Weekend Tids and Bits

 

Help To Keep Your, uh Chin Up came Thursday from Pfizer, Inc., which announced that Viagra and Lipitor would be among the 70 widely used drugs it would make available for free to those who have lost their jobs since January 1 and have been taking one of the drugs for three months or more. Cynics groused that Pfizer would use the tax write-off to build brand loyalty and avoid trimming its production; Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company, says it’s just trying to help folks who are down on their luck. More information is at 866-706-2400.

 

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Hasta la vista seems to be what illegal immigrant are saying in these tough employment times, according to figures released by the Mexican government. Emigration from Mexico to other countries declined about 25 percent for the year ending in August 2008. That’s about 226,000 folks who decided they’d rather be unemployed at home than in the United States, since the USA is the overwhelming destination for those leaving Mexico legally or otherwise. While Americans are reacquainting themselves with lawnmowers and discovering that you don’t have to speak Spanish to put up drywall, experts say this is all a blip. When prosperity returns, so will the illegal workers.

 

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A New Game of Chicken is emerging, and we don’t mean the kind involving head-on hot rods. Turns out that an increasing number of otherwise sane urban folk are starting to keep a few chickens in the backyard for eggs, companionship (no, I’m not kidding) and the occasional Final Dinner Invitation. That’s a problem in some areas, where zoning laws call fowls foul; in others, zoning laws are quiet on the subject, one lawmakers never expected to confront. Whether you think this is the Next Big Thing or the last straw in declining neighbor relations, check out Backyard Poultry at http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/ . The featured article in the April/May issue is Chickens Make Great Neighbors by Peter Brophy.

 

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China Puritan No Mao it seems with the development of Love Land, a sexual theme park in Chongqing, according to the UK’s Guardian. Chairman Mao is said to have enjoyed many a roll in the bird’s nest, but his Cultural Revolution made the Puritans of American fame look positively libertine. The Guardian says the park is set to open in October and will feature naked human sculpture, giant genitalia and information on technique and safe sex.

 

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