Random Shit

The Thanksgiving Myth: Tryptophan Turkey Nap

For many a generation full Americans have found themselves drowsy and ready for a nap after stuffing themselves at the traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner. This puzzling behavior has long been blamed on the amino acid tryptophan. Unfortunately this is just a myth, as described by Dr. Aaron Carroll and Dr. Rachel Vreeman in their book Don't Swallow Your Gum!
The truth is. turkey is not to blame for your sleepiness. Chicken and ground beef contain almost the same amount of tryptophan as turkey - about 350 milligrams per 4-ounce serving. ... Swiss cheese and pork actually contain more tryptophan per gram than turkey...

9-12 DC Tea Bag Protest, Debunking Moilanen and Creating an Estimate - Update #3

There's a new document floating around the internet entitled "The Real Number of Protesters at the 9/12 Washington D.C. March" by a Zac Moilanen of Indiana University. It, falsely, attempts to calculate and show the number of protesters at the recent 9-12 march and rally that occurred in DC. I'm told it was recently referenced by FOX News' Glenn Beck. In all honesty, the rally was little different from the ones that occurred this past summer across the US. Apparently the only outcome from this event has been debate about the amount of protesters who participated. The participants and advocates for them immediately claimed an amazing 2 million participated while the DC Fire Department estimated 60,000 to 70,000. The right wing "blogosphere" has even posted picture of other large DC rallies as evidence of the larger number. I attempt to address that issue, and the Moilanen document, here.

Anime Voice Talent Highlight #3: Kotono Mitsuishi

Anime Voice Talent Highlight #3 Kotono Mitsuishi
#3: Kotono Mitsuishi
Throughout the 1990s, Mitsuishi Kotono permeated the voice talent pool. Performing as both the strong heroine, the crazy ditz, or sometimes, both at once, Kotono always delivered strongly, and continues to do so today. But what is more remarkable, the roles she played, or the performances she brought to them? Likely, it's the latter. Starting out as an elevator girl at what was at one time the tallest building in Japan, the Sunshine 60, she eventually became an office lady, but was forced to quit. Then, in 1989 she started doing voice work in an OVA for a popular tennis-themed anime.

Anime Voice Talent Highlight #2: Nozomu Sasaki

Anime Voice Talent Highlight #2: Nozomu Sasaki
The voice of several young men characters in anime, Nozomu Sasaki has been featured in anime for nearly two decades. The two types of roles he tends to play are young, socially awkward or conflicted teen boys or, in a few cases, villains and/or anti-heroes. He is not without range, however, his voice transforming perfectly into the personalites of the characters he plays. Of one type of role, he played characters such as Mackey Stingray, Hathaway Noa, and Julian Minci, young men whose life revolves around role models and the learning process.

Anime Voice Talent Highlight #1

Anime Voice Talent Highlight #1: Yoshiko Sakakibara

Yoshiko Sakakibara has been in some of the greatest female roles in anime. During the 1980s, she was a staple of anime, as ubiquitous as Megumi Hayashibara during the 1990s or Rie Kugimiya in the past decade. Playing largely powerful, strong-willed women, leaders and stateswomen, Sakakibara's carefully measured tone and leveled pitch, even in histerics, make her an indispensible talent in the industry for over two decades.

BFM Podcast 9 - Protect Me, Please!

Moe is the Japanese subculture that's been flooding most anime these days. Those cute characters that just beg to be protected. It's that sort of thing. We also talk a bit about anime we've been watching recently such as Eden of the East, Strawberry 100%, and Azumanga Daioh. Download the episode, subscribe on itunes, see a youtube playlist of things we discuss and check out the show notes after the jump! ranka

Senator David Barton on Liberty

Executive encroachment ... The histories of all nations which have lost their liberties lay before them and they saw on their pages that arbitrary Executive discretion and will ... had been the destroyers of national liberty throughout the greater part of the world ... and the fathers did intend ... to establish a government of law and of checks and restraints upon Executive will, in which no case should exist in which the fate of the humblest citizen whether in private or public life could depends upon the arbitrary will of a single man."


Recent Comments