New federal study reveals black Americans to be most obese group in America

The Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday that a new study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed that nearly 36 percent of black Americans are obese.

The CDC reported that about 29 percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of whites are obese, and, overall, about 26 percent of U.S. adults are obese.

The AP article stated that because there have been racial differences in obesity rates reported before, health officials were not surprised to see larger proportions of blacks tipping the scales."

What has surprised them, and made this latest study different from its predecessors, is the fact that it is the first CDC report to look at the gap state-by-state, finding blacks had significantly higher obesity rates in 21 states and somewhat higher rates in many others.

The CDC has released a detailed report on the findings, and you can view it here.

Researchers: swearing makes pain more tolerable

Go ahead.... say it.... it just might save your life

This is one of those things which we kind of already knew, and therefore didn't see a need for it to be researched. For those of you who do not shy away from using expletive language, I have some good news and bad news for you.

The good news is that researchers at Keele University have hypothesized and deduced that swearing can aid pain tolerance and stress relief. The bad news is that those of you who swear casually (often for no reason at all), will have to swear less, in order for the expletives to be pain relieving.

BBC News stated that "researchers found volunteers who cursed at will could endure pain nearly 50% longer than civil-tongued peers," and in a report from CNN, clinical psychologist Paula Bloom said that "We’re walking around thinking [swearing] is a bad thing…it’s not really.”

I am waiting with bated breath to read what the religious society will have to say about the findings of the study.

Michael Jackson's death explained

With the autopsy report due to be completed today, I took it upon myself to research Michael Jackson's cause of death, as was reported last night by his brother Randy Jackson. CNN.com (you've gotta love them) has an interesting piece, explaining the difference between cardiac arrest, a heart attack, and a stroke...... To be honest with you, I thought cardiac arrest was the same as a heart attack, so I am glad that CNN cleared this up for me.

Feel free to watch the video tribute below. If you weren't a fan of any of his music, you've really missed out.