Rotundus.com

Heavy snoring could help burn calories, a study has found as, even when they are awake, snorers use up more calories than non-snorers, the research found.

(From The Telegraph)

Who could be more Calvinist then Calvin himself?

Someone once said that all Frenchmen are lovers. John Calvin seemed to be working hard to disprove that notion. As a 31-year-old bachelor, Calvin announced he was not one of "those insane lovers who embrace also the vices of those with whom they are in love, where they are smitten at first sight with a fine figure."

... Finally Bucer told Calvin, "You ought to have a wife." Bucer didn't usually make suggestions; more often they were commands. After three decades of single life, this would be a major adjustment for Calvin. But maybe if he had a wife, John thought, she could decide what to do with unpleasant housekeepers. So he agreed to have a "search committee" hunt for a suitable mate.

It's an interesting read if you pull up the whole story.

Thus saith the New York Times in an article today:

Since September, pastors nationwide say they have seen such a burst of new interest that they find themselves contending with powerful conflicting emotions — deep empathy and quiet excitement — as they re-encounter an old piece of religious lore:

Bad times are good for evangelical churches.

The article notes that the effect applies to evangelicals, but not mainlines (which still continue to decline). But, of course with evangelicalism, this also means some sillyness as well.

There are a number of reasons why I've been trying to do more cooking rather than just buying. There's a lot of unhealthy food out there, and sometimes its hard to tell what's healthy and what's not.

Researchers analyzed 37 common supermarket items and found large amounts of sodium in unexpected places, including some products that don't even taste salty.

... "Our analysis found that lower-fat products might be higher in sodium. That's in part because when fat is taken out of full-fat foods, sodium is sometimes used to compensate for flavor," Jamie Hirsh, associate health editor at Consumer Reports, said in a news release.

(Excerpted from the Washington Post)

One of the foods that the article picks on is V8. For something supposedly healthy it's amazing just how much sodium it contains. (I switched to their low-sodium variety a few years back, and am now draining a bottle or two a week of a similar product even lower in sodium).