Really, New York Times magazine? Really? First Emily Gould and now Tyra Banks. I can’t wait for next week’s exclusive cover story on how Keylis has a milkshake that brings all the boys to the yard.
My friend told me the following story about his fraternity at a liberal arts school on the east coast. I have no idea what to make it of it, other than to note that human nature is a funny thing.
A guy in his frat, we’ll call him John, was extremely introverted. He had a hard time talking to women.
Not surprisingly, John was also a virgin in his 20s, despite being surrounded by drunk sorority girls.
The frat decided to help get him laid, but with a few rules. They wouldn’t tell John they were doing this (for obvious reasons) and they wouldn’t hire a prostitute.
They would just improve his social value.
At every party they threw from that point on, they would chant “Mule Cock” when he walked in. All the guys would laugh hard at his jokes, give him high fives when he walked by and talk him up to all the girls they’d meet.
After years of being unsuccessful, it took exactly one week to get him laid.
This sounds like some sort of urban legend, but my friend swears it happened at his frat. It also sounds like the rejected plot of an 80s movie.
Not only has the Burmese government been refusing foreign aid for the recent cyclone, it’s been reported that the government has been seizing and selling the donated supplies on the black market!
The cyclone hit Yangon, one of Myanmar’s main cities and former capital, on May 2. Interesting side-note –- in 2005, the government decided to move Myanmar’s capital from Yangon, the country’s biggest city, to Naypyidaw, a remote mountain area. Nobody quite understood the reason for this, but rumor has it that fortune-tellers foresaw revolt and disaster in Yangon (Nov 2007 saw revolt, May 2008 saw disaster).
The cyclone is estimated to have killed 130,000 (78,000 dead and 56,000 missing) and left 2.5 million refugees. Many countries have attempted to provide aid, but the junta initially denied it. They have slowly been allowing more and more aid, per the urging of the UN, China, and ASEAN, the Association of South-East Asian Nations, but likely many lives have been lost due to the delay. What aid has been allowed may not be getting to the right place, as allegations have emerged that the Burmese officials were selling the aid supplies on the black market. Yangon residents have found packs of Thai salt in markets that they assume were meant to be distributed freely (Thailand was first to send aid). One local even recounted the time when drugs from UNICEF were available for purchase in the markets.
So why can’t we (or anyone) just intervene? In cases where governments fail their own people, shouldn’t other countries have a right of humanitarian intervention? Well no, because the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Years’ War (Germany) & Eighty Years’ War (Spain), allows sovereign states to do what they want in their own borders. And the UN Charter of 1945, seconds that in article 2(7) that states “nothing should authorize intervention in matters essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.”
Ella Fitzgerald- Fever
I’ve had this song stuck in my head all day.
I have developed a seeerious boy-crush on Dan from The Paper, who did a series of interviews and tours around the school.
The show is pretty intriguing. Its similar to Laguna Beach, in that its filled with drama, but the people have actual brains and personalities. Which is nice.
bunnynico: Obama has been endorsed by First Americans. This is monumental, and possibly one the biggest endorsements that he could have received. Just wow. After holding a town hall meeting in Billings, Montana, Obama headed to the Crow Nation Reservation, where he was formally adopted as a member of the Crow tribe. He was given a Crow name, AWE KOOTA BILXPAAK KOOXSHIIWIASH, which translates to “he who helps all people of the land.” (via)
