Apparently this new Japanese girl subculture is called "Decorer" (one who decorates, or is decorated). A little candy-raver, a little kinderslut, a little goth lolita, and a little Cindy Lauper. Pretty amazing.
Link
(via Wonderland)
Update: AV sez, "The site is going really slowly and feels like it is about to crash so I made a Coral Cache mirror here.
During WWII, there was a prohibition in Canada on importing luxury goods from abroad -- particularly the USA. This included a ban on pulp magazines and comics (but not on highbrow titles like Harper's, natch -- those were essentials!). This led to a made-in-Canada pulp-publishing boom, during which Canada spawned dozens of True Crime, sci-fi, romance, western and other pulps, and put hundreds of Canadian writers to work on them.
This site is dedicated to the glory years of Canadian True Crime magazine publishing in Canada -- lovely stuff.
Link
(via We Make Money Not Art)
In anticipation, porn sites and others that offer adult content are preparing to make their sites compliant -- or taking them offline. Today, several sites in the Rotten.com family are going dark for that reason, including ratemyboner.com (like amihotornot for amateur snapshots of a particular male anatomical part in a particular state) and gapingmaw.com (which you could call an industrial-strength grossout blog).
Section 2257 is ostensibly aimed at preventing the exploitation of minors in pornography. However, some free speech advocates argue it provides the conservative Bush administration with the power to silence other websites deemed offensive. Here's the full text of the law: Link to U.S. Code : Title 18 : Section 2257.
And here is the full text of the enabling regulations which are more widely contested than the US code itself: Link. The amendment was signed into law last month by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
A message on gapingmaw.com -- which wasn't a porn site, per se, but did include some sexually explicit images -- says:
Link to gapingmaw.com article (note: statement is actually dated tomorrow, June 23).
CENSORED BY US GOVERNMENT 18 USC 2257Yes, that is correct. The things that used to be here, the very funny things that you want to read, have been made retroactively illegal by the US government, in a side-handed attack on the pornography industry.
We might mention that the material here isn't even pornography as you normally think of it -- this site is just adult humor, in essay format, with some illustrations. The government is mandating that we meet certain bookkeeping requirements, ones impossible to meet for this site. Never mind that those requirements do not actually gain the public anything. This is the strongest attack on free speech since the passage of the CDA, and oddly, the media seems to have hardly noticed. The penalty for not abiding by these bookkeeping requirements is five years prison.
The regulations were promulgated by Alberto Gonzales, US Attorney General appointed by George Bush. If you voted for Bush, this is your fault. If you think this country is free, you are sadly mistaken. No nation has freedom when it is run by religious zealots.
The adult biz advocacy group Free Speech Coalition (FSC) filed a lawsuit last week challenging 2257, and AVN has more on that: Link. Here's an article on adult news site XBiz about last-minute compliance preparations in the porn world: Link
Previously on Boing Boing: Porn Law Draws Adult Sites' Ire
Reader comment: Race says,
In terms of the bookkeeping requirements for Adult film distributors -- each distributor has to keep records on site. That includes social security numbers, driver license scans and other personal information. So lets say you're Paris Hilton (in red light's "one night in Paris"), your personal information is then has to be carried by every distributor that carries that film ( which could be hundreds if not thousands of locations, increasing the likelihood of identity theft, etc -- and not to mention privacy issues). It used to be that the studio producing an adult film would carry that information at their studio. (...) This law is a way for the goverment to control porn.Mark Haas says,
I'm just coming up to speed on this whole 2257 issue, but I just read the full text of the enabling regulations, and concerning who must keep these records, the text clearly states: "The record-keeping requirements apply to ``[w]hoever produces'' the material in question ... but ["produces"] does not include mere distribution or any other activity which does not involve hiring, contracting for[,] managing, or otherwise arranging for the participation of the performers depicted.'' And so it seems to me that if you are not directly involved in the actual "creation" of the work -- i.e. a web site that displays images someone else created, or a film distributor -- then the record keeping requirements do not apply to you. Am I missing something?Bad Penny says:
Mark is right that the only ones responsible for keeping the records are those who produce the material, but this amendment makes it unlawful for anyone to "knowingly sell or otherwise transfer" any pornographic material made after the effective date in 1990 without being able to show where the records are held. So while websites with such material are not required to have the records, they are required to know where they are.Tom Adams says,Section 4 of the amendment contains the relevant text on this issue:
(4) for any person knowingly to sell or otherwise transfer, or offer for sale or transfer, any book, magazine, periodical, film, video, or other matter, produce in whole or in part with materials which have been mailed or shipped in interstate or foreign commerce or which is intended for shipment in interstate or foreign commerce, which -
(A) contains one or more visual depictions made after the effective date of this subsection of actual sexually explicit conduct; and
(B) is produced in whole or in part with materials which have been mailed or shipped in interstate or foreign commerce, or is shipped or transported or is intended for shipment or transportation in interstate or foreign commerce; which does not have affixed thereto, in a manner prescribed as set forth in subsection (e)(1), a statement describing where the records required by this section may be located, but such person shall have no duty to determine the accuracy of the contents of the statement or the records required to be kept.
There's an aspect to this I haven't seen discussed. Immediately after the Patriot act was in force, there were uses of its provisions against criminals other than terrorists. John Ashcroft defended this, saying that "prosecutors should use all the tools available to them." It seems a small stretch to argue that these new regulations could apply to p2p transfers of adult material. This would open the door to morality based prosecutions of individuals. The Government's Bible Belt equivalent of RIAA suits.A Rotten.com spokesperson responds:
You are missing the part where "distributor" is redefined to include posting on an internet web site. Re-read the enabling regulations more closely. Yes, it really does that. Specifically the term "secondary producer" is defined to include anyone who posts a digital image on an internet site, under 75.1 (c)(2). Secondary producers are the ones who are now being required to maintain this information. It is no over-reaction.Romanpoet says:
In addition to ratemyboner.com, another rotten site, ratemyboobies.com has also been censored. Of interest, a site generally considered to be in far worse taste, ratemypoo.com is excepted from the new porn regulations.(Ed note: I'm told by a Rotten source that this is because "stray cunts" tend to show up on ratemyboobies from time to time. This creates problems with 2257 compliance. But ratemypoo tends to be -- well, pure poo.)
Joe says, "Annalee Newitz has a neat article on 2257... in her classic style."
But wait - there's more. Any site affected by 2257 must also publish a physical address that serves as its "place of business." Someone must be available at that address 20 hours a week just in case a law enforcement officer wants to gain access to those 2257 records. This doesn't seem too onerous if you imagine a Penthouse.com or Vivid Video type of operation. But consider all the mom-and-pop adult Web sites run out of private residences, or Webcam girls who don't turn the cam off when they take someone to bed. These rules mean that your local Webcam girl and our friends over at sex blog Fleshbot.com must publish their physical addresses online, thus leaving performers and writers vulnerable to stalking and harassment. But hey, it's a great full-access wank pass for cops who can't afford to pay for really primo porn sites every month.Link to Annalee's article.
Fine, Rochus. Go ahead. Defrag my Borg-hilda dreams with your merciless facts, your heartless "empirical evidence" -- call our lady of latex a lie. But borg love is TRUE. Die sexpuppen der Nazis are forever.I came across the story about these dolls about a year ago after a Canadian researcher sent an email around asking whether anyone knew anything about this doll apart from what it said on the (now mostly defunct) site borghild.de.
After reading your post, i researched the matter a bit further. The origin of the information that led to your post (via Fleshbot and other blogs) seems to be an article by the widely read but often less-than-accurately-reporting German daily Bild. All the information given is what can be found on the rather odd website borghild.de - the "information" given there can still be found here in an English translation.
Independently of each other, Jens Baumeister and I have concluded from the information available to us, that the "Borghild" story is quite probably a fake. (The German posting on my research is here. Jens has posted his results here. Some of his findings are translated here: Link).
The main problems with "Borghild" are:- There is no evidence that any of the documents the text talks about ever existed. The Deutsche Hygiene Museum says that of course most records were destroyed in an attack in 1945, but that still no one they talked seems to remember anything about this project. The photographs on borghild.de are clearly fabrications, and the site even acknowledges that.
- The author of borghild.de, "Norbert Lenz", claims to have worked for a number of German magazines - all of which claim not to know a journalist by that name. He is not listed in phone directories, and the only book currently available in Germany by a Norbert Lenz is a book about - ducks.So in the end it seems like the Nazis were not, after all, planning to equip their soldiers with sex dolls. That hardly comes as a surprise.
Yours truly,
Rochus
Previously: Nazi sex dolls
From the editorial summary: "The city was bursting with creative activity and things were happening all over. The Arab Oil Embargo was affecting the economy, and the Vietnam War was eroding respect for government." Huh. Wonder what that's like.
Shown here: Rules at the entrance to the orgy room at Plato Retreat's swing club. Link to gallery, contains sexually explicit images (via Fleshbot, where there's more background on where to buy the book: Link)
From Monroe's artist statement:
An initial impression upon viewing the drawings is the realist documentation of the folk history of Southern Appalachia. Upon reflection however, the viewer discovers the interwoven influence and roles that serpents and snakes have played throughout the course of both Christianity and art history. This interaction is strikingly demonstrated by the use of classical and Renaissance poses for the contemporary realist figures in the drawings. Numerous allusions are made to famous Renaissance and classical works which depict scenes in the history of Christianity and mythology in which serpents played a predominant role. Images and poses of the snake handlers were appropriated from works by Michelangelo, Rubens, Titian, Bronzino, Caravaggio, as well as the sculptors of the Laocoon group. Adding to the eclectic nature of the drawings are the subtle influences of Jackson Pollock, Kasimir Malevich, and Hopi Indian culture.Link
Link (thanks, Tom!)I received an incredible working steam engine, made by Jamie our plumber, which was not only spectacular to watch in action but a work of art too. I made a brass weather vane for Steve which powered a moving figure digging the melt tank. It took a lot of polishing but I'm pleased with the result!
Update: Reader Ashfaq Talajawala says, "Dariya-Dil means big-hearted or generous. Literally, Dariya means a river (signifying big) and dil means heart."
Raja Sen says,
The Dariya Dil cover you feature is an awful b-movie with a song called Too Mera Superman (You are my Superman), which features the leading pair, hero Govinda thrusting pelvis in Supe-suit, and 'heroine' Kimi Katkar dressed as (sacrilege!) Spidey. The song takes them from the typical running around trees to a supermarket and finally to a dance floor, with a lot of very badly chromakeyed flying thrown in. Grotesque.
In a brave attempt to surpass a Guinness record--"The World's Largest Popsicle"--Snapple mixed and froze a gargantuan icy doppelganger of its new kiwi-strawberry flavored Snapple on Ice. Then the frozen treat was hauled by freezer truck from Edison, N.J., and raised with an enormous crane in Manhattan.LinkAlas, like James Arness in the 1951 alien thriller "The Thing From Another World," the giant Snapsicle began to melt. Soon pedestrians were fleeing in not-quite terror, fire trucks were converging, and the police were closing off streets to contain the publicity stunt gone wrong.
At the beginning of this week, we learned that a Broadcast Flag amendment might slip past the gates in an appropriations bill. It's easy to see how this could happen. Despite strong opposition to the flag in the Internet community, in many circles it's still considered "non-controversial."Link (Thanks, Donna!)But that was Monday evening.
Within the space of a few hours, the committee was Slashdotted, BoingBoinged and Instalanched.
By 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the 27 members of the Senate Appropriations Committee received more than 11,000 emails and faxes. That's nearly 500 faxes an hour. Dianne Feinstein alone received more than 2,600 messages in her inbox. Kay Hutchison, the senior senator for Texas, received 1,441 letters.
And these are just the numbers EFF has. We don't track telephone calls. But we do know that many of you listened when we joined Public Knowledge in urging you to call your senators directly. If you tried to call and the line was engaged, it was likely occupied by someone else griping about the same amendment. Staffers say they were "swamped."
Today, the phone calls, email messages, and faxes continue to flood in. This is a mass protest even without voices from many of the more populous states, which don't have senators on the committee.
Suffice it to say that you don't get that kind of reaction except for very controversial bills. You did it. You got the attention of every senator on the Appropriations Committee.
And so far, it's working.
"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," (police sergeant Wondimu Wedajo) said, adding he did not know whether the lions were male or female...Link
Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said that it was likely that the young girl was saved because she was crying from the trauma of her attack.
"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they (the lions) didn't eat her," Williams said. "Otherwise they probably would have done."
Sarah sez, "Ben Kerr was a Toronto legend, an elderly busker who stood on the downtown corner of Yonge and Bloor Sts nearly every day, rain or shine, crooning into a karaoke machine and wearing a yellow sweatshirt that said 'Better than Viagra!' Every civic election since 1985 he ran for mayor, and usually grabbed a respectible chunk of the popular vote. He died at his home on Friday."
Link
(Thanks, Sarah!)
Link (Thanks, Susan!)I'm sure you now realize how important it is that your students are taught this alternate theory. It is absolutely imperative that they realize that observable evidence is at the discretion of a Flying Spaghetti Monster. Furthermore, it is disrespectful to teach our beliefs without wearing His chosen outfit, which of course is full pirate regalia. I cannot stress the importance of this, and unfortunately cannot describe in detail why this must be done as I fear this letter is already becoming to long. The concise explanation is that He becomes angry if we don't.
This gallery of vintage phone ads spans the decades from the 1910s to the 1970s -- the wartime ads of the 1940s are particularily tasty.
Link
(via We Make Money Not Art)
My cow-orker Ren Bucholz is at the WIPO Development Agenda meeting in Geneva (see yesterday's post), where developing nations like Brazil are attempting to convert WIPO into a humanitarian agency. In addition to taking exhaustive notes on the process, Ren has been photographing the literature handed out by the delegations (shown here: Brazil's list of concrete proposals for reforming WIPO) and posting them -- this is the first time in the history of WIPO that all the handouts at a meeting are being made available to the general public!
Link
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This 30-foot-tall sculpture, titled The Writer, is currently on display in London's Hampstead Heath. Italian artist Giancarlo Neri, a former pro soccer player for the New York Apollos, says the sculpture is "a monument to the loneliness of writing." 
This homebrew Pac Man guitar was built on a dare, but it includes loads of grace-notes: "A variable-speed knob is located on the eyeball so you can synchronize the blinker to the beat."
