Rotundus.com

Texas beer joint sues church...

Not a big fan of the anti-alcohol tendencies of a lot of US churches. Still I found the following comment by the judge in this case to be amusing: "I don't know how I’m going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not."

Man blows his nose, ends up in jail

I'm amused. The problem in this case: grabbing some paper towels off a maintenance cart that he might have been entitled to (despite his argument that he'd paid his transit fare)

Libyan ancient city draws goats, cows, few tourists

The introductory sentence: "A toga-clad statue that would be a prize museum piece elsewhere lies half buried among cow dung at the ancient Greek city of Cyrene in eastern Libya, where tourism has suffered decades of neglect." Do I need to add another place to my to-visit list?

Identical twins not actually identical, shocking Canadian research finds

Interesting. I wonder if follow-up research will confirm this.

From an ABC News (Australia) article:

1981:
Twenty-nine-year-old barmaid Sandie Craddock got off a murder charge after stabbing another worker to death when she pleaded diminished responsibility because of PMS. The judge accepted the argument that PMS was a mitigating factor in the incident because it turned Craddock "into a raging animal each month". A review of Craddock's diaries showed that each of her past 30 convictions and multiple suicide attempts occurred around the same time of her menstrual cycle. Craddock was found guilty of manslaughter, placed on probation and ordered to take progesterone treatment.

1981:
Christine English killed her married lover when she rammed him against a pole with her car after a fight. The court was told English had an aggravated form of PMS which contributed to a drop in blood sugar and an over-production of adrenalin before the incident. The court reduced the murder charge to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

1988:
Twenty-year-old Anna Reynolds killed her mother by hitting her on the head with a hammer. At her trial, it was argued that she suffered from PMS, which led to the temporary loss of control and impairment, reducing her culpability. The murder charge was reduced to manslaugher.

Murder -> manslaughter would still be a conviction of sorts, albeit a lesser one. Still, at what point should charges be weakened? Should the courts then also consider some sort of testosterone poisoning?

Study: Beer beats water for hydration

This involves post-exercise refreshment and some studies on that - I'm not sure that it applies fully to a more sedentary crowd.

Pyramids, Plates, and Pagodas: Dietary Guidelines From Around the World

I suppose that this is really extremely nerdy to look at, but I like it anyways.

Coffee danger for fast food fans?

Seems that fast food is even more unhealthy when served with coffee.

Divide and rule

What rules trying to prevent dynastic succession seems to have lead to in Guatamala: "The president and first lady split up—leaving her free to run for office." The article notes that "Ms Torres’s eligibility is still in doubt. The constitution excludes the president’s blood relatives up to his cousins, and his in-laws up to grandparents and grandchildren. But there is no mention of exes, leaving the question up to the Constitutional Court. Its five members were chosen this month and will be seated in April."

When we moved into the complex, we thought a lot about “how hard it is to meet your neighbors.” And when we discussed the idea of a get-together with the few people we knew in our building, they also commented that it is “tough to have community in the suburbs.” But we were all wrong. It is not difficult to get to know your neighbors—it is simply not something most of us value. The result is a culture of seclusion, and that culture strains our society in a surprising number of ways.

The title for this piece comes from a recent article at the Gospel Coalition.

Our seclusion also exacerbates the psychological strain on our mobile population. College students, unmarried adults, and any other “single member households” often find no support net for tragedies, depression, or even major life decisions except from their peers.

Hmn... if I think about it I suppose that going through candidacy last year is about when I hit burnout. Candidacy examples are basically equivalent to comprehensives. (With the proposal and prep work, think of a few months of extremely little time for anything else - I didn't even have time to cook for a week or two).