Brain Games Don't Make You Smarter

There goes your excuse for playing more of those "intelligent" games. It turns out that you might as well be playing Super Mario Brothers, because those brain games that challenge your cognitive skills do not make you any smarter.

Researchers recruited participants from viewers of the BBC's science show "Bang Goes the Theory." More than 8,600 people aged 18 to 60 were asked to play online brain games designed by the researchers to improve their memory, reasoning and other skills for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week.

They were compared to more than 2,700 people who didn't play any brain games, but spent a similar amount of time surfing the Internet and answering general knowledge questions. All participants were given a sort of I.Q. test before and after the experiment.

Researchers said the people who did the brain training didn't do any better on the test after six weeks than people who had simply been on the Internet. On some sections of the test, the people who surfed the Net scored higher than those playing the games.

So I'll just go back to my silly games.

Zz.

Blackberry Users More Likely To Defect

An interesting survey of mobile phone users.

Conducted by the online market researchers Crowd Science, the survey results show that Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry users are more likely to abandon the brand than iPhone or Android users. When asked of the likelihood of buying a particular brand of cell phone or smartphone if the purchase was made the following day, 39% of BlackBerry owners said they "definitely or probably would" nab an iPhone. And roughly one-third of the participants claimed they'd snatch up an Android phone.

That's kinda prophetic. I'm a Blackberry user (Bold 9700), and while I do love the phone (finally, a 3G connection on T-Mobile!), I think I've outgrown it. About a month ago, I decided to really look at Nexus One. If it weren't for the silly contract on the phone service, I would have switched over to that. So while I didn't participate in this survey (no one called!), it reflects what I would have done.

If RIM doesn't get their act together, they might end up the same way all the big dinosaurs ended up simply by relying on their existing market share.

Zz.

Florida Farmers Destroys Strawberry Crop

Can you believe this? The strawberry farmers in Florida are purposely destroying their crops because it is cheaper than harvesting and selling them.

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=18854240

Now, I can understand about limiting supply and the fact that it'll cost them a lot more for harvesting them than what they can get by selling the crop. But they've used up so much resources to get to this point already! I can't believe they won't even let other people harvest the crop themselves. And it is strange that they're afraid of letting the public come in and pick those strawberries. Strawberry picking is such a common activity out here in the upper midwest. I've never heard of these midwest farmers being afraid of being sued because someone got "injured".

I'm glad that there are already farmers letting the public, especially those who provide food for the poor, pick their own strawberries, for free. I wish I know which farmers are destroying their crop, so that I'll make sure that I never buy anything from them ever again.

Zz.

Clinton Becomes Bush's Hand Wipe

OK, this is too hysterical to pass up, so you can look for yourself in case you missed it.



I'm not a big fan of G.W. Bush, but he has provided some of the most hilarious acts of any politicians since Dan Quayle!

Zz.

Indian Military to Weaponize World's Hottest Chili

... and to think that people do eat this.

The indian military is going to use the bhut jolokia, which is the world's hottest chili pepper, as its latest weapon - they're calling it the chili grenade! :)

The bhut jolokia was accepted by Guinness World Records in 2007 as the world's spiciest chili. It is grown and eaten in India's northeast for its taste, as a cure for stomach troubles and a way to fight the crippling summer heat.

It has more than 1,000,000 Scoville units, the scientific measurement of a chili's spiciness. Classic Tabasco sauce ranges from 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units, while jalapeno peppers measure anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000.

"The chili grenade has been found fit for use after trials in Indian defense laboratories, a fact confirmed by scientists at the Defense Research and Development Organization," Col. R. Kalia, a defense spokesman in the northeastern state of Assam, told The Associated Press.

This would certainly a very "hot" weapon!

Zz.

Phoenix Restaurant

I went to Phoenix Restaurant in Chicago's Chinatown today for dim sum. Bottom line: HIGHLY DISAPPOINTING.

I've been there for dinner before. The food was wonderful, and so was the service. I've never done dim sum there before, and at this point, I never will. It is just not worth it.

First of all, we probably arrived at the wrong time. Got there around 11:30 am, and there's a long wait. Typically, this means that it is good. We certainly had high expectation because the place was recommended by someone. So we didn't mind waiting. After all, it was Sunday, and it is around Noon. A restaurant in Chinatown that isn't packed at that time isn't worth going to. So we got our number, and was told it will be about 40 minutes. Fine. We went walking around Chinatown a bit to pass the time.

When our number was called, we were all excited (and hungry). The restaurant is on the 2nd floor, so we walked up. Guess what? There's ANOTHER waiting area! This makes no sense. If they have called us, shouldn't they have made sure a table is ready? But no, this is like a Disney attraction. There's another waiting/holding area, which is in an even less convenient location than the one downstairs. We, and everyone else in this area felt like we are always in the way of everyone else, especially the staff, that have to go though this area. OK, so far it sucks. But still, if it is this busy, the place must be good, right?

We waiting another 15 minutes before our number was called again and we finally get to sit at our table. This is when things really become disappointing.

The food was SCARCE! There were very few dim sum carts going around! Some of them even missed us because the persons pushing the carts were busy either yapping away or simply didn't look at our table, and we were next to an aisle! But the disappointing part is the very, VERY limited selection of dumplings and offerings. The chicken feet cart came by at least 3 times, but where were the shumai? The shrimp dumplings? I'd be surprised if we saw more than 15 different offerings.

I've been to many dim sums before. The one I like the most is on Broadway near the New Chinatown near Argyle street - Furama. Now THAT'S a place to have dim sum. Again, it is crowded, and sometime you get the cart pusher that can't speak English. But that's never a problem. The selection of dumplings is always plentiful.

What was disappointing about Phoenix was that, I expected more. One would think that with the large crowd and long wait, there's something remarkable about it. Not only did not it fill that expectation, it also produced significantly LESS than what I expected to be the norm for a dim sum place.

I will not go back there for dim sum. It has also soured me a little bit on going back there for regular dinners, even though I had good food and service there last time. The whole experience simply made me want to go back to Furama next week for good dim sum.

Zz.

Stinky Passenger Kicked Off Flight

A passenger on Jazz Air was kicked off the plane for having a really bad body odor.

A man on Jazz Air, a regional airline in Canada that also serves U.S. cities, was reportedly kicked off a plane earlier this month because of his strong body odor.

"People were just mumbling and staring at him," said a woman who sat near the man, according to The Guardian, a newspaper in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where the flight originated on February 6. It was a very uncomfortable situation, she added.

Another passenger described the smell as "brutal."

Just imagine if you have to sit right next to him!

One really has to smell really, really, BAD to get kicked off a plane. I'm surprised he didn't get stopped while going through security! What? We don't have odor detectors? What do you call those damn police dogs? Oh, I get it, those dogs ran the other way when this guy walked through security.

Smart dogs!

Zz.