Good Reads
- Thread starter Laurel
- Start date
Phelia
in a submarine
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You oughtta be in marketing.
Just think of arteries as little waterslides for your blood cells. A little arterial plaque here and there only makes their ride that much more exciting!
JohnnySavage
Literotica Guru
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Cholesterol is actually a very healthy thing. It keeps the inside of your blood pipes lubed up, which reduces friction.
Reynolds number.
Next week the Union of Concerned Scientists will be making an announcement.
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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SCARY
Balladeer08
Literotica Guru
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I think America is great because it survives and thrives in spite of the McRib.
Although I will agree we'd be better off without the McRibs. Or McDonald's, for that matter.
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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How Disney's caricature-esque women came to define "the fairest of them all"
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/newsroom/img/posts/2013/11/ahhhheyes/a87062bf2.jpg
If Ariel had normal-sized eyes, we might be less endeared to her—forced to focus more immediately on her disconcerting scaly tail.
If Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg were a Disney Princess, as one artist recently rendered her, she'd have no wrinkles, a smirk on her face, and some décolletage.
And when Pixar redesigned Merida, the star of Brave, in May, she got a smaller waist and bigger hair.
The debate over the merits of Disney princesses is as old as time, but it's fairly undeniable that the animated films' female leads tend to look like a "pretty girl" cliche.
There's some research behind why the princess formula is so effective: Enlarged eyes, tiny chins, and short noses make them look more like babies, which creates an air of innocence and vulnerability. There's evidence that adults who have such "babyfacedness" characteristics are seen as less smart, more congenial, and less likely to be guilty of crimes.
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/newsroom/img/posts/2013/11/ahhhheyes/a87062bf2.jpg
If Ariel had normal-sized eyes, we might be less endeared to her—forced to focus more immediately on her disconcerting scaly tail.
If Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg were a Disney Princess, as one artist recently rendered her, she'd have no wrinkles, a smirk on her face, and some décolletage.
And when Pixar redesigned Merida, the star of Brave, in May, she got a smaller waist and bigger hair.
The debate over the merits of Disney princesses is as old as time, but it's fairly undeniable that the animated films' female leads tend to look like a "pretty girl" cliche.
There's some research behind why the princess formula is so effective: Enlarged eyes, tiny chins, and short noses make them look more like babies, which creates an air of innocence and vulnerability. There's evidence that adults who have such "babyfacedness" characteristics are seen as less smart, more congenial, and less likely to be guilty of crimes.
- read the full article The Psychology of Giant Princess Eyes (from The Atlantic)
lovetoread
hello daddy
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- Mar 16, 2001
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- 42,978
I cannot live without the mcrib.
The little bitty mcrib lights that bk is selling now isn't bad, but it's no mcrib.
The little bitty mcrib lights that bk is selling now isn't bad, but it's no mcrib.
lovetoread
hello daddy
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- Posts
- 42,978
Breakdown: “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown”
http://znculturecast.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/p4.jpg
I love Peanuts. Snoopy. Charlie Brown. The music. All of it. And, Peanuts is one of the few properties which has worked in every media which it has been adapted to. A Charlie Brown Christmas is a staple of my holidays. Over the past 40 years, there have been numerous specials on TV highlighting every holiday where the Peanuts gang get themselves into various hijinks and adventures.
One of the highlights of these specials is that they never really hold back on showing the psychological issues these characters have. Of course it is done in an amusing and non-insulting way. But, one cannot deny that these characters are completely neurotic in their various ways. Probably the best special to highlight this is Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown. Centering around Valentine’s Day, all the characters are dealing with love, and they go a little crazy. But then again, is that not what love does to people?
So, I felt it would be fun to break down Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown scene-by-scene and get a closer look to our favorite Peanuts characters.
http://znculturecast.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/p4.jpg
I love Peanuts. Snoopy. Charlie Brown. The music. All of it. And, Peanuts is one of the few properties which has worked in every media which it has been adapted to. A Charlie Brown Christmas is a staple of my holidays. Over the past 40 years, there have been numerous specials on TV highlighting every holiday where the Peanuts gang get themselves into various hijinks and adventures.
One of the highlights of these specials is that they never really hold back on showing the psychological issues these characters have. Of course it is done in an amusing and non-insulting way. But, one cannot deny that these characters are completely neurotic in their various ways. Probably the best special to highlight this is Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown. Centering around Valentine’s Day, all the characters are dealing with love, and they go a little crazy. But then again, is that not what love does to people?
So, I felt it would be fun to break down Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown scene-by-scene and get a closer look to our favorite Peanuts characters.
- read the full article Breakdown: “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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- 20,690
Laurel
Kitty Mama
- Joined
- Aug 27, 1999
- Posts
- 20,690
It may seem funny how quickly the generation that grew up online starts to reminisce. But taking stock of how things have changed is no longer about a quiet yearning
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/10/30/1383152686953/Gameboy-device-with-Tetri-008.jpg
Nostalgia is a funny thing in the digital age. Take Throwback Thursday, beloved of the generation known as millennials (people who were children in the year 2000). Throwback Thursday is a Twitter and Instagram phenomenon in which 25-year-olds post pictures of themselves at 20 and loudly philosophise about how and why everything has changed since those halcyon days. To which you'd be perfectly within your rights to reply: hey sunshine, this is not visual proof of your patriotic contributions during the great war, this is Warwick University's freshers' week in 2008.
And yet if you did say that, you'd be missing a trick. Because nostalgia is a completely different beast to generations who have grown up documenting their lives online. It is no longer an internal emotion or a quiet yearning for what has passed. Instead, it is a deafening roar of collective online voices about how far we've come, how we can present that progress, and how our teenage identities on MySpace can be reconciled with our twentysomething personas on Facebook.
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/10/30/1383152686953/Gameboy-device-with-Tetri-008.jpg
Nostalgia is a funny thing in the digital age. Take Throwback Thursday, beloved of the generation known as millennials (people who were children in the year 2000). Throwback Thursday is a Twitter and Instagram phenomenon in which 25-year-olds post pictures of themselves at 20 and loudly philosophise about how and why everything has changed since those halcyon days. To which you'd be perfectly within your rights to reply: hey sunshine, this is not visual proof of your patriotic contributions during the great war, this is Warwick University's freshers' week in 2008.
And yet if you did say that, you'd be missing a trick. Because nostalgia is a completely different beast to generations who have grown up documenting their lives online. It is no longer an internal emotion or a quiet yearning for what has passed. Instead, it is a deafening roar of collective online voices about how far we've come, how we can present that progress, and how our teenage identities on MySpace can be reconciled with our twentysomething personas on Facebook.
- read the full article How the digital age turbocharged nostalgia (from The Guardian)
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/11/10/world/security/security-articleLarge.jpg
WASHINGTON — When President Obama travels abroad, his staff packs briefing books, gifts for foreign leaders and something more closely associated with camping than diplomacy: a tent.
Even when Mr. Obama travels to allied nations, aides quickly set up the security tent — which has opaque sides and noise-making devices inside — in a room near his hotel suite. When the president needs to read a classified document or have a sensitive conversation, he ducks into the tent to shield himself from secret video cameras and listening devices.
American security officials demand that their bosses — not just the president, but members of Congress, diplomats, policy makers and military officers — take such precautions when traveling abroad because it is widely acknowledged that their hosts often have no qualms about snooping on their guests.
WASHINGTON — When President Obama travels abroad, his staff packs briefing books, gifts for foreign leaders and something more closely associated with camping than diplomacy: a tent.
Even when Mr. Obama travels to allied nations, aides quickly set up the security tent — which has opaque sides and noise-making devices inside — in a room near his hotel suite. When the president needs to read a classified document or have a sensitive conversation, he ducks into the tent to shield himself from secret video cameras and listening devices.
American security officials demand that their bosses — not just the president, but members of Congress, diplomats, policy makers and military officers — take such precautions when traveling abroad because it is widely acknowledged that their hosts often have no qualms about snooping on their guests.
- read the full article Obama’s Portable Zone of Secrecy (Some Assembly Required) (from The New York Times)
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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http://assets-s3.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/laurie-andersons-farewell-to-lou-reed-a-rolling-stone-exclusive-20131106/1000x306/20131105-loureed-x600-1383682618.jpg
I met Lou in Munich, not New York. It was 1992, and we were both playing in John Zorn's Kristallnacht festival commemorating the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, which marked the beginning of the Holocaust. I remember looking at the rattled expressions on the customs officials' faces as a constant stream of Zorn's musicians came through customs all wearing bright red RHYTHM AND JEWS! T-shirts.
John wanted us all to meet one another and play with one another, as opposed to the usual "move-'em-in-and-out" festival mode. That was why Lou asked me to read something with his band. I did, and it was loud and intense and lots of fun. After the show, Lou said, "You did that exactly the way I do it!" Why he needed me to do what he could easily do was unclear, but this was definitely meant as a compliment.
I met Lou in Munich, not New York. It was 1992, and we were both playing in John Zorn's Kristallnacht festival commemorating the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, which marked the beginning of the Holocaust. I remember looking at the rattled expressions on the customs officials' faces as a constant stream of Zorn's musicians came through customs all wearing bright red RHYTHM AND JEWS! T-shirts.
John wanted us all to meet one another and play with one another, as opposed to the usual "move-'em-in-and-out" festival mode. That was why Lou asked me to read something with his band. I did, and it was loud and intense and lots of fun. After the show, Lou said, "You did that exactly the way I do it!" Why he needed me to do what he could easily do was unclear, but this was definitely meant as a compliment.
- read the full article Laurie Anderson's Farewell to Lou Reed (from Rolling Stone)
gotsnowgotslush
skates like Eck
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- Dec 24, 2007
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- 25,720
Dept. of Agriculture
Fire-Eaters
The search for the hottest chili.
by Lauren Collins November 4, 2013
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/11/04/131104fa_fact_collins
"....in August of last year, Ed Currie, of the PuckerButt Pepper Company, of Fort Mill, South Carolina, unveiled a new contender.
Currie announced, “The PuckerButt Pepper Company has raised the bar for hot pepper heat intensity by producing an amazing
hot pepper, the Smokin’ Ed’s Carolina Reaper, which surpasses the current world record holder, the Butch T Trinidad Scorpion.”
The Carolina Reaper’s recommended uses, according to PuckerButt’s Web site, included hot sauces, salsa, and “settling old scores.”
Steven Leckart wrote in Maxim that eating one was “like being face-fucked by Satan."
"Currie’s announcement divided opinion among chiliheads, a fractious lot. His associates—battling trolls (and baiting them, too)—
made their allegiances known. Joe (Pepper Joe) Arditi, who runs a seed company in Myrtle Beach and is one of four venders
licensed to sell Currie’s chili, wrote in his online catalogue, “Do we need a new World’s Hottest? I think so. We have the Super Bowl,
World Series, Grammy, and Oscar awards for new champs every year.” (Pepper Joe, who was offering Carolina Reaper seeds
at ten dollars a pack, vowed to enforce “a strict 3-pack max” per customer.) He declared the Carolina Reaper “now the reigning King.”
On GardenWeb.com, a commenter wrote of Pepper Joe:
He has disrespected Guinness and the creator of the CURRENT world record holder by putting ED’s pepper at #1 WITHOUT SUBSTANTIATION,
abusing the Guinness name for PERSONAL GAIN. That is misrepresentation and THEFT.
But he knows, there is one born every minute. My two cents? Don’t be the one born in the next minute! . . . Welcome to the circus.
Fire-Eaters
The search for the hottest chili.
by Lauren Collins November 4, 2013
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/11/04/131104fa_fact_collins
"....in August of last year, Ed Currie, of the PuckerButt Pepper Company, of Fort Mill, South Carolina, unveiled a new contender.
Currie announced, “The PuckerButt Pepper Company has raised the bar for hot pepper heat intensity by producing an amazing
hot pepper, the Smokin’ Ed’s Carolina Reaper, which surpasses the current world record holder, the Butch T Trinidad Scorpion.”
The Carolina Reaper’s recommended uses, according to PuckerButt’s Web site, included hot sauces, salsa, and “settling old scores.”
Steven Leckart wrote in Maxim that eating one was “like being face-fucked by Satan."
"Currie’s announcement divided opinion among chiliheads, a fractious lot. His associates—battling trolls (and baiting them, too)—
made their allegiances known. Joe (Pepper Joe) Arditi, who runs a seed company in Myrtle Beach and is one of four venders
licensed to sell Currie’s chili, wrote in his online catalogue, “Do we need a new World’s Hottest? I think so. We have the Super Bowl,
World Series, Grammy, and Oscar awards for new champs every year.” (Pepper Joe, who was offering Carolina Reaper seeds
at ten dollars a pack, vowed to enforce “a strict 3-pack max” per customer.) He declared the Carolina Reaper “now the reigning King.”
On GardenWeb.com, a commenter wrote of Pepper Joe:
He has disrespected Guinness and the creator of the CURRENT world record holder by putting ED’s pepper at #1 WITHOUT SUBSTANTIATION,
abusing the Guinness name for PERSONAL GAIN. That is misrepresentation and THEFT.
But he knows, there is one born every minute. My two cents? Don’t be the one born in the next minute! . . . Welcome to the circus.
trysail
Catch Me Who Can
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2005
- Posts
- 25,593
The Boston Globe's Failed Assassination of Willie Soon
Rowland on Soon’s views: “Polar bears? Not threatened. Sea level? Exaggerated danger. Carbon dioxide? Great for trees. Warming planet? Caused by natural fluctuation in the sun’s energy.”
If Rowland had done his homework he would have discovered that it’s just as Soon has said. Polar bears aren’t threatened. Sea level rise is wildly exaggerated. Trees adore carbon dioxide. The sun is responsible for climatic fluctuations to a great extent. All this is well known and even grudgingly admitted by scientists.
Rowland: “The work of Soon, and a handful of like-minded scientists, is seen by a [sic] critics in Congress and elsewhere as a case study in how this deadlock has been engineered by energy companies and antiregulation conservatives.”
Rot. Balderdash. Rowland, who has never been linked to child molestation, just can’t help but to cast aspersions without ever making a direct claim.
If Rowland had done his homework he would have discovered that it’s just as Soon has said. Polar bears aren’t threatened. Sea level rise is wildly exaggerated. Trees adore carbon dioxide. The sun is responsible for climatic fluctuations to a great extent. All this is well known and even grudgingly admitted by scientists.
Rowland: “The work of Soon, and a handful of like-minded scientists, is seen by a [sic] critics in Congress and elsewhere as a case study in how this deadlock has been engineered by energy companies and antiregulation conservatives.”
Rot. Balderdash. Rowland, who has never been linked to child molestation, just can’t help but to cast aspersions without ever making a direct claim.
Read the full essay at: The Boston Globe's Failed Assassination of Willie Soon (From statistician William M. Brigg's blog)
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2124/2091307451_401f25a4b3.jpg
image from Vox Efx (Flickr)
At this writing, I have been coughing for 72 days. Not on and off coughing, but continuously, every day and every night, for two and a half months. And not just coughing, but whooping: doubled over, body clenched, sucking violently for air, my face reddening and my eyes watering. Sometimes, I cough so hard, I vomit. Other times, I pee myself. Both of these symptoms have become blessedly less frequent, and I have yet to break a rib coughing—also a common side effect. Nor do I still have the fatigue that felled me, often, at my desk and made me sleep for 16 hours a night on the weekends. Now I rarely choke on things like water, though it turns out laughing, which I do a lot of, is an easy trigger for a violent, paralyzing cough that doctors refer to not as a cough, but a paroxysm.
[...]
How responsible are these non-vaccinating parents for my pertussis? Very. A study recently published in the journal Pediatrics indicated that outbreaks of these antediluvian diseases clustered where parents filed non-medical exemptions—that is, where parents decided not to vaccinate their kids because of their personal beliefs. The study found that areas with high concentrations of conscientious objectors were 2.5 times more likely to have an outbreak of pertussis. (To clarify: I was vaccinated against pertussis as a child, but the vaccine wears off by adulthood, which, until recently, was rarely a problem because the disease wasn't running rampant because of people not vaccinating their kids.)
So thanks a lot, anti-vaccine parents. You took an ethical stand against big pharma and the autism your baby was not going to get anyway, and, by doing so, killed some babies and gave me, an otherwise healthy 31-year-old woman, the whooping cough in the year 2013. I understand your wanting to raise your own children as you see fit, science be damned, but you're selfishly jeopardizing more than your own children. Carry your baby around in a sling, feed her organic banana mash while you drink your ethical coffee, fine, but what gives you denialists the right to put my health at risk—to cause me to catch a debilitating, humiliating, and frightening cough that, two months after I finished my last course of antibiotics (how’s that for supporting big pharma?), still makes me convulse several times a day like some kind of tragic nineteenth-century heroine?
If you have an answer, I’ll be here, whooping, while I wait.
image from Vox Efx (Flickr)
At this writing, I have been coughing for 72 days. Not on and off coughing, but continuously, every day and every night, for two and a half months. And not just coughing, but whooping: doubled over, body clenched, sucking violently for air, my face reddening and my eyes watering. Sometimes, I cough so hard, I vomit. Other times, I pee myself. Both of these symptoms have become blessedly less frequent, and I have yet to break a rib coughing—also a common side effect. Nor do I still have the fatigue that felled me, often, at my desk and made me sleep for 16 hours a night on the weekends. Now I rarely choke on things like water, though it turns out laughing, which I do a lot of, is an easy trigger for a violent, paralyzing cough that doctors refer to not as a cough, but a paroxysm.
[...]
How responsible are these non-vaccinating parents for my pertussis? Very. A study recently published in the journal Pediatrics indicated that outbreaks of these antediluvian diseases clustered where parents filed non-medical exemptions—that is, where parents decided not to vaccinate their kids because of their personal beliefs. The study found that areas with high concentrations of conscientious objectors were 2.5 times more likely to have an outbreak of pertussis. (To clarify: I was vaccinated against pertussis as a child, but the vaccine wears off by adulthood, which, until recently, was rarely a problem because the disease wasn't running rampant because of people not vaccinating their kids.)
So thanks a lot, anti-vaccine parents. You took an ethical stand against big pharma and the autism your baby was not going to get anyway, and, by doing so, killed some babies and gave me, an otherwise healthy 31-year-old woman, the whooping cough in the year 2013. I understand your wanting to raise your own children as you see fit, science be damned, but you're selfishly jeopardizing more than your own children. Carry your baby around in a sling, feed her organic banana mash while you drink your ethical coffee, fine, but what gives you denialists the right to put my health at risk—to cause me to catch a debilitating, humiliating, and frightening cough that, two months after I finished my last course of antibiotics (how’s that for supporting big pharma?), still makes me convulse several times a day like some kind of tragic nineteenth-century heroine?
If you have an answer, I’ll be here, whooping, while I wait.
- read the full article I've Got Whooping Cough. Thanks a Lot, Jenny McCarthy. (from New Republic)
Balladeer08
Literotica Guru
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Laurel
Kitty Mama
- Joined
- Aug 27, 1999
- Posts
- 20,690
That is excellent!
Laurel
Kitty Mama
- Joined
- Aug 27, 1999
- Posts
- 20,690
http://smhttp.14409.nexcesscdn.net/806D5E/wordpress-L/images/blueiswarm.jpg
Ever since it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes earlier this year, director Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Color has been creating a ton of buzz in the film world, which should be pretty understandable—it did win the biggest award that Cannes gives out, after all. But the reason the film’s buzz has been a little bit annoying is that it’s not generally stemming from the quality of its performances or the raw emotion put on display by the young love it takes on as its focus, it’s stemming from the lengthy and explicit lesbian sex scenes that get peppered throughout its run time. It turns out lesbian sex is still the sort of thing that gets people’s attention.
Not only has there been debate as to whether or not Kechiche exploited his two lead actresses and forced them into performing acts that they weren’t comfortable with, but there also seems to be a debate raging as to whether or not the love scenes shared by the two girls should be viewed as pornographic and labeled appropriately so more uptight consumers know for sure what to boycott. Those heady sorts of debates are the complex yet still subjective ones that could rage on for an eternity though, so probably we don’t need to add any verbal fuel to their fire here. Instead, let’s focus on a new debate that has sprung up around these controversial sex scenes—the one that questions whether they’re even realistic enough to be worthy of discussion.
Ever since it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes earlier this year, director Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Color has been creating a ton of buzz in the film world, which should be pretty understandable—it did win the biggest award that Cannes gives out, after all. But the reason the film’s buzz has been a little bit annoying is that it’s not generally stemming from the quality of its performances or the raw emotion put on display by the young love it takes on as its focus, it’s stemming from the lengthy and explicit lesbian sex scenes that get peppered throughout its run time. It turns out lesbian sex is still the sort of thing that gets people’s attention.
Not only has there been debate as to whether or not Kechiche exploited his two lead actresses and forced them into performing acts that they weren’t comfortable with, but there also seems to be a debate raging as to whether or not the love scenes shared by the two girls should be viewed as pornographic and labeled appropriately so more uptight consumers know for sure what to boycott. Those heady sorts of debates are the complex yet still subjective ones that could rage on for an eternity though, so probably we don’t need to add any verbal fuel to their fire here. Instead, let’s focus on a new debate that has sprung up around these controversial sex scenes—the one that questions whether they’re even realistic enough to be worthy of discussion.
- read the full article The Increased Normalization of Gay Sex in Media is Ushering in a New Golden Age of Terrible Sex Scenes in Movies (from Film School Rejects)
trysail
Catch Me Who Can
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Balladeer08
Literotica Guru
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Thank you. I try to share the good stuff.
(You should see my collection of white hats....)
Radiohead
You look so tired-unhappy
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- 9,779
Breaking Real Bad: Inside the Sam Hurd Drug Case
On Wednesday, former Cowboys and Bears receiver Sam Hurd will likely be sentenced to life in prison for drug trafficking. Is he the cocaine kingpin the government has made him out to be, or the victim of an overzealous prosecution and excessively harsh narcotics laws? An exclusive 22-month investigation reveals how it all went wrong for one of the NFL’s most promising and well-liked young talents—and why there’s more to Hurd’s downfall than we’ve been led to believe
The lead isn't brilliant but it well worth reading in a RL and American crime aspect.Read the full essay at: Breaking Real Bad: Inside the Sam Hurd Drug Case
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crazychemgirl
the S&S goddess
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- Jul 9, 2012
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- 47,187
just bought this.. really looking forward to it.
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Abominable-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316198838
http://www.amazon.ca/The-Abominable-Novel-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316198838
Laurel
Kitty Mama
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- Aug 27, 1999
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very good read!
