Eideard

One of the last shipments to a U.S. research base in Antarctica before the onset of winter darkness was a year’s supply of condoms.

Bill Henriksen, the manager of the McMurdo base station, said nearly 16,500 condoms were delivered last month and would be made available, free of charge, to staff throughout the year to avoid the potential embarrassment of having to buy them.

“Since everybody knows everyone, it becomes a little bit uncomfortable,” Henriksen told the Southland Times newspaper.

About 125 scientists and staff are stationed at McMurdo base, the largest community in Antarctica, during the winter months when there is constant darkness.

They could always brush up their sudoku skills – for visits to Australia.

DAILY TELEGRAPH – OZ

A three-month drugs trial has been aborted at a cost of “millions” after the jury’s forewoman admitted playing the number game Sudoku for at least half of the trial.

The District Court trial, which cannot be identified for legal reasons, was aborted…on the 66th day of evidence, after Judge Peter Zahra was told one of the accused men had noticed the jury playing the game.

The forewoman was brought into the court and asked by Judge Zahra to estimate for how much of the trial she had been playing the game.

“I don’t know, at least half of it I’d say, I usually have it at hand,” she said, explaining that “maybe four or five” others on the jury played Sudoku or other games.

She added: “Yes, and we discuss it sometimes, or the word games out of the newspaper sometimes are written down as well.”

The “jury” wasted a couple million dollarz on gaming instead of judging.

Thanks, K B

Morningness is a predictor of better grades in college, according to a research abstract that will be presented on June 9 at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

The study, authored by Kendry Clay, of the University of North Texas, focused on 824 undergraduate students who were enrolled in psychology classes.

According to the results, college students who are evening types had lower GPAs, while those who are morning types had higher GPAs.

“The finding that college students who are evening types have lower GPAs is a very important finding, sure to make its way into undergraduate psychology texts in the near future, along with the research showing that memory is improved by sleep,” said Daniel J. Taylor…who developed the concept for this study.

“Further, these results suggest that it might be possible to improve academic performance by using chronotherapy to help students entrain their biological clock to become more morning types.”

ZZZZZzzzzzzz…

U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada to escape the war in Iraq won a symbolic victory in the House of Commons when a majority of MPs voted that the deserters should be allowed to stay permanently in the country.

But the motion, put forward by the NDP, is non-binding on the minority Conservative government. Tory MPs voted against the motion but were outnumbered by the three opposition parties in a 137-110 vote.

The Toronto-based War Resisters Support Campaign estimates as many as 200 American soldiers escaped to Canada to avoid serving in Iraq.

The motion called on the government to “immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members . . . to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada.”

The Conservatives also should “cease any removal or deportation actions,” the motion said.

Resisters to this futile and arrogant war rally around an avenue of escape long part of America’s history. Back to our nation’s founding – as a matter of historic fact.

Living together has become so common that a growing number of U.S. residents view cohabitation as an alternative to marriage, an international study indicates…The study analyzed cohabitation, marriage and divorce data from 13 countries.

Excluding the United States, the study found between 15 percent and 30 percent of couples in the countries surveyed indicated they were living together. That figure was about 10 percent in the United States.

“We’re still the most marrying of all these countries, but the data are clearly headed in the one common direction. It’s headed in the direction of cohabitation as an alternative,” says David Popenoe, chief author and co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University.

The analysis found the marriage rate is down in all countries except Norway and Sweden, which traditionally have had low marriage rates. In the United States, the marriage rate fell nearly 20 percent from 1995 to 2005.

Another religious “rule” falling by the wayside. Overdue, btw.

I hold no brief against marriage. My friends used to joke that I’m obviously in favor of marriage – because I did it so often. More than that, however, I’m in favor of choice. And that includes stepping away from strictures and regulations leftover from a darker, superstitious past.