Another excerpt from the f.a.c.t.s. report on childhood obesity from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale:

"Young people’s exposure to fast food TV ads has increased. Compared to 2003, preschoolers viewed 21 percent more fast food ads in 2009, children viewed 34 percent more, and teens viewed 39 percent more."

ANGELO FIRENZE, 38, of Belmont is a food entrepreneur who sells gelato worthy of his still-vital Italian heritage. He delivers it by the scoop at Angelato, his Belmont restaurant, and by the tub, wholesale, to scores of eateries in Eastern Mass. In Belmont, he also sells a growing menu of deli and delicacies, and he says more innovation is on the way.

Yesterday, I put some questions to him in my usual format: questions, and answers, of 10 words or less. (Please, no counting; it’s a goal, not a rule, and not as easy as it might appear.)

What did you want to be when you grew up? “A captain of industry.”

Another excerpt of findings by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, from its recent f.a.c.t.s. report on kids and eating.

I didn't plan it this way, but this first week of 2011 has turned out to be a whirlwind of outreach for "Fat Boy Thin Man."

Monday, an interview I did with Crop To Cuisine aired in New York, Austin, Denver, and several other markets. I haven't been able to hear it yet, but I felt that the interaction with my interviewer, Dov Hirsch, was excellent, and I'm hopeful for the edited version.

Over at Childhood Obesity News, Dr. Robert Pretlow writes about the journal Childhood Obesity, which launched in September with a luminous editorial board and a grant from the Kellogg's Foundation. 

General Mills says it has reformulated a quarter of its products this year to improve their health characteristics. As a trent, this is good news, of course, and not only because we are what we eat.

The other night, some toy store's TV ad boasted its "lowest prices ever," and its absurdity was enough to break through my ad defenses, although not deeply enough that I remembered the offender.

How ridiculous, how absurd. 

Honestly, I never heard of a "green" oil change. But my pals over at Mike's Automotive in Somerville say they're offering one now, and I believe them.

Yes, I could be falling for a heinous act of greenwashing, but I've been relying on this business for 17 years, and if they're lyin', I'm a complete fool and you probably would have to question anything I say. Nevertheless, I trust them.

A huge difference between the traditional and self-publishing routes is where the books sell. Authors on the former path can expect to have their books sold in thousands of bricks-and-mortar locations, by virtue of their mainstream publishers' solid distribution deals with very large retailers.

We had a summer and then a winter share from Enterprise Farms, located in western Mass. but with an Arlington drop-off point (someone's garage), but chose not to renew for a second summer.

Unlike with our first CSA, from the local Busa Farm, we didn't stop because we were unhappy, although the winter share was not satisfying — substantially more money for less variety: We had torrents of grapefruit and beets, which we didn't want and couldn't use, while even things we do like, such as potatoes, were so overwhelming that we came to miss any other starch. I would not recommend it.