Hangover Cures!

Big night tonight, eh? Got any party plans? Nong and I will likely be in bed by our usual 9:30. We may stay up till 10:00 but that's likely it. To us it's just another day...another night. Help yourself to a pre-party coffee and virtual treat while I tell you about some things that may help for those who get 'overserved' tonight. I know it doesn't apply to you but you may know someone, eh.

Alcohol is a diuretic (meaning it removes fluids from the body), so drinking excessively can lead to dehydration. Dehydration is what causes many of the symptoms of a hangover.

Alcohol can upset your stomach and give you a bad night’s sleep. You may still have some alcohol in your system the next morning.

Watching a food program yesterday and apparently a couple things that are good are asparagus - helps to break down the alcohol faster and poached eggs.

Greasy foods such as burgers, fries, an English breakfast with bacon, fried bread, etc and coffee full of caffeine will not help. In fact they will make the problem worse.

Same thing with the 'hair of the dog' cure of pouring more alcohol into a system that is trying to get back to normal...a la Bloody Mary or beer and tomato juice. Doesn't make sense!

A good sleep is a big help but that's another after the fact aide. Here are some before the fact tips:

Follow these tips to keep hangovers away:

• Don't drink on an empty stomach. Before you go out, have a meal that includes carbohydrates (such as pasta or rice) or fats. The food will help slow down the body’s absorption of alcohol.
• Don't drink dark-coloured drinks if you've found that you're sensitive to them. They contain natural chemicals called congeners (impurities), which irritate blood vessels and tissue in the brain and can make a hangover worse.
• Drink water or non-fizzy soft drinks in between each alcoholic drink. Carbonated (fizzy) drinks speed up the absorption of alcohol into your system.
• Drink a pint or so of water before you go to sleep. Keep a glass of water by the bed to sip if you wake up during the night. 

Hey...whatever you get up to tonight, enjoy!

See ya, eh!

Bob

Science Declares Higgs Boson the Most Important Discovery of 2012

Well, a very happy December 30th to you. Coffee's virtually the freshest it could possibly be, as are the muffins, doughnuts and other assorted goodies so help yourself, eh. Y'know...people ask me where I get all the material for my blog. Well let me give you an example. Yesterday, Nong and I went out (-6 and blowing snow but what the heck...this is winter in Canada, eh!) and we drove over to the Oshawa Centre..which is a large shopping mall just about 5 minutes away. In Chapters, a large bookstore, I stopped at the science section of the magazine rack. There was already another fellow there. Here's how the conversation went.

I was looking at the covers and he said, "Lot's of interesting stuff here."
"There sure is"
Pointing at one magazine, "Do you know what the most important scientific discovery of 2012 was?"
"In which field?
"Physics.
"No."
"Higgs-Boson."

At which point, probably noticing my quizzical but interested look, he proceeded to tell me all about the discovery of this sub-particle. Much of it was way, I mean WAY, over my head, though I try to keep up a little with nano-science. We carried on a conversation for about half an hour by which time I was getting the 'what the heck are you talking two about' look from Nong who was at another book section not far away. This fellow was definitely very knowledgeable about science, physics, nano-physics and astrophysics. Needless to say, when I got home I looked up Higgs-Boson to bring my sadly lacking knowledge of the topic up a notch. If you're chomping at the bit for more on H-B, read on, eh...

This particle, which was first hypothesized more than 40 years ago, holds the key to explaining how other elementary particles (those that aren't made up of smaller particles), such as electrons and quarks, get their mass.

Researchers unveiled evidence of the Higgs boson on 4 July, fitting into place the last missing piece of
a puzzle that physicists call the standard model of particle physics. This theory explains how particles interact via electromagnetic forces, weak nuclear forces and strong nuclear forces in order to make up matter in the universe. However, until this year, researchers could not explain how the elementary particles involved got their mass.

"Simply assigning masses to the particles makes the theory go haywire mathematically. So, mass must somehow emerge from interactions of the otherwise mass-less particles themselves. That's where the Higgs comes in," explained Science news correspondent Adrian Cho, who wrote about the discovery for the journal's Breakthrough of the Year feature.

As Cho explains, physicists assume that space is filled by a "Higgs field," which is similar to an electric field. Particles interact with this Higgs field to obtain energy and-thanks to Einstein's famous mass-energy equivalence-mass as well.

"Just as an electric field consists of particles called photons, the Higgs field consists of Higgs bosons woven into the vacuum. Physicists have now blasted them out of the vacuum and into brief existence," he explained.

But, a view to the Higgs boson did not come easy-or cheap. Thousands of researchers working with a 5.5-billion-dollar atom-smasher at a particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, called CERN, used two gargantuan particle detectors, known as ATLAS and CMS, to spot the long-sought boson.

It is unclear where this discovery will lead the field of particle physics in the future but its impact on the physics community this year has been undeniable, which is why Science calls the detection of the Higgs boson the 2012 Breakthrough of the Year.


Got all that? I knew you would. Me, too. Have another doughnut.


See ya, eh!


Bob

Man’s Addiction to Heavy-Metal Earns Him Disability Benefits

Hi ya! Get over your belly full of turkey yet? At our house when I was growing up, we had another roast turkey to look forward to on New Year's Day. Then my birthday is a week later on Jan 6. Boy, I've got to tell you...we knew how to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, eh. My belly and I do our best to maintain the tradition. But as Monty Python used to say...AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

Here’s something worth banging your head over: 42-year-old Roger Tullgren, from Hässleholm, Sweden, was cleared for state disability benefits after he’s been certified by three psychologists as a heavy-metal addict who can’t function at his workplace unless he is allowed to wear black T-shirts and camo pants, and rock out to loud heavy metal music.

The Swedish edition of The Local first reported about Roger Tullgren back in 2007, soon after his addiction to heavy-metal was acknowledged by psychologists and the state employment service agreed to pay part of his salary.

Apparently, his interest in heavy-metal started in 1971, when his brother came home with a Black Sabbath album. Since then he’s been hooked to everything that screams heavy-metal, sports long black hair, a collection of tattoos and wears skull and crossbones jewelry. Nothing really out of the ordinary so far, he’s not the only man in the world passionate about this culture.

But in Tullgren’s case, it started interfering with everything else. Because he couldn’t help attending hundreds of heavy-metal shows and events every year, often skipping work, his employer eventually tired of his antics and the aging rocker found himself without a job and relying on welfare. Luckily, after some sessions with occupational psychologists who certified his addiction to heavy-metal as a disability, Roger Tullgren earned the right to a wage supplement from the local job center.

Now why didn't I think of that? I should have pleaded 'Country Music Addiction' and got government benefits for it as well as the right to listen to Merle Haggard turned up to Grand Ol' Opry levels, eh! Dang! Hey, Jim...you're an ex-worker's comp person. What'd'ya think of my chances here in Ontar-i-ar-io?

See ya, eh!

Bob

Hawaiian Island Dissolving from Inside

Howdy! Digging yourself out of snow, are you...or sunning on a beach? Whatever you're up to, fill your mug and hoist one of those mountain-sized megamuffins onto your place. Speaking of mountains...The volcanic peaks of Oahu, the Hawaiian island where Honolulu sits, are slowly deteriorating from within and the island will eventually become flat and low-lying, new research shows.

But there's no need to worry in the short term: due to geological processes beneath the island it will continue rising for 1.5 million years before the mountain's dissolution catches up with it, according to a recent study in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. Rather than being washed away by above-ground erosion, however, the mountain is more quickly breaking down on the inside, said Brigham Young University geologist and co-author Steve Nelson in a statement from the school.

 "We tried to figure out how fast the island is going away and what the influence of climate is on that rate," Nelson said. "More material is dissolving from those islands than what is being carried off through erosion."

The researchers measured the amount of material dissolved by groundwater and above-ground rainwater on the island of Oahu, finding that the former was three to 12 times more destructive. The researchers took samples and measurements in the field and the lab to determine how much mass is lost from the island each year.

As the island moves to the northwest it is rising slightly, which more than compensates for water's weathering effects for the near future, according to the statement.

Hey...thank goodness it's still, like, 1.5 million years away, eh! Nothing for you and I to worry about then, is there? Reckon we'll be worm fodder long before then...unless they come up with new robotic bodies, of course, of unless we discover the key to unlock those other dimensions out there. I'm hopeful.

See ya, eh!

Bob

'Dystextia': Just communication or Stroke Symptom?

Hiya! Well, we're into the deep freeze and a snowstorm went through the area overnight like you know what through a goose! Nong and I are staying indoors today. That's the plan as we move into day two of our turkey-stuffed survival program. You'd better pull that lever on the coffee urn and fill your mug. Wait till it's full before you eye those virtual treats so you don't accidentally slosh your coffee all over your boots, eh. Say...y'know how everyone sends text messages these days - me, too! Well sometimes if the messages are beginning to get garbled, it could be a sign of a medical problem.

As his young wife's text messages became increasingly garbled, a Boston-area man grew alarmed — especially since she was 11-weeks pregnant:
Husband: So what's the deal?
Wife: every where thinging days nighing

Wife: Some is where!
Husband: What the hell does that mean?

Knowing the autocorrect function was disabled on his wife's phone only increased the man's concern. After he rushed her to a local emergency room, a series of tests including an MRI revealed the cause of the woman's "dystextia".

"The dystextia was the first clinical sign that we had that she was having a stroke," said Dr. Joshua Klein at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass.. After she was prescribed medication, her symptoms disappeared and there was no evidence of any harm to her unborn child.

Trouble with speech, reading or writing — known as dysphasia — is a common warning sign of a stroke, in which blood flow to the brain is blocked by blood clots or plaque buildup. Dysphasia can also be caused by a brain tumor, infection, head injury or dementia.

As text communication becomes more popular, doctors note that garbled or incoherent text messages may be the first warning sign of a stroke or other neurological disorder. Of course, walking, driving, drinking or other distractions can also induce dystextia, as can autocorrect functions on smartphones and tablets.

Another thing that'll do it is that keyboards are limited by the size of the phone so the faster you type, the better your chances are of increased garbleation (not sure if I spelt that correctly but then since I just thougth of the word, I guess I did, eh). What about garbilation? Sound better? Looks better. Let's take a vote. (A) garbelation  (B) garbilation  (C) anyone know what the heck Bob's talking about and who cares anyway! Since it's turkey season, maybe he's suffering from bird-braininess!

See ya, eh!

Bob

Too Silly NOT To Be True!

Well there you are. I'm glad you survived the last minute shopping, getting stuffed with turkey and the Boxing Day Sale Madness. Sit yourself down, relax and enjoy a well earned mug of Arabica Joy Juice and a virtual mince tart, eh! Thought I'd get off the Christmas subject today with a couple little silly things that happened recently...though not to me, I might add.

(1) Police in Geraldton, Australia, reported that they had captured a thief they were chasing in the dark through a neighbourhood's backyards. As the thief came to a fence and leaped over it, he happened to land on a family's trampoline and was propelled backward, practically into cops' laps. Oops!

(2) Guy Black, 76, was charged in Turbotville, Pa., with threatening housemate Ronald Tanner with a chainsaw. Tanner, defending himself with the only "weapon" within reach -- an umbrella -- managed to pin Black with it as the chainsaw jammed. 

Most people who bring an umbrella to a chainsaw fight would be less successful, I'd say! But faced with some madman with a chainsaw, an umbrella would be better than nothing!

See ya, eh!

Bob 

Playing Weeweechu

Hey there! Christmas greetings from Bob and Nong. Help yourself to a coffee or an eggnog and a virtual mince tart while I tell you a seasonal story!

One beautiful December evening Huan Cho and his girlfriend Jung Lee were sitting by the side of the ocean. There was a romantic full moon, and Huan Cho said, "Hey baby, let's play Weeweechu."
"Oh no, not now. Lets just look at the moon", said Jung Lee.

"Oh, c'mon baby, let's you and I play Weeweechu. I love you and it's the perfect time," Huan Cho begged.

"But I had rather just hold your hand and watch the moon."

"Please Jung Lee, just once... play Weeweechu with me."

Jung Lee looked at Huan Chi and said, "OK, we'll play Weeweechu."

Huan Cho grabbed his guitar and they both sang...

"Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year."

See ya, eh!

Bob

The Christmas Pickle and Zwarte Piet!

Ho! Ho! Ho!, eh! Wonderful to see you. Help yourself to a fortifying mug of coffee and if you want to put a little something in it, far be it from me to discourage you. Have a virtual Christmas treat as well. Say...you know I sometimes cover unusual Christmas happenings, eh. Well, in keeping with my Christmas tradition, here are a couple strange ones for you.

The Christmas Pickle

The story goes that when German families decorate the Christmas tree, the last ornament to be hung is the Christmas pickle -usually a blown glass ornament that may have been passed down through generations. It is tucked away in a hard-to-see spot (it is green, after all). The first child who finds the pickle on Christmas morning gets a special gift and good luck all the next year. The trouble with this legend is that people in Germany were unfamiliar with it. Glass tree ornaments were indeed made in Germany, in the shape of fruits and vegetables and other objects. These ornaments became very popular in America when F.W. Woolworth began importing them in the 1880s. An old German legend no doubt helped to sell more glass ornaments!

Zwarte Piet

 

Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter is Santa’s helper in the Netherlands. Sinterklass arrives on the eve of St. Nicholas Day in a steamship with his slave Zwarte Piet, portrayed in public processions in several cities. Since about 1850, children who don’t behave during the year were told that Black Peter might take them back to Spain, where Sinterklaas lives. The racist aspects of the custom have been downplayed in recent decades, and the tale of Black Peter now describes him as a chimney sweep instead of a slave, which explains the blackface. But charges of racism still follow Black Peter, as he is often portrayed with an Afro and exaggerated features.

Been out shopping for your pooping Santa yet?

See ya...and may reindeer poop all over your roof tonight, eh!

Bob

Off with Her Toes!

Well, hi there! How's it h... I mean how's it going today, eh? Started your Christmas shopping yet? Still a couple days, eh! No panic. Help yourself to a perk-me up mugful and a virtual treat before the shopping mood strikes you. Buying anyone shoes this Christmas? Read this...

The things some women will do to fit into a beautiful pair of high-heel shoes. Apparently, a growing number of women are having their toes shortened or even completely removed, in order to make wearing stilettos a less-painful experience.

According to the American Podiatric Medical Association, eighty-seven percent of women have had foot problems from wearing uncomfortable or ill-fitting shoes, like high-heels. But while some give-up on the problematic footwear, others love wearing them so much they will appeal to surgical procedures such as shortening toes, receiving foot injections and even completely cutting off pinky toes in order to make walking in them bearable.

“Unless you’ve been there, and you can’t find shoes, and you’re in pain, don’t judge,” Susan Deming, a patient who recently had one of her toes shortened, told Fox News. “I was having calluses, and just, all sorts of problems with my left foot.  And there finally was a solution.  There’s never been a solution before.” Some of Susan’s toes were longer than the others, making her left foot an entire size longer than her right foot, so she cut off about a centimeter off her second toe. “I’ve never felt this good about something I’ve done,” she said.  “If it’s vain, it’s vain.”

Absolutely. That's one reasons I never wear heels...unless its the sculpted ones on the bottom of my cowboy boots!

See ya, eh!

Yea...we survived the End of the World!

Well, how about that, eh! Of course there always have been doom and gloom merchants around and there always will be. So forget about them and head over to the coffee urn for a mug of magic juice to begin the new cycle. Don't forget to snag a virtual treat on your way over here to our table. According to the Mayans, we ought to be good now for another 2500 years give or take, eh!

Say...when you were a kid did you have a tree house? Here's one in England that, well, read on...

Britain’s most luxurious tree house belongs to builder Chris Whalley. The incredible abode that he unveiled just last week took him over seven months and £60,000 ($98,000) to build. Located in Blean, Kent, Whalley’s tree house is made almost entirely out of driftwood that he gathered from a nearby beach and is meant to be his holiday home. What’s most unique about the house itself is that it comes with all the comforts a five-star hotel has to offer, including plumbing, electricity and even a rustic décor that goes very well with the natural surroundings.

There’s something charming about the place that is reminiscent of the Beatrix Potter books... though with some modern conveniences to boot. The beds are covered with the finest Egyptian cotton linen, and the bathrobes and towels are from Waters and Noble. The kitchen crockery is also top of the range. Some of the pieces of luxury furniture in the house are well worth over £1,500. Everything inside the house is one-of-a-kind, including the concrete-wood effect kitchen worktop and the tree trunk sink.

As if all this wasn’t good enough, Whalley’s house even comes with an elevated hot tub, for the ultimate experience in luxury. The entire construction rests 20ft above the ground on a 25 ft red cedar tree, making it not only the most deluxe habitable tree house in England, but also the highest. It is located among other holiday log cabins that Whalley built six years ago. Naturally, the view from the house is brilliant.

Shhhh...don't tell the taxman about it!

See ya, eh!

Bob

Ready For the Endl of the World?

Well, hey there. If the doom peddlars are right, the world will end today so this may be your last chance for a mug of fresh coffee and a virtual treat. Help yourself. Stick an extra muffin in your pocket just in case, eh! Apparently there are End of the World and Apocalypse parties happening all over. Look at what's happening in Moscow, for example...

A Cold War bunker in Moscow designed to protect Soviet leaders in case of nuclear attacks will host the ultimate doomsday party. Revelers willing to part with $1,000 will be able to celebrate the coming of the Apocalypse in a safe environment that can withstand nuclear catastrophes and earthquakes.

Of course, $1,000 isn’t cheap, but with the world coming to an end, you might as well spend your life savings partying, right? That’s what the administrators of Bunker 42, in Moscow, are hoping, anyway.

The shelter located 65 meters underground has been decorated especially for this special end-of-the-world party, after receiving a large number of requests from Russians looking for a chance to survive the impending doom. According to senior bunker guide Alexei Pavlovsky, the idea behind the event is pretty simple: A lot of many people would feel much calmer if they could spend this critical day surrounded by maximum comfort and safety. And who are we to say no?” Can’t argue with that, now can you?

So like, if it ends it ends and there'll be little we can do about it but I don't think it'll happen. Remember? I covered this last year and the Mayans cycle of 5225 or so years comes to an end but it really only means the start of the next cycle, doesn't it? Sit back, munch on your muffin and wait...

See ya, eh (hopefully), So far so good. If not, well...bend over...put your head between your legs and...kiss your butt goodbye!

Bob

Hair Lip?

Aha! There you are. I heard the click from across the room and dashed rushly over to say hello. Coffee's freshly brewed and the treats are virtually just coming out of the oven. Well, I thought I'd heard everything...boob implants, botox, liposuction, et al. Apparently not, eh! Listen to this...

Mustache implants have suddenly surged in popularity as Middle Eastern men use their increased lip bushiness to convey power and prestige. Surgeons extract follicles from hairier parts of the body in procedures that cost the equivalent of around $7,000 and show full results in about six months.

By tradition, in Arab countries, a man of honour would "Swear on my mustache!", use mustaches as collateral for loans, shave off a vanquished foe's mustache as a reward, and gravely insult enemies with "Curse be upon your mustache!"

Don't forget the all time favourite..."May the fleas of a thousand camels nest in your upper lip!"

I had one for a few weeks last year when I became Bronco Bobby for the school's English camp a year ago. Of course, mine is 'mature blond' so you can't see it as well as the 'stache on the fellow atop this post.

See ya, eh!

Bob

Chinese Girl Can Write with Both Hands at the Same Time, in Different Languages!

Ni Hao! How's it going, eh? Pour some Oolong Tea into your mug for a change, fix it up the way up the way you like and grab hold of a virtual treat. Hey...remember the old joke, "I'd give my left arm to be ambidextrous!"? Well listen to what this young lady can do...

Chen Siyuan, a young translator from Handan, China’s Hebei province, has the incredibly ability to write with both hands at the same time. Even more impressive is that fact that she can write vertically with one hand and horizontally with the other, or in two different languages.

In this age of technology, writing with both hands is not as valuable a skill as it once was, but that doesn’t make 24-year-old Chen Siyuan’s ability any less remarkable. This young English translator has been wowing onlookers with her amazing talent of writing with both hands simultaneously, in two different languages (Chinese and English).

You’d be tempted to think this kind of unique capacity requires years of practice, but Chen says she discovered her ability completely by accident, during her high-school years. She was overwhelmed by the quantities of English homework, but found that she could complete respective tasks much faster by writing with both hands at the same time. ”When I was in high school, I unconsciously wrote with both hands while trying to finish my homework in a hurry,” Chen told People’s Daily Online. ”My classmates were curious and tried to imitate me, but none of them succeeded.”

I have heard it said that the only reason we can't write with our other hand is because we never try. I've tried it and though it is difficult, with a little practice, I believe we could do a credible job at it...if there was any reason to do so, I mean.

See ya, eh!

Bob

Urfus to the Rescue

G'day to you! I'm always happy to see your smiling face. Bet you didn't know I could see you, eh! Will marvels never cease? Help yourself to a mug of coffee and a virtual treat, why don't'cha? Hey...I have to toot the old horn a little again. On Sunday, I sent my third book in to Smashwords and guess what? Yesterday when I checked my email, there was one from Smashwords saying it has been accepted for publication. Now that I have figured out what they like and don't like, I can eliminate most of the time I spent before revising and re-editing the text. Here's the skinny on the book...

Urfus is a series of adventures of a rather timid young man who lives in a small village. It was originally developed to encourage my second language students to read. Each of the 24 chapters is short – intended to be read at the beginning of a one-hour lesson followed by discussion and an exercise or two. At the end of the book, there is a link for teachers to a package of related exercises.

It should now be available as an e-book in all the popular formats for Kindle, Kobo, Sony reader, et al. Price: $2.99 USD. 

So there you go. I've still got several more to rework for Smashwords. So... it's back to the computer for me...

See ya, eh!

Bob 

Scotland’s Mysterious Canine Suicide Spot

There you are! Hi! How's it going today, eh? You're just in time for a robust mug of coffee and a virtual treat. Your timing is doggone amazing, I must say and - speaking of dogs...

There are some things in this world that are simply beyond explanation. Like the fact that in the past 50 years, about 50 dogs have jumped to their deaths from the exact same spot on the 100-year-old Overtoun Bridge in Milton, near Dumbarton, Scotland. In 2005, five dogs had jumped in a span of just 6 months. The canine suicide spot is located between the last two parapets on the right-hand side of the bridge, which is where all the dogs took the fatal leap. And to add to the strangeness, almost all the incidents have taken place on clear, sunny days, the dogs always being long-nosed breeds – collies, retrievers and labs.

The situation, according to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, is a ‘heartbreaking mystery’. “There are lots of owners whose dogs have died and who are trying to find out why they jumped,” the Society says.

One of the victims on the bridge was collie dog Ben, who leaped to his death in 1995 while taking a walk with his owner Donna Cooper, her husband, and her son, Callum. Without any warning, Ben just leapt over the parapet and landed on the rocks below after a 50ft fall. Suffering a broken paw, back and jaw, the vet decided that it wasn’t worth putting him through the pain. “Callum still asks about Ben. He was very upset by the dog’s death and wants to know if his leg has been fixed in heaven,” said Cooper, a year after Ben’s death.

The case of golden retriever Hendrix was pretty much similar, although she got very lucky. Kenneth Meikle, her owner, said, “I was out walking with my partner and children when suddenly the dog just jumped. My daughter screamed, and I ran down the bank to where the dog lay and carried her up to safety. Next day, thank goodness, she was fine. We were lucky because she landed on a moss bed which broke her fall.”

 There's something definitely mysterious about that spot. But then dogs can be strange. In Thailand, a neighbour's dog used to start to 'huff' every night around 6:00 PM. He'd look around, sniff the air and huff for about five minutes. The neighbours said the dog could see things that we humans couldn't. We'll never know.

See ya, eh!

Bob

8 Ways to Lower Cancer Risk via Your Diet

Hey! Hey! I'm glad you found a few minutes to stop by my cyber cafe today. Help yourself to a steamingly refreshing mug of coffee and a virtual treat, why don't'cha, eh? Consider it as part of your healthy diet because virtual treats have abso-tively zero calories. Why it's even better than eating doughnut holes!

A healthy diet can help the body in its efforts to heal itself, and in some cases, particular foods can lessen the risks of serious illness. To help reduce your risk of some types of cancer, try the following:

1. Avoid polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all partially hydrogenated oils and all foods that might contain trans-fatty acids (such as deep-fried foods).
2. Minimize or eliminate consumption of foods with added sugar.
3. Increase omega-3 fatty acid intake by eating more cold-water oily fish, freshly ground flaxseed and walnuts.
4. Reduce consumption of animal foods and try replacing them with plant-based proteins such as whole soy products.
5. Use hormone-free, organically produced products whenever possible.
6. Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits.
7. Eat shiitake, enokidake, maitake and oyster mushrooms frequently.
8. Drink green tea daily.

Now you know this stuff as well as I do but I think it's good to be reminded every now and then, don't you? Sometimes things work so well we stop doing them!  I want you to stay healthy and live a long, long time so I can keep feeding you my own brand of witerature...and keep you up to speed with everything from the latest discoveries in space and medicine, food science including poop burgers, antics of weird people and our dubiously wondeful governments and a whole bunch of other stuff.

See ya, eh!

Bob

Seven Ancient Galaxies Discovered With Hubble SpaceTelescope

               
Hi ya! How’s it going? (It being life in general, I guess, plus your own well-being, health, disposition and pretty well everything else summed up as ‘it’). Whew! What a mouthful, eh! Anyway…fill your mug and help yourself to a virtual muffin. Try one of those with the indigo icing sprinkled with multi-coloured stars. Segue! Today's post comes about thanks to a 'tweet' I read by Stephen Thergessen (and former student of mine).

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists in the U.S. and U.K. have discovered seven distant galaxies they believe to be among the furthest and most ancient yet spotted, NASA announced Wednesday.

The galaxies, which are thought to have formed about 13 billion years ago, between 350 million and 600 million years after the Big Bang, are located in the constellation Fornax, located in the Southern sky and visible to U.S. skywatchers during the winter months.

One of the galaxies is a likely candidate for the furthest and most ancient yet spotted, thought to have been formed just 380 million years after the Big Bang, the light from which has traveled some 13 billion years to reach us, allowing Hubble to see the galaxy as it looked in its, and the universe’s, earliest days.
All seven galaxies were spotted during what researchers say is the “first reliable” cosmic census of this era of the Universe, which actually surveyed 20 different newly uncovered distant galaxies.
“We’re quite certain that these galaxies indeed lie on the outer reaches of our visible universe,” wrote Matt Schenker, an astronomy graduate student at Caltech and one of the researchers who participated in the discovery, in an email to TPM.

The annotated image from Hubble shows all seven galaxies highlighted in boxes, with numbers indicating their redshift values, indicating how far away they are. The higher the redshift, the further away. The furthest candidate is at redshift 11.9.

Fair enough. Where do we sign up for a Tim Hortons franchise? We already have one on…what’s the name of that place…planet something 581. No problem keeping the icecap (cappuccino) cold there – it’s somewhere on the low end of the Calvin scale!

See ya, eh!

Bob

Turning urine into brain cells

Hi there! Wonderful to see you today. Thanks for clicking by. Help yourself to a mug of Arabica juice and a virtual treat. Y'know, it's amazing what scientists get up to, isn't it? Turning poop into poop burgers for example and now Chinese researchers have devised a new technique for reprogramming cells from human urine into brain cells. Not bad for us humans who are only using about 5% of our brains in the first place.

The technique, published today in the journal Nature Methods, could prove useful for studying the cellular mechanisms of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and for testing the effects of new drugs that are being developed to treat them.

Stem cells offer the hope of treating these debilitating diseases, but obtaining them from human embryos poses an ethical dilemma. We now know that cells taken from the adult human body can be made to revert to a stem cell-like state and then transformed into virtually any other type of cell. This typically involves using genetically engineered viruses that shuttle control genes into the nucleus and inserts them into the chromosomes, whereupon they activate genes that make them pluripotent, or able to re-differentiate into another type of cell.

Last year, Duanqing Pei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues reported that human urine contains skin-like cells from the lining of the kidney tubules which can be efficiently reprogrammed, via the pluripotent state, into neurons, glia, liver cells and heart muscle cells.

In a new study, they isolated cells from urine samples given by three donors, aged 10, 25 and 37, and converted them directly into neural progenitors. They then grew these cells in Petri dishes and drove them to differentiate into mature neurons that can generate nervous impulses, and also into astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, two types of glial cell found in the human brain. Finally, they transplanted the re-programmed neurons and astrocytes into the brains of newborn rats, and found that the cells had survived when they examined the brains a month later, but it remains to be seen if they can survive for longer, and if they integrate into the existing circuits to be become functional.

The technique also makes the procedure of generating iPSCs far easier and non-invasive, as the cells can be obtained from a urine sample instead of a blood sample or biopsy. The next logical step will be to generate neurons from urine samples obtained from patients with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurodegenerative diseases and to determine the extent to which this new non-viral technique damages the DNA.

In my books, this is no piddling discovery, eh. But I’m getting a little peed off at how long it takes to get something like this to the stage where it is available to us common folk…like 20 years maybe. Those science guys (keep giving them grant money, eh!) are coming up with more and more promising discoveries but they are only tantalizing us with things most of us may never see. Urine luck if you live long enough to do so! (Sorry…couldn’t resist that one!)

See ya, eh!

Bob

Crazy Norwegians invent ‘bubble soccer’

Hallo Ollie! How are you today then? Help yourself to a reindeer horn full of coffee and a virtual Norwegian pastry for a change. I thought I'd bring some in because of today's topic. Are you a soccer fan? Well, the Norwegians (always a little on the wacko side...much like Canadians) have come up with a different version of the game.

A group of Norwegian lunatics - yes, that's the only word for them - have invented an entirely new sport that has to be seen to be believed: bubble soccer.

The game sees players run around the pitch wearing what could be loosely described as giant, inflatable hamster balls on their heads. It obviously impairs their movement and agility, but they simply bounce safely whenever they take a spill.

The game is the brainchild of Henrik Elvestad and Johan Golden – hosts of a program called ‘Golden Goal’. Unlike the usual game, physical contact is not only allowed but downright insisted upon. People in North America are used to more contact sports and so soccer has seemed somewhat of a ‘nancy’ game to many. (That ought to get a rise out of some folks, eh.) Just to set the record straight, I don’t hold with that view.

“I went to the Friday Night Fights…and a hockey game broke out!”

Anyway, from what I’ve seen, bubble soccer's a hoot with players running full tilt into each other and bouncing off. Well…whatever.

See ya, eh!

Bob