- America, has anyone reminded you lately why you’re the FAT-test nation in the world? If not, allow Wisconsin resident Don Gorske to jog your memory. Gorske, who is quasi-famous for appearing in Morgan Spurlock's McDonald’s-centric documentary “Super Size Me,” reached a milestone in his life Tuesday that no one, anywhere, should ever aspire to reach. Some 39 years after walking into McDonald’s for the first time, Gorske sat down and chowed down on his 25,000th Big Mac sandwich. The eatery in which he ate the milestone artery-clogger is, appropriately enough, the same McDonald’s at which he at his first Big Mac back on May 17, 1972. Yet even at a young age, he knew this unhealthy menu option was destined to be a part of his life for as long as he and his arteries could survive while eating it on a regular basis. Gorske has averaged at about two Big Macs every day since he ate his first one and has kept track of his numbers by marking calendars and saving McDonald's cartons and receipts inside a fireproof lockbox. That’s right, this tool has involved a freaking lockbox in the process. Further underscoring his loser-dom, Gorske saved his appetite by only eating one Big Mac a day last weekend so he could reach or surpass the 25,000 mark surrounded by all of his friends at exactly 3:20 p.m. on Tuesday.
"When I was 19, I remember finishing my first 1,000 and thinking 'Man, I'm going to be old and retired by the time I hit 25,000,'" Gorske said prior to his massive accomplishment. "Now, I'm actually getting up in age and I'm retired, and tomorrow I'm going to do it." The day would have been even more momentous had Wisconsin’s ongoing labor battle forced him to retire a couple of months earlier than expected from his job as a scheduling officer at the Waupun Correctional Institution, thus preventing him from retiring and ingesting his 25,000th Big Mac on the same day. It was also a bittersweet day for Gorske because he realizes that he will never make it all the way to 50,000 Big Macs eaten. "It made me realize I'm never going to hit 50,000, I'm going to be long dead before then," he said. "My wife likes to say 'When I have to put them in a blender, it's over.'" Given the amount of fat and cholesterol this fool has ingested over the years, the odds of a blender ever being involved seem remote…………..
- There was no great mystery as to which movie would be tops at the box office this weekend. The real shocker would have been if Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides hadn’t replicated the feat of Fast Five in its debut nearly a month ago, earning as much on its own as the rest of the movies in the top 10 combined. Captain Jack Sparrow and crew were able to do just that, racking up $90.1 million to lap the field and start off the long trek toward earning back all of its whopping $250 million budget. Well in the rearview mirror was the No. 2 film for the weekend, Bridesmaids, which held its spot from last weekend and made another $21 million to boost its two-week tally to $59.5 million and counting. Last weekend’s top film fell all the way to third this time around, but Thor inched toward the break-even point with its $15.5 million haul and has now garnered $145.4 million for three weeks of work. Speaking of Fast Five, it came in fourth in its fourth weekend of release with $10.6 million, boosting its cumulative earnings to a whopping $186.2 million in one month in theaters. The last of the top five was Rio, which impressively remained in the top five despite being in its sixth week by earning a so-so $4.7 million, giving it a six-week total of $131.7 million. Scanning the rest of the top 10, one would find: Priest (No. 6 with $4.6 million and a flop-tacular $23.7 million after two weeks), Jumping the Broom (No. 7 with $3.7 and $31.3 million overall), Something Borrowed (No. 8 with $3.4 million and $31.4 million for its first three weeks of release), Water for Elephants (No. 9 with $2.2 million and $52.4 million through five weeks) and sadly, Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family (No. 20 with $1 million and $51.7 for its first five weeks). Dropping out of the top 10 from last weekend and for the first time in its seven-week run was Soul Surfer, which fell to No. 11…………
- The sh*t is about to hit the fan in Yemen, y’all. Well, the sh*t has already hit the fan but it’s about to go up a notch after Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Sunday announced his refusal to sign a Gulf-brokered peace deal and warned against civil war ignited by the country’s opposition groups. The official Saba news agency reported Saleh’s rejection of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-brokered deal, which proposed he leave office within a month. His rejection came after the opposition rejected going to the Republican Palace to sign it together with him. Yet an aide to the president said on condition of anonymity that Saleh attended the signing ceremony, in which five representatives of the ruling party inked the deal. "I would sign the Gulf deal only if the opposition's representatives come to the Republican Palace to sign it with me at the same time, because the opposition would be our partner in the power for the next 90 days," Saleh said in a speech he delivered through the state television not long after his party signed the deal. His speech contained direct warnings of a potential civil war if the opposition continued its four-month-long run of street protests. "The opposition coalition will be held responsible if they escalate street protests and drag the country into a civil war ... they will be held responsible for the blood that had been and would be shed during the previous days and in the next days," he chided. His insistence that the deal be signed publicly instead of behind closed doors might seem like a blatant stall tactic by a man who refuses to cede power……and that’s almost certainly what it is. Opposition leaders unilaterally signed the deal on Saturday evening and rejected Saleh's condition of going to his presidential palace to sign it again on Sunday. This marks the third time Saleh has undermined the U.S.-backed deal in the past month. If he ever does get around to signing the agreement, he would be bound to leave office within 30 days in exchange for immunity from prosecution according to its terms. Additionally, the agreement would authorize the opposition to form a new government within seven days and arrange for holding presidential and parliamentary elections in 60 days. Even opposition leaders have conceded that the deal is effectively dead because of Saleh’s obstinance, with opposition spokesman Mohamed Qahtan calling it "null and void because the deal stipulated Saleh to sign first, but Saleh did not sign it." Ironically, Sunday marked the 21st anniversary of country's reunification even as bloody clashes between Saleh's thousands of armed loyalists and thousands of opposition members raged on as they have for months. And best of all, this fight ain’t ending any time soon…………
- Have you or have you not been reading in this very space for months that NFL players were going to have an extremely difficult time dealing with the mental rigors and extra free time presented by a prolonged work stoppage? Sure enough, we’re two months into the lockout and already, NFLers are taking loans with ridiculous 23 percent interest rates to make ends meet, hitting teammates up for loans, nearly getting stomped by angry bulls are trying their hand at rodeo and in the case of former Chicago Bears running back Garrett Wolfe, getting arrested in Miami and charged with retail theft, disorderly conduct, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. According to information released by the Miami-Dade police, the former third-round pick and four-year veteran became belligerent and physical with officers when they responded to an alleged theft reported by store employees. While not a star with the Bears, Wolfe played a significant role the past two years on special teams. However, with the impending labor uncertainty the team opted against offering him a restricted free-agent tender this offseason, which means he'll become an unrestricted free agent once the NFL lockout comes to an end. Signing him just became a much riskier proposition for prospective teams, as Wolfe likely will be subject to league discipline under its personal conduct policy if found guilty of the charges. The Bears, already unlikely to re-sign him, also would seem less likely to do so even though he played in all 16 of their games last season. Considering his station as a role player and a player with just 72 career rushes for 282 yards and a touchdown and six kickoff returns for 125 yards, Wolfe probably would have been better off remembering that he is in fact Garrett Wolfe and simply paying for what he wanted from the store…………
- Brain science is always a fun topic, so it goes without saying that Boston is going to be a party scene this coming week as luminaries from the world of health, politics, business, and the non-profit sector will gather in Beantown to create a 10-year plan they hope will lead to a deeper understanding of brain conditions and new treatments. The summit will be co-chaired by former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), son of late Mass. Sen. Edward Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. The One Mind for Research Scientific Forum runs Monday through Wednesday and Kennedy has termed it a "moon shot into the mind," so-worded because it will take place the eve of the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's challenge to send a man to the moon within a decade. "We're trying to introduce a new paradigm bringing in the metaphor of my uncle's call-to-action for going to the moon," says Patrick Kennedy, who retired from Congress in 2010. "We're trying to repurpose that branding to something I believe is equally important." Kennedy himself has battled with depression and addiction, giving him even more motivation to tackle the subject of brain health than he would have based on having a father who died of brain cancer two years ago. "My family's entire legacy has been interwoven with advocacy for destigmatization of these illnesses, as well as advancing research into these illnesses," he proclaimed. The end goal of the summit is to create a 10-year plan that paves the way for more cures and treatments for brain diseases and increases collaboration between those in the neurosciences. The current adversarial relationship between many experts in the field is a subject Kennedy feels passionately about addressing. “Whether it's literally saving our vets from their tragic suicide rates — which some months are greater than the number of soldiers we're losing in battle — or addressing Alzheimer's or autism, what we're saying essentially is science is the only means to taking care of the people we love," Kennedy stated. Some major names from various fields and professions are expected to attend the event, including National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, vice president Joseph Biden, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and actor Martin Sheen. While their presence and the event overall will likely cause an uptick in funding for brain research, Kennedy maintains that connecting leaders and patients to help streamline the current "fragmented" approach to understanding and treating brain conditions is the most salient point for the summit…………
No comments:
Post a Comment