Eat up: No more glamorizing the uber-thin in France

by Anna Brones on

France has long been revered as a country full of svelte women. But because of a new bill adopted by the French Parliament on Tuesday, over glamorizing the thinnest of the thin may soon be criminal.

The bill proposes a crack down on websites that advise anorexics how to starve by recommending fines of up to $71,000 and three year prison terms. Websites that encourage “extreme skinniness” will have to wait and see what the Senate decides in the next few weeks; according to the fashion industry, if passed, the law would be the strongest of its kind.

So now that advocating “extreme skinniness” might be against the law, you don’t have to feel guilty about gorging on those croissants and other delicacies anymore. Better get an extra layer of nutella on that crepe.

Drinking in San Juan’s convenience stores

by Grant Martin on

Vacationing in any foreign place takes a little bit of acclimating to get used to the bar scene. You have to know the right bars and locations to go to avoid being labeled as a tourist or getting ripped off. For example, my friend Ered always loves going to “Wine Bars” when we’re in foreign countries — but if something has WINE BAR written in English on the front facade, it’s catering to tourists, right?

In Puerto Rico, many of the locals head to colmados for a cold frosty beverage, which are basically a combination of convenience store, bar and meeting place. Most colmados are of simple construction, with a rudimentary bar in which are built a few coolers holding bottles of Medalla Light, some standing coolers with beer and energy drinks and a blender.

Despite the oft filthy and low lit atmosphere of the colmado, these establishments make up a quaint niche of nightlife in Latin America. The one we swung by for a few pina coladas last weekend was shoddily put together with plywood and populated with torn up barstools and passive Puerto Ricans. We ran into our waitress from that evening’s dinner who told us all about her lesbian girlfriend then continued to hang out with us for the rest of the evening.

Check out Robyn’s page on colmado’s in the Dominican Republic for a perspective of the stores from another Caribbean island and next time you’re tempted to buy pina coladas at the convenience store, jump all over it.

Touring Paris in the back of a “duck”

by Iva Skoch on

I am not the type to take a gondola ride in Venice. Yet, touring Paris in the back of the Citroën 2CV actually sounds kind of cool. It is a convertible car, so it offers a nice view. Being able to see the sky and “smell the city” is key.

A tour company called 4 roues sous 1 parapluie offers several different tours in the legendary “duck.” There is the Essential Ride, where you get a chance to check out the most famous landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, or the Champs-Elysées. The Magic tour adds places like the Moulin Rouge and Montmartre, among others. There is Secret Paris, Thematic Paris, Paris a la carte, etc. You get the idea.

I still think the best way to get to know a city is to walk it. If you can’t walk much, this could be the next best thing.

Thanks autobloggreen.com for the tip.

Airlines are dumping weight to become more fuel efficient

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’ve ever driven your car with more people in it than usual, or with it packed with luggage during a summer vacation, you’ve probably noticed the difference in how the car feels. You may wonder why the car feel like it’s dragging. Then you remember the extra weight. The extra weight uses up gas. Airplanes aren’t any different. The more weight the plane carries, the more gas it uses.

With fuel prices moving upward, airlines are looking for ways to move the weight their planes carry downward. Here are some items airlines are dumping or have already dumped to become more fuel efficient, according to this article in The Plain Dealer.

  • magazine racks
  • unused ovens
  • wing lights
  • drinking glasses
  • extra wires in walls
  • paper manuals in cockpits

And here are some switches you may notice

  • cookies traded for light baked chips
  • lighter, thinner materials used for seats

Next time you are flying, look around and see what could be dumped or changed for the airplane to be more fuel efficient. You may not choose to dump the passenger sitting next to you. Here is a suggestion I thought of. Pork rinds are lighter than chips.

How racist are you? Is it a gun or a cell phone?

by Jamie Rhein on

In Diversity Inc, there is an article about a pop psychology test from the University of Chicago. The test, self-administered on-line, runs through various photos of black and white men who are either holding a gun or something else. The test taker presses the “/ ” key to shoot the guy with the gun, or presses the “z” key to put the gun away.

The idea is for the test taker to see how racist he or she is in terms of who he or she thinks is more likely to be carrying a gun. I took the test and found out that I would have been shot dead several times over since my reaction time was so darned slow. I scored into the negative numbers. It didn’t matter if the shooter was black or white.

The test is pretty slick, even if, one is not prone to give much stock to this sort of study. The pondering about who is packing a gun reminds me of those discussions I had in college with friends of mine. We wondered what each of us would do if walking alone at night. If a man was coming, who crossed to the other side, and under what circumstances? Each of us admitted that our radar went up regardless of who the man was and how fast he was coming up behind us or towards us.

I don’t tend to think of people walking around with guns. I do notice the no guns stickers on signs since carrying a gun is legal in Ohio. As far as I can tell from my terrible score, when I look at a gun, I see a wallet or a cell phone. It doesn’t matter who is holding it.

Here is a link to the test to see how you do. Nicholas Kristof recently wrote an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times about this study where he expresses some dismay at his own results.

What I think is missing from the data is the background of the person taking the test. I wonder how much age, sex, and whether a person grew up in a city or in the country has any bearing on reactions? I also wonder if people who travel often are more likely to see a wallet? Or do our experiences have nothing to do with our trigger finger? I also wonder if, when we are traveling in a country where violent crime is rare, we react differently? I would guess yes.