Pop Culture

[YouTube Link] Actress Danica McKellar who many of us know from her role as sweetheart Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years finds herself in the news after she revealed that she breastfed her son until he was 2 years and 6 months old. Thoughts on attachment parenting?

You could look it up. Long story short: Once again Gotham residents get to be guinea pigs while riding the rails, just like back in the 60s when the C.I.A. and a special Army unit from Fort Detrick "that specialized in biological and chemical warfare came to New York in June 1966 and secretly dropped light bulbs loaded with what they regarded as harmless bacteria onto the tracks of stations along Avenue of the Americas and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. Another technique was to drop the light bulbs on the sidewalk ventilation grates, and let the little cloud of bacteria drift down below in a kind of mist. People waiting for trains got doused with the stuff." "'When the cloud engulfed people, they brushed their clothing, looked up at the grating apron and walked on,' according to Leonard Cole in the book 'Clouds of Secrecy: The Army's Germ Warfare Tests Over Populated Areas,' an account of the Army’s experiments in populated areas." "Other scientists brought meters in satchels and handbags to measure how quickly the stuff spread. Concerned that they might have to explain what they were doing, they brought fake letters of identification. Only one had to explain himself: a scientist who walked into a station smoking a cigarette and was stopped by a police officer. Elsewhere, nosy bystanders were given icy glares, and backed off." "Although the bacteria were generally believed to be harmless, there were reports that some people were sickened by them. But it was years before anyone realized that the Army had carried out this and other experiments." This time, 47 years after the top-secret June 1966 operation later revealed in Congressional hearings in 1975 that exposed the C.I.A.'s "Family Jewels," "The N.Y.P.D. will release small amounts of harmless, colorless gas in 5 boroughs and 21 subway lines." Why don't you feel better knowing this?

In a strange case of nominative determinism, a Worthington, Ohio, doctor was arrested for drunk driving. Elizabeth Unk was arrested after striking a bicyclist with her vehicle.Unk, 38, is charged with one count of vehicular assault and two counts of driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, drugs or a combination of them.The Ohio State Highway Patrol determined that Unk's blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.Unk's driver's license has been suspended.The incident happened last September, and the grand jury returned an indictment against Dr. Unk this week. Link -via Arbroath

Kanye West is in full rock star album promotion mode! Check out the lyrics to his controversial new song “Black Skinhead” here.

Over in Glasgow, there’s a nightspot called The Shimmy Club and it has one unusual feature, away from the dancing, drinking and awful promotional photos they stick on Facebook; at the Shimmy, you can spy on girls while they’re in the toilet. For £800-a-pop, you can hire two private function rooms which look into the ladies toilets through a spyglass mirror, like you see in police interrogation rooms. Oh, and there’s nothing in the ladies toilets telling patrons that they’re being watched. Basically, posh voyeurs can watch women in the toilet like they’re a trainee Chuck Berry. A spokesman for the club, owned by the G1 Group, have said that they don’t allow male or mixed-sex groups to hire the rooms, despite the fact social networks are full of photographs showing quite the opposite. And, to add to this, it seems the club are deleting any negative comments they receive on Facebook. As you can see from the photo above, the ‘records and dancing’ watermark is visible on an image that shows a fella watching two women through what appears to be a two-way mirror. One woman contacted a paper to say: “I find it absolutely outrageous that a club can get away with this, it is a complete invasion of privacy of the unsuspecting girls. Nowhere is it made clear that this is the case so when visiting the bathroom for the first time, there are women bending over the sink, pouting into the mirror to redo their lipstick, adjusting themselves whilst unknowingly being watched by people on the other side.” Of course, Shimmy doesn’t offer the same service looking into the gents. Gary Hall, of G1 Group, said it was “definitely not the case” that the women’s toilets were fitted with two-way mirrors, despite the fact that earlier in the week, you could book a ‘smoke and mirrors’ booth from the club themselves. Ironic that, when you visit the club’s website, one of the first things you see is an animation of the word ‘LAWLESS’. A petition soon sprung up against the club too. While the club are denying the two-way mirrors, the video of the launch night possibly seems to show the spy-glass around 50 seconds in. Pretty damning all-in-all.

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It's the mustache Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.Whom am I kidding? We all need the Batstache.Link -via The Mary Sue(Photo: unknown)

The Chinese have now surpassed Americans and Germans as the world's top international spenders and are becoming one of the most significant global tourism markets. As the throngs of Chinese tourists venture out into the big wide world, the Chinese government has some words of advice for them, " Be polite!" Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang has called on his nation's tourists to improve their behavior, stressing it was important to project a "good image of Chinese tourists," official state media outlet Xinhua reported. The Internet is saddened by this command. Scuffles between Chinese tourists and the locals of the country they are visiting make for wonderful content.Link Photo: We All Have Baggage Luggage Tag from the NeatoShop.

Heh. From $9,375. Apply within. [via the New York Times]