This bears further watching

Cow Produces Low-Fat Milk

Scientists in New Zealand say they've discovered a cow that produces her own low-fat milk -- and found a way to replicate the mutation. There could be herds of low-fat cows in the future.

sometimes

just remaining friends is what turns out to be best.

Why

Why is it, that we as humans (all of us-Americans, Russians, Germans, French, Italian, British, Irish, etc), are so afraid of what another does that is different from what we do. I'm not gay, but I do have friends that are, and they are no different from me or anyone else for that matter.

Those using Christianity to bash the gay community (or any other group of people for that matter), a big pox on you. You know full well that God says judge not, lest you be judged. God is the only perfect. You and I can never attain perfection. We can try, but it will never happen. Go home and quietly pray for those you think need God's help. Be a friend to those you feel need Him. I guarantee you, He is not happy with you when you are mean and cruel to His creation. We will all be standing before Him someday and we will all be judged for our deeds throughout our life. We each screw up enough without trying. Do you really want to add hatred to your list of screw-ups?

Russian Nationalists Attack Gays, Right Said Fred, and a German Politician

Russian skinheads, ultra nationalists and fundamentalist Orthodox church members make good on their pledge to "clean" Moscow streets of gays. Pop groups like Tatu and Right Said Fred were part of the scattered gay-rights protest, and so was a German politician.

My favorite fella

Just some more pictures of 'my' growing baby boy

Perhaps it's only of interest to me, but ...

How did ethics become a staple of contemporary food writing?

Thanks to his perch as The New York Times Magazine’s resident food sage, Pollan is a well-known champion of the ethical superiority of small, local organic farms, and of the superior taste of their products. Whole Foods, of course, is a bringer of organic food to grateful yuppies across the country. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan describes Whole Foods as the embodiment of “Industrial Organic.” The company’s appetite for product has driven some organic farmers to scale up and become very much like the farms they were supposed to replace: organic dairies now house thousands of cows who have never munched on a patch of grass, while Brobdignagian vegetable farms ship their produce across the country, undercutting small, local farmers. Whole Foods even sells “organic” TV dinners (Pollan says one he tried “looked and tasted very much like airline food”) and, during the North American winter, has asparagus shipped north from Argentina. This would be environmentally dubious on its face, Pollan suggests, given the fuel required to ship the vegetable. In any case, it “tasted like damp cardboard.”

I wonder how this will go over

France to Pay Immigrants to Return Home

New French President Nicolas Sarkozy made immigration a central issue of his campaign. Now, his new minister for immigration and national identity says its time to start paying immigrants to leave the country.

This makes me sad

European Mammals under Threat

One in six European mammals is threatened and more than one-quarter of the continent's species are declining in population. A new EU study shows that deforestation, pollution and drainage of wetlands are robbing European mammals of their homes.

European mammals are under siege. Stocks of more than a quarter of all European mammals are diminishing, and almost one in six is threatened with extinction, a report released on Tuesday concluded.

Interesting

EUROPEANS TALLER ON AVERAGE

For years, researchers have been wondering why Americans stopped growing. US citizens were among the tallest in the world up until World War II. But since then, heights have stagnated while Europeans have been getting taller and taller, with the average American now between two and six centimeters shorter.

sorry

I just don't have squat to say. I want to, but there is nothing there.

I'm burnt out. I need a break. I cannot have one for 4 more weeks.

aaaccckkkk

Between working full-time and going to school full-time, I have no time for anything else. I am so behind on homework it ain't EVEN funny. The job basically fell into my lap. I need a management position to meet my internship requirements. Makes it difficult when you technically have no management experience. A former instructor is in a partnership with another gentleman and I ran into the former instructor and he was in need of a manager. Since they are just opening, there are only 3 employees, the 2 owners, and the one owners wife. Pretty much requires full-time which of course I am down for, but I'd rather it be AFTER graduation in December.

So now, homework is suffering. Sleep? What the hell is that.

At least it is interesting. But shit, what I need more than anything is like a week long nap.

OUCH!

Putin likens U.S. foreign policy to that of Third Reich

President Vladimir Putin of Russia obliquely compared the foreign policy of the United States to the Third Reich in a speech Wednesday commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, in an apparent escalation of anti-American rhetoric within the Russian government.

Sad thing is, it's almost hard to disagree with him.

Instead of killer bees it's bee killers

Are GM Crops Killing Bees?

A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.

Genetic engineering introduces new proteins into food sources. By introducing new genetic information into food producing organisms, we take the risk of creating mutations to the DNA, which can alter the metabolism of the product. By altering its metabolism, the product can be made into an allergen or toxin. The toxins produced can accumulate, causing each subsequent generation to be less healthy and more toxic. These modifications can also cause the food organism to stop production of certain vitamins and nutrients, reducing the nutritional properties of the food. In short, mutations can interfere with vital functions in an organism, forever altering the food source. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandates that new additives be established safe through testing prior to marketing. Because the organisms used in bioengineering already exist, they are 'generally recognized as safe' (GRAS) and therefore exempt from the usual testing required by the FDA.

The FDA looks at bioengineered food as being the substantial equivalent of the same food not bioengineered. While in theory this would be true, in actuality selected characteristics are the only things being compared. If the selected characteristics show no significant difference, the bioengineered product is a substantial equivalent. The thinking that there is no significant difference is flawed. The testing is limited to chemical and biochemical analytical procedures and tests are looking only at specific nutrient, toxin, and allergen data concerning the known characteristics of the introduced gene. Not testing the entire organism as a whole leaves a wide margin for error. Introducing a new gene makes a new food with its own genetic makeup. In 1989, genetically engineered tryptophan was introduced as a nutritional supplement in the United States. Tests ran showed that it was indeed a substantial equivalent and was 99.6% pure tryptophan. This altered tryptophan also contained traces of a highly toxic contaminant, making up only 0.01% of the total mass, but this product caused thousands of consumers to become ill. Of the thousands who became ill, 37 died while 1500 were permanently disabled. Unintended consequences are always a possibility. Testing for a wide array of allergens and toxins must be in place to ensure the safety of bioengineered foods. Labeling of bioengineered food must also be mandatory, as this will allow the consumer to choose. With current regulations and laws, we would never allow foods that contain pork or peanuts on the market without proper labeling on ethics alone, not to mention the associated safety concerns. The current state regarding bioengineered foods and the lack of testing places the FDA at the top of its own list of lawbreakers.

CauliFlower Mosaic Virus (CaMV) is an engineered virus; a virus whose genome humans alter. The DNA of CaMV is a suspected carcinogen and is related to human diseases AIDS and Hepatitis B. The grain from one ear of corn contains hundreds of millions of the CaMV DNA. CaMV is a viral vector that is used in generating bioengineered foods; BT Corn is one such bioengineered food that uses CaMV. Meat from poultry and milk from cows have absorbed CaMV. Without proper testing, we have no way of knowing how this will play out in humans. When naturally replicated, problems do not arise. With human manipulation, we introduce human fallibility. We think of this as being impossible, no way can a human become ill from a plant virus. We used to believe it would be impossible to become ill from a virus that affects animals.

Bioengineered products have only been on the market a relatively short time and we have no way of knowing what the long-term health effects will be. These products can produce new toxins and allergens not previously known. Pollination means plants cannot be controlled. Birds, bees, and butterflies, doing what they are made to do, could be spreading genes everywhere, causing unintended consequences the world over. With the possibility of genes, transferring from one species to the next, might resistant superbugs be on the next horizon. Bacteria, fungi, and viruses have been reinventing themselves for millennia to ensure their own survival. Are we so arrogant as to presume they will stop now?

Twango ©

Yay Germany, now if only the US would follow suit

If only my government cared about its people and our food supply.

Germany Tightens Restrictions on Genetically Modified Corn

Genetically modified (GM) crops have long been controversial in Germany, where organic agriculture is booming. Now the cultivation of GM corn has been effectively banned by the government, according to media reports.

Holy Sarcophagus Batman

This is too freakin cool and cool really isn't even the adjective for it, cooler than cool.

Archaeologists find tomb of King Herod

Under a baking sun, pieces of limestone carved with borders of rosettes and geometrical designs lay in three excavated pits Tuesday — a desert site Israeli archaeologists say is the tomb of King Herod, who ruled the Holy Land when Christ was born.

snip

Last month, his team started unearthing limestone fragments, from which emerged the picture of an ornately carved sarcophagus with decorative urns of a type never before found in the Holy Land.

"It's a sarcophagus we don't just see anywhere," Netzer told reporters at the university. "It is something very special."

This man says it all for me

I didn't grow up in a Democrat household and most everyone I knew was Republican. Reagan's first election, I was in the 9th grade, but I was able to vote for him the 2nd time around.

Breaking up with the GOP

I'm not referring to my marriage to my lovely wife of 23 years, but to my 25-year relationship with the Republican Party. In recent years especially, I have found fewer things in common with the party. I feel used and abused. We've obviously grown in different and incompatible directions.

It's a groan-inducing cliché, I know, but it applies here: I didn't leave the party; the party left me.

Romaine

WHFoods on Romaine

The food of the week (actually last week, I'm just late) is Romaine Lettuce. I love Romaine and would gladly eat it anyday and will when it is looking good and not all wilty.

Romaine lettuce

Not all lettuce is created equal, but if you start your meal with a salad made of romaine lettuce you will be sure to add not only a variety of textures and flavors to your meal but an enormous amount of nutritional value. Most of the domestic U.S. harvest of romaine lettuce and other salad greens comes from California and is available throughout the year.

Lettuce is synonymous with salads as they are predominantly made from crispy green lettuce leaves. Most varieties of lettuce exude small amounts of a white, milky liquid when their leaves are broken. This "milk" gives lettuce its slightly bitter flavor and its scientific name, Lactuca sativa derived from the Latin word for milk.

Baby boy is growing

I don't care what they say, even full grown, he'll still be just as cute as can be.

Knut Steadily Getting Less Cute

Knut's days of extreme cuteness are numbered now that he has acquired a markedly longer snout and weighs a chubby 17 kilograms (37 pounds), twice as much as when he first appeared before an adoring public five weeks ago.

How The World Can Be Saved

How The World Can Be Saved

By accepting a reduction of just 0.12 percent in global economic growth, we can avoid the worst consequences of global warming, according to the IPCC. The catch? It only works if everyone joins in.

Preventing the worst consequences of climate change will cost money -- but the investment is worth it. Climate experts are pinning their hopes on a brown line: It rises constantly and has already reached three times the level of 1970.

Boosting Metabolism with Diet and Nutrition

Boosting Metabolism with Diet and Nutrition

Food Fixes for Metabolism

Remember -- our basal metabolic rate includes the energy we need for body processes, including digestion. About 10 percent of our calories are used to process the food we eat. As the calories are burned, our bodies generate heat. This phenomenon, known as the thermic effect of food, is influenced by how much, how often, and what we eat. In addition, food can directly affect metabolism by altering the way the body functions (which changes the amount of energy it needs). Here are my best recommendations for maximizing metabolism:

And now this

Tainted poultry has entered food supply

Millions of chickens ate feed containing melamine, government officials say.

The Food and Drug Adminstration said Tuesday that as many as 3 million chickens that may have been given contaminated feed containing melamine have already been eaten by consumers, according to NBC News.

So, are ya worried yet? It's not enough that our beloved pets have died from this. Did your Fluffy or Fido die? Is your child next? Are you pregnant? Ate any chicken lately? Had enough?

More interview

IrieLovie interviewing me:

1. You're a mom, student, and yet still have time for a relationship. How do you do it?

Very carefully. Haha. Ok, seriously I give up sleep. That's about the only thing I will give up to make sure I get school stuff and children stuff all into my weekly life. I meet myself coming and going most times, but I graduate in December, so it should get better then.

2. How would you like to be remembered?

As long as my friends and family know my heart, that will be perfect for me.

3. What is your happiest childhood moment?

The only things that stick out as happiest moments are ones spent with my mom's mother.

4. What was your first job?

I was 14 and wanted my own money. My mom said, well, if someone will hire you, you can work. So, I went to a local fast food chain that is now shuttered called Grandy's. They made fried chicken, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, I guess kind of like a quick home cooking place. They had the absolute best yeast rolls for lunch and dinner and their biscuits at breakfast time were out off this world. It was close, I could ride my bike or walk, and like I said, they had the best yeast rolls and biscuits. I only worked there a month as they had way too many chiefs and not enough workers. There would be 4 or 5 managers on duty at a time. At the drive-thru once, some guy was whacking off and got real excited when he saw a young girl. I laughed at him and it really pissed him off. I ended up quitting about a month later because one manager would say 'sweep the dining area', while doing that, a second manager would say, 'clean the restrooms'. But, manager #1 said sweep. I don't care, I'm telling you to clean the restrooms. Manager #3 might come over and I'd go through the same thing. Then manager #1 would see me not sweeping and yell at me. Dinner rush was just starting and one of them yelled at me in front of customers. I yelled back and told them they could all phuk off, I was only 14 anyway. Caused quite a scene (customers shocked and what not) according to my friend who was working there. I was working in the food court in the mall within a week.

5. The Food Channel hires you to do your own show. What would you make for your first episode?

I would have a show geared to the industry. Out of all the chefs and cooks I know, none of them watch FN anymore for various reasons, mostly though because it just isn't geared towards us. I would want to get guest chefs (Bourdain, Keller, Atchaz, Tramanto etc) to come on and we would discuss tips and tricks of the trade and make one of their signature dishes each show.

Now it's your turn to play if you wish:
Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” I will respond by asking you five questions in the comments here on this post so check back here. I get to pick the questions. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.