Sex, Smoking, and Saudi Arabia?

16,500 condoms were delivered to McMurdo research station in Antarctica but there are less than 125 people stationed there during the winter months. Perhaps they are studying the mating habits of people in extreme cold and solitude? The manager of the station says, "Since everybody knows everyone, it becomes a little bit uncomfortable." So obviously they all just have lots of sex with each other to make it more comfortable! Makes total sense to me now. Even a science museum wants to know how often people in Antarctica have sex!

A French study of 35-55 year old smokers concluded, "Smoking in middle age is associated with memory deficit and decline in reasoning abilities." The study also found that smoking was associated with mental decline in middle age, as it is with dementia and a host of physical ills later in life. The conclusions come from the statistic that smokers were twice as likely to have the lowest scores of the tests. Perhaps its just that stupid people smoke more? In addition it was found that people who had quit smoking were more likely to also start drinking less or eating healthier. Ah yes, once you realize that you might not die of lung cancer, there are many other things you must start worrying about dying from!

Ironically, tobacco is "smoking hot." Tobacco for years was government regulated and subsidized... but now that the government is out of the business, this is the most profitable time in a number of years to be a tobacco farmer. One economics professor said, “We’re seeing that an agricultural sector can prosper and function well without those government mechanisms.” Gee... I told you so! The profit for an acre of corn is about $100 as compared to $1,000 to $1,500 for tobacco... yet another reason to stop with all this corn based ethanol bullshit.

Perhaps someone has finally had their arm twisted... or has just smoked too much... but either way, Saudi Arabia has decided to call for a summit between oil producing countries and consumer states to discuss soaring energy prices. The Information Minister stated that the kingdom will work with OPEC to "guarantee the availability of oil supplies now and in the future." With oil prices at all time highs he stated, "There is no justification for the current rise in prices." Well that counter acts what the U.S. Energy Secretary just said... but I like the Saudi way of thinking better... at least on this topic. Check out the graph to the right about Saudi oil production and come to your own conclusions.