Tech and Eats

First, the eats.

I spotted an article claiming a book with an amusing story and premise... of a French by the name of Mireille Guiliano. She says that in the 1950s she was an exchange student to America and gained over 20 lbs, sparking even more weight gain and distress upon her return to her homeland. "French Women Don't Get Fat" I say that's a big crock of bull, but I put one of the MANY copies that the library has available on hold for my giggling pleasure.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8203257/

Depression is the leading cause of poor nutrition, experts say, and should be treated. “They [My parents] started out with a great breakfast, but as the day wore on, they’d eat very little, half a sandwich, half a banana, a glass of milk. They were not eating healthy,” says a concerend daughter. Some older adults live on toast, cereal and other foods that require minimal preparation, but such a simple diet puts them at risk of anemia. Many older adults limit themselves to the easily unwrapped, eaten and digested banana, but it lacks the nutrition of other fruits, Moores said.

Facinating, this also may be the reasoning behind the 'pickiness' of many teenaged diets.

Now for Tech-

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7679912/

Standard RCA TV
They [RCA] were showing off their 27-inch 27V514T standard-definition digital TV set. It has a 4:3 ratio 27-inch picture tube...has a digital tuner.
The same TV set with an analog tuner was placed right next to it...same indoor antenna...same over-the-air TV station – one picking up the analog signal the other locked into the digital. The analog set’s picture was ...ghosts, snow and noise. The digital set was pretty great. RCA calls it DVD quality...suggested retail price will be under $300. ...New offerings from Sennheiser, including the new lightweight, affordable and ‘over-the-ear’ HD201 ($24.95)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5695964/ - A very interesting HDTV $695 that is picture tube, not LCD or plasma. Hence the greater affordability. Since we couldn't keep the ATI HDTV All-In-Wonder card, this might be a good idea later on.

Interesting Speakers - Art
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7077765/

Single driver speakers need time to break in. At least a day... to get used to the temperature in the room and then 100-200 hours of playing music to get them sounding just right.
I’d like to tell you that the Abbys reproduce deep bass and ultra-high treble sounds... they don’t— but they come real close. I’d like to say they sound like what many people think were the greatest speakers ever made — Quad ESL-57s... Abbys can make voices and instruments sound real... absolutely addictive. Even though they won’t reproduce the lowest bass notes (Cain sells a matching subwoofer for just that purpose), Abbys sound truly seductive.

Take a look, the speakers are really beautiful if nothing else- hefty tag of $1500.

Further Art
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8203597/

In his lifetime Leonardo completed only 12 paintings, and the possibility of discovering a lost work is sending a ripple through the art world. Even if only fragments of the painting are found it would be the greatest discovery in art in 100 years. The challenge is how to reach what could be da Vinci’s fresco without damaging the existing murals. The work may have been destroyed, painted over or hidden for [wartime] safety. But it was da Vinci’s largest and possibly most important work.
"We know he painted it, we know he had problems with it," says Karl Sabbagh of the Kalpa Group, which finances Seracini's research. "The paint dripped, it didn't dry properly, and so on."