Category: In the News

Square Watermelons

I’ve been meaning to post on this for some time now. 
Apparently  there  is  a new    craze taking place in
Japan for growing square watermelons.  (okay.. .not so new now… most articles referenced were written in 2001) 

The reasons given for growing a square melon?  

1) They won’t roll off the table, and 2) they can be more efficiently stacked in a refrigerator. 

Unfortunately they aren’t too cost effective to buy… at about $83 a piece (in Japan).  Read about it (here) and (here).  I also read some articles that touted the benefits of the square watermelon because it could be sliced like bread… and stated that they were preferable because they wont “roll around in the fridge”.  

According to the article (here) they will also soon be sold in the UK.  If you are interested in growing your own square watermelon you can buy a book (here) that details how you can learn to grow your own (for about $20… still cheaper than $83 bucks and a plane ticket to Japan or the UK).  But I tend to adhere more to (this) mindset of thinking:  “it’s quite self explanatory. Put a small watermelon from your garden inside a box and let it grow.”  

If you read the comments section of that last link you will see that apparently you can also grow square tomatoes or just about any fruit.  Apparently you can also do it with Pumpkins (In order to have a ‘face’ or ‘design’ be grown into it.  But one particular guy was using “cast iron molds” and apparently the “neighborhood was terrorized by them b/c they would explode like a bomb when pumpkins outgrew them.”  All in all… good stuff.

Alcohol May Lower Heart Attack Risk

I was clearing out my inbox a day or two ago and came across an e-mail from a ‘health’ newsletter I am subscribed to.  It had the title above for the subject line so naturally it caught my eye and peaked my interest.  Not because I drink (because I don’t… & frankly I don’t care for most of the activities that is associated with drinking) but I am interested in staying ‘in the know’.So I read there article and they make the claim that “Moderate Drinking May Lower Risk for Men With High Blood Pressure”.  That’s all well and good… but what REALLY caught my eye was who the test group seems to be.  READ this excerpt and draw your own conclusion.

 The finding comes from a long-term study of nearly 12,000 male doctors,  dentists, and pharmacists with high blood pressure. 

And further in the study this observation: 

 Men who drank moderately … had a lower risk of heart attack …

I’m not sure if this concerns you or not… but apparently this study’s test group was composed entirely of “doctors, dentists, and pharmacists” drinking ‘moderately’ every day (in the name of research no less)… just to be clear ‘moderately was defined as just 1 or 2 glassess a day… but still  I’m not sure how comfortable I am with the knowledge that the surgeon working on me may well have just been drinking (once again… for RESEARCH) … no thank you! I’d rather not go under the knife with you Dr. Death!  Nor am I too thrilled that my pharmacist may be inebriated while choosing which pill and or tablet to give me. Or that my dentist might just get a little to ‘drill happy’.  Does anyone else find this a bit disconcerting?  You can read the full article here.

                                 

solving global warming with pollution

Global warming is a potentially big problem, as you may have heard.  We’re releasing way too much pollution into the atmosphere.  But here’s the random part — some scientists are suggesting we put even more pollution in the atmosphere.  Yep, you read that right.  Check it out :

If the sun warms the Earth too dangerously, the time may come to draw the shade. The “shade” would be a layer of pollution deliberately spewed into the atmosphere to help cool the planet. This over-the-top idea comes from prominent scientists, among them a Nobel laureate. … The Nobel Prize-winning scientist who first made the proposal is himself “not enthusiastic about it.”

So even the guy who suggested it doesn’t like the idea…  so why is this even getting press?  If I come up with some stupid idea, will newspapers around the world print it?  The article has even more silliness, though :

“If human beings take it upon themselves to carry out something as massive and drastic as this, we need to be absolutely sure there are no side effects,” Pachauri said.

Philip Clapp, a veteran campaigner for emissions controls to curb warming, also sounded a nervous note, saying, “We are already engaged in an uncontrolled experiment by injecting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”

What?!?  They’ve already injected greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?!?  Isn’t that part of our problem?  And who authorized this “uncontrolled experiment”?  And now they want to do something similar again?  I see some flaws in the slaw with this “plan” they have.  Besides, this wouldn’t be a permanent solution — it would have to be repeated over and over again :

A massive dissemination of pollutants would be needed every year or two, as the sulfates precipitate from the atmosphere in acid rain.

I’d rather not increase the amount of acid rain, especially by people intentionally putting pollutants in the atmosphere.  Who’s coming up with these crazy ideas?

There’s got to be some better solutions to solving global warming than polluting the air even more…  So if any of you important scientists out there have any suggestions, speak up.

a giant straw Christmas goat

Here’s a unique Christmas tradition.  Every year in Gavle, Sweden, the city puts up a 43-foot-high goat made of straw, and almost every year it is burned down by vandals.  The straw goat is a centuries-old tradition, and the giant version has been put up annually since 1966.  Only 10 have survived beyond Christmas Day.  Most were burned, although several were beaten down and the 1976 goat was hit by a car.  The vandals are rarely caught, but in 2001 an American was caught and had to spend 18 days in jail.

There’s a webcam setup this year, so you can keep an eye on the giant straw goat.  (If anyone sees it on fire, please post a comment here immediately so we can all check it out.)

This year, authorities have doused the straw goat with flame-resistant chemicals and are sure it cannot be burned.  A spokeswoman for the committee in charge of building the goat said, “It is impossible to burn it to the ground this year.”  The company that provided the fireproof treatment said, “Not even napalm can set fire to the goat now.”

To me, the label “non-flammable” constitutes a challenge…  🙂  I imagine some others feel the same way.  The authorities are just tempting someone to try.

But I won’t be burning it down.  It’s way too far away.  But I do have an alternate plan.  Since I heard of this last year, I’ve thought about how cool it would be to build one here in central Arkansas.  I have a friend who has a couple of unused acres, and it’s just outside of city limits.  It could get really popular, drawing in tourists from around the country.  He could sell nachos and hot dogs and miniature straw goats, and setup bonfires (not too close) for all the guests.  So he’d make money, we’d get kinda famous, and it would be a good time for all.  I don’t see any problems with doing this.  Is anyone with me?