By Cory Doctorow at 8:41 am Wednesday, May 23
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Hank Chapot sez, "You've published two links to my research about the 1937 police corruption scandals in San Francisco, November and February, 'the long lost Atherton Report.' After all the research, I wrote a novel. 'Bordello Politique'. Its an e-book available in most formats on most sites. Dolly Fine was the first profit sharing madam, she enrolled her girls in Social Security. She was wiretapped, raided and dragged before the Atherton grand jury. First woman in California indicted for contributing to the delinquency of (8) minors."
When Dolly’s elegant brothels are raided without warning, she is outraged. Her houses are raided, her girls are jailed, her money is stolen, and she’s dragged before a grand jury to testify against the cops she’s been bribing for years. As if that isn’t bad enough, she loses her immunity when her bail bondsman/crime boss buddy is named the “fountainhead of corruption” in an expensive, incendiary civil investigation called the Atherton Report. The good citizens of San Francisco command the mayor and the police commission to crack down on gambling, good-time girls and crooked cops, and Dolly is left high and dry. She tries to save herself but can’t count on anyone—can the city really come clean? Bordello Politique is a true crime story from a city searching for its center between the Great Depression and the World’s Fair.
Bordello Politique
(Thanks, Hank!)
By Cory Doctorow at 5:39 pm Monday, May 21
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On How to Be a Retronaut, an invigorating, 1910s-1920s gallery of winsome, partially unclothed lasses posed with typewriters. Hummina. 23 and/or skiddoo! They're ganked from marvellous Virtual Antique Typewriter Museum.
Typewriter Erotica c. 1920s
(via Making Light)
By Cory Doctorow at 5:00 pm Friday, May 18
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Matthew Epler's Grand Old Party project takes the approval-rating curves of GOP presidential hopefuls and turns them into 3D solids, then turns those into buttplugs.
Grand Old Party demonstrates that as a people united, our opinion
has real volume. When we approve of a candidate, they swell with
power. When we deem them unworthy, they are diminished and left
hanging in the wind. We guard the gate! It opens and closes at our
will. How wide is up to us.
In an age of information, we rely on hard facts. Each of the shapes
you see here come directly from poll data collected by Gallup. This
data reflects approval ratings for each GOP candidate among registered
Republican voters from December 10, 2011 to April 1, 2012.
Each shape’s girth is a reflection of popularity while their height is a
reflection of time.
The contours of these delightful shapes conjure up the waves of
amber grain and those lapping at the rim of our great nation spanning
from sea to shining sea. As the battle for the Presidency rails
on, we must remember that Americans may may have achieved
freedom through war, but they are also a people of love. After all, in
the end all we have is each other.
3D Printing and wonders of the Internet
Update: Derp. It's a dupe.
By Cory Doctorow at 6:00 pm Monday, May 14
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This little feller is a "German Spermatorrhoea Ring," ca 1894. Spermatorrhoea ("involuntary loss of semen") was best fought with this toothy beast, which also doubled as a cure for Onanism ("voluntary discharges from masturbation").
An extremely rare Spermatorrhoea ring fastened with a screw. With provenance from the original German catalogue dating from 1894. Spermatorrhoea means involuntary loss of semen, although the rings were also intended to prevent voluntary discharges from masturbation or Onanism (Originating from Onan who originally "spilt his seed on the ground" Genesis 38:7-9). The ring was placed at the base of the penis and fasted with a screw such that any engorgement of the organ would meet with the teeth of the ring and arrest the process.
German Spermatorrhoea Ring (screw catch)
(via JWZ)
"Grand Old Party is data visualization project.
It is also a set of butt plugs."
(Thanks, Ben Goldacre. I think.) — Maggie
By Cory Doctorow at 6:29 am Monday, May 14
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Forming is Jesse Moynihan's ultra-weird graphic novel about the creation of the universe, filled with cursing, inexplicable violence, grotesque sexual acts, and primitive and strange illustrations. Set in the "Third Age of Total Bullshit," the story tells the tale of powerful aliens who visit Earth in the time of giants, set up camp in Atlantis, and enslave the indigenous giants to mine rare minerals for the galactic empire. These aliens are also involved with Noah, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Lucifer and the Archangel Michael, and a cast of personages more obscure and weird than any book of the apocrypha.
To understand Forming (assuming "understand" is the correct verb here), picture some lost Gnostic text translated by Jay (of Jay and Silent Bob) at his cussin-est, under commission by a delusional would-be cult-founder who cut his teeth on the work of Fletcher Hanks and who really liked drawings of weiners and boobies.
Moynihan walks a fine line between "weird" and "incomprehensible" and between "clever" and "dumb," and manages to stay on the right side of it through almost every one of these bizarre, demented panels. I can't say that I've ever read anything quite like this (though it did call to mind the weirder bits of The Incal). I'm glad I did.
Forming is published by London's NOBROW, whose books are fantastically well-made, beautifully cloth-bound and printed on high-quality, sustainably produced paper (they also publish the much-more-kid-friendly Hilda comics). It's a quality product.
Forming (Amazon)
Forming (Nobrow)
Read the rest
By Cory Doctorow at 6:00 am Sunday, May 13
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A nice piece today from Bob Basset, the genius Ukrainian steampunk fetish mask-makers: "Rider."
"Rider" Art leather mask
By Cory Doctorow at 5:10 pm Wednesday, May 9
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Thing-a-day guy Noah Scalin sez, "Artist Betsy VanDeusen created this wonderful Star Wars-ified version of a classic Elvgren pinup as part of her yearlong daily project!
You can see the rest of her work on her blog, and read a recent interview about her project on my own blog."
She explains, "Starting on 2/27/2012, and working through 2/27/2013, I intend to work on my art daily. It will all be tied in to the "Retro Pinup" theme somehow. The important thing to me is the daily practice of working. I'm not necessarily interested in creating "finished pieces" on a daily basis (Taking a work to completion may take the accumulated efforts of a week, a month, or more- if the piece demands it). I just have so many ideas that I never follow up on, and this project gives me the incentive and excuse to focus on those ideas on a daily basis."
The Princess Leia Pinup.
(Thanks, Noah!)
By Cory Doctorow at 3:14 pm Tuesday, May 8
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Ukranian steampunk/fetish leathercrafters Bob Basset have taken a crack at golden age comics with this 1920s "Batman" mask.
Batman mask as it could be in 1920
By Maggie Koerth-Baker at 4:29 pm Wednesday, May 2
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Earlier this week, the Smithsonian National Zoo live-tweeted their most recent attempt to knock up a giant panda. You can read the whole thing at Storify. And, seriously people, you should read it. I originally intended to just post a short link to this, almost as a joke, but it turns out that the process of inseminating a giant panda is actually really interesting.
Besides the photos, which are great, and the revelation that it takes 15-20 people to properly oversee the process (insert obvious jokes here), the Storify contains a lot of neat behind-the-scenes details about what it's like to perform a medical procedure on a large animal. You'll also learn a thing or two about the panda reproductive process.
Read the rest
By Cory Doctorow at 7:00 am Wednesday, May 2
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CaptainValor gives Jonathan Coulton's delightfully filthy "First of May" song an enthusiastic American sign language interpretation with two backup signers. This is the gesture-set that JoCo's material truly demands.
Jonathan Coulton - First of May - ASL Song
(via Beth Pratt)
By Cory Doctorow at 11:46 am Thursday, Apr 26
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Dr Petra Boynton has a very good critical essay examining the media coverage of a study that "proves" the anatomical existence of a G-spot.
The take home message is
- there are numerous conflicting messages about the g-spot, many of them from papers with limitations, all recently published in the same journal
- this is not cutting edge sex research nor the prime focus of what sex research is
- this distracts us from the exciting and wonderful stories and studies within sexology – and people’s daily lives
- this makes people anxious about their bodies, sexual experiences and sexual performance
- it gives legitimacy for untested cosmetic gynaecological procedures to be promoted uncritically by the media
- it implies orgasm is solely a physiological experience that is located in specific areas of the genitals (in cis women)
- it suggests particular kinds of orgasm are superior to others or that you should train your body to orgasm in particular ways/locations
- this discourages us to celebrate sexual diversity and pleasure in our genitals and elsewhere, and find what excites and arouses us
G-spot discovery, medicalization and media hype
By Cory Doctorow at 11:39 am Saturday, Apr 21
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On Lazy Self-Indulgent Book Reviews, a smart, to-the-point commentary on legalizing sex-work:
And, of course, I’m open to the question of whether legalization results in more trafficking (it seems to vary by country), and so on, but I’ve never heard a decent rejoinder to the idea that men and women can decide to have sex with each other for any, any random/shitty/nice reason they want (boredom, vengeance, lust, love, can’t afford movie tickets, hatred, etc.) EXCEPT for this one: one of those people has money to offer, and the other person needs the money...
And I’m particularly aggravated, when I support legalizing sex work, and people say triumphantly: “would you want your daughter to be a sex worker?” as though that should matter. I’d rather she not be a lobbyist, or work in a sweatshop, or a coal mine, or be a malpractice lawyer, either. But it doesn’t have a lot to do with me, either way, and if she were to do any of these things, I’d like her to be able to call the cops on someone attempting to take advantage of her, and be able to use Turbo Tax at the end of the year to report her income.
There’s a Big Thing On Legalizing Sex Work
"With its complicated reproductive set-up, a female kangaroo can be perpetually pregnant. While one joey is developing inside the pouch, another embryo is held in reserve in a uterus, waiting for its sibling to grow up and leave."—
This blog post with annotated image on the inner workings of kangaroo ladyparts is one of many reasons we love science blogger
Ed Yong.
— Xeni
By Rob Beschizza at 12:40 pm Monday, Apr 16
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Richard Florida on this fascinating map, produced by the Centers for Disease Control:
There is good news: teen births are at their lowest level in more than 60 years (10 percent lower than 2009, 43 percent below their peak in 1970). But the geographic variation is substantial. Teen birthrates are highest in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, and New Mexico,. There are slightly lower concentrations in the neighboring states of Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Arizona. New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts have the lowest rates of teen births.
The full CDC report details drops in most states (excepting North Dakota, West Virginia and Montana), with the sharpest drops in Nevada, Arizona, California, Florida and Rhode Island. Elsewhere the impregnations continue apace, with Kansas, Michigan and Arkansas posting less dramatic declines.
The teen pregnancy rate is highest in Mississipi and lowest in New Hampshire, the CDC said.
What will stop Conservative America's progeny from having so much hot, wild, bareback sex?
U.S. Teen Birthrates Are Down, But Still High in These States [The Atlantic]
, my book about the future of energy in the United States, will be published April 10th.