Last week, you had a somewhat abstract decision to make: Up & Down or Around. I suppose it isn’t too surprising that Up & Down took the lead, 63% to 37%. Most everyone, at one point or another, has had an experience with nausea after too many turns on the (insert rotating ride here). For me, it was the Paratrooper at Miracle Strip Amusement Park in Panama City Beach (now closed). Paratrooper was your typical spinning-arm-type ride, which I could usually handle — for instance, I loved Mo-Mo the Monster at Six Flags Georgia (sadly, Mo-Mo is no mo’). But that particular sweaty day in Florida, I had eaten two bags of cotton candy, a funnel cake, and a slurpee. There was no vomit, but I spent the rest of the night wanting to die.

Today, I send you off into the holiday weekend with your very first video poll: an all-American sing off. Jon Bon Jovi v. Lee Greenwood. Sorry, but I had to do it. It’s kinda painful, especially if you play them both at once. Happy 4th!

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A razor that also dispenses shaving cream? Brilliant! I can only wonder why no one thought of this sooner. Click on the pic for more info.

Hey guys, I’m so very excited about coming back to the blog next week, til then, do, do, do procrastinate on this:

1. Just in case you were wondering what’s in the romance novel cover sausage. [Gawker]

2. This Dental Tooth Fairy Kit is so frickin’ cool, I’m actually re-thinking my stance on whether or not to let Betty think that she’ll get remuneration just b/c her teeth fall out. [Jezebel]

3. Remember when I said that I didn’t think Americans would use gender tests to selectively abort their children? It looks like I might’ve been wrong about that. [NYT]

4. This Homeless Sims experiment is completely fascinating, and the blog is a must-read. [Alice and Kev]

5. I don’t know whether to be insulted or honored that when a location was needed for the bleak post-apocolyptic future setting of The Road, my beloved Pittsburgh was chosen as the best fit. Either way, here’s the trailer, which looks pretty dang intriguing.

Cars for Hamsters, Jack v. Jill Jock Stats, Fame, and a Traveling Geek Show! That’s a pretty nerdy sampling of the week. And here’s more:

Summer Slides

HELLO FRIDAY

re: Fierce OR Nerdy, in which slpc asked us to choose between Up and Down or Around…

Justin_Time: Teacups = Upchucks. Give me a coaster any day.

PHILOSOPHICAL MONDAY

re: Fierce in Seattle: Another Year Under the Belt, in which Kelli Bielema celebrated the experience and confidence that comes with age…

Katy Brisbois: Kel! I love ya! And so sorry I missed your birthday! You have always been a creative inspiration for me and now wisdom falls in with it!

OH, IT’S TUESDAY

How far have we come?

re: Political Physics:  Skids, Mudflap and Race in Transformers ROTF, in which Monique King-Viehland examined the continuing portrayal of black stereotypes in Hollywood…

Brent: …in “Transformers 2″, it wasn’t just the Amos & Andy-bots that offended me. There was also the stupid, midget Egyptian border agent. The stupid, buck-toothed, brown foreigner (either African or East Indian) butcher. As well as the depiction of Paris as a place where we Americans have to endure stupid, rude mimes interrupting us while we try to eat their horrible food (ooh snails - gross!).

(More Nerds After the Jump…)

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Ernessa’s still out on maternity leave, and since this may be my last day as guest editor, I’m thrilled to report that we have kicked some serious booty of the lyrical variety. Fran (from the internet) guessed that yesterday’s lyric was from “Hypnotize” by Biggie Smalls, bringing our score to a whopping 4 vs. Ernessa’s really pathetic 1. Let’s see what she has for us today, not that it matters, since any greater whooping would just be plain mean.

From Ernessa: Instead of the usual song from the 70s or 80s, in hour of July 4th weekend, I wanted to shout out the best BBQ song of all time in my (totally right) opin.

And think of the summers of the past
Adjust the base and let the alpine blast

Guesses in the comments, and if you think you know a better BBQ song, please let me know in the comments. Meanwhile, Biggie Smalls rapping about a more luxurious time in the great U.S. of A after the jump:

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Proof of Nerd ID by Charles Cron

USDA CHOICE EDITION

Americans consume more than 15 million tons of steak each year, more than any other nation of the world.

Photo Credit: Roadside Pictures

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Just wanted to post the full trailer for Fame, since it looks hot to def. Weirdly enough, though I would try to dissuade any young person out of a career in the arts, this reminded me of how good it used to feel to actually want this life when I was young. Does that make sense? Either way, the trailer song is all sorts of dope.

So, Keldoo guessed correctly that yesterday’s lyric was from “Seasons of Love” from Rent. She didn’t guess the artist, but I’m giving her the full point anyway, because anyone who had to sit through the movie version deserves some good karma in return. (The artist, btw, was Jonathan D. Larson.) And that means we’re gonna win the week. But let’s put one last nail in the coffin…

From Ernessa: Let’s see how you do with your old nemesis, Black Artist Thursday. This guy is out of New York, but it seems like I hear this next song like every other day in LA:

Never lose, never choose to, bruise crews who
do something to us, talk go through us

Guesses in the comments, and the opening credits from the worst movie version of a play like ever after the jump;

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I hate hamster b/c they’re rodents and I don’t truck w/ rodents. But this wheel-car almost makes me want to get one. Almost. Click on the pic for more info.

[Source: LikeCool]

a blogumn by Nate Barlow

A couple weeks ago the New York Times ran an article about the disparity between boys and girls’ sports.

Schools have made great strides towards scholastic athletic equality since the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.  Although Title IX made no specific reference to athletics and in fact covers any school program, it’s most prominent effect has been to equalize expenditures on boys’ and girls’ athletics for any institution receiving federal funding.  Even beyond the direct dollars spent, Title IX has had a profound on girls’ sports participation.  Witness the rise of the WNBA and of the Women’s Final Four as a televised event.  They may not draw the fans and advertising dollars of the men, but twenty years ago their success would have been unfathomable.

According to the Times article, “50 percent of girls in the suburbs described themselves as ‘moderately involved’ athletes,” compared to 54 percent of boys.  Those are nearly even numbers.

In that statement, however, lies the rub: “in the suburbs”.  The point of the Times article is that in urban areas, female athletic participation suffers greatly; only 36 percent of girls, compared to 56% of boys, in the city consider themselves “moderately involved” in sports.

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