The Weather and Everyone's Health

Thursday, June 14, 2007

The world is full of interesting things

And you can find out about so many of them in the Chron!

For example:

Grand opera gets grander with state-of-the-art screens. Summary: screens to improve the view up in the balcony, include close-up shots, etc. Commentary: Hey, sounds like a good idea to me--not only simulcasts, but opportunity of a new way of experiencing it while you're in the hall. And if you prefer the old fashioned way there are still plenty of seats for that. Strikes me as forward-thinking without being unnecessarily gimmicky or revisionist.

Mika! (also here) Except the thing about him playing to tiny crowds in the UK 6 mos. ago can't possibly be right because 6 mos. ago he had a #1 single and was the feature album-of-the week on Radio 2. Does this mean his CD is out in the US? Does that mean I can (finally) download it from iTunes?

Ok, this one was not in the chron, but it's still interesting. Redoxon. Sinuses have been worrying me since I got off the plane, so I went to the pharmacy to get some kind of Vitamin C thing or Airborne if I could find it (didn't find it) and I found Redoxon. It's Vit C+Zinc in effervescent tablets i.e. you drop it in water and it fizzes. Ok, let me see if I can enumerate the reasons why I find this incredibly cool. First of all, I'm not sure why they put the zinc in there (oh, it says zinc helps immunity too? that's cool) but zinc is one of those things I wonder if I'm low on sometimes (vegetarians can risk being low on zinc and iron if they're not careful). Secondly, the taste is good. It's an orange flavor and kind of like Tang, except not overwhelmingly sweet and with a slightly saltiness at the end. In fact, because it's very low in sugar and caffeine free I would be happy to drink this as a beverage accompaniment to lunch or dinner (or possibly even breakfast). In fact, I wish I could, but you're not supposed to take more than one per day (body will start flushing vit c and you'll lose water etc). Third, the fizzing is fun to watch: first the orange tablet sinks to the bottom and your cup is like a tiny volcano or soothing fountain; then, as it loses mass faster than it loses volume, it becomes buoyant and floats to the top while still erupting. What fun! I wish there were more vitamin/mineral supplements I could take this way, though I know some probably couldn't be absorbed/delivered in this format. Also, for the record I do believe in getting your nutrients from a balanced diet, but sometimes I take a multi or supplement to "top up" something that I think might be a little low, usually iron and b vitamins.

By the way, I think flaxseeds/flax oil is going to be my next big thing. Like kale and tomatoes.

- posted by k @ 9:52 AM