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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Sep 11, 2012
September 11, 2012
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Checking the Food Chain:
It took a yardstick to measure the long worm that turned up in a Chinese man's yard. LI ZHIWEI found a 19-inch earthworm in a gutter near his Southwest China home. At first look, he thought it was a snake, but after careful examination realized it was a huge earthworm.
According to the Examiner, scientists hope to study the invertebrate to learn how it grew to such a massive size. It's unusual to find a worm that size in urban Chinese environments.
FYI: Zhiwei says he won't be using his silmy find as fishing bait. Instead he plans to keep it as a pet. (Page)Health and Medical Briefs:
Another reason not to get high: Marijuana use has been linked to testicular cancer.
A study of 455 Californian men who had smoked pot found that those who smoked were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with testicular germ cell tumors. Those tumors are the most common form of testicular cancer in men younger than 35.
VICTORIA CORTESSIS, the author of the study and an assistant professor of preventative medicine, knew that testicular cancer was on the rise, and asked "What is it that young men are doing more frequently that could account for the increased risk?"
Cortessis and her colleagues interviewed 163 men diagnosed with testicular cancer and 292 healthy men of the same age, and found that those who smoked marijuana had double the risk of those who didn't. Epidemologist STEPHEN SCHWARTZ said, "We now have three studies connecting marijuana use to testicular cancer, and no studies that contradict them."
The National Cancer Institute estimates more than 85-hundred men will be diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2012.
Editor's note: I was going to read the full study, but then I got high. (Insert more "but then I got high" jokes as you please. --AB)Grace notes from Vinny Marino:
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE may buy himself a basketball team. TMZ says he'll be part of a group of investors led by billionaire Robert Pera to be the new owners of the Memphis Grizzlies. Original owner Michael Heisley agreed to sell the team to Pera in June for 350-million dollars. The NBA has not signed off on the deal yet. Justin is from Memphis so it makes sense for him to want a piece of a hometown team. (Marino)
The Reel Deal:
Lionsgate Pictures says they'll be doing marathon screenings of the "Twilight" series across the country to lead up to the November 16th release of the final film, "Breaking Dawn --Part 2." That film will open at most theatres with a midnight showing.
Daily Variety says people attending the marathon will also receive a commemorative lanyard, and be able to see extra "Twilight" material between screenings.
Editor's note: think of the "Extra" features you get on DVDs.Equal time:
General Motors and the Chevrolet Volt hybrid are back in the political tug-of -war again. GM --rescued by the OBAMA administration-- was in damage control mode yesterday, pushing back on a Reuters report that the company may have lost up to $49-thousand dollars on every Volt sold to date.
Reuters says it's interviewed industry experts who peg the cost to build each Volt at somewhere between $75,000-and-$88,000-dollars. But many experts also say that the first high-tech anything costs a ton, with subsequent editions coming in a far cheaper. (Pacelli) -
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