Life’s Weirder Than Fiction

In a previous post, I scoffed at the theory that eating soy would make someone (mainly men) become homosexual. I argued that homosexuality had been present through the ages, even before the tofu-eating fad. Come to think of it, there are no more homosexuals among Asians than elsewhere, and they sure eat a lot of tofu.

Now World Science reports that there may be a function for “gay genes” after all. The studies were done with a Samoan tribe whose men have sex with men. Since homosexuality makes “little evolutionary sense,” it has been a puzzle as to why it persists.

There are two competing theories. One is that gay relatives help raise other people’s young, therefore strengthening the families and helping the survival of these young. The other is that “gayness” is a genetic aberration that simply occurs without cultural significance.

In the new studies, “Ca­na­di­an psy­chol­o­gists sought to test some of these com­pet­ing ideas by vis­it­ing Sa­moa, a rel­a­tively un­-westernized land. By stu­dying peo­ple who they said live clos­er to the ways of human­ity’s “ances­tral” past, the re­search­ers said they hoped to as­sess pos­si­ble ev­o­lu­tion­ary func­tions for ho­mo­sex­u­al­ity and the roles of oth­er gen­der-blur­ring be­hav­iors.”

It turns out that the first theory was supported by those studies:

Men who ha­bit­u­ally have sex with men are so­cially ac­cept­ed in Sa­moa, where they’re known as fa’a­fines… fa’a­fines put “sig­nif­i­cantly” more ef­fort in­to rais­ing nephews and nieces. The child­care ac­ti­vi­ties that saw stronger in­put from fa’a­fines in­clud­ed babysit­ting, buy­ing toys, tu­tor­ing, ex­pos­ing the chil­dren to art and mu­sic, and con­tri­but­ing to day-care, med­i­cal and educa­t­ion ex­penses, the sur­veys in­di­cat­ed.

Tags: gay, genetics, homosexuality

When I say I’m fairly obsessed by the story of a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire, most people who haven’t heard of the Twilight series look at me as if I’ve finally lost it. “It” being my mind, my reason, or any rhyme thereof.

But I’m not afraid to admit that not only do I find the story compelling but I find the writing absolutely wonderful. Forget about all the vampire clichés; Stephenie Meyer has thrown them all out (well, they do drink blood, but even that little bit has a twist) and started with two people, one alive and the other dead, and has fabricated a compelling, believable, story that will raise your hackles, speed up your breath, shiver up your spine, and keep you storming through to the end. And even at 500 pages a pop, it’s a worthwhile time investment.

Twilight is the first in the series, then comes New Moon, Eclipse, and the last one Breaking Dawn.

On her website, Stephenie also talks about her experience with publishing. It warms my heart that she very simply states how difficult it is to go through the process of finding an agent/publisher. She makes me like her as a person as much as a writer. Here’s what she has to say: Continue Reading »

Tags: Publishing, review, twilight series, vampire

I recently almost collided with a madman. At least he sounded mad, spewing conspiracy theories to everyone he could catch on the street. The man wasn’t violent, although is was big, but he was definitely not all in the same universe as the rest of us. Adding stuff in the water, aborting babies, population control through nuclear irradiation, he had a few doozies. (He was so fascinating I decided to use him in my next book).

The man reminded me of the movie Conspiracy Theory with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts, in which good ol’ Mel is crazy as a loon and sees conspiracies everywhere. Thing is, he sounds so real he ends up stumbling onto a real government conspiracy.

We shouldn’t all be so lucky (yeah, right). This got me to google the terms and lo and behold, I happened to fing the Top 10 Wackiest Conspiracy Theories.

I don’t know about you but some of them sound pretty plausible, especially the one about Microsoft. Hey, just because you’re paranoid it doesn’t mean someone’s not after you.

A cool app that challenges you not only with your knowledge of geography, but also your spelling ability.

How Many Countries Can You Name in 5 Minutes?

Tags: application, countries, spelling

This year’s best words, in which people are asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an ah.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation a bout yourself for the purpose of getting lucky
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee! intravenously when you are running late.
10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
12. Karmageddon: It’s when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it’s a serious bummer.
13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you
14. Glibido: All talk and no action.
15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.
17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosqui t o, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.

Tags: invitational, new words, style, Washington Post, words