Google Giggles

I'm laughing because I've been in a nostalgic mood "in real life" all day today.  You see, a fast food restaurant, local and national icon, was closed when I drove past it today.   I've known for some time changes were to come, but this finality was a sudden twist.  The innards were up for auction, a food truck in the parking lot bearing franchise name still selling but nobody seemed to be buying ... 

I had my first date there at 14 or 15, unbeknownst to my parents, a double date set up by my equally "uncool" friend CJ who met "cool" guys at Jewish religious retreats.  I remember parts of it like it was yesterday.  The outfit I wore ... my hair painstakingly symmetrical in the Dorothy Hamill do.  I even recall the makeup I wore purchased from my school chum since grammar school Marjory, who had become an Avon "lady".  No ... I so do NOT pine for those days, but I imagine I feel a little like the Jersey Shore folks who saw their iconic boardwalks and amusement parks washed out to sea recently by Sandy, even if they didn't suffer real personal property losses.   A little part of me "died" today, even if just memories.

So why am I giggling?  Well, as regulars know, I occasionally post the Google searches that land people on my blog that tickle my funny bone.  This one just made me truly LOL.

how to change la vida 50 oil filter

Huh?  That's not so funny.  Well it is to me.  Because it's a rather ridiculous search to land anyone at a blog of this nature, but also for the nostalgia it evoked.  Any other day and it would have been ignored, I suppose.   See, I used to change my own oil ... up until around the turn of the century when it just became absurd to do so when it was cheaper to take the car to a Jiffy Lube or such.  Even after I married a more-than-capable man, I insisted on changing the oil for a few years!  

Is there such a thing as a "la vida 50" oil filter?  Who knows.  I don't really care.  I just got a giggle.

Comments

Sanjeev said…
off topic question for Evelyn, Lerner, Euler ... anyone

I haven't been able to come up with the right search terms to narrow down the number of hits for this:

has anyone come up with an replacement for the ORAC antioxidant assay that removes the effects of chemicals known to be discarded and/or quickly destroyed in human digestion and/or the first liver pass?

This new version of ORAC would eliminate polyphenols, anthocyanins and other rapidly-excreted/destroyed materials like resveratrol.

This will likely severely reduce the apparent effectiveness of all the

spices (cloves, cinnamon ... VERY high polyphenols)

brightly coloured fruit/vegetable (berries, many leafy vegetables)
Sanjeev said…
Even wikipedia says this
_________
As interpreted by the Linus Pauling Institute, EFSA and the USDA, dietary polyphenols have little or no direct antioxidant food value following digestion.[3][9][8][11] Not like controlled test tube conditions, the fate of polyphenols in vivo shows they are poorly conserved (less than 5%), with most of what is absorbed existing as chemically modified metabolites destined for rapid excretion.[12]
________
but it looks like no one has yet (that I can find) proposed an alternative test/assay, or modifying ORAC to only conduct the test after removing these materials
Alex said…
My parents long ago sold the angular, very modern, trendsetting house they built on the beach in Mantoloking NJ, but it was heartbreaking to watch a post-Sandy Jersey Shore helicopter video and see it completely destroyed, with the round concrete wall around the swimming pool the only thing identifiable. So sad.
Anonymous said…
There's lots in NCBI about polyphenols. Have you done a search with the argument 'ORAC polyphenol'?

One result:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22313776
'Our findings suggest that these metabolites may play important roles as biological antioxidants after their consumption.'
There's a free pdf with that...

I'm not sure that changing a test changes the effectivness of the substance being tested. Would changing ORAC change the results of inclusion of polyphenols in diet?

If a polyphenol ends up being 'chemically modified,' by the body, does that change the fact that it was ingested as a polyphenol? What or who decides how much of a substance is needed to be deemed 'effective'?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20109129


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20462428
'The proportional changes in MDA and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) were consistent with a dose-response effect, although no significant within- or between-group differences were observed for these measures.'
Also a free pdf.

From the pdf text:
'After 6 wk, the magnitude of change in plasma ORAC, ORAC-pca, and FRAP levels was higher with 42 g/d walnuts than with 21 g/d, while the degree of lipid peroxidation, assessed by MDA production, was lower. Although no significant within- or between-group changes were observed for any of these antioxidant activity measures (including TAP), the proportional changes in ORAC and MDA with each walnut dose were consistent with a dose-response effect.'
Sanjeev said…
Thanks for the quick feedback; yes I've been exploring complications and downstream effects too, including metabolites.

In the end the only valid test may be to administer agents and follow the plasma response to an oxidative challenge - a blood droplet test.

And even this would be of limited use as the most important oxidative events are in segregated fatty structures, not circulating fluids.
Puddleg said…
TBARS measures peroxidation products, which is more accurate regarding damage to lipids.
Malondialdehyde (MDA) is considered a good marker for lipid oxidation in vivo.
Some polyphenols probably are antioxidants, especially oligomeric ones with long half-lives, and any iron-chelating properties are indirectly antioxidative unless one is profoundly iron-deficient.
Diana said…
Since this seems to be the "what's on your mind" post, I just heard of Alan Gross, an American Jewish rabbi who got imprisoned in Cuba for supposedly doing stuff that he shouldn't have been doing...whatever - yeah, this Cold War stuff still goes on. He was delivering items for internet access to their itty bitty remnant synagogue. Anyway, it's a terrible situation but forgive me, I perked up when I heard that Gross, a formerly obese middle-aged American, lost 110 pounds during his imprisonment.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/02/14184448-american-imprisoned-in-cuba-may-have-cancer-doctor-says?lite

I think we've discovered The Cuban Diet.

I'm a terrible human being, I know. A gross violation of human rights and all I can think of is the weight loss aspects. Sue me.

(Other articles say he doesn't have cancer. I just put that one because of the picture.)
Puddleg said…
The Cuban diet? How about a 382 day medically supervised fast - nothing but vitamins, electrolytes, and a little yeast?
Peter Attia linked to this in his latest ketosis post, and folks, it is a doozy. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2495396/?page=1
Puddleg said…
Oh and 9 glucose tolerance tests in a year - that I suppose makes it a low-fat, high carb fast!
Diana said…
Yikes George. I can hardly imagine.

I'd rather do the Cuban diet: he probably get a three skimpy plates of rice and beans a day. Results: obvious.

There used to be a boxer named Harry Wills who fasted a full month out of every year.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19340409&id=zbNQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PyIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2486,739187

An interesting read if only for the old-fashioned unPC language. He wasn't Senegambian. He was African-American.
garymar said…
"37-48 days between stools" !!!
garymar said…
Well, according to Wikipedia, "The Volkswagen Lavida is a compact car released by Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive (CSVW) for the Chinese market."

So if you own a Lavida (朗逸) you're gonna need to change the oil filter now and then!
Puddleg said…
There are a number of things here that should challenge accepted ideas about what is "healthy" or necessary. Once upon a time it was common to start diets with a fast - maybe that tradition is worth reviving.
It's a good illustration of calories in = calories out, and I believe nitrogen in = nitrogen out. He was both active and very overweight, so he had enough muscle reserve to supply protein for the fast as well as fat.