Birth control for men


Here’s the reality, we need a better approach to contraception than the above comic. Seriously. A lot of guys have their own theories about how to avoid unwanted pregnancies, but ultimately it comes down to trust. Trust in partners on hormonal pills/rings, or trust on condoms. There are people out there researching ways for men to get a handle on the situation and “this article”:http://www.malecontraceptives.org/articles/gifford_article.php from Men’s Health magazine sums up the two best ideas so far.
# A Swiss physician working in India before independence developed and tested a regimen of routine VERY HOT 45-minute baths (116 degrees F) over 3 weeks that confuse sperm into immobility. Apparently this condition of temporary infertility can last for 6 months, but obviously it’s a bit more of an art than a science.
# Another trial going on in over-populated India is for a system called RISUG (reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance) which consists of injecting a polystyrene-based polymer into the vas deferens that chemically kills the sperm. The procedure can then be reversed by injecting harmless sodium bicarbonate, leaving the man completely fertile again.
The problem with both of the above simple solutions is that they are, well, simple. No pharmaceutical company will invest in something that is so cheap and effective. Where’s the profit potential. “MaleContraceptives.org”:http://www.malecontraceptives.org/ is a great resource for all sorts of information in the extremely slow-moving field of male birth control. If you know of any other good sites, please comment here and I’ll post them.
I don’t know where the hilarious comic above came from. If it’s your work or someone you know, tell me and I’ll properly cite it.

Life from the deep

This short French documentary on life in the abyss of deep ocean waters starts by saying “these are not aliens.” The disclaimer is a helpful one as you go on to watch translucent squid, writhing luminescent worms, and a a flan-like creature the narrators call a dumbo octopus. The animals shown in this video are no less than incredible, and it’s amazing that they live on the same planet that we do.
I found this video through one of my favorite blogs, “collision detection”:http://www.collisiondetection.net/ by Clive Thompson. His stories and writing style are wonderful, and I recommend reading in full his “introduction”:http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2007/05/is_this_sea_cre.html to this video and adding it to your daily read.

Jello San Francisco


This is an oldie but a goodie. Liz Hickok is a San Francisco artist that has worked with a number of media including sculpture, photography and most importantly, jello. “This gallery”:http://www.lizhickok.com/portfolio_jello.html of photos is from her most famous exhibition in which she cast a scale model of downtown San Francisco entirely out of jello, Golden Gate Bridge and everything.
Previously on duenos:
* “13 lb Gummy Bear”:http://duenos.net/article/221/13lbGummyBear

Time your child's birth right and you could win a Sebring


Perennially for sale car company Chrysler has come up with one of the weirder marketing gimicks I’ve seen in a while. In most ways, this is a normal win-a-car auction except for one catch, the only way to qualify to enter the contest is if you have a baby born at 2:03:04 on 05/06/07. I’m not sure whether they’re trying to say that their cars are good for new families, or that they just they like a good number joke, but this is something to keep in mind if you are due to deliver sometime in the next week. Stall.
(Via “Winding Road”:http://news.windingroad.com/marketingadvertising/have-a-baby-win-a-sebring/)

“Barely Used” Info on Dumpster Diving

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster_diving. For starters, at "this blog":http://community.livejournal.com/dumpsterdiving, alley surfers share tips and brag about their bounties of “slightly crushed” produce, “mostly nice” clothing, and “perfectly useable” appliances. One of my favorite quotes has got to be "_I've been told that Zanotto's is a good place (however, there's probably a lot of competition from the hobos at the downtown location)…"_ Not only are they frugal, they're cut throat. But there's more, view "this movie trailer":http://jeffharrisshortfilms.com/vids/divetrailer.wmv of a diver's personal struggle in a tosser's world. Or better yet, here's some passionately written "instructions":http://web.textfiles.com/hacking/dumpster_diving.txt to get you started, which begins "_There's something about going through a dumpster that gets your blood pumping."_ I don’t know about you, but my blood pumps perfectly fine without shopping at D(umpster)*Mart.

Killer Apps for Mac – VLC

http://www.videolan.org/ is one of those programs that makes everything better. Give it any kind of file at all--avi, mp4, ogg, mp3, mov, literally anything at all--and VLC will play the hell out of it. Also the latest release of the mac version integrates beautifully with the OS, making it far sexier than the bundled Quicktime or any other option. If you watch any video at all on your mac, you need to get VLC. Download it "here":http://www.videolan.org/vlc/. Previous _Killer Apps for Mac_: "Adium":http://duenos.net/article/129/killer-apps-for-mac-adium, "Sidenote":http://duenos.net/article/111/killer-apps-for-mac-sidenote, "Darwiin Remote":http://duenos.net/article/193/KillerAppsforMacDarwiinRemote, "Mac Pilot":http://duenos.net/article/174/KillerAppsforMacMacPilot, "Disk Inventory X":http://duenos.net/article/163/KillerAppsforMacDiskInventoryX, "Tangerine":http://duenos.net/article/150/KillerAppsforMacTangerine, "SizzlingKeys":http://duenos.net/article/119/killer-apps-for-mac-sizzlingkeys, and "Vienna Reader":http://duenos.net/article/204/KillerAppsforMacViennaReader.

Interested in Ballooning?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_modelling in its full force and am still catching my breath. The leading balloonaholic website, "Balloonhq.com":http://www.balloonhq.com/index.html, provides endless "pictures of balloon art":http://www.balloonhq.com/photos/db/index?CCHK=1, how to balloon instructions "(601 page pdf)":http://www.balloonhq.com/faq/BHQ_Sculpture_Instructions.pdf, "contact info for “balloonatics”":http://www.balloonhq.com/dbindex/, "balloon history":http://www.balloonhq.com/faq/history.html, and a "bunch of other stuff":http://www.balloonhq.com/member/ you probably don’t care about. At the very least, this article has kept you sharp on "(un)pop culture":http://www.balloonhq.com/faq/pop_culture.html.