friggin incredible

"As I discussed in 'Zombie debt is hard to kill,' there is now a booming market in the pursuit of debts so ancient that they used to be considered uncollectible. This year a whopping $110 billion of such debt is expected to be sold to collection agencies, up from virtually nothing 10 years ago.
Because the old liabilities cost collectors as little as 25 cents for each $100 in face value, companies can make a profit if they can get debtors to repay even a tiny fraction. Along the way, some collectors realized they also could squeeze money from people who didn't even owe it.
Some consumers pay because their finances are so disorganized they don't realize the debt isn't theirs. Others are coerced into paying by illegal threats of lawsuits or ruined credit. Some, like Alappat, pay rather than risk losing a desired loan."

Because people aren't bad off enough?

can i have a pair for Christmas?

"The whole Armor of God Pajama set will help your children to depend on God to protect them from their fears, doubts, and uncertainties at night so their sleep can be restful and peaceful."

Study finds standard "obesity" test badly flawed

Body Mass Index, invented by Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet between 1830 and 1850, is a measure of body fat calculated from height and weight.
A figure of less than 18.5 is considered underweight, while from 18.5 to 24.9 is normal, 25 to 29.9 is overweight and anything over 30 is categorized as obese.
Intended as a broad indicator of general health, it has become a standard diagnostic tool of heart disease risk.
Maria Grazia Franzosi from the Instituto Mario Negri in Milan, writing in the same issue of the Lancet, noted that a 52-country study comparing four different tests -- BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, waist measure and hip measure -- found that waist-to-hip was the best predictor of heart attack risk.
"BMI can definitely be left aside as a clinical and epidemiological measure of cardiovascular risk," she said.

Its crap like this that makes trying to figure out how to be healthy so annoying. I understand BMI being easy for anyone to calculate, but given that it isn't predictive of what it is supposed to predict, why not add a disclaimer. Granted, maybe if I read all the way through eDiets or any of the other ones I would find a disclaimer, but I would prefer this understanding to be much more front and center.

so cool

"'It appears that we've seen the birth of an ocean basin.' "

what if its true!

"'What we have developed is a way to construct magnetic fields so that when you travel round the magnetic fields, starting and stopping at the same position, you have gained energy,' McCarthy said.
'The energy isn't being converted from any other source such as the energy within the magnet. It's literally created. Once the technology operates it provides a constant stream of clean energy,' he told Ireland's RTE radio."

no comment necessary

"More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams"

well said

"It's not the program's sexuality that bothers me but the fact that, in a country rife with vestigial puritanism, it views sexuality through a leering lens. Continental Europeans see far more nudity on their televisions and in their daily lives than we do. They don't bat an eye because, you know, human bodies. We all have them. Ah, but America. Marked by repression on the one hand (magazines condemned for cover images of breast-feeding babies and nude expectant mothers) and masturbatory excess on the other ('Girls Gone Wild' and any men's magazine that isn't GQ or Esquire), we are forever looping between scolding and ogling. We are never at peace."

it had to work both ways

"NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An Indian businessman born with two penises wants one of them removed surgically as he wants to marry and lead a normal sexual life, a newspaper report said Saturday. "

Blog updates

Hello all,

Just a little housecleaning. I changed comments to a pop up window and also you no longer have to put in that annoying word verification thing. Everyone's comments should immediately publish now. Hope that helps.

Actually, hell is other people

"Hard as I find it to navigate friendship, I'm lucky to have so many people I can call friends. But what about those who don't? What about those with only two confidantes, a couple of close friends? I don't see why that should be an indication that we're more socially isolated -- for some people, voluntary loneliness isn't so lonely after all. As Daniel Nester's mother always told him, 'If you find one friend in your life, you're lucky.' "

I'm working from home today due to my project mates infecting me with their colds. As I sit in seemingly forever in a room with people I won't know six months from now, the nature of friendship is being brought into particularly sharp focus. I definitely have more than one friend in life and am glad I can be considered lucky:)

excellent smackdown of shumley

This is the commentary from just one of the blogs i read. I would lose to see how this is being reacted to in general in the blogosphere.

Women in Top Ranks Pull Up the Pay of Others

"MONTREAL -- American women earn substantially more money and narrow the long-standing gender gap in income if other women in their workplaces reach the ranks of senior management, according to a new national study presented here."

With so much discussion about the death of feminism, I am always heartened by data based evidence of the positive impact of women having more power.

mystical tats

"I believe this same problem comes up when men witness childbirth up close. There are certain poses in which a husband should not see his wife. By all means, be there for the entire labor, as I have been for the births of each of my eight children. But I strongly agree with the advice of the ancient rabbis that husbands should not be staring at the actual delivery. That is just too erotic a part of a wife's anatomy for it to become a mere birth canal."


Shout out to Jess on the title for the best comment on my blog ever!

Seriously, at what point do we move?

"Among the factors contributing to America's low score are poor understanding of biology, especially genetics, the politicization of science and the literal interpretation of the Bible by a small but vocal group of American Christians, the researchers say.
"American Protestantism is more fundamentalist than anybody except perhaps the Islamic fundamentalist, which is why Turkey and we are so close," said study co-author Jon Miller of Michigan State University."

At what point does this country become unrecognizable?

PepsiCo names new female CEO

"NEW YORK - PepsiCo Inc. said Monday that Chief Financial Officer Indra K. Nooyi will replace Steven Reinemund as chief executive officer of the soft-drink and snacks company, making her the No. 2 female CEO in the Fortune 500"

Yay!

You just have to click and read

Postpartum Depression Hits Dads, Too and oh yeah its all your fault!

"That can happen 'if the mother is very, very controlling and wants the baby all to herself,' Coleman said. 'Also, fathers can experience frustration, sexual and emotional, if they forget to remember that
the wife is not interested in sex at that time. If the wife is very motherly and maternal, he might feel kind of useless, on the periphery.'"

Seriously how is it the women are so powerful? Isn't it amazing what we control? fucktards.

A Nation of Wimps

"There is in these studies a lesson for all parents. Those who allow their kids to find a way to deal with life's day-to-day stresses by themselves are helping them develop resilience and coping strategies. 'Children need to be gently encouraged to take risks and learn that nothing terrible happens,' says Michael Liebowitz, clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and head of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at New York State Psychiatric Institute. 'They need gradual exposure to find that the world is not dangerous. Having overprotective parents is a risk factor for anxiety disorders because children do not have opportunities to master their innate shyness and become more comfortable in the world.' They never learn to dampen the pathways from perception to alarm reaction."

Normally I think the parenting articles on MSN are a whole hot of hooey, but I would have to say Ithink this one is right on.

This seems concerning.....

Aug. 7, 2006 As the longtime head of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins is one of America's most visible scientists. He holds impeccable scientific credentials -- a medical degree as well as a Ph.D. in physics -- and has established a distinguished track record as a gene hunter. He's also an evangelical Christian, someone who has no qualms about professing his belief in miracles or seeing God's hand behind all of creation. The cover of his new book illustrates this unusual mixture: The book's title, 'The Language of God,' is superimposed on a drawing of the double helix. 'The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome,' he writes. 'He can be worshiped in the cathedral or in the laboratory.' "

people who shouldn't reproduce

"'I was SHOCKED to see a giant breast on the cover of your magazine,' one woman from Kansas wrote in reaction to the picture in Babytalk, a free magazine that caters to young mothers. 'I was offended and it made my husband very uncomfortable when I left the magazine on the coffee table.'"

Honey, if your husband is uncomfortable with a baby feeding, do you really want to have children with him?

Coach Accused of Being a Pimp

"A police officer in Maryland heard a surprising story when he found a 15-year-old girl and an adult male engaged in a sex act at 3 a.m. in a car in Takoma Park: She was a prostitute, the girl said, and her pimp was a coach at a high school in Prince George's County."

Men Not Working, and Not Wanting Just Any Job - New York Times

"Despite their great numbers, many of the men not working are missing from the nation's best-known statistic on unemployment. The jobless rate is now a low 4.6 percent, yet that number excludes most of the missing men, because they have stopped looking for work and are therefore not considered officially unemployed. That makes the unemployment rate a far less useful measure of the country's well-being than it once was.
Indeed, a larger share of working-age men are not working today than at almost any point in the last half-century, which raises the question of how they will get by as they age. They may be forced back to work after years of absence, they may fall into poverty, or they may be rescued by the government. This same trend is evident in other industrialized countries. In the European Union, 14 percent of men between 25 and 54 were not working last year, up from 7 percent in 1975, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Over the same period in Japan, the proportion of such men rose to 8 percent from 4 percent. "

Passing Down the Legacy of Conservatism - New York Times

Many conservatives say they have to promote their own thinkers because scholars and journalists ignore them. “They don’t study us; they’re ignorant of who we are,” said Floyd Brown, who runs the foundation’s West Coast office. “You can find college courses on all sorts of radical left-wing ideas, but you can’t find a course on Russell Kirk.”
Donald Devine, a lecturer here, said the task of teaching conservatism had changed with political success. When he began to lecture four decades ago, “we had to make the term ‘conservative’ respectable,” he said. “Now ‘conservatism’ has become such a popular word it doesn’t mean anything. The challenge is to decide what is truly conservative.”

gotta love the luny catholics...Passion anyone?

Once inside the car, a source directly connected with the case says Gibson began banging himself against the seat. The report says Gibson told the deputy, “You mother f****r. I’m going to f*** you.” The report also says “Gibson almost continually [sic] threatened me saying he ‘owns Malibu’ and will spend all of his money to ‘get even’ with me.”
The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: “F*****g Jews… The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson then asked the deputy, “Are you a Jew?“
The deputy became alarmed as Gibson’s tirade escalated, and called ahead for a sergeant to meet them when they arrived at the station. When they arrived, a sergeant began videotaping Gibson, who noticed the camera and then said, “What the f*** do you think you’re doing?”
A law enforcement source says Gibson then noticed another female sergeant and yelled, “What do you think you’re looking at, sugar tits?”

Go read the whole thing it is hysterical

"One of the clips, called 'Technical Virgin,' is a funny (if not gut-busting) take on the idiocy of abstinence campaigns. In it, the fresh-faced Martinez announces seriously: 'I've got big plans for my future: a good college, a career, maybe even my own business someday. But one thing I'm not planning on is getting pregnant. That's why I choose anal sex. I mean sure, it hurts a little, and I wind up walking funny for a day or two. But I think my future's worth it.' "

Scary Boston Gossip Bitches Will Totally Cut You - Gawker

"You might mistake the duo at right for a mild-mannered pair headlining an NPR telethon; that would be the last mistake you ever made. The two are in fact Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa -- the 'Gals' -- twin terrors of Boston's gossip scene and lead reporters on the Boston Herald's Inside Track column."

huh never woulda thought it

Sean William Scott turned heads when he showed up at Los Angeles gay bar Heat on the arm of David Geffen …

YAY! Buffy comic

"So what's going on in the extended Buffyverse? Well, you may recall the show ended with the creation of an army of Slayers. Now they're organized, and the tide has turned in favor of the good guys. Ah, but you know how much Whedon hates winners: Soon an 'old enemy' surfaces (Dark Horse is cagey on Big Bad's identity), and Dawn starts 'experiencing serious growing pains.' I hope that means the Scoobies will be fighting a mutant, undead Alan Thicke."

20/03/2002: Interview with Martin van Creveld

"Byrne: Thanks for joining us tonight on Foreign Correspondent. How has it come to this, Martin... how is it that the mighty Israeli army , one of the world's most powerful - with its helicopter gunships, with its tanks, with it's missiles, can be losing to this relatively small, relatively under-armed if fanatical group of Palestinians?

Van Creveld: The same thing has happened to the Israeli army as happened to all the rest that have tried over the last sixty years. Basically it's always a question of the relationship of forces. If you are strong, and you are fighting the weak for any period of time, you are going to become weak yourself. If you behave like a coward then you are going to become cowardly, it's only a question of time. The same happened to the British when they were here... the same happened to the French in Algeria... the same happened to the Americans in Vietnam... the same happened to the Soviets in Afghanistan... the same happened to so many people that I can't even count them.

Byrne: : Martin you used the word cowardly, yet what we've seen tonight , these commando units, the anti-terrorist squads , these aren't cowardly people.

Van Creveld: I agree with you. They are very brave people... they are idealists... they want to serve their country and they want to prove themselves. The problem is that you cannot prove yourself against someone who is much weaker than yourself. They are in a lose/lose situation. If you are strong and fighting the weak, then if you kill your opponent then you are a scoundrel... if you let him kill you, then you are an idiot. So here is a dilemma which others have suffered before us, and for which as far as I can see there is simply no escape. Now the Israeli army has not by any means been the worst of the lot. It has not done what for instance the Americans did in Vietnam... it did not use napalm, it did not kill millions of people. So everything is relative, but by definition, to return to what I said earlier, if you are strong and you are fighting the weak, then anything you do is criminal.

Anger and its venting

There is so many things we are required to figure out as we try to become "adults". One of them is anger. In this age of Oprah there is a notion of expressing emotions in a "healthy" way. I remain unclear on what exactly the healthy thing is to do with anger. I mean is there sucha thing as healthy anger? Righteous anger sure...but healthy anger? I mean in Harry Potter he can draw on his anger to give him courage in dangerous situations, but alas modern life infrequently offers opportunities for courage under fire. So life makes you angry, for whatever reason, and Oprah says express those emotions...cuz that's healthy. kay, um saying I'm angry offers little antidote to anger as far as I can tell. So what do you do?

Genius lives

"'Honey, I'm just going to be honest with you, OK? I just thought he was cute. I'm 45 years old and I'd just like to meet him again, but I don't know how to go about doing that without calling 911,' she said.

'I know this is absolutely not in any way, shape or form an emergency, but if you would give the officer my phone number and ask him to come back, would you mind?'"

Much needed Humor

As for the world around us

While normally I can highlight some intersting stories, it appears today that the whole world is going to blow, Iraq is chaos, Brazil and DC are having massive crime waves, North Korea is launching nukes, Al Queda maybe in India now, Lebanon and Israel are bombing each other and our President continues to be absent. I think I'm going to stop paying attention now.

Montell Williams is engaged to a flight attentandant who feels fortunate and says he is a beautiful perosn inside and out. That just makes my heart warm right up.

Ireland updated

Reqs have been frozoen. I may not have the option of going after all. crap i really want to go.

Also jury duty is awesome...ok not really and they don't provide free coffee. whatup with that?

Ireland

So I got offered the job in Ireland. I have to decide by Friday. Here is my list of pros and cons:
Pros:
International Experience
I get to leave Phoenix 2 years early
cool strategic job
more people will actually want to visit me cuz i live somewhere cool
I can buy paraphanalia with my name on it

cons:
pay cut
i have to give up Iago
different country far away from everyone I love
I would have to defer starting my MBA and then probably do it online unless I can fidn a program in Ireland

Discuss.....

Asshole

"Vice President Dick Cheney's financial advisers are apparently betting on a rise in inflation and interest rates and on a decline in the value of the dollar against foreign currencies. That's the conclusion we draw after scouring the financial disclosure form released by Cheney recently. "


Can we call it treason now?

Americans' circle of close friends shrinking

"Ties to a close network of friends create a social safety net that is good for society, and for the individual. Research has linked social support and civic participation to a longer life, Smith-Lovin said.

People were not asked why they had fewer intimate ties, but Smith-Lovin said that part of the cause could be that Americans are working more, marrying later, having fewer children, and commuting longer distances.
The data also show the social isolation trend mirrors other class divides: Non-whites and people
with less education tend to have smaller social networks than white Americans and the highly educated."

My friends and I have often commented on how much harder it would be to navigate life without each other. Stories like this make me glad that I choose to value the things I choose to value.

Apocalypse Soon

"Linking these efforts is a belief that modern technologies and global communications have made it possible to induce completion of God's plan within this generation."

I like crazy people. I feel a bit of a kindred spirit with them really. On the other hand, you have the group of apparently growing # of humans that are just batshit crazy. How do they express their particular craziness? By trying to hasten the Apocalypse. Why, you ask? Because they are batshit crazy. I suggest staring at them uncomfortably if you ever run into one.

How they will win

"'The Chinese are so smart they knock your socks off,' said Andrew Strominger, a Harvard string theorist who visits here often. 'The impression you get when you go over there is that China is going to take over the world soon.'
...
'A lot of people ask for advice but are hesitant to accept it,' Dr. Gross said. 'In China, they are totally open to exploring how other countries do it. They are totally unarrogant about accepting advice.'"

hah

"Because shy children appear to be more sensitive to winning and losing, they may experience emotions more strongly than others, putting them at risk for emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression."

I always said some people feel emotions stronger than others. I personally blame my lack of resiliency in certain areas on this. Now I am vindicated by SCIENCE!

Mind blowing

That is what we EHMs do best: we build a global empire. We are an elite group of men and omen who utilize international financial organizations to foment conditions that make other nations subservient to the corporatocracy running our biggest corporations, our government, and our anks. Like our counterparts in the Mafia, EHMs provide favors. These take the form of loans to develop infrastructure —electric generating plants, highways, ports, airports, or industrial parks. A condition of such loans is that engineering and construction companies from our own country must build all these projects. In essence, most of the money never leaves the United States; it is simply transferred from banking offices in Washington to engineering offices in New York, Houston, or San Francisco.Despite the fact that the money is returned almost immediately to corporations that are members of the corporatocracy (the creditor), the recipient country is required to pay it all back, principal plus interest. If an EHM is completely successful, the loans are so large that the debtor is forced to default on its payments after a few years. When this happens, then like the Mafia we demand our pound of flesh. This often includes one or more of the following: control over United Nations votes, the installation of military bases, or access to precious resources such as oil or the Panama Canal. Of course, the debtor still owes us the money—and another country is added to our global empire.

I read a lot. It is one of the main ways I seek to understand the world I live in. Every now and then I read something that actually changes the way I see the world. This is one of those. I recommend highly!

That Wild Streak? Maybe It Runs in the Family - New York Times

"As genetics comes to rival childhood experience s the favored lens through which to interpret behavior seen as deviant, parents who blamed themselves for their children's disorders are also finding some relief."

Really good discussion on the implications of genetic research on people's perceptions of their identity. I have always been fascinated by this area of science and whether it would lead to a more progressive view of humanity or start seeing humans as just a sum of their parts.

Seriously, come join

"Who are we? The YearlyKos Convention demonstrated that we are the vanguard of a new Progressive movement built on trust. We are the 'Trust or Bust' movement in an America that has been taken over by a hostile right-wing movement built on fear and deceit. America is getting busy rejecting that right-wing movement and the YearlyKos Convention was the first clear, successful manifestation of the alternative.
Despite all the deceit, despite all the fear, despite all the propaganda, the corruption, the human rights abuse, the assaults on our Constitution, the cronyism, the irresponsible spending--despite all this--Gina Cooper and her team created a place where Americans could stand together and embrace a community built on trust. We are not any of those negative things that right-wing movement has foisted on America in the past decade. We are none of those things and to show to ourselves, the nation, and the world how much we believe in the power of our national ideals, we are all here in this room together. We are the beginning of a new Progressive movement built on trust."

Walking away with the Treasury

"This is a BIGGIE. Although it is well known that $9 billion in Iraq reconstruction money was never accounted for, it was thought an Inspector General named by the Congress for oversight would produce some kind of audit on the $9 billion, not to mention the $12 billion in cash
supposedly sent to Iraq straight from the Federal Reserve.
Bush, however, whipped up a 'signing statement', one of those 750 Presidential findings that
was revealed in April by the Boston Globe, which neutered the audit by declaring
anything to do with the Pentagon a classified security issue! The GOP Congress enabled Bush all the way on this outrageous signing, essentially covering up the likely theft of the urgently needed Reconstruction Fund."

I remember this story coming out in 2003 and assumed the GAO was investigating and some sort of accountability would be had. I mean, it takes the effort of a lot of crooks to "lose" $9Billion without a trace. As per usual with this administration, the story never went anywhere and there appeared to be no uproar. This has consistently been the most confusing aspect of our current times. People in other countries have toppled the governments over less material corruption. Why is our populace so apathetic?

Instinct - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"It is debatable whether or not living beings are bound absolutely by instinct. Though instinct is what seems to come naturally or perhaps with heredity, general conditioning and environment surrounding a living being play a major role. Predominately, instinct is pre-intellectual, while
intuition is trans-intellectual."

I know that life is inherently uncertain. I understand that life is what happens while you are making plans. Still I plan. I have been in Phoenix for a year now. It has been a year of struggle, alienation, frustration and tremendous growth.

Now I am faced with the very real possibility that I will be out of a job by Christmas. I am again at a cross roads, but initiated by events outside of my control. So I am changing the plan. There will be no plan. I will put out feelers in any city USA and go where the best opportunity is. I am going with instinct and whim. Maybe I was lucky all along, I just never let my instincts bring me to the right places.

social lubricant

Researchers reported on Monday that drinking coffee cuts the risk of cirrhosis of the liver from alcohol -- by 22 percent per cup each day -- but they stopped short of saying doctors should prescribe coffee for that reason.

I went to lunch today with a co-worker who is very pro-active about life in general. She was helping me strategize how to deal with the uncertainty currently facing my business group. She is also very interested in cultural things and gives me tips on how to find cultural events etc in the Phoenix area. One of her suggestions was to take a dancing class. This strikes me as a theoretically good idea, but strikes fear into the deepest recesses of my heart. I am socially awkward even with alcohol. I am terrified of attempting a social outing without alcohol, alone and involving a requirement of physical coordination. Have I always been this much of a wuss?

Modern Sexual Politics

Naomi isn't 100 percent sure what things were like ''a little longer ago'' -- a period she defines as vaguely pre-Bill Clinton -- but she's certain there was less ''sexual equality.'' Today, that topic really isn't up for debate. That men and women play on an even sexual playing field is a given?Or should be. As Naomi sees it, ''It's our decision if we're going to allow ourselves to be subjected to negative treatment. It's all framed by the way girls behave.''

I read this article on Saturday at the gym. I go to a local YMCA which isn't like most gyms, but this one is still a gym with the posturing etc. I left my mp3 player on a plane so now I have to read to distract myself while on the stationary bike. I was disturbed to think that there were so many "autonomous" females who were choosing to be treated badly...still I kept reading

Whatever sex goes on, the girls say, is done in the context of the ''hookup,'' which describes anything from making out to full-on intercourse. Much to the disappointment of many students, female and male, there's no real dating scene at Duke -- true for a lot of colleges. ''I've never been asked out on a date in my entire life -- not once,'' says one stunning brunette. Nor has a guy ever bought her a drink. ''I think that if anybody ever did that, I would ask him if he were on drugs,'' she says. Rather, there's the casual one-night stand, usually bolstered by heavy drinking and followed the next morning by -- well, nothing, usually. ''You'll hook up with a guy, and you know that nothing will come out of it,'' says Anna. The best thing you can hope for, she says, ''is that you'll get to hook up with him again.'' Some girls they know have managed to score a regular hookup -- meaning consistent sex -- but others play the field, bouncing from one guy to the next.

Now call me old fashioned, but if a repeat hook up is the best thing the crowd you are hanging with is offering and this is viewed negatively by you, wouldn't one look outside that crowd?

Among Naomi and her friends, a certain weariness creeps in when discussing the whole scene. ''Girls reduce themselves a lot here in order to be able to have the sexual freedom that I think they don't have by doing that,'' says Naomi. She sighs. ''There's a big difference between the global values and feminist ideals we think we should be subscribing to and the behavior a lot of us exhibit -- and I do it too,'' she admits. But maybe not as much as some of her friends, she adds. ''One of my friends thinks she's the biggest feminist, but to me she is one of the biggest anti-feminists, just because of her sexual behavior'' -- which is hooking up with several guys in the course of a weekend, including one, a ''regular'' who ''really treats her like shit.'' ''But, you know, she's doing it out of fear,'' says Anna, smiling a bit. ''It's like, 'Oh, yes, consistent sex -- that's great. And maybe he'll invite me to this big frat formal that's coming up that everyone wants to go to.' '' She chuckles condescendingly.

And now I'm pissed. this whole article describes the interviewees as these very "intelligent", beautiful ambitous women. I believe it points out several times how academically competitive Duke is and how hard they have to work to make good grades. OK, this is where I get off.
There is a quote in the article which I saw mentioned in a WaPo column once; "Effortless Perfection". That these women think they have to look like "fill in whoever is hot chick of the moment", be successful and be fun or "up" as they refer to it. These are the people at the top of our social structure. People who will theoretically fill in top positions in business, law and science.
The article doesn't give you much insight into the male psyche. (In general when articles are about sex it does seem that the female point of view is the only thing worth examining because you know men, they just want it all the time, no strings attached with the hottest chick possible. Too bad that is wildly untrue.) The men are just caricatures of people who the women are reacting to.
At first I was just mad that no one taught these women it was OK to want whatever it is they wanted. How old do you have to be before you realize that following the crowd and appearing to execute well to their parameters almost never leads to happiness. More than that, there is so little anger displayed. Even their "admissions" that the situation isn't satisfying for them seem defeated. In the meantime, you have supposedly smart motivated people working overtime to eliminate any messy humanity from their interactions with each other. They couldn't figure out the rules of engagement, so they stopped engaging. I get that. It's not as if my dating exploits are about to be turned into a handbook anytime soon, but fuck people try harder. You are supposed to be smarter than that.You are supposed to have more imagination.

Jack the cat proves his mettle by chasing black bear up tree

"WEST MILFORD, N.J. (AP) -- A black bear picked the wrong New Jersey yard for a jaunt earlier this week, running into a territorial tabby who ran the furry beast up a tree -- twice.
Jack a 15-pound orange-and-white cat, keeps a close vigil on his property, chasing small animals when he can, but his owners and neighbors say his latest escapade was surprising."

What up BIDMC?

"Last March, Cassandra Sampson arrived at the Beth Israel Deaconess medical center to be treated for a migraine headache. When Sampson admitted to 'self destructive impulses,' she was admitted to the psychatric unit, where she was forcibly stripped over her clothing 'for security purposes.' Sampson, a childhood sexual abuse survivor, begged to be allowed to keep her clothing but was ignored. Instead, five male guards held her down."

see no evil

"Today, when the need for information about the planet is more important than ever, this process of building understanding through increasingly powerful observations . . . is at risk of collapse,' said Berrien Moore III, director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire.
Moore is cochairman of a National Research Council committee that will recommend NASA's future earth science agenda later this year. It is unclear, however, whether NASA will follow those recommendations.
``NASA has canceled, scaled back, or delayed all of the planned earth observing missions,' he said."

Maybe someday I will get here

"Works of art are of an infinite solitude, and no means of approach is so useless as criticism. Only love can touch and hold them and be fair to them. - Always trust yourself and your own feeling, as opposed to argumentations, discussions, or introductions of that sort; if it turns out that you are wrong, then the natural growth of your inner life will eventually guide you to other insights. Allow your judgments their own silent, undisturbed development, which, like all progress, must come from deep within and cannot be forced or hastened. Everything is gestation and then birthing. To let each impression and each embryo of a feeling come to completion, entirely in itself, in the dark, in the unsayable, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one's own understanding, and with deep humility and patience to wait for the hour when a new clarity is born: this alone is what it means to live as an artist: in understanding as in creating.
In this there is no measuring with time, a year doesn't matter, and ten years are nothing. Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn't force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there as if eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly silent and vast. I learn it every day of my life, learn it with pain I am grateful for: patience is everything! "

Slavery auctions in airports in London...seriously

"A CPS conference on Monday is to discuss airport crime, and its director in west London, Nazir Afzal, said: 'Criminal activity at the UK's airports is on the increase.
'We are now seeing 'slave auctions' being held in public places at airports where brothel keepers are bidding for women destined for prostitution.'
One auction had taken place outside a coffee shop in the arrivals hall at Gatwick Airport, the CPS said. Others were believed to have been staged at Heathrow, Stansted and other UK airports, it added.
Ministers earlier this year set out proposals to boost action against sex trafficking gangs. "

It feels true

"I'm just hypothesizing here, but as someone who grew up in the shadow of the backlash, I absorbed the message that the odds are against actually finding a man worth marrying when I was old enough to feel ready for it. The hysteria in the 80s that women's independence meant
that there would be huge numbers of independent, unmarried women resulted in people wrapping their minds around the idea that there could be this new creature, the confirmed bachelorette. And the word "if" crept into the vocabulary of straight women of my generation when we spoke of marriage and children in the future. Threatening women with the possibility of never getting married might have worked better if women really had to rely on marriage for a secure future. It'd be interesting to see if there's any proof that the backlash might have just backfired a little. "

I still wonder if I never expected to get married because of ambivalence about marriage or if I was just convinced that women like me don't "get" to get married.

Irony-From a Daily Kos diary

"I actually have no idea what on earth this is. I just love its product description: 'Are you drowning in the sea of comprehensive sex ed? Are you searching for a life preserver? You'll find one in the Abstinence Survival Kit!'
To answer the question that you already answered for me, yes, I do feel like I'm drowning in a sea of comprehensive sex ed. It's everywhere- everywhere, I tell you!
The store also includes great links to 'abstinence bookmarks, buttons, carabiners, posters, mints, stickers, pens, pencils, neck cords,and `virginity vouchers.''
But none are so truly abstinence-tastic as the following:
The Abstinence Sucker.

They make an abstinence sucker.
Not a lollipop. A sucker.
Alas, the sucker is cherry-flavored.
I thought for a long time about a suitable response to this. A long, long time.
So many ideas filled my head that my brain shut down and I fainted from overload.
When a member of the Abstinence Clearinghouse/ NSA joint division (who had been listening through the phone I left on) noticed a lack of typing noises, he came to investigate and found me face down on my keyboard.
After reading the contents of my computer screen, the officer left me unconscious and taped to my computer screen twenty dollars with a note reading, 'Such a pure, moral, Good Girl as yourself has lots to be proud of. I don't know how you ended up on our list of uppity women terrorists, but we just kinda put everyone's name in there. I'd like to provide the first twenty dollars toward your efforts.'
So come on, ya'll. Step up! Only $1,321.77 to go!"

Top Ten Signs you are a Liberal Elitest Idiot

I almost appreciate the straight forwardness...

Balloon teens not dumbest after all

"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions,' the official said.
'A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery.'"

How dumb can you be?

"Their bodies were found Saturday partially inside a deflated helium balloon at the entrance of a condominium complex a few miles north of Tampa. The 8-foot-diameter balloon was used to advertise the complex."

Need to Kvetch

So I am trying to complete all the necessary tasks for school. It has been nearly ten years since I "registered" for school. Yes I took those classes at Harvard for awhile, but they just said pay us money and you are in. ASU on the other hand.....

I can not friggin register for classes until I prove that I have gotten two MMR shots. I am 30 goddamn years old. I don't even remember the name of the doctor, who I am sure has long since retired, in Florida who gave us our original boosters. Seriously. I know I am ambivalent about school etc, but immunization shots for an evening program? I won't be around during the day to infect your real students.

later on...Ok apparently I can get a blood test to prove I'm immune. I'm going to be pissed if that comes back negative.

Have an awesome weekend everyone.

Poor diet as bad as smoking for health: Dutch report - Yahoo! News

"The study, which the European Food Safety Authority says it will use when analyzing food and diet risks, concludes that most cases of serious illness and death in the Netherlands is caused by poor diet.
'Taking into account not just deaths but also years spent living with serious disability, unhealthy dietary habits cause as much health loss as does smoking,' said the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)."

0 is the new 8 - The Boston Globe

"''I tried on a size 0 skirt and it was too big,' said Chao, a 30-year-old graduate student of molecular biology at Harvard University. ''To me, a size 0 is antimatter; it's something devoid of any physical reality.'"

yup so far

"A survey of more than 3,400 women found that 44 percent had experienced intimate partner violence. The more recent the violent incident and the longer it had persisted, the worse the victim's physical and mental health and social network were likely to be, the researchers found.
'This is an epidemic,' Dr. Robert S. Thompson, senior investigator at Group Health Center for Health Studies, said in a prepared statement. 'But it flies under the radar, because of the stigma and shame associated with it -- as well as the fear that many healthcare providers have of opening what some call a 'Pandora's Box' of difficult problems that they are unsure how to address.'"

Ah so good to know how far we have come

"The study, released Wednesday, found that blacks were 29 percent more likely to pay a high interest rate on a fixed-rate home purchase loan. A Hispanic borrower also was more likely to pay a high rate, it found.
'African Americans and Latinos are paying a premium for home loans because of the color of their skin,' said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau."

Karma

"You say one of the common messages in all these religions was what we now call the Golden Rule. And Confucius was probably the first person who came up with this idea.

All these sages, with the exception of the Greeks, posited a counter-ideology to the violence of their time. The safest way to get rid of egotism was by means ofcompassion. The first person to promulgate the Golden Rule, which was thebedrock of this empathic spirituality, was Confucius 500 years before Christ.His disciples asked him, 'What is the single thread that runs through all yourteaching and pulls it all together?' And Confucius said, 'Look into your own
heart. Discover what it is that gives you pain. And then refuse to inflict thatpain on anybody else.' His disciples also asked, 'Master, which one of yourteachings can we put into practice every day?' And Confucius said, 'Do not do to others as you would not have them do to you.' The Buddha had his version of the Golden Rule. Jesus taught it much later. And Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus, said the Golden Rule was the essence of Judaism. "

Now if only supply met demand......

"The scientists, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, examined the DNA of 148 healthy male and female university students and compared the results with questionnaires asking for the students' self-descriptions of their sexual desire, arousal and sexual function. They found a correlation between variants in a gene called the D4 receptor and the students' self-reports on sexuality.
The results suggest that low sexual desire might be a normal biological condition rather than a psychological problem, the researchers say. Further, it might be possible to develop drugs to alter sexual desire based on the new findings."

what is this state's problem?

"In Arizona, one in six adults had their identities stolen in the last five years, about twice the national rate, according to the Javelin survey.
Arizona officials have responded with a preventive mantra: shred all documents and avoid giving Social Security numbers or bank account numbers to strangers over the telephone or the Internet. The State Legislature has passed tougher penalties for people caught stealing or trafficking in stolen identities. "

Phaedras & friends

Uh...they're building big fence in AZ...interesting...over one quarter of a million dollars in donations to finance it.
A big fence...nice...

happy memorial day

"That's really what brings me here this afternoon. I did put myself in your place, and asked what I'd want a stranger from another generation to tell me if I had to sit through his speech. Well, I'd want to hear the truth: The truth is, life's a tough act, the world's a hard place, and along the way you will meet a fair share of fools, knaves and clowns--even act the fool yourself from time to time when your guard is down or you've had too much wine. I'd like to be told that I will experience separation, loss and betrayal, that I'll wonder at times where have all the flowers gone.
I would want to be told that while life includes a lot of luck, life is more than luck. It is sacrifice, study, and work; appointments kept, deadlines met, promises honored. I'd like to be told that it's okay to love your country right or wrong, but it's not right to be silent when your country is wrong. And I would like to be encouraged not to give up on the American experience. To remember that the same culture which produced the Ku Klux Klan, Tom DeLay and Abu Ghraib, also brought forth the Peace Corps, Martin Luther King and Hamilton College.
And I would like to be told that there is more to this life than I can see, earn, or learn in my time. That beyond the day-to-day spectacle are cosmic mysteries we don't understand. That in the meantime--and the meantime is where we live--we infinitesimal particles of creation carry on the miracle of loving, laughing and being here now, by giving, sharing and growing now. "

Mother Talkers :: Rants and Raves on Modern Motherhood

"The Berkeley Parents' Network listserve never fails to provide juicy blog fodder. A few weeks back, a mother wrote in to complain about dads hosting playdates. She had a few questions for the other moms out there.
Her first query was of the Ms. Manners variety: 'When my son is asked on a playdate, how can I insist on the Mom being in charge without offending anyone?'
Her later questions were of the harangue variety: 'Don't you people read the papers?' (i.e. Don't you read horror stories about male killers, kidnappers, and pedophiles?) And: 'Why on earth do you other moms put me in this awkward situation?'
The next listserve featured 48 responses to her post, and it was a pile-on of the first order. A huge percentage of respondants called her sexist and paranoid, and a fair number suggested she get therapy. Some working moms gave her a thorough tongue-lashing, and a few stay-at-home-dads lamented her attitude. Plenty of parents suggested that she get to know any parent who will be watching her child, man or woman, to guage whether her child would be safe in their care."

Watch your government walk away with the treasury

"Unbeknownst to almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside the Oval Office. It couldn't be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver under this provision."

WTF?

CNN.com - Teen jailed for her own safety, prosecutors say - May 16, 2006: "Court records show the girl has requested a lawyer. But jail officials say she isn't permitted contact with anyone unless prosecutors approve.
Prosecutors say the teen is a material witness and they want her jailed for her safety. A judge has ordered that she be held indefinitely."

humph

"Put simply, the brain does a bad job of putting you in the shoes of people you perceive as different, the study suggests. In technical terms, people tend to 'infrahumanize' members of dissimilar groups, psychologists have found. 'It almost means you view them as subhuman,' thinking they lacking higher emotions like love and guilt, or the depth of emotional experience of your own society, Mitchell says."

Buffy?

"There are moments when his satirical intention seems to shine through, as when Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays the leader of a gang of porn stars (and performer of the hit song 'Teen Horniness Is Not a Crime'), starts a Venice Beach bar fight that resembles the cheesiest moments of reality TV, and when the 'neo-Marxist resistance' seeking to bring down the U.S. government turns out to be a handful of incompetent losers with an ice cream truck"

Scared yet?

"Holy 'Handmaid's Tale,' Batman!
Want to get really freaked out? Check out the first paragraph of today's Washington Post story 'Forever Pregnant,' which explains that new federal guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ask 'all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves -- and to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.'
Pause. Breathe. OK. What? "

And the world's loneliest Web users are.. - Yahoo! News

"DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland may be enjoying stellar economic growth and seen as one of the best places in the world to live, but its inhabitants are apparently also the globe's loneliest."

Abortion and corporations

"As the Associated Press reports, 'Two years ago, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Ohio's tax credit on new equipment, saying the practice hinders interstate commerce because the incentives are available only to businesses that invest in Ohio.' In other words, the credits are creating a race to the bottom that taxpayers argue violates interstate commerce laws, whereby states and cities are competing with each other to give away more and more taxpayer cash to Big Business. In the Ohio case, the tax credit was used to give DaimlerChrysler roughly $300 million in taxpayer cash - cash that Toledo's county auditor says was siphoned away from local schools, forcing the city to close up to nine schools or fire 380 school workers.
In striking down the lower court ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court not only ruled against Ohio taxpayers, but against all taxpayers. Chief Justice John Roberts, formerly a corporate lawyer, said in the official opinion that 'State taxpayers have no standing ... to challenge state tax or spending decisions simply by virtue of their status as taxpayers.' In other words, not only will the Ohio law remain, but state taxpayers throughout the country now have no legal right to challenge the decisions of their bought-and-paid-for elected officials who are selling off our government to the highest bidder.
To get a sense of just how far reaching an affront to taxpayers' rights this ruling is, consider that USA Today earlier reported that taxpayers in other states were moving forward with similar cases. As just one example, in North Carolina, taxpayers have challenged the state's $242 million giveaway to Dell Computer. Now, the Supreme Court has essentially said they aren't even allowed to bring such a case"

WholesomeWear Styles

For those of you looking for modest options this summer!

Polygamy-not so much fun

"Reporters David Kelly and Gary Cohn sifted through court records, investigative reports and interviews by the Times to offer readers a glimpse into a closed world where sect members force girls as young as 13 into arranged marriages. The girls then work at homes, often organizing eating shifts of large families around a picnic table. Husbands threaten wives with commitment to mental institutions 'if they fail to 'keep sweet' or obedient,' Kelly and Cohn write. Some 400 boys as young as 13 have been kicked out of town, 'abandoned like unwanted pets by the side of the road and forcibly ostracized from their families to reduce competition among the men for multiple wives,' according to the Times. Others must leave school at age 11 or 12 and work in dangerous construction jobs. Rapists and child molesters are protected by religious authorities and law enforcement."

It must be my bad math skills?

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Congress on Thursday passed a $70 billion tax cut package that extends lower rates for investors, giving President George W. Bush a badly needed victory at a time of slumping popularity."

Sign the petition

I love Oprah!

"She's no longer just a successful talk-show host worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes' most recent estimate. Over the past year, Winfrey, 52, has emerged as a spiritual leader for the new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation. "

Dept of Homeland Sec

"Are you ready to put your planning skills to good use? Are you ready to help your family get prepared for the unexpected? Your family can use this Web site to create a plan that will help you be ready for many different kinds of unexpected situations!"

Love it when things fall apart

So apparently Katie and Tom are not getting married at all. They are waiting an "appropriate" amount of time before they amicably split.
I am not really sure why this makes me so happy, but it really does. He is an ass.

Constant Gardener

"A panel of Nigerian medical experts has concluded that Pfizer Inc. violated international law during a 1996 epidemic by testing an unapproved drug on children with brain infections at a field hospital."

Awwhhhh

"Dolphins communicate like humans by calling each other by name, scientists in Fife have found.
The mammals are able to recognise themselves and other members of the same species as individuals with separate identities. "

Study Suggests Difference in Lesbians' Brains - Yahoo! News

"WASHINGTON - Lesbians' brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women, new research indicates."

Its nice being the majority

"Single and fabulous
Here's a big news flash: Single people can lead full, satisfying lives. This is according to a fantastic article in the new issue of Psychology Today (one of my favorite magazines, and not just because I've written for it). New demographic data shows that singles are the fastest-growing population group, meaning that a lot of us likely will spend the majority of our lives in a non-married state. So singles are actually enjoying their status, instead of biding their time until they get hitched.
'Singlehood is no longer a state to be overcome as soon as possible,' writer Jillian Straus quotes one of Broadsheet's favorite social historians, Stephanie Coontz. 'It has its own rewards. Marriage is not the gateway to adulthood anymore. For most people, it's the dessert -- desirable, but no longer the main course.' And here's the kicker -- this realization comes amid social science research that neither married nor single life is a determinant of happiness. 'Much depends on the achievement of meaningful life goals and quality of the relationships you create,' writes Straus, who apparently changed her focus after writing about how to have a successful, committed relationship in the recent 'Unhooked Generation: The Truth About Why We're Still Single.'
Hurrah! That's great news for the 86 million single adults, who are poised to become the new majority. (Married couples comprise nearly 51 percent of households today, compared to 80 percent in the 1950s, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.) The article makes the point that although many of us are eventually looking to pair up, we're busy with lots of other good things in the meantime. That means that single people are no longer mysterious freaks or walking tragedies -- but the new normal. The message, then, is that while marriage could be fant"

Immigration debate reveals limits of market "freedom"�|�Reuters.com

"Yet when the subject turns to freedom of movement for human beings, emotions get roused, fingers are pointed, anger simmers, legislators make speeches.
'The world is moving ahead in more integrated product markets of goods and services, in capital markets and cross-border investments, and yet we seem to want to hold up a stop-sign to labor mobility,' said Daniel Griswold, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies.
'There is a disconnect there,' he said."

Greek Tragedy: a nod to sunblock and flossing

Ann started me reading this blog a while ago and every now and then I am amazed anew at the way she writes stuff you kinda already know but need to be reminded of. Read the whole post, its really good.

"Don't be afraid of making mistakes. I'm not saying to discount the consequences of your actions, but try to worry less about choosing wrong. We weigh ourselves down in it. Second-guessing ourselves. Don't be afraid of making mistakes because, really, you learn so much when you risk. So really, it's never a mistake. Unless it involves wearing the color orange or anything to do with a hat. These are usually mistakes best to avoid.
Ditch negative people. Don't keep them around because you feel guilty. Hold onto your strong female friends, even if you've had a pissy fight. They're really important. "

perception is reality

"At first glance, the 'sexy son hypothesis' makes perfect sense. According to this pillar of evolutionary biology, a female who chooses a high-quality male will have sons who inherit dad's allure. They, too, will therefore have their pick of females, allowing mom to hit the jackpot: grandmotherhood.
But when scientists followed male flycatchers whose dads were real catches (as judged by a forehead patch that is this bird's equivalent of perfect abs), they found no such thing.
The sons 'did not inherit their father's ... mating status,' the Swedish researchers wrote in the February issue of American Naturalist. As a result, mom got fewer grandkids than did females who settled for less-attractive males. The studs were so busy mating they had no time to raise offspring, causing their health and fecundity to suffer. Homelier birds were better dads, raising sons who had more mating success."

Need to leave this place soon!

"'It's important to send the message out to stay in Mexico and don't come roaming around here hoping you're going to get amnesty,' said Arpaio, who in years past gained notoriety for putting inmates on chain gangs and issuing them striped uniforms and pink underwear"

Glasgow

Hello all,

I am in Glasgow at an internet cafe. It's a great city and the trip has been excellent so far. Driving yesterday was little sketchy as we consumed obscene amounts of wine at the wedding and the metal energy it takes to drive on the wrong side of the road very nearly exceeded my mental capabilities. We got here and are now wondering around the city before heading back to Edinburgh tonight and London tomorrow. I suspect i will be very sad to go back to Phoenix. Hope everyone is doing well!

Oregon Man Survives 12 Nails to the Head - Yahoo! News

"PORTLAND, Ore. - An Oregon man who went to a hospital complaining of a headache was found to have 12 nails embedded in his skull from a suicide attempt with a nail gun, doctors say"

In this locket, I have the key to her chastity belt at Pandagon

Officially...the wingnuts have made the Catholics look like amateurs. You didn't think it was possible, but alas that was just your lack of imagination. So fracking gross.

Tax Evasion

"Okay, some Republican politicians argue, but the tax cuts increased the value of all stock, including stock held in IRAs and 401(k)s. Not according to a Federal Reserve study, which found that the tax cuts did not raise the value of stocks. So who gained from the cuts? The top 10 percent of households, who own 70 percent of all taxable stocks, and especially the top 1 percent, who own 29 percent. It gets worse: 54 percent of all income from capital gains and dividends goes to the top 0.2 percent, a group only slightly larger than the 30,000 who leave taxable estates. These folks�the ruling class�derive a third of their income from capital gains. They are taxed on that income at a lower rate then most of us pay on our wages. And we must also pay payroll taxes. They pay no payroll tax on their capital gains. "

Boycott Exxon Mobile

"Gheit noted, however, that there was some truth in Ahmadinejad's comment on developed countries benefiting most from increased oil prices, though the statement would likely be seen as an attempt at 'fanning the flames' of a red-hot oil market.
'What he's saying makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, the source of the comment is going to send jitters in the market,' Gheit said.
'The street value (of oil) is triple what OPEC is making,' Gheit added, referring to the value of a barrel of gasoline versus the value of a barrel of oil.
Gheit estimated that in London, where the retail price of gasoline is about $6 a gallon, about $150 worth of gasoline can be made and sold from every $50 barrel of oil.
'That is why Exxon Mobil and all the rest make so much money,' he said. "

Can we stop arguing about the benefits of feminsim now?

"The survey published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior looked at how they viewed their sex lives, their health, and their happiness.
It found that a greater proportion of people in Europe, North America, and Australia, where men and women have more or less equal relations, enjoyed sex physically and emotionally, Laumann said.
A smaller percentage of people reported satisfying sex lives in male-dominated cultures in poorer countries, the research showed."

No!

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "Hardware: Philips Patents Technology to Force Ad Viewing
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday April 18, @07:28PM
from the pure-evil dept.
An anonymous reader writes 'According to New Scientist, Philips has filed a patent for technology to force viewers to watch the ads in a program. Basically they plan to add extra flags to the Multimedia Home Platform that would stop controls from working until the ads are finished.' From the article: 'Philips' patent acknowledges that this may be 'greatly resented by viewers' who could initially think their equipment has gone wrong. So it suggests the new system could throw up a warning on screen when it is enforcing advert viewing. The patent also suggests that the system could offer viewers the chance to pay a fee interactively to go back to skipping adverts.' "

Katie Holmes gives birth to girl, Suri

"LOS ANGELES - The Tomkitten has arrived.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the high-profile pair dubbed TomKat by the media, had a baby girl Tuesday, said Cruise spokesman Arnold Robinson."

There once was a very small city

"DUBLIN (Reuters) - An exodus of rugby fans from Limerick in Ireland threatens its status as a city, and the European funding that goes with it, when a population census is taken Sunday. "

Bring it home Carl

"In terms of imminent, meaningful action by the Congress, however, the question of whether the president should be impeached (or, less severely, censured) remains premature. More important, it is essential that the Senate vote�hopefully before the November elections, and with overwhelming support from both parties�to undertake a full investigation of the conduct of the presidency of George W. Bush, along the lines of the Senate Watergate Committee's investigation during the presidency of Richard M. Nixon.
How much evidence is there to justify such action?
Certainly enough to form a consensus around a national imperative: to learn what this president and his vice president knew and when they knew it; to determine what the Bush administration has done under the guise of national security; and to find out who did what, whether legal or illegal, unconstitutional or merely under the wire, in ignorance or incompetence or with good reason, while the administration barricaded itself behind the most Draconian secrecy and disingenuous information policies of the modern presidential era."