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csziggy
csziggy's Journal
csziggy's Journal
July 2, 2014
Ashleigh Banfield on CNN skewering Hobby Lobby for investments
Of HL's retirement funds into the same companies that make the birth control methods that HL claims to object to. Her guest is pointing out that HL could have instructed their investment management to not invest in those companies. Both women are being very critical of Hobby Lobby's owners.
No link - it's on right now.
June 22, 2014
From the comments:
stephelinda's comments were in response to some racist complaints and comments but stephelinda adds some very important facts to the discussion. My question is why corn masa unlike most grain products not fortified with folic acid? It's a simple, inexpensive step that would save so many lives and so much grief.
Hispanic Newborns at Higher Risk of Neural Tube Defects
Hispanic Newborns at Higher Risk of Neural Tube Defects
Kathleen Lees k.lees@scienceworldreport.com
First Posted: Jun 20, 2014 05:03 PM EDT
The findings are updated from a similar 2008 paper by the March of Dimes, a nonprofit foundation that highlights the growing number of Hispanic women who have children each year in the United States. The report found that this group has more babies each year than any other population in the country.
Unfortunately, many of these women are also more prone to giving birth prematurely or before the 37th week. This puts many of their future children at an increased risk of spina bifida and anencephaly, brain and spinal cord malformations that are a form of neural tube defects.
Many researchers believe that because corn masa flour is common staple of the Hispanic diet, some women's children in this population will be at an increased risk for certain neural tube defects because of a lack of folic acid and vitamin B in their diet. The report also found that Hispanic women are less likely to take a multivitamin than other ethnicities.
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/15455/20140620/hispanic-newborns-at-higher-risk-of-neural-tube-defects.htm
Kathleen Lees k.lees@scienceworldreport.com
First Posted: Jun 20, 2014 05:03 PM EDT
The findings are updated from a similar 2008 paper by the March of Dimes, a nonprofit foundation that highlights the growing number of Hispanic women who have children each year in the United States. The report found that this group has more babies each year than any other population in the country.
Unfortunately, many of these women are also more prone to giving birth prematurely or before the 37th week. This puts many of their future children at an increased risk of spina bifida and anencephaly, brain and spinal cord malformations that are a form of neural tube defects.
Many researchers believe that because corn masa flour is common staple of the Hispanic diet, some women's children in this population will be at an increased risk for certain neural tube defects because of a lack of folic acid and vitamin B in their diet. The report also found that Hispanic women are less likely to take a multivitamin than other ethnicities.
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/15455/20140620/hispanic-newborns-at-higher-risk-of-neural-tube-defects.htm
From the comments:
stephelinda nosuprise • 19 hours ago
We've known for a long time that folic acid deficiency can cause neural tube defects. Most cereal products -- but not corn masa -- are fortified with folic acid. In addition, folic acid can be acquired from dark leafy greens, asparagus, turnip, beets, and mustard greens, Brussels sprouts, lima beans, soybeans, beef liver, brewer's yeast, root vegetables, whole grains, wheat germ, bulgur wheat, and some beans. But young Mexican American women, many of whom live on a tight budget, typically consume neither fortified grains nor quantities of fresh vegetables. So while I share your suspicion around GMOs, I think we could prevent birth defects by fortifying corn masa.
We've known for a long time that folic acid deficiency can cause neural tube defects. Most cereal products -- but not corn masa -- are fortified with folic acid. In addition, folic acid can be acquired from dark leafy greens, asparagus, turnip, beets, and mustard greens, Brussels sprouts, lima beans, soybeans, beef liver, brewer's yeast, root vegetables, whole grains, wheat germ, bulgur wheat, and some beans. But young Mexican American women, many of whom live on a tight budget, typically consume neither fortified grains nor quantities of fresh vegetables. So while I share your suspicion around GMOs, I think we could prevent birth defects by fortifying corn masa.
stephelinda • 18 hours ago
The original report, Fortification of corn masa flour with folic acid in the United States: an overview of the evidence, in "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences," of which this is an attempted synopsis, can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com...
(For some reason the URL is truncated when I post, but anyone interested can google it.)
Regarding the complaint that Lee used "Hispanic" carelessly, it's worth noting that the original study showed "no difference was observed between Hispanic women who reported speaking primarily English at home and white women."
In other words, the increased incidence of pregnancies with neural tube defects was found only in a population of Mexican American women who had immigrated less than 15 years earlier and who spoke Spanish at home. This is the primary target population for fortification of corn masa flour. The term "Hispanic" was far too general to be meaningful.
The original report, Fortification of corn masa flour with folic acid in the United States: an overview of the evidence, in "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences," of which this is an attempted synopsis, can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com...
(For some reason the URL is truncated when I post, but anyone interested can google it.)
Regarding the complaint that Lee used "Hispanic" carelessly, it's worth noting that the original study showed "no difference was observed between Hispanic women who reported speaking primarily English at home and white women."
In other words, the increased incidence of pregnancies with neural tube defects was found only in a population of Mexican American women who had immigrated less than 15 years earlier and who spoke Spanish at home. This is the primary target population for fortification of corn masa flour. The term "Hispanic" was far too general to be meaningful.
stephelinda's comments were in response to some racist complaints and comments but stephelinda adds some very important facts to the discussion. My question is why corn masa unlike most grain products not fortified with folic acid? It's a simple, inexpensive step that would save so many lives and so much grief.
June 21, 2014
I see a Facebook account for them, but I hate Facebook and don't want to use it.
Anybody else having a problem with ActBlue?
I got an email from Nancy Pelosi about the petition to support a Constitutional Amendment ending Citizens United but I keep getting error messages when I try to get to ActBlue to sign the petition. Neither the link in the email or just the direct link.
Every link reverts to a https secure connection and I get a message:
Secure Connection Failed
An error occurred during a connection to secure.actblue.com. The OCSP server found the request to be corrupted or improperly formed. (Error code: sec_error_ocsp_malformed_request)
The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem. Alternatively, use the command found in the help menu to report this broken site.
An error occurred during a connection to secure.actblue.com. The OCSP server found the request to be corrupted or improperly formed. (Error code: sec_error_ocsp_malformed_request)
The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem. Alternatively, use the command found in the help menu to report this broken site.
I see a Facebook account for them, but I hate Facebook and don't want to use it.
June 20, 2014
Lawrence O'Donnell will be back Monday night!
Just now on Rachel Maddow, he said he will be back on his show Monday night!
No link.
June 19, 2014
UPDATE: Anyone here gotten their glasses from Costco or WalMart?
Our vision insurance gives us two choices to get glasses - Walmart and Costco. I try to not go to Walmart and don't want to get something like glasses from them.
The local Costco was not sure if they would have the line of frames our insurance covers - but apparently they can order them.
If anyone has used Costco, how were they for service and quality?
June 19, 2014
Why isn't the NFL as decent as the NBA?
Thought of this while watching Chris Hayes with his interview about the Washington team's trademark case.
The NBA banned a team owner for using racial slurs in a private conversation. But the NFL will NOT prohibit a team owner from using a racial slur as their team name?
NFL, get a clue - it's the 21st century and people just don't accept that any more!
June 18, 2014
Glitch? I just found that I can recommend hidden threads
This thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025115440#post112
Was hidden - after it was hidden I was able to REC it. If you can't respond in a thread, why can you add more recommendations to it? It doesn't make sense!
June 10, 2014
Just another day in Florida / the United States / NRA heaven....
Lock down lifted, armed suspect seen on Tallahassee Community College campus
UPDATED TUESDAY JUNE 10, 2014 AT 4:45 P.M.
Tallahassee Community College Police say campus is safe after police say a man pulled a gun on a student.
The entire campus was placed on lock down as law enforcement officers searched from the air and on the ground for a gunman who is still on the run. The lock down lasted from 10:30 a.m. to 12:57 p.m. School leaders say there were no shots fired and there were no injuries.
<SNIP>
Witnesses say saw two people running through campus and that it looked like one man was chasing the other. Students who saw the two said that one of the men pulled a gun on the other.
The man with the gun was described as a black male in his 20's with dreadlocks and wearing a baseball cap with long blue sleeves and a blue jacket. The school updated its alert to describe the suspect as "black male last seen wearing a dark hoodie, blue jean shorts, plaid boxers, short dreadlock hairstyle and gold teeth."
http://www.wtxl.com/news/lockdown-lifted-armed-suspect-seen-on-tallahassee-community-college-campus/article_28ed5be0-f0af-11e3-ad6c-0017a43b2370.html
Tallahassee Community College Police say campus is safe after police say a man pulled a gun on a student.
The entire campus was placed on lock down as law enforcement officers searched from the air and on the ground for a gunman who is still on the run. The lock down lasted from 10:30 a.m. to 12:57 p.m. School leaders say there were no shots fired and there were no injuries.
<SNIP>
Witnesses say saw two people running through campus and that it looked like one man was chasing the other. Students who saw the two said that one of the men pulled a gun on the other.
The man with the gun was described as a black male in his 20's with dreadlocks and wearing a baseball cap with long blue sleeves and a blue jacket. The school updated its alert to describe the suspect as "black male last seen wearing a dark hoodie, blue jean shorts, plaid boxers, short dreadlock hairstyle and gold teeth."
http://www.wtxl.com/news/lockdown-lifted-armed-suspect-seen-on-tallahassee-community-college-campus/article_28ed5be0-f0af-11e3-ad6c-0017a43b2370.html
Just another day in Florida / the United States / NRA heaven....
June 6, 2014
SCIENCE explains why you LOVE the smell of BACON
Article:
Reaction between compounds found to ... you're already off to fry some bacon, aren't you?
By Shaun Nichols, 31 May 2014
Scientists have explained the reason why humans love the smell of frying bacon.
Bacon-boffins from the American Chemical Society and Compound Interest produced a video summarizing a research effort into the compounds that give everyone's favorite cured breakfast meat its distinctive and wonderful aroma.
The video explains that bacon's smell is the result of a process known as the Maillard Reaction, in which sugars break down and combine with amino acids to form any of 150 different organic compounds.
Among those compounds, researchers say, is a collection of aldehydes, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen-containing pyridines and pyrazines which humans (and most other carnivorous or omnivorous species) find so enticing. That collection of compounds is unique to bacon and is not produced when other types of pork are fried.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/31/science_explains_why_you_love_the_smell_of_bacon/
By Shaun Nichols, 31 May 2014
Scientists have explained the reason why humans love the smell of frying bacon.
Bacon-boffins from the American Chemical Society and Compound Interest produced a video summarizing a research effort into the compounds that give everyone's favorite cured breakfast meat its distinctive and wonderful aroma.
The video explains that bacon's smell is the result of a process known as the Maillard Reaction, in which sugars break down and combine with amino acids to form any of 150 different organic compounds.
Among those compounds, researchers say, is a collection of aldehydes, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen-containing pyridines and pyrazines which humans (and most other carnivorous or omnivorous species) find so enticing. That collection of compounds is unique to bacon and is not produced when other types of pork are fried.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/31/science_explains_why_you_love_the_smell_of_bacon/
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