2007.08.23
What are we going to recall today?
(supposed to be a spoof of the old microsoft ad slogan)

It seems like everyday something is getting recalled that came from China:

Chopsticks picked up in new China scare
100,000 disposables sold w/o any disinfection)

Chinese-made hotel toothpaste recalled
A chemical that thickens antifreeze has turned up again in a Chinese-made toothpaste, this time under a brand that serves luxury hotels around the world.


Unrelated, but yikes!

Puffer fish sold as salmon kills 15, sickens 115

Posted by kn0w1 at 13:56
2005.06.03
a whole ton o' stuff
A ton of interesting links (if only at the time), I've accumulated and not had time to post.. and posting here.... umm.. just because? easier to search/find? i dunno ... 2005.03.07 2005.03.08 2005.03.09 2005.03.11 2005.03.12 2005.03.14 2005.03.15 2005.03.16 2005.03.17 2005.03.18 2005.03.30 2005.03.31 2005.04.01
  • World of Warcraft Performance Guide - Nebu on 3/31/05: The technology website Anandtech has posted an extensive hardware performance guide for World of Warcraft.
  • Google Gulp!
  • World of Bookkeeping
  • iTreoPod
  • Blizzard Teams with Pandaren Xpress - Indoflaven on 4/01/05: Blizzard Entertainment, in conjunction with the Pandaren Xpress® chain of quality restaurants, is proud to announce the /panda program! Don't let the inconvenience of eating impede you from reaching your Maximum Gaming Potential! Click here to read more!
2005.04.03 2005.04.04 2005.04.05 2005.04.06 2005.04.11 2005.04.13 2005.04.18 2005.04.19 2005.04.20 2005.04.21 2005.04.22 2005.04.25 2005.04.26 2005.04.27 2005.04.28 2005.04.29 2005.05.03 2005.05.05 2005.05.12 2005.05.15 2005.05.16 2005.05.17 2005.05.19 2005.05.30 2005.05.31 2005.06.01 2005.06.02
Posted by kn0w1 at 20:16
2004.08.28
Slashdot | Grow Your Own Replacement Bones
wow, this is pretty impressive.. Slashdot | Grow Your Own Replacement Bones
some of the comments are pretty funny too. and here are a couple more links: msnbc, Bild.T-Online.de (auf Deutsch)
Posted by kn0w1 at 00:40
2004.06.23
news .. mostly 'Out of the Blue'
New 'Out of the Blue' For fun ...
Posted by kn0w1 at 21:56
2004.06.08
Virginia officials consider restricting school food menus and physical education policies to address child obesity
Virginia officials consider restricting school food menus and physical education policies to address child obesity

when i was in high school, they had just brought in vending machines, but they were in a separate (spare) place/building (sort of like a concession stand/room) that could be closed and locked and seemed to only be open after school... when a lot of students had to make it to their buses on time anyway, so i didn't see much point in it. (i never did figure out if it was open in the MORNING.. surprise, surpise :) )
I never could figure out what was the big freakin' deal about them.. students WANTED to be able to buy soda and candybars .. a topic for student government candidates ...

I was just wondering why we couldn't get decent food..
like real orange juice.. why the salad was usually dried out, not kept cold and half of the stuff looked like the veggie rejects from your local grocery store (which they probably were).. hamburgers were buy no means lean (most questioned whether it was meat at all; thinking of it, they were quite similar to Boca burgers.. only not as tasty (and none of the flavor(s)); especially since it was just a patty and bun.. w/maybe ketchup ... ori don't know if they'd let you, but i suppose you could get old, warm, dry lettuce from the salad bar). Lasagna and french fries were probably the best things. . if you were lucky and they weren't just greasy, fried potato strips.

College was a little better, more choices.. but also a little more expensive (3.50 USD?).. and you could always go and get seconds.. thirds..

i wonder .. how much does the (sub-par) schools' "food' cost? (It went from 0.95 to about 1.35 USD/lunch)
I appreciate that the cafeteria workers may work hard in the hot, steamy kitchen there from early in the morning, 5 days a week, but i don't think anyone's said that they WANTED to go and eat school (elementary/university) food because it was particularly tasty or something (unless it was "breakfast night")
how about we get like local Chinese, Italian, etc. restaurants to prepare stuff? I suppose they may not serve nearly as many ppl every afternoon (and evening for colleges), but they generally manage to have food you WANT to go there for.

But I suppose even if you had fresh, decent food .. it all boils down to ... your home/parents once again. If you grew up on macaroni, hamburgers, fries, candybars .. sitting around watching tv (or playing video games now) that's what you'll probably want for your meals or that's what your body will want or think is a meal..
I was lucky to have grown up on yummy, fresh, home-cooked Chinese food. I often rode my bike up and down the driveway and around the yard, neighborhood, sometimes across town. Did gymnastics for P.E. in high school.

Since I moved away from mom's home-cookin', my diet's probably not very healthy. But I suppose I've been blessed by a high metabolism and I do exercise. While it's not the recommended minimum 3 days / week, it is pretty strenous when I do kung fu. I try to eat better, but where one big burger can fill me pretty well, 2 big bowls of salad do hardly anything for me for long.. especially after a good workout.. (part of why i don't do it 3 or more times / week: besides time, i wouldn't be able to afford to feed myself!)

hrmm... perhaps the biggest factor into why you eat what you eat: time..
With today's homes/parents.. who has time to prepare and cook proper food with homework, studies, work, kids, errands (including getting the proper food..); oh, and you're supposed to exercise and keep fit.

Being bombarded everywhere you go and look with bad food is no help.
At least things seem to be changing ... slowly. organic foods, salads at fast food joints, water instead of soda, some products are now (or moving to) not using hydrogenated oils/trans-fats.

Posted by kn0w1 at 13:37
2004.03.25
food 'n stuff
In celebration of NASA's finding of Mars having had saltwater, Long Greasy Slivers will be giving away free giant shrimp ...

Eating meat might be good for you.. we might have evolved to take advantage of it? (at least back when people actually did physical work ... maybe we'll evolve an anti-died-sitting-on-may-fat-ass gene? ... --but then that might not help with the wierd stuff they put in or make food out of these days .. )

Fructose Sweetener Linked to Obesity Rise ... high fructose corn syrup... check your labels... yeah, it's in just about everything... :-\ of course, i certainly wouldn't say this is The One Thing that's "causing" obesity (or maybe other problems), but it prob'ly doesn't help.
i guess we'll just transplant ourselves into solar-powered mechanical bodies.. (if they have those before 2048.06.01

Scientists discover a method to detect trace levels of swine antibiotics in the groundwater.

and one of today's Yahoo! Daily Picks:
bento moblog - mouth-watering lunch boxes prepaqred by one cool mom. (in Weblogs)

hungry yet? well, to work off some calories, you might want to put some music on.. Exercising to Music May Make You Smarter (or scienceblog here)

Posted by kn0w1 at 19:08
2004.01.22
grocery "discount" cards... good and bad
Yahoo! News - Discount Cards Help in Mad Cow Recall

if that expires.. you can google news ... e.g., http://www.newsday.com/news/health/wire/sns-ap-mad-cow-cards,0,57794.story?coll=sns-ap-health-headlines

Posted by kn0w1 at 17:51
2003.08.13
WHO: Farmers Should Cut Antibiotic Use
Yahoo! News - WHO: Farmers Should Cut Antibiotic Use
WHO report: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_he_me/storytext/SIG=u0jlpl/*http://www.who.int/salmsurv/links/gssamrgrowthreportstory/en/
Posted by kn0w1 at 12:46
2003.07.12
U.S. Team Finds Hints of How, Why Cancer Spreads
Yahoo! News - U.S. Team Finds Hints of How, Why Cancer Spreads
Posted by kn0w1 at 12:55
2003.07.09
FDA to Make Foods Reveal Trans Fat Levels
excellent

Yahoo! News - FDA to Make Foods Reveal Trans Fat Levels

...
The new Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) rule, unveiled Wednesday, puts trans fat on par with its more infamous cousin, saturated fat. Both can cause the heart disease that afflicts 13 million Americans — and many doctors actually consider trans fat the worst artery clogger.

Now, both fats will be listed on the food label.
...

Posted by kn0w1 at 16:27
2003.06.20
McDonald's Rises to Challenge on Antibiotic Resistance
McDonald's Rises to Challenge on Antibiotic Resistance
New Policy Will Help Reduce Antibiotic Overuse by Fast-Food Giant's Suppliers; Burger King Should Match Commitment

McDonald's today becomes the first major fast-food chain to develop a comprehensive policy to reduce and monitor antibiotic use by its suppliers. This is an important step toward ending practices in the animal food business that have led to the growing specter of antibiotic-resistant disease. ...

Posted by kn0w1 at 18:15
2003.03.02
Stand Up For Organic Standards
UCS Action Center

Stand Up For Organic Standards
After more than a decade of consideration and hundreds of thousands of public comments, the USDA implemented strong federal organic standards. Now, just a few months after the standards went into effect, Congressman Nathan Deal (R-GA) attached a last-minute rider to the omnibus appropriations bill that was signed into law February 20th. The rider allows poultry and livestock producers to use non-organic feed, but still label their products as organic. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA) have introduced legislation to rescind this insidious rider. Write to your senators and member of congress and tell them to stand up for organic standards.

Posted by kn0w1 at 12:43
2002.12.09
pharming for cures
Yahoo! News - Scientists Fret as Plant-Derived Drugs at Crossroad

I didn't know plant-derived medicines had gone this far.
while promising, i do wonder how they'd control these things.. i mean.. for one, the wind could just blow pollen and seeds into the other field/crop or wherever. second, someone harvesting could just mistakenly harvest the wrong field (corn still looks like corn, right?) FYI, there was a case in Vermont where an organic farmer sued another farm for contaminating his fields with chemical by accidentally cropdusting his field plus by Vermont laws, he will not be able to sell his crops as organic for at least several years.

Posted by kn0w1 at 10:47
2002.10.25
Antibacterial Soap Has No Germ-Killing Advantage

Yahoo! News


yet, that's almost all you can find at your local wal-mart. if you actually want to kill germs, the article recommends the alcohol-based gels. you just rub it on your hands, the alcohol kills bacteria and then evaporates so you won't towels either.

Posted by kn0w1 at 11:59
2002.10.24
MSG

Yahoo! News - Flavor Enhancer MSG Linked to Blindness in Rats

granted this may be one of those.. hey, let's pump them up to the gills with this stuff and see if it's bad.. --duh.
they never do say how much they tested with. what's up with that. I mean for all we know, they could have fed them the equivalent of us eating 3 tablespoons of MSG per meal (an amount that i'm just guessing is excessive and that noone would ever consume). And well if you even just ate 3x the amount of food at a time for a while, yeah, i'd bet you'd get sick or something. Hell, you can actually drink too much water. Sure, it's an excessive amount, but that's my point: an excessive amount of anything is usually bad, eh? (and for those interested: you apparently don't die from the water, but from the water diluting your blood too thin (ufl.edu, usatoday.com, ivillage.com (if you can bear with the damn: look at this ad first)))

Posted by kn0w1 at 11:32
2002.10.22
USDA Organic Food labels

USDA Ushers in New Organic Food Labels
Mon Oct 21, 3:51 PM ET

USDA to Label Organic Foods
Mon Oct 21, 5:55 PM ET

And from the USDA themselves: The National Organic Program

How these compare to California's or other organic guidelines i'm not sure, but it seems to be a good start.

Posted by kn0w1 at 10:47