Nationwide study finds US meat and poultry is widely contaminated

Steve Yozwiak - Drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases, are present in meat and poultry from U.S. grocery stores at unexpectedly high rates, according to a nationwide study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

Nearly half of the meat and poultry samples — 47 percent — were contaminated with S. aureus, and more than half of those bacteria — 52 percent — were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics, according to the study published today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

This is the first national assessment of antibiotic resistant S. aureus in the U.S. food supply. And, DNA testing suggests that the food animals themselves were the major source of contamination.

Although Staph should be killed with proper cooking, it may still pose a risk to consumers through improper food handling and cross-contamination in the kitchen.

Researchers collected and analyzed 136 samples — covering 80 brands — of beef, chicken, pork and turkey from 26 retail grocery stores in five U.S. cities: Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Flagstaff and Washington, D.C.

"For the first time, we know how much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with antibiotic-resistant Staph, and it is substantial," said Lance B. Price, Ph.D., senior author of the study and Director of TGen's Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health.

"The fact that drug-resistant S. aureus was so prevalent, and likely came from the food animals themselves, is troubling, and demands attention to how antibiotics are used in food-animal production today," Dr. Price said.

Densely-stocked industrial farms, where food animals are steadily fed low doses of antibiotics, are ideal breeding grounds for drug-resistant bacteria that move from animals to humans, the report says.

"Antibiotics are the most important drugs that we have to treat Staph infections; but when Staph are resistant to three, four, five or even nine different antibiotics — like we saw in this study — that leaves physicians few options," Dr. Price said.

"The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria — including Staph — remains a major challenge in clinical medicine," said Paul S. Keim, Ph.D., Director of TGen's Pathogen Genomics Division and Director of the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at Northern Arizona University (NAU).

"This study shows that much of our meat and poultry is contaminated with multidrug-resistant Staph. Now we need to determine what this means in terms of risk to the consumer," said Dr. Keim, a co-author of the paper.

The U.S. government routinely surveys retail meat and poultry for four types of drug-resistant bacteria, but S. aureus is not among them. The paper suggests that a more comprehensive inspection program is needed.

S. aureus can cause a range of illnesses from minor skin infections to life-threatening diseases, such as pneumonia, endocarditis and sepsis.

via Nationwide study finds US meat and poultry is widely contaminated.

There are good reasons some things are not even tested for. Out of sight, out of court.

Comfort food: The woman who can't stop eating sofas

A mother-of-five has been diagnosed with a rare disorder called Pica after seeking medical help for her addiction... to eating sofas.

Adele Edwards, of Bradenton, Florida, has been eating the foam inside couch cushions for 21 years.

She sought help when the cravings started getting out of control.

Miss Edwards, 31, said: 'In the last year I’ve eaten seven sofas.

'I unzip the cushions and snack on the foam inside. And once I start I just can’t stop.

'But now doctors have told me that if I carry on, my addiction will kill me.'

Pica is a disorder found most commonly in toddlers and pregnant women who lack certain nutrients, causing them to crave non-nutritive substances like chalk, coins, batteries and even dirt.

Sometimes it’s caused by stress, and Adele admits her first time happened during a very emotional period in her life, when her parents were on the brink of divorce. ...

Like many addicts, Miss Edwards didn't get hooked overnight.

She started by chewing the cushion foam before spitting it out. But it wasn’t long until she began to swallow each small piece of cushion she put in her mouth.

Today, Adele’s habit includes added levels of disgust.

'I unzipper the cushion cover and tear off a piece about the size of half a pencil,' she said.

'Then I take it outside and rub it in dirt. The dirt makes it crunchier. Then I chew on it and swallow it.'

Her gastroenterologist, Dr. Christopher Olenec of the Digestive Health Center in Sarasota, Florida – the man who diagnosed Miss Edwards with Pica – was alarmed when Adele told him of her new habit with the dirt.

'The question became, "did she have a deficiency in her iron? And was that what was driving her to ingest the seat cushions?"

In fact she did. Miss Edwards’s blood contains half the amount of iron of a normal woman. For most, an easy solution would be regular consumption of iron supplements. But Miss Edwards has always struggled to combat her addiction with regular treatment.

'I’ve taken the iron supplements and they seem to actually work,' she says. ...

'It’s hard to try to get people to understand how bad this addiction is.

'I’m aware of the life risks. Doctors have told me I could get a stomach blockage so bad I’d go septic and my intestines could explode. That scares me.' ...

Miss Edwards, who is in discussions to enter a therapy center in California for people with similar strange addictions, believes this is the time for her to be serious about quitting.

'I’ve been doing this almost my whole life, 21 years. It’s consumed me. It’s putting my life and family at risk. I’m trying to stop this.'

via Comfort food: The woman who can't stop eating sofas | Mail Online.

In addition to the painful grapefruit sized blockage the article says she once had, I would think there would be chemicals in the foam that would make her very sick.

Gardening: What to plant in April (Northern California)

I'm getting into gardening. Growing some of your own food is great. Today, April 10th, 2011, is a nice day and I've got my beds weeded and ready for planting, but what to plant? Here are a few guides:

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

September: Plant marjoram, oregano, peppermint, rosemary, thyme. (Herbs can actually be planted all year in most climates.)

... April ... Plant:• Basil seedlings (Plant in batches every two weeks through August)

• Chiles (seedlings; through May)

• Corn (seed―plant in batches every two weeks through August)

• Cucumbers (seedlings)

• Edamame (seeds; plant in batches every two weeks through May)

• Hops (through May)

• Lemongrass, Melons (seeds; seedlings in May),

• Squash (seeds; seedlings in May)

• Tomatoes (seedlings; through May)

• Zucchini (seeds)

via Our planting calendar - Sunset.com.

Today I planted 3 kinds of tomato, chilies, and pepper seedlings plus seeds for watermelon, corn, edamame, zucchini, pumpkin, and sunflowers. Total cost (including the new shovel, $55.)

Fourteen die after eating toxic sardines in Madagascar

At least 14 people have died in Madagascar after eating toxic sardines.Officials say more than 120 people remain seriously ill after the incident in the south-western town of Toliara.The government sent its condolences to the victims' families, promising to foot the medical bills of those being treated in hospital.Samples of the sardines have been sent for analysis. In previous incidents, researchers said the contaminated sardines had eaten poisonous seaweed.They say seaweed has proliferated among Madagascar's coral reefs as global warming changes the sea conditions.

via BBC News - Fourteen die after eating toxic sardines in Madagascar.

For Farmers In Fukushima, Japan, Growing Uncertainty

Jason Beaubien - As Japan continues to grapple with the effects of the March 11 earthquake, the prefecture of Fukushima faces some of the biggest challenges.

Fukushima's roads were damaged in the earthquake, its coast was battered by the tsunami, and now leaking radiation around the crippled Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has made parts of the prefecture unlivable.

The tsunami pushed seawater more than 2 miles inland in some places. Rail lines in Fukushima — Japan's third-largest prefecture — were destroyed along the coast; train traffic still hasn't resumed through the prefecture. Radiation from the leaking nuclear complex has forced tens of thousands of residents from their homes. The sale of many vegetables from Fukushima has been banned.

Akio Nagato, the director general of the Fukushima governor's office, says the tsunami and earthquake mainly affected the coast but the radiation is affecting the entire prefecture, which spans more than 5,000 square miles.

Even outside the 12-mile mandatory evacuation zone around the Fukushima Dai-chi nuclear plant, Nagato says, businesses are packing up and moving. He says the cleanup along the coast has barely started because vehicles can't travel through the nuclear exclusion zone.

"We are not just talking about rebuilding houses," Nagato says, speaking of the Fukushima coast. "We are talking about places of work, ports, railroads all being unusable. We are talking about the big picture here. We are talking about putting everything back together."

Unsafe Food

The nuclear disaster is now also a disaster for Fukushima's farmers. The government has banned the sale of milk, spinach and other leafy vegetables, not just from here but also from neighboring prefectures.

The Japanese Health Ministry found that the radiation level in these foods exceeds legal limits for human consumption. This has left farmers such as Shinichi Asaka with goods they can't sell.

"We are going to have throw it out," he says through an interpreter, regarding rows and rows of green spinach. "Get a big tractor, load it up and throw it out. There's nothing else to do." ...

via For Farmers In Fukushima, Japan, Growing Uncertainty : NPR.

Study predicts large regional changes in farmland area

The effects of climate change and population growth on agricultural land area vary from region to region, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers.

Regions with relative high latitudes – China, Russia and the U.S. – could see a significant increase in arable land in coming years, but Africa, Europe and India and South America could lose land area.

Civil and environmental engineering professor Ximing Cai and graduate student Xiao Zhang published their findings in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

While most other studies of climate change and agriculture have focused on projected crop yields, the Illinois researchers assessed global and regional land availability. Using international land and climate datasets and remote-sensing land-use maps, they systematically studied worldwide changes in soil temperature and humidity with a resolution of one square kilometer.

"This study presents the main patterns and trends of the distribution of potential arable land and the possible impacts of climate change from a biophysical perspective," Cai said. "The possible gains and losses of arable land in various regions worldwide may generate tremendous impacts in the upcoming decades upon regional and global agricultural commodity production, demand and trade, as well as on the planning and development of agricultural and engineering infrastructures."

Cai and Zhang's model allowed them to address the many sources of uncertainty in trying to predict climate change, such as levels of greenhouse gas emissions, climate model uncertainty and ambiguity in land-use classification. They applied the model to several projected scenarios to uncover both regional and global trends in land availability.

When considering effects of climate change, residential sprawl as population grows and natural conservation, the global total of potential arable land in all scenarios decreased by the end of the 21st century, by a margin of 0.8 to 4.4 percent. However, much larger changes were predicted regionally. For example, arable land area could increase by 37 to 67 percent in Russia, while Africa could lose up to 18 percent of its farmland.

via Study predicts large regional changes in farmland area.

All the blue parts on the map will be under water. All the red parts will be on fire. Just kidding.

Walnuts are top nut for heart-healthy antioxidants

Michael Bernstein  - A new scientific study positions walnuts in the No. 1 slot among a family of foods that lay claim to being among Mother Nature's most nearly perfect packaged foods: Tree and ground nuts. In a report here today at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, scientists presented an analysis showing that walnuts have a combination of more healthful antioxidants and higher quality antioxidants than any other nut.

"Walnuts rank above peanuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios and other nuts," said Joe Vinson, Ph.D., who did the analysis. "A handful of walnuts contains almost twice as much antioxidants as an equivalent amount of any other commonly consumed nut. But unfortunately, people don't eat a lot of them. This study suggests that consumers should eat more walnuts as part of a healthy diet."

Vinson noted that nuts in general have an unusual combination of nutritional benefits — in addition those antioxidants — wrapped into a convenient and inexpensive package. Nuts, for instance, contain plenty of high-quality protein that can substitute for meat; vitamins and minerals; dietary fiber; and are dairy- and gluten-free. Years of research by scientists around the world link regular consumption of small amounts of nuts or peanut butter with decreased risk of heart disease, certain kinds of cancer, gallstones, Type 2 diabetes, and other health problems.

Despite all the previous research, scientists until now had not compared both the amount and quality of antioxidants found in different nuts, Vinson said. He filled that knowledge gap by analyzing antioxidants in nine different types of nuts: walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, macadamias, and pecans. Walnuts had the highest levels of antioxidants.

Vinson also found that the quality, or potency, of antioxidants present in walnuts was highest among the nuts. Antioxidants in walnuts were 2-15 times as potent as vitamin E, renowned for its powerful antioxidant effects that protect the body against damaging natural chemicals involved in causing disease.

"There's another advantage in choosing walnuts as a source of antioxidants," said Vinson, who is with the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. "The heat from roasting nuts generally reduces the quality of the antioxidants. People usually eat walnuts raw or unroasted, and get the full effectiveness of those antioxidants." ...

via Walnuts are top nut for heart-healthy antioxidants.

 

New idea: Figh terrorists with curry powder (a cheap sensor for explosives)

Jason Palmer- The main chemical in the curry spice turmeric could be the basis for cheap explosives detectors, say researchers.

The curcumin molecule is already well-known in medicine for its anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties.

Now, research presented at the American Physical Society meeting suggests it could replace more complex solutions to spot explosives like TNT.

As it gathers molecules of explosive material in air, changes in its light-emitting properties can be measured.

This "fluorescence spectroscopy" is already employed in a wide array of sensing and analysis techniques.

Illuminating some chemicals causes them to re-emit light of a different colour, sometimes for extended periods - an effect exploited in, for example, glow-in-the-dark materials.

The intensity of this re-emitted light can change if different molecules bind to the fluorescent ones, and that is how sensing techniques exploit the effect. ...

via BBC News - Curry powder molecule 'is cheap sensor for explosives'.

Mass honeybee deaths now occurring worldwide, says UN

For several decades, colony collapse disorder (CCD) -- a mysterious condition where entire bee colonies die for seemingly no obvious reason -- has been inflicting bee populations across both Europe and the US. But scientists from the United Nations (UN) say the phenomenon is now a global crisis, afflicting bees across China, Japan, and Africa, as well as in other places.

The report, issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), explains what many NaturalNews readers already know -- mainly that without bees, there will be no more food. Bees are one of nature's primary pollinators, and over 70 percent of the world's food supply relies on them to grow.

"Human beings have fabricated the illusion that in the 21st century they have the technological prowess to be independent of nature," said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director. "Bees underline the reality that we are more, not less, dependent on nature's services in a world of close to seven billion people."

One such mode of "technological prowess" is the flagrant and irresponsible use of genetically-modified organisms (GMO). GMO technology is heavily reliant on the use of toxic pesticides and herbicides, which several recent studies have pinned to the widespread bee deaths (http://www.naturalnews.com/025287_b...).

In January, a leaked document revealed that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actually knowingly approved a bee-killing pesticides known as clothianidin. This Bayer CropScience chemical has been identified as a primary instigator of CCD, and yet it has remained freely available on the market since 1993 when the EPA first approved it. ...

via Mass honeybee deaths now occurring worldwide, says UN.

Sausage contained 104 percent meat

A Swedish man has reported a charcuterie in the north of Sweden to the Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket). The reason – according to the label there is too much meat in the sausages. The man, who purchased his sausages in the ski resort of Åre, was surprised to find that the meat content was 104 percent.

“Personally I can’t accept that anything contains over 100 percent. And this sausage couldn’t possibly contain more than 100 percent meat as there are other ingredients stated on the label,” he wrote in the report.

After reading the label, the man asked the shop how the percentage of meat in the sausages could be so high.

He was told that more meat is required in making the sausage than actually ends up in the product.

However, not satisfied with this he decided to report the misleading label to the consumer agency, according to Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.

At Trångsvikens Chark AB, the charcuterie that make the sausages, they agree that the labelling can be difficult to understand.

CEO Marcus Färnström explained to local newspaper Länstidningen Östersund that what it actually means is 104 g meat has been used per every 100g sausage.

“Of course there is a different way to declare the ingredients and perhaps that is what we’re going to have to do,” he told Länstidningen Östersund. ...

via Sausage contained 104 percent meat - The Local.

Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance

The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (FARFA) is leading the fight to save family farms and individuals from expensive and unnecessary government regulation. Help us protect our food supply and our liberties!The National Animal Identification System ("NAIS") posed a serious threat to all farmers, ranchers, livestock owners, and companion-animal owners, whether they are organic or conventional, small or large, involved with animals for business or for pleasure. It would have required every person with even one horse, cow, chicken, pig, goat, sheep, or virtually any other livestock animal on their premises to register their homes and property into a database and subject their property and animals to government surveillance. ...

Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has stated that it is dropping the original plans for NAIS, Big Ag and Big Tech continue to push for the program at both the federal and state levels.

The NAIS does not distinguish between large corporate factory farms and the smallest family farm, pleasure horse owner, or the grandmother with a few laying hens. The NAIS will drive small and medium-size farmers and ranchers out of business, increasing the consolidation of our food supply into the hands of a few large, multinational corporations. The government is wasting your taxpayer dollars on a program that will lead to increased food prices and decreased quality. ...

via Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance | Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance.

I was just discussing the idea of buying some egg laying chickens this evening.  I'd sure like the government to go stick it's regulatory nose somewhere else than up my chickens, if I ever do get some.

Man who promoted grill's unhealthy menu dies at 29

A 575-pound man who gained a measure of fame as spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill — a Phoenix-area restaurant that unabashedly touts its unhealthy, high-calorie menu — has died.

Friends of 29-year-old Blair River say he died Tuesday, possibly from contracting pneumonia after a bout with the flu.

Restaurant founder Jon Basso tells The Arizona Republic that River was more than the larger-than-life caricature he portrayed in promoting the restaurant in Chandler, which includes huge hamburgers, milkshakes and fries cooked in lard on its menu.

Basso says River was a creative genius who had been planning to take part in the shooting of a promotional spot called, "Heart Attack Grill: The Musical."

The 6-foot-8 River was an Arizona state heavyweight wrestling champion in 1999.

via kpho

The Tooth About Zinc

From its involvement in a healthy immune system to its role in cell growth, zinc is an essential mineral for the human body. Zinc deficiency is a worldwide problem that affects approximately 4 million people in the U.S. alone.

 

Consumed naturally in the human diet, zinc can be found in food sources, such as beef, yogurt, eggs, and fish. Furthermore, zinc is widely used in dental products, specifically denture adhesives.

 

However, as with any herb, vitamin, or mineral, excess intake of zinc could pose a potential health hazard. Denture wearers are advised to pay special attention to the amount of zinc they consume, according to an article published in the March/April 2011 issue of General Dentistry, the peer-reviewed clinical journal of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD).

 

“If a patient wears dentures, it is essential that he or she follows the instructions and recommended dosages on the product label,” advises J. A. von Fraunhofer, MSc, PhD, co-author of the article. “Many times, patients will overuse the adhesive and, although it happens rarely, they can ingest toxic levels of zinc, with adverse neurologic effects.”

 

The optimal use of denture adhesive involves placing a thin film or a series of dots across the denture surface, which will ensure that a patient is not overusing the adhesive. A single tube should last three to 10 weeks with daily use, although actual usage depends on the number of applications per day.

 

“An ill-fitting denture is one reason that a patient could be overusing adhesive,” says AGD spokesperson Manuel A. Cordero, DDS, MAGD. “With age, your mouth will continue to change as the bone under your denture shrinks or recedes. If the denture doesn’t fit correctly, the patient tends to use more adhesive to try to get the denture to stay in place.”

 

To maintain a proper fit over time, patients should be evaluated by a dentist every six months.

 

“Abusing denture adhesive could cause nausea, stomachache, and mouth irritation,” says Dr. Cordero. “Over time, toxic levels of zinc could cause a copper deficiency, which has been linked to neurological damage.”

 

Currently, the FDA has issued no warnings regarding the use of denture adhesives, but patients should limit their usage of adhesive in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions and speak with their dentist if they have additional questions or concerns. ...

via AGD - The Tooth About Zinc.

3D printers create edible objects

An engineering lab and a culinary school have teamed up to construct novel edible objects with 3D printers that use pureed foods in place of ink.

Miniature space shuttles made of ground scallops and cheese are among the masterpieces that had already been made using 3D food printers designed by the computational synthesis laboratory at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

The lab is collaborating with the New York City-based French Culinary Institute to make new edible creations through a project called fab@home.

"It lets you do complex geometries with food that you could never do by hand," said Jeffrey Lipton, a researcher and graduate student at the lab.

"So far, we've printed everything from chocolate, cheese and hummus to scallops, turkey, and celery," Lipton told CBC Radio's Spark in an interview that aired Sunday.

Pastes made of different foods are squirted from nozzles inside the box-like printer, which carefully controls their position at all times.

"The process is pretty simple," Lipton said. "Just as ... your 2D printer puts droplets of ink onto a page to create an image, this draws lines of material on top of each other to create a 3D object." ...

via 3D printers create edible objects - Technology & Science - CBC News.

Buyer Beware of 'Bathtub' Cheese

State and local health inspectors are teaming up to catch vendors selling illegal bathtub cheese. The homemade cheese is known to be tainted with harmful bacteria.

"There have been several incidents where we have seen it sold at local markets," said Chief Environmental Health Specialist Donna Fenton.

Bathtub cheese is homemade cheese, also known as queso fresco, and is a staple for Hispanic immigrants.

"It's normal there in Mexico. You can make your own thing so you can eat," said fruit market owner George Flores.

The cheese is often made in bathtubs or back yard troughs.

"The cheese has been made in a coffin, or they use PVC pipe just purchased from a local hardware store. Sometimes it's done in galvanized metal containers that can also leach contaminants," said Fenton.

Not only is the cheese unsanitary, but its ingredients can also harbor bacteria. Raw, unpasteurized milk and coagulants used to make the cheese can contain salmonella, E. coli, tuberculosis and listeria.

"Listeria in particular can cause miscarriages in pregnant women," said Fenton.

Yet people still continue to buy the cheese, which can cost $10 to $12 per pound.

"It's not uncommon to find it in the local markets, swap meets, street vendors, or you may have a neighbor who's trying to sell it from their home," said Fenton.

"Yeah, they come once in a while. Not to our business but to our home. In a truck," said Flores.

Bathtub cheese comes in different types, such as panela, queso seco, asadero, queso Oaxaca and Cotija, and is often sold in grocery bags without proper packaging. That's exactly what 23 ABC and inspectors found inside Lopez's Fruit Market: four pounds of what inspectors believe to be bathtub cheese. Flores and his wife were given a citation and the cheese confiscated. ...

"It may look good, appetizing, and you see it sold at the markets. A lot of times it's not safe. It's just not worth the risk of you having a life-threatening illness," said Fenton.

It is a misdemeanor crime to sell or give away bathtub cheese. And it's a felony if you make it to sell or give away. ...

via Buyer Beware of 'Bathtub' Cheese - East Bakersfield News Story - KERO Bakersfield.

US Gov. Creates Software for ’Fake People’ Pushing Propoganda on Social Networks

Sean Kerrigan-The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage "fake people" on social media sites.  Private security firms employeed by the government have used the accounts to create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues.

The contract calls for the development of "Persona Management Software" which would help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. The job listing was discussed in recently leaked emails from the private security firm HBGary after an attack by internet activist last week.

According to the contract, the software would "protect the identity of government agencies" by employing a number of false signals to convince users that the poster is in fact a real person. A single user could manage unique background information and status updates for up to 10 fake people from a single computer.

The software enables the government to shield its identity through a number of different methods including the ability to assign unique IP addresses to each persona and the ability to make it appear as though the user is posting from other locations around the world.

Included in HBGary's leaked emails was a government proposal for the government contract. The document describes how they would 'friend' real people on Facebook as a way to convey government messages. The document reads:

• "Those names can be cross-referenced across Facebook, twitter, MySpace, and other social media services to collect information on each individual. Once enough information is collected this information can be used to gain access to these individuals social circles.


• Even the most restrictive and security conscious of persons can be exploited. Through the targeting and information reconnaissance phase, a person’s hometown and high school will be revealed. An adversary can create a classmates.com account at the same high school and year and find out people you went to high school with that do not have Facebook accounts, then create the account and send a friend request. Under the mutual friend decision, which is where most people can be exploited, an adversary can look at a targets friend list if it is exposed and find a targets most socially promiscuous friends, the ones that have over 300-500 friends, friend them to develop mutual friends before sending a friend request to the target. To that end friend’s accounts can be compromised and used to post malicious material to a targets wall. When choosing to participate in social media an individual is only as protected as his/her weakest friend."

Other documents in the leaked emails include quotes from HBGary CEO Aaron Barr saying, "There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas... Using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/herself to key individuals as part of the exercise, as one example."

Additional emails between HBGary employees, usually originating from Barr, discuss the vulnerability social networking causes.

One employee wrote, "and now social networks are closing the gap between attacker and victim, to the point I just found (via linked-in) 112 females, wives of service men, all stationed at Hurlbert Field FL - in case you don't know this is where the CIA flies all their "private" airlines out of. What a damn joke - the U.S. is no longer the super power in cyber, and probably won't be in other areas soon."

Barr also predicted a steady rise in clandestine or secret government operations to stem the flow of sensitive information. "I would say there is going to be a resurgence of black ops in the coming year as decision makers settle with our inadequacies... Critical infrastructure, finance, defense industrial base, and government have rivers of unauthorized communications flowing from them and there are no real efforts to stop it."

The creation of internet propoganda software is only one of HBGary's controversial activities. According to Wikileaks competetor and occasional collaborator Cryptome.org, several other progressive organizations were intended to be targeted including anti-war activist, anti-torture organizations and groups opposed to the US Chamber of Commerce.

The emails also include a number of other embarrasing entries including the purchase of the book "The Multi-Orgasmic Man: Sexual Secrets Every Man Should Know" from Amazon for $6.76.

via FAKEBOOK: US Gov. Creates Software for ’Fake People’ Pushing Propoganda on Social Networks.

According to a spokesperson for US Central Command, Persona Management Software is not being used by the US government inside the United States and that the program is limited to “foreign, non-English speaking” websites.

Lt. Cmdr. Bill H. Speaks, spokesperson for US Central Command, said the program “supports classified activities outside the [United States]” on “non-English speaking websites.”

When asked if the program could be used by private security firms for domestic operations, Speaks declined to comment, saying only that the program did not exclusively belong to the US government.

According to Speaks, the contract was awarded in August of 2010 to software and contracting companies, not HBGary as previously insinuated by other outlets. HBGary Federal was one of the parties interested in applying for the contract in July of last year. The private security firm HBGary Federal was attacked by internet hacker group Anonymous earlier this month in which over 70,000 emails were copied and posted to the internet. The posted emails seemed to indicate that the company was planning to use “fake people” on social media sites to infiltrate and discredit their perceived political enemies.

- CentCom: Government Not Using Persona Management Software in Un

Not sure why the multi-O for men book is embarrassing, unless they are spending company money for personal uses. I read the book years ago and it works.

More importantly, be on the look out for the fake people on social web sites. US Central Command may be right about the government not creating fake people on US sites pushing a pro war agenda. Has anyone found one?  I'm not sure that Obama is spending a lot on war propaganda to convince us of anything. I'm not hearing it anyway. Countries can get around laws about messing with their citizens by messing with each others citizens and sharing the data. This has been going on for years with spying.

Many of us know that industry pays billions to marketing firms to get us to believe certain things to influence buying habits, but we just don't know how much of what we hear is the result of lies for hire. For example, $4.2 billion was spent by the fast food industry in 2009 to get Americans to buy unhealthy foods according to grist.org. What did that money buy? Just commercials on TV and radio? Or do they slip a huge amount of money to Rush Limbaugh to talk about ribs and to connect good healthy foods with worthless things like cardboard and tree bark. To me, that's a psyop, it is vile propaganda, a paid lie disguised an attack on absurdity by a disgruntled everyman:

"I'm sure you're aware that nutritionist-at-large Michelle Obama is urging, demanding, advocating, requiring what everybody can and can't eat. She is demanding that everybody basically eat cardboard and tofu. No calories, no fat, no nothing -- gotta stop obesity. "

All you have to do, Rush, is say "roots and berries and tree bark" and "tofu and cardboard", and you get paid. Because marketers paid by the junk food industry already did a million dollars worth of research to figure out how to turn people against fresh foods, and in their focus groups, these phrases worked.

A $4.2 billion marketing budget in 2009, a year characterized by a brutal economic slump, is the sign of an extremely profitable industry. Corporate fast food is what is known as a "countercyclical" industry -- it tends to thrive when the economy goes to hell. When money is tight, McDonald's dollar menu looks like a bargain -- and stuff like Domino's now-infamous eight-cheese Wisconsin Pizza seems like a reasonable indulgence.

How well are these companies doing? The stock market gives us a clue. Over the past two years, shares of Yum! Brands (owner of owner of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Long John Silver's) and McDonald's have both more than doubled. Meanwhile, the overall stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 index of the nation's largest publicly traded companies, has flat-lined. In other words, investors are quite bullish on junk food corporations.

Follow the money... and at least start to get a clue that ... oh no, I'm getting a fast food craving. Weird. I will fight it and eat cardboard and tree bark tonight... because those are the only alternatives to McDonalds.

 

The Six-Legged Meat of the Future

MARCEL DICKE and ARNOLD VAN HUIS - At the London restaurant Archipelago, diners can order the $11 Baby Bee Brulee: a creamy custard topped with a crunchy little bee. In New York, the Mexican restaurant Toloache offers $11 chapulines tacos: two tacos stuffed with Oaxacan-style dried grasshoppers.

Could beetles, dragonfly larvae and water bug caviar be the meat of the future? As the global population booms and demand strains the world's supply of meat, there's a growing need for alternate animal proteins. Insects are high in protein, B vitamins and minerals like iron and zinc, and they're low in fat. Insects are easier to raise than livestock, and they produce less waste. Insects are abundant. Of all the known animal species, 80% walk on six legs; over 1,000 edible species have been identified. And the taste? It's often described as "nutty."

The vast majority of the developing world already eats insects. In Laos and Thailand, weaver-ant pupae are a highly prized and nutritious delicacy. They are prepared with shallots, lettuce, chilies, lime and spices and served with sticky rice. Further back in history, the ancient Romans considered beetle larvae to be gourmet fare, and the Old Testament mentions eating crickets and grasshoppers. In the 20th century, the Japanese emperor Hirohito's favorite meal was a mixture of cooked rice, canned wasps (including larvae, pupae and adults), soy sauce and sugar.

Will Westerners ever take to insects as food? It's possible. We are entomologists at Wageningen University, and we started promoting insects as food in the Netherlands in the 1990s. Many people laughed—and cringed—at first, but interest gradually became more serious. In 2006 we created a "Wageningen—City of Insects" science festival to promote the idea of eating bugs; it attracted more than 20,000 visitors.

Over the past two years, three Dutch insect-raising companies, which normally produce feed for animals in zoos, have set up special production lines to raise locusts and mealworms for human consumption. Now those insects are sold, freeze-dried, in two dozen retail food outlets that cater to restaurants. A few restaurants in the Netherlands have already placed insects on the menu, with locusts and mealworms (beetle larvae) usually among the dishes.

Insects have a reputation for being dirty and carrying diseases—yet less than 0.5% of all known insect species are harmful to people, farm animals or crop plants. When raised under hygienic conditions—eating bugs straight out of the backyard generally isn't recommended—many insects are perfectly safe to eat. ....

via The Benefits of Eating Insects - WSJ.com.

Farmers Rush to Deposit Seeds in Arctic Doomsday Vault, Patrolled by Bears

Farmers from Australia are the latest donors to a polar bear-patrolled Arctic doomsday vault that stores seeds as insurance against an international food emergency.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a converted mine, is located about 800 miles from the North Pole in Arctic Norway.

An Australian delegation of farmers and scientists next week will deposit 301 samples of peas and 42 rare chickpeas in the vault, intending to protect the plant species from extinction by climatic or man-made events.

"It's a very robust structure, concrete, made into the side of a mountain at Svalbard in the Spitsbergen Highlands in the Arctic," said Dr. Tony Gregson, a farmer and scientist with Plant Health Australia, an agriculture industry body.

According to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault website, the facility's main purpose is "to store duplicates ('back ups') of all seed samples from the world's crop collections. Permafrost and thick rock ensure that, even in the case of a power outage, the seed samples will remain frozen."

"It's as safe as any place on earth, actually," Gregson said. "It's built deliberately 60 meters above current sea level, which is above any predicted sea level rise, built into solid rock. ...

via Farmers Rush to Deposit Seeds in Arctic Doomsday Vault, Patrolled by Bears.

Coca-Cola's Secret Formula Discovered

For 125 years, Coke's secret recipe has remained one of the most heavily guarded trade secrets in the world. Now a group of accidental soda sleuths say they've stumbled across a list of its ingredients.

Producers of the radio program This American Life came across an article on the history of Coca-Cola in an old copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Coca-Cola's hometown newspaper. Published on page 2B on February 18, 1979, the article received little attention at the time. But, producers say, that's because no one realized the photo used to illustrate the story is a hand-written copy of John Pemberton's original recipe, jotted down by a friend in a leather-bound recipe book of ointments and medicines, and passed down by friends and family for generations. ...

The recipe:

Fluid extract of Coca: 3 drams USP
Citric acid: 3 oz
Caffeine: 1 oz
Sugar: 30 (unclear quantity)
Water: 2.5 gal
Lime juice: 2 pints, 1 quart
Vanilla: 1 oz
Caramel: 1.5 oz or more for color


The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup):
Alcohol:  8 oz
Orange oil: 20 drops
Lemon oil: 30 drops
Nutmeg oil: 10 drops
Coriander: 5 drops
Neroli: 10 drops
Cinnamon: 10 drops

...

via Is This the Real Thing? Coca-Cola's Secret Formula Discovered by This American Life - TIME NewsFeed.

It's Valentine's Day, How are you doing?

Saint Valentine of Terni and his disciples.

Historical facts

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae).] Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.

Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).

The Catholic Encyclopedia also speaks of a third saint named Valentine who was mentioned in early martyrologies under date of February 14. He was martyred in Africa with a number of companions, but nothing more is known about him.

No romantic elements are present in the original early medieval biographies of either of these martyrs. By the time a Saint Valentine became linked to romance in the 14th century, distinctions between Valentine of Rome and Valentine of Terni were utterly lost...

The Early Medieval acta of either Saint Valentine were expounded briefly in Legenda Aurea. According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman EmperorClaudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.

Since Legenda Aurea still provided no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail.

There is an additional modern embellishment to The Golden Legend, provided by American Greetings to History.com, and widely repeated despite having no historical basis whatsoever. On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he would have written the first "valentine" card himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine." ....

Historian Jack Oruch has made the case that the traditions associated with "Valentine's Day", documented in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parliament of Foules and set in the fictional context of an old tradition, had no such tradition before Chaucer. He argues that the speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among 18th-century antiquaries, notably Alban Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. In the French 14th-century manuscript illumination from a Vies des Saints (illustration above), Saint Valentine, bishop of Terni, oversees the construction of his basilica at Terni; there is no suggestion here yet that the bishop was a patron of lovers.

via Valentine's Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

So, the romantic part of the St. Valentine story is a happy lie added on much later to the real history involving  the killings of two real men named Valentine who were killed for their religious views?

Another interesting truth about today: The  Heart... is not a heart. The real human heart looks nothing like the Valentine's Day heart. It looks more like a fist. The red heart we all know is actually a butt, or as changizi puts it, "a Red, Engorged, Upturned Rump". Surprised? If you didn't already know this, you may never look at Valentine's Day hearts the same again.

Some people call this "singles awareness day" (raise your hand if you aren't in a relationship...) otherwise known as SAD. I hope you aren't sad, even if you are single. But look on the bright side: if you are sad, according to one study, you won't eat as much chocolate!

Sadness and joy affected motivation to eat in opposite directions: joy increased and sadness decreased appetite ( p<0·001). In joy, a higher tendency to eat more chocolate was reported ( p<0·001), and chocolate tasted more pleasant ( p<0·001) and was experienced as more “stimulating” than in sadness ( p<0·01).  - sciencedirect

Without the sugar, chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is good for you, so go find some reason to be happy today! Like my logic? All cheekiness asside, it is nice that we have a day to celebrate love, but shouldn't every day be?

I've been eating chocolate every day for years.  I am currently single, not looking, happy and feeling fulfilled by my daily dose of interesting work and play, music, exercise, meditation and blogging about the daily strange news.  Actually I don't feel "happy" like "woo hoo!" ... I feel good, calm, even, steady, at peace... and I call this happy.

How do you really feel today?