Cyber Porch--Word Wars, Pollinators, and Anything on a Stick

Folks used to sit on the porch shootin’ the breeze. For many, now the porch is a cubicle and the breeze is digital. These are a few of the stories floating around our cyber porch today. 

This Could Blow Your Diet:  A Brownie Blitz includes cream cheese, brownie bits, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and coconut. This is but one new entry coming in August to the “foodpalooza” known as the Iowa State Fair. Other new entries include a Smoked Brisket with Mac N Cheese and Funnel Cake Sticks. Zombie Cones and Jumbo Toasted Marshmallows On-a-Stick did not make the cut. Almost anything else on a stick is available—including a Caprese salad.

Ban "Natural"? A War of Words:  Apparently many consumers believe that "natural" products are better and healthier than others but are often confused about what the label actually means. As this video shows, Consumer Reports is launching a campaign to ban the term, claiming it confuses and misleads shoppers.

The Buzz out of the White House:  As part of the strategy coming from National Pollinator Week, the White House is directing the USDA to develop best management practices to enhance pollinator habitat on federal lands and use the department's conservation programs to increase the acreage and forage value of pollinator habitat.

Do They Know Where This Pig's Nose Has Been?  This article discusses how human beings are the home of many microorganisms. It claims around 1,000 trillion are right now living, replicating, and even dying on the surface of your skin, on your tongue, and inside your intestines. OK—and I like hogs just fine—but the photo they use of the child smooching with a pig still gives me the willies. 

by dan gogerty (top photo from kbur.com, bottom from lumibyte.eu)