Italian pet owners face fines on dog mess tests

What used to just be a nuisance...a gross and possibly smelly nuisance, can now be used as physical evidence against pet owners who fail to curb their pets.

From Reuters.com:
"A town in northern Italy plans to create a DNA database of all registered dogs and then test droppings left on pavements and in parks to identify the culprit and fine owners who fail to clean up after their pets, La Stampa daily reported Tuesday."

From Newsday's US News and World Report

It isn't really fitness related, but the following is pretty darn interesting for any of us who have ever taken prescription drugs.

Grapefruit juice is a well-known enemy to many prescription drugs. Turns out, apple and orange juices also can interfere with medications. David Bailey, a professor of clinical pharmacology with the University of Western Ontario, Canada, warns that all three beverages contain compounds that can alter how certain medications are transported into the bloodstream and absorbed by the body.

More Complex Than it Seems

This is not my specialty. It is an area of difficulty for me for a number of reasons. The main reason is that apparently nothing is good for you. Well, no diet plan is good for you anyways. But here are some thoughts and resources...

This is a debate that comes up all the time. What is a sport? Why is one thing considered a sport while another is not? Well I've gotten annoyed by some people I've met recently (the same kind of people who consider themselves athletic but have no coordination whatsoever), so I've decided to give my interpretation of what a sport truly is.

From Pervaiz Shallwani of the Wall Street Journal:

The official start of fall is only a few weeks away, and as the air turns crisp, the delicate fruits and vegetables of the summer will give way to an autumnal bounty of apples, pumpkins, root vegetables and more. Hearty greens such as Brussels sprouts, nuts that reach their ripe age this time of year and cheeses that have been aging over the summer take center stage. Many of the fresh produce available in the fall months also reaps health benefits -- fruits and vegetables with dark, rich colors, such as kale and pomegranate, are often packed with essential vitamins and nutrients. Apples and pumpkins may be autumn's go-to foods, but here are 9 others to consider when cooking this fall:

This story comes mainly from Julie Deardorff of the Chicago Tribune, and she brings up a good point: you can still get exercise no matter how busy you are during the day. Though the article is largely written as though it's directed towards mothers, read through it anyways because her ideas are relevant to everybody who has ever said they don't have enough time to exercise.

Click Here to read the article.

Hit the jump for more thoughts.

From the Wall Street Journal:
Obesity Surgery is Called Cost-Effective

According to a new study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Managed Care, some health-insurance companies may begin to have pressure put on them to cover procedures typically listed as weight-loss surgeries.

From the Washington Post, 09/02/08:

"Men are more likely to be devoted and loyal husbands when they lack a particular variant of a gene that influences brain activity, researchers announced yesterday -- the first time that science has shown a direct link between a man's genes and his aptitude for monogamy."

Hit the jump for details.

10 Ways to Rev Up Your Metabolism

People often complain about having a slow metabolism, especially to me. I'm as thin as they come, less because of how I train and more because of how I live. Many people believe that you need to make drastic changes to your lifestyle and/or eating habits in order to boost your metabolism and burn calories faster. For the most part this isn't exactly accurate, as there are many simple ways to increase your metabolism. Hit the jump to see the list.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This site has been inactive for a while, and the most recent updates have all been Yankee related. I know, it's lost focus and baseball is boring to most of you.

Well now that the Yankee season is coming to a close (sooner than it should), and I have continued to live through long periods of boredom, I've decided to get back into the swing of things as far as updates to this site are concerned.