Sunday, March 31, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Cherry Blossoms
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| Visitors walk under illuminated cherry blossoms in full bloom along the Chidorigafuchi moats in Tokyo on March 22, 2013. Many people enjoy viewing the blossoms all over the country during this season.
Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters
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Friday, March 22, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Gay Teen Stoned in Somalia
According to Somali Gay Community, the young man, Mohamed Ali Baashi ,18, was buried in a hole up to his chest and then pelted with rocks by members of the Al Qaeda link group Al Shabaab on Friday, March 15, in Barawe, about 50 miles from the capital, Mogadishu.
Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2013/03/somalia.html#ixzz2O6bKs9nE
There are pictures, so beware. This is the fruit of religion for gay people - I should say, patriarchal, monotheism. This is especially true for Islam, but Christianity has also a long history of the persecution and oppression of gay people (and all this originated in Judaism, remember). If it weren't for Enlightenment ideals and a long struggle against the superstitions and ignorance inherent in thesediseases religions, I and people like me would be meeting the same fate as the poor man in Somalia. As recently as the 1970's gays were imprisoned, tortured with electric shock therapy and chemical castration, and fired and shunned because of this religion. Fuck them!
Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/2013/03/somalia.html#ixzz2O6bKs9nE
There are pictures, so beware. This is the fruit of religion for gay people - I should say, patriarchal, monotheism. This is especially true for Islam, but Christianity has also a long history of the persecution and oppression of gay people (and all this originated in Judaism, remember). If it weren't for Enlightenment ideals and a long struggle against the superstitions and ignorance inherent in these
Monday, March 18, 2013
Batman: My Favorite Hero
Why is he my favorite? Mainly, he has no superpowers: what he does comes from his own skill, knowledge, and personal effort. He has great style. Plus, though he lives on the dark side and contends with personal demons, he turns that into a fight for justice at great personal cost. Also, when I was a kid I fantasized about him and Robin - he's really hot! Some great pics:
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
North Korean Vacation?
Now here's something you don't come across very often: a report (with pictures) of someone's vacation. It wouldn't be my choice, but it does piques one's curiosity.
Life on Mars?
Phil Plait reports on Curiosity's discovery of ancient evidence which could have led to life:
In a nutshell, Curiosity drilled into a rock to examine it chemically, and found evidence of clay minerals, which form in water. We’ve seen this before on Mars, but another important aspect of this is that it looks like the water that formed these minerals was neutral, not too strongly acidic or basic. Other places on Mars have chemistry that would be hostile to life as we know it,containing molecules like perchlorates that are very reactive with organic molecules; that it; destroying them. Curiosity also found the presence of sulfur, phosphorus, and carbon, all necessary ingredients to make life as we know it.
To be clear, Curiosity did not find evidence of life! It has been looking for organic compoundsbut has not yet found them. But it did find conditions were once conducive for it. For all the details of what Curiosity found and how it found them, go read Emily Lakdawalla’s post about this on The Planetary Society Blog.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
Russell Brand on Addiction
Comedian Russell Brand has an excellent short meditation on addiction over at "The Spectator." Money quote:
Without these fellowships I would take drugs. Because even now the condition persists. Drugs and alcohol are not my problem — reality is my problem. Drugs and alcohol are my solution.
Without these fellowships I would take drugs. Because even now the condition persists. Drugs and alcohol are not my problem — reality is my problem. Drugs and alcohol are my solution.
If this seems odd to you, it is because you are not an alcoholic or a drug addict. You are likely one of the 90 per cent of people who can drink and use drugs safely. I have friends who can smoke weed, swill gin, even do crack, and then merrily get on with their lives. For me this is not an option. I will relinquish all else to ride that buzz to oblivion. Even if it began as a timid glass of chardonnay on a ponce’s yacht, it would end with me necking the bottle, swimming to shore and sprinting to Bethnal Green in search of a crack house.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
"Interior. Leather Bar"
James Franco has collaborated on a new film that looks interesting. It is currently making the rounds of film festivals around the world, I hope it will be released theatrically - or at least on video. The filmmakers write:
In order to avoid an X rating, 40 minutes of gay S&M footage was rumored to be cut and destroyed from the 1980 film, “Cruising.” Inspired by the mythology of this controversial film, filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews collaborate to imagine their own lost footage.
In order to avoid an X rating, 40 minutes of gay S&M footage was rumored to be cut and destroyed from the 1980 film, “Cruising.” Inspired by the mythology of this controversial film, filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews collaborate to imagine their own lost footage.
Venus Through the Rings of Saturn
Here's a great shot of Venus as seen through the rings of Saturn taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft:
Venus is the white speck just to the upper right of the center of the photograph. Cool!
Venus is the white speck just to the upper right of the center of the photograph. Cool!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
"High Brow Trash"
Slate discusses the reissue of "7 Miles a Second," David Wajnarowizc's 80's comic about hustling and the AIDS crisis. Here's a sample page:
Noah Berlasky writes:
In the image above, for example, unapologetically pulp sci-fi/horror imagery is juxtaposed with oversaturated colors and a semioblivious upper-crust milieu—as if decadent comics are crawling with an ominous preposterousness across the averted faces of decadent gallery-goers. The glowing diagonal image of the shirtless Wojnarowicz that dominates the page reads in part as trashy eroticized pulp—and in part as art-world eroticized male nude. Romberger's bric-a-brac layout and uncomfortably shifting perspective present the encounter between margins and center as a disturbing fever dream of antagonism, repulsion, disorientation, and lust.
This is just an example of the fascinating analysis of how comics and intersect art and, at the same time, take on contemporary issues in ways unavailable to conventional art. Makes me want to look it up.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Quote of the Day - James Russell Lowell
“On one issue at least, men and women agree; they both distrust women." - James Russell Lowell
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