SpinnyNuNu

A Lodi couple took their relationships to new heights when they were married on a net suspended 400 feet above a Utah Canyon.

“Arrows of Gold” | Paul Poiret | c. 1925
• • •

The influence of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes on fashion was especially pronounced in textile designs of the period. The green silk chiffon of the gown is brocaded with a gilt-thread fletching motif in overall repeat on the torso of the dress and on the hem. Renowned as a colorist, Poiret is unusual among couturiers in his advocacy of vivid green as a fashionable hue. In various tonalities, green is represented in almost all of the designer’s collections. Here, Poiret has complemented the color with a hip girdle of pink and gold that brings to the surface of the dress the colors of its richly brocaded pink silk underdress in the kind of sophisticated juxtaposition for which the designer was celebrated.
Poiret has created a tunic proportion, favored in the period, by extending the bodice to the lower hipline, where the skirt is then shirred in a dagged line conforming to the fletching motif. The sashlike girdle is positioned along the upper hipline, which not only introduces a more personalized proportion but also mediates Poiret’s concession to prevailing modes. An almost intransigent, deliberately individualistic approach to design therefore appears in even his most conventional works. Poiret’s lifelong assertion of his identity as an artist subordinated his pursuit of commercial success. Thus, although arguably with increasing subtlety, idiosyncracy infused his designs until the close of his couture house in 1929.
• • •#whattheywore #historicalfashion #fashion #fashiondesign #fashionhistory #historyoffashion #vintagefashion #art #vintage #historicfashion #defunctfashion #historicalfashion #costume #costumedesign #couture #costumehistory #paulpoiret #1920sfashion #1920s #🏹

Staff members of this church camp signed a contract saying they “live a life of moral integrity.” This guy lied.

Variety also reported Tristar Pictures has landed worldwide distribution rights to the film.

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald's financial transactions raised questions about conflicts of interests.

Chanel | c. 1932 — Tulle and chiffon, like lace, possess inherent tensile qualities that enabled Chanel to assert the natural curvature of the body. Her chiffon gowns, in particular, drift over the bust, waist, and hips with an erotic suppleness. Similarly, her tulle gowns reveal discrete finishes, such as shirring applied to the derriere, in an attempt to accommodate the body’s topography. Several of Chanel’s tulle gowns from the 1930s have plunging backs and necklines. Often, however, Chanel would counter this apparent immodesty by creating matching jackets or boleros that gave the dresses a more demure, romantic appearance. #whattheywore #historicalfashion #fashion #fashiondesign #fashionhistory #historyoffashion #vintagefashion #art #vintage #historicfashion #defunctfashion #historicalfashion #costume #costumedesign #couture #costumehistory #chanel #cocochanel #tulle #lbd #1930s 1930sfashion

The woman's doctor offered to treat her with Tamiflu, but she declined because she thought the potential side effects sounded worse than dealing with the flu.

Leave it to a Christian church to blame women for being assaulted.

Georgia State Sen. Michael Williams wants to make it legal for high school football coaches to pray with kids, despite the coercion involved in the act.

What an insult Kenneth Copeland's presence would be to those soldiers.

We know religious leaders love telling people how, when, and with whom to have sex. But the Jehovah's Witnesses didn't expect these videos to leak.

Of course, it is a Latin word that a few will recognize:

Adjective

magicus (feminine magica, neuter magicum); first/second declension

1. magic, magical

But apparently in this modern world it has taken on a new context.

Passion Dust is the first product of it's kind. It is a small sparkleized capsule that dissolves when inserted into the vagina and releases the sweet sparkle that is Passion Dust.  Passion Dust creates what we call "magicum" which is essentially a "flavored orgasm"... Women can use the capsule without intercourse just to experience the visual fun of it. Vaginal discharge is natural so if it has to come out what's wrong with having a pretty sparkly spot rather than a sticky white one?...

More at the link to company's website.  In the Q&A the company dismisses gynecological risks by insisting that it's not dangerous for everyone.  This will not come as pleasant news to those who feel there is already too much glitter in the world.

With a tip of the blogging cap to the elves at No Such Thing As A Fish.

The investment marks an early focus of the Koch brothers' 2018 political strategy.

“I am very sad this happened to a beautiful little boy, but this has also caused great havoc in my family,” she said.

"I feel they were model Christians. It's hard to believe all of this. Over the years, the Lord knows what happened."

It may look complicated, but anyone can do this at home!

White's career spans more than 75 years. The actress considers herself an optimist and loves hot dogs, vodka and animals.

A 6-year-old Central Florida child who was scratched by a bat infected with rabies has died from the disease.

By now, everyone has certainly heard that Donald Trump allegedly referred to a variety of Third-World countries, and the entire continent of Africa, as "shithole countries."

I append the word "allegedly" to this statement not because there's any particular doubt that this is how he looks at the world.  I'm just trying to be as even-handed as possible, given that Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina said yes, Trump said that, while Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia said no, he didn't.  Trump, of course, denies it categorically, but given that Trump could say something on-air in front of millions of viewers, and five minutes later state with a straight face that he never said it, and his diehard supporters would believe him both times, I'm not inclined to put him either in the "yes" or "no" column.

What I want to address here, though, is a response that I saw posted on social media shortly after the whole incident hit the media.  The initial post I saw showed photographs of slums in Nigeria and Haiti -- two of the particular "shitholes" Trump referred to -- with a text basically saying, "See, he was right."

Of course, the problem here is that if you're selective, you can do that with anywhere.  For example [all images in this post courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons with the exception of the last two, which were taken by me], take a look at the following:


Or this one:


Or this one:


And before you get your dander up, I'm not using these to prove that the USA is a horrible place, only that if you cherry pick your data points, you can prove damn near anything.  (If you're curious, the first photo is from Detroit, the second from Camden, New Jersey, and the third from Rand, West Virginia.)

What really torqued me about the social media post, however, was one of the responses to it.  "Far as I've seen, it hasn't been proven that [Trump] actually said that," the comment went.  "But if he did, he's right."

It blows me away how quick people are to use some idiotic internet meme as incontrovertible support of what they already believed.  It's like taking confirmation bias and raising it to an art form.

But really, think about what that person is saying.  That the continent of Africa -- which is the size of the continental United States, China, India, and Europe combined -- can be lumped together under one derogatory epithet and summarily dismissed.  A continent that contains places like this:

And this:


And this:


And has faces like this:


Yes, I know there's terrible poverty and corruption in Africa.  The thing is, there's terrible poverty and corruption everywhere.  By looking at the United States as some kind of pinnacle -- and by claiming that what Trump and his cronies are doing is "making America great again" (merciful heavens, I am sick unto death of that phrase) -- you are ignoring both the beauty in other parts of the world and the problems we have right here in our own back yard.

So for cryin' in the sink, before you throw your opinion in with a guy who is an unashamed racist (yes, I said the word), try breaking out of your own comfortable little bubble of smug certainty and travel to some of these countries that Trump and his supporters have dismissed with a single word.  You see, I have.  I've been in places like Belize and Ecuador and Trinidad and Malaysia.  Yes, I saw poverty, and I saw some people in terrible living conditions.  But I also saw this:


And this:


So my advice: stop falling for comforting overgeneralizations.  Get up off your ass and travel to some of the "shithole countries," talk to the people who live there, and realize that the rest of the world is just as varied -- both in good and bad ways -- as the United States.  Listen to Mark Twain, who said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

After that come back and we'll talk.

A commercial plane that skidded off a runway after landing in northern Turkey dangled precariously off a muddy cliff with its nose only a few feet from the sea.

The owner of a North Dakota Chick-fil-A is apologizing after a woman claimed she was kicked out of the restaurant when she began breastfeeding her baby.

GM's self-driving division, Cruise Automation, unveiled the car Friday, which features no steering wheel or gas and brake pedals.

A couple was arrested after police discovered that their 13 children had been held captive in their California home in filthy conditions, some shackled to beds with chains and padlocks, officials said Monday.

According to Diana Durkin, fans of Texas Tech shout "guns up" and make a gun symbol with their hands as a way of supporting their university.

TMI (14 minutes), so you'll need to skip through the video.  The technique facilitates the transfer of detailed images onto complex surfaces.  Interesting.

The biggest problem with Chicago-style deep dish pizza, especially for a New Yorker, is that it’s called “pizza.” I’m not sure what else it could’ve, or should’ve been called, but when you grow eating thin-crust, and all of a sudden someone hands you a plate of this, with a fork, and calls it pizza, it’s quite the shock to the system.

 And what's truly remarkable is that none of them were multiples -


The New York Times story said the father won a prize.  Seems the prize should have been awarded to the mother.

Reminiscent of a Monty Python sketch.

Via BoingBoing.

A Northern Irish food company, Finnebrogue, is offering what it calls “Naked Bacon” – free from chemical preservatives that contain nitrites. But would such bacon actually be more healthful? And what is the deal with nitrites in food?

Sodium nitrite (NaNO2) is a salt containing sodium, one nitrogen, and two oxygen atoms. Nitrate is similar but contains three oxygen atoms (NaNO3). Nitrites are oxidized to nitrates when exposed to the air. Nitrates can also be converted into nitrite in the GI tract. This is why we often talk about the two in food interchangeably.

Sodium nitrite serves a critical function in some foods – it is a good preservative that inhibits the growth of bacteria, specifically C. botulinum, the bacteria that causes botulism. It is therefore incredibly important to food safety, and removing it from meat products could therefore have the unintended consequence of increasing food poisoning.

What are the health effects of consuming sodium nitrite? Much of it is converted into nitric oxide, which is not only harmless, it serves several important roles in the body. One effect is to dilate blood vessels, and therefore can serve to lower blood pressure. In addition:

This effect is associated with a reduced risk regarding cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Moreover, dietary nitrate has been associated with beneficial effects in patients with gastric ulcer, renal failure, or metabolic syndrome.

The health concern is that nitrites can also be converted to nitrosamine compounds, which are probably carcinogenic. The amount of nitrites in food converted to nitrosamines is reduced by certain other food substances, such as vitamin C. Therefore, some food manufacturers have been adding vitamin C to food that also contain sodium nitrite.

There is also some evidence that cooking at very high heat can increase the formation of nitrosamines, and so this can also be avoided to minimize this conversion.

It is revealing also to point out what the sources of consumed nitrites/nitrates are. Much of the discussion focuses around sodium nitrite added to meats and other foods as a preservative. However. 80% of the nitrates you will consume in food come from fruits and vegetables. Nitrites are also made in the saliva, which is another significant source.

Contribution from preserved meats is about 10% – depending on your diet, of course. But even the most dedicated meat eater will still get a minority of their nitrites from cured meat.

What about the link between sodium nitrite and cancer? The evidence here is fairly complex and mostly observational. Many studies compare cohorts with the highest and lowest daily meat intake and find mixed results. Some datasets show a slight increase in pancreatic cancer and some GI cancers, but also reduced stomach cancer.

However, more recent research has called these associations into question. The problem with much of the prior research (in addition to being observational) is that it did not control well for many variables. If you look at meat consumption, for example, what aspect of the meat is causing any observed effect, and is it related to other dietary factors that just go along with high meat consumption?

A recent review concludes:

A critical review of the animal toxicology literature of nitrite indicates that in the absence of co-administration of a carcinogenic nitrosamine precursor, there is no evidence for carcinogenesis. Newly published prospective epidemiological cohort studies indicate that there is no association between estimated intake of nitrite and nitrate in the diet and stomach cancer.

So without the nitrosamine, consuming nitrites/nitrates is probably not associated with cancer at all, and has many known health benefits.

What the average consumer can make of all this is a few bottom lines: First, it is still the best advice to eat everything in moderation. The only studies that do show a negative health effect from consuming red or cured meats only finds such results in the highest meat consumption category. So basically, don’t eat a pound of bacon every day (literally, that is what it takes) and you will probably be fine.

Further, nitrites specifically have been unfairly maligned. Their story is much more complex, and overall we should look at nitrites/nitrates as having positive health effects. Remember – they mostly come from fruits and vegetables, and diets high in vegetable nitrates have been shown to be healthful.

Sodium nitrite specifically is an important food preservative, and we should not avoid its use over an unjustified fear.

What about the nitrite-free bacon? This is a good example of how food fears based on outdated, preliminary, or incomplete information can lead to bad eating decisions. First, many products touting themselves as not using added sodium nitrite, or avoiding chemical preservatives, actually do contain nitrites. The makers of Naked Bacon, for example, claim:

Finnebrogue said it worked with a Spanish chemist to develop the new flavouring from natural Mediterranean fruit and spice extracts and apply it to British bacon for the first time.

I wonder if those fruit and spice extracts contain sodium nitrite? That is often the case with similar products – they use the “appeal to nature” fallacy to imply their products are better because they use only natural ingredients. The source of the sodium nitrite, however, has zero effect on its health effects.

But thinking that your bacon is healthier may lead to consuming more fat and calories. This is the fallacy of blaming specific ingredients or types of food for being “bad” and thinking that avoiding them will make your diet magically healthy. Companies are quick to exploit this, with, for example “low fat” products that are loaded with sugar. Such products are often sold as “guilt free” but this is a scam.

Again – just eat a variety of foods in moderation, make sure you get enough fruits and vegetables, and watch your total caloric intake. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by thinking you are eating a “superfood” or “guilt-free” food.

"We have received reports that highly addictive substances will soon be circulating in our area."