A NON-WHITE CHRISTMAS
It's the day after Labor Day, so it's time to begin thinking about Christmas, right? Well, some of you might have heard distressing rumors that the U.S. Postal Service wants to ban colored Christmas-card envelopes. It is true that white envelopes are easier for new automatic letter-sorting equipment to handle. But postal officials promise that if you buy cards that come with envelopes that are red or green or some other color, they will happily deliver them.
HEADS UP
Don't use your head. That's the message federal health officials want to get across to America's football players, now that the new season has begun. Specifically, Centers for Disease Control officials are reminding gridders that using the helmet to block and tackle opponents increases the risk of permanent spinal injury - and death.
A GUT COURSE
Low-impact aerobics classes may be making no impact on your level of fitness. Unless you get your heart pumping at 150 beats per minute, you'll only burn half the calories you would have doing high-impact aerobics - and you won't expend enough energy to really improve fitness, Auburn University researchers report in Self magazine.
BUBBLING OVER
You won't see the words naturally carbonated on bottles of Perrier made after November. The French mineral water company, struck by a chemical contamination scare early this year, was forced during the recall furor to reveal that the gas in Perrier was separated from the water, then reinjected after filtering. Henceforth, bottles will bear the motif "natural mineral water fortified with gas from the spring."
COUPLING
What would the perfect man be like and who would be his ideal female mate? When 4,500 men and women were asked that question by Psychology Today magazine, the respondents agreed the perfect man would be caring, loving intelligent, moral and honest. But while men said their ideal mate would be powerful and accomplished, women felt that even an ideal man would make his choice based strictly on physical beauty.
