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Discussion with an Expert on Spacesuits; Warning for Weightlifters

Aired July 20, 2004 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Family members say they're overwhelmed by public support in the search for Lori Hacking. She's a pregnant jogger missing since Monday morning in Salt Lake City. Police expect as many as 3,000 volunteers to show up for the search today.
Miami is celebrating the arrival of its major new basketball star, Shaquille O'Neal, live pictures now of Shaq, as he's officially joining the Miami Heat and receiving a key to the Miami-Dade County.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, MIAMI HEAT: I think as I got older, I got better. I came in 285, 1 percent or 2 percent body fat, and I always got tired out. The older I got, I obtained more knowledge, and I have just gotten better. Of course I'm old. But this is another classic Shaquille O'Neal quote: I'm like toilet paper, toothpaste and certain amenities; I'm proven to be good and useful. So yes, I'm 32 and I'm getting older, but I've still got 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 more years left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And a beachfront property. Shaq is returning to the state where he began his NBA career with the Orlando Magic. He was traded from the Lakers last week.

Coming up live, less than a half hour from now, Present Bush speaks at a re-election rally at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There's a political first, too, both of his daughters are traveling with him for this appearance. After Iowa, he heads to Missouri. Both states are considered extremely tight races, as you know.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Where were you 35 years ago today, when America announced the Eagle has landed? Well, that historic moment is being celebrated today at the Air and Space Museum in Washington, where our Miles O'Brien is rummaging through the nation's astronautical attic.

What are you going to come home with, Miles? What are you going to bring for us?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you never know what might fall off the air and space truck here, as they say. Now, 35 years ago, I know you weren't around to appreciate this. I was a lad, about 10 years old.

PHILLIPS: Listen to you. I was around.

O'BRIEN: Well, you were one, right?

PHILLIPS: Two.

O'BRIEN: Maybe two? Well, if you were old enough, the first thing you would have asked, what would you wear to walk on the moon, right? Isn't that what you would ask?

PHILLIPS: Exactly what I was wondering, when I was 2.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Well, I have just the person for you. Amanda Young is an expert on just those suits they wore to moon, to space, and to Apollo, and really beyond that.

It's good to have you with us, Amanda.

AMANDA YOUNG, SPACESUIT EXPERT: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: These suits that they wore, they were all custom, millions of dollars, all that stuff. But what were they really made of, and what was the goal in making them?

YOUNG: Well, they were made to keep the astronauts alive while they were in space. But a spacesuit is made basically of two suits that are joined together. The interior suit is the pressure bladder, which hold the air and keeps it at a certain pressure so the astronaut can breathe, and the external layer is basically the thermal layer to keep the normal core and...

O'BRIEN: All right, and we have a glove here. Now these gloves are custom made for each of the restaurants. I'm going to put my white gloves on in case I want to touch them. But why don't you show us what's going on inside there?

YOUNG: Well, the inside of the glove, you can basically see the blue ring, and that means that it's a left-hand glove. It was always blue for the left and red for the right. And the gauntlet keeps the...

O'BRIEN: In case you don't know which side your thumb is on your hand, right?

YOUNG: Right, just in case you lose track.

The gauntlet on the glove was to cover up the aluminum, so it wouldn't heat up in the light of the...

O'BRIEN: I just love it when you say aluminum, that's great. That's great. So, this right here would attach to the main suit and then that covers up.

YOUNG: Absolutely, it locks in place. O'BRIEN: Now, when you put this on, of course this would be expanded as a pressure suit, you realize they didn't have very much -- the dexterity was very limited, right?

YOUNG: It was, but they had a lot more than one initially thinks. These silicone tips are actually very soft. And when picking up tools, and rocks, and stuff like that, it's not too difficult at all.

O'BRIEN: And I suppose these would be the weak points in the suit. If you sprung a leak there, you'd have to...

YOUNG: You'd be in trouble. There is a lot of insulation in between you and the...

O'BRIEN: And this velcro, fire resistant?

YOUNG: Fire resistant, yes.

O'BRIEN: And is that aluminum material you were talking about?

YOUNG: Yes, it's actually stainless, and it's called Chromel R.

O'BRIEN: Chromel R.

Yes, as for the boots that they wore on the surface of the moon, now these were designed just for walking on the surface of the moon, right?

YOUNG: Yes. Yes.

O'BRIEN: Obviously, when you're floating around in Apollo capsule, you don't need heavy boots.

YOUNG: You don't need heavyweight boots, no.

O'BRIEN: What was the idea here? What were they trying to accomplish with these boots? Well, this is to protect the integrated boots that were part of the spacesuit, and these slipped on over those boots.

O'BRIEN: Like galoshes.

YOUNG: Like galoshes. And they've got the same Chromel R on the upper part, and the base is still made out of silicone, same as these fingertips. And it's very heavily insulated on the bottom here. They did not make it more difficult to walk.

O'BRIEN: Really? Well, of course...

YOUNG: Apparently not.

O'BRIEN: ... and they were bouncing around. Did these boots make it back, the ones that actually went to the moon, or were they left behind?

YOUNG: All of the boots were left on the moon wit the exception of two pairs.

O'BRIEN: Where are those?

YOUNG: Apollo 17's boots, they are here. Two of them are upstairs on the stage here, and the other two are in storage.

O'BRIEN: And let's talk for just a moment as we talk about what's on display up there. This is probably one of the hardest things to keep intact for prosperity, isn't it? Because it's fabric, after all.

YOUNG: Their fabrics, and some of the fabrics are not too difficult to maintain, but the interior pressure bladder is enormously difficult to maintain, and they're deteriorating, very, very quickly.

O'BRIEN: What can you do to stem that?

YOUNG: Well, environmental controls are very important. Keeping them dry is important. A certain amount of air circulation is very important. And there's a great deal of it that there's nothing we can do about.

O'BRIEN: So 35 years from now, when we have this interview, you and I, we may, in fact have lost some suits along the way?

YOUNG: We will have certainly lost a great deal of the interior portions of the spacesuits, yes.

O'BRIEN: So it's important for you to document all of this...

O'BRIEN: My life's work.

YOUNG: ... and keep it for an historical record, isn't it?

O'BRIEN: One final thought here, as we look at this scene here, if you were to design these suits today, how different would they look? Would they look much different, or would they be pretty much the same, just slightly different materials?

YOUNG: If they were for Mars, they would be different materials and probably wouldn't weigh the same. For a lunar suit, these were perfect. They never had a failure. They were terrific.

O'BRIEN: Isn't that something? When you consider there were six landings, 12 people used them, and never a failure once. When you consider what was accomplished, it's amazing.

YOUNG: They're amazing, amazing things.

O'BRIEN: Granted, I'm biased, but they're amazing.

YOUNG: You don't have to be biased. I'm biased, that's okay. Amanda Young, thank you very much, and good luck in your work I hope you keep these things going as long as possible. You probably shouldn't hand them to people like me too much. It's going to cause some problems. All right, Kyra, that's it for this one. We're going to be headed out of the museum right now.

Amanda, thank you very much for having dropping by.

PHILLIPS: Now wait a minute, you have one of those gloves in your office, I've seen it miles. Now the question is, is it real, and is it really worth $20,000, like you told me?

O'BRIEN: You mean that thing on eBay I've got?

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes.

O'BRIEN: Yes, yes. We'll have to -- we'll negotiate that later.

Anyway, we'll see you later, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, boots and the blazer.

If you think your workouts are a killer, you could be right. Dangerous dumbbells and an excuse to slack off at the gym, coming up. And fast food joints in the news. How many Big Macs do you have to eat to get in the record books? That and the men's room ruffle that has us going what? LIVE FROM wants fries with that, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A warning now for weightlifters. More than a million dumbbells and NordicTrack dumbbells are being recalled. Several people were hurt after the weights fell off the handle. Those dumbbells range from two to 50 pounds. They're chrome. They were sold at Sears, Target, and a number of other stores.

Well, we know what we do now can keep us healthier longer, and if it works for our body, does it also work for our brain?

CNN medical correspondent Holly Firfer with new findings about diet and Alzheimer's Disease.

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It all comes down to what you eat.

PHILLIPS: Doesn't it always?

FIRFER: It does, absolutely does. Yes, what you eat may directly affect your brain. New studies released at the Ninth International Alzheimer's Meeting show that what is good for your heart is good for your head.

Now, researchers say while heart disease can lead to vascular dementia by restricting the bloodflow to the brain, scientists also think certain components of heart disease can also accelerate Alzheimer's. So what you eat is very important.

Let me give you some examples of this. One study looked -- out of Finland, looked at almost 1,500 women and found that those who were obese in middle age were twice as likely to develop dementia later in life. For those who had high cholesterol and hypertension, their risk of dementia was six times higher. Another study that showed raising HDL, or good cholesterol, could help increase cognitive health. And another study showed that the factors that contribute to diabetes also appear to promote a decline in mental abilities in the elderly.

So if we haven't proven it to you already, watch your blood cholesterol levels, your blood sugar levels, keep your blood pressure down. It could help you later for preventing Alzheimer's.

PHILLIPS: All right, Holly Firfer, thank you so much. We're going to take a quick break, because I understand the president is speaking, so we'll be right back after a quick message.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: Well, singer Linda Ronstadt was escorted out of a Las Vegas Hotel after a controversial performance. It happened at the Aladdin Hotel, where she was making a one-night appearance on Saturday night. Hundreds of people in the audience of 5,000, we are told, walked out angrily after she dedicated a song to Michael Moore and his movie "Fahrenheit 9/11." The management says she was hired to entertain, not make political statements.

Jerry Fink was there, writing a review for the "Las Vegas Sun."

Jerry, I'm curious, what song did she dedicate to Michael Moore?

JERRY FINK, "LAS VEGAS SUN": "Desperado."

PHILLIPS: "Desperado," of course. All right, tell us what happened. You were there in the audience.

FINK: Well, as soon as she mentioned that she was going to dedicate this song to Michael Moore, the cheers and the boos started. She's done this at each of her concerts. So I didn't think it was going to be a surprise to anyone that she would do it here.

But apparently, it upset a good number of people, and I would say 200 or 300 probably walked out, which is a relatively small percentage of the 5,000 people who were there. But still, it was a substantial number.

PHILLIPS: All right. Some people, of course, were saying there were thousands of people. So, now you're setting the record straight: It was only a few hundred?

FINK: Yes, I think the management was saying that half the people walked out. And no, that didn't happen. But it was several hundred.

PHILLIPS: Now, did it get rowdy? There were reports that some of them defaced the posters in the lobby and wrote comments and got a little... FINK: Well, right. The hotel said that the posters were defaced by the people who were leaving. I didn't see that. I was in the showroom and, you know, she sang "Desperado." Then, she sang, I think, one or two other songs. She cut her performance short by about 20 minutes, I think. Normally, she does, you know, several encores. But this time, she didn't.

PHILLIPS: So, you're saying at some of the other concerts that she's dedicated songs to Michael Moore?

FINK: Right, it was fairly common knowledge that she was doing that, so...

PHILLIPS: Has she been a political activist lately, Jerry?

FINK: Well, you know, I hadn't heard a lot about her lately, which kind of surprised me that so many people came to her concert. I didn't realize that she had so many fans today. So, I had no knowledge of her being particularly -- I know back, you know, in the '60s, '70s, she was pretty outspoken. But hadn't...

PHILLIPS: Jerry, you didn't have her albums? Come on, I had them all.

How was her performance? How did she do?

FINK: She -- you know, as I said in my review, it was kind of lackluster. And someone said she may have been ill or something, I don't know. But she didn't seem to have a lot of enthusiasm.

You know, she still has a great voice, you know, and she can still hit the notes. And she does a pretty good job there. But she just didn't seem to be that into the -- into the concert.

PHILLIPS: Little "Blue Bayou." Well, she's obviously got something on her mind. Jerry Fink, "Las Vegas Sun." Appreciate it.

FINK: Yes, you're welcome.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Well, here's a refreshing story. It's about a Wisconsin man who doesn't really decry the evils of carbs. He's not a vegetarian, and he doesn't shy away from fast food. Now he's being recognized for a pretty amazing gastro-nomic milestone -- I guess you could say that. I don't know; I think he should probably speak for himself.

Mike Jacobs of CNN affiliate WTMJ has the filling details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN GORSKE, BIG MAC RECORD-HOLDER: It's hard to eat a Big Mac in front of a lot of people

MIKE JACOBS, REPORTER, WTMJ (voice-over): Lots of people watched Dan eat the burger that will put him in the "Guinness Book of World Records." His passion for Big Macs started back in 1972, eating two, sometimes three a day. The security guard claims to have eaten the big burgers at a McDonald's in every state. One was mailed from Hawaii.

By 1990, Gorske had reached 10,000 Big Macs.

GORSKE: It usually takes me 16 bites to finish a Big Mac, so please be patient.

JACOBS: At a healthy 170 pounds, Gorske doesn't have any plans to change his diet. It took 32 years to reach 20,000. So, at age 50, Gorske has a lot more burgers to go.

GORSKE: I probably plan on eating Big Macs until I probably die.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, we call it fast food, but some things you still have to wait for. Perhaps if Andres Diaz (ph) had to put it like that and Joseph Manuel Augusto (ph) had come back with, "What the?" well, they wouldn't both be facing breach of peace charges in Stratford, Connecticut.

It seems Augusto (ph) objected to what he considered an undue amount of time Diaz (ph) was spending in a Burger King men's room. Well, when Diaz (ph) came out, the pair allegedly exchanged unpleasantries and then chased each other through the restaurant -- Augusto (ph), brandishing a pocket knife; Diaz (ph), a straw dispenser. And apparently, he couldn't find a ketchup bottle. Nobody was hurt.

Speaking of "What the," the summer live from has brought you surveillance videos of squirrels, dogs engaged in minor thefts. Well, today, we've got security cam stuff of a creature who seems to be abiding by the law. It's just that no one is sure exactly what kind of creature he is.

John Sherman of affiliate WBAL has the story. See what you think.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN SHERMAN, REPORTER, WBAL (voice-over): For a while, it was just lurking in the woods, watching the Wroe family, until the Wroe started watching it.

JAY WROE, GLYNDON RESIDENT: My truck was parked here. I started to get in my truck. I kind of saw it there where the sunlight is. And you know, looked at it, said what in the world is that thing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked so weird. I didn't know what it was.

SHERMAN: Wanting to get a better look at the beast stalking his family, Jay Wroe put technology to work for him.

WROE: That's when the next day I hooked up some -- just some portable motion detectors and put them down back in the woods there.

SHERMAN: The trap worked.

WROE: Very bizarre. I went and got my father and a cousin, and they came and looked at it. And all three reactions were pretty much the same -- just as anybody else is saying -- what in the world are we looking at?

SHERMAN: Now more than a month after the first sighting, the creature's become a neighborhood regular, showing up often.

KIM CARLSEN, GLYNDON RESIDENT: It comes to our house. It's been in the woods for a while, and it comes up through the bottom of our yard and eats our cat food.

SHERMAN (on camera): But despite fact it's lurking in these woods and nobody knows when or where it's going to come out, nobody here seems afraid of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. It doesn't look like it's going to harm anybody.

SHERMAN (voice-over): Even the other neighborhood animals, like Bullwinkle, the dog next door, seem OK with the beast.

CARLSEN: It's not afraid of the cats, and the cats seem to get along with it fine.

SHERMAN: The beast is not shy, visiting most often under bright sun. While no one here knows what it is, they do have a name for it.

CARLSEN: The hyote -- that's what all the kids call it. It's a combination between a hyena and a coyote.

SHERMAN: Is it a coyote, a hyena, maybe a fox, or even a sick wolf? As it walks around the woods near the Wroe family's home, its mysterious legend grows.

WROE: Just keep getting phone calls from different people around the neighborhood, saying, "Hey, I think I saw the critter. I think I saw it."

SHERMAN: Saw it, but saw what? Here, seeing leaves you really unsure what to believe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We don't know what to believe either.

Well, coming up in our second hour of LIVE FROM, live pictures now. President Bush taking questions for the audience in Cedar Rapids with his twins in tow. We're going to take you live and get some reactions to balance things out. CNN's your campaign headquarters when LIVE FROM's hour of power begins right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired July 20, 2004 - 13:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Family members say they're overwhelmed by public support in the search for Lori Hacking. She's a pregnant jogger missing since Monday morning in Salt Lake City. Police expect as many as 3,000 volunteers to show up for the search today.
Miami is celebrating the arrival of its major new basketball star, Shaquille O'Neal, live pictures now of Shaq, as he's officially joining the Miami Heat and receiving a key to the Miami-Dade County.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, MIAMI HEAT: I think as I got older, I got better. I came in 285, 1 percent or 2 percent body fat, and I always got tired out. The older I got, I obtained more knowledge, and I have just gotten better. Of course I'm old. But this is another classic Shaquille O'Neal quote: I'm like toilet paper, toothpaste and certain amenities; I'm proven to be good and useful. So yes, I'm 32 and I'm getting older, but I've still got 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 more years left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And a beachfront property. Shaq is returning to the state where he began his NBA career with the Orlando Magic. He was traded from the Lakers last week.

Coming up live, less than a half hour from now, Present Bush speaks at a re-election rally at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There's a political first, too, both of his daughters are traveling with him for this appearance. After Iowa, he heads to Missouri. Both states are considered extremely tight races, as you know.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Where were you 35 years ago today, when America announced the Eagle has landed? Well, that historic moment is being celebrated today at the Air and Space Museum in Washington, where our Miles O'Brien is rummaging through the nation's astronautical attic.

What are you going to come home with, Miles? What are you going to bring for us?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you never know what might fall off the air and space truck here, as they say. Now, 35 years ago, I know you weren't around to appreciate this. I was a lad, about 10 years old.

PHILLIPS: Listen to you. I was around.

O'BRIEN: Well, you were one, right?

PHILLIPS: Two.

O'BRIEN: Maybe two? Well, if you were old enough, the first thing you would have asked, what would you wear to walk on the moon, right? Isn't that what you would ask?

PHILLIPS: Exactly what I was wondering, when I was 2.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Well, I have just the person for you. Amanda Young is an expert on just those suits they wore to moon, to space, and to Apollo, and really beyond that.

It's good to have you with us, Amanda.

AMANDA YOUNG, SPACESUIT EXPERT: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: These suits that they wore, they were all custom, millions of dollars, all that stuff. But what were they really made of, and what was the goal in making them?

YOUNG: Well, they were made to keep the astronauts alive while they were in space. But a spacesuit is made basically of two suits that are joined together. The interior suit is the pressure bladder, which hold the air and keeps it at a certain pressure so the astronaut can breathe, and the external layer is basically the thermal layer to keep the normal core and...

O'BRIEN: All right, and we have a glove here. Now these gloves are custom made for each of the restaurants. I'm going to put my white gloves on in case I want to touch them. But why don't you show us what's going on inside there?

YOUNG: Well, the inside of the glove, you can basically see the blue ring, and that means that it's a left-hand glove. It was always blue for the left and red for the right. And the gauntlet keeps the...

O'BRIEN: In case you don't know which side your thumb is on your hand, right?

YOUNG: Right, just in case you lose track.

The gauntlet on the glove was to cover up the aluminum, so it wouldn't heat up in the light of the...

O'BRIEN: I just love it when you say aluminum, that's great. That's great. So, this right here would attach to the main suit and then that covers up.

YOUNG: Absolutely, it locks in place. O'BRIEN: Now, when you put this on, of course this would be expanded as a pressure suit, you realize they didn't have very much -- the dexterity was very limited, right?

YOUNG: It was, but they had a lot more than one initially thinks. These silicone tips are actually very soft. And when picking up tools, and rocks, and stuff like that, it's not too difficult at all.

O'BRIEN: And I suppose these would be the weak points in the suit. If you sprung a leak there, you'd have to...

YOUNG: You'd be in trouble. There is a lot of insulation in between you and the...

O'BRIEN: And this velcro, fire resistant?

YOUNG: Fire resistant, yes.

O'BRIEN: And is that aluminum material you were talking about?

YOUNG: Yes, it's actually stainless, and it's called Chromel R.

O'BRIEN: Chromel R.

Yes, as for the boots that they wore on the surface of the moon, now these were designed just for walking on the surface of the moon, right?

YOUNG: Yes. Yes.

O'BRIEN: Obviously, when you're floating around in Apollo capsule, you don't need heavy boots.

YOUNG: You don't need heavyweight boots, no.

O'BRIEN: What was the idea here? What were they trying to accomplish with these boots? Well, this is to protect the integrated boots that were part of the spacesuit, and these slipped on over those boots.

O'BRIEN: Like galoshes.

YOUNG: Like galoshes. And they've got the same Chromel R on the upper part, and the base is still made out of silicone, same as these fingertips. And it's very heavily insulated on the bottom here. They did not make it more difficult to walk.

O'BRIEN: Really? Well, of course...

YOUNG: Apparently not.

O'BRIEN: ... and they were bouncing around. Did these boots make it back, the ones that actually went to the moon, or were they left behind?

YOUNG: All of the boots were left on the moon wit the exception of two pairs.

O'BRIEN: Where are those?

YOUNG: Apollo 17's boots, they are here. Two of them are upstairs on the stage here, and the other two are in storage.

O'BRIEN: And let's talk for just a moment as we talk about what's on display up there. This is probably one of the hardest things to keep intact for prosperity, isn't it? Because it's fabric, after all.

YOUNG: Their fabrics, and some of the fabrics are not too difficult to maintain, but the interior pressure bladder is enormously difficult to maintain, and they're deteriorating, very, very quickly.

O'BRIEN: What can you do to stem that?

YOUNG: Well, environmental controls are very important. Keeping them dry is important. A certain amount of air circulation is very important. And there's a great deal of it that there's nothing we can do about.

O'BRIEN: So 35 years from now, when we have this interview, you and I, we may, in fact have lost some suits along the way?

YOUNG: We will have certainly lost a great deal of the interior portions of the spacesuits, yes.

O'BRIEN: So it's important for you to document all of this...

O'BRIEN: My life's work.

YOUNG: ... and keep it for an historical record, isn't it?

O'BRIEN: One final thought here, as we look at this scene here, if you were to design these suits today, how different would they look? Would they look much different, or would they be pretty much the same, just slightly different materials?

YOUNG: If they were for Mars, they would be different materials and probably wouldn't weigh the same. For a lunar suit, these were perfect. They never had a failure. They were terrific.

O'BRIEN: Isn't that something? When you consider there were six landings, 12 people used them, and never a failure once. When you consider what was accomplished, it's amazing.

YOUNG: They're amazing, amazing things.

O'BRIEN: Granted, I'm biased, but they're amazing.

YOUNG: You don't have to be biased. I'm biased, that's okay. Amanda Young, thank you very much, and good luck in your work I hope you keep these things going as long as possible. You probably shouldn't hand them to people like me too much. It's going to cause some problems. All right, Kyra, that's it for this one. We're going to be headed out of the museum right now.

Amanda, thank you very much for having dropping by.

PHILLIPS: Now wait a minute, you have one of those gloves in your office, I've seen it miles. Now the question is, is it real, and is it really worth $20,000, like you told me?

O'BRIEN: You mean that thing on eBay I've got?

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes.

O'BRIEN: Yes, yes. We'll have to -- we'll negotiate that later.

Anyway, we'll see you later, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, boots and the blazer.

If you think your workouts are a killer, you could be right. Dangerous dumbbells and an excuse to slack off at the gym, coming up. And fast food joints in the news. How many Big Macs do you have to eat to get in the record books? That and the men's room ruffle that has us going what? LIVE FROM wants fries with that, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A warning now for weightlifters. More than a million dumbbells and NordicTrack dumbbells are being recalled. Several people were hurt after the weights fell off the handle. Those dumbbells range from two to 50 pounds. They're chrome. They were sold at Sears, Target, and a number of other stores.

Well, we know what we do now can keep us healthier longer, and if it works for our body, does it also work for our brain?

CNN medical correspondent Holly Firfer with new findings about diet and Alzheimer's Disease.

HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It all comes down to what you eat.

PHILLIPS: Doesn't it always?

FIRFER: It does, absolutely does. Yes, what you eat may directly affect your brain. New studies released at the Ninth International Alzheimer's Meeting show that what is good for your heart is good for your head.

Now, researchers say while heart disease can lead to vascular dementia by restricting the bloodflow to the brain, scientists also think certain components of heart disease can also accelerate Alzheimer's. So what you eat is very important.

Let me give you some examples of this. One study looked -- out of Finland, looked at almost 1,500 women and found that those who were obese in middle age were twice as likely to develop dementia later in life. For those who had high cholesterol and hypertension, their risk of dementia was six times higher. Another study that showed raising HDL, or good cholesterol, could help increase cognitive health. And another study showed that the factors that contribute to diabetes also appear to promote a decline in mental abilities in the elderly.

So if we haven't proven it to you already, watch your blood cholesterol levels, your blood sugar levels, keep your blood pressure down. It could help you later for preventing Alzheimer's.

PHILLIPS: All right, Holly Firfer, thank you so much. We're going to take a quick break, because I understand the president is speaking, so we'll be right back after a quick message.

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(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

PHILLIPS: Well, singer Linda Ronstadt was escorted out of a Las Vegas Hotel after a controversial performance. It happened at the Aladdin Hotel, where she was making a one-night appearance on Saturday night. Hundreds of people in the audience of 5,000, we are told, walked out angrily after she dedicated a song to Michael Moore and his movie "Fahrenheit 9/11." The management says she was hired to entertain, not make political statements.

Jerry Fink was there, writing a review for the "Las Vegas Sun."

Jerry, I'm curious, what song did she dedicate to Michael Moore?

JERRY FINK, "LAS VEGAS SUN": "Desperado."

PHILLIPS: "Desperado," of course. All right, tell us what happened. You were there in the audience.

FINK: Well, as soon as she mentioned that she was going to dedicate this song to Michael Moore, the cheers and the boos started. She's done this at each of her concerts. So I didn't think it was going to be a surprise to anyone that she would do it here.

But apparently, it upset a good number of people, and I would say 200 or 300 probably walked out, which is a relatively small percentage of the 5,000 people who were there. But still, it was a substantial number.

PHILLIPS: All right. Some people, of course, were saying there were thousands of people. So, now you're setting the record straight: It was only a few hundred?

FINK: Yes, I think the management was saying that half the people walked out. And no, that didn't happen. But it was several hundred.

PHILLIPS: Now, did it get rowdy? There were reports that some of them defaced the posters in the lobby and wrote comments and got a little... FINK: Well, right. The hotel said that the posters were defaced by the people who were leaving. I didn't see that. I was in the showroom and, you know, she sang "Desperado." Then, she sang, I think, one or two other songs. She cut her performance short by about 20 minutes, I think. Normally, she does, you know, several encores. But this time, she didn't.

PHILLIPS: So, you're saying at some of the other concerts that she's dedicated songs to Michael Moore?

FINK: Right, it was fairly common knowledge that she was doing that, so...

PHILLIPS: Has she been a political activist lately, Jerry?

FINK: Well, you know, I hadn't heard a lot about her lately, which kind of surprised me that so many people came to her concert. I didn't realize that she had so many fans today. So, I had no knowledge of her being particularly -- I know back, you know, in the '60s, '70s, she was pretty outspoken. But hadn't...

PHILLIPS: Jerry, you didn't have her albums? Come on, I had them all.

How was her performance? How did she do?

FINK: She -- you know, as I said in my review, it was kind of lackluster. And someone said she may have been ill or something, I don't know. But she didn't seem to have a lot of enthusiasm.

You know, she still has a great voice, you know, and she can still hit the notes. And she does a pretty good job there. But she just didn't seem to be that into the -- into the concert.

PHILLIPS: Little "Blue Bayou." Well, she's obviously got something on her mind. Jerry Fink, "Las Vegas Sun." Appreciate it.

FINK: Yes, you're welcome.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Well, here's a refreshing story. It's about a Wisconsin man who doesn't really decry the evils of carbs. He's not a vegetarian, and he doesn't shy away from fast food. Now he's being recognized for a pretty amazing gastro-nomic milestone -- I guess you could say that. I don't know; I think he should probably speak for himself.

Mike Jacobs of CNN affiliate WTMJ has the filling details.

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DAN GORSKE, BIG MAC RECORD-HOLDER: It's hard to eat a Big Mac in front of a lot of people

MIKE JACOBS, REPORTER, WTMJ (voice-over): Lots of people watched Dan eat the burger that will put him in the "Guinness Book of World Records." His passion for Big Macs started back in 1972, eating two, sometimes three a day. The security guard claims to have eaten the big burgers at a McDonald's in every state. One was mailed from Hawaii.

By 1990, Gorske had reached 10,000 Big Macs.

GORSKE: It usually takes me 16 bites to finish a Big Mac, so please be patient.

JACOBS: At a healthy 170 pounds, Gorske doesn't have any plans to change his diet. It took 32 years to reach 20,000. So, at age 50, Gorske has a lot more burgers to go.

GORSKE: I probably plan on eating Big Macs until I probably die.

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PHILLIPS: Well, we call it fast food, but some things you still have to wait for. Perhaps if Andres Diaz (ph) had to put it like that and Joseph Manuel Augusto (ph) had come back with, "What the?" well, they wouldn't both be facing breach of peace charges in Stratford, Connecticut.

It seems Augusto (ph) objected to what he considered an undue amount of time Diaz (ph) was spending in a Burger King men's room. Well, when Diaz (ph) came out, the pair allegedly exchanged unpleasantries and then chased each other through the restaurant -- Augusto (ph), brandishing a pocket knife; Diaz (ph), a straw dispenser. And apparently, he couldn't find a ketchup bottle. Nobody was hurt.

Speaking of "What the," the summer live from has brought you surveillance videos of squirrels, dogs engaged in minor thefts. Well, today, we've got security cam stuff of a creature who seems to be abiding by the law. It's just that no one is sure exactly what kind of creature he is.

John Sherman of affiliate WBAL has the story. See what you think.

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JOHN SHERMAN, REPORTER, WBAL (voice-over): For a while, it was just lurking in the woods, watching the Wroe family, until the Wroe started watching it.

JAY WROE, GLYNDON RESIDENT: My truck was parked here. I started to get in my truck. I kind of saw it there where the sunlight is. And you know, looked at it, said what in the world is that thing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked so weird. I didn't know what it was.

SHERMAN: Wanting to get a better look at the beast stalking his family, Jay Wroe put technology to work for him.

WROE: That's when the next day I hooked up some -- just some portable motion detectors and put them down back in the woods there.

SHERMAN: The trap worked.

WROE: Very bizarre. I went and got my father and a cousin, and they came and looked at it. And all three reactions were pretty much the same -- just as anybody else is saying -- what in the world are we looking at?

SHERMAN: Now more than a month after the first sighting, the creature's become a neighborhood regular, showing up often.

KIM CARLSEN, GLYNDON RESIDENT: It comes to our house. It's been in the woods for a while, and it comes up through the bottom of our yard and eats our cat food.

SHERMAN (on camera): But despite fact it's lurking in these woods and nobody knows when or where it's going to come out, nobody here seems afraid of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. It doesn't look like it's going to harm anybody.

SHERMAN (voice-over): Even the other neighborhood animals, like Bullwinkle, the dog next door, seem OK with the beast.

CARLSEN: It's not afraid of the cats, and the cats seem to get along with it fine.

SHERMAN: The beast is not shy, visiting most often under bright sun. While no one here knows what it is, they do have a name for it.

CARLSEN: The hyote -- that's what all the kids call it. It's a combination between a hyena and a coyote.

SHERMAN: Is it a coyote, a hyena, maybe a fox, or even a sick wolf? As it walks around the woods near the Wroe family's home, its mysterious legend grows.

WROE: Just keep getting phone calls from different people around the neighborhood, saying, "Hey, I think I saw the critter. I think I saw it."

SHERMAN: Saw it, but saw what? Here, seeing leaves you really unsure what to believe.

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PHILLIPS: We don't know what to believe either.

Well, coming up in our second hour of LIVE FROM, live pictures now. President Bush taking questions for the audience in Cedar Rapids with his twins in tow. We're going to take you live and get some reactions to balance things out. CNN's your campaign headquarters when LIVE FROM's hour of power begins right after this.

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