Baby on Board

You can fairly frequently come across a car or van with a “Baby on Board” sign in the window. Homer Simpson even wrote a song about them. But I frequently wonder what's the point?

Seriously, are people going to go, “I was going to accidentally rear-end that car, but OH NO! There's a BABY ON BOARD so I guess I can't!” Or maybe it's just a type of bragging. “Look at me, I have a baby and you don't!”

Just as dumb, in my opinion, are those decals I've been seeing more and more lately with stick figures of all the family members. Although I admit I found it hilarious when I saw one that was one stick person and a whole bunch of stick cats.

In the event that I ever have children at some point down the road, there are not going to be any signs and decals on my car...

Not Exactly Nail Trimmers

A number of years back I bought a big box of Q-Tips. I don't know what manicures have to do with Q-Tips, but this box included a free bonus manicure set. There were some tiny tweezers (I still can't figure out what tweezers have to do with manicures), nail clippers, a couple other things I had no clue what they were for, and a pair of scissors with a curved blade. I've always assumed that they were for cutting fingernails, probably for getting more clean and precise cuts than the clippers would provide.

Lately, the screw holding it together wouldn't stay tight so I decided I should buy a new one. While out at the store I checked out all the nail care supplies they carried. I found them, but was surprised to see them labeled as cuticle scissors. One package even specified, “For trimming cuticles and hangnails. Do not use on fingernails as this will dull the blade.”

I don't know what exactly a cuticle is or why you'd want to cut it. I'm not sure I even heard the word until a few years ago. Obviously it's nothing terribly important or obvious, like hair or fingernails, as I seem to have survived the past 3+ decades without ever trimming my cuticles. Maybe it's one of those things that only some people ever do (like guys shaving their chests. I find it funny how boys are told things like, “Eat your brussels sprouts and it'll put hair on your chest,” and when they do actually have hair on their chest they feel compelled to remove it), but there's enough of them to justify including one of these in all manicure sets. Like those other strange tools also included that I can't figure out how they're supposed to be used, but obviously someone out there knows.

But I figured I could save myself a few bucks and skip buying a new one, since apparently I was never supposed to be trimming my fingernails with those scissors anyway. And it gives me an opportunity to do a short research project, to answer the question, “What are cuticles, and why would I want to cut them?” Hmm, my Google search for "why cut cuticles" brings up pages with titles like, “Is it bad to cut your cuticles?” “Is cutting your cuticles healthy?” and, “Should you trim cuticles?” I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the answer is “Don't bother.”