Two-day power cut causes ‘baby boom’ in Dutch community

Baby-boom

THE HAGUE (AFP) – A small Dutch community has recorded a 44 percent rise in baby births nine months after a power cut plunged its 23,000 inhabitants into darkness for two days, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

In December last year, the blades of an Apache helicopter accidentally severed the high voltage cables providing electricity to the nine villages that make up the municipality of Maasdriel in the east of the country.

During the ensuing 50 hours of darkness, many inhabitants sought mid-winter hospitality in other towns, “but some found heat among themselves,” town spokeswoman Annelies van Eijkeren told AFP.

The woman in red drives the men crazy, study finds

Woman in Red

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If a woman wants to drive the men wild, she might want to dress in red.

Men rated a woman shown in photographs as more sexually attractive if she was wearing red clothing or if she was shown in an image framed by a red border rather than some other color, U.S. researchers said Tuesday.

The study led by psychology professor Andrew Elliot of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, seemed to confirm red as the color of romance — as so many Valentine’s Day card makers and lipstick sellers have believed for years.

Although this “red alert” may be a product of human society associating red with love for eons, it also may arise from more primitive biological roots, Elliot said.

Noting the genetic similarity of humans to higher primates, he said scientists have shown that certain male primates are especially attracted to females of their species displaying red. For example, female baboons and chimpanzees show red coloring when nearing ovulation, sending a sexual signal that the males apparently find irresistible.

World’s fattest man weds friend’s widow

AFP – Mexican Manuel Uribe, the world's fattest man in the 2007 Guinness Book of Records,

MONTERREY, Mexico (AFP) – Mexican Manuel Uribe, the world’s fattest man in the 2007 Guinness Book of Records, has married his friend’s widow in a televised ceremony the US Discovery Channel dubbed “My Big Fat Mexican Wedding”.

Despite shedding 230 kilograms (570 pounds) from 590 kilograms early on this year, Uribe, 43, had to be carried by a crane on his bed, where he has been confined for years, to the makeshift altar at a venue 30 minutes from his home on Sunday.

The ceremony was televised by Discovery as part of a special, exclusive program titled after the 2002 US movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” with other reporters from Japan, Germany and Argentina in tow. No other cameras or cellphones were allowed inside.

Elvis is Forbes’ top-earning dead celebrity

Elvis (AFP)

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Elvis Presley, Snoopy creator Charles Shultz and recently deceased actor Heath Ledger headed Forbes’ Top-Earning Dead Celebrities for 2007, having netted a combined 105 million dollars, the magazine said Tuesday.

Thirty years after he died aged 42, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll last year pulled in 52 million dollars, dwarfing living music stars like Justin Timberlake (44 million) and Madonna (40 million), the magazine said.

Elvis topped the list for a second year running due to the 30th anniversary extravaganza in Graceland — his home in Memphis, Tennessee — that in visitors and merchandising generated more income than his 2006 earnings of 49 million dollars.

‘Deep Throat’ director dead at 80

After "Deep Throat" opened in Times Square, word from media critics and outraged conservatives made it a hit.

MIAMI (AP) — Gerard Damiano, director of the pioneering pornographic film that lent its name to the Watergate whistleblower known as “Deep Throat,” has died. He was 80.

Damiano died Saturday at a Fort Myers hospital, his son, Gerard Damiano Jr., said Monday. He had suffered a stroke in September.

“He was a filmmaker and an artist and we thought of him as such,” the younger Damiano said. “Even though we weren’t allowed to see his movies, we knew he was a moviemaker, and we were proud of that.”

Damiano’s “Deep Throat” was a mainstream box-office success and helped launch the modern hardcore adult-entertainment industry. Shot in six days for just $25,000, the 1972 flick became a cultural must-see for Americans who had just lived through the sexual liberation of the 1960s.

5 things you didn’t know about condoms

Condoms

The historical effort to make a condom that prevents pregnancy and the exchange of STDs while being as unobtrusive as possible during the sexual act has been mired by religious mores, outright denial and extreme levels of creativity. Most parties, regardless of their general opinion on the use of condoms, have come to accept that sex is all but inevitable between human beings. With that in mind, it stands to reason that condoms serve a number of noble purposes. Shocking and sad to think it took thousands of years for humans to figure that out.

Unfortunately, the condom suffers from at least one massive PR problem: namely, that the condom always looks like a great idea after the fact. However, before and during the act when it matters the most, not so much.

In an effort to give their profile a boost, we took a look at five things you didn’t know about condoms.

1- Condoms have appeared in cave paintings

Will Ferrell’s Bush meets Fey’s Palin on ‘SNL’

AP – In this Sept. 27, 2008, image released by NBC, Tina Fey portrays Republican vice-presidential candidat

NEW YORK (AP) – Appearing as President Bush on the primetime edition of “Saturday Night Live,” Will Ferrell offered his political “strategery” to Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin.

Ferrell reprised his famed impression of the president on the live “Weekend Update” special Thursday to give an “impromptu” evening address to the nation. He spoke about the election between John McCain and Barack Obama — both candidates, he said, that are “heavily patriotized” and “display much characterization.”

He then gave his endorsement to McCain and Palin, something that they apparently didn’t want. Ferrell said he was unaware that his approval ratings were low because he had several months ago declared the Oval Office a “bummer free zone.”

Country looks into waste and finds waste

Reuters

DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh’s anti-graft body has flushed out extensive corruption in government departments, including one case where 122 workers were paid to fix a single toilet, the anti-graft body said.

Colonel Hanif Iqbal, director general of the Anti-Corruption Commission, said the body had discovered more than 335 million taka ($4.8 million) had been misappropriated between 2000 and 2007 in nine regional offices of the state-run Bangladesh Telecommunications Company in Khulna.

Armed Robber Holds up Brothel, Leaves Thumb Behind

(asylum) On “CSI,” investigators have to meticulously comb crime scenes in order to find specks of DNA that link the bad guys to the crime. In the case of a recent robbery at a brothel in Washington, D.C., police officers had a little more than a speck to work with — the suspect left his thumb.

The 22-year-old perp and his accomplice were evidently armed with a silver machete when they burst into the house of ill repute in Washington’s Columbia Heights neighborhood. Court documents say one of the victims (we assume it was a brave, but slightly crazy hooker) got control of the machete in the middle of the incident and hacked off the right thumb of one of the thieves, before the pair took off with hundreds of dollars.

Office Dares…

Office Dares

ONE-POINT DARES

1) Run one lap around the office at top speed.
2) Ignore the first five people who say ‘good morning’ to you.
3) Phone someone in the office you barely know, leave your name and say,
“Just called to say I can’t talk right now. Bye.”
4) To signal the end of a conversation, clamp your hands over your ears and grimace.
5) Leave your zipper open for one hour. If anyone points it out say
“Sorry, I really prefer it this way.”
6) Walk sideways to the photocopier.
7) While riding in an elevator, gasp dramatically every time the doors open.

TWO POINT DARES
1) Say to your boss, “I like your style” and shoot him with double-barreled fingers.