SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA – A Mission Viejo man who claims he chewed on a condom while eating soup at an Orange County Claim Jumper restaurant will have his case heard in court.
Philip Hodousek, 51, is seeking unspecified damages and a public apology from the Irvine-based restaurant chain and any vendor associated with making the soup, the Orange County Register reported.
Hodousek was offered a $30,000 settlement by the company, according to his attorney, Eric Traut. Hodousek reportedly wants to repair his tarnished reputation.
According to court documents, Hodousek and his wife, Sherry, along with their then 18-year-old daughter went to the Claim Jumper restaurant in Mission Viejo to enjoy an Easter Brunch on Sunday, April 12, 2009.
Hodousek said he ordered several items, including a bowl of french onion soup.
As he ate the soup, he felt what he believed was a tough piece of cheese on the side of his mouth. When he couldn’t chew it into pieces, he told his family that it felt like rubber, according to the court filing.
Hodousek says he spit it out into his napkin, at which time his wife said, “Oh my God, it’s a condom.” Hodousek says he then vomited in the men’s bathroom.
After speaking with the server, the restaurant’s general manager, Marc Hadley, came over to the table and explained that the item was a rubber glove used by employees to prepare food and apologized, the documents state. Hodousek insists upon further investigation it was determined the item was not a rubber glove, but clearly a condom.
Hodousek snapped a picture of the item with his cell phone, wrapped it in a napkin and took it with him.
Hodousek had the condom tested by Lab Corp in North Carolina, and preliminary tests revealed female DNA.
According to Traut, Claim Jumper Enterprises, Inc. conducted its own tests but has not provided all the results.
Last July, Hodousek admitted to owing the state and federal governments nearly $300,000 in back taxes and penalties, but said his debt and the restaurant incident are unrelated, the O.C. Register reported.
Traut says the Hodousek family wants their name cleared of any wrongdoing.
from KTLA-TV

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A Roman Catholic priest in Brazil is facing charges he abused eight boys in cases dating back to 1995, prosecutors said Wednesday, adding to a growing list of allegations against clergy in Latin America.
Father Jose Afonso, 74, is accused of abusing altar boys between the ages of 12 and 16, Sao Paulo state prosecutors said in an e-mailed statement.
Prosecutors said the reported abuses occurred this year, in 2009 and in 2001 in the city of Franca, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of Sao Paulo city. At least one case was reported in 1995 in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais.
Afonso remains free while a judge decides if he should be jailed.
Calls to the Franca diocese rang unanswered. After-hours of calls to the offices of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops were not returned.
The case is the latest to hit Brazil, which has more Catholics than any other nation, and Latin America as a whole.
Earlier this month, 83-year-old Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa was detained in northeastern Brazil for allegedly abusing at least three boys after being caught on video tape having sex with a young man, a former alter boy.
He is under house arrest while an investigation continues. Two other priests in the same archdiocese as Barbosa are also accused of abuses.
A priest in Chile was charged recently with eight cases of sexually abusing minors, including a girl he had fathered.
Earlier this month Chile’s bishops’ conference issued a statement apologizing for priestly sexual abuse and vowing a “total commitment” to prevent it in the future.
Also this month, a Mexican citizen filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. federal court in California against former priest Nicolas Aguilar Rivera and the Roman Catholic cardinals of Mexico City and Los Angeles, claiming they moved the priest between the two nations to hide abuse allegations.
Church reaction to the controversy around the globe has angered many who think the Vatican leadership has not acted strongly enough.
Pope Benedict XVI’s second-in-command outraged many this month in Chile when he said homosexuality and not celibacy was the primary reason for the abuse. The comments by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, were condemned by gay advocacy groups, politicians and even the French government.
Late Tuesday, a top Vatican official said the pope may issue a strong apology for the church’s handling of clerical sexual abuse cases when he attends a meeting of the world’s clergy in June.
Cardinal William Levada, who handles the abuse cases as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, made the comments in an interview broadcast on U.S. public broadcaster PBS, his first interview since the scandal erupted several weeks ago.
“It’s a big crisis. I think no one should try to diminish that,” Levada said.
He acknowledged the Vatican was caught by surprise, even though it was well aware of the scope of scandals in the U.S. and Ireland, but he also blamed “a certain media bias” for keeping the story alive.
Benedict has come under increasing pressure to admit some form of higher responsibility on the part of the Vatican for fomenting a culture of secrecy that allowed abuse to fester unchecked for decades.
Benedict has expressed sorrow and shame for the abuse, he has wept with victims and promised new measures to protect children and bring justice to pedophile priests. But he has admitted no personal or institutional responsibility, blaming instead the abusers themselves and their bishops for mishandling cases when they arose.
from The Associated Press

NEW YORK – Some people work out to look good naked. Others skip a step.
Inside a heavily curtained fourth-floor dance studio is a male-only class specializing in “Hot Nude Yoga,” a form of sensualized tantric yoga practiced nude.
A few classes are coed, but male-only gatherings tend to be more popular and have become a mini-phenomenon in the gay community, with studios in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. A studioless group in Chicago practices in the apartment of a nude yoga enthusiast.
Fans say the nudity aids in deepening their yoga practice while building a close, and emphatically nonsexual, community. “A lot of people, especially living in New York, don’t get the opportunity to connect with people in an intimate way,” said Aaron Star, who started the naked yoga movement.
And while participants do occasionally report a frisson of excitement, Star and the practice’s aficionados make one thing clear: This is about physical fitness.
“This is about yoga and appreciating your body,” said John Cottrell, 40, who teaches naked yoga classes in Salt Lake City twice a month. He calls them a safe, nonthreatening space “to help men especially look at themselves in a different way.
“It’s just fun. It’s a great workout,” he says.
Star began the practice to appeal to a primarily gay male audience and achieved fame in the yoga world with his DVD series “Hot Nude Yoga,” which allows aspiring yogis to practice in the privacy of their homes.
Hot, yes – in temperature, for starters.
Awkward? That, too.
At the small class I attended, an undeniable sexual charge hung in the room, making the exercise at times painfully weird and embarrassing. Many nude yoga classes revolve around partnering positions, a series of postures that put two men within striking distance of the other’s privates.
Not all serious yogis think the practice makes sense.
“I don’t see the point,” said Mary Dillion, who teaches clothed yoga in Manhattan. “I have a yoga practice that I like and I can be naked in my home. I don’t need to do naked yoga.”
And Joshua Stein, editor-at-large for OUT Magazine, who attended a class in 2008, says the quality of the yoga was diminished by the heightened sensuality.
“It’s almost as if the yoga is something between an afterthought and an excuse,” said Stein, who is heterosexual. “It gives you this gray area where you can be intimate physically, but not so aggressively intimate as in a bath house or in a bar.”
He describes being asked to do a child’s pose – a kneeling pose with arms stretched forward on the ground – while a partner draped himself on his back. “It’s not something you really need a partner to do,” he said.
Star acknowledges that partner work is a popular feature of Hot Nude Yoga that “generates a certain amount of heat” and keeps his client list high. Still, practitioners say they constantly combat the notion that their classes are orgies veiled as exercise.
At Nude Yoga NYC in Manhattan, nude yoga is not such a boys club. Instructor Isis Phoenix, 29, said her coed nude yoga studio attracts “a well-rounded population of ages, genders and sexual orientations.” The men usually outnumber women two-to-one, however.
Phoenix sees nudity as an extra pull for men, who often need an incentive to practice yoga. Still, she nixed the idea that nudity created a sexual element, but one of comfort.
“Men more often fall into a general greater ease with their bodies than women do,” she said.
But the trend seems to appeal mostly to gay men. David Flewelling teaches Mudraforce Yoga at a home studio in Montreal, Canada. As at Star and Cottrell’s studios, the majority of attendees at Mudraforce are gay.
Flewelling said sex is never part of the experience. Nude yoga, while extremely sensual, is not sexual, he said.
“There’s something fantastic about exercising without clothes,” he said. “You’re free of the restrictions that clothes put on and it puts everyone on an even keel.”
Even teachers of naked yoga, while railing against the suggestion that the class is tantamount to foreplay, can send mixed signals. When my class ended, I took aside the instructor, Jeffrey Duval, and asked how he got into naked yoga. Duval acknowledged he attended his first class because he thought it was about sex.
But his experience surpassed all his expectations.
“You’re shedding away your clothes, but you’re also shedding away insecurities and fear,” he said. “I can’t think of a more perfect way to practice.”
from The Associated Press

TRUCKEE, CALIFORNIA — Town officials are asking media giant Music Television to not air footage filmed last Saturday in downtown Truckee that apparently depicts people dancing around a large penis-shaped snow sculpture.
An MTV production crew based out of Los Angeles built the sculpture sometime between 2 and 3 p.m. Saturday, March 6, in front of the train depot in downtown Truckee at 10100 Donner Pass Road, said Truckee Police Capt. Harwood Mitchell.
“We’re following up with the crew … it is the town’s desire to see they delete all that film from their segment or at minimal delete or obscure anything that would identify the Town of Truckee,” Mitchell said. “We’re working with them for an amenable solution for both sides.
“We’re very disappointed and certainly did not condone it.”
Numerous calls to MTV were not returned for this story.
Town Manager Tony Lashbrook said MTV approached the town to acquire a permit for filming and said the crew was specifically asked if the sculpture would be distasteful, graphic or pornographic.
“It turns out they were less than truthful in answering direct questions from at least two town officials,” Lashbrook said.
As for public feedback regarding Saturday’s display, Lashbrook went on to say: “We didn’t get a lot of calls but we got enough. People were pretty appalled and I don’t blame them.”
One of those people was Truckee resident Darla Ford, who witnessed the display. She took a photograph and e-mailed it to the Sierra Sun.
“We were so appalled that something like this could take place in our town. Parents were rushing their children away from it so they would not have to explain why grown men wearing fur were drinking the white fluid and dancing in it too,” she said in the e-mail. “It was disgusting! Is this a new image for our town? Who issued a permit for this to take place? How did this happen? This is right in front of our Chamber of Commerce and California Visitor Center.”
Mitchell said the sculpture was covered during construction, and Lashbrook said it was taken down upon request sometime after 4 p.m. Saturday.
from The Sierra Sun

Men have shorter life spans than women on average, but when it comes to sexual life expectancy, the guys have the advantage.
At age 55, men have an average of 15 years of sexual activity ahead of them, while women average just 10, according to a new survey of middle-age and older Americans.
“Overall, men were more likely than women to be sexually active, to report a good quality sex life, and to be interested and thinking about sex on a regular basis,” lead researcher Stacy Tessler Lindau, director of the Program in Integrative Sexual Medicine at the University of Chicago, told LiveScience.
Few studies have examined the connection between sexual health and aging. To do so, Lindau and her team used data from two nationally representative surveys of 3,000 25- to 74-year-olds and another 3,000 57- to 86-year-olds. The respondents answered questions about their general health as well as their sexual activity, sexual satisfaction and desire.
Much of the news was good. In middle age, two-thirds of women and men report good quality sex. The researchers also found people in good or excellent health were almost twice as likely to be interested in sex compared with those in poor or fair health. Good or excellent health at age 55 added five to seven years to men’s sexual life expectancy and three to six years to women’s.
But the study also uncovered a sexual gender gap. For 30-year-old men, they can expect 35 years more of sexual activity and 45 years more of life. Thirty-year-old women can expect 31 more years of sexual activity, but 50 more years of life. That means men will spend 78 percent of life after 30 having sex, compared with just 61 percent for women.
The gap increases with age. At 75 and older, 40 percent of men were sexually active compared with just 17 percent of women. The disparity is driven largely by the fact that women tend to outlive their male partners, Lindau said. In women and men with partners, the gap disappears.
Other findings open up new questions. Among women in late life who were having sex, only half called the sex good. In comparison, almost two-thirds of men aged 75 and up found their sex lives satisfying. That finding troubles Lindau.
“Only half of the women in this age group who are sexually active say that they have a good sex life,” she said. “Why is this, and what can be done to maximize not just sexual function, but quality of sex life?”
Part of the answer may be pharmacological. Men who responded to the sexual health questions in 2005 and 2006 reported a significantly increased interest in sex compared with men who took the survey 10 years earlier. Women didn’t show a change. That might not be a coincidence, Lindau said.
“Over time, we’ve seen the introduction of really effective treatments for male erectile dysfunction, which is one of the most common problems for men as they get older,” she said. “For women we haven’t seen the same.”
The study gives researchers a new understanding of who might benefit from policies to address later-life sexual health, Lindau said.
But, she said, there are still huge gaps in that understanding. Because almost all of the survey respondents identified as heterosexual, researchers know almost nothing about the sexual health of older gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals. Those populations are particularly vulnerable, Lindau said, because they may keep problems from their doctors for fear of discrimination or judgment.
“We really need that data,” Lindau said.
from Live Science

Paging Dr. Ruth: Adults don’t even agree on what it means to “have sex.”
Doctor Hilda Hutcherson answers your most personal questions.
Researchers at the renowned Kinsey Institute at Indiana University asked 484 people “Would you say you had sex with someone if …”
People between the ages of 18 and 96 took part in the study, and their results showed no single generation or gender agrees on a definition of “had sex” — be it oral, anal or digital.
But doctors, sociologists and therapists all agree that the varying definition of “sex” can be a big problem in some cases.
“Having sex is a euphemism. It is not a very exact term,” said Eli Coleman, of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. “That’s why it’s very important that physicians and health care workers ask more specific and precise questions rather than using euphemisms.”
Nearly 95 percent of people in the study agreed that penile-vaginal intercourse meant “had sex.” But the numbers changed as the questions got more specific.
For example, 11 percent of respondents would not use the phrase “had sex” if “the man did not come.” About 80 percent of respondents said penile-anal intercourse meant “had sex.”
About 70 percent of people believed oral sex was sex.
“The only things we see consistently are the inconsistencies,” said Brandon J. Hill, Kinsey Institute researcher and corresponding author on the recent study published in the journal Sexual Health.
Researchers at the Kinsey Institute first examined the question of what “had sex” meant to people in 1991, among college students at Indiana University. They asked nearly 600 students about various scenarios of sexual behavior, and 59 percent of respondents said that oral sex did not constitute having “had sex” with a partner.
Stephanie A. Sanders, who is also an author of the current study, and June M. Reinisch, director emeritus of the Kinsey Institute, published the student survey research eight years later — shortly after the 1999 scandal between former President Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
The decision to publicize the work at that time cost Dr. George D. Lundberg, the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, his job.
Hill said the most recent study gave researchers the chance to compare answers across age groups, and a few interesting differences appeared.
or example, 81 percent of all survey participants considered penile-anal intercourse as having had sex, but only 50 percent of men age 65 and up agreed.
“I don’t think people were looking at other people [for the answers],” Hill said. “I think the definition definitely ran through their own experience.”
By Hill’s estimation, different ideas about what sex means may have less to do with a generational gap and upbringing, and more to do with forming the idea of “sex” into something that makes people feel good about themselves at the moment.
For instance, Hill hypothesized that “younger male participants may want to increase or decrease the number of partners at any given point so that would change the way they define sex.”
If a person felt nervous in front of a doctor who was asking about the number of sex partners, that person may exclude oral sex to decrease the number, Hill said. On the other hand, if there was a bragging atmosphere, a person might extend the parameters of “having sex” to increase that number.
Reinisch, who is now director of Acquisitions and New Exhibitions at the Museum of Sex in New York City, pointed out that the older men in the study were unlikely to label penile-vaginal intercourse as “sex” if they were using a condom. One hundred percent of the men in the 18 to 29 age group called penile-vaginal intercourse with a condom sex, but only 82 percent of the men in the 65 and up age group considered sex with a condom sex.
Reinisch said this “reflects how a significant portion of individuals born during a certain era feel about or understand a particular phenomenon.”
People who came of age before the contraceptive pill was widely available may then define intercourse as sex only if there’s a possibility to procreate.
“Perhaps for older men what really counts … is the act that is involved with procreation. The act that was primarily thought of and discussed as ‘the sex act,’” Reinisch said.
Ed Laumann, a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, said these differences require social science researchers to be really careful about asking questions in studies.
“It’s been a discussed problem for a long time,” said Laumann, who also doesn’t believe we will ever come to a consensus as a society about what it means to have sex.
“Well, what is the answer? There is no true objective thing here,” he said.
While changing definitions might be interesting for sociologists, the shifting definitions could cause doctors problems.
Coleman, of the University of Minneapolis’ Program in Human Sexuality, said, “What kind of sexual activities a person is having will determine what kinds tests and where to test them.”
from ABC News

New guidelines for prostate cancer screening issued Wednesday emphasize that physicians should better educate men about both the risks and benefits of using the PSA test for screening.
They also call for cutbacks in the use of digital rectal exams to find tumors and recommend the end of mass prostate-screening programs at health fairs and other sites.
The revised guidelines issued by the influential American Cancer Society come on the heels of several studies suggesting that large numbers of tumors identified by PSA screening are inconsequential and that biopsies and treatment produce more harm than those tumors would.
Because of such findings, the new guidelines emphasize the importance of physicians explaining both risks and benefits to the patients more fully so that each man can make an informed decision about whether to get tested.
Perhaps recognizing that physicians are unlikely to invest greater amounts of time in such educational efforts, however, the society also urged greater use of education specialists, pamphlets, videos and other materials to explain the risk-benefit trade-offs.
The panel that issued the guidelines called for cutbacks in community screening programs precisely because such educational efforts are rarely, if ever, incorporated.
And the group downplayed the importance of digital rectal examinations — procedures that were once a mainstay of physical exams for men over 50 but which have become less common in recent years — because of lack of evidence that they save lives.
Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said the new guidelines were not that different from those issued in 1997 and 2001.
Now, he added, “we have two clinical trials that very vividly illustrate the uncertainties associated with screening,” which makes it even more important for men contemplating the PSA tests to understand the risks. Those major trials showed that PSA screening does not lower the risk of death from prostate cancer and might actually increase it slightly, perhaps from unnecessary treatments.
Dr. S. Adam Ramin, a urological oncology specialist at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, said that the cancer society guidelines placed too much emphasis on whether the tests saved lives and not enough on whether they prevented complications from tumors, such as leaking of urine, incontinence, bone pain, anemia and weight loss.
“Although it is true that treatment will not necessarily save a lot of lives, it does prevent complications,” he said.
But other experts noted that treatment itself can produce complications such as urinary incontinence and impotence.
Skip Lockwood, president of Zero — The Project to End Prostate Cancer, said that calls to end the digital rectal exam were “kind of nuts. . . . The whole concept that you would do anything to reduce the amount of information you have does not make sense to me.”
He said his organization would continue its mass screening programs with PSA tests, which have tested more than 100,000 men.
Several medical groups, including the American Urological Assn. and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, now offer guidelines on screening with the PSA test, which measures levels of a tumor-associated protein in blood.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men after skin cancer, affecting 192,000 men each year and killing 27,000. And though all the parties may not concur on how and how often PSA screening should be used, they are in unanimous agreement on one point. As Lockwood said, “We need a better test.”
from The Los Angeles Times

Spencer Tunick

The artist Spencer Tunick put out the call – and Sydney answered. More than 5000 volunteers began arriving from 4am, queueing from the Opera House forecourt round to the Museum of Contemporary Art to be part of the American’s nude art installation; a crowd so big it spilled on to the Royal Botanic Gardens.
They were willing to risk being late for work, being filmed by television cameras – and worst of all, being spotted by someone they knew – for the honour of being the 2000th buttock cheeks from the left in a Tunick photograph.
The official name of Tunick’s installation was The Base. Yet after waiting two hours for the sun to come up, it became apparent that Blue Poles might be an appropriate title as a brisk wind hit the Opera House steps.
A collective cry went up with each new chill as we gathered in the shape of a giant upside-down triangle. Soon people were slapping their buttocks en masse with their hands to warm up.
Those blessed with magnificent pelts of chest hair – something of a rarity among the waxed and trimmed crowd – fared best in a sea of goosepimpled flesh.
The ferries appeared to slow down as they came and went at Circular Quay, passengers witnessing more bare breasts than in a Russ Meyer film, while news helicopters flew overheard. But we were not daunted. The mood was happy, strong. Young and old, straight and gay, we were united in our nudeness. We were declaring to the world: “Yes, these are our bellies, our tuckshop arms, our hairy backs. Love them as we do.”
Tunick directed the crowd via megaphone with a flurry of instructions, seemingly able to pick out individual people among the thousands: “that guy with the hairy chest”, “the really white guy”. He said “don’t look at me” so often he was starting to sound like Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet. At times he seemed like a stern headmaster: when some baulked at his instruction to embrace a stranger – we were already nude, what more did he want? – he said that anyone who didn’t should get out.
“Please, I speak no English,” a German man said to the Herald’s stunned correspondent as he embraced him.
Classical music lovers often complain that they need more bums on seats, so Tunick obliged by staging his next set-up in the Opera House Concert Hall. With one last difficult, possibly dangerous request that we stand on the seats while simultaneously draping ourselves backwards, Tunick finished to thunderous applause. It was almost a disappointment to put one’s clothes back on.
from The Sydney Morning Herald

For some, the decision to close a big business deal weighs heavily on their shoulders; for others, the fine line between war and peace has them breaking into a sweat; but, for all, the hefty decision between the brief or the boxer is an unavoidable one.
It’s a decision that if taken wrongly, will have you squirming uncomfortably in that meeting, wishing you could straighten out that creeping wedgy. And who knows? That could be the influencing factor on the decision to close that bad business deal, or even to start a war. Your underwear is your closest companion throughout the day. It’s important stuff.
So important, in fact, that we’ve done some research into various underwear types and found some interesting results.
# The boxer: Freedom in a bag. There’s really no point in wearing these under your clothes. Grown men risk having their boxers creep up behind them in graphic ways. And it looks awfully uncomfortable. Really, you might as well go commando and save a little cash.
What it says about you: You frequently fantasise about being Tarzan because you like the idea of feeling the wind flap up the leg of your boxers as you swing from tree to tree.
# The brief: Also known as the tighty-whitey, the brief’s claim to fame is support. Contrary to popular belief, the brief won’t have an adverse effect on your fertility… if you wear the correct size. Wearing briefs that are too small for you isn’t recommended.
What it says about you: Common belief has it that the tighty-whitey wearer is uptight. Surprisingly, this is not the case. That’s all just a façade. You’re really a wild cowboy inside just doing what’s practical. We know this because we’ve watched Brokeback Mountain.
# The boxer-brief This is the pseudo-boxer for those sporty types who have worked out that they need a little support whilst running about, but just can’t face submitting to the tighty-whitey. These are really just comfy hot pants that will eliminate the risk of a ‘pantyline’ when wearing your skin-tight jeans. Not that you concern yourself with things like panylines.
What it says about you: A fence-sitter and someone who likes to be comfortable. The boxer-brief wearer is trying to decide whether or not the girlfriend will accept their stash of briefs. It’s the safer option.
# The thong Now, now, no scoffing. You know you want to. These bad boys aren’t just there for those who wish they could wear women’s undergarments. They have a purpose. At least, they must have one…
What it says about you: You’re adventurous and brave, likely even a pioneer in a previous life. In fact, your previous life was long before Tarzan when you had to strap up nice and tight in order to chase after pre-historic dinner.
# Spandex pants: Think cyclist meets gym instructor. The spandex undy is a butt lifter and shaper. Wear them when you’re looking to impress the girls.
What it says about you: Hmmm, possibly a little image conscious, but not planning on scoring. Or you’d go commando.
# Commando: Barely there and a little suspect, commando is probably best left for when you don’t have any clean underwear left. Best keep it to yourself though and make sure you’re extra careful when zipping up.
What it says about you: There’s just a little bit of exhibitionist in you. Plus you quite like the rough feel of your jean pant on your nether regions.
from IAfrica

If you’ve been together for decades, chances are you met your valentine through family, work or in other traditional ways.
But if your relationship is newer, it’s more likely you met online.
According to a new nationally representative survey of 3,009 adults with a romantic partner, the Internet has now overtaken all the ways people meet, save one: meeting through friends.
Regardless of when they met, at least 32 percent of respondents said friends brought them together, according to the study by Michael Rosenfeld, an associate professor of sociology at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.
“It’s the one category that works for every kind of couple — gays and straights, young and old. Everybody relies on their friends,” says Rosenfeld, who will discuss his preliminary findings at a meeting of the Population Association of America in April.
But among those who met in just the two years before the survey, 23 percent of heterosexual couples and 61 percent of gay and lesbian couples met online. (Of those surveyed, 474 were gay or lesbian.)
“The Internet is the one social arena that is unambiguously gaining in importance over time,” the study finds.
Rosenfeld’s research is among a few national samples that shed light on how people become couples, and it is by far the most recent data Relevant Products/Services, compiled last spring. USA TODAY asked readers for their own “how we met” stories, and more than 300 responded; their experiences, along with Rosenfeld’s research, paint a picture of the way romances form in contemporary society.
Rosenfeld says his research was conducted online by Knowledge Networks, a survey research company; participants were recruited by phone and provided online access if needed.
“The rise of the Internet as a way of meeting people makes a bit of an end run around family,” he says. “It doesn’t seem to erode the importance of friends, but it does a bit for family, for neighbors and for co-workers.”
Data from Nielsen Online reflect the popularity of dating Web sites; they report a 15 percent growth in audience from December 2005 to December 2009.

Penis Tree

TEMPE, ARIZONA – In one Tempe neighborhood, people are talking about an awfully big ‘carving’ turning a lot of heads.
“That’s disgusting,” said one woman.
“I think it’s funny,” said another.
What they’re buzzing about is an 8-foot-tall penis carving that stands tall enough to be seen in the backyard of a home.
It wasn’t erected, but instead carved out of a tree in the backyard of a home. Artistic expression? A fertility statue? The homeowner says no to both.
“Just ah kind of practical joke my friends played on me,” said homeowner Adam Starr.
The carving was once a pine tree that Starr needed cut down. He said he asked some friends to help him out, but a mix of alcohol and chainsaws created the above result.
“I came back and they left me a little surprise,” said Starr. “Yeah I came home and it was actually night and they had a light fixed on it shining.”
He planned on cutting the tree down last weekend, but said his house got broken into and forced him to back away from that plan.
The city of Tempe has told him the stump must come down by Wednesday. Starr said it will come down even before that, by this weekend.
He said he’s putting it up on eBay and plans to donate the proceeds to charity.
“If you have nerves enough, I’d like you to take a picture of it and put it on TV so everyone in the Valley can see it,” said a man across the street.
ABC15 News

Nick Snider

Just in time for Fashion Week, a top male model is facing criminal charges after allegedly offering sexual favors to Arkansas cops in return for his release following an arrest for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Nick Snider, 21, was busted early Monday morning after causing a disturbance at a female friend’s home in Batesville, a city 90 miles north of Little Rock. According to an Independence County Sheriff’s Department report, when deputies approached the intoxicated Snider, he stated, “I am a very famous model.” As Snider was being transported in a patrol car to the county jail, he “kept trying to get me to stop the car and let him go,” reported Deputy Brian Luetschwager. “Mr. Snider stated to me, ‘If you stop I’ll suck your dick and balls if you let me go.’” Snider, pictured in the below mug shot, allegedly repeated the oral sex offer after arriving at the local lockup, where the model “also harassed the booking Jailer with similar sexual comments.” After declining the barter deal, deputies lodged an additional charge against Snider, this one for illegally attempting to influence a public servant. He pleaded not guilty yesterday to the three misdemeanor counts during an appearance in Independence County District Court. Snider is free on $780 bond and is scheduled for a February 17 trial. Snider has appeared as the face of Prada and was named by Forbes in 2008 as the world’s fifth most successful male model. Last month, he was in Paris for the Yves Saint Laurent fashion show and will appear on various runways when New York City’s Fashion Week begins February 11. Snider, a Manhattan resident, did not respond to TSG messages sent to his Facebook and MySpace accounts.
from The Smoking Gun

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA – After a parent complained about an elementary school student stumbling across “oral sex” in a classroom dictionary, Menifee Union School District officials decided to pull Merriam Webster’s 10th edition from all school shelves earlier this week.
School officials will review the dictionary to decide if it should be permanently banned because of the “sexually graphic” entry, said district spokeswoman Betti Cadmus. The dictionaries were initially purchased a few years ago for fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms districtwide, according to a memo to the superintendent.
“It’s just not age appropriate,” said Cadmus, adding that this is the first time a book has been removed from classrooms throughout the district.
“It’s hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we’ll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature,” Cadmus said. She explained that other dictionary entries defining human anatomy would probably not be cause for alarm.
Meanwhile, some parents are questioning the district’s response and some school board members are asking why officials did not consult with them.
“Censorship in the schools, really? Pretty soon the only dictionary in the school library will be the Bert and Ernie dictionary,” said Emanuel Chavez, the parent of second- and sixth-grade students. “If the kids are exposed to it, it’s up to the parents to explain it to them at their level.”
Board member Rita Peters questioned why one parent’s complaint would lead the district to pull the dictionaries.
“If we’re going to pull a book because it has something on oral sex, then every book in the library with that better be pulled,” she said. “The standard needs to be consistent … We don’t need parents setting policy.”
Peters said if the dictionary quarantine is setting a precedent, a committee should be formed to review all school books for age-appropriateness.
Board member Randy Freeman, an elementary school teacher and parent to four daughters in Menifee schools, said he supports the initial decision to ban the dictionary temporarily.
Freeman said it’s “a prestigious dictionary that’s used in the Riverside County spelling bee, but I also imagine there are words in there of concern.”
from The Press-Enterprise

UNITED KINGDOM – International hotel chain Holiday Inn is offering a trial human bed-warming service at three hotels in Britain this month.
If requested, a willing staff-member at two of the chain’s London hotels and one in the northern English city of Manchester will dress in an all-in-one fleece sleeper suit before slipping between the sheets.
“The new Holiday Inn bed warmers service is a bit like having a giant hot water bottle in your bed,” Holiday Inn spokeswoman Jane Bednall said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
The bed-warmer is equipped with a thermometer to measure the bed’s required temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit).
Holiday Inn said the warmer would be fully dressed and leave the bed before the guest occupied it. They could not confirm if the warmer would shower first, but said hair would be covered.
Florence Eavis, Holiday Inn spokeswoman told Reuters that the “innovative” bed-warming method was a response to Britain’s recent cold weather and marked the launch of 3,200 new Holiday Inns worldwide.
She could not explain why the beds were not being warmed by hot water bottles or electric-blankets, but admitted the human method was quirky.
Holiday Inn are promoting the service with the help of sleep-expert Chris Idzikowski, director of the Edinburgh Sleep Center, who said the idea could help people sleep.
“There’s plenty of scientific evidence to show that sleep starts at the beginning of the night when body temperature starts to drop,” he said. “A warm bed – approximately 20 to 24 Celsius – is a good way to start this process whereas a cold bed would inhibit sleep.”
from Reuters