Hop On Jerk-Free Express

Sun., Dec. 31, 2000

By Susan English susane@spokesman.com

Groping is such a problem for women on Tokyo’s packed subways and commuter trains that one Japanese rail company ran special female-only cars during the holiday season to protect women from drunken gropers.

Now that the holidays are over, the grope-free cars will disappear and, we assume, sober groping will resume. (From the Philadelphia Inquirer)

* Keeping score: Women who talk too much or play with their hair annoy men. Women gripe about guys who don’t talk enough or chew with their mouths open.

Researchers at Western Carolina University asked 167 men and women to list the things that bother them the most about their partners.

Women listed two to four times as many gripes as the men. Psychologist Robin Kowalski says that doesn’t necessarily mean men are more annoying than women. The researcher speculated that the women just spent more time thinking about their relationships. (From January/February Health)

* Schedule your vacation now: People who skip vacations are up to 32 percent more likely to die from a heart attack, according to a new study by the Center for the Advancement of Health based in Washington, D.C.

The researchers say even just one year without a week off may put you at higher risk. (From January Men’s Journal)

* Third World thinking: A lawmaker in Swaziland proposed a new way to halt the spread of AIDS in his country: ban miniskirts. That way, men who are infected with HIV would be less likely to rape girls and infect them, reasoned Senator Majahenkhaba Dlamini.

Females ages 15-24 have nearly twice the rate of HIV infection as their male counterparts in Swaziland. Many of the girls were infected through rape. (From December/January Ms.)

* Let the dog choose: Pet custody has become one of the most bitter issues in divorce cases, Barbara Newell, a staff attorney for the Animal Defense Fund told the Dallas Morning News.

Pets have traditionally been a property issue. “Now they are becoming family-law issues,” Newell says.

A few judges have even decided pet custody cases using a “best interest of the pet” test usually reserved for children.

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