A Nation of Wimps Maybe it's the cyclist in the park, trim under his sleek metallic blue helmet, cruising along the dirt path... at three miles an hour. On his tricycle. Or perhaps it's today's playground, all-rubber-cushioned surface where kids used to skin their knees. And... wait a minute... those aren't little kids playing. Their mommies—and especially their daddies—are in there with them, coplaying or play-by-play coaching . Few take it half-easy on the perimeter benches, as parents used to do, letting the kids figure things out for themselves. Then there are the sanitizing gels, with which over a third of parents now send their kids to school, according to a recent survey. Consider the teacher new to an upscale suburban town. Behold the wholly sanitized childhood , without skinned knees or the occasional C in history. Messing up, however, even in the playground, is wildly out of style. "Life is planned out for us," says Elise Kramer, a Cornell University junior.
World much stupider than returning soldier remembered [TSA] If you ever needed proof that we are lost in a sea of pointless rules designed to make traveling (and indeed life in general) more difficult than it ever needed to be, this is it. The eminent minds at TSA saw fit to confiscate an armed soldier’s nail clippers because he might use them to take over the plane. At this point I would like to point out that he was not armed with nail clippers, he was armed with an assault rifle – which was apparently acceptable because it didn’t have bullets. The icing on the cake, swabbing all of the soldiers returning from a war-zone for explosives residue… of course they all failed – but not as hard as the guy who kept swabbing. In response to all of the comments, please read our update. [Picchore]
Fed by Birds: Beautiful Eyeballs The Science Museum's online History of Medicine exhibition has as you might expect plenty of curious objects - like mole hands from Norfolk that warded off cramp: mummified birds: and eye-catching good-luck amulets: What's surprising is how attractive some of the trappings of illness were - elegant bronchitis kettles: Staffordshire feeding cups for invalids: Backrests for the bedbound: Smart medicine chests: Containing all kinds of delicious-looking medicine: Of course, anything can look appealing if it's presented in the right sort of case: See also: Peculiar and BreakableTylor's Bewitched Onion
Weight Loss Plan « OpenFreak.Com A man calls a company and orders their 5-day, 10 lb. weight loss program. The next day, there's a knock on the door and there stands before him a voluptuous, athletic, 19 year old babe dressed in nothing but a pair of Nike running shoes and a sign around her neck. She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company. The sign reads, "If you can catch me, you can have me." Without a second thought, he takes off after her. A few miles later huffing and puffing, he finally gives up. The same girl shows up for the next four days and the same thing happens. On the fifth day, he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost 10 lbs. as promised. He calls the company and orders their 5-day/20 pound program. The next day there's a knock at the door and there stands the most stunning and beautiful woman he has ever seen in his life. She is wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes and a sign around her neck that reads, "If you catch me you can have me." "Are you sure?" (Thanks Barbie)
Dirty Little Secrets in NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau Earlier this year, the Voice uncovered a troubling pattern of how the NYPD operates, relying on secretly recorded tapes to show that street cops are under intense pressure to achieve seemingly contradictory goals set down by their superiors. Years of recordings, lawsuits, and testimonies by active and retired police officers reveal that Ray Kelly's police department has been on an intense program that punishes innocent bystanders while intimidating and harassing actual crime victims. We've heard relatively little, however, about the NYPD wing that is supposed to be watching for these kinds of injustices: the Internal Affairs Bureau. Until now. More officers have come forward, telling the Voice that the secretive police-department-within-a-department is as troubled as the rest of Kelly's operation. C.S. Filing a lawsuit as "John Doe," a gay detective in IAB says he is constantly harassed. Ashlei Quinones Persecution complex: The Internal Affairs Bureau at 315 Hudson Street Details More About