What Caught My Eye Today - Women, Menopause, Pandemic, Preservation, Shakespeare

Women - Most days, I buy into the notion that the world is slowly but surely becoming a better place, and then I read something like this. According to the World Health Organization's first worldwide survey on the topic, more than a third of all women around the world are victims of physical or sexual violence by their partners.  The rate of domestic violence is highest in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where 37% of women report being abused, and lowest in North America at 23%. To be frank, I'm actually a bit more disgusted by the 23%.  North America is comprised primarily of Canada and the United States. If we abuse almost a quarter of our female population, it's sort of difficult to call out the rest of the world to treat their women with the respect and dignity that they deserve. More than 600 million women live in countries where wife-beating is not a crime.

The news continues to be rather bleak for women. And guess what, lads? This next bit does not bode well for us.

Menopause - A provocative new study  suggestion that women develop menopause because men's lust for younger women makes it pointless for them to remain fertile in old age. As if men needed another reason to get yelled at. Using a computer model to track the evolutionary consequences of mating preferences, researchers found that were it not for men's age bias in selecting a mate, women would be reproducing for their whole lives, as is the norm in the animal kingdom. So like are we supposed to compliment our spouses by comparing them to chimps?  Call me crazy, but that just doesn't sound right.The study goes on to suggest that men's preference for younger mates allows for certain genetic mutations to flourish that over time undermine the fertility of older women; meaning in evolutionary terms, menopause is reversible. By extension, one could speculate if women withheld a little ba-donk-a-donk from us guys, then we might very well experience the joys of hot flashes, mood swings and maybe some hormone replacement therapy. Gee, that sounds like fun, don't it? Yeah, I'd rather just become that creepy old guy that that makes younger women cringe, but that's just me.

Pandemic - Here's an update on an item I reported on a few weeks ago (click here). More than 60 cases of what is now called MERS, including 38 deaths, have been recorded by the World Health Organization in the past year, mostly in Saudi Arabia. So far, illnesses haven't spread as quickly as SARS did in 2003, ultimately triggering a global outbreak that killed about 800 people. That doesn't sound so bad.  An international team of doctors who investigated nearly two dozen cases in eastern Saudi Arabia found the new coronavirus has some striking similarities to SARS. I'm sensing a "but" coming... Unlike SARS, though, scientists remain baffled as to the source of MERS. And there it is. In a worrying finding, the team said MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) not only spreads easily between people, but within hospitals. Cases have continued to trickle in, and there appears to be an ongoing outbreak in Saudi Arabia. MERS cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Tunisia. Most have had a direct connection to the Middle East region.  The source of the MERS virus remains a mystery. It is most closely related to a bat virus though some experts suspect people may be getting sick from animals like camels or goats. Another hypothesis is that infected bats may be contaminating foods like dates, commonly harvested and eaten in Saudi Arabia. What's disturbing to me is the lack of coverage this deal is getting.  There is a virus out there that appears to be rather violent (38 deaths out of 60 cases is a pretty high mortality rate), and no one has a clue how it get transmitted and, more importantly, no one has the faintest idea how to cure it.

On the upside, if this MERS virus does become a legitimate threat to humankind, there are steps one can take to ensure one's survival.

Preservation - After most of the world's population is wiped off the map by a wayward meteorite or hail of nuclear missiles, the survival of the human race might just depend on a few thousand people huddled in recreational vehicles deep in the bowels of an eastern Kansas mine. Why is that the places most likely to survive a catastrophic event are located where no one wants to go?  Think about it, why couldn't there be a safe haven on the beaches of Waikiki? The Kansas caverns are 100 feet to 150 feet below the surface and have a constant natural temperature in the low 70s. They are supported by thick limestone pillars six times stronger than concrete and will have blast doors built to withstand a one-megaton nuclear explosion as close as 10 miles away. Other than being surrounded by more than a mile and a half of 6-foot-high chain-link fence topped with sharp rows of barbed wire, the land above ground isn't distinguishable from expanses of hills and trees that surround it. The proposed shelter's entrances — nondescript concrete loading docks tucked discretely into the wooded hillside — are easily defensible against any potential intruders provided there's not a full-scale military attack. One question--why? Most of the human race has been wiped off the face of the planet. Who exactly, do they think is going to be left to launch a full-scale military attack? The shelter will have enough space for more than 1,000 RVs and up to about 5,000 people. Members will be charged $1,000 for every lineal foot of their RV to purchase their space, plus $1,500 per person for food. That means a person who plans to park a 30-foot vehicle in the shelter with four people inside will pay $30,000 for the space and $6,000 for food. $36,000 to ensure your place in a world with no one in it. Sounds like a bargain, doesn't it? Then again, when I think about the sort of person willing to hunker down in an RV in a cave in Kansas, I'm thinking maybe I'll take my chances with the end of the world.

And finally, here is another entry for the "decline of civilization as we know it" file.

Shakespeare - This isn’t your parents’ Star Wars. It’s more like your ancestors from the Old World’s Star Wars. An author has reinterpreted the classic space opera into a classical play written in the majestic style of the Bard of Avon. It's not bad enough that some genius decides to translate Shakespeare into Twitter-friendly feeds. Now we're tackling Star Wars. Seriously, people. Don't you have better things to do with your time? William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope takes all of the characters you know and love and has them speaking in asides, soliloquies, and poetic verses. Even Chewbacca and R2-D2 roar and beep in iambic pentameter. The first line reads: "In time so long ago begins our play/ In star-crossed galaxy far, far away.”

I think we're done here (in more ways than one).