Not sure why—perhaps one of the great mysteries of the universe—but Mei Mei loves to sit on paper. This strange trait comes out most strongly when she has just had a bath (when she can do the most damage to important documents), but she does it even when she’s dry.
Pointing Right Back At You
I’ve been in plenty of men’s rooms, but something unique about the handle on this urinal struck me funny: it points directly at the user. As seen in a (rare) men’s room on the all-girls campus of Hollins University in Roanoke.
How the Pentagon Got Its Shape
This Memorial Day, as we solemnly remember the ultimate sacrifices made by the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces to protect our freedoms, the Washington Post runs a fascinating excerpt from Steve Vogel’s upcoming book, The Pentagon: A History. The excerpt explains how the iconic Pentagon building originated during our country’s nervous, reluctant preparations for the second world war. The design—originally driven by practicality and necessity—remains among my favorite building layouts. I have a Pentagon pass and go there two or three times each month, and—while it took some getting used to—I still love and appreciate the building’s sheer efficiency and simplistic beauty.
- How the Pentagon Got Its Shape (Washington Post; free registration may be required).
The HPV Vaccine
The human papilloma virus—known as HPV—is a disease shrouded in misinformation. First off, it’s not just one disease; there are over 100 types of HPV which can cause anything from warts to cancer to cold sores to, well, nothing. Second off, it is not exclusively a sexually transmitted disease. Fewer than 40 of those 100 variants of HPV can be transmitted through sexual contact, and even those can (rarely) be transmitted through other, non-sexual physical contact. Approximately 12 of those 40 have been shown to lead to cervical cancer in women, but two of them (responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancers) can be stopped by a recently-developed HPV vaccine.
One Choice in Iraq
While our Congress stands on the verge of passing a resolution setting an artificial time-line for withdrawal from Iraq, an opinion piece by one of the few ‘liberal’ Congressmen still making sense appeared in the Washington Post this morning. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who caucuses with the Democratic Party, speaks of the real—though preliminary—progress in Iraq since our troop ‘surge’ began, and points out the sheer idiocy of doing exactly what al-Qaeda wants us to do: respond to their ongoing insurgency and terrorist attacks by packing up and leaving. Our artificial withdrawal date gives al-Qaeda an exact moment they need to hold out for, after which Iraq is theirs to become the new Afghanistan.
- One Choice in Iraq (Washington Post; free registration may be required).
Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.