Hoff's pages?

So, so, so, so sad. All us boingers ping those reviews must have brought it to Amazon's attention.

One of the most creative things I have seen on the intraweb in ages got pulled down :(. I had only gotten through 5 or 6 of the fifty pages...

I even just tried the wayback machine and it does not look like they bother to archive Amazon. Sniff, sniff.

Using open WiFi networks is not stealing, it's more like breathing.

I leave mine open an leave the ssid such that it is obviously free to all.

That is quite a write up, what is the source? Also, along with not eating pork or shellfish, circumcision, and many other traditional practices do in fact have health-based origins.

#98 Precisely.

To #86, do you routinely wash your foreskin immediately following sex? And outside of the developed world, is access to clean water and soap available immediately following intercourse?

#70 please note that my main post was from the CDC web site. Takuan's diatribe was probably from the extremist noharm.org web site she linked to earlier.

Yah, I gave up when science and reason left the room. A little abuse is good, but full blown ranting, where's the fun in that?

So much for science and reason...

Keratinized does not mean scar tissue:

Sci-Tech Dictionary:
keratinized tissue

(′ker·əd·ə′nīzd ′tish·ü)

(histology) Any tissue with a high keratin content, such as the epidermis or its derivatives.

And the fact that a foreskin is a potential reservoir for infectious agents is a scientific fact.

Foot binding, female circumcision/enfibulation

DO NOT = Male Circumcision.

Many, many, many people do not equate male circumcision with mutilation.

Many, many, many circumcised males have perfectly enjoyable sex. To both of you above speaking for circumcised males, are you in fact circumcised males? If not, perhaps you should not speak for them.

While I think enfibulation is a very disturbing practice, I do not pretend to speak for women who have had this procedure done to them.

Er, the primary effect of circumcision is removing the reservoir for material and viruses to collect in. The reservoir that the foreskin represents is a perfect vessel for keeping the infectious std agent (viral or bacterial) in close proximity to the person. Pretty much common sense here and basic engineering.

I would suggest that keratinization has little if anything to do with the infection prevention effect of circumcision purely from a common sense perspective.

Just to take this a bit further. Nothing is better than a condom.

That said, if you are in a location where condoms are not available, or are prohibitively expensive (a significant percentage of the world's population lives under these conditions) then circumcision is a permanent way to effectively reduce HIV transmission.

It is a part-measure, and potentially problematic in that it may encourage people to think "I'm circumcised I am fine" a dangerous line of reason.

That said, in a population that is going to be sexually active regardless, circumcision will reduce the rate of HIV infection.

To #14 Nothing is better then a condom, obviously.

But circumcision DOES dramatically reduce the risk of transmission all STDs. Here see a link to the CDC web site:

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/circumcision.htm

Also to say that male circumcision is mutilation is showing very little cultural sensitivity and is borderline antisemitic and anti-moslem.

This is questionable science at best. I work in infectious disease and even reporting this dubious research is somewhat irresponsible. Sure just rub estogen on me and I'm fine...

Just because one has a thickened keratin layer does NOT mean you have a significantly reduced chance of becoming infected with HIV.

Condoms and circumcision however have been rigorously tested in clinical trials and both DRAMATICALLY reduce the liklihood of infection.

To me Boing Boing is in many ways more then a blog. Increasingly it is a web-based journal of Culture, Politics, Technology, Human Rights, World Events, and yes Art.

I think on most other fronts Boing Boing manages to deliver compelling snapshots of our world from a point of view with which I generally jibe. That said, on the art front I think Boing Boing misses the mark by a wide margin. In the end, c'est la vie, but I have higher hopes. Again, I suppose it is upon me to submit the links and see how it goes. Or start my own site focusing on art.

To #15 anything but Art Forum. Art in American however is pretty darn good for a pub in print.

Just for the record, I am a huge art nut. I see tons of it all year every year.

Went to Art Basel Miami for the first time this year and it blew my mind, changed my life. The sheer volume of really well done, beautiful, world-class art was stunning. I am not just talking about the work at the fru-fru main Art Basel Miami event either, but even many of the smaller venues as well.

I will probably hit it every year or two for the rest of my life.

I have been an art nut all my life and hit galleries in all the major US cities and in Europe whenever I can.

I am always surprised at the art on Boing Boing as very genre-limited. I apologize for the tone of my previous harsh comments but stand by the overall vibe which was: with such good art going on in the world today it would be my hope that boing boing could get a little beyond the very small circle of sci-fantasy-gothy stuff that seems to be a recurring theme on the site.

Heaven forbid, some of the art going on in China right now both from a politico-cultural perspective and just for sheer visual beauty is really defining contemporary art in the world right now. So much more interesting from a global and artistic perspective then artists like Camille Rose Garcia.

I suppose it is upon me to go out and dig up links to art that I find compelling and submit them to Boing Boing. Hope they get posted...

Too bad the necklace is so dang ugly...

I am SO relieved that they yanked that subversive material from Flickr.

Maybe we can scan his HD drive for downloaded MP3s and rat him out to the RIAA as well.

Five or so years from now when he is released from Guantanamo or some unnamed prison in China he will surely understand the error of his ways.

Not quite enough incentive for a DOS attack on Flickr, but the thought does make me smile.

I only made it to page 40 myself :(