60: Running a High Femur

When she first arrived on our shores, this young lady had much difficulty adjusting to strange, ‘foreign’ concepts such as calories and gravity.

The following photo was submitted  through Facebook by Ryan.

Reader Captions: 

Well, being stretched like a rubber band is ONE way to lose weight!  What I want to know is why it looks like she has a load in her underwear, only in the front instead of the back! by Bev

She's one of those aliens from 'Cocoon' in a tight-fitted human costume. by CrankyCatholic

Telephone Book Hive by Kristiina Lahde

Canadian artist Kristiina Lahde created this towering paper sculpture using delicately folded phone books. Aptly entitled Hive, the piece was on exhibition at the Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens in Ontario earlier this summer.










Source: thisiscolossal

Question of the Day

What is your favorite Halloween costume? It doesn't have to be one you've worn but can be one you've seen or the like.

Mine is this:



That would be me, in 1985 (so five years old), as a pear. My request, as I thought pears were MADE OF AWESOME. My mom (who was also MADE OF AWESOME) made the costume with two pieces of poster board that she colored in--front and back!--with pear-green marker and rigged string inside for it to hang on my shoulders and to tie at the sides. I was THRILLED with it. While I was out trick-or-treating a lady asked me if I was asparagus. AS IF! I was so indignant about that at the time, LOL!

My next favorite costume just may be this one where the little girl couldn't decide between "a princess" or "Darth Vader", so her dad combined the two: Princess Vader!

Quote of the Day

"I had always been more interested in the private Marilyn, and the unguarded Marilyn. Even as a young girl, my primary concern wasn't with this larger-than-life personality smiling back from the wall, but with what was going on underneath."—Michelle Williams, who is playing Marilyn Monroe in the upcoming film My Week With Marilyn, which looks very good.

Or maybe I just think it looks very good, because I like Michelle Williams so much.

There are precious few actors whose involvement in a film will make me see it just because they're in it, but Michelle Williams is one of them.

Daily Dose of Cute

The Lady Matilda

Sure

Herman Cain, during a National Press Club event earlier today, at which he was asked about sexual assault allegations and reported cash settlements therefore, breaks into the forgiveness hymn "He Looked Beyond My Faults."

And so since it's an opportunity for me to share a little bit of my faith, I will: Amazing Grace / Will always be / My song of praise / For it was grace / That brought me liberty / I'll never know / Why Jesus came / To love me so / He looked beyond / All my faults / And saw my needs. Thank you. [Cheers and applause.]

I haven't heard anything that beautiful since John Ashcroft let loose with "Let the Mighty Eagle Soar." Someone get these two magnificent songsters on a Conservative Croonerz 2012 National Tour—STAT!

During the same press event, Cain was also asked to comment on race relations in the US, and replied, "This many white people can't pretend that they like me." I can't decide if that's hilariously weird, or a genuinely insightful commentary on the state of the conservative electorate.

Well, maybe it doesn't have to be one or the other.

[Via Andy.]

Broke Shit Mountain

So, this weekend, our ancient dishwasher and new stove broke.

Not new enough, though: Our warranty ran out October 17. *sad trombone* In good news, planned obsolescence is getting super awesome! Jeeves, call my broker and tell him to invest EVERYTHING in Obsoleticorp! BUY! BUY! BUY!

Anyway!

Yesterday, Iain and I went out to comparison shop new dishwashers. It was so much fun! (No, it wasn't.) And not just because of the salesman who was suffering from the misapprehension that my eyeballs are located in my boobs. (Really, sir, it is 2011.) And not just because of the self-directed disablism that was manifesting as guilt that a dishwasher is a necessity in our home because of my garbage back, which makes the stand-and-lean of sink-washing unbearably painful. (A ridiculous bit of judgment I would never direct at someone else, yet continue to direct at myself.)

Mostly it was fun (not fun) because every dishwasher looks the same to me. What does a $1,200 dishwasher do that a $300 dishwater can't? Does it put away the dishes when it's done? No? Well, the $300 model is looking pretty good then.

When we got home, our brains fried from investigating the virtually indistinguishable innards of nine thousand dishwashers, I figured Consumer Reports was our best hope. I paid the $26 for an annual subscription, which seemed like a decent investment to avoid potentially making a couple-hundred dollar mistake.

I clicked through to their dishwasher analysis. Its first line: "Almost all of the dishwashers we tested clean well and are easy to load." LOL. Of course they were.

We still haven't picked out a dishwasher.

An Observation

[Trigger warning for rape culture.]

I'm glad that the sexual harassment allegations against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain are getting a lot of attention, especially because Republicans tend to get be held to a different (lower) standard than Democrats with a different (lesser) level of scrutiny, and sexual harassment is too important to be casually elided with the "boys will be boys" shrug of indifference it's so frequently given in politics.

But that gladness is cut through with a bolt of suspicion that the focus on Cain is not indicative of an awakened seriousness about sexual harassment, as much as it is evidence that Herman Cain is seen as a weirdo buffoon and sexual abuse of all sorts still the exclusive purview of weirdo buffoons.

That is, these allegations have been given an unusual level of credibility because Herman Cain seems like the sort of guy who might harass women, according to our awful cultural narratives about there being discernible sorts of guys who might harass women—not aggressive, entitled, privileged, powerful men (of which Herman Cain is also one), but weirdo buffoons.

Herman Cain is, of course, also a Black weirdo buffoon, and I imagine that has rather something unfortunate to do with the uncommonly fervent attention given to sexual harassment allegations against an unserious candidate, too.

[Note: This is not an argument that allegations against Cain should receive less scrutiny. If there is an argument being made, it is that allegations against other politicos should receive more.]

Model Heidi Klum needs a sandwich... a BRAINS! sandwich

Crushable reports that for her 13th annual Halloween party, supermodel Heidi Klum decided to do what many beautiful women do for costume parties, which is strip down...

Really, really down.

According to the article:

"Heidi Klum goes all out when it comes to her costumes. Nothing is too outlandish, too dorky, too labor-intensive. Then I promptly forget her dedication to the holiday and am surprised every year by what she comes up with.

This year is no exception: Heidi showed up to her own Halloween party looking like a corpse stripped of all its skin. And this wasn’t some sexy ghoul: The only airbrushing involved was the fake blood and muscles showing through all over her body. It makes you wince just looking at it. She even wore a pair of false teeth! Truly, she’s unrecognizable."

Here it is full-length, from Style Bistro:

Also, check out the heels:

Stylefrizz

Stylefrizz

Happy Halloween, Heidi. Yikes.

What do black women really think about love and marriage?

by Tamara Winfrey Harris, of What Tami Said


[Graphic created using image from nedari06]
The way our society talks about black women and marriage—from the daily paper to the pulpit to movies and self-help books—is flawed, sexist and damaging. When black women tell their own stories, a more thoughtful truth emerges.

I am working on a project juxtaposing the authentic experiences of African American women with the tragic common narrative about black women and marriage—a narrative that narrows lives, turns black female successes into failures and unfairly burdens us alone with responsibility for the success of black male/female relationships, black families and the black community. My goal is that my efforts will result in a published book.

I am currently working to identify black women to have frank discussions about how they navigate relationships, sexuality, singleness, marriage and divorce. If you, or someone you know, is willing to be a part of this effort, please contact me at Tamara@BackTalkBook.com.

Some things to know:

I am interested in interviewing black women of all ages, backgrounds, geographic locations and experiences. One goal of my effort is to illuminate the lives of women often erased in discussions of the black marriage rate, including married women, divorced women, women who don't wish to marry, lesbian women, women in interracial relationships and others.

Subjects should be willing to participate in multiple one-on-one interviews both in person and through technology. Initial interviews will be conducted by phone in November. While I will not require an inordinate amount of time from interviewees, I will need to interact with them enough to understand their stories, experiences and perspectives.

Elements of participants' stories, including quotes, will be included in a published work, written by me. Women have the option of being referred to by their full, real names, first names only or a pseudonym.

Beyond the ABC specials, "think like a man" romantic advice tomes and panic-inducing women's magazine articles, exist the real stories of black women—too often told from another perspective and voice. Everyone is talking about black women and marriage. I want to talk back.

Please help by responding to and sharing this call for participants through your networks. Please direct questions about this project to Tamara@BackTalkBook.com.

[Cross-posted.]

Christian church ditches "Christmas", goes with pagan holiday instead

It's Halloween, sure, but The Bay put up their Christmas decorations in September. And when I was out for a walk near my office, I saw this banner on the side of Dominion-Chalmers United Church:

I belong to the United Church of Canada, even though I no longer attend. And I had never heard of anyone being afraid of calling "Christmas" by name.

Sure, there are places where name-checking a religious holiday is considered inconsiderate to those who do not follow the same gods and/or prophets. But I would have thought a Christian church, even a very liberal one, would be okay with putting the "Christ" in the whole thing.

Even stranger is the use of "Yule". I like the term, but it's a religious holiday too. It just happens to be a pagan German one that few today observe.

I'm not at all offended that a church I sort-of belong to (and Canada's largest Protestant denomination) decided to go this way. All I can figure is that they are trying to be welcoming to the diverse community of Centretown Ottawa. The UCC, after all, is the affirming church that welcomes people of all sexual orientations, and often holds religious weddings for people from other churches and religions that are no longer accepted in their own places of worship. It is also the church responsible for this ad:

But it still made me go "hmmmmm..." You?

Yikes

You know, I really hate mosquitoes, but this can't be good.

These mosquitoes are genetically engineered to kill — their own children.

Researchers on Sunday reported initial signs of success from the first release into the environment of mosquitoes engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, killing them before they reach adulthood.

The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria.

But the research is arousing concern about possible unintended effects on public health and the environment, because once genetically modified insects are released, they cannot be recalled.

Ha ha well let's go ahead and do it anyway wheeeeeeeeeee!

Monday Blogaround

This blogaround is brought to you by pumpkins, both carved and baked into gluten-free treats.

Some recommended reading:

Archaeology News Network reports a finding from the 2nd Bolzano Mummy Congress: Otzi’s final hours: A rest, a meal, then death. (N.B.: Image of mummified body at the link)

Angry Asian Man: asian americans teens bullied more than any other group

PalMD: Return of an old foe

New York Magazine: The Rebirth of the Feminist Manifesto. Shakesville is mentioned in the list of "The Lady Blogosphere" at the article's end. Amusingly, the other blogs listed have "slogans", while Shakesville has a "catchphrase"--just like a sitcom! I'm such a silly Lady; I thought those thingies beneath the titles on blogs were called taglines.

Brooke: Worms do it, mice do it: eggs destroy sperm mitochondria

WhySharksMatter: Do environmental regulations harm the economy?

Farhan Nuruzzaman: Transistors from natural fibers could lead to wearable electronics

Kelly: Woman Responds To Marriage Proposal Like A True Lady

Zombie Research Society: Best Dog Costume Ever!

Andy Sowards: 50+ Creative, Delicious, & Spooky Real Edible Halloween Dessert & Snack Food Art Design – Ideas & Inspirations


Share your links in comments.

Random Bit O' Encouraging News

Last August I wrote about the US border patrol's habit of harassing foreign-looking people on trains, planes, and buses in the northern United States.

According to recent anonymous reports, the border patrol is dramatically scaling back these activities.

Of course, the news coverage I've seen of the story focuses on what a horrible idea it is to stop the searches. Plus, this could result in the loss of a bunch of government jobs. Prevailing wisdom appears to maintain is a good thing, unless of course the job cuts could hurt the police state.

When Mendacious Corporate Media Shills Say With Affected Wide-Eyed Wonder That They Just Can't Figure Out What Occupy Wall Street Is All About...

...it is quite reasonably pointed out to them by patient people who indulge their manufactured ignorance that many USians are quite frustrated with the banks, and deregulation, and the erosion of workers' rights, and corporate greed. Unemployment. Student loans. Foreclosures. Bankruptcies.

Big concepts. All correct. But it's also just shit like this, wearing on people day in and day out and grinding them down until they're nothing but raw nerves, vibrating with anticipated pain from the constant attacks on their security and dignity:

Like a lot of companies, Veridian Credit Union wants its employees to be healthier. In January, the Waterloo, Iowa-company rolled out a wellness program and voluntary screenings.

It also gave workers a mandate - quit smoking, curb obesity, or you'll be paying higher healthcare costs in 2013. It doesn't yet know by how much, but one thing's for certain - the unhealthy will pay more.

The credit union, which has more than 500 employees, is not alone.

In recent years, a growing number of companies have been encouraging workers to voluntarily improve their health to control escalating insurance costs. And while workers mostly like to see an employer offer smoking cessation classes and weight loss programs, too few are signing up or showing signs of improvement.

So now more employers are trying a different strategy - they're replacing the carrot with a stick and raising costs for workers who can't seem to lower their cholesterol or tackle obesity. They're also coming down hard on smokers. For example, discount store giant Wal-Mart says that starting in 2012 it will charge tobacco users higher premiums but also offer free smoking cessation programs.

I'm not going to get into, yet again, the reality that weight is not a great indicator of health, nor the inherent disablism in a policy requiring people to lose weight irrespective of any underlying illnesses or disabilities contributing to weight gain, nor the outsized fuckery of penalizing people for eating crap like ubiquitous, fat-making HFCS or being addicted to cigarettes which our government allows tobacco companies to make increasingly more addictive, because, while those things are ALL TRUE, the average worker being subjected to this garbage isn't thinking, "This is bullshit! I am being tasked with finding an individual solution to systemic problems!" but is thinking, "Oh my god, how am I going to pay for my healthcare?" and/or "I'm a moral failure because I am fat!" and/or "CHEESUS FUCKING CHRIST THERE IS TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON ME FROM UNPAID DEBT AND UNPAID OVERTIME AT MY UNDERPAID JOB AND MY MOTHER IS COMING TO LIVE WITH ME BECAUSE SHE LOST HER HOUSE AND MY KID NEEDS NEW CLOTHES AND MY CAR'S ABOUT TO DIE AND I HAVEN'T HAD A VACATION IN TEN YEARS AND I DON'T HAVE TIME TO READ THE PAPER AND I AM GOING TO CRACK."

Hey, USians! We heard you didn't have enough stress already, so howsabout adding "quit smoking" and "lose weight" to the pile? Sound good? Great! Love, Corporate America.

That's what people are feeling. And all the arguments about "healthfulness" and "long-term costs to the collective" and whatever are not going to change the fact that hard-working and highly-stressed people are hearing, "You know that cigarette or candy bar you enjoy at the end of another shitty, soul-destroying day in the employ of a corporation who is wringing every last shred of carefreedom out of your life to maximize its profits so its CEO can have a gold-plated bidet installed in his executive bathroom? Well, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT ANYMORE. Not if you want healthcare benefits."

It doesn't matter if that thinking is right, or wrong, or ethically neutral. What matters is that's what a hell of a lot of 99 percenters are thinking. And when they think it, they aren't blaming institutional prejudice, and they're not blaming Washington, and they're sure as shit not blaming themselves for wanting the ability to exercise a little fucking control over their bodies and lives.

They're blaming corporations—their employers, and their benefits providers.

And rightfully so.

* * *

About the same article, Digby makes a related point: "Libertarians make the argument that the government is a threat to liberty because it employs 'men with guns' who can rob you of your life and freedom. Without getting into that tired debate, I would just like to make one observation: for most Americans, the greatest threat to their freedom comes from 'men with pink slips' not men with guns, particularly now. (These men with pink slips, by the way, are exalted by 'free market' worshipers of all philosophical bents.)"

Wank Swap: S1 E2

Brought to you by Konami, makers of Basque Basque Revolution.


With US elections just over a year away, President
Barack Obama visits Greece to urge moderation.
[Obama saying "Heyyyyy, sit on it!"]

Meanwhile:

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has a brilliant plan to save America, but finds himself trapped at a fundraising gala in New York.
[George Papandreou exclaims "I've pulled better finger food out of my ass."]

Previously: Season Preview, S1 E1

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Aaron Carter: "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)"

The Walking Thread

"Wanna make out a little now?"       "Okay."
Does anyone want a The Walking Dead open thread? If so, we should have one! If there's one thing I always say Shakesville needs more of, it's zombiepocalypsy!

So just let me know if you want an open thread. Just kidding! This is one.

Let us talk about Griiiiiiiiiiiiimes! Remember when he was in Love Actually and he wore a cute zippy sweater and loved Keira Knighley? I doooooooo!

(Spoilers lurch undeadly herein.)

An Open Letter to Hawkins Cheezies

Dear Mr. Hawkins

Today is Halloween, and I am giving out nothing but Cheezies.

This is not due to any obsession with your product. It is the best of its category, sure, but there are other reasons to give it out.

First of all, I am from Kingston. You are from Belleville. I now live in Ottawa. And your product gives me the opportunity to contribute to a regional family-owned business. My family and I buy local food as much as possible — Ontario wines, and local cheese, meat and produce. So the opportunity to make even our rare junk food purchases (sorry) locavorous is one we appreciate.

Second, I'm having more and more of a problem with chocolate these days. A child labour problem. So much of the cheap chocolate that will be given out tonight to excited children was illegally harvested by children their own age in Ghana and Ivory Coast. These kids are exposed to dangerous working conditions, climbing trees with machetes to harvest pods, and few of them go to school. Many are trafficked from neighbouring countries as slave labour. It's really sad.

That's why my wife and I have tried to move towards Fairtrade chocolate from another regional company, Camino. But that stuff is a little expensive for Halloween giveaways.

Your product, on the other hand, is very affordable. I just wish it had not been so hard to find. But I know how the companies of "Big Chips" dominate shelf space with money and pressure. My sharp-eyed son managed to find two 24-packs of 28g bags of Cheezies stuffed into a bottom shelf at the Halloween display in an Ottawa Wal-Mart. (We had to buy the rest in much more expensive 8-count bags from Metro.)

Part of my Hawkins horde.

I was surprised how few Hawkins Cheezies I could find in local retail. Everyone seems to agree that yours are the best. Humpty Dumpty's cheese things and Cheetos both have long and scary ingredients lists, compared to yours — including MSG. People like your crunch better, too, and the fact that the orange stuff is not quite so stainingly neon.

I would have expected that Halloween was the perfect time to mount a strong regional campaign, touting your provenance and your goodness, to encourage parents around Ontario to act as brand ambassadors to hand out Cheezies samples at their doors. But I saw nothing.

You have a good product, but I'm afraid that your marketing is a little old fashioned. Why can't I find this beloved Canadian brand on Facebook? Where would I hear your great story, if I had not bothered to Google you? You need help.

And it's not just the "promotional" P of marketing that you need to work on. While the product tastes great, I note that you are a hold-out for still using hydrogenated vegetable oil. While my son doesn't eat enough Cheezies to make the small amount of trans fats a health issue, your competitors have already made the switch to better oils. You need to do that, ASAP. The war on trans fats is not going away.

The other thing you could do is make sure your product fully lives up to its local, wholesome, made-in-Canada heritage. If you're using Canadian corn, you should proudly say so. People like that. And while I don't expect you to go organic, as a family-owned company you could become a very popular champion of smaller, family-owned farms that use non-GMO corn. This would also be a great thing to add to your story. Finally, using real aged cheddar is part of your Canadian charm. Is the cheese made regionally, or provincially? This could also be a great story to tell.

And then there's the peanut thing. Humpty Dumpty got their cheese sticks certified peanut free. I'm sure you could, too.

Your product will never be health food. But it is a "feel-good" food. Wouldn't it be great if you were able to out-maneuver your larger competition in Canada by being the cheese-flavoured snack with more to feel good about?

This is a conversation I'd like to have. So if you're in the neighbourhood tonight, please drop by for some Cheezies.

Occupy Everywhere & Economic News Round-Up

At Occupy Lancaster, one of the many smaller protests around the country, demonstrators held fast despite the unseasonably early snowfall by making snowpeople to hold their signs while they tried to stay warm in tents overnight. [Thanks to Shaker Eccaba.]

Here's some of what I've been reading this morning...

Detroit Free Press—Veteran hit in head expected to recover:

An Iraq war veteran badly injured when police stormed an Occupy Oakland encampment last week is expected to make a full recovery, his roommate said Sunday.

Scott Olsen, 24, was hit in the head by a tear-gas canister fired by police trying to control a crowd on Tuesday night, according to witnesses.

Olsen was listed in critical condition at first with damage to the speech center of his brain, according to Olsen's roommate, Keith Shannon.

Although Olsen remained hospitalized Sunday and was not able to speak, doctors expect a full recovery, Shannon said.

Olsen's condition Sunday was listed as fair.

LA Times—Occupy Wall Street braces for winter:

Organizers have predicted the freezing temperatures and snow would reduce the Lower Manhattan encampment to a small assemblage through winter.

"But that's OK with us," said Richmond, 26, a carpenter from upstate New York. "The hardy will stay. The junkies will go. And in the spring all somebody has to do is declare Occupy Central Park or Occupy Union Square and everyone will return. This was just practice."

...It's also clear [authorities] don't want the demonstrators to get too comfortable.

City fire and police officials on Friday confiscated gas tanks and half a dozen generators being used for electricity in the makeshift kitchen and for media equipment. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had declared them a safety hazard. Organizers were baffled; they said fire marshals had inspected the park the day before and hadn't mentioned any violations.

ABC News—Occupy Veterans Movement Growing across US:

Since Occupy Wall Street protests have broken out in cities across the U.S. and abroad, support has come from what might seem like an unlikely corner: war veterans.

"For veterans especially, health care is paramount, yet is always on the table to be cut," [veteran and organizer Paige Jenkins] said in an interview with ABC News. "Vets in this movement don't want to fight anymore. We want to make peace and live peaceably. We shouldn't have to fight for our benefits, and if vets are fighting for their benefits then it can't be any better for nonvets. ... What do you think is going to happen in 2012 after everyone gets home from Iraq? No jobs, no benefits. This will not be a good scene."

...Another group that called itself Occupy Marine Corps recently posted on its Facebook page advise about how to protest in winter weather. According to a Tweet by @Kruggurl, Occupy Marine Corps has offered protesters supplies for the winter.

"We are a collection of prior service Marines intent on protecting American citizens and their ability to exercise their First Amendment rights," a spokesperson for the group said.

In other Occupy Movement news, smaller protests, like the one in Lancaster County, are starting to get more media—and police—attention...

Chicago Tribune—Occupy Wall Street spinoff pickets Niles (MI) City Hall.

AP—Police break up Occupy Wall St. camp in Richmond.

Reuters—Occupy Wall Street arrests in Texas and Oregon.

The Hill—Fears about inequality in income grow: "Two-thirds of likely voters say the American middle class is shrinking, and 55 percent believe income inequality has become a big problem for the country, according to this week's The Hill Poll. ... Majorities across practically all income levels, and all political, philosophical and racial lines agreed that the middle class is being reduced, while the bulk of respondents in each category thought income inequality was at least a moderate concern."

The New York Times—As Meeting Approaches, Fed Panel Is Divided on Direction: "When the Federal Reserve's policy-making committee meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 of the 10 voting members will arrive in open disagreement with the chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, about the direction of monetary policy. Three conservative members say the Fed has already done too much. Two liberals say the Fed needs to do much more. But it is still the chairman who determines whether the central bank should expand its campaign to stimulate growth for the third time since August, and lately Mr. Bernanke has been focused on an old theme: communicating the benefits of existing policies in order to increase their impact."

Paul Krugman in The New York Times—Bombs, Bridges and Jobs: "What's bringing out the military big spenders is the approaching deadline for the so-called supercommittee to agree on a plan for deficit reduction. If no agreement is reached, this failure is supposed to trigger cuts in the defense budget. Faced with this prospect, Republicans—who normally insist that the government can't create jobs, and who have argued that lower, not higher, federal spending is the key to recovery—have rushed to oppose any cuts in military spending. Why? Because, they say, such cuts would destroy jobs."

HuffPo—GOP Candidates' Plans on Economy, Housing, Challenged by Studies: "'Republicans favor tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, but these had no stimulative effect during the George W. Bush administration, and there is no reason to believe that more of them will have any today,' writes Bruce Bartlett. He's an economist who worked for Republican congressmen and in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. As for the idea that cutting regulations will lead to significant job growth, Bartlett said in an interview, 'It's just nonsense. It's just made up.' Government and industry studies support his view."

Meanwhile, in Europe...

AFP—OECD says EU economy set to 'shrink': "Top economies are slowing with the eurozone set to shrink briefly, and rapid action by European leaders to enact promised crisis measures is key to global recovery, the OECD said on Monday. The eurozone should also cut interest rates, and countries with stronger public finances undertake short-term measures to boost growth, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said."

As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share links to things you've read or written in comments.

Open Thread

Happy Halloween!

Balay: Unbearable Pain

Ana:  Alfonso the pain is unbearable, I can’t feel my legs.

Alfonso:  This has never happened to me before. I’m going to try and plug you back together again. I’ve got this chiropractic move that I learned from the 200 chiropractor visits that I had this month.  Breathe out... and smile.

Thanks Hernan for the great catch. You can see the original here(PDF) . If you can't see the PSD, you can check out our red circled image.

Lens Blur and Depth Map

The Lens Blur  has more control than the Gaussian Blur which we are accustomed to. A Depth Map enables you to selectively shift the focus in an image and blur the rest, the degree of which you can also set at will.

This is a free stock photo

The same with selective blurring with Lens Blur and a Depth Map. The tutorial is here

Other tutorials are here

Sunday Shuffle

Pearl Jam, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town

You?

GoDog! Buns: The jokes just write themselves

Some Buzzfeeder posted a GoDog! display and described the bun as a European "method of hotdog". But the company is actually in Wisconsin.

Get a Grip-Not a mess! 

Teach an old dog new tricks! 

NEW...INNOVATIVE...FUN 

Frequently Asked Questions: 

Q:    How in the heck do you get the condiments in? 

A:     It doesn't take any longer to put condiments "IN" the bun than it does the old fashioned way!        Simply squirt, squeeze, pump, spoon or pour the desired condiments down the "inside" wall of the         opening...allowing it to run down the "inside".Catsup, Mustard, Pickle Relish, Mayonnaise, BBQ Sauce, Melted Cheese, Chili Sauce, Sweet n Sour Sauce, Pizza Sauce etc. Add thin slice Pickle, Finely Chopped or small slices of Onions and Peppers.
... 

Not just for Hotdogs! Any Sausage will work. Bratwurst, Italians, Kielbasa, Cheddar Dogs, Jalapeno Dogs, Polish Sausage. 

Try BBQ  Chicken, BBQ Beef, BBQ Pork. Sloppy Joe, Chicken Salad, Ham Salad, Tuna Salad! 

Don't stop there...use your imagination! 

"dontgetanyonya"

Don't get any on ya.

Even the product description is... ummm...

GoDog™ Standard Size 6" long / 1.35" diameter opening
(fits any regular size store bought hotdog)
$14.40/case + $12.95 Shipping & Handling

GoDog™ Brat Size 7" long / 1.5" diameter opening
(fits the bigger size products)
$14.40/case + $12.95 Shipping & Handling

Open Thread

Hosted by a fairytale pumpkin.

This week's open threads have been brought to you by winter squash.

Cool "Arablish" ad from Al Jazeera

From the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the Arab Spring, Al Jazeera has been enjoying unprecedented interest from the English-speaking world. Despite facing suspicion and even censorship in the United States, the network is looked to online (especially on Twitter) to provide a different and often breaking "on the ground" Arabic perspective.

That's why this ad is great. Because much of our historically-important news first comes to us with a distinct accent:

Click to enlarge.

Even the grammatical mistake in the tagline works, somehow. (The ad agency is Danish.)

Via IBiA. The other two, unfortunately, are not very good.

Open Thread

Hosted by pumpkins.

The Virtual Pub Is Open

[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]

TFIF, Shakers!

Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!

(Don't forget to tip your bartender!)

Daily Dose of Cute

Zelda.


Dorito Ears!

F'd Ad Fridays: Birthing and nursing o'lanterns

I actually like these, although others may find them weird. The first one would be a great way to freak out your neighbours, depending on the uptightness of your community. The second is just damn cute.

They were created by Blessed Birth Doula Services and shared by my super-lactivist FB friend Emma.

Happy Halloween weekend, everyone.

Postscript: Apparently birthing pumpkins are a thing this year. But most seem like they were done by guys.

Number of the Day

11: The number of US states that have an explicit prohibition on gay individuals and/or same-sex couples adopting a child. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) would like to change that.

[Related Reading: What don't you lousy motherfuckers understand about keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds, and our families?]

F'd Ad Fridays: Danica Patrick snuff film?

If you're in to that kind of thing.

Here's a weird one from Jump, in New York:



Via The Reel

F'd Ad Fridays: Sexy teenage holocaust victim Halloween costume

I don't think you can sink much lower than this "Anne Skank"costume:

Lisa Wade writes in Sociological Images, "The Halloween revelers who made the choice to sexualize and laugh at this 15-year-old victim of the holocaust are graduate students in the Creative Writing program at Florida State University."

Quote of the Day

"You can't be a perfectly lubricated weather vane on the important issues of the day."—Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, on Mitt Romney's flip-floppery.

That is also, for the record, what she said.

F'd Ad Fridays: Babymetal

Japanese schoolgirl pop death metal. Why not?

Thanks to Kerry for the link.

F'd Ad Fridays: A very scary FEMEN Halloween protest (nudity)

Wasn't this a scene in Heavy Metal?

What's scarier than having FEMEN show up bare-chested and screaming to protest your mistreatment of animals? How about FEMEN showing up bare-chested and screaming, wearing animal masks, covered in blood and flinging raw meat at you?


ZooMorgue from FEMEN Video on Vimeo.


That's what happened to the keepers at Kiev’s ZooPark, where Animal NY reports the animals have been dying from inadequate feeding, shelter from the cold, and vet care.

It's in Ukrainian, as usual, but I'm sure you'll still get their points.

Herman Cain's Campaign is a Real Thing in the Real World

Herman Cain is making stuff on the interwebs. America, I give you the current Republican front-runner:



[Transcript Follows]

There's an opening sequence that suggests the projectionist is loading the YouTube video. A cowboy on a horse rides towards the camera to generic twangy music. On screen, we see that “THERE WAS A TIME IN AMERICA WHEN A MAN WAS A MAN... “ Then the video cuts to the sheriff taking some government-paid leave.

“AND A HORSE WAS A HORSE...” [Go to hell, postmodernist eurotrash!]

Then a deputy/government employee chugs whiskey. “AND A MAN ON A HORSE WAS JUST A MAN ON A HORSE...” We see that the cowboy is carrying yellow flowers, so that's probably a BFD. [This is just like Blazing Saddles, only if it had been directed by Andrew Breibart.]

A few taxpayers stroll by, disgusted by the lazy government workers.

“UNLESS HE CARRIED EXTRANEOUS COMMA BIG FONT FOR EMPHASIS YELLOW FLOWERS” [But not roses. And certainly not bread.]

Women scurry away from the cowboy, as he comments on their chicken. I think this is supposed to be sexy. Presumably there's some kind of joke here? I don't hang out in sports bars, so I don't really get the reference.

“Cock-a-doodle-do, Ma'am”

[Wow, this dude harasses women, but he's also a gentleman and holy non-sequitur what the hell is going on, we're forty-five seconds into this garbage already.]

“CTV [Isn't that Canadian?] PRESENTS: HE CARRIED YELLOW FLOWERS”

Cowboy ass shot.
Cowboy using rope shot.
Cowboy wearing moon boots while not really bow-legged shot.

The cowboy knocks on the door, because apparently having women scurry away from you is code for “Yes, please come into my cabin.”

The drunken sheriff mocks the man's gay looking flowers. Also, they are YELLOW flowers.

'Hey look at me, the Montana Territory is paying me to get pissed on my 3-hour lunch break!'

Daaaamn! One of the men accuses our hero of being “as yellow as those flowers there.”

Witty rejoinder: “Why does it always have to be about color, what are you guys, liberals?” [Did you notice one of the guys was black? Did you?!? He's such a reverse racist.]

The reverse-racist responds that he's a “card carrying” liberal [Hey, remember Dukakis?], and spits on our hero's moonboot.

A fight breaks out, and the opening chords of a Monkees song plays in the background for some reason.

In perhaps the video's most Brechtian moment, a Hollywood director in baggy pants yells cut, and everything stops.

A conventionally attractive young woman offers the cowboy a watermelon-mango margarita, because all actors are homos who sip fruity drinks like little girls. Because she's a lady, the dude gives her shit about wanting a straw. Then he threatens to fire her.

A woman praises the man and does his girly makeup, but he cuts the dumb bitch down to size.

As it turns out, the actor is Nick Searcy. [You know, the guy who played Tom Hanks's friend in Cast Away? No, not the volleyball.]

Nick Searcy levels with us. He's not a tough guy because he says catch phrases like “hope” and “change.” [Would those be catch words?] He also doesn't have a fancy teleprompter like those rich-ass community organizers, just fyi.

Then, over 140 seconds into this train wreck, Nick Searcy tells us about Herman Cain. He's a real thing in the real world. He urges us to “get real” and vote for Cain, as dudes beat each other up in the background.

Herman Cain and Nick Searcy are sexy, apparently. OMG IS THIS CAMPAIGN VIDEO HITTING ON ME?

Cowboy Searcy urges the public not to get distracted by trivial things this election season, all while joking with his Hollywood director. Then he gets so distracted while threatening a liberal that he forgets his line.

And then Herman Cain smirks at us for some reason. [Probably because he knows you aren't getting the last three-and-a-half minutes of your life back.]

As Cain fades out, Cowboy Searcy hits on a lady by yelling “nice chicken, honey!” Then he gives us a wink and a thumbs up as he goes into the cabin, presumably to have some sort of freaky Dadaist sex.

THE END

F'd Ad Fridays: What a shitty Xmas gift

Jezebel says this is the "it toy" the the UK this Christmas. I think they left out a couple of consonants.

F'd Ad Fridays: Consider yourself teased

Gabbo! Gabbo! Gabbo!

Thanks to Marc for sharing on G+

Canadian Women Take Soccer Gold at Pan Am Games

Alright, this is Caitie the football* fan here, and Caitie the Canuck too, saying "Go Canada Go" to our talented women's team. Shockingly turfed out of the World Cup this summer in no uncertain terms, a big surprise coming after our second Gold Cup championship in 2010, this didn't look like it was going to be much of a year for Karina LeBlanc and the women footballers of Canada.

But then they sent half of the World Cup team to the Pan Am Games, a competition open to nations up and down the Americas, athletes from anywhere between Ellesmere Island and Tierra del Fuego. The US team didn't attend, and Brasil were without their stellar forward and five-time World Player of the Year, Marta, but in Thursday night's final in Guadalajara, Mexico, the Canadian goalkeeper (LeBlanc) stopped two penalties by Brasil's shooters, while the Canadians put all theirs into the net, for a 4-3 victory in the shootout.

The game had looked a disaster for Canada early, giving up a goal only four minutes in, but control went back and forth before Christine Sinclair (Canada's all-time top scorer, with 117 goals in 163 appearances, as of June 30 this year) managed to finally head home a corner taken by fierce terrier/midfielder Diana Matheson (another long-time veteran of the Canadian team - all 5'0.25" of her) in the 88th minute. Two 15-minute periods of extra time settled nothing, though both sides had chances, leading to the penalty shootout.

Speaking personally as a goalkeeper, I understand LeBlanc's statement that she enjoys shootouts. I hate them as a fan, hate the tension and the irrelevance to the game, but as a player, they thrill me. The only championship my current team won, for several years, was a cup competition in which we endured two penalty shootouts - the semi-final and the final. In both - I swear this is literally true, every word - I saved all five of my opponents' shots, and scored the only one of five for us. Best two games I ever played, stopping ten penalties. Time used to be that when stopping penalties, the strategy for keepers was to guess-and-leap, hoping you'd got the right direction. Some keepers, and I'm among them, have come more recently to the conclusion that, in fact, they're the easiest shots keepers ever face, in some ways. Consider: you know when it's coming, who's taking it, there's no one else in the way, and you don't have to worry about a rebound (as the ball is dead when it ceases forward motion in shootouts). Every advantage is mine.

Well, except for the 24-foot wide net, with the crossbar eight feet up. But other than that...

Anyway, big congratulations to the Canadian women's team for their stellar success throughout the tournament, almost completely unnoticed by our national media - five games in seven days! What a grueling schedule.

* AKA soccer, for you folk who think a game where only a very few people ever touch the ball with their feet should be called "football": see NFL/gridiron, CFL-Canadian style, et c.. :)

F'd Ad Fridays: Is this Pert ad deliberately this awful?

It's hard to believe they didn't set out to make a truly horrifying ad: the smelly jokes, the bad special effects, the delivery... it must be what Tim Allen hallucinated when he did too much coke.

Via Copyranter

Friday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by a spoon. (There is no spoon!)

Recommended Reading:

Happy Fourth Blogiversary to Shaker Moderator Scott Madin!

Jos: Girl Scouts of Colorado Support Transgender Youth

Resistance: "At last, honors for the first black Marines."

Latoya: [TW for rape culture and gender essentialism] Because Amber Cole Is Just a Kid and Boys Learn to Be Boys

Adrienne: [TW for racism and appropriation] Open Letter to the PocaHotties and Indian Warriors This Halloween

Jorge: [TW for racism and racist violence] Teen Accused in James Anderson's Killing Linked to Other Hate Crimes

[Trigger warning for homophobia and anti-gay violence] I have been closely following news about the murder of Stuart Walker, a gay man who was murdered in Scotland, not just because I have gay family in Scotland, and not just because I regularly write about homophobic violence, but because of the multiple rumors surrounding the killing, including a teen girl gang originally being sought and the rape accusations against the victim by a convicted rapist. So much fuckery. So much to be deconstructed, I don't even know where to begin. See Andy here and here.

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

F'd Ad Fridays: How would you advertise skateboard wheels to teenage boys?

Oh! Oh! I know. With porn?

Or maybe a little racist lesploitation? (I just made up this word today.)

Or perhaps a bad pun or two?

And some trash talk.

Thanks for turning me on to this brand, Steve Hall. It's just awful.

You can see the rest of the ads here.

If It's Friday, It's Tae Brooks!

Tae Brooks: "Pray"

F'd Ad Fridays: "Pizza Party" is the worst music video you will see (for the next few minutes, anyway)

I'm not sure whether they're promoting their music or selling pizza. Probably both. Or neither. I don't care.



Ummm... yeah.

F'd Ad Fridays: Bunnetics ass workout video tape

Butt... butt... butt...

Never mind.

Via Flavorwire

Wank Swap: S1 E1

Airing at 2200 GMT:


The grim specter of zombie Andrew Mellon returns to haunt Germany.
[Zombie Andrew Mellon stands in front of the
Brandenburg Gate moaning "You owe me your braaaaainnnz!"]

Meanwhile...

While visiting southern Indiana, German Chancellor Angela Merkel finds a surprising inspiration for future economic policy.
[Angela Merkel stands in front of a Waffle House,
thinking "Maybe I'll chunk it."]

Previously.

An Observation

It occurs to me that many things in this culture might be very different if we referred to women and men not as "opposite sexes," but complementary ones.

Not disparate and mutually exclusive constructs, not pieces of a binary opposition, not foes who do battle, but bookends, in between which exist a spectrum of experience and presentation.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

The Beat: "Mirror in the Bathroom"

Occupy Everywhere & Economic News Round-Up

Occupy Oakland protestor and veteran Scott Olsen holds a banner at a protest
before he was injured (TW for image at link). [Keith Shannon photo; via.]
The Guardian—Occupy Oakland protester Scott Olsen awake ahead of brain surgery:

Scott Olsen, the Iraq war veteran who suffered serious head injuries after being hit by a projectile fired by police during the Occupy Oakland protests, has woken up and is lucid as he awaits surgery, hospital officials and family members have said.

Olsen, a 24-year-old former US Marine, was struck in the head during anti-Wall Street protests on Tuesday night. He has been upgraded from critical to fair condition.

Olsen "responded with a very large smile" to a visit from his parents, Highland General hospital spokesman Warren Lyons said. "He's able to understand what's going on. He's able to write and hear but has a little difficulty with his speech," Lyons said.

Dahlia Lithwick at Slate—Occupy the No-Spin Zone: One of the best things about Occupy Wall Street is the way it confuses and ignores the shrill pundit class: "Think, for just a moment, about the irony. We are the most media-saturated 24-hour-cable-soaked culture in the world, and yet around the country, on Facebook and at protests, people are holding up cardboard signs, the way protesters in ancient Sumeria might have done when demonstrating against a rise in the price of figs. And why is that? Because they very wisely don't trust television cameras and microphones to get it right anymore. Because a media constructed around the illusion of false equivalencies, screaming pundits, and manufactured crises fails to capture who we are and what we value."

Politico—Occupy to march on NYC banks: "Occupy Wall Street protesters will march to five banks in Manhattan on Friday and deliver thousands of letters to the companies—in the form of a 'mass paper airplane throwing.' ... Thousands of letters that were submitted to occupytheboardroom.org will be folded into paper airplanes, and at some of the banks, protesters will execute a 'mass paper airplane throwing event,' after which the planes will be collected in a large mailbag and left in the lobbies of the banks."

Google—What search trends tell us about Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party: "Search interest for [Occupy Wall Street] jumped ahead of the [Tea Party] on September 24, and hasn't looked back. In a historical context, when viewing the snapshot of their nascent birth, we can see the peak of [Occupy Wall Street] has slightly more interest in American than searches for the [Tea Party] did during the groups peak in 2009."

Brian Tashman at Right Wing Watch—Pat Robertson: Christians Should Oppose Occupy Wall Street: "On The 700 Club [yesterday], Pat Robertson told a questioner that Christians should not be involved in the economic justice movement Occupy Wall Street. Robertson dubbed the protests 'atavistic' and a 'rebellion' with 'no purpose' behind it. The televangelist even warned that the movement 'could be used for radicals who want to destroy this nation.' While Occupy Wall Street tackles issues of inequality and avarice in the financial system, Robertson alleged that it has nothing to do with Christian virtues of righteousness and fighting oppression. This wouldn't be the first time Robertson chastised Occupy Wall Street. He previously called the protestors 'nuts' and 'clowns' who are being used by President Obama to 'revolt'."

Speaking of Obama and his alleged revolution against Big Money (lulz)...

New York Times—Obama Backers Tied to Lobbies Raise Millions: "Despite a pledge not to take money from lobbyists, President Obama has relied on prominent supporters who are active in the lobbying industry to raise millions of dollars for his re-election bid. At least 15 of Mr. Obama's 'bundlers'—supporters who contribute their own money to his campaign and solicit it from others—are involved in lobbying for Washington consulting shops or private companies. They have raised more than $5 million so far for the campaign. Because the bundlers are not registered as lobbyists with the Senate, the Obama campaign has managed to avoid running afoul of its self-imposed ban on taking money from lobbyists."

Meanwhile, in Europe...

Paul Krugman in the New York Times—The Path Not Taken: "Financial markets are cheering the deal that emerged from Brussels early Thursday morning. Indeed, relative to what could have happened—an acrimonious failure to agree on anything—the fact that European leaders agreed on something, however vague the details and however inadequate it may prove, is a positive development. But it's worth stepping back to look at the larger picture, namely the abject failure of an economic doctrine—a doctrine that has inflicted huge damage both in Europe and in the United States. The doctrine in question amounts to the assertion that, in the aftermath of a financial crisis, banks must be bailed out but the general public must pay the price."

And in related news...

Corynne McSherry at the Electronic Frontier Foundation—Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back—And It's Worse Than Ever: "As with its Senate-side evil sister, PROTECT-IP, SOPA would require service providers to 'disappear' certain websites, endangering Internet security and sending a troubling message to the world: it's okay to interfere with the Internet, even effectively blacklisting entire domains, as long as you do it in the name of IP enforcement. Of course blacklisting entire domains can mean turning off thousands of underlying websites that may have done nothing wrong. And in what has to be an ironic touch, the very first clause of SOPA states that it shall not be 'construed to impose a prior restraint on free speech.' As if that little recitation could prevent the obvious constitutional problem in what the statute actually does."

They're coming after our ability to connect and organize, folks.

F'd Ad Fridays: Senior citizens gone wild!

This was a PSA of The Day at The Daily What, who wrote:

"Lancashire Police are warning resident to be on the lookout for a band of menacing pensioners roaming the streets and wreaking havoc. 

The (mostly) tongue-in-cheek PSA attempts to convey the message that anti-social behavior of any sort would not be tolerated in Lancashire, irrespective of age."

It is a rather silly ad, using the overdone "old people acting like young people" trope that Pepsi used to rely so heavily on.

Plus, it's hard not to think about Monty Python the whole time...

F'd Ad Fridays: Agent Provocateur says "Boo(bs)" in much, much scarier horror flick

What is this? I don't even...

Axe never had a chance. While the spray-on teen angst brand has a sene of humour, AP just goes straight for the lesploitation, excessive skin, S&M, cannibalism, and just plain weird.


Agent Provocateur - 'Fleurs Du Mal' from Epoch London on Vimeo.


They are, after all, a sophisticated fashion brand...

Via Illegal advertising

F'd Ad Fridays: Axe says "Boo(bs)" with Halloween zombie vid

She's coming from inside the house!

So, Axe gives us some Halloween horror laced with T&A and a bit of zombie humour. They've done worse.



Via Adrants