European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Simplify speling ahead of its tym by Bichard o Mara the Baltimore Sun if u can read this without Trubl ther May be a future for the simplify Spelyng society and help for us a. If there is it was a Long time coming. The society has been Labouring toward the goal in its name for 84 years. The latest fruit of its efforts is Cut Spelyng. You have just read a Sample. Cut Spelyng is largely the work of Chris upward a Friendly 53-year-old academic who teaches writing systems Quot and a Tittle German Quot at the University of Aston in Birmingham. Quot i have been the person most involved with it though the original concept comes from Australia from the work of psychologist Valerie Yule Quot upward says. Quot this is Only a concept being advanced Here not the society a final word. Nobody is As yet sure what that will look like Quot the simplified spelling society May be a Little tentative about the future of Cut Spelyng Quot we Don t expect to Wake up tomorrow to find everybody using it Quot upward say but it could t be More certain that something must be done to Rescue English from the chaos of its orthography. English has not had a coherent and consistent spelling system in 1,000 years and has not been reformed in 300, according to the society s president. Bob Brown. It has readers action Lin food expiration dates explained a to z it a have shopped at military commissaries in various areas of the United states and Europe. I be always Felt satisfied with the food products service facility etc., until now. I m stationed at a Remote site in Northern Italy 45 minutes away from the Aviano a commissary where i shop. In the past two years in be purchased food products that were sour stale and spoiled and All still within their expiration dates. I done to dare buy Many products such As Dairy snack foods and batteries because they Are beyond their expiration Date. I d like to know Why this happens this cannot be put off to isolated incidents because it has happened to me frequently. When this happens it s not feasible for me to return these products for a refund because of the distance to the commissary. Katherine l. Watts Aviano a Itayim Charles m. Wlker director defense commissary Agency european Region replies one of the causes of this problem and one that we Are m the process of eliminating is Aviano s Large overstocks of Semi perishable canned and packaged items. Since merchandise from the United states arrives in Europe Many months alter production additional time in the commissary warehouse where a Quot first in first out Quot philosophy is used leads to products All too frequently being close to or past the Quot sell by or Quot use by Quot Date. This condition is largely a result of the Supply system that had been in use throughout Europe until recently. Frequent Quot glitches Quot in the old Supply system resulted in peaks and valleys of Supply making ordering difficult. We Are now transitioning to a Central distribution Center concept whereby huge warehouse complexes in Europe and the United states directly and More frequently Supply our stores. Please understand that Aviano is not the Only commissary in Europe with overstocks. The problems that occur Ned As the result of the old Supply system have been compounded by the accelerated draw Down of troops in Europe. This decline of our shopping base at selected installations further complicated the commissary ordering process. To eliminate our excess stocks we Are intensively managing our inventory throughout Europe moving Overstock to commissaries that need the products. Our friends in the food Industry evolved into a maddening complexity if words that have letters that serve no purpose. The language is confusing to native children trying to learn it. It is hellish for foreigners. How bad is it George Bernard Shaw made the Point once by spelling fish As Quot Dhoti Quot using the Quot go Quot As in Tough the Quot of Quot As in women and the Quot to Quot As in nation. So the society thinks it is time for a change. It has thought this Way since 1908, when it was founded. Before and since then other countries have seen the sense of regularized spelling. In 1901-02, Germany Cut unnecessary letters from Many of its words to 1962, the greeks purged most of their accent Marks. Spain s Royal Academy the watchdog Over its language ruled in 1958-59 that superfluous tetters could be dropped from some words. Earlier this year upward and Christopher Jolly chairman of the simplified spelling society came to London to unveil Cut Spelyng at a news conference at the London school of economics. Only four or five reporters showed up and one left Early mumbling about Quot the mutilation of the English  according to upward Cut Spelyng purges Many redundant letters from English words. It is not phonetic spelling a system that allocates a single letter or pair of letters to represent each sound then applies this to every word in the language. Quot phonetics involves a revolution in the appearance of that Supply products to us Are also helping by marking Down the merchandise that we have in Long Supply. Perishable products such As meat chilled and Frozen items arid Dairy products Are shipped from Kaiserslautern Germany to Aviano in refrigerated vans. The travel time is at least 20 hours but delays Are frequently encountered As a result of customs procedures at Border Crossings traffic congestion and travel restrictions encountered in various countries such As no sunday truck travel. When Short shelf life products take up to three Days to arrive at a store that portion of shelf life has already been eaten up. But please note that dates on Dairy products Are Quot sell by Quot dates. Eggnog milk and Cream products Wilt be usable up to three Days after that Date if the temperature has been constantly kept Between 30 and 40 degrees fahrenheit. Buttermilk products Are Good for up to 10 Days cottage cheese products for 16 Days and sour Cream and Yogurt products up to 20 Days when properly stored and maintained. Proper temperature control is important. There is a rapid decrease in shelf life at higher temperatures and the effects Are cumulative. At 60 degrees milk would last Only a Day every time the milk is stored above 40 degrees no matter How Brief a time there is some reproduction of bacteria which will cause the shelf life of the product to be shortened. The vans that transport refrigerated merchandise Are equipped with temperature Reading devices that record any temperature changes throughout a trip upon the truck s arrival at the commissary military food inspectors Check these controls to ensure that the temperature has been constantly maintained at an acceptable level. They also inspect the product itself As they do with All merchandise delivered to the commissary. We have several suggestions for you that should enable you to avoid Dairy product spoilage. First if your trips to the commissary Are infrequent and you find the Dairy products on the commissary shelf Are within just a couple of Days of the Quot sell by Quot Date ask someone to Check in the Back for a product with a More recent Date. Also since your trip is a Long one and Italy a climate is generally warm we suggest that you make the commissary the last Stop before you return Home and bring a cooler along to store your perishable merchandise. If a cooler is unavailable ask the Bagger to pack your Dairy products with your Frozen foods. We would also like to Point out that some items displayed in commissary freezers Are labelled with Quot freshness or Quot sell by Quot dates that Are inapplicable. They Are commonly found on products that Are ordinarily distributed and sold in a chilled state in the United states. The Long trip from the United states to overseas commissaries requires that these items be transported stored and sold in a Frozen state. Since they Are Frozen. Written English and a lot of parents Are put off upward said. Cut Spelyng by merely eliminating superfluous letters and substituting letters closer to the actual sounds does not do the same visual damage to words As the following sentence shows Quot dec Nom and social problems in Brit and America a increasingly being links to education  the society believes Cut Spelyng a Ould enhance educational standards because it would give student san earlier grasp of the language which would enable them to use it to absorb concepts sooner. The system  save time paper computer memory a not to mention Money. Quot when the russians reformed their spelling after the revolution in 1917,&Quot upward says Quot they published Tolstoy s Anna Karenina and it came out 36 pages  the society for simplified spelling has Only about 100 members around the world. The idea it represents is an old one. Benjamin Franklin worked at it Fohn stance As did Noah Webster the great american lexicographer. A Noah Webster went for the simple alternatives then used in America a Jolly says. Quot he propagated a spelling that caught  that is Why americans spell it Quot labor Quot while britons spell it Quot labour a Why for americans it is Quot program Quot and for britons Quot programme Quot and on and on and on. The products Are Good Tor a much longer period of time than they would be if Only chilled. Such products include but Are not limited to luncheon meats poultry and meat products. _ deca requires that All out of Date food products be inspected by military food inspectors to ensure they Are still wholesome and have  deterioration in condition. Additional Laboratory testing is performed on All suspect items. Products that meet the test Are reduced in Price and a sign is posted with the product showing the new expiration Date. It s important to understand that product dates Are frequently just general guidelines. An expired Date does not necessarily mean that the product is spoiled or unfit. Some manufacturers for instance have higher Quality standards than others and will assign a Shorter shelf life to a product than another manufacturer of a similar product. One must also consider the conditions under which the product has been kept. High temperatures will cause most products to deteriorate More quickly. Also some dates Are Quot sell by Quot some Quot use by Quot and others Quot Best used  you can feel Safe in purchasing out of Date products that have been inspected by food inspection personnel but again we do not expect you to pay full Price for it. If you encounter products on the shelf that Are outdated but have no sign showing that they have been extended we ask that you Point this out to a commissary manager immediately. Batteries however Are not inspected but if they Are out of Date they should be reduced in Price. If you buy them and find they do not work you May return them during your next shopping trip. If you Are dissatisfied with the Quality of any product that you have purchased at one of our commissaries you May return it to the store for a full refund. If a product was spoiled you will be asked to Complete deca form 4045, food Quality report which will be Given to the military food inspectors so that they May take further investigative action. We recognize that travelling to the commissary is not especially convenient for you so we would ask that you give them a Call from Home should you have a problem with a product. Aviano s commercial phone numbers Are 0434-651384 or 667213.to write us if you have a question about military life and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action Une co the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apoate 09211. All letters must be signed. Please include address and Telephone number. Page 16 a the stars and stripes monday november 16, 1992