LIFE

This guy has been fired 300 times
THIS man has been hired and fired from 300 jobs over the past decade. You could almost say he’s made a career out of it.
Mike Rowe, host of the popular Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs and the upcoming CNN show Somebody’s Gotta Do It, took to Reddit earlier this week to dish the dirt on what went on behind the scenes.
From mafia-controlled factories to how he kept in shape during filming, here are some of the best questions and responses.
THE MAFIA
Q: What dirty jobs did you always want to do but the network or producers wouldn’t let you do?
“The segments I was most interested in doing but found the most resistance around was that of a rendering facility. Aside from the fact that ‘rendering facilities’ are by their very definition optically horrific, there was another concern that I had not considered.
“That concern can be spelled out with the following letters. M-O-B. That’s right — the mob is still involved in a surprising number of rendering facilities. Why the mob has such a rich history in garbage-related industries and rendering-related industries is a conversation beyond my pay grade.
“I only know how relieved I was to finally find a rendering outfit that was not owned or operated by the Cosa Nostra. That facility was in Northern California. And they were called North State Rendering.
“To this day, I’m impressed with how brave they were in their decision to let us provide our viewers with an unvarnished look at what it takes to turn a dead cow into several hundred pounds of chicken feed.”
SHOCKING JOB
Q: What job shocked you the most by finding out how awful it really was?
“Many jobs appear bad at a glance, only to get much worse at a second glance. And some jobs simply get worse and worse with every subsequent glance, which is why (of course) many people watch the program with their eyes closed.
“I was never in a position to close my eyes, and consequently, I enjoyed a front-row seat to a great variety of pits, and holes, that most people simply don’t know exist. One brief example might be the interior of an ocean buoy.
“In the Coast Guard, buoy tenders are responsible for hoisting these giant steel contraptions out of the ocean, and refurbishing them.
“In this case, ‘refurbishment’ means crawling into a woefully inadequate tube not much larger than the space taken up by your shoulders, and wiggling your way like a worm into the shadowy depths whereupon you begin to remove the barnacles and various other forms of nautical life with a stick or some other improvised tool.”
KEEPING FIT
Q: Do you follow an exercise/weightlifting routine?
“For a while, when I agonised over maintaining the illusion of fitness, I committed myself to a routine that centred around burpees.
“Also known as the Prison Workout, burpees require one to drop from a standing position into a squat. Then you kick your legs backward, and do a push-up. Then, you return to the squatting position. Then, you leap into the air as high as you can. Then you do it again.
“And again. And again. Until you are either a) No longer fat, or b) Vomiting uncontrollably. The end.”

 

Want To Live To Be 80: This Is How
For Nick Iliopolous, the key to longevity is salad, sea, sex and sun.
The 83-year-old has been sunning himself in the same spot on the Bronte foreshore for the past 20 years.
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) suggests many more octogenarians will soon be able to join him.

For the first time in history, Australian men can expect to live past 80.
The breakthrough, revealed on Thursday, means that Australia has joined an elite group of countries.
Among them are Switzerland, Japan and Iceland, where both men and women can expect to live past their 80th birthday.

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

It comes as no surprise to Mr Iliopolous, formerly of Mount Olympus.
His routine has prepared him for what he believes will be his penultimate decade.
"The secret is salad. Only tomatoes and lettuce," he said. "Walk for one hour a day and then back to the beach."
Mr Iliopolous said he was well-regarded among beachgoers for his healthy octogenarian physique.
"People always want to photograph me, they say 'look at my hair, look at my colour'."
He believes the other secret is getting married.
"A wife will keep you around longer," he said.
But men took their time to catch up to women, ABS's director of demography, Denise Carlton, said.
"Australian women pushed past the 80-year mark back in 1990, so it's taken men nearly a quarter of a century," Dr Carlton said.
"But having crossed the elusive 80-year threshold in the 1990s, improvements in expected lifespan for women has since slowed down, increasing by around four years over the period; it's 84.3 now."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/life-expectancy-for-australian-males-surges-past-80-for-first-time-20141106-11hsvb.html#ixzz3IIlgBvN2