Is it the Federal Reserve’s Fault?

With all the talk about economic crisis, is it any wonder that the sense of helplessness is spreading? For the most part, citizens feel that they have little control over the government’s actions.

As someone that doesn’t come from a political background and that struggled in American government classes, I found something very helpful for wrapping my head around the causes of the economic recession that’s going on. I found this great documentary created by the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

The documentary is 42 minutes long and covers a lot of ground in America’s financial history. Admittedly, it points the finger at the Federal Reserve System for being the main cause of most money issues we’re currently facing, but leaves some room for debate. The economy doesn’t work in a vacuum and the changing economies of China and India are bound to influence foreign markets. Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The Captain Planet Movie that Never Happened

Children of the 90’s know about ecology. The push for more science-aware programming such as Beakman’s World and Bill Nye the Science Guy brought the sciences alive for the 5-12 crowd. One of the biggest series of the earlier part of the decade was Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Captain Planet was the brainchild of cable-mogul Ted Turner. The show aired globally on various affiliates and on TBS and Cartoon Network in the US. It combined action and adventure with a strong ecological message. I’m not sure if it was the lame puns or the green mullet, but the show has left its impression on pop culture. Love or hate it, Captain Planet brought concepts such as recycling and ecological ethics to the mainstream.

read more

“Fake” Dark Chocolate is Unhealthy

It seems like clockwork that the news media has a story about the ways a common food can help defend against heart attacks, cancer, and various other terminal diseases. Every Valentine’s Day there is a push by local media for the predictable fluff story about the wonders of chocolate for your body.

As much as I’d like to believe dark chocolate is the lesser evil of the candy world, it seems odd that the value of antioxidants can allow people to overlook the amount of sugar, fat, and calories contained in most dark chocolate.

After a little searching I discovered this article from 2007 by BBC News that confirmed my suspicion. The article cites that many manufacturers are making “fake” dark chocolate. A real dark chocolate contains a good amount of flavanols (antioxidants) from the cocoa plant. If kept in the chocolate making process, the end product is typically more bitter than other processed chocolates. The more bitter the chocolate, the less it sells. In order to still push dark chocolate, many manufacturers end up removing many antioxidants and add artificial coloring or carmelize the cocoa beans for a darker color. Once the flavanols are removed,  sugar or fat are added to the mix to help the taste. The new ingredients make the health benefits of eating dark chocolate almost non-existent. Eating some dark chocolates be just as unhealthy as chowing down on milk chocolate.
read more

F my life! A site in review

A friend recently sent me a link to a fun little site called, f my life. Its a low key, no frills site, as far as design, but the content makes all the difference.  It reads almost like a twitter feed, but it doesn’t adhere to the 140 characters rule.  Users submit short 2-3 sentence stories or anecdotes about an embarrassing or awful situation they find themselves in that they want to share with the Internet.  One of my favorites is:  “Today, my boss fired me via text message. I don’t have a text messaging plan. I paid $0.25 to get fired.”  There are hundreds of submissions to read through most of which are amusing, some of which are hilarious.  They have a separate link for the list of flop submissions, and for the most part the posts on that list are pretty lame.  Be warned that many of the posts have strong language and uncomfortable situations, but then that really should go without saying.  This is not a place for the young or innocent.  Be prepared to have a sense of humor and a touch of fun bitterness upon viewing.  read more

The snack that smiles back

Anyone that has grown up in the past 40 years will recall his or her memories of Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish. They are the small, cheesy baked snack crackers cut into the shape of goldfish. Within the past decade, they’ve added “smiles” to the crackers and even trademarked the tagline “The snack that smiles back! Goldfish!”. Turning a blind eye to the whole concept of eating food that smiles, Goldfish has a following that rivals almost any candy bar or bubble gum.

So what is this magic that makes Goldfish so appealing? Part of it is the ingredients. Although a far cry from the healthier Cheerios cereal, Goldfish offer than tactile hand holding experience that young children need. They’re baked and packed with enough cheese flavoring to make you forget you’re eating anything that has flour in it. It’s easy to lay a dozen of these crackers onto a highchair tray and let the kids go wild. It also easy for an adult to devour twenty crackers at one sitting before thinking they’ve overeaten.

read more

What the #$%! is happening on Twitter?

Do you swear in public? How about on Twitter? The new site, Cursebird, measures how much you actually cuss on your Twitter account. Using the Twitter API, web app developer Richard Henry, of Fantastic, have created a tool that scrubs the Twitter public time line for a variety of curse words that would make your grandmother blush. The site even offers a personal assessment (curse grader) tool in which one can enter a user name to be ranked on the level of foul language used. It also includes all of your offending posts.

While the author seems humble and proud of his creation, the fact that the site now records bad user behavior has pushed people to both ends of the spectrum. Many users are deleting posts in order to protect the sanctity of their accounts, while others are indulging in naughty language in hopes of having the one account with the most curse words.
read more

Facebook harvests your soul, then acts confused when you get angry.

Facebook did WHAT?!

Unless you’ve been in hiding, you’ve probably seen stories about the Facebook Terms of Service change.  You know, how they assumed you were OK with them taking your firstborn.  Apparently our brouhaha was over nothing.  When you log in to Facebook today, you will see a message regarding TOS.  While the legal verbiage did lay claim to everything you ever posted on your account, they now say that isn’t what they wanted at all.  They say they really don’t want to own the rights to your list of 25 random facts, or that sloppy drunken pic on New Year’s Eve, but the way the TOS update was written, that’s what it legally let them do.  read more

Zeer! You are what you eat!

The other night I was talking to my dad on the phone and he told me that he drinks three bottles of Mountain Dew a day, each at 64 oz.!  He claims that since there is orange juice in “Mtn Dew,” that his consumption is almost healthy.  I’m wondering why he doesn’t just drink orange juice.

I wanted to research his claim and I found Zeer. It’s a nifty site that gives nutritional value on all the crap we shovel in our faces daily.  At first glace I was put off by the tag line: “Consumer reviews for healthy eating, organic food and green products.” It turns out this site is chock full of the quick and unhealthy snacks normal people actually eat.  I tend to eat first and think about calorie content later.  By the time I’m wondering what I’ve just consumed, the wrapper is long gone to the garbage. The product reviews and nutritional guides are pretty handy, as well as the lists of any allergens and ingredients for anyone who’s interested. You can search for products by name or UPC number (if you still saved the wrapper!).  You can add your own reviews and join different communities that will suggest new products to you.  read more

What happened after the Wizard left? A look at the “Wizard of Oz” sequel

Where exactly is somewhere over the rainbow? For many Wizard of Oz fans, the 1939 MGM film was the beginning and the end of their journey into Oz. The film has become iconic and defined the age of Technicolor and grand movie musicals. New interest in the Oz stories emerged in 2003 with the successful Broadway hit, Wicked, based on Gregory Maguire’s novel. My interest in Oz lead me to search more about the original author, L. Frank Baum and his writings. I was astonished to learn that there are 40 official books published by Baum and his successors that explore the land of Oz.

Being an Oz fan, I’ve been privy to the stories shown in the 1985 Disney film, Return to Oz. The movie features Dorothy, returning to a much darker version of Oz, trying to piece together the cause of the destruction. She meets new friends and eventually re-unites with many of her friends from the original journey, including the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion. It was interesting to find out that this screenplay was a combination of two books that followed “The Wizard of Oz.”

read more

Internet Meme: David After the Dentist

Why would a mother post this video of her son, obviously high on laughing gas or novicane? The answer is that most good parents can find comedy in their children. This week’s internet meme is David’s apparent buzz after a recent dentist visit. Let’s just hope this video doesn’t resurface in 10 years when David is trying to impress girls. At least he’ll have a nice smile.

As any good meme does, there must be remixes. Some of my favorites are the Elected Method Remix, Christian Bale Remix, and Tobuscus Remix.