Stupid S**t

[Bmichael]

From The Huffington Post -

Colorado state Sen. Vicki Marble (R-Fort Collins) caused a stir on Wednesday when she said high poverty rates among blacks and Hispanics are connected to diets that include fried chicken and barbecue.

"When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race," Marble said during a meeting of the legislature's Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force. "Sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up. Diabetes is something that's prevalent in the genetic makeup, and you just can't help it. Although I've got to say, I've never had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down South and you, I mean, I love it. Everybody loves it."

Marble continued, "The Mexican diet in Mexico with all of the fresh vegetables, and you go down there and they are much thinner than they are up here. They’ve changed their diet. I’ve read studies on that."

[Carol T]

How do these people get elected?  Her argument isn't even consistent -- black people are poor because they eat a lot of fat, and brown people are poor because they eat a lot of veggies?

[Westerly_2]

Oy, oy, oy!

[Snagg]

It ain't about consistently making sense - It's about consistently appealing to the audience's / voter's prejudices.

[Marilyn]

Gotta laugh at the level of ignorance. Or cry!

[Bmichael]

Is Manly Food Packaging Condescending to Men?

By Kristin Hohenadel

Recently the Wall Street Journal reported on a growing trend among major American food brands: Marketing various foodstuffs specifically to men. Apparently, men have discovered grocery shopping but need to be convinced that it’s safe to buy staples such as bread and yogurt with testosterone-injected packaging design.

Perhaps the most flagrantly macho packaging belongs to Powerful Yogurt, namedBest Yogurt of 2013 by FoodBev's Dairy Innovation Awards program for its unapologetically dude-centric design.

Powerful Yogurt claims that it is “the first yogurt in the U.S. specifically designed for men and men’s health needs.” What makes it different from any other Greek-style yogurt currently on the market? According to the company, its “man-sized” 8-oz. portion size containing a super-charged 25 grams of protein and zero fat. 

The company has chosen a bold red-and-black packaging design with ab-like contours on the side of its larger-than-average container to echo the brand’s “find your inner abs” tagline.

“We wanted our packaging to reflect our target market, which is why we debuted the first black cup in the industry with a masculine-looking red, white and black label,” CEO Carlos Ramirez told Package Design magazine. “Our container has contoured abs on its sides to remind guys whenever they reach for our container that they're making a healthy choice that's part of the larger picture of health, fitness and overall quality of life.”

Do health-conscious men really need manly packaging to convince them that it’s safe to eat yogurt? Isn’t this just as condescending (and embarrassing) to men as pastel-colored girly yogurt packaging is to women? Does putting abs on a yogurt container really make men want to eat more yogurt?

While Powerful Yogurt is the most obvious about its man-grabbing intentions, and plans to expand into Ireland and the U.K. in 2014, the masculine package design trend is catching on elsewhere. And it seems that just about everybody got the memo about using bold graphics and lots of black. The makers of Pro Yo, a “high-protein frozen yogurt,” use male-friendly packaging including a black-and-white logo that signals it’s acceptable bro yo. Newly rebranded “Ultimate (Hamburger) Helper” also has bold black packaging and is being marketed to young men.

In addition to its red, white and black ab cups, Powerful Yogurt’s company logo features a pair of bull’s horns.

Powerful Yogurt's logo features a pair of bull horns attached to a silhouette of its signature ab-chiseled container.

Image courtesy Powerful Yogurt

As leading social anthropologist Stephen Colbert commented on his show the other night: “Yes, bull horns. This yogurt is extra manly because evidently it’s made from bull milk. Very difficult to acquire. But the bull will thank you.”

 

Silly Kristin...real men don't eat yogurt.

[Westerly_2]

At least someone has brought back the 8 oz package, gone extinct it seems. Yogurt servings have shrunk to a 6 1/4 or even a 5 3/4 oz. "cup." What's up with that?

[Bmichael]

From OZY

Good Vibrations: Augmented Books Give You the Feels

FEBRUARY 27, 2014 BY LAURA SECORUN PALET

 

Remember how good it felt the last time you were so absorbed in a book that you couldn’t put it down? Well, a team of innovators has come up with a whole new way for you to connect with your favorite authors.

Would you strap yourself to a device that physically replicates the emotions of a book’s protagonist? It might sound like a Star Trek plot, but students at MIT’s Media Lab have made it a reality.

In the name of “sensory fiction,” the creators of this book-and-vest combo want to turn plain old reading into a truly multisensory experience. The elaborate gadget senses what page the reader is on and uses 150 LED bulbs and dozens of sensors to create an atmosphere that “matches the character’s mood” through ambient light changes and vibrations

For those who like cuddling up with a good read, the wearable vest gives fiction a whole new squeeze. It sends feedback to the wearable vest, using sensors and a “heartbeat and shiver simulator” to constrict readers’ chests, modify heartbeat and even change body temperature. The effects are slight but noticeable and designed to help readers physically mirror the protagonist’s changing emotional state

Is your character excited on Christmas morning? The book vibrates. Sad after losing a loved one? The cover turns blue. Scared of vampires? The vest goes cold and tight.

Creators Felix Heibeck, Alexis Hope and Julie Legault say the goal of the project is to “find new ways of experiencing and creating stories” and to give authors “new means of conveying plot, mood and emotion while still allowing space for the reader’s imagination.” 

Some might argue that good writers don’t need help conveying emotion, but sensory fiction is not much different from what the cinema industry has been doing for years with IMAX, HD, 3D and surround sound effects.

Augmented literature could be the next stage of publishing’s evolution. And why not? If video games bring players closer to the action by having their remote controls vibrate when a bomb goes off, why shouldn’t books explore interactivity?

Granted, using it to read a murder scene by Stephen King could be a little traumatic, and if you thought Fifty Shades of Grey did well in paperback, just imagine the sensory version. 

But for the mainstream read, getting truly immersed in a character’s life could be an irresistible proposition. Who wouldn’t like to feel butterflies in their stomach while reading Pride and Prejudice during their commute? Or the thrill of making it Around the World in 80 Days with Phileas Fogg while sitting on the sofa?

The MIT prototype is based on the celebrated science fiction book The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree (aka Alice Bradley Sheldon), which follows its protagonist through an emotional roller coaster — from a suicide attempt to extreme joy. 

Those quivering with excitement to get their hands on this enhanced book will have to wait a while. Its creators have no plans to commercialize it but are instead hoping to provoke debate about its potential use.

Now that electronic books have gone mainstream, perhaps giving readers the opportunity to become part of the story is the next best step. That is, if readers dare to take it.

Are you ready for a book with more feeling? 

 

 

[Bmichael]

"Now that electronic books have gone mainstream, perhaps giving readers the opportunity to become part of the story is the next best step. That is, if readers dare to take it.

Are you ready for a book with more feeling? "

 

Ummm...

[Carol T]

NO!