CNN.com:

gum-chewing students had a 3 percent increase in their standardized math test scores compared with those who did not chew gum. Also, the students who chewed gum had better final grades compared with the non-chompers.

He also reports that teachers anecdotally found that students who chewed gum required fewer breaks, paid better attention and stayed quiet longer than those who did not.

...

Another study adds to a growing body of evidence centering on chewing gum satiety and cravings. Investigators at Louisiana State University took 115 people who regularly chewed gum and fed them lunch. They measured their cravings before and after lunch. They found that those subjects, who chewed gum three times hourly after lunch, ate fewer high-calorie snacks. The chewers also reported decreased feelings of hunger and cravings for sweet foods.

...

The American Dental Association says on its Web site that "chewing sugarless gum for 20 minutes following meals can help prevent tooth decay" and recommends looking for gum with its ADA-approved seal. The saliva produced in the mouth by the physical act of chewing can wash away acids and bacteria, thereby protecting teeth.

Besides beating tooth decay, independent research finds that gum can aid in reducing the symptoms of acid reflux disease. The saliva flow can lead to an antacid effect in the stomach.

I knew I was right to love gum.

Many years ago, someone gave me a bunch of MP3s - a whole lot of stuff I didn't care for, some things I had a mild interest in, a little I'd never heard before, etc.. One of the latter was a bunch of songs from The Beta Band. The song titles are all "Track 01 Beta Band", "Track 02 Beta Band", "Track 03 Beta Band", etc.. I assume whoever ripped the songs was too lazy to correct the file names with the real song titles.

My only previous exposure to the Beta Band was that little reference they got in High Fidelity. But, I put those songs on my iPod and left them there. They pop up on shuffle from time to time but I've always been basically ambivalent towards them. I like them enough that they've survived countless playlist prunings and reworkings, but I've never gone home and played those songs deliberately.

Then, yesterday, as if a switch was flipped, I realized that I really like the Beta Band. I played those songs while I was cooking dinner and was all like "Woahhh. Awesome duuudde! Why didn't I do this three years ago?"

But, I can only identify two or three of the songs I have, and they're not from the same BB record. So now I'm going to have to buy all of their records.

Andrew Bird on "vitriolic" comments on his pieces at the "Measure For Measure" blog:

My first response to some of the comments was “Wow, that’s cold,” then, “Oh, but you haven’t been listening” — and then, “Really, you speak as if I have some choice over what I write and if I have some obligation to address the things you or the average American might care about.”

There’s a whole industry devoted to writing songs pitched toward a certain demographic. All I can do is write about what I care about and hope you might relate. And if not, here are some sweet melodies. This is my life’s work and I’ve been immersed in it so long that I can’t really extract one from the other. So I kept envisioning one of those bumper stickers on the back of a semi-trailer that says, “How’s my driving? Call…” I kept thinking, “How’s my living?” as if I were taking suggestions.

MSNBC headline:

Police probe possible poisoning of polo horses

Why not finish the job make it "Police probe possible poisoning of polo ponies" ? Or, even better, "Police probe possible polo pony poisonings" ? Or, the topper "Police probe possible poisonings of Venezuelan, Victor Vargas', prize polo ponies" !

I mean, if you're going to alliterate, why not go all the way ?

Tickle The Slow Loris

The Guardian does not surprise me:

The Highlands of Scotland, though, lie thousands of miles to the west: the home of the best single malt whisky in the world is Yoichi, until last year a little known town on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido. Its rise to the pinnacle of the centuries-old tradition of turning barley into "the water of life" was enough to make any proud Scotsman weep into his tumbler of Glenfiddich.

Not only did Nikka's Yoichi 1987 vintage beat dozens of other labels to claim the single malt title at last year's world whisky awards - in Glasgow of all places - its rival distiller, Suntory, won the best blended whisky award with its 30-year-old Hibiki.

I enjoyed quite a bit of Japanese single-malt when we were there a few years ago. It was easily equal to any of the Scotches I've had - and I was careful to have plenty of each, for comparison purposes, knowing I'd write this post, three years later.

I remember spending a lot of time searching Japanese stores for a bottle of a specific Yamazaki that I had at one hotel bar. Since we couldn't speak Japanese, we couldn't ask shopkeepers for it. So I was trying to find it based on how I remembered the label - oh, it's got some big characters here, and it's off-white and there's some smaller text down the left side, etc.. Of course I never found it. We did bring back a couple of bottles of other Suntorys that I grabbed at the duty-free shop on our way home, but they disappeared (into my liver) quickly. I've never seen any of it in the States - at least not in NC. (oh look, this might be it, right here on the NC ABC special order list... seems unlikely, but i'll try it!)

How To Make A Baby