Unusual News
Astronauts May Contract Alzheimer’s Disease from Deep Space Travel
Scientists say spending years at a time in space could make astronauts more vulnerable to developing Alzheimer’s disease.
This would happen because of the long-term exposure to cosmic radiation, which spacecraft can’t entirely block out. To do so, said the study’s senior co-author Dr. M. Kerry O'Banion, “one would have to essentially wrap a spacecraft in a six-foot block of lead or concrete.”
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Overweight—But Not Obese—People Have a Lower Mortality Rate than Those of Normal Weight
After compiling studies that covered 2.88 million people, researchers found that those considered overweight based on their body mass index (BMI) had less risk of dying than people of normal weight.
Also, people on the lower end of obesity (BMI of 30 to 34.9) were not more likely to die than normal-weight people.
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47%...the Number that will Haunt Mitt Romney Forever
No analyst blamed Romney’s defeat solely on his 47% remark. But the number did indeed come back to haunt him….
Once all the votes were counted after Election Day, the results showed that the Republican candidate lost to Obama by four points: 51% to (you guessed it) 47%.
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Women Display more Skin than Men…on their Online Avatars
Female avatars exposed more than twice as much skin as males. Among male avatars, 71% covered between 75–100% of their skin while only 5% of females did. On the flip side, only 1% of males covered only 0–24% of their skin while 10% of females did.
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Speaking to an Audience: Ann Romney-5th Grade; Barack Obama-8th Grade; Michelle Obama-12th Grade
Michelle Obama’s speech, in fact, was the highest of any given by a presidential nominee’s wife at a convention, according to Eric Ostermeier of Smart Politics.
Her address was also higher than those given by her husband, President Barack Obama, during his the State of the Union speeches, all of which have rated at an 8th grade level. read more
Rep. Ralph Hall becomes Oldest Person to Serve in House of Representatives
Hall has been a Republican for only nine years, after switching parties in 2004 to boost his chances of reelection after redistricting changed the makeup of his northeast Texas seat.
He does not hold the record for the oldest person to serve in Congress. That distinction goes to another party switcher, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who left the Senate on January 3, 2003, at the age of 100.
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In a First, National Park Service Restores and Preserves Graffiti
“Normally, the federal government is not in the business of preserving graffiti,” Alexandra Picavet, a Park Service spokeswoman, told The New York Times. “The water tower was the occupation’s most outwardly focused message to the world and it is an important part of the island’s history.”
Alcatraz gets 1.4 million visitors per year.
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If Santa Claus was a Corporation, He’d Need 12 Million People to Distribute Gifts
More than 7 million “elves” would be on “general assignment,” while half a million people would have to handle the company’s human resources, accounting and administrative duties, not to mention filing flight plans, obtaining flyover and landing rights. Santa would also need 40,000 customer liaisons to clear customs in various countries. read more
23 Times the World Was Supposed to End, but Didn’t… Armageddon Outta Here
Many people around the world misunderstood the Mayan calendar and predicted that the end of the world would take place on December 21. Evidently this did not occur. But this should not have come as a great surprise considering that there is a long history of people predicting the end of the world. Here is a sampling of end of the world predictions, originally compiled by Jeremy Beadle and later augmented by the staff of The People’s Almanac. read more
Physicists Develop Test to Determine if the World is a Computer Simulation
Savage is not the first academic to propose that the universe is not real. Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at the University of Oxford, offered a computer simulation idea in 2003, which prompted Savage to take a crack at proving it.
Since a story on Savage’s paper was published by the university, the web page has received more than 100,000 views in just a week, setting off a lively discussion among students and professors about what is real and the state of consciousness.
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Worst Place to Work in U.S. Government? Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Created in 1962 as part of the Executive Office of the President, the USTR functions as the president’s lead negotiator on all international trade issues. The agency has seen its score decline by more than half—from 74.2 to 32.7—since 2009, when former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk took the helm from Susan Schwab. read more
Sentenced to Life in Prison for 55-Year-Old Murder
Jack McCullough, 73, was convicted of kidnapping and murdering seven-year-old Maria Ridulph in Sycamore, Illinois. She went missing on December 3, 1957, and her body was found in a field five months later. The long unsolved crime haunted the small town, where residents compared the impact of Ridulph’s death to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. read more
Air Force to Purge Work Spaces of Photos of Scantily-Clad Women
Beginning last week, officers and supervisors initiated inspections of all Air Force locales to remove any calendar, poster, briefing slide or other photo that displays women in a sexual manner.
The decision impacts all levels of the Air Force, including reserves and Air National Guard units. The goal is to completely remove the photos by December 17.
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Election Winner Oddities: State Representative Resigns after Moving to Another State; Democrat Elected to Assembly despite Living in Wrong District
The day before the election, a state Judge ruled Martin’s candidacy invalid because he did not live in the district, but election workers did not have time to post signs that Martin could not run and he won by nearly 1,300 votes. Although there is little doubt as to where Martin resides, his Republican opponent, Kelly Hurst, has dropped his challenge because it would be heard by the Nevada General Assembly, where Democrats outnumber the GOP 27-15. read more
Artificial Brain Answers IQ Test Questions
Spaun can perform up to eight different tasks, including drawing images, counting numbers and performing fluid reasoning, which is the capacity to think logically. The next goal is to provide Spaun with adaptive plasticity, which would allow it rewire its own neurons and learn new tasks through performance instead of just programming. read more
“Socialism” and “Capitalism” Most-Searched Words on Webster Dictionary Online
The No. 1 most looked up word on Merriam-Webster.com was socialism. No. 2 on the list was capitalism. The rest of the list consisted of touché, bigot, marriage, democracy, professionalism, globalization, malarkey, schadenfreude and meme. read more