Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes isn't so bad after all!

Too bad I didn’t have this information on hand as a kid when I was eying all of the fun breakfast cereals seen on TV like Cap'n Crunch and Froot Loops, but was stuck with the healthy crap lacking a Junior Undercover Agent code ring.

For many kids, commercial breakfast cereal is the main source of daily vitamins and minerals. Take a look at Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes reduced-sugar cereal. A serving provides 25 percent of the recommended daily intake of seven essential nutrients, including iron, folic acid and other B vitamins. It also provides 10 percent of the recommended intake for vitamins A, C and D.
Now look at its organic equivalent: EnviroKidz Organic Amazon Frosted Flakes. The only ingredients are organic cornmeal, organic evaporated cane juice and sea salt. A serving gives kids only 2 percent of the recommended daily intake for vitamin A and iron, according to the label.

May they live peacefully

In support of the Burmese protesters, add your name to a petition to Chinese Premier Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:
Click Here to Sign Now

Spread the word!

May all beings be free from enmity.
May all beings be free from ill treatment.
May all beings be free from troubles.
May all beings be free from suffering.
May all beings protect their own happiness.
May all beings be happy.
May I be happy.

China has consistently implemented a policy of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs. As Burma's neighbours, we hope to see stability and economic development in Burma. We hope and believe that the government and people of Burma will properly deal with the current problem.
- CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY

We consider any attempts to use the latest developments to exercise outside pressure or interference in the domestic affairs of this sovereign state to be counterproductive. We still believe that the processes under way in Myanmar do not threaten international and regional peace and security.
We expect the country's authorities, as well as the participants in protest marches, to exercise mutual constraint not to allow further destabilisation of the situation.
- RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY

Other international reactions: In quotes: Burma reaction

Fishnets, Credit Crunchies and Geek Logik

Miscellaneous intriguing finds of the morning...

Lovely Fishnets by sweet-X-december. For more (NSFW) fun with fishnets check out Zillow Book.

From Credit percentage of GDP - all time high of 340% at Bay Area Housing Bubble (quoting Richard Duncan):
"Credit growth drives economic growth. Total credit in the US as a percentage of GDP has grown from 150% in 1969 to 240% in 1990 to 340% today. It is not difficult to understand that rapid credit expansion boosts consumption and investment and employment and asset prices. However, excessive credit growth also eventually causes economic overheating and asset price bubbles. So long as additional credit is forthcoming everyone can simply borrow more this year to pay interest on the money they borrowed last year. Those bubbles pop when the individuals and/or corporations who borrowed the money are unable to pay it. That is the situation we are experiencing today."

Latest Political Calculations Geek Logik calculator: Should you lie?

NYT: The Loan That Keeps On Taking
Without realizing it, the Torralbas had taken a $74,000 “down payment assistance” loan from the man, Pablo Curiel, who now wanted them to pay $679 a month.

In related news this is also worth reading: A Clockwork Mortgage
You can, of course, assume anything you want in a "perfect world," but I notice these helpful economists are not proposing a massive educational campaign designed to teach lenders and servicers and investors not to be greedy, sociopathic cretins. We are proposing that "we" spend "our" money to teach "you" to understand that what is in our best interest--all the options on our side, none on yours, except your "option" to get deeper in debt each month--is really in your best interest.

In other news: Worldwide protests target Japan's porpoise hunts.
Andy Ottaway, director of pressure group, Campaign Whale, said: "Dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered in their thousands in Japanese water, and unlike the larger whales, this secret slaughter continues with little being done to stop it. Even the Japanese public are largely unaware that these appallingly cruel hunts are taking place."

The manner in which the Dall's porpoises are slaughtered is particularly horrible.
"...females with calves are targeted as they are slower and easier to catch. The calves are inevitably left to die as their mothers are cruelly killed."

Fun Shui and Coercive Joviality

I have never been a big fan of those workplace team building events where one builds balloon sculptures, bowls, etc. and theoretically “has fun” for the sake of team building. Perhaps a funsultant would have made all the difference...

Are We Having Fun Yet?
The infantilization of corporate America

I particularly liked this quote:

"When you and I were born, there were 2 billion people in the world. Today there are 6 billion. Maybe there are only 2 billion real jobs and all the rest of us are being relegated to bullshit jobs, like fun coaches and creative directors. If we took away all the bullshit jobs, our economy would collapse."

Bestiality Restaurant

BREAKING NEWS update! When I was a kid this song kept me going (who didn't want Julie Andrews as a mom?)...Generally, not much of a musical fan, but this one caught my attention.

Personally I do not eat pigs (or any other animal except fish), but this takes it to a whole different level and thoroughly nauseated me this morning: Japan: Land Of Wonder.
Warning: do not read this while eating.

...Once the customer feels prepared, they will be presented with beast of their choice. In the lawyer's case, it was a sow.
"I'd been told what to expect, but when I actually saw what was happening, it was as shocking as you'd imagine it to be," M tells Jitsuwa Knuckles. "Later, the lawyer told me the appeal of the place just came about because when people have got money and done everything else, they turn toward bestiality."
Once the lawyer had finished porking the pig, the couple returned to the first floor and sat at a table to dine. M says she was totally shocked when staff members carried in roast pork -- made of the same sow the lawyer had earlier been with.
"I was about to vomit," M says. "It was the same pig that had been squealing just moments before. Now, it had been roasted whole. I managed to avoid eating it by only having salad..."

- Excerpted from The Cook, the Beast, the Vice and its Lover

Burmese Monks Stage Fresh Protests Against Doubled Fuel Costs

NYT UPDATE: The monks gave authorities a Monday deadline to apologize for beating hundreds of them two weeks ago when they marched peacefully in Pakokku, a center of Buddhist learning, to protest the rising fuel and consumer prices. The apology never came.

While we have been wasting billions of dollars "bringing democracy" to Iraq, Burma has been largely ignored* for nearly 20 years despite their activism.

...It is the latest in a wave of protests across Burma that began last month, when authorities doubled fuel prices.
Monastic leaders have threatened to hold more demonstrations, starting on Tuesday, unless the military apologises for beating monks at an earlier rally.
The monks at that protest, in the town of Pakokku, held about 20 security officials captive for several hours to complain about their treatment.
The group planning protests on Tuesday - The Alliance of All Burmese Buddhist Monks - has urged its followers to boycott the military government.
The monks have been asked to refuse alms and offerings from anyone connected to the military.
Analysts say the boycott will be taken very seriously in Burma, because the nation's 400,000 monks are held in high esteem.
A similar protest by monks in 1988 led to a big uprising against military rule...
Burma monks stage fresh protests, BBC News

*Note: Rare U.S. meeting occurred this summer.

UPDATE!
In other news I really liked this short Irish film...

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos Funny Cartoons Comedy Central

Funny Blog Comment of the Day

In reference to Beyond the Groovy Age of Horror: LITTLE GIRL LOST by Richard Aleas (Hard Case Crime 2004):

Brian Lindsey said...
Weird cover... The chick's foot is twice as long as her head. Looks like Ann Coulter! (Eeeeeeew!!!)
10:32 PM