In my DVD player: three new Netflix movies (that shall remain unnamed ;) ). That's the beauty of Netflix. I can rent movies that I've been curious about seeing but haven't been brave enough to pick out at a video store (if a place even has it at all) and I don't have to actually buy it only to find out that I hate it!!
What will be in my CD player at work: "The Threepenny Opera" with Max Raabe, Nina Hagen and HK Gruber. It's all in German and has Bertolt Brecht's concert narration between the songs, which is the first time that the narrations have been recorded. The only problem is that the center of the CD jewel box held the CD so tightly that when I took it out of the case for the first time, it cracked the center of the disc a little bit! I filed down the center tines (or whatever they're called) so that it doesn't hold so tightly. I also put a Post-It note in the case saying "DISC 2 CRACKED!!" to remind myself of that whenever I want to remove the disc. If I'm careful, it shouldn't be too much trouble. The crack doesn't go into the silver part...yet. The worst part, though is that I JUST GOT IT BRAND NEW LAST WEEK!! :'(
Don't know why I have that weird look on my face.
Inquiring minds want to know, George!
Hey, if you tell me one of the movies you Netflixed, I'll tell you the name of the movie I saw last week that I did not mention the title of when I posted. ;)
Jay, what are you doing up at this hour? Are you looking for the afikomen? Wait, that's Passover, right?
And if Dear Reader Jose makes such a revelation, believe me, Dear Readers, you will be shocked! Shocked, I say!
Hmmmm... The wrapper of the Honey Cake package says it serves "13.3" people.
Hmmm....
Did anyone else catch the news about the news conference that was held today in Sacramento in regards to the toxic properties of aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal)?
Here's a link to the lawsuit filing:
http://www.wnho.net/nutrasweet_company_lawsuit.htm
Inquiring minds want to know, George!
Hey, if you tell me one of the movies you Netflixed, I'll tell you the name of the movie I saw last week that I did not mention the title of when I posted. ;)
DR George: Thats terrible! Since the CD is new, is there a way you could exchange it?
I love Nina Hagen's pop recordings. I imagine she is doing the Lotte Lenya role (Pirate Jenny). How does Hagen do Weill?
Okay, one of them is the 1973 "Very Natural Thing (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6305415315/qid=1095438361/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl74/104-9646719-5753563?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846)" This is one of the movies that I'd wanted to rent for some time, but just had never seen it anywhere...not even to buy, other than on-line. Now I'll get to see what this very early gay pride movie is about! :D
RE: The Aspartame Lawsuit
I'm sorry if my posting of the news has been a downer for some of the readers of this board. A friend of mine who is very into the natural health/medicine movement sent me a brief article about the lawsuit, and then I noticed a news blurb about it on another site, so... I hope I'm not curtailing anyone's Diet drinks consumption. :(
Bonjour, François!
Comment çava?
Did anyone else catch the news about the news conference that was held today in Sacramento in regards to the toxic properties of aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal)?
Other claimed dangers of aspartame may not be so farfetched, but it's hard to tell. Folks have been arguing about the safety of this stuff for more than 20 years. The weight of scientific evidence is that the sweetener is harmless. Nonetheless since its introduction in 1981 thousands of complaints have been filed with federal health authorities from people saying aspartame gives them headaches or worse.
Sure, where there's smoke maybe there's fire. The problem is that people tend to blame aspartame for everything. The sweetener has been associated with something like 90 different symptoms, including vision problems, dizziness, drowsiness, abdominal pain, anxiety attacks, depression, confusion, memory loss, ringing in the ears, chest palpitations, personality changes, convulsions, and irritability. It's also been linked to conditions ranging from brain tumors, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis to chronic fatigue syndrome.
Scientists say real toxins don't work that way--they produce a specific cluster of symptoms. One chemical can't possibly be causing all this stuff.
For the most part researchers have been unable to replicate adverse aspartame reactions in the lab. In numerous studies investigators recruited individuals who said aspartame triggered headaches, epileptic seizures, or what have you. Typically they fed half the subjects aspartame and the other half a placebo. In most cases there was no observable difference.
Aspartame opponents are a vocal bunch and include some reputable scientists. But their claims are often dubious. For example, Dr. John Olney, a longtime aspartame foe, recently published a study linking the sweetener to an increase in brain tumors in the U.S. The NutraSweet company promptly rounded up experts to point out an obvious flaw: the incidence of brain tumors had begun to rise before the introduction of aspartame and has been leveling off since. Meanwhile use of the sweetener has increased sharply. You don't need a Ph.D. to figure out that if there really were a connection the two rates would go up together.
Mary Stoddard, the head of an antiaspartame group called the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network, told us she and her daughter suffered a broad range of health problems, some quite serious, that she attributed to the sweetener. Ms. Stoddard is a nice lady, but her belief that aspartame was the cause of her difficulties seems largely a matter of personal conviction. She declined to participate in controlled tests that might have conclusively established a link.
Don't know why I have that weird look on my face.
The label says: "Warning - may have come into contact with nuts."
.. I bought the DVD of "Home on the Range," featuring the voice of Mr. Jason Graae (a Michael Shayne reference) BUT... I didn't recognize his voice, and he is not listed in the credits.
How does Hagen do Weill?
Oy veh - again!
Like the Flat Earth Society and the Black Heliocopter Crowd, the Anti-Nutra Sweet Clique has been ranting and ravaing for years - to no avail!
The Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a961129.html) comments:Like any substance, natural or artificial, there is likely anecdotal evidence or half-baked experiments that suggest something or other could go wrong.
This seems little or no substantive evidence that Aspertame is any more hazardness to the average persons heath than the white sugar it so often replaces.
der debunking Brucer
(And on another site I have to cope with AIDS dissidents who insist that HIV does not cause AIDS and want an end to HIV testing and the use of pharmaceuticals to manage the syndrome.)
What will be in my CD player at work: "The Threepenny Opera" with Max Raabe, Nina Hagen and HK Gruber. It's all in German and has Bertolt Brecht's concert narration between the songs, which is the first time that the narrations have been recorded. The only problem is that the center of the CD jewel box held the CD so tightly that when I took it out of the case for the first time, it cracked the center of the disc a little bit! I filed down the center tines (or whatever they're called) so that it doesn't hold so tightly. I also put a Post-It note in the case saying "DISC 2 CRACKED!!" to remind myself of that whenever I want to remove the disc. If I'm careful, it shouldn't be too much trouble. The crack doesn't go into the silver part...yet. The worst part, though is that I JUST GOT IT BRAND NEW LAST WEEK!! :'(
Hmmm....
Did anyone else catch the news about the news conference that was held today in Sacramento in regards to the toxic properties of aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal)?
Here's a link to the lawsuit filing:
http://www.wnho.net/nutrasweet_company_lawsuit.htm
Oy veh - again!
Like the Flat Earth Society and the Black Heliocopter Crowd, the Anti-Nutra Sweet Clique has been ranting and raving for years - to no avail!
The Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a961129.html) comments:Like any substance, natural or artificial, there is likely anecdotal evidence or half-baked experiments that suggest something or other could go wrong.
This seems little or no substantive evidence that Aspertame is any more hazardness to the average person's heath than the white sugar it so often replaces.
der debunking Brucer
DR George, can't you just rip the songs on that broken CD onto your computer and burn them to a new CD?
Just as long they don't start anything about Splenda. It's the only one of those diet sweetners that I can stand.
Splenda, also known as sucralose, is artificial sweetener which is a chlorinated sucrose derivative. Facts about this artificial chemical follows:
· Pre-Approval Research
Pre-approval research showed that sucralose caused shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage) and enlarged liver and kidneys.
…
Conclusion
While it is unlikely that sucralose is as toxic as the poisoning people are experiencing from Monsanto's aspartame, it is clear from the hazards seen in pre-approval research and from its chemical structure that years or decades of use may contribute to serious chronic immunological or neurological disorders.
…
It is very important that people who have any interest in their health stay aware from the highly toxic sweetener, aspartame and other dangerous sweeteners such as sucralose (Splenda), and acesulfame-k (Sunette, Sweet & Safe, Sweet One).
Well, the good news is that I only started using it when I started my diet.
His name is Herb Graham. Dunno what happened to him, but he was a very nice guy.
Re Sailors: It was meant to follow up Nudie. There is a script and a full score, which I have a demo of somewhere. We just never got it together - it was a funny idea and some of the songs were really cute. It was going to star Stephen Nathan, me and Alan Abelew, with Diana Canova, Annette O'Toole and a third girl I can't remember.
To all DR in Seattle. I am watching the Night Strangler. Does Seattle really have an underground City?
OMG, I cannot believe what happened on BB. I'll wait till tomorrow to discuss it. But WOW!
I'll say something that I think a lot of people are thinking. Panni's cheerleading outfit is back from the cleaners. Previously, she's said she'll post pictures of her in said outfit, along with pom-poms, if there's a low number of posts.
Hence, there's a low number of posts.
I think this is a shameful situation. And it can only be remedied when Panni posts those pictures. Hurry!