PLAYING CATCH-UP

this month, in a nutshell
To say this past month has been crazy would be gross understatement. Hurricanes, Supreme Court vacancies, the start of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, you name it. I was originally going to write last month about how Junichi and I were both reducing our Poplicks post load because of outside commitments but with Katrina, as was obvious, I felt compelled to write far more than I would have ever anticipated. Things have started to slow down a bit, more out of exhaustion than lack of things to say.

I figure now's as good a time as any to announce (albeit seven weeks late) that I've joined the ranks of the professional bloggers, much to my surprise. Since August, I've been writing a music news blog for MSN, part of their new "Filter" series of topical blogs (others include tv, film, sports, etc.). The opportunity fell in my lap - it really never occurred to me to seek out a paid gig as a blogger even though I already write, you know, fourteen blogs (not really, but keeping more than one blog makes you a dork beyond redemption so 4, 14, 423, it's all the same). It's been an interesting experience, not so much because it's paid blog work (though, that is a bit surreal at times), but because I haven't had a daily gig since 1998 or so.

The downside is that when you spend a few hours a day getting paid to blog, it's harder to muster the enthusiasm to write your own. Still, I'm going to try to stay on top of Poplicks (and Soul-Sides.com too) as best I can. With that...onto the news.

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PISSED OFF: Two readers sent this in via the comments section: Two Asian American students at the Univ. of Michigan get urinated on by drunk white guys on a balcony:

"One of the students was immediately taken into custody. The other student who urinated on the couple, barricaded himself in the apartment, which the police could not enter without a warrant. However, the [Ann Arbor Police] knows the identity of the student, who could face jail time if prosecuted.

AAPD Lt. Michael Logghe classified the crime as ethnic intimidation, or verbal or physical attack against a person of another race or gender. Logghe said ethnic intimidation is a felony and carries a maximum penalty of four years in jail. The suspects could also be charged with assault, and one of the suspects could face a charge of indecent exposure, which would require him to register as a sex offender."

That and they face possible expulsion. I'm all for improved race relations but seriously, there needs to be some beatdowns handed out here.

KEEPING THE WORLD SAFE FROM PORN: The Wash Post reports on how the FBI, under directions of the Bush administration, has tasked at least a dozen or so agents to an anti-obscenity squad:

""I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. "We must not need any more resources for espionage."

Among friends and trusted colleagues, an experienced national security analyst said, "it's a running joke for us."

A few of the printable samples:

"Things I Don't Want On My Resume, Volume Four."

"I already gave at home."

"Honestly, most of the guys would have to recuse themselves."

FBI agents with senses of humor? Looks like not everything is looking bad at the DOJ.

And last but not least...

LEFT BEHIND: Slate's William Saletan writes on how recent media coverage of the National Center for Health Statistics sex survey has played up the rise of oral sex amongst teenagers, but no other bothered to note how prevalent anal sex has become.

"Talking to your kids about oral sex is the easy part. If you're going to be frank about the most dangerous widespread activity revealed in the survey, you're looking at the wrong end of the digestive tract."

Saletan's point isn't just to admonish newspapers for being overly selective with what they sensationalize and don't. He's also arguing that the point here is that, from a public health standpoint, it's far more important to educate people about the health risks associated with anal sex than oral:

"...the probability of HIV acquisition by the receptive partner in unprotected oral sex with an HIV carrier is one per 10,000 acts. In vaginal sex, it's 10 per 10,000 acts. In anal sex, it's 50 per 10,000 acts. Do the math. Oral sex is 10 times safer than vaginal sex. Anal sex is five times more dangerous than vaginal sex and 50 times more dangerous than oral sex. Presumably, oral sex is far more frequent than anal sex. But are you confident it's 50 times more frequent?

Looking over the survey reveals some interesting numbers:

• Atleast 25% of 15 year old boys and girls have had sex. That number climbs to 62% and 70%, respectively, by the time they're 18. I'm pretty astounded by those statistics though I find it surprising that there are 8% more 18 year old women having sex than men.
  
  
• By the time they reach their 40s, most men have had 8 sexual partners, women, 4. When broken down into race, among men, 18% of Latinos, between 15-44, have had sex with 15 or more partners. For whites, it's 22%, for Blacks, it's 34%. (Which of course prompts the question: where the Asians at?) Among women, the same groups chart at 5, 10 and 9%, respectively, which would seem to indicate that Black men and white women play the field more, racially speaking (or at least, report that they do).

Who says statistics can't be fun?

--O.W.