Is that in Peru? I heard that guinea pig isn't gross, but they only eat it during that time and in certain parts of the country. Most of my Peruvian friends only tried it when went to the mountain villages. - Anika Malone
I guess it's not gross if you don't consider them pets. Still...ew! - Silly Jilly
i haven't eaten guinea pig, but they're very tasty supposedly. try not to be so judgmental - Cee Bee
@Cee Bee...for me...it's the whole taking them there, dressing them and then eating them which is freaking wrong... - Zee.
i hear where you're coming from. this is an indigenous celebration, which has become a part of the cuisine of a lot of the larger population of people in the andean nations. - Cee Bee
@Cee Bee, yeah but it's hard to look at them dressed up on one side then fried on the other :-S Only odd thing I've eaten is duck and it was sooo yummy. - zo.blue (Zulema)
Cee Bee, it's hard not to find it gross when you think of guinea pigs in terms of cute little animals in a cage who squeak and popcorn and generally look adorable. It's not a judgmental thing so much as a difference in cultures. I certainly wouldn't walk around a place where they were eating them saying negative things. - Silly Jilly
i disagree. it is judgmental, but whatever - Cee Bee
Just sayin, if other ppl want to eat them that's fine, it's just not for me :p I don't want to come across as judgmental. - zo.blue (Zulema)
dressing animals and then eating them?! what a combination. - Winfried Hoffmann
OK, yeah, even someone like me thinks that's pretty gross. - Josh Haley
pic 1: Awww, I love guinea pigs. pic 2: Mmmm, I love guinea pigs... - WorldofHiglet
What's the best way to dress a guinea pig? Tin foil hat...or ketchup...? - WorldofHiglet
Ok, that's the last time I let my hubby near my Mac when there's gross things around....to recap - I do NOT condone the dressing up and eating of guinea pigs.... - WorldofHiglet
you can tell a moral fabric of a society by the way it treats its animals - ghandi - Patricia
I reckon if you were brought up in this culture you'd think there would be nothing wrong with it. . - Mo Kargas
I love the look of absolute fear on the brown guinea pig's face :) - Larry Hudson
dang that's just stoopid. and then there's this line "Voters who received both versions will be allowed to send in either one and have it counted, McDonough said." wanna bet some send in *both* (to be safe) and then get their votes *disqualified*? sheesh! - MikeAmundsen
It's all fun and games until someone's compared to Hitler. Also known as Godwin's law or "Reductio ad Hitlerum" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R... As a scientist whose wife teaches yoga, I'm continually exposed to stuff like this. Some people would just rather believe in magic, and there's nothing wrong with that, until they start making decisions that affect people who don't believe in the same reality they do. Humans are capable of astounding feats of cognitive dissonance. - Mr. Gunn
Hm. If you care about your teeth I would buy a sonic toothbrush (= "Schallzahnbürste" in german). There are some really good ones out there. I have one since 6 months and I'm really impressed. Ask your dentist. - Winfried Hoffmann
You are missing the point Winfried. It's about care for the environment as much as care for your teeth which by the way the wooden toothbrush is doing excellently as I have used one for 6 months and it's better than an ordinary plastic toothbrush by far. Says my dentist AND my hygenist who for the first time in years didn't have to "scrub" my teeth to get rid of plaque.... - Sabine Oppenlander
The effectiveness of a manual toothbrush is extremely dependent on the persons brushing technique whereas the skill level that is needed to brush properly with a sonic toothbrush is minimal, all a person must do is focus on brushing long enough. In addition, studies show that modern sonic toothbrushes are better, particular in hard-to-reach areas such as posterior teeth and interproximal sites due to 30000+ brush strokes/minute and fluid dynamics cleaning action. Moreover, using a modern toothbrush is actually fun: various timer functions and operating modes (clean, sensitive, massage etc.) will assist and motivate you to brush your teeth and brush them properly. There are sonic toothbrushes with UV sanitizer, which will sterilize the bristles with UV-C radiation and prevent germ buildup. Read this: http://bit.ly/2r3tnF and http://bit.ly/50nKr. - Winfried Hoffmann
With all due respect I really don't care about the scientific bla bla half of which is Chinese to me anyway :-) I did brush my teeth with a sonic toothbrush and there was no evidence of better plaque removal. In fact my gums were damaged using the sonic twice a day and that without me pushing the toothbrush against my gum. We are talking about reducing plastics that fill up our landsites and I can't see how a sonic toothbrush is eco friendly in that respect - Sabine Oppenlander
I respect your effort to reduce plastic, but I for one stick with a sonic brush for medical reasons. It's not just bla bla, the evidence is backed up by more than one study. As to reducing plastics, there are sonic toothbrushes where only the head (the first 2 centimeters or so with the bristles) has to be exchanged, which reduces the amount of plastic greatly. There are also brushes made from recycled plastic on the market (e.g. from yogurt cups).
Although I'm not sure about the impact of plastic toothbrushes on the environment (are there any studies?), there is no question that carelessly thrown away plastic bags, plastic bottles and all the packaging waste are a great problem for wildlife, soils and oceans. However, there is hope. According to http://bit.ly/1FMS4W, a 16 year old prodigy named Daniel Burd has developed a new, cheap, energy efficient, and easily scalable way to decompose plastic bags in just three months with the only outputs being water... - Winfried Hoffmann
...and an infinitesimal amount of carbon dioxide (although I'm a bit skeptic about the amount of carbon dioxide and if there aren't any polymers as output). Furthermore, if you care about plastics and natural resources, there was another interesting story in the news a few weeks ago: According to http://bit.ly/1KVKrC, scientists developed strains of bacteria that are able to produce plastic without the use of oil or natural gas! Scientific hope you should care about... ;-) - Winfried Hoffmann
Sonic toothbrushes aren't just made of a toothbrush head. The body contains a battery that is lethal to the environment plus metals that don't disintegrate easily plus chemicals and other un-eco friendly stuff that does not decompose quickly. Precious oil resources are used up to make the plastic body and the CO2 output in production is high plus they are mostly made in China and need to be transported to Europe - via plane. That's another source of unnecessary CO2 output. - Sabine Oppenlander
The sonics are charged with electricity. From your plug socket. What is electricity made off? Whichever way you look at it,sonics are an indulgence and humankind should really come off its dependency of gadgets and go back to the roots every now and then. Sonics aren't the end all and be all and their hygienic benefits haven't been proven either. In fact Stiftung Warentest warns of the use of some of them - as I said before they damged my gums and I bet other people's too. - Sabine Oppenlander
I'm sorry, I didn't see that you retail those wooden toothbrushes, I don't want to interfere in your business. Nevertheless, I want to clarify one last thing: It's not true that sonic toothbrushes are damaging your gums. The reverse is true. Read this: http://bit.ly/3lmHpT: "The group brushing with sonic toothbrushes showed substantial improvement in the health of their gums, as evidenced by the following parameters: 1.) A reduction in the amount of supragingival (above the gum line) plaque. 2.) A reduction in the total gram-negative bacteria found in subgingival (below the gum line) plaque samples. 3.) A reduction of pocket depth. 4.) A reduction in the number of locations which bled on probing." I also read some Stiftung Warentest tests. Please, where did they warn of sonic toothbrushes? Actually, all tests I read said, electric and sonic toothbrushes are "good". - Winfried Hoffmann
Well, I am closing this dispute now because all you are doing is avoiding the subject of how damaging those gadgets are for the environment. You haven't once come back with a response in that regard. All you hammer on about is the gums. If you had seen my gums and that of my boyfriend you'd probably shut up by now. - Sabine Oppenlander
Just so you know: his gums were damaged so badly he now needs an implant and because bacteria entered the jaw this started to rot away and was undetected for a few years due to his dentist insisting on continuing to use a sonic toothbrush which made everything worse. It will cost us £4000 to repair the damage which was only detected this year when he switched to another dentist who immediately told him to stop using the sonic. - Sabine Oppenlander
Alain Maury, one of the best known asteroids and comets professionals, quoted a colleague in the Minor Planet Mailing List: “I for one advocate the naming of this asteroid after Alaska Governor and McCain running mate Sarah Palin. Why? It's small, not that bright, and won't make much of an impact. Not to mention, McCain can probably remember when that asteroid was first created. However, scientists have not confirmed whether or not the asteroid shot a moose from a helicopter. I'll stand by that joke no matter what." :-) http://bit.ly/rVDe9 (in German) - Winfried Hoffmann
Truly haunting photographs about a new, dangerous type of tuberculosis called Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, or XDR-TB. Also visit http://xdrtb.org for more information. - Winfried Hoffmann
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Quote of the day: "I couldn't be more exhausted with Republican leadership who believe if you think of pretty colors when you sit on the pot, you'll actually shit rainbows." A great one! :-) - Winfried Hoffmann
A featured dolphinarium with over 20 bottlenose dolphins flown in from the Solomon Islands was developed despite controversy from environmental groups and some residents of the islands that protested the decision to sell the dolphins, and the 30-hour plane flight to transport them to Dubai. - Zee.
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yeah, dubai basically equals hotels you-cant-even-believe-exist all over the place - Melissa Maskevich
Been reading up the development over there for the last few months and it's amazing what they have put in place. Definitely heading there for my honeymoon! - Joe Dawson
aside from the obviously expensive plane ticket, how expensive is a vacation in Dubai? You'd think with all that competition going on there for extravagance, the prices might be driven down a little. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
It's actually not too bad Mark but then again, I live in London. Pick the right time and you can enjoy a good week out there for not too much at all. The most expensive stuff out there is really the nightlife (drinks etc..) and property prices. - Zee.
those people are crazy.. awesome crazy! - Tim Hoeck
Our beliefs and expectations about treatments can have a dramatic effect on our health – the so-called ‘placebo effect’. Doctor and writer Ben Goldacre presents a two part series. - Winfried Hoffmann
Lots of beautiful solar eclipse photographs with great detail in the sun's corona thanks to DRI/HDR processing. Check out the huge corona of the total solar eclipse 2008 in Mongolia (http://bit.ly/3byYQQ). - Winfried Hoffmann
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You ever wanted to read newsletters with your RSS Reader to prevent cluttering up your email account? Use xFruits' "Post to RSS" function. xFruits is a free information transformer, converting information into different mediums: Mail/Post to RSS, File to RSS, RSS to Mail, RSS to PDF, RSS to Mobile, RSS to Web, RSS to RSS (aggregator) etc. - Winfried Hoffmann
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Busuu is a social language learning service with full audio playback of words, phrases and sentences. You can connect yourself with native speakers around the world and improve your language skills together. - Winfried Hoffmann
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Even so I already knew about spaghettification, this was a lot of fun to watch. I love the way Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains things. - Winfried Hoffmann
That was awesome. Wonder if you get reconstituted on the other side. - Yolanda
"Swedish company Home Energy recently revealed an innovative wind turbine that spins in a spherical formation. Eschewing traditional rotors for a sleek orb structure, this beautiful rethinking of conventional wind turbine design utilizes the Venturi principle, which funnels wind within the turbine’s blades. The resulting spherical wind turbine features increased efficiency and lower noise levels - making it ideal for small scale energy needs such as personal home use. Best of all it’s called the Energy Ball: the fun name is an added bonus." - Winfried Hoffmann
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September 12 at 1:01 am
- shakespearessister.blogspot.com
- Link
Unbelievable, she doesn't even know what the Bush Doctrine is! She is so unprepared to lead a country. The McCain/Palin duo scares me a lot. - Winfried Hoffmann
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong officially announced his plans to return to professional cycling Tuesday, ending more than three years of restless retirement and 24 hours of worldwide rumor and feverish speculation. - Winfried Hoffmann
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September 12 at 7:26 am
- mittelbayerische.de
- Link
Fürstin Gloria und Kardinal Meisner waren sich am Dienstagabend bei Maischberger einig: Die Pille ist eine Form der Abtreibung, Abtreibung ist Massenmord, und Kondome gegen Aids helfen nicht! Laut Gloria hilft nur einfach weniger zu „schnackseln“. "Der Mensch ist doch kein Triebbündel!“ fügte der Kardinal hinzu. Gloria hofft außerdem auf eine Niederlage von Barack Obama. Bezüglich Homosexualität äußerte sie, der Weg in den Himmel sei steinig, der in die Hölle bequem. Was kann man da tun? „Beten, beten.“ - Winfried Hoffmann
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September 12 at 7:13 am
- spiegelfechter.com
- Link
Der Moskauer ARD-Studioleiter Thomas Roth hatte die Gelegenheit, den russischen Ministerpräsidenten Wladimir Putin ausführlich zur Kaukasus-Krise und zu den politischen Verwerfungen zwischen dem Westen und Russland zu befragen. - Winfried Hoffmann
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At the Global Climate Change Conference this week in Sacramento, California, scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory presented a plan to offset 44 gigatonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide with a hefty dose of whitewash. - Winfried Hoffmann
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September 11 at 1:22 am
- blogs.discovermagazine.com
- Link
Nature’s deadliest beast, a gamma-ray burst was aimed squarely at earth. Fortunately, the powerful stellar explosion happened far away at an enormous distance of 7.5 billion light years. Despite its distance, you could have seen the burst with the naked eye! Its extraordinary brightness arose from a jet that shot material directly toward Earth at 99.99995 percent the speed of light. - Winfried Hoffmann
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