Handy penis measuring card
30-Dec-02
Question for the female persuaded:
1. What size, if any, is too large?
2. Below what size is too small?
3. What's the optimum range?
(Stolen from phallic.org)
Shoe Size, Penis Size Not Linked…
30-Dec-02
….however, preliminary results suggest that men who obsessively update their blogs, quote “…make love like Barry White sings”. However, sample sizes of late have been way too small. Additional experimental subjects are encouraged to apply within.
http://www.nbc6.net/health/1695804/detail.html
Myth Dispelled: Shoe Size, Penis Size Not Linked
NEW YORK — A scientific study conducted by two British scientists found no link between a man's shoe size and the size of his penis, according to a report in the British Journal of Urology International. ( British Journal of Urology International 2002;90:586-587. )
“This myth has now been dispelled,” Jyoti Shah of St. Mary's Hospital in London told Reuters Health. “There is no point using shoe size to obtain indirect measurements of penile length.”
To date, there have only been two studies that evaluated the relationship between the size of a man's foot and the length of his penis, according to Shah and colleague Dr. N. Christopher of University College Hospitals. While one study showed a “weak correlation” the other showed no correlation–but this study relied on men self-reporting their own penis length and shoe size.
In the current study, the researchers studied men visiting a urologist for various reasons. Because it wasn't feasible to measure the length of the erect penis, the researchers measured the penis when gently stretched.
“There is a strong correlation between stretched penile length and erect, and thus it is not necessary to obtain erect lengths,” Shah said in an interview with Reuters Health. “The correlation is so strong that the results can be extrapolated to erect penises.”
In all, 104 men had their penis measured and had their shoe size recorded. The investigators found no correlation between shoe size and penis length.
“The supposed association of penile length and shoe size has no scientific basis,” they conclude in the report.
Is there another body part that accurately estimates the size of a man's penis?
“There are suggestions from the literature that hand span, finger lengths or nose size…may be predictive,” according to Shah.
“I have some ideas that I am currently putting together as a research proposal,” the researcher added. “There must be some part of the body that is predictive of penile length…the search continues.”
Copyright 2002 by Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Story you won't see in the Ensign
30-Dec-02
In the Mormon church, it's common for a family to be asked to sing during sacrament meeting. Some families are amazingly talented, with voices of such beauty they bring tears to your eyes.
“Sister Rasch, your daughters have never sung before, have they? We should schedule them.”
Now, mind you, my family's singing voices can evoke tears too. They can also etch glass.
We're the anti-Osmonds.
“Thank you very much for the invitation, Sister Pushy [Relief Society President, head of the Mormon women's organization]. But we don't sing very well.”
“Oh, I'm sure that they can sing well enough. Let me put you down for next week.”
The Mormon church emphasizes the idea of of “callings”. When God “calls” you to do something (via the authority of church leadership) it's considered bad form to refuse, even if you think that you're not prepared for the calling. Plus, Mom knew that she would have to face Sister Pushy's nagging, so she reluctantly agreed.
My sisters, as I recall, were 13, 11, and 8 years old respectively. Their reaction to being volunteered to sing in front of the entire ward (a congregation of about 50 – 100 people)?
They were not happy.
But, being the diligent students they were they buckled down to practice…
….two days before they were supposed to sing.
It was a fiasco.
“I am a child of God. And he has sent me here…”
Each of them sang out of step with the others. Their voices cracked and warbled like trio of drunken harpies. They forgot their lines. At one point, I think they were humming.
The Relief Society President sat in her seat on the stand, a rictus smile frozen on her face. Normally at the end of the singing segment, the Relief Society President effuses over the performance “Thank you for that lovely song.” My sisters got “Thank you….for that presentation.”
Although the experience traumatized both my sisters and the audience, it did have one benefit: no Rasch was asked to sing in Sacrament meeting again.
squirrel proof bird feeder
30-Dec-02
http://www.4birds.net/defender.htm
Stephen Hawkings
30-Dec-02
http://www.hawking.org.uk/disable/dindex.html
I am quite often asked: How do you feel about having ALS? The answer is, not
a lot. I try to lead as normal a life as possible, and not think about my
condition, or regret the things it prevents me from doing, which are not that
many.
It was a great shock to me to discover that I had motor neurone disease. I
had never been very well co-ordinated physically as a child. I was not good
at ball games, and my handwriting was the despair of my teachers. Maybe for
this reason, I didn't care much for sport or physical activities. But things
seemed to change when I went to Oxford, at the age of 17. I took up coxing
and rowing. I was not Boat Race standard, but I got by at the level of
inter-College competition.
In my third year at Oxford, however, I noticed that I seemed to be getting
more clumsy, and I fell over once or twice for no apparent reason. But it was
not until I was at Cambridge, in the following year, that my father noticed,
and took me to the family doctor. He referred me to a specialist, and shortly
after my 21st birthday, I went into hospital for tests. I was in for two
weeks, during which I had a wide variety of tests. They took a muscle sample
from my arm, stuck electrodes into me, and injected some radio opaque fluid
into my spine, and watched it going up and down with x-rays, as they tilted
the bed. After all that, they didn't tell me what I had, except that it was
not multiple sclerosis, and that I was an a-typical case. I gathered,
however, that they expected it to continue to get worse, and that there was
nothing they could do, except give me vitamins. I could see that they didn't
expect them to have much effect. I didn't feel like asking for more details,
because they were obviously bad.
The realisation that I had an incurable disease, that was likely to kill me
in a few years, was a bit of a shock. How could something like that happen to
me? Why should I be cut off like this? However, while I had been in hospital,
I had seen a boy I vaguely knew die of leukaemia, in the bed opposite me. It
had not been a pretty sight. Clearly there were people who were worse off
than me. At least my condition didn't make me feel sick. Whenever I feel
inclined to be sorry for myself I remember that boy.
Not knowing what was going to happen to me, or how rapidly the disease would
progress, I was at a loose end. The doctors told me to go back to Cambridge
and carry on with the research I had just started in general relativity and
cosmology. But I was not making much progress, because I didn't have much
mathematical background. And, anyway, I might not live long enough to finish
my PhD. I felt somewhat of a tragic character. I took to listening to Wagner,
but reports in magazine articles that I drank heavily are an exaggeration.
The trouble is once one article said it, other articles copied it, because it
made a good story. People believe that anything that has appeared in print so
many times must be true.
My dreams at that time were rather disturbed. Before my condition had been
diagnosed, I had been very bored with life. There had not seemed to be
anything worth doing. But shortly after I came out of hospital, I dreamt that
I was going to be executed. I suddenly realised that there were a lot of
worthwhile things I could do if I were reprieved. Another dream, that I had
several times, was that I would sacrifice my life to save others. After all,
if I were going to die anyway, it might as well do some good. But I didn't
die. In fact, although there was a cloud hanging over my future, I found, to
my surprise, that I was enjoying life in the present more than before. I
began to make progress with my research, and I got engaged to a girl called
Jane Wilde, whom I had met just about the time my condition was diagnosed.
That engagement changed my life. It gave me something to live for. But it
also meant that I had to get a job if we were to get married. I therefore
applied for a research fellowship at Gonville and Caius (pronounced Keys)
college, Cambridge. To my great surprise, I got a fellowship, and we got
married a few months later.
The fellowship at Caius took care of my immediate employment problem. I was
lucky to have chosen to work in theoretical physics, because that was one of
the few areas in which my condition would not be a serious handicap. And I
was fortunate that my scientific reputation increased, at the same time that
my disability got worse. This meant that people were prepared to offer me a
sequence of positions in which I only had to do research, without having to
lecture.
We were also fortunate in housing. When we were married, Jane was still an
undergraduate at Westfield College in London, so she had to go up to London
during the week. This meant that we had to find somewhere I could manage on
my own, and which was central, because I could not walk far.
I asked the College if they could help, but was told by the then Bursar: it
is College policy not to help Fellows with housing. We therefore put our name
down to rent one of a group of new flats that were being built in the market
place. (Years later, I discovered that those flats were actually owned by
the College, but they didn't tell me that.)
However, when we returned to Cambridge from a visit to America after the
marriage, we found that the flats were not ready. As a great concession, the
Bursar said we could have a room in a hostel for graduate students. He said,
“We normally charge 12 shillings and 6 pence a night for this room. However,
as there will be two of you in the room, we will charge 25 shillings.” We
stayed there only three nights.
Then we found a small house about 100 yards from my university department.
It belonged to another College, who had let it to one of its fellows.
However he had moved out to a house he had bought in the suburbs. He sub-let
the house to us for the remaining three months of his lease.
During those three months, we found that another house in the same road was
standing empty. A neighbour summoned the owner from Dorset, and told her that
it was a scandal that her house should be empty, when young people were
looking for accommodation. So she let the house to us. After we had lived
there for a few years, we wanted to buy the house, and do it up. So we asked
my College for a mortgage.
However, the College did a survey, and decided it was not a good risk. In
the end we got a mortgage from a building society, and my parents gave us
the money to do it up. We lived there for another four years, but it became
too difficult for me to manage the stairs. By this time, the College
appreciated me rather more, and there was a different Bursar.
They therefore offered us a ground floor flat in a house that they owned.
This suited me very well, because it had large rooms and wide doors. It was
sufficiently central that I could get to my University department, or the
College, in my electric wheelchair. It was also nice for our three children,
because it was surrounded by garden, which was looked after by the College
gardeners.
Up to 1974, I was able to feed myself, and get in and out of bed. Jane
managed to help me, and bring up the children, without outside help. However,
things were getting more difficult, so we took to having one of my research
students living with us. In return for free accommodation, and a lot of my
attention, they helped me get up and go to bed. In 1980, we changed to a
system of community and private nurses, who came in for an hour or two in the
morning and evening. This lasted until I caught pneumonia in 1985. I had to
have a tracheotomy operation. After this, I had to have 24 hour nursing care.
This was made possible by grants from several foundations.
Before the operation, my speech had been getting more slurred, so that only a
few people who knew me well, could understand me. But at least I could
communicate. I wrote scientific papers by dictating to a secretary, and I
gave seminars through an interpreter, who repeated my words more clearly.
However, the tracheotomy operation removed my ability to speak altogether.
For a time, the only way I could communicate was to spell out words letter by
letter, by raising my eyebrows when someone pointed to the right letter on a
spelling card. It is pretty difficult to carry on a conversation like that,
let alone write a scientific paper.
However, a computer expert in California, called Walt Woltosz, heard of my
plight. He sent me a computer program he had written, called Equalizer. This
allowed me to select words from a series of menus on the screen, by pressing
a switch in my hand. The program could also be controlled by a switch,
operated by head or eye movement. When I have built up what I want to say, I
can send it to a speech synthesizer. At first, I just ran the Equalizer
program on a desk top computer. However, David Mason, of Cambridge Adaptive
Communication, fitted a small portable computer and a speech synthesizer to
my wheelchair. This system allowed me to communicate much better than I could
before. I can manage up to 15 words a minute. I can either speak what I have
written, or save it to disk. I can then print it out, or call it back and
speak it sentence by sentence.
Using this system, I have written a book, and dozens of scientific papers. I
have also given many scientific and popular talks. They have all been well
received. I think that is in a large part due to the quality of the speech
synthesiser, which is made by Speech Plus. One's voice is very important. If
you have a slurred voice, people are likely to treat you as mentally
deficient: Does he take sugar? This synthesiser is by far the best I have
heard, because it varies the intonation, and doesn't speak like a Dalek. The
only trouble is that it gives me an American accent.
I have had motor neurone disease for practically all my adult life. Yet it
has not prevented me from having a very attractive family, and being
successful in my work. This is thanks to the help I have received from Jane,
my children, and a large number of other people and organisations. I have
been lucky, that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the
case. But it shows that one need not lose hope.
—————-
For those who might like to learn about this exceptional person, go to his
official web site at:
http://www.hawking.org.uk/info/mindex.html
Dr Mel C Siff
Denver, USA
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/
Secession Reconsidered
30-Dec-02
http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/11_1/11_1_2.pdf
Secession Reconsidered
by Robert Magee
An excellent argument for the validity of secession.
Stalking defense
29-Dec-02
A disturbing number of women I know are being harassed and threatened by men who won't take no for an answer. Although circumstances vary, and I'm by no means an expert on the subject, here's what I would do if I were in a similar situation:
1. Learn. AWARE (Arming Women Against Rape or Endangerment) has a very useful list of resources . AWARE's book, Safety for Stalking Victims: How to Save Your Privacy, Your Sanity, and Your Life may be a good place to start.
2. Buy a gun and learn how to use it. Take the following NRA Basic Firearm Training Classes: “Basic Pistol”, “Personal Protection”, and “Home Firearm Safety”. Consider applying for a concealed weapons permit.
3. Document. Keep a journal. Note the time, location, people present, and behavior of any interactions between you and attacker. Save e-mails, letters, gifts, phone messages. Take pictures of any injuries or property damage. Tape your phone calls. Contact your attorney to find out how to best set up the recording apparatus to maximize it's effectiveness as legal evidence.
4. Surround yourself with friends/family. Avoid dark, poorly lit pathways. If you live alone, consider getting a roommate. Consider also getting a large dog, such as a mastiff, rottweiler, or german shepherd.
5. Talk. Tell your families and friends what is happening. Establish routine contact with family or friends so that they will know if you're missing. Tell friends where you will be, and when you expect to be back. Carry a cell phone with you at all times.
6. Avoid. Don't respond in any way to the stalker's attempts to maintain contact. If possible, avoid places where you are likely to meet the attacker. If you can afford it, get a second unlisted phone number. (You can use the original number to document the stalker's phone behavior). Set up a separate e-mail account that you only give out to friends and family.
7. Consider taking a IMPACT/Model Mugging class. From the course description: “… In an emotionally supportive environment, you will practice both verbal and physical skills with our fully padded mock assailant. With this unique physical training method you can deliver full force, full contact, knock out blows to vulnerable areas on the padded assailant's body in dynamic, interactive fights. Training also includes verbal self defense strategies practiced in role playing scenarios in a wide variety of contexts – dealing with strangers as well as people you know…”
8. Wait. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAW) (as cited by this site: ):
“…In the United States of America, about two-thirds of all stalking cases last a year or less, about a quarter last 2-5 years, and about a tenth last more than 5 years.
On average, stalking cases last 1.8 years. (21 months)
However, stalking cases involving current or former intimate partners last, on average, significantly longer than stalking cases involving nonintimate partners (2.2 years and 1.1 years, respectively)…”
From the same site, stalking stops because:
The victim moved 19%
The stalker got a new love interest 18%
Police warned stalker 15%
Victim talked to stalker 10%
Stalker was arrested 9%
Stalker moved 7%
Stalker got help 6%
Victim got a new love interest 4%
The stalker died 4%
Unexplained – it just stopped 1%
Stalker was convicted of a crime 1%
What other steps do you readers recommend?
(Image courtesy of the inimitable Oleg Volk. )
Via http://www.transhumanism.com/2002/graps0201.shtml
*Letter – Frozen egg birth begins a reproduction revolution for women*, by Amara Graps, October 19, 2002
Recent news in Britain announced that a woman who had become pregnant using her own frozen eggs gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2318609.stm
Previous attempts in the last decade produced eggs not viable for reproduction. According to this report, the procedure looks to be reliable now. All of a woman's eggs are present at the beginning of her life, and they age, so that no matter how fit she might be in her 40s and later, her reproductive ability declines from her mid-30s on. Now a woman can postpone having children until later (40s, 50s), and still produce a healthy child because the freeze/thaw procedure allows the eggs to be stored almost indefinitely for use at a later date.
I can't think of a single issue more important to a woman in her 20s and 30s who is very actively pursuing her interests/career but can't find the time to raise a child, unless she quits her work. Women of age 20s/30s-something usually must think how to factor in twenty years (including 3-5+ years of little/no work) of raising a child at the same time of building their careers.
With this technology, the woman has twenty+ more years of 'buffer time' in which she can build her career to something supportive for herself+family. In our society, there are plenty of smart, fit, capable women in their 50s who are strong and energetic enough to run after a toddler-on-the-loose. If they had frozen their eggs at age 20, they, at a much older age would have a reasonably high chance of bearing a healthy child. Not only that, but their careers would have the same kind of longevity and safety and support to provide a good living for both of them.
The first use for this procedure was thought to be for women who develop cancer. Because of chemotherapy, the women would want to protect their chances of reproducing later when the therapy is finished. But I believe that the uses for this procedure are much much broader, and have implications for society that are greater than that produced by the birth control pill in the 1960s.
I see the following changes and implications as a result of this technology:
The workforce will become deeper and broader: Women workers who cover a wider spectrum of of ages and experiences will fill more market niches.
Young couples who postponed starting a family now have more money and more time to devote to their careers.
Single women who find themselves mateless during their usual 'prime' years, will now have time to build a better life to support themselves and their children (later, and with or without partners). This leads to the idea of what support for a child and the family unit means. The 'coupling-for-family-support' becomes more optional, if the woman does not depend on the man's support for raising their child because she can better support herself/themselves. The couple might still do it because they want to, but they now both have more choices.
There will be companies catering to frozen egg donors and this could start a thriving industry (another niche for Alcor, perhaps?).
Businesses will now have to accommodate older, more established, employees in their 40s as they begin their new families. These same companies will find that their younger employees are now more educated than they were before.
Governments will try to pass new laws to try to get their hands on the money being made in the new markets that spring up.
Women wanting the more traditional roles will create a backlash against those who want to freeze their eggs.
I suggest to you young (20-30s) women out there to find a reputable clinic that performs this procedure and freeze some of your eggs. I also suggest to the rest of you to digest this new information and prepare yourself for the waves of changes in society that I believe will occur because of this technology.
My top 10 New Year's Resolutions
28-Dec-02
Despite my best efforts, my New Year's Resolutions never seem to last very long. With that insight, I present my resolutions for 2003:
1. I will gain 35 lbs. To achieve this, I will eat no less than 3 bags of Doritos/week, ride in the electric wheelchair at Food Lion, and eat at least two Twinkie-shakes/day. I will sew my own Mu-Mu. Verboten foods: cottage cheese, carrots, broccoli, spinach, skim milk, cabbage.
2. I will avoid talking to attractive women. I will never leave my room, except for groceries, work, and walking the dog. I will not bathe. If an attractive women talks to me, I will fake a nervous tic and ad lib about how “I've got the best bed at the homeless shelter” until she goes away.
3. For at least 3 nights/week, I will stay up til 3:00 a.m. playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and downloading dwarf porn.
4. Any extra money I receive, I will spend on Star Wars commemorative dinner plates, gumball machines, and long distance calls to Philipino phone sex operators. I will buy at least 5 lottery tickets per week. All my lottery winnings will be donated to the Democratic party, PETA, or Handgun Control, Inc.
5. I will stalk Steve Buscemi.
6. I will send no birthday cards, Christmas cards, or gifts of any kind. If anyone calls, I will pretend to be my own Puerto Rican houseboy. I will respond to all queries with: “Senor Rasch, heez very hung over.” If it's my Mom, I will berate her for trying to “tear us apart”, then start crying.
7. I will write fan letters to Hilary Rosen, Fritz Hollings, Leon Kass, Jeremy Rifkin, Jesse Jackson, Chuck Schumer, Diane Feinstein, John Ashcroft, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Keep up the good work, guys!
8. I will forward Nigerian investment opportunities to all of my friends. After I've made money fast and enlarged my penis, I will service lonely housewives. I will buy an X10 camera.
9. I will talk on the cellphone whenever I go driving. I will cut into lines at movies. I will surreptitiously feed bananas and cabbage to my roommate's Labrador. I will call my roommate's current girlfriend by his ex-girlfriend's name. I will ask every woman I meet: “Have you gained weight?”
10. At work, I will establish a low baseline of achievement. I will always include a few typos in all writeten wocorrespondence. I will develop a surly attitude. At the slightest hint of criticism, I will mention my extensive collection of German firearms. If I cannot command respect, fear is a good substitute.
Triumph
26-Dec-02
Check out Triumph, the insult comic dog, especially the Jon Bon Jovi and Star Wars “documentaries”. Link courtesy of .