Food Deserts (Revisited)

LA has instituted a moratorium on new fast food restaurants. Read the Associated Press article here.

"The moratorium, which can be extended up to a year, only affects standalone restaurants, not eateries located in malls or strip shopping centers. It defines fast-food restaurants as those that do not offer table service and provide a limited menu of pre-prepared or quickly heated food in disposable wrapping."

"The definition exempts "fast-food casual" restaurants such as El Pollo Loco, Subway and Pastagina, which do not have drive-through windows or heat lamps and prepare fresh food to order."


Consider the obesity problem solved! Psst, I've been telling people for years that this kind of thing was coming. California has now banned the use of trans fats statewide, by the way.

Top Ten Things About Which to Stop Whining

People are so wound up about things these days. It's a relief that a guy over at the New York Times, whose chosen profession's motto is "if it bleeds, it leads", has decided to publish a list of stuff you can pretty much stop worrying about -

10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List

I think he gets a little off topic with his "wormhole" line, since quantum physics aren't really an average dude's concern, but I especially like the one about food shipments and plastic bags.

I Can't Hear You...

Sorry, here's another article from Drudge. According to Dr. Yuri Agrawal of Johns Hopkins University -

"The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is predicted to rise significantly because of an aging population and the growing use of personal listening devices. Indeed, there is concern that we may be facing an epidemic of hearing impairment."

I worry, in particular, about my friends who live in New York and listen to their iPods when they travel on the subway and walk through the streets. Manhattan is already so loud, that to hear your music you have to turn the volume up to damaging levels to overcome all that commotion.

My paternal grandparents, who have lived well into their late 80s (grandmother's still with us), and spent their adulthood mostly in undeveloped countries, suffered almost no hearing loss during their lives. On the other hand, my Italian great aunts, who lived most of their lives in New York, almost all went nearly deaf, though almost all of them also lived into their 90s. Not bad.

Anyway, it's something to keep in mind. Read the article here on Yahoo News.

Block It Up

Poor John McCain has been suffering from various forms of skin cancer for 15 years. He just had a biopsy done by his dermatologist. That's when they cut a chunk of your flesh out. Not such a pleasant thought, eh? This article was the headline on Drudge.

"'I want to again urge all Americans to wear sunscreen, particularly this summer, to stay out of the sun as much as possible,' he said, with his wife Cindy standing next to him."

"Remember a lot of the damage that people receive from the sun when they're young sometimes comes back later in life."

Land of the Free and Home of Toothpaste and Dental Floss

Thanks to my brother, who found the Tyrese Gibson version of the national anthem that I wanted to post last Thursday. Please try not to get too, too fired up when the English fans start booing the Star Spangled Banner. After all, they did give us the best language in the world and our system for a bicameral legislative branch of government.

How Can Ya Have Eny Pudding If Ya Doon't Eat Yer Beets?

My brother loooooooves beets. Loves 'em. He thinks it's particularly hilarious that they make your poo poo purple. He's actually really mature in most other ways.

Well, he sent me an article from the NYT that lists "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating". In his case, he's eating several of them. But most people don't eat beets, cabbage, swiss chard, cinnamon (not often, at least), pomegranate juice, prunes, pumpkin seeds, sardines, turmeric, frozen blueberries, and canned pumpkin on a regular basis.

Blueberries are great to throw in a protein shake. Cinnamon is good in your coffee (thanks sis), pomegranate juice tastes like death (oh well), prunes are like giant raisins (yum), pumpkin is so associated with Thanksgiving that it's tough to imagine eating during the rest of the year, but it really is tasty (like in ravioli, mmm), sardines are an acquired taste, but also delish, and turmeric is a spice but I forget what it's like. Look it up. That's what the internet's for. Looking stuff up like "what's turmeric?". Or "how do you spell tumeric?" See, it was close, and the internet would figure that out in all it's awesome intelligentness. Swiss chard. Look that one up, too.

Happy Independence Day! Larry Kudlow kept saying all day today that this is "the greatest country in the history of history". I agree. I wanted to post Tyrese's stirring rendition of the Star Bangled Banner from the Mayweather - Hatton fight, but it's nowhere to be found. Here's Carrie Underwood. I'm kind of in love with her and this is a pretty good version. It's from Super Bowl something something. I don't know. The one with the Seahawks.

Be Careful What You Wish For

This is a timely topic, what with the presidential campaign ongoing and all. In a recent opinion piece in Investor's Business Daily, David Gratzer, senior fellow at think tank The Manhattan Institute, discusses the fact that the guy who started nationalized health care in Canada, Claude Castonguay, is now trying to save his country from the failings of a system known to be worse at taking care of its people than its pets.

"What would drive a man like Castonguay to reconsider his long-held beliefs? Try a health care system so overburdened that hundreds of thousands in need of medical attention wait for care, any care; a system where people in towns like Norwalk, Ontario, participate in lotteries to win appointments with the local family doctor."

Canadian Health Care We So Envy Lies In Ruins, Its Architect Admits

Ow ow OWOOOOOOOO

Does that read like a wolf howling? It does? Sweet.

I always forget about this. How ironic. The Wolfsonian is a wonderful museum on South Beach's Washington Avenue.

DON'T FORGET...FREE FRIDAYS AT THE WOLF

Free admission begins at 6pm. Join us for a guided tour at 6pm, and innovative programming at 7pm. Galleries remain open until 9pm. Sponsored by