The Ultimate Male Prophylactic

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A new polymer coating holds the promise of guarding against infections commonly spread by bacteria lurking on things like telephones and door knobs, researchers say.

"You could coat any type of surface with this material, and it would be there permanently," said Joerg Tilleer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It is chemically attached so that it cannot be washed away."

In a study appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Tiller and his co-authors said laboratory tests show that the coating, called hexyl-PVP, was able to kill up to 99 percent of Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas and E. coli, all common disease-causing organisms.

No more shaggy lambskin or constraining latex for me!  I'm getting my coating of PVP (PreVentable Penis) or is it (Penile Venereal Prevention)?? !!

Confession of a Cyber-Plagiarist

I know I shouldn't have done it.  But I'm hardly as brilliant as many have been led to think.  And I had to turn to something for an edge.  (It's your fault really--all of you out there blogging so gamely away, day after day, and making me feel like a blog-blocked idiot!!)  So when I hit the blogging wall way back in January, I looked around for a fix.  And with the help of a creative genius programming friend, we created the HAL 10000 Blog Synthesizer.

I confess: for the most part, I am wasted.  It has been HAL 10000 (H+1=I, A+1=B, L+1=M) and his scintillating embellishments that must take the major credit for enlivening my posts.  Creative snippets from HAL here, enticing xangisms there, and voila! a blog is born!

I know I could just go on and on to xangfinity perpetrating this hoax.... But no!  The truth shall set us free.  So without further deliberation, may I introduce you to the latest and most infallible of blogging cyber entities, HAL 10000 .

(p.s., hit reload often to observe HAL's amazing blogliness)

Do I really have the time for Xanga?

Let me put this a different way: Do I really have the time to be creating the likes of Xangaman in Xangaland?

Yes and no.  If it were merely a matter of utilizing my leisure time most abidingly and efficiently, then I'd do better, I believe, in just leisurely reading fiction or studying Chinese.  Yes, the days are getting longer (due to the progression of summer and the fact that everyday lengthens by .002 seconds, regardless), but my quest for reclaiming time is still relentless.  So what gives? 

Well, the minor scripting jostling involved in preparing Xangaman did hone my html skills incrementally.  And considering that at least one of my several professional concerns involves website construction, I can justify the time spent also as developmental learning.

Web development--am I kidding?  Not really.  Most of my professional skills (besides being the utmost in professional wallpapering--I believe I could wallpaper a basketball and make it look crisp!) are on an ever-renewing cusp, and so always developing.  My first attempt at web design (index only now functional for this demo) was for a summer piano concert called Pianofest in the Hamptons.  Paul Schenly, a pianist and the director, is a friend of mine and threw the challenge my way.  This evolved into the more technically mature  (as driven by the festival's interest) current site of www.pianofest.org -- yet I've always liked my graphical rendering of the first attempt better!

I've also established a site for another friend's business, www.foradora.com .  This is still coming together stylistically as I've got to get the pics to load faster (various tricks) and I have yet to enhance the text fonts and text content somewhat.  But it's some ongoing side work (translate: beer money), nonetheless.

I have also set up a site to enhance my teaching efforts.  Some of you may have already visited my Stats class site . Once again, if you care to visit, I'd suggest checking out the Practice Tests!!

So the Xangaman series is, in part, a self-instructional programming experience of some marginal utility.  But a chance to get to know the diverse Xanga milieu better, too!