Remember Y6B, the year when the global population hit 6 billion? Wasn’t that, like, a month ago?

Turns out it was actually 9 years ago, in 1999. So, according to the J-Curve, we’re about due for another billion.

The world’s population will reach 7 billion in 2012, even as the global community struggles to satisfy its appetite for natural resources, according to a new government projection. There are 6.7 billion people in the world today.

The world’s population surpassed 6 billion in 1999, meaning it will take only 13 years to add a billion people.

By comparison, the number of people didn’t reach 1 billion until 1800, said Carl Haub, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau. It didn’t reach 2 billion until 130 years later.

Meanwhile, some oversexed Massachusetts 15 year olds have entered a “pregnancy or bust” pact, which is totally not helping. (more…)

With the R Kelly child pornography/teen golden showers trials twisting and turning on the daily, let’s step back and recognize that no one makes a self aggrandizing remix like Robert Sylvester Kelly. Money quote in this remix of the Dream’s Shorty is the shit: “I’m Kellz bitch go figure.”

Hat tip to Andrew. My cover of the dream is after the jump. (more…)

Well, it’s been a whole month or so since Peta2 crowned the totally emo Cutest Vegetarians Alive.  Now, in an effort to basically do the same thing all over again but this time with celebrities, they’ve opened up the voting in the World’s Sexiest Vegetarian contest.   (Because the difference between ‘cute’ and ’sexy’ is fame-based, apparently.)

There are about a hundred girls and about four hundred thousand boys nominated.  On the ladies side, the surprisingly diverse list of meat-haters ranges from Emmylou Harris to Lauren Laverne to Bryce Dallas Howard to Naomi Watts to Thora Birch (remember her?) to somebody that’s in a band called Most Precious Blood.As for the men, there are lots and lots and lots of people from bands I’ve never heard of (although I’m sure I can guess from their name what Remembering Never sound like.)

Male nominees I’ve actually seen pictures of before include Andre 3000, Casey Affleck, Ian MacKaye, Jonathan Safron Foer, Milo Ventimiglia, Q-Tip, Ted Leo (pictured above), Rob Zombie, Todd Oldham, the bass player from The Robocop Kraus, and Tobey Maguire.  The Peta2 people were definitely less selective with the men, though, since they also nominated Ian McKellan, Ruben Studdard and Corey Feldman, all of whom are about as sexy as last month’s toenail clippings.

Personally, I’m voting for Erykah Badu on the ladies’ side, mostly because New Amerykah is so freaking awesome, and Sage Francis on the guys’, because he’s local and, more importantly, bearlike and hunky.

This is the last week of Beyond The Birds and the Bees: Sexual Education in the 20th Century, the awesome show running right now at the John Nicholas Brown Center For The Humanities. While I tend to be a little disappointed by the exhibits there, this one really thoroughly traces the history of sex education in the Army, at home, and in schools since about World War 1. Highlights include old Army posters warning soldiers about the diseases foreign women carry, sex ed surveys filled out by previous exhibit visitors, creepy videos from the fifties where boys learn about sex from their overly enthusiastic track coach, and that one episode of 90210 where Andrea the 40-year old virgin gets West Beverly students to distribute condoms and promote AIDS awareness and Kelly won’t do it because she’s ridiculous and there’s a school committee meeting where Donna’s mother thinks condom distribution is bad and Brenda wants to write an article for the school paper about how she thought Dylan knocked her up that time but he won’t let her and then Andrea’s all “No, really, it’s okay Brenda, I have more important things to think about right now, because your brother made fun of me for being a virgin and I’m really distraught because he’s my soul mate even though he’s lame and has ridiculous hair and I’m clearly twice his age.”

Or, for those of you who prefer your sex intake to be a little less academic and a little more involving kiddie pools, Pride season is officially kicking off on Thursday with lube wrestling at Trixx. Because nothing says “proud of who you are” like watching twinky strippers grapple to pull each other’s underwear off. [nb: Lube wrestling is also pretty much the only Pride-related activity I find remotely entertaining, so don’t think I’m being judgy.] It’s supposed to start at 9, which judging from past experience means it’ll start at about 11:30.

And here’s a related video to get you in the mood, just because I get this song stuck in my head every single time I walk by LaTour Auto Body on Valley Street. It used to be one of my favorite songs back when I was nine:

Only a few minutes into the movie Iron Man, Tony Stark, the amoral munitions titan, is barraged with inconvenient questions from an aggressive female Vanity Fair reporter. He dismissively sums her up by assuming she attended Berkeley, to which she responds “Brown”. So, like it or not, Brown University is clearly shorthand for a certain type of left-wing bleeding-heart crusading do-gooder (and I don’t think that pie-lady helped). Okay, fine, that is nothing new — but then she jumps right into the sack with the guy! Completely betraying your core belief system just cuz he’s rich and hot? Berkeley maybe, but not our Brown gals. Ladies… man your pies!

(One more point, riding a Segway in a movie is code for — douchebag. If also bald — evil douchebag.)

On Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, James Carville recently quipped: “If she gave him one of her cojones, they’d both have two.”

It was far from the first time that a political pundit used testicles as a metonymy for power, courage, boldness, or guts. In fact, Hillary’s “balls” have been the subject of much praise (and disdain) throughout the course of this exhausted Democratic primary.

Introducing Clinton at a rally in Indiana, Paul Gibson, president of a steelworkers local union, proclaimed that the nation needed a leader like Clinton with “testicular fortitude.” Clinton thanked him for the compliment, though she did note that women, too, can have fortitude.

Reporting on the incident, Salon editor Joan Walsh wrote, “Clinton does indeed have … fortitude. Hell, she has balls.” Walsh says that Clinton handled the situation as best as she could and did not employ a double-standard by accepting this incredibly sexist “compliment.”

(more…)

Are you missing the Jersey Girls’ column this week? Are your loins aching for your weekly fix of dirty talk and stories from the bedroom (car backseat, dark alley, public restroom, etc…)? Oh, you are? THAT’S YOUR FAULT! We are hurting for some good questions– which you slackers have failed to provide us with this week. We find it hard to believe that all is right in the world of love, sex, and relationships. Send your most recent woes our way and we’ll do what we can to tell you what you probably already know and don’t want to hear while making everyone else laugh at your misfortune. We’re so sweet! Anyway, do it, because if you didn’t already learn in the headline—jersey girls will kick your ass.

What’s more embarrasing than having your conservative keister called to testify in the DC Madam prostitution trial? Crashing your car as you try to flee the press corps. That’s what.

I can’t believe I missed this in the New York Times yesterday:

 ”Possible Nazi Theme of Grand Prix Boss’s Orgy Draws Calls to Quit”

 In a sublimely perverse, supremely hilarious article that at first glance seems like something ripped straight from the Onion, the Times reports on Max Mosley, president of a formula one governing body, who was recently revealed to have participated in “a depraved Nazi sadomasochistic orgy” with five prostitutes in London’s Chelsea district.

According to the Times:

The video showed Mr. Mosley counting in German — “Eins! Zwei! Drei! Vier! Funf!” — as he used a leather strap to lash one of the women.

“She needs more of ze punishment!” he cried in German-accented English. One woman appeared to search his hair for lice while another called off items on an inspection list.

 But, wait–it gets better:

Family history has added to the notoriety: Mr. Mosley, 67, is the younger son of Britain’s 1930s fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley, and the society beauty Diana Mitford, whose secret wedding in Berlin in October 1936 was held at the home of the Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels and included Hitler as a guest of honor.

Read the full story here.

Tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 don’t miss the opening of “Beyond the Birds and the Bees” - a public exhibit revealing the history of sex education in America over the last 100 years produced by the Public Humanities grad students at Brown. By looking at the military, schools and the ways that parents have explained the whole mess of intercourse perhaps we can better understand the state of our youth today. I wonder if there will be anything on rainbow parties … John Nicholas Brown Center, 357 Benefit St.

I feel really bad for Arnold Schwarzenegger.  No really.  I don’t think he is going to get the credit he deserves for his role in producing the first real pregnant man.  Had it not been for the movie Junior, I am not certain anyone would have even tried to be the first man gone preggers.

 That said, we have one, and where did he show off his bump?  You guessed it.  Oprah.  http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200804/20080403/slide_20080403_350_101.jhtml

Apparently this is all pretty buzzworthy.  Yahoo! seems to think so.  And if Yahoo! says it’s cool then I believe it, buy it, want it, or turn myself into it.  In this case I will just link you to it.  http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/91294

Also, he used to be a Hawaiian beauty queen.  Arnold was a hard body muscle man king of the universe!  But no one is even thinking about Arnold right now.  He must be depressed.  All holed up in his mansion, wondering when someone is going to recoginze his part in all this.

 Well, Arnie, here it is.  I never saw the movie Junior.  But I did see the poster in the movie store when I bipassed it going for Teen Wolf for the 45th time.  And I hate to break it to you.  The real life version is getting much better ratings already.

But, Arnie babes, I see the connection.  That’s all that really matters, isn’t it?  Sure, sweet lips, the Governor of California is the forefather of this very pregnant man!  Does that make you the grandfather, too?  I don’t think so.  We might very well be accused of going too far with that one.  But, Schwartzie, I am gonna smoke a cigar for you, ol’ pal.  Congrats!  It’s a boy.

From Boston Globe, and improved upon by Richard Florida:

The article claims that out of all major metro areas in the U.S., Boston and surrounding areas have the most even single male-to-single female ration.

Hmmm, I wonder how Providence measures up.

I’ll get this right out there — the current flock of chirpy-quirky Betty Boop girl singers makes me want to rip my ears off. (I have to mute the new MacBook Air ad, who is that?) I prefer loud guitars playing songs that start fast and then speed up. Sometimes an article is designed for the sole purpose of getting people all riled up and talking about it — and I hate being manipulated like this — but what the hell. The cover story of this week’s Phoenix combines two tried and true techniques — music lists and the battle of the sexes — to get everybody fighting. I don’t care that it wasn’t scientific — it’s just for fun — but dear god where did they find the gal? This isn’t female taste, this is bad taste.

However, it’s clear that she isn’t the only one buying into Feist. Where did it all go wrong? I blame Lilith Fair. And was I the only person who ran screaming into the night in the middle of the movie ‘Magnolia’ when it became clear that Aimee Mann was never going to shut-the-fuck up?

All I know is I would rather have electrodes attached to my testicles than endure one more note from the mouth of Regina Spektor. Oh wait, did I say ‘testicles’? I meant ‘Manolo Blahniks’.

From Kim Ahern at RIFuture:

While other states in the country are passing Constitutional Amendments to ban same sex marriages, civil unions and even as far as contracts between same sex couples - New England has turned into a bastion of equality and rights. From Massachusetts’s landmark decision in Goodridge to Connecticut currently taking up the case if there is a legal difference between civil unions and marriage - why has New England (with the notable exception of Rhode Island) been such a unique place for LGBT equality?

Come learn more at Roger Williams School of Law, in what is bound to be a provocative discussion involving a fantastic panel and keynote:

What: The Culture of Same Sex Marriage Symposium

Where: Roger Williams School of Law (Bristol, RI)

When: Friday, March 28 from Noon - 4:45PM.

Panel 1: The Same-Sex Marriage Debate in the State of Rhode Island

Panel 2: Civil Unions v. Marriage in New England

Cost: Free! Includes lunch and wine and cheese reception following the panels. However - if you are an attorney and would like to receive the 5 CLE credits available, the cost for that is $25. Co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association and the RWU Law Alliance for LGBT Students.

Click HERE to register and to read more about the Keynote Address [ David Wilson - original plaintiff in Goodridge and Board Member of both HRC and Mass Equality] and each of the panelists!

Thanks to tipster Bill M. for alerting us to this story:

Chinese Laundry, which opened March 11th at 121 North Main Street (right in my neighborhood!), is not receiving the warm welcome for which its owner, Chow Fun Food Group owner John Elkhay, had hoped. The restaurant, which claims to offer, “a modern pan Asian dining experience with an intoxicating vibe, incredible worldly flavors, and a sensual, sophisticated atmosphere,” opened amidst a firestorm of controversy.

The Projo explains:

John Elkhay, who has brought fun, trendy restaurants to the Providence dining scene, arrived at his VIP party on Friday night after a stressful and unexpected debate that emerged in the blogosphere earlier in the day. An ad for his newest restaurant, Chinese Laundry, in Providence Monthly featured the naked torso of a woman and the words “See what you are missing.” It caught the eye of a student at Brown University who referred it to a blog written by a self-proclaimed “angry Asian-American woman.”

(more…)

While media attention has focused, over the past few days, on the indiscretions of Elliot Spitzer, the celebration of his Wall Street enemies, and the hotness of his $1000/hr prostitute, we might be missing the best part of this story: that Spitzer’s Lieutenant Governor, now Governor, David Paterson is awesome. Paterson, the first African-American and first legally blind person to hold the position of New York Lieutenant Gov., might be unready to jump into the role of state executive, but he might be just the man to bring real change to New York. Danny Hakim and John Sullivan profile the challenges facing Paterson, particularly the state’s mammoth budget deficit (we know a lil’ something about that here, no?), in today’s New York Times:

Mr. Paterson is considered more liberal than Mr. Spitzer on some key issues, and that could create friction with the Republicans. He opposes the death penalty and strongly supports overhauling New York’s Rockefeller-era drug laws, for example. Years ago he introduced a proposal to allow noncitizens to vote. On issues like abortion and embryonic stem cell research, Mr. Paterson is staunchly liberal, as is Mr. Spitzer.

(more…)