No Uzbequistão há um enorme buraco na terra onde geólogos escavavam a terra procurando por gás. Em algum momento durante as escavações, há mais ou menos 35 anos, eles encontraram uma caverna subterrânea tão gigantesca que todo o equipamento utilizado para as escavações não dava conta do seu tamanho. Com receio de que o gás que havia na caverna fosse venenoso, eles pararam as escavações e atearam fogo à caverna, que continua em chamas até hoje.

Mais fotos aqui.

You Score as a Transhumanist-Biotech

Transhumanists believe that humanity can and should strive to attain higher levels of physical, mental, and social achievement through the use of technology. They seek to extend human capabilities and improve the human condition through technology- supporting the quest for immortality, the conquering of death and disease, the amplification of human intelligence, and the capabilities of the human body.

Transhumanists recognize that over time and with technological advancements, man will realize new possibilities for society and human nature and achieve a posthuman condition (becoming more than human). Societal change is an important consequence of technological progress.

Because of this passionate trust in technological advancement, transhumanists generally see all technologies, as long as they don’t jeopardize the non-corporeal consciousness of a person, as being beneficial both to society and to the happiness and advancement of the person. Transhumanists see benefit not only in technologies that address medical necessities, but also aesthetic or recreational demands. They support advances in cybernetics, genetic engineering in clinical settings, embryo design, and other technologies that allow individuals to take control of their biology, and the human species to take control of evolution.

Transhumanists can be either hard-technology oriented–more inclined to add microchips and machines to their lifestyle–or bio-technology oriented–preferring the softer, more natural advancements and modifications that are made available.

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dan savage, como sempre, acertando a mão na sua coluna no the stranger. confira a coluna semanal aqui e clique no link abaixo para ler a coluna completa dessa semana.

na verdade, o único defeito da coluna do dan é só haver RSS disponível para os podcasts. RSS now!

dan savage, as always, hitting the target in his advice at the stranger. check out the weekly column here, and click the link below to read this week’s worth of dan’s advice.

in fact, the only problem i see on dan’s column is there’s RSS available only for the podcasts. RSS now! 

I’m in my final year of high school and I decided to come out as a lesbian—a very foolish move as I live in a small town that’s not exactly brimming with tolerant people. But I know there are other closeted people at my school and I figured if none of us ever take the first step, it won’t ever get any better around here. But the response from my peers was worse than I expected. It’s nothing too terrible, no physical violence, and in the beginning I could cope. But it’s been a while now and I guess I need some advice. It just isn’t getting better and I’m getting tired of it. I have to park two streets away so people don’t write shit on my car, someone’s hacked my user account and deleted important coursework, I’m either told I’m dressing like a dyke or trying to be a girl depending on what I choose to wear on any given day. I’m avoiding classes that I don’t have friends in because even if nothing is said (though it often is), the atmosphere is horrible. And none of this is that big a deal compared to what others have to go through, I know, but I’m sort of at the end of my tether.

Reporting it to staff is useless because they just tell me there isn’t any proof and do fuck all. I’ve got some teachers looking out for me, but they can’t really do anything, either. I have some supportive friends, thank God, but it’s all just becoming a bit too much, and I need some advice on how to cope through the last few months until I can get out of this shithole town.

Here’s what you need to do, TALI: Look in the mirror every morning and tell yourself that this is the nadir, the bottom, the worst it’s ever going to get. Once you get out of high school and out of your shithole hometown and get your ass off to college—to a big state school or private secular university—you won’t be the only out queer anymore. Hell, you’ll be surrounded by out fags and dykes and bisexuals. I can’t promise you that you’ll never encounter a bigot again, of course, or that all the fags and dykes you meet over the course of your life will be good people. But you will never again feel as vulnerable or persecuted or alone as you do right now.

And while you’re talking to yourself in the mornings, TALI, tell yourself this, too: “Fuck my school, fuck my classmates, and fuck this town.” The shits conspiring to make you miserable, TALI, are unlikely to have lives anywhere near as interesting as the one on which you’re about to embark. Your classmates are making you miserable now because they know, deep down in their little black hearts, that their lives are going to be duller than day-old douche water compared to yours. Their lives aren’t going to be dull because they’re straight, TALI, but because the value they place on conformity—that’s the reason they feel they have a right to abuse you now—is a prison they’ve constructed around themselves.

Right now they’re making you feel like an outcast, TALI, and the malice stings. But what exactly are they casting you out of? Your high school? Their asshole cliques? That shit town? You haven’t been cast out, TALI; you’ve been liberated. Freed. Sprung.

I’m a 16-year-old gay boy. I grew up in an evangelical Christian home. Being the intelligent chap I am, I forgot to clear the history off the computer after looking at pornography one day last October. I got yelled at until I cried that night, and again the next morning, and every day for two weeks. I wasn’t allowed to use the computer for a year, and I was forced to attend church nightly. The electronics embargo has ended, so I can watch porn again at least, but I’ve been forced into the closet by my parents. They both ask me every night whether or not I have a girlfriend, whether or not there are any cute girls in my grade, stuff like that. My mom tears up every time I say that I don’t have a girlfriend. My dad sends me links to antigay articles that describe homosexuality as unnatural and an abomination. Once I made the mistake of sending an article back to him countering his points about homosexuality and he stormed into my room and broke both my cell phone and MP3 player in half.

What the hell should I do about my parents? Will I ever be able to come out? Or will I have to lie to my parents and wait for them to die?

Your parents—your vicious, clueless parents—are abusing their authority and their power, CPAC, which can make it tempting to fantasize about their deaths. Hell, I’m tempted to come over and kill them myself. But your only option right now, I’m sorry to say, is to lie to them. Tell your asshole parents what their assholes ears want to asshole hear: “It was just a phase, Mom and Dad, I was just curious, I’m totally straight, Jesus is the only dude I’ll ever get on my knees for, blah blah blah.” Get yourself a fag hag, delete gay web-browsing histories, create and refrain from deleting straight web-browsing histories, and bide your freakin’ time.

In two short years you’ll be an adult, CPAC, and you’ll be able to come out to your mom and dad—and, even better, you’ll be able to tell them to suck it. Demand an apology for the emotional and spiritual violence they inflicted on you, CPAC, and if one isn’t forthcoming, refuse to see your parents or have anything to do with them until they apologize. They’re currently using all the leverage they have as parents to make sure you’re miserable—aka closeted—for the rest of your life. Once you’re an adult, CPAC, you’ll have to use the only leverage you have—your presence in their lives—to make them into the loving, respectful, supportive parents you deserve, deserved all along, and that it’s not too late for them to become.

Four months ago, my mom walked in on me messing around with my boyfriend in our garage. I’m also a boy, age 15, and I hadn’t gotten around to coming out to my parents yet. I felt bad that my mom had to find out by seeing what she saw. I stayed in my room crying until my father came home. They called me down to the kitchen and told me they loved me and that they were very, very sorry if they had ever done or said anything that made me feel like I couldn’t be open with them about who I am.

My boyfriend is 17. He came out to his parents at Christmas, and our parents met for the first time last night. We don’t have a question. We just wanted to thank you and thank all the other gay people who came out back when it was much tougher to do so. Our parents wouldn’t have reacted the way they did if it weren’t for all you guys that already came out.

Thanks for the sweet note, WON. It’s too bad that all teenagers, gay and straight, don’t have parents as loving and supportive as yours.

foto da lapa, tirada de dentro do cine lapa. fiquei orgulhosa dessa foto, pois apesar de não mais duvidar tanto assim dos meus dotes fotográficos, nunca obtive muito êxito na fotografia de paisagens urbanas e arquiteturas. nesse caso, achei o resultado bom – nada fantástico, mas digno de nota, no meu caso. então aí está.

eu nunca havia reparado no logotipo no prédio do banco do brasil antes de vê-lo através do viewfinder da minha câmera. talvez ele tenha sempre ficado esmaecido pela petulância épica do prédio da petrobras…

clique na imagem para o impacto completo.

The End Of Alt: A Memoir

para ler o artigo completo aqui mesmo, clique no link abaixo.
to read the full article right here, click the link below.

The End Of Alt: A Memoir
by Lux Nightmare

I discovered altporn when I was eighteen, and in quick succession went on to become a model and producer and, eventually, a retiree. So I found myself fascinated by a recent edition of Eye Weekly’s “Love Bites” column in which an aspiring altporn model writes in to ask for advice on online porn sites. How can she flash her tits for cash without selling her soul to some evil SuicideGirls-style company? The short answer: she can’t. Getting naked online is a business; the market is oversaturated with hot young girls looking to cash in; and DIY style doesn’t always guarantee a progressive and respectful attitude towards models.

As a veteran of altporn, this makes me cringe; but as a veteran of altporn, I also know she’s right.

When I was a wide eyed nineteen year old with a digital camera and a dream, it was a different story: someone like me could (and did) start a porn site — one that, free from the pressures of the corporate world, could explore different territory from mainstream porn. But the dream is dead, kids. If you want to be in the online porn scene these days, you’ve got to have cash — and as a result, “indie” porn ain’t so indie anymore.

So what changed?

· The Visa/MC crackdown. A decade or so ago, starting a porn site was easy: you got some web space, you took some naked pix, you found a billing agent to process your membership fees … and then you sat back and waited for the money to roll in. But in fall of 2002, Visa and Mastercard decided to end the party. Declaring adult sites to be a high risk for chargebacks, they started requiring a registration fee to process payments for adult sites: $750 up front and $375 annually after that. While that’s not big money for a large company, it’s a substantial hit (and deterrent) for a small startup. (Bonus fact: The Visa/MC processing fees are the reason why you can’t use PayPal to sell adult-themed products. So when PayPal cancels your account after it finds out you’re selling used panties … well, at least now you’ll know why.)

· Stricter 2257 regulations. If you want to pose naked on the internet, you need to be 18 or older — and if you want to post naked pictures of other people on the internet, you need proof that all the people you’re posting pictures of are at least 18. This used to be a relatively simple matter of getting an ID and a release form from everyone who modeled for you. Then the government decided to step in and make things a little more complex: claiming that they were fighting the evil menace of child porn, they started requiring vastly more complete (and complicated) records for online models. If you’re a small company running a multi-model site, 2257 record keeping requirements (which require publishing a physical address online where those records can be inspected and keeping regular office hours so the DOJ can show up on your doorstep whenever they want to) can be brutal.

· That big bully, SG. You’ve heard about the lawsuits, you’ve heard about the exclusivity contracts, you’ve heard about how they basically “own” a big chunk of the altporn market. Even though they didn’t invent the genre — there were lots of folks getting naked on the internet altstyle long before they launched, including me — they basically dominate the scene now: and they don’t appreciate it when other companies try to take them on. And most of the time, their intimidation tactics work.

· In many ways, “Alt” isn’t really alternative anymore. When I started taking it off online, it had yet to become a hipster pastime — it wasn’t considered cool, and I didn’t gain cred (at least not with anyone I knew in person) for doing it. Flash forward to 2004: SuicideGirls is mainstream, emo girls aspire to be porn stars when they hit 18, and a whole lot of people are looking to cash in on the next new thing in porn. Hence Hustler bankrolling a Burning Angel movie and Vivid launching Vivid Alt. Tattoos and piercings in porn used to signify a product that was female-friendly, feminist, and (dare we say it) empowering; now it’s just another wrapper for the same old product.

This isn’t to say that any broke kid with dreams of becoming a porn mogul can, if given the chance, launch a progressive porn site even a radical feminist could love. But as more and more barriers to entry get put up — economic, legal, or otherwise — fewer people are able to enter the market; and those that do are unlikely to risk their bankroll trying to create and promote a different kind of porn. Which, at the end of the day, may be the reason why the most progressive porn site I’ve seen in recent years comes to us from Australia.

· “Working For The Boy Instead of the Man” (eyeweekly.com)

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”

“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”

–Jean-Paul Sartre

“It is man’s natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.”

–Blaise Pascal

More info at Arocoun’s Wikipedia User Page…

depois eu posto aqui as fotos de divulgação que fiz para esta edição e que saíram na Veja Rio, no Dia e no Rio Show… bombando na mídia!

leia o anúncio clicando no link abaixo.

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craigslist is definitely the site with the most surreal personal ads ever. there are sites dedicated entirely to find those bizarre ads, but unfortunately i don’t have any links to provide right now. so i’m posting one i got today, we never know when this stuff will be offline and it is so worth the record.

read the ad by clicking the link below.

para o cara que está comendo minha mulher
Data: 2008-02-21, 1:43PM CST

Para o cara que está comendo a minha mulher. Você sabe quem você é. Sim, eu sei. Não, não estou zangado, só gostaria de lhe pedir algumas coisas. Afinal, você está dando muito para a minha mulher.

1. Por favor, pare de deixa a tampa do vaso sanitário aberta. Eu levo a culpa e já está sendo demais.

2. Você pode até estar me dando a oportunidade de sair mais para pescar, mas pare de beber todas as minhas cervejas. Não há problema em beber algumas durante suas visitas (só Deus sabe o quanto eu tenho de beber antes de achá-la atraente), mas por favor deixe-me algumas pois eu tenho de ficar aqui por muito mais tempo que você.

3. Se você beber a última, compre mais ou deixe dinheiro em cima da cômoda pra eu poder comprar mais.

4. Por favor, troque o papel higiênico se usá-lo todo. Por algum motivo, meu filho de 5 anos acha que, se não houver nenhum lá, ele não precisa se limpar. Nós deixamos alguns embaixo da pia, você quer recomendar um lugar melhor?

5. Depois de comer a minha mulher, por favor se limpe com algo descartável. A cesta de roupas è direita é minha e as roupas estão limpas. Como a minha mulher não as lava, eu fico sem tempo e com pressa para ir trabalhar. Semana passada minha camisa estava cheia de crostas (obrigada).

6. Não diga aos meus filhos que você é o tio deles, eles são jovens, não retardados.

7. Pare de aumentar o aquecimento, você não paga nada mas a companhia elétrica põe na minha bunda. Minha mulher pode gostar disso, mas para mim só dói.

8. Quando ela perguntar “essa calça me faz parecer gorda?”, diga que não. Você pode achar que uma resposta diferente a fará pensar duas vezes antes de comer um galão de sorvete por dia, mas tudo o que você estará fazendo é dar a ela uma razão para comprar mais calças que fazem ela parecer gorda.

9. Pare de comer meus assados. Os brownies que você comeu foram um presente de aniversário da minha mãe. Minha mulher não cozinha nada tão bom há muitos anos e se ela cozinhar, não vai dividir.

10. Tente equilibrar o seu peso quando sentar na minha cadeira. A cadeira reclinável que eu mal tenho tempo de usar (jogos de futebol e basquete para os meus filhos tomam muito tempo e eu tento ajudar com os trabalhos da escola também) tem uma área de madeira que me força a ficar no lado esquerdo.

Por último, gostaria de agradecer a você por tê-la levado para almoçar no Dia dos Namorados. Ela não estava faminta como sempre e eu pedi somente um prato. Talvez eu use o dinheiro que economizei levando as crianças no cinema. Espero que você possa me ajudar com esses itens, seria estranho ter de confrontá-la. Se você puder fazer isso por mim, eu ficarei de olho e avisarei quando eu for passar um tempo fora para que você não precise se apressar.

P.S. Vou levar as crianças para o Great Wolf Lodge dia 3 de abril por 4 dias, e tem uma garrafa de vodka em cima da geladeira caso acabe a cerveja.

Obrigada. Isso não foi escrito por uma pessoa chamada Jack S.

~*~*~*~*~

to the guy doing my wife
Date: 2008-02-21, 1:43PM CST

To the guy doing my wife. You know who you are. Yes I know. No I am not angry, I would just ask a few things of you. After all you are giving it to my wife.

1.Please stop leaving the seat up, I keep getting blamed and it is starting to get old.

2.You may be giving me a chance to go fishing more often but please stop drinking all my beer. It is fine if you have a couple while you visit(god knows
I drink plenty before I find her attractive), but please leave me a few as I have to be there longer than you.

3.If you do drink the last one buy more or leave money on the counter I will pick some up.

4.Please replace the toilet paper when you use it all. For some reason my 5 year old son belives if its not there he does not have to wipe. We keep it under the sink, unless you can recomend a better spot?

5.After doing my wife please use something disposable to wipe off with. The basket of clothes on the right is mine and the clothes are clean as my wife does not do my washing, Irun out of time rushing to work. Last week my sweatshirt was crusty(thanks).

6.Please do not tell my children that you are their uncle, they are young not
mentaly challenged.

7.Please stop turning the heat up, You pay nothing and MUD is putting it in my ass, my wife may like it but I think it hurts.

8.When she asks “do these pants make me look fat”, say no. You may think giving a different answer will make her think twice about eating a gallon of ice cream a day but all you are doing is giving her a reason to go buy more pants that she will look just as fat in.

9.Stop eating the baked goods. The brownies you ate were from my mom for my birthday. My wife has not cooked anything that good for years and if she does she will not share.

10.Try shifting your weight when you sit on my chair. The recliner that I rarely have time for (soccer games and practice, basketball camp for the kids takes much of my time and I try to help with school work too)has a grove in it that forces me to roll to the left.

Lastly I would like thank you for taking her to lunch on Valentines Day. She was not as hungry as usual and only orded one meal.I may be able to use the money I saved to take the children to a movie. I hope you can help me with these items, it may become ackward if I have to confront her. If you can do this for me I will give you a heads up on when I will be gone and for how long so that you don’t feel rushed.

P.S. I am going to take the kids to the Great Wolf Lodge on the 3rd of April for four days, I have abottle of vodka above the fridge if you find yourself low on beer.

Thanks This was not writen by anyone named Jack S.

a foto não é minha, mas a atitude da senhora retratada merece um post por si só.

para quem não entende francês ou não fez a associação entre a frase e a atitude, vale a pena dar uma lidinha no meu comentário na foto original.

~*~*~*~*~

not my photo but this lady’s attitude definitely deserves a post of its own.

for those of you who can’t understand french or can’t associate the sentence with the lady’s attitude, please see the comment i left in the original post.

talvez não sejamos tão globalizados assim no tocante às relações interpessoais…

via le monde.

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interesting image on the distribution of certain social networking sites accross the world. i’d really love to hear the theories of those who study social networks about each area having an abyss between the first and second place sites as well as why each area has its own site on the top of their lists.

maybe we’re not that global when it comes to personal relationships…

via le monde.

tirado de “transamerica“, um filme que espero poder comentar a respeito por aqui em breve. por enquanto, fica a citação da frase mais marcante do filme.

~*~*~*~*~

Bree Osbourne: It hurts!
Margaret: Oh, honey, that’s what hearts do.

taken from “transamerica“, a movie about which i hope i can talk about soon. for now, the most astonishing quote of the movie will do.

na coluna da da direita,na barra de título da lista de solicitações, há um link milagroso: “ignore all”. ele faz exatamente o que diz quando clicado, ou seja, ignora todas as solicitações. se elas forem de tipos diferentes – por exemplo, convites para aplicativos e solicitações de amizade – o facebook perguntará qual tipo de solicitação você quer ignorar para que você possa ter certeza do que está fazendo.

clicou, limpou. simples assim. ;)

sou constantemente e terrivelmente apaixonada pelas minhas gatas…

uma observação: o título deste post vem de um álbum organizado por uma das minhas gravadoras favoritas, a projekt, especializada em darkwave, etéreo e outros estilos semelhantes. o álbum é todo dedicado a músicas falando sobre gatos. para os fãs dos felinos, é algo de imperdível.

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i am constantly and wildly in love with my cats…

a note: the title of this post was inspired by an album compiled by one of my favourite music labels, projekt, specialized in darkwave, ethereal and musical genres alike. the album is a dedication, filled with music talking about cats. for the cat fans, something not to be missed.