Awfully cool free site that helps people--

I'm talking about Free Rice. The idea of the site is that you play a cool vocabulary game (although there's other choices) and for every right answer, they donate 10 grains of rice. That doesn't sound like an awful lot, but I find the game pretty addictive. It will totally add up--you can set your options to keep a "running tab" of how much you've helped donate. One of the cool things about the game itself is that the word choices repeat, so after awhile, you learn new words and actually come away a little smarter.

There are also other really interesting options for multiple choice quizzes on math, art, etc. (I'm actually doing the "art" one while writing this blog--it's educational, in that the paintings might not be ones you are familiar with, but you start to recognize the individual style of a given painter. I'm loving this!)

So, you feel like a bit of a challenge? And you want to feed hungry people? And you don't mind learning new things?

Then, this is totally a thing you will enjoy.

Now this is a watch--

Biting off some Luxist again, I'm looking at one of those watches for men that I would totally wear. I like men's watches, because my arm isn't terribly slender, and also, BLING!

I don't need to know what price this watch--I'll never even qualify for the loan I'd need to buy it. It's just enough to know it exists in this world. That's all. Otherwise, I'll probably donate my spare change to American Humanists or Heifer or Oxfam or some damn thing like that.

Growing new teeth with stem-cells.

This is pretty neat:

The technique, developed by Dr. Jeffrey Mao, involves placing a tooth “scaffolding” made of natural materials in the patient’s mouth and directing stem cells to develop into a new, healthy tooth. By growing a real tooth right in the patient’s mouth, the patient’s healing time is greatly reduced when compared to that required after dental implants, and the chance of rejection by the patient’s body is almost eliminated.

Okay, I know this is altogether too practical--but regrowing teeth? No bridges, crowns, etc? I know this is not the actual point of doing it--but I think people would also like to (as a matter of principle, you see) be able to point to their jibs when at an advanced age and say, "And I've still got all my own teeth!"

And they would be all one's own, and not just paid for.

Very expensive thing I want today--

This watercooler from Ovopur I saw at Luxist.com.

The Meatman (hey, I gotta call him something!) likes Luxist because of truly gorgeous (but crazy-expensive) watches and gadgets. I like it because of the costly and sometimes quite ugly handbags occasionally featured (I do not know why, but I like seeing very ugly and expensive things--it means that people with money but no taste spend too much on them, which I can't help but think creates balance in the world, somehow). But every now and then one sees something that actually just looks worth it from the design point of view.

This is that sort of thing. It's stylish, it's made of recycled materials, and if it got smashed, the bits themselves are recyclable....and the spouse does not drink tap water.

I do. It blends well with bourbon and provides the fluoride and chlorine my body needs, anyway. But I'd probably drink more filtered water if I was drinking it out of art.

Product review--Wet n Wild's Natural Blend Pressed Powder

I picked up some of this product the other day because this is the time of year that my skin starts turning another color. In winter, I'm pale, Goth-y, a bit pinkish, but as soon as sun-rays kiss my nekkid flesh, I develop this golden toasty hue. And that means I need new foundation. And Wet n Wild is, well, affordable. It's a good drugstore brand of cosmetic.

But what I wanted to point out was the packaging, which really surprised me with what a neat, recyclable design it has. Most pressed powders are pretty wasteful as far as packaging goes--the powder itself is pressed into a small tin pan that sits in a womb of petroleum-based plastic, destined for a landfill after about three months, which just won't biodegrade. But the Wet n Wild compact is actually made of cardboard, so practically all of the components--the cardboard (recycled paper-based!) compact, the glass mirror, and the tin pan part that the powder sits in, are all separately recyclable. So the powder provides the light coverage I want to banish the "shinies" with (using natural ingredients like mica, corn starch, and kaolin clay) and I don't feel guilty when I finally use it up and toss my compact in the recycle bin.

I totally want other companies to follow this kind of thoughtful design. I'd like to see more all-metal lipstick tubes. I'm not sure if there is anyway to make one of my favorite cosmetic products, the automatic eye-pencil (I hate sharpening!) more eco-friendly. But I'd like to see cosmetic companies try.