Apple censors Lady Gaga's pro-gay tweets

Apple has just come out with Ping, their new music social media network (aka a clone of Last.fm*). They decided to use Lady Gaga as their example on what following a celebrity page would look like.
The problem is when you compare it to here actual tweets and see which ones they conveniently cut out:
Oh Apple. Gambling and strip clubs make the cut, but not gay rights? Nope, chop those out with the references to hookers, manwhores, and gingers.

Seriously, if your motivation is to not show any political tweets, why not find a point in time where she made three non-political PG rated tweets in a row? ...Okay, this is Lady Gaga we're talking about, so maybe you could have just chosen some other famous singer. Instead you choose a PR disaster.

And just when I thought an iPhone was in my future. May have to reconsider an Android...

*Now you can spy on what music I listen to too, woo.

(Via violet blue (NSFW))

When real life strikes...

...bloggers crumble. Aaaauugghh *die*

If you follow me on twitter or have been paying attention at all, you should know that I'm going to be crazy busy for the next week... month... hell, forever. I'm going down to Purdue for one last visit from Thursday to Saturday. Going to see a bunch of my friends now that classes are back in session since I have no idea when I'll see them again. Why?

Because I'm finally moving to Seattle, wooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Yes, in a week the "trapped in Indiana" part of my bio will no longer be true. But as you can imagine, I'm going a little crazy. Moving to college was easy - Purdue is only an hour and a half away from my home, and I barely had a car full of stuff to take down there. Now I've had four years to accumulate shit, and I get to move 2,000 miles instead of 100. The extra fun part?

I'm driving.

It was about Plan T, but Plans A through S fell through. It'll be...interesting. Thankfully my friend Mark is coming with me, so I won't go totally insane (you may know him as ElGatoCello on twitter). Just to show you how awesome Mark is, we're leaving on September 9th, which is his freaking birthday. This is a good test of who your true friends are - ask them to cram into a crowded car and drive through Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, and Idaho for three days while listening to you sing along poorly to your "Gay Dance Mix!!" playlist. ...Ok, I may still go insane, but I'm bringing him down with me. What this really means is there will always be one person able to livetweet our mutual insanity.

But yeah, it's a 34 hour drive through the middle of nowhere. The directions are basically "Get on I-90 and drive 2,000 miles." I'm sure it'll be pretty, but I'll definitely be stocking up on podcasts and caffeine before I go. The longest road trip I made before this was a 24 drive to Utah a couple years ago, but I only had to drive 7 hours on the way back because I was traveling with two guys who were trying to out-macho each other with their driving endurance. We drove straight through. That will not be happening on this trip.

So after I come back from Purdue, I get to play Car Tetris and see how much stuff I can cram in. I think it should be okay, since I basically just have my clothes, some electronics (computer / Wii / PS3), some dishes and cooking utensils, and then as many books as I can shove into the car. I gave all my furniture away since it wasn't worth the hassle. Heck, I originally got it all through dumpster diving anyway.

Even once I get there, my insanity isn't over. One, I need to find a bed - the plan is to order one so it arrives soon after I get there. Two, I'll need to at least minimally furnish the rest of my apartment. I know myself - if I leave stuff in boxes, it'll be that way five years later. And three, I actually have to get ready for graduate school. This extra long summer has made me forget I'm kind of starting my PhD. No biggy, right?

*gulp*

So the blog will be on autopost more often than not between the 2nd and 12th. Like always, if you have blogging inspiration or random questions to ask me, feel free to email me or go over to formspring.me*.

Oh, and moving tips are welcome. How'd you survive any cross country relocations? Best way to furnish an apartment on the cheap without getting raped by creepy craigslist people? Seattle specific tricks? Best car games to play while driving through Montana?

New York Recap Part3: Best burlesque show ever

If I haven't given you enough evidence of how awesome my sister-in-law Erin is, she took me to Coney Island for a burlesque show. Not just any burlesque show... but Colonel Cornstar's Cuntry Fair. Complete with a heavy petting zoo.Yes, a farm themed burlesque show. You know it had to be awesome.

But the cherry on top was the celebrity sighting we had there. We were standing in line waiting to get in when someone walked by who looked oddly familiar. I thought maybe I was seeing things, since 1) he was way more stubbly looking than usual and 2) we had just talked about seeing celebrities not an hour before, so maybe I just had celebrities on the brain. I peered at him as he was buying a drink two feet away, and eventually poked Erin, and she confirmed.

It was Ted Allen of Chopped, Food Detectives, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy! I'm a Food Network fan and he's my favorite persona (well, tied with Alton Brown), not to mention my favorite one from the Fab Five. He was there with his boyfriend and a couple of friends. I definitely flailed with glee. By pure luck I ended up sitting about two seats away from him.

The show itself was hilarious and awesome. I loved the pig who was covered in balloons, popped them with her tail, and then jumped in a bucket of "mud." Ted Allen appeared to really get a kick out of the I Want Candy bit:



As the night went on, the skits became more bizarre and less farm themed. They included:

• A conservative homophobic uber Christian coming out looking like Hester Prynne, stripping down as she has a crisis of faith, and then pulling fifteen feet of rainbow rope out of her vagina. If you think I'm making this up, there's a NSFW video here.
• A "white trash" girl screwed herself with one of those long skinny spiral lollipops. Yes, literally. I have no idea why or what that had to do with the rest of the show, but it definitely got a reaction out of the audience.
• The inspiration for all of my future nightmares. She came out wearing a terrifying clown mask and 6 inch heels, and threw squirt guns into the audience while holding a sign that said "Shoot the Freak."

Here she is:And here's Ted Allen shooting the freak:Unfortunately he was always busy with his friends or getting a picture taken with the naked Pig Girl, so I didn't get a chance to butt in and awkwardly ask for a photo. I didn't realize until later that he was also a Purdue alumni - I could have had a good intro! Ah well. The experience alone was worth it. I mean, how many people get to say they watched a burlesque show with Ted Allen?

Delightfully bizarre.

(Videos via Year in Dance, the blog of the dancer with the magical rainbow rope hiding vagina)

New York Recap Part2: SEX!

On the Friday after my photoshoot I decided to hit up a couple New York museums. First I headed over to the Museum of Sex, which a bunch of my readers suggested to me. Man, I have no idea why you guys thought I would want to go to this place. Do I look like some sex obsessed biologist to you?
...Don't answer that.

The gift shop alone was worth the visit. It included everything from sex books and sex toys, to sex themed plates to this horrifying bunny bondage mask:
I thought the Donnie Darko bunny mask was as scary as it gets. I was wrong.

The museum itself was very cool. It was a little weird going through it without a friend, because I was That One Creepy Loner Person staring at bondage get ups and famous pornos. But it was still neat. The first exhibit was all on kinks. It ranged from typical stuff like porn to stuff like balloon popping or feeder fetishes. I was particularly amused by this antique fanfiction:
I know, you'll never look at Donald Duck or Olive Oil the same way. You're welcome.

As a perfect example of why I needed a partner in crime, they had Real Dolls on display that you could touch. I was going to try it out of curiosity, but then another Creepy Loner Guy came up and rubbed at the female, and it was just creepy as hell. So, yeah, I wimped out. I regret it!
One of their special exhibits was on condoms. A lot of it was educational, so not really new to me, but I loved all the different condom cases they had on display. These three were by far my favorite (click image for larger):
For those of you who can't read it, Sarah Palin's says "When abortion is not an option," Obama's says "Use with good judgement," and McCain's says "Old but not expired." Though I like my sister-in-law's suggestion for an Obama condom - "For when hope is not enough."

The final exhibit was on animal sexuality, so I definitely spent the most time in there geeking out. It was odd reading all the information and seeing names of people that I not only recognized, but have actually met. I knew a lot of the stuff, but I learned a lot of fun facts. Did you know elephant clitorises are 17 inches when erect? Well now you do, and you can't forget that. Again, you're welcome.

I was a bit disappointed they didn't have anything on copulatory plugs, though. Who doesn't want to learn about natural chastity belts?! I'll have to send them my paper once it's published.

On the way out, I was greeted by a cute mime wearing nothing but an American flag speedo on stilts. Yay New York!
My next stop was the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA. I absolutely loved it. I didn't research it much before going, so I was shocked by how many famous pieces were there. Persistence of Memory, Girl Before a Mirror, Christina's World, I and the Village, the Campbell Soup Cans... I was overwhelmed. I literally got goosebumps when I turned the corner and there was Starry Night.

But I also enjoyed the less traditional modern art, partially for its silliness. I mean, how can you not like Yoko Ono's wall of butts?
The best part was the young girl who was pointing at the butts giggling like crazy, trying to point it out to her mom. In French. I don't speak any French, but it was like the universal language of juvenile humor.

Arsonists strike future Tennessee Islamic Center

New York is not the only city that currently has a mosque controversy. Conservative Christian wackies in Murfreesboro, Tennessee are opposing the expansion of their local Islamic Center. Because, you know, it's just for training more terrorists and stuff. Oddly I first heard about the story from the hilarious clip The Daily Show ran on it last week.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Tennessee No Evil
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

In a not so hilarious turn of events, arsonists have set fire to the construction equipment at the site of the Islamic Center's expansion.

Hey, Conspiracy Theorists Who Think All Muslims Are Terrorists? Maybe going around setting things on fire and destroying property in an attempt to cause fear and silence a whole group of people isn't the best way to say those people are the terrorists. Just sayin'.

Despicable.

Exposed scientific dishonesty illustrates why science is so great

That title may sound counter intuitive, but give me a chance to explain.

You may have heard about the bit of academic scandal that's been happening at Harvard recently. Marc Hauser is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology, Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, and Biological Anthropology. He was the leading researcher on the evolution of morality and moral behavior in primates and humans and an author of a number of books, including Moral Minds and (in progress) Evilicious: Our Evolved Taste for Being Bad.

In a somewhat amusingly ironic twist, he was found guilty of scientific misconduct, including fabrication of data that will result in several papers being retracted.

This is a very serious situation, especially since Marc Hauser was such a big name in his field. His career is effectively over, and now reseachers in the field have to rethink everything they've learned from him (and cited from him). It's even more serious for his students, whose futures are uncertain when their graduate advisor has such a black mark on his record. It's upsetting to the field of science as a whole, which does rely on a certain level of trust for practical reasons. We peer review to the best of our abilities, but you still have to hope everyone else is being honest like you since it can take time to expose problems.

It's also a little jarring to me personally. Not only will I have to reexamine what I read in one of his books that I greatly enjoyed, but I almost went to graduate school in one of the departments he teaches in. Academic scandals aren't the best way to start your graduate career.

But we have to remember this is what makes science so great. Science is not dogmatic. It's based on peer review and constant criticism. Scientists are still human and make errors, sometimes purposefully and sometimes not, so it's important to have these checks in place. Hauser was a giant in his field, but even he was not immune to scrutiny. It was his own graduate students who brought these problems to our attention at great personal risk.

Some people are using this as a chance to pooh-pooh the whole field of evolutionary psychology. I'm sure it's only a matter of time for creationists like Ken Ham to squeal with glee and twist the facts for their own "Never trust science!!!" agenda. But I really don't think this is quite so tragic. Isn't it good to know that we still expose bad science, even when we may have political reasons to not? Would we rather have evolutionary psychology trucking on without criticism, or get the fraudulent data out in the open? I'd be more concerned with the field if it was just being swept under the table. While it's sad such dishonesty occured, I'm happy to know that we can still sniff it out, correct it, and punish those who perpetuate it.

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic (I know, unusual for me). But I think it's good to use this as an example of why science is the best way of exploring the world around us: Because when our findings are wrong, we'll admit it.

New York Recap Part1

I saw a ton of interesting and silly things during my trip to New York, so it would be a shame not to share it. So here are some of the highlights, with lots of photos!

The hotel I stayed in the first night was super fancy. At least, super fancy to a poor college student. But I liked it because it had a particular geeky bent to it, since it was in an old "Chemists' Club" building. Beakers for glasses! Petri dish for the soap holder! Wooo!It also was a wonderful location - just a couple blocks from Grand Central Terminal, The New York Public Library, and Times Square. I figured I would go check out Times Square since it was a Wednesday night, rather than an insane weekend visit. My sister-in-law pleaded that I check out the new Pop-Tart Store that everyone has been talking about, and try the disgusting-yet-intriguing sounding Pop-Tart Sushi.The idea of Pop-Tart having it's own store is kind of odd. I mean, I'll eat Pop-Tarts occasionally...but they're just Pop-Tarts. They're not even all that good. To have a whole store decorated like a Pop-Tart LSD rave was just weird.

But I did order one piece of the "Pop-Tart Sushi," which was Raspberry, Blueberry, and Wildberry Pop-Tarts mushed up together and held together with a fruit roll-up. If you think that sounds weird, just see how it looks:It was hard to put that thing in my mouth, it was so disgusting looking. It looked like a piece of fruity salami that had been pooped out by a unicorn. The flavor was okay - vaguely fruity - but the consistancy was gross. It was this gritty yet soft texture, like someone had chewed up a Pop-Tart, spit it out, and formed it into a nice little wedge. Thankfully it was only 75 cents.

I then wandered to the heart of Times Square. All the lights were kind of cool, but I don't know why it's such a big draw. It's basically just a lot of flashy advertisements, with the occasional weird person on the street.
Though my "favorite" weird thing was the Times Square Elmo. It was something out of a nightmare movie. The outfit was super old and dirty, like Elmo had been rolling around in the gutter. Something about the matted fur and human fingers sticking out of holes in the glove was unsettling. What was more unsettling was the parents who still let their children run up and hug Nasty Elmo. Eeewww.
I stopped in a couple random stores to pass the time. The coolest was definitely the Lego Store, where they had amazing Lego sculptures and individual lego pieces in every color.
This is totally different from the Pop-Tart store because Legoes, unlike Pop-Tarts, are super awesome. Just to clarify that.

I didn't spend too much time exploring that night since I was tired from my flight and needed my beauty rest for the photo shoot. I was tempted to get a last minute ticket for Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party, but ended up being too cheap. I did get to see an awesome sunset before turning in.