Major league petting zoo.

Have you ever been to a petting zoo like this? It's in Argentina, and it's called the Zoo Lujan. I wondered whether this was a legit story, but I've seen confirmation at other blogs like this. This reminded me of an advertisement for a snake amusement park which I spotted when I was in China ten years ago. The ad indicated that for an admission fee, children get to enter a swimming pool full of snakes. The ad even included a photo of children in a big pool full of snakes. I'm such a coward . . .

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Proof that we’re a social species: a carefully planned moment of synchronicity

Want some proof that we're a social species? Check out this carefully planned moment of synchronicity to the tune of "Do Re Mi." I don't know anything about the group that is responsible for this delightful moment, but it reminds me of another group that poses like statues en masse in public spaces (I know we posted on this earlier, but I'm having trouble locating the link). As always, it's especially fun to watch the smiles the bystanders. Here's a related post, on synchronicity.

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Amazon.com Now Censors As Policy

Amazon.com has just initiated a new marketing policy. They are stripping away the sales ranking of any book with so-called Adult Content. Here's their little explanation: "In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature. Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us. Best regards, Ashlyn D Member Services Amazon.com Advantage What this mean in effect, however, is that books primarily with gay and lesbian content are being singled out for exclusion from database searches. It is being applied in a bigoted and surprisingly hamfisted manner to conform to someone's standard of what constitutes Offensive Material. Adult Content generally means anything with more than coyly suggested sex in it. However, as a sample of the books not having their sales ranking stripped away, consider these: --Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds by Chronicle Books (pictures of over 600 naked women) --Rosemary Rogers' Sweet Savage Love" (explicit heterosexual romance); --Kathleen Woodiwiss' The Wolf and the Dove (explicit heterosexual romance); --Bertrice Smal's Skye o'Malley which are all explicit heterosexual romances --and Alan Moore's Lost Girls (which is a very explicit sexual graphic novel) These book sell very well, generally, so it's obvious that there's a dollar connection to this new policy. Midlist---the vast majority of books---will be targeted.

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Frank Rich on the character of Larry Summers

In today's NYT, Frank Rich is reminding us of the sordid background of one of the architects of Barack Obama's economic recovery program. These are sad times, indeed.

Lawrence Summers, the president’s chief economic adviser, made $5.2 million in 2008 from a hedge fund, D. E. Shaw, for a one-day-a-week job. He also earned $2.7 million in speaking fees from the likes of Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

[P]erhaps I’ve become numb to the perennial and bipartisan revolving-door incestuousness of Washington and Wall Street.

That the highly paid leader of arguably America’s most esteemed educational institution [Harvard]would simultaneously freelance as a hedge-fund guy might stand as a symbol for the values of our time.

Continue ReadingFrank Rich on the character of Larry Summers