- If you’re not familiar with the national holiday of people who live and love by the leafy green, today is 420 which is the police code for busting a pothead (not true!). Now you can fondly remember all those times you had sex with that one ex that never paid for dinners and tried to convince you his peen was a bong: Sex Advice From Pot Growers and 15 Stories About Dating Potheads (Nerve.com)
- Puppies are out. Sorry, pupophiles. Though I love how when I posted this to my Facebook page last night someone commented in all seriousness, “That’s a joke.” Ethicists Update List Of Acceptable Things To Masturbate To (The Onion)
- I’m a bit of an OkCupid OkTrends survey post snob. This one seems weaker than usual, and it’s packed with things that are thin on data and feels very SEO friendly. Maybe I’m just suspicious because they got bought out by Match.com. Anyway, be critical of headlines twisting this user survey into sweeping statements about Twitter users and sex: 10 Charts About Sex (OkTrends)
- Well, someone thought OkCupid was full of it: check out this unbelievable Rip Off Report filed by a virulent racist – from Arizona – about the use of Spanish on OkCupid, and then enjoy OkCupid’s snarky anti-racist round robin of responses: Okcupid | Rip-off Report: 367898 (ripoffreport.com, thanks Ariel!)
- Mind: blown. This is big news: The man that singlehandedly organized nationwide anti-gay marriage (and also anti-gay “agenda”) rallies and online protests for five years has officially changed his mind and now supports gay marriage and rejects anti-gay campaigning. Read in his own words what made him radically change his world: I now support full marriage equality (louisjmarinelli.com)
- Speaking of OkCupid, I’ve seen buzz on the ladyblogs about Match.com now screening for sex offenders, but the best argument on why this is a dubious effort at best is in this post by Damon Brown: Why Match.com’s Plan to Screen for Sexual Predators Is Going to Bite Back (BNET)
- Last week the NYT published an excruciatingly insulting article about new HBO series Game of Thrones, women, sex and fantasy fans – and I won’t even link to the response. The author sidestepped the issue completely and has no remorse, nor did she apologize. Talk about putting the quality of the NYT in the toilet. Here’s my pal Veronica’s annoyed tweet with the link if you want to hate on the NYT more: @Veronica Belmont: Ginia Bellafante, we’re not … (Twitter)
- News just came out that one porn company owns a quarter of all 1-800 numbers in the US, redirecting them all to… Yes, it’s just like the internet. Of all the news items, this one was the funniest, pointing out a couple of the company’s more colorful phone properties: Call 1-800-WORSHIP For Hot Phone Sex! (Gothamist)
- Last week I reported on the fact-challenged Christian conservative Congressional petition to get the US Attorney General to go after porn. This succinct writeup explains why this idea is dead in the water thanks to John Stagliano’s case: What About Porn Featuring Hot Poker Playing Action? (Reason Magazine)
- I’m not a big follower of Rachel Maddow’s work, so I’m not surprised an MSNBC anchor did something this irresponsible with a news item, but seriously: why report on the destruction of Piss Christ if you won’t explain why it matters, let alone say the artwork’s name out loud? MSNBC’s tagline could be “Weak and Ineffective.” (Changed from CNN*, whose tagline could be the same.) Rachel Maddow, WTF? (ErosBlog: The Sex Blog)
- Huge news for those of us who were among the few sex/LGBTQ bloggers that have survived from the early days of blogging – we’ve lost another cultural cornerstone: LGBT Blog Queerty Closes (Towleroad)
I mistakenly thought she was CNN; probably because they have been so sex-negative of late.
Thanks for the love on the Match.com post, Violet. I hope they listen to my advice.
Thanks again, Violet, for bringing a wide spread of topics and interesting news tidbits to the virtual “dinner table” as it were. I was interested to learn that one of my Senators signed her name to the letter to the U.S. Attorney General, and have written her, asking her to remove her signature from said letter.
@Sembazuru – Thank you for that. Nice spot: we always thought this growing up (here in SF) but, then again, we were stoned. I “learned” this in Junior High. Accent on the high.
Unfortunately, I can’t claim this as an excuse any more. I’m estranged from pot culture. So glad you corrected me. I will, however, wait until my stoner friends are stoned to ask them what they think it means.
Sorry Violet, your info on 420 is incorrect (but common misconception). Check snopes: http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/420.asp
Rachel Maddow probably is too young to remember it in much detail, but even if she isn’t, there’s a personal reason why she didn’t go into it: as she’s made clear before, she’s very, very easily embarrassed by any discussion of sex or nudity; I doubt she could get through a news article about Mapplethorpe without blushing and stammering. It’s weird, and at first I thought she was just being coy to get along with the network, but no, at this point, it’s pretty clear: she’s beyond-irrationally shy and easily embarrassed.
Yeah, I wouldn’t even have noticed, much less commented, if this was just one of the usual bland cable TV “news” anchors. But Rachel displays a greater-than-usual commitment to getting stuff right, and being fair about it. She’s got blind spots, but usually she’s pretty good.
David, thank you! That’s about how much I follow the cast lists for Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc. Fixing in 3… 2…
Violet, umm… Rachel Maddow works for MSNBC.
While I share your sentiment about CNN, I still support Rachel. Her shows are not perfect, but the only half-way sane political coverage out there.