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Craigslist Adult Section

craigs_list_sex_forsale2010-med-bigBy: Billy BeerSlugger

Just so everyone knows, Craigslist has taken down the Adult Services section on their website. Now you may be thinking, “That’s good, prostitution is illegal and disgusting” and for the most or all of that equation you will be right. Prostitution is definitely illegal and Craigslist is one of the main places that people in every major city have gone to acquire an escort, get a blow job or be beaten unmercifully by a dominatrix.

On the surface, taking down a portion of a website known to harbor such activity is hailed as a victory for morals and right wing politics. However, having one place for people to go to advertise or acquire such services also gave law enforcement a one stop shop to snoop, sting and arrest the people partaking in such activities. So on one hand you have a free-ish website devoted to people providing erotic services and on the other hand the people who are posting these services are opening themselves up to arrest and prosecution if they are providing illegal services as well as the people who are responding to ads may be caught in a sting also. So does one negative and one positive equal a wash? Apparently not.

With a political season in full swing and right wing rhetoric being spewed out of every trying to be a senator/representative that is in a conservative area it put a lot of pressure on Craigslist and they eventually caved. Why? I’m not really sure. Maybe endless days in court and lawyer fees, maybe they didn’t want the bad press, maybe they figured it just wasn’t worth the hassle to let people sell sex for free essentially. Either way, the people that were frequenting the Craigslist Adult Section now have to go other places to find what they are looking for. Places the Police aren’t privy to or do not have good ways of tracking. So that when things do go wrong, someone gets hurt or killed it’s going to be that much harder to solve the case.

You can look at this things from the two angles, pro-adult section and anti-adult section and have a great argument on both sides but I’m of the mind that people will find another way to do their illegal activities, just like in the realm of illegal downloading of copyrighted data. You shut one file sharing site down and 10 more pop up and then more people know that there’s file sharing sites when they hear the news on TV that one was shut down. It’s almost better to leave the original one up and try and control that monster than tear it down and create a long line of copycats.

Anyway, that’s why we call them issues because they have two equally different but somewhat logical thought processes behind them. Whats great about this country is we are allowed the opportunity of free thinking unlike many other countries and cultures. I always find it’s best to discover both parts of the argument, look at both rationales behind the thought processes before you make an informed decision.   Don’t know why but this issue kind of reminded me of how blindly following a politician on certain issues is often not the right thing to do. They were some of the people frequenting Craigslist Adult Section to begin with.

Catch our fun take on BeerSlugger.com’s brief foray into the world of Adult Personal Ads on Craigslist.

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How Colonial and Hip Hop Fashion are Similar

Major Ball Sweat
Major Ball Sweat

By: Billy BeerSlugger

In the 18th Century to “wear layers” took on quite different than it is currently understood. Whereas today when you are told to wear layers it is out of function, to keep you warm in the cold. In Colonial times wearing layers upon layers of clothing and adorning yourself with a  powdered wig were signs of affluence, status and wealth. We’ve all seen renderings of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the get-ups our founding fathers were wearing and probably think nothing of it. However, have you ever been in Philadelphia in July? If you’re doing anything outside, even just walking around you are going to be sweating profusely and that’s wearing shorts and a t-shirt. So in the name of high fashion and status our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in layer upon layer of unnecessary clothing in 90 degree temperatures. The Colonial gentleman typically donned underdrawers, breeches, leggings (“spatterdashes”), a robelike banyan or waistcoat, formal full-skirted coat or informal frock, outer cloak, hat, and cravat around the neck. I’m not sure what took more guts, to proclaim Independence or risk heat exhaustion from doing it.

So how does Hip Hop and Rap fashion relate to Colonial fashion? Because the same kind of “fashion as a status symbol” is essentially ingrained in the hip hop culture. How many rap songs do you hear that do not brag about money or cars or jewelry or expansive fashion?

puf
I'm Rich Bitch!

Drinking Cristal Champagne more for it’s price tag than it’s taste. Fashion in the Hip Hop culture is more a symbol of status then it is of function, just like our fore fathers. How many times have you seen the emblem of a Mercedes Benz ripped off to make a necklace? How many rappers have gotten gold or platinum front teeth implanted? Certainly not necessary but definitely shows people you have a lot of disposable income.

Now this isn’t to say that most, if not all, cultures do not have a status placed on articles of clothing and accessories. Your girlfriend or wife probably won’t go out of the house without her Coach or Louis Vuitton purse. I know in most circles in corporate America that a really expensive watch denotes wealth where it will generally perform exactly the same as a watch that costs hundreds or thousands of dollars less. And sure the WASP section of the American population is probably just as enamored with expensive name brands as the hip hop culture is. I guess you really don’t hear white people talking singing about owning status symbols and the hip hop culture may be a little more likely to take their perceived level of wealth and status to an extreme. To each their own though, can’t hate on a brotha’ for flaunting it.
play mobile games

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Partying With Celebrities

snookiBy: Billy BeerSlugger

I get at least a couple emails every week from Philly2Night.com or some other social alerting service where they allude to a party taking place at a venue which has booked a “celebrity” as the host. “Come Party with Audrina Patridge from the Hills in Atlantic City” or my personal favorite of the last year, Snooki of MTV’s Jersey Shore hosts Fat Tuesday at Bootleggers. The personal favorite being that Bootleggers is about 5 minutes from my parents house and not exactly known for it’s high quality clientele, trust me I know.

Anyway, the point being that bars and clubs hire these “celebrities” to come say a few words at the start and end of the night, hang out and drink in a VIP section and maybe spin a couple CD’s or look like they’re partying in a DJ booth. You generally do not get to talk or interact with the “celebrities” hosting these parties. Maybe if you are a good enough looking group of girls you can get into the VIP area and talk to a psedo-celebrity like “The Situation” but someone might have to blow a bouncer first.

It’s amazing to me that teeny boppers and early 20’s guys and girls will pay upwards of $20 to get into a place which holds a member of a TV show they happen to like and not get in 30 yards of that celebrity and that just gets you in the door. You know the venue is jacking up prices on drinks too so be prepared for $9 beer night. Plus, what would you even say to these “celebrities” if you did get the chance to actually meet them? “Snooki I thought it was terrible when that dude punched you in the face!”, like she hasn’t heard that about a billion times. “Lo Bosworth from The Hills I can’t believe so and so did this to you on the show!”, all the while the celebrity is thinking it wasn’t actually real but just in the script. They aren’t concerts, it’s not some sort of thespian performance it’s just a reality TV show participant drinking the same watered down liquor you are only they’re getting paid to be there. If you enjoy watching celebrities from afar and wasting money I would highly suggest participating in one of these types of events.

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YourOpenBook.org – Whats up with Facebook Privacy?

facebook1By: Billy BeerSlugger

So I stumbled onto YourOpenBook.org whilst reading a Wired.com magazine article about why not to be on Facebook. Lot of compelling arguments not to be on Facebook and I too share the authors feelings of perceived un-coolness when people I meet are bewildered that I’m not on Facebook.  Obviously I also share some of the authors views on the reasons not to be on Facebook as you may have read recently, mostly dealing with private companies like Facebook and Google containing so much data on people and how that data can be misused.

There has been general problems and criticisms with Facebook and privacy issues for some time but the most public issues came to light as recently as late 2009 and May 2010 when Facebook with revised privacy policies.  It forced “user profile photos and friends lists to be visible in users’ public listing, even for users who had explicitly chosen to hide this information previously, and making photos and personal information public unless users were proactive about limiting access” according to Gawker.com. So basically users who previously thought their data was safe behind a login wall and or only accessible to their firends now had to actively protect their data as Facebook’s default functionality was to share your data.

Besides all that mess the real thing I’d like to you visit is YourOpenBook.org. Go ahead and search a multitude of terms. As suggested by the author at Wired fun ones are “cheated on my wife” or “my new mobile number is” or “feeling horny“. Just a small taste of what can be grabbed off of your online Facebook profile. Just trying to raise some awareness for you Facebookers and social network addicts.

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Meatloaf: Love and Logic

meatloafBy: Billy BeerSlugger

I have a friend who is currently enamored with the sultry stylings of Meatloaf or more particularly one song, I Would Do Anything for Love. Recently she emailed me with the graphic pie chart to the right which she thought was hilarious.

Now I appreciate novelty, I really do but I had to completely disagree with the math presented in this. Clearly if he won’t do “that” then at least a portion of the pie chart would have to be green. It doesn’t even matter what “that” is, if Meatloaf will not do one thing for love then the entire pie chart cannot be 100% colored by “anything”. Even if there was infinity things Meatloaf would do for love he would still not do that one thing and therefore I think my logic is pretty good.

Now is there something in the song that would lead you to believe that he would do “that”? The last words of the song are, “…but I won’t do that.”. I think that really wraps my case up.

Now my friend who sent me this is pretty livid on how I took her funny little pie chart and turned it into an argument but I’m not going to stand for faulty logic… and you shouldn’t either.

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Athletes Pulled Over For Speeding

SpeedingBob McFlurry with Sports

I’ll never get why it’s big news when an athlete or celebrity gets pulled over for speeding or driving erratically. DUI is a different story but just going 20-30mph above the speed limit? People get pulled over for that every day and they are not made to be ridiculed on TV for it and seriously isn’t there something you could be covering that has a little more journalistic integrity ESPN?

I for one drove to Chicago as fast as the car and traffic conditions would allow last month, probably averaging around 90mph but hitting as high as 115mph. I was in complete control of the car the entire time and it was all highways and during daylight. Now I’m not saying I’m right but I didn’t put anyone in danger. Maybe these athletes were driving a little erratically but for the most part I just read or hear that X athlete was pulled over for doing 100mph in a 65mph or something of the like. With the souped up cars these guys drive 115mph can feel like 70mph. I’m sorry people but that is not news. Someone getting a traffic ticket is definitely not news it’s tabloid fodder.If the person gets pulled over and then gets arrested on outstanding warrants then print that, don’t tell me so and so got pulled over and got a traffic ticket though. It’s a waste of the 5 seconds it took me to read it across the bottom line

If ESPN wants to be the TMZ.com of sports news then I’m all for it. But if you want to be taken seriously just report on sports, not what Brett Favre is having for breakfast or if Tiger Woods just took a dump.

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The Lovaza Laboratory

By: Billy BeerSlugger

I’m not really sure what Lovaza is but I know that if it’s made in a kick ass underwater laboratory like the one in the commercial it can’t not be good.  The laboratory resembles something I think the Cobra Commander or Dr. Evil would have his base of operations. And how cool would it be to work in an underwater laboratory? One minute you are looking at a microscope slide, the next you look up and there’s a school of fish or a stingray. Fantastic!

You have to wonder what the waiting list is to be a scientist for Lovaza just to get the chance to possibly work in this underwater facility. Right now I’m trying to find out where this place is and if it is on a list of top 10 offices ever.  A portion of my guess as to why it is underwater is because Lovaza deals with fish oil and fish live underwater. Makes complete sense to me. You no longer have to be a marine biologist or oceanographer to work underwater. And the scientists go WILD!

Seriously though you may have seen this commercial and thought nothing of it. I saw a big bullshit sign. It’s just another in a long line of advertisements for prescription drugs which make something seem more attractive than it is. No one wants to take pills so these drug companies put imagery of an underwater laboratory or his and her clawfoot tubs on a beach to dress it up and make it look appealing like a cigarette commercial. And there’s absolutely no way that any company would sell anything that could be deemed hazardous to our health is there?

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3D Porn Is Upon Us

By: Billy BeerSlugger

It was only a couple of months ago since I wrote an article about how the porn industry has helped shape and standardize technologies. In the article I mentioned that the first 3-D porno would probably come out within the year and that hypothesis was apparently right on track. Vivid Entertainment is coming out with a movie called “This Ain’t Avatar XXX”. Not sure if the film will feature lanky blue people with tails but I’m sure there will be some tail in it and worth a spank or two just for the novelty. How silly will you look jerkin your gherkin with 3-D glasses on? How much better can 3D Porn be than regular Porn?

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Gamefly

By: Billy BeerSlugger

Somewhere around 2005 I began using Netflix to rent movies online and it was a far better service than any major Movie Rental place like Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. You could rent video games at those places but the service was about as good as the movies and the late fees still applied.

Fast Forward to January of this year and I started using GameFly. GameFly operates pretty much the exact same way that Netflix does in that there are no late fees and you receive your games in the mail. Again I could not be happier about the results of this service. Instead of sinking $40+ dollars into a new game and then finding out it sucks you can rent it from GameFly. If you like it play it until beat the game and send it back when you’re done. If you really like it then you have the option to buy the game for less than you can in the store. If you don’t like the game you send it back immediately and get the next game in your queue.

There really isn’t a better service out there for renting and previewing video games. It carries all the major console games like PS2, PS3 and PSP, XBOX and XBOX:360, Wii, Nintendo DS and Gamecube. The best part is that it’s FREE TO TRY! Or you can start for only $8.95. Whether you are an avid gamer or just play occasionally games there isn’t a reason not to use this service.

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Toddlers, Tiaras & To Catch a Predator

And the winner is... Pedophiles!
And the winner is... Pedophiles!

By: Billy BeerSlugger

I may be behind the times a little bit because last night was the first time I had witnessed the Soft Core porn for child molesters that is Toddlers and Tiaras on TLC. It is a show in which young girls under the age of ten get all glam’ed up with makeup, fake hair, spray tans, fancy dresses and prance around a stage while a bunch of house moms live vicariously through their children.

While I’m not one to tell people what to do with their children or in favor of making laws banning child beauty pageants, this is certainly a show that the world in general could probably do without. In a time where the European Union is considering saving all web searches in an effort to combat child porn (or just be big brother) and Dateline: To Catch a Predator is popular for catching Child Sexual Abusers TLC should probably think twice about the programming they are putting on TV for weirdo’s to consume.

The parents of the kids on this show should also be reasoned with. Aside from my reasoning that no child should be subjected to being on a reality TV show, I don’t think that the sexing up 3 – 10 year old girls is a good thing for America and I think really puts those kids into danger. It kind of gives child sex abusers an excuse, “I wouldn’t have kidnapped and abused the little girl on Toddlers & Tiaras if she wasn’t so damn sexy on the show.”.

Maybe your girlfriend watches this show, maybe your Mom or sister, it doesn’t matter; if you find pleasure in watching this show you are a weirdo. If you are a male and watch the show you obviously have some problems. If no one watches the show it gets cancelled and maybe you save some little girl from getting sexually abused. Think about that next time you turn on your TV.