- People drink wine from many different types of containers:
bottles, glasses, paper cups, bottles inside brown paper bags, boxes….and the
list goes on and on. Add aluminum cans to that list, courtesy of a Tualatin (Ore.) company that is reaching out to bring vino to the masses
in a more drinkable, portable form. Union Wine Company, founded in 2005 under
the direction of owner Ryan Harms, went where someone else probably should have gone
years ago by dropping wine into 12-ounce cans. The fact that this isn’t an
industry-wide practice in the wine world is perplexing, as finding a paper bag
big enough to hold a 12-ounce can is much easier than finding a tall paper bag
to conceal that bottle. Also, getting a six-pack of cheap wine is easier and
less conspicuous than lugging an entire box out of the liquor store. Harms
explained that the idea behind wine in a can is attracting new customers
through what he calls the "beerification" of wine. As with anything
any company does, there is also a financial motive behind the concept.
According to Harms, the cans save his company 40 percent in packaging costs.
Those costs, it turns out, will not necessarily be passed on to consumers, as
the can will go on sale next year for about $5. Paying $5 for anything than
comes in an aluminum can will take some time to adjust to, but booze always
sells well in a country that loves to get its drink on. Now if only someone can
get to work on jamming premium tequila into a six-pack…….
- A sequel that actually sounds worthwhile has itself yet
another new release date. “Mad Max 4: Fury Road” is a revival of the
classic post-apocalyptic franchise starring Mel Gibson, but everyone’s favorite
raging Hollywood anti-Semite will step aside for the next generation of action
stars in this one. Tom Hardy is taking over the franchise lead from Gibson,
with the latest chapter in the story set to hit theaters on May 15. Gibson
anchored the first three films in the series, all of which were released between
1979 and 1985. The fourth installment will also be the first to show in 3-D,
which should play well given the type of film “Mad Max” projects tend to be. To
bring continuity to the process, franchise creator George Miller will direct and to add more star power to Hardy’s side, Charlize
Theron will star as a character called Imperator Furiosa. The cast will also
include Victoria’s Secret model/popular big-screen eye candy Rosie
Huntington-Whitely and new characters with comical/homoerotic names like Slit,
Miss Giddy, Rictus Erectus and Coma Doof-Warrior. Miller penned the script with
British comic book artist Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris, a former “Heartbreak High” actor who had a
small role in the original “Mad Max”
film. "Mad Max is caught up with a group of people fleeing across the
Wasteland in a War Rig driven by the Imperator Furiosa,” Miller said of the
film’s story. “This movie is an account of the Road War which follows. It is
based on the Word Burgers of the History Men and eyewitness accounts of those
who survived." Now, if only they can find a cameo role for the original
Mad Max……..
- The good news about concussions just keeps on rolling in.
Not only can these traumatic brain injuries produce immediate symptoms such as dizziness,
headaches and memory loss, but new research shows that months after these
initial symptoms fade, the effects of a concussion can linger. Andrew Mayer, an
associate professor of translational neuroscience at the Mind Research Network
in Albuquerque, N.M., led research that compared 50 concussion patients with 50
healthy people. Mayer and his team found that the brains of those suffering
concussions showed abnormalities four months later even though their symptoms
had already eased to some degree. "This is a very different population
than professional athletes going out and having concussions on a fairly
[frequent] basis, as well as jostling their brain around their skull on a
regular basis in practice," Mayer said. “Just because you feel you're
healed doesn't mean you are." The results alone aren't likely to alter the
swiftness with which injured athletes are allowed to return to the field, even
with the research backed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Most
concussions occur without a person losing consciousness and produce symptoms
that range from headache and blurry vision to difficulties in sleeping or
thinking clearly. When Mayer and his team matched 50 patients with mild
concussions to 50 healthy people of similar age and education levels and tested
their memory and thinking skills, anxiety and depression, they found that brain
scans of those with concussions showed abnormalities in the frontal cortex area
of both sides of the brain. All tests and scans were repeated two weeks after
the concussion, and again four months later. Concussion symptoms were reduced
by up to 27 percent four months after injury, but the brain abnormalities stood
out. "In one or two weeks, most people typically report feeling
better," Mayer added. “"But when we start talking about it in an
analogy of a burn or knee injury, it becomes a little more clear when the
doctor says we need to wait a bit longer [to return to prior activities]. It
makes sense that the brain would be similar to those tissue types.” And once
again, the concussion pictures becomes murkier and more difficult to discern…….
- Switzerland is an awesome place. It is full of beautiful
mountains, tasty chocolate, well-functioning watches, military neutrality and
apparently, people willing to boldly step up and check the out-of-control pay
handed out to corporate executives. Tomorrow, Swiss voters will go to the polls
to decide a measure that would ban any Swiss corporate executive compensation that
runs over 12 times worker pay. It would be the first time a modern developed
nation actually set a so-called “maximum wage” and the measure it known as the
“1:12 Initiative for Fair Pay.” Under the terms of the proposed law, no Swiss
company would be able to pay its top executives more in a month than the
company’s lowest-paid workers make in a year. Many Swiss corporations currently
compensate their top execs more generously than any other nation in
continental Europe and at pharmaceutical giant Roche, the salary for the
company’s CEO is 236 times the firm’s lowest wage. At Nestle, that number
is 188. Those figures caught the attention of activists in Juso, the youth wing
of Switzerland’s Social Democratic Party. Former Juso president Cédric Wermuth
decried “greedy managers earning
millions while other people earn too little for living.” Juso stepped up to
challenge this inequality through Switzerland’s “direct democracy” initiative
process. The process allows propositions that gain 100,000 signatures to
escalate to a national referendum. t Wermuth and Juso vice president Mattea
Meyer organized the 1:12 Initiative and it went on to gain broad union support
and backing from Switzerland’s top two progressive parties, the Social
Democrats and the Greens. It finally earned the necessary 100,000 signatures
this spring and since then, the battle has been on between the 1 percent and
the masses. SwissHoldings, the federation of Swiss-based multinationals,
decried the measure as “a frontal attack on freedom,” though it was unclear if
it was a full-frontal attack. The award of gross exaggeration over the vote
goes to Swiss lawmaker Ruedi Noser, who claimed a yes vote on the issue would
turn Switzerland into the “North Korea of Europe.” Except without the
brutal labor camps and communist regime……..
- The sh*t is getting real in at the corner of 34th and 8th
streets in Manhattan. The New York Knicks were put on notice before the season
when eccentric, delusional billionaire owner James Dolan gathered team
personnel and let them know that this season was championship or bust. A team
that didn’t have the roster or talent to win a title then took a major hit when
it’s best defensive player, center Tyson Chandler, went down for more than a
month with an injury. Without him, the Knicks have struggled to a 3-8 record
and lost four games in a row. Guard J.R. Smith, who just returned from a
league-imposed suspension, admitted that he is panicking over how poorly the
team is playing. Now, Knicks coach
Mike Woodson is panicking in his own way by politicking through the media for
his star player to get more calls from the officials. Woodson said that other
big-name players receive better treatment from officials than Carmelo Anthony,
a sure sign that a coach is grasping for straws with his team stumbling.
"Absolutely. And I'm not going to shy away from that, either. I think Melo
gets hit more than ever," Woodson said. "I've been at this thing 30
years, and sometimes I'm starting to wonder what's a foul and what's not a
foul." Woodson pointed to a play late in the Knicks' overtime loss to the
Indiana Pacers on Wednesday in which he felt Anthony was fouled, but no call
was made. "The offense normally has the advantage when you're making plays
at the rim," Woodson added. "... Melo draws a lot of contact, but he
comes up empty a lot of times as well." For his part, Anthony proclaimed
that he was "done talking" about the referees after Wednesday's loss.
He did blast the officials after a loss to the Houston Rockets earlier this
month, ironically enough a contest in which Anthony had 11 free throw attempts.
He is also tied for fifth with the Sacramento Kings' DeMarcus Cousins in free
throw attempts per game at 7.5. The fact that his coach is grasping for straws
11 games into the season proves just how desperate the Knicks’ plight has
become early in the year……….
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