gq:

So Long, Boob Tube

Perhaps you’ve noticed there’s been a lot of shiny waxed chests parading around on the big screen. (Ahem, Gosling.) And a lot of cock shots on TV (Ahem, True Blood.) Even some long lingering cock shots. (Ahem, Fassbender.) There’s a sexual revolution afoot. And Julieanne Smolinski is not sure this new era of male objectification is working for her:

Part of the problem is vestigial. We’re conditioned to see male nudity and think: funny! Like, say, Will Ferrell’s butt. Or all those naked people in The Full Monty. Our discomfort with the male member has long been mined to make us laugh—Graham Chapman’s penis was actually the first one I’d ever seen. (I’m not counting Mark Wahlberg’s in Boogie Nights, which is really closer in spirit to a Muppet than to a sexual part.) That is, in my opinion, the sole advantage the male apparatus has over the female: Our junk just isn’t as funny. It’s not as kinetic. It will probably never make anyone laugh, nor would it be medically possible to watch a woman’s genitals flop around while she cries, like Jason Segel’s did so memorably in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Even aside from the actual cock shot, it’s hard for me to process, let alone get turned on by, all the general eye-fucking of the newly bare male form. When the camera lingers on Justin’s bare-butt musculature, I might as well be trying to get turned on by a Michelangelo sculpture.

tyleroakley:

By far, my favorite imagery of the Born This Way era.

I’m so upset that this wasn’t the official album cover.

14-billion-years-later:

Electroplating

So I mentioned batteries the other day and thought I should follow up with a bit more electrochemistry. Electroplating is simply the act of using an electrical current to deposit a layer of one thing (usually a metal) on top of another thing. This is fairly common procedure for many things including making car parts and taps shiny by depositing a layer of chromium. In electroplating the object to be covered is located at the cathode (the negative end) and must be electrically conductive. Another electrode is also needed and in some cases is made of the material to be deposited. Both these electrodes are then placed in a solution containing dissolved metal salts (such as copper sulfate). The ions in this solution allow the flow of an electrical current along with providing the metal necessary to coat the cathode. When this system is switched on the dissolved metal ions move towards the cathode and begin to adhere to the surface. This is because the positive charge on the metal ion is removed by the addition of electrons from the power source. This turns the water soluble ionic metal into the non soluble solid metal we all know, coating the cathode in the process. This continues until all the metal ions in the solution are used up or the current can no longer flow. In cases where the anode is made of metal it may also begin to dissolve as it attempts to make up for the ion imbalance in the solution, thus it reduces in mass and itself can transfer to the cathode.

Electroplating can also lead to fractals as seen in the SEM image.


Images: 1, 2

fromme-toyou:

It’s Friday!

I’ll be popping on my tweed & putting on my lips for this weekend’s Tweed Run Party!

I hope you have a weekend full of timeless adventures! xo

marathonpacks:

The U.S. sales numbers of Pitchfork’s top 50 albums. The ones with suspiciously round numbers are estimations for releases I don’t have firm numbers for. If you have verified numbers to fix any mistakes or omissions, send them along. (UPDATE: US numbers are current up to 1/1/12. UK numbers courtesy of the Guardian

robertreich:

Republicans are worried sick about Newt Gingrich’s ascendance, while Democrats are tickled pink.

Yet no responsible Democrat should be pleased at the prospect that Gingrich could get the GOP nomination. The future of America is too important to accept even a small risk of a Gingrich presidency.

The Republican worry is understandable. “The possibility of Newt Gingrich being our nominee against Barack Obama I think is essentially handling the election over to Obama,” says former Minnesota Governor Tom Pawlenty, a leading GOP conservative. “I think that’s shared by a lot of folks in the Republican party.”

totalfilm:

New Lovelace images show James Franco as Hugh Hefner

A new batch on on-set images have arrived from pornstar biopic Lovelace, including a first look at James Franco as flesh-appreciator in chief, Hugh Hefner…

teenvogue:

Need holiday beauty inspiration? Take a cue from Lea Michele and punch up your holiday look with a bright red pout. Add sweeping bangs and romantic waves for extra glam. 

See how your fave style stars are wearing bold lips here »

good:

GOOD’s got a great gallery of last evening’s Occupy Wall Street clashes in Oakland. So much tear gas.

unequal-design:

Things got intense in Oakland last night.

Photos: At Occupy Oakland, a Night of Protests and Tear Gas - Politics - GOOD