May 2012
232 posts
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How Guys Fake Orgasms Remains A Mystery →
According to a new study published in the Journal of Sex Research, 28 percent of male college students admitted to faking orgasms during intercourse, oral sex and manual stimulation. The reasons guys pretended to orgasm were similar to those cited by the females — they wanted sex to be over, they wanted to please their partner, they felt pressure to perform. Blah, blah, blah. Men are sensitive...
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The Human Cost of ‘Zero Tolerance’ →
There is no proof that the zero-tolerance policing adopted by New York and other cities in the 1990’s had anything to do with the decline in violent crime across the nation. Crime also dropped in jurisdictions that did not use the approach.
Millions of people have been arrested under the policy for minor violations, like possession of small amounts of marijuana. And one thing is beyond...
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PR Dummies: What Do Women Want? →
Smart business people underpromise and overdeliver. Sometimes—through no fault of their own—PR people are given boring crapola to work with. They’re trapped. In these cases, it may not be possible to overdeliver. Just plain delivering is good enough. Then there are those who are given boring crapola to work with, and proceed to overpromise and underdeliver. These are the PR Dummies.
What...
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Teens Run Over While Sunbathing in the Road →
Two teenage girls who were sunbathing in the middle of a rural road in Beaver County, Pennsylvania,were hit by a car after falling asleep.
Samantha Schermanhorn and Kaylie George, both 13 years old, were conscious following the accident, and reportedly told Samantha’s cousins Nicole and Nicholas Beck they had been suntanning in the street when they fell asleep.
The car’s driver,...
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How Samuel L. Jackson Became His Own Genre →
Samuel L. Jackson, who is 63, has appeared in more than 100 films since 1972, and moviegoers would be hard-pressed to find in any of his roles someone who was innocently childlike. For the first part of his film career, his characters tended to appear in scripts as Gang Member, Drug Addict, Hold-Up Man. Even after his work in “Jungle Fever” earned Jackson a best supporting actor award at...
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the Swan and the Snake: 4 →
theswanandthesnake:
On the ground floor of my apartment building lives an old dark-skinned Caribbean woman and her son. Miss Peters, fifty-something and quick to anger, had moved here from Trinidad because her boy Jason wanted to become a writer, and had these peculiar and bitter ideas about ‘West Indian literature’…
Ah, the nosy Trini neighbor … I know her well…
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Why YKK? - The mysterious Japanese company behind... →
YKK, the Japanese zipper behemoth, makes roughly half of all the zippers on earth. More than 7 billion zippers each year. Those three capital letters are ubiquitous—no doubt you’ve seen them while zipping up your windbreaker or unzipping someone else’s jeans. How did YKK come to dominate this quirky corner of industry?
I don’t think I ever noticed the YKK on my zipper until OutKast...
April 2012
327 posts
As Parents, Are Fathers the Second Sex? →
…even though I’m his father, I often feel invisible to the health and child care professionals who help care for our son. No matter how involved I am in his life, my wife is essentially treated as the priority parent.
Doctors, nurses and baby sitters don’t always pay attention to me, and sometimes dodge my questions entirely. Some of them have cut me off midsentence, and they often speak...
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‘Project X’ Parties Busted in California Mansions →
Ever since the March 2 release of the movie “Project X,” authorities across the country have dealt with a rash of illegal gatherings thrown by teens striving to mimic the high school party movie. In the film, three teens take over a vacant home and throw a party for their classmates that soon spirals out of control.
A spring break rave in a Houston mansion last month that was meant to emulate...
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Brooklyn’s Real-Life Norman Bates Accused of... →
…detectives say that Parkin sounded undeniably Batesian when he insisted to them that it would be wrong to accuse him of impersonating his mother because he had actually become her at the moment of her demise in 2003.
“I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother,” Parkin told detectives.
Ooookie-dokie then.
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Lovelace: Pay writers a stipend →
ASPIRING writers should be provided with a stipend from the State in order to properly pursue their craft, winner of the 2012 One Caribbean Media (OCM) Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, Earl Lovelace has said.
Lovelace made the statement yesterday during an interview with the Express following a reading of an excerpt from his award winning novel Is Just a Movie.
“Society itself as a...
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Women overestimate effectiveness of Pill, condoms →
Researchers found that of more than 4,100 women who were seeking birth control, about 45 percent overestimated the effectiveness of the Pill and condoms.
They also had too much faith in hormonal birth control patches, vaginal rings and injections, according to findings reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
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In the U.S., the Pill and condoms are the most...
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Dentist pulled out ALL boyfriend's teeth after he... →
Well. This is just super disturbing:
A dentist pulled out all her ex-boyfriend’s teeth after he dumped her for another woman – who has now left him because he is toothless.
Anna Mackowiak, 34, is facing jail after taking her revenge on 45-year-old Marek Olszewski when he turned up at her surgery with toothache just days after breaking up with her.
She gave him a heavy dose of anaesthetic and...
Housing scam brings up to life sentence under... →
An Orange County man who swindled elderly people out of their homes after promising to help them avoid foreclosure was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison under California’s tough three-strikes law.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors across the state could not recall any other case in which a white-collar offender received such a lengthy sentence under a statute typically applied in...
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Patrick Dempsey Pulls Teen From Flipped Car →
Another sexy Hollywood star to the rescue:
Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey played the hero himself by pulling an injured teen from a flipped car, reports TMZ. The young driver apparently lost control of his Mustang and flipped it multiple times before landing in the actor’s front yard in Malibu. McDreamy rushed out with a crowbar and pried the teen loose, and the youth ended up...
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Romney’s Advice To Students: Borrow Money From... →
In more Romney-just-doesn’t-get-it news:
At a “lecture” for students at Otterbein University in Ohio today, Mitt Romney told students that, his friend, Jimmy John, started a business by borrowing $20,000 from his parents at a low interest rate. Romney suggested anyone in the audience could do the same
Now, why didn’t I think of that?
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Wattie is no nurse →
Oh snap. According to the T&T Mirror, the PM’s sister isn’t a registered nurse. The plot thickens:
A check with the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) also did not turn up any Vidwatie Newton being registered to practise nursing in the UK. To be registered to practise nursing in TnT, if trained abroad, the law requires that the person be registered with the UK’s council....
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Weekend Round-Up (Local)
Another weekend, another collection of absurd local news. Let’s dive in, shall we?
[[MORE]]
On Saturday, the Express reported that not only did the Prime Minister’s sister/aide/nurse/event coordinator travel first-class to India (at a cost of $233,600 to the taxpayer) but that Cabinet approved this. To ease the minds of those concerned that we’re all making mountains out of...
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Some Girls Can Kick Your Ass →
I’m just telling you a straight up down-to-the-dirt cold hard fact that you can take home and treasure and turn over in your mind while you are being lazy there, on the couch: some girls are far more badass than you.
Not on a sliding scale. Not in a relative manner. In an absolute head to head competition, there are girls out there who will destroy you, Chad. What do you weigh? 165? A...
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Secret Service Memo: No Booze 10 Hours Before Work →
The Secret Service is working hard to close up all the sexy, sexy loopholes:
Memo to Secret Service agents: no more drinking alcohol within 10 hours of working; no bringing foreigners to your hotel rooms; and, no going to “non-reputable” establishments.
…
starting next week, there will be ethics courses for all—100 employees for now, but eventually getting to all 3,500...
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FDA OKs Viagra Rival: It Works Twice as Fast →
The FDA today approved the drug Stendra, which promises to provide an erection in 15 minutes, roughly twice as fast as the minimum wait time for Viagra, reports Bloomberg.
Flaccid men of the world, rejoice!
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Hug of war! Charter school serving Park Slope bans... →
Brooklyn Prospect Charter School principal Dan Rubinstein said he created the no hugging rule to keep students from lingering in hallways between classes, which can cause disruptions and tardiness.
“It’s a time, place, and manner thing,” he said. “We don’t want students spending too much social time between class.”
…
The school established the rule roughly three months ago after a...
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Boy Scouts Boot Lesbian Den Leader →
When Jennifer Tyrrell became a leader in Bridgeport, Ohio, she was aware of the Boy Scouts’ rules against openly-homosexual members, but a Cubmaster told her it wouldn’t be an issue at the local level.
“He said they would stand hand in hand with us and stand behind us all the way,” she tells MSNBC.
While “that’s been true,” she says, the national...
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Thinking can undermine religious faith, study... →
Scientists have revealed one of the reasons why some folks are less religious than others: They think more analytically, rather than going with their gut. And thinking analytically can cause religious belief to wane — for skeptics and true believers alike.
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Kidney Gets Donated—Twice →
In what is believed to be the first documented case of its kind in the US, a transplanted kidney that was failing was removed from a patient while he was still alive and given to somebody else.
Very cool.
In NM, Unpaid Tickets Could Get Your Utilities... →
Thinking about skipping out on your red-light-camera ticket? You might want to reconsider, at least if you’re a resident of Las Cruces, New Mexico, where delinquent violators could have their utilities shut off. Officials were apparently desperate to come up with a way to collect unpaid fines, which have amounted to $2 million in just over three years.
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First, a letter is sent...
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RNC: Obama Fraudulently Using Air Force One →
Republicans think Barack Obama’s trips on Air Force One amount to nothing less than fraud. RNC Chair Reince Priebus has sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking it to investigate Obama’s recent travel, alleging that the events he’s traveling to have been “widely reported to be equivalent to campaign rallies,” and hence shouldn’t be paid...
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TLC to Tour ... With Left Eye →
The floodgates have opened:
Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes will appear with her TLC bandmates in an upcoming reunion tour, despite the fact that she died 10 years ago, the group’s rep tells TMZ. Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas are currently planning the tour, which will take place this year in the US. Lopes’ vocals will be incorporated...
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TSA Keeps You Safe by Patting Down Girls, Ages 4... →
The TSA cannot be serious. When they’re not frisking seven-year-olds with cerebral palsy, they’re chasing terrified four-year-olds around the airport … all in the name of safety. And then they’re taking bribes and letting drug traffickers through.
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Brazil Prostitute: US Embassy Van Ran Me Over →
Well, this just keeps getting worse and worse and worse…
Leon Panetta on Tuesday revealed a 2011 incident in which three Marines on a US Embassy security team reportedly pushed a prostitute out of a van in Brasilia. And today Reuters has the juicy details, per Romilda Aparecida Ferreira, 31, and her lawyer. They intend to sue the embassy over the Dec. 29 event, in which Ferreira says the...
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‘Moonwalk’ demand results in charge →
And in strange news:
A 30-year-old Clark Fork man is facing a felony assault charge for allegedly ordering another man to “moonwalk” at gunpoint.
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Sheriff’s deputies were summoned to Cross’ home on Mountain View Road on Monday, after receiving a report that he had been using drugs and pointed a rifle at another man while demanding that he execute the dance move.
Charles Taylor Guilty of War Crimes →
In a historic ruling, an international court convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor on Thursday of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity for supporting notoriously brutal rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone in return for blood diamonds. Taylor is the first head of state convicted by an international court since the post-World War II Nuremberg military tribunal....
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Menacing Pit Bull Led Zimmerman to Get Gun →
George Zimmerman’s got Afro-Peruvian roots and was raised in a religious “racially integrated household”.
Zimmerman may have been suspicious of Martin because the thieves he was watching out for were believed to be black teens, notes Reuters. “Let’s talk about the elephant in the room,” said a female neighbor. “I’m black, OK? There were black...
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Suspect says he beat teen because he was angry... →
An 18-year-old man charged with a hate crime inOak Parktold investigators he beat his victim in anger over the shooting death ofTrayvon Martin, according to the Cook County state’s attorney office.
Alton L. Hayes, of the 1200 block of Woodbine Avenue in Oak Park, was charged with attempted robbery and aggravated battery along with a hate crime, state’s attorney spokesman Andy Conklin said...
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Donald Trump's appearance sparks near-riot outside... →
Here came the first of Trump’s characteristic boasts: he didn’t need to produce any proof that tourism to Scotland was being damaged by subsidy-draining, inefficient and Chinese-built windfarms. He was evidence, personified. “I’m an expert in tourism. I have won many, many awards … if you dot your landscape with these horrible, horrible structures, you will do tremendous...
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Student sent home from prom, Gibson Co. rejects... →
Gibson County High School senior Texanna Edwards was — like many of her classmates — looking forward to her prom this past Saturday.
But Edwards didn’t get to attend because of her attire — a knee-length red dress decorated with bright blue stripes and white stars inside the stripes. The school’s colors are red, white and blue, but the dress resembles the controversial Confederate battle...
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'Baby Bride' Wins Annulment →
An Indian “baby bride” wedded at the age of 12 months to a 3-year-old groom has won an annulment of the marriage 17 years later. “I was unhappy about the marriage,” said Laxmi Sargara. “I told my parents, who did not agree with me, then I sought help.” Child marriages are illegal in India, but are still common in many areas. Child brides usually stay with their own...
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Woman Arrested After Picking Up Dropped Cash →
Police nabbed a Philadelphia woman who picked up $2,300 in cash off the floor in a convenience store and kept it. The problem, police say, is that she knew it fell out of the pocket of the customer in front of her and thus had a legal responsibility to return it. Instead, the 28-year-old quickly left the store with the loot, as surveillance video shows, and now faces misdemeanor charges of...
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Marissa Alexander: A Reverse Trayvon Martin? →
Given Stand Your Ground’s record of serving as an afterthought to prejudice, it’s not too surprising to learn that the statute appears to apply unequally across races and genders. In August 2010, 31-year-old Marissa Alexander fired a single gunshot into the ceiling of her Jacksonville, Fla. home during a fight with her husband, 36-year-old Rico Gray. Sheclaims she acted in self-defense. Gray,...
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Doctor says he's found the actual G spot →
Like so many explorers before him, Dr. Adam Ostrzenski has long dreamed of finding a piece of elusive territory with a reputation for near-mythic powers. Ostrzenski’s quarry is the G spot, the long-conjectured trigger for enhancing female orgasm. And in an article published Wednesday by the Journal of Sexual Medicine, the semi-retired Florida gynecologist declared that he had found it.
...
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Step Away From the Keyboard: How Live-Tweeting TV... →
I think manning Twitter while a TV episode airs and blasting out quotes, instant reactions, and plot points is an awful thing to do, as is rushing to gush about story details the instant the end credits roll. It has the potential to ruin some nice surprises for others, but far more importantly, it negatively affects the way you experience the story.
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To hover over your computer’s...
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Debt Collectors Go After Patients ... in the ER →
One of the country’s biggest medical debt collectors has reached a new low: sending employees into hospital emergency rooms to “encourage” patients to pay past medical debts before receiving treatment. The Minnesota attorney general is investigating Accretive Health’s practices; its debt collectors are allegedly instructed to all but pose as hospital employees, use...
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Fired Secret Service Agents: This Happens All the... →
The Secret Service members fired as a result of their shenanigans with prostitutes during the most recent Summit of the Americas are gearing up to fight back with claims that this kind of thing is nothing new:
Several agents who were pressured into resigning in the Secret Service prostitution scandal are contemplating fighting for their jobs—and naming names to do it, sources close to them...
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Lovebirds in a Predictable Pickle: Silly but So... →
I don’t really care about Jason Segel, but I “heart” Emily Blunt even if she “keeps the claws she flashed so brilliantly in “The Devil Wears Prada” well hidden”.
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Major Video Game Villains to Appear in a Disney... →
Why do I get the feeling that this will be one movie-based-on-a-videogame that I’m truly going to enjoy?
Although the star-studded comedic film stars the 9-foot, 643-pound video game character Ralph, be on the lookout for villains fromSuper Mario Bros.,Mortal Kombat,Sonic,Mega Man,Street Fighterand other classics.
Wreck-It Ralph will be Disney’s 52nd animated flick. It tells the story...
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Sandra Fluke Says Monica Crowley Insult Was... →
Another heads up from WOMANTRA:
Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke responded to Fox News pundit Monica Crowley’s tweet on Thursday, saying she was disturbed by the conservative commentator’s “blatant homophobia.”
“I’m not going to let this kind of thing get to me personally,” Fluke said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show.” “What...
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Toni Morrison: 'I want to feel what I feel. Even... →
I came across this profile of Toni Morrison on the WOMANTRA Facebook group this morning and I had to share. She’s an incredible woman.
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‘What Were You Thinking?’ For Couples, New Source... →
Relationships are hard enough. But the rise of social media — where sharing private moments is encouraged, and provocative and confessional postings can help build a following — has created a new source of friction for couples: what is fair game for sharing with the world?
If one half of a couple is not interested in broadcasting the details of a botched dinner or romantic weekend, Facebook...
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Complaints body finds no police link in teen... →
Following on the fiery protest in Bagatelle, the Police Complaints Commission has been investigating the mysterious shooting of 14-year-old Hakeem Cabrera.
Unfortunately:
NO one has been able to confirm police were involved in the shooting of Bagatelle teenager Hakeem Cabrera, the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) stated in a release yesterday.
Cabrera, a pupil of the Mucurapo West Secondary...
