Art Asylum is producing a line of action figures based on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I’m giddy with excitement!

(I’m such a child).

I suppose I’m in favor of a “Blogger Code on Conduct“, but this paragraph really pissed me off:

She also thinks it could be time to re-examine whether the blogosphere needs to be completely uncensored.

“There is an unwritten rule in the blogosphere that it is wrong to delete nasty comments. It suggests that you can’t take criticism but now there is a sense that this is nonsense,” she said.

I really hate this notion. The blogosphere should be uncensored. I mean, yeah, delete spam comments, but where do you draw the line between nasty comments and comments that are critical? I’ve took the time, quite a while ago, to draw up a Blog Policy, with a specific comment policy,

“Please feel free to exercise your freedom of choice and not read this blog if you are incapable of doing so and acting in a mature manner.

Only spam comments will be deleted, but I reserve the right to IP ban trolls (I make determinations as to what qualifies as spam comments, and who qualifies as a troll).

In the rare occasion I choose not to recieve feedback on a post, the comment feature will be turned off either at the time of posting, or before the first comment has been left. I will not turn off the comment feature on a post because of negative or unpleasant feedback.”

I’ve never deleted comments for being critical, or banned anyone for making critical comments. That’s because I can fucking handle the criticism that comes with writing a public blog. Death threats, of course, would be a different matter, and that’s what the police are here for.

Mind you, not mine (note the quotation marks).

Today, I got a call on my cell phone from a number I didn’t recognize. “Hello?” I asked after accepting the call.

It was ‘phone relay.’ If you’re not familiar, the service is for dead and mute individuals. They communicate with an operator through a computer. The operator than relays their messages to the individual on the recieving end of the phone message, and relays the response back through to the deaf or mute individual.

So, anyway, it turned out be a prank call from one of my coworkers - the operator, in a dead-pan voice, said “This relay call is from [Brain Impaired Coworker], who would like you to know his penis is like a chickenbone.”

You’d think she would’ve figured out it wasn’t a serious phone call.

Towson University is under attack — by Morgan State University.

From The Baltimore Sun:

After considering his options for getting an MBA, Justin Jones-Fosu chose a new program at Towson University over an established one at his undergraduate college, Morgan State University.

Now, Jones-Fosu’s historically black alma mater is championing a bill in Annapolis that could lead to the dismantling of Towson’s MBA program. The bill is based on the argument that by allowing Towson to duplicate a program offered at nearby Morgan State, Maryland is promoting racial segregation.

“I understand the general principle, and I value the foundation that Morgan gave me,” said Jones-Fosu, 25, who is black and a former student body leader at Morgan. “But to take away the choice that I have, to take away the program, really would be detrimental to my degree. … I don’t like it at all.”

Look, this is what it comes down to. Morgan used to have a great MBA program. But then program became not-so great. Consider that in the 1970s, the program had 250 students enrolled. And that by 1995, there were twenty-eight students. I don’t think this a race issue, as some apparently think.

Calvin W. Burnett, a former Maryland higher education secretary who for years was president of historically black Coppin State University, concluded that Morgan had neglected its MBA program at a time of increased state funding. Morgan, he said in an interview this week, bears responsibility for the slide in its program’s enrollment and reputation.

I’m all for Morgan State having a great MBA program. But it seems to me — and I could be wrong — that Morgan’s neglect is at fault. Why Towson, the second largest school in the University of Maryland system (Morgan isn’t a part, at its own decision), should be punished for this is beyond me. Morgan certainly seems to be moving in the right direction:

Otis A. Thomas, Morgan’s business school dean, said MBA enrollment last fall was nearly 70, including a handful of white students. The program’s new director, William Vroman, acknowledged administrative shortcomings in the past but said Morgan is gaining in the highly competitive MBA field and hopes to enroll about 150 students by 2012.

Morgan MBA students’ morale is also on the rise, said graduate student David Turner, 34, who heads the program’s recently formed student association.

“I think there’s a lot of camaraderie and positive energy,” he said. “The program is really gaining a lot of momentum.”

But it was this lack of direction that enabled Towson to succesfully lobby for its own program. What’s the saying? Competition keeps you sharp? Morgan doesn’t seem to have any problems forecasting high enrollment for the future, and Towson’s MBA program will make sure that Morgan stays sharp. Personally, I echo the sentiments of Jennifer L. Gajewski, who, as Towson’s lobbyist, believes “the recent resurgence of Morgan’s program proves that both schools can happily offer an MBA. ‘If their enrollment is up and our enrollment is up, then there are obviously enough students to go around,’ she said.”

Amen!

From The Towerlight:

How do you give a woman an orgasm? How do you give one to yourself? Where’s the G-spot? These questions were answered March 14 during “I Love Female Orgasm,” a lecture designed to explore the intricacies, myths and facts about female sexuality.

Sex educator Dorian Solot and her husband Marshall Miller spoke to about 500 students in the University Union Chesapeake Rooms.

Solot focused on one headline: “Can’t peak with him? Fail proof ways to reach the finish line.” The article referenced climaxing together with a partner. Solot spent a few minutes dispelling the notion that a simultaneous orgasm is an easy task as seen in movies and television.

“It’s perfectly fine to have sequential orgasm,” Solot said.

The crowd was then divided by gender and the women were given the opportunity to ask questions and take advantage of Solot’s expertise.

The men moved to Room 305 and discussed how to become a better lover and listened to Miller compare driver’s education and sex education. According to Miller, sex education instructors implore more of a “just don’t do it” approach and that it’s dangerous. If driver’s ed was taught the same way, lessons would focus on always wearing your seatbelt and you wouldn’t be taught how to parallel park, he said.

I wish I would’ve known about this. I also wish, really really wish, that a lab section was offered!

Customers at some suburban pizza parlors are getting something extra with their pepperoni and mushrooms - wanted posters for parents accused of failing to pay child support.

The idea came to Cynthia Brown, executive director of the Butler County Child Enforcement Agency, while she was ordering pizza.

“It suddenly dawned on me that most people running from the law don’t eat out, they order pizza,” said Brown, whose county is north of Cincinnati.

Butler County has printed posters with mug shots of its 10 most-wanted parents, placing them in post offices and other government buildings and sending them to Ohio’s 87 other counties. The lineup, chosen by prosecutors, is changed twice a year.

The Butler County sheriff’s office served 1,224 nonsupport warrants last year, said sheriff’s Sgt. Todd Langmeyer. The county has about 350,000 residents.

Brown approached several restaurants and chains with her idea of affixing the posters to pizza boxes, but so far only three pizzerias are participating.

Since the first pizza posters appeared in August, they have led to one arrest, Langmeyer said. “It’s a good idea any time you can put the faces out there,” he said.

The owner of Karen’s Pizzeria hasn’t heard any complaints about her participation in the poster program.

“Some customers joke about it and say they’re glad they aren’t on it,” Karen Willis said. “Most seem to think it’s a good idea.”

Cool idea, but I bet if I delivered a pizza to someone whose photo was plastered across the box, I wouldn’t get much of a tip.