
Never Say Goodbye: Homo sapiens, one of the 15,589 animal species threatened with extinction.
“A total of 15,589 species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction, according to the so-called Red List of endangered species produced by the IUCN World Conservation Union.
“Almost an eighth of birds, a quarter of mammals and a third of amphibians are now classified as either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered, categories that indicate there is a threat of extinction, the conservation group said in the report on its Web site. Species on the list range from the Bengal tiger to the giant Hispaniolan galliwasp lizard.”
–Extinction Threatens 15,589 Animal, Plant Species, IUCN Reports, Bloomberg News, UK.
Author: matt

Farmers from Veracruz, Mexico, protest the seizure of their land.

The Naked Cowboy sings songs of freedom for his comrades in Veracruz.
Truly, we are in a golden age of anthropomorphic pillows.
Surely you’ve noticed that the best and brightest minds in the fields of science, design, and, upholstery have dedicated themselves to creating wonderful, almost human pillows the likes of which mankind has never imagined?
Prepare to be dazzled: your head will literally spin at the sight of these amazing pillows. Luckily, it won’t be hard to find somewhere to rest it.
First, there was the ‘Boyfriend Arm’s Pillow‘ (U.S. $80), which is a lot like the classic husband, but requires less commitment and no costly wedding ceremony. This pillow may prove to be a major breakthrough after the draft is implemented and the male population in America and the coalition of the willing (Poland! Don’t forget Poland!) drops dramatically. Scientists are already at work on a pillow that can inseminate a woman’s eggs. Can half baby pillows be far behind?
Actually, they already exist. Scientists at Carnegie Mellon have developed an electrical pillow that allows grandparents to ‘hug‘ their grandkids long distance through a series of vibrations and squeezing motions.
This incredible pillow-based innovation permits grandkids to obviate unpleasant grandma kisses and avoid exposure to toxic grandpa odors. It also prevents too-tight grandkid hugs from shattering grandma’s brittle bones.
Unfortunately, this pillow also eliminates the silver dollars and hard candies traded as currency in the typical grandparent/grandchild hug transaction. (Hard candy pillows, anyone?)
For overgrown male children who continue to dislike hugging gross female humans with their body hair and heart beats, the latest pillow breakthrough may be of some help.
As recounted by the world wide weirdness curators at bOING bOING, the ‘Girlfriend’s Lap Pillow,’ Japanese scientists have developed perhaps the most important pillow-based innovation of the decade.

Combining the up-with-women design philosophy of A Clockwork Orange‘s Korova Milkbar with the idealized proportionality of the very best of female drawings by R. Crumb, this pillow is a must-own for men who love comfort, but hate women’s revolting upper bodies and blabby mouths. (To say nothing of their hair, which sometimes smells of fruit and can get stuck on the tiles in the shower.) This is the ultimate ‘companion’ piece for your terrifying subterranean lair where you make girl suits and stand naked before your video camera speculating on what you’d like to do with yourself if anatomy would just let you.
What’s next for pillows? The sky’s the limit, really. Might we see such innovations as a realistically rendered Diane Lane pillow? Or perhaps a fully articulated Mugatu-shaped pillow that emits a real fur and musk scents that’s also edible? I have no idea. I’ll leave it to the pillow pros.
The future looks bright. Bright and downy soft. Pull up a pillow and rest your head, won’t you?
And It’s Not Even Hump Day Yet
Did Slate, everyone’s favorite (temporarily) Microsoft-funded journal of punditry and funditry, stick one of those sex patches to its crimson skin?
How else to explain how horny the site is this week? Check out these heds:
Come Again? A history of the orgasm completely misses the point., by Thomas W. Laqueur (Don’t stop…)
The Thinking Man’s Guide to Sex: What could be wrong with She Comes First?, by Dan Chiasson (Slower, slower…)
“Let’s Get It On”…Again: The remix of Marvin Gaye’s classic is better than the original., by David Ritz (Yes, yes, that’s good…)
Why Powell Had To Go: And how will Condi fare as his successor?, by Fred Kaplan (Um, less like that…)
The See-Through Times: An internal memo promises to rub out anonymice and other credibility killers., by Jack Shafer (Ah, that’s good…)
I don’t know about you, but I feel like I need a good, long shower.

I’ll Be Your Mirror: Maya Deren‘s mirror that reflects nothing.
“It’s easy to write a negative review of a Tom Wolfe novel; hundreds of people do it every few years. First, out of the thousands of sociological details Wolfe gets right, you pick out some he gets wrong (thus establishing your superior hipness). You mention that he obsesses over the superficial details of life while you ignore his moral intent (thus hinting at your own superior depth). Then you graciously allow that many of Wolfe’s scenes are hilarious, while lamenting that his characters are not fully developed. Then you call it a day.”
‘Moral Suicide,’ à la Wolfe, by David Brooks, The New York Times, Nov. 16, 2004.
Captain Quagmire

Man Sets Fire to Himself Outside White House
And they say this isn’t Vietnam, the sequel.
Finally, Her Ship Comes In

A Crude Likeness – oil tanker named for National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Harper’s, July 2001
Bush Plans to Tap Rice…
Yeah, in her dreams.
Happy Trailers

White(water) Trash: If your Presidential Library is on cinder blocks, you might be a red neck.
Does anyone else find it just a little bit insensitive that the soon-to-opened Clinton Presidential Center looks like a double-wide trailer?
I mean, yes, Clinton famously came from humble Southern origins, and, sure, his nickname is ‘Bubba‘, and yes, he was sometimes called ‘trailer trash,’ but this is just mean.
I wonder what our current president’s library is gonna look like: How ’bout this?
Then again, this may be more appropriate, since highfalutin’ books ain’t really his thing after all.
Un-Impacted Colin

Goodbye Yellow Cake Road: The band is totally breaking up
Secretary of State Powell Resigns
He already has a job lined up here.

More Unmarried Women Giving Birth In Indiana*
*Not that we think having a child out of wedlock is wrong: That would be mighty un-Christian of us.