RelentlesslyOptimistic

"I’m Scheherezade: If I don’t tell stories that fascinate the Pasha, he will kill me in the morning.”

The woman in the bathing suit below is 60 years old, has a BA in Cultural Anthropology, a husband of 25 years and a son who's a 4.0 college student. The title above was something she said about her job answering calls for a 900-number phone sex line in Phillip Toledano's new book Phone Sex.

She's one of the fascinating people the author interviews about their jobs talking to people who call phone sex lines. The book's site includes excerpts and stunning portraits of eight of the operators.

From The Morning News via The Triumph of Bullshit

Beast Treaties

"They were a pestilence, coming upon us in so many ways- with guns, knives drawn behind empty handshakes, bringing sickness and fire. No matter how many we killed, no matter how firmly we stood, they just kept coming. It was we who saw our numbers dwindling, our villages emptied or turned to ash. The death and desecration and misery was beyond what our gods had prepared us for. There were no ancestral stories to tell in the night which were more brutal than what we’d seen in the day, and so there was no wisdom to draw on… no comfort. In the end, staring at their piece of paper, the one they said would make it all stop, I took the pen and did the only thing left for me to do- I drew a tiny little elk’s head."

 

This fascinating post at The Nonist covers a little of the history with a lot of images of the totemic drawings Native Americans used when they signed treaties, and why reproductions of the treaties often show only an "X" in place of the original drawings.

The Mischievious Boys

I don't understand what it is about these, but they make me smile. From Joe. My. God.

"I'm not sure what exactly, if anything, it says about pop culture when a group of shirtless gay boys can gain a little internet notoriety by posting videos of themselves lipsyncing to the dance versions of hit singles by female vocalists, but I do know this: I don't hate it.

The Mischievious Boys are a bit of a fledging internet juggernaut. They have a website, a group blog, a fan club, a Yahoo discussion group, an apparel sponsor, and a brand new video: here."

Opinions wanted: anyone remember shaving with safety razors?

Were the good old days really better?
This post from Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools is the second reference I've seen recently about old-fashioned safety razors being better. My fear is that this is another example of an object-fetishism sales approach with a reality that doesn't cut it, so to speak.

The classic shaving site's descriptions are full of lyrical prose about hefty platinum razors, badger-hair brushes, accessories and Old World Craftsmanship (caps original). But those old-fashioned razors are expensive, I'm guessing they don't shave the badger to make the brushes, and I frequently cut myself with my disposable-blade razor.

So for those who used to use safety razors, the razor-burning (sorry) questions are:

• Is it truly a better shave?
• Can a graceless shaving klutz get a better shave without more frequent injuries?

For those who are convinced, visit this post's sponsor for your shaving needs:

           

Looking for safety razors and shaving sets? Try Nashville Knife Shop.

Good News About You!

My parents always believed that I would someday own a junkyard, because I was so fascinated by them as a kid. Now I collect electronic detritus to share with you. SWAPATORIUM is one of my favorites, described as "A journey through junk land." There are frequent gems, and then there's this outstanding example of human ingenuity.

Sadly, we can't see her flag-colored hair in the black and white photo, but some things are best left to the imagination. Visit the site to see why she has a rocket on her head.

"Dump the douche" Creepy Products Poll

feministing is having a "most disturbing product" poll. The products, from past mentions on the blog, range from pure misogyny to "only" making money by making women feel bad about themselves.

One expression of misogyny is a woman toilet seat recently sold on ebay.

The profiting-on-shame product, Vaginal Cleansing Film is "like a big ole Listerine breath strip for your pussy...available in: Chamomile, Island Breeze, Fresh Flowers, and Baby Powder."

The manufacturer's press release "Dump the douche...there's a modern, convenient alternative...the first truly new delivery system for women's personal hygiene in over a generation" evokes the first line of John Varley's Steel Beach: "The penis is obsolete!"

Via majikthise

Pungnacious reporters' ghosts live in Queens press room

If the Queens Courthouse Press room was a person, it'd be an old guy with a big nose reddened by lunchtime shots of whiskey from the bottle kept in the back of the top drawer of the grey metal desk. He'd have big hands that could type quickly with two fingers on an old manual typewriter, and you'd know that he kept a reporter's long notebook with beat up cardboard covers in his back pocket next to his handkerchief. Or so I see it after reading the New York Times' Corey Kilgannon's wonderful character sketch Where Scoops Go to Die.

"In the Queens courthouse press room, there are two large metal file cabinets with three old typewriters on top, each supporting an old telephone. The tools of the trade are stacked like headstones, as if to memorialize a bygone era of newspapering."
[...]
"The scene is like a David Mamet rewrite of "The Front Page," with the reporters badgering, spying and tailing one another throughout the building in a battle for exclusives."

The blog link tool doesn't work on this article, so I've included the entire article in the extended post.

The Secret Swing

Someone put up a swing in a graffiti-covered alley in Toronto. Accordion Guy blogs it, then it gets a mention in BoingBoing which distributes it all over the internets, even to the Flickr Blog, where I found it. This photo comes from Easternblot via the wonderful group of tagged photos.

More than two standard deviations from the norm. Again.

This is a really interesting experiment. Take the tests, post them. See how it spreads, and after it's compiled, see how bloggers may or may not differ from the norm. Kinda makes you want to start that blog you've been thinking of, just so you can participate, doesn't it?

In an updated post Richard says "cognitive scientist Chris of Mixing Memory has kindly volunteered to keep track of the data and analyse the results. (Apparently there are already some interesting correlations beginning to show up, but I won't say more until more data is in." He also say that he needs more data from conservative and women bloggers.

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Overview: This post is a community experiment with two broad purposes. The first is to create publicly accessible data about bloggers' personalities, which may have sociological value in addition to being just plain fun. The second is to track the propagation of this meme through blogspace. Full details and explanation can be found on the original posting: http://pixnaps.blogspot.com/2005/06/meme-worth-spreading.html


Instructions (to join in the experiment):

1) Take the IPIP-NEO personality test and the Political Compass quiz, if you have not done so already.

2) Copy to the clipboard that section of this post that is between the double lines, and paste it into your blog editor. (Blogger users may wish to use 'compose' mode to preserve formatting and hyperlinks. Otherwise, be sure to add hyperlinks as necessary.)

3) Replace the answers in the "survey" section below with your own.

4) Add your blog information to the "track list", in the form: "Linked title - URL - optional GUID".

5) Any additional comments should go outside of the double lines, including the (optional) nomination of bloggers you wish to pass this experimental meme on to.

6) Post it to your blog!


Survey:

Age: 47
Gender: Male
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Religion: agnostic
Occupation: non-profit consultant
Began blogging (dd/mm/yy): 24/07/04

Political Compass results
Left/Right: -5.63
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.26

IPIP-NEO results

EXTRAVERSION: 99
Friendliness 78
Gregariousness 95
Assertiveness 99
Activity Level 64
Excitement-Seeking 99
Cheerfulness 99

AGREEABLENESS: 72
Trust 97
Morality 42
Altruism 82
Cooperation 61
Modesty 3
Sympathy 90

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: 6
Self-Efficacy 80
Orderliness 1
Dutifulness 9
Achievement-Striving 87
Self-Discipline 6
Cautiousness 1

NEUROTICISM: 19
Anxiety 0
Anger 18
Depression 62
Self-Consciousness 2
Immoderation 72
Vulnerability 24

OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE: 99
Imagination 79
Artistic Interests 89
Emotionality 82
Adventurousness 98
Intellect 84
Liberalism 99


Track List:
1. Philosophy, et cetera - pixnaps.blogspot.com - pixnaps97a2
2. Majikthise - 6ea37d10-e9b9-11d9-8cd6-0800200c9a66
3. Ezra Klein - http://ezraklein.typepad.com
4. Rox Populi - http://roxanne.typepad.com
5. RelentlesslyOptimistic5473311

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Heartfelt, I'm sure