Welcome to ToTG!



Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts

October 3, 2019

Wanna Be a Dad?

Stop drinking six months before conception.

Can alcohol affect sperm? Dads-to-be should stop drinking 6 months before conception, study finds

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy has long been linked to congenital defects and developmental problems in newborns. Now a new study has found a link between a baby's congenital heart defects and their prospective parents' drinking before conception

Compared to non-drinkers, fathers who drank during the three months before conception were 44% more likely to have babies born with congenital heart disease.

If the prospective dads were binge drinkers, which was defined as downing five or more drinks per session, there was a 52% higher likelihood their baby would have a congenital heart defect.

(read the rest of the article at above link)


Sobering news, no pun intended. Even though I'm no scientist, it makes sense.  Alcohol IS, after all, technically a poison.

OTOH, I suspect a LOT of "conception events" are directly due to alcohol consumption.



September 3, 2015

No News Ain't Good News

I noticed the local Amarillo ABC affiliate news feed (in the right-hand column) wasn't working and I'm not sure how long it had been discontinued, but I don't think for much more than a few days before I discovered it.  I looked around the website to see if they had changed out their RSS feed, but it seems they had discontinued it and then went to the websites of the other Amarillo TV stations for a replacement, but neither of them offered a feed.

Oh well.  I'm sure people weren't flocking to this blog to read the Panhandle area news; after all, they don't flock here for any other reason, either.

I guess there IS some good news;  that's one less script to have to load when folks come here.

September 1, 2015

I'm Alarmed

Note:  This will be the first in what I'll call "Behind the Times"  posts...ones that are so big, a single post would take up the entire page or most of it.  Instead, I will backdate them so they won't appear in the normal order, but instead will date the post at the top of them, like this:

Sept. 17, 2015

Surely, by now you've seen or read this story:

Muslim teen Ahmed Mohamed creates clock, shows teachers, gets arrested

The world is outraged over this and I am outraged as well...I'm outraged at the outrage. Here's why:

A couple of yrs. ago, a 10 yr. old boy from Ohio was suspended from school for making a "gun" with his thumb and finger and a yr. before, a 7-yr. old kid from Maryland was suspended for nibbling a Pop Tart in the shape of a pistol. Both of those children were white.

Since those incidents, there have been multiple incidents of children being suspended for bringing Bibles to school or for reading them during supposedly "free reading periods" or recess and there wasn't nearly the uproar that this "It's a clock, not a bomb!" thing has generated.

So, little Ahmed builds a clock and puts it in a pencil box that looks just like a miniature suitcase, brings it to school, shows it to his engineering teacher. The teacher says "Good job." but advises him to not show it to other teachers. What does the kid do? Well, he puts it in his backpack and totes it around school all day, has the alarm go off in the middle of a class, then fumbles around with it and then wonders why people were upset?

What if it HAD been a bomb and everyone was told "It's JUST a clock!" Trust me, that would have ruined everyone's day. "There were no explosives inside along with the clock." Well, it's a school w/ a chemistry lab and even though it's been nearly a half century since I was a kid in school (barely passing Chemistry), I guarantee you I could walk into a school laboratory storeroom right now and cobble together a few chemicals that would kill or seriously injure dozens, maybe hundreds of kids and teachers. Heck, I could probably do that with what's under my kitchen sink (or anyone else's) right now.

People are griping about how silly it is to get worked up over something so innocent as a homemade science project, as well as how "rampant" racism/Islamic phobia is in Texas. Well, there wouldn't have been all this outrage 14 yrs. + 1 week ago, but that all changed on 9/11. No one then considered box cutters all that dangerous, either....maybe accidentally cut your finger with one, but no one thought about flight attendants and pilots having their throats slashed with them (by Muslims, no less) and the planes commandeered and flown into buildings.

As far as I'm concerned. perhaps there WAS a bit of overreacting to this incident, but the catch phase these days is "better safe than sorry".

There are a few things that bother me about this story, though: The clock doesn't look like a clock, not from the photos I've seen. It looks very crude, just like the guts of bombs we've all seen on TV and in the movies. He's clever enough to build the device, yet not clever enough to know that it resembled a TV/movie version of a time bomb? He's ingenious enough to build the thing, yet doesn't understand how to set the alarm? Gimme a break.


Why did the kid build his clock and put it inside what amounts to a miniature briefcase? Why not hollow out an old book, that would have been way cooler, esp. if he had used a book with "time" in the title. I saw several comments under the New York Times article from Boston and Massachusetts residents about how racist Texas was, how stupid we are, how the rest of the country needs to build a wall around the state to keep we inbred bigots and our guns in. Well, you ignorant Beantown asshats, what if some kid (white, brown, black, pink or purple) brings a pressure cooker to Home Ec class "What's in there, Jim?" (or Jane) "Aw, just a TV I made." Seems to me as though people in that part of the country would be a little more sympathetic to the possibility of a homemade bomb.  BTW, what was the skin color and religion of the two brothers responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing?

As I mentioned before, his teacher told him not to show it to anyone else and probably told him why. (but little Ahmed didn't mention that little tidbit in the post-incident interviews)

There's a picture of him in handcuffs, standing there dejected with a look of disbelief that this is happening to him. I think he was smart enough to recognize a photo op when he saw one...or maybe his daddy coached him on how to look. I'm no conspiracy theorist by any means, but this all just sounds a bit too "scripted" to suit me.

The family has already hired a lawyer. (wow, THAT was fast!) Now he'll get a hefty sum for his civil rights being violated and in three/four years, his scholarship to M.I.T. will be waiting...a full ride. He's already been offered jobs by Twitter and Facebook,invited to the White House and to bring his clock.  (where I'm positive the Secret Service will go over the clock with a fine-tooth comb and use explosive-sniffing dogs)

I could rant a LOT more about this, but I'm already tired of it.  I hope this blows over soon; then we can get back to the really important stuff, like whether Bindi will win this season on Dancing With the Stars, the size of Kim Kardashian's butt or whether Caitlyn Jenner wears a push-up bra.

Me?  I'm just gonna worry about how the Cowboys will do Sunday against the Eagles.  It has just as much importance in the scheme of things as does anything else...at least it does to me.(hey, I have a right to skew important priorities, just as much as the next person!)  If Dallas allows Murray to rush for a hundred yards, loses the game and the Philly fans cheer if a Cowboys player gets hurt, then I'm gonna go on social media and rant and rave about the injustice of it all.

Yeah, sure.

May 28, 2015

Star-Studded Cast

I was searching for a place to catch up on past episodes of Mythbusters when I found a site that had this as the latest listing:


I'm gonna make sure I don't miss this show!  Although I never watched The X-Files, I'm a big fan of Gillian Anderson and several of the things she's done since that.  Johnny Depp?  Ehhh - I've liked a few of his movies,but he's not my favorite actor by any means.  He's probably more concerned about not going to jail in Australia than anything else right now.  I'm really anxious to see what part Paul Newman has to play in this reality program...seeing as how he died over six years ago.

July 18, 2014

Hank Skinner: News & Numbers

The newest news:

31st Judicial District Court Finds Against Hank Skinner

The court reviewed the all the evidence and found that the results would have not been favorable to Skinner.

The statement says if the evidence had originally been available during the original trial Skinner would have been convicted anyways.(sic)

The latest numbers:

The total cost to Gray County for his case is $341,200. This includes the cost of the original 1995 trial, the 1996 appeal and DNA testing that was performed in 2001.

Skinner has been incarcerated since March 31, 1995, which calculates to:

609,120,000 seconds
10,152,000 minutes
169,200 hours
7050 days
1007 weeks (rounded down)

While a spokesman with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice could not say the cost per day of housing a death-row inmate, he said the average cost per inmate is around $50.

Based on that number, taxpayers in Texas have spent about $347,250 to house Skinner on death-row.

Source: Pampa News

February 23, 2014

Women in the News

Was checking my Bing search page and clicking on links ( not just to read the news, but also to get points, which I redeem for Amazon gift certificates - which *some* might think a waste of time and not worth it, but in the last couple of months I've got discounts on my Amazon purchases to the tune of $25) and was reading various articles about different women in the news.

The first article was "DWTS host let go"  The host was a woman by the name of Brooke Burke-Charvet and to be honest, I've never heard of her...but that's because I don't watch Dancing With the Stars. She's a pretty young woman, but not only am I not a fan of DWTS, I'm not a fan of hyphenated names. Before my ex and I married, she said said she wanted to keep her maiden name and hyphenate it with mine. I told her I'd rather she keep her maiden name rather than alter mine. I didn't insist she take my last name; I just didn't want hers tacked onto mine. I'm not only not a fan of hyphenated last names, I'm not a fan of hyphenated labels, particularly those like "African-American" and the like.  We're Americans, plain and simple.  If people insist I refer to them that way, then I'm a "Super-Duper-Wonderful-Great-American".  You HAVE to call me that or I'll get all offended and butt-hurt. ("Butt-hurt" should be hyphenated, though.)

I then read about Maria von Trapp, the last surviving member of the family that was the basis of "The Sound of Music". She was 99, so it was hard for me to feel overly sad at her passing. (most people would love to live that long) I'm also not a fan of musicals, so I wasn't a fan of that one.

Next was an article about Katy Perry getting booed at a Milan Week fashion show because she was late to the event. I used to be enamored with Ms. Perry, then she married Russell Brand...which made me question her good sense. She then spoke out on politics, which verified she has no sense at all. I used to think she was pretty, but after looking at recent photographs, I've come to the conclusion that her looks have peaked and it's all downhill for her from here on out. (because I don't think she'll get by on her "talent")

Wanting a change of pace, I read an article about Jennifer Lawrence's new Dior ad campaign. The photos made her look glamorous, but not as pretty as she's been in other ones...and I think she's very pretty in the photos I've seen of her without makeup. She'll be a lovely woman when she's 60 yrs. old, I bet. I haven't seen any of the movies she's done, but have seen her interviewed several times and she seems to be a down-to-earth person with a good sense of humor and not too full of herself, a lovely person both outside and in. I hope her success won't spoil her.

After that, I clicked on an article about Miley Cryus kissing Perry at one of Cyrus's recent concerts. Yuck. I don't know why, but I clicked on another link leading to a video about fans outside the concert and one woman with her daughter in tow was saying Cyrus was a good role model. Good grief.

Sick of that crapola, I read an article about Ronda Rousey and her first round KO of Sara McMann in last night's bout. I found a place to watch it online and was certainly glad I didn't pay to watch 66 seconds of two women fighting. What I WOULD pay for, however, is to see that woman - who thinks Miley Cryus is a positive role model - get into the ring with Rousey. Maybe Rousey could knock some sense into her head. Heck, put Cyrus in there too, along with Katy Perry. Three against one, that *might* be a fair fight. I'd love to see Rousey knee Cyrus in the liver like she did McMann.  Ouch.  Actually, I'd love to see Rousey knock Cyrus out.  The only trouble would be if Cryus started having a seizure from a severe blow to the head; the referee might think she was just twerking.

I know one thing, I wouldn't get into the ring with Rousey;  I doubt I'd last a minute.  I'm not sure I'd last 60 seconds with her in other places, either.

November 1, 2013

Goodbye, iGoogle

As of today, iGoogle is no more.  It's no HUGE loss, but I did enjoy my custom Google search page with local weather, news and sports widgets, along with other custom pages.  That's OK, I found igHome, a similar replacement.

I just hope they don't do away with Blogger; I doubt they will, but I didn't think they'd do away with Google Reader, either. (which was a bigger hassle to replace)

So, goodbye, iGoogle.  Nice knowin' ya.


(as you can see, I have replaced it with the regular Google link)

June 4, 2013

The Blame Game

Just before I went to bed late last night, I saw an article about Michael Douglas where he blamed his throat cancer on - 'scuse me - oral sex.  He didn't blame it on smoking, drinking or poor diet.

It made me think about it all day today.  Even if there was proof of what he said caused it, I don't think I'd announce that fact to the world.  I finally came to this conclusion:

Just like most liberals, he wants to put all the blame on bush.

May 7, 2013

It Won't Be Long Now

This popped up on my Google Reader page earlier today:
I knew it was going to happen but I had put it out of my mind.  I've migrated my feeds to other platforms, but stubbornly kept using Google Reader.  I'm used to it, it's user friendly and I like the features, esp. using it to share articles here or on Facebook.  I had suspicions that the end might be near when I noticed the Official Google Reader Blog hadn't been updated in a year.

It seems like Google rolls out a new feature only to stop two others. (and they more-or-less admit to that on the official blog linked to above) Most of the things went by the wayside without much protest, but I've been reading all sorts of groans and moans over this decision.  Some people have a bi-polar view (at least confusing) towards the end of Google Reader while others say it will be a good thing for RSS.  I'm not particularly angry over their decision, just mostly disappointed.

I guess Google's reasoning behind it is to force more people to use their Google+ but I'm not a big fan of that.   I don't want to get my news via social-type media.  I don't think Twitter lends itself well to news, but it can be used for that, I suppose. I follow some local media's Facebook pages for area news, but I do more with my reader than just news.  I follow a few political sites (many fewer than I did a year or longer ago) and like to keep up with some sites that offer some interesting and informative content, but mainly I liked my reader because of the recipe site feeds.

Reader made it much easier for me in regards to the latter.  I could quickly scroll down the titles, clicking on those I thought I might find interesting and/or want to save.  I'll eat most anything, but if the recipe is "Stuffed Mussels", I am apt to pass them up.  I don't dislike mussels, it's just that I am far away from the ocean and would never buy the days old seafood even if it WAS at my local grocery store. Anyway....

I really haven't decided which service I want to use to replace Google Reader; none of them really float my boat.  I'm still looking at other alternatives, but I had better hurry and decide.  I'll write another post when I do.



UPDATE: As I said, I had tried out a few other readers, but hadn't liked them nearly as much as I did Google Reader, but I believe I'll settle with Feedly for now until I find something better.  It's available as an add-on with different browsers (I prefer Firefox) and the integration of my Google Reader feeds went seamlessly .  I don't like that I had to allow it access to my Google account, but so did others in order to get my reading list and there's really nothing in my email account that I wouldn't mind someone reading.  I do a lot of online business and I guess the worst that could happen would be someone reading my credit card balance statements. (I wish I didn't have to read them) The passwords for those sites are different than that of my Gmail account, so I'm not worried about that.

The rest of the feeds I had tried were too "busy" looking and hard to navigate.  I still haven't completely sussed out Feedly, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.  The best thing about it is that it's FREE, a prerequisite for using a reader.  Some of the highly recommended applications cost quite a bit for their services and personally, a dollar a month would be more than I'd want to pay, much less than the $5-10 wanted from some of the others.

I'll keep everyone informed.  Well, all four/five of my regular readers, that is.

February 9, 2013

Egypt Blocks YouTube

I normally don't delve into serious news or into religious issues, but when I read this earlier: Egypt court orders YouTube blocked for a month I had to see what all the fuss was about.  It seems the Egyptians are all butt-hurt over a movie, Innocence of Muslims.  I won't embed it, but here's the trailer (with a disclaimer by YouTube).

The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as being potentially offensive or inappropriate. Viewer discretion is advised.

The full-length movie has also been uploaded, so if you want to see it before it's taken down, you'd best hurry.

Those Muslims...they're always getting their panties in wad over something trivial in the grand scheme of things.   I see Christianity mocked all the time, from frequent segments on Family Guy and American Dad! to "artists" calling a crucifix in urine "art".  You didn't see ME rioting in the streets and you never will.  I doubt I'll ever even dash off an an angry email to the network.  I'm damn sure not blowing myself up and/or killing someone over it.

Oh well, what can you expect from a bunch of savages? I've done a lot of reading on Islam, but everything I really ever needed to know I learned on 9/11.

Someone better not tell them about THESE two videos;  they'd really get all bent out of shape.

King Tut - Steve Martin


Little Egypt - Elvis Presley



December 20, 2012

Not A High Score

How much do you know about marijuana?


From the site: In November 2012, Massachusetts became the 18th state to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Voters in Washington and Colorado passed initiatives that would make their states the first in the country to allow recreational use of the drug. But under federal law, the sale of cannabis remains illegal. And the US Food and Drug Administration states that marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States." How much do you know about marijuana? Take our quiz and find out.

As you can see, I didn't score very well. Maybe if I'd been stoned....


How much do you know about marijuana?

Obama says going after marijuana 'not a top priority'

November 6, 2012

Stamping Out Our Rights

U.S. law mandates that when images of postage stamps are printed, a line is drawn through the denomination and must be in a different size to prevent people from cutting out the images and using them as stamps. This graphic of the new "Four Flags" forever* stamp fills those requirements, but the result is more than a little ironic.

*meaning they'll always be valid for the full first-class postage regardless of any rate increases.

October 20, 2012

Big Tex Vex

vex [veks]
verb (used with object)
1. to irritate; annoy; provoke: His noisy neighbors often vexed him.
2. to torment; trouble; distress; plague; worry: Lack of money vexes many.
3. to discuss or debate (a subject, question, etc.) with vigor or at great length: to vex a question endlessly without agreeing.
4. to disturb by motion; stir up; toss about.
5. to afflict with physical pain.


If you're from Texas, you've most likely heard that Big Tex was destroyed by fire the other day. There were quite a few postings about it on Facebook, most lamenting the fire, but there were also some snarky comments.

(most comparing the accident to the ubiquitous fried food served on the midway, some saying it was torched like the Texas defense had been by Oklahoma in last week's annual Cotton Bowl game.  My own favorite was that Big Tex had been sleeping with the Statue of Liberty and she forgot to put her torch out before coming to bed.)


That's OK; even though it was a State Fair icon, I suppose there could be some humor found in the accident. (I'll admit that the photo above is a little funny, what with half of Big Tex's clothes burned away and the cowboy hat being nothing but fire, the goofy fiberglass face framed by the flames) After all, no one was injured and the structure will be repaired in plenty of time for next year's fair. The Amarillo TV station KFDA linked to a story on their website from their Facebook page and there were only a few comments, but one annoyed me to no end...it "vexed" me.

Here's the comment, just as it was written:

i know its been their forever, and so forth,its cost tax payers thousands & thousands of dollars maintaining,painting it,when theirs people living in the streets in down town Dallas & every magor city in this country !! children lay in filth and going to bed hungry !!!! but lest fix a damn 52 ' statchu and start a memoraul for the damn thang,hungry kids living under a bridge will alwas be around !! 

I shouldn't get so angry but the sheer stupidity of the post made me want to write a scathing reply...but I didn't. I understand that I shouldn't get so upset over a comment plus I really don't need to be slamming someone on Facebook, creating drama that could be avoided, but I can't let it go. (It's MY blog and I can rant all I like) Here's what I WOULD have said if I did reply to the ignoramus:

Yes, such a waste. Never mind that it was a main attraction at one of the most successful annual events in Texas and with all things considered, it at least probably paid for itself several times over in good will. The structure didn't cost that much to build and the maintenance costs couldn't have been that much, either. I believe Big Tex's clothes are made and donated by Dickies in exchange for the free advertising. (and for the "bragging rights", always important here in Texas) I expect the annual cleaning bill for the clothing - something like $350 -  was most likely the largest expenditure. 

Instead, we get you whining about it, priceless! Why don't you give up your internet and sell your computer and donate the money to "hungry kids living under a bridge"? I bet you don't even donate a nickel to causes that help the homeless. Good Grief. 

I know one thing: the money spent educating you was a waste. The State Fair should put you on exhibit as a prime example of functional illiteracy.

September 24, 2012

Newsola

Color coded by category, Newsola shows the top news stories from around the world at a glance with a treemap visualization using Google News

(click for larger view)


http://www.newsola.com/

May 11, 2012

Foolish Facebook Feuding

I belong to a lot of Facebook groups and fan pages;  ones about TV shows, movies, politicians, celebs and several Amarillo media outlet pages.  With the recent backlash over North Carolina’s marriage vote followed by President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage, the pages have seen activity such as I've not witnessed before since I became active on Facebook.

For the record - I'm not "for" gay marriage...but I'm not against it, either.  It really should be a non-issue, as I take the libertarian stance that govt. has no place in marriage.  I'm on record as saying gay marriage won't be the downfall of this great nation, but the continued loss of our freedoms will be.  The only "problem" I have with same-sex marriage is one of semantics, namely that marriage has been defined as between a man and a woman.  If gays want to "marry", then there should be a different word to describe it, such as "civil union".

That's not the point of this rant, though;  reading through a thousand or more posts from both sides of the issue I've been offended by many of those arguing for and also by many against it.  The anti folks are the most obnoxious - but not by much.  Most use the Bible verses to argue their case and they have a point...but many are not being very compassionate when they state their case.  Personally, I consider myself a Christian, albeit not a very good one, but the judgment isn't mine to pass out.  I can send no one to Heaven, cannot sentence anyone to Hell.  There have been a few against it that have had that compassion, though...voices of reason in an unreasonable crowd.

The pro people are almost as bad, bringing up the argument that the Christians pick and choose what they want to follow from Biblical teaching.  They're right, but they are so full of rage it's hard to give sympathy to their views.  The hatred between the two groups is frightening.  I almost feel as though I'm caught in the crossfire.

What annoys me the most is the President's change of heart over the issue.  He's been on record as being against it, but just as soon as N. Carolina passes the ban, he changed his mind.  He may have agonized over it, who knows?  I'm not against his new-found stance, but I think he has seen a poll or study that showed he was losing the (for example) 18-24 vote and needed to sway them back into the fold.  I don't need to see statistics to know that it's the older generation that holds the anti viewpoint and that the younger generations have little or no problem with gay marriage.  I think the President is doing what he does best and that's being a consummate politician. (and that's what I hate the most about politicians, especially the ones that are good at being one)

What's also troublesome is that there are many other issues for the President with which he should concern himself;  our dwindling civil rights and vanishing privacy, several wars, the economy and many others.   We have our service people dying and the drums of war are beating even louder...people are out of work and we're putting ourselves into debt that our children's children's children won't even begin to pay off...and Big Brother is here, Orwell's 1984 a few years late here in 2012.  I may seem callous, but same sex marriage should be far down the list of his concerns.   Something that affects perhaps 3-4% of the population shouldn't take precedent over the things that affect us all.

Anyway...I shouldn't sit on the fence about this.  If it were up to me, I'd let gays legally join together using any word to describe it but "marriage".  I'm still against the govt. being involved with whatever one wants to call it, though, but since it is, then allow any two people a license.  Let the churches decide if they want to perform a ceremony.

Sure, let them legally join together.  Let them have the same tax and other advantages that heterosexual couples have. As some comic once said, they deserve the right to be as miserable as the rest of us.

March 25, 2012

Quickie Wiki

The other day I was listening to an online radio sports talk show and they announced "This just in! Marion Barber retiring!"

Being a fan of the Cowboys and always enjoying watching Barber run the ball (his nickname was "Barbarian") when he played for Dallas, I did a quick search to see how well he had done after he had left the Cowboys. Quite a few results came up, most from football websites like NFL.com, ESPN, various fan sites and the official Cowboys site.

I also noticed news articles on Barber's announcement and most had "fifteen minutes ago" as the time the article was posted, which was about the same amount of time since I had heard the news on the online show. Also in the results was Barber's Wikipedia entry. I clicked on it and saw that it had already been updated with his retirement.

That wasn't surprising, though. It's been something I've been doing after hearing news of note - checking Wiki to see how fast it's updated. I've noticed that with other news stories, one recent one being the death of Whitney Houston. The Wiki entry for the last Super Bowl was changed to reflect the final score within moments of the game being over.

Now, you might think it's pretty sad or a sign of having too much time on my hands for me to check Wiki for updates when breaking news is announced. You would be correct, but what does it say about those who rush to the site to update the entry before anyone else?

Update to add: Another example would be that of the NBC show Celebrity Apprentice. It's just now ending as I type this, but the results/who won the challenge/who was fired has already been posted. I realize there are different satellite feeds, one earlier on the east coast, so that accounts for the quick update, but it would be a spoiler for anyone who read the Wiki entry before the show airs in their time zone.

A disclaimer: I've never watched Celebrity Apprentice much before this season and I haven't seen all the shows this year.  I watched a few of the shows last year because Meat Loaf and Gary Busey were contestants and they had a huge fight during one competition.  (either one could be/should be the poster child for "Just Say No")  I don't care much for Donald Trump and, for the most part, don't care much about celebrities. The thing I like the most about the show is watching the celebrities stab each other in the back in order to be kept on the show for the next week.

February 29, 2012

Having a Ball



Ouch. At least he still has one. OTOH, he'll never be able to again say "Y'know, I'd give my right testicle to...."

Suing for the loss of a testicle - can't say as I blame him. I'd just hope the lost testicle wouldn't be introduced as evidence in court.

He's really lucky to have lost just the one. If he'd lost both, he would have to change his name to "Sue".

I published this post, then remembered a joke. (What else is new?)

Two cannibals had ambushed a missionary and had sat down to eat him. One cannibal told the other that when they ate someone, he always got less because the other ate faster and always got to eat more. They agreed to start on opposite ends and finish off in the middle.

Munching along, the cannibal who started at the head said to the one who started at the feet: "Hey, how's it goin'?"

"I'm having a ball!" replied the other cannibal.

 "Slow down!" admonished the one cannibal. "You're still eating too fast!"

Update: saw this article earlier: Crocodile bites off man's testes
Ouch.

Wow, my internet has been going nuts here lately. Just saw this recommendation when I was shopping Amazon earlier.

3B Scientific W43014 Testicle Self Exam Form


Wonder if they know something I don't?


Wow, too strange. Got this email earlier:

INTERESTING OBSERVATION

1. The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.

2. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.

3. The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.

4. The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.

5. The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.

 And....

6. The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.

THE AMAZING CONCLUSION:

The higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become.