The 1000 Day Holiday

1000 Day Holiday – Montage! from Craig on Vimeo.

I am proud to announce the winners of the Worst Beers in the World, as sampled over the course of 1000 days.

354+ Beers were entered, some disqualified as if you can’t remember the name of them the next day its possible the beer is bad. (The Hangover Test).

3rd Place

Pineapple Beer. Not so good.

China produces a lot in this world. From crappy plastic toys covered in lead, to the very fine electronics you are likely sitting in front of right now.

Beer is no exception. These Pineapple beers are very low in alcohol, in fact the only reason they are included is because of the name.

Sweet yet disturbing, trying to describe the flavour development is difficult. Theres no hint of hops, maltyness or anything at all beer related.

2nd Place

Malawi’s Shake Shake was a strong contender for the worst beer awards. It had been holding 1st place since mid 2006.

Made from ground maize, milk products and yes you actually shake it to mix all the sediment up before drinking it. Its a bit of a mouthful.

Yet it also has some positive points.

Its nutritious and filling. Just think of alcoholic very runny porridge.

Yet still gets you drunk at lunchtime on a Monday with all the other locals that are loving the heavily distorted music pumping from the stereo. 1 Litre for $0.50 and think of all the nutritional benefits.

1st Place

If I told you to imagine a beer can that looks innocuous enough. The only hint trouble may be ahead is that its Lemon flavoured. You think how bad can it be?

Worst Beer in the World!

I can honestly say, I have never drunk less of a beer. Ever.

The first developing “Taste” is similar to what taking a few tablespoons of liquid salt into your mouth feels like.  There’s an instant gag reflex, and it really doesn’t provide that nice initial refreshing tingle that beer should.

The second stage of flavour comes in the form of “Lime” which tastes like lemon floor detergent smells.

I encouraged everyone in the hostel to sample it. Nobody wanted more than their first sip.

Beer + Salt + Lime in a can. Widely available in Mexico & Costa Rica. This whole genre of beer needs to be eradicated from the world.

Rock Ice with Lemon is announced as the winner of the Worst Beer In The World Contest. As judged by Moby on his 1000 Day Holiday.

how about this device?

read the full article here.

Im not too sure about frying my brain while I sleep tho.

LONDON: As a former chef, Robert Wood could rustle up an omelette in his sleep. Except he does. And stir fries, and even spaghetti bolognaise – all without waking from his nightly slumbers.

Now Mr Wood, 55, from Fife in Scotland, is seeking help for the sleepwalking in which he heads for the kitchen four or five times a week. Mr Wood has suffered from somnambulism for 40 years, but says he and his wife, Eleanor, are growing increasingly concerned at his culinary exploits.

Mrs Wood has witnessed her husband doing everything from setting the table to pouring a box of cereal and a carton of milk into a tiny bowl.

Read more

heres a backpacking experience i dont want to surpass or experience ever again.

Tuesday night everyone in the hostel headed out to party. a huge night bouncing around a few of the local pubs.
anyway. most people crashed out around 4am.

6am ben, one of the guys in the room, got up and walked over to the other side of the room between 2 bunks.
he then proceeded to take a piss on one of the other guys packs.

one of the$ guys woke up and started screaming at him. however he didnt stop until he was shaken and yelled at.
glad it wasnt my bag!

urgh.

Not the best news, but related to sleep disorders…

A Canadian man was acquitted of sexual assault this week after a judge ruled he was asleep during the attack.

The acquitted 33-year-old landscaper had met a woman at a party in July, the Toronto Sun newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Both had been drinking and fell asleep on a couch.

The woman woke up to find the landscaper having sex with her and pushed him off.

He immediately woke up, but told the court he only suspected they had had sex after going to the bathroom and finding he was still wearing a condom.

A sleep expert testified at his trial that the man suffered from sexomnia, a sort of sleep walking that includes sexual acts, likely brought on by alcohol, sleep deprivation and genetics.

The man had previously had “sleep sex” with four girlfriends, the court heard.

Sleep Sex

A drunken French tourist with a fear of flying tried to open an Australia-bound jet passenger door in mid-flight to have a cigarette, a Brisbane court has heard.

She was seen walking towards one of the aircraft’s emergency exits with an unlit cigarette and a lighter in her hand and began tampering with the door.

But a flight attendant intervened and took Sellies back to her seat.

Sellies was watched closely until the plane landed in Brisbane, where it was met by Australian Federal Police and she was arrested and charged.

Defence lawyer Helen Shilton told the court Sellies had been terrified of flying and had taken sleeping tablets and alcohol before take-off.

She had no memory of what had happened on the flight and also had a history of sleepwalking, Ms Shilton said.

Sleepwalking used as a defense for odd behaviour

Looks to be a very good article on many aspects of sleep:

Intro
The fundamental truths of sleep are not difficult to master: one sleeps when one is tired — mostly at night—and awakens the next day usually feeling rested and refreshed.

So why put together an Insight on a topic that seems so straightforward?

Although it is often true in biology that things are more complex than they seem at first glance, it is especially accurate for sleep. This became apparent about 50 years ago with the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This is a sleep state marked by intense brain activity, rapid bursts of eye movement and vivid dreaming. The high level of brain activity during REM sleep created a serious challenge to the prevailing dogma — that we sleep simply to provide rest — and raised a host of largely unanswered questions about the function of sleep.

Intuition also fails us when considering other aspects of sleep — namely that ‘drifting off to sleep’ is a slow process and that sleep and wake are completely separate states. On the contrary, the act of switching from being awake to sleeping can be extremely rapid, an observation that carries significant public health implications. And patients with various sleep disorders can exist in curious states that combine aspects of both sleep and wakefulness, indicating that the two are not always mutually exclusive.

That so many big questions in sleep research remain unanswered makes it a fascinating field to follow. This Insight highlights much of that excitement with a diverse collection of articles.

Sleep : Insight : Nature

Im Not Crazy!
interesting quote from article:

The disorders of arousal are the most impressive and most common of the NREM sleep parasomnias. These share common features. They tend to arise from slow-wave sleep (stages 3 and 4 of NREM sleep) and therefore usually occur during the first third of the sleep cycle (and rarely during naps). They are common in childhood, usually decreasing in frequency with increasing age43, 44.

Disorders of arousal may be triggered by febrile illness, alcohol, previous sleep deprivation, physical activity, emotional stress or medications. Such precipitants should be thought of as triggering events in susceptible individuals and not the cause. Persistence of these behaviours beyond childhood or their development in adulthood has erroneously been taken as an indication of underlying psychopathology. Careful clinical evaluations of patients with disorders of arousal have dispelled the myth that these conditions are the manifestation of significant underlying psychiatric or psychological problems45, 46, 47.

Disorders of arousal occur on a broad spectrum ranging from confusional arousals, through somnambulism (sleep walking) to sleep terrors. Some take the form of ‘specialized’ behaviours such as sleep-related eating and sleep-related sexual activity

The chick in the bed beside me told me that last nite I sat bolt upright in bed and said

We have to move south! mumble mumble mumble….

She had a good old giggle about it

Dr Andrew Ng, director of the Centre for Sleep Disorders and Respiratory Failure at St George Hospital, said sleep paralysis was perhaps the most common sleep disorder.

But, Ng said, despite its prevalence, there had been little research.

During a typical episode, the affected person awoke, and, even though fully conscious, could not move or speak, Ng said.

It could last seconds or even minutes, although it often feels much longer.

About three-quarters of the time, Ng said, it was accompanied by hallucinations that could include a feeling of floating, hearing noises such as people talking, laughing and humming, or even seeing things, such as another person in the room.

As well, said Ng, a feeling of a “threatening presence” was common, and the sense that someone or something was pressing on the person’s chest.

Ng said that while sleep paralysis was not completely understood, there were explanations for the often frightening symptoms, which involved some of the physical characteristics of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep being carried on for a short time during wakefulness.

During REM sleep there was extreme muscle weakness, which explained the lack of movement. It was also the time at which vivid and sometimes terrifying dreams occurred, explaining the hallucinations. The sense of an “evil presence” was, Ng said, in part due to a particular section of the brain being activated without reassurance from the other senses, such as sight and hearing, that the person was safe.

Sleep Paralysis