Items of interest found recently in my RSS feed. What did I miss? Please share what you've been reading (and writing!) in the comments.

• Know Where Your #TowelDay Is – Interview With Stephen Fry

– Sooooo jealous.

• Kelly Osbourne: better to be a drug addict than fat

– In the eyes of her abusers, that is. The Hathor Legacy looks at the skinny standard in Hollywood.

• David Byrne v. Charlie Crist

– “Byrne said in a statement that he has never licensed a song for use in an advertisement.

“I’m a bit of a throwback that way, as I still believe songs occasionally mean something,” Byrne said.

He added that if his audience thought he’d license a song to a political campaign, “they might not respect me as much in the morning.””

• How Patriarchy Constrains Men’s Choices

– I am hornswoggled that the retailer in this particular example thought that there should even be a separate Men’s and Women’s section for WATER BOTTLES.

• The Consequences of Speaking Out

– “No matter what you think of Megan Fox she will most probably suffer for this and Michael Bay will still get away with treating women like shit.”

• Mixed Race Mess: Alicia Keys and Unthinkable Interracial Dating [Mixed Media Watch]

– “A video doesn’t just pop out organically from the brain of its creator: someone makes very specific choices and then very specific casting calls to mark race in a video. So why did Keys and her team choose to only show black people getting mad about the interracial love in this video?”

• OB-GYNs blocked from providing abortions

– “Many employers outright ban obstetrician-gynecologists from performing abortions, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.”

• Abortion ad roils Britain

– “The ad’s content entirely belies the fact that it is the first of its kind, though. There is no preaching, no weeping teenagers being thrown out of the house and no mention of “choice” or “legal rights.” The ad is short and to-the-point, hinging on the simple question, “Are you late?” It even ran after 10 p.m., when all the kiddies are in bed.

Sounds pretty tame, right? It is, and you can see for yourself below, but the backlash from anti-abortion activists has reached a farcical level of dismay.”

• Malcolm Fraser – making a political comeback?

– "Anyway. I’ve always respected the fact that Fraser spoke out against some of Howard’s more awful policies (most notably, those concerning refugees), but he’s always been a bit problematic, too. Some of the other things he said on Q&A on Monday confirmed that."

• Liberal schmiberal

– “How Fraser is feeling can only be imagined; apart from anything else, I bet he wouldn’t talk about it. Imagine being your 80s and deciding that an institution that has had your loyalty all your adult life is something to which you can no longer bear to belong.”

• Real-Life “League of Their Own:” Remembering Dottie

– “Kamenshek broke new ground for women in athletics at a time when fragility was held up as a valued feminine trait; she thrived in a male-dominated sport and was loved for it. As Vignola writes, “[Kamenshek and other AAGPBL players] made a mockery of the postwar American feminine stereotype. They looked like Rita Hayworth and played like Ted Williams.” Still, Kamenshek, like many other women athletes of her time, have largely disappeared from the popular consciousness.”

Categories: linkfest

Tags: blogging, Read-ems