Curvy bookshelves

   
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These ergonomically-designed Factor shelves by Jonathan Olivares make it easy to reach your books wherever they are on the shelves.

Cory Doctorow reviews 'The Upside of Irrationality' by Dan Ariely

'Upside of Irrationality' reviewed by Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing.

The Mongoliad - Neal Stephenson's experiment in 'post-book publishing and storytelling'

The Mongoliad is an intriguing new venture created by author Neal Stephenson in which he, Greg BearNicole GallandMark Teppo and other authors will be telling 'a sort of serialized story' via custom apps on the iPad, iPhone, Kindle and Android. 

An alpha version is due to be demoed at the SF App Show on Tuesday 25 May, and there are Facebook pages for both the alpha demo event and for The Mongoliad itself

Are you getting enough protein? "Natural Harvest - A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes"

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I was once in a sushi bar in Hollywood, a tiny little place on the Sunset Strip across from the Roxy Theater and at one point the topic topic of conversation turned to a particular Japanese delicacy, one rarely encountered, but served in this very same restaurant at certain times of the year, Fugu shirako or Blowfish semen sashimi. I was fairly blase about trying it, but the table consensus was “This stuff is super expensive. We’re on an expense account. They’ve got it. Let’s go for it” and so we did. I don’t remember that much more about it, but I do recall thinking it was pretty good at the time, I must say.

From the description of Natural Harvest on Lulu.com

Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food.

This book hopes to change that.

Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cook book!

Some of the reviews are priceless. And did you hear about the chef in NYC who made cheese out of his wife’s breast milk?

Waste not, want not. Isn’t that what they said during the last Great Depression?

 

European court rules against Turkey's Apollinaire ban | guardian.co.uk

Human rights court rules that censorship of 1907 erotic novel The Eleven Thousand Rods 'hindered public access to a work belonging to the European literary heritage'

Guillaume Apollinaire

'More likely to extinguish sexual desire' ... Guillaume Apollinaire. Photograph: APIC/Getty

Turkey violated freedom of expression laws and prevented access to Europe's literary heritage when it banned Guillaume Apollinaire's classic French erotic novel The Eleven Thousand Rods, the European court of human rights ruled yesterday.

The court found in favour of Turkish publisher Rahmi Akdaş, who complained to it after he was convicted under the Turkish criminal code "for publishing obscene or immoral material liable to arouse and exploit sexual desire among the population" when he released a Turkish translation of Les onze milles verges (The Eleven Thousand Rods) in 1999. The book details the erotic adventures of the debauched Romanian aristocrat Mony Vibescu and his fellow sybarites, containing graphic scenes of intercourse, sadomasochism, paedophilia, necrophilia, coprophilia and vampirism. It was banned in France until 1970 and Apollinaire himself never claimed authorship, fearing prosecution under France's public obscenity statute.

Akdaş had argued that the book was fiction, that it used techniques such as exaggeration and metaphor, that it contained no violent overtones "and that the humorous and exaggerated nature of the text was more likely to extinguish sexual desire", but the Turkish courts ordered the destruction of all copies of the book and fined the publisher approximately €1,100. An appeals court later quashed the destruction order, but upheld the conviction.

Akdaş subsequently complained to the European Court of Human Rights, saying the ruling violated Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Strasbourg-based court ruled yesterday that although states can interfere to protect morals, Turkey was wrong to do so in this case as more than a century had elapsed since Les onze milles verges was published. The erotic novel had also been released in many different languages in a number of countries, and had gained literary acclaim, it said, so its ban and Akdaş's conviction "hindered public access to a work belonging to the European literary heritage".

"The heavy fine imposed and the seizure of copies of the book had not been proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued and had thus not been necessary in a democratic society, within the meaning of Article 10. There had therefore been a violation of that provision," the ruling said.

Poe fans fear grave tribute is to happen nevermore | The Guardian

  • guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 January 2010 18.36 GMT
  • Article history
  • A mysterious visitor who for decades has left roses and cognac before dawn at Edgar Allan Poe's grave failed to turn up today, the 201st anniversary of the writer's birthday. Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe museum in Baltimore, waited in the cemetery all night with three dozen people. The tradition dates back to at least 1949 and the visitor has never missed before. Cynthia Pelayo, 29, said: "I flew in from Chicago to see him. I'm just really sad." The fans passed the night reading aloud from Poe's works, including the poem The Raven, with its haunting repetition of the word "nevermore".