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MANILA, Philippines – Here are Life & Style stories you might have missed from the week of January 14 to 20.
Would you take the train without pants? Hundreds of Mexicans would — and did
On January 13, hundreds of people in Mexico took the subway — without pants. They were all participants in the “No Pants Subway Ride” prank observed in dozens of places all over the world, according to the website of Improv Everywhere, the New York-based group that spearheaded the event.
Launched in 2002, the prank is celebrated every year and has spread to over 60 cities including Bangkok, Jerusalem, London, Sofia, Stockholm, New York, and Washington.
The prank requires of participants only two things: strip down to your bottom underwear (tops are kept on at all times) and keep “a straight face about it.”
Some participants in the Mexican capital chose to brighten things up by wearing colorful underwear and socks and donning sunglasses.
If the very first “pants-less” subway ride involved only 7 participants, recent pranks have attracted nearly 4,000 participants in New York and other places.
Improv Everywhere founder Charlie Todd called the event a “celebration of silliness” with the simple goal of making people laugh or smile.
Google lets US students “doodle” their way to a college scholarship
There’s no way more fun to win a college scholarship than this. On January 14, Google launched its 6th annual “Google 4 Doodle” contest in which students from kindergarten to 12th grade compete to create the best “doodle,” recreations of the Google logo found on the search page.
Read more about doodles and Google’s team of doodle artists here: The secret life of Google doodles
The winning doodle will be displayed at Google.com and its creator will receive US$30,000 in college scholarship money. Their school will get a US$50,000 technology grant.
Participants will create doodles based on the theme “my best day ever.” This year’s panel of judges include puppeteer and Jim Henson company chairman Brian Henson, journalist Katie Couric, and graphic novel and illustrator Kabu Kibuishi.
Last year, Google received more than 114,000 doodles. A 7-year-old boy bagged first prize with his pirate-themed artwork.
Can Google hold a Philippine edition, too?
Fast foods may cause child asthma
Here’s another reason why fast food is bad for kids.
Results of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) showed that 3 or more weekly servings of fast food is associated with a 39% increase in the risk of severe asthma among 13- to 14-year-olds.
For 6- to 7-year-olds, the risk increases by 27%.
Fast food is the only food type researchers could clearly link with asthma severity.
The research shed a positive light on eating fruit. Children that ate 3 or more weekly portions of fruit experienced an 11 to 14% reduction in asthma severity.
But the study noted that further inquiry is needed because associating fast food consumption with increased asthma severity doesn’t prove that the former causes the latter.
What has been proven is that saturated and “trans” fatty acids, often found in fast food, weaken the immune system by triggering inflammation.
Chimpanzee birth to be live-streamed for the first time
The online world will witness, for the first time, the birth of a baby chimpanzee.
The Jane Goodall Institute announced on Tuesday, January 15, that it will live-stream the labor of Nina, a 9-year-old chimp rescued from animal meat hunters in South Sudan. Viewers can already watch the live-stream at http://www.wildearth.tv/ which shows the mother-to-be scratching herself on her bed of bamboo shreds and playing with a bright pink ball.
Occasionally, Nina jumps on perches around the room, moving in and out of the screen.
Netizens who wish to watch the momentous event should regularly check the live-stream because Nina is expected to give birth in the next few days.
Plane carrying Missoni scion goes missing
On January 4, a plane carrying Vittorio Missoni, scion of the family behind the Missoni fashion label, disappeared off the coast of Venezuela. The small plane had 5 more passengers, including the 72-year-old Venezuelan pilot who, according to Italy’s air safety agency, was not even authorized to fly.
In an announcement last Tuesday, January 15, the agency said, “The pilot’s psychophysical certificate had expired on November 30 2012.” They added that the Transaereo 5047 company which owns the plane “was not certified as a flight operator.”
The rest of the passengers were the co-pilot, Vittorio’s wife Maurizia and another Italian couple.
The plane went missing on a flight from the Los Roques islands to Caracas. The location of the crash has been identified but the areas depth of 2,000 meters made it “too deep for many available instruments,” according to the Italian embassy in Caracas.
To do the job, a specialized oceanographic ship from Louisiana has been called in.
Strangely, a similar disappearance took place exactly 5 years ago on January 4, 2008. The plane, carrying 14 people, went missing in the same area. No trace of the plane or passengers has ever been found.
Vittorio serves as Missoni’s marketing director. His siblings Luca and Angela are the company’s technical director and designer, respectively. – Rappler.com
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