Archive for October, 2011

Monday morning means lots of coffee for many overworked American workers. But, coffee takes time to brew and can be expensive and loaded with pesky calories.

Coffee: Breakfast drink of juggling champions.

Fortunately, science and marketing are on hand to keep the U.S. atop the worker productivity charts beloved by CEOs everywhere.

Inhalable caffeine will hit store shelves early in 2012, according to an article on Time.com.

AeroShot, a $2.99 inhaler that dispenses zero-calorie lime-flavored puffs of powdered caffeine to the tongue, already has “productivity-obsessed technophiles buzzing,” writes Time.

I don’t know who these buzzing people are, but hopefully none are supervisors in my building.

Each shot contains the same amount of caffeine as a large cup of coffee — 100 mg — as well as 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance of niacin, and vitamins B6 and B12.

AeroShot creator and Harvard professor David Edwards, who earlier created a no-calorie inhalable chocolate …

Continue reading ‘Inhalable’ caffeine creates buzz »

A man stupid enough to emblazon “Ho Hauler” on his pimp van pleaded guilty to the sex trafficking of children in federal court Wednesday.

Fox 6 in Milwaukee reports 37-year-old Sean Patrick recruited and transported girls under the age of 18 for acts of prostitution.

He transported the teens in a gold 1992 Chevrolet conversion van with the offensive words inscribed on the front quarter panel, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Patrick punished his victims by choking them, stomping them or making them stand naked in the street next to the van.

Patrick, who was previously convicted of shooting and killing a man over a dispute about prostitutes, could spend the rest of his life in prison. As part of a plea agreement he agreed to give up $10,000 in profits and the van.

Continue reading Here’s your sign: Pimp’s van a clue for cops »

This Twilight thing is getting out of hand.

Prince Charles: Proud soldier of green causes armed with a spot of Earl Grey.

The Associated Press reports Prince Charles says he’s related to another famous prince — Vlad the Impaler, progenitor of vampire legend.

Why is the prince so eager to be linked to one of history’s bloodiest figures? Because he’s an environmentalist.

Prince Charles spends a considerable amount of time and money touring the planet promoting various green causes, and by saying he’s related to the hero of Transylvania, he can say he has a vested interest in preserving the forests of Romania.

Charles’ interest in Transylvania, the mountainous interior region of Romania, is not new. Weeks before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, I was in Transylvania and the tiny town of Sighisoara, one of the best-preserved Medieval cities in all of Europe, was still abuzz about a visit by Charles, who’d visited to vocally oppose the creation of Dracula Land, a vampire-themed …

Continue reading Prince Charles says he’s related to original vampire »

Finally, something we are addicted to is good for us.

Before "Occupying" anything, this intrepid Michigan protester warms up with a hot cup of skin cancer medicine. (AP Photo)

Coffee, perhaps Ethiopia’s greatest discovery, has made is possible to attend morning classes and business meetings since the Middle Ages. Now, science is discovering medical benefits hidden in all that steamy deliciousness.

The Washington Post reports coffee drinkers are less likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer.

A study conducted by the American Association for Cancer Research in Boston looked at 113,000 participants in two long-term health surveys. Researchers concluded that women who consumed more than three cups of caffeinated coffee a day had a 20 percent lower risk of basal cell carcinoma compared with those who drank less than a cup a month.

More than three cups a day sounds like a recipe for bouncing off walls.

For men, the reduced risk was more modest, …

Continue reading Study: Coffee reduces skin cancer »

Jokes are more popular than a frisky TSA frisking, but what if you could combine the two and include a sex toy reference?

One carryon-checking TSA worker managed to do just that, according to an article posted on Gawker.com.

Air traveler Jill Filipovic, who packs a “personal item,” sent the website an email including the pic of a a TSA luggage inspection notice adorned with a personal note from a federal worker – “GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL.”

Filipovic, who writes the Feministe blog, seems to have a sense of humor; she gave the email a subject line of “Hilarious/Horrifying?”

I’d say neither.

It’s another unnecessary government intrusion into privacy, but I tend to be cranky and Libertarian on Mondays. At least the TSA worker didn’t provide his/her phone number.

In other news, TSA workers missed finding a loaded handgun that fell out of luggage in Los Angeles.

Continue reading Frisky TSA worker finds sex toy, leaves note »

Shoplifting cases are usually forgettable, but a Cobb arrest warrant issued Thursday is pregnant with intrigue.

According to Cobb police, a woman identified as Alexandrea Brooks infiltrated the Walgreens at 3033 Johnson Ferry Road in Marietta and made off with 26 boxes of condoms and an ovulation test.

And, perhaps in an homage to the film “Raising Arizona,” a box of Huggies baby wipes.

Total value of paradoxical purloined prophylactics: $562.68.

Walgreens workers saw Brooks enter the store Sept. 11, fill a shopping basket with condoms and march out the front door. She got into a vehicle, and the driver took off, but not before workers wrote down a tag number. Police eventually tracked down the driver, who gave police Brooks’ name.

Here’s a complete tally of what was taken:

5 boxes of Trojan

Magnum gold collection condoms, a box of Trojan Ultra Ribbed Condoms, 5 boxes of Trojan Magnum Ecstasy Condoms, 6 boxes of

Trojan Magnum fire/ice Condoms, 6 boxes of Trojan Magnum …

Continue reading Woman steals 26 boxes of condoms, ovulation test »

Everyone loves zombies, especially Atlanta, the newly dubbed Hollywood of horror.

"Hey, can you direct us to Little 5 Points?"

Atlanta magazine, which clearly wrote its article before seeing the stumbling season two debut of “The Walking Dead,” rhetorically asks “Why is the best new show on television filmed here?”

“Simple. Atlanta is the zombie capital of the world.”

The New York Times parrots that lead in an article published Tuesday.

The Walking Dead –filmed in and around Atlanta — is hugely popular, more than 11 million people watched the show Sunday night on AMC.

Like a buxom blond traipsing through the woods, the show’s success has attracted even more undead, according to the Times.

“If you look at the TV being filmed in Atlanta now, you’ve got a werewolf show, a vampire show, a zombie show and a show about reincarnation,” said Tom Luse, a line producer for “The Walking Dead,” referring also to “Teen Wolf,” “Vampire Diaries” and “Drop Dead …

Continue reading Atlanta the new ‘Zombie Capital’ »

Good news for humanity: Junk food makes young men less fertile.

If you are what you eat, this guy will never be a father.

Trans fat, a scientific name for doughnuts, is the culprit, according to fertility experts from Harvard University and some Spanish institution you’ve never heard of.

The Sun reports the study included hundreds of men between the ages of 18 and 22. Those who ate a high proportion of fried food, processed red meat, cakes and other paragons of deliciousness, had “poorer quality sperm than those on a nutritious diet.”

The less-vital sperm was less likely to make the arduous journey to actually fertilize an egg, researchers said, even if the men were otherwise healthy and exercised.

Those who ate a lot of veggies and fish reproduced best. Paula Deen butter-flavored lip balm was not tested.

The takeaway? Those who don’t want an actual “Little Debbie” may want to load up on Little Debbie treats.

Continue reading Study: Junk food makes men less fertile »

I’ve not read a comic since Jean Grey left the X-Men, but there’s still plenty of people that do.

Unfortunately for those that like to pick up an old-school printed comic, they may not be able to do so at their local megabookstore.

Why? Amazon.com bought the exclusive digital rights to several popular titles and bookstores are fighting back — refusing to stock dead-tree versions of Superman, Batman, and many other DC Comics titles that even non-fans have heard of.

The New York Times has the complete scoop.

Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million are boycotting Amazon’s exclusive deal because, according to the Times, “the two chains are desperate to avoid becoming showrooms for Amazon’s digital warehouse, which would quickly send them to the bookstore graveyard like their former colleague Borders.”

I’ve flipped through some digital comics on an iPad, and the experience is pretty amazing. But, it’s hard to swat a fly with a rolled up tablet computer. That’s why I keep my 1930s …

Continue reading Superhero fans victims in comics war »

A South Carolina police officer is charged with sexual abuse of a minor after allegedly and accidentally calling his victim’s mother during the assault.

TheState.com reports Fairfax police officer Nakia Kerrien Johnson, 36, took the 11-year-old daughter of a former girlfriend to a store at around 10 p.m. Tuesday. He allegedly took the girl’s phone and sexually assaulted her.

During the alleged assault, he accidentally dialed the girl’s mother, allowing her to hear what was happening. The mom called police, who arrested Johnson when he returned the girl to her home.

Investigators spoke to the girl, who said the assaults had been happening for years, and then had her examined at a local hospital.

“I don’t believe in coincidences or luck, but this criminal activity would have gone on and on if Johnson had not accidentally dialed the victim’s mother who was able to hear what was going on,” said Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews.

The girl’s mother said she has argued …

Continue reading Report: Cop accidentally calls mother of child sex victim »