Insomnia

I've been plagued by moderate amounts of insomnia the past several days and I figured I might as well grab some ideas on what to do while bored and awake. The past two nights I've been awake I watched a movie, did tons of math homework and browsed the internet, along with failed attempts to figure out why the sandman is scorning me. I've had to avoid doing my English homework because I've found I use the larger words from my lexicon when I'm tired. This is great for my writing, although the writers block has stayed with me during this bout of insomnia. I'd also watch the sunrise but the area has too many trees to see a proper one.
What suggestions do other people have?

Goodbye Menstration

There's an interesting article over at Slate about a pill that is designed to stop menstruation. Being male, I really don't have much of an opinion on this but I am curious about what other people think. Is this a good idea? A bad one?

Starcraft II

I'm surprised Taylor hasn't blogged about this yet...
Anyways, I'm here to tell you to sell your stock in any company that employs geeks or nerds. Especially Google, sell your stock in Google. Why? Because after nine years, the sequel to the computer game Starcraft was announced. That means any techy is going to quit their job to spend a few months in front of their computer playing this game. Considering how much of the economy relies on these techies, I'm worried about a major recession. But not too worried because I know I'll be too glued to my computer to worry about anything. This coming from the boy who hasn't played a computer game in nearly two years.

For those of you who don't know anything about Starcraft, here's a bit of history: it came out in 1998, has sold 9 million copies and is still an incredibly fun game. It is a real time strategy game that revolves around three races, the bug-like Zerg, the religious Protoss and the human Terran. Not only is the game fun, but the cinematics are beautifully done and the characters and plot are actually, well, surprisingly good. I still rank Kerrigan as one of my favorite villians from any media. Oddly enough, Starcraft is pretty much the unofficial national sport of South Korea.

Phelp's hates Falwell

There isn't a word to describe what I'm feeling over this. Apparently Fred Phelp's and the hateful bastards* at the Westboro Baptist Church loath even the deceased Jerry Falwell. They're going to "preach" at his funeral.** Part of me feels sorry for Falwell. That isn't a big part of me. A bigger part of me is just swimming in the poetic justice of this. Falwell was a horrible bigot and the idea of having an even worse bigot ranting about how lenient Falwell was just seems awesome. A third part of me is trying to decide of Phelp's is some sort of sick performance artist who wants to make Christianity look bad.

*I normally try to avoid using words like that against people, but Phelp's is one who I think honestly deserves it.
**Don't look at that site unless you're prepared to deal with high blood pressure and excessive amounts of outrage.

It had to be on purpose...

Skywalkers in Korea cross Han solo is probably one of the best news headlines I've ever read.

Massacres and sympathy

Everyone has heard of the tragedy that happened at Virginia Tech this week. Most of the country felt and expressed sympathy to the murdered students and their friends and family. What most people probably did not hear about was the 170 people killed in Baghdad today. Little, if any, sorrow or sympathy was extended to the victims and their families in Baghdad by the rest of the world. Why is this the case? I'm not attempting to make people feel guilty about their sorrow for one tragedy over another, I'm simply curious as to why one event evokes emotions instead of another. Are we simply desensitized to the murders in Iraq? Is it because what happens in Iraq effects us less then what happens on a campus in Virginia? I don't remember much public condolences to the victims of the 2006 Mumbia train bombings yet the train bombings in Madrid in 2004 generated much sympathy. The number of dead were about the same, what caused the different responses? Is it because America has more shared cultural traits with Spain than India? One thing that I can be certain of is that when children are killed, emotions will be raised. The Columbine and Beslan school massacres both received much media attention and public condolences.

Sex, condoms and reproduction rights.

First, an interesting article in the NYTimes about sexuality and sexual desire. There's also another one that is, to put it frankly, about old peoples libidos. I found it refreshing that a major newspaper like the Times was pretty open about this kind of thing.

Even more surprising is New York City's new condom distribution plan. Basically, New York City has been giving out free condoms. Five million have been distributed so far. They've even got two short animations about the condoms (don't worry, the link is safe for work). The best part about the whole thing? Their slogan: "New York, we've got you covered." A major newspaper being explicit about sex and sexuality is one thing, a government agency being explicit and risque about it is even more amazing!

This isn't to say that all inhibitions about sex are bad. These inhibitions were sorely missed in the case where four middle school children had sex in a classroom while the teacher was out of the room. I'm not sure how something like this could happen. Is it glorification of sex in pop culture? Bad parenting? Declining sexual inhibitions?

Finally there is the case of an infertile woman* in Britain who is not allowed to use her frozen embryos that were inseminated by her partner. The man withdrew his consent to use the embryos because he did not want the emotional or financial burden of having someone raise his child. I feel sympathetic toward this woman, but I do think the court made the right decision.

Thoughts? Opinions? Comments?

*You might need a subscription to The Economist to read that article.