Editorial: Casual Fridays 10/8

Digital hugs

Can’t get a girlfriend? According to Discovery News, Atami, a… Digital hugs

Can’t get a girlfriend? According to Discovery News, Atami, a faded Japanese oceanside resort is attracting a flood of male beachgoers who are coming to spend romantic hours in the sunset with their virtual girlfriends. By scanning barcodes scattered throughout the resort, men can visualize and interact with doe-eyed female cartoon characters on their iPhones through a dating simulation video game called “Love Plus.” Regardless of how desperate they are, at least the men can turn the game off when it nags.

Renewable protection

Ever think your bedtime activities were harming the environment? Well, according to Reuters, thousands of condoms flushed by sex-crazed athletes almost halted the drainage system of the 2010 Commonwealth Games village in India. Most condoms are nonbiodegradable — meaning after being flushed down the toilet, the condoms clogged up sewer pipes with no hope of natural breakdown. If Frito-Lay can’t figure out how to make its biodegradable Sun Chips bags profitable, perhaps the snack food company should get into the contraception market.

Carnal-endar

The Associated Press reports that 12 female journalism students studying in Russia have sent Prime Minister Vladimir Putin a raunchy birthday calendar. Posing in lacy underwear, the women spend each month delivering supportive and suggestive phrases — as well as demonstrating that the decline of respectable journalism is a worldwide phenomenon. In other news, make sure to look out for the The Pitt News’ 100th annual calendar. (Oh yeah, no paper-mache mini-bikinis this year. We just don’t print enough pages anymore.)

Melting hopes

If the Allies had suffered a steel shortage during WWII, what else could have they used to build seafaring vessels? As we have just learned from a British inventor, don’t use ice. Testing this WWII-era hypothesis, a maverick inventor from the United Kingdom tried to float a boat made of a mixture of wood pulp and ice: It melted within five minutes. Now we know why they say the British Royal Navy is nothing like it used to be.