You smell so good I could eat you up... If you were wearing Flame, anyway.Burger King Corp. may have just the thing. The home of the Whopper has launched a new men's body spray called "Flame." The company describes the spray as "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat."
The fragrance is on sale at New York City retailer Ricky's NYC in stores and online for a limited time for $3.99.
I know... You want to know when the lady's version is coming out, right?
Oliver Twist wouldn't have needed any more gruel in real life, scientists said Thursday.
The picture painted by Charles Dickens of starvation rations in an 1830s workhouse north of London is wide of mark, according to an analysis of menus and other historical evidence.
Dickens' eponymous hero famously asked for more of the "thin gruel" doled out three times daily in the grim institution for the poor where he grew up.
In fact, contemporary recipes suggest such workhouse gruel was substantial, with each pint containing 1.25 ounces of best oatmeal, and servings supplemented by wholesome coarse bread.
Historical data also shows large quantities of beef and mutton were delivered to workhouses, pediatric dietician Sue Thornton of Northampton General Hospital in central England and colleagues wrote in the British Medical Journal.
Such a diet, comprising three pints of gruel a day, would sustain growth in a nine-year-old child like Oliver, unless he was exceptionally active.
"Given the limited number of food staples used, the workhouse diet was certainly dreary, but it was adequate," they concluded.
Hmm. Let's consider what a big business 'resale' was during Victorian times. Next, we can consider that a lot of people had no problems putting children in dangerous environments.
Taking all of that into account, I'm forced to wonder if some enterprising work house directors didn't figure out exactly how much food a child could survive on.
I wonder how much of that fat government delivery of grains and meats wound up in the kids' bowls v.s. how much wound up in the director's bank accounts.
Just sayin'.
Well, maybe he isn't quite the baby in the manger, but it appears Barack Obama is making a cameo appearance as a wise man in some Italian-made Nativity scenes...NAPLES (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are appearing in Italian nativity scenes this year, alongside the baby Jesus and wise men, according to Naples craftsmen selling figurines in the run-up to Christmas.
The production of handmade figurines for nativity scenes is big business in this southern Italian city and has been for centuries.
But beyond the thousands of angel, sheep, Mary and Joseph figures filling market stalls before Christmas, craftsmen say Obama has become a top seller.
"The ones we are selling the most of are those of Barack Obama, America's new president, along with his wife Michelle," said craftsman Genny Di Virgilio.
Tradition requires that the nativity scene be built up over time until Christmas Eve, when baby Jesus is put in the manger as the very last element of the display.
As always, figurine-makers provide a chance to choose a more light-hearted approach for the scene providing replicas of personalities who have made the news during the last year.
Beyond Obama, they are also selling figurines of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni and even Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
While cherished by many, some people say the arrival of celebrity figurines spoils the traditional sense of Christmas.
One nun, Angelica, scoffed at what she called a "cartoon version of a nativity scene."
Grandfather Pasquale Oliva, looking into a shop window in Naples agreed with her.
"Something as beautiful as the traditional nativity scene shouldn't be spoiled by these figurines of personalities and I don't think children like them."
However, his young grandson Francesco was quick to disagree, snapping "yes" when asked if he liked the modern twist on tradition.
I tend to agree with the Sister. What a farce!
Oh, that Blagojevich...
For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law.
Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after theU.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.
"This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do," said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal.
It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.
The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year. He said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and "all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them."
Sparks said Wednesday he's worried the fee could be extended to chickens and other farm animals and cause more meat to be imported.
"We'll let other countries put food on our tables like they are putting gas in our cars. Other countries don't have the health standards we have," Sparks said.
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The fee would cover the cost of a permit for the livestock operations. While farmers say it would drive them out of business, an organization supporting the proposal hopes it forces the farms and ranches to switch to healthier crops.
"It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses," said Bruce Freidrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
"We certainly support making factory farms pay their fair share," he said.
US Rep Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Haleyville in northwest Alabama, said he has spoken with EPA officials and doesn't believe the cow tax is a serious proposal that will ever be adopted by the agency.
So to Hell with the farmers and to Hell with YOUR CHOICE about what to eat.
You'd better learn to like soy milk and salad three times a day, folks.
Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in every Roman Catholic school, church leaders have said.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales also want facilities in schools for Islamic pre-prayer washing rituals.
The demands go way beyond legal requirements on catering for religious minorities.
But the bishops - who acknowledge 30 per cent of pupils at their schools hold a non-Christian faith - want to answer critics who say religious schools sow division.
Indian Muslims say they do not want the gunmen killed by the security forces during the attacks in Mumbai to be buried in Muslim graveyards.
Community leaders believe the militants cannot be called Muslims because they went against the teachings of Islam and killed innocent civilians.
One leader said the militants had "defamed" the religion.
Nine militants died when they stormed targets in India's financial capital, killing at least 172 people.
'Unprovoked'
In what is perhaps their first openly defiant act against "Islamic terrorism", Muslims in India have decided they will not allow the militants to be buried in Muslim graveyards anywhere in the country.
They said that they could not believe that the assailants, who they said had "killed innocent civilians unprovoked", were true followers of Islam.
Ibrahim Tai, the president of the Indian Muslim Council, which looks after the social and religious affairs of the Muslim community in India, said that they had "defamed" his religion.
"These terrorists are a black spot on our religion, we will very sternly protest the burial of these terrorists in our cemetery," he said.
Other Muslim groups have written to their local assembly representatives to say that if the authorities force the militants to be buried in a Muslim graveyard, they too will come out on the streets in protest.
Thanks, guys. It's about time!
The firm in question is Game Power 7 and it has made a few adjustments to Gala's role-player Rappelz to make it supposedly more appealing to customers in Islamic countries.
Music switched
As well as changing the background music, the noises monsters make (really?) and taking out non-Muslim religious symbols, such as crosses, Game Power 7 has given some characters a little more to wear.
We're told that female players will be properly covered up so that they're no longer showing too many flesh-coloured pixels. Arms and legs get special attention, with chainmail and long stockings pasted on.
The new version of Rappelz is online now and aimed at 19 countries that include Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Thank goodness Islam has prioritized which problems to take on! We can all sleep better at night now.
