Medary.com

Item: NASA might try shuttle repair:
NASA managers will decide today if a space walk is necessary to remove filler material observed on the bottom of the space shuttle.

Item: Astronauts repair space station's gyros:
Monday's space walk, in progress at this writing and the second performed by Discovery's crew on this mission, is to replace an attitude control gyroscope on the space station.

Item: A Minnesota woman was severely injured by a bear attack in the woods. She's reported to be in good condition at a Duluth hospital.

Item: Mom fights off cougar with cooler. Hayley Bazille is OK after being attacked by a cougar in British Columbia. Her mom Monique fought off the cat with a cooler containing four bottles of beer.

“I saw that cougar on her and I wasn't the least bit afraid of it,” the Vancouver emergency-room nurse said. “I wasn't afraid of it at all. It's instinctive. Anyone would have done the same thing.”
. . .
Ms. Bazille said she is thankful her daughter is alive and urged parents to keep their children close when in the woods.

Joking, she said she is also thankful that she and her husband make it a habit to bring a cooler of beer to the beach.

Royals totally implode in the Worst Series. Royals need to go 43-14 to finish .500, 25-32 to avoid 100 losses.

Rowling apparently has said that when she started writing the Harry Potter books she didn't realize that she was writing fantasy.

Pratchett, in typical form, replies:

"I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"

Over the long run, my money's on Pratchett. The Potter books are mildly diverting at best. I have all of Pratchett's books on my bookshelves, where they all get re-read every year or so. I sold off the first three Potter books at a garage sale, and I might someday go to the library to check out the newer ones. If you want more and better, read Pratchett's Discworld books.

#10: Sodas cause obesity
#9: Shuttle mission extended
#8: Bush gets a physical
#7: Jimmy Carter Sighting
#6: Devil Rays 7, Royals 3
#5: Air America scandal
#4: Indian monsoons may have killed 1,000
#3: Highway bill
#2: Iraqi constitution writers want delay
#1: Reforming Islam

Specifically, fructose (as in "high-fructose corn syrup") appears to cause more weight gain (in mice) than other sugar sweeteners like glucose, and that weight gain is not explained by calories alone.

All the mice began the study at an average weight of 39 grams. Those consuming the fructose-sweetened water showed significant weight gain over the course of the study, with an average final weight of 48 grams--compared with averages below 44 grams for the other groups--and had about 90 percent more body fat than the mice that consumed water only.

Total caloric intake was lower in the mice that consumed the fructose-sweetened water than in the other groups, except for the control animals provided with water only.

"We were surprised to see that mice actually ate less when exposed to fructose-sweetened beverages, and therefore didn't consume more overall calories," said Dr. Tschöp. "Nevertheless, they gained significantly more body fat within a few weeks."

I'm always astonished that it seems to come as a surprise to most dieticians and physicians that not all calories are the same. There's this little thing called biochemistry. This is the intricate system of chemical reactions which determines how the body processes food. It's driven by enzymes created by the body, and each person's body creates and processes enzymes at slightly different rates (just like everybody has a unique fingerprint). This means that everybody's biochemistry is a bit different. This is why one diet does not fit all. Some diets (i.e. controlled carbohydrate diets) directly address manipulating the body's biochemistry. Others ("portion control" starvation diets and "low-fat" diets) don't.

Since they don't know when they'll be in space again, NASA has decided to extend Discovery's stay in space by one day. Much the same way Snookums and I decided to stay an extra day in Paris a while back.

Related: NASA can't even keep foam on their gigantic Thermos bottle, and they think they can make it to Mars? How about getting out of the way and letting Burt Rutan and private entrepreneurs have a crack at it?

Slow news day. He's healthy.

Tampa Bay wins the Worst Series. Unfortunately for Kansas City, the series has one more game to go, this afternoon in St. Petersburg. Royals need to go 43-15 to finish .500, 25-33 to avoid 100 losses.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter sighted in Birmingham, England. He can't resist attacking his own country - he never can, when a Republican is in the White House.