Fatale Abstraction

What is up with the outrageous tensile strength of plastic packaging these days?

It's really bugging me-- what chemically is different about the common plastics now that were so easy to tear away and dispense with 20 years ago?

Every CD you buy these days is over-packaged. In addition to the shrink-wrapped plastic (often requiring a utensil to rend) there is that beastly little adhesive strip along the top of the case which also must be peeled away. A rather perverse bit of irony is that this adhesive strip says "PULL" at one end, but I find it nigh impossible to remove with even the keenest of my talons - again, I use a knife.

Tonight I was opening a package of turkey from the deli, and although it was shrink-wrapped in plastic, it didn't look like it would be such a big challenge to open. However, I went through 3 of my heavy carbon-steel kitchen knives before I found one (sharp enough? what?) which would actually pierce the plastic. This is getting ridiculous.

Have you noticed that it's become almost impossible to open a potato chip bag with your hands anymore? Maybe that's a plot by the trans-fat nazis to make you start working the empty calories off before you sink your pearlies into the first snappy chip.

Most vexing.