So, And Thus...

Manhunt Saw Record Traffic As Dow Dropped

But we received a tip that Manhunt, the most popular online "dating" resource in NYC for men looking for a hookup, saw record membership numbers the day of the stock market crash. So we got on the phone with Ken Herron, chief of marketing, and Tim Feeley, head of product development, to discuss the numbers that spiked when the Dow dropped.

Herron claims that guys were probably "reaching out to connect with friends, whether they were going to have sex or not. They want to reach out and talk." We didn't realize that people were using the sex site as an actual "social networking" site similar to Facebook.

Gay Sex Site Manhunt Saw Record Traffic As Dow Dropped

I think they were all Republicans who needed comfort after the debates.

McCain Medical Problems?

mccainfacetick1.jpg (image)

Saw this over at AmericaBlog. This is very important. Is this tick a sign of a medical condition? It happened right before he got confused.

McCain is old and had been through a lot. People really have to think about his health. Would you want Palin to take over as President if something were to happen to McCain?

Some more from John Aravosis:

In the post below, we showed a scene that just took place in which McCain was momentarily confused on stage, not knowing where to go. We posted the video because it was funny. But Joe just realized that literally seconds before McCain became confused on stage, his face twitched or convulsed twice. Look at the photos above and below. They're from around 5 seconds (above) and 11 second (below) into the video Joe posted below. 

It happened twice. First in a rather major way at 5 seconds, then more minor at 10/11 seconds. You can see McCain's left eye twitch closed, and at the same time, the left corner of his lip twitched upwards - it's especially pronounced in the 4th photo above. What is going on with McCain's health? This isn't normal. And it happened right before he became confused and couldn't figure out how to get off the stage.

 

Teen Pregnancy

Crooks and Liars » Open Thread

Apparently, brain cells also drop off significantly.

Estelle Getty

Rest in peace, Estelle. At this very moment, I am sure flocks of gay men are blogging about your passing.

 

Happy Earth Day!

Let's save the world! Go Green!

Tennis Anyone? ... Hmm, Anyone SANE?

Here is a vid of Mikhail Youzhny "Internalizing John McEnroe".  Mischa, please, I think when you've watched old clips of McE something was lost in translation.

I forgot to tell you....

... that there's evidence that a big belly might be an indicator of Alzheimer's later in life. Article here.

Notice the categories I chose to characterize this. My fave is "random thoughts".

53 Ways

I am posting this article from Oprah, just for the "camp factor". My favorite sub-category in this article is "Wake Up Gorgeous". Evokes images of a 50s musical or TV show in which someone (a blond woman with perfect hair and teeth of course) wakes up with a smile, energetically throws off the blankets and dances around the bedroom.

Sub-category runners-up:

• Do the flip
• Curl for Drama (of COURSE I'd like this one!)
• Pop, you're finished!
• Go for Drama (...and this one too)
• Make Your Fingers Look Graceful

... and for the record, I was NOT reading Oprah.com! CNN had a link to this article.

Excuse me now, I'm going to go and try to figure out how to make my fingers look graceful.

Possible Parkinson's Cure

The Independent published the latest information on a possible cure for Parkinson's.  Some highlights from the article:

A potential cure for Parkinson's disease has come a significant step closer today with a study showing that it is possible to treat the degenerative brain disorder with cells derived from cloned embryos – a development condemned by the Roman Catholic Church.

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"This is an exciting development, as for the first time it may be possible to create a person's own embryonic stem cells to potentially treat Parkinson's disease," said Kieran Breen, director of research at the Parkinson's Disease Society – a charity representing the 120,000 people in Britain affected by the illness.

Dr Breen said: "Stem cell therapy offers great hope for repairing the brain. It may ultimately offer a cure, allowing people to lead a life that is free from the symptoms of Parkinson's disease."

From the same article this statement comes from an 18 year Parkinson's sufferer, Geraldine Peacock CBE who is a former chair of the Charity Commission.

"I would not want to stop any process unless it I knew it was categorically not going to work for those who are suffering. I don't believe cloning embryos is like taking life. Parkinson's is such a desperately painful disease. You would have thought that everyone would support anything reasonable to find a cure, and I believe what is being suggested is reasonable."

Analyzing Your Taste Buds (or Choosing a Wine for your Tongue!)

photo: Billy CP Law

I read an interesting article in The Washington Post which explains how our taste buds influence the way we experience wine.  Tim Hanni, a wine consultant from California can analyze tongues to determine which of four catagories a taster falls under and can make wine suggestions tailored to each taster category.  The four different "types" of tasters are:

Tolerant - these tasters have "fewer taste buds and tends to prefer ripe, concentrated wines"
Sensitive - "usually likes more-balanced wines without strong tannins"
Hypersensitive - "tend toward delicate, slightly sweeter wines"
Sweet - "are also hypersensitive" but have "little interest in learning to like drier wines"

The link above gives more information about the science of tasting but if you are just curious to find out which category your taste buds fall under, just check out the BUDOMETER!

*no animals were given any alcohol that did not fall into their specific taste category for this post