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Chain Food Showdown: The Best & Worst Buffalo Wings At America's Casual Dining Restaurants

2012-05-31T12:14:44Z

HuffPost Food recently went on a tour de force of some of America's major casual dining chains. Regardless of your taste in cuisine, chances are you've found yourself at a casual dining restaurant before, whether one is your go-to Friday night spot or a road trip-only meal. These national chains pride themselves on creating a menu that can appeal to a wide variety of eaters. But are these calorie-heavy appetizers worth it? We pitted eight appetizers from eight casual dining chains against each other to find out. Week 1: Buffalo Wings.

What originally turned us on to evaluating the most common fare at the biggest restaurant chains was a surface level understanding of how many major casual dining restaurants work. In some of these chains, food is often pre-prepared in a central kitchen, and then frozen to be shipped and re-heated across the country. We read fascinating tales of this process, such as the section on Applebee's in Tracie McMillan's "The American Way Of Eating" or the discussion of Chili's in David Kessler's "The End Of Overeating."

Perhaps the viral review of an Olive Garden in Grand Forks, North Dakota proved just how much casual dining can resonate with the American audience.

Jessica Simpson's Body Evolution (PHOTOS)

2012-05-31T12:07:49Z

Jessica Simpson is the newest member and ambassador of Weight Watchers! According to Us Weekly, the fashion designer scored herself a four million dollar deal to join.

Climate Change: Carbon Dioxide Levels In World's Air Reach 'Troubling Milestone'

2012-05-31T12:07:06Z

WASHINGTON -- The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant.

Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. The number isn't quite a surprise, because it's been rising at an accelerating pace. Years ago, it passed the 350 ppm mark that many scientists say is the highest safe level for carbon dioxide. It now stands globally at 395.

Tiger Woods At Memorial: LIVE SCORES, Updates From Round 1

2012-05-31T12:02:23Z

Tiger Woods will tee off with long-time buddy Fred Couples and defending FedEx Cup champ Bill Haas at 8:15 a.m. EDT, but which Tiger will the world get?

The last time Tiger played Memorial in 2009, he took home the title. He also won it three consecutive times from 1999 to 2001, while also have a pair of third-place finishes and a T-4.

You can follow his round live with our Tracker, as we'll give you shot-by-shot updates on his progress as he sets out for his second Tour victory of the season.

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'Real Housewives of New York': Sonja Morgan, Aviva Drescher Preview Season 5

2012-05-31T12:00:43Z

"Real Housewives of New York" is getting a facelift. For Season 5, Sonja Morgan, Ramona Singer and Countess LuAnn de Lesseps will be joined by Aviva Drescher, Heather Thomson and Carole Radziwill. The new trio replace former cast members Jill Zarin, Alex McCord, Kelly Bensimon and Cindy Barshop.

After fours seasons of drama, Turtle Time, trip meltdowns, dance songs and so much more, Aviva, cousin to "The Nanny's" Fran Drescher, said agreeing to the do the show wasn't the easiest decision.

"It was a very difficult decision to make, actually," Aviva told The Huffington Post on the red carpet of the 2012 TV Land Awards in April. "I don't want to pat myself on the back here, but it takes tremendous courage to go forward -- you're putting it all out there. Everyone knows the 'Housewives' get hung up by their toenails, I luckily only have five, so I can only get strung up by five. [Note: Aviva had her left leg amputated after a childhood accident and wears a prosthetic leg.] I think, ultimately, for me, it was a no risk, no reward kind of go forth with it. It really is a great platform to get a message out. It was a very, very difficult decision."

Christina Mercado, Georgetown Grad, Turns Job Hunt Into Children's Book

2012-05-31T12:00:30Z

NEW YORK -- Christina Mercado didn't have any luck finding work after she graduated from Georgetown University with a master's in business administration in 2011, so she decided to write and illustrate a children's book.

Mercado wanted to use her degree to pivot from project management to social enterprise. She knew it'd be difficult, but things had been looking promising prior to graduation. Mercado landed what she said was her "dream internship," working at an environmental conservation nonprofit in Mexico.

However, once she graduated, she realized how few full-time jobs were available, and how much competition there was from other applicants.

Indie Music And The Middle Of Nowhere: The Hottest Scene Is Where You Least Expect It

2012-05-31T12:00:19Z

Plenty of attention has been paid to the "cabin in the woods" component of Bon Iver's success. "Musician down on his luck heads to secluded cabin and makes album!" But you might say the real inspiration for Justin Vernon's first album, "For Emma Forever Ago" -- and the inspiration for his melodies and his falsetto singing style -- came after he left North Carolina and headed back to his hometown of Eau Claire, Wis., where he is now permanently based.

People knew so little about Eau Claire when Vernon first appeared on the scene that he often had to explain it in interviews. "It's a town, like the fourth biggest in Wisconsin," he told Treble back in 2008. "There's some stuff going on here; there's some stuff not going on here."

But people know now. Last year, Eau Claire even got its own shout-out at the Grammys, after Vernon won for Best New Artist. And as Bon Iver has garnered international acclaim, Vernon has managed to make a small town in Wisconsin cool, giving it a star on the indie map. He has also unintentionally paved the way for a new generation of indie musicians who can bathe in their own, personal Thoreau-esque haunts, living and working outside of major music meccas, while still making a splash online and in the industry at large.

DeShawn Stevenson Installs ATM In Kitchen (PHOTO)

2012-05-31T11:57:57Z

Rich people do crazy things with their money, like throw paper airplanes made of cash out the window at passersby. But we've never seen anything like this.

New Orleans Hornets Win NBA Draft Lottery (VIDEO)

2012-05-31T11:57:55Z

NEW YORK -- After a painful wait for a new owner, the search for a new star was a breeze for the New Orleans Hornets.

All it took was a little luck of the draw.

John Edwards Trial: Jury Deliberating For 9th Day

2012-05-31T11:56:24Z

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The jury in the John Edwards campaign corruption trial is expected to resume a ninth day of talks in North Carolina.

As the jury ended their eighth day of talks without a verdict Wednesday, the judge released four alternate jurors who garnered attention for their matching shirts. They have not participated in the deliberations.

Afghanistan Suicide Car Bomb Kills 5 Police

2012-05-31T11:54:30Z

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle full of explosives outside a district police headquarters in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing five policemen, a government official said.

The attack in Kandahar province's Argistan district also wounded six policemen, said Javid Faisal, the provincial governor's spokesman.

21 Sand Castles That Will Blow Your Mind (PHOTOS)

2012-05-31T11:54:00Z

With summer in full swing and beach weather officially here, sand castle season is officially upon us. But before you head to the beach to get started, you might want to get some inspiration from a few sand castle pros. These people clearly spent hours, if not days, crafting these beautiful and amazing sand castles, and the level of detail is just plain mind-blowing.

Check out some absolutely incredible sand castles below, and don't forget to vote for your favorite!

Exercise Makes You Smarter, Thanks To A Common Gene

2012-05-31T11:49:59Z

We already know that regular exercise makes you healthier, happier and, well, hotter. But did you know it could also make you smarter? That's the premise of an emerging area of neuroscientific research, in which scientists are exploring the neurological effects of getting your regular dose of cardio.

It turns out that exercise does a lot more than get the blood pumping: in about 60 percent of the population, it may be responsible for the expression of a gene that floods your cells with “brain derived neurotrophic factor" -- or BDNF – a protein that is thought to help with mental acuity, learning and memory.

In a study based at Dartmouth College, lead researcher Michael Hopkins and his team tested four different exercise schedules on a group of sedentary, though healthy young men. They gave the men a set of memory tests and mental health surveys to determine their psychological states. Some participants exercised for four weeks and were tested on the final day. Another group exercised for four weeks, but did not exercise on test day. A third group had just one day of exercise, followed by the test. A last group was sedentary throughout.

London Riots Arrests: U.K. Police Arrest 6 For Instigating 2011 Riots

2012-05-31T11:43:37Z

LONDON — British police say six people have been arrested on suspicion of instigating the riots that swept London last summer.

Scotland Yard says the suspects were netted in dawn raids across London targeting suspected gang members.

'American Digger': Angry Homeowner Pulls A Gun On Ric Savage (VIDEO)

2012-05-31T11:42:36Z

Wednesday night's episode of "American Digger" (Wed., 10 p.m. ET on Spike) found Ric Savage and his crew looking for Civil War relics in Virginia.

It proved to be a pretty stressful time for them.

One homeowner agreed to let them dig on his land, but when they brought out heavy equipment the bearded Santa lookalike pulled a gun on them.