What, no Kenyans?

	Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger image.

Darryn Zawitz of Richland had run in 13 prior marathons, but none slogging through mud and ascending glaciers with seals and humpback whales as spectators. Zawitz, 35, also had never won a marathon before finishing in 3:49.19 to beat 175 competitors in the Antarctica Marathon Feb. 26, during the Lost Continent's "summer." The time was an hour longer than his usual for 26.2 miles, but everyone was slowed by the tough conditions. "This was the hardest frigging thing I've ever done. ... The first half-mile I'm going up the hill, slurping through the mud, thinking, 'What's this all about?'" recalled the 1987 Hampton High School graduate for Morning File, which lacked an on-scene correspondent. Zawitz, a professional pilot, nonetheless loved the experience and wants to return to Antarctica to walk among the penguins. But not to race. That leaves at least one slot open for the next race in 2007. Visit www.marathontour.com to sign up.

Industry gives us gas

Like the rest of America, Morning File likes the way supermarkets treat us. (You mean I can scan all these items and bag them myself now? Wow -- thank you!). As for the oil industry? Whoa, don't get us started. A Harris Interactive poll found that consumers ranked the supermarket industry as No. 1 for generally doing a good job, and the oil industry fared worst among all business sectors, according to United Press International. To be fair to Exxon, Sunoco and the rest, the poll was taken before gasoline prices plummeted by 1/10 of a cent a week ago, to a U.S. average of a mere $2.23.6 a gallon. Supermarkets were followed by computer hardware companies and online search engines, with positive scores. Almost as bad as the oil companies were tobacco companies, health insurers and managed care companies.

Money to burn

From the AP
• Man Buys Smoker, Finds Human Leg Inside • Coach Stops Runaway Horse by Biting Ear • Man Allegedly Tries to Use 'Blurry' $100 • Police Break Up Brawl at Chuck E. Cheese • Suggestive Card Ruffles Farmer's Feathers • Nerds to Auction Themselves to Women • Toilet to Tap? San Jose Probes Plan • Seattle to Allow Pygmy Goats As Pets • Yankees Rookies Dress Up in Oz Costumes

Then there are those people for whom the price of gas just doesn't matter. They're the luxury consumers studied by Unity Marketing for Luxury Report 2005, which found that population group spent 33 percent more on high-end goods in 2004 ($33,188) than 2003 ($25,010). That's not Starbucks grande lattes they're counting -- it's the kind of cars, furniture, appliances, electronics, fashionable clothing and jewelry that most of us need a fraudulent lawsuit against a celebrity or fast food chain to obtain. According to the report, described at www.unitymarketingonline.com, 15 percent of luxury consumers surveyed (average income: $135,000) bought a new car last year, at an average cost of $46,394.

Down with mannequins

There's a new campaign to stomp out "mannequins," but don't expect to see protesters outside Kaufmann's window displays. The Advertising Council and Federal Voting Assistance Program launched the Fight Mannequinism movement in hopes of turning young adults from the slackers we know they all are -- and once were ourselves -- into a knowledgeable and involved citizenry. The new campaign describes mannequinism as "a fictional medical condition that illustrates how not being engaged in issues or causes that affect the world around you makes you unlife-like, like a mannequin." Public service announcements will encourage young people to vote and volunteer in their communities. See www.fightmannequinism.org for more information -- unless, that is, you'd rather not be bothered.

If it feels good, scoop it

Morning File has long suspected, without any scientific evidence to support it, that ice cream tastes good. Now researchers in London have come along to confirm that it feels good. Functional magnetic resource imaging showed that ice cream lights up the brain's pleasure zones, according to The Independent newspaper. The study by the Centre of Neuroimaging Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry found that when you lick that rocky road cone, it activates your orbitofrontal cortex, the fun-loving area at the front of the brain. It must be some other part of the brain that worries about the calories.