Links

Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.

Demand Space

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Anyone in need of a hosting provider?

D just pointed me to Demand Space, just started by a friend of hers, and they’ve got a really good limited-time-only Grand Opening special (at least, it looks like it to me, though I haven’t looked into these things in a while):

  • Domains: 5
  • Disk Space: 1500 Mb
  • Bandwidth: 20 Gb
  • Email Addresses: Unlimited
  • Subdomains: Unlimited
  • MySQL Databases: Unlimited
  • Administrative Interface: cPanel
  • Monthly Price: \$10.00
  • Yearly Price: \$120.00

Might be worth looking at, at least.

iTunes: “Girls” by N-Son-X from the album Goa Rave (1994, 3:27).

Step right up! Get yer tickets here!

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The automated systems that create the Google News pages occasionally make some rather odd decisions when combining headlines with summaries…

Tickets to Brando's cremation?

Somehow, that’s an event that I wouldn’t expect tickets to be sold for, let alone being sold out.

A porn that needs to be made

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Last week, I pointed to an unusual job listing for a combination tech support and phone sex website. I found the link through Something Positive, one of the few web comics I read on a regular basis.

The current storyline on S*P involves Aubrey (one of the main characters) getting all fired up about this idea and starting her own geek chat porn site.

I just found out that her site actually exists. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present: Nerdrotica!

And sure, I already tossed this into my linklog, but what prompted a fuller post was this bit from Nerdrotica’s “Videos” page…

We currently offer a set of original short erotic movies to customers. These movies cover a wide range of interests and tastes. Whether you’d like to see our suggestive historical recreation of Sir Isaac Newton discovering gravity when his lover, Apple, shows him what goes up must go down, down… all the way down, or our frightening yet enticing tale of H.P. Lovesnatch and the Call of Clitulhu, we’ll think you’ll be more than pleased.

H.P. Lovesnatch and the Call of Clitulhu.

That movie so needs to be made.

iTunes: “Bodies” by Project Pitchfork from the album Zillo Jubiläums Compilation 1989-1994 (1994, 4:30).

Tech Support Porn

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The job market just keeps getting wierder. Consider this Portland Craigslist job posting, for instance…

Seeking qualified tech girls for specialized phone hostess positions.

Requirements:

You must be over 18.
You can be described as a “Tech Girl”, “Geek Chick” or “Network Ops Cutie”.
You need a pleasant speaking voice and able to talk “tech”.
Calls can become sensual so you need to be ok with that.
A fully clothed photo for our web site, although exhibitionists are preferred.
Be willing to take calls from those who find your certifications very sexy.

Please see our web site for more information: http://www.askthetechgirl.com/

There’s a devious, if sad, brilliance in this.

(via Something Positive)

iTunes: “Going to California” by Led Zeppelin from the album IV (1971, 3:35).

That’s a big basement, and a lot of dust

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The Browning pistol that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and sparked the crisis leading to World War I has been discovered gathering dust in a Jesuit community house in Austria.

Interesting enough in itself, but what really caught my eye was the headline that FARK used when they linked to this story. It’s apparently been edited to add some much needed clarification, but the version that showed up in my news aggregator this morning was as follows:

Pistol responsible for deaths of 8.5 million people found gathering dust in Jesuit community house in Austria

I actually had to read this three times before I could parse the sentence the way it was actually intended. I kept reading it and picturing a house with a basement big enough to hold the 8.5 million dusty corpses that had just been discovered.

iTunes: “Lessons In Love” by Lords of Acid from the album Lust (1991, 4:21).

Voices of the Beat: Burroughs, Ginsberg, and more…

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The Naropa Institute has just released a large number of recordings of lectures and classes to the Internet Archive. Included are recordings of William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and many, many more beat-era poets, writers, and personalities. Incredibly cool. Right now, I’m downloading a 1980 William S. Burroughs lecture on public discourse.

A lecture by William S. Burroughs on public discourse, with an introduction by Allen Ginsberg. Topics included are nuclear weapons, disarmament, the Equal Rights Amendment, aliens, dreams, function of the artist, mind-altering drugs, reincarnation, space travel, television, and economics. Keywords: beat generation, literature and the state, technology and literature, literature and society, protest literature

(via MeFi)

iTunes: “Empire Strikes Back (Medley)” by Meco from the album Best of Meco, The (1980, 4:05).

Seattle Storm Lauren Jackson in the buff

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See what I get for not paying attention to sports? I almost entirely missed hearing about the latest overblown controversy involving an adult choosing to pose naked for a magazine being sold to adults (though not an “adult magazine”, i.e., porn).

From her statements in this Seattle Times article, I think that Seattle Storm team member Lauren Jackson has exactly the right attitude about her photo shoot.

Storm star Lauren Jackson, after being asked in 2000 and again in 2002, finally agreed to bare all for an artistic Australian photo magazine called Black+White. Jackson appears on the cover, with the title “The Athens Dream,” in tribute to the upcoming Summer Games in Greece. Wisps of Jackson’s bleached-blond hair dangle over her creamy skin. Inside the magazine, Jackson, 23, reveals everything except her, ahem, down under.

[…]

“Do you really think it’s that big a deal?” she pondered when asked about the nude pics after practice yesterday.

[…]

Feeling too young at 18 to participate in 2000 and too busy with her Storm season during the 2002 shoot, Jackson mulled over the idea for this year’s magazine with her family in the offseason.

She wasn’t paid to pose, but she was flown to Sydney to work with award-winning photographer Steve Lowe and a makeup artist in a private session that took about seven hours. Jackson handpicked her pictures, getting complete control over the process.

After the Olympics, all the photos used in the magazine will be auctioned to benefit charities.

“I feel really comfortable with my body and shape I’m in, and I know I’m not going to be like this forever,” Jackson said. “I was really nervous at first, but it was conquering one of my fears. I felt very much empowered at the end.

“It’s me all over and I’m really happy with the photos. As athletes you work so hard to get in shape for competition. This celebrates the athletic body and how much work you put in. We do it the right way; we don’t starve ourselves.”

Jackson said she doesn’t view the shots as objectifying women, either. Especially because the magazine, which will sell for $40, is equal parts men and women.

[…]

“I really did it with the Australians in mind,” Jackson said. “It’s a prestigious thing in Australia. Believe it or not, but my mom and dad (Maree and Gary) loved it. My dad saw it the other day, called me and said he was so proud of me.”

Jackson’s teammates share the sentiment. Bird loved Jackson’s hair, and fellow Australian Tully Bevilaqua adored the cover shot.

“She looks sensational,” Bevilaqua said. “The human body is nothing to be ashamed of.”

Damn skippy.

I just may have to do some shopping before work tomorrow.

Purely for research purposes, of course.

More on Moon’s coronation

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Kirsten pointed me to a Salon article following up on the bizarre coronation of Rev. Moon. I’m so flabbergasted by this event.

On March 23, the Dirksen Senate Office Building was the scene of a coronation ceremony for Rev. Sun Myung Moon, owner of the conservative Washington Times newspaper and UPI wire service, who was given a bejeweled crown by Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill. Afterward, Moon told his bipartisan audience of Washington power players he would save everyone on Earth as he had saved the souls of Hitler and Stalin — the murderous dictators had been born again through him, he said. In a vision, Moon said the reformed Hitler and Stalin vouched for him, calling him “none other than humanity’s Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent.”

To many observers, this bizarre scene would have looked like the apocalypse as depicted in “Left Behind” novels. Moon, 84, the benefactor of conservative foundations like the American Family Coalition — who served time in the 1980s for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice — has views somewhere to the right of the Taliban’s Mullah Omar. Moon preaches that gays are “dung-eating dogs,” Jews brought on the Holocaust by betraying Jesus, and the U.S. Constitution should be scrapped in favor of a system he calls “Godism” — with him in charge. The man crowned “King of Peace” by congressmen once said, according to sermons reprinted in his church’s Unification News: “Suppose I were to hit you with the baseball bat to stop you, bloodying your ear and breaking a bone or two, yet still you insisted on doing more work for Father.”

The more I read about this, the more bizarre it gets.

iTunes: “Good Person Inside” by Sobule, Jill from the album Sobule, Jill (1994, 3:12).

Must’ve been a slow news day

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From the BBC:

Up to one in five toddlers can open medicine bottles and chemical containers, even if they have child-resistant tops, safety experts warn.

The Child Accident Prevention Trust stressed parents should store potentially dangerous products safely.

From what I’ve seen, children are often the only ones who can open those damn bottles without the Jaws of Life.

iTunes: “White Love (Psychic Masturbation)” by One Dove from the album Platinum on Black, Vol. 1 (1993, 6:52).