A Very, Very Good Day

Tomorrow's likely not going to be a good day. But today - well, I'm sure enjoying today.

1) St. Louis County has put forth this. Chili's Chicken Crispers might someday not be a thing of the past. I'd better take up triathalons. Eww.

2) AIRWOLF IS COMING TO DVD! I think I let out a "Whoppeee" at work today. I have been waiting for this for forever.

3) Tristan's ear is healing!

I could go on and on. But I should probably get some work done

hln

Posted by: hln at 03:47 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Why We're Hitched

Brian and I scored pretty close to each other on the Moral Matrix test (see his scores).

Here're mine.

hln

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Meet Eduardo

Tristan, my white cat, has had some health issues of late. I'll not go into their nature (since some of you may be eating), but I brought him back from the vet in far better health than he was upon travel to the vet. Thank goodness for the vet.

The day after the vet drama, though, one of my other cats BIT HIS EAR AND PUNCTURED IT. Yes, the stud jokes ensued, but my heart was broken. This is my TRISTAN, my beloved white cat who is so loyal to me that I can call him from anywhere in the house, and typically he will come running.

Brian was, of course, trying to cheer me about the cat's disfiguration. He told me we could put him in the witness protection program - dye the cat brown, and rename him Eduardo...and everyone (the cat population) would be none the wiser.

Meet Eduardo. We just skipped the dye part.

My poor kitty.

hln

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Help!

What are scallions? How about shallots? I at least see the latter labelled at the supermarket. No such luck with scallions, though, and lots of recipes call for them. Help!

hln

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iPod Shuffle

I am patiently awaiting my ordered iPod Shuffle. Anybody have one yet? I'm counting the days until it ships. Should be within the next week or two.

hln

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No Fresh Catch

Alaska - discourage fishing, says PETA. The chinook are precious.

It's more of the same. If you've seen it here before, you've seen it. These are complex and intelligent organisms, very social, says PETA.

According to PETA, emerging evidence about the cognitive abilities of fish - including their ability to feel pain - is paving the way for society to consider "hooking fish through the mouth and ripping them out of their natural environments with the same revulsion that we feel about cruelty to dogs or cats. Imagine hooking a dog or a cat through the mouth with a large hook and dragging them behind your car," Robertson said in her letter.

Kudos to Mark Stopha, the salmon troller who had an appropriate response.

"I only catch the stupid ones," Stopha said. "I wouldn't be able to catch the smart ones, anyway."

"I'm trying to weed out the gene pool," he added.

Yum, salmon.

hln

Posted by: hln at 07:23 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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None and Zero Are Different

Frito-Lay's got a website. You may have seen it - it proclaims thus:
0 Grams Trans Fats
Frito-Lay adding 0 Grams Trans Fats message to Tostitos products. There's a link for more.

Take the link, and here's what you get.

In the coming months, the "0 grams trans fat" message will appear on other Frito-Lay snacks including Lay's, Ruffles, Doritos, Fritos and Cheetos.

"Consumers today are becoming increasingly aware of foods containing trans fats," said Stephen Quinn, chief marketing officer, Frito-Lay. "Frito-Lay is now adding the '0 grams trans fat' message on the front of the bag to help consumers make informed snacking choices."

Back up a bit before I get into why I'm writing this. Trans fats are created by hydrogenation, and they were at the supposed healthier alternative to saturated fat. You know it as margarine versus butter. But they're not the most natural thing, and debate has sometimes swayed the opposite and stood in the corner with butter (if one must partake).

So, if consumers are to be concerned - and they should be. WebMD and others agree that there's no known "safe" intake amount of trans fats, would you not want to avoid them at all - or almost at all - if given the choice? The answer to this also appears to be yes - trans fat content will appear on nutrition labels in 2006, by law.

Many companies are jumping the gun on this - affixing proud labels to their pristine products. Frito-Lay's not the exception. But it's not telling the whole story.

Zero grams doesn't mean none.

How does one currently identify trans fats within a packaged product? Well, companies such as Frito-Lay who are meeting the requirement early put the number of grams within the nutrition label. But, as I stated, this isn't everything. You read the nutrition label and stop, and you figure "none." You read the ingredients, however, and the answer is "not exactly."

The words "partially hydrogenated x oil" (x is often soybean) indicate the presence of trans fats? Check this out.


Do you see it? I tried to leave the images big enough so that Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil stood out for you.

Stinkers. They're making a big deal out of something that is true to labelling standards (less than .5 grams) but doesn't satisfy me, the one who's trying to make the label-mentioned "Smart Choice."

Tostitos bags say the same thing but truly have 0 grams - no mention of hydrogenation.

If you didn't click into the WebMD link, here's what the most important part says:

How much trans fat is safe? No one really knows. Kava says that the prestigious Institute of Medicine reported that there isn't enough research yet to recommend a safe amount of trans fats. "We know that like saturated fats, trans fats can raise bad cholesterol but there is conflicting data about what it does to good cholesterol," she says. "I wish the data were stronger."

The FDA, while requiring manufacturers to put the amount of trans fats on nutrition labels, will not require a % daily value (DV) for trans fat because there is not enough information at this time to establish a such a value, she says. Food labels do offer such information about saturated fats.

Nabisco Wheat Thins completely removed this type of fats from the product. The result? Crunches just a bit different, but still very tasty. Its advertising claim is also 0 grams trans fat. And it's not kidding.

Just thought you should know.

hln Just thought I'd bring it up.

Posted by: hln at 05:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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More on PETA and KFC

The authorities are in the building!

Finger DissinÂ’ Good: Hip-Hop Vs KFC

Hip-hop heavyweights including the Beastie Boys and Def Jam impresario Russell Simmons are threatening a campaign to urge fans to boycott KFC over their “grossly inhumane” slaughter practices.

Simmons has called slaughter practices used by the fast-food chain's suppliers "grossly inhumane" and has filmed a commercial showing some of the very worst abuses chickens undergo before they are served to customers.

Expect slaughter that doesn't kill soon! The hip-hop culture could really dig that. Da chikin rap. Yo.

I want to see the commercial. I'm sending the pic to James for a caption contest. We shall see. (It'd be better with a beak).

hln

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No Brain No Pain?

The title comes from Hans as the QOTD. It originally belongs to a fellow named Mike Loughlin. The debate today is whether lobsters feel pain. Nordic folk say, no.

PORTLAND, Maine - A new study out of Norway concludes that it's unlikely lobsters feel pain, stirring up a long-simmering debate over whether Maine's most valuable seafood suffers when it's being cooked.

Animal activists for years have claimed that lobsters feel excruciating agony when they are cooked, and that dropping one in a pot of boiling water is tantamount to torture.

And what do I have to say about this?

1) Doesn't matter - I couldn't boil a lobster, pain or no. I'd feel guilty.
2) So the squealing is just for show?
3) Egad, I'm not bashing PETA on this one. I'd best do that in another post.

hln

Posted by: hln at 07:08 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Name That Tumor

A young man (for cancer'll accelerate your maturity) who goes by the name of David is free of Frank. Frank was his grapefruit-sized brain tumor. Bye bye Frank.

Can you imagine being 9 and dealing with that? Sorta makes everything else pale in comparison.

I wonder if he gets to keep a picture of Frank (reduced to the size of a peach pit) for a dart board. I would think that would be self assuring.

hln

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Open Letter to Those Who Live on Glenpark Drive

Hello. My name is Heather. I live near you. I drive down your street to access my cul-de-sac. And, far too often, I encounter a small white dog, poodlish in breed.

If you own this small white dog, please keep it out of the street. It looks like a very nice animal, too nice, likely. See, it wants my car to pet it. This is the fourth time I have encountered it in the street. Considering that I'm halfway looking for the dog, he is still safe from my vehicle. I'm certain, though, with this continued street-dwelling behavior, that the dog will not persist in such a safe state for too long; others' driving is not so white dog wary.

The dog sat in the direct center of the street today. He would not move by provocation of a horn blast. He would not move when I put my car in park, stepped out of it, and approached him. I had to scowl and growl (yes, that rhymes) at the dog to get him to budge.

This trusting behavior does not bode well for the dog. Street bad. If this is your dog, please promptly remove him from the street and, perhaps, confine him to a yard. Is this so difficult to comprehend? If I encounter the dog again, I plan to scoop him up, determine his parentage, and confront you, irresponsible dog owner. If the confrontation is not to my liking, your sweet little dog will be placed with a rescue organization of my choosing.

Thank you. You are warned. That is all.

hln

Posted by: hln at 06:50 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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You Sick, Sick People

I know I haven't been writing, like, at all, but my hits are through the roof this last week. Not sure how, but one of the images on this blog is getting a lot of attention.

Lotsa dudes out there looking for leggy women, I suppose. Why now? Who knows.

hln

Posted by: hln at 08:11 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Animal! Animal!

Dennis Rodman wants to be Pamela Anderson. Or something. He posed nude for PETA.

Rodman, 43, who has sported hair in a rainbow of colors and once appeared at a New York bookstore to sign autographs in a wedding dress, said he gained "a totally different perspective" after watching a PETA video.

"I'm not ashamed to show my body," he added.

What does that have to do with anything? Even more fur, er, fun is a related story. Mercedes offers a non-leather seat option. Why? Because PETA says thousands of cows are slaughtered each year for leather car seats and interiors. Apparently PETA's unfamiliar with the concept of steak. And burgers.

hln

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