Archive for April 21st, 2008
Would you like a test tube meat burger?(2)
You might have to consider the question if PETA has its way. After trying to fight the meat eating habits for a long time, PETA now wants to give up. Not entirely though, they want you to eat test tube meat. They are offering $1 million prize for anyone who can make commercially viable meat in the lab.
Growing meat in the lab is nothing new. Scientists can grow tissue cultures that can be shaped and textured like the real meat using the same techniques used for soy burgers. The advantage is that it would need much less resource like land and water to produce, and for PETA it won’t involve any real animal. So cruelty against animal is out of the question. With right flavoring and texture the test tube meat can be made to replace chicken, beef, fish, or anything else you want. A separate organization called New Harvest that promotes meat substitute points at other benefits:
“Because meat substitutes are produced under controlled conditions impossible to maintain in traditional animal farms, they can be safer, more nutritious, less polluting and more humane than conventional meat.”
Is that a priest in the sky?(0)
Please contact the Brazilian authority if you spot a priest in the sky. No kidding. A Roman Catholic priest from southern coast of Brazil has vanished into the sky and was reported missing. He last contacted port authority from more than 11 thousand feet in the air as he was floating away with hundreds of party balloons filled with helium.
This was all for a good cause: to raise money to build a spiritual rest stop for truckers. Forty one year old Carli, an experienced skydiver and a priest, thought that breaking the world record for longest flight with balloons was a good idea. On Sunday afternoon equipped with a GPS device, a satellite phone, and a parachute, Carli put on a flight suit and sat on a buoyant chair. His friends strapped his chair to the tall arrays of green, red, white, and yellow balloons filled with helium. And off he went in the midst of cheers from the crowd. He soared to great height and traveled about 470 miles before wind pushed him off course. He was 31 miles off the coast when he last contacted the port authority.
His friends said he has the experience to deal with the situation and he would turn up without any problem.
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Are there other life forms in the universe?(0)
Stephen Hawking thinks so. He says primitive life forms are common through out the universe, though intelligent ones are rare. That may explain why we have not met one.
The question is as old as humanity itself: is there life outside our planet. From religion to science fiction everyone embraced the idea of super beings outside our experience: call it god or alien. Scientists think there are a few possibilities. First one is the rule of non-existent until proven otherwise: since we have not encountered any alien life form, so they do not exist. But that rarely satisfies anyone. Even if life started on this planet by accident, what’s so special about the accident here? Cannot it happen somewhere else? Moreover, we have seen so little of the universe it is hard to say what is not there. The other theory is that there are really smart creatures out there. Then the question remains: why have not they contacted us or why haven’t we found any sign of them. Hawking thinks though primitive life forms are common, intelligent life forms are rare. He jokingly doubts if we even have intelligent life form on earth. He thinks if we can survive long enough we would establish contact with other life forms or find proof of their existence.
There may be another possibility: the aliens are really smart and that is why they are purposefully ignoring their uncool cousins from the little blue green planet.
Would you go to church if it comes to a nearby bar?(2)
Think about it. No more wrestling with the difficult decision of going to a bar to watch the game or attending the church. The Country Rock Church in Ohio has brought its Sunday sermon to the Pub Lounge in Sidney. So you can enjoy beer and bible at the same time.
The attendance in the Country Rock Church has been dwindling for a while and its head pastor Rev. Chris Heckaman is trying to find out ways to attract new members. He has come up with some creative ideas to reach the unwilling. The bar is the latest pick for his new branch for Sunday sermon. According to the Church website the new place features top regional bands of beer, pizza, chicken wings, rowdy fun, and most importantly a short message. So far Heckaman is happy with the response: about 100 people joined the inaugural service on Sunday. He expects more people to join as the words get out.
If you are wondering what was the topic of sermon here is a hint: the pastor talked about how life is like a ride on the bar’s mechanical bull.
Are there any broccoli bandits?(0)
Sure there are. One of them just looted $11,000 worth of broccoli in Toronto over the weekend. It was not clear if the thief was really after the healthy vegetable or it was just a mistake.
The truck with the broccoli made a long journey from California and was close to its destination. It reached east Toronto around 10 p.m. Saturday night and was waiting in the parking lot of the Queensway to be picked up in the morning. On Sunday 4 in the morning, the trucker who was in charge of delivering the loads of broccoli to a nearby destination came to pick it up. But he did not see any truck and reported it missing. People were really puzzled over the theft. It is one thing to steal a truck with valuables that are easy to sell like electronic gadgets or appliances. But $11,000 worth of broccoli is a lot. And you cannot wait long enough to let things cool down before you try to unload them.
Or maybe there are real heath-nuts in Toronto who are addicted to broccoli but not getting enough of it.
Do you want a side order of pot with your pizza?(0)
That may sound odd, but a drive through Pizza Hut in Fort Smith, Arkansas, was offering just that. The manager of the pizza place was arrested for selling pot in the drive-through window.
Aaron Massey, the twenty eight year old Pizza Hut manager, was looking to supplement his income with a side business: selling pot along with the pizza. Not sure if he put out any ad for the personal venture, but customers kept coming. It got popular enough that someone got the whiff of it and called police to check the joint out. Police came by and found the pot in Aaron’s office along with digital scales to measure the amount for each order. He got busted and arrested for possession of pot and for selling them.
We are not clear about the etiquette for ordering pot in a drive trough Pizza Hut: Is it listed on the menu? Do you order using the PA system? I bet you have to be a special customer. But the weed gives a new twist to the Hut in Pizza Hut.
