September Pixie

Please Sign.

Posted by Nina on Jul 20, 2007

Please help by signing and sending one of the emails to help get Michael Vick off the NFL for his horrific crimes against these dogs. He has personally tortured them, trained them, and fought them to make money.. as IF the NFL hasnt paid him enough. He shouldn’t be only suspended, he should be imprisoned!

https://community.hsus.org/campaign/US_2007_dogfighting_nfl2

This dog was one of 52 pit bulls seized from Michael Vick’s property.  ©The HSUS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows leaked to BitTorrent

Posted by Nina on Jul 17, 2007

NO SPOILERS GIVEN IN THIS ARTICLE

We first got wind of this when two torrents of the book appeared on Demonoid.com. They became immensely popular with over a 1000 leechers and seeders each. But after some time were removed by either the uploader, or more likely, the moderators, in a move to avoid the attention of bloodthirsty publishers.

Not surprisingly, both those torrents spread over to mininova and several other sites and are still going strong (update: mininova removed the torrents). One of the torrents only has the first 495 pages of the book, whereas the second is the complete book.

Over the past couple of weeks, numerous torrents have surfaced online claiming to be the 7th and last Harry Potter book. They are all fakes. Fan fiction. This one, on the other hand, is the real thing. Someone has managed to get their hands on the American edition of the book and has photographed each page of the book and uploaded it to BitTorrent.

The main complaint that’s coming up in comment threads on these sites is that the quality isn’t great. You can just barely manage to read each page. And as some downloaders promptly noted, a few pages cannot be read at all without editing the images in Photoshop.

Die-hard fans of the series will undoubtedly rush to grab a copy of the torrent for themselves. But anybody else would really have to see whether reading the book a week before the rest of the world is worth risking their eyesight and brains, squinting to make out what happens when Harry confronts He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for the last time.

it’s over..

Posted by Nina on Jun 9, 2007

Dad passed away at 2:00 am on Saturday, June 9, 2007.
Closed services to immediate friends and family only.
Viewing will be 1 day & funeral the next.
Contact family for details.

More on Dad

Posted by Nina on May 30, 2007

Sergey and I had planned to spend Memorial Day weekend up at Pictured Rocks in the U.P. However, as you know from my last entry my father suddenly took ill and then his liver shut down. On Friday we left thinking we had 3 days to hope his medicine would start working, and if not the hospital was going to remove all of his medication. On Saturday morning we were told his lungs had filled with fluids and they were removing all of his medications and IV and that there was nothing more they could do for him..

Trying to take care of him the best I could while I was there, I took to applying moisturizers to his lips and wet sponging his mouth and suctioning out fluids that would accumulate into his mouth… suddenly before we left on Sunday to head for home I noticed when I would talk to him that his sighs became much louder than normal… and when I applied the wet sponge to his mouth he began trying to drink it! However, you hear that these are involuntary movements in coma patients… when I would ask if he could squeeze my hand he never moved… I didn’t have much hope at this point.. his urine had even turned reddish and was getting thick… (this is a sign that the kidneys are shutting down).. so we left preparing for a visit to the funeral home on Tuesday.

On Monday we get a phone call very early in the morning.. that he’s awake and he’s asking for us!!! His voice was extremely faint and he was coughing a lot and very congested. They started his IV so he was getting fluids, and said he couldn’t have anything but ice chips. We hugged and kissed goodbye and Sergey and I headed home. Today he was allowed to have clear liquids so he got water, lemon ice, clear soups, and juice. They came in today and started his lactulose and neomycin again (by mouth) and said that they are taking this day by day.. his voice is MUCH stronger today.. and he even got out of bed once.

At this point we have no idea whats going to happen to him.. but he’s alive.. he’s talking.. and hes promised me hes going to be OK.. so.. with that, I am off to bed to sleep for the first time in over a week!

Dad… (Updated)

Posted by Nina on May 25, 2007

Dad isn’t doing too well… on Tuesday he went to the hospital, Wednesday he spends most of the day asleep, Thursday people are unable to wake him up. Cancer sucks. Losing a parent for the 2nd time sucks. No one really knows anything at this point… no one can get him to wake up but they aren’t saying its a coma. He’s getting extra doses of medications to bring his ammonia level down, his count yesterday was 200 when the normal range is 50. They said today its up to 248.. and last I heard they were taking him for a brain scan to see if there was any activity. Then came the talks about resuscitation..

I’m trying to find reasons to think positively… so here’s my list.

I am grateful for:

* The 4yrs I have gotten with my father – when in the beginning we were told he had less than 6 mos.
* The kind of cancer my father has causes no pain. – having watched a lot of my relatives die from cancer, its no picnic.. there is usually a lot of pain and discomfort in the end and causing them so much discomfort that your wishing them to pass just to ease their discomfort.. dad has none…. he’s simply sleeping.
* I’ve had my father in my life for all 28yrs of it.
* Having my daddy walk me down the isle at my wedding.
* My husband.. he has no idea how to comfort me (never experiencing a loss of a parent) but tries just the same.
* That I was born into this family. – My grandfather (passed in April of lung cancer in 1995), my grandmother (Mum, my grandparents raised me.. but dad was always in my life), and my dad were/are the most amazing people I have ever met and they have taught me so much.
* Having my father live to see my 27th birthday (Sept 13) – a lot of my very close friends were not so lucky.
* Having my father tell me how proud he is of me and how good I look for dropping 100 pounds.
* Having a father who gave me every thing he could, never said no, and taught me how REAL men act, and to never settle for anything less than the best.
* For being a daddy’s girl to not one, but two fathers.
* Knowing my father loves me.. even though he seldom says it, when he does, its always tear filled and heartfelt.

Things I wish my dad can/could see:

* My children.
* My first house.

I’m really lucky to have had the time I have had with my family.

UPDATE: They checked dads ammonia levels today (Friday) and its up to 300. It means his liver isn’t working at all. He is still comatose. We haven’t heard any results of the brain scan as of yet. The staff have told Mum that they are giving him 3 more days to see if his body responds to treatment.. and if not, they will remove all of the tubes. We were then told that we should prepare ourselves.

Response from Master Food’s about Vegetarian ingredients in chocolate!

Posted by Nina on May 23, 2007

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for taking the time to contact us in connection with the change of ingredients in our chocolate confectionery and ice cream range.

Please note that after recently changing the source of some of the whey that is used in some of our chocolate products we have received lots of feedback that this decision has made it difficult for some of you, especially those of you who are vegetarians, to continue to enjoy our products. We realise that we made a mistake and we apologise. We have committed that we at Mars UK will ensure that a selection of favourite brands including Mars bars, Snickers bars, Galaxy and Maltesers will be suitable for vegetarians in the near future.

Meanwhile we are currently experiencing unusually high volumes of contacts from our consumers and therefore we hope that you understand that, rather than answer your question individually, we are attaching a list of questions and answers we believe would be useful and help answer your enquiry.

Alternatively you can visit our web site (www.masterfoodsconsumercare.co.uk) for this, and other useful information.

Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please do get back in touch, at the dedicated email address below, if your specific query has not been answered and we will do our best to get a speedy response to you.

Yours faithfully

On Behalf of Fiona Dawson
Mars UK
fionadawson@masterfoods.co.uk

Q1.What are you announcing?

A1.We have recently changed the source of some of the whey which is used in our chocolate products made in the UK from a vegetarian friendly variety to one which contains traces of traditional rennet from animal sources. We have received lots of feedback from consumers and reversed this decision.

Q2.Are you reverting to vegetarian recipes for all of those products that were subject to the ingredient change?

A2.Yes, this announcement means that favourite products – Mars bars, Snickers bars, Galaxy, and Maltesers will once again be suitable for vegetarians.

Q3.You make lots of other brands – what about the suitability of them?

A3.Other products will also be suitable for vegetarians including Minstrels, Revels, and Ripple. However, Twix, Bounty and Celebrations will continue not to be suitable for vegetarians.

Q4.I’m a vegetarian – which products can I eat / should I avoid?

A4.Currently we cannot guarantee that our products contain vegetarian rennet. However, we are starting to change our manufacturing process with immediate effect. We want to get our vegetarian products on the shelves as soon as possible. During this process of changing the recipes we will provide updates on this consumer care website, on a regular basis. If you are not sure about the suitability of our products please call us on 0845 0450042.

Q5.Why did you decide to change the ingredients in the first place?

A5.We made the change to broaden our supply base in order to ensure we could continue to provide our consumers with products of consistent quality in the future.

Q6.Will you now consult with consumers on any future changes to products?

A6.Yes. This change was a mistake and we are sorry that we may have prevented consumers from enjoying the products they’ve always enjoyed.

Coldstone hopes to ruin your diet!

Posted by Nina on May 15, 2007

There was an article at Salon (http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2007/05/15/mix_in/print.html)about Coldstone Creamery with the following paragraph:

“Who, besides 7-year-olds, actually likes this stuff?

Cold Stone thinks it knows. The company specifically targets 25- to 34-year-old women who diet intermittently, have the money to treat themselves, and are fully invested in the idea that super-rich ice cream is the sort of decadent reward that they deserve. It doesn’t matter if the ice cream tastes good, it just has to be naughty — and what’s naughtier than a big bowl of Mud Pie Mojo ice cream?“

So the next time you’re tempted and in that “well, don’t I deserve a treat sometimes” mode – think about that above paragraph and realize there are people out there doing market research and preying on you, hoping you’ll cave in so they can pay their personal trainers to keep them from looking like their customer base.

(Originally posted by the lovely Pika.)

Candybars no longer Vegetarian

Posted by Nina on May 14, 2007

http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,2078833,00.html

A Mars Bar a day? No longer an option if you are vegetarian

“On May 1, Masterfoods began using animal products in famous chocolate bars such as the Mars Bar, Bounty, Snickers, Twix and Milky Way. The taint also affects Maltesers and Minstrels, which have traces of whey – a product of cheesemaking which itself involves the use of rennet, a chemical from calves’ stomachs. The recipe change also applies to the popular ice cream versions of the confectionery bars. …

The vegetarian with a sweet tooth has long lived a perilous life. Many boiled sweets and mints contain gelatine. Boiled confectionery and other popular sweets can contain the colouring cochineal, which is made from insects.”

http://www.vegsoc.org/news/2007/mars.html

“Mars products are very popular with young people and many will be shocked to discover that their manufacture now relies on the extraction of rennet from the stomach lining of young calves.

Please contact Masterfoods Customer Services on 0845 045 0042 to express your concern.”

“Masterfoods is a division of Mars UK. We take all our consumers’ feedback seriously and are very happy to hear from you with your comments on our products or service. Please take a few moments to fill out this form.”

found at vegetarian.

I’m with stupid.

Posted by Nina on Apr 26, 2007

Tuesday morning at our place was very eventful. Around 1am there were no less than 3 fire trucks and 6 cop cars, and 2 EMS’ out side of our apartment building. Apparently a small apartment fire started at the bottom floor apartment building directly adjacent to us. That entire building was evacuated.. our 3rd floor neighbor came around to say that apparently no one was injured and to let us know what had caused the fire… her exact words were, and I quote.. “They had apparently threw away a bong while it was still lit and it caught the trash bag on fire.. they found the trash bag and some other things and left with another box of goodies”.

I don’t know about you but.. when I was young and dumb and smoked pot it NEVER made me forget if a joint was lit or that something was hot.. I guess Forrest Gump was right… “stoopid is as stoopid does”. Only now I worry about what other geniuses live in our building.

Toxins possibly discovered in dry pet food

Posted by Nina on Mar 30, 2007

— NY Times —
F.D.A. officials said at a news conference today that they have linked the chemical melamine, which they said is used as a fertilizer in Asia, to the kidneys of the affected cats. Thousands of owners of both cats and dogs who feed their pets wet or dry food have complained that their pets have become ill, but the F.D.A. has not yet determined if those illnesses are linked to pet food.

The agency has recalled a batch of contaminated Chinese wheat gluten that was sent to many pet food manufacturers, including one that makes dry dog food.

F.D.A officials have not yet released the name of the dry pet food company that received the contaminated wheat gluten, saying it was not clear if any of that gluten had yet been made into dog food.

“We are in the plant right now,” said Michael Rogers, director of the division of field investigations in the office of regulatory affairs for the F.D.A. “At this time, we’re not certain any dry food was made with that wheat gluten. As soon as we find out what dry food, if any, was manufactured, we will announce it publicly.”

Also Found:
New toxin discovered in pet food
By Sandra Eckstein
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/30/07

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it has discovered a new toxin in pet foods linked to the poisoning of dogs and cats, and they are investigating if some dry dog food may be contaminated.

During a news conference, the FDA said it has discovered melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, in wheat imported from China. Officials said they are still tracing where the shipments of wheat were delivered, but they believe at least one went to a company that makes dry dog food. Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, said inspectors are in the plant, trying to find out if the wheat gluten was used in food produced at the plant and if so, what batches, so they can issue a recall.

He refused to name the plant until they verify if they produced food with the poisoned gluten, which means food contaminated with melamine might still be on store shelves. He said as soon as they have confirmation, the public will be alerted.

It is the first time the FDA has said a dry pet food might be involved in the recall. On March 16 the agency first announced a recall of wet “gravy style” dog and cat foods made by Menu Foods of Toronto, Canada.

On March 23, Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine said it had identified the toxin as Aminopterin, a rat poison. But Sundlof said no other lab found the toxin. He said the metamine was discovered by one of the companies that sold the foods.

Officials then found melamine in recalled foods, wheat gelatin and in the urine and kidney of a dead cat. The company has recalled 95 brands of dog and cat foods.