HAND MEAT – The meat hand, something gruesome and delicious!

Megan reports how you can make it yourself! “Since August I’ve had a post it note over my desk that simply said “meat hand”. I mulled over how to make it for a while. I realized that the old formed inside a plastic glove thing wouldn’t work since the fingers would cook so much faster than the rest of the hand. It wasn’t until I saw this hand gelatin mold that I had my plan.” “I shot several angles to show how it has a base built in, meaning I could probably use it to mold meatloaf.” “I made the basic meatloaf recipe from ‘How to Cook Everything’ using a food processor to chop the onions and carrot to a very fine mince so I could fill in the details of the mold without trouble. One meatloaf recipe using 2 pounds of meat will make two hands.” “I sprayed the inside of the mold with cooking oil spray and it came out fairly easily. I put it on top of a rack to allow the fat to run off as it cooked.” “I did a few versions, learning as I went along.” HAND MEAT – VERSION No.1: “The first one was straight meatloaf. I surrounded it with mashed potatoes and kale (or brain matter and swamp greens if you have kids, or just act like kids). It looked ok, sort of creepy.” HAND MEAT – VERSION No.2: “The next time I tried adding fingernails made of onion, which were just like press on nails. To make the fingernails I sliced a thin round off of a single layer of an onion, then used kitchen scissors to trim it into a nail shape keeping the lines in the onion running the length of the nail. I kept the thinnest end of the onion slice at the tip of the nail.” “This time to better define the fingers I piped mashed potatoes around to define the hand shape. I just used a ziploc bag with a small corner snipped off to do the detail inbetween fingers, then I snipped off a larger corner to pipe around the hand. I smoothed down the mashed potatoes with a silicone spatula. The results where pretty creepy.” HAND MEAT – VERSION No.3: “The ketchup covered hand made me pretty happy but… I had this idea. My mom used to throw a slice of cheese on top of her meatloaf before cooking it and the cheese always turned out browned and crispy. I wondered how that would work with my relatively delicate hand. I also had the idea to use the smaller inner layers of the onion to create a cartoon-y wrist bone sticking out.” “I made two versions. The first used white onion and was simply covered in cheese. The second used red onion and was covered with ketchup and then cheese. I used slices of provolone cheese because I knew it wouldn’t slide off completely as it melted. (Maggi suggested it, thanks Maggi!) This time I used the version of meatloaf with spinach, again from ‘How to Cook Everything’. Here are some pre-cooked pictures – see above.” “If I were to do it again I would have put less cheese around the fingers, or rather, I would have put narrower pieces. The cheese pooled inbetween the fingers and made it more difficult to diguise later on.” “This cheese thing, it worked a bit too well. We couldn’t bring ourselves to actually eat either of them (though, we had been eating a lot of meatloaf lately). Here is a picture showing them side by side. They were cooked at the same time and the one with the ketchup beneath the cheese (white fingernails) browned a bit more. You can also see that piping the detail more carefully can make a difference.” “The wrist bone of the white onion was pushed out a bit as the meatloaf cooked.” “The smaller onion piece of the red onion write bone wasn’t as impressive.” “The red onion fingernails were creepier, but the white onion fingernails might get the point across more quickly.” MORE FUNNY HAND NEWS: • The mystery of the five fingers • The hand of God • The six digit man – hand satire from the Bill Gates Medical Center.

OCTOBER 15 – Did you miss the ‘Global HandWashing Day’ as well?

The driving theme for Global Handwashing Day is children and schools, and the main objectives of this global celebration are: • Foster & support global culture of handwashing with soap. • Shine a light on state of handwashing in each country. • Raise awareness about benefits of handwashing with soap. Read more at: GlobalHandWashingDay.org and remember: Handwashing & Hand Hygiene is the major prevention against swine flu! A funny recommendation: “Wash your hands with hands!” A few more important reminders in the perspective of the current H1N1 swine flue pandemic are: • Don’t think that you can wash your hands properly without using soap! • Don’t think that a hand sanitizer is meant to replace handwashing! • The best way to make sure your hands are clean is to wash them for twenty seconds several times a day! MORE DETAILS AVAILABLE AT: • Hands on ‘hand hygiene’! • Swine flu prevention is a matter of ‘hand hygiene’! • Hand Hygiene: warm air dryers increase bacteria on hands! • More hand hygiene news!

The AMAZON Palmistry books TOP 100!

What are the Palmistry book bestsellers?

Amazon’s Palmistry books TOP 100! Amazon is known as the world’s largest book seller (since 2007 Amazon has outperformed Barnes & Nobel). Interestingly, one of the key-elements in Amazon’s success is the usability of their website – which presents an ‘Amazon sales rank’ for quite a lot of books. What are the bestsellers in the fields classic Palm Reading & modern Hand Analysis? The Amazon Palmistry TOP 100 presents a unique collection of old & new books that have been publised in the fields of Palmistry.

FIND A CLASSIC PALMISTRY BOOK: Some very popular ‘classic’ palmistry works are the books presented by the US hand reader William G. Benham, UK palmist Compte De Saint-Germain, and Irish palmist Cheiro. FIND A MODERN PALMISTRY BOOK: Some very popular ‘modern’ palmistry works are the books presented by the US palmist Nathaniel Altman, the hand analysts Richard Unger & Edward D. Campbell, and UK palmist Johnny Fincham. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: • The Amazon Palmistry BOOKS TOP 100! • The Palmistry WEBSITES TOP 100! • More palmistry news & reports! • Palmistry news from The Netherlands! (‘Handlezen’)

HAND HYGIENE – Still the best strategy for swine flu prevention? (H1N1 influenza virus)

Is hand hygiene still the best strategy for swine flu prevention?

Research on hand hygiene & swine flu (H1N1 influenza) prevention! New research points out: ‘hand-to-face touch’ is a crucial link in catching swine flu and infection is likely not limited to body-contact! The global death toll arrived beyond 5000, and the stronger ‘momentum’ of the second wave of the H1N1 virus is now observed on 3 continents.

On wednesday september 8, Barack Obama told students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia: “I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.” But the new reports indicate that washing hands is likely not enough to stop the H1N1 influenza virus – so it does make sense that governments recommend an anti-virus swine flu shot! Anyway, just remember: ‘… think about your hand hygiene!’ SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER READING: • Swine flu prevention is a matter of ‘hand hygiene’! • A kiss is healthier than a handshake! • Your health is in your hands! • More hand hygiene reports!

Palmistry International Community Forums – “Ask your question about hands & palm reading!”

Are you interested to ask a question about your hands? Or do you have a question about Palmistry? You can ask your question at the: ‘Palmistry International Comunity Forums!!!’ (A review of this forum is presented at: “LET’S TALK ABOUT … HANDS!”) This Palmistry forum had a re-start earlier this month, and offers at the new domainname www.piforums.net: - Free assistance from some very experienced Palmists and Hand Analysts in the world! - A rich history of discussions and shared palmistry materials! - Palm reading analyses of the hands of Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, Albert Einstein, Benazir Bhutto, Hillary Clinton, Megan Fox, Nelson Mandela, Jessica Simpson… and many more famous people & celebrities. For example, you can also take a look at some ‘famous hands’: * The hands of Michael Jackson! * The hands of Barack Obama! * The hands of Albert Einstein! * The hands of Benazir Bhutto! PS. NOTICE: You’ll have to join this international palmistry forum to look at the pictures & illustrations in the 1900+ discussions!!!

The hands of the 38th US president: Richard Nixon!

The right hand of Richard Nixon.

President Richard Nixon: right hand waving photo Presidential Palm Reading: the Richard Nixon ‘hand-file’! • President: 1969-1974; • Dexterity: left handed; • Hand type: square palm shape; • Fingers: normal finger length, normal index finger, long ring finger, long pinky.

Earlier this year TIME presented a photo essay on the hands of the last 9 US presidents; US palm reader Robin Gile was asked to present his palm reading for each president. Without knowing that it was Richard Nixon’s hand, this is how Robin Gile described Ford’s hand:

“An Eccentric Among Eccentrics”

“Clearly, anyone driven enough to become president is somewhat eccentric, but this, going by the angling out of the little finger, is an eccentric among eccentrics,” says Gile. “He’s a complicated soul, with a lot mental tension and passion. The long head line — the middle line in the palm [= a Sydney line] — is unusually long, indicating he probably doesn’t have an off-switch in his brain. He’s a potential insomniac, very detail-oriented and can’t stop thinking. The deep hallow in his palm says he hangs on to things and won’t let go.”

MORE DETAILS AVAILABLE AT:

• The hands of former US president Richard Nixon!
• Presidential palm reading: the hands of Richard Nixon!
• How to recognize the hand of a US president?
• Study points out: ‘long ring finger relates to financial success … and risks!’

The presidential ‘facebook’:

The ‘hypothenar whorl’ – a characteristic in schizophrenia, Down syndrome… and autism?

New research links the ‘Moon whorl’ with autism! (On top of Down syndrome & schizophrenia) In 1892, Sir Francis Galton published his highly influential book, ‘Finger Prints’ in which he described his classification system based on the number of triradii. On of the 3 most well-known fingerprint types is the ‘whorl’ (next to the ‘loop’ and ‘arch’), which is often found on the fingertips – but rarely found on the hypothenar (in palistry: ‘mount of Moon’)! What was already known about the ‘hypothenar whorl’? Quote from the article: “While the classic palmistry literature describes that the ‘hypothenar whorl’ (a.k.a. ‘whorl on mount of Moon’) can be recognized as a sign for finding a ‘highly imaginative person’, various scientific studies have indicated that dermatoglyphic whorls on the mount of moon are linked with Down’s syndrome + a few other medical problems.” NEW RESEARCH FINDING ON AUTISM! Another quote from the article: “A study on the hands of 30 people with autism (25 men, 5 women) revealed a surprizing high percentage of a specific (very rare) variant of the ‘hypothenar whorl’ – the ‘hypothenar composite whorl’.” Some examples of the ‘hypothenar composite whorl’ are presented below. In the perspective of the fact that in the science of fingerprints the ‘composite whorl’ is related to the ‘double loop’, it is interesting to notice here that the new finding relates to an earlier reported finding which pointed out that the hands of people with autism are often featured with a ‘double loop’ in the fingerprint of the pinky finger and the presence of 2 palmar loops below that 5th finger. In cases you’re interested to learn more about the basics of fingerprint classification – the illustration below describes the 8 most common types of fingerprints (including: 2 ‘arch’ variants, 2 ‘loop’ variants, and 4 ‘whorl’ variants). NOTICE: The ‘composite whorl’ whorl does not belong to the 8 basic fingerprint types (the name ‘double loop whorl’ in the picture below is traditionally described as a ‘double loop’). SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER READING: • How fingerprinting works! • Forensic experts say: ‘fingerprints reveal more’! • A historical review of research on dermatoglyphics!

Nail clubbing may signal lung, heart & stomach diseases!

Nail clubbing is found in 29% of lung cancer patients! Nail clubbing has been known since the early days of the Greek philosopher Hippocrates, who recognized nail clubbing as a classic sign of disease. Today nail clubbing (a.k.a. ‘fingernail clubbing’ or the ‘Hippocratic fingernail’) is associated various lung diseases, especially lung cancer with non–small cell lung carcinoma. Nail clubbing is also linked with heart problems and gastrointestinal problems – but these are less common than lung problems. Statistics on nail clubbing & lung cancer: “Nail clubbing has been reported in 29% of patients with lung cancer and is observed more commonly in patients with non–small cell lung carcinoma (35%) than in patients with small cell lung carcinoma (4%).” How to recognize ‘clubbing fingernails’? Clubbing is usually a painless but complex fingernail disorder which often goes unnoticed of it’s presence in the hands of patients! In individuals without clubbing, if two opposing fingers are placed together, a diamond-shaped window will appear. In clubbing, this window is obliterated and the distal angle formed by the two nails becomes wider. This is known as the Schamroth sign window test. SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER READING: • The clubbing nail: developments, treatment & prevention! • Hands on lung cancer: the clubbing fingernail! • Fingernail disorders & medical hand analysis! • What are the most common nail disorders? • Megan Fox has a ‘clubbed thumb’ – not to be confused with ‘fingernail clubbing’!

Fingernails grow 25% faster than 70 years ago due to the modern protein-diet!

Fingernails grow 25% faster than 70 years ago!

Nails grow faster on a protein diet! Researchers from the University of North Carolina monitored 195 fingernails and 188 toenails over three months, and then compared results to a study of nail growth published by Oxford University in 1938 and another study from the 1950’s. While fingernail growth varies among people (e.g. with age, climate), the study points out that today people’s fingernails grow 25 percent faster than 70 years ago!

EARLIER RESULTS: The results revealed that big toenails now grow by more than 2mm a month, compared with 1.65mm in the Thirties. Thumbnail growth rate was 3mm a month in 1938 and 3.06mm in the 1950’s study. However, the average thumbnail now grows by 3.55mm a month – an increase of more than half a millimetre over seven decades. THE NEW RESULTS: The new results also showed that fingernails now grow by 3.47mm every month – almost twice as fast as toenails. The nails of younger people and men grow faster. The little finger nail grows much more slowly than other fingernails, at a rate of 3.08mm each month. The middle finger has the fastest-growing nail. FOOD IS PART OF THE EXPLANATION: During post-war rationing, foods rich in protein were scarce. Instead, diets consisted of carbohydrate-rich foods such as potatoes and bread. However, the modern diet is rich in protein from readily available fish, meat, eggs and poultry – may be behind the spurt in nail growth. The researchers described: “A rapid change in the environment, lifestyle and health conditions – such as diet, physical activity and body composition – has occurred over the past 30 years. Increasing trends in adolescent and adult height, birth-weight and rate of growth have been reported. Our results indicate that there may be an increased trend in fingernail and toenail growth rate as well.” A FEW SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: • Fingernails grow faster on a protein-diet! • A few tips on how to avoid brittle nails! • More news & reports about nails! • Lee Redmond used a protein-diet to grow her Guinness World Record (female) ‘longest fingernails’!

Fingers of fate – how to measure your ‘2D:4D finger ratio’?

The average ‘digit ratio’ is 0.98 among women (while 0.96 among men). OK, you heard about those finger stories, but do you know how to measure your ‘digit ratio’? Professor John T. Manning’s “digit ratio” – refers to the ratio between the length of your index finger and your ring finger. The following describes the basic findings of this ’scientific’ finger research + a 3-step method on how to measure your ‘digit ratio’! Studies have found that during gestation, testosterone has powerful effects on the developing body and brain, and can cause increased confidence, (financial) risk preferences and search persistence, as well as heightened vigiance and quickened reaction times. The most common measure is the ratio of the index to ring finger (2D:4D) on the right hand. A relatively longer ring finger – lower 2D:4D – indicates higher prenatal testosterone levels. Men typically have scores below 1, women above 1. HOW TO MEASURE YOUR ‘DIGIT RATIO’? 1. Place your right hand firmly on the plate of a photocopier with fingers straight. Close cover of place a sheet of paper over your hand to prevent glare from overhead lights. Ensure that the bottom crease and finger tip can be clearly seen in the photocopy. 2. Use a ruler of calipers to measure the distance from the middle of the bottom crease to the tip of the finger. 3. Once you have the measures for both your ring and index finger, then divide the length of your index finger by the length of your ring finger. The result is 2D:4D (2nd digit divided by 4th digit). Source: University of Cambridge. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING: • Second to fourth digit ratio, testosterone and perceived male dominance! • Finger ratio & financial risk preference! • Finger research says: ‘lingerie sharpens the financial mind in men’! • More finger ratio research