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Culture

A collection of 189 issues

Elvis

We've admitted previously: We like Elvis. No, we don't own a velvet Elvis, but we do have some Elvis posters. We bought them mostly for the shock and humor value, but we genuinely enjoy Elvis' music and persona, no matter how shallow and absurd. Perhaps

News Flash: Wal-Mart Turns Down Expansion Opportunity!

> Officials at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., ordered their Roanoke store to put an end to Singles Shopping, the only program of its kind at Wal-Mart's U.S. stores. > Taking a cue from Wal-Marts in Germany, the month-old program encouraged customers on

Doltish

Two linquistic innovators have invented a type of Pig-English. It's called "Globish," and it's meant to provide a simplified form of English as the world's lingua franca. Link [http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/universal-english-has-a-name--globish/

Not Art

Wow, whatta great concept: Art that's not art. It's called "Outsider Art." Here's the promoters' explanation: > "Art Brut", or "Outsider Art", consists of works produced by people who for various reasons have not been culturally indoctrinated

Dyker Trademark War

We find this fascinating. The USPTO won't issue a trademark because it's vulgar. The applicant says, "It's not vulgar to me, therefore, it isn't." The USPTO applies norms; the applicant applies its will. Who will win? Is there a relationship

Beautiful Has Gotten Ugly

We've written before that beautiful women in media don't really exist. All the pretty women we see on TV, the movies, and magazines have been airbrushed and touched up. They might be pretty, but not nearly as pretty as they're made to appear. The

The New Urbanism

The forthcoming issue of The American Conservative has a great piece by William S. Lind on the New Urbanism. Lind concedes that New Urbanism has often become the province of eco-extremists and other lovers of big government that would use coercion to enforce their ideas. But, he says, New

Peace Prize?

His heart's probably in the right place, even if his ideas are hopelessly flawed. > Campaigning rocker Sir Bob Geldof has been nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless campaigning to save the African continent. The former Boomtown Rat, 53, has devoted most of the

All Sorts of Dads Volunteering

> A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the American Association for Nude Recreation can pursue its claim that [a law requiring parental supervision at a nudist camp for kids] violates its free speech rights, crimping its ability to spread its nudism philosophy.

Setting New Kissing Record

A mix of desire for fame, diversion from ennui, sexual obsession, and probably a handful of other unidentified problems in our culture: > More a test of endurance than enduring love, the record set in the US in 2001 is 30 hours, 59 minutes and 27 seconds. > The partners