Well, I am stunned:
Muscular men really do get the girls more often than their less brawny brothers — at least in the short term, research suggests.
The well-muscled are twice as likely to have more sex partners, flings and affairs than those with less toned and chiseled physiques. But in the end, the research suggests, women tend to choose the less buff for long-lasting love.
A few days late, but a shout-out on the 100th birthday of Robert Heinlein. He is considered somewhat of a godfather of modern libertarianism, so it's approrpriate that he's remembered by Reason magazine:
Some Fort Wayne bar owners say their business has dropped significantly since the city's near-total ban on smoking, a not unsurprising development since the county and some nearby communities such as New Haven have less-restrictive bans. The mayor doesn't even want to hear it, but some City Council members at least pretend to care:
Florida was the first state to make its no-retreat law apply outside the home (Indiana is now one of at least 13 others), creating an automatic assumption that the use of deadly force is justified in warding off an attacker in just about any public place. The gun-control lobby warned that we would see a shooot-first mentality and a wave of vigilante justice. Instead, what seems to have happened is that prosecutors say they are confused by the laws and think others are, too.
We've had a fiscal downturn or two in Indiana, but nothing like the meltdown they had in Pennsylvania:
Thousands of state workers who were sent home without pay were allowed to return to their jobs today, a day after the governor and legislators hammered out a budget deal.
Nearly 24,000 government employees were furloughed for a day and state parks, state-run museums and driver-license offices closed during a partisan deadlock that held up a state spending plan nine days into the new fiscal year.
The folks at Pew Research, apparently bored with divining our opinions of Iraq, illegal immigration and the 2008 presidential race, turn to something truly important, how we feel about our pets:
Fully 85% of dog owners say they consider their pet to be a member of their family, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
And most cat owners (78%) feel the same way.
The collectivist, populist, redistributionist dogma of Clinton, Obama, et al. is as tiresome as it is unsupportable. But John Edwards is downright scary, because he seems to actually believe the nonsense he spouts about "economic fairness" (i.e., they have yet to take enough of my money to give to people who didn't earn it). Now, he's going on a "poverty tour" to round up poor people and, "by telling their stories to the rest of the nation . . .
Aw, people still care about us baby boomers:
Though Indiana employers recognize that their workforce is getting older, few are taking concrete steps to manage the transition as the baby boom generation begins to reach retirement age, according to a new report from the University of Indianapolis' Center for Aging & Community.
If only it were this easy -- get rid of the word, get rid of everything associated with it:
DETROIT - There was no mourning at this funeral. Hundreds of onlookers cheered Monday afternoon as the NAACP put to rest a long-standing expression of racism by holding a public burial for the N-word during its annual convention.
Live by the rules of the loons, die by the rules of the loons:
Sydney - An Australian woman accused of murdering her father and sister was apparently denied psychiatric treatment because of her parents' Scientology beliefs, a court heard on Monday.
We can only hope for the day when Katie Holmes drifts from postpartum depression to postpartum psychosis, while Tom . . .
Turning back the, er, wheels of progress:
LEESBURG, Va. - Drive-through service windows soon could be banned in parts of Leesburg if two members of the town council get their way.
Why I am a wine drinker:
Put samples of half a dozen or so mass-market American beers before a panel of drinkers in a blind taste test, and even the most confirmed quaffers would be lucky to match two to the right brand.
Democratic 4th District City Council candidate Charles Langley is dropping out of the race:
According to a letter written by Langley, he was promoted by the Southwest Allen County Schools Board on June 5 to department coordinator for social studies at Summit Middle School, where he teaches.
We've talked often about how those behind the self-esteem movement want to create a world in which nobody ever feels bad about anything. Heaven forbid we have just one high school basketball champion if we can have several divisions with their own champions. Why have a single valedictorian when that would make so many who came close have a pitiful self image? That campaign is now worldwide, thanks to the United Nations.
The New York Times joins the "best way out of war is to surrender" league:
It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.
None of you is probably quite the newspaper freak that I am, but you could still have a lot of fun at the Newseum's "Today's Front Pages" site that I link to on my blogroll. A search function is coming soon, but already there are some interesting features. There is, for example, an analysis of the day's front pages. The one for yesterday, surprise, surprise, notes that a lot of newspapers had a lot of photos of American flags.
This article in The New York Times Fashion & Style section led to the best correction I've seen in some time:
An article last week about inexpensive dresses misstated the name of a clothing store on Broadway. It is Yellow Rat Bastard, not Dirty Yellow Bastard.
Let's go smirting:
FORGET speed dating, blind dates and the web
I did not know this about Indiana law:
The law on neglect in Indiana doesn't state a definitive age for when a child can be left alone, she said.
"As far as minimum age it really isn't one," she said. "It depends on the maturity level of the child. As long as everything works out OK there isn't a problem. We don't get involved until something occurs. It's very subjective.
So, I'm quietly reading the paper, and the phone rings.
"Hello."
It's her.
"You owe me an apology," she says right off. "I always wanted to challenge you, but you always throw these statistics out at me, and I never know how to answer them. But you ought to be a man about it and just admit that you were wrong."
"Yes, Dear."
