Wikipedia is not without its critics, and undoubtedly I’m about to give them another reason to hate it. I land somewhere in the middle with respect to Wikipedia — it doesn’t (yet) have the clout and reliability that a publication like Encyclopedia Britannica might, but it most certainly beats those publications hands-down in timeliness, in sheer size, and in ease of access (I can’t carry those hardbound tomes around with me anywhere I go, but I can cram the text-only version of Wikipedia onto a 2GB SD card and read it on my smartphone). I don’t trust it completely, but I also don’t instantly doubt everything I see there. I figure it’s suitable as a starting point for research, so long as you’re actually willing to check all those citations. Read the full story...

Technorati Tags: Funny Women Work Unfriendly

Call me naive or clueless but I’m genuinely curious why exactly I’m supposed to care that [insert random celebrity here] is pregnant? Why is this shit reported on supposed “news” sites, like Reddit or Digg?

The “news” that “Christina Aguilera is pregnant and naked for her latest magazine cover” scrolled through my Google Reader tonight, and naturally because I’m an idiot American I clicked the link to see what the fine folks over at Digg had to say about it (clicking the link in Reader takes you to the discussion page on Digg, not the actual article). Naturally by the time that page had loaded, there were complaints that the original site hosting the article in question (along with the all-important, entirely non-revealing “nude” pictures of some random celebrity) had croaked. Read the full story...

Technorati Tags: Silly People Women

Recently a woman has been making headlines for being asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight. After her protests, the airline reluctantly permitted her to stay on the flight. She’s been running the daytime television circuit ever since, showing off the skimpy (but unremarkable) outfit and (rightly so) highlighting the questionable practice of discriminating against people who show off “too much flesh.”

I was going to write that I don’t quite know where I stand on the issue, but screw that — I know exactly where I stand on that issue. We’re too damned uptight as a culture. It’s time to ease up — air travel these days has already turned into a regular “bus in the sky,” long removed from the “refined experience” it used to be. It’s time to stop whining about being able to see a bit too much of a woman’s ass, boobs, or the landing strip up front. Read the full story...

I hadn’t actually heard of Vanessa Hudgens (that’s a totally Not-Safe-For-Work link, by the way; bigger version and more pics here) until our stupid fucking media machine went apeshit about the supposed scandal that her appearance in a single nekkid photograph has caused the world.

This is beyond stupid. Sure, she’s cute. But she’s “just another naked woman” to me (and to the rest of the world). That Disney is so bent out of shape over the appearance of these photos (again, supposedly taken in private to be kept in confidence, yet mysteriously linked to the whole damned world — how can anyone famous still do this shit and expect it to stay private?) is laughable. Read the full story...

[acidfree:1771 size=150 align=right title=’Maggie Gyllenhaal’] Articles like this one really amuse me and confuse me (all at once ). It’s about how Maggie Gyllenhaal (pictured at right) is (or isn’t) super hot & sexy for men (or women), depending on what gender you are when you read the article, and on whether you’re straight or gay.

For the record, I think she’s hot So do lots of folks on Fark.com (click the link for their opinions and many more pictures and even a link to a movie featuring her more “adult” performances). I’m male and I’m straight, so that’s “appropriate” and “socially acceptable.” I think. Even though the author of the above article seems to think she’s not a “traditionally hot” woman, but is more appealing to, um, other women. Read the full story...

I’m going to push the boundaries of copyright law with this one — fair use says I can freely quote an article so long as I produce more “original” content than I quote. It just seemed like this entire article deserved attention, but also needs point-by-point rebuttal.

Understand, I am not necessary in complete disagreement about the overall opinion that “strip clubs suck.” My distaste for them, though, stems from something entirely different than this woman’s distaste for them. She goes for that whole “turns women into objects, all are victims being roped into drugs, etc.” angle. Read the full story...

You can be sure there’s tons of political uproar about this abortion boat that sails pregnant passengers who want abortions in countries where it’s not legal to obtain them into international waters where the “abortion pill” can be administered.

That just makes me laugh my ass off. Try all you want to stop them, pro-lifers, but people will continue to exert the control over their bodies that is their right to enforce

I’ve heard plenty of reasons why it’s okay to outlaw abortions, but none of them have ever really swayed me away from thinking the mother’s right to choose trumps all other concerns: Read the full story...

I’m likely to piss someone off with this one, but this Best of Craigslist entry really strikes a raw nerve with me. I’ll explain why overall below my “rebuttal,” but first, let’s pick apart yet another list

1 — Hey you over there, holding that one dollar bill in your hand with a death grip and waving it around at me like it’s the fucking deed to Trump Towers… what the fuck do you want me to do, grow another pussy?!? It’s a fuckin’ dollar, put it down on the tiprail and blow my world away already.

No, I just want you to give me the same amount of attention you’re giving to every other guy who’s just tipped you a dollar. Perhaps you’ve been ignoring me (either accidentally or purposely) and I want to make sure you’ve noticed me. Read the full story...

[October 8, 2007, Willfe] I have no idea whatsoever why this has become the single most popular article posted to the site here, but it sure as hell has — it’s been here about half as long as the next-most-popular article yet has almost 45% more overall hits. Regardless, woohoo! If these hits are actually because of humans reading the article (and not just a bot crawling the site), feel free to post commentary about it. I’m interested in hearing from others about this topic. Scroll below to find the “Comment” form; tell me what you think!

It astounded me recently to learn that in some states, even when a man can prove that a baby isn’t his, its mother can still, in certain cases, force him to pay child support.

How much must that burn you up to have to write a check to an admitted whore to pay her to take care of a baby that isn’t yours? Let’s be realistic here — if you’re forced by law to pay a woman to care for her baby even when you’ve proven it’s not yours, she’s a whore. There are reasons I say this so confidently. If she can’t pin down who the real father is, it’s either because:

• She doesn’t know who he is (i.e. she’s has unprotected sex with multiple partners)* for sure and is just “choosing” the most “viable” (financially) target
• She knows who it is but can’t (or won’t) admit she knows (i.e. she’s been banging someone who’s married, or she’s been cheating on somebody herself)

* No, I don’t automatically think a woman who has multiple sexual partners is automatically a whore, but if you’re not in a monogamous relationship with somebody and you’re slurping up seed from whoever will make a deposit, you’re not going to win a medal for chastity. Read the full story...

I think we can categorize this article about the “Date Rape Drug” (GHB) into the “fucking duh” category. As it turns out, there isn’t (and likely never has been) any epidemic of attacks and assaults carried out against women (and men — let’s please stop pretending that women are the only victims of assault … sure, it’s less frequent, but it happens; deal with that and move on) that involve the use of an illegal, mind-altering drug.

You can study this “phenomenon” as much as you want, but you’ll still come back to the same answer: men don’t use the “date rape” drug to get laid because they don’t have to.

Read on for some moderately not-safe-for-work commentary on this. Be warned; there’s some venom in this one, and keep in mind I think both sides of the drunken sex equation are to blame for the diseases and unwanted kids that ensue. Read the full story...