New Kids Video Game Teaches About Health
Kaiser Permanente has developed a free online game that teaches 9- and 10-year-olds about healthy eating and exercise.
This new video game is called “The Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food Detective“:
The game takes a novel approach from most arcade games. After playing for about 20 minutes, the game locks players out and won’t unlock for another hour.
“Kids in America spend too much time in front of the TV, and the messages they get there about eating, activity, and role models are all the wrong (ones),” said Ray Baxter, senior vice president for community benefit at Kaiser Permanente.
“Finger-wagging and telling kids to eat more green vegetables is not going to work. You’ve got to change the environment and change the message.”
The purpose is to get kids to stop playing computer games and go outside for some fresh air and exercise.
The game teaches kids how to read food labels, how to measure the amount of sugar in drinks and other health skills.
Source: Reuters
The Secret World of Food Coloring
What makes those canned peas so green? Chlorophyll, you say? Nope! It’s actually Green No. 3, one of the modern world’s most plentiful food colorings.
The COLOUR lovers blog gives the history of this and six other colorings, and it’s a fascinating peek into what we consume every day without knowing it.
I was surprised to learn how many popular colors are made, in part, from coal tar — a substance that causes cancer in rats.
Some of these colors have actually been banned by countries in the European Union.
I was also reminded of the urban legend surrounding Mountain Dew, which derives its unnatural hue from Yellow No. 5: no, it doesn’t shrink men’s testicles and wither their sperm, but some researchers have linked it to childhood attention disorders.
Ah, chemicals. Who knew that eating a bag of Skittles was such a daring thing to do?
McDonald’s Unveils McCell Phone McOrdering
That’s right, a McDonald’s in Korea is testing a cell phone based ordering service.
McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant chain is working with Korean telco SK Telecom to field test their “Touch Order” system.
How it works is customers sit down at tables, where they can plug a customized RFID device into their cell phones, they can then scan the menu with the phones, and push a cell phone button to order items.
When the food is ready, customers are notified with an SMS message.
I totally want to order a quarter pounder with cheese meal right now. Me so hungry 
Dominos - Avoid the Noid
I love pizza. It’s got to be one of the best quick in a pinch fixes to get something to eat when you don’t want to cook and for the most part can be really tasty… ham, onion, mushroom and bell peppers… yum-o!
Usually I’ll order Pizza Hut or Papa Murphy’s and sometimes I’ll even make homemade pizza. w00t.
Well earlier today I saw a car with an old Dominos Pizza Noid radio antenna gadget which got me thinking about pizza TV commercials, so I went looking for old Dominos pizza TV advertisements because I recalled the little Noid character being in them.
Yay, an old school “Avoid the Noid” Dominos pizza commercial… it would be so great if they brought these back.
What do you think Geek With Laptop readers?
Should Dominos bring back the “Avoid the Noid” advertising campaign or just stick with the current boring ads they have playing?
Dinner and a Movie: Solo Addition
So tonight my lady is going over to her friends house for a “girls night out” which means that I get the entire house all to myself.
I figured that since I’ve been working a ton lately that I would take this opportunity to have some dinner at home and watch a movie or two with little to no stress.
On the menu tonight is a Papa Murphy’s Gourmet Chicken Garlic Pizza which has the following ingredients:
- Creamy garlic sauce
- Grilled chicken
- Roma tomatoes
- Green onions
- Herb & Cheese Blend
On the movie front, I plan on watching the 1985 classic “Real Genius” starring Val Kilmer and also the 2003 thriller “The Recruit” starring Al Pacino and Colin Farrell.
Depending on how the night goes after the pizza and movies, I might poke around with my new MAME machine project in the garage.
Stuffed Baked Pork Chops
For all you meat lovers out there (like me), here is a little recipe I love to whip up… stuffed baked pork chops.
I actually made this for dinner last night… yum! However, I didn’t snap any pictures, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
Ok, here is what you you’ll need for the recipe. Feel free to make substitutions as needed:
Needed Ingredients:
- 4 to 6 lean pork chops
- 4 to 6 cups stuffing mix (Stove Top)
- 2 cans Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup milk or water (milk makes it richer)
- Aluminum Foil
- 13 x 9 inch baking dish
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Prepare stuffing mix according to directions on package. With Stove Top, this takes about 5 minutes max and tastes really good.
Take about 1 cup of prepared stuffing and put on top of each pork chop.
As an alternative you can cut a slit down the side or middle of the pork chops to make a small pocket so you can “stuff” the stuffing into the pork chop. This is how I like to do it.
Place the pork chops in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish.
Mix together cream of mushroom soup and milk. Pour carefully over pork chops and stuffing.
Cover the pan with aluminum foil. This helps brown and cook the pork chops.
Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.
Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.
Be careful when removing the foil as I nice heat cloud will come out and burn your face or hands if you’re not careful.
Place pork chops on plate and serve. Enjoy!