China tries, fails, to censor jokes about penis-shaped skyscraper

Friday, May 3, 2013 by:jennlouisew@gmail.com (Jennifer Wadsworth)
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chinapenis

If your mind’s in the gutter, you’ll see what everyone’s laughing about. (Photo via Getty Images)

Oh, China, way to put your censorship powers to the test.

The People’s Republic needed a new home for the state-run propaganda rag People’s Daily (a paper by the people, for the people … just kidding), so it decided to go all out and build a towering skyscraper in Beijing. Unfortunately for humorless Chinese censors, the new digs, still under construction, took the shape of a certain part of the male anatomy.

Now, the whole world’s snickering.

Weibo, China’s bowdlerized answer to Twitter, lit up with jokes about the undeniably phallic landmark, according to the International Business Times. Censors tried to crack down, but failed since so many people resorted to double entendres.

“Of course, some clever Weibo users have snuck around the censors by way of the double entendre,” The Atlantic reports. “‘It seems the People’s Daily is going to rise up, there’s hope for the Chinese dream,’ reads one message that got through filters, according to the AFP. Another: ‘Of course the national mouthpiece should be imposing.’”

A search using direct keywords on the topic brought up the following message, indicating censored results: “According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, search results cannot be displayed.” Blocked.

Some Weibo users snubbed state thought police by using Photoshop to to poke fun at China’s penchant for, um, erecting suggestive architecture. China Central Television – the TV counterpart to the government newspaper – is housed in an equally ridiculed headquarters, a towering arch the public laughingly calls the “Big Underpants” because it looks like a person’s bottom half. Here’s the resulting mash-up:

peoples-daily-photoshopped

China’s naughty architecture, remixed. (Photo via Weibo and Reuters)

In a video newscast, Reuters reporter Anita Yi could barely contain her smirk.

“Instead of debating the architectural merit, many people saw it as a chance to make fun of the state media for its tight control and censorship,” she remarks, trying to fight back a chuckle. “So they pointed to the building’s suggestive shape. If you have got a dirty mind, you know what I’m talking about.”

Oh we know, Anita. We’re just curious what the tower’s architect, Zhou Qi, was thinking.

h/t The Atlantic

Find Jennifer Wadsworth on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

Categories: General

Man mauled by dogs while others take video

Thursday, May 2, 2013 by:Peter Hockaday
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An Australian man suffered severe injuries after being attacked by four dogs earlier this week, and he can’t believe witnesses didn’t help him.

According to the Herald Sun, the man was pinned up against a fence and attacked by four American Staffordshire terriers near his apartment. The attack occurred in Carlton, a Melbourne suburb, on Tuesday night.

The Herald Sun says the incident lasted 15 minutes, and passers-by took video instead of helping. The victim’s son, Vi, told the paper: “My father was very upset when he saw that they were taping the attack and not helping. … My father is very big and tall. Imagine if it was a child the dogs went for.”

Here’s some of that video. Warning: It’s graphic.

Eventually, a security guard took a stick to the dogs and two other men helped get between the dogs and the victim. He was taken to the hospital as “his clothes were ripped to shreds,” according to one witness.

9 News reported that the dogs and the owners are still being sought.

Categories: Video

Mitt Romney to college grads: Quick, get married, make a bunch of babies

Thursday, May 2, 2013 by:jennlouisew@gmail.com (Jennifer Wadsworth)
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Romney suggests you have a “quiverfull of children if you can.” (Photo via Associated Press)

Mitt Romney shared some questionable (though, if you’re into that biblical stuff, pretty righteous) advice with a gathering of college grads about how to live a full life.

Quoting scripture, Romney, a former Mormon lay bishop, told an audience of Mormon college graduates to “launch out into the deep” instead of  ”living in the shallows.” In other words, go from zero to fruitful ASAP, he says. Find “the one,” join in holy matrimony and start pumping out progeny.

“If you meet someone you love, get married. Have a quiver-full of kids if you can,” the failed 2013 presidential candidate told 100-plus graduates of Southern Virginia University at their commencement last weekend.

Forget about waiting until you’re in your 30′s or 40′s, he continues. What, you want to start your life as an independent adult? Live a little? Travel? Maybe pursue one dream or another until you stumble into your own coming-of-age without a spouse by your side?

Those types, Romney dramatically remarks, “they’re going to miss so much of living, I’m afraid.”

Right. Those poor unattached 20-somethings, wallowing in loneliness while they wait for a partner to help them discover a purpose and unburden themselves from the trials and tribulations of single adulthood. That’s what they get for their self-centered pursuit of happiness. They’ll probably end up at 43 years old in a one-room apartment, eating fistfuls of melting Dibs, perusing profiles on ChristianMingle.com, long past their baby-makin’ prime. Smite!

“Launch out into the deep and your nets will be filled,” Romney preaches. “Getting married is one way of launching out in the deep.”

The audience chuckles.

“Now bringing children into the world is also launching into the deep,” he continues.

Silence. This just got serious.

“Children are a heritage of the Lord, offspring a reward from him … blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them,” says Romney, quoting Psalm 127. That’s a Bible passage that, as Mother Jones notes, is more commonly associated with the Christian Quivefull movement, which rejects contraception and feminism in lieu of having as many kids as you can to propagate the earth with an army of “God’s warriors.”

“Quiverfull adherents have as many children as God will allow, describe their offspring as ‘arrows’ in a divine army, and follow rigid gender roles in the home, where men are the spiritual leaders and women the submissive helpmeets,” MoJo explains.

It’s more than a little unsettling to hear a mainstream political figure referencing what’s widely considered a radical anti-feminist anti-family planning world view. It’s sweet that he commends his wife, Ann, for committing to being a full-time mom and housewife, but his culty language makes it all a little creepy.

So yeah, procreate like crazy, but don’t worry about prosperity, adds the mega-rich father of five.

“I don’t think God cares whether you get rich,” he cautions. “I don’t think he hopes that your business will make a huge profit. I know a lot of religious people who think God will intervene to make their investments grow. Or he’ll get them a promotion. To make their business a success. But life on this earth is about learning to live in a place where God does not make everything work out for good people.”

Well, that sucks. Good luck affording those children.

h/t Mother Jones

Find Jennifer Wadsworth on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

Categories: General

Plastic surgery for arms up 4,000 percent

Thursday, May 2, 2013 by:michael.damante@chron.com (Mike Damante)
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A report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) shows that the plastic surgery procedure of arm lifts are up 4,000 percent in women the past 10 years according to this news release.

Upper arm lifts can include liposuction or brachioplasty, in which loose skin is removed from the back of the arms. There is no exact reason why for the increase, but the study attributes a poll that says more women are paying attention to the arms of female celebrities.

The study also revealed these statistics:
-98 percent of arm lift patients are women.
- The procedure is most popular with patients over 40. The majority of patients were ages 40 and 54.
-Average surgeon fee is $3,939 . Total spent on arm lifts: $61 million.

Categories: General

Would your kids go vegetarian for school?

Thursday, May 2, 2013 by:dana.guthrie@chron.com (Dana Guthrie)
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A public elementary school in Queens, New York, is one of the first in the nation to adopt an all-vegetarian menu, the Associated Press reports. Menu items include things like black bean and cheddar quesadillas with salsa and roasted potatoes, tofu wraps and vegetarian chili. Cheese pizza is also served.

The school started out serving vegetarian lunch three times per week and has now completely eliminated meat from its menus. “We discovered early on that our kids were gravitating toward our vegetarian offerings, and we kept expanding the program to meet the demand,” principal Robert Groff told the AP.

Parents, do you think your kids would go for a vegetarian menu? What is your child’s favorite thing to eat at school?

Categories: General

Science fact: How to keep a bottle of beer cold? Keep it dry

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 by:jakeellison@seattlepi.com (Jake Ellison)
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The dew on that glass is doing more harm than good.

The dew on that glass – as romantic-looking as it is – is doing more harm than good.

Okay, there’s global warming and nuclear North Korea and some other big topics out there, but one thing this spring weather has us worried about is the age-old problem of keeping your beer cold.

A test subject being weighed to measure the amount of condensation. The cap prevents air from moving through the opening on top. Photo: UW

A test subject being weighed to measure the amount of condensation. The cap prevents air from moving through the opening on top. Photo: UW

Thankfully, a University of Washington climate scientist decided to tackle the problem and found out that a romantically dew covered bottle or glass of beer/wine cooler/chilled white wine (etc.) will warm up faster because of the condensation on the bottle.

So, want to keep that bottle cold longer – keep it dry.

“Probably the most important thing a beer koozie does is not simply insulate the can, but keep condensation from forming on the outside of it,” said Dale Durran, a UW professor of atmospheric sciences.

The investigation began a couple of years ago when Durran was teaching UW Atmospheric Sciences 101 and trying to come up with a good example for the heat generated by condensation, according to a UW press release on the revelation.

Plenty of examples exist for evaporative cooling, but few for the reverse phenomenon, and Durran thought droplets that form on a cold canned beverage might be just the example he was looking for. A quick back-of-the-napkin calculation showed the heat released by water just four thousandths of an inch thick covering the can would heat its contents by 9 degrees Fahrenheit.

“I was surprised to think that such a tiny film of water could cause that much warming,” Durran said in the press release.

Here’s the rest of that press release:

Though he’s normally more of a theoretician, Durran decided this result required experimental validation. He recruited co-author Dargan Frierson, a UW associate professor of atmospheric sciences, and they ran an initial test in Frierson’s little-used basement bathroom, using a space heater and hot shower to vary the temperature and humidity.

The findings corroborated the initial result, and they embarked on a larger-scale test.

“You can’t write an article for Physics Today where the data has come from a setup on the top of the toilet tank in one of the author’s bathrooms,” Durran said.

First they recruited colleagues in Frierson’s beachside hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina, to duplicate the experiment and compare results with those taken on a hot, dry Seattle day. But they decided they needed to test a wider range of conditions.

Finally, last summer undergraduates Stella Choi and Steven Brey joined the project to run a proper experiment in the UW Atmospheric Sciences building. They unearthed an experimental machine with styling that looks to be from the 1950s, last used decades ago to simulate cloud formation.

With funding for educational outreach from the National Science Foundation, the students first cooled a can in a bucket of ice water then dried it and placed it in the experimental chamber dialed up to the appropriate conditions. After five minutes they removed the can, weighed it to measure the amount of condensation, and recorded the final temperature of the water inside.

The phenomenon at work – latent heat of condensation – is central to Frierson’s research on water vapor, heat transfer and global climate change.

“We expect a much moister atmosphere with global warming because warmer air can hold a lot more water vapor,” Frierson said. Because heat is transferred when water evaporates or condenses, this change affects wind circulation, weather patterns and storm formation.

Durran’s research includes studies of thunderstorms, which are powered by heat released from condensation in rising moist air.

As for his demonstration of the heat released during this process, he and Frierson are now working with the National Center for Atmospheric Research to develop an educational tool that will let students around the world try the experiment and post their results online for comparison.

The example promises to become as classic as a cold drink on a hot summer day.

Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* us on Facebook.

Categories: General

Want a side of fries with that poop burger?

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 by:jennlouisew@gmail.com (Jennifer Wadsworth)
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ground turkey

What’s in your burger? (Photo via CNN)

Turkey, for all its health benefits as a lean protein, harbors a dirty secret. Read on and you’ll wish you could un-learn it.

Ground turkey, it turns out, is teeming with fecal bacteria. Consumer Reports says more than half the samples in a just-published study tested positive for poop germs, among other things. And nine out of 10 harbored at least one of five toxic bacteria: salmonella, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and enterococcus. None had campylobactor, as if that cancels the rest out.

Better get that burger well-done! But still, ew.

Researchers tested 257 samples bought at regular grocery stores in 21 states from 27 distinct brands. Yeah, so? It’s raw meat, it’s all riddled with microscopic nasties, just some more than others, right? Well, true, but there’s an added level of ick-factor to this mess. The bacteria continues to evolve into strains super-resistant to antibiotics because, contrary to scientific advice, Big Turkey hasn’t curbed its use of the medicine, the magazine states. The study says a lot of the contamination came from feces in slaughtered turkey guts getting mixed up with the muscle meat.

“When any food animal is slaughtered, the bacteria that normally live in its gut without causing harm can wind up on its carcass,” the Consumer Reports article reads. “To limit contamination, federal law requires processors to create a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plan. For turkey processors, HACCP includes steps for washing and chilling carcasses throughout processing to reduce the growth of harmful bacteria and contamination of the finished product.”

So yeah, a little more washing and chilling — you hear that, agri-business? Remember when Cargill recalled 36 million pounds of the stuff a couple years ago because a bunch of people wound up sick?

Unsurprisingly, the arbiter of the $29.5 billion U.S. turkey industry, the National Turkey Federation, calls the research alarmist and sensationalized. There’s no reason to freak out over a few turkey germs when the same pathogens live on your own hands, the federation’s Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Lisa Picard says.

“Enterococcus and generic E.coli are everywhere, and there is more than one way they can wind up on food animals,” Picard notes in a press release shared Tuesday on the Wall Street Journal. “In fact, it’s so common in the environment, studies have shown that generic E.coli and MRSA can even be found on about 20 percent of computer keyboards.”

Time to break out the Purell.

It’s like finding out your favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant has a rat infestation. You almost miss the days before consumer awareness was a thing, when you could stuff your face in ignorant bliss. Then you remember that, sadly, what you don’t know and can’t see (like salmonella and poop germs) can, in some cases, actually kill you. Or at least gross you out.

contaminated turkey

Watch what you eat. (Graphic courtesy of Consumer Reports)

h/t Huffington Post

Find Jennifer Wadsworth on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

Categories: Uncategorized

Angelina Jolie’s lost modeling pics

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 by:michael.damante@chron.com (Mike Damante)
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Here are some rare photos of actress Angelina Jolie in a photo shoot that took place when she was just 16-years-old. See the undiscovered images.

 

Categories: General
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