NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 31-year-old software engineer recalled the correct order of an entire deck of playing cards in 2 minutes and 27 seconds on Saturday to take the title of having the best memory in the United States.

Chester Santos of San Francisco beat two other finalists to win the USA Memory Championships in New York that saw dozens of “mental athletes” over age 12 battle through seven rounds of competition in a Manhattan auditorium.

“I’m in a good mood,” Santos told Reuters after his win, in which he correctly recalled the 10 of diamonds to qualify for the World Memory Championships scheduled to take place later this year in Bahrain.

He attributed his win to spending a few hours each night after work practicing his memory.

Championship challenges included memorizing a long and previously unpublished poem, recalling the names of 99 people whose photos had been shown 15 minutes earlier and retaining a list of numbers 20 digits wide and 25 rows long.

“These people are not freaks, they are not nerds, they are people that have trained their brain,” said event founder Tony Dottino.

“People are deathly afraid of losing their memories, but if you practice and use the right techniques, you can develop your memory at any age,” said Dottino, a management consultant.

Finalist Daniel Naftalovich, 18, a New York high school student, who like Santos had just five minutes to learn the order of the deck before reciting it onstage in front of an audience, said visualizing a card or word was key to memorization.

Santos, who won the contest for the first time after five tries, said he matched a person, action and object with each of the 52 cards to help jog his memory.

Using these kinds of techniques, memorizing phone numbers “are a piece of cake,” he said.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

Barrymore, 33, a WFP ambassador against hunger, announced her pledge on The Oprah Winfrey Show to kick off the agency’s $3 billion “Fill the Cup” campaign that aims to feed 59 million hungry school children in developing countries for a year.

WFP hopes the United States will be able to donate enough money to feed 10 million of those children.

“I have seen with my own eyes what a difference a simple cup of nutritious porridge can make in a child’s life,” said the “Charlie’s Angels” star, who has traveled to Kenya twice in the past two years for WFP.

“It helps them learn, stay healthy and sets them on track for a bright future. I urge everyone — everywhere — to help WFP ‘Fill the Cup’ for hungry children, and make hunger history,” she said in a statement released by the agency.

Barrymore, who gained fame as a child star in the film “ET: The Extra-Terrestrial,” is the eighth-highest-paid actress in Hollywood, according to The Hollywood Reporter, earning more than $10 million a movie.

The WFP is facing a $500 million gap in funding this year due to the rising cost of food — up 40 percent since June, WFP officials said. That prompted the actress to visit the world’s largest grain trading floor in the Chicago Board of Trade building on Monday where corn, wheat, soybean and rice futures trade.

Josette Sheeran, WFP’s executive director, said $50 “fills a child’s cup for a year” and called on people to donate through the Web site www.wfp.org.

“They feed their families with it … they get an education so therefore you’re changing the future,” Barrymore said after touring the floor, including a trip into the corn futures pit.

The organization said last year it provided more than 20 million school children with a daily cup of porridge, rice or beans and also gave many girls a monthly ration to take home to their families. It said up to 70 percent of its food used for school meals is bought from farmers in developing countries.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Additional reporting by Christine Stebbins in Chicago; Editing by Eric Walsh)

By Kenneth Miller
From Reader’s Digest May 2007

Very Hard Workers

Reynaldo Robledo is driving his Toyota 4 x 4 along a quiet farm road through a Sonoma Valley vineyard. Squads of pickers move down rows laden with plump fruit, stopping to wave at the man behind the wheel. As Robledo returns their greeting, his eyes glitter with emotion. “I was asking the people working here,” he says, “and they tell me, ‘I made yesterday over $200.’ That makes me feel good.”

When Robledo arrived in wine country from Mexico 39 years ago, he made just $12 a day, more than ten times what he could earn in his home village. His English is still heavily accented, but his horizons have broadened immeasurably: As the first former migrant worker in the United States to found his own winery, Robledo, now 55, has enriched both himself and his adopted country. His saga helps explain why — more than a century after a sonnet welcoming the world’s huddled masses was engraved beneath the Statue of Liberty, and despite the current debate over immigration — America still hasn’t locked the gates.

Robledo stops the truck in front of a warehouse and introduces his son Everardo, who is busy loading cases of Pinot Noir grapes onto a flatbed trailer. “I’d shake your hand, but mine’s all sticky,” says the 31-year-old, his accent pure California.

Down the road, Jenaro, 28, hails his father from a golf cart to tell him he thinks a nearby patch of Chardonnay is ready. Robledo, who owns these fields and a dozen other tracts in Sonoma, Napa and Lake counties (a total of 220 acres scattered across America’s foremost viticultural region), delivers 80 percent of the grapes he grows to big producers such as Gloria Ferrer, Benziger and Kendall-Jackson. His greatest pride, however, is the wine he bottles with his kids. Each of his seven sons and two daughters participates in the business, which now sells 1,500 cases a month. Robledo Family Winery has won gold medals at international competitions; critics use terms like aristocratic and sensual to describe its offerings. The company owes its success largely to the skills and passion Robledo has passed on to his progeny. But one factor predominates. “The good thing about my family,” Robledo observes, “is that they are all very hard workers.”

Out of Poverty

In Atacheo, Michoacán, a town of 4,000 nestled in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains, hard work could get you only so far. The eldest of 13 siblings, Robledo spent his childhood in a thatch-roofed adobe hut and often went to bed hungry. His father and grandfather were braceros, part of a U.S. guest worker program in effect from 1942 to 1964, allowing them to eventually obtain residency papers. Though they spent months of the year doing farm labor in the States, the cash they sent home was never enough.

Young Robledo left school in Atacheo in the third grade to pick corn and strawberries for local landowners. In 1968, armed with his own long-awaited permit, the 16-year-old went with his dad on the northward drive in a battered Chevy Impala.

They arrived in Napa Valley on a February night, and the next morning Robledo joined a field crew at ChristianBrothers Winery. He had never seen grapevines before — “They looked like small trees,” he recalls — but he was soon captivated by the ever-varying cycle of pruning, grafting, thinning and spraying. He also realized that the craft, if one became skilled at it, could offer a way out of poverty. To his eyes, the labor camp bunkhouse seemed luxurious. But he sensed there was an even better life waiting, if only he could grab it.

And so he came to a decision: Unlike his kinfolk, who frequently returned to Mexico, Robledo would stay. He would transform himself into the best vine tender in the business — and, in the process, into an American.

To reach his goal, Robledo worked up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, sending his Monday-through-Saturday wages ($1.10 an hour) home to his mother and siblings, and keeping his Sunday pay ($1.50 an hour) for himself. He lingered after his shifts, teaching himself new techniques and practicing on tractors and backhoes. Within a few months, he got a job as foreman for another company, overseeing 35 workers, including his father. His new boss was Frankie Barbera, a legendary grower; the older man mentored Robledo in the arcane world of viticulture.

Three years after his arrival in the United States, Robledo became a supervisor of several crews. By then, he had married Maria de la Luz Ramirez, a girl from Atacheo whom he courted mostly by mail. Their first child, Lorena, was born in Mexico the following year, and shortly thereafter, with her papers in order, wife and daughter joined Robledo in California. The family rapidly expanded.

A Beautiful Country

In 1974 Robledo landed the position of vineyard manager for Sonoma-Cutrer, running the company’s properties in the Sonoma, Napa and Russian River valleys. His salary of $60,000, worth more than four times that much today, reflected his unusual talent. “He was brash, ambitious and smarter than a whip,” says former owner Bryce Jones, who helped Robledo learn to run a business and remains an advisor. Robledo moved on to Curtis Ranches in 1981; the owner was so impressed with his abilities, he sent him to France to teach grafting at an affiliated winery. Robledo’s English was still spotty, and on the layover at JFK, he got so lost that he almost missed his flight to Paris. He tried improving his fluency using his children’s textbooks, to little avail. (In fact, his linguistic insecurity led him to put off seeking U.S.citizenship until 1990, when he finally took, and passed, the rigorous exam.) “The language barrier was the most difficult thing for my father,” says daughter Vanessa, 29.

But it didn’t prevent him from expressing a concern for others as intense as his drive to succeed. Over time, Robledo helped all his siblings come north and found them good jobs in the vineyards. He sent money back to Mexico to pave Atacheo’s roads and repair its churches. In Sonoma he routinely brought workers home for his wife’s luscious meals. “He’d make sure they had a place to stay,” says Vanessa. “He was like a big dad to everyone.”

To ensure his children’s future, Robledo began amassing land. “I wanted ten acres por member of the family,” he says. In 1984 he made his first purchase: a 13-acre plot in Napa occupied by a decrepit ranch house and a defunct airstrip. He trundled 18 truckloads of debris to the dump, moved his family into the house and spent his evenings planting vines. He set up experimental plots in the backyard, using different soils and rootstocks.

Despite killing frosts, ill-timed rains and colleagues’ warnings that some of his holdings were hopeless, his fields all bore extraordinary fruit. He began selling grapes to wineries, and by the mid 1990s he’d gone into business for himself.

The kids pitched in from the beginning. “I remember working on my birthday and on Christmas,” says Everardo. “Instead of a baseball bat, I got a shovel. I was like, Come on, Dad! But I appreciate it now. He instilled the belief that if you work for it, you can have pretty much anything you want in this beautiful country.”

Dream Come True

Today the drafty ranch house has been replaced by a pink mini-mansion. Most of the kids have places of their own. But Maria still cooks for a full house at least once a week. Tonight she’s loading a lace-draped table with Michoacán delicacies — chiles rellenos, squash with sweet potato, brisket, shrimp and more — as her children gather.

A generously built woman with a jaunty air, she banters with the kids and sings along with the rancher a music on the stereo. The younger guests (including a few grandkids) drink soda pop, but the rest stick to the family product. Even those in muddy T-shirts swirl their glasses with the finesse of a sommelier.

Robledo had long hankered to make his own wine, and when daughter Lorena married her childhood sweetheart, Rolando Herrera, wine maker for the prestigious Paul Hobbs label, he found the partner he needed. He released his first wine, a Merlot, in 1998. Other varieties soon followed. And in October 2003 he opened a winery and tasting room in a converted dairy barn in Sonoma. “That’s when everything fell into place,” says Vanessa, now the winery’s president.

In the tasting room, a carved oak bar surrounded by stacks of barrels, the founder himself would often perch on a stool, regaling visitors with the story of his life. Beguiled by the man as well as his wines, oenophiles spread the word to others around the country. The buzz helped multiply sales to restaurants and wine boutiques,and lured hundreds of monthly subscribers to the Robledo wine club, known appropriately as La Familia.

As a privately held firm, Robledo Family Winery does not disclose its revenues. But if one indication of wealth is the capacity to share it, the company is doing well indeed: Over the past three years, it has raised more than $100,000 for farm workers’ health, housing and literacy programs.

Certainly the enterprise is robust enough to keep Robledo’s children busy. Rey Jr., 33, is chief grafter. Everardo develops land, and Jenaro runs the main vineyard operation, Robledo Ranches. Francisco, 24, is a cellar rat, or wine making apprentice; his twin, Luis, handles outside sales. Lazaro, 21, works the tasting room, and Emiliano, 13, is in charge of bird control, which he accomplishes by riding his ATV into flocks of crows while shrieking.

At the winery’s annual harvest festival, Robledo kicks off the festivities, leading a band of mariachis up the gravel drive as they play “Cielito Lindo.” While his guests and family mingle, eat and drink, Robledo circulates, connecting with his customers from across the United States and beyond as though they were his oldest friends. Later he retreats to the edge of the vineyard, just beyond the yellow winery building. “Look at the smiles,” he marvels. “This is why I can work the way I do without getting tired. These people have adopted me. They love me. I’ve made them happy! I can’t describe how that makes me feel.”

Then he finds the words he needs, like so many new Americans before him: “Right now my dreams have come true.”

Like many other Americans he is working more and sleeping less which could have an impact on their professional and personal lives.

A new survey by the National Sleep Foundation shows people are spending an average of 4.5 hours each week doing additional work from home, on top of a 9.5 hour average work day.

While 28 percent of people questioned in the survey said their daytime sleepiness interferes with their daily activities at least a few days a month, 63 percent said they are likely to accept their sleepiness and keep going.

“There’s enough data now to clearly show that if you’re not sleeping enough, that’s going to dramatically affect your performance and productivity,” said Mark Rosekind, a former director of the Center for Human Sleep Research at the Stanford University Sleep Center who helped design the poll.

“People think if I can jam more hours in the day I’ll get more done. That’s not true,” he added in an interview.

Although Nichols, 35, said he hasn’t noticed any negative effects, his wife says he looks beat up and run down. The only time he catches up on his sleep is when he takes a vacation where his BlackBerry doesn’t work.

“That removes the temptation,” he said.

Nearly one third of the 1,000 people who took part in the telephone poll late last year said they fell asleep or were tired on the job in the past month, and 12 percent reported being late to work.

Rosekind said estimates of what an overtired workforce costs the economy have put it at between $50 and $130 billion each year due to lost job productivity, accidents, injuries and medical conditions.

He added that most people will rate themselves as being wide awake and performing at a good level but “when you measure them they’re horrible.”

The poll also showed that lack of sleep is affecting people’s safety. Nearly 40 percent of people report nodding off or falling asleep while driving and 14 percent missed family events, work functions and leisure activities.

Almost one in four of those questioned admitted doing job-related work in the hour before going to bed at least a few nights each week, so it’s no surprise that 20 percent are having less sex because they are too tired.

Victoria Castillo would like to be able to turn her brain off from work. The 33-year-old artist spends between 60-70 hours each week in her home-based studio in College Station, Texas, and like almost one in five of those surveyed, uses an over-the-counter sleep aid at least a few nights each week.

“It does take a physical toll and a mental toll and a toll on my work when I can’t sleep. They do feed each other. If I could change one thing in my life it would be to be able to sleep,” she said.

Le pessimisme des investisseurs, en Europe comme en Asie, a été attisé par la vigoureuse remontée de l’euro et du yen face au dollar, qui pénalise les exportateurs de ces deux zones, ainsi que par les nouveaux records atteints par le pétrole. Vers 16 heures, le billet vert ne valait plus que 103,23 yens, proche de son plus bas niveau en plus de trois ans, tandis que l’euro se situait à un niveau record de 1,5274 dollar.

L’OR, VALEUR REFUGE

Le baril de light sweet crude pour livraison en avril a atteint 103,95 dollars, sur le marché à terme de matières premières de New York, le New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), et le baril de brent s’échangeait à 102,29 dollars à Londres, dépassant pour la première fois le seuil des 102 dollars.

Signe de l’inquiétude des marchés, l’once d’or a lui aussi battu des records, lundi, s’établissant sur le London Bullion Market, à 988,70 dollars, tandis que l’once d’argent touchait un niveau plus haut depuis son record de janvier 1980 (38,26 dollars) en dépassant les 20 dollars pour atteindre 20,44 dollars. La chute du dollar et la hausse du pétrole augmentent les risques d’inflation et poussent les investisseurs vers les placements “anti-inflation” que sont les métaux précieux.

Par ailleurs, une série de mauvais chiffres sur l’économie américaine sont venus alimenter les inquiétudes de ralentissement mondial, alors que la flambée des prix des matières premières limite la marge de manœuvre des banques centrales.

The deal includes more than $36 million guaranteed, and keeps Roethlisberger with the Steelers through 2015.

“Ben has been an outstanding leader on the field for the Steelers since his rookie year and we are very happy to know that he will be our quarterback for many years to come,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said Monday in a statement.

Roethlisberger turned 26 on Sunday and said the contract was a great birthday present.

“This is about being a Pittsburgh Steeler for as long as I can be. I love Pittsburgh,” Roethlisberger said. He said he “wanted to be like the Dan Marinos, like the John Elways, guys who played with one team their whole career.”

The Pro Bowl quarterback led the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory two years ago and has been the starter in all four of seasons he’s been with the team.

Roethlisberger threw 32 touchdown passes with only 11 interceptions in leading the Steelers to the playoffs this season, bounc(e)ing back from an injury-marred season.

He was hurt in a serious motorcycle accident in the 2006 offseason, then underwent an appendectomy. Although he started 15 games, his play was subpar. He threw 23 interceptions, three more than he had thrown in his first two seasons, and Pittsburgh failed to make the playoffs.

This season, he led the Steelers to a 10-6 record and the AFC North title before they were eliminated by Jacksonville in the playoffs.

Roethlisberger was the third quarterback taken in the ‘04 draft, behind Eli Manning and Philip Rivers, and the 11th choice overall. He started 13 games his rookie season and was voted offensive rookie of the year, the first quarterback to win the award since it was first given in 1957. The next year he led the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory.

Researchers in South Texas are beginning to sing the praises of a flying cockroach from Asia that has shown a voracious appetite for pests that plague farmers. They concede, however, that most people would still be revolted at the sight of the helpful predator.

“It just brings out this visceral reaction in people,” said Bob Pfannenstiel, an entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “There’s too much cultural antipathy just because of the other cockroaches.”

The other cockroaches include the German variety, a common breed that doesn’t fly and is often seen scattering from countertops when kitchen lights are flicked on.

The Asian cockroach, Blattella asahinai, is almost identical in appearance to the German variety and is also active at night. But instead of leftover pizza, it feasts on insects harmful to crops.

They first appeared in Florida in 1986, and the species has expanded its range ever since. They’ve migrated to southern Georgia, Alabama and up the East Coast.

They ventured west into Texas in 2006, and became the most common predator of bollworm eggs in the state’s Rio Grande Valley region. The bollworm threatens cotton, soybean, corn and tomato crops.

Pfannenstiel has counted as many as 100 roaches per square meter in soybean fields. In one instance, he found 14 cockroaches on a single leaf. None damaged the plants.

About 86 percent of the pests’ eggs — which Pfannenstiel and colleagues placed out in fields to conduct research — were gone within 24 hours.

“I saw them feeding more than any other predator,” Pfannenstiel said. “It was truly a spectacle. It was unbelievable, and I’m sure they were feeding on more than eggs.”

The cockroach also eats the eggs of the beet armyworm — a pest to cotton, cabbage and a variety of other crops.

South Texas cotton producer Jimmy Dodson said he’s thankful the Asian cockroach is helping reduce pests in the region’s cotton fields.

“The enemy of my enemy is a friend,” said Dodson, whose family farms 9,000 acres of cotton. “When you have an ally in (reducing pests) you’re not going to run them off. We need all the help we can get.”

Scientists have studied predator insects in agriculture for years but not much research has been done at night. Pfannenstiel, who researches
beneficial insects, plans a long-term study to determine whether the cockroach remains a predator all its life.

“Without studying what goes on at night, we would never have observed some of our most important predators in cotton and soybeans,” he said. “It’s interesting that the cockroach could be a benefit to farmers.”