Move over Viagra, there's a new lady in town

Once upon a time, doctors used to treat women for hysteria by placing a vibrating object on their coochies and letting her rip. Today we call our women troubles by a different name, but the cure is much the same.

Introducing EROS:
The Eros Therapy device is a small, handheld medical device that improves your sexual responses by increasing blood flow to the clitoris and external genitalia. It is lightweight, easy to use and available by a doctor’s prescription only. The Eros Therapy device is used in the privacy of your home and should be used three to four times per week to achieve the maximum benefits the Eros offers. You may use the Eros Therapy device either prior to having intercourse or therapeutically without having intercourse. Think of Eros Therapy as a conditioning routine to restore blood flow to your clitoris and genitalia and to increase your overall sexual satisfaction.

Apparently, suction is involved.

If you think you might need an EROS right this minute, I highly suggest taking the helpful quiz on their Web site. If you didn't already have "Female Sexual Dysfunction," you may have it now.

Print me a new finger!

Really fascinating piece on MedGadget today about a new process of bioengineering human tissues for transplantation using something similar to an inkjet printer.

By manufacturing human skin cells using a printer similar to an inkjet, scientists have taken a significant first step toward generating new skin. The process, which could revolutionize the treatment of major skin wounds, could be ready for clinical trials in five years.

Edutopia story on videogames in the classroom

My feature story on how videogames will soon become a regular part of classroom education has been posted to Edutopia's Web site and will soon be out in print form.

In other news, from the Department of Children Left Behind is my piece for CITRIS's bimonthly newsletter about a study examining why college liberal arts departments struggle to make use of the rich digital resources available to them.

Thus, I conclude this self-promotional moment. I hope you enjoy!

Speaking of things that will make you ill

Bucking the trend of providing customers with salads and fruits (because if you're eating fast food you're not a salad or fruit kind of diner), Burger King has come out with "The Enormous Omelet Sandwich." As a rule, I avoid any meal that has "big," "huge," "giant," "gordo," or "super" in its nomenclature. But apparently some diners will be enticed by this mouth-drying ad copy:
Wake up to a mouthful of breakfast with the Enormous Omelet Sandwich. Two slices of melted, American cheese, two fluffy eggs stuffed with three crispy strips of bacon, and a sizzling sausage patty, piled high on a toasted bun. The Enormous Omelet Sandwich from BURGER KING®. So big, breakfast will never be the same.

Ew.

In a review titled, "47 grams for breakfast--and it's not even tasty," one reviewer writes: The whole sandwich has a limp, just-microwaved softness; it sags in your hand and its mouthfeel doesn't even hint at the caloric damage.

Thanks (I think) to Steve Mockus for sharing.

A plea for pity on Nalgene

Chad Hedstrom writes via BoingBoing:
Before you run Nalgene out of buisness, you should know there are TWO kinds of Nalgene bottles - a somewhat transparent white bottle made of tupperware-type plastic - this one is SAFE, and another of the same shape, but made with the death-plastic polycarbonate lexan. To clairify, I've included a handy-dandy graphic you can throw up on your web page, so people don't needlessly freak out.

These reports have been circulating for some time, so I don't think we bloggers can claim responsibility if Nalgene goes out of business. They have a responsibility to defend the safety of their products. If they cannot, then perhaps they don't deserve to be in business. Also, it's not just Nalgene making these bottles. I see generic versions at my local Walgreens.

A possible water-bottle solution!

Miguel via BoingBoing suggests this lightweight stainless steel reusable water bottle.

He writes: Regarding the search for an environmentally-reasonable yet non-toxic portable (and potable) water container, the Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Water Bottle was mentioned on Metaefficient.com, an excellent site, btw.

It looks nice, too!

A royal papal wedding blessing, of sorts

So in Sunday's New York Times, Peter Rogers, general manager of the Prince William Pottery company, which makes those ubiquitous commemorative coffee mugs portraying the royal family among other special things, was complaining that Camilla-and-Charles mugs weren't selling all too well. "The company has so far sold about 2,000 Camilla-and-Charles mugs; its sales on other big-ticket royal occasions usually exceed one million," the Times reported.

What a difference a dead pope makes! With the holy father dead and the royal wedding rescheduled (Dude! Shakespeare did it first: "the funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.") collectors now can't get enough of those mugs! Specifically, mugs bearing the wrong date.

Glug, glug, ugh

I’m a thirsty girl. I consume the recommended 8 glasses per day, and then some. When I’m working at home, it’s no problem. I have a Britta filter attached to my faucet and can fill glass after tasteless (yet somehow delicious) glass. But on days when I’m at school for eight hours straight or moving from one place to the next, I need to carry a large plastic bottle in order to properly re-hydrate. And this is where things get all wet.

I used to just buy plastic bottles of water. But at more than a dollar a pop, this gets expensive fast. Plus, drinking out of plastic bottles makes you a PLANET KILLER! That is, each bottle adds to the growing mountains of plastic waste produced by this country every day. Just making all those plastic bottles requires the use of hazardous materials and generates all kinds of misery. Some even say that the cost and environmental impact of recycling plastic is worse than just throwing the damn things away.

(Socially, the ubiquitous water bottle is awkward too. Adbusters, for example, tends to compare a person walking down the street with water bottle in hand to a capitalist pig clinging to mommy’s teat. But there’s no pleasing some people.)

Being the green gal that I am, but not wishing to sacrifice my own health for the planet (sorry, earth, just being honest), I decided just to re-use the flimsy plastic water bottles for as long as I could. I was happy with this solution for quite some time, until I learned the horrible truth: HARMFUL BACTERIA! Yes, with each refreshing sip I was backwashing germs into my water and providing them with a warm, wet place to grow.

So I did what any bacteria-fearing primate would do and bought a nice, reusable Nalgene bottle. Boy oh boy, nothing makes you look or feel more like a tree-hugging, mushroom hunting nature girl than one of those bright, hard plastic bottles! Until it comes out that Nalgene gives you BRAIN DAMAGE! Yes, Bisphenol A, used to make Nalgene bottles and other hard plastic projects, apparently seeps into the body and can, in certain doses, mess with the function of the brain. (I’m paraphrasing/exaggerating and not everybody agrees, so look it up.) I could almost dismiss the fear as environmentalist fear mongering, but it turns out that California legislators take the threat seriously enough to consider banning it in children’s products.

I often think, as I’m passing by a gurgling stream or hearing the roar of the ocean’s waves, that such sounds are beautiful for evolutionary reasons. We are water, 60% at least. We need water to live. Hence, water is a beautiful thing. Only in our crazy, accelerated world could we turn something so natural and wonderful (parasites withstanding) as drinking water into something so utterly frickin terrifying. But I can change the world no more than I can alter my thirst. I can only hope that someone out there reading has a brilliant solution to share.

THIS JUST IN: David Pescovitz at BoingBoing just forwarded me a link with good news: The soft, clear plastic used to make Evian bottles (and others) is not carcinogenic according to this link. Woot!