Popularity: 80% [?]

Please visit HuffPost and read this article about the Somali “Pirates”. I had no idea that the Somali coastline was 3,025 km long. That’s incredible. And I thought I knew my geography pretty well.Check out the very interesting article over on WikiPedia as well. Nothing is ever as clear as it seems, eh?

Popularity: 34% [?]

 courtesy of CHOW.com – CHOW copyeditor Keith Laidlaw shows how to open a bottle of beer using another bottle of beer. It’s a handy trick to break out, especially in the midst of a Super Bowl party (when you don’t want to miss a crucial play) or any event where you’re reluctant to leave your seat to hunt for an opener.

Popularity: unranked [?]

courtesy of Reuters

Even the most quirky of computer nerds can learn to flirt with finesse thanks to a new “flirting course” being offered to budding IT engineers at Potsdam University south of Berlin.

The 440 students enrolled in the master’s degree course will learn how to write flirtatious text messages and emails, impress people at parties and cope with rejection.

Philip von Senftleben, an author and radio presenter who will teach the course, summed up his job as teaching how to “get someone else’s heart beating fast while yours stays calm.”

The course, which starts next Monday, is part of the social skills section of the IT course and is designed to ease entry into the world of work. Students also learn body language, public-speaking, stress management and presentation skills.

“We want to prepare our students with the social skills needed to succeed both in their private life and their work life,” said Hans-Joachim Allgaier, a spokesman for the institute at Potsdam University where the course is being offered.

Popularity: unranked [?]

from AZCentral.com

A new beer named after the “patron saint” of drug traffickers is brewing up controversy in Mexico, where the government is locked in a bloody battle against drug gangs.

Malverde Beer is named after Jesús Malverde, a Robin Hood-style figure who is revered by drug smugglers in the western Mexico state of Sinaloa. It debuted in April and has been spreading to bars around western Mexico. The brewer plans to sell it in the United States, too.

The beer has appeared as Mexico is reeling from a spike in drug-related murders and the United States prepares to pour about $465 million into Mexican anti-drug efforts. Civic groups in Sinaloa have criticized the beer, and Wal-Mart of Mexico has refused to stock it.

“When a product exalts something illegal, that’s wrong,” said Paul Velázquez, president of the Los Mochis Area Business Owners’ Association in northern Sinaloa.

The new brew is part of the so-called narcoculture that continues to fascinate Mexicans despite the violence that has swept over the country in recent years, Velázquez said.

Songs about drug smugglers, known as narcocorridos, remain a staple of Mexican banda music. Newsstands sell pocket-size comic books starring smugglers and hit men, and Mexican movies like the upcoming El Cartel revolve around the country’s underworld. One of the hot books of the summer is The Queen of the Pacific and other Narco Women, about Sandra Ávila, who was arrested in October and remains in prison on charges of drug trafficking.

I suppose this is more proof the there is no such thing as bad press, since sales continue going up even with WalMart of Mexico refusing to carry the beer. I would also think that since it is highly disputed whether or not Malverde (translated roughly into “Evil Green”) even existed would be enough to shush naysayers and send everybody home. But it probably doesn’t help that Mexico is in the middle of a highly publicised and very bloody war with Drug Runners makes this a popular target for media and politicians. Have one on me.

Popularity: 34% [?]