■ A Georgia college student faked his own kidnapping to avoid telling his parents he was flunking English. After receiving the F grade, Aftab Aslam, 19, texted his parents on behalf of a group of make-believe abductors, warning them not to call police or he would be killed. He camped out for eight days but came home when the weather […]
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There’s something more frightening than the kid-sized vampires, witches, and skeletons who will prowl the streets this Halloween: the paint on their faces.Gov’t officials called out the FDA for its lax regulations regarding face paints, which have been found to contain traces of spooky chemicals. “When it comes to the kind of makeup our kids slather on at Halloween, lead, nickel, and cobalt do […]
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Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world for lots of reasons, including that it gives people a pleasant lift in the morning. New research shows that it also helps their memory. Researchers had 160 people who were not regular coffee drinkers look at pictures of objects; five minutes later they gave them either a placebo or […]
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There is an opioid epidemic in the US which has contributed to the deaths of Americans. Approximately 1.5% of Americans have died from opioid overdoses which is more than the 1% of Americans who died in the Vietnam War. In the late 1990’s pharmaceutical companies assured medical institutions that opioids would not become addictive. So, with this information the medical […]
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A driver who parked his car taking up two parking spaces was treated to a series of very humorous passive-aggressive notes on his windshield. Irked motorists left a series of handwritten notes on the car after it was spotted sprawled across the two family parking spots at supermarket in West Bridgford, Nottingham. Kirk Ward, 28, snapped the shoddy parking and […]
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People tormented by a neverending flow of negative thoughts can greatly benefit from an alternative to expensive psychotherapy or medications: a walk in the woods. Psychologists at Stanford University found that walking outdoors in natural settings can ward off the human tendency to harp on that breakup, layoff, or family problem. The study involved 38 city participants, some of which […]
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A desparate farmer killed himself in public, and India’s politicians do little more than point their fingers. Gajendra Singh, 43, climbed a tree and hanged himself during a rally against the government’s new land acquisition bill. A suicide note said his crop had failed and he could not support his three children. Singh joins “a long list of farmers who […]
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The Commonwealth Fund ranked health care systems in 11 wealthy nations according to criteria such as quality and access. Below, a sampling of the rankings:
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Being rich makes you more likely to lie, cheat, and steal. A series of experiments conducted on volunteers with annual incomes ranging between $16,000 and $150,000 found that the wealthiest were most likely to cheat to win a $50 prize, take candy from children, and pocket extra change given to them by mistake. Drivers of pricier cars were also four […]
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Eddyville, Ky A prison doctor and two other staffers at the Kentucky State Penitentiary have been fired after a mentally disturbed inmate starved himself to death. James Kenneth Embry, 57, who had three years left on a nine-year drug sentence, was found dead in his cell in Eddyville in January. Embry started behaving erratically last spring when he stopped taking […]
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