TresSugar

Where Do You Stand? Using the Term "Bang"

DearSugar — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:00:00 -0700

It makes me so mad when I overhear guys use the word bang in reference to sex. I mean, how gross and rude! I always thought it was a guy thing, but just recently, a girlfriend and I were at a bar and when she saw a hot guy ordering a drink, I almost dropped my Cosmo when she said, "I'd love to bang that guy."

Clearly, I'm just not a fan of that term. I prefer to use the sweet phrase "make love," and I'll even take "do it" over banged. It just makes sex seem so impersonal and forceful, but what do you think about the B word? Am I being too old-fashioned or are you against it, too?

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WTF?!

GiggleSugar — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0700

That baby looks as confused as I am. Her expression says, "I am a baby. I do not need a weave. WTF?! Get this thing off my bald baby head. It's hot." OK, maybe her look doesn't say all those things, but seriously. A baby does not need a wig attached by a hairband! This is so self-evident that I am embarrassed to state it. But the folks at Baby Bangs Hair Band, a real business, disagree. Sigh.

Fire the Translator: 10 Crazy Bad Translations

TresSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:20:00 -0700

I've traveled to foreign countries, making locals scratch their heads when I try to speak their language, and I've also failed translation exams in college. So although I can't exactly say I have a command of foreign languages, I know a so-awful-it's-awesome translation when I see one. So without further ado, let's end International Translation Day with a bang!

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Flashback: The Golden Girls on Gay Marriage

TresSugar — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:00:00 -0700

The Golden Girls were wise beyond their collective years. (And that's really saying something!) In this snippet, Blanche's brother is marrying a man (you could do that then, apparently) and the Southern belle is not charmed. But leave it to Sophia to dole out the only argument ever really needed for gay marriage: they love each other. And, then of course follow up with a smart-ass bang! Whoa. Pun definitely not intended.

Kids in Gaza Mark the End of Ramadan With a Bang

CitizenSugar — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:00:04 -0700

These pictures of kids in Gaza celebrating the end of Ramadan stopped me in my tracks this morning. The celebration, Eid al-Fitr, marks the end of Ramadan, the 30-day period of daylight abstinence from food and drink observed by Muslims. It's a three-day "festival of the fast-breaking," a joyous time to visit friends and relatives and to give to those in need ensuring that everyone will have a holiday meal - especially important this year as more and more feel financial woes.

The kids in these pictures are clearly having a great time, celebrating the end of the fast, but the guns. Oh, the guns give more than a little pause. While yes, kids have played cops and robbers since the beginning of time (give or take) the adult way these children handle the weapons suggests the real cost of their turbulent environment. A study showed that a crushing 98 percent of children in Gaza have experienced or witnessed war trauma. Most children, who number almost half of the residents of Gaza, have been tear-gassed, had their homes searched, or seen shootings and explosions. No wonder they seem so at home with their arsenal.

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It makes me want to replace those guns with some Basboosa (a traditional post-Ramadan dessert made with semolina and yogurt, soaked in a rose water syrup.) That would certainly be sweeter.

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Three Is Enough: Polygamist Families Want Right to Marry(s)

CitizenSugar — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:30:01 -0700

The third season of Big Love ended with a bang (or a gasp?) Sunday, so we'll have to follow real-life polygamists until next season. Good thing there's some who want to be seen and heard, saying things like Jesus had many wives. Maybe he did?

Anne Wilde, a polygamist widow, is leading the Principle Voices campaign to legalize, or at least decriminalize, plural marriage in Utah. She showed BBC her basement/publishing house filled with books she and her husband published, including their bestseller, Jesus Was Married, which shows Jesus was married and married and married.

She led dozens of polygamists to the square outside the Utah State Legislature building to lobby for plural marriage. While it's felony in Utah, and every other state, there are too many people (nearly 40,000 just in Utah) to prosecute it. In fact, Anne and self-identified polygamists talked congenially to Utah's attorney general that day. His stance? As long there are no child marriages or pedophilia accusations, he'll let them be.

One openly polygamist family, which couldn't be more like Big Love's Hendricksons and less like the stereotypical prairie-garbed families, let BBC into their home. To find out what their lives are like, read more.

Kody Brown, husband of three and father of 12, lives in a house divided into three apartments. While his teenage daughters have mixed feelings about entering plural marriage, he says his own is working out well. "Usually whoever knows what they want," he said, "can get it." Imagine that's so when there's three wives who give!

Check out a video of the family, sans the second and third wives, at home on BBC.

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Ask E. Jean: How Do I Explain My Extreme Shyness?

E Jean Carroll — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:00:20 -0800

Dear E. Jean,

Whenever I meet a girl I don't know, I suffer from truly spectacular social awkwardness. It's difficult for me to function at any level, including breathing. The result: I'm 40, and I've never had a girlfriend. Never even come close. I've gone out on three dates in my life, each one a disaster. It didn't help that I lived at home into my mid-30s - way too long, I now realize. I'm trying to change my life. I've moved out, bought a house, and have been working hard to overcome my shyness. I've begun having conversations with people I don’t know well. To my immense relief, I'm getting better with practice.

So the question is, now that I'm working up the courage to begin dating, how and when do I tell someone about my odd case history without throwing them for a loop or appearing to be way too peculiar and turning them off completely? Yes, I'm also worried that I'll make every other dating faux pas in the book, but one problem at a time. (Please, please, please no 40-year-old virgin jokes.) - Self-Conscious Enough as It Is

To read E. Jean's advice, read more.

Self, My Swordsman,

I beg your pardon. Did you say . . . three? Only three disasters, sir? Hell, there are hundreds of social catastrophes for you to enjoy. Get ready. Here are your five steps to victory:

Lay Plans: Go to your local church and sign an "abstinence pledge." Statistics show you will lose your virginity within seconds after leaving the building.
Know Your Weak Points: Don't date. It will kill your social life.
Vary Your Tactics: Instead, go to meetup.com. It's genius! Scroll through the dozens of inspiring, egg-heady, wild, world-bettering get-togethers in your area and choose a group that you like. (Yes, there are "virgins" meetups, not to mention the "Beltway Atheists." And if you don't join a group that is at least half women, I'm going to come to your town and hold a meetup called "Bang Jim.") Then all you have to do is show up. Shake hands. Share a beer. No pressure. Make friends of all ages and both sexes.
Wage the PR War: Your story: single guy, a bit shy, good job, owns his own home, no baggage.
Allow Yourself to Be Conquered. And when you get effed-up and shaky in the middle of a conversation-excellent! Most young ladies will walk over their own grandmothers to find a man who will listen to them. (Sun Tzu says the warrior who "gathers the highest intelligence" achieves the "greatest results.") So don’t worry. Wear something handsome, look her in the eye, ask a question, listen, throw out a compliment, ask another question, and in a few weeks you’ll be poking like blazes! Good luck!

To see more advice from E. Jean, visit Elle magazine and AskEJean.com.

Do Tell: What Adjustments Did You Make to Start Off '09?

DearSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:00:00 -0800

Starting the new year off on the right foot doesn't have to be about New Year's resolutions - it can be taking a new route to work, joining a book club, or carrying a new purse - anything to break the monotony of 2008. I started '09 with a new hair cut so do tell, what personal adjustments did you make to start 2009 off with a bang?

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Atheists Try to Get Their Nonbeliefs Moving

LibertySugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0700

London buses will soon find themselves adorned with signs saying "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." The British Humanist Association came up with the idea, with the plan of raising £5,500 ($9,325) and accepting a matching gift from famous atheist Richard Dawkins. But so far, the non-god-fearing group has already raised £20,300 ($34,420).

Dawkins has said of the campaign:

Religion is accustomed to getting a free ride - automatic tax breaks, unearned respect and the right not to be offended, the right to brainwash children. . . . This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion.

While some religious people are upset with the campaign, the Methodist Church has welcomed the dialogue. To see why the billboards don't make them nervous, and for some background on religious billboards in the US, read more.

An officer in the Methodist Church said: "This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life. Christianity is for people who aren't afraid to think about life and meaning."

God-themed billboards are nothing new. Throughout the US, signs appearing to come straight from God have sprinkled the highways since 1998. Some say: "Life is short. Eternity isn't. - God;" "One nation under me. - God;" "Big Bang Theory, you've got to be kidding. - God." While the public may be subject to a culture war played out in advertisement, perhaps atheists just want their chance to come out of the shadows, and onto the buses.

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Front Page: Key al-Qaeda Leader Killed, Bush, Paulson Promise Improvements, Austrian Incest Dad Fit For Trial

CitizenSugar — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:00:18 -0700

Key al-Qaeda Leader Killed:
The US military has announced that the second-in-command of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been killed. The militant leader Abu Qaswarah had ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was killed in a raid on Oct. 5 in Mosul, a city described as the military as one of the group's last strongholds.
Bush, Paulson Promise Improvements:
President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson said today that confidence and cash will rehabilitate the economy, but that improvements will take time and patience. Bush said he's confident the economy will "come back" in the long run. Speaking on the $250 billion bank investment announced yesterday, Paulson said, "There's no doubt that the way to get the maximum bang for the taxpayers here was to invest in banks."
Austrian Incest Dad Fit For Trial:
Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man accused of holding his daughter in the cellar for 24 years and fathering seven children with her, has been declared mentally fit to stand trial. The court said the psychiatric evaluation of the 73-year-old found him lucid enough, but that he suffers from a "profound personality disorder."

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