You Clearly Need a Man to Save Women in the Sea

I'm direct-quoting this post by Jen on Feministing, cause it's perfect as is:

Italy recently opened its first women-only (almost) beach. Great? Uh, not so much. The article says,

"Italy’s long-standing tradition of male chauvinism has been delivered a bitter blow with the opening of the country’s first women-only beach."

Hmm, so far so good. Wait, I see trouble brewing...

"The man ban is accompanied by a restriction on loud disco music and traditional beach food such as deep-fried squid and chips."

Girls hate loud music and fried food. Well, some must, right? Not anyone I know, but it's possible.

"lessons in deportment, manicures, pedicures, keep-fit classes and cookery lessons from a well-known chef are the order of the day."

Thank goodness. The things most lacking in the beaches I go to are cooking and "deportment" lessons. Who the hell takes classes at the beach? Anyone here been to the beach in Italy? Are they all like the Learning Annex? Oh, and about that woman-only thing. There is, of course, an exception. The entire staff is female as well, except for the lifeguard. Why? Good question. Let's find out. The (male) owner of the beach claims

"The lifeguard must be a man. You clearly need a man to save women in the sea. It’s a question of muscles."

Hmm. I'm not sure "clearly" is the word I'd use. Oh, and in case you're thinking it, please spare me the comments about how men tend to be stronger than women. Lifeguard training is lifeguard training. If this is supposed to be a women-only space, then there should only be female life guards. Besides, who has time to drown with all those mani-pedis?

MySpace? That's sooooo working-class

Well it didn’t take long, did it? A recent study out of the University of California has found that our choice of online social/narcissistic/wasteoftime website is a reflection of our socioeconomic background and career aspirations. Quick – delete your MySpace pages otherwise that means you’re poor (or ethnic, or if you live in the US probably both)! Facebook is where it’s at for us ambitious, educated, wealthier movers and shakers (note: students don’t count as poor even though we have no money, cause one day all of this hard work is going to pay off… right??). The study also points out that while MySpace (used by low-ranking soldiers) has been banned in the U.S. military, Facebook (used by officers) has not. What the f—k? What are guys in the military doing with computers anyway? Shouldn’t they be wrestling or playing football naked in their free time?


I mean, these guys are just wrestling to kill some time, right? I see no problem with that.

Russia and Iran - Two Peas in a Pod

To continue on DJ Ogo's thought, not only are Iran and Russia the only two real democracies out there, but apparently they also buy their creepy police uniforms from the same supplier (probably China):

Flirting doesn't pay

So some of us attractive Montreal ladies are going to have to rethink our strategy here. Or at least I will. A study from the University of California has determined that attractive women who flirt at the negotiating table end up worse off (though better liked) than their more (boring, serious, cold) colleagues. What happened to what I learned in Organizational Behaviour class in university? Was my prof lying to me when he said that attractive people tend to get ahead faster because they're perceived as being more honest, intelligent, etc? I was counting on this guys, I really was.

And so it begins...

Remember when you were a kid and your pet dog/cat went inexplicably berserk one summer evening, and then an earthquake came a few hours later? Animals' instincts are always amazingly accurate. And these instincts are apparently telling nearly every living mammal in southern Sudan to get the f**k out of there. The wildlife conservation society calls it the largest migration of mammals on earth (1.3 million of them, to be exact). Whether they're trying to escape decades of civil war, government-sponsored genocide, or the effects of climate change that threaten to turn most of Africa into an uninhabitable wasteland, we humans are almost certainly to blame. Now I say, just to make sure that none of these precious mammals go extinct, someone should build a boat, a really big one, and take two of each... oh, wait, I think someone's done that already. Well I certainly wouldn't want to step on anyone's toes by blogging about something that wasn't 100% my own original idea. Cause that's what these blogs are all about, right? Fresh ideas, never sourced from anywhere else but our fertile little (or big, rather) noggins. Sheesh.

Sarkozy? Cooler Than I Thought He Was

(drunk = cool, naturally)
I'm sure you've all seen this, but I just have to put it up here

Kentucky Creation Museum Sets the Record Straight

Christian anti-Darwinist ministry Answers in Genesis finally opened the doors to their Creation Museum last week in Kentucky, and after reading about this tour I've decided that I have to go. I simply have to.

The earth? Created in six 24-hour days about 6,000 years ago. Dinosaurs and people? Lived on earth at the same time apparently. According to Ken Ham, CEO of the aforementioned ministry, "They all had to exist at the same time because they were all made on the same day. There may not be any fossil evidence showing dinosaurs and people in the same place at the same time. But it is clearly written that they were alive at the same time." Ah, I see. Excellent logic, Ken.

The museum is organized according to "Six C's of History: creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, and the final C, consummation" (anyone living in Montreal today has clearly seen that this last C is on its way).

The scariest part is that a poll conducted before the opening of this museum revealed that 40% of Americans are comfortable with the idea of Creationism, whereas only 39% believe that humans developed from earlier species of Animals (choke, cough). I have an idea. Why don't we Canadians extend immigration visas to that 39%, send Harper and the rest of the population of Alberta down south, seal the borders, and live in our own peaceful, rational little colony? Ooh, and we can send all of Quebec's union leaders down there while we're at it. Anyone else?