Day: February 26, 2015

Okay, let me start off first by apologizing: I never wrote a pre-Oscars piece for 2015. No predictions were made by me. In my defense:

1. I was part of the people that kept getting snow dumped on me every week for two weeks (and it’s still happening).
2. Being able to get giant amounts of sleep because you’re exhausted from shoveling snow and you’ve actually got a day off is a unique and wonderful experience.
3. I forgot the actual date.

People, all I’ve got to offer is lo siento. That said, I did watch the Oscars. Let’s talk about them, shall we? Continue reading MasterChugs Theater: Oscar 2015 Recap

Being able to be a dictator of a third-world country just got a lot cheaper.

Okay, granted, Hungary isn’t exactly a third-world, but it ain’t exactly an economic superpower. And like all countries in the world, money can still be a little hard to come by. As such, the Hungarian village of Megyer is offering up its services for sale. And by its services, I mean being in charge of the entire village.

For just a scant 690 euros (or 750 dollars in real, American, non-moon money), a body can get for a day:

seven guesthouses that sleep 39 people, four streets, a bus stop, a barn, a chicken yard, six horses, two cows, three sheep and four hectares (10 acres) of farmland — along with the possibility of temporarily being named deputy mayor

That’s a lot of stuff in the year 1543! The mayor of the village is even encouraging the renters to have a bottle of rose wine among the silence of the countryside. And therein lies the draw. What they’re not encouraging is what a renter can’t do.

Oppression of a society of people? White slave trade? Drug smuggling? Testing out chemical weapons? We won’t judge.

A South Korean court overturned a law that made adultery a criminal offense, punishable by fines or (rarely) jail time. And, seemingly overnight, at least one condom manufacturer saw stock prices surge as high as allowed for the day.

Now, The Guys are students of human behavior. It’s not like married South Koreans weren’t sleeping around. The government could have punished adultery with life imprisonment, facial branding and genital amputation and — based on the number of stonings, honor killings and damning embroidery in more punitive societies — people would still cheat on their spouses.

So, if human nature is as it has always been, then increased condom sales indicates that they’re just now using protection. Ewwww.

Drinking is good for you. And if you drink, there’s a good chance you’ll remember that fact long into your old age.

According to researchers in China, a chemical in beer helps ward off degenerative diseases. A study found that xanthohumol, a chemical found in hops, might help brain cells from oxidative stress that can lead to dementia. That means that while you may not remember how many beers you had last night, there’s a better chance you’ll remember your grandchildren’s names later in life.

And yet our own Rick Snee doesn’t like hoppy beers. So if he starts posting jokes from 2008, just roll with it.