I just finished watching the season finale of the Amazing Race 4 and I can't tell you how thrilled I am that Reichen & Chip, the gay married couple, won the grand prize of one million dollars.
Rumor has it that since the taping of the show, they have split up. I haven't seen an official confirmation of this, but now that the race is over and they start doing interviews, it may be confirmed one way or the other.
I'm really hoping they're still together because their win of the race will bring a lot of attention to the hot topic of gay marriages.
Friday night John and I went to receive a prize we'd "won" from a bridal show drawing. To collect the 4 day/3 night hotel stay in Orlando, Las Vegas, Hawaii or Cancun we had to sit through a housewares presentation by Royal Prestige or 21st Century Concepts.
We knew going in that there would be a high pressure sales pitch, but the guy did give us a bit of a scare when he began to discuss "toxic cookware."
The guy tried to tell us that Calphalon and All-Clad cookware wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He told us that non-stick and alluminum cookware were hazards to our health.
Most of the evidence he provided was based in fact, but he used scare tactics to convince us. Their "health system" cookware really did seem impressive, but it was WAY too expensive for us to consider.
I admit, I was a sucker and wanted to buy at least on thing, but John prevailed as the voice of reason and we left with our three-star hotel package and our free film.
Since leaving, we did a lot of research and decided to delete the aluminum cookware we register for and replace it with stainless steel just to be safe.
Here are some of the claims the salesman made about "toxic cookware"
- With aluminum cookware you "eat" your cookware. He demonstrated this by rubbing a white piece of paper on the bottom of a clean plan for less than a minute. When he lifted the sheet we could see aluminum residue on it.
- Several European countries have banned the use of aluminum cookware
- Non-stick pans emit toxic fumes when the are used on high heat. He showed us several sets of instructions that explicitly state they should not be used on "high" heat settings.
- The fumes from heating non-stick pans have been shown to kill small birds.
Since leaving this presentation, I've read online about several brides who felt scammed by the Royal Prestige company. I do believe their "waterless" health system cookware is a quality product, but it is grossly more expensive than the cookware sold in retail stores... which makes the purchase prohibitive.
As for the health claims they made. You can injest aluminum from your cookware. Is it harmful. No proof has shown yet that it is. Some are trying to link aluminum with alzheimers disease but the results are inconclusive.
Non-stick pans do emit fumes that are toxic to birds because of their small respiratory systems. It has yet to be shown that these fumes are harmful to humans.
Decide for yourself:
http://www.ewg.org/reports/toxicteflon/es.php
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2001/07/07232001/cookware_44371.asp
Okay, am I the only one in the world who didn't know SWAT used to be a TV show?
At least that meant that I had no preconceived notions about this movie going in... other than I LOVE Samuel L. Jackson and I'm starting to really like Colin Farrell.
I really enjoyed this movie. The character development was really well-done, the interpersonal relationships were easy to relate to and were believable. The cast did an excellent job and worked very well together. Despite the great performances by Jackson and Farrell, LL. Cool J and Michelle Rodriguez added a lot to the movie.
The action scenes were fun to watch and the technology used by the SWAT team was fascinating. I would definitely recommend this movie for good action and an entertaining plot.