Preakness coverage all day. They just showed a little piece on Calvin Borel that made me tear up. (Darn it all.)

He's not a Marylander -- he's from Louisiana and yesterday he rode at Pimlico for the first time.

And next they're really going to make me cry because they're leading up to the first running of the Barbaro Stakes and guess what they're going to feature?

Yes! And we don't know what cancers it may cause in men. Dan Savage mentioned this week something about there now being indications that HPV is linked to throat (I think) cancer too...

Zap 'em all, man.

Yes, but you can't catch it sitting next to a friend in school, or doing your grocery shopping, or in a meeting at work. I don't like the government having so much say-so in private citizens lives. I think the smart people will get the vaccine. I do not think it should be mandatory any more than I think we should all have to be tested for HIV. I don't want the government giving me medicine any more than I want it taking charge of my womb.

Preakness. That's right. Must avoid Northern Parkway. Hell, must avoid everything south of me. I'm surprised I haven't seen the blimp. Pimlico is 2 miles from me. rearranges plans.

I have mixed feelings on the HPV vaccine. If I had a daughter she would absolutely get the vaccine. But I'm not comfortable with the govenment and pharmaceutical companies making it mandatory. It makes sense as a prevention to disease, but so does banning cigarettes, or preventive mastectomy.

The huge profit potention with this particular vaccine makes me skeptical of the real motives behind the push.

That said, I think every young woman should get the vaccine, because cervical cancer, bad.

The most pernicious thing about HPV, as I understand it, is that the "intimate contact" that spreads it can be a fair amount less intimate than sex; it's a hardy virus and can be transmitted by skin-to-skin contact in non-intercourse cuddling in underwear or bathing suits, the sort of behavior that lots of people think of as safe because there's no penetration, and not even any direct genital contact, just clothed genital proximity. And it sometimes shows up as genital warts in guys, but sometimes not, and often doesn't manifest as anything in gals until that first abnormal Pap smear.

It's just viciously easy to catch without knowing it, viciously easy to carry without knowing it, and viciously easy to spread without knowing it. A mandatory vaccine could make it as nearly extinct as polio in a generation or two. I don't see a downside.

The Laura Bush thing is just a rumour. There's no evidence that she's been staying at the Hay-Adams. Though I hope she does leave him after they depart 1600 Penn. Ave. It would be an excuse for more GWB with his head buried in the sand-fun.

I'm reading People magazine, and they've got an article about the baby that died, whose parents were sentenced a few weeks ago. (The headline is "Did this baby die from a VEGAN DIET?" Um, no. The baby died from being underfed. If his parents had fed him the same amount of cow's milk that they fed him of soy milk, he probably would have still died.)

Anyway. The article mentions a family that's raised their kids vegan since birth, and the kids are fine. It's got this sentence: "Though the kids rank approximately in the 50th percentile for height and weight, they are normal, active children who take multivitamins and eat fortified cereal and soy milk, according to their parents." What on earth is that "though" at the beginning of the sentence supposed to mean?

Even though they're only precisely of average size...

So, I have sneakers. I'm not entirely sold on them, though. Hmph.

Anyway. The article mentions a family that's raised their kids vegan since birth, and the kids are fine. It's got this sentence: "Though the kids rank approximately in the 50th percentile for height and weight, they are normal, active children who take multivitamins and eat fortified cereal and soy milk, according to their parents." What on earth is that "though" at the beginning of the sentence supposed to mean?

Apparently, most kids are above average. Maybe the writer is from Lake Wobegon?