A new study says that feminists are not ugly spinsters, that feminists actually have it better (what with being respected as human beings and all) romantically and sexually. I knew that. So why am I not doing a hiney-shaking victory dance? Because, dangit, it’s a biased study in a journal called Sex Roles. Also, we cannot read the study for ourselves. Even if I happen to like the results, I still need to see it for myself.

Not that a single study, done by anyone without any bias, would make a difference for feminists anyway. We’re doomed to keep paying for our foremothers’ aesthetic shortcomings, no matter what we stand for now and no matter if it benefits men, too. I’m still going to hear, in response to admitting I’m a feminist, "But…you’re wearing lipstick…you’re pretty." ♦

So yesterday I was in my car, waiting to take a corner, at a full stop, a good 10 feet away from passing cars, when a white-haired old man on a bike (at least in his late 60s and without a helmet) flipped me off, mouthing something about trying to kill him. He made me laugh. But he might want to try a helmet if he’s so concerned about living longer — the viagra doesn’t make your skull harder, you know. ♦

Die A Little by Meghan Abbott — the new goddess of fiction noir — will be made into a movie with Jessica Biel. You know how I feel about books being made into movies — it’s like being told you’re going to be punched in the face, and I squeal, really — bruises are so my color. Once it’s over, I’m just pissed off and hurt. ♦

If you are like me and you enjoy bowling but cannot knock down a pin to save your life, I’ve learned a trick: if you’re right-handed, bowl with your left. It had been three hours and half the group went home, so I picked up the 10-pounder to see what would happen… I tossed it with my south paw and got a strike. After that, eight pins. Try it. ♦

Back in February I had the misfortune of buying a new computer with Vista pre-installed. These have been the most trying eight months of my life. In fact, my penny-pinching uncle’s computer, still running on Windows 95 (I’m not even kidding) runs faster than a machine with Vista. Until a friend of a friend who works with computers said to dump Norton AntiVirus. Hallelujah, it worked. Apparently, Norton and Vista cannot co-exist peacefully. So I picked up a copy of CA AntiVirus ($40 at Staples with a $30 mail-in rebate. Sa-weet) and I can’t believe the difference. It doesn’t take 10 minutes for Word to open. The machine doesn’t have a crippling panic attack if I try to download an attachment. Spread the word. ♦ 

Finally, I’ll give you $20 bill (Monopoly money — a freelance writer doesn’t have $20. Silly rabbit.) if you can identify which show is playing on the TV:

Jennifer Leblanc