Alcoholism

Peter Howson: new retrospective reveals how Scots painter found redemption after Bosnian war

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, May 27, 2023

Peter Howson’s story is one of seeking dignity in human suffering and violence, and finding redemption; it is also uniquely Scottish.

Key Points: 
  • Peter Howson’s story is one of seeking dignity in human suffering and violence, and finding redemption; it is also uniquely Scottish.
  • When The Apple Ripens, Howson’s retrospective at Edinburgh City Arts Centre (27 May-1 October), is a timely showcase to celebrate his 65th year.

A Scottish sensibility

    • An unmistakably Scottish feature of Howson’s work is the undertone of Calvinism with its God-fearing, joyless culture of toil and penitence.
    • His unique perspective on the world reflects his experiences of living in the east end of Glasgow.
    • Most of his early work portrayed caricatures of rough, masculine men with exaggerated musculature.
    • At a time when Margaret Thatcher was in power, he called out the right-wing extremists and portrayed the dispossessed with dignity.

War and peace

    • With an obsession around violence and warfare, Howson applied and was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to record the Bosnian civil war in 1993 as the official war artist.
    • For Howson, life is about violence and confrontation, and in his words, encountering it makes him “feel alive”.
    • But the war had a huge impact on Howson’s mental health and his personal relationships were damaged by his experiences.
    • On his return, after a period of convalescence, he produced 300 pieces of powerful, shocking and controversial works of art.

Coalition for Convenient Sales Launches to Advocate For Modernization of Pennsylvania's Liquor Laws

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 9, 2023

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new alliance of trade associations, retailers, business owners and individual consumers, Coalition for Convenient Sales, is advocating to expand access to spirits-based ready-to-drink products. Coalition members include Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Distilled Spirits Council, and National Federation of Independent Business.

Key Points: 
  • Coalition members include Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Distilled Spirits Council, and National Federation of Independent Business.
  • "We are pleased to announce the formation of the Coalition for Convenient Sales," said Alex Baloga, President and CEO of Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association.
  • "It's long past time to change the liquor laws and give Pennsylvanians the convenience they want and deserve, and we will all be pulling together to get this done."
  • "The public very clearly wants a modernized, convenient system that keeps alcohol sales safe while making it more convenient for consumers."

Dos Equis® Introduces New Products -- Its First Non-Alcoholic Beverage, A Classic Mexican Drink, & A Conveniently Canned Cocktail

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 9, 2023

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., May 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following its successful introduction to the popular ready-to-drink category last year, Dos Equis®is once again expanding its product portfolio with Dos Equis® Lime & Salt ZERO non-alcoholic, Dos Equis® Michelada and Dos Equis® Mango Margarita.

Key Points: 
  • Dos Equis Lime & Salt ZERO: With the growing interest in non-alcoholic beverages, Dos Equis is introducing its first product in the category.
  • Dos Equis Mango Margarita: Joining the Dos Equis Classic Lime Margarita, the ready-to-drink margarita blends Blanco Tequila from Jalisco, México with mango juice and high-quality ingredients, giving you the craft cocktail experience at the crack of a can.
  • Also, on shelves and ready to be enjoyed this summer, is Dos Equis Ranch Water Hard Seltzer, inspired by the flavors of the classic West Texas refreshment, Dos Equis Lager Especial, a golden pilsner-style beer, Dos Equis Ambar Especial, a Vienna-style lager, and Dos Equis Lime & Salt, the Dos Equis Lager beer with a touch of lime and salt, and the inspiration for Dos Equis Lime & Salt ZERO.
  • HEINEKEN USA, the nation's leading high-end beer importer, is continuing to focus on Dos Equis' innovation portfolio, which kicked off last year with the successful launch of the Dos Equis Classic Lime Margarita.

Clearmind Medicine Strengthens Scientific Advisory Board with Appointment of Prof. Joseph Tam

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 8, 2023

Tel Aviv, Israel / Vancouver, Canada, May 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearmind Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: CMND) (CSE: CMND), (FSE: CWY) (“Clearmind” or “the company"), a biotech company focused on discovery and development of novel psychedelic-derived therapeutics to solve major under-treated health problems, has appointed Professor Joseph (Yossi) Tam, D.M.D., Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”). Prof. Tam is the Head of the Obesity and Metabolism Laboratory and the Director of the Multidisciplinary Center for Cannabinoid Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Key Points: 
  • Tel Aviv, Israel / Vancouver, Canada, May 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clearmind Medicine Inc. (NASDAQ: CMND) (CSE: CMND), (FSE: CWY) (“Clearmind” or “the company"), a biotech company focused on discovery and development of novel psychedelic-derived therapeutics to solve major under-treated health problems, has appointed Professor Joseph (Yossi) Tam, D.M.D., Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”).
  • Prof. Tam is the Head of the Obesity and Metabolism Laboratory and the Director of the Multidisciplinary Center for Cannabinoid Research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  • “I believe in the power of collaboration to bring innovative solutions to major health challenges,” said Prof. Tam.
  • “By joining Clearmind Medicine’s Scientific Advisory Board, I look forward to carrying out significant strides in the discovery and development of novel psychedelic-derived therapeutics for obesity and metabolic disorders.”

Monster Beverage Reports 2023 First Quarter Results

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, May 4, 2023

CORONA, Calif., May 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) today reported financial results for the three-months ended March 31, 2023.

Key Points: 
  • Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Monster Energy® Drinks segment increased 14.6 percent in the 2023 first quarter.
  • Operating expenses for the 2023 first quarter were $412.8 million, compared with $377.2 million in the 2022 first quarter.
  • Stock-based compensation was $16.1 million for the 2023 first quarter, compared with $16.3 million in the 2022 first quarter.
  • In the United States, we launched Monster Energy® Zero Sugar nationally at retail in January, as well as Monster Energy® Ultra Strawberry Dreams, Monster® (stylized) Reserve Kiwi Strawberry, Monster Energy® Nitro Cosmic Peach and Java Monster® Caffe Latte in the quarter.

'Who the hell is Edgar?' – a viral Eurovision song about Edgar Allan Poe evokes a strange history of mediums and creative possession

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, May 4, 2023

“Who the hell is Edgar?” ask Teya and Salena, two young women fronting Austria’s entry to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Key Points: 
  • “Who the hell is Edgar?” ask Teya and Salena, two young women fronting Austria’s entry to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
  • Replete with dance routine, fake moustaches and a catchy chorus, their viral video and song attributes their success as songwriters to possession by the 19th-century author, poet and gothic celebrity Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849):
    There’s a ghost in my body and he is a lyricist
    It is Edgar Allan Poe, and I think he can’t resist
    Yeah, his brain is in my hand, and it’s moving really fast
    Don’t know how he possessed me, but I’m happy that he did
    There’s a ghost in my body and he is a lyricist
    It is Edgar Allan Poe, and I think he can’t resist
    Yeah, his brain is in my hand, and it’s moving really fast
    Don’t know how he possessed me, but I’m happy that he did

Channelling spirits

    • In the 1850s and 1860s, a group of young female spiritualists wrote and published poetry from the “spirit of Edgar A. Poe”.
    • These mediums claimed they could channel the spirits of loved ones through possessed speech, musical instruments and automatic writing.
    • They also maintained they could channel the spirits of celebrity ghosts, including recently deceased presidents, global historical figures and well-known writers.
    • Read more:
      Depression and language: analysing Edgar Allan Poe's writings to solve the mystery of his death

The living and the dead

    • He asks his readers to consider at what point death truly occurs if the dead can still speak or inhabit the bodies of the living.
    • Poe returned to the figure of the dead or dying beautiful woman throughout his career.
    • Today we can bring back the voices of the dead through sampling and even AI.
    • But the dead might also be said to survive in the creative responses they continue to inspire.

Does our DNA really determine our intelligence and health?

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, April 23, 2023

In a recent article from Nature Genetics_, scientists raise concerns over the social impacts of recent advances in genomics - i.e.

Key Points: 
  • In a recent article from Nature Genetics_, scientists raise concerns over the social impacts of recent advances in genomics - i.e.
  • the study of genomes, or in other words, the genetic material of an individual or species.
  • In passages bringing to mind the dystopian sci-fi film Gattaca, they describe a near future in which one’s DNA could foretell one’s physical and intellectual abilities and near-perfect children be conceived in vitro.

What is a GWAS?

    • The markers can be considered as small flags planted along the genome, each flag having two possible colours (the alleles).
    • The idea behind GWAS is that an association between a marker and a trait allows for the detection of genetic factors independently of environmental factors.

A new market

    • 23andMe managed to keep its doors open by changing its approach and collecting DNA to map out the geographical origins of people’s ancestors.
    • An important part of these DNAs has been made available to scientific teams, allowing them to perform and publish GWAS on huge samples.
    • Four years later, a study based on 3 million individuals found the number of genetic factors multiplied by 4.

The mistaken assumptions behind Polygenic Risk Scores

    • The problem is that these conclusions are based on erroneous assumptions and misinterpretation of associations between the traits to be predicted and genetic markers.
    • Indeed, Polygenic Risk Scores are specifically based on assumptions put forward in 1965 by Douglas Scott Falconer.

Misinterpretations of the GWAS studies

    • Another problem is that Polygenic Risk Scores are based on a flawed interpretation of the GWAS studies.
    • For if the link between a trait and genetic marker could indeed indicate a genetic factor, this remains to be confirmed by subsequent family and functional studies.
    • For example, a GWAS study comparing people in France who consume salted butter with those who consume unsalted butter would show a large number of genetic markers associated with this trait.

Sociological consequences

    • The IQ variable was originally thought out as a tool to measure the adequacy of a child to a given school programme.
    • It is not a universal and timeless measure of cognitive abilities, or even of intelligence.

Ethical implications

    • In his presidential address to the American Society of Human Genetics in 2015 [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26942276/ref], geneticist Neil Risch mischievously commented the approach and conclusions.
    • He calculated the scores of Craig Venter (pioneer of human genome sequencing) and James Watson (co-discoverer of the DNA structure).
    • Risch humorously concluded that a below-average score was enough to land a Nobel Prize or the Medal of Science.

A flawed genetic model

    • But they merely raise ethical issues, failing to stress, in the process, that the root of the problem remains an inappropriate genetic model and the misinterpretation of associations with genetic markers.
    • Yet to deny the validity of genetic predictions of complex traits is not to deny the effect of genetic factors on these traits.

Remembering Barry Humphries, the man who enriched the culture, reimagined the one man show and upended the cultural cringe

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, April 22, 2023

His street performances around Melbourne in the early 1950s foreshadowed performance art in Australia.

Key Points: 
  • His street performances around Melbourne in the early 1950s foreshadowed performance art in Australia.
  • He was the most daring student prankster Melbourne University had ever known.
  • Years later, academic Peter Conrad accurately described Humphries’ adolescence as a “one man modern movement”.
  • It also gave him his first taste of the power of an audience to determine what happens in the theatre.

The birth of Edna

    • Edna was a composite portrait of various women whose mannerisms had imprinted themselves in his brain as a boy, growing up in staid Camberwell.
    • Wearing a massive hat sculpted to resemble the Sydney Opera House, Edna stopped the crowds at Royal Ascot that year.
    • The image of her in that sumptuous creation (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum) launched Edna and Humphries around the world.

Conquering the world

    • She skewered dozens of politicians, pop stars, singers and actors who graced the program every week.
    • Her appearance with Jerry Hall singing Stand by your Man remains one of the most hilarious television moments of that time.
    • Humphries’ success on British television in the 1980s and 1990s were among the major achievements of his career.

The early years

    • Eric ran a flourishing building business (he might be called a developer nowadays) and Louisa was a homemaker.
    • He loved dressing up and accompanying his mother on trips to the city or out for lunch with other ladies.
    • At Melbourne Grammar, Humphries found the boys who excelled in sports rewarded and praised for their achievements.
    • An interest in art or music was considered by the headmaster to be suspicious, a disappointment for Humphries, passionate about art.

A transformational artist

    • With his mask off he was as witty as when he wore it.
    • Manning Clark called him one of the “mythmakers and prophets of Australia […] enriching the culture which had been dominated by the straiteners”.
    • Read more:
      Friday essay: Barry Humphries' humour is now history – that's the fate of topical, satirical comedy

Web Doctors Launches Innovative New Alcoholism Treatment

Retrieved on: 
Friday, April 21, 2023

This innovative approach to alcoholism treatment offers patients an alternative that is both convenient and affordable.

Key Points: 
  • This innovative approach to alcoholism treatment offers patients an alternative that is both convenient and affordable.
  • The Web Doctors is leading the charge in the provision of comprehensive alcoholism treatment to a wide audience of individuals trying to overcome this problem by providing access to online treatment.
  • A spokesman commented, "Web Doctors is committed to providing exceptional healthcare solutions for those struggling with alcoholism.
  • Our innovative alcoholism treatment program offers hope and a path to recovery for those who may have previously felt lost."

Challenging the Anzac ideal: the tragic stories of two Australian deserters in WWI

Retrieved on: 
Friday, April 21, 2023

Anzac Day continues to feature on the Australian calendar as a day for celebrating and commemorating the deeds of our military personnel.

Key Points: 
  • Anzac Day continues to feature on the Australian calendar as a day for celebrating and commemorating the deeds of our military personnel.
  • Many Australian soldiers did not fit this Anzac myth.
  • Australian soldiers stationed in Egypt, England and France were charged with various transgressions, including insubordination, repeated malingering and theft.

Researching desertion

    • Desertion needs to be distinguished from being absent without, or overstaying, authorised leave from one’s unit.
    • Under the military law that governed members of the Australian Imperial Force during WWI, desertion was defined as leaving or refusing to enter the front lines or being absent from areas behind the front lines for more than four weeks.
    • Desertion was considered such a serious offence because the soldier had refused to do the duty for which he had enlisted, wasted resources, weakened military strength and endangered comrades.
    • More than 3,000 members of the British empire’s forces were sentenced to death for desertion and similar offences during WWI, of whom 361 were executed by firing squad.

The chronic absentee

    • He absconded almost as soon as he arrived in France in June 1916 and was sentenced to one year of hard labour.
    • Reflecting the manpower issues faced by the Australian Imperial Force, his sentence was suspended in early 1917 so he could rejoin his battalion.
    • He was almost immediately hospitalised for chronic stomach issues and was sent to England, where he stayed until almost the end of the war.
    • The coroner attributed his death to chronic alcoholism and exposure.

The deserter shot by his own side

    • He later claimed he joined the Australian Imperial Force on the bizarre promise that he could transfer to the Russian Army once he was back in Europe.
    • By the time he got there, however, the Russian Revolution was underway and Permakoff had decided he didn’t want any part of the war.
    • Permakoff was fatally shot by his own side – an action later endorsed by a Court of Inquiry.

Revealing the complexity of military service

    • But Australian deserters sentenced to death have remained largely overlooked.
    • This is perhaps because they were not ultimately executed (with Permakoff’s odd exception), so they have not aroused an indignant sense of injustice.
    • Doing so enhances our understanding of the complexity and diversity of Australian military experiences and highlights the impossibility – for most – of the Anzac ideal.