Women and Children First?

Edward Smith, commander of the Titanic

The commemorations of the sinking of the Titanic are frequent this year, which is only fitting considering it has been a subject of fascination for a century.

The disaster (which occurred on April 15, 1912)  has given fuel to myths about a certain maritime chivalry in shipwrecks such as "Women and children first" and "The captain is the last one to leave a sinking ship".

Mikael Elinder and Oscar Erixson, researchers at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, have timely issued a working paper entitled  "Every Man for Himself! Gender, Norms and Survival in Maritime Disasters" (PDF)  in which they have studied survival rates in 18 peace-time shipwrecks spanning from 1852 to 2011 and covering the fate of over 15.000 individuals of more than 30 nationalities.

In the study the researchers find that, with the singular exception of Titanic, the survival rates for women and children passengers is lower than for adult male passengers while the survival for passengers is lower than for crews, including captains (see figure 1).

The category "MS" refers to other shipping accidents excluding the Lusitania (which sank in less than 20 minutes).
The captain of the Titanic died, which is why there is no bar for the Captain in that column.

The best odds of survival on average in shipwrecks are those of the crew, followed by the captain, the male passengers, the female passengers and finally the children. Only on two ships was it an advantage to be a woman: the Birkenhead in 1852 and the Titanic in 1912.
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As it turns out, the only reasons for the amazingly high survival rates for women, children and passengers on the whole i the Titanic disaster were due to the the personal ethics and bravery of captain Edward John Smith, who threatened to personally shoot any man or crew member who tried to squeeze ahead of the women and children.

Then we can go on to look at the survival rates for passengers on the Titanic by the class they were travelling in, (see figure 2 from Dummies.com Making Everything Easier; Titanic Passenger Survival Rates. Please note, the same numbers occur on several places but this compilation suited my purposes for the post) and perhaps draw a few more conclusions.

See You at Starbucks!

(via J.M.G.)

We all have date on Saturday April 21, 2012. See you at the closest Starbucks - and if you are not at the same place I will think of you enjoying your coffee at another Starbucks.

Thank you Starbucks for supporting same-sex marriage!

Plans Are Being Laid

It is with great pleasure that I inform you that I have decided to collaborate in a new blog project involving the man you see in the picture to the right.

The project is however still in it´s earliest stages of plotting and we are tossing ideas around but things are looking good already. My partner in crime is terribly inventive and creative so most of the time I only have to tell him "NO" with great conviction and a steady voice. (I am good at that, even if I have to say so myself!)

This will be fun and I look forward to working with him in a playful project which we hope will engage and amuse you all.

We will hopefully be able to tell you all more about this soon, meanwhile you can try to guess who my partner in this project is.

A Promiscuous Man

The word promiscuous is defined as "having casual sexual relations frequently with different partners"; "to be indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners" or "to indulge in casual and indiscriminate sexual relationships".

I was recently referred to as a promiscuous man in a comment bye a reader of this blog. This woman obviously feels there is something wrong with my demeanor, what I choose to write about on my blog or my treatment of her and her female friends or cousins (whatever they may be - I never really cared much about them or their relationship at all).

The comment shook, hurt and injured me in a way I cannot fully describe, and deeper than I thought at first. I feel that I and the love I always had and still have for Ars has been contaminated by that vile remark.That this is an insult upon the injury previously caused by the innuendos, which another cousin made, that Ars was one of my alts.

Throughout the more that two years that my Ars and I were together I do not know of any instance where either of us would have been unfaithful or otherwise strayed from our relationship to one another. Neither do I know of any occasion during the two years that have passed since his death that I have even been tempted or thought of having sexual relations with anyone in either first or SecondLife (other than myself from time to time on an irregular basis).

I know that they only wish to hurt me and my love for my Ars, but I really cannot understand how our love can cause such anger and resentment with then to repeatedly warrant these attacks. OK I may be a cry-baby that lingers on  too long about something that they might have gotten over faster and perhaps better, but that is not a reason to force their timetable of "correct grief" onto me. I would wish they got out from under my shoes and emigrated to some hell hole like InWorldz or Osgrid, or even if they did not do that, that they stayed out of my way sand did not need to comment about me or interact with me.

Criminally Accountable

The Norwegian mass murderer A.B.B. is criminally accountable and may be sentenced to prison, according to the conclusion of the second psychiatric evaluation that was today handed to the District Court of Oslo, Norway.

A.B.B. as photographed by Heiko Junge

Psychiatrists Terje Törrisen and Agnar Aspaas conclude in their report that A.B.B. was "not psychotic at the time of the act," 

The second psychiatric evaluation was ordered by the court after the results of the first report were heavily criticized and contested by independent psychiatrists and testimony from the team of psychiatrists and other medical personnel at the prison where A.B.B. is being kept until the trial commences.

A.B.B. is to be tried on charges of terror and murder after killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage in Oslo City Center and in a youth camp on the island of Utøya on 22 July, 2011.

If you should wish to read my earlier posts on this, please click A.B.B. in the "Labels" below.

Mr Gay World 2012

German born Andreas Derleth, 32 y.o., from Auckland, New Zealand has been crowned Mr. Gay World 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the Fourth Annual International Competition.

Andreas Derleth (far left) and the other top 5 in the swim wear competition,
It  is no surprise that Andreas won the swim wear competition.

I saw a headline somewhere about this hunky man that read "Brains, Brawn and Beauty" and I certainly will not disagree.

The Mr Gay World Organization  informs us "Andreas (Andy) Derleth is an operations project manager of Warehouse Stationery in New Zealand. Originally from Hassfurt, Germany, Andy has a Bachelor degree in business management. He has a passion for travel and sports and participated in the 2nd Asia-Pacific Outgames and is very excited to be going to Antwerp next year for the worldOutgames. Andy is in a long term relationship and on the 11-11-11 he entered in a same-sex civil union in New Zealand."

Andreas looks great even with clothes on his upper body.

How rude!

Artistically enhanced
picture of Ms. Sex Toy
removed on her request.

Can you even imagine the Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm and prince of Cascade Falls, being called "Mr. Bagpipe" by an Icelandic woman with the name "Sex Toy" (as directly translated from Icelandic by Google Translate)?

Well, it did indeed happen today, right after I had quite pleasantly told Ms. Sex Toy that we should do each other the courtesy of ignoring one another completely in the future. 

Such brazen effrontery and insolent shamelessness is fortunately not ordinarily encountered in polite company in SecondLife - or anywhere for that matter.

Update: After being requested by Ms. Kynlif Leikfang (see comments to this post) and due consideration, I have decided to remove my artistically enhanced picture of her. You can now see her picture in the comments instead.

As for Ms. Kynlif Leikfang referring to me as "Lauslátir Maður", which she claims means "promiscuous man" in Icelandic, I can only say that in every language I know anything about Google Translate shows me these translations. As far as I can see they all translate into "Free from dead man".

Translation to English

Translation to German

Translation to Spanish

Translation to Dutch

Translation to Danish

Translation to Norwegian

Translation to Swedish