Oh dear. This is funny if it's true: [link]

Apparently a student used Yahoo Answers to try to cheat on an assignment. Wackyness ensued!

Man, msbelle, you are good with the conceptual costumes! I've never been good with those. Loved your Old Man and the C costume.

You have seen the online equivalent of a unicorn: I got up at 6:30am this morning despite having gone to bed at 3am. After weeks of good intentions about turning my schedule around, I'm not playing today.

tommyrot, that is AWE. SOME.

I really hope that Yahoo Answers page is real. That is amazingly fantastic.

American Pie: Sex, Teens, And Parents

Rachael Phelps argues that the European view of sex is healthier. She notes that in both Europe and America "the age at which most people start having sex is 17," but that teen pregnancy "rates in the United States are three to six times higher than in Western European countries" and that "gonorrhea and chlamydia rates are 20 to 30 times higher here than in the Netherlands" One major cultural difference:

In the United States, sex is generally kept secret from parents.

In a 2004 study, [Dutch-American sociologist Dr. Amy Schalet ] asked parents: "Would you permit your son or daughter to spend the night with a girlfriend or boyfriend in his or her room at home?" Not surprisingly, nine out of 10 American parents said, no, often adding, "Not under my roof!" ... According to Schalet, Dutch parents struggle with their teens' emerging sexuality, but they deal with it by bringing the issue out into the open and into the home, where they can supervise. Nine out of 10 Dutch parents told Schalet they have allowed or would allow a romantic sleepover under the right circumstances: With a child who was 16 or older and in a loving committed relationship that the parents observed develop gradually. It is common for Dutch teens to sit down together with each set of parents to discuss why they think they're ready to have sex, and to seek permission.

The first time they had sex, 64 percent of Dutch teens used birth control, compared with only 26 percent of American teens. Most of the time, the Dutch teens used pills. Think about it for a minute: The majority of Dutch teens are making an appointment, going to a clinic, getting a prescription filled and starting birth control before they have sex.

And I sure as hell can`t actually get one here in Arizona.

Back before there was a bagel franchise on every corner, we always used to load up on bagels when we went to Tuscon. Can't remember what the place was called.

We're very bagelless here in Wisconsin. Sucks.

I'm supposed to be going up to Milwaukee, but I don't really know yet if I feel up to that. Maybe I'll go tomorrow.

It's a texture thing, mostly. And I'm not sure American bagels outside of NYC are made with malt barley as all right-thinking bagels ought to be.

Also, in embarrassing news, I just realized that that guy I kept thinking looked really familiar at work for, oh, the past TWO YEARS? Is a guy I knew in college. Not one of my closest friends, obviously, but he was a theatre major in my class so we intersected in classes/plays/student films ALL THE FREAKING TIME. And the only reason I finally put it together is we saw each other at the reunion last weekend and got to talking and realized that we have kids the same age and live about ten blocks apart from each other. MY WORLDS ARE COLLIDING AND I DO NOT LIKE IT.

(In my defense, at the old office we worked on different floors so I only ever saw him *very* occasionally, and then I moved across town to CBS for the past 6 months. And in this place we're all on one floor, but his department's section is almost a full city block away from mine. But Jesus Christ, I should have at least said "Hi, you look familiar." You know, a year ago. 'Cause now it's awkward!)

(Also in my defense, he's never come up to me and said hi either. So either he still hasn't realized we know each other, or we're both in the same "Oh shit I've been ignoring this person for two years, I can't say hi NOW" boat, because really how many heavily pregnant purple-haired women could he know??)

Montreal bagels come in three kinds--plain, sesame seed, and poppyseed. I do not understand this fancy salt and onion crap you so-called purists talk about.

Okay, I really should pack more.