Vinyl to USB Adapter: Records to MP3 in one step

Gadget Gary of Sound & Vision magazine got to try out this slick little machine: the Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB. It's a record player (remember those?) with its own analog-to-digital converter and a USB connection to the computer. Plug it in, and you can record right from an album to an MP3. In the old days (i.e. 2003), you had to go through the sound card -- additional connections mean additional noise -- so having everything onboard and away from the electrical noise of the PC is hopefully an improvement. The turntable doesn't do 78s, and since my Gracie has all kinds of kinky old 10" records, I'll have to stick with my 1970s turntable for recording. Still, we've got 45s, and it's relatively cheap (about the price of a nice non-USB turntable), so I might have to put it on my Xmas list. I'd have prefered if Gadget Gary talked more about the audio quality than the software it came with, but I'll bet he'd definitely complain if it sucked.One caveat: Audio-Technica makes two versions of this machine -- one with USB, above, and one without...which is pretty much an average record player. Go with the USB variant.

New Zealand's Hottest Weather Boobs - er - Babes

Meteorologists come in all shapes and sizes -- and The Weather Angels are some of the shapliest ones so far. They don't go as far as the Naked News, but that Kiwi accent goes a long way -- plus, where else in the world has the NIPPLEoMETER?
Yes, that's the NIPPLEoMETER for you, in living color. Their reports are fun and playful, a good fit for the weather, as fitting whipped cream into a report on economic sanctions towards Iran is much less entertaining. In recent episodes they talk about the end of Season 1, so I hope that's not the end of the Weather Angels -- the weather stops for no one, so they've still got lots of work to do!(via here and here)

Sexual Lewdness: Protected Speech

Larry Craig is setting an excellent prescedent for the pornographic industry -- he's claiming his foot-tapping and hand-gestures were protected speech, even though they could be considered sexually lewd and obscene, by offering homosexual sex to a stranger. The adult industries, from erotica to gonzo, ride on the verge of prosecution because obscenity is not protected speech. So, where does Craig's action take the adult industry? Well, it doesn't "fix" anything, but it is beginning to provide precedence...if obscene gestures, directly sexual gestures, are considered protected under free speech, according to the US Constitution, this opens up a category of allowable, protected speech. Obscene sexual hand-gestures of a woman in just her panties and bra? Protected. Obscene sexual hand-gestures of a naked woman? Well, inexplicit nudity can be considered protected, so with Craig's precedence, even more naughtiness is allowable by adding obscene hand-gestures. Thus, a naked woman masturbating -- sexually-alluring hand gestures that many find obscene -- isn't too far away. Pornography is around because of lack of interest in prosecuting...but when it crosses the line into protected speech, the adult industry is handed a pocketful of get-out-of-jail-free cards. The more the 'protected speech' card is played by powerful people trying to get out of trouble, the better the adult industry has it. Craig doesn't open any floodgates, but if what he does works then others are going to continue to stretch the leniency in the future.We've still got the 'community standard' problem, however, in which a community of Congresspeople could decide that public solicitation of homosexual sex is not obscene, but a naked woman during prime-time is -- well, then that says a lot about the kind of people we're electing. Who knew we were such a gay-friendly country?

Making Naughty Movies

In 1969, Vivitar ran this ad in Playboys -- and while Playboy was naughty, most advertisers played up the suaveness rather than the nudity aspect of the magazine. Vivitar ran with it and worked some female objectification into their ad.
They apply "take charge" in quite a few ways for a little ad. First, the selling point of the camera is that you can plug it in -- give it a 'charge' -- to the wall outlet (as if running out of battery interrupts the chance to stop every 5 minutes to change the film reel). Plus, they say you can "take charge" by seeing more through the viewfinder...but our geeky filmmaker looks like he's going to take charge by spiriting away his sexy subject to the darkroom for a quick fuck. Not that there's anything wrong with that; she looks ready to take whatever he's got in those fine slacks to give her. That's what he needs the AC power for -- plug in the camera, lock the trigger on, and film himself rocking this lady's world. Bully for the horn-dog in nerd-glasses!

Wet, Soapy T-Shirt Time

Wearing clothes into the bubblebath might seem a little wrong, but, fuck, Aria is doing something very right. She gives us the best of soapy pics and wet t-shirt photos all in one erotic bathtime. Dark eyes and pouty lips are just icing on the cake.

Ads Targeting My Crotch

Advertising, as always, knows that the warm-spot between a person's legs is the perfect target to get their pocketbook moving. Via Dark Roasted Blend, who has a bunch more, here are the ones that make my crotch all bulgy:

Beautiful Tits At Kandi's Clubhouse

At Kandi's Clubhouse, bathing is far from boring, you know -- those excellent tits could use a little more washing, and, of course, I can spare the time....just being helpful, of course!

The LA Connection's "Big Hits"

As far as crappy cover bands go, the LA Connection wasn't the best, but they were cheap and enough misled people bought their records to make it profitable. I think this album puts it's assets right there out in front, to help the sale along. If those are it's Big Hits, I'd like to have a "long-playing" time with them. Eh, I'm done with the record-industry euphamisms now.
As far as this lady's "hits", they're really not all that big -- women with large breasts usually don't have that big of a gulf between them unless they're unrestrained and lying on their backs. That tight of a shirt should be pressing a D-cup to the forefront, but, well, these "hits" are about as massive as The La Connection's hits -- the might look good from the outside, properly packaged and marketed, but not quite as impressive once they're slipped out of their cover and played.

Got Crabs? The Dutch Would Like A Handful

It's a sad, sad state when extinction looms for any creature...but when it's pubic lice, I don't think too many people are complaining. Well, except for the Rotterdam Natural History Museum in the Netherlands. In the interest of completeness, their entomologists went looking for an example of pubic lice, but were unable to find any. The curator promises total anonymity if you're going to donate a few, although they're fuzzy on how the, um, "transfer" will actually occur. The blame for this potential extinction? Deforestation. "When the bamboo forests that the Giant Panda lives in were cut down, the bear became threatened with extinction. Pubic lice can't live without pubic hair."

2257 Ruled Unconstitutional

Woo! Provision 2257 of the COPA, that "prove you're not a criminal, you criminal!" law requiring "publishers" (an overbroad description) to keep personal records of their models and provide it to anyone who asks, has been struck down by the courts. Strictly according to law, because I've posted some naughty pics on this blog, that makes me a publisher -- so somewhere in my files I'm legally required to have those pretty ladies' real names and copies of their driver's licenses in a file. While this would make my Christmas-card mailings much easier, it ain't happening -- an earlier court ruling said republishers didn't really have to, but they still should anyway...which probably meant selective enforcement, an even scarier threat to small-time pornographers. Why won't these laws just die? Well, it's because the powers-that-be flail their arms about, declaring, "won't someone please think about the children?!!??" Since 2257 is trying to prevent child porn, well, the "thinking about children" in the wrong way seems a little too prominent in the lawmaker's minds...

Vintage Phone Sex Ads

Remember phone sex? It's what people did before chatrooms, although the business is still around (although it's gone high-tech). For obvious reasons, I've obscure the phone numbers...I doubt the current owner has any interest in talking dirty to you. No, really, while it's possible, it's highly improbable.

Curly Hair and Fluffy Bubbles

Retro-classy Alisa Kiss slips out of her sheer robe and slips into a silky bubble bath.

Vintage Nudist Camp Ads

From various 1960s-era nudist magazines:

HOLY CRAP -- Goodland Country Club and Lake Como Resort are still going at it! Shagbark Hollow Park, sadly, no longer lives up to its namesake (er, you know what I mean). Gymnos the Jaybird's home, Blue J Farm, has flown the coop as well. Sun Valley in Ontario doesn't exist anymore, but it lives on in the nudisploitation film Have Figure Will Travel.

Gettin' Clean While Emoting

One of AVErotica's lovely ladies takes a relaxing bubble bath -- mixing up quite a few facial expressions, ranging from "hey, glad you're here!" to "you bore me." Any which way, I wouldn't kick her out of my bath...not until I'd given her a good dose some squeaky clean fun, of course.

New, Improved Red-Blooded Things

You may have noticed I haven't written here in quite a while; it's wholly, entirely due to lack of interest. The more intellectual, writing-centered Red-Blooded Thing got old. So, we're going to a image-focused, funny stuff, short-post Red-Blooded Thing. Viola!