Not Just for Girls

     I remember the days when I was mortified if I had to take a box of sanitary napkins through the supermarket check out.   I would rather disappear than chose the line with the male cashier.  Of course, that was when I was thirteen.  Fortunately, I graduated to being able to brazenly toss a box of tampons on the belt in front of an eighteen year old boy, even handing him a coupon for said purchase.
     Today, I saw a survival video which details alternative uses for tampons.  If you are stranded in the wilderness, and you have a tampon handy, you can use it to start a fire.  Tampons are constructed of highly flammable material.  Watching the two guys in the video dissect the tampon and extol its virtues was amusing.  Several other uses for a tampon were listed at the end of the fire making video.  Does anyone remember the email that made the rounds that listed one hundred and one uses for coffee filters?  Look out coffee filters, here come tampons.  http://dailyshotofcoffee.com/24-uses-for-coffee-filters/
     Now, getting back to those other uses for tampons:

     1. Trapping bears - Bears are drawn to menstruating females.  Used tampons will help capture of an errant bear.  http://www.idiotlaws.com/bears-like-menstruating-women-wear-tampons-not-pads/

     2. Filtering water

     3. Dressing a wound

     4. Making a candle

     5. Setting a trap

http://willowhavenoutdoor.com/featured-wilderness-survival-blog-entries/yes-thats-a-tampon-in-my-mouth-the-swiss-army-survival-tampon-7-survival-uses/

     There's another use for tampons that gets me all riled up.  They are used in the ear cropping and taping process inflicted on Doberman Pinschers.  I witnessed this process when a Doberman loving friend had her dog's ears done.  After the dog's floppy hound ears were cut into the proper shape, tampons with adhesive on the outside were inserted into the ears.  The ears were pressed against the adhesive, then tape was used to fix the ears in an upright position.  The process was repeated until the ear muscles were strong enough to keep the ears upright.  http://www.protectioncanines.com/Doberman_Ear_Taping.html  My friend wanted her dog to have the signature Doberman look - evil pointy ears.  Ear cropping is illegal in the United Kingdom and most of Europe.  The practice is unrestricted in the United States.  I'd like to see that changed.  You can write letters to your legislators asking them to sponsor a bill to make ear cropping (and tail docking) illegal.  Check out this website: http://www.stopthecrops.com/
Let's have one less use for tampons.

For shame!