“I wish for everyone to help create  a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity. “  – Jamie Oliver

TED Blog: Teach every child about food: Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish, now on TED.com.

If half the things they say about Spray-on liquid glass are true, then it’s the best thing since sliced bread.  Spray-on liquid glass is transparent, non-toxic, and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat, and bacterial infections. The coating is also flexible and breathable, which makes it suitable for use on an enormous array of products.

MEDICAL APPLICATIONS: A year-long medical trial of the spray discovered many applications including coatings for equipment, medical implants, catheters, sutures and bandages.

NO MORE GRAFFITI: The war graves association in the UK is investigating using the spray to treat stone monuments and grave stones, since trials have shown the coating protects against weathering and graffiti. Trials in Turkey are testing the product on monuments such as the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara.

HAVE YOUR WINE BEFORE ITS TIME: Trials in vineyards have found spraying vines increases their resistance to fungal diseases, while other tests have shown sprayed seeds germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds, and coated wood is not attacked by termites. Other vineyard applications include coating corks with liquid glass to prevent “corking” and contamination of wine.

NO MORE CHINESE SECRETS: The spray cannot be seen by the naked eye, which means it could also be used to treat clothing and other materials to make them stain-resistant.

BYE BYE DAWN: In the home, spray-on glass would eliminate the need for scrubbing and make most cleaning products obsolete. Since it is available in both water-based and alcohol-based solutions, it can be used in the oven, in bathrooms, tiles, sinks, and almost every other surface in the home, and one spray is said to last a year.

Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything.

Darth Parnell testifying before Congress in February 2009

Not much has been heard in the year since the CDC found that the CEO of Peanut Corporation of America,  Stewart Parnell, was responsible for knowingly shipping Samonella-infected peanut butter across the country, sickening over 700 people and killing at least 9.

In a time where the news media is crawling all over a story about an attempted underwear bomber that resulted in no deaths or injuries, you would think that this Stewart Parnell would be indicted for perpetrating the largest biological weapon attack on U.S. soil in history.

In December 2009 the Lynchburg News Advance reported that the “executives and former managers of the now-bankrupt company … [are] fighting among themselves for a piece of a $1 million corporate insurance policy.”  including:

- PCA President Stewart Parnell had demanded $951,000 of the $1 million policy for his legal defense;

- Former Blakely plant manager Samuel Lightsey asked for $500,000 for his defense in an ongoing criminal investigation;

- David Royster III and David Royster IV, former members of the PCA board of directors, asked to have unspecified funds reserved for their use; and

- Joe Sams, a former Blakely plant manager, and Mary Wilkerson, a former Blakely quality assurance manager, asked for $182,000 for legal costs.

Meanwhile, 9 Americans are dead.  Where is the justice?

Stewart Parnell, et al – Have You No Shame? Like Vultures on a Carcass : Marler Blog.

Make no mistake, Japan doesn’t like fat people.  Japan has some of the world’s lowest rates of obesity — less than 5 percent, compared to nearly 35 percent for the United States

Concerned about rising weights, Japanese lawmakers last year set a maximum waistline size for anyone age 40 and older: 85 centimeters (33.5 inches) for men and 90 centimeters (35.4 inches) for women.

Under Japan’s health care coverage, companies administer check-ups to employees once a year. Those who fail to meet the waistline requirement must undergo counseling. If companies do not reduce the number of overweight employees by 10 percent by 2012 and 25 percent by 2015, they could be required to pay more money into a health care program for the elderly. An estimated 56 million Japanese will have their waists measured this year.

I wonder if there’s an exemption for Sumo wrestlers?

Japan Health Care | Japan Obesity.

People will need to consider turning vegetarian if the world is to conquer climate change, according to Lord Stern, a former chief economist of the World Bank and now I. G. Patel Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics.

He predicts that people’s attitudes will evolve until meat eating became unacceptable. “I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he said. “I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.”

Lord Stern is deeply concerned that popular opinion had so far failed to grasp the scale of the changes needed to address climate change, or of the importance of the UN meeting in Copenhagen from December 7 to December 18. “I am not sure that people fully understand what we are talking about or the kind of changes that will be necessary,” he added.

Silly Brit.

Climate chief Lord Stern: give up meat to save the planet – Times Online.

At this cafe in Japan, you get what the person before you ordered.

Let’s say you order some cake and coffee, you pay for them and find a seat. In a few minutes, you’re called to the counter where you pick up….soup and a sandwich….whatever the person in front of you ordered.     The next person in line gets your cake (and eats it too!).

The cafe has a few rules. Among them:

• Treat the next person. What to treat them with? It’s your choice.
• No buying twice in a row.
• Please enjoy what you get, even if you hate it. (If you really, really hate it, quietly give it to another while saying, “It’s my treat…”)

Japanese restaurant’s unusual rule: You get what the person before you ordered. | Gadling.com.