My preferred way to consume video material (such as movies) is in 20-30 minute bits while also consuming a meal. Back in the days of VHS this was quite convenient. Videos started where I left off, I could stop (and restart) the film at any point I liked, and I could simply fast-forward all the bullcrap at the beginning. Sure the video and sound quality weren't as nice as modern DVDs, but (of course) back then I didn't notice. Nowadays, it's rather hard to find movies in VHS format. The mail-delivery services (e.g. Netflix and Blockbuster) only do DVDs and the local video stores are getting really close to that situation as well. I have a DVD player (with surround sound, even) and so it wouldn't be a problem except that DVDs are annoying as friggin' hell.

Problem 1: Time to Reach Menu. When you start up a VHS tape you can immediately press the fast-forward button and watch all the previews, FBI warning, and production material fly by at super-accelerated speed, effectively ignoring them and getting to the good part. With DVDs you usually have to sit and wait fully through the legal crap, and then the previews start. Sometimes you can skip through them by pressing the menu button, sometimes you have to "skip track" through them (the inconsistency is an annoyance in its own right). Then even when you reach the menu, you frequently have to wait for some lame animation to finish before you can actually start the movie or anything else. What makes the production companies think that when we buy (or rent) a movie we want anything but for the movie to start as soon as possible.

Problem 2: Rigid Track Times. While the first problem is something that derives from the selfish inconsiderateness and/or stupidity of business executives, there's not much that can be done about this one. However, something can be done about how the companies cope with it. The "scene selection" option on DVDs is a good idea, image <-> scene matching so that you can find where you want to go even if you don't remember the track number. But they couldn't leave well enough alone. If somebody is going through the scene selector it's because he or she wants to find a particular part of the movie as quickly as possible, so putting in more senseless animations, sounds, and elaborate (sometimes hard-to-see) navigation effects is just going to piss people off.

Problem 3: Forgetful of Stop Position. It might be becoming a standard feature, but when I was looking at DVD players it was hard to find one that could remember what time of the movie I stopped. And even fewer could remember the time after being powered down. Ironically, my discman and my car's CD player can both remember the track and time (respectively) of the CD even after being off for weeks or months. Of course CDs don't have all the other crap I hate that DVDs have, so maybe there's some problem with the way the data is encoded. I don't know, but this is a technical problem that it seems can, and certainly should, be fixed if it been hasn't already.

So my point is that all the improved sound and visual quality doesn't make up for the added hassle involved in DVDs. Furthermore, most of the hassle could be alleviated if producers just acted more intelligently and with the consumers in mind. But we don't really have a choice do we. Even if one company did stop piling crap into their DVDs, for any given movie only one producer will come out with it. So if you want a particular movie and that movie's company wants to show you previews, there's nothing you can do about it but sit and wait through them.

One more thing, on the This is Spinal Tap anniversary edition DVD the pre-menu banter is fantastically funny and totally worth the wait.

Potassium is the seventh most abundant element on Earth, but one of the rarest in a vitamin shop. The nutrition board of the National Academy of Sciences recommends 2,000mg of potassium every day and the recommended daily allowance is 3500mg. Potassium is required for all nerve functions (general cognitive abilities, muscle contraction, etc.) as well as metabolizing fat, carbs, and protein and also for staying hydrated. Bottom line: it's one of the most important nutrients for our bodies.

When you mention sources of potassium to most people they will probably bring up bananas, but a banana only contains about 500mg of potassium so it would take roughly seven of them per day to get the daily allowance. One can of regular V8 has 670mg, an handful of peanuts has 400mg, and a filet of salmon has up to 800mg by comparison. So depending on your eating habits you may be getting enough through your food…but many (probably most) people fall short of the 3500mg mark. Realizing this you might consider taking a potassium supplement (as I often have).

Unfortunately, if you look at the potassium supplements available (no matter where you look) you'll find that they only contain 99mg of potassium…a mere 2.8% of the RDA. Now that seems pretty lame to me and I have frequently asked people at vitamin shops and fitness stores why that is, but I never get an answer. So I finally looked it up online and discovered that the body heavily regulates potassium flow and getting too much at once can disrupt some bodily functions and raise blood pressure. Taking potassium supplements can even be dangerous for people in less than excellent health.

So what I thought was just a stupid oversight by the nutritional world turns out to be justified. Taking one pill in the morning and at night can help you close the gap in your potassium intake, but getting the proper amount really depends on proper diet. Yogurt, nuts, potatoes, fish, and (yes) bananas are critical foods for a healthy level of potassium. So now I'm prompted to count up my intake and see how I'm doing on an average day. Am I getting enough? Are you?