Via News-Leader.com:

Baby boys are far more likely to have smaller, less developed genitals if their mothers had high levels of chemicals commonly found in cosmetics, detergents, medicines and plastics, a study released today said.

The higher the levels of the chemical compound phthalates in the mothers during the final months of pregnancy, the less masculine their boys were when examined by pediatricians, said the study's lead author, Shanna Swan, a professor of reproductive epidemiology at the University of Rochester.

Just saying "phthalates" gives even the manliest man a Cindy Brady lisp - or maybe the Daffy Duck version, if he's mad. Dangerous pstuff indeed.

Phthalates thrunk your peniths?

Using her hi-tech time-warping device, CarrieBot 2.005 wins American Idol, three days early.

A brief article in the British newspaper, The Independent, published May 22nd, says Carrie Underwood won American Idol. The final, of course, was held on the 24th and the results weren't announced until the 25th.

We went out to a club called the 6 String Cafe last night, to see a bluegrass band called Kicking Grass, with a recently-engaged couple who have hired the band to play at their wedding (just 359 days left!). The band was good - promises to be a fun wedding.

Near the end of their first set, I went to the bathroom. I walk in and there's a man standing in the stall, noisily pissing in the toilet while talking on his cell phone. He says loudly, unconcerned with me, "It seems like you're disregarding me, my feelings, what I'm thinking. You just disregard me." Then he pauses while the other person responds (I assume), still pissing. He stops pissing, flushes, then says "I know you have other things going on, but you disregard me, my feelings, and what I'm thinking." Then he zips and continues his conversation.

A quick search for "programmer" jobs in my area turns up 77 jobs. Of those, 14 are generic recruitement pitches for the US Navy. They aren't advertising for any particular job, just trolling for anyone interested in "Computer Opportunities", "Electronic Opportunities", "Information Technology Opportunities", etc.. I realize they gotta get people, too. But come on... The best part: the location for all of them is Worldwide. Position will require relocating. No mention of the possibility for violent death.

I hate meetings. I hate them the same way I hate waking up early on a Saturday morning. It's a hassle, an insult, an interruption, and there are a thousand different reasons it's the wrong thing to do; but there's always one reason why I have to do it - and I usually end up hating that reason. That's how I feel about meetings. No matter what the goal is, being stuck in a little room with the same five people as usual, listening to the same person as usual drone on and on and on about the same nonsense as usual makes me want to fucking scream.

So, to keep from exploding in a ridiculous ball of misplaced rage, I now spend my meeting time quietly trying to better myself. The last few days, I've been trying to re-learn how to write in cursive. It's probably been 25 years since I was last required to write in cursive, and, while never good, my handwriting today is horrible. I couldn't remember how to make upper-case Fs, Qs or Zs; I tried writing my wife's name, but couldn't figure out how to handle the transition from a "w" to an "n" without drawing each stroke slowly and deliberately, like a 4th grader. Last meeting, I filled up four sheets of notebook paper with "The quick brown fox...", song lyrics and random alliterative sentences. It's horrible. I need remedial handwriting classes.