Celebrities are dying, politicians are in surgery, people have sex to burn calories, and I finally have time to post

Why are so many celebrities dying? Is it the heat? I thought Tammy Faye was immortal.

Dick Cheney was president for two hours and five minutes, while Bush was having a colonoscopy.

They were obviously playing tag: Cheney went in to get his defibrillator replaced. Desperate not to miss out, John Roberts had a seizure and ended up in the hospital. Everyone's fine.

Broadsheet just posted this, which profiles an article about the 237 reasons people have sex. Among the more ridiculous: to get rid of a headache, feel closer to god, change the topic of conversation, and my favorite, burn calories. There is still hope: the top reason was "I was attracted to the person."

Personally, I have sex to make babies. All you people reading this are morally dead to me if you don't feel the same way. Babies. I LOVE babies.

Back in the real world, my beloved Broadsheet also reported that Second Life is a refuge for the under-educated teen. Second Life may help your sex life, with a new island dedicated to sex ed. According to Broadsheet:

There's a screening room for movies about HIV/AIDS, an outdoor classroom where students can watch presentations from sex educators, a newsstand that updates itself every 10 minutes with the top two sexual health stories from Yahoo News, an interactive game/quiz area where students can test their knowledge, and a "sky box" where visitors can have one-on-one sessions with counselors. There's even a vending machine where visitors can buy virtual condoms. The goal, as the explanatory video puts it, is to help students learn how to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies, and promote equitable sexual relationships.

Free, independent, intelligent sex ed? Right on, Second Life.

Just found out Jenna Elfman is a Scientologist. Shit!

For MUCH more important breaking news: the UN is sending 26,000 international forces to Darfur. FINAL-FUCKING-LY. Thank you Gordon Brown. Here's the story. As Allyn Brooks-LaSure, a spokesman from Save Darfur said, "This isn't the time to pop champagne." But it's SOMETHING. It's a start.

Back in the banalities of every day life, I finished Anna Karenina. I enjoyed the social/political commentary, and the characters were wonderfully contrasting and tied into Tolstoy's criticism of Russian society. The novel is full of characters who are struggling to be themselves - a constant struggle in everyone's life, I think - so it really hit home.

Also joined the rest of the world in finishing Harry Potter. Sad it's over. Because of my transition-full life, I couldn't get my hands on any of the earlier ones while I was reading, so I spent a lot of time trying to remember what happened in the last book. No matter, I still loved it. I do wish they had brought in the idea of the deathly hallows earlier, though. It was a lot to discover in one book.

I'm reading Diary, by Chuck Palahniuk now. I love him. His style is unlike anyone's I've read.