contrasts two movies she was filming at the time, ‘‘A Place in the Sun’’ and ‘‘The Big Hang- over,’’ praising the director of the former and complain- ing about her role in the lat- ter. But mostly, she gushes about Pawley, the 22-year- old son of a former ambas- sador to Brazil, reassuring him over and over that her love is true. ‘‘My heart aches & makes me want to cry when I think of you, and how much I want to be with and to look into your beautiful blue eyes, and kiss your sweet lips and have your strong arms hold me, oh so tight, & close to you ... I want us to be ‘lovers’ always ... even after we’ve been married seventy-five years and have at least a dozen great-great-grandchil- dren,’’ she wrote on March 28. At the time, Taylor was publicly dating football player Glenn Davis, but in several of the letters, she complains about the ruse promoted by her mother and the studio to maintain her girl-next-door image. In a 10-page letter dated April 1, she describes her reaction to Davis accidentally breaking a pair of earrings Pawley had given her. ‘‘I have never had such a strong desire to hit anyone with all my might in all my life,’’ she wrote. ‘‘I gave him back his ‘A’ pin, the football and his All-American sweater ... I don’t care what they say anymore ... from now on I’m going to live my life the way I want to.’’ In May, she told Pawley she was ready to say good- bye to her career and every- thing connected with it, ‘‘For I won’t be giving any- thing up — but I will be gaining the greatest gift that God bestows on man — love, marriage, a family — and you my Darling.’’ By September, however, Taylor was writing about returning her engagement ring at Pawley’s request. ‘‘I know with all my heart and soul that this is not the end for us — it couldn’t be — we love each other too much,’’ she wrote. Less than eight months later, she married hotel heir Conrad Nicholson ‘‘Nicky’’ Hilton. The online auction, set for May 19-26, will also feature letters Taylor’s mother wrote to Pawley after the engagement ended.