http://www.othermag.org/blog.php a magazine for people who defy categories Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:17:49 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss092 thomas@thomasleavitt.org thomas@thomasleavitt.org en Hi, if you have the other magazine blog bookmarked, hopefully you've already noticed our big announcement that we moved our blog to a new URL back in June. But if you've got us on your RSS feed or aggregator, then you might have missed the excitement! Please reset all your ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=280&c=1 My new favorite blog is Molecule of the Day. I think it's because I never took chemistry in high school -- I'm hungry for fun ways to find out about molecules and molecular structures. I still can't believe that I've made it through life this far without ever really learning ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=279&c=1 25,000 Goreans can't be wrong, can they? That's how many people allegedly practice the male-dominant master-slave lifestyle, according to a BBC News article. They're living in the zone where consensual BDSM veers into being downright creepy, with wack rituals and an assumption that all women will be slaves and men ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=278&c=1 My favorite anthropologist, John Hawks, writes about the recent media frenzy over a scientific paper that suggested humans are the result of hybridization between early hominids and early chimps. The paper, published in Nature by Nick Patterson, et. al., is the result of some rather shoddy research into human ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=277&c=1 Yes, I keep blog-checking Steven Barnes over at Dar Kush, but he's just so damned smart and interesting. This time, he's using Poseidon to examine how mainstream America's ideas of the value of gay white men vs. men of color (any color) have shifted. Once upon a time, not so long ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=276&c=1 Beauty pageants have a long history of contention, but what about non-beauty pageants? Is it possible to have a "person pageant", modeled on the beauty pageant format, in which people are judged for their commitment, or their effectiveness, or even their overall community cool? Or will such an attempt inevitably ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=275&c=1 Last week Liko and I were visiting with our new friends Karen and Argus. Leaning in the playroom corner we found "Peace Trek: Family Coloring Book," published in 1986. “Why are people in this picture smiling and relaxed?" write the authors. "They are at peace with themselves and with everyone ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=274&c=1 As a previous post about gay Iran hinted, LGBT activism is springing up all over the middle east. Karl Soehnlein sent along this email (below) about another organization, Helem, in Lebanon. From Helem's website: Helem, a group previously known as Club Free, has been working on LGBT issues in Lebanon for ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=273&c=1 On Wednesday, May 10, I'll be taking part in a "rapid fire" (three minutes, tops!) benefit reading at Valencia Street Books in San Francisco, along with Other Magazine mavens Charlie Anders and Liz Henry. The event, which starts at 7pm, is a fundraiser for Strange Horizons and the Speculative Literature ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=271&c=1 Ever wonder what it would look like if comics artists drew the male superheroes with the same salaciousness with which they render the female characters? Well wonder no more! Karen at her "oddity collector" livejournal used photoshop and (presumably) some gay porn to mock (up) comic book covers that objectify ... http://www.othermag.org/blog.php?p=270&c=1