HOME |
RSS | 
You may have heard of the longevity of people who live on Okinawa or Sardinia. These areas of the globe where locals are reknowned for living long are collectively named ‘blue zones.’
Now researcher Dan Buettner and his team have discovered a new blue zone, the tiny Greek island called Icaria located in the North Aegean Sea. 1 in 3 citizens of Icaria live to the age of 90, the highest such concentration in the world. They also have a 20 percent lower rate of cancer, 50 percent lower rate of heart disease, and no dementia.
Our life spans are about 20 percent dictated by our genes, Buettner says. The rest is lifestyle. People in Icaria live in mountain villages that necessitate activity every day. “They have gardens,” he says, for example. “If they go to church, if they go to their friends’ house — it always occasions a small walk. But that ends up burning much more calories than going to a gym for 20 minutes a day.”
“They also have a diet that’s very interesting,” Buettner continues. “It’s very high in olive oil; it’s very high in fruits and vegetables.” It’s also very high in greens; about 150 kinds of veggies grow wild on the island. “These greens have somewhere around 10 times the level of antioxidants in red wine.”
And though they live on an island, Icarians don’t eat much fish. Buettner says pirates pushed the culture up in the highlands and villagers couldn’t depend on the sea as much as might be expected.
Particularly unusual to this new blue zone are the villagers’ drinking habits. Tea drinking, that is. Icarians drink herbal teas every day, morning and night, Buettner says. This seems to be one of their secrets to longer living
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
Since today is Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you), perhaps it’s only fitting that two of the movie series’ best fans are getting married … in full costume, of course!
The guests were told: ‘Members of the Galactic Empire, Duncan and Sammi met a long time ago, in a place far, far away. The force is strong with these two.
‘If you do not underestimate the power of marriage then together you can rule your house as husband and wife.’
Duncan and Sammi exchanged their own unique vows, using their favourite moments from Lucas’s timeless movies.
One of Duncan’s vows to Sammi said: ‘I promise to protect you from carbon freezing and promise to protect you from the Dark Side, through hyperspace and into the far reaches of the galaxy.’
Previously on Neatorama:
- Best Star Wars Wedding Ever: I Declare You Mon Calamari and Wife
- Honey, Do You Want a Star Trek or Star Wars Wedding?
Legend has it that Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear after a falling out with Paul Gauguin. But a new study by German art historians Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans claimed that it was actually the result of Gauguin’s sword attack – not van Gogh’s self-mutilation:
Gauguin, an excellent fencer, was planning to leave Van Gogh’s "Yellow House" in Arles, southwestern France, after an unhappy stay.
He had walked out of the house with his baggage and his trusty épée in hand, but was followed by the troubled Van Gogh, who had earlier thrown a glass at him.
As the pair approached a bordello, their row intensified, and Gauguin cut off Van Gogh’s left earlobe with his sword – either in anger or self-defence.
He then threw the weapon in the Rhône. Van Gogh delivered the ear to the prostitute and staggered home, where police discovered him the following day, the new account claims.
Gauguin had undoubtedly been staying with Van Gogh, but most experts think he had disappeared before the ear incident.
Although the historians provide no "smoking gun" to back up their claims, they argue theirs is the most logical interpretation, and explains why in his final recorded words to Gauguin, Van Gogh writes: "You are quiet, I will be, too".
In 1988, artist James Sanborn was commissioned to create an outdoor sculpture to adorn the CIA’s facility in Langley, Virginia. So he created Kryptos, a 10-foot high scroll of copper filled with letters. Its 865 characters contain, the artist asserts, a coded message. But even the best CIA cryptologists have been unable to crack all of it. One of the four sections remains a complete mystery. At the link, you can read about Sanborn’s extensive study of cryptology while planning the sculpture and the passion that it has inspired among devoted codebreakers.
Link via Instapundit
When Pooja Chopra was an infant, her father ordered her mother Neera to kill her. Instead, Neera left her home and husband with her two daughters and never looked back. The baby girl, who might have never seen her first birthday, won the Miss India World pageant last month.
“When my mum walked out on my dad, she said to him, ‘One day this girl will make me proud’. All my life I’ve wanted my mum to be proud of the decision that she chose me,” Pooja said last week.
Neera has been thrust into the limelight by her daughter’s success. She has been dubbed Mother India and has already been approached by one Bollywood director who wants to film her story.
Pooja Chopra’s father remarried and never supported his first two daughters. Chopra has become a symbol of the campaign to end the preference for boys over girls in India. Link -via Arbroath
Ron Gordon, the California teacher who founded and promoted Square Root Day reminds us that Thursday is another math holiday, Odd Day! The calendar date (as written by people in the US) will be 5-7-9, which only happens once a century. Odd Days happen six times a century. It’s a day to take the opportunity to do something odd. In celebration, there’s another contest, with $579 up for prizes. Get all the details at the Odd Day website. Link -Thanks, Ron!
36 hours after drowning, wolf spiders were able to revive themselves and suffered no ill effects, scientists discovered recently.
A study at the University of Rennes in France found that wolf spiders died after 24 to 36 hours of being immersed in water. But when the scientists came back to weigh the dead spiders, they found them alive again. Apparently wolf spiders can put themselves into comas and shut down the metabolic processes that do not require air. Arachnologist Julien Pétillon says,
“There could be many other species that could this this that we do not know of yet.”
(image credit: Sonia Dourlot )
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
It is that time of year again and as the aphid population swells, so will that of the ladybug. The insect itself has a fairly strange life cycle and here it is for you in all its wonderful gory, sorry, glory.
The male has an insect penis which is called an aedeagus. A “lock and key” fit means that if he gets it wrong and tries to mate with another species of ladybug, he will not get to third base! Fertilization, as you can see, is internal, which surprises many people. It doesn’t exactly start with a kiss, but with a little Barry White in the background this could almost be classed as romantic! Almost, but not quite!
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.
A variation on the rap drive-thru. Done for viral advertising purposes but still enjoyable. I think Neatorama ran a less-slick version of this long ago, but I can’t find it.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
So – I posted Snowball the parrot, the subject of a very scientific experiment to see if birds can dance. But Snowball might well just have two left claws when compared to a bird named Frosty.
Here’s a clip of Frosty the parrot shaking its tail feather to Ray Charles and the Blues Brothers’ Twist It (Shake Your Tail Feather): Link [embedded YouTube clip, video by Karla K. Larsson)
Which Disney princess are you? Just answer these 10 probing (kidding!) questions over at Brainfall to find out.
Apparently, I’m Pocahontas:
You defy convention and sometimes do what is considered taboo. Unfortunately, others do not always appreciate your differences, so it’s good that you are so strong-willed. You are loyal and you believe in fate. Your true love will find you one day.
Link – via The Zeray Gazette (Maybe they’ll do villains next, now that will be fun!)
So, which Disney Princess are you?
In this short and sweet Serbian video clip, cops stopped a grandpa and administered a breathalyzer test … they didn’t even have to turn the thing on to bust him for drinking.
See what happened: Link [embedded YouTube clip]
