The Associated Press. August, 2001; Oswego, NY. Four men spent 17 hours in Lake Ontario clinging to an empty beer cooler after 5-foot waves capsized and sank their 19-foot fishing boat. The boat sank in less than 30 seconds.
As the men tried to stay afloat in the rough water, their beer cooler emerged from the waves. The friends emptied out its contents and took turns hanging on to it. "If the cooler hadn't come up, we would have died," said one man.
The four men were rescued by a passing boat that heard their cries the next morning. There was no word on whether the contents of the cooler had been recovered.
Aspirin Taken Daily With Fifth Of Bourbon Greatly Reduces Awareness Of Heart Attacks
PHILADELPHIA- In a medical breakthrough that should come as welcome news for millions of at-risk Americans, University of Pennsylvania cardiologists announced Tuesday that taking one aspirin tablet and a fifth of bourbon daily can "significantly reduce" an individual's awareness of heart attacks.
Doctors have suspected for years that the occasional drink can be better for health than complete abstinence. But new research suggests men should not drink until their 30's and women until their 50's for the effects of alcohol to be beneficial. Before these ages, experts say, the health problems of drink cancel out any protective effect it has against heart disease or strokes in later life. A study in England found that men should wait until they are 34 to enjoy drinking while women should put off alcohol until they reach 54.
Brian's Belly Commentary: Don't cry for us... we're already dead.
Iron Chef II on Food Network; Iron Chef USA with Shatner at Helm
The Food Network, currently in 56 million homes, will launch Iron Chef II which includes a rematch between Iron Chef regular Masaharu Morimoto and NYC's Bobby Flay in June, 2001. The first duel that was won by Morimoto, was held in New York City and aired on the Food Network last June with 960,000 households watching. Also in FoodTV's line up is an outdoor cooking show, "Appetite for Adventure" which will launch in summer 2001.
Additionally, Iron Chef is coming to UPN on November 16th at 9PM with the first of two 1 hour specials shot in Las Vegas called Iron Chef USA. The show will be overseen by Chairman William Shatner, and will feature top American chefs doing battle in the style of Food Network's Iron Chef. Chefs and judges are currently being booked, and the show will be shot before a live audience in June. Rumor has it that Brian's Belly Heavyweight Hall of Famer Steven Schirripa will be a guest judge.
Diving for Bottles in River of Beer
Reuters. Residents of a small Australian town thought they had struck sunken treasure on April 16, 2001, after a truck crashed and dumped 24,000 bottles of beer into the Tweed River, near the town of Tweed Heads, after a tractor-trailer lost a wheel and crashed on a highway in New South Wales, Australia.
Police inspector Stan Single said local residents who thought it was open season had spent the Easter weekend diving for the beer- some fully clad in scuba gear. Several hundred people had been seen loading up their cars with one reported to have recovered 400 bottles alone. "They obviously thought the owners had abandoned the load and they better get the rest," Single said of the treasure hunters, noting that removal of the beer officially amounted to theft. Yahoo! News
Freaks come out to Celebrate 20th Anniversary of a Doughnut
Associated Press. You've heard of the Psychic Friends. Now meet the Doughnut Friends. Their object of affection is nothing less than a 20-year-old lucky doughnut.
More than 50 fans showed up at a North Carolina library to pay homage to the fried dough, whose claim to fame is good radio reception. Pastry lore has it that two decades ago, workers at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro's Jackson Library stuck a leftover doughnut on the office radio antenna. Voila, instant clarity of reception. And the legend was born.
The doughnut, which was once a plain cake Dunkin Donut but is now a rock-hard ball, still shows no signs of decay, mold or damage. After being taken off the antenna, it was placed in a velvet-lined box, a reliquary if you will. The doughnut has even spawned a cult of sorts: A five-year membership to the group "Friends of the Doughnut" costs $1.20 and privileges include an occasional private audience with the doughnut, a photo with the doughnut and the secret doughnut handshake. Fox News
Scottish Prototype Potato Glows When It Feels Thirsty
Fox News. Scottish scientists have pioneered the world's first intelligent super potato. It glows green when it needs watering.
Researchers at Edinburgh University have produced a prototype of the new potato by adding a jellyfish gene to the vegetable. The potato plant's foliage emits a green glow when viewed through a special hand-held device if it is in need of water.
Scientists are now searching for sites to begin field tests on the genetically modified vegetable before it can go into commercial production.Fox News
Drunken Thai Monks suspected of carousing
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP). Two Buddhist monks are suspected of ignoring their vows by belting down drinks and belting out tunes at a karaoke bar, officials said. Thai religious authorities are investigating the monks, who police said were found in a provincial bar 62 miles north of Bangkok. The education ministry's religious affairs department is looking into whether one of the monks is a senior abbot from a major temple in Bangkok. According to police, bar employees said the monks - disguised in wigs and hats - had been there several times, drinking and singing karaoke. Infobeat
Food-eating robot is born
LONDON (REUTERS). Man really is in danger of being swallowed up by technology after U.S. scientists announced they had designed a robot that runs on food.
Dubbed Chew Chew the "gastrobot," a 12-wheeled train-like robot runs on a microbial fuel cell, which breaks down food with bacteria and converts it into electrical energy, according to a report in New Scientist magazine. The cell works by producing enzymes that break down carbohydrates, releasing energy. "The ideal fuel in terms of energy gain, is meat. Vegetation is not nearly as nutritious," inventor Stuart Wilkinson said. "Changing food into electricity isn't unique. What I've done is to make it small enough to fit in a robot.
But Chew Chew's diet is refined compared to that of a gastrobot being developed at the University of the West of England- it eats slugs. Wilkinson is jokingly aware of the dangers of giving gastrobots a taste for meat: "Otherwise they'll notice there's an awful lot of humans running about and try to eat them." MSNBC
India May Grow World's Hottest Chili
GAUHATI, India (AP). Indian scientists say they have proven that the hottest chili on Earth grows in the northeastern hills of Assam, rather than the farms of Mexico. "Tests by a team of experts here have confirmed that Naga Jolokia, a specialty from the northeast, is now the world's hottest chili," said S.C. Das, deputy director of the Defense Research Laboratory in the garrison town of Tezpur.
The Naga Jolokia, or capsicum frutescens, surpasses the tongue-burning ability of the Red Savina Habanero, a Mexican chili that has been known as the world's hottest. Das said that the researchers at the lab had measured the pungency of the two chilis in Scoville units- the international gauge for food spiciness. Das said the Naga Jolokia measured 855 Scoville units, compared to 577 for the Habanero in the tests. The Naga Jolokia grows to about 2 inches long and to a thickness of about half an inch in the hilly terrain of Assam.
Drunken Elephants Trample Village
DATELINE: Prjapatibasti, South Asia. A herd of elephants that got drunk on rice beer has run amok in a village in Assam in India and killed four people. A local wildlife official said the herd of 15 elephants broke into thatched huts in the village of Prjapatibasti and guzzled the beer that was fermenting in casks.
They then rampaged through other huts, killing four members of one family and injuring six others. More than 100 people have died in attacks by elephants in the north-eastern state of Assam in the past year.
Beer has been blamed for previous attacks. Locals say the elephants have developed a taste for the brew.
