Dramatic Increase in Diabetes Believed to be Caused by “Icing” Phenomenon

Dramatic Increase in Diabetes Believed to be Caused by “Icing” Phenomenon

By BUNK LAMPOON

New York, NY. — A report last week showed an alarming increase in diabetes among the 20-30 year olds. Doctors are blaming this spike on a new fad called “Icing.”

The Icing tradition has become popular within the past few months. It is a game where if a person is presented with a Smirnoff Ice they must get on one knee and drink the bottle. One can counter being Iced by carrying another Ice with them. If this occurs, the original person who presented the Ice must now drink two.

A few helpless victims have fallen prey to the negative side effects of this twisted fad. One such case is that of Rob Jones. He never carried an ice on him to counter his fratmates love for the game. Because of this he was “Iced” a staggering 27 times in two days.  Rob was found confused, shirtless, and inebriated in a local Wendy’s. He was taken to the local hospital where he was informed of his pre-diabetic condition.

Rob’s fratmate, Tucker Richardson, stated, “it was really funny until his pancreas stopped working.” Rob and has now sworn off Icing as an “evil game,” while Tucker still continues to ice people, but “less intensely.”

Rob’s doctor, Julie Green commented saying that she’s “confused at why people are doing this to one another. They think it’s all fun and games, but the amount of sugar in these drinks is staggering. It’s like drinking four alcohol soaked pixie sticks.”

School officials are now proposing bans on the fad since several of these cases have sprung up around the country. Politicians seem to be taking sides too with an election year coming up. Republicans are refusing to support any legislation banning Icing stating that it is an attack on “traditional values,” while Democratic politicians are outraged and calling for a ban on Icing and a dramatic tax on all of Smirnoff’s products.

Spokespeople from Smirnoff refused to comment, but have been trying to curb the Icing phenomenon since it started becoming popular. For now, the fad continues but doctors are hoping to get ahead of it by labeling it as a public health crisis..

The Like Button

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, check out Facebook’s new feature the like button. This allows you to add a simple feature to your site or blog and then have traffic generated through it. It’s also really cool to see what different people around the internet are viewing. You can check out an overview page here which gives a glimpse at what’s going on in your social network as well as around the web.

Tallest Man on Earth – Review

If you haven’t heard of The Tallest Man on Earth yet, he’s great. His voice is unique and was a bit grating to me at first, but after listening to him for a few weeks, it’s really grown on me. He uses a lot of abstract lyrics and unique tunings in his songs. He’s definitely worth checking out if you like folk music at all, or if you’re looking for something a little unique. I got tickets to the Tallest Man on Earth in a few weeks at the Independent Theater in San Francisco, and I’ll be sure to let all of you know about how the show goes.

Check out his cover of Graceland:

and his takeaway show (The Gardner):

How to Make a Homemade Whey Protein Shake aka How to make Whey Protein

Ever wonder what the nursery rhyme means when Little Miss Muffett is eating her curds and whey? Well, a lot of the hardcore lifters and exercise folks out there should know; they’re drinking copious amounts of it after all their workouts.

The basics behind a protein shake is that they help your muscles heal and grow after you’ve been working out; it also is claimed to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. So, it’s usually a good idea to have this after your workout routine.

Whey protein is actually surprisingly easy to make, a lot cheaper than the stuff you buy in the stores, and the leftover ingredients can be made to make fun things like cheese.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 quart or liter of milk (you can add more or less depending on how much you want to make… just adjust the ratios)
• a saucepan
• vinegar or lemon juice (about 2 tablespoons)
• strainer
• paper towels or a cheese cloth
• Any flavoring or spices you want

1) Get your milk and start to boil it on a medium to low heat. Keep a close eye on it because you don’t want it to get too hot.

2) When you start to notice a bunch of bubbles around the rim of the sauce pan add the vinegar or lemon juice and stir it around. The mixture should separate pretty quickly into curds and whey. If it doesn’t just add a little more vinegar or lemon juice until it does. The curds are the solid looking things and the whey is the liquid.

3) Get a strainer (cover it in paper towels or cheese cloth if you want to keep the curds and make it into cheese). Separate the curds from the whey. Let the whey cool down in the fridge for a while and then add any ingredients. Some suggestions for flavoring: Nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, chocolate… just test it out and see what works for you. The taste might be different for some people if it is, just dilute it with something else like water, or juice.

This is the same stuff you’ll buy in the store except it’s not dehydrated and probably won’t have any weird additives that’ll give you a gorilla back. Enjoy!

*Editors note: According to this blog post, “Whey is the fluid by product of cheese manufacture. It is produced in far greater volume than cheese, the ration of whey to cheese being about 10:1. For numerous reasons, whey is underutilized and not more than half of the United States production used. The rest, amounting to billion of pounds represents a waste disposable problem.

Considering the growing rate of cheese production and the ever-tightening constraints in the disposal of processing plant effluents, the problem of what to do with whey is one of major proportions. Whey comprises about 5% lactose, 2% other milk components and 93% water.”

So, a majority of the liquid is water and 2% of it is probably the proteins you would normally get from a whey protein shake. Still makes an easy drink, but it’s definitely not as strong as the concentrated form you can get at the store. According to Wikipedia (I know, I know…), “whey protein can be simply processed by drying…” There are other more complicated ways as well. Anyone have any ideas on the best way to make a concentrated form of this?

Links, Pictures, and Videos to Brighten your Week.

James Cameron’s Pocahontas… I mean Avatar.

Making College ‘Relevant’

Where the Jobs Will be this Decade?

2009 Darwin Award Winners

Staff resigns when Parker Griffith switches parties

Harsh Justice in China

Adult Learning: How to Train the Aging Brain?

Letters From London: My American Friends

Where are you moving to Joe?

That 1937 Feeling

Dissertations on his Dudeness (for you Big Lebowski Fans)

10 Words you Need to Stop Misspelling

Dolphins should be treated as ‘non-human persons’

World’s Tallest Building Opens Up in Dubai Amid Controversy

What’s changed this decade?

Beautifulpeople.com cuts 5,000 people from their site because they’re too fat.

Airline bomber – security fiasco

New Animation: Learn to Speak Tea Bag

source: http://i.imgur.com/LhROr.jpg

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Links, Pictures, and Videos to Brighten your Monday

The Big Zero

Rain Man Passes Away 😦

17 Body Hacks

Shame on hunters

Protests in Iran spark up Again, several protesters killed.

5 Things you probably didn’t know about mustaches

America with reform vs. America without reform (health, pic)

A still darker Russia.

Harrison Bergeron – Short story by Kurt Vonnegut

If you ever get attacked by a bear…

View from work (pic)

Evolution and Religion; a new take

It’s better to pretend you don’t know anything about computers

Photos captured with great timing

Movies that should die with the decade.

Gravity wells of the solar system (xkcd)

source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2901313378_d48f8e4d57_o.jpg

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source: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4219293984_b3a901ba90_o.jpg

Norad Santa Tracker

Merry Christmas Everyone

Here you can use N.O.R.A.D. to track Santa.

Links, Pictures, and Videos to Brighten your Monday

Metropolis and Mental Life by Georg Simmel (1903) – An interesting essay on the effects a city has on a persons identity and individualism

The Last Question – A Great and interesting short story by Isaac Asimov

A Dangerous Dysfunction – Interesting op-ed by Krugman on lobbyists, health care, and our governments inability to move forward.

Dexter Star Talks about the Season Finale

Building your own bamboo bike

Pretentious Singers Reference Manual

The Fighting Monk

Don’t Let your Mom use Facebook.

Health Care Bill Passes Key Vote.

Morgan Freeman Chain of Command

Paying to Work for Free – On Point’s special on unpaid internships. It also mentions 80 Million Strong For Young American Jobs an NGO that advocates rights for young workers.

The Awful and Astounding Movie Accents of the Decade

Is there an Obama Doctrine?

University Education: Coming to America

Tamils in Canada work for independent homeland in Sri Lanka

source: http://i.imgur.com/uCzTi.jpg

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source: http://cute-n-tiny.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/guinea-pig-outfit-400x270.jpg

The Lost Education of the Wild

The Lost Wild Education of the Wild

Whilst talking to my sister and grandmother, the topic of education came up. But more focused on how a majority of the world’s population is suddenly living in cities and what this means to a person’s experience and outlook. Instead of a person growing up and playing in the woods, they are now playing in parks and neighborhoods. Now these can definitely have their benefits, but it also creates a void with any relationship, knowledge, and experience one can have and make when out in the environment.

Oversensitivity and Lack Thereof

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I believe this creates a lack of knowledge and care that is translated into a persons adult life. Someone who grew up in a city is less likely to be concerned about whether or not rivers are being polluted, or mountains be stripped for coal. These instead become concepts that people here about, but are less likely to act on. They’ll watch and read about these environmental infringements and think it’s wrong, but won’t feel the sense of loss that  someone has when something natural and beautiful that they grew up with is destroyed.

At the same time, I believe the metropolis culture breads a certain oversensitivity, misunderstanding, and fear of the environment. Ask anyone who’s grown up near some woods if they’re scared of coyotes and they’ll probably say no. Ask them again if they’ve caught a frog and they’ll say yes. I can almost guarantee that if you ask someone who grew up in a city these same questions they’ll probably say know and have an overblown reaction to it. Instead of exploring and taking a few risks outdoors people are instead keeping their kids indoors where they play video games and drink soda. Our

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Entertainment centers are suddenly transformed indoors and creates a new environment where risks and exploration are shunned, and we learn primarily from a fear-driven mass media culture. This culture of oversensitivity has been theorized to show an increase in allergies and an increase in more resistant strains of bacteria.

There are initiatives to educate people in cities with the outdoors with books like the Dangerous Book for Boys and and upcoming Dangerous Book for Girls, but it is definitely an uphill battle and one that should be looked closer. I believe it will influence policies and opinions greatly in the future

Obama’s Doctrine – His Nobel Prize Speech

I’m not sure who of you have read, or heard, Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech yet, but it is definitely worth looking at. It lays out a fundamental doctrine to his foreign policy and has drawn praise across party lines for its realism and blunt confrontation to criticism.