Current Affairs

Something else to blame your parents for:

Your sexual desire or lack thereof could be in your genes, scientists announced today. The discovery might change how psychologists view sexuality.

Americans are mad as hell, and they're just not going to wait anymore:

An Associated Press poll has found an impatient nation. It's a nation that gets antsy after five minutes on hold on the phone and 15 minutes max in a line. So say people in the survey.

Here's an interesting poll asking people to vote on the greatest American novel of all time. Most of the books on the list of contenders deserve to be there, but of course the more books on the list, the more interesting the voting will be (and why have a list in the first place?). The authors say they are ignoring sociology and politics, but then make a snotty comment about "socialist realism" in defending their decision to leave "The Grapes of Wrath" off the list.

You'd think by now every thinking person on the left would have distanced themselves as much as possible from Cindy Sheehan. On the other hand, she is useful:

Guess if I want a little peace and quiet, I'll have to go to Chicago:

Aldermen determined to restore peace and tranquility to Chicago neighborhoods introduced a pair of killjoy crackdowns Wednesday -- one establishing a 10-minute time limit on dogs barking outdoors, the other empowering police to impound ice cream trucks that play music after 7 p.m.

Wonder how loud, oh, gunshots are compared to ice cream trucks?

This doesn't exactly make the case that President Bush is serious about border security:

Best "headline stating the obvious" so far this year -- Panel: Legislators shouldn't work drunk

It's not just the food, it's the culture:

Same set of facts and speculation about the upcoming hurricane season, two different approaches.

If you got tired of lakes and hills and fabulous shopping trips you experienced on your last vacation, try this unique tourist attraction lovely Mansfield, Ohio -- one of the nation's "most historic treasures," where the "extraordinary past of the Ohio State Reformatory comes to life as you tour the dramatic architecture of this unforgettable prison." It was probably unforgettable for all the, um, customers, too. Unlike then, though, it is now handicapped accessible.