Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, March 2, 2019

7

THE WORLD AROUND US

Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 2, 2019 


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges

THE BIOSCARF: A BIG SCARF WITH SOMETHING 
EXTRA PRODUCT REVIEW

[Nyerges is the author of “How to Survive Anywhere,” “Foraging California,” 
“Extreme Simplicity,” and other books. He has been leading survival classes 
since 1974. More information at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]

I recently had the opportunity to test something called the “bioscarf.” Yes, it’s a scarf, and everyone knows I 
like scarfs. I’ve worn them all my life. I used to love alpaca wool scarves, and then I was given a Polartech 
scarf, and I preferred that. 

I like long scarves too, but not the very long scarves that really get in the way. I cannot get the story of Isadora 
Duncan out of my mind, who loved very very long silk scarves, and she enjoyed wearing them in her 
convertible. While driving one day in September, 1927, her enormous scarf got caught in the rear hubcabs 
of her car, and she was strangled to death. Ghastly! Well, I don’t drive a convertible and I cannot imagine 
wearing a scarf over six feet long! Or can I?

The bioscarf actually measures in at seven feet long, and 9 inches wide. That’s big, but not too big to get 
caught in your car’s wheels. Bicyclists be careful.

I like its size, and though it comes in white, olive, black, and camo, I couldn’t resist the camo. But its main 
selling point is not the size – it’s what’s hidden inside the fabric.

Bioscarf is actually a stylish air mask that keeps your neck and head cozy while filtering out unwanted air 
contaminants, germs, second hand smoke, pollen and other allergens. This can protect you from colds, flus, 
pneumonia, tuberculosis and allergens. Bioscarf is the first scarf with an N95 air filter layer built right into 
the scarf.

When tested by Nelson Labs against normal masks and respirators, the bioscarf outperformed some of the 
most popular masks available today with a 99.75% average filtration efficiency. In addition to doing its job 
effectively, the bioscarf is made from sustainable materials. Post-consumer recycled PET water bottles go 
into the fabric, while the signature labels are made from recycled PVC. It is also built to be long lasting and 
reusable, meaning less disposable air filters in the landfill. And this filter is reusable – just wash the scarf 
by hand from time to time after use.

So, if you’re in a situation where you might otherwise put on a face mask, you can just wrap the scarf over 
your mouth and nose, and breathe through it. Maybe you’re an allergy sufferer, visiting somewhere with 
poor air quality, on you’re on a bus or plane where everyone is sneezing and coughing. Bioscarf will give 
you some protection.

I like the multi-use aspect of the bioscarf, and when I’m wearing mine, it gives me the feeling of being 
protected, as if I’m living in a Mad Max, Book of Eli, or Bladerunner, world. But that’s a crazy idea, since 
everyone in those futuristic dystopian societies would probably be wearing rags. Still, the bioscarf is one 
of those garments that you’ll be glad you have. It’s functional, and provides a layer of protection that other 
scarves just don’t provide.

They run about $45, and are available at eartheasy.com, or Amazon.


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

IT’S A SOAP OPERA WORLD, OR IS IT 

As a child, I remember my mother watching soap operas in the afternoon. I never had 
much interest in them; I would rather watch The Lone Ranger and his companion 
Tonto.

One afternoon I was sitting in the living room while she was watching one of her soap 
operas. I was trying to figure out what in the world was happening. None of it made 
sense and it seemed to be more drama than anything else. Why they call it, “soap opera” I will never know 
because they could use more soap in their conversations.

My mother would talk to the characters on TV telling them what they should be doing and saying. Several 
times, she yelled at them giving them instructions. I caught her with tears in her eyes over a certain situation; 
I could not tell you now what that situation was.

Although I never was much interested in soap operas, as I have gotten older (and I intend to get a lot older) 
I begin to see similarities. I am not an expert on soap operas by a long shot. However, it seems to me that 
our world has become a gigantic soap opera.

Everybody seems to be saying a line written for them by somebody else and none of it really mak-ing 
sense. There was a time when you could understand what a person was saying and there was some rationale 
behind the conversation.

Today is not that day.

I have noticed TV has many “reality shows.” For my dime, I do not see much reality in any of these reality 
shows. I know I do not watch them so maybe I am missing something. However, what I do see is not 
reality, as I know it.

That brings me to a question. What in the world happened to reality in our culture today? I do not see it 
anywhere.

I understand advertisements are not based upon reality. Their job is to sell their product to whoever they 
can sell their product to. I understand all that.

I understand that politics today is not based on any kind of reality known to man or woman. If we could 
get all politicians together in one room we maybe could find one tiny little gray cell that was working. 
However, it would not be overworked.

To have politicians that have no sense of reality at all is a very cumbersome predicament. They have no 
idea what the average person is up against and they have no way of helping them.

With a great deal of soap opera-ism, the politicians speak and speak and speak.

Just the other day I was listening to a politician talking and I could not understand what in the world he 
was talking about. The only thing they know what to talk about is whatever the audience at the time accepts 
to help them get reelected.

Where is the reality in politics? It is nothing but an overblown soap opera that nobody is really watching.

Not long ago when I was sick and could not get out of the house I watched some programs that were called 
“talk shows.” After listening for a little while, I concluded that a hummingbird made more sense than these 
people did on talk shows.

It has become a soap opera world for sure. Nothing really makes sense, at least to the common per-son. 
Nothing has any sense of reality in it. I guess when you are in TV you are not allowed to be “real” about 
anything. The only thing that is real in our social media today is the money that people are making acting 
as if they know what they are doing.

Of course, I got a little piece of advice from the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. I was com-plaining 
about all of this non-reality around us and how many idiots were out there in the world. I just went on and 
on and on until finally she heard enough.

“Well,” she said rather strictly, “do you want to know what I think about all of this?”

Of course she did not give me an opportunity to say yes or no, she was ready to give me her thoughts on 
this anyway.

“Complain about all of the idiots out there all you want. But there’s a positive side to all of this.”

To tell you the truth, I could not see any positive side so I inquired as to what she was talking about.

“Very simply,” she replied, “if it were not for all of the idiots and crazy people out there I would not know 
how sane you really are.”

I had to have her repeat that a couple of times because that was well over my pay grade. It finally sunk in.

I complimented her on that and told her she really had a good point. If it weren’t for all of those crazy 
idiots out there in the world, how would we know how sane and wonderful we really are?

Paul said it best when he wrote, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing 
of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 
12:2).

The unreality of the world around me should not rob me of the reality of my relationship with God 
through Christ.

Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, and lives with the Gracious Mis-tress of the Parsonage in Ocala, FL. 


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