Competitive eating is gaining in popularity. However, this may be the most difficult food to eat. How many other contests feature a food that causes facial paralysis?
“know as ‘green bearding’. This tends to occur with the onset of facial paralysis and judges must pay close attention to the amount of emerald-hued drool being emitted.”
Stinging nettles appear to be tough to eat. Image usposttoday.com
Stinging nettles, yum. Image bbc.uk
World Stinging Nettle Eating Championship attracts record crowd
By William Langley | 14 Jun 2009 | www.telegraph.co.uk
A record crowd turned out to watch the World Stinging Nettle Eating championships. The Sunday Telegraph went along, to witness the competitors’ agony.
In a sunny garden in deepest Dorset yesterday 65 people – their faces rigid with pain and disgust – gathered in a quest to be crowned the King of the Stingers.
There is no easy route to winning the World Stinging Nettle Eating Championship, held each year in the village of Marshwood near Bridport. It takes skill, it takes endurance … it takes great blistering chunks out of what used to be your taste buds.
Smart competitors squash the leaves into tight little balls which they try to throw straight to the back molars. Then you try to munch them up and swallow with as little contact as possible. The problems begin when the nettles start to back up in the mouth and … arrrrrgh!
Competitors are served two-foot-long stalks of nettles from which they must pluck and devour the leaves. The bare stalks are then measured and the winner, after an hour of combat, is the one with the greatest accumulated length.
“They taste totally foul, and everything comes out bright green for a few days afterwards,” shrugged Simon Slee, 48, the reigning world record holder with 76 feet. “Apart from that it’s really not too bad. You need focus and rhythm and some beer to take the taste away.”
City Worker Ignores Mayor, Gets Suspended
Boss Rescinds Suspension After Questions Raised
KCTV5.com | August 6, 2009
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. — A city worker in Deerfield Beach, Fla., said she was suspended for two days without pay for not acknowledging the city’s mayor as she walked by, Miami television station WPLG reported.
Cassandra Moye was cleaning a beach pavilion on Monday when Deerfield Beach Mayor Peggy Nolan stopped by. Moye said she was getting supplies from a closet when she saw the mayor speaking with the Parks and Recreation Department’s acting Director George Edmunds, who is Moye’s supervisor, and some other people.
Mollie Sudgen was a gifted comedienne with a long career. She did some of her best work while a mature woman. Not an easy thing to do in a male and youth dominated industry.
On ARE YOU BEING SERVED she delivered the best pussy jokes and wore candy colored hair so well.
wow
British comedy actress Mollie Sugden dies at 86
(AP) – Jul 6, 2009
LONDON (AP) — British comic actress Mollie Sugden, who played the formidable saleswoman Mrs. Slocombe in the BBC’s long running comedy series “Are You Being Served?”, has died aged 86.
Sugden built a career playing strong-willed, overbearing women — she played a snobbish mother in “The Liver Birds,” a comedy about two women sharing an apartment in Liverpool in the 1970s — but it was her role as Betty Slocombe that made her a household name.
As the bossy saleswoman who dominated the underwear section at the Grace Brothers department store, Sugden delivered double entendres in a perfectly outraged voice, shaking her tightly curled, dyed hair.
The show ran from 1973 to 1985 and at its height attracted audiences of over 20 million.
Sugden was born in Keighley, in northern England, in July 1922, and trained at London’s prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She met her husband William Moore in 1956 while they were both acting in theater. They married two years later and their twin sons were born six years after that.
Moore died nine years ago. Sugden’s agent Joan Reddin said her two sons Robin and Simon Moore were with the actress when she died July 1.
This story reminds me of the sci-fi story where the amazing compound for immortality is found in dandelions and mud.
Blue Dye in M&Ms Helps Spinal Cord Injuries?
Compound Similar to Food Dye May Help People With Spinal Injuries Regain Movement
By Bill Hendrick, WebMD Health News, Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD | July 29, 2009
A compound that’s similar to the blue food dye in Gatorade and M&Ms may hold promise for people with spinal cord injuries, new research says.
The compound, called Brilliant Blue G, blocks the cascade of events that leads to inflammation following a traumatic injury of the spinal cord, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center report in a study involving rats.
Inflammation often causes more irreversible damage than the initial trauma, but this secondary damage, considered inevitable, may one day be preventable, the scientists say in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Blue Dye Prevents Inflammation
After researchers led by Maiken Nedergaard, MD, director of neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, injected Brilliant Blue G into rats with spinal cord injuries, the rodents showed improved mobility and even hobbled about. They also temporarily turned blue.
Injured rats that were not given a dose of the blue dye didn’t walk at all.
The results of the study build on research by Nedergaard that was published in 2004 in the journal Nature Medicine.
That study showed that a substance called ATP, the energy source that keeps cells alive, runs out of control at the site of a spinal cord injury, activating a molecule known to cause inflammation and kill spinal neuron cells.
For these neurons, inflammation often causes more damage than the initial trauma to the spine, meaning that for treatment to work it must be administered immediately after the spinal cord injury.
Brilliant Blue G blocks ATP from flooding the spinal injury and triggering inflammation, the researchers say.
The authors say there is no effective way to “treat acute spinal cord injury, apart from the use of steroids, which provide at best modest protection to a subset of patients.”
Nedergaard says that although her research offers a promising new possible approach to treating spinal cord injuries, more research is needed.
There is part of me that loathes to reference an article with a headline about going viral on the web. However the article is informative and points out the partisan politics that inspired this image and the “mysterious origins of it.” Be sure, this image wasn’t created by a skateboarding arts collective as an expression of cultural zeitgeist. It was carefully created and executed campaign done by highly skilled and well paid professionals. I bet this image was chosen over similar images based on reactions from focus groups.
Culture jamming is finally being embraced by the mainstream left. The re-appropriation of images was once bleeding edge, fell to cutting edge and is now mainstream. (Uh wait, what about political cartoons, hasn’t this been going one for hundreds of years?)
During the 2008 Presidential Campaign the posterized image of Mr Obama created by artist Shepard Fairey was everywhere. It was an effective campaign poster, a great work of art and the perfect propaganda poster for the time. The joker image is the propaganda created and distributed by opponents of Mr Obama.
Artist Shepard Fairey's Poster
‘Socialist Joker’ Obama portrait goes viral
By Matthew Shaer | 08.03.09 | csmonitor.com
Back in 2008, when election fever was spiking, the street artist Shepard Fairey created his famous and controversial image of Barack Obama. (In January, the image was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, in D.C.) Now a conservative graffiti artist – who knew? – has apparently been papering the greater Los Angeles area with images of Barack Obama dressed up as Heath Ledger’s Joker.
Each image appears above a single, block-lettered word: “Socialism.”
According to Associated Content, a “string of Obama Joker posters were first seen in Los Angeles, with a few even getting to Atlanta.” Now, digitized copies of the portraits have gone viral, spiraling across Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. That’s right kids: the “Socialist Joker” is a real, live Internet meme. Next stop? The front of a T-shirt sold out of Urban Outfitters.
Predictably, the right-wing blogosphere is bursting at the seams with glee. Over at American Thinker, Thomas Lifson proclaims, “It is starting. Open mockery of Barack Obama, as disillusionment sets in with the man, his policies, and the phony image of a race-healing, brilliant, scholarly, middle-of-the-roader.” Others see not a piece of societal criticism, but a vicious, race-baiting gag.
Here’s Steven Mikulan of the LA Weekly:
The poster, which bears a very superficial resemblance to Shepard Fairey’s famous Obama Hope illustration, has been pasted on freeway supports and other public surfaces. It has a bit of everything to appeal to the drunk tank of California conservatism: Obama is in white face, his mouth (like Ledger’s Joker’s) has been grotesquely slit wide open and the word “Socialism” appears below his face. The only thing missing is a noose.
Meanwhile, the folks over at Bedlam Magazine write, “The Joker white-face imposed on Obama’s visage has a sort of malicious, racist, Jim Crow quality to it.”
For his part, Robert Dougherty of Associated Content says that everyone is missing the point. “The Joker was many things, but was hardly a socialist,” Doughterty correctly points out. “In fact, the Joker is the polar opposite of a socialist, and anyone who watched ‘The Dark Knight’ would know that. Socialism is the result of an all powerful central government that runs every aspect of life — but the Joker subscribes to anarchy, one of socialism’s polar opposites.”
We’ll let you be the judge. We can’t show you the JPG version currently circulating the web – pesky copyright restrictions – but YouTube is fair game. And here’s a video, until someone yanks it down:
Ingenious, but I don’t think this is excuse is going to work. Many thanks to E. of Big Tea Party for sending me this marvey story.
Keith Griffin (Martin County Sheriff's Office / August 7, 2009)
Treasure Coast man blames cat for downloaded child pornography
August 7, 2009 | TCPalm.com
MARTIN COUNTY – Martin County Sheriff’s detectives didn’t buy it when a 48-year-old Jensen Beach man claimed that his cat was downloading child pornography on his computer.
Keith R. Griffin, of the 3600 block of Northeast Jeannette Drive, was charged Wednesday with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after detectives found more than 1,000 child pornographic images on his computer, according to a news release.
Griffin told detectives he would leave his computer on and his cat would jump on the keyboard.
When he returned, there would be strange material downloaded, the release states.
Griffin was being held in the Martin County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Its nice to know there’s a treatment for this and sad to know it’s such a bad problem there has to be a “Massachusetts General Hospital Hair Pulling Scale.”
Typical case of trichotillomania, due to repeated pulling out of hairs: the new hairs grow at different rates and therefore different lengths, as can be felt when the scalp is touched
N-acetylcysteine therapy may help with trichotillomania
Reuters Health Stories Clinical | 2009-07-06
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – N-acetylcysteine, a glutamate modulator, is safe, well-tolerated, and effective treatment for trichotillomania, according to the results of a small study reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry for July.
“Data on the pharmacologic treatment of trichotillomania are limited to conflicting studies of serotonergic medications. N-acetylcysteine, an amino acid, seems to restore the extracellular glutamate concentration in the nucleus accumbens and, therefore, offers promise in the reduction of compulsive behavior,” Dr. Jon E. Grant and co-researchers explain.
To assess the safety and efficacy of N-acetylcysteine in adults with trichotillomania, Dr. Grant and colleagues from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, randomly assigned 50 patients to receive the agent or placebo for 12 weeks. All but five of the patients were women and the average age was 34.3 years.
In the active treatment group, N-acetylcysteine was given at a dose of 1200 mg/day for 6 weeks and then increased to 2400 mg/day for 6 weeks.
Treatment with N-acetylcysteine significantly reduced hair-pulling symptoms as assessed with the Psychiatric Institute Trichotillomania Scale (p = 0.001) and the Massachusetts General Hospital Hair Pulling Scale (p < 0.001).
On the Clinical Global Impression scale, 56% of N-acetylcysteine-treated subjects were “much or very much improved” compared with just 16% of controls (p = 0.003). The significant benefits of N-acetylcysteine therapy first became apparent after 9 weeks of treatment.
Only a few mild adverse events — nausea, diarrhea, and cough – occurred, and all of them were confined to the placebo group.
“As effective treatments for hair pulling emerge, it becomes increasingly important that physicians and mental healthcare providers screen for trichotillomania to provide timely treatment,” the authors state.
I looked but could not find any other sources for this story besides snarky blogs. It brings to mind the story of the Baltimore man who killed his room mate over a neckbone. (My neckbone mother f*cker indeed)
Random dinner roll
Father killed over dinner roll
UPI | May 26, 2009
A 42-year-old Melvindale, Mich., woman was charged with fatally stabbing her father over a dinner roll, police said.
The woman, who was not publicly identified, was arrested Monday after police found her hiding in woods behind the family home, WDIV-TV reported Tuesday.
Her father, Greg Gordon, 62, was transported from the home to a hospital where he died of multiple stab wounds, police said.
The woman allegedly told police she clashed with her father after eating a dinner roll he had been saving. Gordon had put a note on the roll telling his daughter not to eat it, police said.
I admire this guy for thinking big, why risk the jail time for stealing something boring.
Random image of Arranmore ferry. Image www.naomhconal.com
Arrest Follows Ferry Theft
03/06/2009 | www.build.ie
A lifeboat crew was yesterday rammed after they tried to stop a stolen ferry boat.
The vessel was taken in the early hours of Tuesday morning from the pier at Arranmore Island – three miles off Co Donegal and then beached on the mainland.
A man was being quizzed by Gardaí on Tuesday night after the small passenger ferry was stolen off the north-west coast.
According to reports, the vessel – owned by Arranmore Charters which runs the fast ferry service to one the Donegal island – was badly damaged ship when it was recovered on a beach.
Its fibreglass hull had been ripped and other damage caused. It will be out of action for some time.
Police said the man in custody was arrested at Burtonport, on the mainland, and was being held at Glenties Garda Station.
The ferry company, based on Arranmore, has been operating since June 2007 and introduced the fast ferry, which cruises at 30 knots.
It covers the three mile journey from Burtonport in Co Donegal to the island in just over five minutes and holds up to 12 passengers.
The lifeboat crew was rammed after they took to the water in a dinghy to try and stop the boat.
From the video Hex seemed active and vibrant. When I first saw the clip of scampering Hex I wondered why operate? If it was imperative to operate why not perform several smaller less dramatic surgeries? It’s a shame he passed away, but at least it was peaceful.
Kitten Born With Six Legs Dies
Veterinarians Say Barium Used In Test Burned Hole In Hex’s Intestines
Monday, May 5, 2008 | www.justnews.com
MIAMI — A six-legged kitten awaiting surgery to remove the extra legs has died.
Hex the six-legged kitten died Thursday, according to a poem posted on The Hex Foundation Web site.
Veterinarians told owner Barbara Flores that Hex had a Siamese twin that never fully developed. An operation to remove the extra legs, remove the extra colon and correct the intestines was initially scheduled for last month, but Flores sought a second opinion and was told to wait until Hex was between 10 and 12 weeks old.
Flores took Hex to a local veterinarian to run a test that consisted of barium on the 7-week-old cat. When Hex underwent a CT scan Tuesday in Gainesville, veterinarians discovered that Hex had some barium left in his other half’s pouch.
Veterinarians said the barium burned a hole in Hex’s intestines.
Hex was the only cat in his litter and the first born to his mother, Vanilla.
A poem titled “We Must Say Goodbye…” written as the voice of Hex reads: “We were supposed to be two, but I was born the only one, with half of my brother still holding on strong. We tried to get help and sought to repair this tangled body that somehow we shared.
“Though the doctors fought hard and worked past being tired, we did what we could do, but we grew oh, so tired. Now we know there can’t be one without the other, here we’ll stay attached to one another.
“Knowing that all prayed for the best here we lay together for this long eternal rest. We thank you for your prayers, your support and your love. Until we meet again in the heavens up above.”
As people become more concerned about food safety and food allergies it was only a matter of time before this happened.
Random found cupcake image.
Home baking ban at school fairs
BBC NEWS | 2009/06/02
Home baking has been banned from schools in Dundee because the council believes it is a health risk.
Letters were sent to parents at a city primary telling them that the cake stall would not be allowed at the end-of-term fun day.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said home-made cakes on school stalls should be safe to eat as long as the bakers followed good hygiene rules.
One of Scotland’s top microbiologists also said the ban was “over the top”.
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “Head teachers have been issued with advice not to sell home-made food goods at events organised by the school itself.
“The decision has been taken by the education department on health and safety grounds.”
It’s unclear if the man was wielding a manual rotary push mower or a gas (or electric) motorized lawn mower.
This image is funny and unrelated to the story.
Man arrested after attacking officer with lawn mower
By Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel | June 5, 2009 | www.jsonline.com
A law enforcement standoff that started after a man attacked an officer with a lawn mower ended early Friday in Dodge County when the man was taken into custody.
Law enforcement officers gassed the 50-year-old man’s home several times and evacuated neighbors before the man was taken from the home about 1 a.m., according to a news release from the Dodge County Sheriff’s Department.
The standoff started about seven hours earlier when deputies were called to help a Fox Lake officer arrest the man and he attacked the officer with a push lawn mower, the release says.
A female friend of the man then assaulted the officer, which gave the man time to arm himself with a rifle and barricade himself in the house, the release says.
A Dodge County SWAT team and another area tactical team were called to assist. Authorities evacuated nearby homes and two businesses and routed traffic away from state Highway 33.
Authorities spent hours negotiating with the man and sent dozens of rounds of gas into his home, the release says.
