The Liquor Cabinet

With the Baby Boomer generation retiring, many companies are trying to find ways to replenish themselves with some…interesting benefits. Such as Beer Fridays and employee provided kegs.

1. Barkley; Kansas City, Missouri

Great perks: This advertising agency has an annual “Kidnap Day,” when the company shuts down for the day and workers are taken to an undisclosed location, like an arcade.

Additionally, there are break-time activities, like pool and ping-pong tournaments, and free Boulevard beer on tap after 4 p.m. To top it off, employees are given birthdays off (with $25 spending money); on-site yoga; and a rooftop observation deck with gardens, Wi-Fi access and barbecue grills.

9. Digitas Health; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Great perks: Free gym memberships (including lunchtime yoga); “Beer Fridays” during the colder months to kick off the weekends; and summer hours on Fridays to get out and enjoy the weather.

We want to work here.

Throughout the year, FilmSchoolReject’s Kevin Carr has been dedicated to one thing: drunkenness. He has been slowly turning each and every one of our readers into a stumbling drunk fool with each week of movie releases. And as we close out our coverage of movies in 2007, we take a look back at some of his most ridiculous drinking games — some of which will definitely lead to death if done correctly. Also, as a bonus, we’d like to offer up a special drinking game for Awards season, which can be played while watching any movie that earns an award nomination between now and the Oscars.

So what are the movie drinking games of 2007?

With New Year’s in the offing, the Health Blog figured it was time to consider the hangover.

For such a common malady, the hangover still has a bit of mystery about it. As an M.D. wrote in an NIH publication wrote a few years back, “Despite the prevalence of hangovers … this condition is not well understood scientifically.”

Still, it is possible to piece a few things out. Alcohol interferes with a hormone that regulates urination, leaving drinkers dehydrated, according to a hangover review in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Booze irritates the stomach and intestines, which can contribute to the gut pain and nausea associated with hangover. It also interacts with several neurotransmitters and hormones that have been associated with headaches, though the hangover-headache connection isn’t entirely clear.

But a hangover does seem to mess with your mind, according to the Annals piece. Patients with hangover have “a diffuse slowing on” an EEG test, a measurement of electrical activity in the brain, according to the review. And motor skills associated with mental processes have also been found wanting in the hung over.

So what is to be done? There’s the obvious: Don’t drink so much. Perhaps more useful: The old claim that dark-colored liquors such as whiskey are more likely to cause hangovers than clear liquors such as vodka does seem to be true. One study found that 33% of patients given bourbon had a severe hangover compared with 3% given a comparable amount of vodka.

Drinking water both during and after drinking can help reduce dehydration. And painkillers can help the morning after (though alcohol can enhance Tylenol’s toxicity to the liver, while aspirin or Advil may cause stomach distress). Taking vitamin B6 may help for unknown reasons, according to the Annals piece. The Health Blog always finds an egg breakfast useful.

But if you’re looking for solid scientific evidence, you may be in trouble. In 2005, a team of researchers reported in the British Medical Journal that they’d combed the medical literature for studies of hangover remedies. “No compelling evidence exists to suggest that any conventional or complementary intervention is effective for preventing or treating alcohol hangover,” they concluded.

The long-running ad campaign is well-known

The old advertising slogan “Guinness is Good for You” may be true after all, according to researchers. A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.

Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from University of Wisconsin told a conference in the US.

Guinness were told to stop using the slogan decades ago – and the firm still makes no health claims for the drink.

The Wisconsin team tested the health-giving properties of stout against lager by giving it to dogs who had narrowed arteries similar to those in heart disease.

They found that those given the Guinness had reduced clotting activity in their blood, but not those given lager.

Read the full article from the BBC