Archive for 2008
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Battlestar Gay-lactica?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 25, 2008 by admin in Popular Media
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008Who didn’t see this on their Lt. Gaydar?
Before anyone starts identifying me as some smellibate, basement-dwelling gamer for talking about Battlestar Galactica
Coming Soon, And Even Sooner For Men
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 23, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008The female orgasm: essential to the survival of the human race?
 Is this woman playing guitar or is she having an orgasm? |
Orgasms. Who doesn’t love them? Although they’re easily mistaken for someone playing guitar, who knew the female orgasm might be essential to the survival of the human race? I have a few female friends who would say that’s a dumb question, but apparently it has puzzled scientists for some time (knowing that, imagine how their wives feel). One idea is that all that tensing and spasming we go through might be explained by Sperm Retention Theory. Which I think is going to have to be the name of my next band. In any case, as a bit of an orgasm addict myself, I’m perfectly content with the explanation that we seek them just because they feel good. I mean, what evolutionary purpose could chocolate serve, yet I’d choose it over most sexual partners in a second. But back to the female orgasm. Although I consider myself reasonably informed on the topic of heterosexual vaginal orgasm (or its scarcity), I feel there’s always room to learn more. Lickipedia.org wasn’t much help. Their article on the topic says “This article is a stub. You can help Lickipedia by expanding it.” Heh. In the end, although I learned all about designer vaginers and a mushroom that causes orgasms, I was forced to try the “Virtual Orgasm Simulator”. Ever wonder what it’s like for the opposite sex? Give it a try.
Holiday Movie Ideas?
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on November 23, 2008 by admin in Holidays, Popular Media
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008To me, the quintessential holiday films are Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas (although a friend just rabidly recommended The Hebrew Hammer, so I’ll be checking that out.) Rudolph is a fave partly because of its at times almost macabre vibe, but mostly because I’m essentially a misfit toy myself. Charlie Brown [...]
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To me, the quintessential holiday films are Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Theo Jansen’s Eerie Beach Beasts
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 22, 2008 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008Life is indeed a beach
If technology has ceased to amaze you, get ready to rediscover amazement. The clip at left is the trailer for a film about Dutch artist, engineer, and visionary Theo Jansen. Using primarily electrical conduit tubing, Jansen creates disturbingly life-like machines that are meant to “populate” the coasts of Holland, “feeding on wind and fleeing from water” as he puts it. The trailer featured here gives a quick glimpse into what his creations are about, but for a fascinating few minutes, check out his talk on TED.com. His creations are sort of like a real-world Sodaconstructor, the Java-powered, kinetic, on line tinkertoy. Sodaconstructor is a little difficult to figure out, but kind of addictive once you master the basics.
War and Peace in Fifteen Hours
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 21, 2008 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Friday, November 21st, 2008Fill your brain with useless information faster!
Growing up in a smarty-pants college town (okay, only third smartest), I received what I later realized was kind of an unusual public school education. As well as oddities like explicit sex ed in first grade (I’d love to do followup research with my peers to see how that turned out), we also benefited from things like speed reading being mysteriously integrated into our standard seventh grade English curriculum. Oye. Poor Mr. Bigler. Before I go on, I’d like to pause for a moment and apologize to the mild-mannered and patient Mr. Bigler for all the paper airplanes, thrown erasers, and smart-ass remarks. Forgive me. Phew. I feel much better now. Perhaps he can rest in peace knowing that 500 words-per-minute felt incredibly slow to me using the tool at spreeder.com. Try it for yourself. Cut and paste a body of text (just use some news or something) into the box and hit play. The default setting is 500wpm. I felt pretty comfortable at 950 (neener neener). What feels natural to you?