Damn, here’s one we missed. A great event that many of you may have participated in even if you didn’t know it. A group called Global, um, Orgasm held an event to promote world peace on Winter Solstice Day last year (which happened to call on…as it usually does…December 22nd. You were allowed to select the time of your choosing to support the cause by, well, getting it on. You were asked to do so “at the time of your choosing, in the place of your choosing and with as much privacy as you choose.” A fine idea, I must say, and one that deserves better publicity. But I have to admit the sponsors (Trojan condoms?) sound a bit new-agey, and if it became popular we might see a dramatic rise in the purchase of patchouli oil, but that’s OK. The GO site says the cause was under taken to…and I quote: “effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible surge of human energy a Synchronized Global Orgasm”. Can we all utter a collective “aaahhhhh” in the name of world peace, even if it’s a few weeks too late? I knew you could.
Cop the Parisian Attitude
Parisians are well known for their rudeness to tourists and other foreigners.
This has always been very frustrating, however, to the Regional Tourism Committee of Paris whose job it is to attract foreign visitors to the French capital. They’ve discovered over the years, however, that many tourists simply don’t want to go to Paris and be accosted by this legendary rudeness.
To combat this ugly PR nightmare, the Tourism Committee has launched an ad campaign in London to educate potential tourists about blending in with the locals and becoming rude themselves. The campaign, in conjunction with a rather funny website, teaches Francophobes a handful of common hand gestures and other non-verbal expressions that rude Parisians often employ on the streets. “You don’t need to speak French to understand Parisians or to blend into the crowd,” the website claims.
Although the website does not explain the psychology behind the campaign, I assume that the Tourism Committee hopes that enough vacationing Brits will now be able to fight fire with fire and flash back to the French the same rude gestures they’ve been tossing at us for years. With foreigners now in the know and parroting their tormentors, hopefully the French will ease up a bit out of embarrassment and modesty and we’ll all breathe a little easier walking down the Champs-Elysées.
One such example is the Gallic Shrug. According to the website, the Gallic Shrug is used to “deny knowledge, agreement or responsibility.”
To engage in such a reaction simply follow these steps.
1. Stick out your lower lip
2. Raise your eyebrows and shoulders simultaneously
Voilà! You’re French!
Mancations Picking Up
First there was the Girlfriend Getaway fad in which women go on vacation with other women and do, well, womanly things.
Now the men want their getaway time and have come up with the appropriately titled, mancation.
We’ve posted about the mancation before but it now seems to be picking up speed.
A recent article in USA Today explores the phenomenon of male-only trips in which friends from college or high school escape all-things-feminine by leaving their girlfriends or wives behind and venturing out to do manly things such as fishing, hunting, and gambling.
In fact, a number of outfitters have popped up to cater to this growing trend. According to the USA Today article, men longing for womenless adventures can now choose from a variety of package deals. One such example provided in the article is an escape to the Reef Resort on Grand Cayman to box with a local champion, dive, smoke cigars, and sip scotch.
Sure sounds manly to me!
Brower Film
My guess is that recent rains in Colorado and the West might help the water situation out there. But I’m not sure. But I was browsing through old pieces at Outside and came across this article on a film about David Brower of Sierra Club fame. One of Browers’ obsessions was Glen Canyon Dam, which was finished in 1963 and subsequently held up all of Lake Powell. While Powell has become a recreational gem since then, with kick ass water skiing and fishing, many greens rue the building of the dam as an act of man that ruined one of the most beautiful sites in America, Glen Canyon. Well, in something of a allmighty bitch-slap to that act of man, an enduring drought has now dropped the level of the lake almost 200 feet, thus revealing for the first time in decades many of the glowing canyan walls that once turned on guys like Brower. I do wonder if things are as bad out there a they were a few years ago.
World Wide Resource for Smoke-Free Locations
If you are as much of an anti-smoker as I am, you begin to seek out places where smoking is prohibited. Sometimes, it’s entire countries.
Living in California I often forget that smoking is allowed in so many indoor locations throughout the world. It always initially shocks me when I sit down in a café in a place like Moscow and the person at the next table lights up. I haven’t gotten to the stage yet where I will refuse to go to a country that allows smoking indoors, but I will pick and choose the bars and restaurants I frequent while there.
Things are getting better, however. Much of Europe, for example, is slowly outlawing indoor smoking. I was in Ireland when this first happened and the Irish were fuming at the time. It was so very nice, however, to sit in a smoke-free pub. And suddenly, with one act of legislation, Ireland became all that much better in my opinion. England will soon follow, kicking off their smoking ban July 1, 2007.
For those of you interested in seeking out smoke-free environments while traveling abroad, Smoke Free World has a great little website detailing anti-smoking legislation in countries throughout the world. The site also provides recommendations for smoke-free hotels and restaurants in those countries which lack indoor smoking laws. It is not as thorough and detailed as it should be, but at least it is a start.