Tag Archives: UK

I would rather have Cold Feet

by funklord

When you get old, you start to realize that cool things are happening and you are not a part of them.  In this case, it is literal.  In the UK, it is a common practice to use liquid Nitrogen to freeze glasses, etc. in bars.  For those of you who don’t know, liquid Nitrogen is really, really, really, really REALLY cold.  I won’t bore you with details (-197 degrees Celsius), but practically it is used to remove warts, and to cryogenicly preserve body parts (like heads and such).  In a very ironic twist, an 18 year old drank some in a mixed drink, which “burned” holes in the lining.  She was rushed to the hospital and had her stomach removed!

No word on whether the stomach was stored for science.

Willy Wonka’s NWO

by funklord

In a weird mash-up of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and 1984, Nestle has hidden 6 GPS trackers in various UK candy bars.  The contest is just like the movie, if you find the “Golden Ticket” IE tracking devices, you win 10K pounds.  The trick is that the company will know EXACTLY when you open it, and where you are when you win.  What fun is that?  I say build a factory where the six kids (it has to be kids) battle each other for factory dominance.  All the while some unknown, all powerful force is watching them (like the Oompa Loompas but not nearly as cute or musical).  All but one are mangled in strangely comical accidents, and the victor becomes CEO of Nestle. Normally I am pretty cynical, but I like this idea.

Where is Slugworth when you need him?

Saudi Arabian SARS in Denmark

by funklord

A family of 4 visited Saudi Arabia and flew back to Denmark, only to find out they have a deadly new strain of the SARS virus.  Despite what the Saudi government says (see yesterday’s article), this is in fact dangerous, and it is in the same viral family as SARS, even though it also attacks the kidneys.  A man who contracted the virus in Qatar was flown to the UK, where they diagnosed his condition as SARS.

That means I have to officially update the outbreak leader board:

1.  Pertussis – “Whooping Cough”
2.  Fatal rash caused by staph infection
3.  “Flesh Eating Bacteria”, also a staph infection
4.  The Bubonic Plague
5.  Ebola
6.  Capnocytophaga – Woman lost hands and feet from dog saliva
7.  Untreatable Gonorrhea
8.  Kid died from a brain destroying ameoba, found in a lake
9.  West Nile Virus
10.  Hantavirus
11.  Rabies
12.  Typhus
13.  Legionnaires Disease
14.  New Jersey Superbug
15.  Popcorn Lung
16.  Saudi Arabian SARS