Non Sequitur

[Scheherazade]

Most adults would prefer to cuddle up with a good book at bedtime rather than make love to their partner.

A survey of 2,000 people showed lovemaking was fourth in a list of "favourite activities" when hitting the sack, behind reading, watching TV - and going to sleep.

Women were more likely to prefer to read at night, according to the survey by hotel chain Travelodge.


The most popular books of the moment were The Da Vinci Code, Lord of the Rings, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, To Kill a Mocking Bird, and Treasure Island.

Travelodge spokesman Wayne Munnelly said: "Reading is the perfect way to wind down at the end of the day.

"Anxiety levels will drop as it provides a gentle distraction, pushing any worries out of your mind which will ultimately help you relax and fall asleep."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...250309,00.html

[kilted exile]

Something I got in an e-mail:

As you know, Glasgow will be applying to host the Commonwealth Games in
2014. What you may not know is that many of the famous events which go
to make up this spectacular event, are to be especially altered for 2014
to boost Glasgow's bid. A copy of these changes has been leaked, and is
reproduced below:


OPENING CEREMONY

The flame will be ignited by a petrol bomb thrown by a native of
Castlemilk, in the traditional dress of Burberry baseball cap and a
white shell suit.

The flame will be contained in a large overturned police van situated on
the roof of the stadium.


THE EVENTS

In previous Commonwealth Games, Scotland's competitors have not been
particularly successful. In order to redress the balance, some of the
events have been altered slightly to the advantage of local athletes.


100 METRES SPRINT
Competitors will have to hold a DVD player and microwave oven (one in
each arm) and on the sound of the starting pistol, a police Dog will be
released from a cage 10 yards behind the athletes.


110 METRES HURDLES
As above but with added obstacles (i.e. car bonnets, hedges, garden
fences, Walls etc)


HAMMER
Competitors in this event may choose the type of hammer they wish to use
(claw, sledge etc) the winner will be the one who can cause the most
physical damage within three attempts.


FENCING
This event shall be sponsored by Cash Converters who shall also provide
the hardware. The contest itself shall be based outside kebab shops in
Baillieston, Riddrie, Drumchapel, and Easterhouse....the winner shall be
the one who can leave A & E first.


SHOOTING
A strong challenge is expected from local men in this event. The first
target will be a moving police van. In the second round, competitors
will aim at a post office clerk, bank teller or Securicor-style wages
delivery man.

The traditional .22 rifle has been replaced in this event by a choice of
either a Browning automatic handgun or Sawn-off 12-bore shotgun.


CYCLING TIME TRIALS
Competitors will be asked to break into the Glasgow University bike shed
and takes an expensive mountain bike owned by some mummy's boy on his
first trip away from home. All against the clock.


CYCLING PURSUIT
As above, but the bike will be owned by a visiting member of the
Australian rugby team, who will witness the theft.


MODERN PENTATHLON
Amended to include mugging, breaking and entering, flashing, joyriding,
underage drinking and arson.


SWIMMING EVENTS
All waterways are currently being tested for toxicity levels, once one
is found that can support human life, swimming events will be organised,
please note that the Synchronised Swimming event for this year will
comprise of dropping acid and watching all the funky ripples on the
pool, the specific musical support to this event will be provided by
"Belle & Sebastian".


THE MARATHON
A safe route has yet to be decided.


MEN'S 50KM WALK
Unfortunately this will have to be cancelled, as the police cannot
guarantee the safety of anyone walking the streets of Glasgow,
especially anyone that appears to be mincing...


THE CLOSING CEREMONY
Entertainment will include formation rave dancing by members of the
Govan Health in the Community, anti-drug campaigners, synchronised rock
throwing, and music by the Dennistoun community choir. The flame will be
extinguished by police riot water cannon following inevitable pitch
invasion by confused old firm fans.

The stadium itself will then be boarded up before the local athletes
break into it and remove all the copper piping and the central heating
boiler.

[Scheherazade]

The fourth Harry Potter novel and David Beckham's autobiography are among the books least likely to be finished by Britons, according to a survey.
Booker winner Vernon God Little was the least-finished fiction title, followed by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Autobiographies by David Blunkett, Bill Clinton and David Beckham topped the non-fiction unfinished list.

A Teletext survey of 4,000 Britons found that almost half of the books they bought remained unfinished.

UNFINISHED FICTION
1 Vernon God Little, DBC Pierre
2 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
3 Ulysses, James Joyce
4 Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis De Bernieres
5 Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
6 The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie
7 The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
8 War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
9 The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
10 Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky

Some 35% of those who bought or borrowed Vernon God Little, DBC Pierre's story of a US high school massacre, admitted not finishing it.

The figure was 32% for the fourth instalment in the Harry Potter series, while 28% said the same for James Joyce's Ulysses, third on the list.

The fiction top 10 also included Louis De Bernieres' Captain Corelli's Mandolin (27%), made into a film starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz.

Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, over which a Muslim fatwa was issued ordering the writer's execution, was unfinished by 21%.

UNFINISHED NON-FICTION
1 The Blunkett Tapes, David Blunkett
2 My Life, Bill Clinton
3 My Side, David Beckham
4 Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
5 Wild Swans, Jung Chang
6 Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking
7 The Downing Street Years, Margaret Thatcher
8 I Can Make You Thin, Paul McKenna
9 Jade: My Autobiography, Jade Goody
10 Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?, Mick O'Hare

On the non-fiction list, former home secretary Blunkett's The Blunkett Tapes was too much for 35% of readers, followed by Clinton's My Life (30%) and Beckham's My Side (27%).

The average Briton spent more than £4,000 on books during their lifetime, the survey found.

Less than a quarter of people found time to read every day, with 48% saying they were too tired.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6440981.stm

[Scheherazade]

It's big business but who really objects to spending money on spoiling their mum on Mother's Day? Only the woman who invented it.

Mothers, they're lovely. They kiss you better when you hurt yourself, cook your favourite dinners and always take your side when someone is nasty to you.

The High Street shops might make a mint out of Mother's Day, but who really objects to splashing a bit of cash on their mum on her special day? One woman did and spent 40 years of her life trying to get rid of all the cards and presents - the woman who invented the day.

The old English Mothering Sunday has its roots in pre-Christian times, but modern-day Mother's Day - the cards, flowers, chocolates etc - was started in the United States by Anna Jarvis.

The ninth of 11 children, she made it her life's work to commemorate every mother after her own mother died. The idea - like Mothering Sunday - was for families to get together in church to recognise the real value of motherhood.

Horrified

Firstly she got her local church involved and after tirelessly campaigning for almost a decade, US President Woodrow Wilson officially dedicated a day to mothers in 1914 - the second Sunday in May.

UK MOTHERING SUNDAY
Roots stretch back to pre-Christian times
In 18th and 19th Centuries, servants were given the day off to visit their mothers
Britons sent 23 million cards in 2005, about 30% homemade

But within years it had become commercialised. Ms Jarvis was horrified. She tried to take action, incorporating herself as the Mother's Day International Association and claiming copyright on the date.

Along with her sister Ellsinore, Anna spent the entire family inheritance on trying to undo the damage done to Mother's Day. One of her protests even got her arrested for disturbing the peace. She died in 1948, in poverty and without success.

In one respect what Ms Jarvis wanted from the day lives on - it has taken on huge significance and is a celebration of motherhood. However, how most people chose to celebrate it would make her turn in her grave.

Say it with flowers

Consumers are pressured by advertising and businesses to measure goodwill in terms of presents, says branding expert Jonathan Gabay.

"Mother's Day has become a yearly windfall to business. It's an opportunity to market everything from cut flowers and greetings cards to nostalgic CDs, perfume and beauty products."

He's not wrong. The UK greeting card industry is worth more than £1.2bn a year, according to market research group Mintel. Mother's Day is one of the biggest events in the industry's calendar and Britons sent about 23 million cards to their mothers in 2005.

According to the Flowers & Plants Association, 3.7 million mixed bouquets, 394,000 bunches of roses, 294,000 bunches of tulips, 293,000 bunches of freesia and 93,000 foliage plants were bought on Mother's Day last year.

What Mother's Day needs is a re-launch without its commercial sponsors, say some. Professor Ralph Fevre says the day is supposed to make mothers feel valued but its commercialism means it "isn't up to the job".

"We have a particular problem in the UK drawing a line around those parts of our lives that we want to keep sacrosanct from the market," he says.

"When we find some aspect of our lives that we want to value, or honour as the Americans say, we always end up involving the market in some way."

He suggests making it a weekday public holiday.

Breakfast in bed

"We need to try a bit harder to put work in its place. Having Mothers Day on a Sunday lets us off the hook.

"To have it on a weekday would show that we can resist that pull that takes us into work and which makes us value everything in economic terms."

Many mothers agree with his views, and there is a real movement among them to shift the focus away from buying presents to helping others, says one of the founders of Mumsnet, Carrie Longton.

"We don't want the day to disappear or for people to stop treating their mothers. We just want people to focus on what the day is about and not just grab a card and bunch of flowers from a petrol station on the way over to their mum's house," she says.

"It's inevitable that businesses will see the day as a way to make money, but most mothers would be happier with a homemade card because it shows some thought and effort has been put into it.

"There is a real movement among mothers at the moment to think about mothers who are less fortunate. We are encouraging people to make a donation to charities that help mothers worldwide rather than buy flowers.

"I will be working on a cake stall on Mother's Day to raise money for HIV mothers in Africa. It costs just £7 to buy the medicine to make sure they don't pass HIV onto their children."

It's this type of action that Ms Jarvis would approve of. Especially as she hated Mother's Day cards, calling them "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6409411.stm

[Madhuri]

Something I got in an e-mail:

[Basil]

[Scheherazade]

Couples in their 20s had their heart rates and brains monitored whilst they first melted chocolate in their mouths and then kissed.

Chocolate caused a more intense and longer lasting "buzz" than kissing, and doubled volunteer's heart rates....

Although kissing set the heart pounding, the effect did not last as long as that seen with the chocolate, which increased heart rates from a resting rate of about 60 beats per minute to 140.

The study also found that as the chocolate started melting, all regions of the brain received a boost far more intense and longer lasting than the excitement seen with kissing.

MORE




__________________

[Virgil]

Although kissing set the heart pounding, the effect did not last as long as that seen with the chocolate, which increased heart rates from a resting rate of about 60 beats per minute to 140.

Huh? Can't be. I have a heart rate monitor/stop watch and it takes me a quarter mile of running to get up to 140 beats/min. I doubt chocolate in your mouth hardly does anything. Hmm, I can actually do this experiment.

[cuppajoe_9]

Nothing says "safety" like blindfolded children armed with baseball bats, eh?

[Virgil]

Check this out...too funny!!!!


1. go to www.google.com
2. click on "maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box) (hit get directions)
6. scroll down to steps #23 & 24

[kilted exile]

I also like the way it sends you to France first.

[Virgil]

I also like the way it sends you to France first.

I guess one gets tired from all that swimming and needs to rest.

[Scheherazade]

Zombie movies quiz

[Scheherazade]

[Scheherazade]