Meat causes cancer

As long as I'm on my high horse, did anybody else hear this story on NPR this morning? About how eating meat causes cancer?

Circumcision is anti-sex.

This article in The New York Times led me to this study, Fine touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis.

The relevant conclusions?

The glans of the circumcised penis is less sensitive to fine touch than the glans of the uncircumcised penis. The transitional region from the external to the internal prepuce is the most sensitive region of the uncircumcised penis and more sensitive than the most sensitive region of the circumcised penis. Circumcision ablates the most sensitive parts of the penis.

Oh yeah, and this:

Whether the penis is circumcised or not might also affect coitus. For women, having a male partner with a foreskin increased the duration and comfort of coitus and increased the likelihood of achieving single and multiple orgasms

Packing for Kili

It's been years since I packed so deliberately, thinking over every item I bring, checking to make sure that I have everything I'll need and then checking again. Partly because climbing a very tall mountain and camping out in a wildlife park are activities that require special forethought and deliberation. Partly because it's a vacation, not something longer and more substantial: time I spend trying to find some necessary item that I forgot is just lost, any moment that I can't experience fully is unrepeatable.

Vaguely related: I've been reading this biography of Henry Morton Stanley, and although there is much to say about it, and I will write a short review later, I feel frequent guilty twinges because certain descriptions of his explorations in the Congo frequently remind me of...the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. At one point Tim Jeal quotes from the diary of one of Stanley's companions, and he's describing the sound of arrows whizzing by his head - how silent they are, but for a faint "pit pit pit" as they strike in the surrounding bush. I nodded my head and thought, "Yes, just like the ride!"

I'm kind of ashamed of this, as, I suppose, I ought to be.

Seal Bay

I just ate about a half pound of Seal Bay cheese from King's Island, Tasmania. It's one of those uber-creamy bries that you can scoop out of the rind with a cracker without making the cracker crumble. Very sweet and creamy, with an amazing aftertaste of seashells. It tastes like the beach, in a good way which I could never have imagined without actually trying the stuff. Plus, it's pasteurized, so even pregnant ladies can indulge!

Anybody with an interest in fine/oddball cheeses should snap this up if they ever see it.

cause for worry

I've always thought of Lonely Planet as the best guide for low-maintenance and adventurous travel - so I was not happy to read that Lonely Planet lists one of the highlights of a visit to Nairobi, Kenya, as "the smug feeling of surviving a stay here!"

Raise your hands now

Anybody else tempted by the new Amazon Kindle?

movies

Lars and the Real Girl - This is the movie where Ryan Gosling buys a Real Doll (a life-like and life-size sex toy) and then parades around with it as though it were a real person. I went to see it because I figured it had to be good for a laugh or two, and I was really surprised to find that it's actually a really good movie. The premise is so patently laughable that it overcomes the very strict taboo against laughing at the handicapped; and so the inhabitants of the small town where Gosling lives can be both mocking and caring. His friends and neighbors aren't divided between the good people who treat him kindly, and the bad people who ridicule and talk behind his back. Laughter and disbelief are part of how they cope with the disruption to their community; nonetheless, everyone closes ranks and helps him cope. Of course, the audience experiences the same mix of hilarity and sharp sympathy. It's a very well-done movie.

The Darjeeling Limited - If you like Wes Anderson, you will probably like The Darjeeling Limited. If you don't like Wes Anderson, you probably won't like The Darjeeling Limited. The guy has a schtick, and it's a good one, and he doesn't depart from it here. I think it's my least favorite of his movies, but I'd still come back for more.