Right at the beginning of every year, I go to Florida to visit my family for about two weeks. I figure if I go once for a long time at the beginning of the year, I won’t have to go back for that long any other time during the year. I can come back and stay for a long weekend, see my family: kiss, kiss, hug, hug and then go back to New York. No fuss, no muss. [Read more →]

Just in time for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which I think involves a bunch of penguins who attempt to pilot an airplane, hundreds of penguins have been airlifted back to the South Atlantic by the Brazilian Air Force.

Over a 1000 penguins have washed up on Brazil’s beaches in the past couple of months , probably due to strong currents. By the time most of the penguins landed on the beach they were close to death, so before being sent back to safety they were given shots of glucose, vitamins and antibiotics.

Check out the pictures of the penguins on the move

(Getting Paid to Do Nothing, or – A Whole New Meaning to Word “Staycation”)

In May, a new batch of test-subjects got ready for the NASA bed-rest experiment. The space agency pays participants $12,000 to stay in bed for 90 days. Seriously, the get paid to do nothing, although they are allowed to roll over and play cards. The goal is to better understand the effects of zero-gravity on the body, since astronauts suffer severe bone loss whilst in space.

Who signs up for this you might ask? People who don’t mind (possibly) parting with a small percentage of their bone? People who used to work for Bear Sterns, Lehman, etc etc? People who are curious about bed pans? Or, (more obviously) people who really like to play video games? Turns out, all sorts - people who need the money, need a vacation, or who want to change careers, some people even want to help the space program so much that they keep their jobs and work from bed.

The program keeps them in bed, with their body raised at a 6˚angle. Everything they do, and I mean everything, has to be done from that position, although, some of the subjects do get taken out for cool, “astronaut, space-type” exercise. So far, exercise seems to be the answer to reducing bone-loss - damn isn’t it always!

From my perspective - NASA conducted this phase of the experiment at entirely the wrong time. Not only were the test subjects deprived of a summer (I would gladly stay in bed during the winter), but they were also subject to one of the great inhumanities: summer broadcast TV repeats!!

So, besides helping astronauts - how is this good news? Well, what they learn might help fight osteoporosis! Enjoy that with your cup of milk and side of cheese.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/09/16/nasa.bone.loss/index.html?iref=newssearch

Is there anyone out there that can watch a film set in Southern Europe without thinking “I WISH I lived there?”

Good News for YOU- The guys at vodkasoda.com tell us how YOU TOO, can own a villa in the Sicilian town of Salemi for only 1 euro. Apparently many of the coastal buildings were rocked by an earthquake 40 years ago, and all you have to do is fix the darned things up! ( try watching Under the Tuscan Sun for a little inspiration before you jump in). It’s the bright idea of the local mayor - Vittorio Sgarbi.

For the article:

http://vodkasoda.wordpress.com/

(hopefully not ask for a burger and fries)

This week, we seem to be stuck on the topic of oil. California may be banning trans fats, but the police in Manila are about to start using fast food oil to run their police cars.

The cars will run on a fuel made from a 60/40 diesel, French-fry oil blend. If all goes according to plan, it will not only make the city smell delicious, but will also save the force $11,000 a year (spread out among 10 cars).

McDonalds is the first fast food company to donate to the cause, however I am sure that once other companies learn of the new, more in-expensive way to dispose of their oil, they will no doubt follow suit. And that’s good news!

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=130012

Good news - if you get kidnapped by terrorists at the Beijing Olympics, China has some possible solutions for you:

• Keep calm. Don’t resist. Believe the government
• Don’t make eye contact with or speak to the terrorists. Bend your body down to the ground slowly
• Try to keep and hide your telecommunication device. Put your mobile phone into silent mode at the appropriate moment and send messages to police or call 110. If you send a text message, the content should include your location, the number of hostages, and the number of terrorists
• Pay attention to the number of terrorists and remember who their leader is for subsequent investigations
• At the moment of the police action, try your best to bend down and leave under the police protection

My first thought was, “What kind of terrorists would not search hostages for cell phones!”

In the same manual, the Chinese government has put out a list to help people identify terrorists. It informs the public that terrorists will not be wearing stickers that proclaim themselves as terrorists; but they will exhibit abnormal behavior. Choice selections from the “identify terrorists” list include: those who appear frequently at big event venues and those refuse to do security checks and sound arrogant. Apparently the government is telling people to be wary of all tourists and members of the press.

For more on the goings-on in Beijing, check out James Reynolds’ blog – he is a BBC correspondent stationed there and has some great insight on how China is getting ready for the games.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jamesreynolds/

I don’t know the how, or the when – but a village in eastern India banded together and rescued two elephants from drowning – using some sticks and some rope.

That is amazingly good news!

Watch the video:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7496694.stm

Denmark has once again been named the Happiest Place on Earth. This has yet to cause a problem for Disney publicists.

The nation of Hamlet was given the award based on its general peacefulness, social programs and abundance of attractive people (the last one is not true, but starring at attractive people all day probably does make the population happier).

Puerto Rico and Colombia were given second and third place. Which is good news for Americans (ranked 16^th) since Puerto Rico is close enough to evacuate to. Colombia’s rank comes as a bit of a surprise for a nation known for its long-term kidnappings.

In last place – no surprise: Zimbabwe. That’s one ballot not even the government of Zimbabwe could manage to rig.

The top 10 happiest countries are:

1. Denmark
2. Puerto Rico
3. Colombia
4. Iceland
5. North Ireland
6. Ireland
7. Switzerland
8. Netherlands
9. Canada
10. Austria

http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSN30454695

On Saturday, a man by the last name of Couch traveled 235 miles by chair. Well, by a chair that had some balloons attached to it.

On this, Kent Couch’s third attempt he needed only 150 balloons and nine hours (presumably it was nine hours without the use of a bathroom) to float from Oregon to Idaho. Onboard he packed some eggs and chocolate along with his GPS equipment. One hopes that the eggs were not raw and were not used for malicious purposes.

Apparently the flying contraption only cost about $6000, still a little above what the airline industry charges, but his chair’s carbon footprint is significantly smaller - so it could be the way of the future.

That’s good news in the category of people fulfilling their dreams.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7491841.stm