Letter here.

'Apparently during the chaos of the evacuation of the Costa Concordia in Costa de Giglio, Italy, a crew member shouted, "Women and children first!"

Now I can agree that women with children should be given priority in this situation, but how about men with children? Also, why should all women be given priority over all men? If this is, in fact, a maritime rule or law, it seems outdated.

Are all women more important to save than all men?'

Story here. Excerpt:

'GRAND RAPIDS — Nearly 50 Grand Rapids Community College football players, along with coaches and athletic director Charlie Wells, gathered Monday afternoon to listen to the devastating news of the program’s fate.

After 80 years, the football program will not exist.
...
Ender cited impending changes to the conference schedule requiring out-of-state travel, the departure of former head coach Tony Annese to Ferris State University and concerns on Title IX compliance as reasons behind the move.
...

GRCC is the fourth school in the Midwest Football Conference to drop its football program in the past five years.

In November, Joliet (Ill.) Junior College eliminated its program.

They cited two primary factors similar to GRCC — the high costs associated with operating the program and the need to balance gender equality among sports offered at the college because of Title IX requirements.'

This time Ask Amy got it right in Husband faces wife's fraud over in vitro embryos (1/17/12). She wanted another child so she forged his name on the papers and had the embryo implanted. There is no way that wife can use the "it was an accident" excuse. It will be interesting to see what happens to the birth rate -- and that excuse--when Vasalgel is approved (it's essentially a completely reversible vasectomy). Excerpt:

'Dear Amy:
...
I wasn't ready to have another child at that time and told her so.

Unfortunately, my wife forged my signature on the clinic paperwork for the embryo transfers and never told me.

I only found out by contacting the fertility center after the fact.

I've tried numerous times to get her to go to marriage counseling to talk about this and other problems, but she won't go because she feels that whatever problems we have are my fault.
...
Dear Sad: Your wife's selfishness is truly shocking.

Article here. Except:

'When men think they outnumber women, they borrow more, save less and make more impulse purchases, according to a study published last week by the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.

University researchers asked groups of men to read news articles suggesting that their local population had either more men or women. They were then asked to indicate how much money they would save each month from a paycheck, as well as how much they would borrow on credit cards for purchases.

When the articles suggested there was a surplus of men, the savings rate fell 42%, and the men were willing to borrow 84% more each month.

The study also found real-life evidence of this behavior. In Columbus, Ga., where there are 1.18 single men for every single woman, the average consumer debt was $3,479 higher than it was 100 miles away in Macon, Ga., where there were 0.78 single men for every woman.'

Article here. Excerpt:

"Investors are gambling on bitter divorce battles between women and their rich husbands in return for a share of the spoils, it has emerged.

Venture capitalists, hedge funds and high-end lenders are putting up money to women who want to fight their husbands in court.

In return, the investors take a chunk of the court payouts.

According to The Sunday Times, one company now has loans out to more than 100 'high net worth' spouses - it charges about 20 per cent interest for up-front divorce financing.

Article here.

'Marina, Calif. Supporters of the movement to ban circumcision in San Francisco came out Saturday to protest the American Civil Liberties Union on the California State University Monterey Bay Campus.

San Francisco approved a November 2011 ballot measure to outlaw circumcision of minors in the city. But a judge took if off the ballot last summer, saying the city has no authority to ban circumcision.

Supporters say ACLU members, who were holding a seminar today near the Monterey College of Law, played a big part in stopping the ballot measure.

"We want little boys in this country to enjoy the same legal projection that little girls currently enjoy under federal law which prohibits any form of female circumcision or genital mutilation," said David Lane, an anti-circumcision activist.

The activists say they will not be able to get the measure on another ballot, but will continue to protest circumcision until a law banning them is on the books.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Some people love to laugh at Victorian values. The favourite target is 19th century attitudes to sexual morality, which are routinely labelled as hypocritical.

We are frequently reminded that the Victorians were so prudish that they used to cover up their piano legs. This is rubbish, perpetuated by people who don’t know that covering up the piano legs was actually a Victorian joke about sex. Believed originated by the author Captain Marryat in 1839, taking the rise out of Americans.

Link here. Excerpt:

'A great opportunity to make a difference in the ever changing environment of Education, Training and Employment in the Western and Northern Metropolitan region. Reporting to the Workforce Development Manager, Northern Futures Incorporated, this position is responsible for the implementation and coordination of the Powerful Pathways for Women Project. The project has been funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations in conjunction with the Local Employment Co-ordinator Flexible Funding Pool, TAFE, and ETSA.
...
To be successful you will have previous project officer experience with an understanding of the challenges facing women in traditional trades; in addition to this you will work well with people from various cultural backgrounds.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The death toll from the Costa Concordia tragedy has reached five, and more stories are emerging about the chaos inside the luxury cruise liner as it started to go down.

Melbourne mother Michelle Barraclough told the Herald Sun that she had to fight hysterical adults to hold on to her 12-year-old daughter, and that the men were the worst.

“Everybody just shoved and screamed in 15 different languages,” she said.

“The people that pushed their way on to the boat were then trying to tell them to shut the door, not to let any more people on the boat after they had pushed their way on.

“We just couldn’t believe it - especially the men, they were worse than the women.”
...
Personally, I would hope that the stronger people would look after the weaker. That a man or a strong woman would help a child to safety before saving themselves. That a swimmer would help a non-swimmer. That somehow, in the anarchy, there would be heroes.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Oftentimes teenagers are stereotyped as being impolite and self-centered. Dana Lyman of Highland disagrees. She is impressed by the young men who share her daughter's bus stop. Without any of suggestion from parents or the bus driver, these young men step aside every morning and afternoon before boarding the bus so the girls can get on first.

The polite gesture of these Timberline Middle School students began about two weeks after the school year began.

"As the students were getting on the bus Isaac Emerson put up his hand and said, 'come on guys, let the girls go first' and the boys agreed," she said. "That morning set the standard which holds to this day."

She added, "It's really windy up here sometimes. But, it doesn't matter if it's windy or snowy, they consistently show kindness and respect by letting the girls go first."

To Isaac this is something that doesn't require much forethought or planning. It comes naturally.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Decades on such notions evidently continue to result in women being treated less harshly by the criminal justice system. Jeffries wrote, "In New Zealand ... women are less likely than men to be ... sentenced to imprisonment" and "[o]nce imprisoned, NZ women receive shorter terms than men."

This was fascinating. I'd never considered the possibility that gender biases would be so deeply entrenched within our justice system.

Those who reject the "chivalry thesis" make claims that women's law-breaking tends to be less serious than that of men, hence the comparably lighter sentences. But a 1999 study using a Ministry of Justice database "[w]ith all independent variables controlled" confirmed "that men were more likely than women to be imprisoned."

Article here.

'The state is broke. As the governor has said, California needs to focus on core functions like education. As we seriously contemplates trimming three weeks off the school year, even the Commission on the Status of Women's annual budget, a paltry $465 thousand dollars, becomes a luxury the state can no longer afford.

There are plenty of private groups that do what the commission does. The National Organization of Women, The California Budget Project, the American Association of University Women, and more. They aren't going away.

Unlike 1965, when the commission was established, women are a significant presence in commerce today. They now make up more than a quarter of the Legislature. California has a woman Attorney General.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Sure, she’s got roots in activism for immigrants and tenants, the same circles in which Mayor Ed Lee got his political start. She’s popular in the progressive District 5 and is widely expected to win her seat in her own right in the November election. And yes, she was supportive of Lee during his mayoral campaign.

But there’s another reason Lee chose Christina Olague to fill the supervisorial seat left open when Ross Mirkarimi became sheriff.

She’s a she.

Gender, Lee told The Chronicle’s editorial board this week, was a big consideration of his — and three of the four finalists were women. But it wasn’t a factor only because a scant three of the 11 supervisors were women before Olague’s appointment.'

It's interesting to hear "Women and children first" from the crew in the lifeboats after all the emphasis on so-called "equality" for women over the last few decades. This is reminiscent of the Titanic, almost exactly 100 years ago. Story here. Excerpt:

'"I felt like the disaster itself was manageable," Smith added, referring to the grounding and tilting of the ship, "but I felt like the crew was going to kill us."

The worst part came when a lifeboat crew member told everyone, "Women and children first," Smith said. "All these families who were clinging to each other had to be separated," he added.

After helping passengers, some crew members jumped overboard and swam ashore.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Taxpayers are forking out thousands of pounds a year on DNA paternity tests after mothers seeking maintenance wrongly identified the father of their child.

Last year, around £100,000 went on tests which turned out to be the wrong man because the mother has slept with so many men that she has no idea who the father actually is.

Another £250,000 was lost by the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission when men demanded a DNA test to prove they were not the father - but then it turned out that they were, and they nevertheless refused to pay for the test.

However, the organisation did manage to recoup £160,000 from men whose paternity was proved by the tests.

In some cases, the taxpayer pays for multiple tests when the mother is unable to identify one man as the father. There is no limit to the number of tests a person can ask for.