Wake Up And Smell The Caffeine. It’s A Powerful Drug

On By A.P.In Addiction, caffeine, David Greene, Drugs, Medicine, Murray Carpenter, NPR, Science, The BrainLeave a comment

Many of us can barely make it through the morning without first downing a cup of hot coffee. It’s become such a big part of our daily rituals that few actually give much thought to what it is that we’re putting in our bodies.

To help us break down the little-known things about caffeine, NPR’s David Greene spoke with Murray Carpenter, author of Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts and Hooks Us. These are the things you probably aren’t thinking about as you wait in line at your local coffee shop.

Caffeine is a drug. Treat it as such.

In its essential form, caffeine is a bitter white powder derived from a natural insecticide found in some plants. Over the years, it became acknowledged as a drug after people independently discovered its stimulating effect.

But, Carpenter says, people often underestimate just how powerful that drug is. “A tablespoon — about 10 grams — will kill you,” he says, recounting the unfortunate story of a college student who went into a seizure and died after chasing down spoonfuls of caffeine with an energy drink.

Most of the caffeine in soft drinks comes from factories in China.

Naturally extracted caffeine is burned out from heated-up coffee beans. But most of the caffeine used in soft drinks is actually synthetically produced in Chinese pharmaceutical plants. After visiting one of these plants — the world’s largest, in fact — Carpenter can only describe it as “sketchy.”

“It was not what I expected,” he says. “It was sort of a rundown industrial park.”

And our favorite caffeinated beverage? Not coffee, but soft drinks.

“Despite the Starbucks on every corner [and] this sort of conspicuous coffee culture that we have today, we’re not drinking as much coffee as our grandparents did,” Carpenter says.

As coffee consumption has declined, our love of soft drinks has taken over. Today, eight of the 10 top-selling soft drinks are caffeinated. “If you look at, say, Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, the only common denominator, besides carbonated water, is caffeine,” he says.

Sometimes, he says, caffeine can lurk in unexpected places — like orange soda.

Which brings us to the case of the supercharged Sunkist soda.

In 2010, a batch of Sunkist orange soda was bottled with a botched caffeine content. “These were sodas that should’ve had 41 milligrams of caffeine per 12-ounce serving, but they were blended with six times the labeled amount of caffeine,” Carpenter says. “So [there were actually] 240 milligrams per bottle.” That’s as much as three Red Bulls or 16 ounces of strong coffee, Carpenter notes in the book.

After Sunkist started getting complaints from consumers, it finally agreed with the Food and Drug Administration to voluntarily recall the 40,000 cases of supercaffeinated orange soda it had sent out.

“But my impression is that a lot of the people who consumed this and had some funny experiences with caffeine probably didn’t know what was going on,” he adds.

So what’s the takeaway? Drink in moderation.

Carpenter says three to four cups of coffee a day isn’t dangerous over the long term. That’s in line with what we’ve previously reported. Of course, if you’re experiencing symptoms like jitters or sleeplessness related to too much caffeine, cut back.

“For people who are using caffeine moderately … it’s probably perfectly healthy,” he says. “And we know there are some indications that we may even get some benefit out of long-term caffeinated coffee drinking.”

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/03/13/289750754/wake-up-and-smell-the-caffeine-its-a-powerful-drug

Maps made out of the food for which the region is known

On By A.P.In cartography, mapLeave a comment

Cartography just got a much tastier look. Artists Caitlin Levin and Henry Hargreaves created a series of maps made entirely out of the foods for which the countries and continents are known.

“Exploring new places through the food you eat is often a portal to the cultural complexities of that place,” Hargreaves told TIME in an email. “While we know that tomatoes originally came from the Andes in South America, Italy has become the tomato king. These maps show how food has traveled the globe—transforming and becoming a part of the cultural identity of that place. Who doesn’t know the saying “throw some shrimp on the barbie” and not think of Australia? Who goes to France without eating bread and cheese? And who makes a Brazilian caipirinha without a fistful of limes?”

http://time.com/#21710/11-beautiful-maps-made-out-of-the-food-each-country-is-famous-for/

Delaware grandfather wrote his own humorous obituary for his family to find.

On By A.P.In death, Delaware, obituary, Walter Bruhl Jr.1 Comment

Walter Bruhl Jr. got the last laugh.

The Delaware man, who died Sunday, penned his own humor-tinged obituary and left it for his family to find. Family and friends honored him with a private luncheon on Saturday.

“Walter George Brulh Jr. of Newark and Dewey Beach is a dead person; he is no more; he is bereft of life; he is deceased; he has rung down the curtain and gone to join the choir invisible; he has expired and gone to meet his maker,” he wrote, quoting from Monty Python’s sketch about a dead parrot.

“Right away I was crying,” Walter’s grandson Sam Bruhl said. “I laughed and cried the whole time.”

The obituary included fill-in-the-blank spaces for the date and location of his death.

The 80-year-old grandfather of four wrote about his years in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, saying “Hollywood propaganda” prompted him to join the war effort.

“This was him to a T,” said his son Martin Bruhl, who describes his father as a man who loved life and making others smile.

“There will be no viewing,” Walter Bruhl Jr. wrote, “since his wife refuses to honor his request to have him standing in the corner of the room with a glass of Jack Daniels in his hand so he would appear natural to visitors.”

“I’m sure he is laughing back down at us,” Martin Bruhl said. “It has helped to lighten things for us.”

Sam Bruhl first posted the obituary on Facebook and later on Reddit.

“Typical of my PopPop,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “He’s the only man I’ve ever known to be able to add his own humor like this.”

On the first day, the Reddit post had more than 1,600 comments, said Sam Bruhl. “I tried to read them all and comment back because it meant so much,” he said.

In the last line of the obituary, Walter encourages people to “do an unexpected and unsolicited act of kindness for some poor unfortunate soul in his name.”

Bruhl’s words have generated an outpouring of support.

“We have noticed people making donations to charities in his name,” said Martin Bruhl, “I know he would have loved that.”

He added, “He loved, loved to write. He always wanted to be published, and this is a home run.”

“Some of my favorite comments…were people saying they missed him and never even met him,” Sam Bruhl said.

Walter died of congestive heart failure while on vacation with his wife of 57 years.

“Everyone who remembers him is asked to celebrate Walt’s life in their own way; raising a glass of their favorite drink in his memory would be quite appropriate,” Walter Bruhl wrote.

He added, “Cremation will take place at the family’s convenience, and his ashes will be kept in an urn until they get tired of having it around. What’s a Grecian Urn? Oh, about 200 drachmas a week.”

13 year old boy creates nuclear fusion in school science project

On By A.P.In Child Geniuses, children, George Barker, Jamie Edwards, nuclear fusion, Open Source Fusor Research Consortium, ScienceLeave a comment

Jamie Edwards, a pupil at Penwortham Priory Academy, created the project from scratch with help from his school.

“I can’t quite believe it – even though all my friends think I am mad,” he said.

The last record holder was US student Taylor Wilson, who was 14 when he created nuclear fusion in 2008.

Jamie, who started work in October in an under-used school science laboratory, recreated a process known as ‘inertial electrostatic confinement’ which dates back to the 1960s.

‘Star in jar’

“One day, I was looking on the internet for radiation or other aspects of nuclear energy and I came across Taylor Wilson,” said the junior scientist who faced a race against time to complete the project before his 14th birthday on Sunday.

“I looked at it, thought ‘that looks cool’ and decided to have a go.”

“You see this purple ball of plasma – basically it’s like a star in a jar,” he added.

Jamie, along with friend George Barker, set about trying to create nuclear fusion by consulting an open source website for amateur physicists.

His application for funds was rejected by various nuclear laboratories and universities.

School funding

Jamie set about trying to create nuclear fusion by consulting an open source website
“They didn’t seem to take me seriously as it was hard to believe a 13-year-old would do something like that so I went to my head teacher Mr Hourigan in October,” he said.

“I was a bit stunned and I have to say a little nervous when Jamie suggested this but he reassured me he wouldn’t blow the school up,” said Priory head Jim Hourigan, who agreed to give £2,000 to the project.

Jamie ordered parts and equipment from Lithuania, the US and UK, working on the project every break and lunchtime as well as after school.

His nuclear fusion record attempt is yet to be verified by the Open Source Fusor Research Consortium.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-26450512

Swiss To Pay Basic Income 2,500 Francs Per Month To Every Adult

On By A.P.In Basic Income Initiative, Daniel Straub, Ivan Glasenberg, Jody, Jody Troupe, Switzerland1 Comment

Switzerland may start paying every adult (whether they work or not) a salary of over $2000 per month, based on the idea that their citizens will have more time to devote to things they are intrinsically interested in, instead of spending the majority of their time worrying about how they are going to survive, as many individuals with entry level positions find it hard to meet their needs. The income initiative promises every Swiss citizen a living wage , so they can always survive without basic financial worry.

The 2,500 francs would work out to be an income of 30,000 Swiss francs per year. Statistics released by the European Union in 2002 showed that Switzerland was the third most expensive country in Europe, after Norway and Iceland, to live in. Switzerland currently has a population of 8.02 million people, equivalent to that of large cities such as the San Francisco Bay Area which has a population of 7.15 million. They pay particularly high prices for meat, cooking oil, fish and vegetables. Basic utilities (electricity, heating, water, garbage) are around 200 francs per month, and the average rent of a one bedroom apartment in the city center runs about 1,400 francs.

“Imagine you are being born and society tells you ‘Welcome, you will be cared for, and asks you what you want to do with your life, what is your calling? Imagine that feeling, that’s a whole different atmosphere “ – Daniel Straub, Co-founder, Basic Income Initiative

Parliament was presented with a petition signed by over 100,000 people, proposing to afford every citizen, regardless if they are working or not, a monthly paycheck of 2,500 Swiss francs. To mark the day, a truck full of 8 million five-cent coins was deposited on the square and spread out in front of the Swiss Parliament in Bern, supporters gathered around and spread the coins out using shovels. A typical fast-food worker in the US earns roughly $1,500 per month. Anything less than that specified amount of 2,500 francs, would be deemed illegal, even for people working in one of the lowest paid jobs.

A date for the vote itself is yet to be confirmed, however, it could take place before the end of this year, depending on the decision of the Swiss government. The money to fund the measure would likely be supplied by the Swiss social insurance system, so in other words it would be taken from taxpayers. We know that the government has no money itself, everything that it gives to others it must first take from others or print it out of thin air. But, are individuals who receive these funds going to be participating tax payers as well? If not, is it safe to assume that the more individuals who rely on this system, and the fewer who are contributing and fueling it, the more unlikely it is to run out of funds? Is this only possible due to Switzerland’s low population and impressive bank profits?

This new system will force business owners to pay their workers a certain wage, regardless if their labor is considered worth less than the stipulated amount. This idea aims to set the minimum standard of living higher, and that is admirable. But this might prompt business owners to take their company elsewhere, to where they have more freedom over the decision of what wages they are going to pay. Of course this would also mean they get no cut whatsoever of the Swiss market. And on the other hand, the new income may also allure new business owners to the country in looks of attracting those new consumers. One prominent CEO in Switzerland has stated that if the measure passes, he would seriously contemplate moving his company out of the country:

“I can’t believe that Switzerland would cause such great harm to its economy,” Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg told the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.

The unemployment rate currently remains at 3 percent in Switzerland. Switzerland is arguably one of the most stable economies in the world. The nation has built the reputation of having some of the most friendly laws toward foreign investors. Will this measure make more money flow, by putting liquidity in the hands of those more prone to putting it back in the economy, or will it drive investors away and cause the Swiss economy to stumble?

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/03/swiss-pay-basic-income-2500-francs-per-month-every-adult.html

Thanks to Jody Troupe for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

10 conspiracy theories about Malaysia Airlines flight 370

On By A.P.In Alexandra Bruce, alien, Alien life, Beijing, Bermuda, Bermuda Triangle, black hole, China, conspiracy, conspiracy theory, Ed Snowden, electromagnetic pulse device, EMP, Extraterrestrial life, Freescale Semiconductor, hijack, hijacking, Iran, Malayasia, Malaysia Airlines, Mikael Robertsson, Pyongyang, Reddit, Space and Time, Terrorism, terrorist, Texas, Thailand, The Illuminati, Tony Elliott, UFO, UFO Digest, universe, Vietnam2 Comments

While investigators are stumped over the fate of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the lack of evidence as to what happened hasn’t stopped speculation as to the fate of the missing jet and its 239 passengers and crew members.

It’s not unusual for mysterious or dramatic aviation accidents to catch the imaginations of the conspiratorially inclined – the Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Pan Am Flight 103, and TWA Flight 800 tragedies spurred all kinds of claims of conspiracy, and last week’s apparent tragedy in the Gulf of Thailand is no different.

Conspiracy theorists took to social media this week to contribute their own ideas as to why Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared.

1. Aliens are involved: Alexandra Bruce at ForbiddenKnowledgeTV points to records on the flight mapping website Flightradar24 as evidence of extra-terrestrial meddling. She goes so far as to say the “captured signals” could “only be termed a UFO.”

Her source? YouTube user DAHBOO77, who posted a video that attempts to recreate the plane’s last moments. The clip shows a quick-moving plane and other strange anomalies around the time of the MH370’s disappearance from radar.

Loading the logs directly on the site allows readers to easily click and identify the so-called “UFO,” which is clearly marked as Korean Airlines Flight 672. Its apparent supersonic speed is likely related to a glitch in the system, not alien intervention, according to the site’s CEO Mikael Robertsson.

“[Some] receivers do not provide the same data quality, so sometimes parts of the data can be corrupt [and] generate errors like the one you see on the video,” he explained. “For example if Longitude received is 120 instead of 110, that would generate such error.”

2. The passengers are still alive: Families awaiting news about lost loved ones have told reporters they are able to call the cell phones of their missing relatives, and have said they can also see their instant messaging service accounts remain active online.

The news has fueled all kinds of speculation, but phones that are turned off do not always necessarily go straight to voicemail. Factors such as location, the phone’s network type and its proximity to a cell phone tower can all affect whether a dead phone will still ring on the caller’s end.

You can test this for yourself: turn off your cell phone, remove the battery and call your number on another line – most kinds of phones will still ring before you reach voicemail.

3. There’s a Snowden connection: Reddit user Dark_Spectre posted an unusual theory on the website’s conspiracy boards, related to 20 employees of the Texas-based Freescale Semiconductor who were reportedly on the flight:

“So we have the American IBM Technical Storage Executive for Malaysia, a man working in mass storage aggregation for the company implicated by the Snowden papers for providing their services to assist the National Security Agency in surveilling the Chinese.. And now this bunch of US chip guys working for a global leader in embedded processing solutions (embedded smart phone tech and defense contracting) all together..on a plane..And disappeared.. Coincidence??”

Dark_Spectre goes as far as to suggest those chip experts may have been kidnapped by Chinese or American authorities:

“Perhaps a little fast and furious dive under the radar to a flat water landing to rendezvous with a Chinese ship or sub for transport to a black-site for advanced interrogation, scuttling the plane along with the remaining passengers.(any oceanic trenches in fuel capacity distance?) What would 200 lives be to the Chinese intelligence community for the chance to find out ‘exactly’ the depth and scope of our intrusion.”

“US intelligence got late wind that their flying brain-trust of 21 were going to be arrested/detained and interrogated upon landing in China and the US intelligence community deemed the risk too great to their Asian based espionage programs and took appropriate action to “sanitize” the plane in flight.”

So far, there is no evidence of an explosion.

4. Iranians kidnapped engineers: UFO Digest’s Tony Elliott points to revelations that an Iranian national was responsible for buying plane tickets for two passengers with stolen passports as evidence that the country was involved, possibly to extract technological intelligence from Freescale Semiconductor employees.

“If the plane is not found in the next few days, or ever, we must assume the plane was hijacked and taken to a nearby country where that government wants to keep the disappearance a secret,” he wrote. “If this is the case, the two passengers with stolen passports must be the hijackers.”

Elliott concludes that the plane is in East Timor, due to an apparent u-turn made by the plane in its final moments on radar.

“If the Iranian government wanted to hijack the plane, it would have had its hijackers make an abrupt turn and head to the nearest friendly Muslim country,” he wrote. “In this case, it would be East Timor, the most likely country, located in the opposite direction from the flight path.”

The theory doesn’t address why the plane suddenly disappeared from radar entirely – no passenger plane could drop from 36,000 feet to below radar horizon in mere seconds.

5. Passengers were taken to Pyongyang: This map is slightly deceptive – while the trip to both Beijing and Pyongyang appear equidistant, this theory would require the plane fly at extremely low altitudes to avoid radar detection, which – due to greater air density at lower altitudes – would require more fuel to travel the same distance.

6. The Illuminati is involved: “Was looking at the Wikipedia page for the missing Malaysia Airlines, and noticed that it’s was [sic] the 404th 777 Boeing produced,” Redditor i-am-SHER-locked wrote.

“An HTTP 404 error mean [sic] not found, which in this case is oddly approiate [sic] for the status of the aircraft, or just a concidence [sic]. Coincidence, i think not!”

7. There’s a new Bermuda triangle: Though the Bermuda Triangle’s status as one of the sea’s most mysteriously treacherous zones has been debunked for decades, it doesn’t stop some from seeing triangles in the Gulf of Thailand.

8. The plane is in Vietnam, where it is waiting to be used as a weapon: “Conspiracy and prophecy in the news” blogger ShantiUniverse said she has three possible theories about what happened to Flight MH370: A major mechanical error (OK), a terrorist attack (reasonable) or it was whisked away to a secret Vietnamese airport to be used in a later 9/11 style attack (…).

“Flight 370 was last contacted by another unnamed pilot 10 minutes after losing initial contact,” she writes. “He claims the plane was deep into Vietnam airspace. Its [sic] possible it was hijacked and forced to land at another airport, where passengers are being held hostage. There is a long list of former airports and proposed airports in Vietnam. Its also possible since the plane had no contact, it could of [sic] managed to get to Cambodia to a former or proposed airport…Why would terrorist want a plane intact? Though this is highly unlikely, but not impossible, the only reason I can think of is they would want the plane to use as a weapon of mass destruction like on the September 11 attacks.”

9: There was some kind of miniature hydrogen bomb controlled by an iPhone app and it created a miniature black hole: It’s hard to tell whether @Angela_Stalcup’s account is the work of a completely unhinged lunatic or a genius, masterful troll. Wading through claims that Donald Trump runs a prostitution ring through Trump University or that Russian President Vladimir Putin is one of 92 clones of Adolf Hitler, you may stumble upon this gem of a theory about Flight MH370:

10. Terrorists employed a new electromagnetic pulse weapon: Such a device snuck on board and activated would cause the plane to instantly lose power and fall into the ocean. Had this been a test run, terrorists in possession of such a device would now know that it works, and we could expect to see a multitude of such attacks in the future, perhaps in multiple planes simultaneously. This, of course, has been challenged by conflicting reports of persistent electronic communication from the plane after its disappearance.

So what really happened?: The truth is, no one really knows. The AP now cites a senior Malaysian military official who reports the country has radar data detecting the plane in the Malacca Strait – hundreds of miles from the last position recorded by civilian authorities.

*Armchair conspiracy theorists have also speculated (on Twitter, of course) that the passengers on flight 370 have landed on a remote, impossible-to-find island a la “Lost.”

Two Weeks After Waking Up In Body Bag, Man Dies

On By A.P.In back from dead, death, Mark Memmott, Mississippi, Ray Gaudette, Walter WilliamsLeave a comment

untitled

by Mark Memmott

Walter Williams, the 78-year-old man from Mississippi who two weeks ago “came back to life once he was put on an embalming table,” has died.

According to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard said Williams died around 1 a.m. Thursday. CNN adds that the coroner believes Williams died of natural causes.

As for mistakenly concluding in February that Williams had died then, Howard said that “every case I do is a learning experience.”

The Clarion-Ledger says Williams’ family is glad for the time he was able to be with them the past two weeks:

“We’re at peace; we know he has fought a good fight,” said his daughter, Mary Williams. “His sister was able to make it into town, and he got to see his last grandchild and all of his grandkids. That was a blessing.”

The newspaper reminds readers that:

“The father of 11, grandfather of 15 and great-grandfather of six had gone into hospice in late February because of congestive heart failure. He was declared dead by a coroner the first time in the early hours of Feb. 27 when neither the coroner nor others, including nurses, could find a pulse.

“He was transported to the funeral home, where he began to move. An ambulance was called, and shortly thereafter, he was back in the hospital, talking to family and friends.

“Williams told family members, when they asked about his experience, that he thought he had just gone into a deep sleep.”

Now, nephew Eddie Hester tells local TV station WAPT, “I think he’s gone this time.”

“The same coroner and the same funeral home director came this time, and when they got there, I said, ‘I thought y’all were going to send somebody else,’ and we laughed about it. Everybody laughed,” Hester also told the station.

He adds that his uncle’s story has been “a two-week miracle for me and I enjoyed every minute of it, and my family did too.”

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/14/290105529/two-weeks-after-waking-up-in-body-bag-man-dies

Thanks to Ray Gaudette for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

California school children get surprise viewing of rare ‘false killer whales’ on field trip

On By A.P.In Brywood Elementary School, California, false killer whale, marine biology, Mike Bursk, Nature, San Juan Elementary School, Science, Todd Mansur, WhalesLeave a comment

A pod of “false killer whales” made an unexpected visit to the Orange County coast Wednesday, delighting school children on whale-watching tours as the mammals romped through the waves and circled a boat.

The rarely seen whales, last reported off Orange County in 2005, were spotted by the crew of the Sea Explorer from the Ocean Institute in Dana Point late Wednesday morning off San Clemente. About 70 children from Brywood Elementary School in Irvine saw the whales in two separate trips on the vessel, 35 children each, and the whales put on a show.

“At one point when they stopped, they encircled the boat, some of them coming up against it and rubbing on the hull,” said the Sea Explorer’s captain, marine biologist Mike Bursk. “And of course the kids were going crazy.”

One of the whales also took a deep dive and returned with a large white sea bass clamped in its jaws, Bursk said.

The large, boisterous members of the dolphin family, usually found much farther out to sea, drew other vessels, including a boat from Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari.

Capt. Dave himself – Dave Anderson – got close-ups of a curious false killer whale when he went out alone in an inflatable boat and thrust a GoPro camera into the water.

“All of a sudden, one just came right over, and he was right next to my hand,” Anderson said. “I was getting a little bit nervous, because these guys are carnivores.”

The creatures seemed to investigate everything about the boat, including the motor, he said.

“If you look at the video, you can see how long that animal stayed there, turning upside-down and checking out the camera,” he said.

A group of children from San Juan Elementary School aboard the Dana Pride from Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching, also got a good view of the whales, passing up a gray whale in order to see them, said Todd Mansur, the boat’s captain.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/whales-605430-boat-whale.html

6 year old boy author raises $750K for sick friend

On By A.P.In Chocolate Bar, David Weinstein, Dylan Siegel, glycogen storage disease, Jonah Pournazarian, Lora Pournazarian, Science, Sydney Lupkin, University of FloridaLeave a comment

ABC_dylan_jonah_kab_140227_16x9_608

by Sydney Lupkin

Every morning at 3 a.m. Lora Pournazarian is awake to feed her 8-year-old son Jonah a mixture of corn starch and water through a tube in his stomach.

If she doesn’t, Jonah could die because he has a rare form of glycogen storage disease, a hereditary disorder that means his liver can store sugar but can’t release it, causing him to have dangerously low blood sugar levels that can result in seizures or even death.

“That’s huge anxiety every night,” his mother Lora Pournazarian told ABC News. “We go to sleep going, ‘We hope we don’t miss an alarm clock because he could die.’”

But Jonah’s parents aren’t the only ones looking out for him. His best friend from preschool, Dylan Siegel has his back, too.

Dr. David Weinstein, who studies and treats patients with glycogen storage disease at the University of Florida, was almost out of funding when he heard that Dylan wanted to help raise money to find a cure for the disease. Dylan was only 6 years old at the time, so Weinstein mostly just thought he was cute.

But Dylan had other plans. He wrote a book called “Chocolate Bar,” and explained to his parents “chocolate bar” means “awesome” to him. “Disneyland is so chocolate bar,” the book starts out. The last page says, “I like to help my friends. That is the biggest chocolate bar.”

Dylan’s project raised more than $750,000 in a little more than a year by selling the books for $20 each in all 50 states and 42 countries. Every cent goes to Weinstein’s lab.

“Boy, have I been shocked,” Weinstein told ABC News in September, when the book had crossed the $400,000 mark. “He’s raised more money for this disease than all the medical foundations and all the grants combined. Ever.”

When this story aired on ABC World News Wednesday night, “Chocolate Bar” had raised more than $500,000. Fewer than 24 hours later, it had raised an additional $250,000.

When asked where the two boys will be in 10 or 15 years, Dylan said, “High school, and probably his disease would be cured ’cause it’s not going to take like 15 years to be cured.”

That would be so chocolate bar.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2014/02/27/boy-author-raises-750k-for-sick-friend/

Man survives by eating flies while lost for 2 weeks in Australian Outback

On By A.P.In Australia, Daniel Dudzisz, fly, Mark Henderson, NatureLeave a comment

A German tourist who was missing for more than two weeks in the Australian Outback survived by eating flies after becoming lost and stranded by floodwaters, police said Friday.

Daniel Dudzisz was picked up by a motorist late Thursday near the township of Windorah in Queensland state, police Inspector Mark Henderson said.

The 26-year-old insulin-dependent diabetic had last been seen on Feb. 17 when he left Windorah to walk 77 kilometers (48 miles) north across rugged terrain to the settlement of Jundah, Henderson said.

Dudzisz became stranded by floodwaters for about 10 days and lived on insects for most of the time he was lost, Henderson said.

“He joked about never going hungry in the Australian Outback because of the amount of flies you can eat for their protein,” Henderson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

“He had some baked beans and cereal when he left Windorah and exhausted that pretty quickly, and said he’d been eating flies ever since,” Henderson added.

Dudzisz told police he had heard search helicopters but their crews could not see him through the canopy of trees, Henderson said.

Dudzisz, who had an adequate supply of insulin with him, refused medical treatment at Windorah.

“He certainly was hungry, but other than that he was in reasonable spirits,” Henderson said.

Henderson said Dudzisz remained determined to trek west to the sparsely populated Northern Territory.

“He has made an agreement now that he will stick to the main roads now rather than going cross country,” Henderson said.

http://www.startribune.com/world/248980281.html