Archive for February, 2012

Giant 27-pound lobster goes back into the ocean

Friday, February 24, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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Maine State Aquarium Director Aimee Hayden-Rodriques holds on Feb. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Maine State Aquarium)

The biggest lobster ever caught in Maine, with claws strong enough to snap a man’s arm, was released back into the ocean Thursday after being trapped in a shrimp net last week, according to Reuters.

Cushing shrimp fisherman Robert Malone caught the monster crustacean in his nets Friday, said Maine State Aquarium Director Aimee Hayden-Rodriques. Malone gave it to the Department of Marine Resources for its aquarium in Boothbay Harbor, according to the Associated Press.

The beast weighed in at 27 pounds and measured nearly 40 inches long. It was dubbed Rocky because it was caught in the Rockland area, but Hayden-Rodriquez said it could have been named for Rocky the boxer because its claws are big enough to pack quite a punch.

The lobster is the biggest ever brought to the aquarium, surpassing the previous biggest one by 4 pounds. It’s downright huge compared to lobsters people eat, which typically weigh between 1 and 2 pounds.

The biggest lobster on record was caught off Nova Scotia and weighed more than 40 pounds.

Pope takes up tweeting for Lent

Thursday, February 23, 2012 by:Kate Shellnutt
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Pope Benedict XVI sends out his inaugural tweet last year on an iPad from the Vatican. (Osservatore Romano)

The most Internet-savvy pope in history will be sharing Lenten messages in 140 characters or less now through Easter.

Pope Benedict XVI began sending tweets, in a few different languages, through the Twitter account of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, @Pope2YouVatican.

Today, the account tweeted, “BXVI: The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity.”

The council explained the project this way:

Starting on Ash Wednesday, themes from that papal message will be posted on Twitter each day during Lent and over the coming months other papal speeches and documents are likely to be tweeted in a similar way, hoping to attract the media-savvy generation and entice them to find out more…

But is it all just another technological gimmick that ‘dumbs down’ the message of the Church? Not at all, says Msgr Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, “many of the key Gospel ideas are readily rendered in just 140 characters…..”

Benedict first tweeted last year, using an iPad to tweet using the Vatican News account, @news_va_en.

Through his papacy, Benedict has recognized the power of technology for Catholic ministry.

“Church communities have always used the modern media for fostering communication, engagement with society, and, increasingly, for encouraging dialogue at a wider level,” he said at World Communication Day in 2010. “Yet the recent explosive growth and greater social impact of these media make them all the more important for a fruitful priestly ministry.”

(H/T USA Today Faith & Reason)

See ‘Bird Man’ hit mountain at 120 mph

Thursday, February 23, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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Jeb Corliss, the famous California BASE jumper,  is expected to be released from a South Africa hospital Friday after an accident five weeks ago in which he smashed his legs when he hit the side of Table Mountain on a jump. Corliss, aka the “Bird Man,” flies at about 120 mph after jumping from tall buildings and mountains.

Here’s the short video of that accident (warning: there’s a four-letter expletive uttered):

Corliss told ABC:

“The only reason I’m getting better is so that I can jump again,” he said. “That’s what I do. There’s absolutely nothing in this world that’s going to stop me from jumping.”

Corliss, 35, has spent the past five weeks in a South African hospital after a Jan. 16 crash on Table Mountain in Cape Town that was captured on camera and posted on YouTube.

The video shows Corliss, known as “Bird Man,” taking off in one of his specially designed wing-suits and zipping down the mountain before misjudging the size of the mountain’s ledge, slamming his lower body into the rocks and then spiraling into the air and crashing into bushes.

Here’s the full video from his helmet-cam that he’s posted to his website of the hairy accident. It’s shocking:

And here’s an earlier report from ABC News:

Woman auctions George Washington shaped chicken nugget on Ebay

Thursday, February 23, 2012 by:anna.gallegos@chron.com (Anna Gallegos)
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McNugget George Washington has been sitting in a freezer for 3 years before going up for auction on Ebay. (AP Photo/Sioux City Journal, Nathan Robson)

A Nebraska woman is hoping that someone will admit to liking McDonald’s enough to buy a chicken McNuggget that she believes looks like the face of George Washington.

Rebekah Speights is selling the nugget, which she claims sports a profile of the first president, on Ebay with the hopes of raising funds for the children at her church, according to the Sioux City Journal.

Speights said the McNugget almost became a snack during a visit to a Sioux City McDonald’s three years ago but was spared because her children wanted to play instead of eat.

It wasn’t until she was about to throw the food away that Speights spotted fast food’s version of the United States’ first president.

“I looked down at the McNugget and just started laughing,” Speights said. “I saw this portrait of George Washington staring back at me.”

So far, the presidential nugget only has six bids for $179.49.

Viagra may have new market: children

Thursday, February 23, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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Viagra pills made by Pfizer (Handout / AFP / Getty Images)

Pfizer‘s little blue pill, Viagra, is getting a boost these days from children.

That’s right, the active ingredient in the erectile dysfunction blockbuster (almost $2 billion in sales last year) was recently granted an additional six months of U.S. patent protection because it is being tested in studies on children with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Viagra shares an active ingredient, sildenafil, with another Pfizer drug, Revatio, which is marketed to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, or high blood pressure in the lung’s arteries.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration previously asked Pfizer to test Revatio in children with pulmonary hypertension. Pfizer conducted the studies and has applied for FDA approval to market Revatio for use in children; an FDA decision is expected in May.

Federal law provides for such extensions of exclusivity as an incentive for drug makers to test products that may be helpful to children. During exclusivity periods, competing generic copies are generally prohibited from entering the market. The FDA granted the six-month pediatric extension for sildenafil on Feb. 9, according to the FDA website.

In addition, Stanford University researchers think they may have found that Viagra helps kids with lymphatic malformation – a rare disease in which cycsts clog up their lymphatic system.

From sfgate.com:

Dr. Al Lane, a pediatric dermatologist at Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, … stumbled
upon Viagra as a possible treatment for that child, a 5-month-old girl, by accident.

Sildenafil was first developed in the early 1990s to treat high blood pressure, but early clinical trials found that it was more useful in treating erectile dysfunction. Today, sildenafil is sold primarily under the name Viagra for erectile dysfunction, although it’s also used under the name Revatio to treat a rare form of high blood pressure involving the lungs.

About a year ago, Lane examined the infant girl, who had severe lymphatic malformation with growths that had swelled up in her chest and wrapped around her aorta. The pressure caused high blood pressure and, eventually, heart failure, so Lane gave her sildenafil.

The drug helped her heart problems – but Lane also noticed a massive reduction in the lymphatic malformation.

Seinfeld star responds to Mitt Romney after GOP debate

Thursday, February 23, 2012 by:Dan McGraw
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By Erin Mulvaney
Houston Chronicle Staff Writer

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has made it clear that he is a Seinfeld fan by mentioning the show more than once on the campaign trail.

This morning, however, Jason Alexander, who famously played George Costanza in the show, made it clear he is not a fan of the Republican candidate.

During Wednesday’s debate, the crowd began to applaud  for the former Massachusetts governor before he was finished speaking. Romney then quotes Seinfield and said,  ”As George Costanza would say, when they’re applauding, stop.”

Romney has made this joke several times before in town hall appearances and in interviews.

Alexander tweeted at 6 a.m. Thursday morning:

(Photo: Twitter)

In the Seinfeld episode, George’s character sought to “leave on a high note” in a March 1998 episode.  The Huffington Post quoted the scene that clearly inspired Romney, and it turns out Jerry Seinfeld’s character actually made the comment:

GEORGE: I had ‘em, Jerry. They loved me.JERRY: And then?

GEORGE: I lost them. I can usually come up with one good comment during a meeting but by the end it’s buried under a pile of gaffs and bad puns.

JERRY: Showmanship, George. When you hit that high note, you say goodnight and walk off.

GEORGE: I can’t just leave.

JERRY: That’s the way they do it in Vegas.

GEORGE: You never played Vegas.

Jason Campbell denies he’s a runaway groom

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 by:Mike Moffitt
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Jason Campbell

No wedding for this NFL couple. (JC/JM wedding website)

If you sent Jason Campbell a wedding present last week, you might be miffed to learn that his nuptials were called off at the last minute.

But probably not as miffed as the 162 guests, many of whom flew to the event in the Dominican Republic, the home of his bride-to-be.

One report had the Oakland Raiders quarterback leaving Yenicia “Jenny” Montes at the altar only hours before they were supposed to exchange vows. But Campbell told CSN Bay Area’s Kate Longsworth that it was untrue, saying that it was not in his character to do that.

The Washington Post reported that “Campbell said in a phone conversation that the two came to a decision to ‘put things off’ after discussing it for a couple of weeks.”

“I love her enough not to leave her at the altar,” he told the Post. “I love her enough to talk to her before it gets that far.”

The wedding guests were told that the wedding was off, but not given any reason, the Post said.

The couple’s wedding site has been taken down.

Ultimate Tazer Ball: As dumb as it sounds

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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If you think ultimate fighting, is rough, meet Ultimate Tazer Ball. The players carry tasers, those self-defense devices that are intended to shock would-be attackers, and zap each other when necessary in a battle over a huge ball on something like a soccer field.

According to Discovery.com, it was dreamed up by some paintballers:

The sport was is the brainchild of Leif Kellenberger, Eric Prum and Erik Wunsch, who work in the world of professional paintball. They were brainstorming ideas for new extreme sports and thought of adding some real energy with the use of tasers. As the concept developed, they dropped real tasers, which can cause cardiac arrest and death, for stun guns that cause pain but are not dangerous. “It’s relatively safe as any contact sport would be” Prum says.

Then they turned to creating a sport that would be more than a gimmick. It includes elements of rugby, soccer and hockey. Teams of four vie to carry or throw a 24″ ball into the opponents’ goal. Tackling is allowed; punching isn’t. Defenders can only taze a player in possession of the ball who is within a designated space around the goals. (Tazing of the shoulders and groin is always illegal.)

Well that’s comforting.

These guys are Canadians, but the sport is illegal there, so they play in California and Thailand. (Insert your own joke here).  It looks like they have four teams: LA Nightlight, Toronto Terror, San Diego Spartans and the Philadelphia Killawatts. Oh, you’re Killang me. Check them out on Facebook and YouTube.

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