sundries

[rm]

Last night, Patty and I participated in a salon about technology and relationships at Science House. The conversation was wide-ranging, amusing, filled with very diverse perspectives and ranged from the usual "are you different online?" (me: you're different everywhere, why do we only care when it's about the damn Internet?) to the ethical issues of child-like sex robots. There was also a great deal of food and spectacular views. If, by odd chance you're coming over here from over there, hello!

Tonight? Homeness and Project Runway. Has it moved back to New York? Please tell me it's moved back to New York.

I just realized we're going to be in Chicago in 2.5 weeks.

Charges, not unexpected, filed in the murder of Steve Perry. Warning: article is gruesome for any reader and particularly unpleasant for those of you who knew the man online or off.

Because I am all about the news you can use: Michael Jackson's estate vs. Plants vs. Zombies.

The past was not in black & white: DC during WWII.

More of similar. Not just DC this time. Color photos of rural towns 1939 - 1943.

On that note, If the Blitz comes....

One more indication that our healthcare system is still fucked: Insured Americans are using fewer medical services.

Congress is rethinking the ban on Internet gambling. This is interesting, because I'm someone who enjoys casinos and also knows we need the revenue. However, I also suspect that Internet gambling is potentially addictive in ways different or additional to casino gambling, and this could be very messy if approved.

Tom Hardy of Inception has had sex with men. Personally, I'm discomforted by his remark about gay men and gender roles and entirely more interested in his thing about shoes than anything else. I love men's shoes. Not in a pervy way, damn you.

What is it with NYC and food halls lately? First there was the opening of the one at the Plaza, now there's Eataly.

On Saturday elionwyr will being doing a blogathon to benefit Live Strong.

Separate post about graduate_maria things later.

Hey, I beta'ed this fic by bethynyc. It's Where Youth and Laughter Go and is a Stargate/Torchwood crossover with a largely WWI setting. bethnyc had to deal with a lot of complexities regarding writing that time from the eyes of people not of our time and place, and that sort of thing is really hard to balance, but she did an awesome job, so you should go read it.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

The whole sort of "gay men are feminine" thing and possibly the "outgrowing" it thing. But at the same time I was sorta "Well, you're slightly an idiot, but go you! Shoes!"

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was pretty much it - plus what I thought was a little over-generalization. But the Advocate didn't have the whole story: the source they quote is the Mail, but that article makes clear the comments were from Now magazine (a celeb gossip mag, somewhat more disreputable than the worst of the tabloids). The interview, according to the Mail, also included this quote:

"A lot of people say I seem masculine, but I don't feel it. I feel intrinsically feminine. I'd love to be one of the boys but I always felt a bit on the outside. Maybe my masculine qualities come from overcompensating because I'm not one of the boys."

But Now's own website omits that and gives a slightly different version of the "form and the physicality" quote: "I love the form and the physicality but the gay sex bit does nothing for me, in the same way as a wet vagina would turn someone else into a lemon-sucking freak."

Now continues: "Tom, 32, hasn't gone 'all the way' with a guy. 'Not all, but I can imagine; we've all got an arsehole. It just doesn't do it for me, sex with another man.'"

Um. Whatever. I trust the accuracy of Now's quotes even less than the Mail's.