The producers of this glassware take ordinary glass bottles, headed for the landfill and transform them into stylish, unique goblets and tumblers. The metamorphosis of these bottles turns them into useful, recycled glassware. The top of the bottle is flared, narrowed, twisted, and then separated from the bottom of the bottle. Using this procedure, the upper portion is transformed into an elegant goblet, while the remaining lower portion is a sturdy and faithful tumbler. The frosting detail is achieved from environmentally friendly sandblasting rather than acid etching. The company began production in South Africa, and due to international demand, now operates a facility in the USA.

Designer Vagina G-Spot Amplification (DVGSA) is available to women in California who want to enlarge their g-spot in order to make it easier to find and, hopefully, enhance pleasure in the bedroom.

For $1,850, collagen is injected into the g-spot while the woman is under local anesthesia and is only as painful as a pinprick. The g-spot will reportedly remain swollen for four months.

Into what other body parts can we possibly inject collagen?

There is tool called the “Daily Needs Calculator”. Enter in your sex, age, height, weight, and daily level of activity, and it spits out your daily calorie needs, as well as your recommended nutrient minimums. If you are a woman, there is additional information for pregnancy and lactation requirements.

This is what it displayed for me:

When I clicked on Vitamin A, it took me to a list of foods that provide the most. (Broccoli, apparently.)

I’ve been thinking about chocolate cake recently. To be precise, I’ve been thinking about what happens when a piece of bittersweet flourless Chocolate Decadence Cake arrives at a table where a few friends and I have agreed to share the dense, sweet dessert. Eyes light up. Glints of mischief appear on people’s faces. Oohs and aahs are exclaimed. The whole environment becomes vibrant, joyous, and thrillingly alive.

The waitress puts the cake down in the middle of the table, and for a moment, there is a feeling of reverence, of hushed silence, as if we were all experiencing a holy event. Forks are lifted. Eyes are cast down. Breathing stops.

Will it taste as divine as it looks? Will it be as good as the last chocolate cake we ate–or the first? Can we get a fork in there fast enough to procure a satisfying morsel or will our beloved friends take such big bites that there will be none left?

In The House at Pooh Corner, A. A. Milne wrote that for Winnie the Pooh, “Although eating honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.”

Pooh might not have known what it’s called, but I do. It’s called desire. It’s called anticipation. It’s called wanting–and if we let ourselves feel it, have it, and love it for its own sake, we set ourselves free.

Wanting versus Having
I realize that’s a radical statement–if you let yourself feel the depth of your wanting, you will set yourself free–but after 27 years of working with compulsive eaters, I’ve gotten the hang of what works and what doesn’t.

Recently, I had an encounter with one of my students, who said, “I love cupcakes. I love, love, love them. Every time I see them, I have to eat every single one. I am helpless in the presence of a cupcake.”

The story we usually tell ourselves about our lack of control–especially if it concerns high-fat or high-sugar foods–is that we need to discipline ourselves and stay away from them. Keep them out of our houses. Lock the cabinet doors and throw away the keys.

Okay, maybe you haven’t locked your food in a cabinet, but how about those times when you’re certain that the potato chips have suddenly developed vocal cords and are calling you from across the room?

If you find yourself bingeing and dieting, making proclamations about which foods you absolutely can’t have in the house only to find yourself, in a moment of madness, running to the store and loading up on those exact foods (and telling the clerk that they’re for your daughter or that you’re having a party), here’s the million-dollar question: What are you wanting when you want those potato chips, the cupcakes, that Chocolate Decadence Cake?

I can hear you saying: The potato chips, of course! The chocolate, without a doubt! But remember what Pooh said: The moment before he put his hand in the honey jar was actually better than tasting the honey itself. Then ask yourself: If honey were truly what he wanted, why was it better to want it than to have it? Why is the race to the food or the moment before you eat it equally if not more delicious than actually having it?

Here’s a conversation I had with the above-mentioned Cupcake Student:

Cupcake Student: I want cupcakes.

Me: What about the cupcakes do you want so much?

Cupcake Student: I want the sweetness. I want the richness. I want the feeling of it in my mouth.

Me: When you have one in your mouth, how do you feel?

Cupcake Student: I feel calm, I feel loved, and I feel like everything is good.

Me: So, it seems as if what you really want is to feel loved, calm, and relaxed.

Cupcake Student: Uh-oh. Is this a trick? Did you just talk me out of wanting cupcakes?

Me: Nope. You can still choose to have them if you really want them. We’re just trying to figure out what it is you really want when you say you want cupcakes.

Cupcake Student: Well, okay then, I do want to feel loved, calm, and relaxed.

Me: How about giving yourself permission–just for a minute–to want that? To want love?

Cupcake Student: But what if I know I can’t have it? I just got divorced and I’m not dating anyone. What’s the point of wanting love when I can’t have it?

Learning Your Heart’s Desire
Yes, that is million-dollar question number two: What’s the point of wanting something you can’t have? Why not spare yourself the pain and turn to something you can have–food–instead?

The point is that when you give yourself permission to want what you want instead of replacing it with a substitution, you make contact with your heart’s desire. Believe it or not, feeling the desire itself is incredibly, immensely, deeply satisfying. It’s the desire–not its fulfillment–that nourishes you because it’s the language of your heart. When you listen to that language, you hear your self. You return to your own true, deepest nature (which is, after all, what we thought that cupcake would do for us).

The things you want are bread crumbs leading you home. If you follow your desire for them, you get closer and closer to who you really are, to what you really want from this life. And what you end up discovering is what good ole Glinda told Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz: It wasn’t the ruby slippers, it wasn’t the balloon, it wasn’t the Wizard. Dorothy had always possessed the power to get herself back home–just by wanting it so much.

It’s not the cupcakes, it’s not the potato chips, it’s not the chocolate cake. If you give yourself permission to want without judging or dismissing your desires as crazy, you, too, have the power to return yourself to what you want most: the center of your own stunning, tender, radiant heart.

You, it turns out, have been the cupcake all along.

Quick Tip
Listen to your cravings. How does that cupcake or bag of cheese puffs make you feel? Write down those feelings. They are your heart’s desires. Do something besides eating to fulfill them

They’re calling it a “gherkin”. It’s officially open now, and I can’t imagine driving through London without a chuckle. Despite it’s slightly ridiculous (phallic) appearance, it’s quite a breakthrough in green building design.

From Wired:

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a great big penis on the skyline. OK, not quite, but Londoners have dubbed architect Norman Foster’s revolutionary 40-floor addition to their horizon the Erotic Gherkin. A better name might be the Jolly Green Giant, because Foster’s controversial tower – the second tallest building in London – is stacked with breakthrough eco-friendly features. Insurance giant Swiss Re will spend three years and a reported $2 billion, um, erecting it, and expects to move in this winter. What’s it like to be in a pickle? Take a tour.

Light
The building’s framework is a series of spirals that turn 5 degrees per story as they snake upward. Six light wells embedded in the frame allow natural rays to flood the interior, reducing the need for artificial light. Movement sensors automatically flick the switch when no one’s around.

Ventilation
A double-layer facade (twin panes of glass about 3 feet apart) and vented light wells increase airflow from floor to floor. The circulation reduces the need for heating and air-conditioning five months of the year, cutting electricity bills and carbon emissions.

Aerodynamics
The building’s curves let air flow easily around it, reducing the wind tunnel often generated at the bottom of rectilinear towers.

Public space
The Gherkin’s tapered base gives it a considerably smaller footprint than most skyscrapers, leaving more space for landscaping. The shape also reduces street-level reflections and increases the amount of sunlight at ground level.

The House voted Wednesday to strip many warnings from food labels, potentially affecting alerts about arsenic in bottled water, lead in candy and allergy-causing sulfites, among others.

Pushed by food companies seeking uniform labels across state lines, the bill would prevent states from adding food warnings that go beyond federal law. States could petition the Food and Drug Administration to add extra warnings, under the bill.

Lawmakers approved the bill on a 283-139 vote. Supporters expect a Senate version of the bill to be introduced soon.

“This bill is going to overturn 200 state laws that protect our food supply,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. “Why are we doing that? What’s wrong with our system of federalism?”

The bill’s supporters argue that consumers deserve the same warnings on supermarket shelves across the country. The bill would allow a state to seek a nationwide warning from FDA.

“We ought to do it in all 50 states,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. “Chicken grown in Louisiana is going to end up on a plate in Michigan.”

Rogers mentioned a warning his own state about allergy-causing sulfites: “If they’re bad for Michigan citizens, I think they’re bad in all of the other 49 states,” he said.

Nationwide, as many as 200 state laws or regulations could be affected, according to the Congressional Budget Office. They include warnings about lead and alcohol in candy, arsenic in bottled water and many others.

The government would spend at least $100 million to answer petitions for tougher state rules, according to CBO.

Opponents of the bill scored one victory Wednesday: State warnings about mercury in fish would remain. Lawmakers amended the bill to let states keep those warnings. That amendment, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., passed on a 253-168 vote.

About a dozen states have safety and labeling rules for fish. In California, white signs with “WARNING” in red letters tells grocery shoppers about high mercury levels in certain fish. Rep. Anna Eshoo (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., displayed the placard during debate Wednesday on the House floor.

Eshoo noted the bill’s supporters have personal ties to food industry lobbyists.

“This is not about consumers. This is about special interests,” she said.

California is a primary target of the legislation. There, the voter-passed Proposition 65 requires companies to warn the public of potentially dangerous toxins in food. California has filed lawsuits seeking an array of warnings, including the mercury content of canned tuna and the presence of lead in Mexican candy.

Of particular concern to the industry is acrylamide, a chemical linked to cancer that forms in starchy food cooked at high temperatures, such as french fries and potato chips.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has sued to force Burger King, Frito Lay, McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other companies to warn consumers that acrylamide is present.

There is widespread opposition among state officials. Attorneys general in 39 states are opposed, as are the National Conference of State Legislature and the associations of state food and drug officials and state agriculture departments.

I am so sick of seeing politicians’ personal ties to the food industry (as well as to other industries) dictate the health and safety of US citizens. It’s disgusting.

Incidentally, we shouldn’t eat this crap anyway. That’s the message I keep getting from news like this. Stay away from packaged foods and buy whole, minimally processed organic foods as much as possible.

Page 82 of the November 2005 issue of Spin Magazine is an interview with Tony.

Spin: Do you ever thank the gods for giving you the last name Hawk?

TH: “You know what? ‘Tony Hawk’ was easily rhymed with ‘bony cock’. So it never seemed like a blessing at all.”

I love him.

I plan on buying two, maybe three of these books.

There was a time when a new Barbara Kafka books generated a loud foodie buzz. Ms. Kafka, a contemporary of the late James Beard, specializes in thorough, weighty books that her followers devour like Marcona almonds. Her tomes on roasting and microwaving brought new fans to each method.

Her latest is Vegetable Love, with nearly 700 pages of recipes, tips and techniques. This book was meticulously researched; a Cook’s Guide tells, for example, how much a small, medium and large turnip should weigh, and how many cups of diced turnip that would be both raw and cooked.

The only pictures are small and printed in forest-green ink – disappointing in a book that aims to educate.

The real value is the 750 recipes for everything from carrot bread to Asian-Flavored Red Kuri Puree.

Many are classics, while others are dishes of her own invention. From the too-much category: Pickled Samphire. Samphire, she writes, isn’t a seaweed but could be mistaken for same.

That’s what makes this book classic Kafka. It’s packed with Easter eggs for the reader intrepid enough to slog through stuff that looks like seaweed.

From The Dallas Morning News – Feb. 22, 2006

From Whole Health MD:

Nutritionally, quinoa might be considered a supergrain–although it is not really a grain, but the seed of a leafy plant that’s distantly related to spinach. Quinoa has excellent reserves of protein, and unlike other grains, is not missing the amino acid lysine, so the protein is more complete (a trait it shares with other “non-true” grains such as buckwheat and amaranth). The World Health Organization has rated the quality of protein in quinoa at least equivalent to that in milk. Quinoa offers more iron than other grains and contains high levels of potassium and riboflavin, as well as other B vitamins: B6, niacin, and thiamin. It is also a good source of magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese, and has some folate (folic acid).

An ancient grainlike product that has recently been “rediscovered” in this country, quinoa has a light, delicate taste, and can be substituted for almost any other grain.

Though quinoa is a recent addition to the North American larder, this crop, native to the Andes, sustained the ancient Incas, and has been cultivated continuously for more than 5,000 years. Quinoa thrives in poor soil, arid climates, and mountainous altitudes. Today, most quinoa is imported from South America, although it is being cultivated on the high slopes of the Colorado Rockies.

Quinoa grains are about the same size as millet, but flattened, with a pointed, oval shape. The color ranges from pale yellow through red and brown to black. Quinoa cooks quickly to a light, fluffy texture. As it cooks, the external germ, which forms a band around each grain, spirals out, forming a tiny crescent-shaped “tail,” similar to a bean sprout. Although the grain itself is soft and creamy, the tail is crunchy, providing a unique texture to complement quinoa’s delicate flavor.

Availability

Since this grain is still a relatively new one, at least to the American market, you’re most likely to find it in health-food and specialty stores. Large supermarkets often stock quinoa, too.

Shopping

Quinoa is more expensive than most grains. However, during cooking, it increases about three to four times in volume, so you get reasonable value for your money.

Storage

Store quinoa like other grains, in a tightly closed container in a cool, dry place.

Preparation

Quinoa’s survival through the millennia may be attributed to the resinous, bitter coating that protects its seeds from birds and insects–and also shields them from the intense high-altitude sunlight. This coating, called saponin, is soapy and must be removed in a strong alkaline solution to make the grain palatable. Most quinoa sold in this country has already been cleansed of its saponin. But quinoa should be rinsed thoroughly before cooking to remove any powdery residue of saponin. Place the grain in a fine strainer and hold it under cold running water until the water runs clear; drain well.

Toast the grain in a dry skillet for five minutes before cooking to give it a delicious roasted flavor. To cook, use two parts liquid to one part quinoa. Combine the liquid and toasted quinoa in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until the grains are translucent and the germ has spiraled out from each grain, about 15 minutes.

To make a quinoa pilaf, begin by sauteing chopped onion and garlic in a little oil. Add toasted quinoa and liquid (two parts water to one part quinoa) and simmer as described above. After the pilaf is cooked, you can stir in other ingredients such as toasted nuts, dried fruit, shredded greens or fresh herbs, or cheese.

From WTVF Nashville:

From the outside, the house looks like a beautiful vacation home, but investigators say it was just a prop and what it concealed is right out [of] the movies.

More than 1,000 marijuana plants were grown deep underground.

The house was built on top of the natural cave, but investigators say no one lived there. It wasn’t even furnished. But inside the house there is a secret passageway into the cave.

Read the rest here