StarPoet Newsletter Vol. XI, No. XXXIII

Sharon and I have been together 8 years today.   Put that in your Virginia constitution

Would you like a pill with that?

A paper by Dr Darrel Francis, a cardiologist at Imperial College's National Heart and Lung Institute, and published in the American Journal of Cardiology suggests that McDonald's, Burger King and other fast food outlets should offer diners free drugs to compensate for the risk of heart disease, cardiologists proposed today.

The paper supposes that if burger joints offered cholesterol-lowering statins, customers would offset the unhealthy effects of a cheeseburger and milkshake, according to researchers at Imperial College London.

The pills could be placed beside the salt, pepper and tomato ketchup to encourage people to pop one after their meal.

Under the Rising Sun

Japan prides itself on the world's longest life expectancy but is struggling with a disturbing footnote to that statistic - revelations that hundreds of people listed as its oldest citizens are either long dead or haven't been heard from for decades.

The story unfolded in late July when police discovered that Sogen Kato, who would have been 111 and was thought to be Tokyo's oldest man, had actually been dead for 32 years, his decayed and partially mummified body still in his home.  That discovery led officials around the country to check up on the centenarians in their own districts, and what they found has been shocking.

The woman listed as Tokyo's oldest, Fusa Furuya, born in July 1897, is also missing. Her last registered residence was long ago converted into a vacant lot. In the western city of Kobe alone, officials are trying to track down more than 100 unaccounted-for centenarians, including a woman who, if still alive, would be 125.

"The families who are supposed to be closest to these elderly people don't know where they are and, in many cases, have not even taken the trouble to ask the police to search for them," the Asahi, a major newspaper, said in an editorial. "The situation shows the existence of lonely people who have no family to turn to and whose ties with those around them have been severed."

The Asahi also noted a sinister side to the problem. Unless death notices are filed with authorities, pension payments tend to keep coming, prompting some relatives managing older peoples' finances to keep deaths a secret.

--Eric Talmadge, Associated Press

 Out Damn Smoothie!

A rare U.S. outbreak of typhoid fever has been linked to a frozen tropical fruit product used to make smoothies, health officials reported Thursday.

Seven cases have been confirmed - three in California and four in Nevada. Two more California cases are being investigated. Five people were hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The CDC said five of the victims drank milkshakes or smoothies made with frozen mamey fruit pulp. Four of them used pulp sold by Goya Foods Inc. of Secaucus, N.J.

Mamey is a sweet, reddish tropical fruit grown mainly in Central and South America. It is also known as zapote or sapote. It is peeled and mashed to make pulp, the CDC said.

The company has recalled packages of the pulp, sold in mostly western states. A sample from one package found in Las Vegas tested positive for the bacteria that causes typhoid, the Food and Drug Administration reported Wednesday.

Victorville, California (AP) 

Two women have been charged with misdemeanors for a fight that led to a brawl during a Southern California kindergarten graduation ceremony.

San Bernardino County investigators say the women were arguing and it got physical in a field near the June ceremony at Puesta del Sol Elementary in Victorville.  Several men got involved and the incident turned into a brawl, forcing school officials to place the school on lockdown until deputies sorted things out. No one was hurt.

Court records show misdemeanor charges have been filed against 31-year-old Queiona Burt and 29-year-old Marina Ruth Vargas. Prosecutors say they face up to six months in jail if convicted for interference with peaceful conduct at a school and 90 days in jail for unlawful acts committed on school grounds.