If it weren’t for my lawyer, I’d still be in prison. It went a lot faster with two people digging.

Joe Martin

I went into a McDonald’s yesterday and said, ‘I’d like some fries.’ The girl at the counter said, ‘Would you like some fries with that?’

Jay Leno

Body Donation for Plastination

All anatomical specimens on display in the BODY WORLDS exhibitions are authentic. They belonged to people who declared during their lifetime that their bodies should be made available after their deaths for the qualification of physicians and the instruction of laypersons. Many donors underscore that by donating their body, they want to be useful to others even after their death. Their selfless donations allow us to gain unique insights into human bodies, which have thus far been reserved for physicians at best. Therefore, we wish to thank the living and deceased body donors.

The Idea behind Plastination

“I developed the Plastination technique at the University of Heidelberg’s Institute of Anatomy in 1977, patented it between 1977 and 1982, and have been continually improving the process ever since.

When, as an anatomy assistant, I saw my first specimen embedded in a polymer block, I wondered why the polymer had been poured around the outside of the specimen as having the polymer within the specimen would stabilize it from the inside out. I could not get this question out of my mind. A few weeks later, I was to prepare a series of slices of human kidneys for a research project. The usual process of embedding the kidneys in paraffin and then cutting them into thin slices seemed like too much wasted effort to me, as I only needed every fiftieth slice. Then one day, I was in the butcher shop in the university town where I was studying, and as I watched the sales woman slice ham, it dawned on me that I ought to be using a meat slicer for cutting kidneys. And so a “rotary blade cutter,” as I called it in the project-appropriation request, became my first Plastination investment. I embedded the kidney slices in liquid Plexiglas and used a vacuum to extract the air bubbles that had formed when stirring in the curing agent. As I watched these bubbles, it hit me: It should be possible to infuse a kidney slice with plastic by saturating it with acetone and placing it under a vacuum; the vacuum would then extract the acetone in the form of bubbles, just as it had extracted air before. When I actually tried this, plenty of acetone bubbles emerged, but after an hour the kidney was pitch black and had shrunk. At this point most people would have dismissed the experiment as a failure, and the only reason I went ahead and repeated it a week later using silicone rubber was because my basic knowledge of physical chemistry told me that the blackening effect was due to the index of refraction of the Plexiglas, and that the shrinkage could be attributed to having permeated the specimen too quickly. The next time, I carried out this process more slowly, using three successive silicone baths as a means of preventing a single bath (along with its contents) from curing too quickly. After curing the specimen in a laboratory kiln, I had the first presentable sample of Plastination.

That was on January 10, 1977, the day that I decided to make Plastination the focus of my life.”

Gunther von Hagens
Inventor of Plastination

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12 Foods You Should Always Buy Organic

The Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) is a nonprofit organization that advocates in Washington D.C., for policies that protect global and individual health. Among the many valuable services they provide is a Shoppers’ Guide to Pesticides in Produce. It is based on the results of nearly 43,000 pesticide tests performed on produce and collected by federal agencies between 2000 and 2004. Nearly all of the data used took into account how people typically wash and prepare produce - for example, apples were washed and bananas peeled before testing.

Of the 43 different fruit and vegetable categories tested, these had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy organic versions - or to grow organically yourself:

  • Peaches
  • Apples
  • Sweet bell peppers
  • Celery
  • Nectarines
  • Strawberries
  • Cherries
  • Lettuce
  • Grapes (imported)
  • Pears
  • Spinach
  • Potatoes

Why should you care about pesticides? The EWG points out that there is a growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can have adverse effects on health, especially during vulnerable periods such as fetal development and childhood.

A few other notes from the EWG: Nectarines had the highest percentage of samples that tested positive for pesticides (97.3 percent) followed by peaches (96.6 percent) and apples (93.6 percent). Peaches had the highest likelihood for multiple pesticides on a single sample: 86.6 percent had two or more pesticide residues.

Also keep in mind that maintaining your family’s health is not the only reason to choose organic food. Pesticide and herbicide use contaminates groundwater, ruins soil structures and promotes erosion, and may be a contributor to “colony collapse disorder,” the sudden and mysterious die-off of pollinating honeybees that threatens the American food supply. Buying or growing organic food is good for the health of the planet.

Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t wasted a whole day.

Mickey Rooney (1920 - )

Every one of us gets through tough times because somebody is there, standing in the gap to close it for us.

Oprah Winfrey (1954 - )

Pickled Eggs
6 Hard-cooked eggs, peeled
125 mL (1/2 cup) Vinegar
250 mL (1 cup) Water
5 mL (1 tsp) Sugar
3 mL (3/4 tsp) Salt
2 mL (1/2 tsp) Peppercorns
5 Whole cloves
½ Bay leaf
1 Dried chili pepper
Pickled Eggs
Place hard-cooked eggs in a jar. In a small saucepan, combine other ingredients.
Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes over low heat.
Strain liquid and cool to room temperature.
Cover eggs with vinegar solution. Cover with lid and let stand in the refrigerator for at least 2 days before using.
Makes 6 pickled eggs.
Preparation time: 10 minutes. Cooking time: 10 minutes.
Nutrients per serving
(2 eggs):
Calories: 154 Protein: 12.4 g Carbohydrate: 2.6 g Fat: 10.0 g
Tips
  • Pickled eggs will keep several months without refrigeration if the container is unopened. Once opened, refrigerate and use within one month.
Variation:
  • Super-easy Pickled Eggs: Drop peeled hard-cooked eggs into pickle juice. Refrigerate several days before using.

Silence is the virtue of fools.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

All About YOU: Are Some Foods Addictive?

Rating: 4 out of 5

Like smoking or certain drugs, foods can become addictive by boosting feel-good hormones in your brain. What food has qualities least similar to that of an addictive drug?

a. The #2 value meal with a large Coke and a chocolate shake
b. Peanuts
c. Potatoes
d. Sugary cereals

.Peanuts. Unlike the other items on the list, peanuts don’t cause the direct release of dopamine, the pleasure neurotransmitter. And that’s a good thing, because when dopamine is released, you feel great — until the levels begin to drop off again, and you find yourself reaching for more of the item that made you feel so fine.

But peanuts satisfy without the neurochemical roller coaster that other foods foster. And they’re great for your heart because they’re full of healthful fats. Not to mention vegetable protein and flavonoids — powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory substances. Just an ounce of nuts per day can decrease the incidence of heart disease between 20 and 60 percent. So cut cravings and get healthy with the almighty peanut!

RealAge Benefit: Eating a low-fat diet — and eating healthful unsaturated fats when you do eat fat — can make your RealAge as much as 6 years younger.

RealAge Smart Search: Learn more about nuts and other healthful snack options with these hand-selected results.

Be thankful for what you have today because it could be gone tomorrow.

grizz