Fabricationary

Pancake should have been in the bottom for designing yet another wedding dress (stripper variety this time, like a girl who pops out of a wedding cake for a bachelor party). I didn't mind Alexandra's dress - for me it was neither in the bottom nor the top of the group - but I thought it would have been better suited to next week's Wicked-themed episode. The judging panel looked very orange this week.

http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Figure%20Skating%20RPF/works Oh dear. Wonder if all the Tessa/Scott writers also read that-blog-that-shall-not-be-named for inspiration?

Cantaloupe Watermelon Pumpkin - raw, mashed, whatever Sweet potatoes Raw tomatoes (except for the very rare, sweet-tasting ones) Mint (even in toothpaste - I spit it out as quickly as I can! When I was a kid I would insist on using a kids' toothpaste that was not mint-flavored.) I don't drink, but I hate the smell of beer (which I guess is not so unpopular based on this thread!).

Or playing devil's advocate here - if they've snuck behind their chaperones' backs and kissed/made out/experimented already, they might give themselves away by being too experienced during their supposed wedding 'first kiss.' Also, I find it really hard to believe that a couple of virgins who share their first kiss at their wedding can accelerate from kissing to full intercourse in one night (without a lot of mishaps at least). If they do, it's got to be incredibly awkward and probably not pleasurable for either party!

I found episode 9 kind of boring. Lots of crying; very little action. By this point in the manga, all the generals (except Kunzite, aka Malachite) had been killed, so we'll see what they're planning to do now that the writers have kept them all alive. I doubt it will be to canonize the senshi-generals romances so pervasive in the fanon (except for ).

To add to the yoga links, the Namaste series has a website with a full-length video sample: http://www.namaste.tv/pages/share . There are also DVDs available, but they're pricey (I managed to surf the interwebs and find some other videos that way). When I was back in college, I did the majority of the first and second series as they were being aired on TV. Only a few of the sequences had moves that were too challenging for me (I can still never get crane pose!). I have always been hyper-flexible, so that's good for yoga! There's actually a lot I like about Namaste - some of the sequences are filmed outdoors in really gorgeous backgrounds, the narrator (Kate Potter) has a very soothing voice, there are a variety of floor and standing sequences, and the stretching and shavasana at the end (repeated during every episode) is really relaxing.

harrie - glad it's not just me/my family! Thank you for sharing your experiences, and I'm glad you've found a supportive place to work out.

Thank you again, stillshimpy. Back when I was on Weight Watchers in college, I was doing yoga using the Namaste 30-minute TV series most days (in addition to moderate exercise - 30 minutes of brisk treadmill walking most days), and I found it went at a good pace and was enjoyable (whereas I've tried but haven't enjoyed group fitness classes, yoga or otherwise, since I prefer to work out solo). I have some Namaste videos saved on my home computer, so I think I'll try to do those a few times a week and see if that helps.

stillshimpy, thank you for your advice. That's actually pretty similar to advice I got from a nutritionist and an exercise physiologist about a year and a half ago (when I was at the same weight I am now). The exercise physiologist suggested that I exercise only 5 days a week for 1 hour each session, and 3 of those days, spend 20 minutes doing weights (3 sets of 10-15 reps at a weight where the last set was hard to do). I did that for about six months (~250 lbs lower body, ~40-60 lbs upper body), and what happened was my muscles (especially my biceps) got enlarged to the point where I felt unattractive. I was hoping to get lean, defined muscles, but I guess my tendency is to bulk up, which I hate. And my weight basically stayed the exact same throughout. So, I quit weight training about a year ago, and my muscles have been slowly shrinking back to normal. I don't like being at my current weight, but as of yet, it hasn't negatively impacted my health (I'm not diabetic; my cholesterol has kept steady at a healthy 150; I don't have high blood pressure; my TSH is normal; I don't suffer from chronic pain or impaired mobility). I come from a family where almost everyone has a large build and is overweight (and many, including cousins my age, are morbidly obese), yet there's not a family history of early death, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, or diabetes (except for my 87-year-old grandmother, who developed it due to poor dietary control in her 70s). I just feel like being at this weight into my 30s-40s, and being under high stress that comes with my chosen profession, is going to spell bad things in the long run. (Also, as part of my profession, I will have to counsel people about their weight and healthy lifestyles, and I feel like people won't take me seriously when I give that advice based on how I look.)

I've been using MyFitnessPal for about 6 months with the aim of losing 1 pound per week. Frustratingly, I lost about 3 pounds, and then slowly gained them back. I've been trying to take a gradual, sane, long-term-manageable-lifestyle approach to losing weight - still eating what I normally eat (vegetarian, no fast food, very rarely eating out, but still leaving room for indulgences like ice cream), but reducing my portions and eating ~200-300 calories less per day than what I used to eat. Over the summer when I had more time, I was working out vigorously 1.5-2 hours/day, 7 days/week (and then eating most of my exercise calories back - maybe that was an issue). Now I'm lucky to get in 1 hr/day, 6 days/week. My gym also got rid of my favorite elliptical (Precor AMT), so for the last 2 months I've been using ARC trainers, which feel more vigorous and tire me out more quickly, but supposedly burn fewer calories than the same amount of time on the Precor AMTs (leading me to think the Precor calorie estimates were too high), so I've been trying to cut calories from my diet to compensate for the "reduced" exercise calories (when in fact I was probably eating too many based on the Precor calculations over the summer). It really frustrates me when I am putting in all this effort and seeing the scale not budge. I've very type A, and I expect to succeed in things I try hard in. Nothing makes me angrier than wholeheartedly and earnestly putting in hard work toward a goal and not being able to achieve it (in all areas of my life). The only times I've successfully lost weight in the past have been through more drastic calorie restriction diets that are not sustainable long-term. When I was in middle school I crash-dieted a few times - dropped 10-20 pounds, then gained them back gradually. When I was in college I lost about 50 pounds on Weight Watchers by stringently adhering to the minimum number of points in my daily range (~1200 calories/day). It was a pretty miserable existence (always feeling hungry; being cranky because I was hungry; always obsessing about food). This lifestyle wasn't viable long-term, and so over the next ~6 years, I gradually gained back all the weight I lost (but thankfully no more than that, since I've been keeping up my daily workouts for over 7 years now). I know the way to go for sustainable weight loss is the gradual method (i.e. lifestyle changes, not crash dieting, not binging/purging, not "snake oil" weight loss supplements/juices/cleanses, etc.); I'm just really aggravated.

I think I'm done with this show. Too ridiculous for me (but I guess I'm outside the target demographic). I'm particularly aggravated with their portrayal of female characters. Not to say that a female scientist, engineer, or IT person can't rock a pair of heels and a short, tight dress on or off the job (and fried-looking bleach blonde hair as per the guest star of this episode), but that's not the majority of us (even those of us who are still in our 20s with good figures!). By contrast, the male characters on the show are much more casually/realistically attired for their professional roles. Is it too much to ask for to show educated, intelligent women portrayed on TV attired in ways befitting their roles (and resembling reality), and not in ways that objectify or sexualize them to pander to male viewers?

Nice of Cisco to build a gun that shoots particles (?) at absolute zero when that temperature has never yet been experimentally achieved...

Why, oh why, does Kate Pancake get to come back for a 3rd time?

I actually really enjoyed Michelle's designs on the show (and especially her NYFW collection - I would totally wear 90% of that collection as-is or with minor modifications), so I'm looking forward to seeing what she comes up with on All Stars.

Any former TWoPers remember "Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods" that was on MTV years ago? (Briefly: a reality show featuring a good crop of talent hosted by the more obscure Duff aimed to find Laura Bell Bundy's replacement for the title role in Legally Blonde, and a PR stunt to try to keep the musical popular enough to avoid closure.) Happily, MTV.com still has full episodes available for online streaming: http://www.mtv.com/shows/legally_blonde_search_for_elle_woods/video.jhtml?filter=fulleps This article is a mini "Where are they now?" - http://stagedoordish.com/where-are-they-now-legally-blonde-the-musical-the-search-for-elle-woods/ Notably, I was delighted to learn that Celina, the tall redhead indie contestant who was eliminated halfway through the series, now goes by Lena Hall and has found a fair bit of Broadway success! Suck that, Bailey-bot!

Jade and Elyse are my two favorite ANTM alums. One for intentionally bringing the snark, and one for unintentionally being snark-worthy.

Yet again, the social media photos (solo shots) were different from the judging photos (superimposed double shots) - http://iamrian7.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/americas-next-top-model-cycle-21-guys-and-girls-8th-photoshoot-crow-underwear-photoshoot/ . Has this show become so low budget that Tyra has to shop off the rack for her judging outfit? It looks like she got her top and the lame knit cap from Hot Topic, the tacky yellow jewelry from Claire's, and then, exhausted after eating some chicken McNuggets at McDonald's in the food court, she fell asleep on a bench and had a five-year-old do her makeup in magic marker.

I presume that's the same reason why the main cast are all baby-faced actors whose characters are supposed to be in their mid-20s, but who, to have the career credentials and skills they supposedly have, would have to be 5-10 years older? I buy that Cisco, mid-20-something, is a mechanical engineer, but a 25ish-year old Caitlin (played by 27-year-old actress) would in the real world still be in a PhD or MD program (or in a postdoctoral position or residency, respectively, if she skipped grades in school or graduated college early). And Barry, who's supposed to be 24-25, is the most senior forensic scientist in his city's police force? Presumably this is not a position that a bachelor's degree alone would prepare you for.

On this week's edition of bad science on network TV: - cyanide becomes a tricyclic molecule! - a lung biopsy (whatever that was attempted to be?) is performed by randomly poking a small needle into the pericardial sac!

I saw the rerun of the feng shui-obsessed couple who gave both Hilary and David a hard time. I felt like the staged conversations were especially staged (the one where Hilary calls Eddie and Fergus over to tell her about her grand plans for the new sink, and they say the plumber just came by and installed the plumbing elsewhere; the kerfluffle over the homeowners over a flooring choice for the front entry). It felt like everyone was acting in a parody of LIOLI.

Given that this was her photo that social media voted on: Not that surprising. Both Adam's photo with Lenox, as well as his individual photo that social media voted on, were pretty bad, at least in my opinion. He continues to have the 'pairs skater promotional photo' look:

In case anyone was curious, here are the individual shots from the hair shoot that presumably were what social media voted on: http://iamrian7.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/americas-next-top-model-cycle-21-guys-and-girls-7th-photoshoot-hair-product-beauty-shoot/ Good riddance to Denzel. Too bad he couldn't take Mirjana with him.

I just can't with the misuse/butchering of science/medical terminology on this show. Prime example: "These stem cells come from BABIES!" (No they don't!)

From what I've gathered, the Saturdays are winding down, and so their management is trying to set the individual members up for their solo careers as performers/presenters/celebs/whatever (rather than cross-promotion of some group activity, since they just finished a greatest hits tour and don't have anything major on the horizon, except a rumored Christmas album). (Although, my snarky side views Frankie's appearance on the show as her management's attempt at birth control.)

I'm pretty sure they meant Ashkenazi, and they probably used "European Jew" to dumb it down for the general populace. From a genetics standpoint, the Ashkenazi are an interesting population, in that they're fairly inbred (thus making them a pretty distinct population from a DNA analysis point of view) and hence have a high incidence of autosomal recessive diseases like Tay Sachs.