He picked me up at my house, and after getting back on the main road he turned up the volume on the radio. "Why do you even listen to that stuff?" I asked. It was schlock-rock, simple and unadorned wailing backed by incessantly grating guitars. "I don't really know." "You don't actually like it, do you?" I knew he didn't; I knew what he preferred. His apartment walls were lined with recordings of classical, even archaic music, European folk instrumentals. Maybe rock, once in a while, but he had had something amplified and pitch-altered on every time we'd been together lately. "I think we listen to pop music to punish ourselves," he said. "An aural bed of nails to compensate for our sins." "Those sins being...?" "I don't know... sometimes, don't you ever get so sick of everything you just want to cram your ears full of garbage to spite it all?" This was not normal second-date dialogue, but Phillip and I had known each other for a long time. "It's like you'd rather inflict pain," he said, "like you want to inflict pain on yourself, just for pure spite against... the stuff around us." "You'd choke on garbage to get back at a culture who would do it for you anyway?" "Yeah, kind of. Does that make sense?" "In a very cliched, pop-psychology sort of way, yes." I turned down the volume, then shut the radio off entirely. "Don't you ever want to hurt like that?" he asked. "It's why you read some thriller instead of a classic, it's why you watch TV instead of reading a book, it's why you watch a sitcom instead of PBS, it's why you watch Family Guy instead of the Simpsons." (I might have snorted at this point.) "Because you have to do the bad thing." Question: Phillip turned on the radio: Options: - After they had a conversation about why they listened to bad music. - After getting back on the main road. - On their first date. - not enough information === The correct answer is
After getting back on the main road.

I have another guest post for you today. This one comes from Selina from Beautystorm. Beautystorm are proudly the cheapest stockists of Dermalogica products in Australia and provide online skin consultations with their in house Skincare Therapists. Selina will be giving us advice on how to repair sun damaged skin. Whilst we are blessed to be living in such a sun drenched country, here in Australia, as a consequence the majority of us will have sun damaged skin. Here are Selina's tips to repair some of the damage: The severe, Australian suncauses a multitude of cases of serious skin damage every year. However, there are ways, to repair rough, dry, wrinkled skin that may also suffer from redness and brown spots. The very first step to reverse some of that skin damage is some gentle cleansing. Never wash the face with an ordinary bar of soap. This will make the situation worse and cause severe dry skin. In order to wash the sun-damaged skin effectively without causing further injury, use a gentle exfoliating facial cleanser. This will remove, not only dirt and oil, but also the top layer of dead skin cells, providing a nice glow. This will reveal fresh skin cells ready for treatment. After cleansing the skin, follow with a mud mask or a facial mask made specifically for skin that's been damaged by the sun. The purpose of a mask is to draw out impurities in the skin while adding key ingredients like moisturisers and minerals back into the skin. After gently rinsing the purifying mask, a lotion, cream or serum containing key ingredients should be applied to the skin. The difference between the three is that a lotion is best for daytime use, worn under makeup or for those prone to breakouts. Creams are considered heavier and best used at night or for those with dry skin. Serums are usually highly concentrated formulas that can be used day or night, but a little goes a long way. Those with the most severe sun damaged skin should use them. Question: What is probably true of the writer of the story? Options: - the writer probably avoids facial cleanser - the writer probably uses facial cleansers - not enough information - the writer probably stops using facial cleanser === The correct answer is
the writer probably uses facial cleansers

Q: What are the worst examples of false advertising you've seen? Did you fall prey to their claims? Rather that vouch for myself - my story is trite, and not particularly interesting - I'll relay the tale one of my nurses shared with me when I was laid up in the hospital for a few weeks. Call her R. R was from an Eastern European country. We chit-chatted a lot, while she was taking my blood pressure readings and stuff. Lots of fun stories! But she relayed to me one of her first U.S. memories: She wanted to lose weight. She was impressed by some things the U.S. had to offer - "you have actual nutritional information on everything!" - and thus figured everything she encountered was on the level. And she found a "miracle cure" company who was along those lines! "These are AWESOME miracle shoe inserts! Wear them, and the pounds will melt away!" She saved her pennies and dimes; she sprung for the inserts. She received them... and they were shoe inserts; that much was true. But then there was their documentation: "using these insoles, combined with a 1200 calorie-per-day diet...." Like a 1200-calorie diet won't likely involve weight-loss, no matter what else you did, shoe inserts aside. The inserts did nothing, obviously. It was a sham. At which point she knew she was snookered, but really had no recourse. She wasn't explicit about it, but I got the feeling that it was a leading factor towards her chosen profession. "I might not have been the most sage medical person ever, but I'm gonna rectify that, and if ever I hear someone falling for that sort of gambit again, I'll be there to nip those sentiments in the bud with my own anecdotes." Which is awesome. I still feel for her. I wish I had contact information, so I could touch base, and express those thoughts personally. But that's the most personally resonant version of false advertising affecting someone that I've seen. Question: Whose claims should we not fall prey to? Options: - The customer. - The false advertisers - The advertisers. - not enough information === The correct answer is
A: The false advertisers