Think about it for a minute.
Image via Jimbo
Does Senator Ruben Diaz, Senior have his Rubenito chubbing up while watching Boogie Down Bronx Boyz? A study presented recently on Psychology Today (although the study is from 1996) suggests that the answer is yes. The study presented men with videos of straight, lesbian, and gay porn. The men were surveyed beforehand as to their attitudes toward gays in general. The most homophobic of the men were the only ones experiencing "heightened penis arousal" when exposed to gay porn. Remember when you next see Diaz giving one of his hateful speeches that he's probably thinking of hot gay sex and probably has a chub.
Stepping back for a moment - if possible - from the catastrophic, disastrous and mind-blowingly devastating aspects of the weekend's events, the New York Times presents an informative article on the technical and scientific aspects of the cataclysm which, taken alone, are quite fascinating in terms of the Earth as organism. Tidbits include the fact that Japan actually sits on a thin, finger-like extension of the North American Plate, separated from the North American continent by the intervening sprawl of the Pacific Plate. Additionally, Friday's earthquake moved parts of Japan that were closest to the epicenter of the earthquake 13 feet closer to North America and the U.S., lowered a 250 mile long coastal stretch of Japan two feet in altitude (which increased the impact of the tsunami, allowing it to travel farther and faster inland.) and moved the Earth's mass closer to its center enough to speed up its rotation and shave 1.8 millionths of a second off a typical day.
Pretty amazing shit, no?!
Graphic via
Valentine's Day, besides being the title of a deplorable film starring many people, some of whom will continue to have promising careers in the future and others who will fade into obscurity like that one wine stain on my favorite red shirt after I vigorously rubbed salt and tonic water into it, is not one of my favorite days in the year. It's the one day a year when I'm at my scroogiest. But this year, I'm willing to forgo all the bah-humbugs in the world if one of you mail orders me an enormously hideous-but-beautiful Adenium obesum--or, more commonly, a Desert Rose. But before you rush to your neighborhood botanist to inquire about the gift you'll be sending me, take a look at our civilization which is all about love! and mending things! and progress! Am I exercising selective memory by ignoring some tragedies? Probably! But if I'm to make it through this weekend in one piece, I may have to get a little Britney up in here. That said, onward with the week's minutiae!
• If you didn't find a soulmate in Park Slope last night, don't despair! You can always try again in a couple weeks. Although you probably won't enjoy the Valentine's Day spoils. [Effed in Park Slope]
• This is distressing. There are people out there who want to see Lady Gaga fail. They are mean people. [DigitalSpy]
• ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE: Just in time for a holiday weekend that is synonymous with her last name, Courtney Love has settled a long-standing $4,000 flower debt. [TMZ]
• Our commander-in-chief has decided that one of his goals is to make free wireless available to everyone across America. [The Detroit Free Press] [Ed. note - YAY!!!]
• FEROCITY: Joan Rivers presents a solid argument in favor of marriage equality.
More Rohin/CPR and Valentine's after the jump...
Nature says, "no". The earwig, pictured above, just happens to have two penises. The majority of the insects only use their right penis, with the left being used by about ten per cent, many of whom have damage to their right-side member. There were, however, no incidences of ambi-dextrous phalluses.
Before you scoff, some folks are actually born with double the pleasure. It's called diphallia, and it's been around for years.
So, researcher Ronald Crystal (yes, that's his name) has created a vaccine that makes the brain respond to cocaine as it would a cold virus. Once treated with the vaccine some rather disappointed mice found their bodies creating antigens to destroy cocaine when it was introduced into their systems. Crystal claims, "Our very dramatic data shows that we can protect mice against the effects of cocaine." There are plans to eventually present the "cocaine vaccine" to the FDA for use in drug addiction therapy.
(Image: Art made from cocaine, sugar, and polyester resin by Comenius Roethlisberger.)
It is the most requested story ever, but why? Okay, so earlier this month scientists were able to produce baby mice from two males. To be honest, I never read the entire story, but that is the gist of it. It just raises questions of misogyny, gender power, and well, mice. Since multiple folks have sent the link, here it is for your reading pleasure. Go make your butt baby and name it after us.
Hello! It's Friday! And do you smell that! It's the sweat, grime, gasoline, and left-over hamburger chunks of a week, and a world that plans to put you through the grinder again come next Monday! But kick off your orthopedic sneakers and peel off your hole-riddled socks. It's the weekend--but not before peeking into what's making everyone else's lives much worse than yours this week. Yes, it's CPR time and we're all barely floating anymore! Wheeee!
• At times, I am grateful I am no longer at the mercy of a withered media outlet for my living--late paychecks and lack of professionalism notwithstanding, I'd mostly be concerned about developing Toasted Skin Syndrome from having to work on a laptop at all hours of the day--and not having the health insurance to seek out proper treatment. [The Atlantic]
• But then again, no longer being the mercy of said withered media outlet also means missing out on the small joys of life, like speculating in print who might have been John Lennon's alleged boyfriend. [MSNBC]
Scientists working with the HIV virus have been working under the assumption that its progenitor virus - that from which it originated - was relatively "new" as viruses go. Just recently though, it's been discovered that the original virus is actually much, much older - perhaps even millions of years old. Unfortunately, this means that the virus may not mutate itself out from being fatal as quickly as had been hoped.
Today (and, frankly, most days here at FYF...hell, in life, period.) is all about dichotomies: Vegan? Beef Bra. ...And that was in no way planned?!
Continuing the theme...
Word of the day: Protean
Never change ("I'll change him." Oh?).
Image via.
The ongoing, increasingly tragic oil spill in the Gulf is easily the environmental disaster of the year with implications that will reach beyond our new decade, but some folks can help, even if in a small way. From NPR:
As it turns out, hair adheres to oil pretty efficiently, which is why your hair gets greasy. Now salons are donating their discarded locks to help with the Gulf Coast cleanup. A group in San Francisco has been producing hair booms for nearly a decade now. Matter of Trust makes nylon stockings stuffed with human hair and trimmed animal fur. ... While the group does have lots of hair, Gautier notes, there is one shortage. "I knew that hair wouldn't be a problem, but nobody wears nylons anymore," she says. Well, some people still do. Gautier says the great thing about being based in San Francisco is the city's transvestite community, which has readily donated nylons.Perhaps some or our city's amazing drag contingent could put together a party to help the environmental relief efforts? Pantyhose Party anyone?
Via Marginal Revolution.
So yeah it's George Michael and yeah he was cruising for "rough" trade in the bushes, but...buried deep beneath the shame and the acting out in reaction to shame and the cultural ramifications and the desire to assimilate and the hatred thereof...there's a point...and I think it's worth pondering. No?
What is it to be homosexual? What is it to be MALE homosexuals? How's that differ from being female homosexuals? Is promiscuity inherent in being homosexual? Is promiscuity deviant? Is it any business of a heterosexual or the larger "hetero-normative" society if we (homos) are promiscious? If it is, why and under what circumstances/in what instances?
I'd prefer not to be shamed,...nor be deserving of it, and I'd prefer not to have to hide something about myself I see as integral and of which I'm proud. The question, then, is where's the line? Let's get all Dutch on this and lay it all out without shame and without embarrassment and figure out the best way to live together peacefully.
(I love how this is somehow supposed to be surprising and supportive of their argument...and how no one knows how to style a wig to save their life.)
Vice visits the Creation Museum. Absurdity abounds.
Hey - when I was a young fundie, all we had was a cute cartoonish book on Creation "Science"!
