Replate

Who can guess what percentage of perfectly good food goes to waste in the United States?
Come on, give it your best shot....

If you said roughly half (40-50%), then you're right on, according to researchers at the University of Arizona. That's $590 per year of money wasted on food in an average family of four. Nationwide, that's 43 billion.
per year.
Oh, and did I mention these statistics are from an article written in 2004?

So what's an over-consumptive society to do?
One group of individuals in San Fransisco, CA, came up with a simple response. They noticed unwanted leftovers being left next to garbage cans when people couldn't find someone to give them away to. Now, the group has made it into a movement, coining the term "replate- to place unwanted leftovers, typically in a doggie bag, on top of the nearest trash can so they don't go to waste". Its more sanitary and accessible for the homeless or hungry than digging inside dumpsters for food- and it actually puts what you don't want to use.
Although San Fransisco is a much larger city with more homeless people than Birmingham, it would be an interesting thing to see pop up downtown. All you have to do is spread the word.
http://www.replate.org/

US Dietary Guidelines and advertising: balanced?

Michael Pollan, author and contributor to the New York Times, has written an exceptional article on the modern dilemma of "healthy eating" titled Unhappy Meals (found at http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=87) .
He sums up the entire article in the first line: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." The development of food processing industries, supermarkets, advertising, "diet craves," vitamins/isolated nutrients, and journalism surrounding the modern food industry are addressed in a surprisingly smooth read. (Things like wars between food industries [meat or dairy] and U.S. dietary guidelines have established a fragile balance between health logic and company advertising)... It's really worth a glance, and an interesting tie-in to our class discussions on both obesity/nutrition and food industry advertising.

We bless our houses

"This Blessed House" simply yet strikingly displays the different ways people receive experiences based not only on culture, but on physical and emotional standpoints. Twinkle "shines" with a freedom and openness associated in the story with childhood. Sanjeev, so preoccupied with his coworker's opinions, is submissive to the unrealistic fears which he creates. It seems as if the reader is automatically pressed to favor the "dazzler" over the out-dazzled; Twinkle is obviously more successful... It is her light-hearted nature and approach to life (new experiences with friends and objects) which is highly attractive to most people, and what ultimately frustrates Sanjeev.
Lahiri is extraordinarily good at drawing her readers in through Pathos- I got exceptional mental imagery throughout the reading, and the characters' experiences were very easy to partake in... Her attention to detail and expressive writing drew me in to the last word. and I found her experiences creditable (Ethos) through her own experiences of a culture unfamiliar to me. Even with low levels of logos, it was a strong "argument"- I enjoyed it!

play+ground-obesity x (mulch -scabbed knees) + a little bit of magic = ...

Some volunteers, a little fundraising, logistical planning (and the help of the internet) can give a community a colorful, twisted make-over. Just add recycled plastic, rubber surfacing and some wood mulch!

Well, it's not quite that easy...(but it's close!)

KaBOOM, a U.S. non-profit, has been helping communities (school, town, etc.) build playgrounds for kids- safe places where they can have unstructured activity to develop their physical and social health. Their website, http://kaboom.org, has extremely useful tools for any community to get started on their own project, with pages devoted to multiple free playground plans, step-by-step guides through the process of organizing fundraisers and construction days, as well as help forums for people to share questions, ideas, and solutions created in the process. Oh, and everything inbetween.
This is a great way to bring any school or neighborhood closer together. And, its just plain fun! Check them out if you know of an area that might benefit, or just want to search for the nearest playground...

Kids and vitamins?

One study, posted in a Wall Street Journal article, claims that one-third of U.S. children take vitamins regularly. However, this third is also found to be less likely to "need" them; physical activity, good eating habits, and low computer/television use all tend to be habits that go along with the habit of taking supplements.
This seems ridiculous to me: of course children born into families who are more concerned (and have to capacity to be concerned) with their child's health are more likely to give them vitamins, to "make them healthier/keep them healthy". Families who can't afford vitamins are more likely to not be able to afford expensive, "more healthful" foods for their families; health education is going to fall pretty low on the list of priorities, one of which might be "how am I going to get food on the table tonight?"
With this in mind, vitamins aren't, in my opinion, going to solve an unbalanced diet in either situation; learning how to deal with food and make smart choices will. Easily-accessible programs teaching kids to move around, have unstructured play, and eat well instead of sitting in front of the television all day would be most beneficial...
http://www.newsweek.com/id/183066

Logos, Pathos, Ethos, anyone?

Advertising is an extraordinary field, one associated with both persuation and deception. It seems that companies continue to find enticing, irresistable ways of displaying their products (anywhere from photoshopped perfection to "call now for only four monthly payments of 19.95"). It is easy to blame corperations, and not our own gullability, for our responses to these alluring deals.
But who wouldn't want to point fingers at advertising schemes like this?
According to the Dallas News, an increasing number of ads at the mall or superstore have cameras installed in them, with tracking software that can determine sex, age, gender, and sometimes race. This information is used by advertising companies to determine which audiences (teenage boys, adult white females) respond to specific ads- letting them know if they are reaching their target audience or not. This may help develop software that will change advertising to specific audiences, "So a video screen might show a motorcycle ad for a group of men, but switch to a minivan ad when women and children join them, said Vicki Rabenou, the chief measurement officer of Tampa, Fla.-based TruMedia Technologies Inc." Fascinating technology, and definately an ultimate form of persuation.
check out the article:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/ptech/stories/013109dnbusAds.19809d0.html