The study’s findings, published in the Journal of Pain (yes, that’s its real name) revealed that cussing helps boost pain tolerance. For the experiment, participants held their hands in a container of ice water to see how long they could bear the pain. Those who cussed a few times kept their hands submerged longer than those who cursed more than 60-times per day and those who didn’t swear it all.

So, there you have it. Scientific validation for your filthy mouth. Happy %#$@$! holidays.

That trendy new social-media doodad you’ve heard mutterings about? It’s Google+, and it packs privacy settings that trump Facebook’s, and it integrates Google technology to tailor content based on your interests. Although it’s still in beta format and not everyone’s free to roam around yet, we infiltrated Google’s not-so-top-secret platform. Here’s what we’ve found:

Privacy That’s Not an Afterthought
Google+ stands out with its Circles feature, which allows sharing of your information, pictures or posts with exactly who you want. You might have three different Circles, for example: friends, family and co-workers. And because you don’t want to inundate family with nerdy tech talk, you can share your iPhone post just with co-workers, rather than Aunt Sue, who still prefers rotary dial.

Google+ ‘Sparks’ Your Interests with, Well, Google
Obviously, you love squirrels like we do. So you type it into your interests, and Google+’s Sparks feature sends you blog posts, website links and even YouTube videos, all centered on your love for the nutty creatures. See an irresistible squirrel video? Use the Hangouts feature of Google+ and watch the video live with anyone in your Circles.

The Long Road Ahead to Nearly a Billion People
Google+ has a long way to go before we’re talking about it synonymously with Mark Zuckerberg’s blue empire. More than 750 million people peruse Facebook daily, while Google+ is still invitation-only. But for now, unique features like Circles, Hangouts and Sparks make it a serious contender for sucking your time in the future. Learn more on the Google+ Project Website

Ever wondered what Scrappy really does while you’re at work? Spy on your dog or cat with digital cameras that mount right on their collar.

Our favorite? The Pet’s Eye View Camera that records hours of video of whatever your pet does best. Whether it’s napping for most of the day, or taking care of business on the nearby fire hydrant, this camera sees all.

There are others that take photos at timed intervals, but where’s the fun in that?

• 7: The number of times the average computer user blinks. A normal eye rate is 20.
• 7 Trillion: The number of SMS text messages that will be sent in 2011. That’s a lot of “LOL.”
• 1: The number (out of eight) of last year’s married couples that met online.
• 1.73 Billion: The current number of Internet users.
• 17 Billion: The number of devices connected online.
• 81%: The percentage of all emails last year that were spam.
• 3,000: The number of words under the ‘set’ entry at dictionary.com, making it the word with the most entries.

Feel free to add your suggestions below!

Marie Curie: The first person to win two Nobel Prizes, Curie pioneered cancer treatment with radioactive isotopes, which she toted around in her pockets. Whoops. She died from aplastic anaemia in 1934 by being exposed to radiation in her research shed. Her research papers from the late 1800s are still too dangerous to handle because of their radioactivity.

William Bullock: Body parts and machine gears don’t mix. Bullock revolutionized the printing industry in 1863 when he invented the efficient and fast web rotary printing press. Though a brilliant inventor, Bullock was no genius as a handyman. After kicking a belt onto pulley in 1867, his leg was crushed by his own printing press. He died days later of gangrene.

In recent years, as VHW was evolving in Deo, my long-term search for a way to aid the poorest of the poor was intensifying. I wanted to find some way to direct my unneeded pennies to a group that I could trust would use them with deep reverence for each person, and for the land. I also wanted assurance that my drop in the bucket would be carefully monitored. Then Deo spoke to me about his goals for Kigutu where there is such deprivation. There was to be long-term commitment to a small community where the people themselves were to play essential roles in building up their health, constructing buildings, creating a school, starting a garden—in other words, the groundwork which would begin to bring back hope to the women, men and children of this region. The American workers were opening their hearts completely, but they left no doubt that their goal was for the people of Kigutu to take charge as soon as possible. This was the group I was looking for.

It is a joy to be part of such a wonderful effort. Long live VHW!

Sharon McKenna
New York City Resident, Church Volunteer

Hot dog too hot to handle for Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds, like any private company, has the right to censor certain types of speech. So when our Empower Aviation hot dog poster, which we love very much, got the axe, we were left with that oily, angry, sad break-up feeling, but no recourse. Though the banner, designed to hang near a concession stand, was rejected we were told that a modesty protecting bun might gain weenie approval. Get real. Someone with clout thought hot dog man looked too much like a penis. Maybe it was the hat. All the penises are wearing them these days. 0r its 15-story ginormousness. Note to Reds Management: if you think penis every time you see a hot dog, you better remove them from the concession stand. Afterall, we can’t allow naked hot dogs, not a hat to be found, being twirled on cookers and smacked around by minimum wage (sex) workers. But, we could be wrong. So take the poll below and let us know what you think.

But one can also argue that if our lives were not so pre-determined by the Protestant work ethic, people would not put up with the current offerings on television. Only when work uses up all the energy and people are too tired to enjoy the pursuit of their passions are they ready to be reduced to the passively receptive state suited for television…

…It is not that sociologists of leisure are wrong to think that many workers are incapable of expansive enjoyment off work but rather that they do not take sufficiently seriously the view that incapacity for leisure is a ‘spillover effect’ of eternally managed work.

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