First, let me say that there is nothing wrong with this product, the Peekaboo Pole Dancing Kit. It is obviously being marketed (by the Peekaboo company, anyway) to adults, and there are certainly much racier items than this on the market, including hardcore movies and various electric, anatomically correct, and vibrating gadgets.

The fuss came (assuming you’ve heard about the fuss) when online retailer, Tesco, added this item to the Toys and Games section of their website. Now for those who don’t know, Tesco is NOT an adult-store retailer, they are a family style retailer, and when they say “Toys and Games”, they generally refer to “Kids Toys and Games.”

So, the fuss happened (read about it here), and Tesco quickly removed the item from their website. The media, always getting it wrong, characterized the Peekaboo Pole Dancing Kit as a “toy”, and so more than a few thousand people think that this item was intended to be marketed toward little girls.

Which is just wrong. Funny, but wrong.

Thanks to Alex at Non Compos Mentis for bringing this to my attention

I found this over at Pop Diner, thanks to Jen

Ever wonder what you would get if you crossed the classic comic Family Circus with famed philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche?

Wonder no more! Go visit The Nietzsche Family Circus

Most of you have probably noticed (but have failed to comment) on my new look. I changed my header to a darker, but more artsy look. I also changed the color scheme from green/greenish-yellow to brown/brownish-yellow.

What do you think? Be honest!

Other changes i’ve made:

• Blogroll cleanup: For the longest time, I tried to keep track of dozens of blogs, but this turned out to be too time-consuming. It also turned out that reading dozens of blogs on a daily basis means I couldn’t really keep track of what was going on in any of them. So now, I have basically two categories:
  • Favorites: 8-10 blogs that I read daily. If you are not on this list, please don’t be offended. I had to choose among dozens of blogs that I liked alot. This doesn’t mean that I won’t read other blogs, I just don’t have time to read them daily.
  • Who Links Here: Self-explanatory. This is essentially a list of recipracol links. If you link to me, and you aren’t on the list, please let me know.
• Bookmark Button: Click here if you want to add my page to any social bookmarking service (e.g., de.licio.us, etc)
• Subscribe Button: Click here if you want to subscribe to my feed using your prefered feed reader (e.g., bloglilnes, newsgator, etc.).
• Removed Items: I did away with the “Ask a Chemist” feature, and the “LIVE CHAT” feature. The Ask a Chemist thing was getting way too heavy, and the LIVE CHAT nobody was using. You can still ask me a chemistry question using the “contact me” button, but please remember, I only have a BA in Chemistry and I really can’t help you in your cutting edge research efforts.

A new, controvertial “low food” diet is sweeping the nation, with many medical experts hailing the new diet as the healthiest, most beneficial diet plan ever, and many others expressing doubt and criticism.

Doctor P. T. Snikta, author of the aptly named The Snikta Diet, is considered to be the leading authority on low food diets.

“I based my book on research that was conducted in the early 70′s and 80′s that showed that people who took less food in their diet lost more weight than those who ate more food.” Explains Dr. Snikta. “Study after study has confirmed these results, and these studies became the basis for my diet plan, which can be purchased at any book vendor for $24.95 (USD).”

The theory behind the “low food” diet appears to be sound. Medical professionals have known for well over a year that obesity is caused when ingested food is stored in the body as fat. Dr. Snikta contends that by reducing the amount of food, the body has less food to turn into fat. “Its simple physiology.” Remarks Dr. Snikta

However, critics contend that the “low food” diet can be dangerous, and that Dr. Snikta is an irresponsible ass. “Dr. Snikta is an irresponsible ass.” Claims Dr. Debra Pearsons. “People need food to live — Obviously, if people eat less food, they will live less. The old adage ‘Eat, drink, and be merry’ may be cliched, but there is an element of truth to it.”

Meanwhile, marketers and food manufacturers are jumping on the low food bandwagon with new “low food” products.

“Our Low Food Diet products have 50% less food than our regular products.” Says Michael Dryden, CEO of Snackity Snack, Inc. “Like the Low Food version of our popular Snackity Snack Food Sack (a popular snack food). The 16 oz package only contains 8 ozs of snack food.” Mr. Dryden claims “We can’t make them fast enough! Sure they cost a little more, but its what our consumers demand.”

Element 118 (currently unnamed, but now called Ununununaoctoninactium — from the latin “10 billion dollars per atom”) has almost certainly been created in the laboratory by scientists.

Creating the elusive element required scientists to bombard unstable, radioactive, Californium-249 atoms with Calcium-48 ions for two months. Finally, after two months of painstaking work and analysis, the experiment probably produced 3 atoms of Element 118 that lasted less than a millisecond.

Since the element had a life-span shorter than the Swift Boat Veterans for Justice after the 2004 election, scientists could not observe the elements directly.

Says Jason Emory, of the Mount Livermore Nuclear Laboratory and Grill: “We can detect the decay sequences with a special device. . . that. . that detects decay sequences” Pausing to clear his throat, he continues, “By working backward through the decay sequence, we are reasonably certain we created element 118.”

His colleague, Dr. Ivan Nostrovski of the Chernobyl Memorial Radioctive Cement Block High-Energy Lab, stresses how relatively positive they are that they have succeeded. Gesturing broadly at the decay chart, Dr. Nostrovski explains. “Element 118 first decayed into element 116, then into element 114. That decayed into element 112, which split into two roughly equal pieces.”

“It was really cool.” Added Dr. Nostrovski.

Diagram shows the decay remnants of Element 118 (probably)

So. . .

Boston breaks Keene’s record for most lit jack-o-lanterns

So that sucked