…Maria von Trapp & Stem Cells, Gas Costs an Arm and a Leg — and Your First Born, the Most Dangerous Words to Search, and Much More!

Boo Boo the Chicken Dies
Foremost, the exotic chicken saved from drowning by mouth-to-beak resuscitation more than three months ago has died, reports the Associated Press.

Boo Boo, the chicken who was revived after she was found floating face down in the family pond in February, was prone to seizures, and it is assumed another seizure was the cause for the fowl’s death, said owner Jackie Calhoun on Tuesday.

In February, she (the chicken) was removed from the water and the owner’s sister (and retired nurse) blew into its beak, causing its eyes to pop open.

Boo Boo — named as such due to having been easily frightened — is survived by three eggs she laid before dying.

The Hills are Alive…with the Sound of Stem Cells!
In case you missed it…

Singer/actress Julie Andrews was in San Francisco on Monday, along with composer Marvin Hamlisch, for a stem cell research fundraiser, reports AP.

Andrews, best known for her roles in “The Sound of Music” and “Mary Poppins,” and Oscar-winning composer Hamlisch brought along a supporting cast of Broadway performers for “Reach for Tomorrow, Research Today” to raise money for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

The event began with a black-tie dinner at San Francisco’s City Hall; tickets ranged from $1,500 to $10,000.

Stem cell research, 1: music-hating Nazis, 0

The Most Dangerous Words on the Web
A team of researchers, led by Ben Edelman and Hannah Rosenbaum of British firm Site Advisor, tried entering 1,394 popular search terms into the Web’s most popular search engines — Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL and Ask.com.

Here’s their list of the eight most dangerous search terms, based on a scale of risk for malware of some sort or another:

1. Free screensavers
2. Bearshare
3. Screensavers
4. Winmx
5. Limewire
6. Download Yahoo Messenger
7. Limewire
8. Free ringtones

Even if you look for “God,” say Edelman and Rosenbaum, 1.2 percent of the hits you’ll get could cause you trouble. And sponsored links — those paid for by advertisers — tended to be somewhat riskier to visit than “organic” ones — the ones the search engine found on its own.

Via ABC News’ Science & Society blog

Pray It’s a Domestic Flight
Airbus Industries recently proposed a “standing room” concept for flights…

As in: not sitting, but standing through the entire flight…

Like cattle…

To save airlines 5+ inches per row compared to, you know, seats.

There are no regulations barring vertical passengers, provided that they are strapped in during take-off and landing.

And you thought airlines couldn’t make flying more uncomfortable.

Why Is Your Foot Singing?
Apple is teaming up with Nike to cross-promote sneakers and iPods. The footwear and earwear giants soon will be launching a new line of iPod-compatible sneakers, according to Wired.

The Nike+iPod cross promotion encourages runners to buy a new pair of Nike+ sneakers, which have a little pocket for a wireless sensor. The wireless sensor is part of a $30 Nike+iPod Sport Kit from Apple, which is expected to ship within 60 days.

In other iPod news…

Macy’s to Add iPod Vending Machines
We’d like to know when an iPod became an impulse buy; that is to say, a “Should I get the peanut M&Ms or the iPod?” kind of impulse buy.

Macy’s plans to install 180 iPod vending machines nationwide by fall, reports United Press International.

“This brings most-wanted merchandise into our stores in a unique new way,” chief executive Terry J. Lundgren announced at the annual meeting.

Macy’s has signed an agreement with Zoom Systems, an iPod vending machine company in San Francisco, to supply the machines, called Zoom @ Macy’s.

Todd Jones, a retail analyst at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, said the price of iPods could make that area of Macy’s one of the most profitable, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

That’s assuming a lot of people choose to drop $69-$399 for the MP3 player in lieu of $1 for a candy bar.

Disco’nauts In Space
Astronauts may soon wear goggles that simulate strobe lighting to avoid motion sickness, says New Scientist. Basically, the goggles work by simulating strobe-lighting effects, which have been proven to reduce motion sickness by freezing images on the retina.

The goggles, designed by researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Wyle Laboratories in Houston, Texas, include LCD “shutters” that switch rapidly from clear to dark, providing four discrete images per second. This helps to [minimize] the disturbing mismatch between the information from the eyes and the balance information from the inner ears caused by the motion of the spacecraft.

The idea is for astronauts to wear the goggles for the early part of their mission, until they get better acclimated to weightlessness. We presume they’ll then be used for, like, disco-themed all-nighters.

Via issue 2553 of New Scientist magazine, 27 May 2006, page 27

Creeping Spider Monkeys?!?!
During a long-term study of spider monkeys in Mexico, Filippo Aureli of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and his colleagues came upon small groups of males traveling deep into the territory of neighboring monkeys. Spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi), according to New Scientist’s latest issue, “usually spend all their time in the trees, so the researchers were amazed to see these males creeping along silently in single file on the ground, looking about them and rarely stopping to feed.”

Creeping spider monkeys? We have to say, we don’t like the sound of this. No, not the slightest bit…

…So here’s some fish playing soccer. (Requires Windows Media Player)
Story

Gas’ll Cost You an Arm and a Leg…So Says the Station’s Sign
A gas station in Manhattan Beach, Calif. last weekend said the price of regular gasoline was — an arm.

The price of mid-grade — a leg.

The price of premium — why, your first born, of course.

Reuters reports that Steve Grossi’s lease on his Shell station was expiring on Monday, so when he ran out of gasoline to sell on Sunday, he put up the tongue-in-cheek sign at the neighborhood station.

Before he ran out of gas, Grossi was selling regular at $3.499 per gallon, then up to $3.699 for premium.

‘Pees On Earth’
According to GovPro (last item), publisher Powerhouse Books (as well as its imprint Rosen Editions) is preparing for the release of photographer Ellen Jong’s “Pees on Earth,” a series of shots of Jong, ahem, urinating in prominent public spots around the world.

According to the publisher: “There’s a sigh of relief on every page of ‘Pees on Earth’.”

Jong is a mainstream “professional” (GovPro’s word) whose “non-urinary work has appeared in Vogue and other publications.” Somehow this is Anna Wintour‘s fault.

But Does the Broccoli Wear a Cape?
A broccoli cross-breeding program is attempting to create longer shelf life to ensure the antioxidants remain potent for longer, according to United Press International.

“Super Broccoli,” according to British researchers at the University of Warwick, is supposed to help people live longer, last longer on store shelves and use much less pesticide and fertilizer. Broccoli is a rich source of antioxidants, which have a number of health properties including defending against cancers, yet the vegetable’s short shelf life means those important antioxidants quickly break down and can lose much of their power before being consumed.

The researchers have identified cross-breeding possibilities that will give broccoli much greater resistance to two of its greatest threats — aphids and the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris — thus prolonging its shelf life.

BBQ Hazards
Tomorrow marks the beginning of barbecue season, and dozens of goofy recipes are circling and claiming to keep the cancer-causing BBQ chemicals at bay.

The American Cancer Society thinks you should pre-cook the meat, maybe by microwaving it first, reports NPR.

Others recommend wrapping a burger in tin foil with a few teaspoons of water before putting it on the grill. (Steamed burgers? **shudder**)

Or, speaking of chicken (See first item.): “Soaking raw chicken in marinade for 10 minutes before you cook it will keep those outer layers moist, and help keep carcinogens from forming, even if it’s cooked directly on the grill.”

Not into marinades? Then use less meat in your recipe. Pretty much anything that dilutes the meat dilutes the carcinogens, as well.

In northern Michigan, reports NPR, a popular butcher mixes ground cherries into his ground round. Scientists say strained blueberries, grapes or plums should be just as protective.

Eh, here at the blog, we’ll stick with the potato salad.

Military’s High-Tech Invisibility ‘Cloaks’
Back in March, DefenseReview reported on the Stealth Technology System (STS) being developed at Advanced American Enterprises (AAE). STS utilizes a form of electro-optical camouflage (referred to also as optical camouflage, adaptive camouflage, active camouflage, chameleonic camouflage, and cloaking technology). Advanced American Enterprises (AAE) AAE uses the tem “invisibility stealth” to describe the tech’s effect, which, according to AAE, renders an object, person or vehicle 85%-100% invisible to the human eye or video camera in the visible spectrum (visible light) as soon as you flip the switch to “on,” even while the cloaked item is moving.

More recently, DefenseReview came back to the topic and pointed out AAE’s additional claim:

STS tech also camouflages/hides whatever it’s covering against NODs/NVDs (Night Observation Devices/Night Vision Devices) and IR detection devices (thermal/IR camouflage), as well. AAE refers to the latter capability as “IR-Stealth”, and they assert that their lab experiments to date show that STS’ IR-Stealth capability even surpasses it’s “Visibility-Stealth” (visual stealth in visible light spectrum) capability. AAE claims that STS works in all weather conditions.

However, the technology does have limitations. AAE literature states that the Stealth Technology System’s minimum effective distance is 20 ft for both Visibility Stealth and IR Stealth. In other words, the observer or detection device has to be at least 20 feet away from the cloaked object.

AAE states that it is willing to conduct a live field demonstration of the STS tech — wherein “a person rises and shoots blanks at observers and camcorder at more than 20 feet way without being spotted by the observers or by the camcorder” — for prospective customers.

Sounds like a funner weekend than sitting at home and watching old CSI reruns.

Cheers.