"What would men be without women?"

When I saw the quote from Mark Twain at the top of the blog "What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce?" I thought of something I read in my psych book, "the most difficult separation [separation being death] is from one's spouse- a loss suffered by five times more women than men" (133). This makes me wonder why most wives outlive their husbands? Is it just because their life expectancy is longer, which I don't know if it actually is, or something else? Generally women cook the meals and do the house work, so in some relationships the husband would be at quite a loss without help from his spouse. There are many other examples like this, but I wonder if those patterns in a marriage actually has any connection to that statistic.

Back to the Twain quote, I wondered whether scarce meant like less than or something along those lines, or just lost and confused? In the dictionary it means not abundant, but I wonder if that's what he means here? Is he literally talking about the fact that you need both a male and female to have kids-meaning more men?

Ethics? Nature? or Good Business?

In Nevada there's been a roundup of wild horses, because there's studies that if they aren't moved then there will be overpopulation and the resources will run out. While to some this seems like the best choice for the horses, others are concerned and protest that the airlifting and other transportation needed to move the animals can cause harm or death and is unethical.

Some things I wonder are whether they're really concerned with the animals running out of resources, or that the animals instincts will have them migrating to built up land where people just don't want to be bothered by them? Also, would the horses even know enough to migrate or would they die when the overpopulation occurs? It might not even be safe for them if they tried to get to more resources and into land where people are. Another thing I wonder is whether the overpopulation is in any way caused by humans tinkering with the environment.

What do you believe it is in the best choice? Move the animals or let nature take its course, and keep the horses where they are? Is it worth it to have a few horses dies in order to potentially save them later?

A Safe Ride

With New Year's Eve only a few days away I found this reminder from the CTA that they're giving away penny rides on New Years Eve to be interesting. Although people would like to think that underage drinking doesn't happen, it does. Especially on a night like New Year's Eve. Although the CTA doesn't really cater to those under 21, something like saferides which is through the school is 100 percent for students. Although not everyone who calls needs a ride because they are under the influence, part of their purpose is to keep kids from driving drunk.

I have my own opinion on this, but do you think these programs encourage drinking? Or do you believe that it's going to happen so mine as well have something to make sure underage drinkers are safe?

SNL Uh Oh

This week on Saturday Night Live (SNL) there was one controversial skit that was a paradox of the Tiger Woods domestic violence issue which has recently been in the media. What triggered this was that Rihanna was the musical guest, and earlier this year she was involved in a domestic violence case where her then boyfriend, Chris Brown, beat her.

Quotes from the article said how domestic violence is never funny, or should never be made light of. However, there were other comments about how if the genders had been switched (like the Rihanna Chirs Brown example) it would never have appeared on SNL. One man was quoted saying its, "kind of, sort of ok to make fun of...". Because it was a woman beating a man that makes it ok? Because he is arguably the most famous athlete of all time and is strong enough to take beating from a woman that makes it funny? Some in our society believe that this is ok to make fun of. That domenstic violence isn't as violent if the woman is the assaulter.

What does this say about our society? Do you believe this goes along with the notion that men are generally seen as stronger and more superior to women?