Dews Taco Day

As with most of the LSWTF staff, I have seemingly dropped off the face of the earth for the past two weeks. The original assumption was that with the completion of having high-speed and HD in my apartment finally, I'd be writing more often, but alas, my computer at home decided to die on me the day after getting said high speed...

Anyway, on to the news of the day before wandering off for some strong drink, and mountains of tacos downtown :)

Apparently French men are just as big a pussy as we've been making them out to be for years. At least, they are either pussies, or the female population loves them some sex0rs far more then anyone else in the world?

French women are becoming increasingly assertive in their sexual habits, while one-in-five younger French men "has no interest in sex", according to one of the most comprehensive surveys of the nation's love lives.
The proportion of French women who claim to have had only one partner has dropped from 68 per cent in 1970, to 43 per cent in 1992 and 34 per cent in 2006. A woman's average number of partners has risen from under two in 1970 to over five today, while a man's has remained the same for four decades, almost 13.

This is obviously an interesting news item for the day. And not for the more obvious "Dews must want to go to France!" reasons (though, I'm far more intrigued by a trip there now), but what the socio-economic reasons are for this explosion are.

A massive shift in how society interacts on this level is fascinating to me afterall, so I would be genuinely interested in learning what the forces were to have caused this shift (and then what we can do in this country to encourage that as well :) ).

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Confusing news out of Hollywood though, as sometimes crack-head and actor Robert Downey JR is apparently being "blacked-up" to play a role in an up-coming Ben Stiller movie...

I'll give him credit (first off just for still having a career) though, he seems to be saying all the right things:

Clearing anticipating a backlash, Downey Jr told a US magazine: "If it's done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago. If you don't do it right, we're going to hell."

This just in, it is probably going to suck either way.

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Finally, news out of Washington today has a Bush administration official apparently planning on releasing information that would indicate the economy has had negative growth in the last quarter.

This of course runs contrary to everything the administration has been trying to say and do the past few weeks, as that dirty little word "Recession", as much as we may have already been in one the last month or more, looks to be very very real.

Dews Taco Day

Yes I know, "Taco Day" just sounds... Well, strange...

But, a place I have been going to since before I was able to walk has had a tradition of serving a taco buffet every friday, so for twenty seven years I have attended it at least a few times a year. Having lived in DC for the last eight years though, its made it more a bi-weekly tradition, thus "Taco Day".

On to the news...

Interesting study out of Boston today that indicates that people are more likely to spend more extravagantly when, well, sad...

The so-called "misery is not miserly" phenomenon is well-known to psychologists, advertisers and personal shoppers alike, and has been documented in a similar study in 2004.
The new study released Friday by researchers from four universities goes further, trying to answer whether temporary sadness alone can trigger spendthrift tendencies.

This honestly doesn't come off as much of a surprise to me as we, as a society, have been conditioned for fear and consumption. Why shouldn't sadness be a product of fear?

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Bush's Poll numbers continue to sink to historical lows (as do Congress, but thats not a huge surprise).

Just to head off any questions, yes my family was from Sicily, but no I am not at all connected to these wonderful fellas. Do you think I'd only have a two bedroom apartment NOT stocked with prostitutes if I did?

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Finally a wonderful use for Facebook and Myspace (besides posting photos of some crazy Vegas adventure?). Gang recruitment!

Young people who visit social networking sites to download music and
pictures glorifying criminal street gangs can unwittingly set themselves up to
be recruited by those gangs, according to law enforcement officials and youth
counselors.

Ok, so let me get this straight... If someone where to download material that "glorifies criminal street gang" activity, they would be "unwittingly" setting themselves up for recruitment???

If the individual is interested in glorified material from said street gang, wouldn't that kind of indicate they may be interested in joining? WTF is this "unwittingly" crap? Thats like walking into an army recruiter station only to be shocked they would actually want you to join the freakin army...

"I just wanted the free watch!!!"

That is all...

TACOS!!!

T-minus 40 minutes until Taco time...

Those of you that know what I mean, should be or are extremely jealous. Those of you that do not, I am sorry but you are really missing out on one of the world's hidden gems...

:)