Minor League Manager Loses It

Once the umpire called Roger Clemens' kid safe, a minor league manager threw a major league tantrum that would have made Lou Piniella, Earl Weaver and Tommy Lasorda proud.

It also cost Asheville Tourists manager Joe Mikulik a seven-day suspension and $1,000 fine.

Mikulik, who used to write "Never Surrender" on his wristbands when he played in the minors, put on a throwing, kicking and screaming show Sunday that was still the talk of baseball a day later.

The South Atlantic League also spent a lot of time talking about his antics and penalized him Monday night.

Great little video clip here

Take the 2007 Microsoft Office Release For a Test Drive!

Microsoft has unveiled an online test drive of Office 2007 that requires no major downloads or installs. Here's your chance to check it out without installing it.

The real-time test drive does not require product installation or download—it's the fastest way to try out 2007 Microsoft Office system programs. In just minutes you can start exploring Microsoft Office through your Web browser on your own, or follow the step-by-step tutorials to experience all of its useful features.

Away You Go!

Virtue Regretted More than Vice

The older we get, the more we regret not having more fun, says new study in the September issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. Researchers from Columbia University show that choosing work over play leads to regrets about having missed out on the pleasures of life. Over time, these regrets intensify, while guilt about indulging tends to fade.

"While yielding to temptation can certainly be harmful, this article argues that overcontrol and excessive farsightedness ('hyperopia') can also have negative long-term consequences," say Ran Kivetz and Anat Keinan.

As with many mid-life (and quarter-life) crises, we tend to experience especially strong regret if pleasure is constantly delayed. According to the study – one of the first to compare indulgence regret to self-control regret – the greater temporal perspective gleaned with age helps us let go of guilt for, say, transgressions at a long-ago spring break. Instead, we begin to experience wistful feelings for delayed pleasures – for not taking that around-the-world trip sooner or for constantly dieting and not eating dessert.

"In the short run, vice is regretted more than virtue, but in the long run virtue is regretted more," conclude the authors. "Consumers sometimes suffer from excessive farsightedness and future-biased preferences, consistently delaying pleasure and overweighing necessity and virtue in local decisions."

From University of Chicago Press Journals

Return Of The Crazy Woman

Remember the clip where from Hannity & Colmes interviewed a crazy lady from the Westborough Baptist Church? Well she's back on Fox again and brings the crazy like never before. I think the Fox reporter does a great job of berating this loon.

As seen on Break.com

Music Enhance Intelligence, Mental Health and Immune System

A recent volume of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences takes a closer look at how music evolved and how we respond to it. Contributors to the volume believe that animals such as birds, dolphins and whales make sounds analogous to music out of a desire to imitate each other. This ability to learn and imitate sounds is a trait necessary to acquire language and scientists feel that many of the sounds animals make may be precursors to human music.

Another study in the volume looks at whether music training can make individuals smarter. Scientists found more grey matter in the auditory cortex of the right hemisphere in musicians compared to nonmusicians. They feel these differences are probably not genetic, but instead due to use and practice.

Listening to classical music, particularly Mozart, has recently been thought to enhance performance on cognitive tests. Contributors to this volume take a closer look at this assertion and their findings indicate that listening to any music that is personally enjoyable has positive effects on cognition. In addition, the use of music to enhance memory is explored and research suggests that musical recitation enhances the coding of information by activating neural networks in a more united and thus more optimal fashion.

Other studies in this volume look at music's positive effects on health and immunity, how music is processed in the brain, the interplay between language and music, and the relationship between our emotions and music.

These Are Not The Witnesses You Are Looking For

The neurological basis for poor witness statements and hallucinations has been found by scientists at UCL (University College London). In over a fifth of cases, people wrongly remembered whether they actually witnessed an event or just imagined it, according to a paper published in NeuroImage this week.

"Left Behind" Game Does Indeed Leave Crap Behind

I mention back in May that the Schlock Fiction "Left Behind" Series Is Now A Bigoted Video Game IT turns out now that video game has just revealed an even darker secret: it contains software to broadcast advertisements and track viewing information.

It's cutting-edge Israeli technology -- a piece of software inserted directly into Left Behind: Eternal Forces, software that cannot be blocked or removed -- and without your knowledge or permission, it tracks you. This in-game ad software records how often you play the video game, at what time of day and for how long, what game play areas you visit (like Times Square, Soho, Chinatown, or the United Nations Building), which video ads and product placements you view, where your computer is located geographically, and who you are demographically. It monitors your choices and behavior, collates data, and reports back in real-time to... whom? For what purposes? Do you know? More Info

Fish Oil 'Calms Children Better than Ritalin'

A daily dose of fish oil is better at treating hyperactivity than Ritalin - the 'chemical cosh' linked to the deaths of children, stunning research has revealed.

Just six capsules a day of the naturally-occurring oil can vastly improve children's behaviour without any of the side-effects of Ritalin and related drugs.

The controversial drugs can cause heart problems, dizziness and insomnia and have been blamed for the deaths of nine children in the UK and dozens more in the US. The new study provides a natural alternative - and gives fresh hope to the parents of the 30,000 British children prescribed Ritalin and similar medicines such as Concerta.

Last night, experts accused doctors of being too quick to boost the coffers of large drug companies by writing out prescriptions - and urged parents to look into the value of improving their child's diet.

Psychiatrist Dr Sami Timimi (CORR) said: 'It stands to reason that using a natural supplement that has few dangers or side-effects must be preferable to using drugs which have considerable dangers associated with them.

'This is a non-toxic way of doing something that might make a difference.' Full Story

Happy Morning!

Jiffy Lube Rips Customers Off

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Part 2



Part 3