Epic Adventures: La Jangada

Epic Adventures: La Jangada opens with Minha travelling with her family through the Amazon River to Brazil where she is going to marry an army physician Manuel Valdez. Minha's father Joam is still haunted by his dark past in Brazil where he was falsely accused of murder. A scoundrel named Torres offers Joam absolute proof of his innocence but in return he wants Minha's hand in marriage! When Joam refuses, Torres reports his arrival in Brazil to the police and Joam is arrested. Can Minha find evidence to save her father from the gallows? Or will she give in to Torres' evil plan?

Game Size 156MB

OR

More about → Epic Adventures: La Jangada

Mr. Puzzle

Mr. Puzzle offers traditional jigsaw puzzles with multiple levels of difficulty as well as an all new challenge - multi layer puzzles!
Whether you're in the mood for a nice, relaxing puzzle, or ready for a bigger challenge, Mr. Puzzle has you covered!

Game Size 52MB

OR

More about → Mr. Puzzle

Broken Hearts - A Soldiers Duty

Game Size 123MB

More about → Broken Hearts - A Soldiers Duty

Anka

Are you ready for an epic adventure? A young child named Anka need your help. Life is good for him, but all that is about to change forever. Solve mysteries and restore peace in his life. Enjoy countless of puzzle and mini-games in this enchanting adventure.

Game Size 51MB

OR

More about → Anka

Rabbits on a High-Saturated Fat Diet Without Added Cholesterol

I just saw another study that supports my previous post Animal Models of Atherosclerosis: LDL. The hypothesis is that in the absence of excessive added dietary cholesterol, saturated fat does not influence LDL or atherosclerosis in animal models, relative to other fats (although omega-6 polyunsaturated oils do lower LDL in some animal models). This appears to be consistent with what we see in humans.

In this study, they fed four groups of rabbits different diets:

1. Regular low-fat rabbit chow
2. Regular low-fat rabbit chow plus 0.5 g cholesterol per day
3. High-fat diet with 30% calories as coconut oil (saturated) and no added cholesterol
4. High-fat diet with 30% calories as sunflower oil (polyunsaturated) and no added cholesterol

LDL at 6 months was the same in groups 1, 3 and 4, but was increased more than 20-fold in group 2. It's not the fat, it's the fact that they're overloading herbivores with dietary cholesterol!

Total cholesterol was also the same between all groups except the cholesterol-fed group. TBARS, a measure of lipid oxidation in the blood, was elevated in the cholesterol and sunflower oil groups but not in the chow or coconut groups. Oxidation of blood lipids is one of the major factors in atherosclerosis, the vascular disease that narrows arteries and increases the risk of having a heart attack. Serum vitamin C was lower in the cholesterol-fed groups but not the others.

This supports the idea that saturated fat in the absence of excess dietary cholesterol does not necessarily increase LDL, and in fact in most animals it does not.

Merry Christmas!

More about → Rabbits on a High-Saturated Fat Diet Without Added Cholesterol

Season's greetings and happy holiday wishes from Film Studies For Free

No Man's Land (Scotland, 2004) directed by Clara Glynn, score by Sally Beamish, cinematography by Mike Eley, edited by (an old Glasgow friend) Colin Monie, and featuring Julie Austin, Liam Brennan, Louise Ludgate, and Euan Mackay as Rory.

Thank you for visiting Film Studies For Free. See you in the New Year with lots more links lists and video essays, too...

More about → Season's greetings and happy holiday wishes from Film Studies For Free

Beijing by Foot

It was love at first sight when I first set foot on Shicha Hai (什刹海) early autumn this year. I did the touristy thing...a rickshaw hutong tour. I didn't particular enjoy the ride as I prefer to take my time walking along the banks of the lakes. So, I made a promise to myself that I would revisit this scenic spot again, by foot.

Located in the north of central Beijing city, the Shicha Hai area is made up of 3 man-made lakes - Qian Hai (前海, Front Lake), Hou Hai (后海, Back Lake) and Xi Hai (西海, West Lake). During the imperial eras, these lakes were part of a system used to transport grain by barge from the Grand Canal to the Forbidden City. In recent years it has become famous for its nightlife as many popular restaurants, bars, and cafes now lined the shores of Hou Hai.

After a late lunch at the QuanJuDe (famous for it's Peking roast duck), we took a slow stroll from Qian Hai, before heading north to Hou Hai and back to our starting point at Qian Hai.


Picturesque Qian Hai (前海) in winter...I am no good with words, all I could say is, this place has transformed from a gorgeous young lady in autumn to an elegant ice beauty in winter. (这里的风景有如从一位娥娜多姿的少女演变成一位优雅的冰山美人, 个有个的美!)


Sugar blower at Qian Hai, blowing animal figurines with caramel sugar. It took him less than 2 minutes to blow a tiger and about 1 minute for a snake figurine. We were very impressed with this traditional handcraft. I first saw this art from a travel documentary, it is never the same when you see it with your own eyes. I bought two Chinese zodiac signs from this sugar blower, later that day I noticed others are selling at half the price I paid.


Someone has left a fresh stalk of rose on the frozen lake...I wonder why?


Seeing double? The reflection on the lake was more vivid than the real scenery.





Hou Hai in the afternoon...


endless row of willow trees along the shore...


My kids were very amused when they saw this half-naked man jogging along Hou Hai.


At this recreational area, residences are either kicking colourful shuttlecocks...or


having a friendly game of table tennis...


and the few brave ones, taking a dip in the icy lake...






Many small booths and cafes offer yoghurt served in traditional ceramic bottles...and yes, with a straw.



This signboard at a tiny shop says "Number One Smelly in the World"...


people are queuing up its stinky or smelly tofu...


deep fried fermented tofu, which didn't taste as smelly as I had expected.


It was only four in the afternoon but the sun was calling it a day.


We were greeted with a beautiful sun set. Before the night fell, we took refuge at a nearby Starbucks from the cold, before heading out for more street food at the night markets at Wangfujing. It was a leisurely 2 hours walk along the lakeside, and I have to declare that it was the best walk we took in Beijing.

More about → Beijing by Foot