Polygamists Do It Longer, er Live Longer

polygamistsHe, he, he. I couldn’t resist with the title… A new study from the University of Sheffield, UK’s Dr Virpi Lummaa says that men over 60 from 140 countries that practice polygamy lived on average 12% longer than men from 49 mostly monogamous nations.

Using data from the World Health Organization, Lummaa and Russell scored 189 countries on a monogamy scale of one to four – totally monogamous to mostly polygamous. They also took into account a country’s gross domestic product and average income to minimise the effect of better nutrition and healthcare in monogamous Western nations.

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Singapore Considers Legalizing Human Organ Trading

Human OrgansWell, here’s something you don’t see every day…

A sick but very wealthy man was caught lying about purchasing a kidney for a transplant, and then sentenced to one day in prison. Why the short sentence? Well, he wasn’t allowed to have the organ, and heck… he’s gonna die anyway!

But this brings up a serious question. Why the hell shouldn’t he be allowed to buy a spare organ from someone willing to sell one to him?
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Pole Dancing: China’s Newest Fitness Activity

pole-dancing-new-chinese-fitnessA growing number of Chinese women are experimenting with the country’s newest, and most controversial, fitness activity.

Clad in knee-high leather boots, spandex shorts and a sports bra, Xiao Yan struck a pose two feet off the ground, her head glistening with sweat and her arms straining as she suspended herself from a vertical pole.

“Keeping your grip is the hardest part,” she said. “It’s really easy to slide downward.”

Ms. Xiao, 26, who works as a supermarket manager, is one of a growing number of women experimenting with China’s newest, and most controversial, fitness activity: pole dancing.
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Baz Luhrmann Presents: Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

everybodys free to wear sunscreenPeople ask me for advice nearly every day of my life. And I’d say that 95% of the time I have to give vague answers like “…in most cases…”, or “…usually…”. But every once in a while I’m able to hand out some advice that I feel is absolute. This is the best kind of advice, and Baz Luhrmann dished out some of this advice back in 1999 with the release of Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen.

“Wear Sunscreen” or the “Sunscreen Speech” are the common names of an essay actually called “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young” written by Mary Schmich and published in the Chicago Tribune as a column in 1997.
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New Machine Converts Blood to Universal Type

blood_typesDid you know that there are a total of 29 human blood group systems? Yeah, this means that you’re walking around with different blood than just about everyone you meet on a daily basis!

And did you know that if you got in a car accident and a nurse accidentally hooked up a blood transfusion for you with the wrong type it could kill you!

Well, it happens, and here is the proof:

In 2003 Tawnya Brown was awaiting bowel surgery in a Northern Virginia hospital when she decided to switch beds to be closer to the window. The move ultimately killed her. During surgery, Brown mistakenly received two pints of A-negative blood. She was O-positive.

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Anti-Bacterial Soap Inhibits Testosterone Production

kid-washing-handsI was reading in the Mens Health magazine for May 2008 and came across an article called “Cleanliness is Next to Girliness” which goes a little something like this:

What’s on your washcloth? An antimicrobial ingredient in some soap may sap your testosterone levels, say University of California at Davis scientists. They found that when triclocarban enters a man’s bloodstream through his skin, it mimics testosterone, causing his body to ratchet down production of real T in response, say study author Bill Lasley. Ph.D.

Low testosterone has been linked to everything from infertility to depression. Go to hpd.n.m.nih.gov for a full list of soaps and other toiletries that contain triclocarban.

The new study was published online this week by the journal Endocrinology (“Triclocarban enhances testosterone action: A new type of endocrine disruptor?“).
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The War on Pot Costs America $42 Billion Annually

marijuanaHmmm. I’ve got a question. Why not let Marlboro sell packaged marijuana just like they do normal cigarettes or clove cigarettes? If one can believe the stats in the article below, the cost to fight the Pot war is simply amazing!

Arrests for marijuana possession — not sales or trafficking, just possession — totaled 738,916. By comparison, there were 611,523 arrests last year for all violent crimes combined.

Wow! I don’t understand that on so many levels:

  1. How do so many people actually gain access to an illegal drug like that? I wouldn’t have a clue where to go buy some pot, and I’d be scared to ask anyone!
  2. If 3/4 of a million people got CAUGHT, there must be 50 people for each one that got away! I mean, America must love it’s pot!
  3. I never heard of anyone high on pot committing violent crimes. I thought it had the opposite effect? Making you tired and lazy, right?

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Independent Comparison of Democratic vs. Republican Platforms

Republican vs DemocratFolks, I’m neither a Democrat, nor a Republican. But my mom asked me to give her an unbiased, factual rundown on the political platforms – so what my mother wants, my mother gets! Here you go Mom…

I’m making the presumption that the two candidates who are going to actually be running for President are Barack Obama, and John McCain. So, below I’ve taken the liberty of narrowing down all the data to these two guys. What you need to do is line up as many of your political ideal matches and then you can rationally choose who you are voting for.
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The Complete Emergency Preparedness Kit

In Case of EmergencyThe worst thing about emergencies is that you just can’t predict them. The only good news is that you can plan for them.

Since people are always under duress when an emergency actually occurs it is prudent to assemble a kit that you can pull out when needed that covers most bases. So, here is a fairly complete list of the items you’ll find in my personal stash, plus a couple of extras that might be helpful for some folks with special needs.

Now seriously, why don’t you take a couple of hours and really honestly think thorough this emergency thing. You never know, perhaps the reason you’re reading this article today is a sign. You don’t want to be the person that didn’t pay attention and were left unprepared when disaster struck!
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