Author Archive
Not sure what this has to do with selling cars, but I suppose that’s the point. 
[ via: adweek.com ]
Well, that’s what focus groups saw anyway. The image seen is actually the Vimy Memorial in France, dedicated to Canadian soldiers who fought and died in the World War I battle that helped turn the tide of the war.
Many participants in the focus group knew nothing about the history of the battle. Numerous others indicated the images on the new bill too closely resembled the Twin Towers before 9/11 and were too pornographic. Really?!
The new bill:
The Twin Towers with topless ladies in question:
Not actually the Twin Towers with topless ladies
[ From: buzzfeed.com ]
In Slate, Jezebel.com staff writer Lindy West has an interesting review on a new book by Florence Williams that came out this week: Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. According to West, the book offers a comprehensive social, cultural, medical, and scientific history of the human breast, with writing that is “scientifically detailed yet warm and accessible.”
Williams’ journey begins when, alarmed by a news article about toxins in breast milk, she decides to get her own milk tested. And, surprise! It’s packed with toxins—specifically, chemical flame retardants—that Williams is funneling directly into her baby. (“Well, at least your breasts won’t spontaneously ignite!” her husband jokes, because that’s exactly what you want to hear when adjusting to the news that you’re a human baby-poison factory.) This sends her down a rabbit hole in search of deeper understanding of her own anatomy— into the evolutionary history of mammals, to Peru to investigate nursing and weaning, back to the first breast augmentation surgery, and all over the world to interview more boob experts than you can shake a pasty at.
And she discovers that breasts are complicated. Impossibly so. She learns that it’s the breast’s permeability that make it such an evolutionary powerhouse (lots and lots of estrogen receptors help human puberty occur at the optimal time; nutrient-rich breast milk makes for giant brains)—but that same permeability is also, partially, what causes one in eight women to develop breast cancer. Our breasts make us great but they also make us vulnerable, and you can’t help but come away from Williams’ book feeling a bit helpless. (Self-examinations! Self-examinations are key!) While she makes the story as dynamic as possible, there’s no escaping that this is science journalism—there are lots of PBDE levels and octa-203 and penta-47 and dioxin and “lobule type 4” and other such enemies of lively prose. But that’s OK—there are enough surprises and genuinely horrifying learning moments to keep a reader (especially a lady-reader), uh, latched on.
The review concludes with “Five Things I Learned About Breasts From Florence Williams’ Breasts,” with West taking a comedic approach, surprisingly, without undermining the book’s implications. Parting quips aside, the book appears to delve into uncharted areas of breast science and sociology, offering a fascinating exploration of the past, present and future of breasts, and what we can do to save them.
Amazon.com, I’ll take two please. 
You can read the full review here: Your Breasts Are Trying to Kill You.
[ From slate.com (via: boingboing.net) ]
A breast augmentation procedure marketed to women as the “lunchtime boob job” has been withdrawn by manufacturers due to concerns it could mask signs of breast cancer.
The Macrolane gel used in the £2,500 treatment makes it more difficult to spot tumors in standard mammogram scans, doctors say.
The procedure was marketed as the “lunchtime boob” job because it takes just 45 minutes and boosts breast size by a cup.
More than 5,000 British women chose to have the filler as an alternative to surgery, despite the fact that the treatment is unregulated because the gel is not officially classed as a medicine.
Oh, the things we must deal with!!
