An Iowa Man…

The other day I posted a link to my friend’s new blog: A Florida Man. If you missed it, read about it here. Or just start reading the blog. Well, I promise I won’t do this too often, but this beer related one’s too good to pass up: An Iowa man completed his Lent-long beer fast on Sunday, marking the occasion with a bacon smoothie. During the 46-day feat, J. Wilson consumed only beer and water, emulating a centuries-old tradition once practiced by the Paulaner monks of Munich, Germany. How long could a man survive on beer and water? Not more than a few months, probably. That’s when the worst effects of scurvy and protein deficiency would kick in. (Liver disease

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My New Favorite Website

I sincerely apologize for the lengthy interval between this and my last post.  I blame law school, too many beers or a combination of the two.  Similar to Charlie Sheen’s negotiations to return to Two and a Half Men, I’m back with a vengeance. Have you checked out http://www.qwiki.com/ ? You haven’t?  I’m shocked. Seriously.  Step up your game people. Essentially it offers an interactive wikipedia-esque experience, using audio-visuals to convey an overview of the most important details of your query. According to the website, Qwiki’s goal is to forever improve the way people experience information. Whether you’re planning a vacation on the web, evaluating restaurants on your phone, or helping with homework in front of the family Google TV,

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Hedging What?

A reader sent me this article about companies betting on snowfall: “With record amounts of snow blanketing even some of the warmest cities across the nation this winter, an increasing number of companies are protecting themselves by betting on …. snow. Unexpected blizzards and snowstorms can cost companies thousands of dollars in lost business each year. “People have tended to have a fatalistic view of weather,” said Tim Andriesen, managing director of Agricultural Commodities at CME Group. “Now more and more people are recognizing that while you can’t control the weather, you can at least manage the financial impact of it.” The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which began offering snow futures in 2006, has already sold five times more contracts this

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Why is Al Jazeera Blacked Out in US ?

Via The Big Picture via the Huffington Post: WTF? Huff Po: Canadian television viewers looking for the most thorough and in-depth coverage of the uprising in Egypt have the option of tuning into Al Jazeera English, whose on-the-ground coverage of the turmoil is unmatched by any other outlet. American viewers, meanwhile, have little choice but to wait until one of the U.S. cable-company-approved networks broadcasts footage from AJE, which the company makes publicly available. What they can’t do is watch the network directly. Other than in a handful of pockets across the U.S. – including Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C. – cable carriers do not give viewers the choice of watching Al Jazeera. That corporate censorship comes as American diplomats

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