TWE

> A South African AIDS expert Saturday advocated male circumcision as the best available "vaccine" against the virus in his country, where an estimated 6 million people are infected and more than 600 people die every day. > Francois Venter told a congress of health activists in the

A most-enjoyable evening yesterday. My parents returned last week from a three-week trip to Russia. To celebrate nothing in particular, Dad and I went to the Hillcrest Lounge after work to consume beer from long necks and old rock-n-roll and country from the jukebox. We were joined by one of

> Brutal episodes, such as are all too frequent in history, are treated as demonstrations that civilization and culture are a sham, a mere mask for crassly material interests--as if there were any protection from man's permanent temptation to brutality, except his striving after civilization and culture. At

> Those who live lives of immediate gratification, Huxley thought, would not be able to bear solitude of any kind. As Mustapha Mond explains, "people are never alone now. We make them hate solitude; and we arrange their lives so that it's almost impossible for them to

Don't forget, the sexual frontier was making these types of inroads a few years ago, but the priest scandal seemed to have killed it off: > A new book published by Haworth Press features multiple Ph.D. "experts" claiming that sex with children "can benefit&

> A United Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. > England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest. > The study, based

A recent survey revealed the following about bloggers' motivation: > Nearly 50% of respondents say they write a blog because it serves as a form of self-therapy. > One-third of bloggers write about self-help and self-esteem topics. > Fifty-four percent like to share their thoughts and feelings with others,

> The Catholic Diocese of Austin is investigating after a priest called about 15 children to come forward during evening Mass so he could prick them with an unsterilized pin to demonstrate the pain Jesus suffered during crucifixion. . . > Dr. Ed Sherwood, health authority for the Williamson district, said the

This is the third time I've mentioned Ellen DeGeneres today. That's not good, but I couldn't resist this one: Dateline Hollywood ran a satire in which Pat Robertson says that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans because it's Ellen DeGeneres' home town.