Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Idiots At Large

Sorry I skipped December. I was hibernating with my supply of sweet, sweet honey. Just wanted ya'll to check out this interesting article. It shows how out of touch the masses are (not going to say Midwestern Americans because I know them and love them on a non-macro level), and how afraid they are of the scare of the day. I know anyone who has seen "Bowling for Columbine" will think I'm just spouting recycled left-wing rhetoric, but hear me out. Just because annoying people who think they know what they are talking about because they have seen one movie that says people are just frightened into submission, doesn't mean it's not true. With that I give you Idiots at Large:


Sauerkraut sales soar after bird flu report
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
By CAROLINA BOLADO
HERALD NEWS

After scientists at Seoul National University in South Korea discovered that one type of fermented cabbage helped cure infected chickens of the avian flu, Americans flocked to grocery stores and picked up this country's favorite version of fermented cabbage: sauerkraut.

According to Chris Smith, vice president of marketing for Frank's Sauerkraut, sales have skyrocketed for several weeks, spiking as high as 850 percent at one Midwestern store. Sales in the Twin Cities area were up, on average, 77 percent.

"We saw movement up a little bit, and we were curious to see what was causing it," Smith said.

The company attributed the sharp increase to a report on a local television station in Minneapolis about the South Korean researcher Professor Kang Sa-ouk, whose team found that an extract of kimchi – a popular Korean pickle made of fermented cabbage with radishes, garlic, ginger and peppers – helped infected chickens recover from the flu. Scientists are experimenting on the theory that the culture fluid produced during the fermentation process has antibacterial qualities. Sauerkraut, which is sliced cabbage fermented with salt for at least a month, produces the same fluid.

"We're just amazed at the reaction of people when they hear about the Korean study," Smith said. "They're scared of this pandemic, so they're looking for anything to potentially protect themselves."

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