Get Glowing

Feel the Glow, Saturday October 3rd

It’s no surprise that Mississippi isn’t exactly known as a cultural hotspot, so when an event of the significance of the Afterglow Film Festival in Grenada hits the scene, I would be remiss not to highlight it as one of the more prominent activities worth attending.  In short:

At the Grenada Afterglow Film Festival, you’ll see 7 hours worth of feel-good, short, family friendly, independent films. Our spotlight category is for “Feel-Good” films – We want viewers to be moved to feel the “Afterglow” of the festival and of the small town atmosphere in Grenada.

Check their website for all the other family friendly activities!  Of course there’ll be music and food galore!  There’s no way you’ll want to miss the Sturgis movie after seeing this promo picture!
The event is organized and run by a couple of independent young women who have gained broad support in the community.  Here is a promotional picture taken at a local television station.

Of course you can follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

I’m hoping I can score one of these awesome glow in the dark festival t-shirts!

See you there!

Enjoy.

Email to the FDA on E-Smoking

Comment:  My name is Tim Fuller and I am commenting on Electronic Cigarettes and the Public Health; Second Public Workshop; Docket No. FDA-2014-N-1936-0003.

I smoked approximately a pack and a half of full flavor Marlboro cigarettes per day beginning in my early twenties and continuing until the age of 56. I gave up cigarettes for e-smoking about the middle of November, 2014, shortly before my 57th birthday and no longer purchase or consume combustible tobacco products. Like I suspect many do, I first switched to a ‘cigalike’ product, and after testing several of the popular e-cigarette substitutes (Vuse, Mystic, Fin, Bu). I settled on the Blu brand, partly for the convenience of the portable charging case but mostly for availability of their flavored e-juices. I found the tobacco flavored e-juices unappealing and would likely have returned to cigarette smoking had I not found the option of the flavored varieties offered by Blu.

Shortly thereafter (weeks) I discovered the existence of superior vaping products being offered by several other manufacturers which offered longer battery life (Ego, eLeaf et.al.) In addition to the convenience of longer battery life and adjustable power output, I found a vast assortment of different atomizers to choose from which offered a much improved vaping experience. These allowed the option of purchasing and refilling from a multitude of flavored e-juice products at customized nicotine levels. I purchased several atomizer tanks and several flavors of mid-strength (12-18mg) e-juices, finding the ability to easily switch out tanks/flavors beneficial in my conversion from tobacco. An added benefit often overlooked is the huge savings in cost over that of consuming tobacco, not an insignificant issue for someone on an extremely limited income as I currently find myself in.

I cannot speak to the issue of whether or not these devices are ‘safe’ but in relation to the ingestion of what are known to be hundreds of proven hydrocarbon carcinogens it seems a no-brainer that there must be at least a decent level of harm reduction involved in my decision to abandon nicotine delivery via burning tobacco. I had previously tried to quit smoking via gums and patches with no success. I do not know if I will break my nicotine habit thru vaping but given the ability to wean down the nicotine levels in my e-juices it seems a more likely route and in the meantime I am sure I am abating a great deal of additional health risks.

E-juice Safety and flavored options.

I am not in support of any regulations on restricting flavors of e-juices. Of course I do support limiting e-emoking devices and e-juice access by minors as is currently the case with other nicotine delivery products such as chewing tobacco, cigars and cigarettes. I have yet to see any confirmed deaths of children accidentally ingesting e-juice but barely a day goes by that entire families are lost to the vagaries of smoking related fires. This should be weighed heavily in terms of ‘consumer safety’ when considering the perceived dangers of e-juices and e-smoking. I have not noticed any adverse reactions to the use of any of my e-cigarette devices.

Vaping device safety.

I now vape on higher output highly regulated devices but at much reduced nicotine levels, well under six percent nicotine levels. I vape when I feel like vaping but certainly not in as consistent a fashion as I used to when consuming cigarettes. I do not have access to the statistics on vape device safety but prefer to use a regulated device in order to minimize the risk of overheated lithium batteries, short circuited atomizer coils, etc. If there is any segment of the e-smoking market which may need oversight I imagine it would be in the area of DEVICE safety. I do not have any firsthand horror stories to share in regard to this, but I can easily visualize situations where unlocked or non-locking unregulated mechanical ‘mods’ could be potential trouble sources.

My experience with the commercial cigalike makers leads me to believe that many of them are so poorly designed as to lead one directly back to smoking. I do not know if this is a feature or a bug from their point of view but I do not trust the established cigarette producers given their track record of consumer deception. I would not wish to see the market for vapes or e-juices restricted in terms of availability or innovation. I see many articles in the press which are obviously ginning up fear, uncertainty and doubt over e-smoking and it’s patently obvious that many of these stories are being planted by deep pocketed tobacco corporations concerned with nothing more than protecting their market share and profits.

Please don’t allow yourselves to be unduly influenced by those in the industry who have proven themselves to be totally disreputable in the past. Thank you for taking the time to collect and analyze public opinion on this issue.

Tim Fuller
thetimtimes@gmail.com
Member of Casaa.org

Enjoy.

One Beautiful Day

“Our worth is not what we put on.  It’s not what we possess.  You’ll take none of them with you when you go, except the love you’ve received and given.”

Foreshadowing

A Timtwisted tale of what happens when two “creatives” cross paths for a night on the town.

My Saint Patrick’s Day adventure began in the driveway before I’d even left the house when I noticed the odometer reading on my trusty Mazda Protege as seen above.

Bandit Vet Blogging

It’s a Dog’s Life

“You’re checking for worms where?”

Bandit had his first visit to the vet since arriving back in America today.  I didn’t expect there would be any problems (there weren’t) because he had been scanned, probed and microchipped for his international doggie passport just a few short months ago before we left Germany. The attentive and caring staff at the Jackson Animal Clinic are now engaged in buffing and scrubbing him up to make him even more adorable.

1740 South Gallatin Street  Jackson, MS  39201

There’s a reason the Jackson Animal Clinic has been one of the most successful vet clinics in the Jackson Metro area for decades. Caring professionals and top quality service instills confidence in all who seek assistance here.  Highly recommend you seek care for your pets at this location. Affordable ID chipping is available at this location.  I was extremely impressed that they were able to read the ID chip Bandit had implanted before departing Germany.

Visit them on Facebook

Yelp and Google reviews.

Enjoy.

Electronic Cigarettes

From a New York Times op-ed piece by Sally Satel

“ELECTRONIC cigarettes, battery-powered devices that convert a solution of nicotine and other chemicals into a vapor that can be inhaled, or “vaped,” have the potential to wean a vast number of smokers off cigarettes.”

Here’s what Tristero at Digsby Hullabaloo had to offer:

What an elegant structure! It’s got a clause within a clause terminated by soft, fuzzy positive words – “potential,” “wean” – and a grandiose, hopeful final phrase: “vast number off cigarettes!” The sentence is so complex that many a reader may not notice that Satel openly admits she has zero evidence that so much as a single smoker has – let alone will – trade in her Marlboros for vaping.

I’m normally a huge fan of Hullabaloo, but the “fuzzy headed” journalism by tristero that claims not a single smoker has switched from smoking to vaping e-cigarettes is the biggest bunch of malarkey outside the Flat Earth Society.  I offer myself as an affirmative example of switching from smoking to vaping and there are plenty more here that are easy to find for any  journalist who is actually practicing journalism.  On top of that, the rapid growth in the retail market for ecigs and vaping accessories undermines any argument to the contrary.

On the issue of safety, there’s no way that switching to vaping e-cigarettes or nicotine juice can be anywhere near as damaging to the human body as smoking!  Nicotine may not be a health food but on it’s own the risks are known to be much less toxic than sucking in the hundreds of dangerous chemicals (not listed on the cigarette packages btw) involved with burning tobacco.  To top it off you’ll  never see a report of an ecig smoker falling asleep in bed and burning their house down.

For more information on electronic cigarettes and how to protect your right to access to these devices visit and join casaa.org.

Enjoy.