Here goes: So (a) if a law like the one I propose is passed on a national level, and (b) it does not substantially reduce the level of spam, then (c) I will resign my job. I get to decide whether (a) is true; Declan can decide whether (b) is true. If (a) and (b) are both true, then I'll do (c) at the end of the following academic year.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 05:57 PM | TrackBack 0

The tests cost about $1,100 each but Myriad, which also holds gene patents for screening of colon and prostate cancers, wants all tests done at its own laboratory at triple the cost.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 05:50 PM | TrackBack 0

Tucked away on Museum Mile, the academy library is the sort of place that would make blood brothers of Nicholson Baker and Joel-Peter Witkin. Here are books on forensic pathology and morbid anatomy, wax models of skin diseases and the occult origins of kidney stones. Books worth perusing for their titles alone, such as the 1973 Proceedings of the International Workshop on Nude Mice or William A. Rossi's Sex Life of the Foot and Shoe (1976). Books to treasure for their homiletic wisdom, such as Robert A. Matthews's How to Recognize and Handle Abnormal People (1960), "a manual for the police officer" whose sage counsel will prove useful at family functions or office meetings. Books to savor for their droll wit, such as Sublime of Flagellation, an 18th-century bagatelle in the guise of letters from "Lady Termagant Flaybum, of Birch-Grove, to Lady Harriet Tickletail, of Bumfiddle-Hall."

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 09:41 AM | TrackBack 0

Slightly less than one in 10 nuns said she was the focus of sexual harassment at least once during her religious life. Almost half of those were at the hands of priests, nuns or other religious persons. More than half of the total harassment cases involved some type of physical contact.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 09:06 AM | TrackBack 0

Take, for example, the anecdote of Immanuel Kant, the 18th-century sage of Konigsberg whose iron reverence for absolute truth as the core value of human nature defeated many a dialectical opponent. Towards the end of his life, Kant discovered that his manservant of 40 years' standing had been systematically stealing from him. So the manservant was dismissed, only to turn up later with the brass neck to ask his former master for a reference of good character. Kant wrestled with his conscience and his kindness. Conscience lost. The manservant went away with a favourable reference, but one whose mendacity broke the rules and principles to which Kant had dedicated his life.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 09:05 AM | TrackBack 0

Dr. Comfort -- he died in 2000, having done more than most for the general pursuit of happiness -- was not a proselytizer, like those tiresome Esalen types who were always urging us to do it in the road. The phrase ''free love'' is mercifully absent. On the other hand, he didn't see anything wrong with voyeurism or group sex. In fact, he quite enjoyed both, and the evidence suggests that he did enough research for a second Ph.D. But he doesn't make you feel like a dweeb (or dweebette) if your idea of fun doesn't include croupade and flanquette with the entire neighborhood block association. On the whole, the tone is warm, learned and friendly, as if Marcus Welby, M.D., had disappeared to California for a few months and come back with a great big grin on his face and some nifty new ideas on stress reduction. The occasional refusal to admit irony -- as when he advises wearing a hard hat during motorcycle sex -- will cause guffaws, but that only shows, once again, the impotence of being earnest.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 09:03 AM | TrackBack 0

The relationship between workers and their clutter is similar. People spread stuff over their desks not because they are too lazy to file it, but because the paper serves as a physical representation of what is going on in their heads—“a temporary holding pattern for ideas and inputs which they cannot yet categorise or even decide how they might use”, as Ms Kidd puts it. The clutter cannot be filed because it has not been categorised. By the time the worker's ideas have taken form, and the clutter could be categorised, it has served its purpose and can therefore be binned. Filing it is a waste of time.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 08:49 AM | TrackBack 0

For these reasons and hundreds of others, the year following September 11 has seen probably the most staggering proliferation of "conspiracy theories" in American history. Angry speculation %uFFD0 focused mainly on government dirty dealings, ulterior motives, and potential complicity in the attacks %uFFD0 has risen to a clamor that easily rivals what followed the Kennedy assassination. Some of these suppositions are patent balderdash. But many others are coherent and well argued, and cite disconcerting reports from the U.S. corporate media and respected overseas news desks to support their claims. Providing grist for the mill are such odd episodes as last year's partisan anthrax poisonings (using U.S. army microbes) and the sniper attacks that recently plagued Washington, DC.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 08:36 AM | TrackBack 0

On Thursday, Windsor Justice Douglas Phillips dismissed criminal charges against a teenager accused of having about five grams of pot.
The judge accepted defence arguments that the law against possessing small amounts of the drug is invalid because Parliament has failed to draft clear, consistent legislation about cannabis.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 08:09 AM | TrackBack 0

The ad features a reclining full-frontal nude male model. He's quite hairy, as required by the new shift in male beauty standards. The guy is former martial arts French champion Samuel de Cubber. The ad (right pic, above) will be published from Oct. 24 in a handful of fashion magazines, including the French edition of Vogue and the Italian one.
It is the first time in the history of advertising that a major mainstream company shows a full-frontal nude as a standard ad.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 07:42 AM | TrackBack 0

While local news agencies unabashedly report suicides and stick cameras in the faces of grieving family members, authorities have begun clamping down on gratuitous suicide "news" -- albeit flaccidly. Article 275 of the Criminal Law prescribes a seven-year jail term for anyone posting suicide methods on the Internet. No official effort has been made to bring other media -- namely television -- within the bounds of tasteful reporting.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 07:39 AM | TrackBack 0

This contest is simple. E-mail a photo to me at wkenshow@yahoo.com. The photo should finish the sentence "I love _____." I will publish your photo here at wPhotoBlog, in its own post, along with a link to your site (if you have one). Isn't that easy?

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 06:59 AM | TrackBack 0

This site is a presentation of the diaries of Samuel Pepys, the renowned 17th century diarist who lived in London, England (read more about him). A new entry written by Pepys will be published each day, with the first appearing on 1st January 2003.

Posted by GeeTee at January 06, 2003 06:53 AM | TrackBack 0