"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." - Bertrand Russell

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Facebook | I will tattoo the name of the highest donor on my ass!! - "I am Vanessa and I am hitching to Morocco over the Easter break, all in the grand name of Charity. Link Community Development to be specific. (www.lcd.org.uk) I will need to raise at least 300pounds for the charity. LCD works to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the most disadvantaged schools in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa and Uganda. Over 900 schools and half a million school kids will benefit from your donations! So please donate! I will hitch with a big pink bow on my head if you wish. I will hitch dressed like a pig if you wish. I will tattoo your name on my ass if you wish!! (only if you wish!!) Of course, you will have to be the highest donor in order to have your name tattooed on my ass. :)"
Dressing like a pig might not be wise in Morocco... Donation link

Channel 4 sparks outrage with show about school that teaches virgins how to have sex - "James from Kent, who is 26 and had never slept with a woman, visited a sex school in Amsterdam, where he spent three months learning "the art of intimacy". Viewers were subjected to the uncomfortable sight of James losing his virginity to a sex therapist in the show called The Virgin School. Over the course of the programme, a nervous James completed stages with different sex coaches, starting with confidence lessons and concluding with full sex."

Conspiracy Theorist Has Elaborate Explanation For Why He's Single | The Onion - "In light of a broken engagement two years ago, area school-bus driver and longtime conspiracy enthusiast Robert Ericsson outlined an intricate theory to reporters Tuesday to explain his failure to begin a new relationship. "I am alone today due to the covert machinations of dozens, possibly hundreds of women in several countries," Ericsson, 38, said. "What we are looking at is a plot of epic proportions, which may seem counterintuitive, but that is, in fact, precisely what they would like you to believe.""

Why do ugly boys get gorgeous girls? The secrets of physical attraction are revealed - "Pick up any fashion magazine today and you could be forgiven for thinking that the ideal female body shape is that of an adolescent boy. But although the most fashionable silhouette in recent years has been an extremely slender one, its not one we necessarily find attractive. Studies have shown that people favour those who are of normal weight, and that people caught up in an accident are far more likely to be rescued if they are of a normal weight than their underweight - or overweight - peers."

Scarves under Taekwando Helmets Deferred to World Council - "The Quebec Federation of Tae Kwon Do’s board met yesterday at their Olympic Stadium headquarters to review the issue of female contestants wearing headscarves under their helmets. The eight-member board heard from the referees who were at the April 15 tournament where girls were barred from participating due to their headscarves as well as from the girls’ trainers from the Ultimate Tae Kwon Do club. At the meeting, coaches and an athlete from the club demonstrated a tight-fitting sport-hijab to the board. After consultation, federation members said they would present the suggestion of a sport-hijab to the World Tae Kwon Do Federation Council, the sport’s international governing body based in South Korea. “We will send their request to the WTF in Korea to see what they can do,” president Jean Faucher said."
Islamophobia!

For all higher ed's cost, what are we getting? - "Why is spending so much on health care considered a national scandal by many commentators but the outsized spending on higher education is not?... The self-interested consensus among academics is that this country needs to spend far more on higher education. When health-care costs rise at double the inflation rate, intellectuals understandably knit their brows. When higher-ed costs outstrip inflation (as they do year after year), the only people who complain tend to be powerless parents and students. "It takes more resources today to educate a postsecondary student than a generation ago," writes Richard Vedder, a professor of economics at Ohio University and a rare insider who is critical of rising costs. "That is not true for most goods and services . . . . Relative to other sectors of the economy, universities are becoming less efficient, less productive, and, consequently, more costly." The problem is not only that "with the possible exception of prostitution, teaching is the only profession that has had absolutely no productivity advance in the 2,400 years since Socrates taught the youth of Athens.""
nw.t: i beg to disagree. contraceptive technology has greatly enhanced prostitution's productivity. effective contraception and semi-effective STD protective are great strides in the development of the world's oldest profession

COPYRIGHT MAY NOT BENEFIT CREATORS - "Copyright laws do not encourage creativity, a new book published by an Australian university has argued. Benedict Atkinson, a lawyer whose book is published by Sydney University, said lawyers and policymakers often stated that copyright laws provided creators with the incentive to produce. However, his study of archived records found that copyright laws were set up to satisfy vested interests, such as the recording industry, rather than give incentives to artists to balance their needs with those of consumers. He said government and educational institutions paid about £42 million a year in copyright fees and there was scope to allow more free usage."

Stretching before exercise is `useless' - "A controlled study of 2,600 soldiers conducted over 12 months found no difference in the injury rates between those who stretched their leg muscles before exercise, and those who did not. Now the Australian Army has been told to scrap the whole procedure of stretching."
I know I've posted something on this before but I can't find it.

Three Little Pigs 'too offensive' - "A story based on the Three Little Pigs has been turned down from a government agency's annual awards because the subject matter could offend Muslims. The digital book, re-telling the classic fairy tale, was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues"... The judges also attacked Three Little Cowboy Builders for offending builders... They also warned that the story might "alienate parts of the workforce (building trade)". The judges criticised the stereotyping in the story of the unfortunate pigs: "Is it true that all builders are cowboys, builders get their work blown down, and builders are like pigs?" Ms Curtis said that rather than preventing the spread of racism, such an attitude was likely to inflame ill-feeling. As another example, she says would that mean that secondary schools could not teach Animal Farm because it features pigs?"
Comment on The Times: "Oh great here we go again, these kind of decisions are usually made by a bunch of left wing white middle-class do-gooders deciding what may be offensive to Muslims. These are the people (without actually asking Muslims themselves) who cancel Xmas, or hot cross buns at Easter because it may offend Muslims. If they lived in the real world they would know how popular the character Peppa the Pig is among Muslim kids and how Muslim families love the Xmas decorations and lights in Oxford St and at their local town centre." - N. Khan, London, U.K.

Masculinity in Alien vs Predator: Requiem - "It was going to be “Masculinity and Femininity”, but the women don’t do anything... What we’re actually dealing with here is a weird hybrid of a 70s disaster movie and a 90s action movie, in which a large group of characters from different backgrounds band together in order to survive a catastrophe, only they do this by shooting at it and screaming ‘Motherfuckerrrrrrrrrrrr!’ a lot... The Nice Guy responds by… proving he’s the best at inflicting violence on his enemies while keeping his woman safe and screaming ‘Motherfuckerrrrrrrrrrr!’ at passing xenomorphs. This is supposed to be him maturing into a leader, but all he’s done is become the kind of aggressive, testosterone-fuelled alpha male he was fighting against an hour earlier. His targets may be Aliens who are just as capable of killing him if he doesn’t fight back, but the point remains that he spends the final act on a massive wank fantasy power trip, proving he’s the world’s biggest badass while protecting a defenseless woman who’ll fuck him when it’s all over."

Dog leash goths 'hounded off bus' - "A goth who leads his girlfriend around with a dog lead and collar was stopped from getting on a bus amid fears for passenger safety, a bus firm confirmed. Dani Graves, 25, and his fiancee Tasha Maltby, 19, of Dewsbury, West Yorks, claim they have been discriminated against by bus firm Arriva Yorkshire."
I don't know which is more ridiculous - not letting them on the bus, or their claiming they've been discriminated against.