Virtual, but permanent.
Coupled with other studies that show that circumcision reduces HIV transmission rates as well, this finding that circumcision reduces HPV (human papilloma virus) transmission rates begs the following question: what is the nature of the covenant between God and man?
It is exceptionally difficult not to become furious–downright livid–with the state of the airline industry. As if the incessant prodding by Homeland Security weren’t enough, the advent of online booking began obscuring the actual price of flight tickets (How much will the taxes be? How about the booking fee?). Then, we came upon the reality that even the final price we paid for the ticket wasn’t the actual cost of the flight because airlines first started charging for meals that used to be included in the price of the ticket and then they started charging for hauling our baggage, which also used to be included in the price of the ticket. Even worse, the luggage fee is subject to change, and it varies from airline to airline. Consequently, the final cost of the flight remains a mystery until we check in our baggage.
If the trend continues, Airlines will soon charge for oxygen during the flight, but more civil alternatives that might quell the passengers’ thirst for the Airlines’ jugulars exist. Airlines can take a hint from professional sports and have sponsorship for every event that happens during the course of a flight.
Just as NFL kickoffs are typically “brought to you by the new Buick LeSabre”, the highly anticipated pushback from the gate could be “brought to you by AIG insurance: isn’t now a good time to buy some life insurance? We’re begging you!” The takeoff can be sponsored by “Red Bull: it gives you wings”, or by “Viagra: your turn to take off, baby”, or by “Cialis: nothing can stop you from joining the mile high club”. Dinner can be sponsored by McDonalds or Subway. Long smooth stretches of sky can be sponsored by Smirnoff Vodka or Jack Daniels, and heavy turbulence can be sponsored by “Valium: you need one. Don’t deny it.” The oxygen in the cabin could be sponsored by “Microsoft: without Microsoft, you’d be dead. Don’t you forget that”. Landings, those so happy endings to long flights, could be sponsored by Victoria’s secret, or Trojan condoms, and that blissful moment at which we are allowed to be again shackled by our mobile phones can be sponsored by Verizon. Or Stayfree maxipads.
Airlines can take another cue from professional car racing and put all sorts of logos on the giant fuselages of their planes. Oh, look, it’s the Home Depot plane taking off. Kids can be heard screaming “I wanna fly the Cocoa Puffs plane, please!” And, flight attendants’ uniforms will naturally be covered from head to toe with patches from a thousand different sponsors, from STP to Chilli’s.
Although the net result might be that sponsors will end up prolonging flights the way they prolong football games just to cram a few more commercials down our throats (“We’re making an extra turn in Chicago to show you the Willis Tower. It’s no longer the Sears tower, damn it!”), perhaps we might again be afforded the sanity of knowing one simple fact about our flight: how much it costs!
PS If you got other sponsorship ideas for the airlines, share them in the comments below. PNM
Some years back I received a pre-approved credit card offer that was impossible to accept and equally impossible to trash. It is an offer for a Visa Black Card, the sole benefit of which is the $495 annual fee. Virtually every “perk” included in that top line (24-hour concierge service, membership points, etc.) comes with various exclusive “metallated” (gold, platinum, etc.) credit cards that have no annual fees or have fees that are substantially lower than the $495 required by the Black Card.
Strangely enough, the Black Card vendor feels compelled to emphasize that the card is made of carbon. Of course, all the plastic composites of which credit cards are made are primarily composed of carbon, but choosing to emphasize a material, carbon, that is infinitely cheaper than the expensive metals after which others are named (gold, titanium, platinum) is a questionable choice for someone who wants to charge $495 annually for the privilege of owning a black card.
The only useful information in the offer is the fact that the availability of the card is limited to 1% of American residents. The obscenely wealthy, it seems, are not as shielded against stupidity as they would like to think.
I happened upon this nugget of historical coincidence some time ago in one of my Google home page gadgets. Saddam Hussein was captured on
the same calendar day on which Al Gore finally conceded the presidency. It’s the sort of coincidence that will bring infinite energy and thrills to every conspiracy theorist.
I only get a chuckle out of it. It’s hard to imagine what Al Gore thinks of it. Hussein has nothing to worry about anymore, of course.
It’s perhaps my tenth visit to Amsterdam, and I finally got to eat the mixture of fried cake dough, butter and sugar that are known as a form of traditional Dutch holiday cakes.
This is how they are made:
And, this is the final product. It is topped with about as much butter as cake, and topped with a large helping of powdered sugar. In celebration of the impending holidays, I had mine additionally topped with a shot of amaretto. Six euros, almost $10, was the cost, but it went down well after a long bike ride in freezing conditions.
Yes, that is a gargantuan block of butter that has been thoroughly carved.
Wish I remembered what the damn pancakes are called. I recommend them.
As it took about three weeks to get acquainted with the iPad and to post something to this blog, it has taken me about three weeks to stop marveling at the iPhone 4 and to put it to greater use. Or, even some use.
So, it might be fitting to make this first post a tribute to the grande dame of the family, my grandmother. I visited her a few Saturdays ago, and I presented her with this photo of her which I had just taken with the iPhone 4’s snazzy camera.
At first, this magnificent nonagenarian was skeptical that the image was that of her. “In manam?” (Is this me?) she inquired incredulously in Farsi. “Areh” (yeah) I replied repeatedly. Then, this remarkable woman who has valiantly and tenaciously survived the vicious battles that Farsi, French, Hebrew and English have waged for her neurons, turned to her Israeli neighbor and said, in perfect English, “I am very, very old!”
A long life is wonderful, but a slow demise is the ultimate spoiler for all: for the nonagenarian and all of her descendants. I can think of few sorrows greater then the slow process by which my grandmother is succumbing to time. The gradual transformation of this stubborn, invulnerable and irrepressible lioness and matriarch to a sedentary and gentle white-haired woman who struggles to hear, to stand up, to recognize her children and grandchildren and to remember her own life has caused more grief than any single event in my life.
It is a grief rooted in more than the mere realization that a most dearly beloved who has mothered and nurtured more than three generations will soon pass. The grief runs deeper to that fundamental realization that time is the ultimate ravager, merciless and infinite in its capability to destroy cities, nations, entire civilizations, planets and even galaxies. Given that perspective, the loss of one life is perhaps insignificant and trivial, but the human heart can never bear the burden of such a loss, and mine can’t bear the burden of seeing the single greatest pillar of strength in my entire life reduced to a tired soul awaiting death.
It is still a privilege to visit her and to love her, even though the lioness I remember was vanquished long ago. The only lesson to learn is to be appreciative of every moment and every privilege that time gives us.
I can only be cynical about the adage that time heals all wounds. When you’re dead, you don’t feel a thing.
This is absolutely nothing short of amazing. I just downloaded the latest version of the WordPress app for the iPad, and in less time than it takes to say WordPress, I am posting the first message to my blog.
This is a lot more than a revolution. It feels more like an upheaval of biblical proportions. This device changes everything. Absolutely everything.
Typing is still a bit clunky, but it’s my first attempt, and it’s going awfully fast for a first attempt. In fact, I am tempted to say that I am typing almost as fast as I type on my normal computer keyboard.
The top pee is the fact that I just pulled this choice photo of the fabulous view from my balcony from my photo gallery–the entirety of which resides on my iPad–into the post in about one second.
The iPad changes everything. Everything!!!
The definitions of sexuality are morphing, transmogrifying and blending into a nebulous haze that seems to obscure debate for the sake of enabling the publication of such contentious theses about sexuality. There is something exceptionally irresistible about the notion that a woman’s ambiguous sexuality tends to be a lifelong trend rather than an ephemeral phase most often experienced during the “college years” in the United States. Consequently, are women compelled to believe the findings of the study by virtue of the strong evidence and argument it presents and men because we want to believe that our girlfriends and wives can still turn lesbian at the drop of a hat?
Approaching the boundaries between knowledge and faith never makes for good science, but it always makes for compelling reading.
I’m fantasizing already.
This is absolutely the best thing that could have happened to cable television. Only basic cable is included in my rent, and I have always been hesitant about upgrading, but, ironically, this is exactly the upgrade that I wanted, and I never could have afforded it.
Firebomb thrown at Mont. marijuana business – Crime & courts- msnbc.com.
Was this guy trying to make a statement agains “medical” marijuana, or was he trying to get the whole town high? Maybe trying to get a free high?