“Mr. Quest didn’t realize that the park had a curfew”.

Never mind the zero gravity…

He cites a confidential Nasa report on a space shuttle mission in 1996. A project codenamed STS-XX was to explore sexual positions possible in a weightless atmosphere.
Twenty positions were tested by computer simulation to obtain the best 10, he says. “Two guinea pigs then tested them in real zero-gravity conditions…”

Who allowed guinea pigs to get their paws on the Kama Sutra?
h/t

Margaret Wente risks the ire of the identity politics commissars and dares to question the wisdom of sex change operations:

Partly at the urging of Dr. McHugh, Johns Hopkins no longer performs sex reassignment surgery. “I concluded,” he wrote, “that to provide a surgical alteration to the body of these unfortunate people was to collaborate with a mental disorder rather than to treat it.”

”I could not see what he was tattooing because he didn’t have a mirror. I only saw it when I got home and showed it to my parents.,”

Since it appears Kate has returned ready for a date I thought I’d do her a favour and find someone suitable.
And after a little searching I think I found a good candidate currently living in Ontario. He describes himself as caring, optimistic, quiet, patient, handy, and creative, so he must be a at least worth a look, right? Furthermore, he likes motorcycles, has a doctorate degree and works in engineering.
Well, okay, so maybe he’s not a perfect fit, seeing as he’s married. But that’s not a show-stopper, as he’s looking for a 2nd, 3rd and 4th wife!
As he says:

I should say that my current wife is a good muslima. She cannot have/does not want to have more children…I would like to follow the sunnah and advice of the prophet Muhammad’s (mpbuh) to have more than one wife and to have more good muslim children…It makes him proud on judjement day.

Okay, so you’ll have to compromise a little. As we all know, relationships are hard.

Muskrat, muskrat candlelight
Doin the town and doin it right
In the evenin
Its pretty pleasin
Muskrat susie, muskrat sam
Do the jitterbug out in muskrat land
And they shimmy
And sammys so skinny
And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin and jingin the jango
Floatin like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love
Nibbling on bacon, chewin on cheese
Sammy says to susie honey, would you please be my missus?
And she say yes
With her kisses
And now hes ticklin her fancy
Rubbin her toes
Muzzle to muzzle, now anything goes
As they wriggle, and sue starts to giggle
And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin and jingin the jango
Floatin like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

It tells you something about the current state of Western society that this isn’t the weirdest story I’ve linked to on SDA.
It isn’t even the weirdest art story.

“Tupic said he had no idea there were things like Viagra available but agreed that in future he will try pills before he takes any more chances with pencils.“

“Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound — ‘Look, up in the sky,’ ‘It’s a bird,’ ‘It’s a plane,’ ‘It’s …. eh…. Martha… what are you staring at?’ ”

Though, they score points in vocabulary!

Jeffrey John Hein, 40, currently faces 30 charges of lewd and lascivious behavior for disseminating his private business throughout Hartford and West Bend, and police in Germantown and Menomonee Falls told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he violated their penal codes as well.

Saving endangered species through better pharmaceuticals.

Where do I sign up? (Note to The Flea: I was here first, so get in line.)

Female circumcision, a practice that is still common in some parts of Africa and the Middle East, is against the law in Canada, and rightly so as there is no medical justification for the procedure. In terms of religious justification, some Muslims who are in favour of the procedure claim that it is allowed because of statements that the Prophet Mohammed made, as recorded in the Sunnah (other Muslims will point to passages in the Qur’an and say it is forbidden by Islam).
On the other side of the coin we have male circumcision. There is the odd medical justification for performing the procedure on males, but the truth is that the need is extremely rare. The vast majority of circumcisions performed in North America are completely unnecessary. In terms of religious justification, Judaism requires that all males belonging to the faith are circumcised as part of a covenant with the Lord.
I’ve done some thinking on this issue, and it has left me with the following questions…
1. Why is a Judaic religious practice tolerated while an Islamic one is not? Does this indicate preferential treatment of one religion over another?
2. If performing female circumcisions can be considered child abuse, does the same apply to male circumcisions?
3. At what point will some enterprising lawyer recognize this and force an end to male circumcision in this country? (Those performing the procedures usually come from places with enough money to provide a nice settlement). With the ever increasing number of rights that children have in Canada, surely at some point someone will add the right to keep one’s genitals intact to the list.
I’d be curious to hear what others think on the topic.

Spain Legalizes Same-Sex Marriages (AP)

Parliament legalized gay marriage Thursday, defying conservatives and clergy who opposed making traditionally Roman Catholic Spain the third country to allow same-sex unions nationwide. Jubilant gay activists blew kisses to lawmakers after the vote. The measure passed the 350-seat Congress of Deputies by a vote of 187 to 147. The bill, part of the ruling Socialists’ aggressive agenda for social reform, also lets gay couples adopt children and inherit each others’ property.
The bill is now law. The Senate, where conservatives hold the largest number of seats, rejected the bill last week. But it is an advisory body and final say on legislation rests with the Congress of Deputies.
After the final tally was announced, gay and lesbian activists watching from the spectator section of the ornate chamber cried, cheered, hugged, waved to lawmakers and blew them kisses. Several members of the conservative opposition Popular Party, which was vehemently opposed to the bill, shouted: “This is a disgrace.” Those in favor stood and clapped.
The Netherlands and Belgium are the only other two countries that allow gay marriage nationwide. Canada’s House of Commons passed legislation Tuesday that would legalize gay marriage; its Senate is expected to pass the bill into law by the end of July.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero noted this in debate before the vote. “We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality,” he told the chamber.

I suspect he’s right.
via OTB

It’s the tool with the tape measure.
Is there such a thing as a fruit-flavoured, glow in the dark “butterfly tickler” tape measure? Because I think that might help.

The Liberation Monument is a giant copper obelisk that rises and falls depending on the level of sunlight, and spurts flames out of the top during important festivals.
It is due to go on show in the village of Wageningen where the German capitulation was signed at the end of the Second World War 60 years ago.
In full sunlight, the erection reaches a height of ten metres, shrinking back to just six metres when the light dims.

Key word: erection
update – was sent an artist’s rendition

Russian doctors have conducted an 11-hour operation to replace a patient�s deformed penis with one grown on his forearm, the Moskovskiy Komsomolets daily reports.
The 30-year-old Russian man, whose name was changed in the article to protect his privacy, had a defect from birth � his penis was crooked, two-and-a-half-inches long and lacked a scrotum, the newspaper writes.
The doctors had the penis removed and attached to the man�s arm. Using his body tissue it grew to six-and-a-half inches and was sewn back on to his groin.

It must have made for some interesting handshakes.

It was the cord that gave him away.

Taiwanese sculptors have carved an eight-metre-long wooden penis, hoping to set the world record for the longest sculpture of the male genitalia, Taiwan television reported on Friday.
Eight sculptors in Pingtung, in southern Taiwan, spent half a year carving the wooden penis. Now their artwork – weighing 12 tons – is on display at an amusement park in Pingtung, Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) reports.
The sculptors plan to apply to the Guinness Book Of World Records to have their creation declared the longest in the world, TTV says.

Guinness officials could not be reached for immediate verification of the record, as they are currently on assignment investigating a claim for “Worlds Biggest Asshole”.

Against all advice, I went ahead and looked at it.
Now, excuse me for a few minutes as I curl up on the floor in a fetal position.