Testicle Tree

A doctor writing for Psychology Today is suggesting that some foods have an aphrodisiac

affect simply because of their shapes. For instance, the avocado tree... it's apparently known as the "testicle tree." That's because avocados often grow in pairs.

If you're wondering why foods like chocolate has such a hold on us, check out this explanation of chocolate's chemical interaction with our brains.

Bathroom Reading

Do you like scary stories? Do you like to read in the bathroom?

You can kill both birds with one stone if you can read Japanese. Novelist Koji Suzuki has written a horror story with the allusive title "Drop", and the Hayashi Paper Company have printed it on rolls of toilet paper which sell for 210 yen each including tax. It's billed as "The Scariest Toilet Paper in Japan" and is environmentally responsible at 100% recycled paper content.

The story repeats a few times in the roll, so if you miss a few pages because someone else used them, you have a chance to catch up before the roll finishes.

Women in their Prime

Researchers pinpoint 28 as the magical number when women are happiest with their bodies and love life.
Apparently by the time we turn 30, we're worried about getting old, losing our looks and wrinkles.
So the window of happiness seems very short.

I say, screw the research. Enjoy who you are.

The Heart Attack Grill

Check out the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, AZ.

Paying Children not to have children

A program called College Bound Sisters gives teenage girls a buck for every day they are not pregnant.

Organizers noticed that teenage girls with babies tend to have sisters with babies too.

The program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro tries to keep girls 12 to 18 in school and childless.

The money goes into a fund and when the girl enrolls in a college, she can get the money to pay for school.

As you can imagine, not everyone approves of this method.

See? Sex Sells.

Hot on the heels of the MyVibe app is the "Hottest Girls" app. It delivers a picture of a woman to users' iPhones.

Starting June 24, it delivered a picture of a nude woman to users' iPhones, making it the first app with nudity.

Within just a few hours, the resultant surge in user demand crashed the service's servers.

Apple has not allowed these kinds of "adult content" apps before, but the iPhone 3.0 OS added an age verification feature, opening the door to a whole new world of iPhone apps.

image: not from Hottest Girls. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1316/1393028700_01c997a73d.jpg

Governor's steamy e-mails

By now you're not surprised to hear another politician is having an affair.

S.C. Governor Mark Sanford has been missing for a few days. He turned up today apologizing for having an affair with a woman from Argentina.

Check out these e-mails between Sanford and Maria.

Hear All About It (On Your Cell Phone)

When you think of an museum audio guide, you probably think of those large devices that hang around your neck, or the ones that look like giant cell phones.

However, with almost everyone owning a cell phone nowadays, audio guides have taken to the great outdoors. New York's Central Park is offering an audio guide accessible by cell phone. Want to know about, say, the Sheep Meadow? Matthew Broderick will tell you about it if you call 646-462-0997, followed by 35. Of course, you don't have to be in Central Park to hear about it.

This service is offered by a company in San Francisco, Guidebycell. A map of other locations that offer audio guidance can be found here.

image: http://daily100.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/photolavande-audioguide.jpg

Teen's Tattoo Trouble

The Beligan girl who said she wanted 3 tattoos but got 56 by mistake now admits she lied.

She says she asked for 56 but when she got home, her father was 'furious.' The tattoo artist now says he'll get written consent from now on.

Strangest Themed Restaurants

I was a little suprised to learn that I have eaten at three of the "15 Strangest Themed Restaurants" as chosen by Steph at weburbanist.com. I would say that Cabbages and Condoms was the best of the three, as it was a real restaurant that happened to have a gimmick, whereas the other two were gimmicks that happened to have a restaurant.

Some of the themes in the restaurants nominated to the honor of "Strangest Themed" are:

• Toilets
• Guns
• Cannibalism
• Vampires
• Graveyards
• Hitler
• Death
• Darkness
• Religion

What, hungry already? See the details here.

Geek Badge Gets Sex

A NJ man was apparently using his Geek Squad badge to impersonate a state police officer.

As if that's not bad enough, he arranged to meet a woman at a hotel room for a sexual transaction. He showed her his "state police badge" and promised to let her go if she had sex with him.

After the transaction, the guy wouldn't leave. The woman called a relative who then called police.

You have to give this "Geek Squad" member credit for using his head.

Obama Bobblehead

The Brooklyn Cyclones are giving away 2,500 free Obama Bobbleheads on Tuesday. For the day, the team will be called the "Baracklyn Cyclones."
In homage to the the President's health care reform push, the team will also give out 500 band-Aids.

As you can see Obama is giving fans a thumbs up and wearing #44 on the back of his jersey. The game is sold out. Sorry. Standing room only.

Good Vibrations?

Many iPhone apps are downloaded once and never used again.

But what about the myVibe application? It's an application that controls the vibration feature of the iPhone for... Well, you can read about it here.

Man pimps his wife out

Actually, he put up a "Lusty Latina" on Craigslist. Police say she was helping to pay the bills. Hey, times are tough. Local police saw the AD and set up a sting operation. When she showed up willing to perform sex acts, they arrested her.



She ratted out her husband. Ain't love grand.

Free at last

Burn that hosiery. That's what the women who work for the group Focus on the Family are saying.

The group is relaxing its dress code. Women had to wear skirts and dresses to work. Now, they can wear pants and pantsuits. Men are also benefiting... they can wear an open-collar shirt. Can I get an AMEN.

Dear Leader's Health

It has been said that the two public leaders with the most scrutinized health in the world are Kim Jong Il and Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs was expected to make an appearance at WWDC, the big Apple conference, but did not. Now the reason has been reported: he had a liver transplant two months ago.

24 songs =$1.9 million

In the post Napster era, some people still say it's silly to pay for music downloads.
The Recording Industry Association of America sued a woman who illegally downloaded 24 songs. A jury has awarded the recording industry $80,000 per song. That brings to total at the cash register to over 1.9 million dollars.

Actual retail price of each song: 99 cents. This is apparently the first music copyright infringement case to go in front of a jury.

The woman is appealing the award.

Seeing stars, 56 to be exact

A young Beligian woman said she went to a tattoo parlor and asked for 3 stars on her face. She fell asleep and woke up with 56!

You need to see this.

President Obama's Cat Like Quickness

A fly rudely interrupted President Obama during an interview. With a cat like quickness, The President caught the fly and then cleaned up after himself.

Not as good as Mr.Miyagi, but pretty good.

Gossip Girls

The CW show, Gossip Girl, has found an audience. Some new research says gossip is good for your health.

Gossiping or having an emotional connection to people release the hormone progesterone. Progesterone reduces stress levels and ultimately can help you live longer.

This is not the only way to live a long life. Helping people seems to have the same effect on your health.

But why do we enjoy gossiping? And it's not just women, I know lots of gay and straight men who are gossip mongers.

Secondhand Snoring

You've heard about second-hand smoke, but have you heard of second-hand snoring?

Sleeping with a partner who snores regularly may be detrimental to your long term health. One possible outcome: hearing loss in the ear that's usually closest to the source of the snoring!

image: http://www.newrinkles.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/09/snoring_snoring.jpg

Palin vs. Letterman

Have you been following the Sarah Palin, David Letterman saga? It's gone on a lot longer than Dave expected.

Last night Dave took a second shot at an apology. This time, he has all the information.

In brief, Sarah Palin was at a Yankees game in NYC. Dave said something like during the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez. Dave swears he was talking about Palin's 18 year old daughter, Bristol. Turns out the 14 year old was with Palin at the game. Here is his first apology.

There is a group leading the charge to fire Letterman called firedavidletterman.com. CBS recently resigned Letterman to a new contract. Is Dave's apology too little too late?

The Benefits of Legalization.

Legalizing "it" may be beneficial in more ways than one.

Not that "it"... the other "it".

A new study by some economists at Emory University in Atlanta says that intolerance towards gays, in the form of gay marriage bans, may increase HIV infection rates.

Hugo Mialon and Andrew Francis say that banning gay marriage and sending a tone of intolerance can drive gay people to "underground" sexual behaviors that carry more risk of HIV infection. They estimate that banning gay marriage may increase HIV infections by 4 cases per 100,000 people.

The Centers for Disease Control estimated that the nationwide HIV infection rate in 2003 was 127.8 per 100,000 people.

image: http://blog.beliefnet.com/tonyjones/marriage.jpg

Beef Taco Bigotry

An Ohio man says his 5 year old Hindu son was force-fed a beef taco at a Cincinnati Public School. The man says it's an "intentional act of religious bigotry."

The school says the boy ate the taco, but he chose the taco. This is part of a long running dispute between the school and the parent.

The U.S Justice Dept. is investigating the allegation.

The Facebook Username Land Grab

"Nice to meet you!"

"Yeah, nice to meet you too! Say - what's your facebook page? I'll friend you."

The conversation above became possible on June 12, when Facebook started allowing unique usernames to profile pages. Now you can have a page like http://www.facebook.com/your.name. It has been said that more than 1,000,000 users claimed names within one hour of the service being announced.

One of the notable registered names was "default.aspx", belonging to Christine Shipley.

If you have a "desirable" name or want to sell your registered name, you might find a buyer on assetize.com, where you can put a registered name you own up for sale. For example, a recent check showed that the owner of www.facebook.com/rebate was trying to sell that name for $60,000.00.

I found it surprising that the names "www.facebook.com/god" and "www.facebook.com/stevejobs" were still unclaimed as of the publishing of this post.

image: http://www.arabexpatriates.org/pic/facebook1.bmp

Transform the Transformer

Here is your chance to create the perfect transformer. USA Today is running a contest... design your transformer, tell them what it does and you could see your creation in the paper.

Submission are due June 18. Good Luck!

Celebrity tweeters, for real

You know Ashton Kutcher tweets, but can you be sure the celebrity tweeter you're following is the real deal.

Celebrities have been complaining and even suing Twitter because someone is impersonating them online. St. Louis Cardinals Manager, Tony La Russa sued the company for allowing someone to create an account in his name.



In response, Twitter is creating a way to verify accounts and ultimately place a symbol on the account so you know it's a real celebrity.

Playing Hooky, Get Excuse note from the President

President Obama was in Green Bay talking about his health care plan when a father got up to ask a question. The man said his daughter, Kennedy was missing the last day of school to be here. He hopes she doesn't get into trouble. President Obama offered to write Kennedy an excuse note.

Here is the exchange:

John Corpus: My name is John Corpus, I am fortunate enough to be here with
my 10 year old daughter who is missing her last day of school to be here, I
hope she doesn't get in trouble..

President Obama: Oh no. Do you need me to write a note?

Corpus: Actually I'll take you up on that Mr President..

Obama: Okay go ahead, I'll start writing. What's her name?

Corpus: John Corpus

Obama: No, her.

Corpus: Oh...(laughter)...well considering I have some people here from
work, they're very interested..

Obama: No no I'm serious, what's your daughter's name?

Corpus: Her name is Kennedy.

Obama: Kennedy, all right, that's a cool name.

Corpus: It's a very cool name, thank you.

Obama: I'm going to write, "To Kennedy's teacher.." okay go ahead I'm
listening to your question.

Obama: Here you go Kennedy, here's your note..there you go, you got it.

Kennedy: He wrote..to Kennedy's teacher. Please excuse Kennedy's absence..
she's with me. Barack Obama.

Kennedy described the whole thing as "like, really
awesome."

So, the next time you want to play hooky, you know where to get a note.

The Most Expensive Suburbs

Congratulations, residents of Atherton, CA. You live in the country's most expensive suburb -- according to a list published by Business Week. Home prices in Atherton are at about $3.8 million (even in this economy, apparently) and the cost of living is 206% above the State average.

But still, there are some relative bargains in the U.S.'s Most Expensive Suburbs. For example, median home prices in Broadview, MT (near Billings) are $107,000; cost of living in West Fargo, ND is only 10% above the average in that state.

image: http://sanfranciscostuff.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/suburb.jpg

Fish Abuse in Seattle

How does one measure fish abuse? PETA seems to know the answer. That's why they're trying to stop workers of Seattle's Pike Place Market from demonstrating their fish tossing skills for the American Veterinary Medical Association.

PETA says why not use rubber fish. I hope someone talks to the fish and see what they think.

Auction of 'Unabomber's' Posessions

CNN is reporting that Ted Kaczynski, better known as the 'Unabomber,' is trying to stop the sale of his personal possession.

What does he own? More than I realized. The most famous items, the hooded jacket and sunglass (now back in style) and the more than 40,000 pages of Kaczynski's writings.

There are the degrees from Harvard and the University of Michigan, tools, typewriters, knives and a hatchet.
Speaking of burying the hatchet, Kaczynski owes some of his victims $15 million.
The 'Unabomber' is hoping the U.S Supreme Court will hear his case and rule that his items cannot be auctioned off to pay his victims.

On a side note, Ted Kaczynski still refers to himself as 'K.' Wow, what an interesting case study.

By the way, you can find the 'Unabomber's' manifesto here.

Laughing Matter?

Regina Barecca, a teacher of English at University of Connecticut, wants to know: is the following joke funny? Why, or why not? You can post your opinion here.

A husband and wife were having dinner at a very fine restaurant when this absolutely stunning young woman comes over to their table, gives the husband a big french kiss, then says she'll see him later and walks away.

The wife glares at her husband and says, "Who the hell was that?"

"Oh," replies the husband, "she's my mistress."

"Well, that's the last straw," says the wife. "I've had enough. I want a divorce!"

I can understand that," replies her husband, "but remember, if we get a divorce it will mean no more shopping trips to Paris, no more wintering in Barbados, no more summers in Tuscany, no more Infiniti or Lexus in the garage and no more yacht club. But the decision is yours."

Just then, a mutual friend enters the restaurant with a gorgeous babe on his arm.

"Who's that woman with Jim?" asks the wife.

"That's his mistress," says her husband.

"Ours is prettier," she replies.

image: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/129/376588066_ae1f1f8363.jpg

It's Bathing Suit Season, I hope you're in shape

This man is showing off his shape. For days now, Kevin Lee Miller has been running up to women in his one piece bathing suit asking women how do I look.

Police caught up with the bathing suit bandit. He was wearing a green one piece swimsuit with a bra underneath. The bra was stuffed with suits to fill out his figure.



You go girl!

Now... Where Did I Put My...

It has been said that the term "smartphone" is really something of a misnomer for the little computers that we carry around in our pockets (which also happen to be able to make and receive calls).

With more and more information and data being stored on these little devices, the stakes are becoming higher and higher if you are prone to losing or misplacing them.

This week at WWDC, the Apple Developer's Conference, Apple introduced a new app that's an almost-perfect solution for those who lose their iPhones (if they run iPhone 3.0 OS and subscribe to MobileMe). It's called "Find My iPhone" and allows you, from your computer, to locate your iPhone on a map like a GPS target, make it ring, or wipe all data from it.

Of course, if your iPhone was stolen, you could just wait for the thief to take a picture of himself and use your account to send it. Then you'd have a photo of the thief which you could give to the police, as one woman in New York did.

image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26532187@N00/1844560026

Making a shitload from toilets

I am stealing 'shitload' from Chris for this update on Ryanair charging you to use the bathroom on its flights. The CEO of Ryanair confirmed he's really going to charge for toilet privileges.

How much does a trip cost? About $1.65. I presume you get toilet paper with that.
The company is also thinking about removing 2 of the bathrooms on its Boeing 737 to make room for 6 seats.



How much would you pay if you really had to go? Someone asked the CEO of Ryanair if he'd charge 5 pounds. Here is my favorite quote from him.

"If someone wanted to pay £5 to go to the toilet I would carry them myself. I would wipe their bums for a fiver."

I like a CEO who doesn't mind doing his own dirty work.

Coming Clean About Detergent Labels

Some laundry detergents claim to be kinder on the environment, or to be hypoallergenic.

But the simple truth is that there is no govermental oversight on those claims. Consumer Reports recently tested 2 detergents, Simplicity Hypoallergenic Non-Toxic 2X and Seventh Generation Natural Powdered HE (HE refers "high efficiency" washers which use less water), both of which claim to be hypoallergenic -- but the warning labels caution that the detergents can cause eye, skin, or respiratory irritation.

image: http://www.annemcallister.com

Exercise improves mood long after workout

We know working out is good for your body, but how about your mind? Some new research suggests that going for a run can improve your mood for up to12 hours.

Researchers at the University of Vermont sent students on a bike ride, then asked questions about their mood at various intervals. Apparently after 24 hours, you have to start over to gain that high.

Mow your lawn. No, your other lawn.

You may know that Gillette makes razor blades.

Now the 114-year-old company has come out with an intriguing series of videos aimed at educating men about body hair trimming.

Full of clever metaphors about lawn mowing, sweaters, carpet, horse stables, and forested trails, the step-by-step how-to videos are viewable on YouTube or Gillette.com.

Homsexual Penguins raise child

A penguin chick abandoned by its parents found a new home and family. Two gay male penguins took the egg in, incubated the egg and now the couple is raising the new chick.

We don't know the gender of the newborn bird yet, but at least it has a new family.

Bring your gun to church

Celebrate July 4th at New Bethel Church in Louisville, KY by bringing your firearms.

There will be a gun raffle, yep, win your own, plus patriotic music and gun safety information. Guns should be unloaded and private security will check you before you enter.

Now, to be clear, this Open Carry Celebration is scheduled for a Saturday June 27. Everyone is invited regardless of religious beliefs.

Cell Phone Elbow

You've heard of texting thumb. Now there's something else to worry about: cell phone elbow. Holding a cell phone to your ear too long puts pressure on the ulnar nerve, which can weaken your arm and make it difficult to type and write. And, women are more likely to get it than men.

Haggling for Hookers

The world economic crunch has hit Amsterdam's red-light district. Prostitutes are lowering their rates for various pleasurable functions undercutting each other's business. As you can imagine some ladies of the night are upset.
Now that visitors know they can get a deal, they are haggling for the best rates.

Even the sex market is depressed. Hey, I have an idea. Have sex, it will get your endorphins going making you happy.

Octo-Mom's Reality Show

Nadya Suleman, the mother of 14, has signed a deal for a reality Television show. From the creators of "The Biggest Loser" and "Beauty & The Geek" comes a show about the life of the mother, her 8 newborn children, plus the other six children.

Cameras will not follow Suleman 24/7. Suleman will do some of the camera work herself. So, in addition to taking care of 14 children, she will also be a videographer.

I suppose 14 children isn't enough to keep her busy.

Air France Flight Disappears

An Air France plane has disappeared while en route from Rio de Janiero to Paris, in what's called the Intertropical Convergence Zone in the Atlantic Ocean. It vanished without sending any type of distress signal. 

There has been no explanation offered yet from the International Center for Abduction Research or the producers of ABC Television's TV show "Lost".

image: http://media.photobucket.com/image/air%20france/zvoncic/air-france.jpg

1.9 Million Dollar Allowance

How would you like a $2 million allowance from taxpayers. Lawmakers are billing you for all sorts of things like a $2,793 laptop or $24,730 for a hybrid rental car or two 46 -inch

Sony TVs. Your tax dollars paid for all of it.

The Wall Street Journal reported that House members get an allowance of 1.3-1.9 million dollars while U.S Senators get $2.9-4.5 million every year.

The money is often spent on staff salaries, travel and office supplies. Lawmakers expense these reports, some with lots of details, other not so much. Here is the kicker. It's all legal.