George Washington was a devout beer lover
Washington: President George Washington was a devout beer lover, it has been revealed. Mark Will-Weber, author of ‘Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt: The Complete History of Presidential Drinking,’ said that America’s first president loved a particular Philadelphia-based beverage called “Porter Beer,” Fox News reported.
Will-Weber added that Washington used to mix molasses with it, which may explain why Washington’s teeth were not that great, but it was just enough sweetness and thickness to add to the authentic porter which they used to get from Britain before the war and then they learned to brew their own. (ANI)
People shun swimming due to high entry fee
London: Faced with higher prices, more people are likely to drop swimming than gym workouts, finds a fascinating study.
Although experts agree that swimming is a great way of staying fit and healthy at any age, it is the individual activity that most people would drop if they faced higher prices, the findings showed.
“Among those surveyed there was a very clear understanding that physical activity is a means of getting healthy, losing weight and having fun,” said Julia Fox-Rushby from Brunel University London.
“But, we have shown for the first time in England, that engaging in physical activity costs you real money and people make a trade-off between whether to go to a leisure centre and how much it would cost them,” she pointed out.
The study included interviews with 1,683 people, 83 percent of whom took part in physical activity in some form.
It found that people facing 10 percent higher entry fees to swimming pools were 29 percent less active, once other variations such as their age and differences in income were taken into account.
A similar 10 percent higher price of a gym workout would hardly dent enthusiasm, with participation dropping by just three percent. In the case of brisk walking, the expected drop would be even less at two percent.
The study suggests that a policy of subsidising an individual activity such as swimming could be more effective than a blanket implementation on all forms of physical activity. (IANS)
Needles removed from abused baby’s body in China
Beijing: Needles allegedly inserted into the body of an 11-month-old baby, by her abusive aunt were surgically removed.
Doctors at the Beijing Children’s Hospital said Tuesday Fan Zixuan was in good condition and was likely to recover within a week, Xinhua reported.
Fan from China’s Shandong province was found to have 12 syringe and sewing needles inside her body, piercing her liver, kidney and other organs.
Her aunt, who police suspected of the crime, committed suicide by consuming poison last Friday.
Earlier this year, Zhang Qihui, a woman from China’s Hubei province, was detained on suspicion of chopping the ears off her six-year-old nephew. (ANI)
Paleolithic Age site found in China
Beijing: Chinese archaeologists have discovered a large paleolithic site that dates back 10,000-30,000 years in China’s Heilongjiang province, Xinhua reported Wednesday.
The ruins, covering more than 40,000 square metres, were found in a mountainous area in Kangle village, Muleng city, said Ni Chunye, director of the city’s administration of cultural heritage. The site was identified as belonging to the Old Stone Age.
A total of 136 stone tools in various shapes were collected from the surface of the site. The findings and geological features indicated the site belongs to the Upper Paleolithic period, Ni said.
Police have cordoned off the site to protect it. (IANS)
Asians lead in shunning PCs for smartphones
Singapore: When it comes to surfing the internet on smartphones, Asians are way ahead than their Western counterparts, said a survey, adding that the trend has put the continent on top in replacing personal computers with smartphones.
According to a latest survey by Google and market research firm TNS, countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and South Korea lead the world in using smartphones to access the internet.
While Singapore topped the smartphone use for internet at 85 percent – up from 72 percent last year – South Korea came second at 80 percent – up from 70 percent last year, revealed the Consumer Barometer Survey that sampled 150,000 interviewees across 56 countries.
Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong reached 50 percent smartphone use.
“The surprising element to me is how fast things have moved in terms of penetration,” Julian Persaud, managing director, Google South-east Asia, was quoted as saying by Campaign Asia-Pacific.
According to the survey, widespread smartphone ownership is changing consumer behaviour.
People are now searching for things such as car insurance, movie tickets, flights and hotels – far ahead of the US in some markets, the findings noted. (IANS)
Suspicious cyber activity detected on White House network
Washington: The White House has detected suspicious cyber activity on one of its computer systems in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) where US President Barrack Obama’s most important officials work.
“In the course of assessing recent threats we identified activity of concern on the unclassified EOP network,” a White House official told Efe news agency on condition of anonymity.
The EOP receives cyber alert threats on a daily basis and each of them is taken very seriously during the regular security evaluations that take place, he added.
“In this case we took immediate measures to evaluate and mitigate the activity,” the official said.
The response to the suspicious activity resulted in outages and loss of internet connectivity on the affected network. No computer or system at the office was damaged.
However, there was no information immediately available regarding when the activity occurred nor who may have been responsible. (IANS)