FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A federal appeals court has overturned a statute outlawing sex toy sales in Texas, one of the last states - all in the South - to retain such a ban.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law making it illegal to sell or promote obscene devices, punishable by as many as two years in jail, violated the right to privacy guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

see also this video from the late Molly Ivins that shows how the people got around the law. Watch till the end for a nice punchline (might be nsfw due to dildos educational anatomical models):

It isn't long, but at least we know the movie is real now. And in case you haven't seen it clearly, the first shot of the USS Enterprise from the movie is attached. I don't want to resize it because it is really awesome when it's huge.

I don't really keep up with what the kids these days are up to—although the guy in this video is 33—so today was the first I heard about this incident. Dude falls some 45 feet and walks away with only some internal bruising and a few fractured bones (vertebrae schmertebrae).

In solidarity with the WGA, the internet's adorable animals are going on strike.

This dentistry training robot must be the creepiest robot I've ever seen.

Let's see if I can post an episode of 30 Rock... LEGALLY. :O

The provision for recess appointments is a horribly outdated relic from a time when the Senate would be out of session for months at a time with no way to reconvene quickly when, say, a critical post was suddenly left vacant. Now it's useful mostly as a cynical procedural ploy, seen here being countered with another cynical procedural ploy. Fighting fire with fire, I guess... Or maybe a shit hurling monkey metaphor would be more appropriate.

To this day the unexplained transmission of 22 November 1987 remains an historic curiosity, since it represents the last such signal of its kind… no other instance of a complete hijacking of a commercial broadcast has occurred in the US in the twenty years since. For now the mysterious masked Max Headroom lookalike remains at large, but his backside may never truly be safe from the mighty flyswatter of justice.

via
see also