Tidbits From The Web #77

The ongoing consequences of the BP oil spill...
Kitty pattycake...
If Picasso drew comic superheros...
Why I don't own a cat...
The evolution of human flight...
Is it real or is it Memorex?
Vader did you know?
Why some species need to exist...
TSA = Touch Some Ass...
Kitten for lunch...
Who knew the Church could be funny?
Are you ready for your crash course?
Some microscopic photos...
Classical metal... (props to Shmonty)
Why are we letting the rich win?
Add this to my bucket list!
Periodic table of hall of famers...
Name that bird in 2 notes...
What is wrong with this team picture...
8 common spelling mistakes even smart people make...
Why you should avoid root canals...
Top 100 tech products...
A chemical romance...
10 things that you didn't know about sound...
Paper thin solar power...
Graphic Nothing... (see below)



End of Liberty...




Is Total Financial Meltdown of the U.S. Economy Still Preventable?




Car runs on 100% water...

Knowledge The List Universe If you are a list maker/user, here is the ultimate list site. The site posts collections of Top 10, including topics from the bizarre to politics. As the developers state, We are focused on lists that intrigue and educate, specializing in the bizarre or lesser-known trivia. Every day we present a new unique list in any one of our twenty-two categories, from art to travel. The statistics for the readers claim that 62% are under 20 years old, 34% are between 20 and 39, meaning that if we oldies but goodies want to keep hip, we must check out the lists to see what the kids are listing!

Graphic Nothing Laying bygone aspirations out on canvas Just because you fail to realize your earliest ambitions doesn't mean you can't use the knowledge you gained in their pursuit -- after all, didn't Vinnie Jones' MMA career benefit immeasurably from his limited but still valuable experience with football? Pouring his youthful aspirations into his adult art career: the man behind Graphic Nothing. Graphic's a colourful collection of angular, geometric designs often inspired by science, put out by a Manchester illustrator who had early ambitions as "an entomologist (insects) paleontologist (fossils), or space-ship model maker" (Virgin?). Examples include: Boxy Music: Each of these four bold cubes has a different facet missing, creating an oddly hypnotic three-dimensional effect that's purely For Your Pleasure. Op-Art Elephant: A vaguely psychedelic pachyderm with its black & white outlines expanding to infinity, part of the "Eleph-Art" series wherein each animal's dimensions follow the "golden ratio" -- math that, unless you're an elephant, you've probably forgotten. Blast Off! This triptych homage to youthful adventure sees the rocketship from Tintin's Destination Moon on the pad, launching, and shooting into space (Snowy would really Laika to go home now). Because he's also apparently interested in law, the artist's Remix Series "explores when copyright ceases to mean anything" by recreating iconic paintings (The Mona Lisa, The Scream...) using 140 solid-colour circles, and, with the help of 144 dots, timeless album covers like Thriller and Pet Sounds -- like a dog's whimper, the sound one makes when Vinnie has a Jones for your balls. Check out his website

The Devil's Dictionary

Ambrose Bierce, an American satirist, critic, poet, short story writer, editor, and journalist from the 19th 20th century, is noted for his clear style and lack of sentimentality. His work, 'The Devil's Dictionary,' first collected as a book in 1906, is now online, thanks to the efforts of a 'misguided blackguard,' Mike Leung. "While the book represents diabolical appetites, and derides pretense, it should be noted that Bierce generally reserved his severest ridicule for those who benefit most from the status quo. It's easy to imagine him a century later relying less on casual political incorrectness, to pay better tribute to those who couldn't overindulge enough on the prosperity that took place." Here's your opportunity to benefit from this man's wisdom and wit that is still apparent today, such definitions as 'POLITICS, n., A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. Be sure to look up POLITICIAN, another word that demonstrates Bierce's command of words and human nature!

Fun

Light My Candle...

Mrs. Donovan was walking down O'Connell Street in Dublin when she met up with Father Flaherty.
The Father said, 'Top o' the mornin' to ye! Aren't ye Mrs. Donovan and didn't I marry ye and yer hoosband 2 years ago?'
She replied, 'Aye, that ye did, Father.'
The Father asked, 'And be there any wee little ones yet?'
She replied, 'No, not yet, Father.'

The Father said, 'Well now, I'm going to Rome next week and I'll light a candle for ye and yer hoosband.'
She replied, 'Oh, thank ye, Father.'
They then parted ways.
Some years later they met again.

The Father asked, 'Well now, Mrs. Donovan , how are ye these days?'
She replied, 'Oh, very well, Father!'
The Father asked, 'And tell me, have ye any wee ones yet?'

She replied, 'Oh yes, Father! Three sets of twins and 4 singles, 10 in all!'
The Father said, 'That's wonderful! How is yer loving hoosband doing?'
She replied, 'E's gone to Rome to blow out yer candle.'

Good News, Bad News, Sad News... The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, an Anchorage man answered his door to find two grim-faced Alaska State Troopers. "We're sorry Mr. Wilkens, but we have some information about your wife," said one trooper. "Tell me! Did you find her?!" Wilkens shouted. The troopers looked at each other. One said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?" Fearing the worst, an ashen Mr. Wilkens said, "Give me the bad news first." The trooper said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in Kachemak Bay ." "Oh my God!" exclaimed Wilkens. Swallowing hard, he asked, "What's the good news?" The trooper continued, "When we pulled her up, she had 12 twenty-five pound king crabs and 6 good-size Dungeness crabs clinging to her." Stunned, Mr. Wilkens demanded, "If that's the good news, what's the great news?" The trooper said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow."

Nana's Nursing Home...

A wealthy family took their frail, elderly grandmother to a famous and expensive nursing home and left her, hoping she would be well cared for.

The next morning, the nurses luxuriously bathed her- fed her a tasty breakfast cooked by a famous chef, and set her in a chair at a window overlooking a lovely flower garden.

She seemed okay, but after a while she slowly started to tilt sideways in her chair.
Two attentive nurses immediately rushed up to catch her and straighten her up.
Again she seemed okay, but after a while she slowly started to tilt over to her other side.
The nurses rushed back and once more brought her back upright. This went on all morning.
Later, the family arrived to see how the old woman was adjusting to her new home.
"So Grandma, how is it here? Are they treating you all right?"
"It's pretty nice," she replied.
"Except they won't let me fart."

Did You Know that Splenda is in Your Drinking Water?

Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 23 2010

The human body can't break it down, or use it in any way. And as it turns out, modern wastewater treatment methods don't break down Splenda either.

Smitha Ramakrishna, a finalist in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search, found that the sweetener can accumulate in the water supply after people excrete it. This could potentially cause harm to fish and other living creatures.

Scientific American reports:

"She tried to start doing research at Arizona State University, though since she was the first high schooler her lab had ever had ... [E]ventually she was allowed to subject sucralose to various treatments, like bacterial digestion, typically used in wastewater treatment plants.

She found that sucralose resisted most of these treatments ... that means almost all the sucralose people eat or drink winds up in the ecosystem."

Sources:

Scientific American March 9, 2009

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Splenda (aka sucralose) was approved by the FDA in 1998 as a tabletop sweetener and for use in products such as baked goods, nonalcoholic beverages, chewing gum, frozen dairy desserts, fruit juices, and gelatins. Sucralose is also permitted as a general-purpose sweetener for all processed foods.

It's become very popular over the last decade as it's claimed your body does not metabolize it and therefore provides no calories.

As I detailed in my book Sweet Deception, researchers have found evidence that Splenda is absorbed by your fat, contrary to claims. This is not good as it will tend to accumulate in your body over time. Since it is chemically related to DDT and no study in the world has looked at toxicity over a few months, it might lead a prudent person to be more cautious with its use.

However, a significant amount is still excreted in your stool and this is what winds up in the water supply.

Is Excreted Splenda Accumulating in the Water Supply?

According to Splenda's Web site for health care professionals:

"Approximately 2% of ingested sucralose is biotransformed into toxicologically insignificant components and excreted in the urine … Most ingested sucralose is eliminated unchanged in the stool … Of the small amount of sucralose that is absorbed, most is eliminated in the urine within 24 hours."

All of this excreted Splenda goes directly into the water supply where Smitha Ramakrishna, a bright 17-year-old and finalist in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search, found that wastewater treatment methods do not break the compound down.

After testing bacterial digestion and other forms of common wastewater treatments, she found the molecule vastly unchanged. Only a mix of titanium dioxide, ultraviolet light and extensive time broke Splenda down into biodegradable molecules, and these methods are rarely used by treatment facilities.

So there's a good chance that Splenda is readily accumulating in water supplies, where preliminary studies suggest it could poison fish and potentially harm other creatures as well.

The fastest solution to keeping Splenda out of the water supply would be to drastically cut down on its use on a nationwide level … a step that would not only protect the environment but also your individual health as well.

Splenda Secrets You Should Know

Splenda was approved after the FDA supposedly reviewed more than 110 animal and human safety studies, but out of these 110 studies, only two were human studies, and the longest one was conducted for four days!

Those animal studies revealed plenty of problems, such as:

• Decreased red blood cells -- sign of anemia -- at levels above 1,500 mg/kg/day
• Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
• Enlarged and calcified kidneys (McNeil stated this is often seen with poorly absorbed substances and was of no toxicological significance. The FDA Final Rule agreed that these are findings that are common in aged female rats and are not significant.)
• Spontaneous abortions in nearly half the rabbit population given sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group
• A 23 percent death rate in rabbits, compared to a 6 percent death rate in the control group

A recent study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health also found that Splenda:

• Reduces the amount of good bacteria in your intestines by 50 percent -- a disturbing finding since these bacteria help maintain your body's overall balance of friendly versus unfriendly microorganisms and support your general health.
• Increases the pH level in your intestines
• Affects a glycoprotein in your body that can have crucial health effects, particularly if you're on certain medications

I created a page many years ago that contains a long list of personal case studies from readers who have been injured and suffered side effects from Splenda.

In fact, we have more people on our site that have reported adverse reactions to Splenda than were formally studied in the research submitted for FDA approval! Please read these case reports when you can and certainly add your own experience if you have noticed a side effect from consuming Splenda.

The symptoms are so numerous I can't include them all here, but the following are common symptoms, usually noticed within a 24-hour period following consumption of Splenda products:

• Skin -- Redness, itching, swelling, blistering, weeping, crusting, rash, eruptions, or hives (itchy bumps or welts). These are the most common allergic symptoms that people have.
• Lungs -- Wheezing, tightness, cough, or shortness of breath
• Head -- Swelling of the face, eyelids, lips, tongue, or throat; headaches and migraines (severe headaches)
• Nose -- Stuffy nose, runny nose (clear, thin discharge), sneezing
• Eyes -- Red (bloodshot), itchy, swollen, or watery
• Stomach -- Bloating, gas, pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or bloody diarrhea
• Heart -- Palpitations or fluttering
• Joints -- Joint pains or aches
• Neurological -- Anxiety, dizziness, spaced-out sensation, depression

Tips for Ditching Splenda

You may become addicted to artificial sweeteners because you have cravings for sweets and think you are making a healthy choice by swapping out sugar for artificial sweeteners … but this is a myth.

For more information about why artificial sweeteners are not a smart health move (for instance did you know they can actually stimulate fat storage and weight gain?) read One More Reason to Ban Artificial Sweeteners from Your Diet.

If you're using Splenda because you're craving sweets, what your body is most likely really craving are healthy nutrients. Finding out your nutritional type will help you understand which foods you need to eat to feel full and satisfied. Once you start eating right for your nutritional type, your sweet cravings typically will significantly lessen and may even disappear.

Meanwhile, be sure you address the emotional component to your food cravings using a tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). More than any traditional or alternative method I have used or researched, EFT works to overcome food cravings.

And, if diet soda is the culprit for you, be sure to check out Turbo Tapping, which is an extremely effective and simple tool to get rid of your soda addiction in a short period of time.

For times when you are looking for a healthier sweet treat, the only alternative sweetener I recommend is Stevia. It's a natural plant and, unlike Splenda and other artificial sweeteners that have been cited for dangerous toxicities, it is a safe, natural alternative that's ideal if you're watching your weight or maintaining your health by avoiding sugar.

I must tell you that I am biased; I prefer Stevia as my sweetener of choice, and I frequently use it. However, like most choices, especially sweeteners, I recommend using Stevia in moderation, just like sugar.

Peace, love, and happiness...until next time...