firehose

People Magazine

Seven Charged with Promoting Prostitution After Federal Agents Raid Escort ... People Magazine Seven people have been arrested following a raid on the New York City headquarters of Rentboy.com, the largest online male escort service, officials said Tuesday. CEO Jeffrey Hurant, 50, and six other current and former employees appeared in court on ... We Should All Be Outraged by the RentBoy.com BustSlate Magazine (blog) Feds Finally Realize What 'Rentboy' Means, Shutter Popular Escort SiteNew York Magazine Rentboy.com busted after alleged 'illegal prostitution'Washington Post Examiner.com -The Verge -Fox News all 273 news articles »

submitted by Gatoona [link] [226 comments]

awesome-picz:

Cats Who Just Realized You Took Them To The Vet

this is my favorite post I’m not kidding

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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Politico

Planned Parenthood provides tissue donation details Politico Planned Parenthood told Congress on Thursday that the organization's physicians on rare occasions make adjustments to an abortion procedure if a patient wants to donate fetal material. Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of ... Planned Parenthood Alleges 'Smear' in Letter to CongressABC News 'Sting' Videos Of Planned Parenthood Are Totally Manipulated, Forensic ...Huffington Post Planned Parenthood Raises New Questions About Abortion Video StingTIME STLtoday.com -FOX40 -New York Daily News all 536 news articles »

darkmoongallery:

lady-feral:

kid-communism:

kid-communism:

thesanityclause:

damnitfeelsgoodtobeafangirl:

A Death Metal Magical girl to go along with my viking ladies [x] [x]

Despite the fact that my original viking magical girl was me sharing some personal feelings about how I feel about my favourite genre of music, I got of bizarre hate or at least a bunch of people getting super snotty at me about that Valkyrie Yuuki comic existing already. Because hoW DARE I do my own version dealing with my own personal feelings about how I feel. 

So since viking/pagan/folk metal is where I got when in a good mood, death metal is where I go when I’m pissed. So I like this idea of these magical girl being the cavalry that gets called in when she gets tough. She’s fly in when she hears someone talking shit, spit blood in their face and then deliver the heads of her enemies to the feet of all our lovely viking girls.

[tagging for blood and gore. Let me know if I need to cover any more tags] 

I’m just pointing with my mouth open in joy.

YASSSSSSSS

lady-feral

Lol, I dig it.

I loudly demand more of this.

kateordie:

theinturnetexplorer:

Healthcare in the US

Why am I moving here WHY W H Y

New comic!
Today's News:

It’s not been a good day for DC Comics. Earlier this morning, the company announced that it was down over $2 million in its total revenue and expenditure for the last financial year. It’s getting worse, though: DC’s reaction to the bad news is apparently to get editors to stop experimenting with its comic books.

Read more...

We’ve debunked it before, but this photo just won’t go away . The 1948 picture above doesn’t show Albert Einstein with his therapist. The guy Einstein’s meeting with is Cord Meyer, Jr., president of the United World Federalists. Meyer, a CIA operative, was merely discussing world politics with the famed scientist.

Read more...

Courtney shared this story from Super Opinionated.

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Thanks to "some violence," the Extended Edition of "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" has earned an unexpected R-rating.

Last week we covered former Harry Potter podcaster Ben Schoen’s harassment of journalist Grace Speelman after she told him she had a boyfriend, and this week we have another charming example of how men on the Internet handle being told “no” by a woman. (Trigger Warning: the email below uses abusive racial and gender-related slurs)

After Elements Anthology editor Taneka Stotts told an applying comic creator that she wasn’t interested in seeing his completed book, Stotts received this email:

As any woman in an editorial position can probably attest, rejection on the Internet doesn’t have to be romantic to incite abusive behavior; but just because these kind of interactions take place with alarming frequency doesn’t mean they should be “all part of the job.”

We reached out to Stotts for statement about the incident, and she explained:

It has been quite the weekend, and it has brought up a lot of interesting dialog between friends and kind strangers. The language in the screenshot I posted is rough and hard to decipher, but I shared it regardless because people should see the quiet abuse that can happen behind the scenes. In general I knew that creating Elements would open myself up to comments and criticism, but I still found this surprising. After all, I’m just an indie publisher who likes to promote and showcase voices besides my own.

I have honestly never experienced an extreme reaction like this in comics, but I’ve seen and experienced quiet racism quite a bit. I’ve been around for a few years now, and originally wandered in through online study groups. Like most, I was looking for friends and experienced creators to help me grow. At that time I was still grasping the basics (I’m always learning), but realized quickly that most of these study groups were predominately full of white men. For better or for worse I stayed so that I could continue learning, but over time things began to grow uncomfortable. While most of the men I encountered were kind and helpful, there was a number of men without filters who would comment on issues they had never experienced, or who would speak out in general but without ever listening. I’ve always had a strong backbone, but on occasion things would go too far. When I began to question or call out certain members for their off color commentary, they seemed genuinely surprised to be questioned, and their responses were usually mocking jokes to diffuse the situation, or to ignore me entirely. I have been called everything from “sensitive” to a “reverse racist” which just highlights their inability to engage in a proper dialogue.

Today, those men in question have never moved past that study group and have not done anything of significant merit. However, I went in an opposite direction, fueled by my passion to create and to listen. I now have the Beyond Anthology under my belt, and I’m gearing up to do even more projects, like Elements, in the future.

Stotts’ tweet definitely sparked an interesting discussion online, where her friend, artist Spike Trotman, mentioned having similar experiences:

One of my rejects emailed me for FOUR MONTHS after he was turned down. When I wouldn’t respond, he started emailing my friends..

— Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) August 23, 2015

Another dude began demanding to know who took ‘his” spot, and started suggesting who I should kick out to make room for him.

— Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) August 23, 2015

(via Janelle Asselin on Twitter)

—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—

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Washington Post

Guest at Jelly Belly chairman's family reunion killed by WWII-era armored vehicle Washington Post The Jelly Belly chairman's family reunion in California featured rides on a 1944 World War II armored vehicle with two tank-like treads. But the Saturday event ended with a fatal accident when one passenger fell off and was run over, police said. “An ... WW2-Era Tank Crushes Man to Death at Jelly Belly Family ReunionTIME California man dies after being run over by WWII tank on Jelly Belly chairman ...Fox News Guest run over, killed by military tank at Jelly Belly Candy family reunionSan Jose Mercury News Mashable all 105 news articles »

While it’s no secret that the Bechdel Test has its roots in several places, its being featured in Alison Bechdel’s 1985 comics classic, Dykes to Watch Out For, cemented it as being associated with Bechdel. Well now, she’d like to change that.

For those of you who’ve been sleeping under a rock, the Bechdel Test is when a feminist piece of media must 1) have at least two women in it, who 2) talk to each other, about 3) something other than a man. This criteria appeared in Dykes to Watch Out For, because of a conversation that Bechdel had with a friend, Liz Wallace, who mentioned those rules to her when Bechdel was looking for ideas for her comic. (PS, the rules also have roots in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own where she writes, “All these relationships between women, I thought, rapidly recalling the splendid gallery of fictitious women, are too simple.” And that those relationships are generally “in their relation to men.”)

Now, in an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, Bechdel reiterated that, especially since the test has become such a useful tool in analyzing media from a feminist perspective, that she’d love it to be attributed to Wallace as well. She said:

I feel a little bit sheepish about the whole thing, because it’s not like I invented this test or said this is the Bechdel test. It somehow has gotten attributed to me over the years.

It’s this weird thing. Like, people actually use it to analyze films to see whether or not they pass that test.

It’s interesting that she seems so surprised that it’s caught on the way it has, when she herself was so impressed by the rules that she chose to include them in her classic comic in the first place. Still, it’s cool that its popularity isn’t entirely due to her use of it, and that she wants to give credit where credit is due.

When Fresh Air‘s host, Terry Gross, asked her if she thought the test should be renamed the Bechdel-Wallace Test, Bechdel’s response was, “I would be very happy if that happened.”

Well, we here at The Mary Sue want you to know that we’ve heard you, Ms. Bechdel. We’ll do our best to refer to it as the Bechdel-Wallace test from now on.

(via The Atlantic; Image via Chase Elliot Clark on Flickr)

 

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You guys are a company. A company that makes money. You can afford to film something that isn't a gigantic pile of garbage if you're going to promote a laptop that starts at $2,500.

The practice of tripling, quadrupling and quintupling ride fares in times of high demand may face limits from New York City officials. Many drivers might be OK with that.

The University of London team has spent more than three years crafting a new, 8-inch wang out of skin grafts culled from Abad's forearm and becomes erect by mechanically pumping fluid into it.

Curt Schilling, who loves crazy-ass memes and being crazy more than anyone, is getting a slap on the wrist from ESPN after tweeting a meme that’s basic premise was "Muslims = Nazis."

James Beard Award-winning author and noted soul-food scholar Adrian Miller unpacks the complex origins of a cuisine rooted in both triumph and anguish.

Certain structural factors appear to make rape especially prevalent on some college campuses. Off-campus spaces, degrees offered and greek life are among factors that play a role.

Parents scratching their heads over why more teens are getting lice these days may have an answer in high schoolers’ favorite pastime: snapping selfies.

When Jorge Ramos from Univision begins to a ask question about Trump's statements on immigrants without being called on, Donald Trump shuts him down and has him escorted out by security.

“Transit Maps” Presents… The Interstate Subway Map Shower Curtain!

Reader Jake Hamilton sends in this picture of his shower curtain, which shows my Interstate Highways as a Subway Map. It’s a product that I offer through my Society6 store – though to be honest, I’d almost completely forgotten that it even existed until Jake sent in this snap of his purchase.

I have to say that it looks pretty darn awesome, and Jake says that the print quality is excellent, standing up well to daily use. So if you’re in the market for a new transit-themed shower curtain, head on over and grab yourself one. You’ll be joining an exclusive club of one! (Thanks, Jake!)

Interstate Shower Curtain - Society6

Image source: Jake Hamilton/Instagram

Violin

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gov. Bobby Jindal was the first among Republican governors to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood after the latest attacks on the organization, the release of "sting" videos by anti-choice extremists posing as a medical research company. The organization filed suit Tuesday to stop the defunding effort.

Without a court injunction, more than 5,200 Planned Parenthood patients who rely on Medicaid for health care would have to find care elsewhere, the organization says.

"We're in court today to protect over 5,200 people's access to cancer screenings, well-woman exams, and basic health care in Louisiana," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. "Many of these folks would have nowhere else to turn for health care."

Richards slammed Jindal for attempting to cut Planned Parenthood funding "to score political points," charging that the governor's moves are putting women's health at risk.

Of course it's about scoring political points and trying desperately to gain an edge in the presidential campaign. Neither of Louisiana's two Planned Parenthood facilities even provides abortion services, so the cut-off of funds was absolutely baseless. But they provide a huge service—the East Baton Rouge clinic "served 60 percent of the female contraceptive clients served at publicly funded clinics in 2010."

The law is on Planned Parenthood's side, as the feds have reminded Jindal. Medicaid law specifically requires that recipients can choose whatever provider they want that accepts Medicaid patients. That includes Planned Parenthood, the medical home for millions of low income people. The only way a state can intervene and withdraw its portion of Medicaid funding is if the provider has committed fraud or certain other criminal acts. Which Planned Parenthood has not done, in Louisiana or anywhere else.

While traveling through Dulles Airport last week, I noticed an Internet oddity. The nearby AT&T hotspot was fairly fast—that was a pleasant surprise.

But the web had sprouted ads. Lots of them, in places they didn’t belong.

Last I checked, Stanford doesn’t hawk fashion accessories or telecom service.¹ And it definitely doesn’t run obnoxious ads that compel you to wait.

Some ad-supported websites, like the Wall Street Journal, were also emblazoned with extra marketing material.

Same goes for certain federal government websites.

Curious, and waiting on a delayed flight, I started poking through web source. It took little time to spot the culprit: AT&T’s wifi hotspot was tampering with HTTP traffic.

The ad injection platform appears to be a service from RaGaPa, a small startup. Their video pitch features “MONETIZE YOUR NETWORK” over cascading dollar signs. (Seriously.)

When an HTML page loads over HTTP, the hotspot makes three edits. (HTTPS traffic is immune, since it’s end-to-end secure.)

First, the hotspot adds an advertising stylesheet.

<head><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://adapi.ragapa.com/v1/rgp-location-layout-css?id=att-rrna-07252015">

Next, it injects a backup advertisement, in case a browser doesn’t support JavaScript. It appears that the hotspot intercepts /ragapa URLs and resolves them to advertising images.²

<body><noscript><div id='ragapatop' name='ragapatop'><img src='/ragapa?ragapanoscript=2811' height='65px' /></div></noscript>

Finally, the hotspot adds a pair of scripts for controlling advertisement loading and display.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://adapi.ragapa.com/v1/rgp-location-layout-html?id=att-rrna-07252015"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://adapi.ragapa.com/v1/rgp-location-layout?id=att-rrna-07252015"></script></body>
</html>

Those scripts, in turn, import advertising content from additional third-party providers.

XYZ Workshop has created a design for a 3D-printed chess set made up of pieces that individual mini planters. The set won the 2013 My Mini Factory Chess and Pen Design Competition, and users interested in creating their own tiny chess garden can download the design through My Mini Factory.

images via XYZ Workshop

via Boing Boing

Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO who bought the Clippers for $2 billion, will—despite his professed liberalism—only offer his professional dancers the life of a struggling actor. By comparison, a professional dancer in a Broadway show belongs to a union and makes a minimum of $1,871 dollars a week, regardless of how many hours they work. While the NBA doesn’t provide healthcare for its cheerleaders (although it does cover injuries sustained during work), professional Broadway dancers are eligible for healthcare after just 12 weeks of work in a calendar year. But, of course, musical theater (unlike professional sports) is an industry dominated by women and gay men.

Audrea told us not to waste money on expensive headshots for auditions. “Spend that money on a spray tan. Or getting your hair done.” The best tops to wear for auditions were brightly colored bathing suit tops. Rhinestones were encouraged. Doing the “pop-out” test at home—jumping around in your living room and making sure nothing falls out—was strongly encouraged by Audrea, who said errant pop-outs had “happened before.”