I found this article, from Vanity Fair about the Playboy Clubs of the 60’s oddly fascinating, and not just because of my generalized interest in the opposite gender. Doubtless the clubs were bad bad things. They certainly wouldn’t function today — they’d get justifiably eaten by sexual harassment laws. But the 60’s and 70’s were interesting times in terms of sex. Mad Men, to my understanding, mines that particular retro-chic vein very well. The article also reminds me of the near-innocence in the early days of commercialized sex that has been lost as it has become ubiquitous. Hef, at least in the early days, was great at up-marketing porn. The magazine had legitimately great articles (for which they paid a fortune to writers). Early pictorials were far more tasteful and coy than today and the clubs, from the description, played to that aesthetic. Plus, how cool would it have been to see Aretha Franklin give only her second public performance?
On the flip side of that, Cracked dissects one of the most disturbing romance/sex writers out there. Egad.
And just to round out a gender-conscious linkorama: this comes from the Fanatics Come in All Faiths file. Hillary Clinton has been photoshopped out of a White House picture.
Political Links:
Egad. Sugar interests vs. corn interests. Who to cheer for?
Of the many things our government could be worrying about, why is raw milk even on the list?
A touching note on forgiving bin Laden from a 9/11 survivor.
Half of Detroit can’t read. The city is spending $13,000 per pupil on their schooling system. Can we maybe admit that money isn’t the limiting factor here?
Look, you assholes. Before you gloat about the deaths of 300 people and blame it on global warming, maybe you should show some research proving tornado activity is connected with global warming. Because there is no established connection. And this statement:
the null hypothesis should be that all weather events are affected by global warming rather than the inane statements along the lines of ‘of course we cannot attribute any particular weather event to global warming
is pathologically stupid. That’s the exact opposite of the null hypothesis. And this is exactly what global warming skeptics accuse you guys of — blaming any extreme weather, no matter what it is, on AGW.
Some interesting pushback on the idea that parenting doesn’t matter.
Orac has fun with the latest blast of toxin hysteria.
Some follow-up on the principles of the Duke Lacrosse case.
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Two of the most arrogant men in Congress push a “privacy bill” that exempts government. I would much rather have Amazon collating information about me than the FBI.
Honestly? This racy ad on HPV doesn’t bother me. As my blogging on porn has shown, my offense threshold is very high.
Orac destroys Mann Coulter’s sloppy research on radiation.
Now this is interesting. Maybe we don’t have to drug up our livestock and risk epidemics.
Political Links:
This just in: Nancy Pelosi is also a lying fool. Maybe she just felt bad that the Republicans were making such idiots of themselves and joined the fool parade in solidarity.
Signs that Newt Gingrich’s Presidential campaign is doomed: over at the very Right Wing site Hot Air, only half of the users are buying his bullshit in re: flip-flopping on LIbya. When the half the Right Wing already thinks your full of shit and the election is still 19 months away, you’re doomed.
Justice in America: banks get off, home-owners go to jail. What’s most disturbing is how they found this guy – the IRS is targeting people for acting too rich.
I’m beginning to think that the GOP really has lost their fucking minds on the abortion issue. The law being proposed (outlawing abortion after 20 weeks) sounds restrictive, but is of a piece with the view of large majorities of Americans (assuming you think these things should be decided by majority rule). But the rhetoric accompanying it is insane.
You know, at this point, the fact that AARP was bribed to the tune of a billion dollars to support PPACA doesn’t surprise me.
I posted this at the other site. It’s a rant I wrote some time ago about NASA. Enjoy. For some reason, I’m clearing out a lot of bloggy backlog this week.