Coca Cola Zero

I went to my mom’s home for lunch the other day and took a can of Coca Cola zero home. I remember I liked Coke a lot when I was a kid but I had grown out of it a long time ago. I do take a cup of Coke occasionally when eating out but haven’t bought one myself for quite a while.

So after getting home, I looked at the label. It reads “real taste, zero sugar”. The nutrition information says it contains 0 kcal, 0 g sugar. The ingredients are: carbonated water, colour (E150d), acidity regulators (E338, E331), sweeteners (E951, E950), caffeine and other flavourings, preservative (E211). So what the hell are E150d, E338, E221, E950, E951, E211? This is like a can of chemicals with codes!!

I needed to find out more before I decided whether I should drink this liquid, so I searched for more information on the internet, here is my finding:

1) E150d - Sulphite ammonia caramel
A colouring agent made by controlled heat treatment of sugar with ammonia and sulphite containing compounds. The caramel group of colours (see also E150a, E150b and E150c) are the most widely used group of colours, comprising some 98% of all colours used. Between them they can be found in beer, brown bread, buns, chocolate, biscuits, brandy, chocolate flavoured flour based confectionery, coatings, decorations, fillings and toppings, crisps, dessert mixes, doughnuts, fish and shellfish spreads, frozen desserts, glucose tablets, gravy browning, ice cream, jams, milk desserts, pancakes, pickles, sauces and dressings, soft drinks particularly cola drinks, stouts, sweets, vinegar, whisky and wines….

Heating sugar with ammonia and sulphite containing compounds? Hmmm, make me think of the smell of ammonia…

2) E338 – Phosphoric acid.
Phosphoric acid is a food acid or acidity regulator. It is produced chemically from phosphate ore. Phosphoric acid can be used for rust removal as it converts iron (III) oxide to soluble phosphate compound. One study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that women who consumed cola daily had lower bone density. It is not known whether this is caused by phosphoric acid, caffeine, or simply because women drinking cola don’t drink milk as much.

Another study comparing the effects of cola (generally contains phosphoric acid), non-cola carbonated beverages (substitute citric acid) and coffee (control for caffeine) found that drinking 2 or more colas per day more than doubled the incidence of kidney disease (chronic kidney disease and kidney stones).

Looks like phosphoric acid is not good for drinking either.

3) E221 - Sodium sulphite
Sodium Sulphite is a salt of Sulphurous Acid. Sulphites are preservatives used in food as anti-oxidants to prevent brownage, and to kill micro-organisms within the food. Sulphites are linked with causing asthma, anaphylaxis and contact allergies in human. In less serious doses they frequently cause headaches and the other familiar symptoms of a 'hangover' after consuming them.

4) E950 - Acesulfame potassium
Acesulfame potassium is an artificial sweetener, like aspartame, it is 180-200 times sweeter than table sugar. Several sources quote that Acesulfame K is one of the worst artificial sweeteners. The additive is inadequately tested. FDA based its approval on tests of acesulfame K that fell short of the FDA's own standards. Some tests indicated that this additive might cause tumor and cancer in animals.

5) E951 - Aspartame
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that causes a lot of controversies. US FDA considers it as a “safe” additive but 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives that were reported to the US FDA have been concerning aspartame. These reactions include: headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, muscle spasm, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, vision problems, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, vertigo, tinitus, memory loss and joint pain.

It is also believed that certain chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting aspartame. For example brain tumours, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, birth defects, diabetes and ME.

6) E211 – Sodium benzoate
Sodium benzoate is a preservative. It is bacteriostatic and fungistatic under acidic conditions. In combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen. Sodium benzoate by itself can also damage mitochondrial DNA (mitochondria are cell organelles responsible for energy production). There are many illnesses now tied to DNA damage, including Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases, and aging. Some artificial colours, when paired with sodium benzoate (E211) may be linked to hyperactive behaviour.

After reading the long list of food additives and their adverse health effects, I took much courage to open the can and took one sip. Something is wrong, it doesn’t taste like the “real thing”. It tastes plain, like drinking carbonated water with some cola flavour. It doesn’t taste good at all. Despite that I was very thirsty, I could only manage to take 2-3 sips and then put the can down. A soft drink that doesn’t taste good and not good to my health? No way, I am not going to risk it. I don’t need zero sugar, zero calories either.

I always believe that you should eat something that is either healthy or tasty. If it is not healthy, it has to be at least tasty and vice versa. But Coca Cola Zero is neither healthy nor tasty. So goodbye Coca Cola zero, this would be my last can of it.

How to get your blog indexed

Many people write blogs because they have something to say. Some people keep their blogs privately. Their blog is like their personal diary which reveals their inner thoughts, fear and desire. They have no intention to show their blog to the public. Some people write blogs for commercial purpose. They make a blog specific for a certain topic and use the blog to drive visitors to their commercial sites. Many of us write blog for fun to share our interests and experience with others. To serve this purpose, your blog has to be visible to the others. Do you know if your blog has been indexed by the search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN? Type the full url of your blog (e.g. http://www.myblog.com) in Google, do you see it in the search result? If it is not, your blog is not indexed by this search engine. To get your blog indexed, you need to have an indexed page linking to your blog site. The easiest way is to submit your blog url to blog directories.

My Blog Directory
DMEGS
Blog Directory
Superblog Directory
Blogz Directory
Blog Explosion
Blogged
Blog search directory
Globe of Blogs

It will take a while for these directories to add your blog to their sites. When search engine spiders visit these directories and find your link, they will start visiting your blog directly and include your blog in their index.

Batman The Dark Knight

(Spoilers)..........

I went to see Batman The Dark Knight the other day. This is the best action / superhero movie I have ever seen. The film is terrific, chilling with lots of twists and superb acting. I don't know Heath Ledger and honestly I have never seen his acting before, but his performance in The Dark Knight is extraordinary.

This is not just an action movie with good acting, good sound effects and exciting fight scenes, the plots and storyline are also well written. Strangely, when I was seeing the movie, when the people in Gotham was so afraid of the Joker that they wanted to turn in Batman so the Joker would stop the killing, I thought of HK people. Batman is the hero and Joker is the villain, but out of fear, people lost their sense of right and wrong, they put the blame on the hero so as not to anger the villain. Why would I think of HK people? It is because we are the same. Sometimes, we know that the Beijing government is doing something bad, but out of fear, we don't want to say anything to anger them. We are afraid to be punished and worse still, we would rather turn against those who dare to speak out fearing that their action will drag us into troubles.

Are all people selfish and corruptible? When the good D.A., the white knight, turned into a villain himself, the people of Gotham showed that they were ready to sacrifice themselves instead of killing innocent people, and Batman took the blame of Harvey's wrongdoings in order to restore hope and faith to the city. The movie ended when Batman was chased by a manhunt. He does not want to be a hero but a dark knight guarding the city.

I have seen many Chinese movies lately. All of these movies were starred by popular movie stars, they invested million dollars to produce the fight scenes, glamorous costumes and visual effects but they all carried distorted messages that some people had to be sacrificed for the "greater good" or you needed to be cunning and cruel in order to win the political games. The Dark Knight is such a refreshing film, it shows that you can only choose to sacrifice yourself but not the others for the good you believe in. In face of the dark force, people may become lost for a moment, but their conscience will eventually override their fear.

I have heard that The Dark Knight will not be shown in China because the film is too dark. I hope this is not true and the mainland Chinese have the chance to see the film. This "dark" film has its bright side and good messages which are often missing in those Chinese productions.

African violet

What plants can bloom all year round? African violet is one of them. This is a pinwheel flowering African violet - a chimera. A chimera has different genotypes in different cell layers (L1-L3). For this particular plant, the L1 and L3 layers are white and L2 layer is purple, thus forming the pinwheel pattern. A chimera can only produce true-to-type offsprings by suckers. If you propagate it by leaf cutting, the pinwheel flowering pattern will be lost and the flowers of the offsprings will only be solid colored.

African violet comes in a wide variety of color and leaf pattern. The most common flower colors are blue, purple, pink but you can also find yellow, green, red flowers. The leaves can be variegated with white spots or all green. Both the flowers and leaves may have smooth or ruffled edge.

A strange day

One of my favourite songs - discovered in The Cure concert in Hong Kong.



And I laugh as I drift through the wind
Blind...dancing on a beach of stone
Cherish the faces as they wait for the end
Sudden hush across the water
And we're here again

Peaceful Protests or Riot in Tibet?

CCTV released photos and footage showing Tibetans attacking Chinese and Chinese businesses last Friday. This is what Beijing wants us to see and believe – a bloody protest which needs to be controlled by force. But I wonder, what happened before the riot took place on Friday? The monks are said to have peaceful protests between Monday and Thursday, but some protesters were arrested. Some witnesses reported monks being beaten up by the local and military police. Is this why the Tibetans turned into violence in the end?

The scene reminds me of June 4 massacre when thousands of people are believed to be killed in Beijing in 1989. Tibet government claimed that they did not open fire at the protesters but witnesses heard gunshots. In 1989, Beijing also claimed that no one died in Tiananmen Square… Kind of make you wonder, has Beijing really changed over the past 20 years? Now Beijing even asks all foreigners and reporters to leave Lhasa, are they ready for bloodshed there?

The resentment of Tibetans against Beijing did not start on Monday. Dalai Lama said what Beijing did to Tibet is cultural genocide, Beijing denied. In fact, the communist appointed Tibetan government has implemented many policies that affect Tibetan life. For examples, Tibetan government employees and the monks have to denounce Dalai Lama; Tibetan students and government workers are prohibited from visiting monasteries or participating in religious ceremonies; and the monks are forced to receive “patriotic education”.

Zhang Qingli (the Communist Party secretary of Tibet) said last year: "The Communist Party is like the parent to the Tibetans; and it is always considerate about what the children need" "The Central Party Committee is the real Buddha for Tibetans." Does it sound very familiar? “The Chinese government is like the parent to Hong Kong people……whatever we do and decide is for the interests of HK”. But Tibetans are not Hong Kong people, they have their own culture and spiritual lives, whereas most Hong Kong people are materialistic, they are content as long as you give them some monetary gains. In addition, why do the Chinese government always consider themselves the parent and everyone else their children? Unless they think we are all retarded and can’t decide what is good for us, or they are super intelligent, but history has proven that they are not.

If Beijing really wants stability in Tibet, they have to do something more than the old tricks. Ruling with a firm hand, crushing protests, brainwashing people with so called “patriotic education” are not enough to pacify the Tibetans. And I bet the Tibetans don’t want a “parent’ who is controlling, violent and autocratic!