Dear Dr. Miro, Although my man never drank excessively, he quit alcohol about 3 weeks ago. How long does it take for his sperm to not be effected? We want to make a healthy baby. Sincerely, Ready & Waiting Dear R&W, Since it takes between two to three months for sperm to fully mature, I would give yourselves that for fresh, never tasted alcohol, swimmers. However, keep in mind that many intoxicated folks have made babies – healthy ones, even. It is true that extreme drinking (or any other excessive behavior) may lead to fetal complications so be aware of other factors in your lives. Eat right, drink (non-alcoholic) fluids, get sleep and avoid stress as much as possible. ONE glass of wine or beer after dinner is not going to greatly hinder sperm’s production or motility. Also, and very importantly, have as much sex with each other as possible! Making healthy babies can be a lot of fun. Lust & Happiness, Dr. Miro Image Credit: Chris...
Alcohol & Mature Sperm! [Ask Dr. Miro: What You Didn’t Learn In Health Class]
posted by Miro Gudelsky
The Science of Happy Hour [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe]
posted by Jersey Joe
It’s those few magical hours, when your favorite watering hole drops their prices, enticing you through their door. This marketing ploy to lure in thirsty drinkers has been going on for centuries. There’s more involved than just getting you to belly up to the bar. “Happy hour” refers to a certain amount of time set aside for restaurants or bars to offer a select menu of discounted food and drinks to gain customers. In the United States, most happy hours occur Monday through Thursday, when patronage at these establishments is often lower. In the beginning happy hour was only that – an hour. In recent years, it has been extended to “happy hours” often going on for the majority of an afternoon. The United States Navy may be the first to thank for establishing a happy hour as early as the 1920’s. No, sailors on ships weren’t getting crocked, but the term “Happy Hour” was used for scheduled entertainment such as movies or sporting events. It was basically a scheduled rest time for those on board to blow off some steam. When Prohibition hit the United States and bars were legally prevented from serving booze, thirsty Americans would host cocktail hours in the home or at a speakeasy before dinner, thus becoming ‘happy hours’. In order to get into a speakeasy, you had to know someone, or know the password, for fear that you could be the law, wanting to shut the place down. While happy hours are well known across the country: Massachusetts and Utah have completely banned them, as have clubs on military bases. In June 2012, Kansas ended their 26 year ban. A couple of year ago, Pennsylvania extended the amount of time a bar can market their happy hour from two to four hours....
Canada Brings Back The Match Game [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe]
posted by Jersey Joe
There was a game show from the 70’s that everyone was talking about. A simple fill in the blank game that could land contestants big money. It was their party and we were all invited. Now, Canadian television is trying to recapture the magic and bring back The Match Game! The original black and white version of The Match Game premiered on NBC December 21, 1962. Most of the episodes taped back then were deleted by network executives almost immediately after airing. At the time, videotape was expensive and the powers that be at the peacock network did not think that there would ever be a reason to re-run these shows. (They also lost the first Super Bowl and a lot of episodes of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson thanks to this practice.) This first version of the show had little resemblance to the more popular update which premiered on CBS, July 2, 1973 under the title Match Game ’73. The game is simple. Host Gene Rayburn would read a short story or phrase and the contestant had to fill in the blank. Gene would then go to a panel of six celebrities who would give their answer to earn a match. Six matches won the game. Here’s a typical question: Dumb Dora was so dumb, she went to a hamburger joint and ordered a (blank)! A bonus round known as “The Big Money Supermatch” was then played. It was just one short phrase the contestant filled in the blank to match an audience survey. (This round surfaced as the premise for a spin-off. Family Feud debuted in 1976.) The contestant could then play for ten times his winnings by completing one final, exact match, with a celebrity. The magic of the 70’s version was the very loose format on...
Southern Comfort [Elbows on the Table]
posted by Kamille Misewicz
There is a reason why all great southern literary works, like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, To Kill a Mockingbird and A Confederacy of Dunces, all take place during the blazing, humid months of summer. There is something special about summers below the Mason Dixon Line. It is a place where second story porches are covered in gauzy mosquito nets and used for sleeping in August. Where professional men walk to work in their pressed seersucker and ladies lunch on verandas in sundresses and scarves. The sweet tea never stops flowing and everyone talks and moves really, really slow because it is just too darn hot. Although I am a sucker for a man in seersucker, my favorite aspect of a southern summer is the evening libations. The heat and humidity is stifling, making my usual dry red wine almost suffocating. (And one can only drink so much Chardonnay before resembling some Real Housewife shrew.) The southern answer? Cocktails, good ones. These are not your well drinks of your tacky college days. If you’re over 21, you should not be drinking a Long Island Ice Teas or a Cosmo (the tackiest of all tacky drinks). Nor can any amount of hipster irony make a Dirty Girl Scout or a White Russian acceptable drinks. The first thing you’ll be asked at a cocktail party or happy hour is, “So, what are you drinking?” Take a cue from your southern brothers and sisters and find a cocktail that makes a statement. Below are four of my personal summer staples. Bloody Mary The Blood Mary has gotten a bad wrap in the past 10 or so years. The flavorless tomato water with limp celery is not a Bloody Mary, it is a bloody abomination. One of...
Be a Better Britophile
posted by Ernessa T. Carter
. A blogumn by Fiona Craig A Scotswoman weighs in on all things British How to Get Pissed… Properly The Brits love drinking. I don’t just mean a couple of glasses of Chablis with our evening meal like our oh-so-suave French neighbours. I mean we really love drinking as in, a couple of bottles of whatever’s on 3-for-2 at Tesco’s before we’ve even thought about unpacking the groceries, let alone started cooking. Let us not mince our words here, we Brits drink to get wasted, pissed, trollied, blootered, leathered, mashed, paralytic, stocious, (well ok, you get the point). Most of our traditions include some element of toasting something’s or someone’s arrival or departure. For example, it’s our patron saint’s day* Absolutely! Let us demonstrate our patriotism by going to the nearest pub, our shoulders swathed in the national flag, arms held aloft, hands brandishing proudly the umpteenth jar of ale as if it were the FA Cup on finals day. And let us sing, nae, shout our national anthem (or the first couple of lines that we remember from primary school). But most importantly, let us fill our glasses, once more, and drink to our great nation’s patron, “To Saint ……. [who is it again??] ahhh, anyway, who’s round is it?” Millions of all teenagers over the land are literally coming of age on park benches and in bus shelters under the influence of Diamond White** or Buckfast***. It has become a near right-of-passage to have your stomach pumped in the local A&E**** by the time your sixteen! As with their parents, the real benefits of ‘a good night out’ are reaped the day after as you win the admiration of friends and colleagues with tales of the moronic buffoonery that you do remember...