iWaSTe

15th Anniversary: Absinthe Goes From Banned Drug to Legal Liquor “In the 20,000 years or so...

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:21:57 -0400

15th Anniversary: Absinthe Goes From Banned Drug to Legal Liquor

“In the 20,000 years or so that humans have been getting piss-drunk, no spirit has earned a worse rap than absinthe. Said to turn mild-mannered imbibers into raving maniacs, it was banned in the US and much of Europe in the early 1900s. (Remember Van Gogh’s ear incident? Some scholars blame the green fairy.) The chemical culprit was thujone, a toxic compound found in the crushed flowers and leaves of absinthe’s key ingredient, wormwood. Or so we thought.

Ted Breaux, a chemist and microbiologist who had reverse engineered the liquor’s recipe and discovered that there was barely any thujone present (November 2005). During harvest and distillation, he explained, its concentration was reduced to a minuscule five parts per million.

In March, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved the sale of absinthes that were “thujone free” (containing less than 10 parts per million).

To date, there are four brands on US shelves: Lucid (Breaux’s formula), Kuebler, Green Moon, and St. George Absinthe Verte. “The US is lucky in that its first absinthes are high-quality products, distilled from whole herbs,” Breaux says. “In the European market, 80 to 90 percent is industrial junk.” via Wired

McCain Chooses Youth With Palin Pick ” Ending the suspense with a surprise choice, Republican...

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:53:56 -0400

McCain Chooses Youth With Palin Pick

” Ending the suspense with a surprise choice, Republican John McCain reached up into Alaska to choose a woman as his running mate: Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old governor.

She is destined for the history books as the first woman to grace a GOP presidential ticket.

A mother of five, a Christian, a hunter, and a lifetime member of the NRA, Palin brings juice—and youth—to the Republican ticket. She’s a former beauty queen, too.

She campaigned on an ethics reform platform but more recently has come under fire in a scandal dubbed “Troopergate.” It involves allegations that she may have pushed for the firing of her former brother-in-law, a state trooper. He went through a bitter divorce from Palin’s sister. The governor is alleged by some to have axed the state’s public safety commissioner for refusing to fire the trooper.” via Yahoo

VP Candidate Biden Is No Friend to File Sharing, Net Neutrality Protection or Online...

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:51:08 -0400

VP Candidate Biden Is No Friend to File Sharing, Net Neutrality Protection or Online Privacy

“• He asked Congress to spend $1 billion to monitor peer-to-peer activity. (In fairness, much of this is to prevent child pornography, but the tactic is apparently a little blunt.)

• Two Biden bills have been explicitly anti-encryption, because you know, encryption makes it hard for the FBI to read people’s e-mails.

• He has expressed support for internet taxes and internet filtering in schools and libraries.

• The RIAA seems to be one of his best buddies: Biden sponsored a bill that would restrict recording of songs from satellite and net radio, and another one that would make it a felony to “trick” a computer into playing back unauthorized songs or running bootlegged videogames. That latter one died when Verizon, Microsoft, Apple, eBay and Yahoo all argued against it.” via Gizmodo

Dead Olympic Sports via Economist.com

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:44:47 -0400

Dead Olympic Sports via Economist.com

Biden Joins Obama on Democratic Ticket “Sen. Biden, 65 years old, used his speech Saturday to...

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:42:31 -0400

Biden Joins Obama on Democratic Ticket

“Sen. Biden, 65 years old, used his speech Saturday to praise the presumptive Democratic nominee and paint Sen. McCain as elitist. “Your kitchen table is like mine…You talk about how much you’re worried about being able to pay the bills,” Sen. Biden told the crowd. Sen. McCain will “have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at.” via WSJ

USA Basketball Returns to the Top “ They pulled one another up to the gold medal podium on...

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:19:00 -0400

USA Basketball Returns to the Top

“

They pulled one another up to the gold medal podium on Sunday after a 118-107 victory over Spain in an old-fashioned shootout that could long resonate as a standard for international play. After hammering their opponents by an average of 30.2 points through their first seven games, the Americans outlasted the Spaniards in their first wire-to-wire test of the Olympics, a game as aesthetically pleasing as it was entertaining.

The United States never trailed in the second half but did not officially put Spain away until Dwyane Wade, unofficially the best player in these Olympics, drilled a 3-pointer with 2 minutes 2 seconds remaining.

Wade, who led the team with 27 points, stayed in that spot for a second and posed with his hands on his hips and a cocksure grin. If there was ever a night for the Americans to show off a bit, this was it: They had completed their long journey back from a disappointing bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Games. ” via NYT

Angel Matos Cuban Taekwondo Kicks Referee In Face Video Beijing...

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:12:00 -0400

Angel Matos Cuban Taekwondo Kicks Referee In Face Video Beijing Olympics via MMA TKO

Angel Matos of Cuba deliberately kicked a referee square in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal match, prompting the World Taekwondo Federation to recommend he be banned for life.

Zimbabwe annual inflation rate soars to 11.2 million percent “HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe’s...

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:10:12 -0400

Zimbabwe annual inflation rate soars to 11.2 million percent

“HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe’s annual inflation rate zoomed to 11.2 million percent in June, state media reported on Tuesday, amid a ruinous political crisis which is exacerbating the southern African nation’s meltdown.

“Zimbabwe’s annual rate of inflation surged in June to 11.2 million percent,” The Herald newspaper said, adding: “It gained 9,035,045.5 percentage points from the May rate of 2,233,713.4 percent.”

“The actual figure could be high as 40 million percent in June,” said independent economist John Robertson.

“The actual figure for July could be as high as 300 million percent, while for August it could be 600 million percent,” he added.

Once hailed as a model economy and a regional breadbasket, Zimbabwe’s fortunes have nosedived since veteran ruler Robert Mugabe seized white-owned farms and handed them over to landless blacks, often with no farming skills.

The currency, once on a par with the British pound, is in freefall; unemployment is pegged at a staggering 80 percent; food and essential goods are in short supply and the vast majority of people go hungry every day.

In one Zimbabwean village, people have turned to barter, exchanging a bar of soap for maize, and are cutting down on meals.

Villagers who once stashed savings from grain sales are now refusing to accept cash as they cannot afford bus fares to travel to shops and fear the money will be worthless before they arrive.” via Yahoo

Falling Olympic Records via Economist.com

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:06:07 -0400

Falling Olympic Records via Economist.com

Bolt sets 200m world record to claim sprint double “BEIJING (AFP) - Jamaican Usain Bolt...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:03:13 -0400

Bolt sets 200m world record to claim sprint double

“BEIJING (AFP) - Jamaican Usain Bolt streaked to the 200m gold in world record time Wednesday to complete the sprint double for the first time in 24 years at the Olympic Games and then loudly declared himself “Number One”.

Bolt’s scintillating run in front of 91,000 people in the packed Bird’s Nest stadium came four days after his epic record-breaking victory in the 100m final.

On the eve of his 22nd birthday, Bolt bagged the 100m-200m double last achieved by Carl Lewis in 1984, stopping the clock at 19.30sec to shatter Michael Johnson’s 12-year old record.

After an impromptu dance on the track, an ecstatic Bolt repeatedly chanted “I am number one” as the crowd responded with a chorus of “Happy Birthday”.” via Yahoo

Who Drinks the Most Bottled Water? via Economist.com

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:59:41 -0400

Who Drinks the Most Bottled Water? via Economist.com

Investment in renewable energy via Economist.com

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:41:23 -0400

Investment in renewable energy via Economist.com

Weight Lifting Is More Than Brawn “BEIJING —To the uninitiated, weight lifting appears...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:40:31 -0400

Weight Lifting Is More Than Brawn

“BEIJING —To the uninitiated, weight lifting appears strenuous and simple, devoid of any strategy beyond bend, lift, grunt, grimace.

But inside a room behind the stage, coaches huddle in small groups, speak in hushed tones and position lifters like giant pieces on a chessboard.

“It’s sort of like playing chicken,” said Cheryl Haworth, a bronze medalist for the United States at the 2000 Games. “Sometimes, it comes down to who can fake the other person out sooner. Or who buckles under pressure.

The basic rules work like this: lifters get three attempts in each of the two categories — the snatch and the clean-and-jerk — and their best lifts in each category are combined for their competition total.

The athlete who pledges to lift the lowest weight goes first, and all attempts at that weight are made before moving on.

This can turn weight-lifting competitions that ultimately come down to who can lift the most weight into contests that more closely resemble the schoolyard refrain of I triple-double-dog dare you.” via NYT

Russians Push Past Separatist Area to Assault Central Georgia “TBILISI, Georgia — Russia...

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:35:52 -0400

Russians Push Past Separatist Area to Assault Central Georgia

“TBILISI, Georgia — Russia expanded its attacks on Georgia on Sunday, moving tanks and troops through the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and advancing toward the city of Gori in central Georgia, in its first direct assault on a Georgian city with ground forces during three days of heavy fighting, Georgian officials said.

Russia’s moves, which came after Georgia offered a cease-fire and said it had pulled its troops out of South Ossetia, caused widespread international alarm and anger and set the stage for an intense diplomatic confrontation with the United States.” via NYT

American Population Predictions via Economist

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:23:17 -0400

American Population Predictions via Economist

Jamaica’s Bolt wins 100 meters in 9.69 seconds, sets world record “Pounding his chest,...

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:30:31 -0400

Jamaica’s Bolt wins 100 meters in 9.69 seconds, sets world record

“Pounding his chest, turning up the palms of his outstretched arms, mugging for the cameras before he even crossed the finish line, Usain Bolt rewrote the record books again and captured his first Olympic medal Saturday, running the 100-meter dash in a stunning 9.69 seconds.

His left shoe was untied when he crossed the finish line. Not that it mattered much. He could’ve walked across.

It was a blowout, a rout, no contest, as the 21-year-old Jamaican took a huge lead halfway through the race and finished upright, looking to his right to find not a challenger but instead of bunch of photographers recording history.

“It wasn’t planned,” the newly crowned “World’s Fastest Man” said of his running celebration. “My aim was to come out and win. When I saw the time, I’m celebrating. I’m happy.”

He broke his own record, set in May in New York, by .03 second and became the first sprinter to set the world record in the Olympics since Donovan Bailey ran 9.84 at the 1996 Atlanta Games.” via ESPN

Business School Applications via Economist.com

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:28:36 -0400

Business School Applications via Economist.com

World’s tallest woman dies in Indiana nursing home “CHICAGO (Reuters) - Seven-foot,...

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:26:18 -0400

World’s tallest woman dies in Indiana nursing home

“CHICAGO (Reuters) - Seven-foot, 7-inch (2.32 meter) Sandy Allen, the world’s tallest woman, died on Wednesday in an Indiana nursing home, a spokesman said.

Born in Chicago, Allen’s abnormal growth was due to a tumor on her pituitary gland. She had surgery on the gland at age 22.

Some Web sites give the title of tallest woman to 36-year-old Yao Defen of China, who is said to be 7-feet, 9-inches tall.” via Yahoo

Phelps eight gold medals confirm legendary status “BEIJING (AFP) - Michael Phelps cemented his...

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:24:59 -0400

Phelps eight gold medals confirm legendary status

“BEIJING (AFP) - Michael Phelps cemented his place in Olympics history Sunday, capping a sensational week by becoming the first athlete ever to win eight gold medals in one Games.

He brought the curtain down on a record-breaking week of swimming when he directed the US team to victory in the 4x100m medley relay and overtook fellow US legend Mark Spitz ‘s seven gold medals at Munich 36 years ago.

The 23-year-old Phelps also broke seven world records through the week, became the most successful Olympian gold medallist of all time with a career 14, and pledged to continue his epic journey at London in 2012.

“There are some things I still want to do to raise the bar a bit more in the world of swimming. For me, it’s still work in progress,” said Phelps.

His career total of 16 Olympic medals (14 gold, two bronze) is only two behind the all-time record of 18 by former Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina (nine gold, five silver and four bronze).

Phelps’s butterfly leg was key to the relay victory, as he turned a third-place behind Japan and Australia at the halfway point into a lead which freestylist Jason Lezak would never surrender.” via Yahoo

Women Living with Aids via Economist.com

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:22:26 -0400

Women Living with Aids via Economist.com