Not a fan of New Year’s resolutions? Me either.

For if we REALLY wanted to do something, we would have started the moment we knew we truly wanted/needed the change.

And… how do we feel if we false start, or fail at this once-a-year target?

Humbug.

JANUARY 1ST HAS 24 HOURS… NO MORE, NO LESS THAN ANY OTHER DAY.

KNOW THAT EVERY DAY, EVERY HOUR, EVERY MOMENT

IS YOUR CHANCE AT SOMETHING NEW.

Grab Bag Craft Draft:

If you’re into DIY craftiness, or want to be, this site is AWESOME. 

You can find tutorials to make and/or links where you can buy the bazillion things profiled here. Personally, I love to see how resourceful humans can be.

On a more practical note, I think our species has WAY too much time on its opposable thumbs when I see some of these things…

CRAFTGAWKER.COM

Grab Bag Fooducation:

Lots of food packaging does it’s best to convince you that the contents are tasty AND healthy. Fooducate is an app for your Android or iPhone that tells you the truth by giving each product a grade and sharing high points and/or concerns:

 

Download the app and start by scanning bar codes right in your kitchen. If you find your Frosted Fruities are flunkies, Fooducate offers suggestions of healthier alternatives.

So how do they grade products?

How do you recommend one product over the other?Fooducate uses evidence based science to analyze the nutrition label and ingredient list of each product in our database. The analysis takes into account “nutrients to encourage” such as fiber, “nutrients to limit” such as saturated fat, sodium, and sugar, as well as information from the ingredient list. Based on this nutrient analysis, we are able to recommend better options.

And to dispell any concerns that certain products are favored, here’s what they say:

How do you maintain your objectivity?We started this service as a means for us to choose the best foods for our children, families, and friends. Fooducate is not affiliated with food manufacturers. We do not sell any pills, supplements, or diets. There are no external factors influencing our process other than the nutrition analysis we perform.

Give it a go… it’s kind of addicting. I’ve played with it for a couple of days and I just want to scan every bar code in the kitchen now. I have the free app, but I’m thinking I’ll plonk down the $2.99 (on sale from $3.99 right now) for the ad-free version just to keep these folks encouraged.

And … let us remember… the HEALTHIEST of foods rarely carry any bar codes at all.. that’s why Fooducate will not award an A+ to any packaged product 🙂

Grab Bag Sprout Sense:

2011 was a banner year for E. coli. In Germany, the deadliest strain of E. coli in modern history was first discovered in a batch of tainted raw sprouts. 4,000 infections and 50 deaths later, this version of the bad bug still has experts scratching their heads.

They don’t know where it came from, and they’re not sure why it’s so virulent…. it is EXCEPTIONALLY good at clinging to the human GI tract. They also can’t be sure it won’t make an appearance here in the U.S.

Raw sprouts have been the source of at least 30 salmonella and E.coli outbreaks in the U.S. since 1996. If you want to enjoy sprouts, blanch them for 1 minute in  boiling water before you eat them.

And do remember to cold-water rinse and lightly scrub all other produce… even if you will not eat the skin/rind…. a knife blade cutting into produce can transport bacteria from the outer surface to the flesh inside (this is the likely cause of the listeria outbreak in Colorado cantaloupes last year).

Grab Bag Sweet Stuff:

Who says a good guy is hard to find?

Grab Bag Brain Game:

WHAT WAS THERE?

Fun challenge here… you have ample amount of time to study images…. but you don’t know what questions will be asked.

Absorb all you can and then see if you can answer random questions about the image you just studied.

Grab Bag Funny-Wise-Ironic Stuff:

I hope congress had a nice holiday, with each day of rest filled with the knowledge that they have, in whole or in part, shirked their responsibilities as they try to position themselves for undeserved re-election.

But we should not be surprised…. the very wise men below were on to this congressional nonfeasance HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO.

When will we wake up?

Hello, term limits? Are you anywhere out there?

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. ~ John Adams

2. If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. ~ Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. ~ Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. ~ Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. ~ George Bernard Shaw

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. ~ G. Gordon  Liddy

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. ~ James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. ~ Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~ P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian

10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. ~ Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801-1850)

11. Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it.  If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. ~ Ronald Reagan (1986)

12. I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. ~ Will Rogers

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! ~ P.J. O’Rourke

14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. ~ Voltaire (1764)

15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you! ~ Pericles (430 B.C.)

16. No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. ~ Mark Twain (1866)

17. Talk is cheap…except when Congress does it. ~ Anonymous

18. The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. ~ Ronald  Reagan

19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. ~ Winston Churchill

20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. ~ Mark Twain

21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

22. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class…save Congress. ~ Mark Twain

23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. ~ Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)

24. A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have. ~Thomas Jefferson

25. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ~  Aesop