Personally, I hate the whole voucheritis that has infected Germany over the last couple of years. I get why marketing departments love them, and yes, if I worked in one of them, I’d probably be infected as well. But as a customer, I find them as annoying as it gets. Although, apparently, not all vouchers are equal, as today’s Reuter’s “oddly enough” reminds me –
NEW YORK Reuters – A Nevada brothel is trying to stimulate business by offering free gasoline.
Kaum zu glauben, aber laut heise.de-news trotzdem wahr – “Nigerianische E-Mail-Betrugsmasche zieht immer noch“
I’ve watched this clip, but I’m still not sure it’s for real…
Just seen on nytimes.com while checking the latest primary results –
Arizona Weighs Bill to Allow Guns on Campuses – Horrified by recent campus shootings, a state lawmaker proposes that allowing adults to carry concealed weapons might deter future incidents.
Alright, quite frankly, ‘oddly enough’ doesn’t really describe my initial reaction to reading this on foreignpolicy.com. People are stoned for adultery in a country, where, according to foreignpolicy.com’s blog
“more sex-change surgeries are performed … than in any other country except Thailand.”
Sounds crazy? But it gets even better –
“Ayatollah Khomeini approved them for “diagnosed transsexuals” 25 years ago, and today the Iranian government will pay up to half the cost for those in financial need.”
For those of, my gentle readers, who are now slowly shaking their head in disbelief, here’s why –
“Former FP researcher David Francis wrote, “In a country that shuns homosexuality, this makes perverse sense, as
after a sex-change operation, one technically isn’t attracted to one’s own sex and therefore isn’t gay.”
I don’t want to quote all of their post, so head over to foreign policy to read more (and see some clips) about a recently released documentary about the lives of young Iranian men who undergo sex-change surgery. And yes, before you ask, they will have to wear a tchador afterwards…
I suppose no one of you, gentle readers, will be able to deny that the internet has immensely increased humanity’s ability to deal with boredom. Whenever we’re not exactly sure how to productively spend our time, or aren’t willing to do so for some reason or another, we no longer need to stare at empty walls or zap through hundreds of tv channels not knowing what to expect.
In the internet age, there is at least one source of immediate gratification that will never disappoint: It’s Reuters “oddly enough” news section. This is where we learn about everything we always wanted to know about human life in the 21st century but never dared to ask. Thus, it’s the perfect source for a couple of easy reading Friday afternoon links.
Accordingly, let me regale you today with a link to a Reuters’ video about a Hungarian national contest to identify the best public toilet east and west, north and south of Budapest…
Today, Reuters offers a possible, yet likely unrelated, explanation for the NHS’s attempts to help her majesty’s citizens to ‘sexercise’ sufficiently. According to the news agency
“half of UK men would swap sex for 50 inch TV.”
According to a survey of 2000 Britons, conducted by the British Electrical retailer Comet, asking what they would give up for a large television, it was allegedly found that 47 percent of men, yet only about a third of women would give up sex for half a year.
Questions of scientific and statistical validity notwithstanding, published just before Valentine’s day, even as a joke, that’s not exactly a compliment for British women…
According to this article on BBC online, the British National Health Service, NHS, is trying a new way to make people enjoy preventing illnesses rather than having to pay to cure them later. Its NHS direct website apparently briefly offered a document explaining how having regular sex is scientifically considered to be
“a workout worthy of an athlete.”
At least when it’s done with
“a little energy and imagination,”
apparently, a formulation which, alas, leaves one age-old question unanswered – is bad sex better than no sex at all?
On the other hand, if the BBC is quoting the document correctly, maybe the concept of “bad sex” is a little off.
“Forget about jogging round the block or struggling with sit-ups. Sex uses every muscle group, gets the heart and lungs working hard, and burns about 300 calories an hour.” The advice suggests “regular romps this winter” could lead to a better body and a younger look.” [And adds that i]ncreased production of endorphins “will make your hair shine and your skin smooth.” “If you’re worried about wrinkles – orgasms even help prevent frown lines from deepening.”
I suppose at least for one half of humanity, this part of the story may be the best news- headaches and sex actually seem to go together rather well…
“The article goes on to say that orgasms release “painkillers” into the bloodstream, which helping keep mild illnesses like colds and aches and pains at bay.
It’s too bad that the NHS direct apparently had to take the document off their website following the BBC report. Given all those benefits and the NHS’ continuous problems to ration health services justly, the agency should not worry too much about publishing advice contra Victorian mores, but rather start investing in explicit online dating sites or offer discounts for courses on tantric exploration. But for all its benefits, I still somehow doubt they will take this advice…
naja, mittlerweile dürfte sich die Schreibweise bei den Republikanern wohl herumgesprochen haben…
SPIEGEL ONLINE – Toilettenaffäre: Sex-Skandal zermürbt Republikaner
Und ausgerechnet in dieser Woche machen sowohl Jon Stewart als auch Steven Colbert Urlaub…
