At Burger King we’re extremely serious about controlling the quality of our ingredients. That’s why we examine everything. Thoroughly.

At Burger King we offer extra ketchup made from fresh tomatoes, any time. How we manage this is, of course, top secret.

Just say the word and we’ll eliminate the onions from your burgers. Quickly and discreetly.

Pickle in? Pickle out? Only you decide how you want your burger.

Buffalo Bill: not that amused

Hand over the Mozza & nobody get ‘urt! This just in via Ananova News: A group of Italian policemen have been busted for mozzarella bribes (demanding money is so old hat) in Campagnia, a region famous for its mozzarella cheese. According to investigators, the cops stopped delivery vans and forced them to hand over cheese or face fines. No black market motives were established; the cops apparently used the cheese for their consumption. The Italian Interior Ministry says 4 officers have been arrested and 5 more under investigation.

Worldwide Mozza Bulls association spokesbull Buffalo Bill had this to say: “We have long wearied of the shenanigans you humans will get up to in the name of food. It appears that those more exposed to sunnier climates get a little crazier than others about this”. He sighed on: “I suppose this will make for a good youTube video that will end up inspiring a movie down the line. As long as Hollywood understands that we’ll be on the lookout, and no, we will NOT accept royalty payments in cheese”.

Which begs the question: How much is a pound of mozzarella cheese in Campagnia anyway?

You know you want to. A few fine specimens from the Rado Ceramica Chronograph Jubilé collection. As restyled by Jasper Morrison.

Musically inspired sculpture by Philippe Guillerm

If you like naked design, you’ll love this. An eye-catching execution of old plus new school approach, this design of this mechanical artifact was inspired by naval elements. Created by Jean-François Ruchonnet of Cabestan. Available in 3 tones of gold and platinum. Limited edition of 135 pieces.

The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks marching through the streets of Rangoon [also known as Yangon], protesting the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and praying quietly as they passed. She hadn�t been seen for years. The democratically elected leader of Burma, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since 2003. She is considered the Nelson Mandela of Burma, the Southeast Asian nation renamed Myanmar by the regime.� After almost two weeks of protest, the monks have disappeared. The monasteries have been emptied. One report says thousands of monks are imprisoned in the north of the country.

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No one believes that this is the end of the protests, dubbed �The Saffron Revolution.� Nor do they believe the official body count of 10 dead. The trickle of video, photos and oral accounts of the violence that leaked out on Burma�s cellular phone and Internet lines has been largely stifled by government censorship. Still, gruesome images of murdered monks and other activists and accounts of executions make it out to the global public. At the time of this writing, several unconfirmed accounts of prisoners being burned alive have been posted to Burma-solidarity Web sites.

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The Bush administration is making headlines with its strong language against the Burmese regime. President Bush declared increased sanctions in his U.N. General Assembly speech. First lady Laura Bush has come out with perhaps the strongest statements. Explaining that she has a cousin who is a Burma activist, Laura Bush said, �The deplorable acts of violence being perpetrated against Buddhist monks and peaceful Burmese demonstrators shame the military regime.�

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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, at the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said, �The United States is determined to keep an international focus on the travesty that is taking place.� Keeping an international focus is essential, but should not distract from one of the most powerful supporters of the junta, one that is much closer to home. Rice knows it well: Chevron. Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma�s natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma�s Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military. The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.

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Chevron�s role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. According to Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International: �Sanctions haven�t worked because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online, Burma�s regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It�s really Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers.�

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The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for companies grandfathered in. Unocal�s exemption from the Burma sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.� Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of nonviolent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Like the Burmese, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted and they live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.

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Human-rights groups around the world have called for a global day of action on Saturday, Oct. 6, in solidarity with the people of Burma. Like the brave activists and citizen journalists sending news and photos out of the country, the organizers of the Oct. 6 protest are using the Internet to pull together what will probably be the largest demonstration ever in support of Burma. Among the demands are calls for companies to stop doing business with Burma�s brutal regime.� –Amy Goodman is the host of �Democracy Now!,� a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on 500 stations in North America.

“Autumn” (1573 AD)

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (also spelled Arcimboldi; 1527-1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating portraits using alternation represention; he used objects like plants, animals, books, pots, etc. to create a likeness of the subject. Born in Milan, he eventually became court portraitist (as well as court decorator, costume designer, and general art expert) to Maximilian II at the Habsburg court Vienna, and later to his son Rudolf II at the Prague court. Much imitated by contemporaries, he also influenced later surrealist artists including Salvador Dal� (1904�1989). A collection of Arcimboldo’s and related works are currently being exhibited at the Mus�e du Luxembourg in Paris until Jan. 13.

“Librarian” (1596 AD)

“Spring” (1563 AD)

“Summer” (1573 AD)

“Vertumnus” (1590 AD)

“Winter” (1573 AD)

“Vegetables in a Bowl or The Gardener” (1590 AD, two views of same painting shown)

Below is an interesting related work also included in the exhibition. Francesco Urbini’s “Testa de Cazi”. The scroll reads : OGNI HOMO ME GUARDA COME FOSSE UNA TESTA DE CAZI (every man looks at me as if I were a head of penises). Fine example of renaissance erotica.

From National Geographic peeps comes a great multimedia piece on alternative energy. “Biofuels Compared” interactively illustrates how emerging biofuels size up and the benefits and costs of producing each one. It also shows comparison of each source’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy balance (ratio of the amount of fossil fuel required to make each biofuel to the amount of energy the biofuel itself can produce). Naturally, it uses gasoline cost and output as benchmarks. Concise audio commentary provided on each source rounds out the snapshot analysis.

For those keen to know more, there is a lot of supporting text available, which offers more interesting nuggets and views from various sources. For instance, while sugarcane yields more than twice as much ethanol than corn, every biofuel consumes crops that could be used for food (UN says 25,000 people die of hunger every day, most under age five). However, non-food source of ethanol (eg grass as opposed to sugarcane) is currently just 45% efficient (amount of energy extractable per unit) compared to 85% for crude oil. Others see biofuels as a total waste that deters from what should be the real goal; conservation.

And the scum of the earth may rise: While there’s no “magic-bullet fuel crop that can solve our energy woes without harming the environment”, algae (pond scum) apparently comes closest because it grows in wastewater or seawater, it merely needs sunlight and carbon dioxide to flourish.� Click on pictures for larger views. Better yet, check out the National Geographic site and try out the interactive module.