Sunday, November 3, 2013

At long last a post!

I have been lax at posting. Here is some filler shamelessly lifted from the News of the Weird, while I try to get some of my own news together:


Here is something I’ve had a lot of success growing when I lived in Florida!

* Extract of cockroach is a delicacy among some Chinese, able to
miraculously  reduce inflammation, defy aging, and cure
tuberculosis, cancer, and cirrhosis.  Agence France-Presse reported
in August that Yunnan province is a silicon-valley-type business
center, where pulverized roaches can sell for the equivalent of about
$89 a pound, and five pharmaceutical companies have contracts
with ranches that have formed the Sichuan Treasure Cockroach
Cooperative.  (In August, a start-up farm in Jiangsu province was,
police suspect, vandalized, allowing at least a million cockroaches
being prepared for market to flee to adjacent neighborhoods.)
[Quartz (qz.com), 8-27-2013] [Agence France-Presse via Daily
Telegraph (London), 8-25-2013]
It would work for me!

* When entrepreneur Michelle Esquenazi was asked by a New York
Post reporter in September why her all-female crew of licensed
bounty hunters (Empire Bail Bonds of New York) is so successful
at tricking bail-jumpers into the open, she offered a five-letter
vulgar euphemism for a female body part.  "It's timeless," she
continued.  "Of course he's going to open his door for a nice piece
of [deleted]."   "The thing about defendants is no matter who they
are [of whatever color], they're all dumb.  Every single last one of
them is stupid."  [New York Post, 9-27-2013]
]
The lawyer always wins!
* It's expensive to go broke in America.  Detroit, which most
acknowledge acted wisely in filing for bankruptcy protection in July
(in the face of debts estimated to be at least $18 billion), will
nonetheless be on the hook for bankruptcy-law fees that could total
$60 million under current contracts (according to an October New
York Times report), plus various expenses, such as the $250,000 to
Christie's auction house to price and sell some assets.  A fee
examiner has been hired to keep the expenses in line, but he charges
$600 an hour. [New York Times, 10-8-2013]

Medical Marvels Oh the horror!
*  A recent medical journal reported that a 49-year-old
man in Brazil said he had recovered from a stroke except that the
damage to his brain (in a "subcortical region" associated with
higher-level thinking) has caused him to develop "pathological
generosity" toward others.  A Duke University neurologist told
London's Daily Mail that stroke-induced personality changes (such
as hoarding) are common but that this particular change appears
unique.  Doctors reported in the journal Neurocase that even with
medication, this patient's beneficence was unabated after two years.
[Daily Mail (London), 9-7-2013]
Perspective
* Americans frequently cite the rigorous, above-board testing of
prescription drugs as one of government's most important functions,
and health insurance companies use such seals of approval in
policy-coverage decisions.  However, some consumers seem to
prefer unorthodox, untested, unregulated products and, backed by
lobbyists for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), are
challenging the insurers for "discriminat[ing]" against these
"drugs," especially in the game-changing rules of the new
Affordable Care Act.   A Forbes.com columnist explained in August
what would happen if CAM prevails:  "You could start offering
dried bird poop for arthritis, call it  avian nature therapy,' and if an
insurer won't pay for it, you can sue." [Forbes.com, 8-26-2013]

From: http://www.WeirdUniverse.net

1 comment:

  1. The MuddyValley cockroach cooperative? I think it is a great idea!
    Also, the fee examiner who changes $600 an hour. Now that is clever. Can you imagine a female fee examiner with nice boobs? Think she could charge $1,200 an hour?
    Or perhaps you could combine all the best ideas from the above stories. The MuddyValley cockroach avian nature therapy topless bail bondswoman and fee examiner cooperative philanthropic society. Or you could call it the MVCANTTBBFECP for short...

    ReplyDelete