Web Robin

Fun Facts

Since nothing's going on in my life but work right now, I thought I'd share some fun facts I gleaned from the 'net.

It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of its mouth. the the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again. (the only video I found on this is from an asian game show -- search Google if you want to see it)

A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbook can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. The animal with the largest brain in relation to its body is the ant.

Fingernails grow 4 times as fast as toenails. (You probably already noticed that.)

The Dark side of the Food industry

An article in the Oct. 15 issue of JAMA caught my attention so I thought I'd share it here. It slams food industry lobbyists who "lobby against policies to improve children's health." They promise to help children to make good food choices and encourage physical activity, but their promises are just public relations. 

McDonalds is the #1 target because they market unhealthful food products along with toys, games, and movie tie-ins. Other companies, like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Tyson Foods, and Wendys were mentioned because they fund the Center for Consumer Freedom group which lobbies against obesity-related public health campaigns, and against legislation to regulate the marketing of junk food to children. 

The authors, specialists in public health, noted that the US food market is "mature," and that it provides about twice as much food energy daily as the population needs. So, to expand profits, they need to either convince customers to eat more, or increase profit margins -- which they do mostly by reformulating or repackaging products.

This last bit is intriguing. We all know that the more processed food is, the lower quality it is. However, far greater profits come from highly processed products like fast foods, snack foods, and beverages that contain cheap refined starch, concentrated sugars, and low-quality fats. Bottom line: "Advice to eat less often, eat foods in smaller portions, and avoid high-calorie foods of low-nutritional quality undermines the fundamental business model of many companies."

Suggestion of the authors? Regulate the food industry like the car industry. Automobiles must be built to specific safety standards. They assert that foods should be similarly regulated, especially considering that "modifiable dietary factors cause substantially more illness and death than automobile crashes." 

The biggest difference I see is that a safe car provides a more satisfying consumer experience than an unsafe one. In contrast, our appetite for yummy foods continues to dominate our sense of "what's good for us." 

Service Animals - what qualifies?

Have you ever been in a public place like a restaurant or bus and seen or sat next to someone with a guide dog? 

How would you feel if that person's guide was a miniature horse, a parrot, or a monkey?

Apparently, those animals are becoming used more frequently to help people with physical or mental limitations. However, the US government is considering restricting the definition of service animal to include only dogs or other "common" animals.

Since the American with Disabilities Act requires that service animals be able to go wherever their people can go, the distinction between a service animal and a therapy animal is important.

For more information consider one of these sources: NPR (short)  or New York Times Magazine (long.)

What's your opinion?