A WHO report is going to label certain processed meats to be as bad as smoking..
The food industry is fighting back early.
While industry groups are preparing for a damaging blow to consumer confidence as a result, The North American Meat Institute (Nami) has accused the IARC of “dramatic and alarmist over-reach,” CNBC reported.
Nami president Barry Carpenter said: “Red and processed meats are among 940 substances reviewed by IARC found to pose some level of theoretical ‘hazard’.
“Only one substance, a chemical in yoga pants, has been declared by IARC not to cause cancer,” he claimed.
You are what you eat. Perhaps to the extreme in the case of hot dogs..
MORE:
Clear Foods, which “uses genomic technology to analyze the world’s foods at a molecular level, ingredient by ingredient,” released a report recently that it said was designed to look at the accuracy of the content labels of several major hot dog brands.A new report, however, adds extra meaning to the phrase “you don’t want to know how the sausage gets made.”
The company analyzed 345 hot dog and sausage products from 75 brands and 10 retailers, and said they found “human DNA in 2% of the samples, and in 2/3rds of the vegetarian samples.”
Additionally, 10 percent of all vegetarian products appeared to contain meat.
Despite some of the shocking findings, Clear Foods reports “there are a number of hot dog manufacturers, large and small, that are producing high-quality hot dogs with integrity.”
Butterball, McCormick, Eckrich and Hebrew National were among the major brands that received top scores from Clear Foods. Gardein was the top specialty or regional brand.
That’s fine. They can produce the higher quality.
You know.. I think I will just continue by 20-year-tradition (I admit I ate them during the early years) and avoid this ‘food.’ And also reinforce my son’s 4 and a half year tradition of not eating them as well.
Human DNA, eh?
Nice.
People wish they could be Oscar Meier wieners, I guess somehow we got the chance.
Battling howling winds, driving rain and icy temperatures, thousands of migrants today marched into Slovenia.
Photographed from above, the refugees formed a single column as they crossed into the country from Croatia.
It comes as Slovenia’s Prime Minister warns the EU will break up if leaders cannot agree on how to deal with crisis.
MORE..
Nine days after Hungary’s move to seal its southern border drove unprecedented migrant flows into tiny Slovenia, Prime Minister Miro Cerar sent out a dramatic call to fellow central and eastern leaders in Brussels for emergency talks.He said: ‘If we don’t find a solution today, if we don’t do everything we can today, then it is the end of the European Union as such. If we don’t deliver concrete action, I believe Europe will start falling apart.'Since October 17, more than 62,000 migrants have arrived in Slovenia, with some 14,000 still passing through the country on today alone. Cerar said Croatia, which has already seen some 230,000 migrants pass through since mid-September, was still waiving migrants through into Slovenia without alerting Slovenia authorities.
Nbc news reporting in full:
KABUL — A magnitude-7.5 earthquake hit northeastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing at least 72 people there and in neighboring Pakistan.
“More [deaths] are expected,” the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Minister Pervez Khattak told state TV about three hours after the incident. At least 48 deaths were confirmed there, along with 554 injuries.
The victims also included around 12 girls who died while trying to flee their school in Afghanistan, a official told NBC News. Some of them were crushed in a stampede. Twelve more deaths were confirmed throughout the country.
No better time than Halloween week to visit the ‘island of misfit dolls’
It’s a real place in Mexico that lots of people every year seek out. I would imagine being there during the creepy week we’re in would be among the best times to acquaint yourselves with the statues of strangeness..
The story of the island:
A half century ago, a little girl drowned off a small island hidden deep among the canals of Xochimico. The island’s only permanent inhabitant was a hermit named Don Julián Santana Barrera, who despite having a wife and family, chose to live alone on the island. Soon after the girl’s death Barrera fished out one doll after another from the canals. Convinced that this was a sign from the evil spirit, Don Julian Santana began hanging them on trees to protect himself from evil and calm the spirit of the dead girl. Soon Don Julián had made the entire island into a shrine.
Santana did not clean up the dolls or attempt to fix them, but rather put them up with missing eyes and limbs, covered in dirt. Even when dolls arrived in good shape, the wind and weather naturally decomposed them over time creating a gallery of eerie and ghoulish faces. Don Julian Santana lived on the island for 50 years before his death in 2001. He was found drowned in the same area in which he believed the little girl had died.
And the creation still exists.
Sun-damaged and all.. Creepy dolls across the land.
An artist in Ukraine uses the placeholder the statue of Lenin used to be on to showcase Darth Vader..
The point: In April, Ukraine ordered all Soviet era statues and ‘stuff’ to be destroyed or removed. Or both.
Oleksandr Milov, the sculptor of the new statue, said this to the AFP news agency:
“Honestly, I did not like the idea of destroying it, so we decided on a more flexible solution,” he said, adding that they were planning to install a Wi-fi router on the statue’s head so that he can “communicate with the other Siths.”
“The main candidate of the Internet Party of Ukraine, named after the legendary Star Wars villain Darth Vader, is campaigning in Odessa, cruising through the town on a black van to the sound of the Imperial March from the saga. The Sith Lord often seen flanked by his loyal storm troopers and Chewbacca is the official candidate of the party which has become known for its theatrical public stunts.Vader and storm troopers were recently seen waving at passers-by from atop the van as flames shot up at the helm of the vehicle. “When I am appointed to my position, I will distribute free accommodation as a first policy,” the man dressed as Darth Vader said.”
Otherwise, check out http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/11b-x-1371, the site I go to when I need to get on top of the current MEMES floating around the net. While there is not much on there I did not know at this point, there certainly is a good bit of information for newcomers to this topic..
One point that is new information for me from only a few days ago:
On October 21st, Twitter user @Exen pointed to the now-abandoned Zofiowka Sanitarium near Otwock, Poland as the location where the video was filmed.
Debate continues.. what is the video? A threat? a test? a terrorist? or a movie/game ad?
Time will tell..
Maybe depending on what the conclusion it, we don’t want to know.
The week before Halloween, and all through the box, not a horror flick was stirring, and it took a knock.
The makers of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 238947, or whatever one we’re on now, had some high expectations. Those hopes fell flat after real box office numbers potentially showed Paramount/Blumhouse that it could very well be time to move on in horror.. The full weekend take for the GHOST DIMENSION could be around $6-7 mil–rough when the studios were publicly saying $12 mil with private hopes of more.
The STEVE JOBS biopic also seems to be flopping..
ROCK THE KASBAH never took off.
But what did take off for weeks: THE MARTIAN, a clear dominant factor in this seasonal box office and potentially one of the best films (if not the best) of the year, according to many people.
As usual, I am late for the party. I did not see the MARTIAN yet, but plan to today .. if that doesn’t work out, I will simply take a day off of work and see if alone! Not only do I want to, but I got extremely excited when Art Bell said that they chose to use his bumper music in the soundtrack.. Picture an astronaut stuck on Mars with ABBA’s WATERLOO playing? That is excitement only a theater can provide..
And you thought CENTRALIA was a big story!? That town only had a little around 2,000 people when the government forced all to move because of an underground mine fire–mine included.
And with the personal history I can pen about a town on fire, it’s with particular interest that I read this story from the LATIMES written by Matt Pearce..
Giving all credit to Pearce for his words describing the troubling situation, this:
A fire is smoldering beneath a landfill in a densely populated suburb of St. Louis — and it has been there for five years.
Underground landfill fires, or “smoldering events” as some officials call them, aren’t rare. What makes the fire at the landfill in Bridgeton, Mo., so unusual is that it’s less than a quarter of a mile from a large deposit of nuclear waste — with no barrier in its way.
The radioactive legacy of St. Louis’ role in the World War II atomic weapons program has unleashed Cold War-style nuclear paranoia in the area, as some residents debate what kind of gas masks to buy or whether to move away.
When you read more on the subject, you realize that state, local, and federal officials are not in agreement whatsoever about what type of threat this would hold for St. Louis and if it even poses a threat at all.. Sort of like Centralia’s story, scientists and residents are arguing over whether the underground fire is even moving..
More from Pearce:
Even if the underground fire eventually burns out without any problems, the radioactive dump could cause trouble, according to Ed Smith, the safe-energy director for the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.
“Either the government puts together a plan for the removal of the radioactive material in a way that is done as safely as possible,” Smith said, “or at some point in the future, I can say with some confidence that a flood, fire, earthquake, tornado, what have you, is going to move this radioactive material and other contaminants at the landfill in a way we cannot control.”
I am not an expert. Never claimed to be. But I will say this: The fire will not burn out. History of underground fires sort of showcase that.
And this fire, so close to radioactive materials, needs broad attention in a quick manner.
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Lawn chairs, blankets and water bottles were strewn in the street and bodies remained at the scene as Oklahoma State University fans walked past an intersection where a woman had plowed her car into a homecoming parade crowd hours earlier and killed four people.
Some lingered Saturday to look at the aftermath that also included a gray car with a smashed side and shattered windshield, and a crumpled motorcycle. Dozens more were injured in the collision that sent some spectators flying through the air.
The driver is suspected of being under the influence, and investigators were awaiting results of blood tests to determine if she was impaired by drugs or alcohol.
And this:
Three adults died at the scene and a 2-year-old boy died later, Stillwater police Capt. Kyle Gibbs said. He said 44 people were injured.
Adacia Chambers, a 25-year-old Stillwater resident, was arrested on the DUI charge after the morning crash
x x x
Not to take anything away from the victims of this tragedy, but I remember one that was narrowly averted when I was a younger child.. Around the age of 8 or 9, I remember being at the Ashland PA ‘ABA parade’ on a cool September night, standing at the top of town in rows of people near the May’s Restaurant. I have a vivid memory of a car going too fast in the parade–it was actually one of the cars IN the parade.. the car was coming straight for the crowd that I was standing in but made a sharp turn to the right at the last minute.. It was later found out that the man driving the car had a heart attack and someone who was a passenger took over at exactly the right moment. So right that if it did not occur, I may not have been typing this blog post right now..
I can only imagine the suffering that these families are going through–especially when a 2-year-old passes away from the moronic choice a drunk driver made by getting into a car and plowing into a crowd of people. It’s disgusting..
May the collective consciousnesses of all who are thinking or praying for them shine on them.
Actress Maureen O’Hara dead at 95..
xxx
She appeared in five of director John Ford’s films including How Green Was My Valley, Rio Grande and The Quiet Man, has died. Awarded an honorary Oscar last year, O’Hara was 95 and died at her home in Boise, Idaho
More from her movie past:
She appeared opposite John Wayne in the aforementioned Ford pictures Rio Grande and The Quiet Man (Steven Spielberg replicated their famous kiss in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial ) as well as The Wings of Eagles, McLintock! and Big Jake. She also starred in the original 1947 Christmas classic Miracle On 34th Street
Although several of the movies O’Hara starred in were nominated for or won multiple Academy Awards, she was never nominated. The Academy rectified that oversight with the honorary Oscar presented to her at the 2014 Governors Awards ceremony in November. She made her final major public appearance then to accept the long overdue honor. It was a night to remember.
The 40-second cellphone video, released Thursday by the Nevada Department of Public Safety two days after the Las Vegas Review-Journal had requested it, was taken from a berm atop Trench No. 11 overlooking the soil cap of Trench No. 14.
Trench No. 14 is where containers of low-level radioactive waste were buried in part of a pit the size of a football stadium in the 1970s.
Think about this for a second before reading on..
And now some more words from Rogers’ excellent newspaper reporting on the subject:
State Fire Marshal Chief Peter Mulvihill said Tuesday investigators don’t know yet what caused the “energetic burning” in that pit Sunday but whatever caught fire below the surface of the unlined, clay terrain “definitely burned very hot.”
The state’s public safety team decided to allow the fire to burn itself out instead of trying to douse it because they didn’t want to put water on any material that might be reactive to water, fearing that could potentially exacerbate the problem.
But as usual.. Nothing to see here. Go about your business. IT’s all under control.
Of course it wasn’t going to be released until an information request from a newspaper made it happen.
As being reported in several publications including the linked USA TODAY story:
A Pleasant Valley man has been accused of strangling his mother, and then keeping her remains in a Pleasant Valley motel for seven weeks before moving her body to a small town in South Carolina.
The gruesome details came to light during a state police press conference Saturday at the Troop K headquarters in Millbrook.
Police are alleging that the crime occurred on August 16..
“I find it hard to imagine,” state police Capt. John Ryan said, “the circumstances that would lead a son to strangle his mother, but also to live with the body in a motel room and then travel several states away and dump her like trash.”
More .. Earth may be in great danger as the sun’s path through the galaxy sends comet flying towards our planet, scientists have warned. Researchers have identified a 26 million-year cycle of meteor impacts that coincides with the timing of mass extinctions over the past 260 million years.
There is a close shave on Halloween set by an asteroid .. And now days before that hopeful non event, this news about how eventually a comet accident could kill us all..
“I think if she killed someone, I would literally be like, ‘I got it, where do you want me to help you bury the body?’ ” the actress says. “I wouldn’t even question it, and I can’t say that about anybody else in my life.”
And there you get the headline.. reported over and over again by entertainment rags that proclaim journalistic integrity.
That is my problem with these types of publications. It would go without saying..
Lay off Kunis.
She’s a mom and the voice of Meg.
And I don’t think she deserves headlines in NEW YORK MAGAZINE proclaiming:
The same thing that has always been wrong, I would say. As said before, horror is an elementary education of the pop culture of the time. The fears presented in horror are the fears of the age they appear it. When a movie comes a little too early, or a little too late, they flop. You have to strike while the iron is hot. UNFRIENDED would not work two years from now. It works now. BLAIR WITCH worked when it did, and began a series of unfortunate “found” stories..all of which are becoming quickly hackneyed under the weight of time.
The SAW films? Enough already.. ROB ZOMBIE? I never could stomach it.. REMAKES? I never appreciated them to begin with.
The website BLOODY-DISGUSTING’S Brad Miska wrote up a story about what is wrong with the genre.. a few valid points presented:
For me, the biggest thing he nails is that modern horror is littered with fake jump-scares. I often cite the use of authentic scares in reviews of films I love – most notably ones directed by James Wan (Insidious, The Conjuring). Many studio films fatigue the audience with bullshit jump-scares that utilize loud sound design to make the audience jolt out of their seat. They aren’t being scared, they’re being yelled at. That’s not horror. He relates it to having sex – films are blowing their load and releasing tension too early, leaving the film’s climax to have little to no effect.
Graphic description .. but I see the point. Horror is slow and methodical.. it brings you to a point where you realize the conclusion is awfully scary.. Deep and disturbing .. that was the success of this autumn’s M NIGHT film THE VISIT. It took a while. You got to enjoy it.. and you got surprised at the end.
Lastly, he [
Chris Stuckmann] points to expectations vs reality as a major issue. Marketing of The Village is his prime example, in which he points out that even M. Night Shyamalan regrets the false advertising. Studios need to get asses in the seats and will do so by any means necessary (For example, much of the footage in The Gallows trailers and TV spots weren’t actually in the movie).
I agree.. Another good example of advertising to seduce is this past week’s failure CRIMSON PEAK. It was a romance horror.. And it failed, because as people found out it was not the ‘scariest movie of the year’ that was promised, they shunned like an Amish sinner in Lancaster county.
Fans vote with wallets, for sure. But sadly they vote for what is heaped on them by studios that just want quick bucks off of horror flicks.
A few horrors that were good, and not because of profit, exist in the past few years.. THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT, IT FOLLOWS, and the BABADOOK.
You can find a lot more gems on Netflix. Lower budget gems. I talk about them often on this website. And you should search them out as well..
Rummage through the pile of studio-produced garbage and find the things that matter.. the prizes in the puzzle of horror.
There are truly really scary things out there. Sadly in the way we’re given films, you have to search them out yourself. They certainly will not be handed to you.
I would love to hear feedback.
What do you, reader, say is good and bad about modern horror?
