You read it here: 'Man Bites Snake'

In the newspaper business it's known as the "Man Bites Dog" story, an incident in which the facts seem upside down, as in a recent article: Police in California (where else?) responded to a report of an injured man only to find that the real victim was a python who had been bitten - twice - allegedly by the man.

A story like this gives reporters and especially copy editors a chance to have fun - to wit, the headline on this posting. But the piece in the newspaper was pretty bland, noting how the snake appeared well following emergency surgery. Only where was the punchline? How about --

Apparently the man was of the non venomous kind.

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Beware the 'loss of essence'

What do you know? Sterling Hayden may have been right. As the crazed General Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove, he warned Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers) that women are after a man's "life essence."

Now comes a study concluding that a man's testosterone levels decline after he becomes a parent. I for one think the issue isn't the man's bodily fluids, but the baby's. Once in a while the wife just wants the husband to change the diaper.

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