When I was a kid, my dad had these things that looked like pieces of chalk that he would use to stop the bleeding if he cut himself shaving. I hadn’t really thought about it until recently when I was in the shaving section at the grocery store and found something called a styptic pencil, a product “For Minor Cuts and Insect Bites.” It contained two pencils. I’m not sure why you’d need to buy more than one, they seem like they would last at least a decade. That is, unless you were an extra clumsy shaver.

When I saw the package, I had to blink a few times and look a second time. The picture on the blister pack looked like it was probably taken back when my dad bought the pencils he used. I’ll let you be the judge.

I don’t know about you, but that scene makes me want to use this product. Maybe if I use this product I can wear a cool velvet blazer with a turtle-neck sweater and pick flowers with my lady-friend in the spring of 1975. I suppose a styptic pencil company can save quite a bit of money when they design their packaging once and go with it for the next 30 years. But then I noticed that the net weight was shown in grams… hey wait a minute! Grams? It must be made in Canada or something. If that is the case then it the picture could have been taken recently. You know what they say… “American 30 years ago or Canada today.”

American or Canadian, the product works. You run the tip of the pencil under some water and press it to the bleeding area. After you come to, you’ll see the bleeding has stopped. I’m not 100% sure how it works, but I think it has something to do with your heart stopping temporarily from the pain caused by the pencil. You’ll now experience a new level of dread whenever you realize you’ve cut yourself. What’s a little agony when you can be part of history?

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Apparently, we’ll soon be seeing camel cheese in our local grocery stores. Mmm… sounds great. I guess I’ll try it if I see it at the super market. I’ve eaten goat’s milk and sheep’s milk cheese. Why not camel? Hey! They could use that in their advertising campaign.