Update: breast milk ice cream no longer available

In case anyone reading this and living in London, England, was toying with the idea of tasting breast milk ice cream - forgetaboutit! Not surprisingly, the unusual treat or whatever you want to call it, was removed from purchase by the public by the London council. What took them so long?

Of all the dumb ideas, this one takes the cake.

The first problem I have with it is its origin in that mother's breast milk is intended for consumption by babies. The second issue is the mothers who would supply the milk, obviously for a price. I mean - c'mon - selling your breast milk? One assumes that the moms who would normally feed said milk to their babies, instead fed them commercial forumla.

The issue that the London council had with the breast ice cream was their concern that the ice cream could spread viruses. Members of the council had visited the restaurant where it was sold (not more free publicity!) and removed all the breast milk ice cream for testing, after being advised that it was being sold to the public.
The fear was that food items made from bodily fluids could lead to viruses being passed on. The restaurant owner for his part, agreed to stop making and serving the ice cream while it was being tested. He dismissed the allegations claiming that the milk had gone through the same screen proceedures as milk, blood and sperm found in donation banks.

Meanwhile, a serving of the breast milk ice cream was going for $23. Wonder how many people actually tried it. Thinking further, why would anyone want to try this particular...flavor, anyway, given all the choice of flavors on the marketplace? No indication whether it will be back as a flavor choice if the test prove the milk is safe.

Supermarkets - of water sprays in produce department and bad shopping etiquette

Yesterday I did a quick run-in to our local supermarket for a few items. As is my habit, visited the vegetable produce section for the makings of a salad and was in the process of picking out a lettuce towards the back of the display when a spray -actually more like a deluge - of water descended from the automated spray system above. My whole arm was wet- more than wet - and heaven forbid the supermarket(s) should provide paper towels or something for customers to dry themselves. This leads me to question the sanity altogether of installing water sprays for vegetables. Presumably, the idea behind it is to keep the vegetables fresh and visually appealing. The sprays are obviously on a timer system and unfortunately customers aren't aware of when their arms will be drenched. Actually, more than arms get wet including the face, depending on the re-bound of water on the product.

Perhaps a sign should be posted, something to the effect:

"Attention shoppers! Our system is timed to spray water every 10 minutes. The next spray will occur in blank minutes. Please stand back to avoid getting wet."

There's nothing like picking up a soaked veggie, shaking it in an attempt to rid it of excess liquid, which is an exercise in futility anyway, and transferring it into a cloth bag.

Another thing that bothers me are shoppers who for whatever reason, taste the fruit and then some, during the selection process. I've seen people standing in front of the cherry or grape or any pick-your-own display and stuffing their mouths while choosing the best fruit. These same shoppers do not inform the check-out cashiers that they have consumed fruit without paying for it. Who pays for this? You and I of course!

I've also seen shoppers actually open sealed boxes, take out an item, examine it and replace it back in the box. The absolute worst, though, was the person who opened a sour cream container, stuck in a pinky finger to taste it and replace the container back on the shelf.

Speaking of check-out cashiers, one of my biggest beefs are people who try to use the 8-items-or-less check out line when they have a shopping cart full of groceries. Yesterday for example, while waiting to pay for my few groceries, a woman with a cart filled to capacity was told by the cashier to go to the regular cash.

"The lines are sooo long," the woman responded and pointed to the long line-ups of shoppers, in the way of attempting to get the cashier to relent. After an unsuccessful period of whining that went on for a minute or so and highly indignant, the shopper whipped her shopping cart out of 8-items line up and joined the rest at the end of an even longer line up in the time she was pleading her case. No sooner had she disappeared than another customer tried the same plea without success.

Recently, somebody ran over my foot with a shopping cart while looking over a shelf, without even so much as an apology.

"You ran over my foot," I informed her lifting my leg in pain, expecting her to be contrite and appologetic. Looking down at my leg, she uttered "oh" and blamed it on a faulty shopping cart. Shopping at the supermarket just ain't what it used to be, then again, what is?

Death row prisoner opts for unusual last meal

Once again, the only phrases that spring to mind upon reading this story is "gimme a break" followed by "I dunno.."

It's not uncommon for prisoners on death row to ask that their last meal be favorite foods like steak, fried chicken, cream pie...before they check out of this world. However, fish food definitely falls into the unusual category, especially when the request specifies that the prisoner be turned into fish food and fed to your run-of-the-mill gold fish.

This is exactly what convicted murder, Gene Hathorn requested if his final appeal fails. This begs the question as to why would he want to become fish food. Right?

Actually, it's all the name of art and he has given permission to allow artist, Marco Evaristti, to use his body as an 'art installation" that will be part of a larger project focusing on capitol punishment.

Fish food...capitol punishment...? Is there a connection I missed?

The artist who lives in Denmark, will deep freeze Hathorn's body following which it will be turned into fish food. Once this is achieved visitors to his exhibition will be able to feed - well - the former Hathorn to a shoal of goldfish.

It is hoped that work will begin within a year if Hathorn is refused an appeal for the third time and he hopes he can stage the show in North America, somewhere like the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

O-kaaaaay... For sure the museum will jump at the opportunity to display feeding goldfish. It's so...artsy (cough-cough...).

Read the entire story, which includes the legal ramifications of this type of request and other related information here:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10530546