It had been assumed that Hillary Clinton would do very well in Pennsylvania against Barack Obama, continuing the relative ambiguity of which candidate should be chosen at the Democratic National Convention. However, recent polls show that Obama is closing the lead, and is now probably well within 10 percentage points of Clinton, with about 10 percent of polled voters undecided. The Real Clear Politics average of seven recent pols shows the spread at 7.8 percent. Most important, though, is a huge shift from 20 percent difference prior to late March to a 10 percent difference today. It is not clear that the difference is narrowing, but it is clear that it has suddenly gotten narrow.The word is that the two candidates are slogging it out in ad space, each spending millions and coming up with region-specific multiple ads. Here are a couple of examples:
Just as a reminder: The current delegate count is Obama 1641 and Clinton 1505 including super delegates. Pennsylvania had 158 delegates in a closed primary and 2024 are needed to win. If Obama won every single available delegate, he would still fall short of this number.In the mean time, across the pond in France, a very artistic photograph of Carla Bruni, the First Lady — taken in 1993 — sold at Christie’s Auction house for 91,000 dollars. The price paid by a Chinese art collector is significantly higher than previously anticipated.She and her husband were just about to make their first state visit to Britain at the time of the release of the photograph, and this apparently was upsetting to them. However, Christies has argued that this is nothing other than a tasteful piece of art created by Swiss renowned photographer Michel Compte. The artist’s interpretation of the photograph:
Comte says that Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife is “naked in this picture but at the same time shows her masculine side. And even goes on to say that it could even be a man. “It seems as if she is touching or hiding her sex: she plays. She looks afraid, with her feet pointing inside and her face has the expression of a mask, as if it was torn from her body, he continued.[source]
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All I know is, I check ScienceBlogs from my RSS feed, which includes images but not Flash, so all I saw was “Here are a couple of examples:” and boom! the naked French First Lady.
What are you trying to do with this post? Get us in trouble? I was in the library reading my RSS feeds and like the above commenter, I got a -bam- naked lady.Post what you want, but at least WARN us with a NFSW. You should also put the naked lady photo behind a -read more- link.Basic blogging ethics, people may get fired, in trouble, etc. for this!
Until she moves her hands, you can’t really tell if she is naked.
There, I fixed the title. But I don’t see why a library would have a problem with art!
If this was a picture of a naked male discus thrower, would he need to be behind the fold?
If this was a picture of a naked male discus thrower, would he need to be behind the fold? FUCK YEAH!
Justinia, thanks for mentioning that…Razib: I think the more salient point is this: When there was a picture of a naked male discus thrower not beneath the fold did anyone say anything?Here’s the naked manSo, there is principle, fear, indignation, socio-political mutual masturbation, and then there is reality.(Hey, wait, am I starting to sound like CMF?????)
Well, to be fair, there’s no genitalia in the male case you linked to (except for a blurry rendering of one of the nun’s paintings). And yes, not really for the woman above, either. I think it’s likely that the indignation isn’t so much at what we’re seeing, but rather at what we’re afraid our colleagues/superiors might see over our shoulders – we may not be prudish ourselves, but in a work or public environment sometimes we have to err on that side, social mores such as they are. I agree that a “NSFW” somewhere near the top is always helpful, for those of us without a private office or conveniently obscured monitor.
You sexist PIG! I would imagine the world would have had its fill by now of oogling naked women, but NOOO. we just can’t get enough of that here on Mr. Ladens blog!This woman is despicable as a billboard tool, and you are obviously going for rattings, pondering to those juvenistic male impulses. This sort of pondering to the emotional and uncontrollable male urges is exactly why rape happens all the time, somewhere in the worlds.Someone out there is probably looking at this image and then contemplating a kidnapping, or worse, some other deviant typical male behavior, like masterbatting under there desk, while perpetrutating the crime of violence of thinking about women as sexual beings, or gawking at their secretaries!!Shame on you who are supposed to be sciencists.
“there is principle, fear, indignation, socio-political mutual masturbation, and then there is reality.”The reality is that we live in a politicized body. That body masculine is deemed worthless, and meanigless, but mostly “controllable” as long as it is within the purview of several women at the same time–these women who sit in judgement, and provided that the male ‘phallus’ is diminished in stature.For those of us who had the great fortune of viewing this female form while in public, those of us who are male no doubt were viewed as naughty lab rats by those who seek only the confirmation bias of ” see, men are all pigs” without even the cursory decency of any onlooker to voice the question the image may well have caused in their own heads, and if those onlookers were female, likely had in their own ( female projection of desire onto males).Also, not how one person up there said that the womans genitals were showing? It is typical to ‘infer’ female genitals–especially BY females–even if those genitals are not exposed.But no one, ever in these discussion ever mentions those wonderful ground hugging wide feet, or her positively functionally long arms juxtaposed against capable hips… and why is it that women wear clothes? Lest they become boring to the eye, or ‘masculine…’.That being said, i see why Sarcozy left his wife….;-)
ML, I think the only appropriate response to someone seeing it over your shoulder is a shrug, followed by, “Sorry, I was reading about French politics. I should have known.”
I agree with Napoleon, in that I think this post was all about the rattings.Who doesn’t want more rattings?If anybody has some rattings they don’t want, send them my way!
The reason I did not put this below the fold was for a technical reason that I have realized does not exist. Thus it is adjusted. So everyone can go home and lock your doors and windows now. Nothing to see here.
Whilst I’m not French, I live and work in France. I could have probably viewed this post at work and nobody (of either sex) would have batted an eye. For feck’s sake, it’s less pornographic than some of the advertising posters!
Okay, so since she has smallish breasts she is not feminine?But, I am in favor of as many rattings as I can get, so thanks for the picture, Greg.It’s artistic, not pornographic.
Keep in mind how prudish, insecure, and fearful of the female form many Americans are. Let’s not forget that America is the country which was thrown into a nationwide uproar over a single tit flashed for a split second at the Super Bowl. Many Americans automatically and unthinkingly equate images of the female body with filthiness and lewdness. Very, very different from France.
Actually, Mike, I think she’s supposed to be masculine because she looks neither modest nor sexualized. I don’t particularly want to have a conversation with the photographer, but I do think he captured the essence of a professional model here. It’s that striking combination of pliability and detachment.blf, appreciate what you’ve got, please, and pity those of us who live in a land where breasts are more acceptable if they’re being hacked apart in a slasher movie. The movie, of course, becomes less acceptable.
*sigh* even the girls zoom in on tits and ass…tummies, feet,sturdy examples of bi-pedalism,ossa coxae that show promise of actualy enabling their owner to live through childbirth– all co-opted by the scathing sexual eye of American prudes…