WannaGo

It's a little disconcerting that an STD we thought we'd just about gotten rid of can come back like this. ATLANTA — Sexually spread diseases continue to rise, with reported chlamydia cases setting yet another record in 2008, government health officials said Monday. Last year there were 1.2 million new cases of chlamydia, a sometimes symptomless infection that can lead to infertility in women. It was the most ever reported, up from the old record of 1.1 million cases in 2007. Better screening is the most likely reason, said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr. of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Syphilis, on the verge of being eliminated in the United States about 10 years ago, also has been increasing lately. About 13,500 cases of the most contagious form of the disease were reported in 2008, up from about 11,500 the year before. Unlike chlamydia, health officials think syphilis cases actually are increasing. Syphilis rates are up among both gay men and heterosexuals, said Douglas, director of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention. More

This whole thing is much ado about nothing. This video is in Portuguese, but you can see what she looks like (she's kinda hot, to me) and it shows the "mini-riot."

Wino, you aren't missing much by not being on Facebook. I did it for a few months, but got tired of it pretty quickly. I don't really need to know every time one of my friends goes to the dentist or hears a funny joke at work.

I'd rather have somebody show up at my door trying to sell me pot than have some Jehovah's Witness come knocking. Actually, the last unexpected knock I got on my door was some toothless redneck chick wanting to know if the place next door was for rent. I told her the house had recently sold to a young black couple who were moving in any day.

Wow...dude, you're amazing. It's been ages since I had a good burger...and all of those sound like heaven right now.

I heard the kebabs tasted like chicken.

Anybody besides me think people who use a site like that would be big douches that you wouldn't want to date anyway? Leave 'em to their own little Aryan world to happily fuck like minks and breed scores of beautiful, but vapid children.

I rarely go to the movies anymore. It just seems such a waste to spend $8 for a ticket, another $8 for a drink and popcorn, and then not be able to enjoy the movie because there's always some loud jackasses talking, or using their cell phones, or somebody's baby is crying. I'd rather just wait for the movie to come out on DVD and watch it in the comfort (and quiet) of my own home.

Transparency International has released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index. It "ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. It is a composite index, drawing on corruption-related data in expert surveys carried out by a variety of reputable institutions. It reflects the views of business people and analysts from around the world, including experts who are locals in the countries evaluated. The CPI focuses on corruption in the public sector and defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain. The surveys used in compiling the CPI ask questions that relate to the misuse of public power for private benefit, with a focus, for example, on bribe-taking by public officials in public procurement. The sources do not distinguish between administrative and political corruption or between petty and grand corruption." Thailand was 80 last year, so it's slipped four places. Keep in mind that the CPI has been criticized for poor methodology in determining the rankings. More

He told the judge that, because he's 61, this is essentially a death sentence. Guess he's probably not far wrong, but I can dredge up much sympathy for him. NEWARK, N.J. — A small-time actor and former children's entertainer who was known for playing Santa Claus was sentenced Monday to nearly 20 years in prison for his role in an international sex tourism ring that preyed on young children. Wayne Nelson Corliss, whose 2008 arrest was the culmination of an international manhunt, had admitted traveling to Thailand three times between 2000 and 2002 to have sex with at least two boys, ages 6 and 9. He pleaded guilty last October to five counts that included distribution and possession of child pornography and traveling to foreign countries to engage in illegal sexual activity. "You have acted beyond the bounds of human decency," U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway told Corliss on Monday. More

I don't know if eradication will ever be possible -- mosquitoes will always carry it, and people will always get bitten by mosquitoes -- but hopefully they can create a more effective medication. In the meantime, I agree with one of the guys in the article who said they need to work on prevention because it is possible to reduce mosquito populations and adopt safer practices (using mosquito nets and repellents, avoiding peak hours, etc.) that lower the chances of being bitten by infected mosquitoes. I just don't agree with the guy that it's an either/or proposition. They can and should work at this problem from both sides.

You are absolutely right. He's one of the few men living that I consider "great." About 10 or 12 years ago, I had a chance to play in his annual softball game in Americus, Ga. and didn't jump at it. I'll always regret that.

Even if they do release her, how many other political prisoners are they holding under far less high-profile, and probably far more barbaric conditions? And how many have just been marched off into the jungle for a quick bullet in the back of the head and an anonymous burial?

I wonder how much they're going to charge for the bags. I always bring home plastic grocery bags and use them for other things, like cleaning out my cats' litter box.

The movie studios are so frickin' clueless about consumers. Because DVD sales are down (who wants to pay almost $20 for a movie that's probably going to suck?), these geniuses have decided to make DVD rental outfits wait 30 days before they can start renting new releases. The studios think that this will drive people to buy more DVDs, instead of just waiting the month, then renting them. From the LA Times: For those who like renting movies, Hollywood may soon have a message: Prepare to wait. In an effort to push consumers toward buying more movies, some major film studios are considering a new policy that would block DVDs from being offered for rental until several weeks after going on sale. Under the plan, new DVD releases would be available on a purchase-only basis for a few weeks, after which time companies such as Blockbuster Inc. and Netflix Inc. would be allowed to rent the DVDs to their customers. The move comes as the studios are grappling with sharply declining DVD revenue, which has long propped up the movie business. Reed Hastings, chief executive of DVD-by-mail company Netflix, revealed that he had discussed delayed-rental proposals with several of his biggest suppliers. People close to the situation at several studios confirmed that such plans were under consideration and probably would take effect next year. More Of course, reactions have not been good. The Consumerist had a great headline: Netflix Will Screw You For the Right Price...referring to reports that Netflix is going to go along with the plan in exchange for discounts on new DVDs from the studios. I think TechCrunch got it right in predicting that all this will do is cause more people to pirate DVDs. Instead of buying more DVDs, they'll either wait the 30 days or just download them illegally. From the article: And some who have never done that before will learn how to get around such a ridiculous restriction.

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtcLWkhydrA According to CNN president Jonathan Klein, the network's resident blowhard (my words, not Klein's) didn't like the fact that he was told to be less opinionated and more, you know, factual on his show on a cable news channel. Interesting that this surprise comes only a couple of weeks after a bullet hit Dobbs' house. Of course, he immediately started claiming that it was because of his tough stance on things like illegal immigration. From CNN: On (his) radio show, aired by United Stations Radio Networks, Dobbs said that "a shot was fired at my house where I live" and that it followed "weeks and weeks of threatening phone calls." He said the hostility has "become part of a way of life, the anger, the hate, the vitriol, but it's taken a different tone where they threaten my wife." "They've now fired a shot at my house while my wife was standing next to the car. It's become something else, and if anybody thinks that we're not engaged in a battle for the soul of this country right now, you're sorely mistaken." More

Of course the conservatives are going to play this up. They thrive on fear and paranoia. But it's still way too early to know whether this was anything more than a nutcase acting out his anger at the world.

This is kind of funny...the University of Kentucky conducted a study of sexuality attitudes and concluded that women who see sex as a sacred experience tend to have it more often and with more partners. They needed a study to figure that out? Haven't they ever met any hippie chicks? “Believing one is intimately tied to other human beings and that interconnectedness and harmony are indispensible may lead one to believe sexual intimacy possesses a divine or transcendent quality in itself. In fact, ascribing sacred qualities to sex has been positively associated with positive affective reactions to sex, frequency of sex, and number of sexual partners among university students.†-- University researcher Jessica Burris. More

I bet the First Lady could rock a grass skirt.

I always thought that if I were insane rich, I'd have a small fleet of planes with a staff of pilots to fly them...have the planes stationed around the world, so I could always travel anywhere I wanted at a moment's notice.I usually have those thoughts on Saturdays, right after buying my lottery ticket, and stop having them some time Sunday afternoon when I check the winning numbers and discover yet again that I wasn't even close.

I'm suddenly hearing "Goodbye Horses" in my head. (It puts the lotion on its skin...)

That's kind of what I was thinking.

Neither...we just do things differently down here in Florida.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I prefer to keep my food and my hard-ons separate. I've never understood the whole food-with-sex thing. That scene in 9 1/2 Weeks actually kind of grossed me out.

Holy smokes...that's about $18, right? For a movie?