Apparently you should not use cotton buds to clear wax from your ears.
Don’t take my word for it; here’s what Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), the makers of the cotton bud, say on the product packaging: “Caution: Do not enter the ear canal with this product. Penetrating the ear canal could lead to injury”.
It begs the question: what is one supposed to use cotton buds for?
Well, talking of canals – albeit the waterway kind, rather than the ear kind - the main purpose of cotton buds at the moment seems to be to clog up the world’s waterways and oceans with toxic waste.
Better late than never, J&J has responded by switching from using plastic in the manufacture of cotton buds to using paper.
“We recognise that our products have an environmental footprint, and that’s why we’re working hard to continually improve and champion best practice in sustainability, in line with our company’s founding principles,” said Niamh Finan, group marketing manager at J&J.
Plastic cotton buds are the most common items of plastic debris found on beaches and in rivers, according to the Marine Conservation Society. Apparently, after inadvisably sticking the buds in their ears, a lot of people even more inadvisably flush the things down the toilet.
The Daily Telegraph reports it is estimated that there is now a 1:2 ratio of plastic to plankton and, left unchecked, plastic will outweigh fish by 2050.
On the day after consumer electronics behemoth Apple Inc (NASDAQ:APPL) briefly reached a staggering market capitalisation of US$700bn, Sonos, the sound system manufacturer that makes rival products to Apple’s speakers, has garnered itself a fair amount of publicity by announcing a hike in its UK prices.
Brexit is to blame, or more specifically sterling’s plunge in the wake of the EU referendum vote.
“Over recent months, there has been a significant change on the US dollar to GBP exchange rate. As a result, our existing pricing has become unsustainable and, like many other companies, we have to increase prices for all products priced in GBP,” Sonos said in a statement.
At least Sonos held out until February; Apple, which is not short of a bob or two, hiked its UK prices in October.
Today is, of course, Valentine’s Day. It’s a day when one is obliged to lavish a bit of love and affection on one’s loved one before going back to taking them for granted.
If you do not have a special one or your special one has not made much of an effort, Twitter has some comforting thoughts for you.
To all those without a Valentine's date tonight, chin up, it's pancake day next week so you can still shine. #Valentines
— Stansaid Airport (@StansaidAirport) February 14, 2017
Can't believe I didn't get anything off the hubby this morning for #valentines .. not even a sausage! #AOshow pic.twitter.com/9WwtmwT0gC
— Oonagh O Carroll (@OonaghOC) February 14, 2017
I like Stansaid Airport’s style. Here is another one.
Why not pick up a Duty Free Valentine's gift to make her look beautiful tonight? 6 cans of Special Brew, now only £8. #Valentines #Essex
— Stansaid Airport (@StansaidAirport) February 14, 2017
On a more serious note, lovers of dirty great big jet engines will have a field day on Twitter following the #rollsroyce hash-tag.
Inevitably there are also some pictures of Rolls-Royce motor cars, which are no longer made by Rolls-Royce PLC (LON:RR).
Britain's Rolls-Royce posts record reported loss https://t.co/GzVEJ4cqxH pic.twitter.com/7kMghcrD39
— CNBC International (@CNBCi) February 14, 2017
The company has reported a record £4.6bn annual loss, but as is usually the case with losses of this size, it’s not really a case of £4.4bn in cash disappearing from the company’s coffers – not even in brown paper bags on their way to Middle Eastern potentates – but more a case of a non-cash accounting adjustment.
The engineer made a £4.4bn non-cash charge for a mark-to-market revaluation of its derivatives and a £0.7bn charge for financial penalties from investigating bodies related to the bribery cases.
In comparison to Rolls-Royce’s loss, the 2.44bn Swiss francs (£1.87bn) dropped by Swiss bank Credit Suisse looks like chicken feed.
Is chief executive Tidjane Thiam regretting jumping ship from the Pru to run Credit Suisse?
He’s responded by slashing jobs; 7,250 jobs went in 2016 and another 5,500 are set to go this year. That could become 5,501 if Thiam does not turn around the bank’s fortunes.
<blockquote class="Twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Credit Suisse is cutting 5,500 jobs in 2017 after losing $2.4bn <a href="https://t.co/FR93NE3OUg">https://t.co/FR93NE3OUg</a></p>— The Independent (@Independent) <a href="https://twitter.com/Independent/status/831428848814288896">February 14, 2017</a></blockquote>
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