- Smoking is already revolting, but another reason to hate
that filthy habit is always welcome. Bearing this in mind, enjoy the fact that,
according to a study conducted by researchers at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies
at Brown University, smoking may worsen
a hangover after drinking heavily. Even though they don’t know exactly why, Dr.
Damaris Rohsenow and his colleagues believe that based on the smoking and
drinking habits of 113 college students, smoking after going on a hellacious
bender may make the resulting hangover that much worse. Researchers
asked the students to keep a diary for eight weeks, recording their drinking
and smoking habits and any hangover symptoms. Those who downed an impressive
six beers and hour and smoked suffered a worse hangover. “At the same number of drinks, people who smoke more that day are
more likely to have a hangover and have more intense hangovers,” Rohsenow said. "And smoking itself was linked to an increased risk of hangover compared
with not smoking at all. That raises the likelihood that there is some direct
effect of tobacco smoking on hangovers.” The study centered on students from a
Midwestern university who reported the number of drinks consumed, number of
cigarettes smoked and their hangover symptoms, including whether they felt more
tired than usual, had a headache, felt nauseated and had difficulty concentrating
on things. Based on the reported amount of alcohol consumed, the researchers
then estimated blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and used that figure to
control for differences between sexes as it took into account weight and the
period over which the student drank alcohol. When the numbers were crunched, it
became clear that smoking more heavily the day before increased the presence
and severity of hangover the next day - but only after a heavy drinking episode.
Extrapolating much from the study will be difficult because it did not prove
causality, but smoking seems even more revolting than usual, always a positive………
- The U.S. Secret Service should be trustworthy in keeping
track of top-secret information. It should be, but clearly it isn’t, not if sensitive data is
being left on a subway train. While it may not have been an actual Secret Service
agent, a contractor working for the U.S. Secret Service accidentally left a
pouch containing two computer backup tapes on a train in Washington's Metrorail
subway system. Über-sensitive Secret Service personnel and investigative
information were on the tapes and if that information is accessed, it could be
highly damaging, according to sources. This absent-minded contractor was
transporting the pouch from Secret Service headquarters in Washington to a
now-closed data facility in Maryland when he or she got off a Metro train and
left it behind. When the contractor realized the mistake, the Secret Service
and the Metro police were contacted, but an extensive search yielded no
results. The good news is that this incident occurred nearly five years ago, in
February 2008. If that information hasn’t been accessed and used by now, odds
are it won't be. However, the incident is now the subject of an investigation
by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, according
to congressional sources. Depending on the sensitivity of the information, it
could pose a threat to the lives of Secret Service personnel and their
families. However, the Secret Service says no lives were put at risk and no
fraud was committed as a result of the loss. A better question is why the
agency would place sensitive information on a removable set of tapes. "These
back-up tapes were not marked or identified in any way and were protected by
multiple layers of security," the agency said in an official statement. "They
could not be accessed without the proper equipment, applications and
encoding." Then again, encryption has evolved significantly since 2008, so
maybe that’s no longer true……….
- Soccer has dodged a major scud. A catastrophe nearly
struck the world’s game, but all is well now that FC Barcelona star Lionel
Messi is A-OK. Messi suffered a bone bruise to his left knee as Barcelona
was held to a 0-0 tie by Benfica in a Champions League match on Wednesday night
thanks to a vicious strike to his knee by….wait for it….an opponent’s hand.
Yes, the sort of contact that a player in another sport would shrug off and
play through was enough to send Messi collapsing to the turf in agony after his
left knee collided with the right hand of Benfica's Artur as he ran onto Gerard
Pique's long pass and tried to round the goalkeeper in the 85th minute. Messi,
largely considered the best soccer player in the world, managed to get a left-footed
shot off from an awkward angle before remembering he is a soccer player and
therefore required to go down like he’s been shot by a sniper any time someone
passes within five feet of him. He fell to the field in pain, rolled onto his
back and held the knee and was then loaded onto a cart. ''It's a bruise, which
doctors have been having a look at,'' Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova said. ''We now
have to wait for the results of tests, but the feeling is that it isn't more
serious than a knock.'' Tests subsequently confirmed that Messi had a bone
bruise on the outside of his left knee, but he was cleared to play Sunday so
the bruise is obviously not as bad as he initially tried to show with his
overwrought theatrics on the field. Had the injury actually been serious, it
would have been a crushing end to a year in which the three-time FIFA Player of
the Year has 84 goals for
Barcelona and Argentina, one shy of Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old record for most
goals in a calendar year for club and country. Take a deep breath, pass the
Capri Sun pouches and take a nice, big bite out of that orange wedge, soccer
fans, it’s going to be all right……….
- Rich people often pay absurd amounts of money to eat or
drink disgusting things from obscure places simply because it sets them apart
from everyone else, the wasting of hundreds of dollars on some meat from a rare
animal or a wine from a far-flung corner of the globe. Whether it’s squid eggs
or a rare kind of eel from the Amazon, rich folk place a high value on eating
unusual foods that will give them something to brag about. This one may be the
most absurd yet because it is a product derived from the butts of elephants –
really. A herd
of 20 elephants living in the lush hills of northern Thailand are crapping out
materials to brew some of the world's most expensive coffee. The resulting
beverage is being billed as earthy in flavor and smooth on the palate, although
brewing with beans eaten by Thai elephants and plucked a day later from their
dung is inherently disgusting. According to entrepreneur Blane Dinkin, a
reaction inside the elephant’s stomach creates the coffee’s unique taste. "When
an elephant eats coffee, its stomach acid breaks down the protein found in
coffee, which is a key factor in bitterness," Dinkin said. "You end
up with a cup that's very smooth without the bitterness of regular
coffee." Based on that alleged lack of bitterness, Dinkin sells his
overpriced cup of joe for nearly $500 a pound. The good news is that it is
presently very difficult for a person to throw away $500 for one pound of
coffee because Black Ivory Coffee, which launched last month, is only available
at a few luxury hotels in remote corners of the world — first in northern
Thailand, then the Maldives and now Abu Dhabi — with the price tag of about $50
a serving. The beans are, um, processed at a site in the Golden Triangle region
that has typically been known more for cranking out drugs than for crafting
coffee. Why is the blend so pricey? For starters, Dinkin spent $300,000
developing the coffee. He worked with a Canadian-based veterinarian that ran
blood tests on zoo elephants showing they don't absorb any caffeine from eating
raw coffee cherries to make sure the process was safe. Additionally, it takes
72 pounds of raw coffee cherries to produce 2 pounds of Black Ivory coffee.
Despite its steep price (or perhaps because of it), Black Ivory's maiden batch
of 150 pounds has already sold out………
- Metallica, the band that famously went in front of
Congress and led the crusade against (supposedly) illegal music downloading
services like Napster, has at long last reached a détente with its nemesis of
more than a decade. For 12 long years, the metal legends have feuded with Napster co-founder Sean Parker even though his now-former company long
ago shifted from a medium for thrifty music fans to download free copies of
their favorite songs into a pay-to-use service that has become an afterthought
in the world of iTunes. The battle officially came to an end with Metallica
drummer Lars Ulrich appearing on stage with Parker to announce that the band’s entire
back catalog will be made available to music
streaming service Spotify, in which Parker is an investor. The two frenemies
took the stage to discuss their bitter legal battle that took place in
2000 while also turning the event into a press conference to announce new
Spotify features. According to the company, it now has more than 5 million paid
subscribers worldwide. Baed in the United Kingdom, Spotify claims it has paid
out over $500 million to record labels since the service launched and has
accrued a total of 20 million users overall, 15 million of whom use the free,
ad-heavy version of its product. Along with adding Metallica to the fold,
Spotify has also added the ability to "follow" influential artists
and their tastes, including pop hack Justin Bieber, Beatles legend Paul
McCartney and even President Barack Obama. Spotify chief executive
Daniel Ek showed off the new features, which are designed to connect users with
new music they are predicted to like based on their existing favorites. Still,
the oddest sight of the day had to be a member of the same band that sued
Napster in 2000 on copyright infringement claims shaking hands with its
founder, accepting a massive payday and proving that all it ever cared about
was money. "Back in 1999 we were depicted as these greedy pirates that
basically were just trying to create a free-for-all and enable the stealing of
music," Parker said. "We just wanted to make music more free as in
freedom, not free as in theft.” "When you live in a bubble the main thing
you want is complete control over what you do," Ulrich said of his band’s
part in the feud. “That was taken away. The control option had been taken away
from us - and then it turned into a street fight. Let's meet them in the back
alley." Meet in that alley, hand over a briefcase full of cash and
clearly, it’s all good……….
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