http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/07/how-did-corn-get-so-sweet/59794/

http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/07/how-did-corn-get-so-sweet/59794/

Why is our produce food being manipulated to be sweet?

Air America Radio's death a part of larger trend of declining radio revenues

Just perusing over half-year old news: Death of Air America.

The New York Times article quoted someone: the liberal radio network, Air America's death comes in context of declining radio revenues overall. Radio is an old medium; we're in economically troubled times. The marginal forms of media will suffer harder.

Brian Stelter, "Air America, the Talk Radio Network, Will Go Off the Air," New York Times, January 22, 2010. In that article Stelter noted that the network did serve as a launching pad for some personalities that went on to greater heights, most notably Rachel Maddow, who is now at MSNBC, the cable network.

But the same author gave an update that suggested that liberal radio still flourishes without the network: "Liberal Radio, Even Without Air America." Thom Hartmann is one prominent liberal host that still is broadcast on many radio stations.

Oil in the Gulf -PBS' widget

Oil in the Gulf
Click to the above link for US Department of Energy estimates of leakage, British Petroleum (BP) estimates of leakage and Experts' worst case scenarios of oil leakage amounts.

Want to help the BP-beleaguered Gulf of Mexico?

Well, there's buying British Petroleum gas (funds from which will make their way to BP's Gulf of Mexico clean-up and reimbursements). If you can't stomach that approach, there is donating to the Gulf counterpart to the Waterkeeper Alliance.

Click to Save Our Gulf at http://saveourgulf.org/ to support the Alliance's work on behalf of the Gulf of Mexico.

From their website: Save Our Gulf is an initiative by Waterkeeper Alliance to support the Gulf Waterkeepers fighting to protect the Gulf Coast’s communities and environment from the long-term devastating impacts of the BP oil disaster. We are your trustworthy source for updates from the front lines, transparent news and action.

You can click on the bottom of the site to donate via Twitter or via old-fashioned online methods at their site.

Lady Gaga and anime-inspired contact lenses a health threat

The Lady Gaga-inspired giant pupil contact lenses are dangerous,
the New York Times warns
and ABC TV News warns.

Potential to lose vision in 24 hours!!!

Ill-fitting lenses can negatively affect the cornea.

Hello!!! If you are buying the lenses off the Internet you are not having a medical professional, an optometrist, fit you for the lenses.

Girls and ladies, you only get one set of eyes in life. If you are thinking that funny-looking eyes are necessary to get "his" attention, then maybe "he" is not worth your attention.
(Anyway, Lady Gaga's doe-eyes in the "Bad Romance" video are believed to have been computer-generated.)

Study: Sprawling cities experience hotter summer temperatures

The multiple days-long heat trend in the East Coast of the United States get one thinking about what the larger trends are....

Samantha Cossick, June 24, 2010, in "USA Today":

The rate of increase in the number of very hot days in sprawling cities is more than double that of compact cities, a study published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal has found.

A team of Atlanta-based scientists studied the number of very hot days in 53 sprawling metropolitan regions between 1956 and 2005, each of which had different climate zones, population sizes and rates of growth.

The scientists found that the annual number of very hot days in sprawling cities increased by 14.8 days, but cities with the least sprawl increased by only 5.6 days.

Those cities with the highest increase in the number of very hot days include Atlanta, Greenville, Greensboro, Raleigh, Tampa and Grand Rapids, Brian Stone, lead author of the study and associate professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, said in an interview.

Two major principles contribute to hotter temperatures -- rising greenhouse gasses and urban heat island effect; however, Stone said greenhouse gas emissions would consistently raise temperatures across the nation, not in individual cities.

Urban heat island effect -- which includes cutting down trees and replacing them with parking lots, roads and buildings or putting dark shingles that absorb heat onto buildings -- has more of an impact on cities, he said.

"Urban heat island effect accounts for most of the warming we've seen in the past several years," Stone said. "All these things that are related with urban growth are making cities hotter."

Between 1992 and 2001, the rate of deforestation in sprawling cities was more than double that of compact cities, the study found.

Cities should try to cut greenhouse gasses as a long-term goal and look at immediate ways to reduce temperature increases, Stone said. Using materials that reflect light and increasing the forest cover are ways to do so, he adds.

The scientists used the sprawl index, which looks at population density, proximity of commercial and residential buildings and street network patterns, to categorize the regions. Those in the top 25% of the index had the most sprawl, while those in the bottom 25% had the least sprawl.

The team identified very hot days by using a city-specific heat stress index developed by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), which measures the average apparent temperatures, counting temperature and humidity.

Very hot temperatures were those above the 85th percentile with the 100th percentile being the hottest temperature during the study period.

Heat-related deaths have been linked to temperatures over the 85th percentile in other studies and are a public concern, Stone said.

"The rising levels of very hot days are a significant public health threat," Stone said. "It's about public health. Residents need to be thinking about how to adapt to land-use patterns and sprawl."

Great foods to help keep your skin from aging

"Beauty foods for younger-looking skin" Sunday, June 20, 2010
From the editors of EatingWell Magazine, via shine.yahoo.com:

When I was in high school and college, I got a summer job as a lifeguard. All those hours in the sun gave me what I thought then was a beautiful, bronzy tan.
Today I realize the sun exposure just accelerated my skin’s aging process. Truth be told, I did wear sunscreen, but not always as much as a dermatologist would recommend. (Find foods to keep your skin looking younger and lower your risk of skin cancer here.)

Turns out, the vast majority of UV light that I was soaking up was UVA. UVA is a major contributor to premature skin aging (think: fine lines and wrinkles) because it penetrates deeper than UVB light and damages skin cells before there’s any visible sunburn.

Even worse, collagen—the fibrous protein that keeps skin firm, youthful-looking and wrinkle-free—begins to decline starting in your twenties!

Now that I’m older and wiser—and not anxious to look the part—I’m wearing more sunscreen to protect my skin from the outside in. And because I’m a registered dietitian and nutrition editor, I’ve seen the science that shows eating more of these foods will protect my skin from the inside out.

Keep your skin looking younger—for the rest of your life—with these 4 foods:
Strawberries: Eating more vitamin C-rich foods, such as strawberries, may help to ward off wrinkles and age-related dryness, suggests research from 2007 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Vitamin C’s skin-smoothing effects may be due to its ability to mop up free radicals produced from ultraviolet rays and also its role in collagen synthesis. (Vitamin C is essential for collagen production.) You can find vitamin C in a multitude of cosmetics—of which some have been shown to be effective in protecting skin—but why not go straight to the source for a tasty boost of C: red bell peppers, papaya, broccoli and oranges are other excellent sources. (Try these sweet strawberry recipes for better skin.)

Tomatoes: Tomatoes get their red hue from lycopene, a carotenoid that may help to keep your skin smooth. In a study published in 2008 in the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, researchers found that of the 20 individuals studied, those who had higher skin concentrations of lycopene had smoother skin. Boost your lycopene intake with fresh summer produce like watermelon and carrots too. (Find tomato recipe ideas here.)

Tofu: Tofu and other soyfoods, such as edamame and soymilk, may help to preserve skin-firming collagen because they are rich in isoflavones. In a study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, mice fed isoflavones and exposed to ultraviolet radiation had fewer wrinkles and smoother skin than mice that were exposed to UV light but didn’t get isoflavones. The researchers believe that isoflavones help prevent collagen breakdown. (Find tasty 30-minute dinners using tofu here.)

Tuna: Eating tuna—and other omega-3-rich fish, such as salmon, sardines and trout—may help keep your skin looking youthful thanks to the omega-3 fat EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). EPA has been shown to preserve collagen. (Enjoy tuna in Mediterranean Tuna Antipasto Salad and more healthy tuna recipes here.)

Munch away!

Sen. Blanche Lincoln loses to Lt. Gov Halter --not so fast

Tuesday, May 18, 2010, Arkansas voters turned out blue dog Sen. Blanche Lincoln for labor-friendly Lt. Governor Bill Halter --almost. No one got a majority in the Democratic primary race, so there will be a June 8 run-off.
Earlier reports gave Halter a lead. Now Lincoln is leading, 44.3 to 42.5 percent.
Here's the analysis from the AP.

Primary race news in Kentucky:
Tea-bagger (or Tea-partier) Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, trounced (59 percent) his opposition (Trey Grayson, establishment GOP man, secretary of state, receiving a sad 35 percent) in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
In the Louisville race J. Fischer led 45 percent over nearest competitor J. King (19 percent) in the Democratic primary for mayor.

Elena Kagan and superlatives

President Barack Obama has nominated former Harvard Law School dean and current solicitor general Elena Kagan to replace John Paul Stevens as an associate justice on the Supreme Court.

The Internet is spreading around superlatives and other adjectives about her. Yes, she would be the fourth woman to sit on the high court. Yes, she would bring the court to a record number of three women serving simultaneously on the court.

However, there is one description that is not quite accurate. Writers on the Internet have asserted that she would be the youngest justice. This is not true. Clarence Thomas started on the court, at the age of 42 years. This compares to Kagan, who would start on the court at the age of 50.

NYPD issues video of possible car bomb suspect

Here is video of possible Times Square car bomb / Improvised Explosive Device (IED) suspect. The car was parked outside Viacom's New York City headquarters. The May 1 bomb did not complete detonation.

Times Square car bomb, possible South Park Muhammad cartoon link

Last night, Saturday, May 1, 2010 police discovered a gas tanks in the back seat of a sports utility vehicle (SUV).
Overnight, the New York City Police Department have investigated whether there were a link between Muslim outrage over "South Park"'s Muhammad-in-a-bear-suit cartoon.

This seems to be credible, as the van was parked outside Viacom offices. Viacom broadcasts "South Park."

(Video on the CNN "Breaking News" of the car bomb-as gas tanks news story, in video box at right.)

Nick Allen and Gordon Rayner, in the UK "Telegraph" reported today on the NYPD consideration of the revenge on South Park link:

The device, which failed to detonate, was left near the offices of Viacom, which owns the irreverent cartoon series.

Last month postings on an Islamic website warned the creators of South Park - Matt Stone and Trey Parker - that they could face violent reprisals after an episode of the show featured Muhammad in a bear suit.
A posting on the website of a US-based group called Revolution Muslim warned Stone and Parker that they would “probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh”, the Dutch film-maker who was murdered in 2004 by a Muslim angered by his film about Muslim women.

Images of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam, and Comedy Central, which broadcasts South Park, has banned Stone and Parker from depicting Muhammad in the past. In 2006 the network stopped them from featuring Muhammad in an episode which followed worldwide protests over a caricature of the Prophet by a Danish cartoonist.

This follows on a number of episodes depicting or alluding to Muhammad, beginning with episode 68, "Super Best Friends," a 2001 episode, depicting Muhammad along with other religious iconic figures.

Detectives are also understood to be investigating striking similarities between the New York bomb and two car bombs planted by Islamic terrorists outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in London in 2007.

In both cases, the devices comprised cylinders of propane gas and cans full of petrol intended to be ignited by electronic detonators.

FORENSICS WORK AGENDA
No direct clues to individuals have been floated, but the forensics procedure should be straight-forward. The police have noticed that the van's license plates are at discrepancy with the vehicle. The plates are for a Ford vehicle. The van is a Nissan Pathfinder. While the plate switch is temporary, each vehicle carries specific Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) stamps. These numbers can ultimately be traced to the actual car ownership.
UPDATE, 12:38:
CNN reports that the VIN on the dashboard had been removed.
TIME TO STOP TINTED WINDOWS
The issue of tinted windows is a domestic security issue. The tinting of windows obscures materials in rear seats of cars and vans. In this vehicle the gas tanks were in the back seat. It appears that the tanks were visible, in this case, because the tanks were visible enough through the windows. We are fortunate that the windows were visible enough to see the gas tanks.
In regular driving situations, drivers that are doing objectional things, whether involvement in possible terrorism, sideswiping a vehicle or nearly striking a pedestrian can elude identification, due to tinted windows. The tinting of windows is intense, the windows are nearly blackened.
We must stop being libertarian on this issue. People's right to be private behind windows, when bombs or irresponsible drivers hidden behind tinted / darkened / blackened windows can threaten citizens.
MEDIA GENERAL SILENCE, THE NEXT SUNDAY MORNING
What are the priorities of the television networks. This morning the terrorism story has been only mentioned in passing.

Electronic medical records & new federal bill on health care

One of the right's talking points is that a national electronic database of patient medical records will be created.

Just what is the correct case with this issue? Googling the above pertinent words and "fact check" doesn't help.

Can anyone tell me whether this site's representation of the facts is correct?:
"Politifact missed the boat on “Electronic Health Records” fact check" at "Political Integrity Now" site.

Accchhhhh! 13 toxic foods to avoid

Diet: "Here is a list of the top 13 most toxic foods that you should be buying organic. If on a tight budget, use this guide to buy produce that has the most chemicals when grown conventionally."

These nice foods are toxic, because of the chemicals.

Be sure to buy them only when grown in "organic conditions."
Peaches
Apples
Sweet bell peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Cherries
Potatoes
Pears
Lettuce
Imported grapes
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Spinach

Sally Fallon Morell: healthy food advocate, against the grain of veganism

Sally Fallon Morell was interviewed on WBAI. She is the co-founder and president of the Weston A. Price Foundation.
She spoke on the dangers of a hyper-vegan diet. She criticized the rush to replacement of meats with vegan diets.
She cautioned against this diet. It avoids essential vitamins, especially vitamin B vitamins.
She also spoke of the dangers of too much soy in the diet. I've included the video at the right on the dangers of over-reliance on soy.

The heavy-soy diet dangers raises a new problem. We are avoiding the pantheon of foods that are high fructose corn syrup. But many times one finds soy in the non-high fructose corn syrup foods.

She appears in director Derek Moore's video: "Nourishing Traditional Diets: The Key to Vibrant Health."

Youtube video in which she addresses the essential animal-based oils.

One of her interviews in a podcast.

On a related note:
An intriguing video that I hope to see soon: director Deborah Koons Garcia's "The Future of Food," DVD.

Ron Paul points out: Obama not a socialist, a corporatist

(A qualifier: I am not joining Republican calls for health reform repeal. I am merely reporting and interesting factual correction that the former Texas Congressional representative Ron Paul, a famed libertarian, running as a Republican.)
Evan McMorris-Santoro, "Ron Paul: President Obama Is Not A Socialist", Talking Points Memo, April 10, 2010.
Ron Paul spoke this weekend to a Tea-Partyish Republican crowd, the South Republican Leadership Conference.
-Rather, Paul said, President Barack Obama is a corporatist. Actually, progressives need to exercise critical analysis of the Obama administration. Paul was alluding to the neo-liberal practices of the consensus of presidents in the modern era. The Obama administration actually needs to do moreguidance of the American economy. It needs to initiate legislation and presidentially initiated trade policies that stimulate greater production in the United States.

Nurses United for healthcare

Click to this Grit TV video at democraticunderground.com

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x453231

Nurses United for Healthcare.
--part of National Nurses United:
http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/