The Price of Plastic Surgery

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Leggo Your Eggo: There's a Waffle Shortage

by Julianne Pepitone

provided by

Kellogg is rationing its Eggo products due to flooding and equipment problems at two bakeries. The shortfall could last through mid-2010.

Better hoard your Eggos!

Grocery stores will be experiencing a shortage of the waffles until mid-2010 due to problems at two bakeries, a Kellogg's spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Flooding at an Atlanta bakery during heavy rains in October forced Kellogg, which makes Eggo products, to shut down production temporarily, said company spokesman Kris Charles. Plus, equipment at Kellogg's largest waffle facility, based in Rossville, Tenn., needs extensive repairs.

"We are working around the clock to restore Eggo store inventories to normal levels as quickly as possible," Charles said in an e-mail.

Remaining inventory will be rationed to stores across the country "based on historical percentage of business."

Production figures are confidential, Charles said, but Charles added that all lines are operational except for several lines at the Rossville plant.

Chad, a grocery manager at King Soopers in Denver who declined to give his last name, said his store is "seeing some shortage, but not much." A Kroger in Jackson, Miss., was also experiencing shortages, according to a manager in the frozen foods sections. At Fairway in New York City, Eggos were in full supply, however, according to a manager at the Red Hook location.

The production problems will also affect other Eggo products, including pancakes, syrup and other breakfast food. To alert customers, Kellogg has placed a warning to customers on top of its Eggo Web site and placed notices in some grocery stores.

Twitter bites back. Eggo enthusiasts took to the Internet to mourn the shortage. Lovers of the Twilight vampire movie series thinking about another kind of bite, as Twitter fanpage editors comforted each other via the social media site.

User @KStew411, a page devoted to Twilight star Kristen Stewart, tweeted on Tuesday: "I am despondent. DESPONDENT. My 4 food groups are: tacos, skittles, pop, and eggos!"

User @cullenluv sent a message of support: "We're outta Eggos here, too!! It's a national tragedy!!"

Copyrighted, CNNMoney. All Rights Reserved

'Stripper-Mobile' Proves Every Las Vegas Stereotype Correct

Just read an article about a truck that drives around Las Vegas with a stripper dancing in it, and boy are my preconceived notions about that place tired (from being completely confirmed.) Whatever happens in Vegas, is ridiculous in Vegas.

The article (which is incomprehensibly only the second most-read article on the Las Vegas Sun's website) focuses on the "safety" and "decency" concerns raised by locals re: the mobile sin platform, which was devised as an advertisement for Deja Vu Showgirls and is described thusly:

It's akin to a small U-Haul truck but with Plexiglas surrounding the brightly lit cargo area instead of walls. In the middle is a gleaming stripper pole. Swinging around the pole is a scantily clad young woman. Two of her fellow strippers are in the back of the truck too, awaiting their turns.

Puttering up and down Las Vegas Boulevard on Monday night, it was photographed by nearly everyone it pulled alongside, from CityCenter construction workers to an SUV-load of 20-somethings from Colorado.

Yes, that sounds pretty distracting. In fact, I would say if a driver making his way down the Strip was watching a DVD of Wall-E on a television screen that covered his entire windshield while simultaneously breaking up with his girlfriend via text message and solving a complex math problem on an abacus he would be only 76% as distracted as if he was watching the stripper-mobile wend its way through Sin City. Imagine seeing the Pope-mobile driving down the road, only the Pope was stripping in it. That's the level of distraction we're dealing with it.

Concerned citizens have been complaining to city officials about the stripper-mobile. But it turns out, unsurprisingly, that Las Vegas does not have any laws precluding women from stripping in a truck:

Nothing about the women or the truck is illegal, a Metro Police spokesman said. "As long as it's not impeding traffic, it's fine," Officer Jacinto Rivera explained.

Yes, everything is kosher so long as people continue driving their cars while they photograph the stripper-mobile, like in this CNN report:

And if the mere existence of the stripper-mobile does not prove to you that Las Vegas is a gloriously wasted blight upon America from which our eventual destruction will spring, consider the hilarious way councilwoman Chris Giunchigliani went about expressing her concerns about it:

I don't care about the content or that they're female dancers. I'm sick of the women, in fact - let's get some men up there for once. But this is just illegal.

Viva Las Vegas!

UPDATE: A blog calling itself the "Nevada Progressive" is defending the Stripper-mobile as an example of "free speech." Now the stripper-mobile has confirmed my preconceived notions of progressives, too!

(photo via Roadsidepictures' Flickr)

Send an email to Adrian Chen, the author of this post, at adrian@gawker.com.

History of the Coca-Cola Bottle

Soccer Taunt Backfires on Goalie (Video)

Taunting. In American football, it is addressed by a penalty and sometimes a fine. In soccer it varies. As this video makes clear, not all taunts are created equal, however. Taunts can work in two ways, either the person taunting the opposing team backs it up, or he doesn't. And then of course there's the reaction. Sometimes you get punched, or sometimes this can happen.

In the case of this soccer goalie, he clearly drops the ball on backing up the taunt. The shooter, however, throws it back in his face with a great taunt of his own. Let's set the stage. The place is the 2009 America East Men's Soccer Championship Semifinal. The teams are Stony Brook and Hartford. The game has come down to a shootout.

The shootout is tied 1-1 when the shooter for Stony Brook steps up to take his shot. If you fast forward to about 20 seconds in, the Hartford goalie, instead of doing normal warm-ups, begins to do cartwheels back and forth in the goal. Perhaps it was not meant as a taunt, but it surely was taken as such by the Stony Brook player. An all-out soccer brawl wouldn't have surprised me at that point. Of course the goalie blows it and the goal goes in, and that is when the real fun starts.

After not backing up his taunting, the goalie becomes subject to the shooter mocking his cartwheels. As the goalie tries to walk away, the shooter follows him around mimicking the cartwheels the goalie had done. That's got to be pretty embarrassing. The moral of the story? Don't taunt someone when you can't back it up. Oh and another moral: definitely taunt a person who taunted you if you get the better of them. It is hilarious and emotionally satisfying I'm sure.

Here is the full Video of the Shootout

Hat Tip Video - [DeadSpin]

Five Best Online Backup Tools

From: http://lifehacker.com/

Author of this post, at jason@lifehacker.com.

Local backup is a useful and necessary part of securing your data against catastrophe, but with the advent of broadband and inexpensive online storage, you've got little reason to not back up critical files to the cloud as well.

Photo by jared.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite online backup solutions. Now we're back to share the five most popular solutions Lifehacker readers use to back up their data online and keep it secure in the event that some unforeseen event at their on-site location—fire, flood, theft, someone casts Chain Lighting in the server room—wipes out their local backup.

Note: When contenders in the Hive Five have a free option, we've listed that first, followed by the first level of paid backup they provide. For additional levels and packages click on the name of the backup service for more information.

For additional information on both both Hive Five contenders and other online backup solutions, you can check out this comprehensive comparison chart.

CrashPlan (Windows/Mac/Linux/Open Solaris, Basic [No online storage] Free, Premium [Unlimited] $4.50 per month)

CrashPlan takes an interesting approach with their backup software. You can download the software for free and use it to perform local backups on your computer and home network as well as back up data to a friend's computer if they are also running CrashPlan (so it's sort of off-site if a friend's running it). They don't offer any free introductory plans for online storage like most other online backup providers, but their rate for an unlimited personal account is on par with other providers. The software is very user friendly, and even if you're not sure if you want to commit to paying for an online backup service, it's worth a download just to automate your local backups. If your data goes kaput, you can restore it using the software or you can order a hard copy of your data.

Mozy (Windows/Mac, Basic [2GB] Free, Home Premium [Unlimited] $4.95 per month)

Mozy is an automated backup solution. Once you install the Mozy client on your computer, it will back up any files you specify at the frequency you specify. Mozy can back up files while they are open—so that huge presentation you've been working on for the last few hours will be backed up even if you're still working with it. Mozy also backs up based on file changes, only uploading the portion of a file that has changed and not the entire file all over again (meaning quicker incremental backups after the initial backup). Mozy stores previous versions of your files for easy restoration, and in addition to restoring all your files by downloading them, you can also order a backup on physical media for a fee.

Dropbox (Windows/Mac/Linux, Basic [2GB] Free, Pro [50GB] $9.99 per month)

Once you install Dropbox, a folder, appropriately called "My Dropbox", is placed in the Documents area of your computer. Anything you put into this folder will be synced with your Dropbox account. You can sync files, share files by making the folder they are in public, and restore a previous version of your file—Dropbox keeps a change log going back 30 days. All your files are also accessible via the Dropbox web site, which is great for those times you're at a computer where you don't have Dropbox installed, but you still want to access a document. If you want to sync a folder without putting it directly inside the main My Dropbox folder, you can do that with a little elbow grease, too. Dropbox doesn't have an unlimited option like the rest, but if all you want to back up is your most important documents, it certainly works as off-site backup, and it provides data redundancy on every computer you install it on.

Jungle Disk (Windows/Mac/Linux, Pricing: $2 per month + Per GB Fees)

Jungle Disk takes a different approach to backup on several different levels. Rather than offering a flat rate pricing for unlimited storage, Jungle Disk operates on a fee system. You pay $2 a month per account plus a fee per GB of data used. The fee structure per GB is currently: $0.15 for storage, $0.10 for upload, and $0.17 for download. On the upside, in the face of fee structure you can use your Jungle Disk as a networked disk drive in addition to a remote backup location. Jungle Disk is great at backup, but you can also use it with any application you'd like that can write to a network drive. A bonus for small-volume users is that for small amounts of data, you'll pay less than other backup solutions per month and have a lot more flexibility with how you use your remote storage.

Carbonite (Windows/Mac, Unlimited Storage $4.58 per month)

Carbonite is the other contender in this week's Hive Five that doesn't offer a free basic account with teaser storage. They have a simple pricing plan: $54.95 for a year of unlimited storage from a single computer. Like Mozy, Carbonite also offers block-level incremental backup to speed up the backup process. You can access your files through a web-based interface when you are away from home, and you can use the Carbonite application to restore all or some of your files at any time. Carbonite does not provide a hard copy of your data upon request, so get ready for some heavy downloading time if you've got a lot of data you need to restore.

---

Send an email to Jason Fitzpatrick,

Rare Headshrinking Footage Confirmed?

November 13, 2009—What could be the only footage of an actual human headshrinking ceremony in South America--which shows heads being boiled and dried--may be real, says an explorer in a new documentary.

Warning: Video contains graphic images.© 2009 National Geographic; Video from Nat Geo Channel

Unedited Transcript:

The National Geographic Channel has obtained what may be the only existing footage of an actual human head-shrinking ceremony in South America.

SOUND: Deep within the worlds largest rain forest live a people that once practiced the infamous ritual.. of head-shrinking.

In its special, author and explorer Piers Gibbon set out to find out if the film is genuine.

The film was made in 1961 by Polish Explorer Edmundo Bielawski, who, with a team of seven, set out to explore and document the worlds largest rain forest: The Amazon.

Head-shrinking was only practiced by one portion of the Amazon jungle-dwelling population- the Shuar. Headshrinking was a form of summary justice carried out on enemies. The shrinking process was deemed necessary to stop the victims evil spirit from seeking revenge.

Gibbon describes the process with a re-creation:

SOUNDBITE: Gibbon Firstly the back of the head would be opened. The skin is sliced free from the skull. Care is taken not to damage the facial features. The skull and remaining flesh is removed. The skin is then boiled in water for half an hour. Any longer and the hair may fall out. After being dried in the sun, the skin is turned inside out.

The process is repeated and can take up to six days, until the head is a quarter of its original size.

SOUNDBITE: Firstly the eyes are sewn shut, preventing the victims spirit from seeing out. Wooden pins are placed through the lips and lashed together with string. This stops the soul from asking for their death to be avenged.

Gibbon speaks with a Catholic missionary who has lived there since the 1960s.

SOUNDBITE: How did you explain the the Shuar that they must stop taking vengeance themselves?

He confirms head-shrinking was still occurring during that time, making it possible Bielawski filmed a genuine ceremony.

And, he meets the alleged only surviving warrior from the period. He shows him the film, and the old man confirms his own brother is in the footage.

SOUND: GIBBON He and his brother were separated by the war, but he does know that this brother was involved in Tsantsa ceremonies. After speaking with Tsanimp it seems that Bielawski did filming in this area, but I cant be certain he shot the head-shrinking scene in Tukupi. But having confirmed that Kampurims involvement, it really is possible that Bielawski filmed the only existing footage of a head-shrinking ceremony in progress.

The special, Search for the Amazon Headshrinkers, premieres on the National Geographic Channel Sunday November 15th, 9pm Eastern.

Confirmed: R2-D2 Finally Discovered In Star Trek

At last, here's the droid we were all looking for. In this frame you can clearly see R2-D2's cameo in JJ Abrams' Star Trek. This time there's absolutely no doubt about it: It's been confirmed by ILM.

Click on the image to see the high resolution version

Can you see him floating there, on the left, right below the huge arrow that I also missed when I saw the movie? That's obviously him, a fact that has been confirmed to me by one of the movie's sequence supervisors at Industrial Light & Magic—the same guy who said this previous sighting was just the shuttle.

I don't know about you but, right now, I feel like what I imagine my dog Jones feels every time I take his collar off to scratch his neck. Oh yesyeyeyeyes. YES. Harf. Woof. [Image capture from Science Fiction Stuff—Thanks ILM tipster]

Send an email to Jesus Diaz, the author of this post, at jesus@gizmodo.com.

The household pets that are 'half wolf'

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Move over Rover - a new "hybrid wolf" closely descended from wild animals is displacing more traditional dog breeds as family pets.

By Jasper Copping

Hybrid pups sell for up to £5,000 and once fully grown, the animals closely resemble wolves and even howl like the wild animal Photo: APEXNEWS

The animals are the offspring of European and North American wolves which have been mated with domestic dogs.

Animal groups have expressed concerns about the growing hybrid population, warning that the creatures could present a danger to humans, particularly children, who experts say are seen as "prey" by the animals.

In the US, where they have carried out a number of fatal attacks on children, hybrids are banned in some states and in others are only legal once they are five generations removed from wolves.

Chris Laurence, veterinary director of the Dogs Trust, said: "If you have genuine hybrid wolves inside people's homes then that is a worry. I would be very concerned about that, because of their behaviour towards children."

Dr Ros Clubb, wildlife scientific officer at the RSPCA, said:

"In a domestic environment the expression of natural behaviours could be unsuitable and potentially dangerous in a family home."

The growing numbers of hybrid wolves in the UK follows clarification of their legal status by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which means hybrids can be kept without a licence in this country if they are just three generations removed from the wild animal.

Hybrid pups sell for up to £5,000 and once fully grown, the animals closely resemble wolves and even howl like the wild animal.

They can be bred by crossing wolves with a range of dog breeds, including German shepherds, akitas, malamutes, huskies and inuits.

As well as the hybrids, two other breeds closely related to wolves are also growing in popularity in the UK, following the revised guidelines.

These are sarloos, from a cross between a timber wolf and a German shepherd, and the Czechoslovakian wolfdog, which was bred from a Carpathian wolf and a German Shepherd, to patrol borders along the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

Andre Tanner, from South Molton, in Devon, owns a three-year-old male hybrid called Coosa, who is three generations from a timber wolf.

"He will play with me like a dog. Brought up properly, hybrids are civil. They are reasonably dog-like. They can be a bit aloof but also very friendly."

Charlie Richardson, a breeder who specialises in sarloos and who is now planning to breed hybrids, said:

“Hybrids can be good pets. For the right people in the right environment. You would never go back to an ordinary dog. The level of intelligence and social awareness in these animals is staggering. They really are special creatures. The big bad wolf myth is misleading.

“The hybrid - along with the Czechoslovakian wolfdog and the sarloos - are difficult dogs, but not in a dangerous s ense.”

However, Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today, added: “The relaxation in the law seems madness. To live in a domestic situation with a part-wolf is insane.

“Wolves are wonderful and much maligned in children’s fiction, but they are hugely different from dogs and should be kept separate. Hybrids are a potential disaster area.”

While we wait for The Old Republic: Star Wars Reign of the Fallen

Author: mmorpgguide

Reign of the Fallen is a Star Wars fanfilm directed and written by David McLeavy, and originally released in March 2006.

In the times since great wars laid waste to Prias, its people have learned to embrace a simple life, away from the perils of technology and war. As the mighty Sith army spreads across the galaxy, subjugating every planet in its path, all the people of Prias can do is wait, their world protected by an energy planetary shield held in place by ancient towers. While the people wait in fear, one Jedi trained by Master Oram Bren will be chosen to be the future leader of Prias, a title decided by a vote of the entire population of the planet. But little do they know that one Jedi's dark secret could spell their doom.

Reign of the Fallen is an independently produced film based on the Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. This movie is made solely for the love of all things filmmaking and is not for monetary gain. Everyone involved in the making of this movie worked completely for free, rewarded only by the experience and the chance to meet other people who share the same passions.

The idea for Reign of the Fallen started as a 10 minute fight scene back in Fall 2003, but later evolved into a 60 minute epic undertaking. Inspired by the work of the fan film community, writer/director David McLeavy and producer Jonathan Wang set out to make a unique film, one that paid homage to the Star Wars universe they knew and loved, but was shown through their own eyes in their own filmmaking style. It would be a project that would provide plenty of opportunities to test their theories of what could be possible in a small production attempting to tell a mammoth story.

By early 2004, pre-production was well under way, with props being crafted in Kentucky, location scouting commencing in New Jersey, and casting calls being placed throughout the internet world. After a long casting period, several actors were cast based on their wonderful presence, talent, experience and training. By August of 2004, cameras were ready to roll.

Shooting began in the last week of August and continued through November, largely constrained to weekends and the participants' availability. On days when no one else was available David McLeavy and Jonathan Wang would go out on their own, picking up "2nd Unit" shots and even a few entire scenes with no other crew to be found.

By November, much of the film had been shot, including the crew's biggest challenge: an extended night sequence featuring a lightsaber fight in a torrential downpour. Despite frigid weather, equipment malfunctions and an intimidating shot list, the fight was completed over five nights that often started at 8pm and lasted until 4 in the morning.

With a chunk of exterior scenes and night sequences still left to shoot and Winter looming in the near future, shooting was shut down until spring. During this time, post-production was put into full gear, with effects shots and editing taking up most of the filmmaker's spare time.

By March of 2005, they felt they were ready for the final stretch. The actors were brought back for a second round of shooting, some traveling 2 hours both ways to make their call times. By June, shooting was deemed completed and a screening was scheduled at the Thomas Sweet Outdoor Cinema held every summer. The screening was a success and the turnout more than the filmmakers expected.

All seemed well... But director David McLeavy had a few ideas brewing in his head. Based on feedback from the screening and his own critique of the film, he decided another round of shooting could make the film that much more complete. Thanks to the unwavering dedication of hiscast and crew, more scenes were shot, from grueling action to the smallest inserts, to refine and polish the film as much as could be done.

Then, finally, four days before its next screening, Reign of the Fallen was finished and ready for the world. It has been a long and arduous task, filled with long nights, draggingequipment to remote areas, and combating the cold while trying to keep focused on the task at hand. Thanks to the help and support of friends, family, and the professionalism of everyone involved, the project has been a success. We hope you enjoy the fruits of all this labor, and wish you happy viewing.

Boxee Set-Top Box Is On The Way: Watch Out, Cable Companies

by Shawn Oliver

Boxee has been on a wild, wild ride since debuting to the world last year, and for those looking for new ways to catch more content online, it has become the go-too application. And while it has certainly taken off, there's still lots of room to grow. One of the main reasons that it has yet to become a household name outside of the tech community is the need to have a full fledged PC to run it. And unless you're looking to hook up a media PC/HTPC in your den, you're probably not going to see Boxee in your living room.

At least, that was the case up until this week. Out of nowhere, Boxee announced that it has located its first-ever hardware partner, which basically means that some sort of Boxee set-top box is on the way. Boxee has informed us that more details will be provided on December 7th when it reveals its first Beta software. Unfortunately, that means that little is known about the box right now. We're guessing that it'll be something like the Roku box or the Apple TV, but only time will tell what the actual design is like. However, obviously there are any number of small form-factor platforms available on the market today to get this done for the folks at Boxee - perhaps an NVIDIA Ion-based system might do the trick? In fact, the mock below looks a lot like an Acer Aspire Revo or maybe it's based on something a bit more powerful?

What could be possibly more important for Boxee is another small (but big) announcement. We're told that the Boxee software could eventually be embedded onto other devices. That means that your DVD player, DVR or even Blu-ray player could one day have access to Boxee, similar to how some devices already have access to Vudu and Netflix right now. Cable companies best watch out--things are about to get really, really interesting.

Vintage Japanese Commercials Starring Brad Pitt

Posted by Michael Pinto

This first ad for the Honda Integra is kind of cute, although the 503 Basic Jeans commercial below is even better as it features a singing Brad Pitt:

Here’s another two from the same jeans company:

These two are for a coffee beverage called Roots:

Here’s my favorite Edwin Jeans commercial which has a hip hop flava:

Tags: Brad Pitt, Japan

Comments are closed.

phish & jay-Z - 99 problems & big pimpin' 2004-06-18

Phish with guest Jay-Z doing '99 problems' and 'big pimpin' in Brooklyn, 2004-06-18

Two Kite Surfers Jump Over Pier

Strange Geographies: Portugal’s Bone Chapel

by Ransom Riggs
from: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs//archives/40224

I spent a few weeks in Portugal during the spring of 2006, and one of the most striking things about its many churches and chapels and religious monuments was, well, how dark they were. Not literally — there was plenty of light. But it seemed like every statue of Christ was weeping blood, and every church had a display case of gruesome relics in the foyer; a saint’s pickled eyeballs here, a toe with dessicated skin still clinging to it there. But of all these monuments to pain and death, nothing could match the Capela dos Ossos — the Chapel of the Bones. Located next to the Church of St. Francis in the medieval town of Evora, it’s a large room decorated with the bones of more than 5,000 monks, exhumed from local churchyards to be used as building materials way back in the 16th century.

As you enter, you pass under this doorway. Its inscription, translated from the Portuguese, means ““We bones here, for yours await.” Nice and creepy.

According to legend, the 16th century Franciscan monk who created the chapel did it not to freak people out or scare them, but to prod visitors into a spirit of quiet contemplation. “Life is fleeting!” the bones are meant to imply. “See?!”

On the other side of the doorway, as you exit, is this cheerful little motif, restored in 1810.

The monks who built the chapel got creative with their bones, using them not just to fill wall space, but to create all sorts of decorative patterns. It’s more or less what I imagine a Martha Stewart Halloween special would be like.

Not everyone who visits the chapel is inspired to contemplate the mysteries of death, however, judging from the many graffiti-inscribed skulls that line the walls. Ana Gomes, I hope someone writes on your skull when you’re dead.

As an added bonus, the monks decided to hang two corpses on the wall from a chain — that of a woman and a child. They’ve been there for hundreds of years, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. No one is sure exactly who the unlucky pair are, but rumor has it they were cursed by a powerful man and were refused burial in local cemeteries. (That doesn’t explain how they died, though; methinks it was not of natural causes.)

The strangest part about the Chapel was that it didn’t seem all that creepy. There was something sanitized and touristy about the whole thing, with ropes sectioning off the walls so you couldn’t get too close, and an information kiosk just outside the door. I nearly forgot that I was walking around the house of 5,000 corpses.

You can check out more “Strange Geographies” photo essays on my website.

Heinz On Track to Reduce Waste, Water, Energy Impacts by 20 Percent

By GreenBiz Staff

From: http://www.greenbiz.com/

PITTSBURGH, PA — With the release of its 2009 corporate social responsibility (CSR) report, the H.J. Heinz Company this morning unveiled its progress on achieving its environmental goals of cutting its footprint by 20 percent across four categories by 2015.

The report shows that the company is well on its way: compared to the 2005 baseline Heinz is using as a target, it has made significant progress in cutting its greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste, energy use and water consumption per metric ton of production.

Heinz has managed to cut its carbon footprint by 13.4 percent since 2005, its energy use is down 15.8 percent, solid waste generation is down 27.4 percent, and water is down 15.7 percent in the same time frame.

And year over year, the rate of improvements are picking up slightly, as the graphic below shows; between 2008 and 2009 Heinz cut its normalized greenhouse gas emissions and energy use each by nearly 10 percent, water use by 12 percent and waste by over 16 percent.

Among the other goals Heinz has set for environmental stewardship are a 15 percent in total packaging used, a dedicated focus on its agricultural methods that will cut water usage and GHG emissions by 15 percent each while improving tomato yields by 5 percent, and a 10 percent reduction in the fuel used by its transportation fleet.

Heinz has achieved its results to date through a number of initiatives. Its CSR report highlights packaging innovations that have cut the materials needed for bottles used in products around the globe, as well as a partnership with Graham Packaging that led to the first food package containing post-consumer recycled content to meet FDA guidelines.

In 2007, GreenBiz.com reported on some of the ground-level projects Heinz was undertaking to acheive its sustainability goals, including reusing potato peels in biofuels.

As a food company, agriculture figures prominently in Heinz's sustainability projects. Heinz is making some progress on its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and water use each by 15 percent by 2015 while also improving tomato yields by 5 percent: Farms in California, Australia, China and New Zealand have all already surpassed the yields goal to date.

The other sustainable ag goals are slower to progress, but the company is working on carbon sequestration projects with the Sustainable Food Laboratory, and announced today that water-efficient drip irrigation use has nearly doubled on its California tomato farms.

The full 2009 Heinz CSR report is available online at Heinz.com/csr2009.

_{http://www.flickr.com/photos/mamchenkov/ / CC BY 2.0}

Does Mexico City Need a Red-Light District?

By Ioan Grillo / Mexico City

Prostitutes stand around in the La Merced area of Mexico City

Maya Goded / Magnum

As twilight falls over Mexico City's Buenavista neighborhood, the traditional night shift begins. A woman in suspenders and a pink dress takes up right outside the doors of an American-owned bank. Across the street, two girls in miniskirts entice clients at the entrance of a subway station. A block down, a group of transvestites and transsexuals bare their wares outside a convenience store. Quickly, the streets fill with hundreds of sex workers, while their clients lurk discreetly in dark corners, vigilant under the threat of a sudden police raid.

It's a competitive business on the streets of Buenavista, made tougher as the recession has pushed more and more women to make a living here. Mexico's economy is predicted to shrink 7.2% in 2009, its worst slump since the Great Depression. Grim by any measure, the fragile economy is evident in the swelling number of prostitutes working in Mexico City, estimated to have risen 10% in the past year. Residents of Buenavista have long complained of the worsening situation, but now the government has put forth a solution. (See pictures of fighting crime in Mexico City.)

Agustin Torres, the newly sworn-in president of Mexico City's central borough, has proposed taking prostitutes off the streets and into a new "tolerance zone," like Amsterdam's red-light district, where sex workers can operate without the risk of police harassment and with access to contraception and health checks. The suggested circuit road on a nearby avenue away from family homes would help protect the sex workers against pimps and assailants, Torres says. "We have a duty to defend these people, who are simply doing their job," he told TIME. "Most of the residents of the area are poor folks who support a more socially progressive attitude to this issue."

Torres' approach to the oldest trade fits in with the leftist politics of his Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which has run the Mexican capital for the past decade. PRD lawmakers have also legalized abortion, same-sex civil unions and a limited euthanasia in the city.

But the talk of sanctioned prostitution zones has set off alarm bells among Mexico's social conservatives, who fear their capital is turning into a den of sin. Leading the charge is the Roman Catholic Church, which argues that the government should be clamping down on the sex trade, not encouraging it. "It is funny how these groups want to allow women to have abortions and then won't defend them against the suffering of prostitution," says Father Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the archdioceses of Mexico City. "They should be looking at how much the authorities themselves are involved in the mafias controlling this vice." The church has a special congregation dedicated to freeing prostitutes from the trade and helping steer them toward other jobs, Valdemar said. (See the picture gallery "Tales of the Drug Lord's Son.")

It is also unclear whether the sex-worker circuit would even be legal. Prostitution is a civil offense in Mexico City, and recent efforts to legalize it have gotten snared in legislative gridlock. Torres argues, however, that the rules are ambiguous and that international labor laws recognize sex work as legitimate employment. Further, prostitution zones have long been tolerated along some parts of the Mexico-U.S. border, providing havens for gringo truck drivers and young Texans looking to lose their virginity.

But downtown Mexico City is a long way from the Rio Grande. There are few American clients spending dollars in Buenavista. Mostly the johns are working and middle-class Mexicans who stop here after work and pay as little as $10 for a service. In these conditions, it could be hard to convince many of the sex workers themselves that it would benefit them to relocate to a special zone. "I have been here for 10 years. I had to work hard to get my place, and now I have my regular clients," says Monica, 35, eyeing passing men to get their attention. "Why should I move from here now?"

The women also have a deep-seated distrust of the government. Prostitutes complain that they are routinely shaken down by police, who demand $50 payoffs and threaten to lock them up overnight if they don't pay. Several prostitutes were suspicious that the new circuit was part of a government plan to tax them. And none of the prostitutes interviewed said they had to pay hustlers on the streets. "I don't work for pimps. I don't work for madams. And I am not going to work for the government," says Jennifer, a heavily made-up 24-year-old pacing in place to keep warm in the evening chill. "This is my business to provide for my family. And I want it to stay that way."

Meet the brave 'crystal girl' with rare illness that is turning her body to rock

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

By Daily Mail Reporter

A five-year-old must a daily cocktail of drugs to avoid her body turning - into a crystal.

Little Lillie Sutcliffe has a faulty kidney which fails to clean her blood - allowing excess a chemical called cystine to build up in her system.

If too much cystine remains, her cells start to solidify.

But to mother Laura Milner and father Simon Sutcliffe, she is their perfect little girl, who has battled against all odds to try and live a normal life.

Lillie Sutcliffe, five, has a rare genetic condition called cysitinosis, where crystals form in her cells

Lillie, from Castleford, was diagnosed with Cysitinosis in August, 2006, at the age of 23 months old.

The incurable condition means Lillie has stunted growth, cannot walk long distances or do any sports.

And with her daily dose of drugs, she is under attack from her own body as the very cells in her tiny 86cm tall frame slowly turn to crystal.

Her parents had been worried about her growth as she looked like a baby at a year old, was constantly crying and had little appetite.

But medics stunned mother Laura, an NHS secretary, when they identified the problem after scanning Lillie's eyes and discovering the crystals.

She said: 'I had never heard of the condition so was a bit shocked to hear what it did.

'It means Lillie's body essentially turns to crystal.

'They just load up inside her, if it wasn't treated she would turn into stone eventually because it attacks all the cells.

'She can't do normal things that other five-year-olds do because she is so small - she's got the body of a two-year-old.

'She goes to full-time school and is academically no different, she just needs a step to reach things because she's so little.'

Mother Laura makes sure Lillie takes her daily drugs cocktail to try to help her live a normal life

Laura, 29, added: 'It's unusual because she doesn't like sweets or anything like that because she craves salt, because she loses so much of it through her kidney.

'I have to make her salty food to try and help her replace the sodium she needs.

'If it had gone undiagnosed parts of her body would have turned to crystal.'

The condition occurs when the mechanism removing excess cystine - an amino acid - from the body breaks down.

It is then the cystine crystals build up in cells in the body, causing problems in the kidney, thyroid gland, eyes and liver.

Impaired growth is yet another symptom of the condition, which shortens life expectancy and causes sufferers to have to have a kidney transplant at some point in their lives.

Lillie has it because of the combination of a recessive faulty gene in both of her parents and sufferers can never completely rid their bodies of crystals.

Every day she has to take multiple doses of potassium citrate, sodium chloride, phosphate solution and vitamin D just to replenish her body with nutrients.

Consultant paediatric nethrologist Dr Kay Tyerman said while the illness could be partially treated, it could not yet be completely cured.

She said: 'This is an excessively rare condition. It's usually present in children who are not growing properly in the first few years of their life.

'They have a salt-wasting problem which means the kidney loses salt in the urine that she needs to help her grow.

'Lillie has such a strong craving for salty foods because she is losing so much salt her body needs to keep.

'Over the past few years she has been working on her medication, which she needs to take a lot of every day.

'The condition does cause kidney failure and can also cause blindness and it is an illness that unfortunately does tend to shorten life expectancy.

'But Lillie is a real star and just gets on with it - she is very brave.'

There are only 2,000 known sufferers of cysitinosis throughout the world, meaning Lillie is one in just 3, 353, 496.

Lillie's parents Laura and Simon, who works as a tiler for a maintenance company, separated four years ago and it was thought her behaviour was down to the break-up.

But tests revealed the truth and two months after starting medication she started showing improvement.

Laura added: 'I am so proud of how she is fighting it.

'It is just a part of life now for her, we have to take every day and month one at a time, but who knows what treatment might become available in the future.

'Science is getting better and better so you never know what might be around the corner.'

Top 10 Martin Scorsese scenes of all time!

By:

Marcus Leshock

From: http://www.chicagonow.com/



Director Martin Scorsese will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards. It's a no brainer when you look at the man's catalog, starting with "Boxcar Bertha" and "Mean Streets," moving on to "Goodfellas," "Cape Fear," and "Casino," and recently "The Departed."

I've compiled my Top 10 moments in Scorsese movie history. He's known for these scenes, series of events that will be stuck in a movie buff's head for eternity.

Here we go...

Honorable Mention: "The Color Of Money" (1986) Pool Scene

Paul Newman and Tom Cruise finally face off in a big match. Scorsese's camera snaps back and forth between the two players. The game is on, and while they each carefully orchestrate their shots, there is chaos in the air, as seen in the spattering of pool balls smacking all over the table. Masterfully edited by Scorsese regular Thelma Schoonmaker.

10. "Raging Bull" (1980) - A Brutal Beating

In this scene, Jake La Motta confronts his wife about her infidelity. Like a sparring opponent, she eggs him on to the point of explosion. The scene finishes in Joey's living room, where Pesci is thrown to the floor and beaten during family dinner. Scorsese is sure to add a tracking shot under the dining room table. The audience needs to see this from a child's perspective. To cap it off, he concludes with a straight medium shot of both children starring in disbelief.

One of the low angle beating shots would be used again in 1990's "Goodfellas."





9. "The Departed" (2006) - Getting to know Frank Costello

I love the scene where Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) walks into the grocery store and first meets Colin Sullivan. It's definitely a nod to earlier films ("Godfather II" and Don Fanucci come to mind), where Costello's character is set up as he shakes down the clerk. But times have changed since the old days, because Costello also lays claim to the man's daughter.

"You get your period yet Carmen?"




8. "Cape Fear" (1991) - Max Cady Goes To The Theater

Robert De Niro will be a frequent contributor to this list. Here, his Max Cady from the film noir remake of "Cape Fear" confronts the Bowden family at the movies. The most disturbing thing about the scene is the film he's laughing at.





7. "Goodfellas" (1990) - Jimmy Plans The Hit

"Goodfellas" is my favorite Scorsese film, one of my favorite movies ever. Here, Robert De Niro's Jimmy takes a few drags on a cigarette. But really, he's planning a massive hit that will reshape the way the crime family is structured. In just 30 seconds, with a little "Sunshine of your Love" thrown in, Scorsese takes Jimmy from thinking about a crazy idea, to fully committed to whacking the people he once loved. Just watch De Niro's eyes.




6. "Gangs of New York" (2002) - Bill the Butcher shares a moment with Amsterdam Vallon

A great example of doing a lot with a little. Here, Scorsese's hands the film over to Daniel Day-Lewis, draped in a tattered American flag, as he confronts Leonardo DiCaprio.

"Cut off his head. Stick it on a pike. Raise it high up so all in the streets can see. That's what preserves the order of things. Fear."




5. "Taxi Driver" (1976) - The Ending

Talk about not glamorizing violence. Travis Bickle returns to the whorehouse to rescue a teenage hooker. Horrible, horrible things ensue.




4. "Goodfellas" - The Club Scene

In one long shot, Scorsese tells the audience who Henry Hill is. He doesn't wait in line, he knows everybody at the hottest spots in town, and by the time the get their table front and center, he has Karen Hill in his pocket.




3. "Taxi Driver" - You Talkin' to Me?

Legend says that Robert De Niro improvised this scene. When it's finished, we will have watched Travis Bickle go from dreaming of being the anti-hero, to becoming a ready killing machine.




2. "Goodfellas" - Am I Funny?

This scene goes from hilarious to terrifying. Again, another few minutes where we see complete change in a character. We witness Joe Pesci's Tommy turn from charming to menacing on his own friend, foreshadowing events that would take place later in the film.




1. "Raging Bull" - Opening Titles

This is Martin Scorsese's crowning achievement. I know what you're thinking, it's the credits! Are you crazy? Probably. But try to watch this without looking away. As the music swells underneath Jake La Motta dancing in the ring, we see man in his element. The ropes could signify Jake trapped in his own personal jail cell, but these ropes are keeping the other things out. That's where the turmoil will be - outside the ring.

Simple. But maybe the best opening sequence ever put on film.

First U.S. marijuana cafe opens in Portland

From: http://www.reuters.com/
By Dan Cook

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - The United States' first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration's move to relax policing of medical use of the drug.

The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it -- as long as they are out of public view -- despite a federal ban.

"This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members," said Madeline Martinez, Oregon's executive director of NORML, a group pushing for marijuana legalization.

"Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana," said Martinez. "We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis."

The cafe -- in a two-story building which formerly housed a speak-easy and adult erotic club Rumpspankers -- is technically a private club, but is open to any Oregon residents who are NORML members and hold an official medical marijuana card.

Members pay $25 per month to use the 100-person capacity cafe. They don't buy marijuana, but get it free over the counter from "budtenders". Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., it serves food but has no liquor license.

There are about 21,000 patients registered to use marijuana for medical purposes in Oregon. Doctors have prescribed marijuana for a host of illnesses, including Alzheimer's, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and Tourette's syndrome.

On opening day, reporters invited to the cafe could smell, but were not allowed to see, people smoking marijuana.

"I still run a coffee shop and events venue, just like I did before we converted it to the Cannabis Cafe, but now it will be cannabis-themed," said Eric Solomon, the owner of the cafe, who is looking forward to holding marijuana-themed weddings, film festivals and dances in the second-floor ballroom.

NO PROSECUTION

The creation of the cafe comes almost a month after the Obama administration told federal attorneys not to prosecute patients who use marijuana for medical reasons or dispensaries in states which have legalized them.

About a dozen states, including Oregon, followed California's 1996 move to adopt medical marijuana laws, allowing the drug to be cultivated and sold for medical use. A similar number have pending legislation or ballot measures planned.

Pot cafes, known as "coffee shops", are popular in the Dutch city of Amsterdam, where possession of small amounts of marijuana is legal. Portland's Cannabis Cafe is the first of its kind to open in the United States, according to NORML.

Growing, possessing, distributing and smoking marijuana are still illegal under U.S. federal law, which makes no distinction between medical and recreational use.

Federal and local law enforcement agencies did not return phone calls from Reuters on Friday seeking comment on the Portland cafe's operations.

"To have a place that is this open about its activities, where people can come together and smoke -- I say that's pretty amazing." said Tim Pate, a longtime NORML member, at the cafe.

Some locals are hoping it might even be good for business.

"I know some neighbors are pretty negative about this place opening up," said David Bell, who works at a boutique that shares space with the cafe. "But I'm withholding judgment. There's no precedent for it. We don't know what to expect. But it would great if it brought some customers into our store."

(Writing by Bill Rigby; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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