Thai Fortuneteller Uses Chess to Predict the Future

Sawatdee, krup!  Thanks for clicking by. Great to see you. (Nice to feel wanted, isn't it?) How're things going for you so far today? Let me ask you...have you ever visited a fortuneteller? Before you answer that, help yourself to a marvellously refreshing mug of java and a scrumptilious virtual treat. Now then, look into my crystal ball and...

If you’re eager to know when you’re going to get that much-awaited promotion or if you will ever meet the love of your life, move your pawn to C3 and let Amunnata Lamwanna  (Ajarn Nong, by her prophetic name) predict the outcome of the chess game that is your life. That’s right, Ajarn Nong, a fortuneteller from Thailand, uses chess to predict the future.

After a failed marriage, giving birth to a premature child and being homeless for a while, Amunnata Lamwanna got a job in public relations, working for a famous fortuneteller who thought it would be wise of her to pursue the same career. After studying everything under the stars, she finally became a fortuneteller herself and adopted her current name, Ajarn Nong. (Ajarn is Thai for teacher).

The idea of chess prediction came to her when she saw people playing chess in the park. She soon began developing a new method of telling the future that involved the popular strategy board game. “I invented a way of fortunetelling using a chessboard set up to show the position of the stars in Thai-style astrology, as well as cards and feng shui, in which each star indicates your horoscope. The method was completed in 2010, and the first person I used it on was my husband,” she explains. (That would be her ex-husband, eh!)

Thais are ga-ga over fortunetelling. These 'Mor Doo' walk along the streets or the beach or set up their blanket (usually a rattan mat) anywhere they can find a spot and invite folks to have their fortune told. Nong, which means either young lady or young sister, and can be used when trying to get the attention of any younger person...such as a young sales person, either male or female...and is also a common nickname (as in my wife's nickname).  I keep telling (my) Nong that I am a fortune teller. I predict that tomorrow will be mainly Friday! She is not impressed with my fortunetelling talents... otherwise, she claims, I would have already picked the winning 6/49 lotto numbers and we'd be living in a huge condo somewhere. Ah well...these things take time...and the stars have to be in the right configuration. I'm working on it, hon!

See ya, eh!

Bob

Creative Food Towers That Destroyed Salad Bars in China

Hey there! What's happening out there in cyberspace? Anyway...it's great to see you. Thanks for clicking by. Fill your mug and grab hold of a virtual treat. Maybe stack two or three on your plate. Since we're talking about stacking, here's some Chinese ingenuity for you...

If you could only make one trip to the salad bar, how would you go about carrying as much food as possible in one go? To deal with this predicament, some ambitious Chinese foodies invented “salad stacking” – the art of stacking vegetables, fruits and croutons on a single plate in order to create extremely tall and elaborate salad towers.

This fad began when Pizza Hut restaurants in China introduced salad bars serving veggies and fruits to promote healthy eating. When the buffets opened, customers were given a one trip opportunity to fill their plates with as much food as they could. Seeing as they couldn’t go back for seconds, hungry patrons decided to utilize the small plates they were given to their full potential and started piling up their food with so much care and precision that complex structured meals were born.

The fad became very popular on the internet where enthusiastic “salad engineers” posted pictures of their monster creations and even exchanged techniques for making the tallest towers. According to most of them, the trick is to build a stable and straight base and cover it with carrot sticks glued together with salad dressing so that it can hold the actual salad “structure”. All kinds of goodies can go on top – melon slices, peaches, cucumbers, croutons, oranges etc., depending on preference. These must be placed in such a way that the pieces interlock and create a mesh. The entire thing can be topped with a bit of salad dressing and smaller foods for decorative purposes.

Now I have to tell you that I coined the phrase 'Salad Engineering' about 10 years ago in Thailand where the same thing happens in Pizza Hut and Pizza Company salad bars. There though, it is college girls who will go into a restaurant in groups, say four girls, and with one small side plate, feed all four girls. I suggested that that had learned to do it in a course offered in Thai universities - and that course was 'Salad Engineering'. So there! Eat your heart out you Chinese pizza places you. Though I have to admit they've taken it to skyscraper proportions.

See ya, eh!

Bob

New York Restaurant’s Silent Dining Experience

Shhh! (Whispering... Wonderful to see you. What're you up to? Shhh! Tell me later. Help yourself silently to a mugful of Arabica juice and a virtual muffin!)

Okay..that should set the tone for today's topic. Do you remember how you always had to be quiet at the dinner table when you were young but never understood why? Now that you’re all grown up, with children of your own, you probably wish you could have just one more of those quiet dinners. 

If quiet is what you seek, you’re in luck, as now you can enjoy a four-course meal in complete silence at the Eat restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where you have to be quiet and enjoy the food, whether you like it or not.

Nicholas Nauman, head chef and curator of the silent-dinner experience, got the idea for the event during a trip to India where he admired the Buddhist monks having their breakfast every morning without uttering a word. In a competing market where restaurant owners are coming up with the most unusual concepts to attract customers – such as dining in pitch-dark, the 28-year-old thought this idea would gain popularity. 

“It’s just an opportunity to enjoy food in a way you might not have otherwise,” he says. This way, he hopes to “reconfigure the relationship between a space and food” by forcing customers to focus on their plates rather than on the countless distractions that occur while sitting at the dinner table.

I have read quite a bit about za-zen,...one Buddhist sect in Japan. Za-zen means 'seated meditation'. Za-zen monks begin their day around 3:45 am when they are awakened for a two hour meditation session to begin their day. Then at 6:00 am, they have breakfast...silently. The principle is to focus on doing only one thing. If eating is what you are doing, that should take 100% of your focus.

Focus...I guess that's why police don't want you driving and texting at the same time, eh. Some folks even have trouble walking and chewing gum!

See ya, eh!

Bob 
 

Household Sewage: A Vast New Energy Resource

Hi ya! How's tricks? Keeping well? Slurp down a mug if coffee and gobble down a virtual treat while I tell you why sitting on the pot (not the coffee pot!) make be even more important to your future than it is now!

In a finding that gives new meaning to the adage, "waste not, want not," scientists are reporting that household sewage has far more potential as an alternative energy source than previously thought. They say the discovery, which increases the estimated potential energy in wastewater by almost 20 percent, could spur efforts to extract methane, hydrogen and other fuels from this vast and, as yet, untapped resource.

Elizabeth S. Heidrich and colleagues note that sewage treatment plants in the United States use about 1.5 percent of the nation's electrical energy to treat 12.5 trillion gallons of wastewater a year. Instead of just processing and dumping this water, they suggest that in the future treatment facilities could convert its organic molecules into fuels, transforming their work from an energy drain to an energy source. Based on their research, they estimate that one gallon of wastewater contains enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for five minutes.

And, in a study completed just days ago, scientists in California have come up with a novel device that uses only sunlight and wastewater to produce hydrogen gas could provide a sustainable energy source while improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment.

So next time you 'sit on the throne', remember, you're creating renewable energy. Good for you! 

See ya, eh!

Bob

5 Tips for Cooking Chicken Safely

Yo! Wassup? Great to see you. Mosey on over to the coffee pot and pour yourself a mugful. Then cast your eyes on the mouthwatering display of delectable virtual treats awaiting you...and no chicken among them. Did someone say chicken? Must have been me as a bad segue into today's topic...avoiding salmonella and other nasty things.

While the current salmonella outbreak in the USA may have people concerned about eating chicken, experts point out that raw meat products always carry risk.

"Chicken in general carries risk, whether it's part of this outbreak or not," said Ben Chapman, a food safety specialist and assistant professor of food science at North Carolina State University.
"There's pathogens on raw chicken regardless of where it comes from," he added.

So far, 317 people in 20 states have been sickened by an outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg. Forty-two percent of ill people have been hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Health officials say Foster Farms chicken products are the likely source of the current outbreak, but no recall has been issued.

Chapman gave some tips for reducing risk of illness when cooking and handling raw meat:

Avoid cross contamination
It's important to keep in mind that juices from meat can contaminate other objects and surfaces they come in contact with — such as your hands, kitchen counter, cutting knife or uncooked food — and spread around, Chapman said.

Cross-contamination can happen at any point in the cooking and handling process, starting at the grocery store.

To avoid cross-contamination when buying meat, consumers should first make sure there is nothing dripping from the package, Chapman said.

Chapman said he also places meat in a separate plastic bag so that it doesn't contaminate other food or reusable bags. 

When preparing food, people should clean their hands after touching raw chicken products, and clean other utensils and appliances that come in contact with raw chicken, such as a cutting board or knife, before using them again, Chapman said.

Don't wash your chicken
Although some people have been taught to wash raw chicken, this practice really promotes cross-contamination, Chapman said. Washing poultry can spread juices around, and sometimes spread bacteria up to three feet away, according to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Chapman advised consumers to avoid this practice. "It can only increase risk," he said.

Thaw properly
There are several methods for thawing raw chicken that has been frozen, including placing it in the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. You should not thaw raw chicken on the counter, the USDA says.

Chapman said that, regardless of the method people use, they should ensure that the outside of the chicken is not above 41 degrees Fahrenheit for more than four hours. Consumers should also take measures to prevent the spreading of juices that collect from the meat while it thaws, he said.

Cook properly
Consumers should not look at the color of meat or its juices to determine if it's cooked. The only way to know for sure whether you've reduced your risk of foodborne illness is to cook the meat to an internal temperature of 165 F.

Chapman recommends using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer, and checking the temperature of the meat in several spots.

Reheat to the right temperature
Any leftovers you have should be quickly cooled by placing them in a refrigerator, Chapman said.
If consumers properly cooked their meat the first time to 165 degrees F, and quickly cooled down the leftovers, then they can heat up leftovers to 145 or 155 degrees F, Chapman said. But to be extra cautious — for instance, if there's any question that the meat was cooked properly the first time — consumers can heat leftovers to 165 degrees F, Chapman said.

Using a thermometer is especially important if you reheat leftovers in the microwave, Chapman said, because a microwave may not cook the meat evenly, and some spots of the chicken may be undercooked.

Y'know, we've been looking at meat thermometers and I reckon it's time we bought one.

See ya, eh!

Bob 

Your Brain On B Vitamins

Hey! Hey! There you are. I thought I heard you fluttering about in cyber-orbit waiting for the virtual cafe to open. I'm tickled pink that you dropped in to day and as usual, your timing is spot on. Coffee's freshly perked and the array of virtual treats is truly splendiferous today! Help yourself, eh! 

Got another message from my pal, Dr. Al. He's big on keeping you healthy ans so am I. In this message, he's on about Vitamin B. My doctor wants me to take about 1200 mcg daily and I get pretty close. Whatever B12 I get in food is supplemented with a 1000 mcg evening power pill so that ought to do it, eh! Here's what Dr. Al has to say...

Dear Bob,

The constant stream of media stories about the power of vitamin B12 for heart and brain health is great, but it’s not really news. We’ve known the benefits of B12 for years.

To me, the real importance of the stories is that they deal another body blow to modern diet recommendations, which tell us that protein from meat is the enemy of good health.

The story the media should be telling is that protein is where nature meant us to get our B12 from. Not from processed grains with added vitamins.

That’s because the only natural food sources of vitamin B12 is meat from animals, including fish.

And make no mistake, B12 is important. In clinical studies, vitamin B12 has been shown to protect and even rescue brain cells.¹ It also improves nerve conduction, which means it enhances the speed of the messages your brain is sending.

The worst part is that if you don’t have enough B12, doctors typically misdiagnose the deficiency and then prescribe drugs that do nothing to address the problem, but instead have plenty of side effects that only serve to make you feel worse!

But you can avoid falling into that trap by remembering that the message is about what’s missing from the foods you’re offered.

Like always, I recommend replacing missing nutrients with food first. Supplements come in if you can’t get enough of the nutrient from food.

With that in mind, here my favorite food sources of vitamin B12:²

Type of Food	Micrograms (mcg) per serving	Percent of RDA
Liver, beef, braised, 1 slice	48.0	800
Clams, 3 ounces	42	700
Crab, raw, 3 ounces	7.6	130
Trout, rainbow, wild, cooked, 3 ounces	5.4	90
Salmon, sockeye, cooked, 3 ounces	4.9	80
Beef, top sirloin, broiled, 3 ounces	2.4	40
Yogurt, plain, 1 cup	1.4	25
Haddock, cooked, 3 ounces	1.2	20

A couple of tips on vitamin B12:

One thing you might notice is that although it definitely has protein, chicken is not on the list. You’d have to eat almost half a chicken to get the same amount of B12 as you can get in just one egg. And eggs don’t have that much vitamin B12.

Also, reflux and ulcer drugs like Pepcid, Prilosec and Zantac, plus some diabetes drugs, can stop absorption of B12.

Which means that in today’s world of processed foods and synthetic medicine, it can be difficult to get enough vitamin B12 from food alone.

If that’s the case, it’s a good idea to take a B12 supplement.

You can get it in a good B vitamin complex that gives you at least 500 mcg (half a milligram) of B12, which you’ll find as cyanocobalamin or methylcobalamin. The latter is a more active form.

There are also B12 sprays, which is a good way to get your B12 as it gets absorbed quickly.

Another way to take B12 is from a lozenge. They dissolve fast and absorb quickly. A good one I’ve seen is from my colleagues at Stop Aging Now. Each of these lozenges gives you 1,000 mcg of the methylcobalamin form to give you more energy, normal cognitive function, and maintain your overall health. 

This effective nutrient is crucial if you want to maintain a strong heart and keep all your memories.

To Your Good Health,
  Al Sears, MD

And a caffo day to you as well!

See ya, eh!

Bob 

PS: Speaking of cyber-orbit, Nong and I went to see 'GRAVITY' on Tuesday. It was in 3D and quite spectacular visually. Don't think I'll watch it again when it hits TV, though. Only two actors in the movie - George Clooney and Sandra Bulloch

Ohio Man Still Legally Dead Despite Reappearing

Well, thank goodness you're here. Am I glad to see you because I wanted to tell you about this really strange thing that's happened. First though, prime your pump with some freshly brewed coffee and a virtual treat. Ready? This is a 'say what?' kind of tale...and it's true.

A man who turned up alive nearly 20 years after he disappeared has been told he cannot have a driving licence because he is still legally dead.

Donald Miller Jr vanished from a town in Ohio in 1986 after he lost his job and turned to alcohol.
He was officially declared dead eight years later, only to resurface in 2005.

"It kind of went further than I ever expected it to," Mr Miller said.

"I just kind of took off and ended up in different places."

The 61-year-old went to court to apply for a driving licence and to have his Social Security number reinstated.

However, his request to reverse the 1994 death ruling was turned down by Judge Allan Davis, who informed him there was a three-year limit for death notices to be repealled.

The judge admitted it was a "strange, strange situation".

"We've got the obvious here - a man sitting in the courtroom who appears to be in good health," he said.

He told Mr Miller: "I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still deceased as far as the law is concerned."

Whoa! Hang on a minute? "When you daid...you daid!" Have I got that right? So, like, he can't be prosecuted or incarcerated or anything, eh...because he's dead. Think of the possibilities...

See ya, eh!

Bob

Stink Yourself Slim!

A caffo day to you! Glad you could drop out of cybersky and land next to the coffeepot here in my virtual cafe. Coffee's freshly brewed and the muffins are hot and right out of the virtual oven so dig in. I'm sure their delicious aroma tantalized your nostrils as soon as you dropped in, right? Isn't it funny how we associate great aroma with great taste? Well read on...

Like most people concerned about their eating habits and trying to lose weight, Alex Fontaine, an award-winning businesswoman, had tried virtually every diet ever invented. From hypnotherapy, acupuncture to “a flotation tank with whale music – which was lovely, but still didn’t do the trick,” you name it, she had tried them all, but with no real results. 

There had been no way of stopping Alex from reaching into her desserts' cabinet and devouring everything in sight, until a party where she had a strong aversion to the bad smelling food she was served. Having rediscovered her brain’s behavior of associating food with smell, Alex managed to create an odour so foul that will instantly make you lose your appetite. With her Stick Yourself Slim fragrance and her beloved Sally the Skunk always by her side, Alex lost 10 kg and now wants to share her weight-loss philosophy with the world.

As you probably already guessed, the key ingredient of this perfume is the foul stench! It works by using the cool ability our brain has of associating bad odors with food that has gone bad. 

Our hunter gatherer ancestors often used this ability to determine which fruits and meats were safe to eat. Although we no longer use our olfactory system to determine how fresh and edible a morsel is, odors still govern our food likes and dislikes as well as determine our cravings for meals without even being hungry. 

With this principle in mind, Alex believes that with bad smells we can train out brain to reject fattening foods by making them seem undesirable.

Walk into a fish market and your nose will quickly tell you what's fresh and what's not. I'm sure you've had bad experiences with food odours, haven't you? Haven't we all!

But I have a question for Alex...wouldn't wearing that perfume also mean you wouldn't have any friends either?

See ya, eh!

Bob

Whose Liver Are You Calling Fat?

Well, hi there! Cold out there in cyberspace today? Rather chilly here, too. It is only 2C though promising sunny and 19C for the afternoon. Glad you could make it today. Help yourself to a mug of warm the heart coffee and a virtual, low fat treat. Speaking of fat...I got another email from my pal Dr. Al and this one is all about fat. here's the gist of it...

Did you know that fat is the biggest threat to your liver? As you age, your liver collects more fat, and it’s worse if you have increased body fat.

This puts you at a high risk for liver damage and can even promote liver cancer.

This is one of the worst consequences of age and having extra body fat, and is one of those areas where having extra fat makes you age faster.

The good news is if you have an older liver that is fatty, or if you just have a lot of body fat, there are things you can do about it. I’ll give you my three steps to drop fat safely and protect your liver at the same time.

Why is this important to you?

Because your liver gives you the energy you need to get through the day, and detoxifies your body. Plus it turns nutrients into their usable forms. This helps your body act more youthful and keeps the needle in your energy tank on “full.”

Fat is even more important than the effects of alcohol. Studies show alcohol contributes to only 6% of damage to the liver. But being a bit overweight contributes to 52% of liver disease.¹ And if you're obese, you're 400% more likely to develop liver damage than a normal-weight individual.

That doesn’t mean you can drink whatever you want… Surprisingly, normal-weight people who didn't drink at all had just as much risk of liver disease as normal-weight individuals who drank a couple of glasses of wine with their supper.

So unless you drink to extremes, it really comes down to how much fat your liver accumulates.

If you need more proof of the dangers to your liver from being overweight, take a look at this new study. Researchers discovered that obesity causes mice to get liver cancer. Obesity turns on a cancer-promoting protein, and turns off enzymes that usually protect your liver.²

However, simply dropping a lot of pounds quickly can hurt your liver. Cutting calories and starving yourself can dehydrate your liver. And instead of losing body fat, dieting may cause you to lose mass in your vital organs and not body fat.

Here are my three recommendations for safely dropping the pounds and protecting and helping your liver so you can cleanse your body and have plenty of energy:

Step 1) Burn the Fat You Can’t See: We know from past studies that with short-duration pulses of exertion you can burn 9 times more fat than with long endurance exercise for every calorie burned.³

This is essential for your liver because the kind of fat that accumulates there is called visceral fat. It wraps around organs like your heart, liver, and kidneys and is far more dangerous to your health than subcutaneous fat, which lies right beneath your skin. Visceral fat is a storehouse for toxins that pump directly into your body.

But although you can’t see it, you can get rid of it. In a new study, researchers looked at how exercise affects visceral fat. They looked at a group of 44 obese girls and put them in three groups. One group did aerobic exercise, one did resistance training and one did nothing.

After a few weeks, the people who did aerobic exercise had lost a significant amount of visceral fat compared with the other groups.⁴ And they weren’t even doing short bursts of exertion, like I recommend. Imagine how much more fat they would have lost if they had been!

To take it a step further, what I discovered in my practice is that you can increase the fat loss by focusing on progressivity in your exertion. You don’t have to start with a high intensity workout right off the bat. The idea is to work out for shorter periods, and then incrementally increase the challenge to your body.

Your body will burn the visceral fat off your organs and keep burning off body fat long after your workouts. To try this for yourself, take a look at my PACE Express program.

Step 2) Measure fat loss the right way – How do you know when you’re losing fat in a healthy way? Easy. Simply keep track of your body composition. You’re looking for lots of lean muscle and a high ratio of that muscle to body fat.

There are scales you can buy that calculate your body fat for you. There are also hand-held devices that are reliable. You can find these on the Internet or you can get a set of the calipers I use at my clinic right here. They come with simple instructions. For men, the average is between 15-17 percent body fat. For women, the average is between 18-22 percent.

Another even easier way is to grab your skin between your finger and thumb just to the side of your navel and measure the thickness of the skin fold. It should measure less than 1 inch in both men and women. Even these rough approximations of your body fat are more useful than the archaic and misleading tables invented by insurance companies.

Step 3) Detoxify your liver a couple of times a year – Here’s a list of liver-detoxifying herbs I use in my practice that work well:

• Milk Thistle – This is the plant Silybum marianum and it’s my first choice. I have been able to document its capacity to heal damaged livers by measuring serum liver enzymes. I recommend 200 mg in capsule form twice a day. Look for dried extract with a minimum of 80% silymarin, the active ingredient for liver cleansing.

• Alfalfa – This herb cleanses the blood and liver. It can also lower cholesterol. It’s a good source of protein, vitamins A, D, E, B-6, and K, calcium, magnesium, chlorophyll, phosphorus, iron, potassium, trace minerals, and several digestive enzymes.

• Dandelion – This root stimulates bile production and acts as a diuretic for excess water produced by a diseased liver. Asian and Western physicians alike use dandelion to treat hepatitis, jaundice, swelling of the liver, and deficient bile secretion.

Try mixing your own blend of these herbs. You can also look for a pre-mixed blend with as many of these ingredients as you can find on the label.

To Your Good Health,


Al Sears, MD

We have one 'health food' store here in Cornwall and she (Sharon) does her best to keep up with nutritional things but here on the border with Quebec, if it isn't burgers, poutine or Tim's coffee, it's often hard to find...unless we want to trek it to Ottawa or Montreal. Getting near that time...

See ya, eh...and mind your liver!

Bob

US adults score below average on worldwide test

Yo! Like, how's it going, eh! I mean, like, you know, whatever. So like, grab yourself a coffee and like a virtual muffin, eh, and park it on a chair while I fill you in on, like, what's really happening out there in reality land, okay?

It's long been known that America's school kids haven't measured well compared with international peers. Now, there's a new twist: Adults don't either. 

In math, reading and problem-solving using technology — all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength — American adults scored below the international average on a global test, according to results released Tuesday.

Adults in Japan, Canada, Australia, Finland and multiple other countries scored significantly higher than the United States in all three areas on the test. Beyond basic reading and math, respondents were tested on activities such as calculating mileage reimbursement due to a salesman, sorting email and comparing food expiration dates on grocery store tags.

Not only did Americans score poorly compared to many international competitors, the findings reinforced just how large the gap is between the nation's high- and low-skilled workers and how hard it is to move ahead when your parents haven't.

In both reading and math, for example, those with college educated parents did better than those whose parents did not complete high school.

The study, called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, found that it was easier on average to overcome this and other barriers to literacy overseas than in the United States.

Researchers tested about 157,000 people ages 16 to 65 in more than 20 countries and subnational regions. It was developed and released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is made up of mostly industrialized member countries. The Education Department's Center for Education Statistics participated.

The findings were equally grim for many European countries — Italy and Spain, among the hardest hit by the recession and debt crisis, ranked at the bottom across generations. Unemployment is well over 25 percent in Spain and over 12 percent in Italy. Spain has drastically cut education spending, drawing student street protests.

But in the northern European countries that have fared better, the picture was brighter — and the study credits continuing education. In Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands, more than 60 percent of adults took part is either job training or continuing education. In Italy, by contrast, the rate was half that.

As the American economy sputters along and many people live paycheck-to-paycheck, economists say a highly-skilled workforce is key to economic recovery. The median hourly wage of workers scoring on the highest level in literacy on the test is more than 60 percent higher than for workers scoring at the lowest level, and those with low literacy skills were more than twice as likely to be unemployed.

"It's not just the kids who require more and more preparation to get access to the economy, it's more and more the adults don't have the skills to stay in it," said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

Here's the link if you want to read the full test results: http://www.newsdaily.com/article/66f71a1c4fbe03ef8e5f95ad4543e6f6/us-adults-score-below-average-on-worldwide-test 

To me, these results are not surprising. As a teacher for most of the past 25 years, what I find disturbing, though perhaps not surprising, is how dismally people use the English language - and I especially include announcers, reporters, ad writers and others in the public eye. Correct grammar seems to have gone by the board. Sure, I accept that casual spoken English as in 'me and Joe went to the ballgame' or 'it was very fun' are part of an ever-evolving language but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

See ya, eh!

Bob

Ghost Singles Is a “Real-Life” Dating Site for Ghosts

Hey there! How's it going? Thanks for clicking by today. You're just in time for a robust mug of coffee and a virtual treat so go ahead and dig in. Speaking of digging in... Are you ready for Hallowe'en? Here's a new website you may like to visit and then bookmark for sometime way in the future...oooooooooooooh!

Are you one of those people who spent all their lives searching looking for their soul-mates, but failed to find them? Don’t let death get in the way of finding that perfect someone. Sign up on Ghostsingles.com, a new and improved dating website where life and its troubles are issues of the past and death is only the beginning.

Believe it or not, now that you’re a ghost, you have a real shot at love. Instead of worrying about serious issues like lack of time for a real relationship and financial problems, all you need to think about these days are questions like “does my butt look too transparent” or “if a person died in the 1850s and I died in the 1920s, does that make them too old for me?” 

You can meet other single and lonely dead folks through GhostSingles.com, a fantastic website dedicated to all the ghosts out there, no matter what century they died in. If you’ve ever dreamed of dating someone like Marylin Monroe, Marie Antoinette or even Cleopatra, this is your chance. Ladies, how about Steve McQueen, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Marcus Aurelius, Alexander the...no never mind. He was a bit, ah...'

"Let's hope you don't need this service for a long time to come", he said gravely!

See ya, eh!

Bob

Alkaline Lake in Africa Turns Animals into Stone Statues

Well, hi there! Glad you could click by today. It's always a treat to see you. Speaking of treats, help yourself to out dazzling display of virtual doughnuts, muffins and assorted pastries. Wash them down with a perky mug of coffee. Remember, coffee is good for you and caffeine does wonders for your hair. Hey...we all have chemicals in our lives, don't we? Well, some are downright deadly...

When photographer Nick Brandt first visited Lake Natron, in Northern Tanzania, he was shocked by the macabre animal statues he saw aligned across its shoreline. He later found out something even more shocking – those were real animals calcified by the lake’s alkaline water.

Natron, which gives the lake its name, is a naturally occurring compound found in volcanic ash. It’s the same mineral the Egyptians used to preserve their mummies. The lake’s alkalinity is similar to that of ammonia, with a pH between 9 and 10.5, and the temperature of the water can reach 60 °C. 

No animal can withstand this caustic environment and venturing into the acidic environment is usually fatal. As soon as birds and bats plunge into the waters of lake Natron, the minerals start turning their flesh into stone and preserving them exactly as they were in their final moments. 

Flamingos sometime use the predator-free salt islands that sometimes form on the lake for nesting, but it’s a risky gamble, as the photos below clearly show. Only invertebrates, a few algae invertebrates and some fish that live near the edges of the lake can survive this environment.

Holy doodle! Remind me not to go there if I'm ever in Northern Tanzania, eh! Not that there's much of a chance of that happening any time soon.

See ya, eh!

Bob

These Fish Are So Delicious You’ll Soil Yourself, Literally

Hey there! Glad you could make it today. How are you doing? I see you've got your mug there ready for a freshly perked jolt of Arabica juice so go ahead and fill 'er up. Add a virtual treat or two while you're about it. Say...do you like fish. Well, here's one to try...but bee careful, eh!

Buttery and succulent, the related oil fish (Ruvettus pretiosus)  and escolar (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum)) are considered to be two of the most palatable fish in the world. But before you run out to your local fish market in search of these delicacies, you’d better stock up on toilet paper because you’re going to spend a lot of time in the restroom after your scrumptious meal.
With such a large number of species in danger of  being over-fished and others posing health risks due to their high mercury content, the seafood industry needs alternatives that taste great, are cheap, sustainable and healthy to consume. 

The oilfish and escolar seem perfect choices, and although they’ve been popping up in restaurants and fish markets around the world, there is one dirty little secret that those who sell them sometimes forget to reveal – they cause explosive, oily, orange diarrhea. I know it sounds bad, but there is a way to avoid this embarrassing and highly uncomfortable side effect. 

The fish are safe to eat if they are consumed in portions smaller than six ounces, but most people are either unaware of the consequences or they just can’t help themselves because they are so damn delicious, so they go for full servings. People who actually went through this kind of ordeal have reported the oily discharges are almost impossible to control and often lead to embarrassing accidents.

"Waiter, I'll try a portion of oilfish. Better let me have a couple rolls of toidy paper and clear a path to the toilet!"

See ya, eh!

Bob

Software Developer Teaches Homeless Man How to Code

Hi ya! How're you faring today? Great to see you! Fetch yourself a mug of java and nudge a virtual treat or two onto your plate while I tell you about how one guy made a difference by helping a homeless man.

One day, Patrick McConlogue announced that he was going to teach a homeless man JavaScript and help him code his own app. Patrick, a 23-year-old software programmer, passed a certain homeless man every day while on his way to work and decided to run the idea by him to see if he was going to be the one.

“The idea is simple,” Patrick wrote on his website. Without disrespecting him, I will offer two options:
1. I will come back tomorrow and give you $100 in cash.
2. I will come back tomorrow and give you three JavaScript books, (beginner-advanced-expert) and a super cheap basic laptop. I will then come an hour early from work each day-when he feels prepared - and teach him to code.”

Sure enough, the ambitious homeless man, named Leo,  decided he wanted to learn how to code, thinking that the money could be easily spent in a week while the knowledge would be a great asset to him in the future. 

“He told me I could have a laptop and learn how to do something and I figured it could turn into something more,” Leo said. “It’s not like I don’t have the time to learn to do it.” 

Leo has been homeless for two years after he lost his job as a life insurance agent and came home only to find out that his rent went up as a consequence of luxury condominiums being built near his apartment. 

Despite his bad luck, Leo cared to mention that he was not unhappy or desperate when Patrick offered to teach him. Even though he believed “coding was something that went over like, a dessert” most likely thinking it meant “coating”, the man wanted to diversify his abilities so that he could once more be able to sustain himself financially.

Let's hope Leo applies his new programming skills and gets himself back on his feet.

Good for you, Patrick and good luck, Leo!

See ya, eh!

Bob

A Feast for the Eyes – Beautiful Glass Gem Corn

Hey! Hey! Thanks for clicking. A treat to see you...and I've got a gem of a post for you today. But first...throw some coffee into your mug and try a corn muffin, why don't'cha? 

Y'know here in Canada, we get fresh corn on the cob three to four weeks in August and that's about it. In Thailand, we got used to having it available all year round. Big, juicy, sweet corn. Well, here's something brand new for you...

Few cereals can be described as stunningly beautiful, but the multi-colored Glass Gem Corn is definitely one of these rare exceptions. Also known as Rainbow Corn, these unique strain of corn features kernels of many different colours that sparkle like tiny pieces of blown glass.


The story of Glass Gem corn began with Carl Barnes, a part-Cherokee farmer from Oklahoma, USA who noticed that every once in a while some of his corn cobs had strangely-colored kernels, and dedicated his life to creating the agricultural wonder you see below. 

Nobody knows exactly how many years Barnes spent worked on the unique cereal, how many successive seasons he carefully chose, saved, and replanted these special seeds, but one thing is for sure – his painstaking efforts had a truly mind-blowing result, a new breed of corn that most people consider a work of art rather than a cereal.

Until now, special corn has been of the 'peaches and cream' variety with both white and yellow kernels. This glass gem corn just blows that out of the water, doesn't it. But for me the big question is...what does it taste like? Until I know the answer to that, I'm reserving judgement. Would make a heck of a corn necklace though, wouldn't it?

See ya, eh!

Bob 

A Language Much Older then Twitter

Well, hi there! Wonderful to see you wing it in today. Ready for a mugga and a virtual muffin? Of course you are! Well, don't just stand there...whistle for Madge to bring them over here to the table for you. Whistle nicely though...she gets a little touchy about whistle tones...(segue).

Do you know about the ingenious Panamanian golden frog which lives near loud waterfalls and communicates by waving? The people of Kuşköy, a small Turkey village, have proven that they can be just as creative and resourceful as the little poisonous frog. Long before they even had electricity, they invented a brilliantly simple way of communicating over long distances, by whistling.

They call it the “bird language” or “kuș dili” as it originated in Kuşköy, which itself means “bird village”. This fascinating means of communication was created over 400 years ago as a consequence of working in the fields of the Pontic Mountains. 

The terrain is irregular making travelling very difficult even on short distances, and because of this, the villagers felt the need for an alternative to speaking and shouting , one that made long distance communication easier. Inspired by the songs of birds, they started whistling the syllables of Turkish words which proved to be much more effective and less energy-consuming than yelling or walking all the way to the person they needed to speak with. 

Villagers notify each other about visitors, ask for help and make invitations for tea. They can even have complex, long conversations just by whistling. The songs of the bird people resonate over distances as long as 1km. If the distance is longer, the neighbors are kind enough to pass on the message to each other until it reaches its destination.

Yessir...“kuș dili” may very well be the original "twitter", don't'cha think?

See ya, eh!

Bob

Camping for City Folk!

Greetings and good wishes for a caffo day, eh! Great to see you. I heard you clicking along the cyber space lanes and just managed to jump out of the way before you landed. Dang near spilled my coffee! Grab a mug of your own and a virtual treat while I fill you in on the latest camping gear. What do you mean the season's over? Well...maybe so but here are some nifty items you may want to ponder before the next season begins.

For some people, hiking miles through the woods, cooking over a campfire and sleeping beneath the stars is an ideal way to spend the weekend. For others, it's a complete nightmare.

If you're more of a glamper than a camper, check out these gadgets and gear that will make nature seem a lot more like home.

Sleep in style

Don't want to sleep on the ground? Consider taking the mobile designer suite known as Opera on your outdoor escapades. Inspired by Sydney's famous opera house, the camper has hardwood floors, high ceilings and a wine cooler, making it even more luxurious than your average hotel room. Of course, if you're a bit more adventurous, you could rough it in the 146-square-foot Big Sky Lodge tent, which stands 7 feet high and even comes with closets.

Gourmet gadgets

Forget trail mix and campfire hot dogs. There are a variety of gadgets for creating gourmet camp meals. Coleman makes a propane-powered portable oven and stove (pictured right) that can bake a 12-inch pizza or a dozen cupcakes, as well as a portable deep fryer. 

If you're craving Chinese, be sure to bring along the carbon steel wok kit. And you can wash it all down with a margarita made in Vortex's camping blender. Just don't forget to pack the stainless steel margarita glasses.

Joe on the go

Can't function without your morning latte? For $200 you can get the ROK espresso maker, which comes with everything you'll need to make a great cup of coffee. It even has a stainless steel milk frother.

Light up the night

There's no need for a flashlight when the Hozuki LED lantern is hanging over your campsite. Inspired by Chinese paper lanterns, the Hozuki has three brightness settings, and it has a unique candle mode that allows it to respond to wind or sound with flickering light.

Comfy by the campfire

Glampers don't roast marshmallows from atop a log or camping chair. For ultimate campfire comfort, inflate a Blofield outdoor sofa in just a matter of minutes.

Roasted to perfection

You'll never have to make s'mores with a stick again, thanks to the Rolla Roaster. This 42-inch long stainless steel fork has a rotating hardwood handle that comes in a variety of colors. Plus, it compacts to 12 inches and comes in its very own vinyl storage case.

Not-so-pocket-sized knife

Sometimes a blade, a screwdriver and a can opener just aren't enough. If you want a knife that has everything, look no further than Wenger's giant Swiss Army knife. It comes with every tool you can possibly think of, including a flashlight, fish scaler, tire gauge and telescopic pointer.

High-heeled hiking

Hiking in the great outdoors is no excuse not to be fashionable. Perhaps that's why Teva made these high-heeled sandals that come in two colors and retail for $330.

Just about every gadget you'd ever want out on a wilderness trek and then some, eh! What will they think of next. I used to love camping. Had a Volks Camper van named Wolfgang for nine years. Great fun...even without any of the above 'necessities'. 

See ya, eh!

Bob

PS: Don't tell Mother Nature but I liberated this post from her network.