May 29, 2009
May 28, 2009
10 Tasty Fish You Don't Want to Eat
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch offers a list of fish you can enjoy and those you can't. Many on the list you may or may not enjoy depending on where and how they're caught. However, there are some you just don't want to touch. Check out 10 of these tasty fish that you want to let swim in peace.
The Freshwater Eel
It is better known as Unagi among the sushi lovers, where you can see it draped over the top of a tasty roll covered in a sweet sauce. However, while tempting, you'll want to skip ordering a roll that features Freshwater Eel. Young eel are caught in the wild and raised on farms, and significantly decreasing the number of young animals in a wild population has sent the species into decline. Not only that, but the method of farming eels pollutes the surrounding areas. This is one sushi option you always want to avoid, but there are sustainable options. (crap, unagi rolls are my very favourite...!)
Salmon
It is known to have some great health benefits and is a wonderful option but only if you're ordering wild Alaskan. You never want to indulge in farmed Salmon. No matter what your restaurant server says about the farming practices, if they don't simply say "It's wild Alaskan," don't order it. Farming salmon, as with farming eel, causes pollution in the surrounding environments due to waste and parasites leaking out into the waters next to the farms. Plus, the feeding methods are less than desirable, using fish stocks that put pressure on wild populations or corn, which leads to a paler meat that is then died the pink color consumers recognize. Until more sustainable farming practices are developed, farmed Salmon is on the No list.
Continue with the list...
It is better known as Unagi among the sushi lovers, where you can see it draped over the top of a tasty roll covered in a sweet sauce. However, while tempting, you'll want to skip ordering a roll that features Freshwater Eel. Young eel are caught in the wild and raised on farms, and significantly decreasing the number of young animals in a wild population has sent the species into decline. Not only that, but the method of farming eels pollutes the surrounding areas. This is one sushi option you always want to avoid, but there are sustainable options. (crap, unagi rolls are my very favourite...!)
Salmon
It is known to have some great health benefits and is a wonderful option but only if you're ordering wild Alaskan. You never want to indulge in farmed Salmon. No matter what your restaurant server says about the farming practices, if they don't simply say "It's wild Alaskan," don't order it. Farming salmon, as with farming eel, causes pollution in the surrounding environments due to waste and parasites leaking out into the waters next to the farms. Plus, the feeding methods are less than desirable, using fish stocks that put pressure on wild populations or corn, which leads to a paler meat that is then died the pink color consumers recognize. Until more sustainable farming practices are developed, farmed Salmon is on the No list.
Continue with the list...
Eco-Friendly Snack Packs
As the fervent war against plastic wages on, Fresh Snack Pack reusable sandwich and snack bags are a clever and eco-friendly alternative to the disposable kind.
Made from PVC-free, non-toxic plastic, the Packs come in two sizes (sandwich and snack). They feature an easy-to-open velcro closure and, because economizing doesn't necessarily mean eating PB and J sandwiches every single day, these handy containers fully unfold so you can use them as placemats or plates for salads or pastas—just about whatever your hungry heart desires.
Via Cool Hunting
May 27, 2009
How Soup Can Help You Lose Weight
In the battle to lose weight, hunger is the dieter's worst enemy. But research has revealed a simple aid to taming the appetite: soup.
If you eat the food and drink the water, you will feel full for a couple of hours before hunger kicks in. But if you blend the food with the water - to make soup - you will stay hunger-free for much longer, and less likely to snack through the afternoon.
If you eat the food and drink the water, you will feel full for a couple of hours before hunger kicks in. But if you blend the food with the water - to make soup - you will stay hunger-free for much longer, and less likely to snack through the afternoon.
How can blending the food into soup make such a difference? The answer lies in the stomach. Scientists have used ultrasound and MRI scans of people's stomachs to investigate what happens after eating solid-food-plus-water meals compared with the same food made into soup.
After you eat a meal, the pyloric sphincter valve at the bottom of your stomach holds food back so that the digestive juices can get to work.
Water, however, passes straight through the sphincter to your intestines, so drinking water does not contribute to "filling you up".
When you eat the same meal as a soup, the whole mixture remains in the stomach, because the water and food are blended together. The scientists' scans confirm that the stomach stays fuller for longer, staving off those hunger pangs.
The key to this low-tech weapon against hunger is a hormone called ghrelin. It is one of the major players in the body's appetite system.
May 23, 2009
Super Dog
It seems like the result of a Worth 1000 Photoshop competition, or perhaps a sadistic dog owner who put their poor pup on steroids. But Wendy, a whippet from Central Saanich, British Columbia is rippling with muscle due to mutated genes. Breeders often try for one mutated gene because it makes whippets run even faster than usual, but Wendy here got two, hence the double muscle on her average-sized frame.Via Weburbanist
May 22, 2009
May 19, 2009
What's Your Brands?
Have you thought of how many brands that are involved in your daily life? Well, they did:
Via Boing Boing
Via Boing Boing
May 18, 2009
May 16, 2009
David Attenborough: Our Planet is Overcrowded
Veteran TV naturalist David Attenborough loves humans as much as other wildlife. But not when global populations are out of control, he tells Alison George
The latest venture for this veteran of wildlife documentaries is as controversial as anything he has done in his long career. He has become a patron of the Optimum Population Trust, a think tank on population growth and environment with a scary website showing the global population as it grows. "For the past 20 years I've never had any doubt that the source of the Earth's ills is overpopulation. I can't go on saying this sort of thing and then fail to put my head above the parapet."
There are nearly three times as many people on the planet as when Attenborough started making television programmes in the 1950s - a fact that has convinced him that if we don't find a solution to our population problems, nature will. "Other horrible factors will come along and fix it, like mass starvation."
Trying to pin him down about the specifics of what to do, however, proves tricky. He says it involves persuading people that their lives and the lives of their children would be better if they didn't exceed a certain number of births per family. And that dramatic drop in birth rate rests on providing universal suffrage, education - particularly for women - and decent standards of living for all. It's a daunting task, but the first step, he argues, is to acknowledge that population is a problem.
May 15, 2009
Hello Titty
A while back, PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, made all the “weird news” columns in the US by suggesting that Ben & Jerry’s should use breast milk, like the kind your mum fed you from her mum tits, instead of cow milk. What crazy nuts! What a shocking idea! WRONG. It is a FACT that breast milk is healthier for you than cow milk.And just in case you’re still dubious, we found and interviewed a BREAST-MILK EXPERT who confirmed what we already know: That we are smarter than you.
Vice: Hello nutritionist and breast milk specialist Elisabeth Kylberg. Can adults benefit from breast milk like babies do?
Elisabeth Kylberg: I think that adults shouldn’t drink milk at all, whether it’s human or cow milk. It’s food for babies. Cheese and yogurt, on the other hand, are good for us. Still, the longer women breast-feed, the smaller risk they run of getting breast and ovarian cancer. I wouldn’t be surprised if breast milk is one day used as a medicine—it’s been proved to kill cancer without even damaging the afflicted cells.
So what’s healthier for us to drink, cow or human milk?
Definitely human milk, but I don’t think there’s a market for it.
Is it possible to lactate without actually getting pregnant?
There have been several cases of women who’ve adopted babies and breast-fed them, or grandmothers who breast-fed the baby if the mother passed away. In most cases, they weren’t able to produce the same amount of milk as women who were pregnant, but if you stimulate the breast with a baby sucking on it, for example, it will eventually start producing milk. Even men can start producing milk after heavy breast stimulation, but their milk is not as nutritional.
So if we survived a plane crash and were left on a desert island, or in the Andes like in that movie Alive, we could actually survive on our own milk?
Ha ha, for a while maybe.
Read the full article...
Penis Mushroom
There is a mythical shroom that is unlike any other shroom. For, you see, this mushroom looks like a penis—not just a little bit like a penis, as many mushrooms do, but exactly like a penis. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? And although mushrooms usually spring forth from the earth as if from the toes of the gods, the penis mushroom is about as natural as a cocker spaniel. In other words, it’s totally man-made and if it were ever placed in the wild it would die instantly.So what is this magic little cock-looking guy all about? Where did it come from? Who made it? I recently sought to answer these questions and was met with a dizzying world of magic, lies, and unsolved murder. And I was tripping balls the whole time, too.
Continue reading...
May 13, 2009
Are You the Favourite Person of Anybody?
Going through my Youtube account and found this clip I favourited about 2 years ago. Something worth sharing...
Robert Webb Flashdances (Comic Relief)
If you're a fan of the series Peep Show, you will appreciate this.
May 12, 2009
The Diary of Tortov Roddle
The Melancholy Rain
Midnight Cafe
My favourite 2 of total 7 series of Kunio Kato's The Diary of Tortov Roddle.
Midnight Cafe
My favourite 2 of total 7 series of Kunio Kato's The Diary of Tortov Roddle.
Top 10 Most Common Ingredients in Fast Food
Clearly, fast food is more complicated than it looks. Many menu items contain processed foods, which have been modified from their natural state for safety or convenience. Processed foods tend to have multiple additives to keep them fresher longer. Across an entire fast-food menu, there are thousands of ingredients, ranging from the commonplace (water) to the exotic (xanthan gum).
Considering that some of these ingredients have been implicated in serious health issues, it would be good to know which are the most common.
10. Citric Acid: The Most Common Preservative
9. High-fructose Corn Syrup: The Most Common Sweetener
8. Caramel Color: The Most Common Color Additive
7. Salt: The Most Common Flavor or Spice
Most health experts warn against eating too much salt, pointing to studies that show a link between sodium and high blood pressure. The government recommends a maximum of 6 grams of salt per day for adults, 5 grams a day for children between ages 7 and 10, and 3 grams for children between 4 and 6. Compare that recommendation to a typical family meal from KFC, which delivers a whopping 5.2 grams of salt per person [source: BBC News]!
6. Monosodium Glutamate: The Most Common Flavor Enhancer
5. Niacin: The Most Common Nutrient
4. Soybean Oil: The Most Common Oil or Fat
Soybean oil contains several unsaturated fatty acids, which means their component molecules have fewer hydrogen atoms. Unfortunately, unsaturated fats don't have long shelf lives. Hydrogenation, or forcing hydrogen gas into soybean oil under extremely high pressure, eliminates this undesirable characteristic. But it also leads to the creation of trans fatty acids, which have been linked to heart disease.
3. Mono- and Diglycerides: The Most Common Emulsifiers
Mono- and diglycerides allow smooth mixing of ingredients, prevent separation and generally stabilize food. You can find them in ice cream, margarine, baked goods, whipped topping and certain beverages. Luckily, glycerides pose no serious health threats, although they are a source of fat.
2. Xanthan Gum: The Most Common Stabilizer or Thickener
Xanthan gum also creates a smooth, pleasant texture in many foods. For this reason, it appears in ice cream, whipped topping, custard and pie filling. And the really good news: It's not associated with any known adverse effects.
1. Chicken: The Most Common Meat Product
Via HowStuffWorks
Considering that some of these ingredients have been implicated in serious health issues, it would be good to know which are the most common.
10. Citric Acid: The Most Common Preservative
9. High-fructose Corn Syrup: The Most Common Sweetener
8. Caramel Color: The Most Common Color Additive
7. Salt: The Most Common Flavor or Spice
Most health experts warn against eating too much salt, pointing to studies that show a link between sodium and high blood pressure. The government recommends a maximum of 6 grams of salt per day for adults, 5 grams a day for children between ages 7 and 10, and 3 grams for children between 4 and 6. Compare that recommendation to a typical family meal from KFC, which delivers a whopping 5.2 grams of salt per person [source: BBC News]!
6. Monosodium Glutamate: The Most Common Flavor Enhancer
5. Niacin: The Most Common Nutrient
4. Soybean Oil: The Most Common Oil or Fat
Soybean oil contains several unsaturated fatty acids, which means their component molecules have fewer hydrogen atoms. Unfortunately, unsaturated fats don't have long shelf lives. Hydrogenation, or forcing hydrogen gas into soybean oil under extremely high pressure, eliminates this undesirable characteristic. But it also leads to the creation of trans fatty acids, which have been linked to heart disease.
3. Mono- and Diglycerides: The Most Common Emulsifiers
Mono- and diglycerides allow smooth mixing of ingredients, prevent separation and generally stabilize food. You can find them in ice cream, margarine, baked goods, whipped topping and certain beverages. Luckily, glycerides pose no serious health threats, although they are a source of fat.
2. Xanthan Gum: The Most Common Stabilizer or Thickener
Xanthan gum also creates a smooth, pleasant texture in many foods. For this reason, it appears in ice cream, whipped topping, custard and pie filling. And the really good news: It's not associated with any known adverse effects.
1. Chicken: The Most Common Meat Product
Via HowStuffWorks
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