Some interesting beer mail
By Mark Tumarkin
You can always count on the Real Beer Page Mail to come up with some interesting beer-related news stories. Here are a couple for your entertainment pleasure·.
<editor's note> The following information was taken from Real Beer. </editor's note>
DRINKER DEVELOPS RSI WHILE HOISTING PINTS A Manchester University psychology student is apparently suffering repetitive strain injury -- most commonly called RSI -- by continuously lifting his pint glass at the local pub. "Matt (Royle) is the first person I have ever seen in my career with RSI caused by drinking beer," specialist physiotherapist Jan Davison told the Oldham Chronicle newspaper. RSI occurs when a tendon becomes inflamed after continuous repetitive movement, commonly caused by racket sports, video games and computer keyboard use. In Royle's case, he visits his Fallowfield local four nights a week and drinks six pints each session. http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-001714.html A TALE OF TWO BEER MATS A British pub landlord has banned beer mats showing a man in underpants stretching a condom as part of a health campaign. The Health Promotion Division of the National Assembly for Wales distributed the bilingual beer mats and posters to pubs and clubs across North Wales. They show a slogan saying: "Protect your prop forward! Use a condom for your protection" and list a number of sexual diseases. "Prop forward" is a rugby term. Kevin McArdle, the licensee of the Ye Olde Mail Coach in Conway, said, "If they took the picture off and had only the words, that would be better." For a photo of the mat, see: http://www.realbeer.com/library/beerlog/2002/04/09.html - An entirely different beer mat which detects the two most common date-rape drugs by having a few drops of spiked drink spilt on it could be in pubs "within three weeks," according to the company that developed it. The mat is an almost immediate test for the presence of GHB and a class of drugs that includes Rohypnol and Temazepam. Both classes of substance, when combined with alcohol, leave victims open to any suggestion, and induce amnesia that can be long-term or permanent. Made by a firm called Surescreen Diagnostics, the mat has four small, white or yellow windows on it which change color if a drop of spiked drink falls on the sensitive areas.