- Signs of why America is the FAT-test nation in the world abound. From studies showing sugary drinks comprise massive chunks of the average American’s diet to our collective proclivity for avoiding strenuous physical activity like the plague, there are hints at every turn as to why our bellies are lapping over our belts at an alarming rate. In other words, we didn’t need any additional reminders of this reality, owners of the Flex-and-Fit gym in Charlotte, N.C. You know, reminders like you offering gym members a class in NIO - napping it out. Normally, going to the gym means hitting the weights, doing dead lifts, bench presses and triceps extensions, running on the treadmill or playing racquetball. For members of Flex-and-Fit, located in the Duke Energy Building in the uptown area of Charlotte, those activities are a possibility, but so is nap time. In fact, NIO is a major part of many gym members’ experience. They partake in air-napping class, taking a 25-minute nap in a sheet-like-cocoon that hangs from the ceiling. These lazy slugs are paying to do something they could do in their own home with a rope, a bed sheet and a high ceiling. Once they finish their paid-for nap, gym members can then return to their workout or daily lives. Flex-and-Fit owner Shama Patel takes credit/gets blame for introducing the idea at her gym after realizing that the gym’s workout room had openings in between yoga and other classes. She also drew on her previous career as an attorney and recalled her firm having a place for employees to nap it out. "When I first entered corporate America, they did have a nap room," Patel said. "It encourages us to take a nap and recharge and then get to work." Not surprisingly, gym members have taken quickly to the idea and some workout warriors even buy day passes to take part in the class because they aren’t members of the gym. Again, they are paying someone to hang a breathable tarp from the ceiling and allow them to nap it out for 25 minutes. Hey kooks, save yourself some time and drop a beanbag into the corner of your office, it will be cheaper. Or, and this is a novel concept, go to the gym to run, lift, swim or get after it with some other physical activity that burns calories and helps shed the excess poundage you’re carrying around…………
- Some movies are easier to cast than others. Certain roles are perfect for one and only one actor and with the overall lack of star-level talent in Hollywood these days, finding the perfect person for a specific role can be nearly impossible. Scott Derickson, director of the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still and The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, is facing this very quandary. He has taken on the task of directing a movie adaptation of the Biblical story of David and Goliath in which the young shepherd who would eventually become the king of Israel slayed a 9-foot-tall Philistine giant with a single stone from a slingshot. Casting the role of Goliath is the easier side of the equation because there are a lot of ripped, massive actors in Hollywood capable of taunting the Israeli army day after day and threatening to kill them all before taking a fatal stone to the forehead. Current World Wrestling Entertainment star Dalip Singh, who wrestled under the name the Great Khali, would be a solid choice. But Derickson reportedly has his sights set on another wrassler, one who has mostly stepped away from the world of WWE but still returns from time to time - Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The Rock, who recently starred in the über-successful “Fast Five” and is currently filming “GI Joe 2: Retaliation.” He would be a solid choice as well and definitely has the look and physique to play the part. However, it’s Derickson’s preferred choice for the role of David that could be a tougher sell to audiences. Who might be the one slinging that one smooth stone into The Rock’s forehead and ending the battle? How about hunky teen vampire Taylor Lautner, a.k.a. Jacob of “Twilight” fame. After displaying no real acting ability in any of the “Twilight” films, he is apparently the odds-on favorite to play David. Hopefully director Darren Aronofsky makes wiser choices when he casts his own Biblical story re-telling in the making, a modern spin on the tale of Noah and the Ark…………
- Science fiction dorks usually have few reasons to be excited and no reasons to be excited that involve members of the opposite sex, but today is a day for them to rejoice. Beginning this month, researchers at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland and the University of Pittsburgh will begin testing on spinal cord injury patients whose brains have been implanted with a tiny electrode array to see if they can control a cutting-edge robotic arm with their mind. The robot arm is currently idle, but once it is put to use and if it can achieve its hoped-for purpose, it would be a major step forward for those with major spinal cord injuries. "When a neuron fires an electrode will pick it up the signal will travel to a transmitter and it will be transmitted to a computer in the arm which then interprets that signal and converts it into a motion," Michael McLoughlin, program manager at the APL, explained. "It's a really exciting point in the program. We've been working on getting to this point for the past five years.” The prosthetic arm even has its own name, the Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL). Its weighs around nine pounds -- the same as a natural arm -- and comes close to replicating the dexterity of a natural limb, McLoughlin says, with 22 degrees of motion, including individual finger movement. "We can't do the Vulcan salute! We can't cup the palm. But other than that we can do pretty much everything," he joked. The project has substantial funding thanks to a sizeable contract as part of the $100 million Revolutionizing Prosthetics program run by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). For once, a major U.S. government contract won't be a total waste, assuming this project approaches anything remotely resembling the hopes for it. Heck, there are even touch sensors in the MPL’s fingers and the palm to pick up vibrations, temperature and surface textures. More in-depth testing with the arm won't begin until next year, but if successful, it could provide a more normal life for victims of spinal cord injuries and upper-limb amputees. "The results of this program will help upper-limb amputees and spinal cord injury patients, as well as those who have lost the ability to use their natural limbs, to have as normal a life as possible despite severe injuries or degenerative neurological disease," McLoughlin said. As with any scientific advance still in the testing phase, a commercially available thought-controlled device is likely a long way off. Advanced prosthetics for amputees already exist and are getting better rapidly, to the point that South African Olympic hopeful sprinter Oscar Pistorius competes on two synthetic lower legs and advanced to the finals of last week’s world track and field championships…………
- Wow, what has success done to the Pittsburgh Pirates? Success being a relative term, of course, but a team riding a record streak of 18 straight seasons with a losing record can’t be choosy and after losing 105 games a year ago, the Pirates have turned things around this season. They were in contention through the season’s first 100 games and despite slipping well below .500 and into fourth place in their division as the final month of the MLB year begins, the prospect of breaking 75 wins is still a step up. In fact, attendance is up as well, all the way to 25,117 at PNC Park this season, an increase of more than 5,000 fans a game from a year ago. Seeing that trend and realizing they can actually sell fans on the quasi-realistic possibility that their team will not suck forever, Pirates ownership has decided to cash in on their modest success and raise ticket prices for next season. The price of an average season ticket will rise from $15.30 this year to $16.11 next year, but the actual increases on some of the park’s better seats is much more substantial. Seats directly behind home plate will cost up to $225 a game, a $30 increase, and season ducats for the lower infield box will rise $4 a game. In defense of the Pirates, these are their first ticket price increases in a decade and again, they have sucked for a long time and had little hope to offer their fans at any point during that stretch. After a run of playoff appearances and quality teams ended in 1992, life has been dismal for baseball fans in the ‘Burgh and maybe, just maybe, the optimism generated by this year’s team will lead to on-field success to justify higher ticket prices in the near future……….
- This does not seem to embody the principles the United Nations is supposed to represent. Helping resolve conflicts, providing basic supplies to war-torn regions…….and apparently, forcing underage girls in a poor region of an African nation to pay for their food with sex. Courtesy of the suddenly unsecure WikiLeaks, which released a United States Embassy cable documenting the sordid saga, United Nations peacekeepers in Ivory Coast enticed underage girls in a poor part of the country to exchange sex for food. The cable, composed in January 2010, addresses the behavior of Beninese peacekeepers stationed in the western town of Toulepleu, an area that has been a flashpoint in the nation's 10-year-long conflict. While not as exact as one would like in dealing with heinous acts of this nature, a random poll of 10 underage girls in Toulepleu by aid group Save The Children U.K. in 2009 found that eight performed sexual acts for Benin peacekeepers on a regular basis in order to secure their most basic needs. "Eight of the 10 said they had ongoing sexual relationships with Beninese soldiers in exchange for food or lodging," an unidentified diplomat wrote in the cable, citing information shared with the embassy by a protection officer. To the U.N.’s credit, spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux confirmed that in April, 16 Beninese peacekeepers were repatriated to Benin and are barred from serving in the U.N. following a yearlong investigation. "We see it as a command and control problem," said Bonnardeau. Making matters worse, 10 of the 16 peacekeepers were commanders. Bonnadreaux stated the commanders "failed to maintain an environment that prevents sexual exploitation and abuse." In other words, they allowed the exploitation to happen and did nothing to stop it. This sort of sexual abuse by U.N. troops has also been reported in a number of countries including Congo, Cambodia and Haiti. A previous report by Save the Children U.K. identified Ivory Coast a place where sexual barter between peacekeepers and girls was occurring, including trading mobile phones and food for sexual favors. The alleged exploitation continued through at least the end of 2009 and the U.N. has admitted it “is more extensive than is recognized." The abuse in Ivory Coast was so well-known that parents were encouraging their daughters to sleep with the peacekeepers so they would provide for them, according to the cable. Way to keep it classy and mission-focused, United Nations…………
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