Scientists say the technology—which is making juice and other fresh foods shelf-stable—holds up under scrutiny.

By Jody Berger on May 24, 2016

Five friends wanted to make hand-crafted organic hummus, so they enlisted brothers, sisters, and neighbors in multiple rounds of taste-tests until they had three perfect recipes. In 2011, they launched Hope Hummus and began selling it at farmers’ markets in and around Boulder, Colorado.

Hope Hummus had no problem providing fresh hummus to customers in Colorado well before the dip spoiled. But quickly, the company’s Spicy Avocado Hummus gained fans, and the brand grew. The challenge came when they needed to supply grocers in California and Oregon. How could they make fresh, nutritious food and safely serve customers beyond their own area code?

Hope rejected potassium sorbate and other chemical preservatives commonly used to preserve yogurt, wine, cheese, dips, and other fresh foods like hummus. They also said no to heat pasteurization, which extends shelf life.
To read more... 

In the beginning, there was the wave.

​A beast of a thing off the coast of Northern California, the wave started when a storm near Alaska raged long enough and strong enough to send its energy barreling over two thousand miles of open ocean. That energy hit the continental shelf about 80 miles offshore and continued full force until it slammed into a shallow reef a mile from Half Moon Bay. From there, the underwater topography focused the energy and forced the water to stand up into a 40- or 50-foot wave.

In the 1960s, some surfers who surfed nearby named the beast after their dog, Maverick. They considered the big wave, which breaks a half mile offshore, un-rideable. That seemed to be the prevailing thought until 1975, when a 17-year-old local named Jeff Clark paddled out.

To read more, go to Roots Rated. 

On the VPK blog

Admittedly, I picked the first doctor in a fairly juvenile way. I was a self-employed writer with the cheapest insurance I could find and, reliably healthy, I had never used it. The tingling in my fingertips, however, seemed like it meant something — like my fingers were trying to tell me something — so I looked at the HMO’s website and picked the doctor with crazy, curly hair.

Her brown mop was unruly just like mine, and I took that as a good sign. In the end, though, the primary care doc and I didn’t know each other long, and I never grew to trust her. She kept me waiting for 25 minutes, then spent five minutes with me and referred me to a neurologist. “Goodbye,” she said as she slid out the door. There had been no time for questions or discussion. She was gone.

To read more, please follow this link. 

From the VPK Blog

There was no siren nor light nor gentle nudge that woke me up. Nothing external interrupted me and yet, suddenly, in the middle of the night, I was awake and my brain was racing.
I wanted sleep; I needed sleep; and none was coming. All I could do was lie there, frantically making mental lists and composing what seemed to be brilliant and urgent plans that I would no doubt forget in the morning.
I didn’t even need to look at the clock. I knew what it would say. It had said the same thing every night for a week: 2:30 a.m. To read more...

From Tales of the Cocktail

Like all kids, Katie Blandin Shea wanted summer to last forever.
On family camping trips in Big Sur, she’d inhale the mix of pine needles, bay leaves and salted ocean air, and wish she could preserve that moment in a glass so she could serve it back to herself later.
Now, as an adult, she can.
Blandin Shea owns and operates Bar Cart Cocktail Co., a Carmel Valley-based cocktail consulting and catering company that creates signature drinks... please, click here to read more.

Horses, Including Ex-Thoroughbred Racers, Are Being Slaughtered for Big Profit; Some Travel Long Hours in Grueling Conditions
In the Los Angeles Times

Just up the road from an affluent community in Chino Hills, under a blazing sun, a man in a baseball cap loads horses for transport to slaughter. Some of the animals move slowly, the result of old age or injuries, but others are obviously well-conditioned, thoroughbreds fresh off the track. 

The ranch hand continues loading until 46 horses fit in the double-decker truck designed to transport cattle and pigs, animals smaller than horses. The horses will travel in these close quarters as far as Texas, to one of the 10 USDA-inspected equine slaughterhouses. Eventually, they will be sold for human consumption in Europe and Japan. Read more... 

From the Deseret News

For centuries, germs have gotten a bad rap. Generally vilified as carriers and causes of disease, these microscopic organisms are on the verge of a complete image makeover.

Thanks to better technology, scientists can now take a closer look at the bacteria, fungi and viruses that humans inhale, eat and touch everyday. And instead of telling us to avoid or kill all these germy creatures, scientists are now advising us to take better care of them. To read more...  

Investing in Functional Medicine to Cure Disease, not just Sooth Symptoms for Patients
From the Deseret News

​When the head of the world-renownedCleveland Clinic approached Dr. Mark Hyman about creating a department that would employ the doctor’s specialty of “functional medicine,” Hyman was typically blunt.
“If I create a program there, it would cut the number of angioplasties and bypasses in half, and reduce hospital admissions,” he told clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove.
To read more...

In the Rocky Mountain News
Published Sunday, August 22, 2004

ATHENS -- Runner after runner crossed the finish line and fell to his knees. One fell further and collapsed into a heap under the relentless Sacramento sun. More than one lost his lunch in a lurid display of exercise-induced nausea.

And all of them gratefully, if somewhat numbly, accepted the icy towels volunteers draped over their necks, shoulders and heads.

But it wasn't the heat alone that pulled these men down at the U.S. Track and Field trials last month. It was the distance. To read more...

Aspen Adventurer Tells Harrowing Tale of Survival
In the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

GRAND JUNCTION -- The first time Aron Ralston tried to sever his arm, his knife was too dull to slice the blond hairs barely visible on his skin.

"It was the kind of knife you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and they gave you a free multiuse tool," the 27-year-old Aspen climber said.

Ralston, who gained international attention after spending five days trapped in a remote Utah canyon, held a news conference Thursday at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction. In the six days since his rescue, he's been besieged by media requests, including calls from Japanese and German television crews, Katie Couric and Oprah Winfrey.

Everyone wanted the story of how he freed himself from an 800-pound boulder. And Ralston looked eager to tell it. The upper part of his right arm was in a sling and his 6-foot-2-inch frame looked as if it could carry a few more pounds, but generally, he looked healthy. To read more...