Six cases of hypocrisy and conflicting claims

1. Heating and venting

Some sources say that you should open the windows in your house at least four times a day and let fresh air in for about 10 minutes. The experts who say this also say that the interior does not cool down too much in that period of time. In my experience though, even 5 minutes of having open windows causes the whole place to cool down completely. This causes me to shut down the heating equipment for the time that I open windows, as I do not want to waste energy.

On the other hand, other experts say that you should never turn off the heater. They say that it takes a lot more energy to heat up the whole house again than to keep maintaining an average warmth. Well...how can I please both? I have to fulfill my duties as they are stated in the rental contract (opening windows a lot to keep the walls free from fungal matter). I also do not want to increase costs and destroy our beautiful planet by heating up the whole forest around me unnecessarily.

2. Fridge - what to do?

Some experts say that you should put your food into the fridge immediately when you decide to keep it. They say that bacteria will develop if you let the food cool down first, the quality of your food will go down and your health will be at risk.

Other experts say that food must cool down first. The reasons are energy consumption of the fridge, the durability of the cooling device and the environmental aspect.

I would like to add that not only do these conflicting claims exist. They are also presented as "must comply" facts, the media makes you panic. Either you are the Adolf Hitler of pollution or you die of bacterial infection.

How can I please both? What is the right thing to do in the first place?

3. Breakfast - Diet factor or just another myth?

For many years, experts have been claiming that breakfast is important not only for a healthy lifestyle but also for a good diet. They kept saying that you will eventually burn more calories if your body already starts off well in the morning with a good breakfast that activates your system.

As I read just some days ago, this is another myth that goes down the drain... just like the vitamin C myth. Scientists found out that no such effect exists and that the calories you get when you have breakfast are the same calories that add up to your usual calory consumption as any other meal. Whether you eat the food in the morning or any other time of the day makes no difference, it is just another meal with a number of calories that you eat.

4. Shellfish - Kill or torture?

We live in an era of political correctness full of animal rights movements. But it baffles me what kind of things I sometimes see and hear on tv.

Some experts say that lobsters and other shellfish should be dead before they are cooked. Cooking animals that are still alive is, according to them, a torture and will cause a lot of pain. They recommend that you kill the lobster by severing the spinal area with a knife. That sounds pretty much okay for me, the animal does not need to suffer and between the killing and the cooking, only seconds pass.

But then again, what do I need to hear on this tv show? Let me quote:"Shellfish are best thrown into boiling water alive". When I heard this sentence, I expected some kind of "but..." sentence. But there was no "but".

I am not sure what the pain perception of animals is like, but there is no explanation why these animals should not be killed quickly and free of pain. There is no way to argue that the meat would not be fresh or anything.

5. Fur coat - Serious problem or hypocrisy propaganda?

On the radio, they talked about fur coats. What I did not like from the start was how biased the radio hosts were. They talked about the fact that some clothes are made from animals and that it is impossible to tell so due to lack of labelling. Instead of asking neutrally what people thought, they asked in this "Is that not crazy, what do you think" kind of way. And then, of course many people fell for it and came up with their criticism against clothing companies (that are often from China and do not care what some suburban chicks here think). Many listeners who called vowed to do the "lighter test". That is a test in which you use a cigarette lighter on a piece of clothing that you cut off the coat and then judge by the smell whether it smells like plastic or organic hair.

I do not mind people voicing their opinion. But the hypocrisy in my eyes is that the same people who are totally outraged about all this have no problem eating sausage after steak after chop every day. Besides, the clothing industry follows the same trends as every other industry, and even if it is a little provocative to say, people wear what they deserve to wear (in other words: If they want to follow the trend set up by a fashion designer who does not care about animals but does care about "good looks", then that is what they get).

6. Decade, Century, Millennium - How do you count from 1 to 10?

Do you remember the year 2000? Back in 1999, everyone was crazy about the change of the millennium. Yes, everyone wanted to welcome the new millennium that started on January 1st 2000. There was lots of talking about potential disasters, the end of the world, computer crashes and so on. There was one player in the game who was always around: The media. Oh, how they loved to talk about this endlessly.

Well, what am I going for here? I will tell you. I spent the change from 2010 to 2011 in Singapore. And there was something that almost went unnoticed. Almost! But I noticed. The tv channels were very proud to present (and insist on) the start of a new decade. Yes. When the new year came, they proudly said that "many people celebrated the beginning of a new year and a new decade". And they made sure everyone understood: The new decade starts now, not 2010.

Now let us go into the specifics. It is technically true that a new decade, century or millennium always starts with a year that has "1" at the end. For example 1981, 1701, 2011 and so on. The reason is that the year Jesus Christ was born is considered the year 1 after Christ. The year before is the year 1 before Christ. There is no year 0. Technically.

So... here comes the hypocrisy: How can you celebrate the new millenium on December 31st 1999, and then, 11 years later, you suddenly go back to the geeky-nerdy mode and claim that "nah nah nah nah naaahhh naaaahh... you are wrong!" the year 2011 marks the spot? How can media people act like they are nerds with calculators in their hands and cause everyone this stupid "We are better than you" feeling?

I will say this: If people are so happy to get the facts right, then they should do their crusade in 1999 and not 2010. You know, there were people who had the "courage" to bring the issue up. In an episode of the X-Files, I remember how Scully said that the new millennium actually starts in 2001 and not 2000, but she was then told that nobody likes nerds. How true.

I would have loved to see tv channels boast about the new millennium at the end of 2000, approaching 2001. Oh man, they would have been the laughing stock of the whole world.

Side note: The past decade was therefore 11 years long if you judge by the way the media celebrate new years. Wow... and by the way, if you care to know what I think: My decades always go like this: The 80s, the 90s, the 2000s and so on. I do not care about this 2011 shit.