An Amazon.com Customer Review on Sugar-Free Haribo Gummy Bears

Amazon.com Christine E. Torok s review of Haribo Gummi Bears Sugar Free 5lb Bag

Simply put ... AWESOME. Don't believe me? Look at the number of people who have found this review helpful. Then, read the comments below that. What a nightmare for the brand and its manufacturer. But pure hilarious gold for the rest of us.

In fear of losing this post, for one reason or another, I'm going to keep a screenshot. In the meantime, here's a link of the actual: http://amzn.to/1hIVPT5

And to be safe, here's a text dump; but the original (on Amazon) is an easier read. Not to mention, the comments that follow, alone, are worth reading.

The copy & paste of the text (just in case).

38,725 of 39,306 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Just don't. Unless it's a gift for someone you hate., October 3, 2012
By
Christine E. Torok
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Haribo Gummi Bears Sugar Free 5lb Bag (Grocery)
Oh man...words cannot express what happened to me after eating these. The Gummi Bear "Cleanse". If you are someone that can tolerate the sugar substitute, enjoy. If you are like the dozens of people that tried my order, RUN!

First of all, for taste I would rate these a 5. So good. Soft, true-to-taste fruit flavors like the sugar variety...I was a happy camper.

BUT (or should I say BUTT), not long after eating about 20 of these all hell broke loose. I had a gastrointestinal experience like nothing I've ever imagined. Cramps, sweating, bloating beyond my worst nightmare. I've had food poisoning from some bad shellfish and that was almost like a skip in the park compared to what was going on inside me.

Then came the, uh, flatulence. Heavens to Murgatroyd, the sounds, like trumpets calling the demons back to Hell...the stench, like 1,000 rotten corpses vomited. I couldn't stand to stay in one room for fear of succumbing to my own odors.

But wait; there's more. What came out of me felt like someone tried to funnel Niagara Falls through a coffee straw. I swear my sphincters were screaming. It felt like my delicate starfish was a gaping maw projectile vomiting a torrential flood of toxic waste. 100% liquid. Flammable liquid. NAPALM. It was actually a bit humorous (for a nanosecond)as it was just beyond anything I could imagine possible.

AND IT WENT ON FOR HOURS.

I felt violated when it was over, which I think might have been sometime in the early morning of the next day. There was stuff coming out of me that I ate at my wedding in 2005.

I had FIVE POUNDS of these innocent-looking delicious-tasting HELLBEARS so I told a friend about what happened to me, thinking it HAD to be some type of sensitivity I had to the sugar substitute, and in spite of my warnings and graphic descriptions, she decided to take her chances and take them off my hands.

Silly woman. All of the same for her, and a phone call from her while on the toilet (because you kinda end up living in the bathroom for a spell) telling me she really wished she would have listened. I think she was crying.

Her sister was skeptical and suspected that we were exaggerating. She took them to work, since there was still 99% of a 5 pound bag left. She works for a construction company, where there are builders, roofers, house painters, landscapers, etc. Lots of people who generally have limited access to toilets on a given day. I can't imagine where all of those poor men (and women) pooped that day. I keep envisioning men on roofs, crossing their legs and trying to decide if they can make it down the ladder, or if they should just jump.

If you order these, best of luck to you. And please, don't post a video review during the aftershocks.

PS: When I ordered these, the warnings and disclaimers and legalese were NOT posted. I'm not a moron. Also, not sure why so many people assume I'm a man. I am a woman. We poop too. Of course, our poop sparkles and smells like a walk in a meadow of wildflowers. Thanks for all the great comments. I've been enjoying reading them and so glad that the horror show I experienced from snacking on these has at least made some people smile.  ▣
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Bad Lip Reading

An oldie, but goodie. Enjoy.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR4lLJu_-wE

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Tell People What to Do

Simply put, this is hilarious.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3DSSGWisgk

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Pay It Forward - Russian Kindness

Find all that is kind in you and pay it forward. I know I always feel better after doing an act of kindness. Commit one week a year to doing so. Just seven days out of 350+ days.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmKKaf2F6uk

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John Cage's 4'33"

Good audio can make or break a Writer, a student or anyone who seeks inspiration and/or concentration. This is among those key pieces, which should be in everyone's tool-chest.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEFKFiXSx4

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NeverWet: A Superhydrophobic Spray

This may appear as magic, but it's not; it's science. Ross Technology Corp (RTC) is a company that specializes in steel products, which needed a better way to reduce corrosion. This is where necessity was indeed the mother of invention.

This necessity lead RTC Engineers to identifying a need for "a coating to keep liquid away from steel. What they ended up with is a silicon-based spray that not only kept steel dry, it could also be applied to many different surfaces and materials" yielding the same results.

The rest, as they say, is history.

"When we started getting it to work, we realized it solved a lot of problems rather than just corrosion," said Andy Jones, who leads the new effort.

Jones is the President of Ross Nanotechnology, the subsidiary of Ross Technology Corp. that was formed to develop NeverWet.

In addition to fighting corrosion, NeverWet's nano-particle coating keeps things clean, dry and free of bacteria and ice.

Jones said that once they found a coating that worked on metal, they created different formulations that adhere better to other surfaces, including clothing, plastics and cookware.

The cookware formulation also was tweaked so it can better handle high temperatures.

"Anywhere you don't want corrosion, or ice or things to get wet, this works well," Jones said.

"When you start thinking about it, there are a lot of places where that's good."

Jones quickly mentioned a number of additional possibilities: NeverWet could make ovens, toilet plungers and bed pans a cinch to clean, packaging resist water and white boards free of "ghost" images, he said.

Another application is safeguarding electronics —"I sprayed my iPhone with NeverWet, submerged it in a foot of water for 30 minutes, took it out and it was good to go," Jones said.

Now all of this may sound crazy, but I ask you hold off on that judgment until after you watch this video.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7is6r6zXFDc

What do you think? Can you think of applications for this product? Sound them off in the comments below.  ▣
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HTML5: Bridging the Gap Between the Desktop and the Web

I'm running a day behind in writing this week's articles, but I'm still very excited about several topics to put on display before you every week (on Tip Tuesday). This week I intended on writing about something other than HTML5. However, Google made a move that more or less forced my hand on the topic; so to speak.

Let's start with what HTML5 is.
Lifehacker answers the question with:

HTML5 is a specification for how the web's core language, HTML, should be formatted and utilized to deliver text, images, multimedia, web apps, search forms, and anything else you see in your browser. In some ways, it's mostly a core set of standards that only web developers really need to know. In other ways, it's a major revision to how the web is put together. Not every web site will use it, but those that do will have better support across modern desktop and mobile browsers (that is, everything except Internet Explorer).

While about.com answers it with:

HTML was developed by the W3C until 2004, when members of the HTML working group grew disturbed with the direction the W3C was going with HTML. They felt that the W3C was not paying enough attention to the real-world development needs of the language and focusing too much on XML and XHTML. So they formed a new group called WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group) devoted to evolving the Web. They started by working on a new specification of HTML - HTML 5.

HTML 5 is a new version of HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 focusing on the needs of Web application developers as well as evolving HTML and addressing issues found in the current specifications.

So what's so fancy about HTML5?
Going into details of the changes would probably exceed both the time and the patience of the average curious user. Instead, I will focus on some of the major changes, and how that will make our online experience better. Ben Galbraith, co-director of developer tools at Mozilla, is in agreement and stated:

HTML 5 features like Canvas, local storage, and Web Workers let us do more in the browser than ever before.

Here are some of changes that are taking place in a more relevant form:

• Offline Storage: The easiest way to think of offline storage as something a lot like Google Gears -—you just won't need to install a plug-in to use it. Modern browsers are starting to implement the offline storage feature of HTML5. Not surprisingly, the current model of text-based key & value storage is expected to grow into a universal structured data storage as the standard matures. This would greatly expand the usefulness of web applications, and could render many desktop applications (with time) obsolete.
• Drag & Drop: Simply put, this could put an end to the "browse" button to upload a file (like one does when submitting their resume online or uploading a profile picture of themselves). This HTML5 feature will allow the dragging files (mp3 files, documents, etc.) from the browser to one's own local storage (USB drive, Dropbox folder, etc.). Knowing that the Google Chrome OS (not the browser) is already in the works, the drag and drop feature of HTML5 simply bring a browser-based OS much closer to reality. The definitions around drag & drop are unclear, and will likely require JavaScript to work. Nonetheless, its uses are abundant and evident.
• Canvas: Simply put, you can programatically (is that a word?) render pictures, charts, graphs, games and whatever else your imagination allows that previously were practical only with third party add ons such as Flash and Silverlight. Having <canvas> as an encapsulated part of HTML gives Web Designers/Artists a freedom, no longer confined to images and boxes, allowing them to use the entire page as an expression of content and design rich interfaces to their hearts' content.
• Audtio & Video: The audio & video APIs are massive upgrades in media embedding. Although support is limited right now, something like video embedding has never been easier. Imagine YouTube no longer needing Flash to play videos. Instead, it's inherent within the page. Well, that's exactly what was announced, albeit in beta, a week or so ago.

There's much more to HTML 5 like Geolocation, Web Workers, Smarter Forms, and many others. HTML 5's web application focus is evident in such game-changing tools (although not yet) like Google's Wave. Whether it's structural in with HTML 5's API, reading further on the many beneficial changes is sure to help those technical and not.

Here are a few reading resources:

• Offline Web Applications
• Offline Application Caching
• Steve Smith on Structural Tags in HTML5
• Lachlan Hunt’s Preview of HTML5
• Elliot Harold on New Elements in HTML5
• Bruce Lawson’s HTML5 Form Demo
• HTML5 Cheat Sheet A handy printable HTML 5 Cheat Sheet that lists all currently supported tags, their descriptions, their attributes and their support in HTML 4. Released Smashing Magazine.

If you're running an up-to-date version of Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or Opera—or, basically, any regularly updated browser besides Internet Explorer—give these links a shot:

• HTML5 Demos: Huge list of capability demonstrations, gracefully compiled by Remy Sharp.
• Welcome to Safari: Written entirely with HTML5 and CSS 3.
• YouTube in HTML5: No Flash required at all (for Chrome and Safari only, at this point).
• Canvas drawing and audioNeat interactive site that shows tweets from folks who are digging on HTML5, with streaming background audio and interactive data pieces.

And here are a couple of videos illustrating HTML 5 and what it can do:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4FbF8GKChk

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tLBLVtIk3A

You Can Use HTML 5 Right Now.
I say that because HTML 5 has been a working draft for a couple of years and has undergone many revisions --The first draft of HTML 5 appeared on January 22, 2008, and it has been under revision ever since. HTML 5 is mapping our way into the future, but its final draft is not complete yet. One school of thought puts it W3C Candidate Recommendation stage around 2012, some even later. But the important thing to note is that the standard will be, and is being, implemented in stages. Safari, Internet Explorer 8, and Firefox 3.5 have some of the standard already implemented, with more being planned in future releases. Not surprisingly, Microsoft is resisting some of HTML 5's APIs (like <canvas> ... imagine what it would do to Silverlight).

Per smashingmagazine.com:

To effectively use HTML5 right now, we need to be able to control the environment in which it is used. Since support is not as widespread as we’d like it doesn’t make real sense for it to be heavily used unless, of course, we can lock down the usage to certain platforms which have HTML5 support. With Webkit leading the way for HTML5, we can safely focus on devices powered by Webkit.

The 3 hottest mobile devices right now: The Palm Pre, iPhone 3Gs and the new Google Android phone all have browsers that are based off the Webkit rendering engine.

Safari is even leading the way on the mobile HTML5 front; The iPhone (with the latest software upgrade) is the only device I could get to properly render the

Right now, you can confidently use many of the HTML5 features in iPhone Web app development and mostly likely expect Pre and Android to follow in suit.

This all now brings us to why Google forced my hand in writing about HTML 5. As I'm sure you know, Google Voice was rejected on the iPhone and created a major ripple this last summer (2009) to the point where the FCC was forced to interve. Well, given how Apple's Safari browser on the iPhone in particular is excelling in using HTML5 Google Voice Does An End Run Around Apple And Shows Up In The iPhone’s Browser. Genius! In the words of Borat "high five."  ▣

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An Innovative Pizza Box

Cardboard pizza boxes don't fit easily in trash and recycle bins, and many recyclers don't accept them because of the food residue or awkward size. They aren't necessarily easy to break down, and they can leak grease unto your floors or on your clothes.

Earlier this year, a New York City-based green design firm --Environmentally Conscious Organization, inc. (eco for short) -- has a so-simple-it's-genius solution: the Green Box! The concept looks like a standard cardboard pizza box that comes pre-perforated.

When your pizza arrives, you can easily tear the top of the box into four makeshift disposable plates. The bottom of the box is also perforated on the edges and down the middle, so you can easily fold that part into a small container that fits a few slices --giving you a convenient place to store leftovers in your fridge, without having to juggle around everything else. In fact, the leftover box is a pinch less than half the size of a full pizza box.

And perhaps the best part of this patented invention is that fact that the Green Box is made from 100% recycled cardboard. There is also the option for a vegetable-based coating.

Here's a video of the product:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQBjJjpkjl0

"Our goal is to increase the functionality of packaging and to eliminate or reduce follow-on waste [additional materials like tin foil, plastic bags or plastic wrap]," eco inc.'s Jennifer Wright recently explained about the Green Box, her company's first product. Since consumers have a built-in storage device for any leftovers, they won't need to fool with extra materials. And since the box can become handy serving plates, that will cut down on water and energy needed for dish washing.

Whether or not the pizza box, aka the "green box," is actually green seems to be a point of debate as of late. You can learn more about that here (be sure to read the comments). In my opinion (IMO for the new O.M.G. generation), for a box that hasn't seen any change in decades, this innovative approach is very inspirational.

See Wright present the pizza box here at what appears to be a trade show of sorts, and listen for the crowd when the demonstrator (Ned?) shows the storage & bottom part of the box:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMDmp-cR4I0

Wright (one of three partners at eco inc.) explains that since the Green Box is made out of standard pizza box material, there is no need for retooling factories or changing the way pizza shops do business. In fact, she says that the boxes can be purchased for the same price as -- or possibly less than --conventional boxes, since according to Wright the recycled pulp costs less than the virgin pulp.

The Green Box can also be used as marketing for pizza shops, who can tout the greener footprint, as well as innovative packaging and (at least for a while) novelty.

"Three billion pizza boxes are used in the U.S. every year," said Wright. "If you stacked them on top of each other, in two years you'd reach the moon…We feel like we're doing our part for the environment, one pizza box at a time."  ▣

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The Winds of Change

William Kamkwamba (born 1987) is a Malawian innovator who gained fame in his country when, in 2001, he self-built a windmill to power one reading light bulb in his family's house in Masitala, a tiny rural farming village off the grid in Malawi - at the age of 14.

Naturally, he had to build more; two more, in fact. All three powered at least four light bulbs, a couple of radios, reports of a TV and even charge some of the villagers' cell phones.

Per Wikipedia:

When the Daily Times newspaper in Blantyre wrote a story on Kamkwamba's windmills in November 2006, the story circulated through the blogosphere, and TED conference director Emeka Okafor (TED) invited Kamkwamba to speak at TED Global 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania as a guest. His speech moved the audience, and several venture capitalists at the conference pledged to help finance his secondary education. His story was covered by Sarah Childress for the Wall Street Journal. He became a student at African Bible College Christian Academy in Lilongwe, but is now on a scholarship at the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Here's the first TED conference in Tanzania (2007), which shows just how nervous Kamkwamba was; followed by the second TED conference in the UK where Kamkwamba is now more confident with aspirations to take his dreams even farther.


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8yKFVPOD6o


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjU5hu2fag

Wired has very good coverage of the story, the materials he scrounged from neighboring dumpyards, some of the hardship, etc.

Here's a short film, Moving Windmills, which should come as no surprise that it (and this whole inspirational story) is being made into a feature-length documentary.


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arD374MFk4w

His story is given in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, written by himself and Bryan Mealer, published in 2009 (ISBN 9780061730320). Kamkwamba took part in the first event celebrating his particular type of ingenuity, called Maker Faire Africa, which took place in Ghana in August 2009.  ▣


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Geek Graffiti

A few funny examples of geek graffiti.

This one is a classic, in my opinion:

Here a few of them in one image. I really like the creativity of the "loading" under the roundabout sign.

I think I was born this way!

Where's Pac-Man in this one?

I'm not even popular on the internet ...

01000001 = 65 = A
01001101 = 77 = M
01001111 = 79 = O
01010010 = 82 = R
That makes the below image spell "AMOR" which means LOVE. I'm geeky like dat!

Ummm ... Sorry Ocifer. I didn't neam to spray dat ...

No, we don't have a rainbow.

Reboot

Mmmm ... b.a.c.o.n.

And my favorite ...

The PixelRoller is an intentional cross between conventional and manual printing methods, combining the ease of computer-age printing with the creativity of manual printing. This graffiti creation tool can be programmed to print any number of patterns with uniqueness and variability contingent upon the way these patterns are then ‘rolled’ on to a surface.


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4_Q4MemtaA


Perhaps the ultimate in digital-age geek graffiti, Tagging in Motion (shown above) is a kind of three-dimensional street graffiti using a virtual reality interface coupled with digital rendering. The graffiti artist is taped by multiple cameras throughout his spraying motions in 3D space, generating street art that requires no physical surface and leaves no trace in physical reality like other creative urban light art.


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLikgptMD98
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The Strangest Secret - A True & Inspirational Audio

This true and inspirational audio was recorded in the 1950's. It's truly worth listening to on a regular basis. I may even convert this to mp3, or see if I can find it, just to have it for myself. Hands down one the most inspirational things I've heard in a while.


iPhone & iTouch users can find the Google Video at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8448018326921957619

A huge thanks to Paul D. for posting this on Facebook for all his connections to see. I've not heard of this before, and I'm truly inspired by it. It's just as true today as it was 50+ years ago. I hope you find it just as inspirational.  ▣


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The Ghost in the Machine - Put Your Old Tapes to Good Use

Erika Iris Simmons (iri5) is an amazing artist who

specializes in using non traditional media... old books, cassettes, playing cards, magazines, credit cards... whatever [she] can find. [She works] with strange, older materials. Things that have a mind of their own. Most everything [she] uses has been thrown away or donated at some point.

Personally, I would love to have a photograph or two done of my wife and I in this manner. It wouldn't just be cool in the full sense of the expression, it would be down-right amazing, a centerpiece in my office and as HGTV casters would "a conversation piece."

Check out some of Erika's work below, and don't forget to subscribe to her posts on Flickr.

These are some of the "Ghost in the Machine" collection, which you can find on Flickr here.






















There are more, of course, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of the inspirational work "iri5" does.  ▣


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Inspirational Monday - Robotics: The A-Pod

I'm honestly in awe. I've never been into robots/robotics. This ant-inspired hexapod, however, operates with unbelievable motion and control. Its creator, Zenta Olbaid (from Norway), from what I understand is well on his way to revolutionizing how robots move and operate. I not only find this inspirational but down-right an awesome display of dedication and attention to detail that is worth mentioning in and of itself.

Take a 5-minute e-break and enjoy this YouTube clip; and when you're done, I'd love to "hear" your comments. Did you find this as inspirational as I did?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jyBiECoS3Q