Kim du Toit – Page 62 – Splendid Isolation

Spreading The Rot

April 3, 2025 Kim du Toit Health

There was an 80s movie once in which a high-school girl “passed” as a boy (no details, they’re unnecessary), and in getting ready for the role, she was asking her younger brother for advice on acting like a boy, leading to this classic exchange:

“You’ll need to scratch your balls every so often.”
“Why?”
“Because they itch, and you gotta scratch them.”
“Maybe I’ll just be a guy whose balls don’t itch.”
“All men’s balls itch.”

…and it’s true. Now, thanks to some doctor bloke, we can perhaps see the reason why this is so:

Putting underpants on with bare feet could put millions at risk of a gruesome and embarrassing groin infection, a top doctor has warned.

So-called ‘crotch rot’ is caused by the fungus, tinea corporis, commonly known as ringworm, and appears as scaly, itchy and sometimes red skin.

And according to Dr Samuel Choudhury, a GP who specialises in skincare, the infection often spreads to the genital area via the feet. Dr Choudhury explained that underwear comes into contact with the fungal spores on the feet, and carries them up to the groin.

‘So this is what you need to do to avoid jock itch [crotch infection],’ he added.

‘Not wearing underwear is not the solution, but wearing your socks first is. It acts as a barrier so you contain the infection.’

I hate to say it, but this sounds quite plausible. I mean sure, it may not be true — just as any article in the Daily Mail generally isn’t — but it seems to be as good a reason for the Dreaded Itch as any other. It doesn’t seem to matter even if I’ve just had a shower; the old ‘nads always start itching at some point or another.

So are socks the solution? Even when I used to wear a suit as a working man, my balls still itched, for reasons best known to themselves.

The only problem, as I see it, comes for men who are like me: we only ever wear socks on high holy days and holidays, or when we put on winter- or cowboy boots. Most of the time I’m either going barefoot around the house, or wearing moccasins without socks when I’m going out. (Sheesh, I’m retired and I live in Texas — socks are just not part of the daily clothing requirements.)

For us Sockless Ones, is the answer then a lifetime doomed to frequent applications of Gold Bond powder? Gawd, I hope not: that stuff is horrible.

Readers of the Leech-Application persuasion may feel free to debate this in Comments, of course.

Racism, Straight Up

April 2, 2025 Kim du Toit Legal Stuff, Mocking Furriners, Rights

Here’s a fun item:

The British Sentencing Council has decided that starting Tuesday, white men will be sentenced to longer prison sentences than women and ethnic minorities.

From Tuesday, new judicial guidelines in the United Kingdom will introduce sentencing policies that apply differential treatment based on ethnicity, gender, and age—leading to harsher punishments for white men compared to other groups in society.

Under the updated guidelines, judges will prepare pre-sentencing reports where necessary for defendants from ethnic, cultural, or faith minorities, as well as young people under 25, women, and pregnant women. Historically, such reports have resulted in mitigated sentences, including reduced jail time. The practical implication of these changes is that white men, who do not qualify for these reports, will face relatively harsher sentencing outcomes.

I’m not sure that any Brit, ever again, can accuse anyone else of being a racist.

Travel Insanity

April 2, 2025 Kim du Toit Psychos, Travels

I know that flying on commercial airlines can drive one crazy, but this is outstanding:

Naked woman stabbed people with pencil after screaming ‘I speak all languages’ in airport

A completely naked woman allegedly stabbed two people, ran through a busy airport screaming, “I speak all languages”, broke monitors and threw beverages all over the place in a bizarre rampage. A disturbing two-minute clip of the deranged woman disrupting Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on March 14 was shared widely on social media.

The police were called for a welfare check on a woman who had suffered a “manic episode” that led to her allegedly stabbing two people with a pencil and biting a restaurant manager trying to subdue her. The traveller reportedly stabbed the restaurant manager in the face and head with his own pencil and also bit his right forearm.

The woman was covered in blood, according to an eye-witness, which was later confirmed to not be her own by medics. When the police managed to restrain her, a police report says she “wanted to be with the flowers” and was “in a forest”.

Gotta say, if you want all that then DFW is definitely not the place for you.

I’m going to bet that her little episode came from trying to make some kind of change to her Qantas ticket — that would make even me do all that.

Or else she’s just a Spirit Airlines Platinum-level customer.

Simple Solution

April 2, 2025 Kim du Toit Gummint, Mocking Furriners, Morons & Idiots

Here’s an interesting development in Britishland. Apparently, there’s a garbage workers’ strike in Birmingham, and as “Brum” is run by Labour and is a wretched hive of scum and villainy thereby, this is a case of ultra-Lefties arguing with “ordinary” Lefties — you pick which fits best for which — and has left the city streets (never that tidy to begin with) in a state of advanced rat infestation.

So then this came along:

Tories call for Cobra meeting over Birmingham bin strike
The Tories are urging the Deputy Prime Minister to send in private cleaning firms to break the unions’ grip over the rubbish-strewn second city.

The three-week pay dispute has seen detritus pile high in the streets, with residents saying neighbourhoods are plagued by giant rats “as big as cats”.

It centres on a row between the bankrupt Birmingham council, which is Labour run, and the Unite union.

I have no idea what a “Cobra” meeting is, but for one memorable moment, I thought it involved getting all the unionistas and city councilors into one room, locking all the doors and windows and giving them ten minutes to come to an agreement. If that failed, then throw a bunch of live cobras into the locked room.

I bet the hapless residents of Birmingham would be the first in line to watch the proceedings on PPV.

Too extreme? Let’s ask the Brummies to vote on it.

Woke Bollocks

April 2, 2025 Kim du Toit Seen On Campus

Back when I were a callow young student of some fifty-seven summers, I was approached by a professor who wanted to chat with me about the paper I’d just submitted.

He/She* told me that I would have got an A+ for the paper, except that I’d committed the unpardonable offense of using B.C. and A.D. therein instead of (the stupid and unnecessary) B.C.E. and C.E. All I had to do was re-submit the paper with the terms changed, and I’d get my A+.

“What if I refuse to do that?” I asked.
“Then you’ll get a C,” was the response.
“Then give me the C,” was my response. “And then I’m going to appeal the grade, loudly, especially after you’ve just told me that my work is of A+ standard.”
“You’re refusing to change it?”
“Yes. And I’m expecting to see an A+ for it, too.”
“Why don’t you just change the terms?”

So I launched into an explanation that was more or less the same as the one that David Marcus published here., stressing, though even an atheist myself, I had to acknowledge the role of the Judeo-Christian influence on our history and culture. At the end of it, the professor seemed somewhat stunned by what I’d just said. And I happened to know that this professor, unusually, was actually quite conservative, just by observing the general tenor and terminology used in the lectures.

I ended up getting an A+ for the (unchanged) paper, and for all the rest of the papers** and exams in that professor’s course.

A small victory, perhaps, but for me an important one.

*used not because of their “chosen pronouns”, but because I prefer to keep their identity anonymous.

**For one paper, I got a 100% grade, because my argument was not only irrefutable, but the professor admitted later that it had caused them to rethink their whole position on the topic. Under those circumstances, clearly, the “BC/BCE” silliness was irrelevant.