"He died of AIDS, his girlfriend died of AIDS, and his girlfriend's husband died of AIDS" - Odehouri Koudou, president of the Ivory Coast's National Committee to Fight AIDS on Roger-Fulgence Kassy, a popular television host
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EconLog, What Summers Missed: Women, Personality, and the Sciences - "Both the popular Jungian and the more academic Five Factor personality tests confirm the stereotype that men are more logical and women are more emotional. (The first class of test says that men are more "Thinking" and women are more "Feeling"; the second says that women are more "Agreeable." Take your pick.) The difference is about a half standard deviation in size. That's big; when you go out to the tails of the Thinking-Feeling personality distribution, men greatly outnumber women."
Wonderful. Now I have evidence that women, even if not more irrational/illogical, are less logical than men.
Mutant Palm: SchizOlympics: Chinese and English Tibet Tweets - "Watching the build up to the Olympics has been, for me, like watching the world's biggest, slowest traffic accident. For a while now its been pretty obvious that alot of contentious issues about China were going to come to the front as we approach August 8th, but the problem is that there are two completely separate parallel worlds on these issues: the Chinese one, and the rest of us. Westerners have been exposed to rhetoric and information about Tibetan discontent, Darfur's international and Chinese dimensions, and of course old chestnuts like Tiananmen provide a larger context of long term, ongoing problems. Meanwhile, Chinese mainlanders by and large have no knowledge of these events or issues. While for the rest of the world the Olympics will be largely a referendum on China's ability to deal with what everyone else has talked about for years, for Chinese citizens it will be about China winning a beauty pageant of sorts. Two Worlds, Two Dreams: prepare for the SchizOlympics."
How can anyone write: "西藏这帮秃驴居然敢在两会期间制造不合谐因素。[Tibet's bald weasels dare not to conform to a harmonious society during the Two Congresses.]"?!
Why men should pair off with younger women - "Statistics show that monogamous men have the most children if they marry women younger than themselves. How much younger is the key question. Last year, a study of Swedish census information suggested a 4 to 6-year age gap is best, but new research has found that in some circumstances a surprisingly large gap – 15 years – is the optimum."
Stressed Singapore hunts for happiest person - "A search has been launched for the happiest person in Singapore, where a recent survey found that 90 per cent of its population feel that life is stressful... "Being based in Singapore and having trained thousands of people across the globe, one distinct trend I have noticed is that despite material wealth and economic success, Singaporeans consider themselves less happy than many other people,"... Despite its affluence, a poll by advertising firm Grey Group found that nine in 10 people living in the city-state said they were stressed... The winner will stay for free at a beach club in the Thai resort island of Phuket."
Not like he needs it.
The Question - "For many years, man has pondered many things. We have thought great thoughts about God, the meaning of life, and how jello works. But there has been one question that above all else, has refused to be answered: Can vegans swallow?"
Given that eggs are impermissible I find the consensus ridiculous.
Labor of Love: Is society ready for this pregnant husband? - "I am transgender, legally male, and legally married to Nancy... Sterilization is not a requirement for sex reassignment, so I decided to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy but kept my reproductive rights... In total, nine different doctors have been involved. This is why it took over one year to get access to a cryogenic sperm bank to purchase anonymous donor vials, and why Nancy and I eventually resorted to home insemination. When I finally got pregnant for the first time, I ended up having an ectopic pregnancy with triplets. It was a life-threatening event that required surgical intervention, resulting in the loss of all embryos and my right fallopian tube... How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am. In a technical sense I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant."
Purely on medical grounds, I'd turn them down (probably why there was an ectopic pregnancy in the first place). I hope no one gets slapped with a malpractise suit because of this.
Man hangs himself after being falsely accused of raping women and children - "A man who lost his job after being falsely accused of a horrific sex crime has been found hanged in a shed. Ian Adams, 51, was suspended and then sacked from his job at a local IKEA store after his employers received a letter saying he had raped a woman and her two children. The writer claimed to be a journalist on a local newspaper, but the name and address in the letter were false and the author has never been traced."
Ah, another victim of patriarchy. I'm sure more zealous rooting out and prosecution of rapists, and more serious sentences will help people like this.
Safe Blood for Transfusion - "A common belief in all Latin American countries is that donating blood makes a person either gain or lose weight. Others believe that giving blood is literally an act of giving away the essence of life. An individual in Quito, Ecuador, put it this way: "I am not going to give part of my life away?. they tell me that by giving blood I also give life.""
Ooh, backfiring marketing.
Donor deficit - "Does the popular view that giving blood has health benefits have any real foundation? “Of course, it’s absolutely true,” Dr Haciyev replied. “If a healthy person regularly gives blood, their organism is renewed which has a positive effect on well-being. This can be explained by the fact that the organism takes every instance of giving blood as a loss of blood and then begins to stimulate the bone marrow and all the cells, as a result of which blood is rejuvenated. The interval between giving blood must be at least two to three months.”"
Bring on the leeches! Even more hilarious is what the Pakistan Red Crescent claims: "Reduces Blood cholesterol, Lowers the risk of heart attack, Blood Pressure remains normal"?!
Food Insufficiency Is Associated with High-Risk Sexual Behavior among Women in Botswana and Swaziland. - "Food insufficiency is an important risk factor for increased sexual risk-taking among women in Botswana and Swaziland. Targeted food assistance and income generation programs in conjunction with efforts to enhance women's legal and social rights may play an important role in decreasing HIV transmission risk for women."
Uhh.