Etymologically, “bulimia” comes from the Greek bous (meaning “ox”) and limos (meaning “hunger”).  One with bulimia is said to have the appetite of an ox. 

Wait… appetite of an ox?  Ohhhh, I get it.  People with bulimia have the desire to eat grass.

Brown adipose tissue (aka brown fat) is one of two types of mammalian fat (the other is white fat).  The primary function of brown fat is to generate body heat-  it’s especially important in hibernating animals and newborns that don’t shiver.  (I’m sure it’s even more helpful for hibernating newborn babies…)  Compared to white fat, brown fat has a higher density of mitochondria, which contain iron and make it brown.  Brown fat takes calories from white fat and burns it to generate heat, which could be a new weight loss strategy.  Babies have more brown fat than adults, however.  So, I suppose it would be a great weight loss strategy for fat babies.  Just put them in cold water and they will look great in no time.

NOTE: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR BABY IN COLD WATER

Or you could put the babies on the “baby food diet” as was previously discussed

http://smartestyear.com/post/794887298/baby-food-diet-7-10-10

It has been brought to my attention that there’s a new fad diet: the baby food diet.  But this diet isn’t meant for babies.  It’s meant for fat adults.  Or even adults that just want to lose a few pounds.  The diet is pretty self-explanatory.  You stock up on some jars of Gerber, and eat one when you get hungry.  They are low calorie, and have lots of vitamins and other stuff.  But just wait one second. We can’t overlook the fact that this is the stupidest thing ever.  Just eat an apple.  Or a banana.  Or a piece of bread.  Or anything, just eat less of it.  Don’t look like a creep and walk around eating baby food.  Most people strive to lose weight to improve their images (the health benefit is just an added bonus).  In my mind, nothing hurts your image more than a grown man or woman slurping down some baby food.  It’s culinary pedophilia.  I don’t care if it’s convenient.  A baby’s diaper is convenient.  Why don’t we just all wear diapers around?  That may make you lose weight, because you’ll be scared of the consequences of eating.

Stupid Hollywood!

McDonald’s has a lot of odd foods on their international menus.  It’s really quite interesting.  You should check it out.  But one food item on the McDonald’s menu in Hong Kong stood out to me in particular— the Shake Shake Fries.  Shake Shake Fries are basically flavored French fries.  They come in flavors like salt and pepper, French onion, chargrill, and seaweed.  I am about to McVomit.

For the next few days I will be driving across the country.  Thus, my posts will be about useless things learned on the open road.

Misunderstandings between brown eggs and white eggs have torn families apart for generations.  Now it shall be settled.  So what’s the difference between brown eggs and white eggs (other than the color…nice one)?  The Egg Nutrition Board— yes, it’s a real thing— says that there is no difference in taste or nutrition.  Simply, “white shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and white earlobes.  Brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red earlobes.”  What!?  Earlobes!?  Like people earlobes?  Big dangly, droopy, old-people, chicken earlobes? 

I have white earlobes…I would probably lay white eggs.

Watermelon breeders cross a diploid plant (2 sets of chromosomes) with a tetraploid plant (4 sets of chromosomes) to get a triploid plant (3 sets).  This seed grows fruits that rarely develop seeds.   Enter the seedless watermelon!  I have seen some pretty raunchy videos of watermelons breeding.  It’s not for the faint of heart.

This is really stupid.  Just warning you…

But today, I learned that there used to be another member of Chuck E. Cheese’s animatronic band—you know, those creepy robots at the Chuck E. Cheese restaurants.  Well, there used to be a character named Crusty the Cat.  Crusty was replaced by Mr. Munch (the purple pizza eater). 

Now the band consists of Chuck E. Cheese, Helen Henny, Jasper T. Jowls, Pasqually (the singing chef), and Mr. Munch.

Hmm, I wonder why they kicked Crusty the Cat out of the band.  Oh, wait, I know.  Because the idea of a crusty cat is disgusting.  Not to mention, I doubt parents want their children playing around the said crusty cats.

Worst marketing ever.

Vinegar comes from the Old French vinaigre, meaning “sour wine.”  The Bible mentions vinegar several times, usually as a metaphor for something unpleasant (the Bible does use metaphors, right?).  On the other side of things, in Islamic tradition, the Prophet Muhammad considers vinegar to be a “blessed seasoning” and includes it in his list of four favorite condiments.  We will never have world peace with this kind of horrendous disagreement in holy scripture!!!

Why can’t everyone just get along and agree on what the four best condiments are!?

A Snapple cap just told me that ‘Americans, on average, eat 18 acres of pizza a day.’   I maybe, maybe eat about 1 acre of pizza a day, definitely not 18.  I want them to bring me to this forest of pizza that we fatties are depleting so badly.  SAVE OUR PIZZA ACREAGE!

The fast-food restaurant Wendy’s is named after the fourth child of the restaurant’s founder Dave Thomas.  A drawing of her is also used as the chain’s mascot.  He must have really liked Wendy a lot more than his other kids.  Also, this is the second famous redhead fact in two days.  Thomas Jefferson and Wendy.  Equally influential to American culture.

Your salary may come in the mail, but originally it comes from the Latin adjective salarius, meaning pertaining to salt.  Roman soldiers used to receive a handful of salt everyday.  Eventually the salt was replaced with money, and the soldiers could go buy as much salt as they wanted.  Money is a good thing, especially with my high blood pressure.  If I just got handfuls of salt all the time, I probably would just quit working.  Especially considering the fact that I have big hands.  I would be getting way too much salt.

The Greek word basileus means king, and is at the heart of a bunch of words.  For example, basilisk (Greek for little king) is the monstrous reptile that long ago was said to wear a crown-shaped crest on its head, basilica (originally, a tribunal chamber for a king), and the herb basil.  Basil is said to be the king of all herbs, and may have been an ingredient in some royal perfume.  Being the king of herbs doesn’t sound very glamorous.  It falls somewhere in between The King of Queens and the king of utensils (the fork, apparently).

The idiomatic phrase “make no bones about it,” used to state a fact that allows no room for doubt, comes from 15th century England.  When people wanted to show their dissatisfaction with something, they would say that they “found bones in it,” referring to unwanted bones that could be found in soup.  If you had no bones in your soup, it was ingested without difficulty.  This also supports the stereotype that English food is miserable.

I don’t really enjoy eating Chef Boyardee brand pasta crap, but I was curious about who this guy on the can really was.  He is Italian-American immigrant and chef, Ettore Boiardi.  Boiardi opened a restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio in 1924, and it became such a hit that he decided to sell the stuff on a wider scale.  Boiardi wanted Americans to be able to pronounce his name so he wrote it “Boyardee,” because he was proud of his Italian heritage.  Nothing says authentic Italian like Americanizing your name and mass producing cans of noodles mixed with ketchup.

In Roman mythology, Ceres is the goddess of growing plants.  It is interesting to know that Ceres is also the inspiration behind our word “cereal” for her association with grains. Also, in General Mills Mythology, Choculus is the count of cavities, and is the namesake of Count Chocula cereal.   That’s not true.  But there was a man named Chocula who was known for sucking people’s blood and leaving a chocolatey ring around the wounds.  That’s not true either.