Girls Gone Wi...Sorry, What?

While checking my usual plethora of blogs today, I came across a link on Skepchick that described a story that sort of melted my head. Go read it and then come back here.

In the shell of a nut, this article describes the case of a Jane Doe who had her breasts exposed by some assclown while another douche was filming a Girls Gone Wild video. Doe was in a club and dancing when, allegedly, she is asked to pull her top down to expose herself whereupon she can be heard to say, "No, no." At this point, another woman reaches up and pulls down her top while she is on camera.

This happened when Jane Doe was 20 and she is now married and with two kids. When she found out that this was part of a Girls Gone Wild video, she sued...and lost. Check this shit out:

Patrick O'Brien, the jury foreman, explained later to reporters that they figured if she was willing to dance in front of the photographer, she was probably cool with having her breasts on film. They said she gave implicit consent by being at the bar, and by participating in the filming - though she never signed a consent form, and she can be heard on camera saying "no, no" when asked to show her breasts.

I can only assume that if Jane Doe was drunk and passed out on a couch in the club, it would be perfectly fine to take her top off and film her. Hell, take all her clothes off and run a train on her, filming all the while for their new flick, Unconscious Drunken Bitches Get Gang-Raped. I mean, she was drunk and sleeping at a BAR for chrissake...she was asking for it.

I've been drunk and dancing at many a bar in my day, and that in no way meant that I was ok with someone pulling my cock out and filming it for mass distribution.

The stupidity of the people on this jury (ok, nine of the twelve) is staggering. I'm assuming that none of those nine have kids, or at least no daughters. I mean, O'Brian was quoted as saying the following:

Through her actions, she gave implied consent...She was really playing to the camera. She knew what she was doing.

Now, how exactly the fuck "playing to the camera" is equated with, "it's ok to take my top off after I say 'no'" is left to the imagination.

Joe Francis, owner of the Girls Gone Wild series, has been in trouble many times before. You'd think that perhaps, I don't know, a precedent of being complete douchetards might colour the proceedings a smidge, but it didn't. It makes me once again question the jury selection process because it certainly seems that dumbasses have fucked up an open and shut case.

Oh, and Chad Garrison at Riverfront Times blog. Fuck you.

Songs from the Science Frontier!

Hey you freaks. Howzabout you go to this site and throw a couple of ducats at a worthy cause? Monty Harper is doing a music project to educate kids about science and it's awesome. Go check his site and listen to the song from youtube (linked at the bottom...or just watch below!) and then donate if you can. If you can't give money, then just pass along the word to anyone you know and let's see if we can help him get to his goal. The deadline is approaching - he has about $3700 and needs $9000 by August 21st.

Let's get this thing done and done, shall we?

Old Spice vs. Mel

Yeah yeah, I know...it's another video. But it's hilarious and work beckons so I have no time to write about crazy Glenn Beck or any of the other stupidness that makes my head hurt. So what do I do? I post stuff that makes your head laugh and laugh. Enjoy.

ABC Debate Video

Here's video one (of twelve) of the debate between Michael Shermer & Sam Harris versus Deepak Chopra & Jean Houston. If you have an hour or so give it a watch. I found Deepak to be his usual annoyingly imprecise self, verbally tap-dancing and making ludicrous statements without even a hint of justification, while Houston seems fathoms out of her depth but astonishingly ignorant of that fact as she drones on, avoiding anything resembling a point. Spoiler alert: Leonard Mlodinow poking up in the question & answer session was a nice touch.

Skeptically Speaking Coolness

This is cool. This Friday's episode of the great podcast Skeptically Speaking has two people on it: their main guest is Dr. Mark Moffett, known as the Indiana Jones of Entomology, who is an expert on ants and who will be talking about his new book, Adventures Among Ants. Go check him out - he seems like a cool guy.

The other person interviewed in the "speaking up" segment, is...me!

I get to chat with Desiree Schell about being a skeptical parent and how skepticism and critical thinking get mashed into regular life. It was super fun to do the interview and Desiree is as cool as you think she would be.

So check it out Friday at the Skeptically Speaking site or just download the episode on Sunday when it usually gets posted to iTunes!

Eric Lewis on Piano

Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm slack and suck at updating this blog. Apologies. Not too much has been pissing me off of late. On that front, here's something that made me happy - Eric Lewis covering Georgia on My Mind at some club. Enjoy.

Beck University

Ahhh hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaaaa!!