Free Republic

The idea that eating cocoa-rich, dark chocolate may offer greater health benefits than milk chocolate is not new. Cocoa is loaded with compounds called polyphenols that have been shown to help our bodies fend off inflammation and maybe even improve our moods. And now a small study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association offers evidence of another possible benefit: improving vascular health by increasing blood flow. Researchers studied patients with peripheral artery disease, or PAD, which affects about 20 percent of adults older than 70 in the U.S. and other Western countries. People who have PAD can...

Paiute Deadfall Trap The Paiute is a very quick trigger mechanism. It is also fairly easy to set. Unlike the Figure-4 trigger, it uses cordage. Examine the photos carefully and you will get an idea of how this trigger works. The bait is placed on a long thin horizontal bait stick. This bait stick is held at both ends by friction. When the bait stick is moved, it slips off of the short trigger stick that the cordage is tied to (wrapped around the vertical stick). This allows the weight to fall. Be careful to place the deadfall so that...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that...

3D-printing add-on for printing food [video at source] An added feature for Structure 3D-printing has been developed allowing for Nutella-connoisseurs to fulfill their cravings and wildest chocolate-laden dreams. This add-on will enable 3D-printing of edible paste filaments, specifically useful when adding cool designs to delicious treats. Discov3ry’s 3D-printer compatible extruder device connects to your printing apparatus and is capable of printing a variety of food like cookie dough, melted chocolate, meringue, fondant, icing, and Nutella. You can also print inedible objects like wood filler, silicone, polyurethane, ceramics, clay, and conductive paint if needed. Working with virtually any 3D-printer, the process...

Obesity-related diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome are triggered by a lack of oxygen in adipose cells, according to a study led by UC San Diego researchers. An excess of fatty acids causes an increase in oxygen consumption, which outstrips the supply, triggering hypoxia, the study found. This leads to inflammation in the adipose cells, which in turn leads to insulin resistance, obesity and related diseases. And that's the short version. The full chain of events is even more complicated. The study, performed in mice, points to possible therapies in people, said researchers led by Dr. Jerrold...

One by one, the children at Public School 30 on Staten Island dumped their uneaten bananas into a bin in the back of their raucous cafeteria, each greenish-yellow missile landing with a thud. Thud. Thud. John Sullivan, 9, a fourth grader, said bananas “make my stomach hurt.” Julianna Delloso, 6, a first grader, said “they taste funny.” And Joseph Incardone, 7, also in first grade, was almost gleeful as he explained why he, too, had chucked his unpeeled banana. “I didn’t like it,” he said. The sad voyage of fruits and vegetables from lunch lady to landfill has frustrated parents,...

When it comes to food, convicts are ingenious. Dried pasta and canned goods are prepared with nothing more than a pair of nail clippers.In prison, food takes on a significance that’s nearly unimaginable in the outside world. Sometimes it’s a scarce resource that confers power; everywhere it’s a status symbol and a form of currency. Cooking behind bars, was one of the few kinds of freedom us convicts could enjoy. On the flip side, food symbolizes a rigid social order. It doesn’t matter what kinds of friends you had on the outside, in lockup you don’t eat with other races....

Saudi health authorities have warned the public about eating shawarma during summer, saying it could cause food poisoning. The health ministry said high summer temperatures give rise to bacteria in food prepared outdoors, including shawarma and buffet meals. “Utmost care should be taken when eating such types of food as they could cause poisoning due to the hot weather which causes bacterial growth in the food,” the ministry said on its website, according to Ajel newspaper. It said shawarma and other food sold outdoors are also vulnerable to dust and pollutants during summer more than in other seasons.

South Korea’s current fetish with ‘watching people eat’, or ‘dinner porn’ as the crazy is now known has uncovered a new star. The dinner porn craze involves no sex of course, but simply watching other people eat – online, on TV, wherever. According to a report on asiaone.com, quoting Elite Daily, Tae Ryun Huh is the new and emerging Korean sensation. No just because she eats, but because of how much she eats. And then this amazing fact – the school worker weighs 48kg. Tae Ryun Huh invited TV cameras to watch her eat and the South Korean show discovered...

Have you noticed that prices are going up rapidly? If so, you are certainly not alone. But Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, the Obama administration and the mainstream media would have us believe that inflation is completely under control and exactly where it should be. Perhaps if the highly manipulated numbers that they quote us were real, everything would be fine. But of course the way that the inflation rate is calculated has been changed more than 20 times since the 1970s, and at this point it bears so little relation to reality that it is essentially meaningless. Anyone that...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that...

Debbie Wasserman Schultz is best known as a member of Congress and chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Now, she's become the clean cooking congresswoman. "I've really gone through this lifestyle change. I'm not a vegan or anything you could label. But I really started caring about what I put in my body," she said in an interview. "And so the easiest way for me to keep track of it is to cook for myself."

It’s just so confusing. Do you feed your kids bologna sandwiches or pieces of wet cardboard? Can you give them PlayDoh on a dead mackerel?Modern grads of Ivy League colleges don’t have the time to figure all this stuff out. That’s why there are government bureaucrats who tell schools what to feed kids so they don’t die of cardboard overdose.And there’s Michelle Obama who spends more time obsessed with what your kids eat than most major food conglomerates. In an interview with MSN.com, First Lady Michelle Obama explained she used to struggle to feed her kids right—even though she received...

The electricity price index and the average price for a kilowatthour (KWH) of electricity both hit records for May, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average price for a KWH hit 13.6 cents during the month, up about 3.8 percent from 13.1 cents in May 2013. The seasonally adjusted electricity price index rose from 201.431 in May 2013 to 208.655 in May 2014—an increase of about 3.6 percent. ... Per capita production of electricity in the United States peaked in 2007. Since then it has generally been on downward trend. In 2013, the U.S....

The seasonally-adjusted price index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs hit an all-time high in May, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In January 1967, when the BLS started tracking this measure, the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs was 38.1. As of last May, it was 234.572. By this January, it hit 240.006. By April, it hit 249.362. And, in May, it climbed to a record 252.832.

The Italian unit of the frozen food company, Findus, has produced what is thought to be the first TV commercial in Italy that touches on the subject of homosexuality. Thousands join Rome's Gay Pride march (08 Jun 14) Ten months after the chairman of the Italian pasta giant, Barilla, said during an interview that the company would never feature gay people in its adverts, Findus Italia has produced a commercial in which a man is seen “coming out” to his mother over a meal. The advert below features Luca, who hosts a dinner party for his mum at the home...

The leftover beef trimmings derisively known as 'pink slime' is making a comeback two years after a series of graphic news broadcasts devastated sales. Two of the largest makers of the ground beef product are reporting a rebound in customers thanks in part to rising prices of its higher-quality counterparts. Average ground beef prices have jumped 10 per cent this year to an all-time high of $3.808 per pound in April, according to the Bureau of Labor. Cargill Inc's sales of finely textured beef have tripled since March 2012, and the agriculture company now has about 400 customers for the...

A British medical journal announced a finding last month that might be the best news in the history of the world: Nearly one out of three people in the world is overweight. Members of the media responded to this thrilling discovery by lamenting the globe’s growing waistline. Pundits rushed to condemn widespread access to inexpensive food. Everyone seemed so excited to attack obesity that no one noticed the report’s incredible story of human achievement and hope. Throughout history, malnutrition and hunger-related health issues have killed more people than any other cause. Over the course of the past half-century, however, the...

There is no better way to grab attention by launching a marketing campaign that involves interaction with people, done in public places. This is exactly what WWF Paraguay is doing. In order to raise awareness on global warming issues, WWF Paraguay launches Global Warming Menu – an on-the-road event featuring cooking for lunch – done on the asphalt. What? Yes, you heard that right. WWF Paraguay team cooks meals on the asphalt and serve them. They look nice. No stove required. It’s an interesting event in itself… but the big question is – why? Paraguay is one of the hottest...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that...