Half-Shares

Read this interesting idea in a book:

“When someone you love, dies, it’s as if they leave you with half shares of your life together. The person you were in their eyes dies with them.”

— Quoted in The Reading Group, from the book Guppies for Tea

Santa’s Elf is Just SO Cute!

Tell this elf your wishes. He gets them right every time. (Be sure to record several wishes.)

Eeeeek!

• Catch spiders the humane way.
• Don't have the glamour life of a rich doctor? You can now play one on the Internet. Perform knee replacement surgery online (it's easy!)
• Finally, just some plan ol' straightforward goofy fun (try puppets first).

Great Music

Just heard We are Scientists' "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt." Rock on.

Die, My Ex-Darling, Die!

Credit J for sharing this one:

• One way to X Out an Ex

Too busy: someone else have fun with this

So I'm swamped, but this movie was promised to be cool. It's created entirely from open-source content (i.e. nothing here was created for this piece). Report back all thoughts and comments.

Sitting in Mud Puddles

So sad! I got busy, stopped writing, and now no one will look at my blog. Sniff, sniff. "Bring the coolness back" the People say. And the People are always right.

Well, if you want something even cooler to look at than this sad excuse for a blog, go to Google's competition/imitator for maps. Seems Yahoo!'s trying to get back in the game. It's about time.

The Simpsons Come True

Anyone remember when the Simpsons had a three-eyed fish? Well, it’s come true (sorta) off the coast of So Cal. Should we be worried? Hell yes! When the Simpsons starts coming true, we’re all in trouble.

To Click or Not to ...

Will you be hit by the nasty clicking monster? I'm betting yes. See how much faith I have in you guys? Have fun exploring...

Darwin is Dying

I thought 3 posts in one morning was enough, but then I saw this. Pulled directly from NYTimes.com:

According to a CBS News poll last month, 51 percent of Americans reject the theory of evolution, saying that God created humans in their present form. And reflecting a longstanding sentiment, 38 percent of Americans believe that creationism should be taught instead of evolution, according to an August poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington.

Anyone know what Europe is up to on this topic? Are they laughing at us?

T-Shirt Site

Like Threadless.com, but political: SharpAsToast!

p.s. Currently addicted to Blur's song “Tender.”

Google maps on phones

Now this is just damn cool: cell phones to get Google maps. These actual maps are better than Yahoo directions offered for past phones. Unfortunately, if your phone is Verizon or you want it on your blackberry, it will not work for you... yet. You also need Java on your phone.

Jesus Tree

I love stuff like this: a tree looks like Jesus. (If that link doesn't work, try this ABC story). Actually, I found this kinda cool AP wheel that might be worth exploring. I loaded it from the comcast.net home page, so you might have to access it that way.

“I’m Dead Gone on You”

Imagine having your love immortalized forever. Sounds appealing, right? Not when it's done this way...

The Search for Meaning

This makes searching a lot cooler! Wanna find a book and see if there’s a movie that goes with it and then want to see if anybody’s mentioned it in a blog recently? Easy as Amazon (a special, cool Amazon: don’t avoid this link just because you think I’m sending you to normal dotcom-ville)!

Now here’s a challenge: find something about this site you wish it could do but doesn’t. Then tell me about it here. Prize for whoever comes up with the coolest idea...

Calling ‘bullshit’ makes things happen

“If people expect you will ask them tough questions, and not hesitate to push them hard until you get answers, they will prepare for them before they meet with you. They will not waste your time.”
—Source: The Art of Project Management

Anna Nicole Boob

Anyone surprised that Anna Nicole’s lawyer is named Howard Stern. How fitting! It’ll be strange to see them before the Supreme Court.

There is Shit in the Meat

1. Though we can recall dangerous toys or cars, the USDA cannot recall meat filled with deadly contaminates.
2. Among the top 25 House representatives who receive restaurant industry funds, only four were Democrats between 1987 and 1996.
3. The Reagan and Bush adminstrations staffed the U.S. Department of Agriculture with officials far more interested in government deregulation than in food safety.
4. In a USDA study in 1996, 78.6 percent of the ground beef contained microbes that are spread primarily by fecal material.

Source: Fast Food Nation

Boycott!!!

I wandered into Bath & Body Works on Monday and what do I hear? Freakin’ Christmas music, that’s what, punks! Grrrr...

Don’t Pull the Emergency Break

Ever notice in the New York subways, there are signs to tell you what to do in case of disaster? And for every single one, including fire, the main instruction is Don’t Pull the Emergency Break. Tell an MTA employee. Seeing as it’s difficult to even find an MTA employee, I don't see how this is a helpful instruction. I suppose you could try to shout down the train to the guy who stands in the middle and closes the door and makes mumbled announcements ala the teacher in Peanuts cartoons.

But here is the real question of the hour: in this world of danger, as you watch our nation’s leaders do and say things that appall, as the fire in the subway car bears down on you ... when do you pull the emergency break?

In the Rain, It's the Same Face Everywhere

I have finally hit the point where the world has run out of people. I’m in a new job and everyone looks like someone I’ve met before. I’m either on a reality show (unbeknownst to me) with lots of washed up actors or the video game of life has run out of stock players to appear.

Embarrassed to be American

Let me lay out for you the facts that comprise one of the saddest moments in recent U.S. history (and that’s saying something): 1. Sen. Cain, Colin Powell and a number of pro-Iraq War politicians have supported or voted for a bill that would outlaw the abusive treatment of prisoners both on U.S. soil and beyond. 2. This bill is amazingly bipartisan, having passed the Senate 90 to 9. 3. And guess who is against it? Uh-huh, that’s right. Our darling president. From The Washington Post:

“Let’s be clear: Mr. Bush is proposing to use the first veto of his presidency on a defense bill needed to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan so that he can preserve the prerogative to subject detainees to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In effect, he threatens to declare to the world his administration’s moral bankruptcy.”

The New York Times has a great op-ed piece (must be subscriber), or read about it in The Seattle Times.

Solid Gas

CNN Headline News just reported some poor gas station that entered the price for premium gas in wrong. Instead of 3.299/gal, it was going for 0.329/gal. Here is what gets me: no one told the gas station. Attendants didn’t learn of the mistake until a television crew showed up to report on the cheap gas. Why do people think they can take advantage of human error? Gas stations are individually owned, so the person it affects is not the big rich gas company but the little guy trying to run his own business.

Change is in the Air

And I’m not just talking about the leaves (although I love the smell of leaves rotting — who’s with me?)

I have taken a full-time job in a new career. The 15-second summary of what I now do is structure websites (i.e. navigation, internal links), develop innovative web interactions and, above all, worry my ass off about usability.

So, in light of that, I’ve adjusted my second blog to report on those issues. Go to http://flinked.blogspot.com, if you care. Then tell me about every goofy, fulfilling or tragically bad website interaction you’ve ever had. I collect these stories like pet rocks.

I’m on to you …

... And now the rest of the women of the world will be too (FYI: millions read this blog yet stoicly refuse to comment ... ever). So men, do not try this at home, or your woman will look like this random chic.

(Thanks Dan.)

Evolution is Real! I Have Proof!

As clear evidence of evolution, I point to this recent cat development: the toilet as litter box. I’m just joking, of course, but be sure to follow the real evolving story. My favorite moment of overblown buffoonery:

The second day of the closely watched trial began with a defense attorney seeking to show inconsistencies in the remarks and writings of the plaintiffs’ key witness, Kenneth R. Miller, a Brown University biology professor and textbook author.

During cross-examination, attorney Robert Muise asked Miller whether evolution was “random and undirected” to which Miller replied, “No.”

Muise pointed out that the statement evolution is random and undirected appeared in bold type in his widely used textbook, Biology.

Miller replied that the statement was written by coauthor Joseph Levine for an edition published in 1998 and was removed in subsequent editions.

“It was a good day for the school board,” [defense attorney] Thompson said outside the courthouse. “Miller admitted it was a religious or philosophical statement and that book is still being sold in the United States and he is receiving royalties from it.”

Quotable Hamster

“Hamster-haired megamogul” having a kid. Before you follow the link can you guess who I’m talking about?

Web Keeps Getting Groovier and Groovier

In case you have not heard, something called web 2.0 is afoot. I cannot pretend to get it entirely, but it basically allows databases from more than one source to talk to each other. Sounds uber-technical, I know, but here are two sites sites that turn techy into too cool:

• Flickr-sourced pic search with related terms and funky floating interface
• Google-sourced Marumushi newsmap (the new croissant to my a.m. coffee)

Top Stuff

If you read nothing else in the news today, read these:

• Brown points finger after being ousted. If only fingers worked like Pinocchio’s nose; then we could tell who was lying, though I already have an idea...
• January federal report found medical system weak when responding to disasters. Suddenly, the homeland doesn’t feel so secure.
• Israel hitting Gaza in (successful?) airstrikes, but peace deal also brokered. Boy who cried wolf, anyone?
  

City Sleeps Above 40th Floors

Lights out past midnight for NYC higher than the 40th.

Get a Photoshopped Booty!

OK, for all the ladies out there (and even the men) who have looked at supermodels and thought: I will never have a body like that, it is time to face the music:

1. of course you will never have a body like that — you have better things to do
2. they don’t have bodies like that either, and here’s how I know.

T-Shirt Fun!

Two super fun(ny) online t-shirt stores: the first, called Vintage Vantage, is fresh and groovy (and is running a little slowly today because it got national press). The second, Threadless T-Shirts, allows someone to design a tee and then people vote and the winning t-shirt actually gets made and sold! Many are extremely creative and unique (I like Loch Ness Imposter).

Side note: anti-stink stuff for your next bathroom trip. Think it works?

Finally, two points to the one who explains why the T in t-shirt is conventionally capitalized (notice my damn-the-man laissez-faire attitude in this posting ... wild one ... yeah ...)

“Keep Your Hands Where I Can See ’Em!”

Flinked/wallowmuddy has been held hostage by blog spam (blam) of late. So new comment policy: you'll now have to type in some random letters to confirm that you actually put on your pants one leg at a time like the rest of us. Thanks RealLiveBreathing Readers!

Kinda Like Predictive Text

This Google is created with a new type of web interaction system called Ajax. Pretty damn cool, huh?

Shaq Likes Blue Uniforms as Well

Credit Dan for linking to this. It is so funny to imagine a 7-foot NBA star doing PD work, so I figured I would share the laugh with all o' you crazy peeps.

Got Unwanted Books?

Manhattanites, Bronxers, Queenies, S. Islanders & Brooklings: Give up your books this weekend at the city-wide book drive. Weekend hours are 10-3. Locations.

The Dangers of Lying About Science

So most people by now know that right-wing conservative Christians argue against evolution and instead for Creationism/Intelligent Design. Also filed under the category “If we ignore scientific fact and lie to the American people, our interests are better served”: global warming.

You’d be hard pressed to find a non-political scientist who can deny that the Earth is getting warmer by degrees, which can and will lead to atrocious environmental changes.

If you, like me, cared but felt pretty sure that the repercussions probably wouldn’t be felt during your lifetime, it turns out we’re wrong.

Scientists have concluded that due to the increased warming of the waters in the tropics, hurricanes are becoming increasingly more powerful. While it’s impossible to accurately blame Katrina on global warming (history has shown that powerful storms do hit occasionally, even without rising water temperatures), it’s clear that as an aggregate, natural disasters like hurricanes, wind storms and typhoons are getting worse.

“Wind speed measurements made by planes flying through tropical storms showed that the ‘potential destructiveness’ of such storms had ‘increased markedly’ since the 1970s, right in line with rising sea surface temperatures.” (New Yorker quoting Nature)

Scared yet? Write to your congressperson to demand the United States ratify and follow the Kyoto protocols. The United States produces almost 25 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. We owe it to ourselves and the world to stop.

I’ve Got ’Em on a List

As I think of Katrina, I look to the future. I know a lot of good people who would endeavor to make positive decisions for our country. These friends are not politicians, but there’s another reason why many of them will never hear Hail to the Chief in their honor.

Hobbies that mean you will never ever win the presidency:

• Collects action heroes
• Reads sci-fi books as an adult
  
• Buys Beanie Babies
• Believes in television marathons
• Pre-orders Sliders season 1-3 DVDs on Amazon

On the other hand, hobbies that appear to win you acclaim and support:

• Alcohol abuse in your youth
• Inability to do your taxes (I’m guessing…)
• Tendency not to listen to self speak
• Difficulty matching noun with verb
• Buddies who are either warmongers or complete idiots

Help me out, what else am I missing?

Fight ... for Your Right ...

A word of warning: you cannot automatically trust your doctor anymore. We are approaching an age when staffing shortages in almost every hospital means that care will be rushed, leading to errors and perfunctory treatment.

Doctors are trained to dehumanize people so they do not get emotionally invested. Do not accept that as okay. Not everyone means badly, but the time has come when anytime you have a loved one in the hospital or nursing home, you will need to advocate for them to make sure they are treated the best.

From the NY Times: In a nationwide survey of more than 2,000 adults published last fall, 55 percent of those surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the quality of health care, up from 44 percent in 2000; and 40 percent said the quality of care had gotten worse in the last five years.

Is there Racial Inequality in Disasters?

From the Washington Post: “Nearly three in four whites doubted the federal government would have responded more quickly to those trapped in New Orleans if they had been wealthier and white rather than poorer and black, the poll found. But an equal share of blacks disagreed, saying help would have come sooner if the victims had been more affluent whites.”

I have to say, while race may not be the root problem, poverty certainly is. The real fact is that rich white people live in New Orleans, too, but they’re not the ones who got trapped. So does every city have an evacuation plan that accounts for the poor? There’s no chance. Who is clamboring for one in your city? No one.

What do you think?

eLearning & Katrina

If you know anyone who was going to go to college this fall but was displaced by Hurricane Katrina, tell them about these two resources:

• Sloan
• SCUP

Pass it along to anyone you think could spread the word!

Light Cream to Counter the Heavy

Back from another vacay and feeling good! Here's some light tidbits to get your shortened week started (and take a break from the sad sad news about Katrina):

• Only 9 percent of women and 2 percent of men report dating someone they met in a bar. More dating facts.
• 1.7 million kids live with unlocked loaded guns.
• Crow and Armstrong engaged.

Katrina & the Poor

The stranded people of New Orleans are largely black and poor. No one has mentioned that until now. CNN confirmed today on the Situation Room that there had been oversight among the media. Saddest thing, to me, was how much of the early coverage on CNN Headline news focused on two white families who paid hundreds to get out, one by limo and one by taxi.

Hazard Lights: On

You may have never heard of “moral hazard” and there’s no surprise in that. It’s a term used largely by economists and policymakers. Let’s just say, it’s the idea that if something is too freely available, say universal healthcare, that people will take more than their fill — a bit like overeaters at a buffet — and thereby abuse the system.

But this presumes that healthcare comes as an unlimited resource, that people could “overeat” at the healthcare smorgasbord. Problem is, anybody who has waited to be seen by a physician or who knows the details of the current and ever-growing nursing shortage knows there aren’t unlimited resources.

Moreover, even if you have a wonderful healthcare plan, as I did up to 2 years ago, the idea that anyone would willingly go to the doctor for something unimportant is absurd. The doctor’s just not that fun!

For more on this topic (which is going to impact healthcare in this country in a major way), please read this article in The New Yorker.

Smarty Pants?

Eventually, I'll have authored a quiz on this site. (Check in a month or so for something about business ethics I'm currently calling Should You Go to Jail?) For now, check if you can do 8th grade math or know your Potter trivia.

Secret Secret! I've Got a Secret

Friend of mine sent me this link. The New York Times had an interesting article about it a few months back. So feel like a Peeping Tom and visit to learn the world's dirty little secrets.

p.s. If you can name the reference from the title of this blog you get to be the Cool Kid for the day. (Like in high school when you hoped people would some day magically discover you were oodles cooler than they thought ... or was that just me?)

The Rainmaker

If you have or ever thought about getting disability insurance, this is a very important article to read, kind of The Rainmaker all over again.

p.s. on vacation the rest of this week. I'll be back soon!

Yay! Babies! (... uh ... or not)

Statistics can lead to wrong conclusions. Very very wrong. Here's an interesting example proving that...

From Jakob Nielsen: Studies show that intelligence declines by birth order. In other words, a person who was a first-born child will on average have a higher IQ than someone who was born second. Third-, fourth-, fifth-born children and so on have progressively lower average IQs. This data seems to present a clear warning to prospective parents: Don't have too many kids, or they'll come out increasingly stupid. Not so.

There's a hidden third variable at play: smarter parents tend to have fewer children. When you want to measure the average IQ of first-born children, you sample the offspring of all parents, regardless of how many kids they have. But when you measure the average IQ of fifth-born children, you're obviously sampling only the offspring of parents who have five or more kids. There will thus be a bigger percentage of low-IQ children in the latter sample, giving us the true -- but misleading -- conclusion that fifth-born children have lower average IQs than first-born children.

Any given couple can have as many children as they want, and their younger children are unlikely to be significantly less intelligent than their older ones.

Sticks and Stones ...

• A woman’s Comcast cable bill starts making fun of her.
  
• At the bottom of this page, some techniques when you spot name calling.
• Mark you calendars: Jan. 23-26.

Now how do you spell “nanny nanny boo boo”?

All the News that Makes you Fit

• Orange juice can help prevent arthritis.
• Women who take oral contraceptives can counteract bone loss by making sure they have enough calcium in their daily diet, especially early in life.
• Long working hours culture drives up the risk of injury and illness, reveals a study. And the risk has nothing to do with how hazardous the job is.

And in other news, myths about sex debunked. Ooh, fun! I love the word debunked.

Money, Money, Money ... Money!

Financially richer people tend to be happier than poorer people, according to sociological researcher Glenn Firebaugh, Pennsylvania State University, and graduate student Laura Tach, Harvard University.

They researched whether the income effect on happiness results largely from the things money can buy (absolute income effect) or from comparing one’s income to the income of others (relative income effect).

Firebaugh argues that a person's reported level of happiness depends on how his or her income compares to others in the same age group. This may result in a self-indulgent treadmill, because incomes in the United States rise over most of the adult lifespan.

While income is important in determining happiness, Firebaugh’s data found that physical health was the best single predictor of happiness, followed by income, education, and marital status.

Identity Theft Risk Quiz

I’m lifting this almost word for word from a Purdue University press release.

Scott L. Ksander, who investigates security issues for Information Technology at Purdue, uses the following quiz to help people assess the risk of their identities being stolen:

* I receive several offers of pre-approved credit every week (5 points). Add 5 more points if you do not shred them.

* I carry my Social Security card in my wallet (10).

* My driver's license has my Social Security number on it (10).

* I do not have a post office box or locked, secured mailbox (5).

* I use an unlocked, open box at work or at home to drop off my outgoing mail (10).

* I carry my military ID in my wallet at all times (10).

* I provide my Social Security number whenever asked, without asking questions about how that information will be safeguarded (10). Add 5 more points if you provide your number orally without checking to see who might be listening.

* I am required to use my Social Security number at work as an employee ID or at school as a student ID number (5).

* My Social Security number is printed on various documents frequently seen in the workplace, such as on time cards (10).

* I have my Social Security number and/or driver's license number printed on my personal checks (10).

* I am listed in a "Who's Who" guide (5).

* I carry my insurance card in my wallet, and either my Social Security number or that of my spouse is on that card (10).

* I have not ordered a copy of my credit report for at least two years (20).

* I do not protect my discarded personal, credit and financial information from thieves by shredding them prior to putting them in the trash (10).

If you scored 100 points or more you are at high risk for identity theft. A score of 50-100 makes your odds of being victimized about average but higher if you have good credit. A score of 0-50 points means you have a low risk of being an identity theft victim.

With permission from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

I’m Melting! I’m Melting!

Protect yourself from water. Yes, that’s the latest advice from one spa expert.

“Every time you take a shower, water is damaging your skin. When you include a shampoo your face dries and wrinkles even faster. Dorit Baxter introduces Facial Shower Shield.

“An original antidote to shower and shampoo damage. Massaged onto the face, neck and chest before a shower it protects skin from damaging agents in water and hair products.”

What is this world coming to? Really.

All-Terrain Vehicles Suck

Did you know that more than 40 children have been killed or seriously injured on all-terrain vehicles this year? Some trauma centers treat, on average, 6-8 children annually (and that’s leaving out the ones killed on the scene).

Children actually don’t have the motor skills and ability to safely handle the vehicles, and injuries caused by ATVs are not minor. Think comas, brain injuries, paralysis.

They look like toys but should be thought of as traumatic. Please tell others.

Double-Bagged Life

Can each of you, all 2 of my readers, please do something for me? Stop the double bagging! Today it was a double bagged 6-pack of orange soda. Yesterday, they double-bagged my 6 rolls of toilet paper. Both products can make it home in one bag, but the plastic generosity of my grocer means I receive 2 bags every time, whether or not the weight of the item necessitates it. (Better still, bring cloth bags, something I have yet to remember to do but is a great way to avoid the waste.)

In more upbeat environmental news, Dannon is getting rid of plastic lids on its yogurt. This is a brilliant marketing scheme (they’re contributing to Toys for Tots instead) and saving 3.6 million pounds of plastic. Yay!

Media Blitz... er...

Wolf Blitzer, talking on CNN’s Situation Room (a show that runs 3-6 p.m.), stated today: “I’m a newsman; it’s my job to try to make the news.” This comment, I believe, highlights the very problem with the media today.

His job isn’t to make news, it is to report it, prioritize it, and analyze it coherently in a way that contributes to the national discussion on the news. If more media did that, more people could turn to the Situation Room, rather than Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, for their updates.

On a side note, the Situation Room does make interesting use of blogs. In covering the smog problem in Kuala Lumpur, they directed attention to a couple blogs, including a photo blog that I would love to share but now cannot find referred to on CNN.

Phrase just learned in the last 45 seconds: blog smog (meaning: information haze). Use it wisely, dear readers.

Bad Girl! Bad Girl!

I have been properly chastised for my temporary abandonment of the blogging world. So it’s back on the bandwagon (a term, I’m sure you’re all dying to know, that comes from the wagons political candidates once rode through town on, which people would climb onto if they supported him).

First item of business: some mathematicians have concluded it’s good to give gifts to potential mates, particularly ones that are extravagant (hint, hint). I swear I’m not making this up!

The research suggests that expensive gifts that can be turned in for money aren’t worth as much as something extravagant that can’t be returned (i.e., Broadway tickets to the Odd Couple or brunch at Jane).

I, for one, would prefer $20 in Gouda cheese (droooool) to an extravagant carriage ride, but maybe that’s just me.

Cha-Ching!

Not too much cha-ching for new recruits to the army, although I hear the bonuses are pretty sweet. I thought y'all might be interested...

When Writers Try Too Hard

From Yahoo News:

“If your grandmother claims she’s squirreled away every issue of Reader’s Digest, there will soon be an easy way to check: just go up to the attic and count to 1,000.

The 1,000th issue of the 83-year-old minimagazine comes out this week, and the occasion is likely to prompt thoughts about the Digest’s colorful history and its status as an American symbol.”

Oh, that’s considered the “easy” way? What tha…

And please tell me it promted thoughts about the magazine’s status as an American symbol. Who? What? We couldn’t find a better symbol than pithy softball summaries of other magazine’s journalism? Argh!!

p.s. I quit my job this week. Got a new one. New title: junior IA. Begone you tedious freelance assignments. Out, out, damn spot!

All That Sneezing Had to be Good for Something!

Having asthma, hay fever or another allergic condition may reduce the risk of developing one fatal form of brain cancer, a new study suggests. New evidence for this relationship is found in the normal variation of two genes, the scientists say.

Death Knell for Cell Phone Driving (sniff, sniff)

People who use a cell phone when driving are four times more likely to have a serious crash and hands-free devices are no safer, concludes new research. I keep hoping we will get better at it...

Could Makeup Shorten Your Life?

On the heels of research linking the common chemical compound phthalate to reproductive abnormalities in humans, an Indiana State University study has found a connection between the same chemical and lupus in mice.

Recent research at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry found smaller genitals in the male babies of pregnant women who used beauty products containing phthalates.

Now researchers at Indiana State who injected mice with phthalates, a compound present in a variety of plastics and beauty products, found the injections triggered lupus and caused development of glomerulonephritis. The injection also considerably shortened the lifespan of mice that have a genetic disposition to the disease.

“Our findings clearly show that lupus can be caused by an environmental factor like phthalate, which is present in toys, in many other plastic products, including PVC pipes and medical devices, and in beauty products,” said Swapan K. Ghosh, professor and interim chair of life sciences.

In lupus, the immune system attacks its own body’s tissues as though they are foreign substances. The disease can lead to problems with kidneys, the heart, lungs or blood cells.

“Lupus type auto-immunity is five times more common in women than in men,” said So-Yon Lim, who worked with Ghosh on the study. “Is that because women use a lot more cosmetics and perfumes than men?”

While studies of the lupus-associated anti-DNA antibody have been limited to mice, there are indications humans could also be susceptible, Ghosh said.

Drug-Induced Gambling Addiction

I found this fascinating so I had to share...

Habitual, compulsive gambling with losses up to $200,000 within six months by those who previously never or only occasionally gambled recreationally has been tied to Parkinson’s disease drugs called dopamine agonists.

“This is a striking effect,” says J. Eric Ahlskog, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist who treated most of the patients in the series. “Pathological gambling induced by a drug is really quite unusual.”

The good news is that excessive gambling behavior only occurs in a small number of patients given the drugs, and it can be stopped as suddenly as it came on. “It’s a very rare side effect and reversible if you get off the drug, but you have to make the association,” says Dr. Ahlskog.

How High Can You Go?

This is reverse limbo: not how low can you go, but how high?

Highest price I have ever seen for a mixed drink: $12.

Most I have ever paid for a taxi: $40 (in Chicago).

Highest price I have ever paid for a pair of jeans: $80.

Can anyone beat these prices?

The Boob Tube Strikes Again

In a study of third graders, children with a television in their bedrooms had lower scores on standardized tests while children with access to a home computer had higher scores, researchers report.

Children who watch the most television during childhood and adolescence may be less likely to finish school or go on to earn a university degree, according to a study.

And television viewing before the age of three may have adverse effects on subsequent cognitive development, according to another study.

Bottom line: Uh, no idea. My brain shut off back on the third word. Damn 30-second attention span! (The links above lead to the original press releases. Here is some media coverage of the research, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.)

Why Can't I Be This Smart?

Once again, whoever creates the subject headings for spam reaches a level of brilliance rarely seen, perhaps only when using magnetic poetry.

Even that means nothing compared to the ironic genius in my inbox: her watch be flabby cholera.

Now you see it, too...

Pirates, They're Still Around?

BBC: Pirates Hijack Tsunami Aid Ship

And to follow up on a couple earlier posts, Spain has OK'd gay marriages. And could the high child abuse rates and high divorce rates in the military be linked?

Plus, new Cingular/Nokia phone needs to be returned again I think. Grrrr...

Up Your Coolness Factor(sunglasses just don't cut it anymore)

There’s cool and then there’s you. Want to be cool, too? Better know the following:

#1: How to be a badass and break the new NYC subway rules.

#2: What Shakeskin is all about.

#3: Who Twelve Hawks is. He’s everywhere (yet no one can find him): the most brilliant book marketing campaign in … well, years.

Surveying the Cabbage Patch: I want … that one!

Expectant parents can now learn as early as 5 weeks into a pregnancy what the sex of the child is thanks to a lab that is offering over-the-counter gender tests. (Story here.) That’s right! You can try for the boy you’ve always wanted. And if you don’t get him, just throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I’m all for technology and progress. There’s some thought that a test similar to this one could be used to identify genetic diseases and other such inherited problems early in pregnancy. That’s important. But what value do we get from determining a baby’s sex at 5 weeks? Why not wait until 16 weeks, which is when most ultrasounds can begin to detect gendered physical traits.

The only benefit I can see is the ability to abort a child you don’t want based on sex—gender bias of the worst kind.

Moreover, the company is insisting it will only sell to U.S. addresses (to avoid supporting the gender bias already present in China and India). What’s to stop someone here from capitalizing on that, perhaps by purchasing 50 tests and then traveling to one of those counties and selling the device on the black market for 10 times its value.

What do you think: Is learning the sex of a child at 5 weeks a bad or good thing?

Flag Burning: Do We Really Need This Right?

I think I can safely say that I have no intention of ever burning a flag, particularly the American one. But really any flag in general is probably safe near me.

Republicans have proposed a bill that would make such an action (at least for the American flag) illegal. Should I even care? The law, on one level, will probably never affect me.

On the other side of the aisle, some Democrats worry that this infringes on our civil liberties. Flag burning was a widely reported form of protest in the 1960s to argue against continued involvement in the Vietnam War. People felt so strongly against what the federal government was doing, that they felt burning the most common symbol for Uncle Sam was the only way to explain their frustration.

Here’s my thinking: Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said about personal rights: “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.”

I believe any removal of civil liberties should be guided by just such a thought. If it’s hurting others, then we must considering removing it. But who does it hurt if the flag is burned? Really! Who?

Body Surfing

On Sunday, I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and saw the Body Worlds exhibit. There were bodies everywhere. Real human bodies. And I’m not talking about the attendees.

Actual people had been preserved through some phenomenal process called Plastination. Their muscles, blackened lungs, tumor-ridden livers and arthritic spinal columns were all on display (along with perfectly healthy specimens).

I actually watched a man accidentally bump one of the bodies. It took me a second to register that he’d touched a former human being. Despite their intention of educating about the basic human form, these figures were fully dehumanized. It was so unreal to see the human body dead but not decayed that my mind refused to fully think of them as people.

The one exception was the fetus room. In there were unborn beings at different stages of development, including a woman with an 8-month fetus in her womb. There, a security guard happily answered questions, referring to a new figure that had just been added to a different part of the exhibit as “joining our family.” Spooky.

But looking at that mother, her skin gone, muscles and organs exposed along with the presence of a nearly full-grown child within her was truly sad. Two people had died so I could view that.

Of course, they weren’t murdered. In fact, the security guard said she’d willingly decided to give up her body for science. That didn’t stop one man from shivering as he walked out of that section.

This was all in the name of science and education of the masses. For East Coasters, the exhibit will come to Philadelphia starting in October. I’d say it’s worth checking out, but it may take me more than half a day to decide what I really feel about my day filled with people crowding around dead bodies and pointing.

Declarative Sentence o' the Morning

As for clothing, matching is for wusses.

Don't Assume You're Safe

Back to the posting board! I have some interesting information for all of you: more than 75,000 chemicals have been developed and produced in the United States. Due to that kind of volume, most do not even have the most basic toxicity testing.

Why should you care? These chemicals, including flame retardants in mattresses, Teflon on your pans and plastics in your takeout container, may leech into you. Children are particularly vulnerable (hence the growing asthma rates in kids). As is the breastmilk of women. Did you know Teflon pans should not be used at high heat because then they release toxins (kinda makes you wonder why they put Teflon on pans in the first place).

What can you do? Care just a little bit more about the potential chemicals you expose yourself to. Until enough consumers start thinking about these dangers and demanding changes, the problem will continue.

To learn more, read this brilliant (and a little scary) New York Times Magazine article.

p.s. for those who care, Cingular is sending me a new phone. Yay!

Cingular Makes Me Grumpy

20 minutes on the phone. What do I have to show for it? Someone has to call me back. My problems thus far:

• phone did not activate properly;
• voicemail did not activate properly;
• phone gives me an echo of my voice sometimes instead of answering calls; and
• I never received a welcome kit with my rebate information.
  

Solutions thus far:

• one phone call last Wednesday morning activated my phone;
• one phone call last Wednesday afternoon activated my voicemail; and
  
• one phone call today, transferred to three different people, means a second welcome kit will arrive in 3-5 business days. Phone still echos.
  

Lactivists: Your Time is Now!

This is outrageous! Women are being refused service when they’re breastfeeding. Barbara Walters made a negative comment about it, and now women are reacting. Thank goodness!

A New York Times article cites a statistic that 70 percent of women chose to breastfeed in 2003 (the last year for which data is available) up from 50 percent in 2000. What that doesn’t show you is how many women stop breastfeeding before 6 months, the recommended length of time for exclusive breastfeeding. Those numbers are still HUGE. The public pressure to stop breastfeeding and start using formula (which is still far from offering the benefits of a mother’s own milk) are great.

I believe asking a woman to stop breastfeeding is as bad as asking women to cover their heads in public. This is not wanton attempts by women to expose themselves, as one man quoted in the article suggests. It is a natural way of nourishing a child. It also happens to be the healthiest.

Babies who are breastfed are shown to be, on average, more intelligent than those that are not. They also receive much-needed antigens through their mother’s nourishment. Some researchers believe they grow at more natural rates and have a lower propensity for adult obesity, which may be its strongest selling point of all.

So please, even if the idea of public breastfeeding makes you squeamish, think what you’re asking the mother to do before you ask her to stop. You’re asking her to make her child less intelligent. You’re asking her to make her child less healthy. You’re asking her to make her child more likely to be overweight (and, linked to that, potentially have a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease).

No mother should be forced to accept those risks. Let’s protect our future now: encourage breastfeeding! And mothers, please insist on it!

I’m going to kick his girlfriend-dumping butt!

A study recently found that women demand better comforting skills of other women than they do of men.

Then the study’s lead author said something that surprised me: “If a friend recently broke up with her significant other, then it would be inappropriate to say, ‘You’re better off without him,’ ‘There are more important things to worry about,’ or ‘Don’t worry, there are more fish in the sea.’”

Here’s the thing: I’ve heard or given that comfort a dozen times. When a girl and her boyfriend break up, the first thing you do is give her a hug. Then you start calling him names and declare she now has the freedom to find the right guy for her. Then you say you’re taking her out for ladies night so she can meet all the other fish in the sea.

Or am I just a bad comforter?

451 Degrees

Get out your bonfires folks. We’ve got a list of the 10 Most Harmful Books of the 19^th and 20^th centuries offered up by the national conservative weekly Human Events.

Now I haven’t read any of these books on the list, perhaps its own embarrassing admission, but can a book really be harmful? The consequences might have been (communism clearly lead to some horrendous conditions in Russia and, still, China). The author might have been (hard to debate that when it comes to Hitler).

But how many lives have been taken in the name of the Bible? Or the Koran? Wouldn’t be politically correct to throw those books on there, though, now would it?

I don’t actually believe that books are innately harmful. They can affect cultures in powerful ways. But in saying that, I’ve just tripped down a conservative path (books don’t kill people; people kill people). So please prove me wrong. What books do you truly think are harmful, that should never have been published?

Grr...

Nokia is angrifying.
Will keep you updated as more developments occur.

Just Let Him Die

Rumsfeld ignored ideals in the Hippocratic oath recently when he hinted that no one should treat Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who the military believes has been wounded.

“Were a neighboring country to take him in and provide medical assistance or haven for him, they obviously would be associating themselves with a major linkage in the al-Qaida network and a person who has a great deal of blood on his hands,” Rumsfeld said.

Or they could just let him die, putting blood on their own hands. Of course, ideally they’d treat him and extradite. But it’s hard to do that with a clean conscience, either, when we have “the gulag of our times” to throw him in.

Microwave Safe?

Never hurts to remind everyone: It’s important you actually know something is microwave safe and don’t just assume it. Some plastics aren’t made to withstand high temperatures. Unsafe materials can leach into your food.

Actually, microwave-safe plastics do too, just at levels the FDA has deemed “well within the margin of safety based on information available to the agency. The FDA will revisit its safety evaluation if new scientific information raises concerns.”

Let’s just hope this isn’t a repeat of the “tolerable” lead levels for children which were grossly overestimated in past decades. Here are some more things to keep in mind (courtesy of the FDA):

“Carryout containers from restaurants and margarine tubs should not be used in the microwave, according to the American Plastics Council. Inappropriate containers may melt or warp, which can increase the likelihood of spills and burns. Also, discard containers that hold prepared microwavable meals after you use them because they are meant for one-time use.

“Microwave-safe plastic wrap should be placed loosely over food so that steam can escape, and should not directly touch your food. ‘Some plastic wraps have labels indicating that there should be a one-inch or greater space between the plastic and the food during microwave heating,’” says Edward Machuga, PhD, a consumer safety officer in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Finally, “never use plastic storage bags, grocery bags, newspapers, or aluminum foil in the microwave.”

new blog

I’ve started a new blog. I’ve been enjoying this one so much, that I’ve launched another. The second one, called Flinked Books, is themed and just about books. It’s a precursor to a Web site I hope to create over the coming year for book lovers. I’m not lifting the veil on that idea yet. For now, feel free to check out my other blog sometime. That one may be fledgling for a while, since this one will still be my focus. I’m working on building up the word “flinked” as a book-related brand. Hence the second blog. Anyway, it’s all smoke and mirrors until I get a chance to launch the real site: www.flinked.com, which I own but is currently a pile of dirt until I get my shovel out and start building. (Can you be Web ADHD? I think I might be…)

Wish me luck!

One Speech to Unite Them All

First Lady Laura Bush speaks out on Egypt, but doesn’t it sound like she could be hinting about Iraq? Will hers be the voice of the administration that finally admits we’ll never accomplish what we want to there?

Looks like the speech is already written…

“To act like you can just go from here to there overnight is naive,” the first lady said. “And especially I don't want Americans trying to tell people how you’re going to go from here to here in no time, because we know that that's not easy and we know that it’s, in many cases, not even possible.”

Look Who’s (Not) Talking

Women, despite representing more than half of the U.S. population, are used as sources in media stories, on average, only 33 percent of the time, according to a report released yesterday by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The worse culprits were cable television at 19 percent and the PBS “News Hour” at 17 percent. Newspapers, with the best rate, still only quoted women 41 percent of the time.

I’ve heard too often (from men and women) that gender inequality doesn’t exist anymore. After an uproar last month that the number of female op/ed columnists was woefully low, this should now be considered a trend we can’t ignore.

So next time you read that newspaper article, watch that news show on television or read reporting on the internet, notice whether women were quoted. Was it as often as men? Were their contributions significant or used tangentially?

And if you’re a woman, I beg you, ask yourself if your opinion has been heard recently. Because we’ve got to speak up to be heard. This isn’t about getting “women’s issues” on the table. Every issue is a woman’s issue the minute one woman cares about it. This is about ensuring female comments are valued just as much as a male’s.

Got You on My Mind

Many topics have been weighing on my mind lately, including cybersecurity and antibiotic-resistant organisms. More on both later.

For now, here is the New York Times sentence that made me laugh out loud yesterday: “Medicare to Revise Guide: The Bush administration is revising the 2006 Medicare handbook to be sent to beneficiaries after discovering that many statements in the first draft were inaccurate or incomprehensible, even to people who work on the program.”

The Humor of Spam

The last thing I want to do is encourage more spamming, but I have to share some of the more humorous “people” who have written me lately:

• Barrenness T. Moonstruck, Saws E. Clover, Buttresses K. Saguaros and Erick V. Shunts have said hello.
• Thumped H. Commentated asks “Buenos ncahso?” (sic)
• Antony Snell’s subject line says he’s writing about “banjo Sudatuss-2” (the musical decongestant, perhaps?)
• Pedro Rosales questions “where did Bob go?” (Where, indeed.)
• Finally my favorite: Impossibility V. Morticians says “Good eevning” (sic again).
• No, I take that back. This is the best. Consummated B. Terrorism says “Stock is limited. Hurry!”

Someone needs to tell the insurgents.

Da-duh ... Da-duh ... Da-duh ...

Get out your theme music (I’m thinking Jaws) for this collection of news.

• Domestic terrorism: environmentalist zealots make a bad name for those of us who worry about PVC/dioxin, flame-retardants and Teflon.
• Domestic abuse: Should Amazon come down harder on this PA-based bookstore?
• Weigh in now: the Trump design or the old one? How about Lincoln logs. Ooh! I know! The whole thing out of Legos.

This Just In...

I learned about this yesterday, and I expect a number of news sources will report on it. Keep your eye out, because the blurb I read did not clarify if a causal relationship had been established and whether this is a problem for all women or just those with sexual dysfunction. I have lifted the following from a press release:

Hormonal changes induced by oral contraceptives are not immediately reversible after discontinuation of use, according to new research issued at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Fourteenth Annual Meeting and Clinical Congress.

Despite the benefits of oral contraceptives, their use has been associated with sexual dysfunction and androgen insufficiency. In the study of 102 pre-menopausal women with female sexual dysfunction, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) values in the contraceptive group were seven times higher than those in the never-user group.

Oral contraceptives lower the free androgen index, in part, by substantially increasing SHBG levels. Despite a decrease in SHBG values after discontinuation of contraceptive use, SHBG levels remained continuously elevated for up to one year in comparison with those in the control group. The free androgen index may remain low for a prolonged period.

Different Kinds of Death in the Military

Did you know that April is the Month of the Military Child? The military may want to consider making that a year-round focus, after disturbing news was released from embargo today that deaths from child abuse were highest in North Carolina among children of military personnel.

The two counties in North Carolina that have military installations have more than double the abuse homicide rates for children (from a state average of 2.2 deaths per 100,000 children to 5.0 and 4.9 in the two counties with military bases).

“In this study period, the long-term patterns of child abuse homicides are not coincidence,” Marcia Herma-Geddens, DrPH, UNC adjunct professor, said in a press release. “They suggest problems in and around North Carolina military families and military communities that predictably result in a consistently higher number and rate of child abuse homicides than in non-military communities.”

It is important to note that non-military child abuse deaths were also higher in those two counties, indicating a broader problem. The military needs to act now to conduct comparable studies in other states (newspaper journalists should contribute as well) and bolster support services for parents in North Carolina.

Soft Pedaling the No

I’ve noticed a new trend in language recently. I call it the “yeah-no.” I’ve just realized that not only do I use the “yeah-no” rather frequently, so does everyone around me.

While I’d like to take credit for having inspired this new literary phrase (I had aspirations in high school of inventing the next synonym for “cool” that would spread across the nation), I really can’t. I’ve started hearing the “yeah-no” from everyone, not just people who know me well enough to want to imitate my brilliant, um, speech pattern.

The “yeah-no” is the literary equivalent of that perky friend in high school who would admire everything you did to your face and then tell everyone else what a rotten person you were. It’s linguistic diplomacy. The “yeah-no” is snarky.

That’s because the “yeah-no” is really a “no” that masquerades as a “yeah” for a split second until the speaker crushes it with the ensuing “no.”

“So are you going to make it to my party this weekend?” “Yeah, no, I’ve got a million things to do.” The respondent adds on a “yeah” to break the news easily.

I did some online research and learned that there are multiple ways to use it, including “confirming a generality but denying a specific” and as a bashful response to praise. One post dates it back to celebrity interviews on the late night shows in 2003. Another said the phrase has dominated in Australia for six years. At least one Canadian admits to having used it.

Not to confuse the issue, but I have started using the “yeah-no” when I actually mean “yeah.” Perhaps it’s because I’m already moving on to the answer that my brain doesn’t take the time to determine if I need to say “yes” or “no” to the questioner. This positive usage actually dates back to 1990 in Boston, according one online comment.

Anyone else ever heard the same speech oddity? (Pay attention! You’ll hear it more.) Any uses I’ve left out here?

Time, Time, Time … See What’s Become of Me

No time for any analysis or witticisms, but I will highlight three pieces of news I think everyone should read today:

Bush & his War Memo

Bolton & his Funny Mustache

Army & its Questionable Recruiting

Morality Police

Much to my excitement, my blog received a critical post today in response to my attack on a bill that passed the House of Reps in Texas that would forbid high school cheerleaders from delivering sexy cheers. Among other things, I argued that such a thing should be regulated by individual schools and not the legislature. The respondent, I believe, says the lack of morality hurting kids these days makes such bills necessary.

Which got me thinking: who said there’s a lack of morality today? On a Website describing Measure of Moral Orientation for college-age kids, nothing related to hip shaking comes up. Instead, it focuses on tough questions like if your roommate has AIDS, do you deserve to know? But that’s not so much a scale for how much morality these students have, just the kind.

So we must look elsewhere, to the “F word” being said on the radio. Or to the fact that we’re seeing more and more journalists get publicly humiliated for inaccurate reporting (Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass being just two). Or that we’ve had back to back presidents who have lied (one about sex, one about WMDs), with a startling lack of public humiliation for the second.

But none of these truly tell us the moral state of our nation. For every publicized tale of immorality, there are hundreds of stories that go unmentioned about the guy who broke up a fight on a public street or the girl who visited a dying woman.

But I’m getting off topic. You see, it’s not the overall morality of the nation that is under attack most days. It’s the sexual morality parents worry about. We’ve got Nipplegate and MTV. Michael Jackson and Desperate Housewives. We’ve got the pregnant twice-married Britney Spears and gay marriage.

But we also have Jessica Simpson, who told fans that she was waiting until marriage to have sex. And we have musicians who don’t take off their clothes at halftime, men who don’t share beds with children, television stations like The Food Network and the incredibly popular Extreme Home Makeover.

Where does this leave parents, who want to raise kids with a moral compass? The same place they were before: making choices about what they watch, what movies they should see, what Internet sites they can visit.

If they believe their high school’s cheerleading is too lascivious, they should bring it up with the school board, not waste the time of the state representatives, who should be focusing on more important things like how Texas is below average for reading and science and at the average for writing. Only in math do students perform better than the national mean.

Schadenfreude

For a little bit of Schadenfreude (happiness at another’s misfortune, such as when you’re racing along on the Autobahn and traffic in the other direction is stopped up), take a look at the arrest record for Ada County in Idaho.

Nixon, Nancy & the Psychics

Perhaps this explains why crazies seem to be running our country half the time. Think Bush’s psychic is on speed dial?

I got tipped off on this story from my new competition (though it is hardly fair to call them that).

To Every Thing There is a Season

Let me share something with you I just read:

“Every American should be forced to live outside the United States for a year or two. Americans should be forced to see how ridiculous they appear to the rest of the world! They should listen to someone else’s version of themselves—anyone else’s version!” and

“The White House, that whole criminal mob, those arrogant goons who see themselves as justified to operate above the law—they disgrace democracy by claiming that what they do they do for democracy!”

Though it could have been an op-ed in today’s paper or a rant from one of many angry Democrats, it’s actually a passage in A Prayer for Owen Meany, published in 1989, lamenting the arrogance of the political scene in the United States. Guess history does repeat itself. Oh! Or maybe it never went away.

Your Ex-Lover is Dead! (just a song title—didn't mean to scare ya)

I think I might actually be one of the first to know this time! (Feel free to prove me wrong, except Dan because your blog tipped me off.)

Go listen to the Stars and the song “Your ex-lover is dead.” Just the first line, which isn’t even sung, makes it a winner for me. Then a sweet, tight song follows. Enjoy!

Hidden Prejudice

The FDA has gotten sneaky. They say one thing but really mean another. Ooh! They’ve turned into full-fledged politicians. That can’t be good.

And it’s not good today, when the FDA is asking for something outrageous: that men who have had gay sex in the last 5 years be banned from donating to a sperm bank. They claim it’s because the risk of AIDS runs higher in this group.

But current guidelines bar heterosexual men who have had unprotected sex with an HIV-positive prostitute from donating for 1 year.

Double standard? Of course! But the real secret is something the FDA will never say: “We don’t want gay men reproducing because if it is hereditary, that might make more gay men. Politics doesn’t like gay men.”

The closest they come to honesty is an FDA document quoted by CNN: “The FDA is very much aware that strict exclusion policies eliminate some safe donors.”

Leland Traiman, the head of a donor clinic in Alameda, CA, offers what appears to be a safe and non-biased alternative: conduct HIV testing upon donation and again 6 months later before using the sperm. Ah! But that would not be sneaky. And we can’t be having that. Not if we’re in politics.

Let's Make the Kids Dumber

One day, Galileo announced that the Earth revolves around the sun. Heresy! Outrage! Denunciation! Consequently, Galileo was excommunicated by the Pope for his heretical ideas. Hundreds of years later, Pope John Paul II asked for pardon for the church’s trial of Galileo.

We have hit another such situation going on in Kansas and other parts of the south, only this time scientists aren’t fighting the Pope, they’re fighting the Bible, or at least proponents of a fundamentalist interpretation of it.

Religious advocates are trying once again to discourage the teaching of Darwin’s evolutionary theory in schools, saying it conflicts with the biblical idea of Creationism.

These fundamentalists wrap their whole belief system around the idea that God created the world in seven days. I have to wonder if, when the story of Genesis was first written down thousands of years ago, they could conceive of numbers like 10,000, a billion or beyond.

Many scientists (including many Christian ones) have confirmed that some sort of evolutionary process has taken place. Only one side will be heard by the state’s Board of Education in Kansas, though, because the scientists have boycotted meetings, opting instead to hold daily press conferences outside.

Interestingly, a compromise that would allow both views to be taught side by side is not an option thanks to a 1987 Supreme Court ruling barring the practice.

My source of comfort: If they don’t already, these fundamentalists will someday look like fools—just as the Catholic Church did for its actions against Galileo. But that will be long after my time, and I hardly expect anyone to ask for pardon.

No Booty for You

There may not be “booty shakin’ all around” for Texas high school cheerleaders much longer. The state’s House of Representatives has passed a bill 85-55 “that would forbid sexy cheers and give the Texas Education Agency authority to punish schools that allow ‘overtly sexually suggestive’ routines at football games and other events,” CNN.com reports.

Democratic state rep. Senfronia Thompson, an opponent of the bill, told legislators: “I think the Texas Education Agency has enough to do making sure our kids are better educated, and we are wasting our time with ‘one two three four, we can’t shake it any more?’”

The bill, which doesn’t define “overtly sexually suggestive,” has moved on to the Senate. Hmm... back to the pre-Elvis days I guess. Ah, pleasantville...

But wait! The sponsor of the bill says sexy cheerleading leads to pregnancy and dropouts (uh, no, that would be caused by having sex, getting poor grades, and needing an extra income at home).

I put this kind of thinking in the same category as people who say girls wearing tiny tanktops are asking to be raped and that women must cover their heads to avoid being a temptation to men. Blaming the woman for being a woman (or the girl for being a girl) is not okay. There was a day when a woman showing her ankle was considered risque. Do we really want to head in that direction again? Sure, there are some limits to the sexuality a 16 year old should exhibit at a school event, but is that worth legislating?

Oil Discovery Big But How Helpful?

An oil company in Utah claims it has found an oil repository that could yield a billion barrels of oil, the biggest discovery in 30 years.

That would last the United States 45 days.

Fortunately the oil that is looking more and more like it will be opened up in Alaska at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would yield ten times that.

That would last us 450 days.

Left Hand Doesn't Know What the Right is Doing

In addition to losing troops and radioactive material, we now can’t find $100 million earmarked for reconstruction. Quite a triumvirate of loses.

Is Italy in or out?

“The key for us this year is to transfer more and more responsibility to the Iraqis in taking the counter-insurgency fight to the enemy, and I’m confident we can do that.” —Gen. John Abizaid, March 2, 2005. Translation: “We want Iraqis to die instead of the citizens of our country.”

Kent State Revisited

It’s been 35 years to the day since the infamous moment in Kent State and our nation’s history when student protestors were gunned down. The picture of a girl screaming over her dead schoolmate galvanized a nation of protestors and remains to this day a picture of the horror caused by a nation at odds with itself.

The word used for the Ohio guardsmen who did the shooting, at least in one report of the events, is “ill trained.”

It’s the same problem Italians point to in their report on the accidental March 4th shooting of Nicola Calipari in Baghdad.

As it was the issue in Somalia yesterday when a security guard reportedly dropped his grenade launcher, setting off a grenade and killing at least 8 during a speech from the prime minister.

And it was the problem in Abu Ghraib, so aptly described by Bob Herbert.

When does it end? When do we stop handing people guns and power? How about when we recognize the mental effect holding a weapon has on anyone—particularly those who are young.

If we had wanted to improve our image in the world, convince radical movements that the United States is not the enemy, we shouldn’t have reached out for a handshake with a hand holding a gun.

The Oops Report

A collection of blunders admitted and suspected.

Bride gets jitters then calls her man saying she’s been kidnapped but then later recants. His response: “Haven’t we all made mistakes?”

New washing machine uses fingerprint technology to force a husband and wife to take turns cleaning the clothes. But what if one spouse is out of town for two weeks and can’t place their fingerprint on the machine? No clean underwear for you!

Whether oops or just plain cute is your call. A zebra and donkey are now mom and pop to a zonkey. Or maybe a deebra. Or a zebkey... Or a donkbra…

Sperm Down for the Count

That’s right. I’m bringing up sperm count in my blog (no pun intended). Bit risqué, I know, but somebody’s got to speak out on the alarming number of news items related to the matter. (Plus, it’s only fair that I focus on men after my last post.)

Round One: a new report that pollution may affect the sex of men’s sperm. Researchers in Sweden aren’t quite sure how, but men seemed to have more Y chromosomes (the kind that make little boys) than X with greater exposure to persistent organochlorine pollutants (ironically, the acronym is POPs).

Round Two: Perhaps scarier for men is the idea that their laptop might lower their count because of the heat it emits. May be a good idea to keep the computer on the desk, gentlemen.

Round Three: Cannabis is also shown to have a deleterious effect by making sperm less likely to reach the egg or to break the protective coating around the egg. Who would have thought pot would make you lethargic?

Knockout Punch?: But sperm is now more available digitally thanks to a fly-by-night Internet sperm supplier in Reading, PA. Despite a misleading Web address (spermdirect.co.uk) and a London street address, the Reading Chronicle has reported that the business is operated by a print repair engineer in the Keystone State.

Trouble for Women Means Trouble for All

Things aren’t looking good for women in the news these days, facing attacks, abduction and arrest. At the root of this violence, I believe, is a conception of women as unable to make choices, so choices are made for them—in the most brutal of ways. But how do you convince an entire society that women have a right to individuality? Sadly, women are equally capable of horrors when we remember the third story below.

UN Peacekeepers (could a title ever be more inappropriate) “abused and exploited” women in Liberia. Why is this only one paragraph in the NY Times? Too bad this isn’t the first time either.

In much more thorough coverage, The Times does explore the traumatic marriage rituals of Kyrgyzstan where women are abducted and forced (sometimes by their own family members) to marry against their will. As if brainwashed, many later comment that they’re glad it happened. All women should read this to understand that the fight for women’s rights isn’t over.

And yet, unfortunately, the so-called “fairer sex” failed to act nobly at Abu Ghraib, based on accusations against Pfc. Lynndie England, Brig. Gen. Janis L. Kapinski and Megan Ambuhl. Could they all have been under the power of Specialist Charles A. Graner Jr? One had his child and another married him. But more importantly, perhaps, are they getting lighter sentences (like England’s new plea deal) because they are women? Equality needs to work both ways.

Finally, my favorite empowered woman story from the weekend. A woman was paid four cents in tsunami aid because of damage to her coconut groves so she angrily returned the check to the local government. Her case and others are now being reviewed on her island. Let’s hope change (and more than 4 cents worth) comes of it!

Stop the Presses!

My blog is ruining my life. Until a week ago, I was skipping happily along, minding my own mindless business. Oblivion encased me. Yeah, I’d read the news—but only about an article a day.

That’s all changed.

I’m an addict now. My drug is information. I’m a crack-hungry monster searching for another bit of news to reference on this page. Consider yourself warned. It snuck up on me fast. It could get you, too. I’m a million times better informed than I was a week ago. But I don’t know how to stop. The world is spinning and I can’t catch the sun.

So, let me ask you, dear readers: when do you stop reading the news and start your real life?

Why Didn't You Tell Me Sooner?

I know I’m late to party, but please go listen to Keane’s “Bend & Break” and Snow Patrol’s “Chocolate.”

There. I admitted I was the last to know.

(If you’re reading this and thinking, I’m actually the penultimate person because you’re the last person to know, don’t worry. I’ve already taken the blame. Just go out and listen before anyone finds out.)

Comedy & Tragedy

May I direct your attention to serious news that makes me laugh.

“I’m president,” says Toga poll loser. If only it were always that easy.

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife to testify against him. One legal analyst says “She's going to be given instant credibility because of who she is, her relationship with Jackson, and what she may know.” Hmmm… can choosing to marry Michael Jackson give anyone credibility?

And if you believe in signs from God: PM Tony Blair’s plane was struck by lightning yesterday, the second time that’s happened. The first occurred during a trip to Washington.

Quote of the Day

Today’s weather reveals: “There will be some embedded pockets of locally moderate rain.” Not just good ol’ everyday pockets! Embedded pockets.

Complicated Headlines

Though not a newsflash, it bears repeating: every piece of news has its spin. Below, some examples.

“The U.S. count of major world terrorist attacks more than tripled in 2004…” (Caveat: More may have been counted in 2004 than 2003 because of additional U.S. scrutiny of such attacks).

One number we were accurately counting a year ago: insurgency attacks in Iraq. “The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said there were 50 to 60 attacks a day, the same level as one year ago.” (Caveat: half of them are thwarted.)

In July, Michelle Wie (age 15) could become the first female golfer to play in the St. Andrews Open in Britain. (Caveat: first she must be the highest placing golfer who hasn’t already earned a place at St. Andrews at the John Deere Classic in Illinois—an unlikely event.)

Fourteen alleged mobsters were arrested and charged in Chicago. (Caveat: Two others are on the run, and police have released pictures of them older than The Godfather.)

And my favorite: Self-hypnosis could banish hay fever. (Caveat: the improvement was not drastic and could have been because of chance alone.)

A New Deal

So here’s a question for Democrats: is it possible to shun something, not follow that up with a call to action and not look weak?

Case #1: Let’s say we follow the lead of Joe Lieberman and agree that some Hollywood movies are too violent for youngsters. Then let’s say we (drum roll please) do nothing about it—in other words agree that children need limitations but Hollywood does not. That there is danger in the world of all kinds, but the federal government’s role should be informing parents of those dangers—from seatbelt safety to effects of violence on children—through research and funded outreach. Protect us from the dangers we can’t protect ourselves from, say, hatred in the Middle East.

Case #2: We could examine the sad situation of Terri Schiavo and agree it’s sad. And agree that it’s not a black and white issue. We could say that we wish we could absolutely know what Terri’s wishes would have been, since those are the ones we’d want to follow first. But then we could agree that we have something in place to handle these kinds of tough, unfortunate decisions of balancing a husband’s and parents’ wishes: it’s called a court system. And leave it at that. If we’re not going to trust the courts to get things right (and wrong), why have them?

Case #3: In turn, we could look at school prayer, and recognize that we may not agree with it. That it might be offensive (just as some television shows and radio programs are to conservatives). And yet allow such decisions to be made at a state or even local level as well as through the courts who are commissioned to guard against prejudice. School prayer is not killing anyone. Industrial pollution is. Let’s act when safety is on the line or when states cannot do the job equally (such as was the case with desegregation).

We could call this movement Anti-Big Government. I know, I know. This is the Republicans rallying cry, but they abandoned it several years ago with ballooning federal spending and policies like the No Child Left Behind Act. Perhaps it’s time to reclaim it with a twist: we want anti-fear, too. Don’t make us fear R-rated movies, loose lips on the radio and Superbowl nipples. Don’t be so pro-life as to make us fear death. And don’t make us fear those who think so differently from us, polarizing left and right, East and West. Because I believe they’re wrestling with the same issues we are.

Just the early version of an idea, partially inspired by Matt Bai. I’m sure there are holes. Thoughts?