BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Browsing with The Buzz

By Cheryl Laird, Contributing writer | March 3, 2015

Click the Buzz Me button to receive email notifications when this writer publishes a new article or a new article in this column is published.

Every week in this space, we’ll share some memorable – to the writer, at least – browsing reads. Have you come across anything Buzzworthy lately? Let other Buzz readers know by commenting below.

HEBs, foreskins, car stickers and camping toilets. That’s what I read about this week.

HEB Considers New Multi-Story Replacement for Bellaire Market

Why I read it: Bellaire definitely could use a larger grocery store, but I worry about the fate of favorite longtime businesses in the center, like Hong Kong Chef.

Excerpt: “The new 70,000-sq.-ft. grocery store H-E-B is hoping to build to replace its current location near the intersection of Bissonnet St. and S. Rice Ave…. Speaking to Bellaire residents at a meeting earlier this week, officials from the company described an option that would require demolition of the entire shopping center at 5100 Cedar St. – including the existing 20,000-sq.-ft. H-E-B store and all adjacent stores. In its place would go up a 70,000-sq.-ft. store with parking underneath and in front. All shopping would be on the second floor.”

The Troubled History of the Foreskin

Why I read it: Unless you have a clear religious mandate to circumcise your infant boy, whether or not to remove a baby boy’s foreskin is one of the first, and toughest, decisions a new parent has to make. I will never forget, years ago when I was pregnant, asking pretty much every man I ran across about his opinions on the penis. This is the longest and best-researched article I’ve read about circumcision.

Excerpt: “The best-known circumcision ritual, the Jewish ceremony of brit milah, is also thousands of years old. It survives to this day, as do others practiced by Muslims and some African tribes. But American attitudes to circumcision have a much more recent origin. As medical historian David Gollaher recounts in his book Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery, early Christian leaders abandoned the practice, realizing perhaps that their religion would be more attractive to converts if surgery wasn't required. Circumcision disappeared from Christianity, and the secular Western cultures that descended from it, for almost two thousand years.”

Here’s What You Need to Know About the Two Steps, One Sticker Change

Why I read it: I had heard that Texas was combining the inspection and registration stickers into one sticker. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that my inspection sticker is months overdue. But even though I have read this story, I still haven’t remembered to check that sticker. I should do that … now.

Excerpt: “After passing an inspection, drivers will get an inspection report. They'll take it with them to get a registration sticker to their nearby tax office. There are three possible scenarios:

If your stickers expire in the same month, you have 90 days prior to get your inspection done, ahead of re-registering your vehicle.
If your inspection expires before your registration. Get your inspection when it expires. This time, you won't get a sticker, just an inspection report. Then, go to the tax office with that report when your registration is due and get one sticker for both.
If your inspection expires after your registration, you're in luck. When you go to get your car registered, your inspection is still current. So you've got one more cycle before you've got to get your car inspected again.”

The Toilet That Will Change the World!

Why I read it: I have a new fascination with RVs and camping, which is even more odd considering I don’t camp and never had. It’s probably in part because I’m into simplifying these days, and the concept of fitting everything I need into one small, clever, tiny home is attractive. In any case, I find it soothing to read all about the options for converting buses and horse trailers and minivans and more into camping vehicles. And check it out: I found a Diaper Genie toilet! Exciting, right?

Memorable excerpt: “We have spent MONTHS researching options for a mobile commode! Everything from Ed Begley’s composting Envirolet toilet, to the more compact/travel versions, like Air Head, and Nature’s Head (which cost over a grand after you get all the proper accessories)…. We even looked into incinerator toilets (warning, that link goes to a very graphic video explaining how incinerating toilets work)! They leave very little waste, but take a lot of power to run and aren’t the safest option for a traveler in motion.”