Starving Vendors

Hopefully you have had a chance to visit Starving Vendors, a website featuring many stories about events that we have done. I have written about quite a few things and you will enjoy reading about life 'on the road' as I tell about a lot of our experiences and provide loads of information.

I have a numbe of pages that are visited quite often and make interesting reading:

Inhaling Helium is about the dangers and pitfalls of inhaling the helium from balloons. It is not a safe and sane practice and is not one of the wisest things a child will do. I am merely education all of us about those dangers and you can either believe it or not. You make the decision if you want to continue putting your child at risk.

Internet E-Mail Scams tells about various scams that each and every one of us gets in our emails. Hopefully you do not fall prey to any of these....especially during the hard times we are now experiencing,

Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches - this is a page dedicated to my favorite food, the Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich. I list many locations of places you can get them in Northern and Southern California, Philadelphia and the Bay Area,

Bay Area Flea Markets lists quite a number of the flea markets in the San Francisco Bay Area. Great reference and loads of information if you are seeking to sell or buy at one of these venues.

I have loads of other information on the website, but these are my top 4 searches on Google. A lot of people doing searches on any one of a number of events I have written about, find their way to the website. You might be interested in reading some of these, There are quite a number within the website.

Inhaling Helium (balloons)

Please check our website for more info, comments, etc.

I have noticed that there are is a huge number of people doing google searches on this topic and coming to this blog to read up on it. I have an entry back on June 10 that goes into detail over this. Inhaling small quantities is probably okay, but if you do it to an extreme it may be very dangerous. Here is an update. For more information, click on the June 10 link above. When we were selling at the Hercules Cultural Festival, there was a man located across from us filling up balloons with helium and I saw dozens upon dozens of kids opening up the balloons and inhaling the helium and having fun talking like Donald Duck. And they kept on going back for more. I recalled that I read something about this being dangerous and did some research. I know that this is a lot of fun for the kids and we adults did it when we were younger also.

Although the vocal effect of inhaling helium may be amusing, it can be dangerous if done to excess. The reason is not due to toxicity or any property of helium but simply due to it displacing oxygen needed for normal respiration. One must be aware that in mammals (with the notable exception of seals) the breathing reflex is not triggered by insufficient oxygen but rather excess of carbon dioxide. Unconsciousness, brain damage in and even asphyxiation followed by death may result in extreme cases. Also, if helium is inhaled directly from pressurized cylinders the high flow rate can fatally rupture lung tissue.Neutral helium at standard conditions is non-toxic, plays no biological role and is found in trace amounts in human blood. At high pressures, a mixture of helium and oxygen can lead to high pressure nervous syndrome; a small proportion of nitrogen can alleviate the problem

So, if you don't believe me, then go ASK ALICE.

Inhaling Helium-filled balloons

While at the Hercules Cultural Festival there was a business in back of me giving away free helium-filled balloons. Child after child came over to get one and many of them would open them up and suck in the helium, enabling them to talk like 'Donald Duck'.

A while back, I read something explaining the dangers of inhaling helium (nitrous oxide). Sure, we all have done it many times and it does get kind of funny. However, I just did some research on inhaling helium (search Google yourself and see what you come up with) and found that this is indeed a dangerous practice. I have never myself seen anything happen to somebody inhaling helium and I do not want to be a party pooper, but reality is that.

Here is just one of the stories I read.

A 10-year-old in New Jersey child collapsed at a birthday party after sucking helium from a balloon. Is helium really that dangerous? It can be. Breathing in pure helium deprives the body of oxygen, as if you were holding your breath. If you couldn't breathe at all, you'd start to die in minutes—as soon as your body exhausted the supply of oxygen stored in the blood. But helium speeds up this process: When the gas fills your lungs, it creates a diffusion gradient that washes out the oxygen. In other words, each breath of helium you take sucks more oxygen out of your system. After inhaling helium, the body's oxygen level can plummet to a hazardous level in a matter of seconds.

You don't have to worry about fatal asphyxiation if you're sucking from a helium balloon at a party. At worst you'll keep going until you get lightheaded and pass out—at which point you'll stop inhaling helium and your body's oxygen levels will return to normal.

Link to dangers of inhaling helium

And another link

This blog contains a lot of information for vendors and I provide information regarding festivals, A&C Shows, etc. Basically, people who participate in or go to shows and festivals are the ones reading this. When your child runs over to get one of those helium-filled balloons, please be sure that they do not inhale the helium (or you either) and if you see a business giving away the ballons and you notice kids opening the balloons and inhaling the helium, please let them know that something bad could happen to them.

It's nice for businesses to give away the balloons to the kids...... kind of a 'pacifier' for some etc. But I think that these people that do give away the ballons have to post some kind of 'disclaimer' or a notice informing parents/kids that inhaling helium is unsafe. It is a shame though, that nothing will ever be done until there is a casualty at a festival someplace and parents lose a loved one.