Worst-ever strategy for meeting new people: attend a demonstration 'to get on TV'

As the protesters milled inside the police circle, Benson Ferguson stood by himself. The 60-year-old, who lives in an SRO hotel and is on disability, said he had come to the protest to get on television. "I'm by myself," he said. "I feel terrible."

-- Bay Citizen story

Maybe he imagines looking on the "Missed Connections" section of Craigslist the next day and seeing an ad for someone who wants to get in touch with "that shy bearded fellow at the BART protest who stood by the side looking thoughtful, yet desirable."

Focus on the Fundies: Creepy story of the month

Some fundies in Colorado Springs (where else?) stage a bizarre "Father-Daughter Purity Ball" annually -- this was the tenth annual such rite -- which judging from the photo seems to involve using a cross like a maypole. And is that a crown of thorns they're doing ring-toss with?

A twirling mass of white lace surrounded a rough wooden cross as a troupe of young women danced in a circle looking like porcelain dolls come to life.

Then Randy Wilson and Kevin Moore hoisted swords in the air and a ballroom full of 149 fathers and daughters walked beneath them toward the cross and laid white roses at its base. The swords symbolized the fathers' commitment to battle for their daughters and the roses symbolized the daughters' commitment to God to remain pure.

Then Wilson announced, "Let the ball begin."

Good Christ, what are these people on? Of course, they has a website, which contains this strange passage:

The Father Daughter Purity Ball is a memorable ceremony for fathers to sign commitments to be responsible men of integrity in all areas of purity. The commitment also includes their vow to protect their daughters in their choices for purity. The daughters silently commit to live pure lives before God through the symbol of laying down a white rose at the cross.

Yes... They live in a fantasy world where women are still chattel and cannot legally sign anything, so the men sign the documents and the girls "silently commit" to the deal.

There is something else mentioned in the story, an organization called the Abstinence Clearinghouse. I'll let you Google that for yourself, but the mind boggles. "What do they clear??" Cris asked. "A clearinghouse is a place where accounting takes place... Do they have a database of all the virgins or something?"

But the best quote from the news story is:

(The family who started the event) say most in the mainstream media see their family as a fundamentalist freak show.

You think?!

technorati: fundamentalists, Colorado Springs, celibacy

Study: Men prefer beauties but are still 'less choosy' than women

Researchers monitored the behavior and choices of 26 men and 20 women in Munich (?) and found that men often didn't choose women who fit their pre-stated criteria, instead going for the best-looking women.

Men tended to select nearly every woman above a certain minimum attractiveness threshold, Todd said.

Women's actual choices, like men's, did not reflect their stated preferences, but they made more discriminating choices, the researchers found... "Women made offers to men who had overall qualities that were on a par with the women's self-rated attractiveness. They didn't greatly overshoot their attractiveness... [but] they didn't go lower. They knew what they could get and aimed for that level."

So reminiscent of high school, where status is linked mainly to whether an attractive person will date you.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, researchers discovered that even the worst pickup lines have an evolutionary purpose.