50 Shades of Babies
- Fifty Shades of Grey did not invent sex, nor did it invent porn. There have been plenty of erotic books written for women before Fifty Shades came along. People like Jilly Cooper were best sellers decades ago, and somehow these authors didn’t inspire baby booms of their own.
- The sort of sex Fifty Shades of Grey is credited with inspiring – again, according to the Daily Mail, quoting a poll by a dating website – will tend to be controlled and organised. The
Twilight fanficbook does after all focus heavily on contracts between sexual partners. It stands to reason that people would be more likely to use contraception if acting out scenes from the book. - There’s no real evidence that Fifty Shades of Grey has led to people having more sex – a few people posting “I had so much sex after reading this!” on Mumsnet isn’t really enough. Fifty Shades of Grey didn’t just magically materialise in people’s houses, they had to go out and buy it. Presumably most of these people would have bought a similar book if Fifty Shades was not available, especially if they were looking to “spice things up in the bedroom”.
- The story comes, ultimately, from one Professor Ellis Cashmore (the only professor I know of whose website has an intro video). I’m sure he’s a smart guy, but he’s professor of culture, media and sport, not demography or statistics or anything else that you might expect someone making predictions about the birth rate to be grounded in. He’s in the papers quite a lot too, for sometimes quite disconnected stories. In the past month alone, he’s explained the psychology behind penalty shootouts, the meanings of footballers tattoos, homosexuality in sport,the place of Wimbledon in British culture and the reasons Madame Tussauds is so successful. It’s not proof he’s wrong, of course, just a reason to be a bit wary that he’s suddenly leapt out of his department to give the Daily Maila juicy story about a particularly popular book.
- Come on, seriously, this story is nonsense meant solely to drive traffic to the Daily Mail and boost Professor Cashmore’s profile. In 2010, 723,165 babies were born in England & Wales. To be statistically significant, you’d need the book to lead to tens of thousands of extra births – i.e., ones that were not planned. That’s a lot of babies.
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Who wants a fish-fingers and Custard Smoothie?
The Eleventh Doctor enjoys some fish fingers and custard with the young Amy Pond.
If you want to be properly grossed-out, the folks from YouTube’s Dude, Where’s My Challenge? have done a spin on the Eleventh Doctor’s signature dish, fish fingers and custard. And when we say “spin,” we mean that quite literally. Watch as this poor lad tries to down a fish finger and custard smoothie. Not quite what the Doctor ordered.
Here’s what else is going on in time and space this week:
• Well the big news of the day is that the first episode of Series 7 has been announced, and after weeks of hints and sneaky pics of various bits of Dalek anatomy, the official Doctor Who blog has revealed it will be called Asylum of the Daleks, and will indeed feature every kind of Dalek that the Doctor has ever faced, including the Special Weapons Dalek (bigger gun, no sink plunger).
• Speaking of the stalk-eyed menaces, who wants to see a video guide to painting your nails as if they are Daleks? I thought as much:
• And here’s an informative clip which shows how Dalek weaponry has improved over the last 49 years, thanks to YouTubers DalekHighCouncil for making it:
• Five monsters — a Cyberman, a Ood, a Silent, a Scarecrow, and a Dalek — escaped from the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff last week, and it was all caught on camera.
• The saddest news of the week was the death of Caroline John, who played the Third Doctor’s companion Liz Shaw, and more than held her own against a particularly pompous Time Lord incarnation.
YouTube’s BabelColour has done a lovely tribute to Caroline John, set to Sacred Miracle Cave‘s elegiac “The Ghost of Elizabeth Shaw”:
• This week’s Rogues Gallery rogues are the Krotons, organic robots, grown in a vat, and enemies of the Second Doctor.
• We also pulled together a collection of David Tennant’s work leading up toDoctor Who, and then realized we had so many clips we had to make a second blog of his post-TARDIS work. Busy boy…
• Who wants to see an alternative retelling of the Doctor Who history, with special focus on libraries and how they impact on the story? That’s right, YOU DO! (Seriously, you do, and hats off to the Boolean Berry: Adventures In Librarianship blog for writing it).
• Oh and hats are also off to Shortlist, for putting together a series of Doctor Who posters, made for the love of the making, on the internet. Here’s our fave, made by Karmaorange.com.
• Finally, VERITASERUMUK has done a brilliant four-minute super-trailer for the entirety of modern Who, spanning from Series 1 with Christopher Eccleston to today:
Related articles
- Doctor Who Returns in “Asylum of the Daleks” (comicbooked.com)
- The Daleks return: Doctor Who Series seven details revealed (standard.co.uk)
- Daleks swarm the TARDIS on this delightful Doctor Who quilt [Doctor Who] (io9.com)
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Hell Pizza’s Scorching ‘Pizza Roulette’
No more syringe-pens, Rejected from Hell Presidents or Osama welcomings. Hell pizza decided to talk about their pizza this time, and their promo is Pizza roulette.
A New Zealand pizza chain, aptly named Hell Pizza, is taking its dining experience to a new level with a new promotional campaign, Pizza Roulette.
“It doesn’t cost. But someone pays,” their slogan warns. To play their deadly Pizza Roulette, you just say the word and they’ll put two drops of the “hottest chili known to mankind” atop one slice. Just for some perspective, this sauce has “the same kick as police pepper spray” and is 1,000 times stronger than a jalapeño pepper.
It could make for a particularly cruel joke birthday present or a sneaky way to get back at a nemesis, or just a new way to spice up your nights in. Their disclaimer cautions that the pizza chain will not be responsible for “loss of mental faculties, emotional damage, eye bulge,” as well as alien abduction, muffin tops, mermaid tail, the weather and bank fees, among other things.
Hell Pizza shot a video with the Wellington Firebirds cricket team to demonstrate the spicy factor, and the result is no joke. However, it does seem more manageable than Cluck U/University Chicken’s infamous 911 Challenge, where participants must sign a waiver before eating the 911 sauce-laden wings that are sure to leave them feeling sick for days afterward.
Related articles
- Hot as Hell pizza’s hallucinations (nzherald.co.nz)
- Hell Pizza Roulette – one slice has super hot pepper sauce on it, will you get it? (adland.tv)
- Pizza Roulette, the Game From Hell…Pizza (collegecandy.com)
- Hot At Hell of the Day (thedailywh.at)
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Two Against One – Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi (featuring Jack White)
Make no mistake I don’t do anything for free
I keep my enemies closer than my mirror ever gets to me
And if you think that there is shelter in this attitude
Wait til you feel the warmth of my gratitude.
One, I get the feeling that it’s two against one.
One, I’m already fighting me, so what’s another one?
One, The mirror is a trigger and your mouth’s a gun.
One, Lucky for me, I’m not the only one.
And if it looks to me like you in your reflection
Plan to add your own fight to this dimension.
Then tell it that this ain’t no free-for-all to see,
There’s only three
It’s just you and me against me.
One, I get the feeling that it’s two against one.
One, I’m already fighting me, so what’s another one?
One, The mirror is a trigger and your mouth’s a gun.
One, lucky for me, I’m not the only one.
Lucky for me, I’m not the only one.
And if your foot’s on to sick a thousand “yes men”
Brand or brake into the middle of this little plan…
Then there’s your plan to hear me say,
That I won’t play around the way, anyway
I plan to plan around them.
One, I get the feeling that it’s two against one.
One, I’m already fighting me, so what’s another one?
One, the mirror is a trigger and your mouth’s a gun.
One, lucky for me, I’m not the only one.
Lucky for me, I’m not the only one.
Related articles
- [Album Review]: Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – ‘Rome’ (tsarblog.wordpress.com)
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This Pizza Has a Crust Made Out of Cheeseburgers
You know how you’re shoveling down your daily/hourly meat-lovers pizza (with the optional extra meat, and extra cheese) and you suddenly think to yourself, “man, if only the crust was made of cheeseburgers”?
Introducing the Cheese Burger Pizza from Pizza Hut Middle East: A cheesy, burgery pizza pie “Pizza like substance” with a crust made entirely out of open-faced sliders.
On a diet? Check out the Chicken Fillet Pizza: A BBQ chicken pizza topped with green peppers, and crusted with mini chicken fillets.
There’s something for every future coronary artery bypass graft recipient at the Crown Crust Carnival.
Not since the KFC Double Down, have my arteries shuddered so much just at the mere thought of ingestion.
This leaves me with one simple question:
WHY WOULD YOU PUT THIS IN YOUR MOUTH??!
[Eater]
Related articles
- Crown Crust Pizzas Add Cheeseburger & Chicken Fillet Gems to Crust (laughingsquid.com)
- I Feel Bloated: Pizza Hut’s Cheeseburger-Crust Pizza (geekologie.com)
- 9 Fictional Foods We’d Rather Eat Than Pizza Hut’s Crown Crust (huffingtonpost.com)
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Mysterious Rainbow River of Pills Appears In China
This sewer runs along Zhengshang Road, in Zhengzhou, China. On April 21st, the strangest thing happened overnight: it got covered with pill capsules. Pill capsules everywhere, gazillions of them, turning the water into a gross soup of colorful molecules.
Nobody knows how this happened. There are no pharmaceutical factories nearby. Months ago, there was a small pharmaceutical shop, but it was closed by the authorities. They think it may be a secret laboratory, but nobody knows anything about it and the police has no leads. Posted on : pharmawatchdogs.com
via 163
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Why you’re in danger of loosing your internet access in July
Hundreds of Thousands May Lose Internet in July
By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press
WASHINGTON April 20, 2012 (AP)
For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.
Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international
hackersmalware producers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org , that will inform them whether they’re infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won’t be able to connect to the Internet.
Most victims don’t even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.
More of this AP story as told on ABC NEWS: http://abcnews.go.co…36#.T5HtNo6kT8C
Find out if you have been violated and infected with DNS Changer.
If you think you are infected, please follow take action to fix your computer now.
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Speak softly and carry a big stick.
Teller performing "Shadows"
Teller, the silent half of the well-known magic duo Penn and Teller, has sued a rival magician for copying one of his most famous illusions. The case promises to test the boundaries of copyright law as it applies to magic tricks.
In “Shadows,” a spotlight casts a shadow of a rose onto a white screen. When Teller “cuts” the shadow on the screen with a knife, the corresponding parts of the flower fall to the floor.
A Dutch magician with the stage name Gerard Bakardy (real name: Gerard Dogge) saw Teller perform the trick in Las Vegas and developed his own version. Bakardy sells a kit—including a fake rose, instructions, and a DVD—for about $3,000. To promote the kits, he posted a video of his performance to YouTube and prepared a magazine ad. (With the video down, the link points to screenshots from the video filed by Teller in his lawsuit.)
Teller had Bakardy’s video removed with a DMCA takedown notice, then called Bakardy to demand that the magician stop using his routine. Teller offered to buy Bakardy out, but they were unable to agree on a price. So Teller sued Bakardy last week in a Nevada federal court.
Can you copyright a trick?
A fundamental principle of copyright law is that copyright covers the expression of ideas but not the ideas themselves. This puts the essential elements of the trick—the concept of rose petals falling when the shadow is “cut” and the technical details of how this effect is accomplished—outside the bounds of copyright protection.
So what’s left? According to New York Law School professor James Grimmelmann, copyright law protects pantomimes and choreographic works. So Teller may be able to claim the “Shadows” routine is protected under these categories. Teller describes “Shadows” as a “dramatic work.”
Teller’s case may hinge on exactly how similar Bakardy’s routine is to Teller’s. in a 1983 copyright registration,Teller describes the sequence of actions that make up his performance. Ars Technica was not able to find a copy of Bakardy’s video, so we weren’t able to determine how similar Bakardy’s routine is to the one described in Teller’s copyright registration.
Still, Grimmelmann argues that “Teller has an uphill fight on his hands.” In a 2007 paper that became an instant classic, Jacob Loshin showed how magic thrives without significant protection from either copyright or patent law. Instead of relying on formal legal mechanisms, magicians derive benefit from their inventions through informal social norms that encourage magicians to give due credit to the original inventor of a particular trick.
Further reading
- Teller’s complaint (ia601207.us.archive.org)
- Orginal Article
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Choose Your Path
This should be reversed. Fatty should take the stairs. Lose some weight.
If you’re skinny, you’ve earned the escalator.
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Be Honest in Your Relationships
There are "book" smarts and then there are "knowin yous ugly" smarts.
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Weird Japanese movie trailer of the day
From the director of The Machine Girl and RoboGeisha, a new typical Japanese classic: Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead
(Warning: sNSFW)
I went to IMDb to find out more about this movie and the #1 “Plot Keyword” is “Anal Penetration“…
Sounds like my kinda flick.
Also, why does IMDb have “Anal Penetration” as a possible plot keyword?
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Project Glass Is Google Goggles for Your Head
Today, Google offered a preview of Project Glass, their search giant’s augmented reality glasses. The video above shows a possible (probably best-case) reality of the glasses in action.
You may already know about or even use Google Goggles the app (which Lifehacker thinks is prettygood at a lot of things), and in theory, Project Glass is sort of the über Google Goggles. You don’t need to clumsily interact with your phone. Your eyes and voice do the all the interaction, but the use cases (making calls, sending texts, getting directions, responding to notifications, and so on) are very much like a smart phone you wear on your head.
No word yet on when the glasses will be available.
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This Woman Is Too Good Looking
According to writer Samantha Brick, “there are downsides to being pretty — the main one being that other women hate me for no other reason than my lovely looks.”
Friends have frozen Samantha out of their lives due to jealousy and insecure female bosses have barred her from promotions at work.
Samantha discusses all the trials and tribulations of being so fucking gorgeous in a piece she wrote for the Daily Mail.
In it she explains that dinner parties and social gatherings are very tough. “If I can’t wriggle out of them, then often dress down in jeans and a demure, albeit pretty, top.”
To which commenter Helen of Troy remarked, “I know, right?”
[via the Daily Mail]
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A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I’m a good Christian.
You have the right to be offended, and I have the right to offend you.
But no one has the right to never be offended
The title of this one is a little misleading, or at least cryptic. I am of course not a good Christian in the sense that I believe that Jesus was half man, half God, but I do believe I am a good Christian compared to a lot of Christians.
It’s not that I don’t believe that the teachings of Jesus wouldn’t make this a better world if they were followed. It’s just that they are rarely followed.
Gandhi summed it up really. He said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
I have always felt this way, even when I believed in God, and in a weird way I feel I am still a pretty good “Christian” who doesn’t believe in God.
So many Christians think that because they believe in the right God, they are automatically good and have a one-way ticket to everlasting life. Dare I say it but I suspect this is their main reason for believing. I’ve heard so many “believers” say, “Well, since there is no way of being sure whether there is a God or not, it’s better to believe in God than not, because that way, if you’re wrong it doesn’t matter and if you’re right you get everlasting life.” Win:win.
This is of course Pascal’s Wager, which assumes that God if he exists would reward blind faith above logic and living a good life as an atheist.
To the Christians’ God by the way, it’s just as bad to believe in the wrong God as no God at all. The idea of other Gods is of course ridiculous to Christians. Supernatural poppycock. As if there was ever a Zeus; stupid, ancient, unenlightened superstition. And even if there are other Gods (which of course there aren’t) then the Christians’ God is the best. Hardest, smartest… just better. He would laugh at Zeus and call him a Greek bender. (I doubt that God is racist and homophobic but the Bible isn’t clear. Some bits go on about love and equality and others say you shouldn’t trust certain types and that laying down with a man as you would with a woman is punishable by death and is a bit sick and evil.)
So remember. If you are gay you are “Bumming for Satan” basically. (That would make quite a good T-shirt.)
Jesus was a man. (And if you forget all that rubbish about being half God, and believe the non-supernatural acts accredited to him, he was a man whose wise words many other men would still follow.) His message was usually one of forgiveness and kindness. These are wonderful virtues but I have seen them discarded by many so-called God-fearers when it suits them. They cherry pick from their “rulebook” basically. I have seen such cruelty and prejudice performed in the name of Christianity (and many other religions for that matter) that it makes me wonder if there has been a bit too much selective reading and reinterpretation of the doctrines.
God or not, if I could change one thing for a better world, it would be for all mankind to adhere to this little gem: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” I assure you, no more stones would ever be thrown.
So maybe we should go back to basics to find out where it all got confused.
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The Ten Commandments The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible’s Old Testament; Exodus, Chapter 20. “And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the LORD your God.'” So let’s take the test. |
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| ONE ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’I definitely do not. Excellent. I get one point. |
TWO ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.’This basically means don’t make or worship a religious statue or bow to it thinking that it’s holy. Tick. Another point to me. |
| THREE ‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.’I never do. But let me explain something. Most people think that The Third Commandment means that they shouldn’t use his name as a swear word, e.g. shouting, “Oh God!” when they stub their toe instead of, “Oh Fuck!” This is not the case (although I love the idea that God would rather them shout “Fuck” than “God”. That makes him cool in my book. But no.) The commandment could equally be, You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in “vanity” e.g. when your enemy is hurt or defeated saying, “that’s God’s wrath,” or when you win an award saying, “thank God.” This is using his name in vanity. It’s suggesting that you KNOW that God helped you win that award because you deserved it more, or because he was on your side. It’s always tickled me that God would have a favourite actor at The Golden Globes. Anyway I get another point. I think most non-atheists will lose a point here. |
FOUR ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’Before we score this we need to discover what it really means when God commands us to keep the Sabbath day holy. In understanding our answer, and the true intent of God’s word, it doesn’t matter what day of the week we celebrate the Sabbath. There were no calendars when God created the heavens and the earth so we don’t know what day he stated and ended. Don’t let the ‘day’ become more important than the ‘intent’. If we look at the portion of The Ten Commandments which refers to this, Exodus 20:8-11, it seems to be very specific; According to the Bible, God commanded us to keep it holy. But what does that really mean? Work is basically referring to that which we do to earn a living, or in working around the house, or any labour we participate in daily. So, if we never worked at all would that mean every day was holy? No. This absolutely is not being holy. In various places in the Bible we are told of our need to work, for in our work we honor God. So… basically you have to work for the equivalent of six days a week with a day off. I do this. I get another point. |
| FIVE ‘Honour your father and your mother.’I think I get a point if anyone does with this one. |
SIX ‘You shall not murder.’Nope. Tick. |
| SEVEN ‘You shall not commit adultery.’Nope. Tick. |
EIGHT ‘You shall not steal.’Nope. Tick. |
| NINE ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.’Nope. Tick. |
TEN ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.’Nope. Tick. Another point for me. |
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Not bad for an atheist.
I make that 10 out of 10.
How did you do?
Even if this doesn’t prove I am a good Christian it does prove that the Bible is a bit inconsistent, open to interpretation, and a little intolerant.
This is not peculiar to Christianity to be fair. And I like to be fair. Because unlike ALL religions, as an atheist, I treat ALL religions equally.
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I Got Your Children’s Book Right Here
It's the perfect book to read to your children after four beers.
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Natural Selection
If you choke laughing at someone choking on a hot dog then we’ll give you the Heimlich because we gotta keep the cool people around.
RobDurdle.com 
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