In general, women outlive men. This is not a new idea. But what you might not know is that the effect can't be explained by some simple hand-waving about risk-taking men, or war, or the allure of the Marlboro Man. In fact, the tendency for men to die at a higher frequency than women happens at every age group — even in utero. Fetal males die more often than fetal females.
So what makes the men-folk so delicate? NPR's Robert Krulwich investigates.
— Maggie
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Cory Doctorow at 10:49 am • • 
I missed this back in March 2012, but it bears re-visiting. Here's a series of Doonesbury strips that some newspapers refused to run in spring 2012. The strips criticize Republican state legislatures' plans to require transvaginal probes for women contemplating abortion, with special emphasis on Texas governor Rick Perry.
Trudeau wrote: "Ninety-nine percent of American women have or will use contraception during their lifetimes. To see these healthcare rights systematically undermined in state after state by the party of 'limited government' is appalling. "In Texas, the sonograms are the least of it. The legislature has also defunded women's health clinics all over the state, leaving 300,000 women without the contraceptive services that prevent abortions in the first place. Insanity."
Trudeau is dismayed by the newspaper reaction. "I write the strip to be read, not removed. And as a practical matter, many more people will see it in the comics page than on the editorial page," he wrote.
"I don't mean to be disingenuous. Obviously there's some profit to controversy, especially for a satirist. If debate is swirling around a particular strip, and if its absence creates blowback, then I'm contributing to the public conversation in a more powerful way. But I don't get up in the morning and scheme about how to antagonise editors. Some of these folks have supported me for decades."
Oh, Texas... This is why I want to leave you.
(via Reddit)
Michael Douglas offers us all a good reason to a)
get vaccinated against the two most cancer-causing strains of human papillomavirus (even if you're a dude) and b)
embrace dental dams (even if you're straight)
— Maggie
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Dead Duck Day — the annual memorial celebration honoring
the first recorded case of male homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck — happens this Wednesday in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The holiday will be celebrated with a speech in front of the window where one of the ducks in question met his fate, followed by a duck dinner at a local Chinese restaurant.
The victim duck has been taxidermied and will be on hand for the festivities.
— Maggie
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Xeni Jardin at 2:37 pm • •
Photo by Boing Boing reader Captain Tim, shared in the BB Flickr Pool.
A provocative article from the Netherlands published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine says people who like to participate in bondage-discipline, dominance-submission, and sado-masochism erotic play are "characterized by a set of balanced, autonomous, and beneficial personality characteristics.”
Practitioners of BDSM report “a higher level of subjective well-being” when compared to people who tend to have more boring forms of sex.
Read the rest
David Pescovitz at 9:01 am • •
Luis Briones, 25, blew through a red light in Albuquerque and crashed, resulting in his female passenger being ejected from the car. Briones was allegedly drunk. Oh, apparently he was also having sex with the woman at the time of the crash. She was naked. From KRQE:
According to the criminal complaint, Briones tried to drive away, leaving the woman behind.
A witness was able to grab his keys.
Police found Briones with one shoe and his shorts on inside out.
"
Naked woman thrown from car after crash"
Cory Doctorow at 11:16 am • •
Oh Joy Sex Toy is a weekly webcomic that features reviews of sex toys, porn, pinups, sex clubs -- basically, the whole pervy gamut. It is written and drawn with such gosh-darn sweet enthusiasm by Erika Moen (with the occasional guest-shot from husband Matthew, who provides a dude's perspective) that even if your tastes are tamer than Moen's, I think you'll find it a perfectly wonderful read.
Oh Joy Sex Toy - Introduction [NSFW] [Duh]
(Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
David Pescovitz at 8:43 am • •
A Tasmanian fellow set up a video camera in his kitchen to capture images of what he believed to be paranormal activity. When he later reviewed the video, he saw his common law wife making out with (drumroll) his 16-year-old son. The young man revealed that they had sex several times. From The Mercury:
The woman had been under the mistaken impression the age of consent was 16 and was ashamed and embarrassed at her conduct and was working on reconciling with her former partner.
"She accepts this is not a relationship which can or will continue," he told the court.
Justice David Porter remanded the woman in custody and will sentence her on Monday.
"
Woman filmed with stepson"
Maggie Koerth-Baker at 10:23 am • •
Image: Cicada, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from tinali778's photostream
So here is another line to kill space
This summer, folks on the East Coast of the US will see (and hear) an invasion of billions of cicadas in what is probably the most obvious part of the insects' 17-year life cycle. The cicadas will crawl out of the dirt, make a lot of noise, and seek out other cicadas in order to breed and create a new generation of larvae that will, 17 years from now, emerge to do the same thing all over again.
It's big news for those of us who think things like insects, evolution, and cyclical processes of nature are really, really cool.
Today, I ran across a number of Cicadasplosion-related stories and wanted to share them with you:
• First up, Carl Zimmer has a piece in the New York Times about cicadas and the evolution of seemingly strange life cycles. It includes a neat, interactive graphic showing a century of cicada blooms around the United States.
• The University of Maryland has a helpful cicada cookbook, including tips on the best times and ways to harvest the bugs. You want them young, and succulent, apparently.
• Cicadas will not hurt you, but they might land on you and there's a possibility that they may be sexually attracted to the sound of your weed-wacker.
• In 1894, The New York Times suggested pressing cicadas into a biscuit for dog food.
• If you're not a cicada fan and don't want to eat them yourself, rest assured, some of them will be eaten alive by a horrific-sounding fungus.
• Radiolab's cicada tracker is still up and running, and you can participate.
• A couple of years ago, when a different group of cicadas (on a 13-year-cycle) was hatching in North Carolina, Charles Choi spoke with chronobiologist and blogger Bora Zivkovic about why we don't yet understand cyclical systems like this.
Image: Cicada on leaf, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from frotzed's photostream
The sex of these turtles is determined by the temperature of the nest while the baby turtles are still egg-bound. The warmer the nest, the more likely the turtles end up female.
The warmer it gets in the American Midwest, the more painted turtle society turns into whatever the opposite of a sausage fest is. Now, depending on your personal inclinations, you could argue that this might actually
improve turtle sex — but it definitely puts a damper on creating new generations of baby turtles.
— Maggie
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Cory Doctorow at 3:01 pm • •
This weekend's contest on the Vintage Ads LiveJournal is old underwear ads, and the group is filling up with some extraordinary pics. Here are some of my faves (click to go through to the original posts).
Read the rest
Maggie Koerth-Baker at 1:35 pm • •
Science has the answers. Or, anyway, science has a fascinating look at why this particular question cannot be satisfactorily answered.
Also, being 16 weeks pregnant, this is relevant to my interests. I look forward to the subjective debate in the comments.
Cory Doctorow at 11:43 am • •
The FBI has indicted Adam Paul Savader for "sextortion," alleging that he hacked women's computers, plundered compromising photos of them, and then threatened them with public embarrassment unless they performed private sex shows for him over their webcams. Savader was Paul Ryan's sole campaign intern in the 2012 elections, and Gawker reports that he also served on the 2011 Gingrich campaign, dressing up as Ellis the Elephant, a mascot for the campaign.
Paul Ryan's Campaign Intern Indicted for Cyberstalking
(via Super Punch)
Cory Doctorow at 6:07 am • •
Costume Craze's sold-out "Chewbacca Second Skin Star Wars Costume" is a great choice for cosplayers who don't like their wookiee suits too hairy. It's the sexy catsuit of the 21st century!
Chewbacca Second Skin Star Wars Costume
(via Kottke)
A homophobic politician's
attempt to recriminalize anal and oral sex has ended in failure in Virginia. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wanted to revive the state's “Crimes against Nature” statute; the Fourth Court unanimously blew him off.
— Rob
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