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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Aug 14, 2014
August 14, 2014
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Electronic cigarettes can cause deadly explosions if the wrong type of charger is used. LiveScience.com says a 62-year-old Englishman died Friday after an incompatible charging device led an e-cigarette to blow up, and cause the explosion of a nearby oxygen tube from an oxygen concentrator. In July, another person in the U-K destroyed part of a house after using the wrong charger, causing a a fire and explosion.
Some former cigarette smokers who have switched to e-cigarettes have chronic lung diseases like emphysema. They rely on oxygen concentrators to help them breathe. E-cigarettes have gained popularity in the last 10 years. People who rely on an oxygen tank are often more at risk for serious injury because of the chance an electrical shortage will ignite air in the tanks. (Bartha)Chocolate, Caffeine, Alcohol:
So you've got your fake ID, you have your guest list: now what kind of drinks are you getting for this totally illegal party you're throwing while your parents are away?
Studies show that underage drinkers are three times more likely to drink a brand of alcohol they saw on TV. The study, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, surveyed a thousand kids between 13 and 20, all of whom had imbibed within the last 30 days. After looking at what the kids had to drink and cross-referencing it with the TV they had watched over the past month, researchers found a significant link between advertising and alcohol consumed.
Lead author CRAIG ROSS says that the study "strengthen[s] the case for a relationship between brand-specific alcohol advertising among underage youth and brand-specific consumption. Youth exposure to alcohol advertising should be reduced." (AB)Shop Talk:
A Canadian radio station is cutting off songs halfway through to cater to the shortening attention span of their listeners.
Top 40 station 90.3 Amp Radio's PAUL KAYE tells CTV Calgary: "We've got so much more choice, we've got less time (and) our attention spans are shorter. We are observing people with their iPods, playing their favorite songs and skipping them before the end because they get bored."
The station used to play about 12 songs an hour, but the new 'QuickHitz' format allows for 24 songs each hour by re-editing the tracks.Off the beaten path:
A guy in England is making a name for himself by singing inside a trash can.
36-year-old CHARLIE CAVEY regularly climbs into a garbage can with his guitar on the streets of Cambridge. When he plays and sings, passersby say they can hear the music but at first they can't tell where it's coming from. Cavey admits, "People throw rubbish into the bin without realizing I'm inside, or they leave coke cans on top of the bin which attracts wasps." The singer says he's practicing for the 6th Annual Cambridge Busking Festival which starts this Friday. (Still) -
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