Who said Electric cars are not cool. To see video [Read more...]
Water Is Now The Most Popular Drink In America
March 13, 2013 By
According to promising new research after maintaining it’s spot as the most popular drink in American for two decades, soda has finally be dethroned by water. From USA Today:
For more than two decades, soda was the No. 1 drink in the U.S. with consumption peaking in 1998 at 54 gallons a year, according industry tracker Beverage Digest. Americans drank just 42 gallons a year of water at the time. But over the years, as soda increasingly came under fire for fueling the nation’s rising obesity rates, water quietly rose to knock it off the top spot. Americans now drink an average of 44 gallons of soda a year, a 17 percent drop from the peak in 1998. Over the same time, the average amount of water people drink has increased 38 percent to about 58 gallons a year. Bottled water has led that growth, with consumption nearly doubling to 21 gallons a year. (VIA)
Gatorade Will Remove Flame Retardant Chemical From Its Beverages
January 30, 2013 By
Via: ThinkProgress.org
Gatorade will stop putting brominated vegetable oil (BVO), a synthetic chemical that is used as a flame retardant, into its products after a barrage of complaints, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Although the company has reportedly been considering removing BVO from its beverages for some time now, it wasspurred to act after receiving overwhelming pressure from consumers regarding the potentially harmful chemical, including a popular Change.org petition that was initiated by 15-year-old Sarah Kavanagh:
A recent petition on Change.org to drop the chemical – which has more than 200,000 supporters – did not inspire the decision, Carter said, though she acknowledged that consumer feedback was the main impetus.
In the petition, posted by Sarah Kavanagh of Hattiesburg, Miss., “BVO” is described as banned in Japan and the European Union.
The effort quotes a Scientific American article suggesting that “BVO could be building up in human tissues” and that studies on mice have shown “reproductive and behavioral problems” linked to large doses of the chemical.
BVO is used to “distribute Gatorade’s coloring throughout the bottle” equally. The Times also reports that, while Gatorade will stop including BVO in newly produced drinks, there are no plans to recall products already on the market.
Fish Fraud?
January 11, 2013 By
Via Huffington Post:
It is quite prevalent, according to a study done in New York City by marine conservation group Oceana. The researchers gathered fish samples from local restaurants, grocery stores and fish markets and then used DNA testing to determine whether the meat actually came from the species indicated on the label. [Read more...]
Leading By Example
December 10, 2012 By
via ThinkProgress.org
According to a report from Sports Illustrated, at least seven NFL players have gotten rid of their personal firearms following this month’s horrific episode when Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend dead, then turned the gun on himself.
One player reportedly turned in multiple weapons to his franchise’s security detail, “telling his team’s personnel that he didn’t trust himself with the guns.”
Firearms have again entered the public debate after the Belcher tragedy, with normally-non-controversial commentators like Bob Costas noting correctly that if the linebacker hadn’t possessed a gun, “he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.”
Studies show that having a gun in the home increases the chances of homicide two to three times, and gun death rates are seven times higher in states with high household gun ownership rates. The presence of a firearm in the home also increases the risk of homicide for women by five times and two-thirds of women killed with guns each year die in domestic disputes.
Like Father, Like Son
December 10, 2012 By
Renowned Director M. Night Shyamalan recently released pictures from the set of his newest film “After Earth” staring Will and Jaden Smith. Here’s an incredible photo of the father and son duo sharing a candid moment.
At Look At The Individuals Who Make Your Toys
December 8, 2012 By
Inspirational photographer (he’s one of our favs) Michael Wolf has already documented The Nightmarish Reality For Japanese Commuters, but now he’s focusing his attention on China. During his trip, he was granted access to document the 5 different factories where a staggering 75% of the world’s toys are manufactured.
With Christmas around the corner, you can just imagine the production line is as frantic & chaotic as it’s ever been. But what about the people behind the toys? The modern day Santa’s elves if you will.
Wolf’s startling images provide an insight into the daily lives, conditions and above all personalities that create the objects of so many childhood obsessions around the world.
Too see more images [Read more...]
Another Trader Joe’s Recall
December 4, 2012 By
2012 has been rather tumultuous for Trader Joe’s and their products. Earlier this year, they recalled their chicken salad and onion products over a listeria scare, and peanut butter over the Sunland peanut salmonella outbreak. Now they’ve recalled 4,865 pounds of their “Trader Joe’s Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice” due to possible listeria contamination.
According to Huffington Post, 420 cartons have already been distributed to stores in the following cities and states:
New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Connecticut, Florida, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine and Rhode Island.
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is worried that consumers may have already purchased the ready-to-eat dish; anyone who thinks they may have purchased a recalled product should check its label. It’s stamped with the product code “2012-10-31″ and lot code “30512.”
Exercise Does A Brain Good
November 29, 2012 By
Via Huffington Post:
Be it school, family, work, everyone seems to have an excuse (although justified in most cases) for not working out consistently. But according to a study by researcher Atsumu Yuki, Ph.D “Incorporating physical activity into your daily routine can be a helpful step to prevent conditions caused by brain atrophy, such as dementia.” Atrophy is brain shrinkage, which comes with age. [Read more...]
The Dirty Dozen: 12 Fish to Stay Away From
November 21, 2012 By
I came across this article last week while surfing Yahoo! Health and felt compelled to share. Most of you may not be pleased with what you read but, as they say, knowledge is power & food is life.
1. American Eel
Why It’s Bad: Also called yellow or silver eel, this fish, which frequently winds up in sushi dishes, made its way onto the list because it’s highly contaminated with PCBs and mercury. The fisheries are also suffering from some pollution and overharvesting.
Eat This Instead: If you like the taste of eel, opt for Atlantic- or Pacific-caught squid instead. [Read more...]
WISE WORDS: Dr. Oz on Eating Fruit
November 21, 2012 By
Although I don’t watch Dr. Oz often, I’ve found his advice to be quite informative. The information below certainly does not fall short of that expectation. Read. Ponder. Apply. [Read more...]
Laura Olin is The person behind Obama’s Twitter account
November 20, 2012 By
Interesting. Tumblr’s Storyboard has exchanged a few words with the person responsible for Barack Obama’s Twitter account. The person in question is a woman named Laura Olin and she describes very briefly what the experience was like working for the President during his re-election campaign and how decisions were made on what to post, etc….via
And how’d the Four More Years photo come about?
We’d all been there since 4am or 6am, we’re exhausted, I refused to believe that we were actually winning, but we started thinking, around 8:30 or 9:00, “What do we do next?” One of my team members remembered an amazing photo of the president and first lady hugging at the president’s last campaign rally in Des Moines. It’s this really beautiful photo at night — the only thing was that Michelle was facing forward and the president was facing away from the camera, So my boss, Teddy Goff, made the very good point that we should see the president’s face. I remembered that our campaign photographer had taken a series of really great hug photographs at another Iowa rally, in the summer, and I went to our photo editor and she was like “Yes!” She found the photo, I wrote a couple captions, we went with “Four more years,” they called Iowa, I hit post, and then I closed my laptop and we jetted to the victory party. Actually, none of us looked at how the posts were doing until I opened my laptop the next morning.
Facebook amps up Friendship Pages to highlight your online relationships
November 9, 2012 By
Facebook today announced a big visual update to its Friendship Pages to highlight the time you’ve spent with a family member or friend. In effect, Facebook has essentially auto-created perfect lovey-dovey Timeline profile pages for couples filled with events, photos, likes, mutual friends, and statuses that the two people have shared. (If you have no idea what Friendship Pages are, click the cog on a friend’s profile, then click “See Friendship.”)
The update starts rolling out to users today, and provides a welcome update to Friendship Pages — which for most users today still look like old school profiles from more than a year ago. While it’s unclear exactly how much engagement these pages have been getting, the update is an obvious play to improve the way Facebook visualizes the relationships between people. A button on the pages says “Share Friendship” — a new way to brag or creep out friends and family.
Indoor Clouds: Organic + Fly
November 7, 2012 By
That’s not Photoshop. The Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde has developed a way to create a small, perfect white cloud in the middle of a room. It requires meticulous planning: the temperature, humidity and lighting all have to be just so. Once everything is ready, Smilde summons the cloud out of the air using a fog machine. It lasts only moments, but the effect is dramatic and strangely moving. It evokes both the surrealism of Magritte and the classical beauty of the old masters while reminding us of the ephemerality of art and nature.
We Move Forward, Together, with Barack Hussein Obama, II
November 7, 2012 By
Congratulations to Barack Hussein Obama, II
