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Brief asides


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POSTED: Thursday, November 19, 2009

BUT NO TV

Heart disease in the old, old, old days

Maybe couch potatoes go way back?

Researchers found signs of heart disease in 3,500-year-old mummies. The ailment, often blamed on modern lifestyle that include smoking, too much fast food and not enough exercise, showed up in nine of the 16 mummies analyzed.

The specimens, from the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo, date to 1981 B.C. to 334 A.D. Half were thought to be over 45 when they died, and the average lifespan was under 50 back then.

 

GO BOWS!

Rainbow Wahine off to a great start

It was an auspicious start to a new University of Hawaii Wahine basketball era. In its first game of the season, the women's team overcame a 12-point deficit late in the first half to pull out a 63-58 win over UC Riverside under new head coach, Dana Takahara-Dias.

The game also gave the Rainbow Wahine an on-the-road season-opening victory for the first time in school history. Imua, coach and team!

 

DON'T KNOW MUCH

U.S. senators falter on geography pop-art quiz

;  Inspired by the incredible skill of Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota in drawing the United States, including the state boundaries, National Geographic asked all 100 U.S. senators to draw a map of their home states “;by memory,”; designating their favorite spots.

Hawaii's Senator Dans prudently passed, considering the degree of difficulty. Only a dozen senators agreed to draw their states' lines.

Most shameless was Sen. Michael Enzi, who fudged by using a ruler to draw Wyoming's simple box shape, shown at right — and even then blew it.

The Cowboy State is a rectangle, senator, not a square.