Vinyl Records Find New Life....

The strangest thing about EMI’s former record factory in Hayes, west London, is not that it has been lying derelict for years, but that in a ramshackle outbuilding once occupied by the packing and shipping department, 11 of the 120 record presses that immortalised the music of groups such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd are again in full production, turning out singles and LPs.....

Thus begins a really interesting article in the Financial Times (U.K.) about the continued life, and new production, of vinyl records amidst the proliferation of all sorts of new formats (mostly inferior) and the decline of the CD. Even the introduction of new HiFi formats such as "lossless MP3" and "Super Audio CD" have not killed vinyl which, for a variety of reasons explained in the article, maintains a significant niche presence in the marketplace. The article continues:

But if it were only old fuddy-duddies still buying LPs, records would soon be heading the same way as the phonograph cylinder. In fact, younger music fans are helping keep the format alive. After CDs came along, dance music DJs did their bit, staying loyal to the 12in single and influencing fans to buy them. More recently, it has suddenly become fashionable among pop artists to release singles on 7in vinyl as well as in digital formats, often in limited editions that are seen as collectors’ items. The joke is, many of these singles are bought by youngsters who do not even own a turntable, but increasingly the records come with a coupon entitling the owner to a download of the same music....

You Can Be Too Thin....

On a Hollywood street, Zsa Zsa Gabor sees a wretched man with a sign that says, "Haven't Eaten in Three Days." She says, "Darlink, I admire your villpower."
Zsz Zsa would also have said, "You can't be too rich or too thin". However that theory has been challenged by new research:


This startling research flies in the face of all the food police propaganda that's been spewed the last few years. Our CDC scientists have concluded that being a little or somewhat overweight is good. Of course gross obesity is another matter not be discounted as a factor in morbidity.

A new study by medical researchers in the United States has caused consternation among public health professionals by suggesting that, contrary to conventional wisdom, being overweight might actually be beneficial for health.

The study, published recently in the respected Journal of the American Medical Association, runs counter to almost all other advice to consumers by saying that carrying a little extra flab – though not too much – might help people to live longer.
Source: The Independent (U.K.)