Features

Culture | Health | Science

Soap: How Much Cleaner Does It Actually Make Your Hands?

This is not encouraging.

The scientists tested three types of soap dispenser, in both lab and real-world settings. Of the three variants, the dispensers that were refillable from a giant bottle of liquid soap were by far the filthiest, leading to a 26-fold increase in handwashers’ bacteria levels. –Health – Brian Fung – Soap: How [...]

Current_Events | Education | Health | Politics | Weblogs

NeverSeconds blogger Martha Payne school dinner photo ban lifted

Martha’s NeverSeconds blog started as a writing project with her dad

The council’s decision to impose the ban came after the Daily Record newspaper published a photograph of Martha alongside chef Nick Nairn under the headline “Time to fire the dinner ladies.”

Speaking on BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme Mr Payne said his [...]

Current_Events | Cyberculture | Education | Ethics | Health | Politics | Social_Software | Weblogs | Writing

9-Year-Old Who Changed School Lunches Silenced By Politicians

This young blogger has learned a very important lesson about power and privilege. I’m sure the story does not end here.

We anguish about getting kids to be enthusiastic about healthy, sustainable food — to not prefer the bad stuff, not waste the good stuff, and not be entitled little monsters who whine about when [...]

Academia | Culture | Cyberculture | Games | Health | Media | Modding | Social_Software | Technology

Games for the Visually Impaired

A student project explores a niche of the games market, for a class taught by Infocom legend Brian Moriarty.

The video game industry has expanded rapidly in recent years, growing from a 9.5 billion dollar industry in 2007 to a 25.1 billion dollar industry in 2010. This growth is due to the common interest that [...]

Health | Science

We Only Think We Know the Truth About Salt

WHY have we been told that salt is so deadly? Well, the advice has always sounded reasonable. It has what nutritionists like to call “biological plausibility.” Eat more salt and your body retains water to maintain a stable concentration of sodium in your blood. This is why eating salty food tends to make us thirsty: [...]

Business | Current_Events | Health | Media | PopCult

Disney to quit taking ads for junk food aimed at kids

By 2015, all food and beverage products that are advertised, promoted or sponsored on the Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Radio Disney, Disney.com and Saturday morning programming for kids on ABC-owned stations (Disney owns ABC) will have to meet the company’s nutrition criteria for limiting calories and reducing saturated fat, sodium and sugar.

Many [...]

Aesthetics | Amusing | Culture | Health | Personal

My Parents (aged 72 and 78) Demonstrate a Ballroom Dance Pose

This is how my parents finish their Argentine Tango routine.

My mother says, “I’d like to get up now.”

My father looks down at her. “Oh, you would, would you?”

Academia | Amusing | Books | Health | Journalism | Language

Oh, the Lives That You’ll Save – Tweed – The Chronicle of Higher Education

His real name was Geisel, Theodor (with no “e”). An incredibly generous Author was he.

An alum from the class of nineteen twenty-five, They say he gave more than any alive. And for that they’ll remember him and his wife (the woman with whom he spent most of his life).

The medical school will carry [...]

Culture | Drama | Health | Language

Denise Pullen’s World Premiere of “Running in Traffic” at Seton Hill

I attended a read-through of this play a few months ago, and was impressed. Looking forward to seeing the production.

“Running in Traffic” focuses on Bolton, a nonverbal young man with autism who runs from home to attempt independence and becomes lost. He finds refuge on a traffic island when Stevie, a girl in a [...]

Culture | Health | History

A cut on Mary Torkos’ cheek saved her life and her family … and other Titanic ties to Monessen

That day, on the Southampton docks in England, the Torkos family wallowed in disappointment. Anxious to head home to Monessen, Westmoreland County, the Hungarian family had been banned from boarding the ship because of the cut on 7-year-old Mary’s cheek.

Fearing the spread of infection throughout the ship’s steerage, officials banned Mary, and thus the [...]