Good News/Bad News

So which do you want first? Heck, let's get the bad news out of the way! This
should be to no surprise to anyone living in Virginia. The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (to be called NHTSA from here on in for
obvious reasons!), in conjunction with State Farm Insurance, released a list
of the worst states for auto-deer crashes. Yes, Virginia is in the top 10, right
there at #6. Unfortunately barely a week goes by where I don't see a dead
deer lying on the side of the road; by the same token, every so often I hear
about someone having huge car damage, some even being totaled, by a deer
they hit. Pretty, elegant animals, but dumber than a box of rocks. They freeze
up with the lights, then run right in front of you. Oh well, on to the good
news! Johns Hopkins University researchers recently conducted a study
about the effects of aspirin on blood platelets. They picked 1200 volunteers
with a family history of heart disease and told these people to refrain from
smoking, caffeinated drinks, wine, and chocolate, as these were known to
affect platelets. 139 of these 1200 flunked out of this study because they
were unable to stay away from chocolate. Nonetheless, the Hopkins
researchers checked their blood anyway and were able to ascertain that
chocolate, like aspirin, affects the platelets that cause blood to clot. Diane
Becker, speaking for her researcher colleagues, stated that "What these
chocolate offenders taught us is that the chemical in cocoa beans has a
biochemical effect similar to aspirin in reducing platelet clumping, which
can be fatal if a clot forms and blocks a blood vessel, causing a heart
attack." YAY!!! Of course, other experts, not named in this article, noted
that the high sugar and fat content of most chocolate candy probably
cancels out some of the benefits. Hey, I am sticking with the Hopkins
people, I think they know what they are talking about! Lindt, here I come!

NHTSA