And She Was...

We had a bunch of people over last night for Rosh Hashanah. One of my friends has a 12 year old son, who accompanied her for dinner. Cayne and I are fond of him, and he often hangs out with us when we go out.

At one point during dinner the conversation strayed in a direction that led to the 12 year old reciting some poems by Shel Silverstein. I mentioned that he'd been a contributor to Playboy. Mom reacted with surprise. Child looked at us and said "What's Playboy?"

The conversation paused for a moment, and Mom asked Cayne if he had one around. When he said no, she suggested that the men at the table try to explain what it is. (I think there's a Penthouse letters and a Hustler or two in the house, but those aren't quite on the same level as Playboy.) So Cayne and our friend Scott are trying to explain what it is, and I looked at the kid and said "It's a magazine with pictures of naked women in it." Now I realize that's not all that's in Playboy, but that's pretty much what people think of when they think of it.

Poor kid looked really weirded out. He asked why people would want that and what was the point? He looked kind of terrified. We tried to explain what the rest of the magazine included-the articles and lifestyle stuff. We tried to explain what the phrase "bachelor pad" meant. The child was adamant that he'd never have Playboy in the house. I leaned over to Mom and suggested that the child's older brother (who is 21) should purchase one for him. It was just adorable. The 12 year old is an incredibly bright child who is much slower in the social development than academic. Scott joked about getting him a subscription for Christmas. He said "If you did, I'd burn them." Mom said "No you wouldn't. You would hide them under your mattress-that's what your father did, and what [brother] did."

In a few years, he'll look back on that night and think about what he missed. For now, the adults who were there will get a smile out of it.

I hope that all who are celebrating something at this time of year enjoy their celebrations and that your 2008 is filled with good and joyful things.

[14:06] melebeth: Blah. Boys! Blah. Biology! Do you know what we both need?
[14:06] geminigirl: What?
[14:06] melebeth: Really efficient parthenogenesis.
[14:06] geminigirl: Yes.

To be entirely puerile for a moment... and no, I'm not making it up. (In fact, the headline made me laugh hard enough that I couldn't talk to zedrikcayne for a few minutes while I tried to calm down.)

Captain America Arrested With Burrito In Pants -http://www.wftv.com/news/12926707/detail.html

( More about Captain America and His Pants )

cf_but_sane might be of interest to some people on my f'list. Thank kageneko and pal(s) for it.

Also, amusing IRC conversation about Lisa Nowak, the astronaut charged with attempted murder (which is, of course, local news here, being 1. Astronaut country and 2. where it happened.)

srakkt you know why the denied her bail?
srakkt so she couldn't escape on the shuttle!
srakkt *ba-dum-bum*
geminigirl Hee.
geminigirl It's local news here, it's finally replaced the tornadoes as the top story
srakkt There's no extradition treaty with the Mooninites, you see.


(For those of you who usually follow my exploits on freenode, this was on EFNet.)

therealocelot shared this with me on IRC earlier.

The video includes full frontal male nudity, so is probably not safe for most workplaces, but the song is very catchy. No, I didn't check to see whether or not they were circumcised.

Mary Cheney, Pregnant

( AP article behind the cut )

Very little attention has been paid to the fact that Dick Cheney's other daughter is also pregnant. Why? Because Mary Cheney is gay? Is that really a good reason to make a big deal out of it? More important, as far as I'm concerned, is that Mary Cheney and her partner of fifteen years live in a state where that partner will not be permitted any legal rights to the child that she helps raise. Suppose, fifteen years from now, a tragic accident takes the life of Mary Cheney (should have known better than to go hunting with Dad or something)-then what?

Assorted thing number 2:

Hornymanatee.com I didn't believe it when Conan O'Brien mentioned it on his show, but they made it happen. (Reasonably work safe, by the way. Unless your work doesn't like furry manatees)

Assorted thing number 3:
"Avenue Jew"-a piece performed by the casts of the musicals Avenue Q and Fiddler on the Roof, spoofing both. melebeth was kind enough to provide a link to the script, too.