More than one in four New Yorkers has herpes

I was amazed to read that more than one in four people in New York City have herpes:

NEW YORK (AP) - A city Health Department study finds that more than a fourth of adult New Yorkers are infected with the virus that causes genital herpes. The study, released Monday, says about 26 percent of New York City adults have genital herpes, compared to about 19 percent nationwide.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D916M4QO0&show_article=1

NYC Health Dept: http://www.nyc.gov/health

Should Airlines Charge More To Fly Fat People?

Airlines are getting hit hard by huge increases in fuel costs.  They have tried to make some additional money by charging more for heavier suitcases, and limited checked bags to one bag.  Now a surcharge for fat people is being discussed:

With soaring fuel prices, airlines have been trying to cut costs where ever they can. On Thursday, Continental Airlines announced around 3,000 layoffs.

But as CBS 2’s Dana Kozlov reports, there’s another way airlines can make up the money by easing their load on gas. 

… it’s an idea floating around in cyberspace and aviation expert Aaron Gellman said he understands one airline pitched the plan for a Far East route. So instead of just baggage on the scale, passengers would stand on it, too, and would be charged based on their weight.

http://cbs2chicago.com/consumer/airline.weight.fee.2.741830.html

Interesting idea.  I read that Southwest charged a fat guy for two seats because he took up two seats.  I don’t see any major objection to airlines charging more to really heavy people.  It takes more fuel to fly them places.  I’m not sure it is fair to charge the same price to fly a 50 pound six year old as a 300 pound passenger. 

What are your thoughts?

Male hosts with Rod Stewart hair, tight suits and jewelry

I read about a fairly new phenomenon in Tokyo called male host clubs, where women buy expensive drinks so they can talk to young men.  It seems sort of comparable to guys going to strip clubs and buying the dancers expensive drinks for the privilege of chatting with the dancers at their tables:

… male host clubs, the newly booming pleasure dens where women buy expensive drinks for the privilege of chatting with young men. The men are unmistakable in Kabukicho with their Rod Stewart hair, tight suits and jewelry. “The surprising thing is that the top earners are not the guys you’d expect,” Arias says. “They’re not the best-looking guys. They’re the best talkers.”

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-tokyo06-2008jun01,0,5903053.story?page=2

It’s interesting that the guys who make the most money at these clubs are not the best looking guys but the guys who can talk well (assuming this guy’s observation is correct).  I kind of doubt the same earning dynamic works for (female) strippers.  But then again, guys are highly visual. 

Complaint about the women’s restroom

Why is this guy famous?Because she is not a guy but a woman and she was asked to leave the women’s restroom in a restaurant.  Another female patron of the restaurant complained to the restaurant management that a guy was in the women’s restroom, and the bouncer, understandably believing to be a woman, asked her to leave.

Hat tip: http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/i-would-have-made-the-same-mistake/

News story: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/30/2007-06-30_lesbian_riled_by_boot_from_ladies_room-2.html

 It was an unfortunate, but understandable, mistake.  It should all have been settled with an apology and a free meal on the restaurant.  But several high profile lawyers volunteered to represent the woman at no cost to her.  They filed suit.  The restaurant had to pay lawyers to defend it and eventually settled the case by paying the woman $35,000 and her attorneys $15,000.

http://overlawyered.com/tag/sued-if-you-do/

 

The old red pepper up the anus trick

I was scanning an interesting piece by an anthropologist on cockfighting in Bali and the following jumped out at me.  Wow, that’s gotta hurt:

Red pepper is stuffed down their beaks and up

their anuses to give them spirit.

http://www.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/MatCult/content/Geertz.pdf

 

 

Really, Truly, Totally Single

I like to claim that I’ve been single for like five years now, but that is not entirely true. In fact, since my last exclusive relationship ended 60 months ago, I’ve basically almost always had someone I could either call or hang out with, and most likely have sex with as well.

That is certainly not the case right now. The last of my female friends to which I had kept up some form of communication had tired of waiting for me and got herself a boyfriend. It sucks and it doesn’t. Part of me is pissed and jealous and, I’ll admit it, hurt. But another more logical part of me remembers that, hey, I wasn’t all that into her in the first place.

I’m beginning to wonder if I could ever be into anyone anymore. Or if I ever could in the first place. I don’t remember being head-over-heels since high school, and I imagine that really doesn’t count. So does this mean I lack the capability of falling in love? Will I never ever feel “gaga” over a chick?

I tell you, I was feeling a little gaga a few weeks ago when I saw a stunning girl in the bookstore. Dark blonde, nice tan, and a tight body…all a man could want. Problem: she couldn’t have been more than 19 or 20 years old. I hate that. I hate it because I could never have it. Really. I mean, I’m a good-looking guy with a lot to offer, but I am past 35 now. Even if all the planets aligned and she was attracted to older guys and we somehow decided to give a relationship a try…then what? What would we talk about? Britney Spears?

You are probably reading this and saying, “People don’t talk about Britney anymore, you dumb ass. They talk about blah blah blah…” And that is just my point. I have no idea what young people talk about anymore. Talking to a 21-year old girl for any length of time would cause me to put my head in an oven.

So, that leaves me looking for a girl in her late twenties or early thirties that is still attractive, still in good physical shape, still is fun-loving, is not jaded by a bad marriage or bad relationship, of reasonable intelligence, and has good morals and a great sense of humor.

Wish me luck on that.

I’m shocked that this painting sold for $33.6 Million

I am astounded that this painting sold for 33.6 Million dollars.

Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, Christie’s Images Ltd., 2008

Hat tip: Annika at http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/what-does-336-million-mean-in-the-art-world/#more-2644

Why are there so many Vietnamese manicurists in the US?

Sounds Like a Case of Vagina Envy

I have a male coworker who has an issue. Don’t get me wrong. Great guy. Loves to talk about sports. Actually gives a shit about his wife and three sons.

But he has a problem…

…he suffers from vagina envy.

It seems like every day, he will stop by my office (when the door isn’t shut and barricaded) and keep me updated on the work schedules of our female coworkers.

“Geez, Jane didn’t come in until 930am this morning.”

“I see Patty left the office at 300pm.”

“Have you noticed that Liz is never here on Fridays?”

What do these three ladies have in common?

They all have children.

Now I know what you’re thinking…especially if you are a woman.

What does it matter if they have kids?

It means plenty. Especially if you’re a guy. And if you’re shackled to a Peg Bundy clone who sits at home all day eating chocolate covered double Whoppers (the sandwich, not that round candy thing that comes in a milk carton).

It…means…plenty.

See…we’re the providers. We venture forth into the jungle every day in order to put a roof over the heads of Peg, Kelly and little Bud. And these parasites would starve if we didn’t bow down to the man each and every day.

But our female coworkers?…

…they have vaginas.

Sure. They want to have careers in order to justify and bring meaning to their lives. But this only classifies them as a protected species in the eyes of the Human Resources Department where we work.

For example…

I’m pregnant. (”Why don’t you take the next twelve weeks off?”)

I have cramps. (”Take it easy for the rest of day. Your male coworkers won’t mind taking on extra work.”)

I feel like I’m neglecting my childrem (”Why don’t you work from home on Fridays.”)

Try that act when your old fraternity brothers are in town for the week.

And before some woman gets completely bent out of shape (…and pear is a shape), don’t waste my time stating how difficult it is to give birth to a child.

There’s only one thing more painful than childbirth…

…listening to some woman complaining about childbirth.

If childbirth was really that painful, you wouldn’t have these welfare mommies spitting out babies like they were a automotive plant.

Actually, if given the choice between getting kicked in the balls and hearing some broad discussing her ninety-three hours of labor, I’m taking a wide stance and hoping for a glancing blow.

So what’s the solution to vagina envy?

Either get over it or get a sex change.

I’m serious. Do you know the process for getting favored status in the workplace? Allow me to enlightened you…

The surgical procedure on the male involves removal of the penis and the scrotum with the testes. A pseudo-vagina can be constructed from the skin of the penis. This is everted and sewn into a tube that is inserted into the man’s body and sewn to the skin. Steps must be taken during the first few weeks following surgery to keep this makeshift vagina open.

Then things go downhill from there…

As for me…

…Liz can keep her fat ass at home on Fridays.

 

 

More Outrageous Taking of Children by State Agencies

Several days ago I blogged on the case of the Michigan professor whose child was taken away by the state.   I’ve since learned that this was not an isolated incident, but seems to be common across the United States and in England.  Hans Bader, a lawyer who blogs at openmarkets.org, gives an excellent rundown of the shocking situation.  I’ll excerpt parts of his piece, but if you are interested I encourage you to go to his blog and read the entire thing.  http://www.openmarket.org/2008/04/18/legalized-child-stealing-in-arlington-county-virginia/

The Washington Examiner has a must-read editorial called “Baby Snatching by Arlington County.”

It shows that if County social workers seize your baby, based on false allegations of neglect, and put your baby in foster care long enough, you might never get your child back, even if you prove yourself innocent, because the courts will say it’s in “the best interests of the child” that your baby stay with the foster parents he’s gotten used to living with.  (Taking that logic to its ultimate conclusion, a kidnapper who kidnapped a newborn from a hospital and then escaped prosecution on a technicality could keep the child, because the child would have bonded with the kidnapper by the time the kidnapper was apprehended).

That’s the gist of a recent Arlington, Virginia circuit court decision described in today’s Washington Examiner. County social workers took a baby away from her parents based largely on false, anonymous allegations that she was being starved, even though she was at her proper weight at the time they seized her from her parents.  And although those allegations were later ruled false by a CPS hearing officer, the judge permanently removed her from her parents anyway, claiming she had bonded with her new foster parents and thus might be traumatized if she were returned.  (He also cited evidence that her natural parents were not model parents, but that is not the test for terminating parental rights under the Supreme Court’s decision in Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 (1982).  If it were, millions of healthy children could be removed from their families by social workers).  Parents Nancy Hey and Christopher Slitor spent a staggering $350,000 in legal bills in their losing fight for their child.

Although the circuit court decision is apparently justified by the so-called “best interest of the child,” its long run effect is to harm children by discouraging even fit, non-abusive parents from seeking advice or information from doctors or social workers when their children have behaviors or injuries that might sometimes be associated with parental abuse or neglect.  Good parents will now worry about talking to doctors (who are required by state laws to report any possibility of abuse or neglect to social workers) or social workers lest it lead to unwarranted (and unreversible) seizures of a child by social workers. 

Apparently, the state agencies committing these acts get money for each child they seize.  There is therefore an incentive for them to take more children, even in cases where it wouldn’t seem warranted, at least to a reasonable person.