The Internet Reveals that Early Summer Is Definitely the Sexiest Time of Year [Sex]

It's take a new study to determine when Americans are the most sexed-up, but now we finally know thanks to the infinite record book that is our beloved Internet — Americans are most eager for sexy times in the early months of summer. Oh, and around the holidays. And once for the entire month of March back in 2008 because of Eliot Spitzer.

According to an analysis of keywords that people in the U.S. used in Google searches from 2006 through March 2011 showed a distinct uptick keywords relating to finding a date, porn, and prostitutes during June and July, and also during the holidays in December and January. "Whether it was searches for 'eHarmony,'" says study researcher Patrick Markey of Villanova University, "or for 'brothel' - there was this exact same pattern." For people seeking dates, "eHarmony" and "Match.com" were two of the big keywords; for people seeking an escort, "call girl" and "escort" were tactfully deployed; and for people browsing for porn, "porn" and "boobs" were the magic words of choice. Prostitution, mate-seeking, and porn-seeking searches jumped 2.78 percent, 5.67 percent, and 4.28, respectively.

How do researchers explain this jump? With shrugging, mostly, and then some guessing — though the data is pretty straightforward, there isn't a clear reason behind the across the board, triumviral jump in porn, prostitution and dating. Some researchers have linked the study's results back to a "natural tendency" to give birth in the late fall or early summer, but, according to Markey, this doesn't really account for the porn spike (which, I'm just realizing, is too gross-sounding to either say out loud or delete). Fluctuations in sperm quality or seasonal hormonal changes may help unravel the mystery, but it's impossible to know for sure.

Previous studies in STD diagnosis rates, births, and abortion rates have also suggested that sexual activity peaks during these two different times of year, but the most recent study of internet searches focused primarily on the activities people engaged in leading up to or in anticipation of a sexual encounter. Markey suggests that the increases in sex-related Google searches correspond to two times of year when social activity reaches its peak, and that simply being around other humans makes people really horny. That, he thinks, would best explain the link between the respective winter and summer surges.

So people aren't just seeing each other in more revealing summer clothes and deciding to do it, right there, in the lifeguard's rowboat — they're just getting to spend more time around more people, which, as we now know, leads to dirty Google searches. One phenomenon that researchers had to control for, however, was a 35 percent jump in prostitution searches in March of 2008 when the Eliot Spitzer scandal broke. Only time will tell what havoc Anthony Weiner's candid photos have wreaked on search engines everywhere.

Americans show more interest in sex during the summer, study says [MSNBC]

Image via Miramiska/Shutterstock.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Louisiana Girl Scouts Are Geeking Out This Summer [Girl Scouts]

Something pretty cool is happening in New Orleans at the end of August, something that will help mitigate the unrelenting sorrow and ennui precipitated by the dreaded march back to school — Girl Scouts Louisiana East will partner with the Geek Squad to organize a two-day technology "academy" just for girls.

According to the Times-Picayune, up to 200 girls ages 10-14 can take part in the late-summer academy, which aims to teach girls "the more serious side of computer usage" — safeguarding personal info, guarding against cyber bullies, and communicating with peers, all of which sounds really good-intentioned (if a little pedantic). Jill Pollard, vice president of programs and volunteerism for Girl Scouts Louisiana East, says that the Geek Squad program is integral to the technology arm of the Scouts' STEM initiative, which encourages girls to develop interests in science, technology, engineering, and math. Pollard thinks that pre-adolescent girls who display a marked interested in science or math often don't get encouragement from parents, teachers or peers.

This is the age that girls sometimes lose the drive to succeed in science, technology, engineering and math, because of peer pressure from boys and sometimes even teachers. We are reinforcing that this is a cool topic.

This technology academy comes as part of culture shift within the Girl Scouts, as the organization (on the whole) is trying to become more inclusive as well as encourage girls to strive for leadership positions. Though the two-day camp seems well-meaning enough, it sounds a little...boring. Teaching kids how to protect their credit card information isn't going to create a whole lot of future Silicon Valley start-up pioneers — it'll just create a new generation of people who fucked around on the internet when they should have been paying attention to a boring computer class. Scouts who attend the technology camp should instead be given cool and dangerous tasks, like breaking into the NSA's database or creating their very own identity theft schemes. First prize goes to the first person to secure a money transfer.

Geek squad invites girls into the world of technology [Times-Pic, R.I.P.]

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

The Story of the Summer: Creepy Hidden Cameras and the Pervs Who Love Them [Wtf]

A renowned Manhattan urologist was found video-recording up multiple women's skirts in a subway station yesterday. But over the past few months, this sort of case has been happening a lot. In fact, hidden camera crime is so hot right now. Ugh.

The incident is disturbing, but thanks to one of our most prolific tipsters — who either has a Google alert set for "hidden camera" or is working towards a Ph.D on concealed recording equipment — we know there's been an alarming spate of hidden camera lawsuits across the country over the past few months. But we're not sure why. Is it because the proliferation of DIY porn websites has encouraged men to, well, Do It Themselves? Is it because there's a not-so-black market for upskirt shots? Is it due to better, cheaper gadget options for the creepiest of cinematographers? Here are just a few of the articles we've read this summer about women being filmed without their consent. We're not trying to be fear-mongers, but we think this trend is worth pointing out, especially since many of the accused below already had related and vastly more serious convictions (intent to rape, etc.) under their belt.

Strategy: Hidden in an air freshener container
Choice awful detail: "Depending on what the camera recorded, police could charge the eventual suspect with unlawful sexual contact. If children were photographed, charges could include child pornography, West said."

Strategy: Hidden in the ceiling
Choice awful detail: "11Alive News has learned the landlord who rents the spaces is a registered sex offender. He was convicted of aggravated assault with intent to rape in 2004."

Strategy: Undisclosed
Choice awful detail: "Klawinski said the manager told a company representative that he had planted the camera because some items were being stolen from a nearby storage room." (Mmmk.)

Strategy: Police seized numerous computers, memory cards, flash drives and video cameras from the accused man's house.
Choice awful detail: "She told police she was unaware she was being videotaped nude in her bedroom and went to police after discovering videos of herself stored on a computer at the home."

Strategy: A camera in a coffee packet on the bathroom counter. (WHAT.)
Choice awful detail: "Latah County Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Evans told 2nd District Judge John Stegner on Monday that Wells acknowledged videotaping an adult woman in the past and says he has tried to minimize his crime and shows reluctance toward treatment."

Strategy: "Police say the camera was set up a wireless router and had a motion sensor so he would get alerts when she was in the room and he could watch online."
Choice awful detail: "Police say Espinosa is a preacher at a Pryor Hispanic Church and acted as clergy for a hospice in Choteau."

Strategy: Undisclosed
Choice awful detail: "According to their lawsuit, Johnson encouraged them to wear "skirts and high heels" while working in the office. He instructed them to sit at a particular desk in the office and allegedly positioned devices that secretly recorded their legs and lower torso and between their legs, according to the lawsuit."

Strategy: Undisclosed, but it was "not positioned correctly," so he got a lesser charge, even though it wasn't his first offense.
Choice awful detail: "Earlier this month Bednarik was accused of poking a hole in the ceiling tile above a woman's desk in an office at the college and installing a camera to record her while she was partially nude and pumping breast milk, according to court records."

Strategy: Hidden in an air-conditioning vent in the women's bathroom
Choice awful detail: "[A former] employee ... had rigged the cameras before absconding to Texas with stolen bounce houses and laser lights."

Strategy: Hidden in a stage light
Choice awful detail: "They discovered another camera in the area, which served as both a performance stage and a dressing area where 'some of the customers even disrobe and get down to their underwear' because of 'assurances that there are no cameras in the room,' the lawsuit states."

There are oh so many more examples where these come from — and these are just stories about people who have actually been caught. So what's the takeaway? We obviously can't stop suspicious people (or even convicted sex offenders) from obtaining tiny, easily concealable cameras, and you shouldn't stop going to the gym or the salon or your fucking office because there are sickos out there. Here's the one thing we do know: this is what rape culture looks like.

Top doc ‘sicko' arrest [New York Post]

Image via O2Shutterstock.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Squash-Faced Cats Dressed as Super Heroes Is the Viral Blockbuster of the Summer [Video]

Jul 27, 2012 7:45 PM  

When the city is in need, these superhero cats will do everything they can to help (i.e. look on indifferently then passive-aggressively poop on the bed).

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.