• Scientists have come a little bit closer to solving the mystery of what gets sperm in the mood for fertilization. • Aw: a Girl Scout troop from St. Louis decided to use its earnings from the cookies sales to fund a care package for Gene McNeill, a soldier currently serving in Afghanistan. •  President Obama has officially recognized April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. •  The number of women over 55 who use Facebook has grown roughly 550% in the past six months, making the group one of the quickest growing sectors of the Facebook population. •  A member of the Egyptian parliament has proposed a law that would allow television stations to broadcast the hanging of rapists. Many people are against the law, on the grounds that it would encourage the public to sympathize with the rapists, and possibly lead to more girls marrying their attackers in order to save them from public death. •  On a slightly more positive note, April 18th has been declared the first anti-harassment day in Egypt. • A 30-second ad for Girls Gone Wild interrupted an early broadcast of the Good Friday service at the Vatican on a Philadelphia cable network. The network blamed it on (what else?) a "glitch." • According to this article from the Wall Street Journal there is a war happening, a diaper war. • Two female workers are filing a lawsuit against NYC's Department of Environmental Protection. They claim that the department is rife with sexism, and that over the years they have "grown numb" from finding pornography on their trucks and being called "bitches" and "dykes." •  This fancy feline is being hailed as the UK's only vegetarian cat. Like the most difficult dinner guests, Dante will only eat organic fruits and vegetables. •  Just in case you've been dying to know all about Scott Peterson's life on death row, People has published a helpful guide to the murderer's daily life. • Scientists believe that postpartum depression may serve an evolutionary function. •  A Brazilian woman was refused entry to the UK after border officials discovered that her suitcase was full of lingerie. Officials suspect that she is involved in the sex industry. •  Even though no one asked them, PETA has faxed Michelle Obama's office a letter that urges the first family to "snip" their new dog. • More for the "unsolicited advice" file: Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan advises Obama to keep his "pack leader" frame of mind when playing with the puppy. • Via BoingBoing, the strange case of a man who has "alien hand syndrome" and has been know to engage in involuntary public masturbation. •  A Mississippi State University professor asked his students to submit beautiful and ugly words. He found that words with more syllables are more likely to be considered beautiful (like "eloquent"). • Reversing their previous decision, prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty for Casey Anthony, mother to murdered toddler Caylee Anthony, whose body was found late last year.

According to a Newsweek piece, a North Carolina Girl Scout named Wild Freeborn got the idea to sell cookies over the internet from her web designer dad, Bryan's, work, and asked for his help in earning her troop a trip to Scout Camp.

In late January, they posted a YouTube video, starring Freeborn in Girl Scout gear, touting her straightforward sales pitch. "Buy cookies! And they're yummy!" Soon after, they set up an online order system that was limited to customers within their local area (so Freeborn could personally deliver them). While her online sales strategy took hold, she continued peddling cookies the traditional way-going door to door and working booths at the local grocery store. Within two weeks, more than 700 orders for Thin Mints, Caramel DeLites and Peanut Butter Patties reached the Freeborns solely through the online form.

Freeborn's success quickly raised the hackles of some parents in the community, who complained that the web pitch gave her troupe an unfair advantage, and brought the site to the attention of Girl Scouts. While the objection may seem purely curmudgeonly in these tech-savvy times, and "safety" concerns may seem disingenuous when the alternative is interacting with strangers, there were real issues: in rural North Carolina, not every family can afford a computer. As such, Freeborn's troupe did have a genuine advantage.

However, the fracas, and the subsequent shut-down, have spurred discussion that maybe Girl Scouts need to get with the times, integrating technology in an organized way. After all, if the goal is business savvy, then the internet's a pretty necessary area of study. And in general, many feel that the Scouts haven't embraced the tech age fully.

On the girls' level, few of the badges that scouts can earn involve technology, and of those that do, the requirements are paltry: the "Computer Smarts" requirement for young girls (or "Brownies") only requires that they visit three Web sites. For older girls, the CyberGirl Scout badge is earned in part by sending an e-mail. "These skills are at a level I'm sure many girls can already surpass," [says one expert]

Girl Scout cookies are an emotionally-charged issue, rooted in tradition and nostalgia. According to a new helpful timeline on MentalFloss, Scouts started selling sugar cookies at bake sales in 1917; soon cookies had become a major fundraiser, a tradition that was broken only during World War II, when rationing forces the Scouts to vend calendars instead. Today the cookies, which are Kosher, are made by only two bakeries. For many families, the door-to-door sales ritual is not merely a good social exercise, but a connection to history.

While Wild's dad feels they've done nothing wrong - "We had to talk with Wild about the ethics of cookie sales, what you can and cannot do...We decided that as long as we weren't taking money over the Internet, we weren't doing anything wrong" - others describe her high-tech pitch as creating "the perception of unfairness" that's antithetical to the Girl Scout mission and want the issue addressed formally. And given that it's something which obviously isn't going away, that seems logical. To our minds, it seems like this is something that wouldn't be that hard to deal with - couldn't troops collaborate with local libraries to ensure internet access? Or get this dad to give a tutorial, sit-com working-together-style? Resenting the interference of web designer parents in a community where some can't afford computers is one issue - and a valid one. But prohibiting the use of the internet is simply out-of-touch. Besides which, if scouts are going to be taking to the web, it seems imperative that the organization make web safety, and the accompanying guidelines, as high a priority as the strictures that govern door-to-door sales. Because anything that gets more Thin Mints from factory to face - and, ahem, more funds for the Scouts - is a Good Thing.

P.S. Anyone know where can we put in an order?

The Quick 10: 10 Girl Scout Cookie Crumbs [MentalFloss]
The Cookie Crumbles [Newsweek]

In the past 10 years, Girls Scouts has experienced a more than 8 percent decline in membership to 2.5 million girls, according to theWashington Post. Believing that the decline is a result of the Scouts stodgy image and failure to attract urban and minority girls, the organization has hired a brand manager, Laurel Richie. "It's no different from preparing an ad campaign for a classic brand that needs a bit of a facelift to show that it's still relevant," said Richie, who has worked on advertising campaigns for Campbell's soup and American Express.

As part of the revamp, the Girl Scouts introduced Journeys last year, a new curriculum that replaced the system of earning badges (though girls can still earn badges if they want). The new books are designed to talk in the voice of a friend rather than a teacher, and focus on themes like teamwork and nutrition rather rather than learning one specific skill. Though there will still be camping and sing-alongs, the organization has launched a new website called LMK (text-ease for "let me know") that includes blogs and forums. There is also a program that lets girls videoconference with other troops around the world.

The Girls Scouts has always let individual troops choose which programs to focus on, and now the organization is hoping that troop autonomy can attract more immigrant parents and children. The Girl Scouts' pitch to parents who have recently immigrated is that the group can help their daughters integrate into American culture. Earlier, we learned that Muslim girls are flocking to the Girl Scouts, and now the organization is focusing on recent Hispanic immigrants.

Hispanics make up 15 percent of the population but only 6 percent of Girl Scouts, so the group has hired a marketing firm that focuses on Hispanic Americans. Girl Scouts multicultural marketing manager Amelia de Dios Romero says that her research shows recent immigrants aren't familiar with the organization, or, "They associated us with the cookies and the camping, and those were both scary concepts... Selling cookies, to them, meant going door-to-door to strangers, and camping was sleeping in the woods with danger there." We say making the Girl Scouts an organization that focuses more on projects like financial literacy and energy conservation than sewing badges is a good step for all American girls; its not just immigrant parents who are put off by shilling cookies and sleeping in the woods.

Blogs In, Badges Out As Girl Scouts Modernize [Washington Post]

As children's lives get increasingly complicated and their schedules increasingly packed, many simply don't have the time to peddle Thin Mints door-to-door. As a result, their parents do the dirty work for them, forcing coworkers to buy them at the office — or, even worse, bringing their Girl Scout along to work so the grown-ups are forced into buying (not, mind you, that we'd require much urging). Some offices have apparently instituted a "no solicitations" policy.

One mom makes the point that, for those folks who don't have a local troop, providing a Samoa hookup is really a service. Also, she adds, it's "dangerous" nowadays for her daughter to peddle door-to-door. While no one wants safety compromised,the issue, for the Scouts, is that it's not just about the sales: the whole point of the fundraising is that the girls do it themselves, and "because the interactions boost their confidence and help them learn basic skills like making correct change." Then there are the prizes for big sellers: obviously with a parent involved, the waters are muddied.

Of course, parental meddling is probably as old as parenthood itself, and even in the halcyon days of the trans-fattened Lorna Doone there must surely have been a little pull used to bring in the big prizes. There's a lot right with selling Girl Scout cookies as many places as possible and in as great a quantity as possible on grounds of extreme deliciousness and good works, so from an office standpoint it's hard to see where the problem of having a sign-up sheet in the kitchen lies (although if the "solicitations" ban extends to pleas from triathletes on other floors whom one doesn't know we can kind of see the issue.) The thing is, doesn't it ruin it for the kids? Not just in a "they're not learning" way, but in that way that only a meddling parent can ruin something? Safety aside, there's a lot to be said for letting kids have a project that's just theirs, and unless your mom is a troupe leader, wouldn't it feel a lot more fun and a lot more important to go it alone? No one in the article asks the kids how they feel about it, but I'd be willing to bet a few would like their folks to butt out.

Girl Scout Cookie-Pushing Ethics At The Office [CNN]

The study, which included 3,284 online interviews from young women, showed that "fifty percent believe they have more confidence and that they can reach their goals. Fifty-five percent feel more confident voicing their opinions." The inclusion of two high-profile female candidates, Hillary Clinton, and yes, Sarah Palin, is most likely the cause for the increase in confidence, according to Susan McClure, CEO of the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore: "For the first time, we saw two women play a pivotal role in a presidential election. This has inspired an entire generation of girls and will continue to do so for years to come."[Feminist.Org]

• Oliver Burkeman of The Guardian writes, " There are few more wonderfully enjoyable ways to spend a touristy weekend in Manhattan than on a Sex and the City vacation package, unless of course you count buying a souvenir New York penknife and then repeatedly stabbing yourself in the face." • Chicks are more open-minded about smaller cars than men are. • Women are underrepresented in research focusing on significant health issues unrelated to reproduction. • Jennifer Sharpe of Dearborn, MI sold 17,328 boxes of Girl Scout cookies this year, which is probably a new national record. Jennifer's mom says selling cookies has made her really confident. "When she first started selling, she was very shy and quiet and you had to push her out to talk to customers, but now she's right out there, first to the door."

So like, this site. Do you sometimes feel like it's the only place you can have a frank discussion about...well, basically anything...with numerous other females at the same time? Because I sort of do. It's cliche to point out, but most females' approach to dealing with large packs of other females is to 1. avoid and 2. adopt the "bar bathroom line" approach, whereby everyone sort of drunkenly love bombs one another with support and compliments while they wait for their really drunk friend to finish puking and in the meantime, check on their makeup. Maybe the bar bathroom line is the only place girls are forced to confront their shared agenda, which is to 1. find someone to go home with and 2. avoid the gross spectacle of all those girls trying to find someone to go home with. Yeah yeah yeah, okay, I am exaggerating. A lot. But not, I dunno. I feel this way most of the time I spend participating in collective girl-swarm activities such as shopping, or going to loud bars, or whatever else women do together. (Exercise classes? Yeah, no. But the point holds.) Anyway, so like: I can't help sometimes that I had spent more time camping and selling cookies that I had adamantly not baked at home in the company of other females as a youth because now my idea of a good time is generally drinking and I would in no way ever want to bring a daughter into this world kthanxbai.

Girl Scouts Seeks An Image Makeover [WSJ]
Related (Well not really, but kind of weird) Living Lord Of The Rings At A Girl Scout Camp In New Jersey [Wired]

• Halle Berry gave birth to a baby girl on Sunday morning in L.A. An insider says Halle first arrived at the hospital early Saturday with contractions and "skyrocketing" blood pressure, but stabilized, went home and came back later Saturday night. The baby was born at 10:17 am yesterday. Congrats! [Star Magazine]
  
• Baby and mama are "doing great!" [US Magazine]
  
• George Clooney is going to be Nicole Kidman's baby's godfather. Damn. Raise your hand if you're jealous of an unborn kid. [Mirror]
  
• Nicole Richie hates her post-pregnancy boobs. "I am bustier now and I really don't like it. It doesn't really fit with my wardrobe, it's not who I am. I am not someone who is used to wearing a bra or having to wear a bra, I really don't like it. I like wearing vintage hippy see-through shirts that aren't slutty on me because there is nothing to look at." [The Sun]
  
• Mel Gibson and Britney Spears: New BFFs. WTF. [TMZ]

• Oh, a source says Mel and Brit had dinner together to talk about sobriety. Sure. [E!]
• Sam Lutfi's restraining order regarding Britney has been extended for another 30 days, thank Zeus. [TMZ]
• Is Britney's father opening a restaurant with Kevin Federline??? [Mirror]
• Brit's kids came to visit; she let her dad push the stroller. [The Sun]
• The hospital where Britney stayed for psychiatric evaluation has suspended some employees and may fire others for looking at Brit's medical records. [Reuters]
• Lindsay Lohan admits that her pre-rehab lifestyle was effed up: "I was putting myself in the wrong situations and I didn't have the focus in the right place." [People]
• Lindsay recently had a meeting with rapper Fat Joe. Reeemiiiix! [E!]
• Paris Hilton is going on tour with Benji Madden and his band, Good Charlotte, in South Africa, yawn. [People]
• A Hasidic Jew dropped out of the role of Natalie Portman's husband in her new movie because of pressure from his community. Oy. [UPI]
• Keith Richards likes Amy Winehouse's music but says,"That girl isn't going to be around long unless she sorts herself out pretty quick. Amy's got to get smart." [Daily Mail]
• Sarah Jessica Parker on the Sex And The City movie: "A handful of people have seen it and have been very surprised by the seriousness. There's something that happens in this movie and it's really about realizing your own complicity and disappointment. You know the necessity of friends, but at a certain point, as a grown-up person, you have to take care of yourself." [LA Times]
• Did "oil heir" Brandon Davis steal a $100,000 watch from producer Scott Storch? [Page Six]
• Eminem is working on the return of Slim Shady: He's back in the studio and working out with a trainer. [Page Six]
• Dear Page Six, Lisa D'Amato did not win Cycle Five of ANTM; she did pee herself on a photo shoot, though. [Page Six]
• Blind items! "Which married foreign head of state makes Bill Clinton look like a Boy Scout? When women are granted audiences with the man, they find him at his desk with his fly open or, sometimes, with his pants already down... Which "socialite" dropped from a size 14 to a size 0 with the help of a new dangerous habit? She and some of her friends are dabbling in the appetite suppressant heroin." [Page Six]
• Blind item: "Which new mama likes to sneak vodka into her water glass even though she's still breastfeeding?" [ONTD]
• Diane Sawyer did a special on prostitution which never aired; thanks to Spitzer & Dupre, it'll be on ABC this Friday. Dreams really do come true. [Rush & Molloy]
• Actor Daniel Radcliffe smokes like 20 cigarettes a day. Harry Potter & The Phlegmy Cough. [ONTD]
• Start hitting your high notes: Mariah Carey will be a guest judge on American Idol this week. [ONTD]
• CSI: Miami's David Caruso: A dick on the set. [Page Six]
• Kate Moss has been banned from joining boyfriend Jamie Hince on stage when his band, The Kills, tours. She'll have to be happy with "groupie" status. [Mirror]
• Is Madonna's marriage "hanging by a thread"? How many times have you heard that before? [The Sun]
• But apparently Madonna and Guy Ritchie will announce a split in 18 months. Mark your calendar! [ONTD]
• Madonna's new song will be released via a SunSilk shampoo commercial. Rinse and repeat. [The.Life Files]
• Dawn Wells, aka Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island, was supposed to speak to the Girl Scouts of America; they canceled after she was charged with marijuana possession. But she could warm the girls of the dangers of DUI! [UPI]
• Sadie Frost has split with Towers of London bassist Kristian Marr. Did you know they were dating? [Sunday Mirror]
• Paul McCartney may learn how much cash he has to give Heather Mills in their divorce settlement today, but will we? These things are private, as dictated by British law. But the judge can release some or all details after the couple has heard the decision. [CNN]
• Yee-haw! Carrie Underwood is joining the Grand Ole Opry. [Yahoo News]
• The drummer from ABBA was found dead in Spain. [Yahoo News]
• Is the Church of Scientology planning to use Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith to lure black people into its clutches? [MSNBC]
• Minnie Driver doesn't know what to name her baby. "Driver is kind of a hard name to put with a first name, particularly boys' names. My friend sent me an email saying I should call the baby Duncan Driver. Then I can call it Dunk Driver, Pile Driver, Rally Driver." [The Sun]
• Michael Stipe: Totes le gay. [Rush & Molloy]

Muslim girls across the country are flocking to the Girl Scouts because the organization gives them a way to feel less "alienated from mainstream culture." Minneapolis, in particular, is seeing a noted influx: The city counts 280 Muslim scouts and 10 mainly Muslim troops. And their troop leaders want to be clear: They're just regular American girls. Says one of the Muslim Minneapolis troop leaders, Farheen Hakim: "I don't want them to see themselves as Muslim girls doing this 'Look at us, we are trying to be American.' No, no, no, they are American. It is not an issue of trying."

And American they are: Suboohi Khan, age 10, who in addition to earning badges for "writing 4 of God's 99 names in Arabic calligraphy and decorating them, as well as memorizing the Koran's last verse" says her favorite badges came from "how to make body glitter and to see which colors look good on us" and "how to clean up our nails." Other issues arise: "If you break your fast, will your mother get mad at me?," asked troop leader Hakim to one of the girls in her troop. "It's delicious! It's a good way to break my fast," the scout in question stated later, after choosing to throw Ramadan out the window in exchange for a Halal beef hot dog. Wow. No wonder why Asma Haidara says her parents worry that by being in the Girl Scouts "she is "going to become a blue-eyed, blond-haired Barbie doll."

To Muslim Girls, Scouts Offer A Chance To Fit In [NYT]