…Mountain Music, Learning French the Italian Way, Toilets Replace AA Sponsors, and Bubonic Plague in U.S. — AGAIN!

Bypass Styrofoam Cup, Inject Java Directly Into Veins
You know how sometimes you’re so tired on the job and have so much work to complete that the time spent waiting for the effects of the coffee — which, it cannot be emphasized enough, you absolutely NEED in order to function — feels like forever? You know how sometimes you just wish you could inject the coffee straight into your arm to speed up the caffeine’s kick?

Well, interestingly, doctors have been doing that to babies for the last 25 years.

For more than 25 years, caffeine and similar drugs have been administered intravenously to regulate the breathing of preterm babies who suffer from apnea. The ongoing study involves more than 2,000 infants who weighed between 500 and 1,250 grams at birth and who were at risk of apnea. During these last two and a half decades, therapies known as methylxanthines, including caffeine, have been used to reduce the frequency of apnea and the need for mechanical ventilation.

(via Forbes)

Climb a Mountain, Play a Ditty
Volunteers tidying up Britain’s highest mountain have found a piano near the summit, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

The instrument was discovered last weekend under a pile of stones near the top of the 4,418-foot mountain Ben Nevis.

A cookie wrapper with an expiration date of Dec. 12, 1986, was found beneath the piano, suggesting the piano may have been near the summit of the mountain for 20 years.

Nerd Alert! (Eh, That Includes Us.)
This fall, Christie’s will hold the first official studio auction of memorabilia from all five “Star Trek” television series and 10 movie spin-offs.

CBS Paramount Television Studios is cleaning out its vaults for the sale, comprising more than 1,000 lots totaling some 4,000 items, to be held October 5-7 in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the original “Star Trek” series, Christie’s announced Thursday.

Fans and collectors will have a chance to acquire “Star Trek” artifacts ranging from models of the “Starship” USS Enterprise to — wait for it — Capt. James Kirk‘s uniform, or even Capt. Jean-Luc Picard‘s jumpsuit.

Other items to hit the block include props, weapons, prosthetics and set dressings unearthed from five Paramount warehouses.

Christie’s expects to raise more than $3 million during the auction. Bidding estimates range from $300 to $25,000 for memorabilia.

Flying ‘Convertible’ Mustang
The glass cockpit cover of a vintage WWII U.S. fighter P51 Mustang came off mid-flight over Germany and thus destroyed a carryout stand near the western German town of Muenster, Reuters reported yesterday.

And while no one was hurt, the British pilot of the plane carried on another 250 miles to his destination without reporting the loss of the cockpit’s glass cover.

“The pilot just kept on flying, apparently as if nothing had happened,” a police spokesman in Muenster said. He (the pilot) is wanted for questioning.

We say give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it took him 250 miles before noticing that the Mustang he was flying at some point became a convertible. Could happen.

Education Secretary says: Girls’ Disinterest in Sciences Weakening the Nation
Low participation in math and science activities by girls is keeping them from achieving their full potential and weakening the nation’s ability to compete, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said on Monday.

“We need definitive insights into what goes wrong, when and why,” Spellings said. According to CNN, the education secretary asked her department’s Institute of Education Sciences to review existing research and determine why girls are not as well represented in the sciences as boys.

National Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse says: ‘Cause They’re Addicts, Edu. Secretary
But we KNOW why girls are not as well represented in the sciences as boys! It’s because they’re almost always drunker and higher than guys!

Or so says the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

Researchers there have found that girls and women, pound-for-pound, “not only get more drunk or higher faster then men, but also become addicted more easily.”

Oh, the mysteries of human biology…

Black Death? NOT AGAIN!
Last month, we wrote about a woman who was hospitalized in Los Angeles after a slight case of bubonic plague. Indeed, the same bubonic plague — aka “Black Death” — that wiped out 25 million people in mid-14th century Europe (Item 7).

Well, now CNN reports that a campground at Natural Bridges National Monument, in Utah, has been closed because of bubonic plague detected among field mice and chipmunks.

Several weeks ago, park rangers noticed a large number of dead field mice at Natural Bridges. Tests indicated they died from the plague.

Plague also has been found this spring in rodent populations at Mesa Verde National Park and Colorado National Monument.

National Park Service officials said there never has been a reported human case of bubonic plague originating from the parks or national monuments.

You know what, park people? We’re not willing to risk it. We’re spending our vacation at, like, Niagara Falls or South of the Border or someplace.

How to Learn Italian…No, French
When New Scientist reader Mike Steinbock wanted to expand his linguistic skills, he bought the AA Essential Italian Deluxe PC CD-ROM. Describing itself on the cover as “The complete language learning solution right at your fingertips”, it went on to say: “With AA Essential Italian Deluxe you’ll be reading, writing and speaking French in no time at all.”

(Via The Last Word, New Scientist magazine issue 2552, 5/20/06, page 92)

Uh…There’s a Voice Coming From the Urinal. Man, I Must Be 3 Sheets to the Wind.
Toilet reportage: Here in New York, plans are afoot to install motion-activated soap pucks, known as Wizmarks, in the urinals of 100 men’s rooms at drinking establishments across Nassau County (in Long Island).

The Wizmark replaces the plastic apparatus that holds the sanitizing soap puck at the base of a urinal. The Wizmark’s built-in battery and microchip releases a recording that lasts through 10,000 flushes.

When guys step up to the urinal at participating pubs — and they surely will, seeing as most guys always hit the head prior to leaving the bar, after “the seal’s been broken” — they’ll hear this public service announcement as they relieve themselves:

“Hey, you! Yeah, you! Having a few drinks? Then, listen up! Think you’ve had one too many? Maybe it’s time to call a cab or call a sober friend for a ride home. It’s sure safer and a hell of a lot cheaper than a DWI! Make the smart choice tonight. Don’t drink and drive!”

…at which point, almost every guy will quickly zip up and head back to the bar for another pint or two, seeing as he now needs to calm his nerves after hearing a tiny voice address him from the soapcake in the urinal.

Homeland Insecurity
Baggage screeners at U.S. ports of entry have been instructed to be on the lookout for “cell phone guns.”

The weapons, which are made from discarded cell phones, are capable of firing four .22-caliber rounds in quick succession. The guns are loaded by twisting the phone in half and inserting the rounds beneath the digital phone face. The bullets fire through the antenna by pressing 5, 6, 7 and 8 on the keypad.

Overseas law enforcement authorities have recovered several caches of them. The weapons have already turned up in Europe, where officials believe these guns are made, and where airport authorities have begun implementing systems to X-ray all cell phones.

Says Wolfgang Dicke, of the German Police union: “It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their mobile phone.”

And finally, while we’re already on the topic of weapons and crazies…

eBay Find of the Week: Titan 1 ICBM Missile Base
This item was brought to my attention by former IMT blogger Mark. Although the bidding has ended, we really had to point it out: an actual Titan 1 ICBM Missile Base.

No kidding. Located in Washington state, the missile base comes with three 155′ tall missile silos. But wait, there’s more. In addition to the missile base, itself, come a dozen other “large to huge buildings” underground, as well as thousands of feet of connecting tunnels. Paved roads and security fencing are included. (However, all underground buildings need remodeling for use.) The final price tag, according to the underground facility’s eBay page, was US $778,080.02.

Congratulations to the winning bidder. Psycho.

Cheers.