6. desember 2003

Penis a la carte - a followup I wrote about the bizarre case of the German cannibal killer one year ago, and a few of my American readers expressed puzzlement that a highly newsworthy case that has been all over the European press had received hardly a mention in US media. Well, now Armin Meiwes (picture) is on trial in Germany for killing and eating another man, known as Bernd-Juergen B, who had offered himself up for slaughter and eating entirely voluntarily. And, yes, they ate his penis together, before Bernd-Juergen died and was further dismembered and stored for later, eh, consumption. Is it any surprise that the press is eating up all these details, and portioning it out to its readers? The case about "the Cannibal of Rotenburg" will go down in history, no matter the outcome. The horrible puns this case invites us all to use will hopefully be forgotten quickly. Mark Hoback took interest in the story last year, and if you want the gruesome details that are now revealed, you should read it in his blog. He also expressed some disappointment in my lack of detail when I covered this story. Heh. I first read about this over at Secular Blasphemy a few months ago. Jan's piece was woefully inadequate, with only the sketchiest of voyeuristic effluvia, but the case is in court now, and the details are coming out in a trial that could make legal history. This is a huge international story, playing big everywhere but in the States. Could it be that Americans just don’t have a taste for tales with this much bite? Perhaps… No pun intended, surely. PS: "A few months ago," eh? Time flies, Mark! 10:12:42 PM    comment []  trackback []

Abstinence pledges don't work. Film at 11. A study at Northern Kentucky University found that pledges to abstain from sex doesn't work. Psychology professor Angela Lipsitz and her collegues surveyed 527 college students, and found that of the 16 percent who took a "no sex" pledge, fully 61 percent broke the virginity pledge within a year. While such pledges may make some young people delay their sexual debut, when they do it, they are less likely to practice safe sex. When they have made a vow to not have sex, they are unlikely to have birth control at hand when they change their minds. The study also found that some 50 percent of the students who said they'd kept their oath regularly engaged in oral sex. "They think that oral sex doesn't count," says Lipsitz, who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society. Well, not only college students have used that line. 8:37:49 PM    comment []  trackback []

CopyWrong Fiona Morgan has written a great piece in the Indepenent Weekly about what is wrong with the current copyright regime. 6:38:29 PM    comment []  trackback []

High school student expulsed over painkiller Amanda Stiles, until recently a sophomore at Parkway High in Lousiana, is being expelled from school for a year for having Advil in her purse. Advil is an over-the-counter pain killer. The active ingredient is Ibuprofen. It relieves pain pretty effectively, but can't possibly be used as a narcotic. Superintendent Ken Kruithof said after the board meeting that the school system is following a state law that requires a one-year expulsion and being consistent in the system's "zero-tolerance" policy.  The catch-all explanation for all stupid decisions everywhere: zero-tolerance. It means, to braindead bureaucrats everywhere, zero thought.   4:25:17 PM    comment []  trackback []

Blog tools review PC Magazine has reviewed blog tools, testing the most popular weblog software. TypePad received the Editor's choice, even though Movable Type had the highest score. Radio Userland didn't do as badly as I thought, which may indicate that the others aren't as good as I hoped. 3:14:15 PM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.01.2004; 02:46:25.