- With Sweetest’s Day lurking this coming weekend, it’s
highly suspicious that a newly revealed study praising the merits of chocolate
is just now coming to light. According to the study, conducted by Franz Messerli,
who runs the hypertension program at St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York,
the higher a country's chocolate consumption, the more Nobel laureates it
spawns per capita. His findings, released in the New England Journal of
Medicine, show the predictable news that the Swiss are in the lead, followed closely
by the Swedes and the Danes. Amazingly, the orca-FAT United States is in the
middle of the pack and would need to increase its cocoa intake by a whopping
275 million pounds to produce one more laureate, according to Messerli’s
numbers. In other words, it shouldn’t be a problem for America. "The
amount it takes, it's actually quite stunning, you know," Messerli said. "The
Swiss eat 120 bars - that is, 3-ounce bars (85 grams) - per year, for every
man, woman and child. That's the average." In a refreshing twist, the
person doing the research even admits that the entire premise of his project is
absurd, although the data are legitimate. Where did this ridiculous waste of
time of an idea come from? Messerli concocted it after seeing a study that
linked flavonoids, a type of antioxidants present in cocoa and wine, to better
scores on cognitive tests. From there, he examined industry data on chocolate
intake in 23 countries and a list from Wikipedia ranking countries according to
the number of Nobel laureates per capita. Yes, Wikipedia. All of the serious
studies these days involve a little Wiki time, of course. "I started
plotting this in a hotel room in Kathmandu, because I had nothing else to do,
and I could not believe my eyes," he explained. The link is utterly
meaningless and there isn’t once ounce of evidence suggesting that consuming
chocolate of any kind makes a person more apt to earn a Nobel Prize, but what
fun is science if its findings actually have to have a concrete purpose………
- Believe it or not, the federal government of these here
United States has finally taken a significant step forward in the push for renewable energy
development in the West. Following years and years or false starts and
interminable delays, federal officials on Friday approved a plan that sets
aside 285,000 acres of public land for the development of large-scale solar
power plants. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar held a news conference in Las
Vegas to introduce a new plan he called a "roadmap ... that will lead to
faster, smarter utility-scale solar development on public lands." Even if
it is mildly functional, the plan should be a significant upgrade over the
department's previous first-come, first-served system of approving solar
projects, which allowed developers to choose where they wanted to build
utility-scale solar sites and allowed for land speculation. That policy had
been in place since 2005, when solar developers first began filing
applications. Effective immediately, the department will direct development to
land it has identified as having fewer wildlife and natural-resource obstacles.
In other words, ready those cash bribes, would-be developers. To kick off its
new approach, the government is establishing 17 new "solar energy
zones" on 285,000 acres in six states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah,
Colorado and New Mexico, with most of the land — 153,627 acres - in Southern California.
The Obama administration has authorized 10,000 megawatts of solar, wind and
geothermal projects and if this weren’t a bureaucratic endeavor sure to be
choked by red tape and never reach its potential, it would provide enough
energy to power more than 3.5 million homes. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
also chimed in with a written statement. "There is a global race to
develop renewable energy technologies — and this effort will help us win this
race by expanding solar energy production while reducing permitting
costs," Chu said. Why will the new solar energy zones (allegedly) work?
Because they are near existing power lines, allowing for quick delivery to
energy-hungry cities, Salazar said. In another welcome change, environmental
groups actually supported the new plan and believe it comes with fewer
potential environmental concerns. Thankfully, there is still immense
entertainment potential here because regardless of which party is in power and
which activist groups support an idea, the simple reality of government
involvement means a high likelihood of delays, inefficiency and ineptitude. In
other words, let the (unintentionally) hilarious times roll…….
- Go ahead, try to knock Liam Neeson off his perch at the
top of the box office earnings list. Just see how that works out for you. Even
a well-done Ben Affleck drama, “Argo,” was not enough to wrest the No. 1
position from “Taken 3,” which hung on at the top with $22.5 million and has
brought in an impressive $86.7 million after two weeks. “Argo,” an
international rescue thriller, made its debut with $20.2 million and that was
good enough for second place. Fellow newcomer “Sinister” was third, earning
$18.3 million for a relatively solid start. “Hotel Transylvania” was the first
family-friendly flick on the list, notching $17.3 million to edge past the $100
million mark after just three weeks with $102.2 million and counting after its
fourth-place effort for the weekend. Kevin James’ über-promoted MMA/teacher
movie, “Here Comes the Boom,” didn’t exactly lower the boom on the competition
and managed only a fifth-place finish with $12 million. The sixth slot went to “Pitch
Perfect,” which sang its way to $9.4 million and has accumulated $36 million in
domestic earnings through three weeks. “Frankenweenie” continued to limp along
in its second week, making a meager $7 million for a two-week haul of $22
million. “Looper” couldn’t get the most out of Bruce Willis’ ass-kicking appeal
and ranked eighth with its $6.3 million effort and so far, it has cranked out
$51.4 million. Newcomer “Seven Psychopaths” had a disappointing weekend despite
being in limited release, racking up just $4.2 million in its debut. “The Perks
of Being a Wallflower” was in even more limited release, but battled to the No.
10 spot with $2.2 million for a four-week total of $6.1 million. “End of Watch”
(No. 12), “Trouble with the Curve” (No. 13), “House at the End of The Street”
(No. 14), “The Master” (No. 15) and “Finding Nemo (3D)” (No. 17) all dropped
out from last weekend’s top 10…….
- The price of a failed comeback proved to be high for the
Evil Empire. The New York Yankees rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the bottom of
the ninth inning in Game 1 of the
American League Championship Series, but they ultimately lost the game and
perhaps something bigger when future Hall of Famer and captain Derek Jeter
suffered a fractured left ankle while trying to make a diving play in the 12th
inning of Saturday night's 6-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Jeter ranged
to his left to field a fairly routine ground ball, but stumbled and remained
down as a run scored and he meekly rolled the ball to second baseman Robinson
Cano. Yankees manager Joe Girardi
said Jeter will need approximately three months to recover and although the
injury is not career-ending, Jeter will miss the rest of the playoffs. "His ankle is fractured, so he's out.
He's out," Girardi said. General manager Brian Cashman did not know whether
surgery would be required, but promised that Jeter will be ready for the start
of spring training in 2013. "It's something that winter will take care of,
but I've got only limited information and with the shock of the bad news, there
wasn't much dialogue after that," Cashman said. How the sight of their longest-tenured
member and clubhouse leader laying on the ground in obvious pain and having to
be helped off the field by Girardi and trainer Steve Donahue will affect the
Yankees for the rest if the series is a big question. The Yankee Stadium crowd
began to chant "Der-ek Je-ter! Der-ek Je-ter!" as he left the field,
but they won’t be chanting for Jeter again any time soon………
- Farming in Guatemala's rural highlands and supporting
oneself as a farmer and odd job man cannot be one of the world’s easier ways to
earn a living. Grinding it out in relative poverty doesn’t sound ideal, even in
a quasi-tropical climate. Lucas Asicona has been living this way for years, all
the while residing in a home that could have made him a very rich man – if only
he knew its contents. The ramshackle dwelling seemed no different from dozens
of others dotting the highlands, but when Asicona decided to renovate his
kitchen, he found a wealth of ancient Mayan treasures. After ripping down the plaster
in his humble colonial-era home of stone, adobe and haphazard wooden boards, he
discovered 300-year-old murals, a priceless piece of Guatemalan history. The
murals feature scenes of tall Europeans beating drums and playing flutes and
bring a certain Mayan flair to a one-room dwelling where Asicona’s family of
seven cooked, slept and played. Once he realized what he had, Asicona removed the
furniture and moved his wood-burning kitchen stove outside to keep the artwork
safe. "We try to keep the kids away from it
and keep people from touching it," he said. In the months since his
discovery, he has tried his best to keep the murals in top condition despite
less than ideal conditions. "The house is very humid and some of the
colors have been fading. The black has started to turn gray and some of the
other colors have lost their shine, but we do what we can without any
funding," he added. Following Asicona’s discovery, three other householders
in Chajul, an Ixil Maya community some 220 miles from Guatemala City, also
found murals in their homes and archaeological experts believe similar murals
could lie hidden in a further eight homes in the town. The images were painted
by the current occupants' Mayan ancestors and each of the friezes cover several
walls of the homes. They depict the moment in history when the local Maya
encountered the conquistadors from Spain who tried to convert them to
Christianity. Historians believe the murals at Asicona's home illustrate the
so-called "conquest dance," from a time in the 1650s when Spaniards
forced locals to build a Catholic Church which still stands at the center of
town. "We consider these murals to be very unique," Guatemalan
anthropologist Ivonne Putzeys said of the collection found in Chajul. Wonder
what those murals have to say about the impending end of the world……….
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