"Cockroaches and socialites are the only things that can stay up all night and eat anything." - Herb Caen

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Twenty-six University of Texas cheerleaders rescued from lift - "A group of 26 teenage cheerleaders from the University of Texas were trapped in a lift after trying to find out how many of them could squeeze inside... The girls, aged between 14 and17, managed to get into the lift on Tuesday night at the appropriately named Jester Residence Hall on the university campus... After taking deep breaths they managed to close the lift door and descend to the first floor"

Photo of the Day: Closed Sign | Serious Eats : Required Eating - "We will be closed the week of July 4th in remembrance of the great Greek victory in the Battle of Tabouli, where General Baba Ghannouj triumphed over the Cretan forces of Falafel Baklava. Despite being badly injured during the battle, Baba Ghannouji's wife Gyro still managed to give birth to 13 more children despite losing both her legs. Th youngest of her son's Mythos, known to his peers as Cucumber Dip, went on to set an Olympic record in the Skull Toss. A record which reminds unbroken today. Re-Open July 9."

Sexual Harassment Arbitrage - "Attractive people have a unique arbitrage opportunity. All thing being equal, they are more likely to be hired for a given position than a less attractive peer. But all things remaining equal, they are also more likely to be sexually harassed by their superiors than a less attractive comparable employee. This gives attractive people the opportunity to “double dip,” so to speak. They can gain employment and the ensuing compensation by virtue of their looks; then they can compound their returns by getting sexually harassed and filing multi-million dollar suits"

Sexual Harassment Arbitrage: A Bad Play in Russia - "Like most things requiring logic or fairness or human rights, it does not apply in Russia. There have been only 2 successful sexual harassment cases in Russia since it was the Soviet Union, and a recent suit was dismissed thusly by the ruling judge: “If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children,” the judge ruled... According to a recent survey, 100 per cent of female professionals said they had been subjected to sexual harassment by their bosses, 32 per cent said they had had intercourse with them at least once and another seven per cent claimed to have been raped."

Dachau concentration camp memorial site - It calls my travelogue "well-illustrated & commented". Yay.

‘She was ripe for the plucking’ | Voice of Malaysian - "Both women conducted interviews with 90 convicted rapists currently detained in four prisons in Seremban, Johor Baru, Kajang and Sungai Buloh aged 20 to 72... They see rape as a sexual act rather than as a violent crime... “Some believe rape is where force was used. So having sex with the victim isn’t rape to them. They are ignorant that rape is also caused by persuasion, coercion, manipulation and relationship power between an older person and a young victim.”... I raised my voice at a 60-year-old man who took his little granddaughter into a palm oil estate and raped her. Another said, Jika makanan sudah dihidang, kalau saya tak makan, lalat akan turun. Biar saya yang makan (If food is served and I do not eat it, the flies will come. Let me be the one who consumes it). “Similarly, a 55-year-old who raped his teenage neighbour as his wife had reached menopause, stated, Nak tidur, bantal pun sampai, kita pun tidurlah (Want to sleep and the pillow is here. May as well sleep on it)... “Most said they didn’t use force to have sex,” she says. “A music composer convicted of statutory rape against his teenaged stepdaughter passionately declared, ‘I am a lover, not a killer!’. “He said his stepdaughter is a ‘hot blooded teenager who needed to be taught the right way to enjoy sex’.” Many of the men committed incest while their wives were in menopause, pregnant, or unavailable for sex. When the men couldn’t control their urges, they sought the easiest women they could find"
Interestingly enough, "persuasion, coercion, manipulation and relationship power between an older person and a young victim" also describes many instances we would not consider rape.
Incidentally, the title of this publication has a grammar mistake. Hah.

Nigerian advises against 86 wives - "Nigerian Mohammed Bello Abubakar, 84, has advised other men not to follow his example and marry 86 women... "A man with 10 wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them," he told the BBC... "I don't go looking for them, they come to me. I will consider the fact that God has asked me to do it and I will just marry them."... "As soon as I met him the headache was gone," says Sharifat Bello Abubakar, who was 25 at the time and Mr Bello Abubakar 74. "God told me it was time to be his wife. Praise be to God I am his wife now."... "I am now the happiest woman on earth. When you marry a man with 86 wives you know he knows how to look after them," she said... Mr Bello Abubakar and his wives do not work and he has no visible means of supporting such a large family. He refuses to say how he makes enough money to pay for the huge cost of feeding and clothing so many people... "It's all from God," he says... He refuses to allow any of his family or other devotees to take medicine and says he does not believe that malaria exists... Two of her children have died. "They were sick and we told God and God said their time has come.""

Feng shui masters turn 'wheel of fortune' in Singapore's favour - "Officials in Singapore have changed the direction of the world's biggest observation wheel because feng shui masters said it was taking good fortune away from the city, a report said on Saturday... Bollen likened the change to the "completion of a perfect movie" to give a better story, but added that it cost the company a "six figure sum," the report said."

U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: Deceased Internal Pictures. NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE – LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE - "Passenger GOMEZ was pronounced deceased at 0604hrs at the Metropolitan Hospital. Miami-Dade Homicide arrived at 0855 hrs and the medical examiner arrived at 1045 hrs. The body was transported to the medical examiner's office at 1106 hrs and arrived at the morgue at 1126 hrs. Chief Duchesne was notified at 1156 hrs and the command center at 1158 hrs. The medical examiner extracted 48 intact pellets from GOMEZ's body. An additional pellet was observed to be in poor, deteriorated condition and was believed to have resulted in a leakage in GOMEZ's body."
Even by my standards, this is sick.