Day: September 25, 2006

Had a lovely weekend, full of nothing much to report. Just a nice lazy watch TV, websurf, and hermit.

Lacking real content, here’s some interesting things to look at:

• The Mosex Index
  If you’re a person who enjoys erotica, you’ll know that the Internet is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because there’s an awful lot of it available out there on the net, which beats hanging out in dingy bookstores in bad parts of town for comfort or convenience (although you cannot actually beat the sociological enjoyment of frequenting such establishments), and a curse because there’s an awful lot of really bad stuff out there. There are, of course, sites that purport to rate various content providers, but in this particular genre, personal taste is even more important than usual. What I enjoy may be of absolutely no interest to you, and visa versa.

  Fortunately, someone is trying to conquer that very problem, as featured in a recent issue of Wired:

  Daniel Gluck, executive director of the Museum of Sex (NSFW) in New York, sympathizes with the situation as well — so much so, he’s trying to do something about it.

  The result is the fledgling MoSex Index (NSFW), an attempt to combine the best of social content with “taste networking.”

  “Our social content engine is similar to Digg or Reddit, where members can post content and others can rate it. Based on content thresholds, who is doing the rating, karma and reputation, links make it to the homepage,” Daniel says.

  “But — and I think this is an extremely important aspect of the project — we’ve also incorporated a collaborative filtering element. On other sites, you rate or (don’t) rate; we have a degree of rating based on a 7-point Likert scale that adds weight to your like or dislike. We take that intelligence and form ‘taste profiles,’ which combine to form ‘taste networks.’ When people in your taste network find content they like, that content gets recommended to you.”

  I spent some idle time on Saturday, and did manage to find some interesting sites that I’d previously been aware of. The site is currently a bit sluggish and intermittently available, since the Wired article has generated a huge spike in their traffic. If you’re at all interested in finding online erotic material, this is a site to keep an eye on.

• Ray’s little ditty
  Courtesy of ZeFrank, here’s a little ditty composed by an unknown father to help his daughter deal with stressful days. Give it a listen, and see if it doesn’t make you smile.

  (one of Ze’s readers also did an extended remix, setting the whole thing to a techno beat. I’m sure there will be a video soon. Stay tuned.)

• Julie Gribble
  Someone posted a link to alert people that Atlanta native Julie Gribble was doing a benefit show was for the Atlanta Human Society. While I have prior commitments that day, I thought I’d check out her samples to see if she was the sort of artist I tend to enjoy, and the answer was, based on listening to a few 2 minute clips of her songs, a resounding yes. Go give her a spin.

• Dance Like Buddha
  Actually, i think it’s more like Kali than Buddha, but who cares. This is an outstanding video clip.

• Bujold audio books
  Fans of Lois McMaster Bujold may be interested to find some audio books available online at audible.com. Thanks to filkferengi for the pointer.

Finally, Happy New Year to all my Jewish friends. May the year ahead be full of light and joy for each and every one of you.