New Phone Screen (28 February)

A new technology will enable consumers to view their cell phone screen from almost any angle and in a wide range of lighting conditions. The 'NanoChromic' display by Ireland's Ntera Corp, is based on the technology originally used to cut headlight glare in vehicles' rear-view mirrors. This makes 'NCDs' unique among so-called 'electronic paper technologies'.
- "New Scientist"

Ain't Kids Cute? (28 February)

According to a new survey conducted by the Hong Kong Institute, 30% of kindergarten kids in Hong Kong believe that their parent's salary is paid out by ... bank machines. While 70% seem to understand the connection between work and pay, 3 out of 10 rug-rats think their parents can simply go to an ATM to get all the money they need.
- "Asia Post"

New Cheese Tasting Terminology (28 February)

For ages, the wine industry has managed to convince us that swirling a glass and sticking our noses in will reveal all kinds of subtle scents and flavors ('a blush of rosemary-nutmeg', 'an aggressive fruity aroma', 'a hint of 3-dollar plonk') so why not the cheese industry? A team of food researchers at Kansas State University has just created a new dictionary of 31 terms that can be used to describe cheese. Among the fancy handles ...

• 'Animalic' (associated with farm animals and the inside of a barn)
• 'Butyric' (reminiscent of baby vomit)
• 'Musty' or 'Earthy' (the scent of raw potatoes and damp humus)
• 'Sweaty' (perspiration-generated foot odor, found in unwashed gym socks and shoes)

We Wouldn't Steer You Wrong (25 February)

Japan's Nissan Corp is developing a computer-controlled system that will nudge a vehicle back into its lane if it starts to swerve. The system combines video cameras and computer control to keep vehicles heading in the right direction. Nissan engineers say the system is disabled when the driver uses the turn signal to change lanes or make turns.
- AP

Scientists Say (25 February)

A compendium of recent 'discoveries' ...

• Football (soccer) players are 6 times more prone to fatal brain diseases due to repeatedly using their heads to hit the ball, according to an Italian study.
• Contestants in any kind of competition are more likely to win if they are among the last to appear before the judges. A Carnegie Mellon University study finds that a competitor who appears 1st in a contest is 2% less likely to win than one who appears 2nd, and so on down the line.
• If you are under the age of 30, you have a whopping 90% chance of getting fired in the next 20 years.

Commuter News (24 February)

• The new Mass Rapid Transit system in Bangkok, Thailand was completely shut down recently when a spring from a ballpoint pen blew into a subway tunnel, landed atop a signal box on the tracks, and triggered an alarm that stopped all trains.
  - CNEWS
• Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has announced it will soon have the first subway cars in North America equipped with TV. By Spring, about a third of the system's 300 cars will each have 5 TVs for passengers to watch. However, all TVs will be tuned to a local news channel and passengers will need a radio with headphones to pick up the audio feed, which will be 'narrow-cast' on an FM radio frequency.
  - AP

New Products (24 February)

• Large-print books are nothing new but now several publishing houses, led by Penguin, are adopting a new 'Super-Sized Paperback Format' because the bulging population over the age of 40 is beginning to have trouble reading.
  - "Social Studies"
• Within 3 months, the Malaysian state of Kelantan will open a string of 'Happy & Healthy Toilets' that are said to be 'guaranteed to make users happy'. The public facilities will include piped-in music, up-to-date newspapers - even special slippers provided to ensure hygiene.
  - Bernama News

True Crime (24 February)

• A Latvian burglar who escaped from prison 5 years ago has returned - begging to be locked up again! The prisoner, identified only as Sergei M, says life on the outside is just too hard and he looks forward to the comforts of jail.
  - "NY Post"
• Police in Edmonton AB are looking for a limping thief after he was clipped - by his own getaway vehicle! After the knife-wielding suspect grabbed cash and beer from a liquor store, he was running toward a van when it ran over his leg. The unlucky loser somehow managed to pull himself out from underneath the vehicle to climb inside.
  - CP
• After boozing with buddies, a prosecutor in Key West FL thought it would be funny to strip down and run naked across a parking lot to a friend's car. Unfortunately, he hopped into the wrong car, much to the distress of the woman inside. She called her boyfriend, who in turn called the cops. In his next court appearance, this prosecutor will be the defendant!
  - "AP"

The Martian Sea (24 February)

A team of European scientists has announced that a huge, frozen sea lies just below the surface of Mars. Their assessment is based on pictures of the planet's near-equatorial Elysium region that show plated and rutted features across a large area about 500-miles-square. The researchers think a catastrophic event flooded the landscape some 5 million years ago, then froze over.
- "The News"

Uses For Vodka (24 February)

• To remove a bandage painlessly, saturate it with vodka. The solvent dissolves the adhesive.
• To clean the caulking around bathtubs and showers, fill a spray bottle with vodka. The alcohol kills mould and mildew.
• To clean eyeglasses, simply wipe the lenses with a soft, clean cloth dampened with vodka.
• Prolong the life of razors by filling a cup with vodka and letting your safety razor blade soak in it after shaving. The vodka disinfects the blade and prevents rusting.
• Spray vodka on vomit stains, scrub with a brush, then blot dry.
• Using a cotton ball, apply vodka to your face as an astringent to cleanse skin and tighten pores.
• Add a jigger of vodka to a 12-ounce bottle of shampoo. The alcohol cleanses the scalp, removes toxins from hair, and stimulates the growth of healthy hair.
• Fill a spray bottle with vodka and spray bees or wasps to kill them.
• Pour a half-cup of vodka and a half-cup of water into a Ziploc freezer bag, then freeze it for a slushy, refreezable ice pack for headaches and other pains.
• To treat dandruff, mix 1 cup of vodka with 2 teaspoons of crushed rosemary, let sit for 2 days, then strain through a coffee filter and massage into your scalp and let it dry.
• To treat an earache, put a few drops of vodka in your ear. Let set for a few minutes, then drain.
• To relieve a fever, use a washcloth to rub vodka on your chest and back as a liniment.
• To cure foot odour, wash your feet with vodka.
• Vodka will disinfect and alleviate a jellyfish sting.
• Swish a shot of vodka over an aching tooth. Allow your gums to absorb some of the alcohol to numb the pain.
• And finally - if there's nothing else available - some people actually drink the stuff!

Wide World Of Noos (23 February)

• The Korea Customs Service has found a new use for knock-off garments featuring fake designer labels - clothing for the homeless! Over 3,500 fake designer outfits have been distributed to street people in South Korea with the permission of the fashion houses whose designs were ripped off.
• A mysterious man in a mask has offered the winning bid for the most expensive vehicle license plate sold in Hong Kong since 1997. The unidentified man wearing a surgical mask paid $910,000 at auction for the license plate bearing the number '12'. (What the hell is Michael Jackson doing over there?)
• A trout farm near Melbourne, Australia is offering a $1,000 reward for the capture of a giant eel that's gotten loose in the breeding pond. It's estimated the eel is about 13-feet-long, with a head the size of a football.
• If you're saved from drowning at San Antonio Beach in Chile, be prepared to pay up! Lifeguards are charging a fee ranging from $50 to $250 to punish careless swimmers and cut the costs of rescue operations.
• A German acoustics expert has invented a hearing aid ... for cats. The tiny device which is implanted in the cat's outer ear was developed by Hans-Rainer Kurz, who has already had success with a similar aid for dogs. Although Kurz admits the device will not cure totally deaf cats, he says it will help those with hearing difficulties.

Never Trust A Doc In Camo (23 February)

Patients prefer doctors who wear white lab coats with name tags, not sneakers and jeans. A recent study indicates a more formal look projects professional competence and inspires trust among patients while a casual look - sandals, clogs, scrub suits or blue jeans - is disapproved of by most patients. Research shows a neat and clean appearance is even more important than attire, but most important of all to patients is - a gentle, concerned physician with an engaging, friendly, emphatic demeanour.
- "Archives of Internal Medicine"

I, Robot (22 February)

Jong-Hwan Kim, director of the Intelligent Robot Research Centre (ITRC) in South Korea, says the new generation of 'feeling robots' is only about 3 months away, when it will be possible to install software modelled on human DNA into their computer code. The new software will enable robots the ability to 'feel' happy, sad, angry, sleepy, hungry or afraid, meaning they will develop their own personalities and emotion.
- "The Guardian"

New Gizmos & Gadgets (22 February)

• Brendan Walker, a researcher at the Royal College of Art in London, is developing a 'Thrill Measuring Device'. He's already part-way there, by building a machine that detects the sensation of thrill by using 'galvanic skin response', changes in the electrical conductivity of skin caused by arousal of the nervous system.
  - "Wired"
• Swedish scientists at the University of Uppsala have developed a large, black ball of electronics that they say can provide hi-tech home security. The rolling gizmo can use either radar or infra-red sensors to detect a break-in, then can call for help, sound an alarm and even pursue the intruders, taking pictures. It's capable of travelling 20 mph, fast enough to run down virtually any human.
  - "Daily Telegraph"

Social Studies (22 February)

• Up to 15% of people in northern climes suffer from 'Seasonal Affective Disorder' (SAD), caused by reduced sunlight in Winter. The recommended treatment is exposure to high wattage doses of fluorescent light.
• You tend to eat 44% more on average when you dine with other people in restaurants than if you dine alone, according to a survey in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition".
• A new University of Pittsburgh study suggests that exposure to lead may be a contributor to violent crime in young people. Researchers say that when environmental lead finds its way into the developing brain, it disturbs the mechanism responsible for regulation of impulse, which can lead to antisocial and criminal behaviour.

Tales From Around-The-World (22 February)

• A separated Jordanian couple each turned to an Internet chat room seeking a new partner and both were successful. After months of cyber-flirting, they decided to finally meet their new loves and hopefully get married. Imagine their surprise when they showed up at the rendezvous only to discover they had been flirting online ... with each other. The husband promptly ended the sordid affair by screaming, "You are divorced, divorced, divorced!" Her comeback: "You are a liar!" Then she fainted.
• A Norwegian real estate investor fed up with inaccurate exaggerations in housing ads has decided to go for brutal honesty in trying to sell one of his apartments. Arne Leo Soerlie is running an ad which reads, "Gruesome 2-room apartment with balcony. A very worn-out apartment."
• Zookeepers at Germany's Bremerhaven Zoo have just about given up trying to 'convert' 6 gay penguins that are refusing to breed. Even importing sexy Swedish penguins failed to spark their appetite for females as the 6 homosexual penguins remain faithful to each other and ignore their new roommates. The 'gay-guins' have even adopted rocks which they guard like eggs.
• The richest 20-year-old in the world, Athina Onassis Roussel, has become engaged to her long-time boyfriend, Brazilian equestrian star Alfonso de Miranda Neto. She has also learned that if she learns to speak her grandfather Aristotle Onasis' native Greek, she'll inherit an extra $2 billion of his fortune.

For The Record (22 February)

A British historian Graham Lawrence has recently discovered the tomb of a couple who were apparently married for 81 years, which is being accepted by the "Guinness Book of World Records" as likely the longest marriage ever. It seems Thomas & Elizabeth Morgan wed in Wales in May 1809 and their marriage lasted until her death in January 1891 when she had just turned 105 and he was 104 (their combined age of 209 years is also a record for a married couple). Thomas Morgan died in January 1893 at the age of 106, leaving behind 17 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren.
- Agence France Presse

National Engineers Week (22 February)

This week is "National Engineers Week", so hurray for hard-hats and slide rules!
You Just Might Be An Engineer If ...

• You have calculated exactly how much you make ... per second.
• You consider any non-science course 'easy'.
• You've actually used every single function on your calculator.
• You used a CAD software package to design your son's soapbox derby car.
• You get angry when people won't let you fix things they've broken.
• You window shop at Radio Shack.
• You know the direction the water swirls when you flush.
• You always save the power cords from broken appliances.
• Your 2-year-old asks why the sky is blue and you explain atmospheric absorption theory.
• You have no life ... and you can prove it mathematically!

We Just Got Waaaay Older (18 February)

Anthropologists from the USA and Australia believe they have found the oldest-ever homo sapiens fossils in Ethiopia. It's believed they date to about 195,000 years ago, thereby pushing back the age of the first humans by - over 35,000 years!
- ANI

Carbon Copy Cow (18 February)

Australian scientists have successfully created the world's first cloned cow using a technique called serial nuclear transfer. 'Brandy', a healthy Holstein-Fresian calf, was created by researchers from the Genetics Australia Co-operative. It's believed the new technique could be used to develop better quality herds.
- "Sydney Morning Herald"

Wide World Of Noos (18 February)

• A bride in India was forced to ask for volunteers to marry her after the groom fled minutes before the ceremony. Luckily, a man in attendance immediately offered his hand and the bride's parents approved their new son-in-law on the spot.
• A Dutch farmer has been painting pigeons with environmentally friendly, water-based pink and green paint to ward off hungry birds of prey who were killing them off. And surprise, it seems to work! The odd colors seem to make the pigeons unappetizing to predators.

Art Has Gone To The Dogs (17 February)

Ever seen those tacky pictures of dogs playing poker? Turns out they're actually worth something - at least to somebody. This week two of the paintings ("A Bold Bluff" and "Waterloo") from the famous series by artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge fetched nearly $590,400 at auction. The goofy series was originally commissioned for a Minnesota advertising company in 1903. The sale was part of the Doyle auction house's yearly "Dogs in Art" auction, which coincides with the annual "Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show". (Great trivia question: Which dog wins the pot? Answer: The St Bernard.)
- CNEWS

We Told You So (17 February)

A few weeks back we recommended the new 'Firefox' Web browser, which is considerably faster and less prone to pop-ups and viruses than Microsoft's Explorer. It was created by Blake Ross of Miami FL, a 19-year-old former child prodigy who first landed a job at Netscape when he was just 14. While nearly every computer in the world (around 700 million) is loaded with Explorer, about 20 million users have already downloaded Firefox which has only been around since November. One observer of hi-tech trends says, "It's Microsoft's worst nightmare."
- "National Enquirer"

Buzzwords (16 February)

New terms leaking into the lingo ...

• 'Real Estate Refugees' - People who move out of the city and into surrounding suburbs and towns so they can purchase a larger home on a bigger lot. ("They hardly ever go to the theatre anymore now that they're real estate refugees.")
• 'The Bing' - Jail or prison. ("Handcuffed, roughed up, I'm tossed in the bing now ...")
• 'Actorvist' - An actor who is also an activist. (Actorvist Richard Gere has called for Tibetans to no longer wear fur while eating KFC heated with fossil fuels ...)

Phoney Music (16 February)

Both Sony Ericsson and Nokia have announced they will soon market music-player mobiles that allow subscribers to load music from a PC onto their phones, much the same as a digital music player like iPod works. Unlike dedicated MP3 players, Nokia users will also be able to download tracks directly onto their handsets through the wireless phone network and transfer them to computer for storage or burning onto a CD.
- Canada.com / Canadian Press

Tales Of Revenge (16 February)

• Two announcers from the UK's Kerrang! Radio have been suspended and may face charges after breaking into their Program Director's house, trashing it and spray-painting obscenities on the walls. All that we can understand but here's the dumb part - they did it live on-air! In a burst of understatement DJ Tim Shaw admits, "We took it too far."
• Before leaving on vacation, a couple from Itzehoe, Germany rigged up a sound system on a timer with a loudspeaker aimed directly at their annoying neighbours that blasted the sound of a crowing rooster early each morning between 2-and-4am. Police have confiscated the gear and charged the vacationers, who are still away on holiday.

Did You Know? (16 February)

• The forked peace symbol is actually a composite of the semaphore signals 'N' and 'D' representing 'Nuclear Disarmament'.
• Just by recycling a single aluminium can, enough energy is saved to run a TV for 3 hours.
• A typical house cat spends 70% of its time sleeping.
• The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.

Electrifying Performance (15 February)

Brazilian actor Michel Melamed gives an electrifying performance on-stage by letting the audience shock him - literally! He wears a special wired-up suit that gives him an electric shock each time someone in the audience claps, laughs, boos or coughs. The strength of the current depends on the noise level, but to make sure he's safe the power cuts off at a maximum of 90 volts. Why would he wanna? "All theatre is an experiment," he says.
- "NY Post"

Important Stuff You Can Learn From Kids (15 February)

• It's more fun to colour outside the lines.
• If you want a kitten, start out asking for a horse.
• There is no good reason why clothes have to match.
• If you're gonna draw on the wall, do it behind the couch.
• Ask 'why' until you understand.
• Make up the rules as you go along.
• Save a place in line for your friends.
• If your dog doesn't like someone, you probably shouldn't either.
• If you stand on tiptoe to be measured this year, you'll have to stand on tiptoe for the rest of your life.

Free Insults (15 February)

Searchable insults for every occasion are available from 'Insults Net', where you set the parameters by gender, intelligence, weight, political views and abuse level. This site also offers the useful tool 'How to Swear' - in over 40 different languages, including French-Canadian. Go ahead and try it out, you 'maudit fif'.
For more info check out the Insults Net website.

The Dating Game (14 February)

A Chinese couple are charged with running a bogus matchmaking service after the man matched up hundreds of single men - with his wife! The couple promoted the fake dating service as offering men their choice of hundreds of rich and beautiful women. But, like in a shell game, the scam simply matched up each man with the exact same woman, charging them each a membership fee of about $80, plus a consulting fee, a directory fee, and a charge for each date.
- Ananova

Odd Couples (14 February)

Some people find love in the strangest places. Witness ...

• In 1863, American dwarf Charles Stratton married Lavinia Warren. He was 2-ft, 10-ins tall and she was 2-ft, 8-ins. In 1884, the widowed Lavinia married Count Primo Magri who was 2 inches shorter than her first husband.
• Fabien Pretou, standing at 6-ft, 2-ins tall, towered over his 3-ft, 1-in bride Natalie Lucius at their 1990 wedding in Seysinnet-Pariset, France.
• Harry Stevens, 103, married his 84-year-old cousin, Thelma Lucas, at a Wisconsin retirement home in 1984.
• When Ruth & Kevin Kimber married in 1990, she was 93 and he was 28.
• In 1871, Captain Martin van Buren Bates married Anna Hanen Swan in London UK. She was 7-ft, 5.5 inches tall and he stood 7-ft, 2.5 ins.
• In 1995, following a courtship that lasted several months,100-year-old Samuel Bukoro married 12-year-old Nyamihanda in Uganda.
• In 1994, 26-year-old Anna Nicole Smith tied the knot with 89-year-old millionaire J Howard Marshall, saying she was attracted by his 'kindness'.

Amazing Monday Facts (14 February)

• Monday is the only day of the week that has a 1-word anagram of its name - 'dynamo'.
• Workers suffer more back injuries and heart attacks on the first day of the work week. In fact, heart-attack risk is 33% higher due to the so-called 'Monday Effect'.

Art In The Park (11 February)

Tomorrow a free public outdoor work-of-art in NYC's Central Park called "The Gates" will be unveiled by avant garde artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. It took some 600 'art makers' a week to erect the 23-mile-long project consisting of 7,500 16-ft-high, fabric-covered gates.
Saturday, weather permitting, the cocoons on each of the gates will be opened and the fabric unfurled, wrapping the park with miles of saffron-colour trails for visitors to walk through. But it only lasts for 16 days. Then it will all be dismantled and recycled.
- "NY Post"

Scientists Say (11 February)

A compendium of recent 'discoveries' ...

• Scientists say ... men who try to dominate conversations are 60% more likely to die at an early age. That's the conclusion after characteristics such as verbal competitiveness; loudness and self-aggrandizement were observed in a 22-year study by Duke University Medical Centre.
• Scientists say ... sending text messages can boost the confidence of introverted and anxious young people. More than half of young cell phone users prefer to send text messages to friends than to talk to them, according to a new Plymouth University study.
• Scientists say ... we're wasting a lot of money trying to make everything germ-free. Stuart Levy, Professor of Molecular Biology & Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine, says if you have a relatively clean home, you simply don't need antibacterial products. In fact, you may actually hamper your families' ability to build immunity to various bugs.

Almost As Good As Booze In Coffee (10 February)

A new Budweiser beer, called 'B-to-the-E', combines beer with - caffeine! The marketing types at Anheuser-Busch admit some consumers may see the new beer's mathematical-style logo and pronounce it 'B.E.' or 'B-plus-E' but that's just fine, because the product is aimed at the 21-to-27-year-old age group that doesn't want to be told what to do.
- "Hartford Courant"

Giving You The Finger (10 February)

Scientists at the University of Giessen in Germany have determined that people whose ring and index fingers are about the same length have a more difficult time with spatial skills, the ones we use to do things like read maps and park cars. This may indicate another difference between genders: in women the 2 fingers are usually the same length, but in men the ring finger tends to be longer than the index finger.
- BBC News

Buzzwords (9 February)

New cutting-edge vocab ...

• 'Disco Women' - Women in their 'discerning, increasing years' who are now an increasingly important segment of the fashion industry market. These are stylish and comfortably well-off women who want well-made fashionable clothes.
• 'Item-Girl' - A hot-looking female actress, singer or dancer who is poised to become a star in India's Bollywood film industry. An 'item song' is a musical number which has little do with the movie in which it appears, but is presented mainly to promote the singer, the song or the film.
• 'Matron Lit' - A new literary category aimed at women in the mushrooming Baby Boomer age bracket who are eager to read about women in middle and later years who still manage to find adventure and romance.

New & Improved Water! (9 February)

Researchers at the Australian National University have discovered something that cleans better than leading laundry detergents - water! Yep, it seems that mild-mannered tap water becomes a super-cleaner after an inexpensive process called 'de-gassing' which takes out all the natural bubbles. In testing, it was found that de-gassed water removes oily and greasy stains much better than even the strongest biological detergents. Researchers say the discovery could lead to a cleaning revolution.
- "The Sun"

How To Fall Asleep Fast (9 February)

Forget counting sheep. Forget chamomile tea. Listening to music at bedtime is the secret to falling asleep fast and getting a restful night's sleep, according to researchers at Taiwan's Tzu Chi University. The best kind of music is apparently soft, slow tunes, such as light jazz, folk, or orchestral pieces, that measure 60-to-80 beats a minute. The researchers even have a name for it: 'Sedative Music'. Believe it or not, the music will actually cause physical changes in your body, such as lowering your heart and respiratory rates, that will lead to a good night's sleep.
- "Journal of Advanced Nursing"

Amazing Facts (8 February)

• Breakfast eaters are normally leaner than those who skip a morning meal. In fact, missing breakfast often contributes to obesity.
  - "Harvard Men's Health Watch", February issue.
• At this year's "Carnaval", Rio De Janeiro's leading 14 Samba schools are spending more than ever - an estimated $20 million - on costumes and training to win the cherished 'Champions' trophy and impress the crowd of 60,000 at the Sambodromo, as well as millions of TV viewers.
  - "Herald Sun"

Big Brother's Watching You (8 February)

MIS (Management Information System) experts offer these tips on how to stay out of trouble when using computers at work ...

• Check to see if your company has a policy on e-mail and/or Internet usage so you know the boundaries.
• Find out exactly what your employer is monitoring. Be aware that the latest Internet monitoring software can capture, log and make screen snapshots of what you are reading, viewing or keyboarding into your computer at any time.
• Ask family and friends not to send you e-mail at work that could be considered improper. If you receive inappropriate e-mail at work, delete it immediately.
• Don't do any personal Web surfing at work.
• Use your own cell phone for personal calls rather than an office line.
• Don't use your personal e-mail account from work.
• Don't write anything in e-mail you wouldn't want your boss to read.

Madness Or Genius? (7 February)

Troy Hurtubise of North Bay ON, infamous for spending 7 years on 'Project Grizzly' - a suit of armor able to withstand a grizzly bear attack - is back with another invention. He's now created the 'Angel Light', a beam of light which he claims can see through walls. Hurtubise says the concept came to him in a series of recurring dreams in which the mechanics of the device were shown to him. He built the gizmo using $30,000 of his own money plus $40,000 he claims to have received from unidentified scientists at MIT. The 'Angel Light' is now complete, though no one from the scientific community has actually tested it. According to MIT's Gary Dryfoos, there's a Nobel Prize waiting for Hurtubise if his machine actually works.
- BayToday.ca

Style Statement (4 February)

It appears that with some of the new looks for men this upcoming year there is a new black - and it's dirt! A number of designers are making clothes that seem like they've already been worn. Not just worn - but never washed. The 'Dirty Look' can be seen from upmarket fashions such as Jean Paul Gaultier's 'Dirty Wash' jacket for $525 to the more reasonable $19 dirty Chicago Cubs cap. Fashion watchers say the look sends the message that some sort of masculine activity has taken place.
- "Chicago Sun-Times"

Scientists Say (4 February)

A compendium of recent 'discoveries' ...

• Scientists say ... the more diapers a dad changes, the more attached the child becomes to him. And child-development specialists say the reverse is also true - the fewer the diaper changes, the less likely a child will turn to dad when needing consolation or care.
• Scientists say ... that men and women differ genetically by 1-to-2%, the same amount of genetic difference that separates humans from chimps! MIT biologists say that means gender is the single greatest difference between members of the human species.
• Scientists say ... the risk of Alzheimer's rises by 30% for each hour per day of TV watched. Case Western Reserve University researchers don't think TV causes Alzheimer's, it's just another indicator of an inactive lifestyle.
• Scientists say ... the old adage 'forgive and forget' not only makes you happier but also makes you healthier. Research shows that forgiving people reduces stress, makes your heart rate improve and keeps your blood pressure under control. On the other hand, nursing a grudge can cause tense muscles, elevated blood pressure, and - increased sweating.

It's A Wacky World (3 February)

• Just how fanatical is 36-year-old Philadelphia Eagles fan Kevin O'Donoghue about his Super Bowl-bound heroes? So fanatical that he's mortgaged his house to buy a $4,000 hotel-and-tickets package for Sunday's game. Quote: "Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do."
• It's here, it's queer, it's beer! A Swiss company has launched a new drink aimed at gays called 'Queer Beer'. Its creator says he hopes it will help people feel relaxed with their sexuality. A spokesman for gay-rights group Pink Cross says, "We just hope it tastes good."

Buzzwords (2 February)

New cutting-edge vocab ...

• 'I-Play' [aka 'IDance', 'IDJ' or 'IParty'] - A new trend hitting clubs worldwide in which patrons are allowed to plug in their personal MP3 players (the name comes from Apple's IPod) to the club's sound system and guest-DJ for a short period. The more serious use 2 players so they can fade tunes and match up beats just like vinyl-based mixers.
• 'WOMPs' [White, Older Male, Protestants] - A newly-defined group coined by a Harvard University study. Researchers say WOMPs are among the least trusting segments of the overall population.

Wide World Of Noos (2 February)

• A Swedish cop in the town of Bollnas has confessed that he robbed a bank in December, then later investigated the crime himself, telling reporters at the time that police had no clues.
• A group of Romanian villagers convinced that a local retired teacher was a vampire dug up his corpse after he died, ripped out his heart and cooked it with ash and water to make a 'meaty drink'. They say it was the only way to protect themselves. A judge has disagreed and given them 6 years in the slammer.
• A Frankfurt, Germany man who bought 3 hand grenades at a flea market has been arrested for getting boozed up with buddies and tossing one out his window to see if it worked. It exploded between 2 apartment buildings but luckily no one was injured.
• A Croatian doctor faces the axe after allegedly making patients wait for hours - while his pet crocodile had a check-up. Witnesses at a Zagreb hospital say the 4-foot reptile, which had stopped eating, was wheeled in on an operating table and examined with ultrasound for 2 hours while patients cooled their heels.
• Anyone for a tuna spritzer? A Chinese distillery has created the world's first wine - made from fish! It may sound gross but the Dalian Fisherman's Song Maritime Biological Brewery says it uses cleaned, pulverized and fermented fish to make a new concoction that's not only nutritious but low in alcohol content.

Extreme Makeover - Pub Edition (1 February)

Dennis Hennings of Santiago, Chile has hit upon a successful business idea in which he transforms your boring old living room into - a lively pub. A team of workers swarms into your home to install a temporary bar, bar stools and a fully stocked wall of liquor. He also supplies bar staff and waiters. The idea is for the owner of the house to relax with no responsibilities and simply enjoy partying with friends. And what's perhaps even better - the next day everything disappears!
- "Las Ultimas Noticias"

Med Facts (1 February)

• Normally healthy working adults who contract the flu will be sick and highly contagious for 5-to-6 days on average. However, they only miss, on average, 1-to-3 days of work.
• In ancient China, doctors received their fees only if their patients were kept healthy. If the patient's health failed, the doctor sometimes paid the patient.
• Washing your hands is the #1 way to avoid becoming sick, according to the Centres for Disease Control & Prevention in Atlanta GA.

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