News

Science and technology learns, but all still remains a tragedy:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6759190/

Couple celebrate 100th grandchild

Filip and Randi Bekkevold have 18 children (photo: Kent Inge Olsen)
A Norwegian couple have been celebrating the birth of their 100th grandchild this week.
Randi and Filip Bekkevold of Saltnes, 40 miles (70 km) south of Oslo, celebrated the milestone with granddaughter Mathilde Sofie's arrival.

The couple have 18 children and their 100 grandchildren have produced 18 great-grandchildren, according to the Norwegian NRK website.

The couple say it is the size of their family that keeps them young.

All but three of the 100 grandchildren live nearby and the Bekkevolds say they know them all well and "are well in control of who's who".

The couple say they no longer give individual birthday and Christmas presents. Instead, they give each family a shared present once the youngest member reaches 15 years old.

NRK says the Bekkevolds hold a family party each summer, when they have to hire a sports ground. Family activities include football, trampolining, tug-of-war and a barbecue.

Filip, 77, and Randi, 71, are members of an international Christian fellowship founded in the early 19th Century in Norway, where it is known as "Smith's Friends".

Large families are said to be important to members.


(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4236821.stm)

Ah, "when you do it eBay!"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6763209/

http://www.superbowl.com/ http://www.superbowl.com/gamecenter/...0050206_NE@PHI
we lost the super bowl; i hope my town manages this gracefully. congrats, patriots and fans.

btw, i did call my relatives in boston! my cousin was actually rooting for both teams, how nice is that? :) he even predicted new england would "just" win by a field goal!

Japan fears polite speech on wane

Shop assistants should speak differently to customers
Japanese people need help to brush up on their polite language, a government panel has proposed. A report for the Agency for Cultural Affairs said 'keigo' - honorific Japanese - was being widely misused.

Keigo is a complicated form of the language which involves different conjugations of regular nouns and verbs, or different words entirely.

It is used to address seniors - a customer, for example - and is meant to humble speakers and elevate listeners.

The government panel has proposed publishing manuals explaining to people how the language should be used.

"Not just young people, but grown-ups are not using honorific Japanese properly. With the language guidelines, we hope to spread the correct use of the Japanese language," education ministry official Osamu Kubota was quoted as saying by the French news agency AFP.

The government panel cited a 2003 survey on the Japanese language which found that 96% of people believe keigo remains important, but the researchers noted that it was nevertheless being used incorrectly.

It tends to take far longer to say something formally in Japan.

For example, the verb "to be" is iru in informal Japanese, imasu in polite Japanese, and irrashaimasu in honorific Japanese.

The government report also suggested that the country's ability to read and write Chinese characters - the mainstay of the Japanese language - be re-evaluated.

A survey in November found that 20% of students at private universities had poorer language abilities than high school pupils.

Adults sometimes find it difficult to remember how to write characters because they rely on computers, and have to ask their children for help.

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4236377.stm)


Unrequited love can be a 'killer'

Lovesickness can kill and should be taken more seriously as a legitimate diagnosis, according to health experts. Frank Tallis, a clinical psychologist in London, is among those calling for greater awareness of the "illness" in a report in The Psychologist magazine.

He said many are "destabilised by falling in love, or suffer on account of their love being unrequited" and this could lead to a suicide attempt.

Few studies deal with the "specific problem of lovesickness", he said.

Physical exhaustion

Prof Alex Gardner, a clinical psychologist in Glasgow and a member of the British Psychological Society, agreed that doctors needed to be more aware of lovesickness as a possible diagnosis.

He said: "People can die from a broken heart. "You get into a state of despair and hopelessness." He said as a result of love, in some people it could lead to an extreme state of physical exhaustion.

In extreme cases lovesickness could drive people to take their own life, he added.

Dr Tallis said that before the 18th Century lovesickness had been accepted as a natural state of mind for thousands of years.

He said in modern day terms the symptoms can include mania, such as an elevated mood and inflated self-esteem, or depression, revealing itself as tearfulness and insomnia.

Aspects of obsessive compulsive disorder can also be found in those experiencing lovesickness, such as preoccupation and obsessively checking for text messages and e-mails.

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4240579.stm)

Worms on a Hook Don't Suffer?

OSLO (Reuters) - Worms squirming on a fishhook feel no pain -- nor do lobsters and crabs cooked in boiling water, a scientific study funded by the Norwegian government has found.

"The common earthworm has a very simple nervous system -- it can be cut in two and continue with its business," Professor Wenche Farstad, who chaired the panel that drew up the report, said Monday.

Norway might have considered banning the use of live worms as fish bait if the study had found they felt pain, but Farstad said "It seems to be only reflex curling when put on the hook ... They might sense something, but it is not painful and does not compromise their well-being."

The government called for the study on pain, discomfort and stress in invertebrates to help in the planned revision of Norway's animal protection law. Invertebrates cover a range of creatures from insects and spiders to mollusks and crustaceans.

Farstad said most invertebrates, including lobsters and crabs boiled alive, do not feel pain because, unlike mammals, they do not have a big brain to read the signals.

Some more advanced kinds of insects, such as honeybees which display social behavior and a capacity to learn and cooperate, deserve special care, she said.

"We have particular responsibility for animals that we have in our custody. That is not a scientific opinion, but the ethical side of the issue," Farstad said.

(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...orway_worms_dc)


Brushing 3 Times a Day Keeps Flab Away?

TOKYO (Reuters) - If you want to keep trim, forget the diet books and gym membership -- you may be better off just brushing your teeth more often, according to a Japanese study.

In a survey of the everyday habits of nearly 14,000 people whose average age was in their mid-40s, Dr. Takashi Wada of Jikei University in Tokyo found that those who managed to stay slim tended to brush their teeth after every meal.

Overweight men sometimes went more than a day without brushing their teeth, according to the study, published in the Journal of the Japan Society for the Study of Obesity.

Wada and his team compared the lifestyles of people whose body mass index (BMI) was over 25 -- the level doctors define as overweight -- with those of slimmer people. The survey covered eating and drinking habits, sleep, work and exercise.

The results do not mean that brushing in itself constitutes a fat-burning exercise, the authors say.

"It's a sign that these people are careful about their health -- they want to maintain the appearance of their teeth and prevent bad breath," the paper said. "We think actively encouraging the habit of toothbrushing would play a role in maintaining health and would help prevent obesity."

(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...an_brushing_dc)

For those from Virginia who own no belt:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6939796/

i worked for a woman once who said that the first time her mom cooked lobsters she didn't know to boil them and stuck them in the oven.

they SCREAMED. she has never forgotten it. :(

A rare--and dead--oarfish washed up at City Beach in Perth yesterday,proving more than a handful for Troy Coward, Andy Mole and Axel Strauss (pictured).

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/...b__430x242.jpg
The serpent-like animal was found six metres offshore, bringing to at least six the number of oarfish that have washed up on the West Australian coast in recent months. Prefering to live in the depths of the ocean they have only been known to come to the surface when sick or dying and have rarely been seen alive.

Living in the world's warmer oceans, it feeds on plankton and is harmless to humans. The longest bony fish in the sea, it grows up to nine metres long with a bright red crest that runs the entire length of its body.

Cockroaches tickle Indian palate

Cockroaches give most people the creeps, but one man in southern India licks his lips when he sees them. Ramesh Kumar, 25, says he has been eating the pests for years.

"I used to like insects and lizards from childhood," he told Reuters television. "After catching them for so long I have lost all fears about them."

Now Mr Kumar, a goldsmith in the city of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu state, says he wants to eat 50 in a minute and break the world record.

"The present record in the Guinness Book stands in the name of a person who ate 36 cockroaches. I want to make it at least 50," he says.

His liking for snacking on cockroaches developed gradually, he says.

As a youngster he began catching them to see what they tasted like, and his fondness for the tough, beetle-like insects grew.

Mr Kumar also has other records in mind. He says he is willing to spend a day cooped up in a coffin-sized glass case with 25,000 cockroaches, if that's what it takes.

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4251571.stm)

*hums the popcorn-song*
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6946953/

Why do my fellow Oregonians sometimes have to contain some of the oddest? Good grief.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6952993/
*sigh

Your post reminds me of something amusing said of Alaska.

The male population of Alaska allegedly far outnumbers the female population, which has let the ladies of Alaska to say: "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. May you all prove as happy as this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6960818/

This just in: I have one of the healthiest livers:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../coffee_cancer