Men with waists fatter than 33.6 inches face fines now that Japan has new guidelines aimed at curbing the nations growing waist sizes. If men are seen as overweight, they are told to lose weight by the company. If they don’t lose weight, the employer will face fines and higher insurance premiums. Japanese companies and local governments must now measure the waist sizes of employees over 40. Men’s waists must be under 33.6 while women’s waists must be under 35 inches. Anything over these sizes are considered overweight. Read the rest of this entry »
[update: July 2/08. Gatorade says they don't know how The Ball Girl Great Catch video got out. They didn't intend for it to be distributed. But they still are mighty pleased about all the views it is getting. “This has all been a pleasant surprise, so why not let it happen?” spokeswoman Jill Kinney said. Hmmmm...should be believe them?]
The recent videos showing an incredible ball girl catch during a Fresno Grizzlies vs Tacoma Rainiers baseball game are not real but part of a viral video marketing campaign. The video showing a ballgirl jump 6 feet to catch a ball is actually part of a series for Gatorade. The viral video campaign is titled “Ball Girl” and was created by Chicago’s Element 79 Partners ad agency and directed by Baker Smith of harvest, Santa Monica. A lot of advertising agencies are trying to capture the elusive viral video marketing hit. But unfortunately most just look like Read the rest of this entry »
The Cookie Diet by Dr. Siegal is the latest fad diet program in a world that fails to believe that eating healthily is a good enough route for health and weight loss. But why eat healthily when you can go on a cookie diet? Sounds like a dream to eat cookies and still lose weight doesn’t it? Read the rest of this entry »
Cities hit hard by the housing crisis, like Sacramento, Phoenix and Las Vegas are in for more losses. Some experts predict prices will drop in some cities down to 50%.
The median price of a home in Sacramento, Calif. was down 35% during the three months ended May 31 compared to the same period last year, according to the real estate web site Trulia.com. In Riverside, Calif. prices fell 29%, while San Diego prices dropped 26%. Read the rest of this entry »
The 1780 British Warship The HMS Ontario has been found in Lake Ontario. The HMS Ontario is one of the most famous shipwrecks and was discovered by two Rochester engineers Jim Kennard, 64, who has spent more than half his life pursuing The HMS Ontario, along with Dan Scoville, 35, a shipwreck diver. They discovered The HMS Ontario deep off the southern shore of Lake Ontario when side-scanning sonar system that Mr. Kennard, a retired Kodak engineer, designed and built himself, showed a picture of something deep in Lake Ontario. The location of the shipwreck had been unknown for 228 years.
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U.S. investigators say the source of the Salmonella outbreak that caused the illness of hundreds of people through tainted tomatoes may be in Mexico and South and Central Florida. The almonella outbreak has sickened 228 people in 23 states since April. Investigators were focusing on South and Central Florida and Mexico as the source of the samonella outbreak because they were the biggest producers at the time.
Associate commissioner for foods at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) David Acheson, said that nine people who became ill with Salmonella had eaten at two different outlets of the same restaurant chain. Read the rest of this entry »
The Age of The Tree Named Methuselah has been Confirmed by scientists to be 2000 years old. Radiocarbon dating confirmed the seed was the oldest seed ever brought back to life. Researchers grew a tree from a date seed that they found at the ancient fortress Masada. The scientists called their tree Methuselah after the oldest person in the bible. The Judean date palm once flourished in the Jordan River Valley and has been extinct for centuries.
The little tree named Methuselah was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers. Masada, was built by King Herod in the 1st century BC. as a winter palace overlooking the Dead Sea. “It has survived and flourished,” Dr. Sarah Sallon said. Previous attempts to grow plants from ancient seeds failed after a few days.
Since the seed was first germinated a few years ago, there had been some doubt whether it was really 2,000 eld old, like the others found at the site.
“At first we couldn’t break off pieces of the seed for carbon dating,” Sallon said in a telephone interview. “But when we moved the plant to a larger pot, we found fragments of the the seed on the roots, which we were able to carbon date.”
Radiocarbon dating is a dating method that uses the radioisotope carbon-14 (14C) to determine the age of carbonaceous materials. One of the most frequent uses of radiocarbon dating is to estimate the age of organic remains from archaeological sites.
They still don’t know whether the The Tree Named Methuselah is a girl. It will need to be 6 or 7 years old beforethey can tell. If the tree, which now stands 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall, is female, it might be able to help restore the species.
The Judean date region was also believed to provide a natural remedy for numerous ailments ranging from heart problems to constipation, something Sallon said she wants to test with boost research if the tree is female and bears fruit.
“People would take the fruit and attain it into a drink or tablet and take it as medicine,\” Sallon said.
The oldest documented seed to be grown previously was a 1,300-year-old lotus.The Tree Named Methuselah is coming from a seed much older than that.
Genepax is a name you may not have heard of but will soon be synonymous with the Japanese Water Car. Genepax is indeed making headway into water-powered cars. Yesterday Genepax is showing off its Water Energy System (WES) fuel cell prototype. Genepax says its electric-powered is environmentally friendly and runs solely on water.The system that Genepax has developed is guarded but the main feature of the new system is that it uses a membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which contains a material that breaks down water through a chemical reactio into hydrogen and oxygen.
Rignt now Genepax says its system is expensive at about $18,700 which does not include the car. Read the rest of this entry »
I may think Prochlorococcus is an unappetizing name but scientists are celebrating this small microbe. Scientists say prochlorococcus is responsible for producing 20 percent of the oxygen in the air. Scientists recently celebrated the 20th year anniversary of the discovery of the marine microbe. Prochlorococcus - it was only discovered in 1986 by Sallie W. (Penny) Chisholm of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT and Robert J. Olson of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Prochlorococcus is a photosynthetic marine microorganism. Because there is so much of the Prochlorococcus in the world, 20 % oxygen in the air comes from the Prochlorococcus. It’s the base of the food change in the ocean. It reduces CO2 or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and yet 20 years ago was unknown. Read the rest of this entry »
The credit crisis continues in the US, and estimates are that the downturn means over 4 trillion in lost revenue. It is believed that when the crisis is over, U.S home prices may have lost a third of their value. But that is not the only iarea affected. Top credit analysts say High-yield bond valuations will hit levels close to those seen during the last recession, The U.S. housing decline, may also be the cuase of $1 trillion of Wall Street losses that could equal almost $4 trillion of lost access to capital. Read the rest of this entry »
