Working on the chain gang

A team of researchers recently completed a study of sexual and romantic links at an un-named Midwestern high school. They tracked, logged, and diagrammed the bondings that the students reported in a six month period. There were approximately 1,000 students at the school, and just over 800 took part in the study. The diagram shows some very interesting information.

There were very few cases of promiscuity. (Just a handful of people showed 4 or more partners). There was little evidence of "sex parties", even though there were rumors flying around (like always).

There was one area of concern to health officials, however. There was a group (over 280 students) who were all linked together through the actions of themselves and their partners. Think about it, out of 800 students, 280 had shared a partner, who had shared a partner, etc. What a breeding ground for STDs.

Now, think about this: There were 63 instances of one couple staying together without any other partners. 63 monogamous pairings. That's kinda sweet.

So, I think that this is a great tool for educators to remind students: It's not who you sleep with, it's who they slept with. Every time you pair with someone you are pairing with every partner they've ever had. That's a lot of swapping.

Odd Thomas

MY NAME IS ODD THOMAS, though in this age when fame is the altar at which most people worship, I am not sure why you should care who I am or that I exist.

Dean Koontz has done the impossible. He has made me want to write about a book. Odd Thomas is the eccentric that we all know, and the man that we all wish we could be. A short order cook who actually enjoys his work. He's thinking about marriage, this means that tires (selling them) might be in the future. Odd has a gift, his girlfriend calls it a curse, but he recognises it for the gift that it is.

No, I'm not going to tell about the gift. Suffice it to say that Koontz turns the tables on the reader multiple times in this novel, and rarely in an expected direction. For the first time in a long time I can honestly say I didn't see it coming, and I loved (and was devastated by) the ending.

It took me 8 hours to read the book. I'm going to re-read it now, because I'm sure that I missed something.

OK, I'll give you one insight, the exploding cow is priceless.

Corporate Responsibility

I received a letter at work a couple of days ago. This letter was written by the Director of a local charity that helps teens (and others) with substance abuse. The letter dealt with a product that we sell called "Shotglass Checkers". The item in question is a glass checker board that uses 12 round and 12 square shot glasses for checker pieces. The instructions on the box say that when you jump your opponent he/she must drink the contents of the glass. The instructions also suggest to fill the glass with your favorite softdrink or flavor of kool-aid (I'm really not naive, that's just what it says).

The letter very politely accused us of glorifying teenage binge drinking, and asked us to remove the product from the shelf.

Being the civic minded retailer that we are, we decided to go ahead and clean up the entire store at the same time. Some of the specifics:

• Obviously all the bar ware should be removed. Sorry adult drinkers, alcohol is killing you anyway.
• Candles and incense went into the trash for two reasons: It covers up the smells associated with drug use, and fire is dangerous. A child might play with the candle and burn the house down.
• Chocolate fondue? How decadent and unhealthy. Throw it all out. That means the candy too.
• Pots and pans. Americans are too fat. No more eating.
• Sheets, pillows, comforters, mattress pads, etc. These products all contribute to teen pregnancy.
  
• Massagers. Need I say more?
• Trash cans. Reduce, reuse, recycle. No more trash.
• Any and all products that contain plastic. This never decomposes and is destroying our earth.
• All products made in third world countries. Child labor is terrible.
• All products made in West Virginia or Kentucky. (Figure it out)
• All products made by, designed by, or marketed by women. A woman's place is in the home making babies, not in the factory.

At this point, we were all out of work, but the world is a better place. Gotta go collect my welfare check now.

Words and honor

I'll be the first person to admit that this is not Camelot, and none of us would make very good Samurai. I recently heard a quote that stated that over 80% of Fortune 500 CEO's lied in a business environment every week. OK, no big deal.

Recently I went online to price out life insurance. No big deal. I'm just looking to pick up a term policy of 3 or 400,000. I found a site that looked interesting and requested some information. Two days later I was e-mailed by the company and told that a rep would be calling me. He called promptly and we discussed several options. At that point Russell told me that he would be sending me out a packet with information and quotes. This was November 10th. I should expect the packet within a week.

Fast forward. It's now December 28th and the packet arrives. What was my reaction? Chuck it in the can. Do not pass Go, do not...........

Why did I react this way? Simple. The man did not keep his word, and did not contact me to let me know that there was a problem. This is the man that I would be expecting to take care of my family should something happen to me. The simple fact that Russell was unable to deliver as promised cost him my business. Will that break him? Probably not. Will I feel better? Without a doubt. You have my word on it.