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The Biggest Source of Disinformation On The Gaza Conflict Is Ourselves

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The Biggest Source of Disinformation On The Gaza Conflict Is Ourselves

New data visualizations give a startling picture of online activity during the latest conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. And they reveal just how much online media and social networks help us to create our own information bubbles, customized to reinforce our political beliefs.

[Image Source: U.S. State Department]

Gilad Lotan is the chief data scientist at betaworks, which has launched high-profile companies that include SocialFlow and bitly. Looking at Lotan's network graph of Twitter traffic from his blog i love data, I can't help but feel that we really are living in a version of The Matrix. The media constructs our reality and we're plugged into it 24/7. Except here, in theory, we have the freedom to make our own decisions.

The Biggest Source of Disinformation On The Gaza Conflict Is Ourselves

In Lotan's view, however, that's a big part of the problem:

Not only is there much more media produced, but it is coming at us at a faster pace, from many more sources. … the landscape is much more nuanced, and highly personalized. We construct a representation of our interest by choosing to follow or like specific pages. The more we engage with certain type of content, the more similar content is made visible in our feeds.

If you're rooting for Israel, you might have seen videos of rocket launches by Hamas adjacent to Shifa Hospital. Alternatively, if you're pro-Palestinian, you might have seen the following report on an alleged IDF sniper who admitted (on Instagram) to murdering 13 Gazan children. Israelis and their proponents are likely to see IDF videos such as this one detailing arms and tunnels found within mosques passed around in their social media feeds, while Palestinian groups are likely to pass around images displaying the sheer destruction caused by IDF forces to Gazan mosques. One side sees videos of rockets intercepted in the Tel-Aviv skies, and other sees the lethal aftermath of a missile attack on a Gazan neighborhood.

The better we get at modeling user preferences, the more accurately we construct recommendation engines that fully capture user attention. In a way, we are building personalized propaganda engines that feed users content which makes them feel good and throws away the uncomfortable bits.

A Spectrum Of Views

Lotan has created a network graph representing how Twitter accounts responded to the bombing of a UN school in Beit Hanoun last week. The larger a node, the higher its number of followers. The closer together two nodes, the more connections they share. Different colors represent ideological communities; nodes of the same color are much more inter-connected compared to the rest of the graph.

The Biggest Source of Disinformation On The Gaza Conflict Is Ourselves

As the graph reveals, there's quite a gap between the two sides. On the right, there are "pro-Palestinian" groups of activists (in green) as well as a variety of media outlets and journalists (in gray). "The gray cluster of bloggers, journalists and international media entities is closely connected with the group of pro-Palestinian activists, which means that information is much more likely to spread amongst the two," says Lotan, adding that "this structural characteristic of the graph reinforces general Israeli sentiment regarding international media bias."

The Biggest Source of Disinformation On The Gaza Conflict Is Ourselves

On the left side, there are "pro-Israeli" groups, media outlets and Israeli public personas, (light blue), as well as American conservative groups, including the Tea Party (dark blue).

As Lotan notes:

There's a clear difference in frame when we compare one side of the graph to the other. None of the information shared is false per se, yet users make deliberate choices about what they choose to amplify. This is a representation of their values, and the values of their connections. Messages passed along in one side of the graph will never reach the other.

A Middle Ground?

The one notable exception in Lotan's graph, serving as a bridge between the two sides, right smack in the middle, is the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Why Haaretz? It's been described as a more left-wing version of the New York Times that exists in a twilight zone where it's deemed iconoclastic enough to satisfy Israel's critics yet authoritative enough to appeal to Israel's center-left supporters.

The Biggest Source of Disinformation On The Gaza Conflict Is Ourselves

A Provocative Question

Lotan also expresses concern over the dilemma that the more we engage online media, the more it personalizes itself to fit our political outlooks. He suggests an experiment: Facebook's trending pages aggregate content that are heavily shared across the platform. If you're already logged into Facebook, you'll see a personalized view of the trend, highlighting your friends and their views on the trend. Next, open a separate browser window in "incognito mode" and navigate to the same page. Since the browser has no idea who you are on Facebook, you'll get the raw, unpersonalized feed. See how many differences you notice.

"A healthy democracy is contingent on having a healthy media ecosystem," Lotan observes. "As builders of these online networked spaces, how do we make sure we optimizing not only for traffic and engagement, but also an informed public?"

[Graph images: i love data]


At Least 11 Injured After Double-Decker Buses Collide in Times Square

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At least 11 people were injured after two double-decker buses collided in Times Square this afternoon. Witnesses at the scene said there were "bodies on the ground," but so far no fatalities have been reported. Injured passengers are reportedly being treated at the scene.

From NBC New York:

The FDNY says the buses crashed at 7th Avenue and West 47th Street, and at least 11 people were being treated for injuries, three of them serious but non-life threatening.

It's not clear what caused the crash in one of the busiest pedestrian areas in New York City. A broken traffic light was seen smashed on the ground, and the front of one of the buses involved in the crash appeared to have caved in from the crash.

Kim Says Kanye's "45-Minute Wedding Toast" Was "Only" 20 Minutes

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Of all the details assaulting the reader's senses in Page Six's factual report and/or work of dystopian literature about Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's wedding—the giant golden toilet, the marble piano—perhaps the most unabashedly Kanye was Mr. West's alleged 45-minute "toast to himself."

But that toast never happened, mobile gaming tycoon Kim Kardashian told Jimmy Kimmel last night. Kanye's speech was actually only 20 minutes, and it wasn't entirely about Kanye.

It's good she set the record straight on that one. For a while there, everyone was thinking he had talked for a long time.

Kim also revealed that other aspects of the wedding were just as disastrous as Page Six made them sound: The engraved marble seating charts proved to be a bad idea when one guest bailed at the last minute. Painting over the name with white paint didn't make things better.

Other things that required painting-over: Khloe Kardashian, who was so hung over from the rehearsal dinner at Versailles the night before that she had to have her makeup done while she was still asleep.

Although it got off to a bumpy start, Kimye's marriage is still going strong. Kanye, who recently praised Kim for teaching him the "Kim K skills" necessary to win at life, has now officially lasted longer than that other guy.

Drunk History Revisits Citizen Kane with Jack Black and John Lithgow

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Drunk History Revisits Citizen Kane with Jack Black and John Lithgow

Tonight on Drunk History, show creator Derek Waters will be looking incredibly debonair as screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz—alongside Jack Black as Orson Welles and John Lithgow as the (Alleged? Acknowledged?) real-life Charles Foster Kane, William Randolph Hearst—as comedian Steve Berg tells the story of Citizen Kane.

Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows

The story behind the best movie (allegedly?) of all time is one of the best Hollywood tales of all time, with that weirdly art=life=art thing you always get with Orson Welles, who went a certain way in late life that unfortunately (if kind of awesomely) overshadows his youthful (and completely earned) arrogance to this day:

[ Clips and image via Comedy Central and Youtube]

Morning After is a new home for television discussion online, brought to you by Gawker. What are you watching tonight? What are we missing out on? Recommendations and discussions down below.

Who Do You Block on Twitter?

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Who Do You Block on Twitter?

The best way to use Twitter is to follow no one and never tweet, but sometimes social pressures force us off that righteous path. So, we have to compromise: use Twitter, but block everyone who sucks. Who sucks to you?

The Awl's thin, redheaded editors shared their personal block lists using a new service called Blocktogether. Try plugging in your own account, and check out a neatly compiled list of personal cyber-beefs, most of which you've probably forgotten.

If your list looks too long, don't be too hard on yourself; I bet those fuckers deserved it. If your list looks too short, block more people until you feel good about it all. Either way, share your list below.

Image: Shutterstock

George Clooney Put a Picture of His Dick on the Roseanne Refrigerator

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Wanted: A picture of an allegedly averaged-sized megastar's penis peeking out from a pair of glasses in a below-the-belt Groucho Marx look. Have you seen this dick?

On today's episode of The Talk, Roseanne Barr repeated a years-old rumor that George Clooney left a picture of his dick on the fridge of the Roseanne set (Clooney had a bit part as Jackie's boyfriend during the show's first season). "We would laugh at it all the time, and about the second day it disappeared," said Barr. "I thought it would surface by now but maybe they don't know it was George Clooney."

I meant what I said two paragraphs ago: Have you seen this dick? If you are in possession of this picture, or have the time and ability to go through Roseanne to find this shot on the fridge, please share. It would make us all so happy.

Clooney, by the way, has denied this rumor in the past. From George Clooney: The Last Great Movie Star (Revised and Updated Edition):

Even when he quit Roseanne after the first season, the jokester was rumored to have left the cast and crew with a naughty little memento to keep them laughing in his absence: a photo, snapped by John Goodman, who played Roseanne's husband on the show, of Clooney's genitals, "disguised" by a pair of Groucho Marx glasses. The actor has denied that such a raunchy pic exists, though he admits that "The Face," as he calls the Groucho glasses-over-the-genitals bit, is one of his favorite gags. Roseanne herself, meanwhile, has confirmed that the polaroid hung on the set refrigerator for years before mysteriously disappearing one day.

I want to believe.

Bill Keller Begs Redditors Not to Ask About the NYT, They Do Anyway

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Bill Keller Begs Redditors Not to Ask About the NYT, They Do Anyway

In a show of incredible executive strength, Bill Keller, former New York Times editor and current editor of criminal justice-focused start-up The Marshall Project, attempted to lay down some ground rules before his Reddit AMA today.

The journalist, who has covered "everything from end of white rule in South Africa to the breakup of the Soviet Union" to how one should suffer from cancer, pleaded with Redditors to ask him about anything BUT the place at which he worked for 30 years and defined his entire career.

Feel free to ask me anything about what it's like to run a startup news organization or what I've learned so far about our criminal justice system or what escapist TV I'm watching at the moment, but, please oh please, NOT about the NYT.

Redditors, a canny bunch, proceeded to ask him numerous questions about the Times straight off the bat. And in a second show of steely resolve, Keller...answered them.

When asked about the Times's drug-testing rules for employees, Keller wrote, "I make a policy of not second-guessing my former colleagues in public, but I agree (and expect a lot of people at the NYT do, too) that the inconsistency is increasingly difficult to defend." (What do you think? Did Keller break his policy here?)

Keller then divulged that his favorite television show is Boss, starring Kelsey Grammer. "Originally on Starz, no available on Netflix, [sic]" Keller wrote.

He also talked a little about the death penalty.

Valuable information from a true journalist.

Here's How Conde Nast and Mo Rocca Are Making Propaganda for Monsanto

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Here's How Conde Nast and Mo Rocca Are Making Propaganda for Monsanto

Genetically modified agribusiness and pesticide conglomerate Monsanto has a reputation (rightly or wrongly) as one of the most evil companies in America. Here's one way they're working on their PR: by enlisting the help of Conde Nast, and Mo Rocca, and some desperate charities.

Monsanto, which has been a target of environmental and human rights activists for decades now, is well aware of the constant need to burnish its own reputation. Today we obtained the following email, which Conde Nast business representatives are circulating to various big-name, respected charity groups, trying to get them to agree to be featured in a piece of celebrity-studded Monsanto propaganda in exchange for money. It is, in essence, a plea for a respected nongovernmental organization to sell its reputation to Monsanto for PR purposes. Here is the email that went out from a Conde business rep:

Subject: Potential Opportunity for [Charity group] with Conde Nast

Dear [Redacted],

I'm writing on behalf of the Strategic Alliances group within Conde Nast Media Group. We are currently producing an exciting video series being promoted on our brand websites ( i.e: Self, Epicurious, Bon Appetite, GQ & Details) and living on a custom YouTube channel. The topics center around food, food chains and sustainability, and there is great interest to have Lori Silverbush as part of the panel.

Shoot dates are August 11th & 12th in Bedford, NY, and the panel is hosted/moderated by Mo Rocca. We are contacting you to see if there might be a person at [charity group] who could speak to one or two of the episode subjects (see attached document). We would only need this person to participate on one day (two episodes are shot each day). Compensation, or donation to [charity group] will be provided, along with travel two/from the shoot location.

As these dates are fast approaching, we'd love to connect with you today, or at your earliest convenience to discuss further. I am also attaching an overview outlining the episodes, usage and sponsor.

Please let me know a good time to connect.

Best,

Marcella

(See attached file: A SEAT AT THE TABLE- GUEST OVERVIEW.pdf)

And here is the document that was attached to the email, detailing the extent of what Conde's brand specialists have in store for this feel-good piece of Monsanto propaganda: a four-episode film series on food, with a celebrity host and noteworthy guests, which will run for six months on various Conde media properties, as well as on a dedicated YouTube channel.

Ominously, "Each episode will be stylishly arranged in a controlled environment, to create an authoritative and journalistic forum."

Here's How Conde Nast and Mo Rocca Are Making Propaganda for Monsanto

We're all so proud of you, Mo Rocca.

[Photos via Getty, Shutterstock, AP]


Nathan For You Takes On the Dangers of Internet Dating

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Nathan For You Takes On the Dangers of Internet Dating

On tonight's Nathan For You, Mr. Fielder takes the already terrifying world of internet dating, adds some murder and paternalism to it, and heads instantly into the usual abyss. He'll also address party evites (just like regular invitations, if you're not serious about your life) and bring us once again into his own process—a favorite recurring segment of mine—as he teaches us the art of self-motivation.

In the clip below, Nathan takes a thing we all know and hate to think about, and then makes us think about it. In a way that is kind of funny, mostly disturbing, and very typical of our favorite Canadian transplant (of those that have rescued at least one puppeteer from within a whale during the course of their career).

[ Clip and image via Comedy Central]

Morning After is a new home for television discussion online, brought to you by Gawker. What are you watching tonight? What are we missing out on? Recommendations and discussions down below.

Did A Popular Historian Plagiarize His Big Book About Reagan?

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Did A Popular Historian Plagiarize His Big Book About Reagan?

There's an alleged plagiarizer under every journalistic rock lately. The latest target of such accusations is Rick Perlstein, a Nation columnist and the author of a new Big Book About Reagan (this is a genre) called The Invisible Bridge.

The accuser is one Craig Shirley. Shirley is the kind of man whose Wikipedia page lets you know that he has been deemed "one of the most esteemed Ronald Reagan biographers" by the equally esteemed folk of Breitbart dot com. In 2005, Shirley published a book called Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All. He says that Perlstein copied bits of his book without attribution. On Shirley's blog, he offers helpful side-by-side charts to illustrate, like so:

Did A Popular Historian Plagiarize His Big Book About Reagan?

Many more such examples are available. And Shirley didn't stop at listing them in a blog post. His lawyer sent the publisher, Simon & Schuster, a long letter detailing his concerns, and demanding—please sit down—$25 million in damages, among other remedies.

Does that seem like an overreaction? Well, this is a Divided America, and the participants in this particular debate obviously come to the table with ideological baggage. One suspects that Shirley, a conservative, would in any event be bothered that his research is being used by Perlstein, a liberal, to reconstruct what is undoubtedly a more critical account of a Republican demigod. Political sympathies are relevant here.

Certainly third parties see it that way. The New York Times's Paul Krugman sums up the views of Perlstein's supporters, writing on his blog this morning that:

How do we know that [the charges are] spurious? The people making the charges — almost all of whom have, surprise, movement conservative connections — aren't pointing to any actual passages that, you know, were lifted from some other book. Instead, they're claiming that Perlstein paraphrased what other people said. Um, what? Unless there's a very close match, telling more or less the same story someone else has told before is perfectly ordinary — in fact, it would be distressing if history books didn't correspond on some things.

And Dave Weigel at Slate pretty much says the same thing, adding that probably what's got the conservative goat is the fact that this is a book about their beloved Gipper.

But there are indeed some "close matches" between these two books. Here's Shirley's first example:

Even its 'red light' district was festooned with red, white, and blue bunting, as dancing elephants were placed in the windows of several smut peddlers.

Versus the Perlstein version:

the city's anemic red-light district was festooned with red, white, and blue bunting; several of the smut peddlers featured dancers in elephant costume in their windows.

There are some... curious similarities. Perlstein repeats the "festooned" and the phrase "smut peddlers," which idiom does sound more native to the President of the Yale Young Republicans circa 1992 than a prominent liberal historian.

The divergence is odd too: Shirley says there are "dancing elephants" (live elephants? Papier-mâché?), while Perlstein sees dancers in elephant costume. Does this reflect deeper reporting of the same facts, or a garbled rewrite?

You'd think Perlstein's notes might clear up what he got from Shirley and what he didn't. Handily, they are available online—in fact are only online because reportedly they would not fit in the book. But the notes for this particular page of The Invisible Bridge don't clearly attribute this to Shirley. There are citations to Shirley before and after, but that particular graph does go without citation.

Yet it's not like Perlstein was hiding his debts elsewhere. In his acknowledgements Perlstein goes ahead and thanks Shirley's whole book:

Did A Popular Historian Plagiarize His Big Book About Reagan?

I'm not sure that amounts to plagiarism, but it could be called sloppiness. A lot of people would call it forgivable sloppiness. Half the non-fiction books out there could probably be fruitfully mined for similar faults.

In fact what I'm reminded of here is not so much the Great Plagiarists of years past but rather the seething resentment that often exists between academic and popular historians. Nearly every major review of Perlstein's work noted that he's a synthesizer, not an original researcher. It's hard not to resent the person who comes along with much prettier gift wrapping and redelivers your work to the world with a bow. But sad news for the Craig Shirleys of the world: Popular as Perlstein's book might be, $25 million is unlikely be in the cards for you, even with a slam-dunk case.

[Image via Getty.]

Deadspin How Dan Snyder Bought Off The D.C.

Never-Before Heard True Hollywood Stories

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Never-Before Heard True Hollywood Stories

Tonight, Drunk History will spin inebriated yarns of old Hollywood. The glitz! The glamour! The prejudices! The puritanically insane Hays Code which would irreparably warp our country's views on sex for decades to come! Ah, the good old days indeed.

In honor of Hollywood's storytelling spirit, we're pleased to share with you these never-before heard tales of Tinseltown, thanks to an anonymous tipster who claims he "survived on gossip and oyster crackers beneath the tables at the Formosa for decades."

Orson Welles' Appetite

It's widely known that Orson could pack it in, with an appetite that didn't discriminate. The larger-than-life character would regularly consume Hunter S. Thompson-sized buffets for snacks. According to our tipster, Welles once planned a gargantuan soirée that boasted a spread featuring 2,000 Deviled Eggs, 500 gallons of Schlitz Malt Liquor, a septic-tank filled with champagne, 20,000 bottles of Paul Masson, 360 rotisserie chickens, 4 stuffed pigs, a silo of cocktail weenies, 3 gaggle of roasted geese, a sautéed family of wildebeest, 1 elephant shot by Ernest Hemingway, a deli-tray of cured human meat, and 18 sheet-cakes depicting his likeness. As the guests arrived to his seaside getaway, they noticed a disheveled and horrible site. All of the catering had been consumed, bones, bottles, and all, and a gigantic being snoozed on the nearby beaches. Orson had inhaled the entire menu while impatiently waiting for the party to begin. The Coast Guard initially reported Orson's water-side food-nap as a beached whale. First responders were surprised to just-barely recognize the famed director, who reeked of the dankest nugs, his greasy lips quietly exhaling, "more bud."

Betty Boop: IRL?

According to our vetted informant, animation legend Max Fleischer did not just conjure the character of Betty Boop from the creative ether. In fact, Boop is based on an actual woman Fleischer briefly dated and kept in his secret bootlegging quarters. The real woman, Bethany Poope, suffered from cranial hyperostosis, a condition that caused her skull to grow to an abnormal size. According to those who knew him at the time, many of his original "car-tunes" were filled with abnormal characters he found while traveling the inbred countryside, where he would promise fame and fortune out west, only to trap and imprison a group of "circus freaks" to fill his content well for many years to come. He was murdered by Superman after pioneering synchronized sound for animation in 1926, for the car-tune version of the racist-as-fuck "My Old Kentucky Home." He was buried in an unmarked grave with his freaks.

Elizabeth Taylor: Diamond Addict

Never-Before Heard True Hollywood Stories

It's no secret that Taylor was one of diamonds' best friends. But what the general public has been unaware of for decades may shock you: at an early age Elizabeth was convinced by a witch doctor in her inner circle that snorting crushed diamonds would fill her bloodstream with diamond dust thusly making her immune to all disease and hardship, and preventing her from ever falling out of the spotlight. The fame-hungry Taylor picked up an addiction to the crushed, sparkling rocks and was soon devoting all of her waking energy to finding more. In fact, she charted her own boat, The Ice Queen, to the Ivory Coast to oversee a personally-financed army hunt for the purest form of dust: crushed blood diamonds. The addiction finally took her life in 1984. A team of her trusted employees, with the help of Industrial Light and Magic, quickly built an animatronic duplicate of Taylor to handle the rest of her media obligations for the next 27 years.

The Turners and Stompanato

Lana Turner was romantically linked to known mobster Johnny Stompanato for quite some time. Stompanato, who got the nickname "Johnny Stomp" not for his name but for stamping out insects for crime lord Mickey Cohen, was an abusive, ill-tempered dickhead. After smacking Lana around for the last time, her daughter, Cheryl Crane, took a pair of scissors and stabbed him to death. She then cut him into tiny pieces and consumed each and every one, telling close friends, "I have consumed his evil and turned it into power." Cheryl Crane continued to lead an exciting life, escaping severe punishment for her rightful murder, and traveling under pseudonyms for the next decade murdering wife-battering shit-piles in small towns. For free.

Natalie Wood's 'Mysterious' Death

Never-Before Heard True Hollywood Stories

In 1981 Natalie Wood mysteriously drowned while sailing near Catalina with Robert Wagner, Christopher Walken, and the boat's captain. The death was ruled an accident, however, Wood had abrasions and bruises on her arms that occurred prior to falling overboard. No one on the boat admitted to seeing her go overboard or hearing any noises related to the incident. So how did Natalie really die? How could that have happened?

Robert Wagner probably got mad and fucking killed her. Rich white men get away with murder all the time. And men love killing women. Makes them feel safe. Makes them feel nice and manly. Makes them feel like God.

But everyone knows that.

[Images via Under The Hollywood Sign, YouTube, Diamond Fireglass, Daily Mail]

Morning After is a new home for television discussion online, brought to you by Gawker. Follow @GawkerMA and read more about it here.

Kid Rock Answers All Your Pressing Questions About His Glass Dildo

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Kid Rock Answers All Your Pressing Questions About His Glass Dildo

As part of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed last month against rap-metal physics students Insane Clown Posse, Kid Rock received a subpoena ordering him to produce, within 14 days, a glass dildo he was allegedly given by a former ICP employee. Instead, Rock produced a missive entitled "All Parties Involved in This ICP Glass Dildo Case Can Shove One Up Their Ass: Kid Rock Responds."

In letters to the attorneys for two former ICP employees—plaintiff Andrea Pellegrini and allegedly dildo-gifter "Dirty Dan" Diamond—Rock denies knowing a damn thing about any glass dildo, let alone owning one.

"No idea what you're talking about, and I definitely don't have it. I've never heard of, seen, or met any people involved in this case," he says, addressing Pellegrini's lawyers.

And not only does he not know about any dildo, he's pissed that anyone would even ask:

"Say you were people who aren't a blight on our planet – wouldn't you be pissed off that your name, for days on end, was being mentioned in the press when EVERYONE involved knew you weren't involved in any way? Welcome to my side of this story."

Rock also attempted to explain to Dirty Dan's lawyer why Dan might have claimed that, after Andrea Pellegrini turned down his (generous, totally non-harassing) gift of a glass sex toy, Dan gave said dildo to internationally known recording artist Kid Rock:

There are only two possible explanations for what your client said: either he is an absolute pathological liar, who for some insane reason decided to make up a bullshit story using my name or 2: he thinks he's a comedian and was trying to be funny.

There's no reason to believe that, if Rock had been given a dildo by a guy who calls himself "Dirty Dan," he would have kept it. But Rock's explanation does contain a couple of glaring factual errors:

First, he denies having seen, heard of, or met any parties to the case. Two of the named defendants are ICP members Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J, with whom Rock recorded a song in 1992. Afterward, Rock and ICP carried on a lame mutual beef that played out through their song lyrics.

Second, Rock asserts that if "Diamond Dan" were joking about the dildo, then he's just an asshole who isn't funny. This is incorrect: That joke would make him an asshole who is hilarious.

You can read Rock's entire response on his website.

[H/T The Blemish, Photo: AP Images]

Tuesday Night TV's a Country-Music Joke That Takes Three Hours to Tell

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Tuesday Night TV's a Country-Music Joke That Takes Three Hours to Tell

Tuesday's all about country music this week, whether you're for or against; we learn about what if you were deaf; various shows your parents like are finally back on; and Comedy Central has another double-header for you.

At 8/7c., over on Nick News there's a special about what if you were deaf—called Now Hear This! What If You Were Deaf?—that one can only assume has its heart in the right place, and on Pretty Little Liars poor drunken Hanna continues to find herself In The Solution, as they say.

Or I guess you could just settle in for three entire hours of ABC's CMA Music Festival: Country's Night To Rock, because surely it wouldn't be three hours long for no reason, especially not in this sad year of the Bro Country explosion ruining all the best stars of yesteryear and no Steve Grand or Sam Hunt to fix it. Well, maybe there will be Nashville stars! Or something. Anything.

At 9/8c. America's Talent continues to be Got, Rizzoli and Isles and Royal Pains are television shows, and in human tragedy news there are fresh episodes of Dance Moms and ID's sophomore series Evil Kin ("Brothers-In-Hate" being a somewhat tortured title for your first outing, but okay), but really it's all about Part II of the Real Housewives NYC Reunion, and the next episode of FYI's thrilling experiment Married At First Sight.

At 10/9c. there's Covert Affairs and Perception, appearing on the various channels they're known to call home, as well as—it's presumed—a little show you may have heard of, but I certainly have not, called Tyrant. I'll be watching Finding Carter on MTV, the better to skip commercials when I settle down for my nightcap of Drunk History (Hollywood legends, this week) and Nathan For You.

[Image of Taylor Swift being amazed by boules de pains via Pacific Coast News]

Morning After is a new home for television discussion online, brought to you by Gawker. What are you watching tonight? What are we missing out on? Recommendations and discussions down below.

Michael Jackson Allegedly Had Some Creepy Code Names for Sex Stuff

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Michael Jackson Allegedly Had Some Creepy Code Names for Sex Stuff

Michael Jackson allegedly had sex with children, this we know. Logically, it follows that Jackson would have had to communicate about sex to his alleged victims in a way that was more, uh, compatible to a developing mind. Thus, the very weird code names he is said to have had to describe his semen and erections.

This all comes from a lawsuit filed by a man named James Safechuck, who says Jackson abused him as a child during a period in the late '80s when they were known to have spent time together. TMZ has gotten a look at new court documents regarding an ongoing lawsuit by Safechuck against Jackson's estate, which bring the following claims. Apologies in advance:

In new court docs — obtained by TMZ — Safechuck says Michael taught him to use code words ... referring to his erection as "bright light, brick city" ... and calling semen, "duck butter."

Safechuck claims Jackson also used secret signals — when they would hold hands, Michael would scratch the inside of James' hand with a finger ... to show he wanted to have sex.

Jackson's nearly unmatched genius as a songwriter apparently did not carry over to euphemisms for jizz.

In addition to those allegations, Safechuck says that Jackson would give him alcohol and show him porn (a recurring detail in claims against the singer) and that he even performed some sort of marriage between the two that involved a ring and certificate.

Jackson, obviously, isn't around to refute these claims to either the public or a legion of attorneys. TMZ talked to his estate's lawyer who says that the suit should be dismissed because "it was filed more than 20 years after the incidents supposedly happened." He also says that Safechuck has given previous statements saying that Jackson never abused him.

Jackson's musical legacy was revived this year, but it doesn't appear as if his other, more sordid one will be going away either.

[image of Jackson in 1998 via Getty]


Suspected Juggalos Try to Cut Off Man's Tattoo, Then Set Him on Fire

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Suspected Juggalos Try to Cut Off Man's Tattoo, Then Set Him on Fire

Two men were arrested by police early Monday in Hebron, Md. for allegedly attacking their roommate during a heated argument. Paul Martin Hurst, 33, and Cary Lee Edwards, 35, apparently attempted to cut their roommate's tattoo off his arm—when they failed, they set him on fire. The Wicomico County Sheriff's Office believes there to be a "strong possibility" that the three are Juggalos.

According to police, Zachary Swanson, 31, was taken to the hospital with severe burns. The Baltimore Sun reports that police found Swanson's tattoo to be "consistent" with the iconography associated with Insane Clown Posse fans, "which the FBI has classified as a gang."

Per WBOC, Hurst and Edwards have been charged by police with attempted first and second degree murder, first and second degree assault, reckless endangerment, and assault with a deadly weapon.

[Image of Edwards and Hurst via WBOC]

Pope Francis: Kids These Days Waste Too Much of Their Time Online

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Pope Francis: Kids These Days Waste Too Much of Their Time Online

While addressing 50,000 German altar servers visiting the Vatican today, Pope Francis implored them to cool it with all the internet use. "Maybe many young people waste too many hours on futile things," he said.

What kind of futile things? As Reuters reports, the Pope's top time-wasters amongst today's youth include "chatting on the Internet or with smartphones, watching TV soap operas, and (using) the products of technological progress, which should simplify and improve the quality of life, but distract attention away from what is really important."

So, most of the fun stuff. But!:

He has described the Internet as a "gift from God", but also cautioned that high-speed world of digital social media needed calm, reflection and tenderness if it was to be "a network not of wires but of people".

Pope Francis also issued this important warning on his Twitter account this morning:

[Image via AP]

The U.S. major general killed by a lone Afghan soldier has been identified as 52-year-old Harold J.

This Week's Buzzword: "Annular Hurricane"

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This Week's Buzzword: "Annular Hurricane"

If you played a drinking game while watching The Weather Channel yesterday and your keyword was "annular hurricane," I hope your insurance covers alcohol poisoning. Here's an explanation of this week's weather buzzword that few people have ever heard before.

Tropical cyclones come in many different shapes and sizes. Hurricane Sandy was the largest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean, with tropical storm force winds extending nearly a thousand miles away from its center just before landfall back in October 2012. Tropical Storm Marco was the world's smallest tropical cyclone, with winds only extending 10 miles away from its center.

In addition to size, there's also the case of the storm's shape and structure. Just this week we've had two hurricane of very different shapes. In the Atlantic, we had that sad sack of clouds they call Bertha, which barely resembled anything but a messy blob producing strong winds.

This Week's Buzzword: "Annular Hurricane"

Most people have an idealized vision of what a hurricane should look like. Think of Ivan or Katrina — the giant buzzsaw with a perfect eye.

On the other side of the continent from Bertha, we've got Iselle in the Pacific. Hurricane Iselle continues to churn towards the Hawaiian Islands, slated to slam the Big Island as a strong tropical storm later this week. If Iselle's current forecast holds, its track will bring the center of the storm over the Big Island as a 70 MPH tropical storm, battering most if not all of the major Hawaiian Islands with tropical storm conditions for a period on Thursday and Friday.

At its strongest, Iselle reached category 4 intensity with winds more than 140 MPH, and its structure was nearly perfect. It was an annular hurricane. To understand an annular hurricane, think back to Hurricane Katrina and similar buzzsaw"storms. Those storms feature an intense eyewall and many rainbands spiraling around like spokes, each containing strong winds and heavy rain, with conditions in the bands growing worse closer to the center.

Annular hurricanes don't feature much if any banding. The central dense overcast (the thick, deep thunderstorms around the eye) is the hurricane. The eye is large and almost perfectly symmetrical, and the entire eyewall is wrapped up in intense thunderstorm activity.

This Week's Buzzword: "Annular Hurricane"

On satellite imagery it looks like a giant white wind bagel spinning over the ocean. Think of the thick eyewall as a fort, preventing many outside forces from weakening the storm. Annular hurricanes tend to weaken more slowly than "normal" hurricanes, but thankfully for land dwellers, storms don't stay annular for too long.

Above is a water vapor image of Hurricane Iselle last night. Warmer colors indicate drier air and dark green indicates very moist air. The dense ring of thunderstorms around Iselle's nearly-perfect eye shows that the storm was either annular or very, very close to it.

Here's another example of an annular hurricane:

This Week's Buzzword: "Annular Hurricane"

This is 2003's Hurricane Isabel as it passed north of the Greater Antilles as a Category 5, and it was an extreme example of an annular hurricane. The sheer size of Isabel's eye made it so that the storm's intense eyewall was the hurricane.

Thanks to drier air and an encroaching ridge of high pressure, Iselle in the Pacific is starting to weaken and looks decidedly more ragged than this time yesterday, but it won't weaken quickly enough. The latest forecast from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu shows Iselle hitting Hawaii as a strong tropical storm.

This Week's Buzzword: "Annular Hurricane"

The Big Island is now under a Tropical Storm Watch in anticipation of a direct hit from Iselle on Thursday night and into Friday. The rest of the islands should stay on high alert as the center may shift north or south of the current forecast track. The storm's effects will also extend beyond the center — especially to the north — so heavily populated areas may see a period of dangerous weather towards the end of the week.

[Images via GOES / NOAA / GOES / NOAA / CPHC]

British Foreign Office Minister Resigns Over Government's Gaza Policy

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British Foreign Office Minister Resigns Over Government's Gaza Policy

Sayeeda Warsi took to Twitter early this morning to announce her resignation from her position as a senior British Foreign Office minister for faith and communities, citing the government's "morally indefensible" approach to the ongoing crisis in Gaza. When she was appointed in 2010, Warsi became the first Muslim to serve in a British Cabinet.

According to the BBC, Warsi is the first minister in four years to resign in opposition to policy. From Warsi's resignation letter:

My view has been that our policy in relation to the Middle East Peace Process generally but more recently our approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible, is not in Britain's national interest and will have a long term detrimental impact on our reputation internationally and domestically.

Particularly as the Minister with responsibility for the United Nations, The International Criminal Court and Human Rights I believe our approach in relation to the current conflict is neither consistent with our values, specifically our commitment to the rule of law and our long history of support for International Justice. In many ways the absence of the experience and expertise of colleagues like Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve has over the last few weeks become very apparent.

Warsi told the Huffington Post UK today, "Our decision not to recognize Palestinian statehood at the U.N. in November 2012 placed us on the wrong side of history and is something I deeply regret not speaking out against at the time."

Prime Minister David Cameron expressed his disappointment in Warsi's decision to resign in his own letter, but reaffirmed, "Our policy has always been consistently clear: we support a negotiated two state solution as the only way to resolve this conflict once and for all and to allow Israelis and Palestinians to live safely in peace."

[H/T Religion News Service // Image via AP]

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