Detroit: A Food Desert?

A 2003 University of Michigan study deemed America's 18th most populous city a "food desert." A food desert is classified as "any area in the industrialized world where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain." In a city of nearly 1 million, healthy and nutritious food is scarce while high calorie, unhealthy foods are readily available. Since losing it's last two Farmer Jack's supermarkets over 3 years ago, the city of Detroit does not contain any supermarkets in it's 135 square mile area. Not one single Wal-Mart, Meijer's or A&P. A famously publicized haven for crime and unemployment, all chain supermarkets have cut their losses and fled to the suburbs, in search of greener pastures.


Although famous Detroit landmarks and grocers such as Eastern Market and Joe Randazzo's Produce exist, they are often times out of reach for most of the city's residents. A July 2007 Detroit News article formulates that the city has 155 grocery stores of various sizes that mostly cater to specific ethnicities. The article also goes on to state that "the city has 1,000 convenience stores -- including gas stations and party stores -- that sell some type of food." These types of food are more often than not expired and/or of low nutritional and high caloric value.


Although the statistics may seem staggering, I'm not sure if I would go so far as to call the city a food desert. But a difficult place to make healthy decisions? Absolutely.

2012 BMW M5

The 2012 BMW M5 trades in it's predecessor's portly V10 in favor of smaller and more efficient V8. The 4.4 liter, twin-turbo engine produces a street-shredding 560 horsepower with 502 lb-ft of torque to boot. The result of all of these technical advancements yields a 4.4 second 0-60 time and an amazing top speed of 190+ mph. Proof that Germany does it better.

Pardon My Facebook

French Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSL) has passed legislature which will ban the words "Facebook" and "Twitter" from television and radio advertisements. Set in place to eradicate corporate favoritism, French TV networks will have to replace this endorsement with a more neutral, "Follow our social networking sites." The ban, however, does not extend to news stories as they are still allowed to refer to the sites by name.

Christine Kelly, a spokesperson for the CSL begs the question:

"Why give preference to Facebook, which is worth billions of dollars, when there are many other social networks that are struggling for recognition? [...] This would be a distortion of competition."

Wether this is absurd bureaucracy or a unbiased leveling of the playing field, only time will tell.

"Pencil Vs. Camera"

'pencil vs. camera' by ivory coast-born brussels-based photographer ben heine is a series of images that inject hand-drawn pictures within real-life settings to create a composite effect that is often surreal and highly narrative. manipulating the backdrop to host added elements such as real-life tetris blocks, floating speech bubbles, and an alcoholic panda, the photographs are an exercise in manual photoshop, always including heine's hand which holds up the sketched piece of paper in the foreground.

Nintendo Wii U

Nintendo's consistent evolution of interactive and creative gaming platforms has spawned the Nintendo Wii U. The console boasts 1080p graphics, full backwards compatibility with games & devices and a 6.2-inch, touch screen controller. The exciting innovations make for a system that will propel the gaming realm forward, much the same as it's predecessor did.

Click here to view Nintendo's official demonstration and implementation of the revolutionary controller.

Feeling Lucky, Punk?

"This full-scale schlieren image shows the discharge of a .44 Magnum revolver. Two spherical shock waves are seen, one centered about the gun’s muzzle (the muzzle blast) and a second centered on the cylinder. The supersonic bullet is visible at the far left. This weapon produces a bright muzzle flash and a cloud of products of gunpowder combustion that envelops the hands of the shooter. Such high-speed images help forensics experts understand the transfer of gunpowder traces to the hands when firing a gun."

Via Webgard.

Wild Horses