Wingsuits!

Via TodaysBigThing.com

Word

My latest wordle:

Gay City

Eric, the Roommate, is obsessed with numbers, statistics and city populations. He is always looking something up and he is an expert on cities around the world and their populations. Although he's straight he always has his eyes out for me, his rainbow-flavored best friend.

Eric, the Roommate was stunned to find that Orlando ranks between 9 and 10 on America's gayest city list. I was a little stunned too. Orlando? Like, Orlando, Orlando? I suppose it makes sense with Disney World and Tinkerbell and all that shit but, still, I just find it surprising.

Anyway, if you look up Gay Village on Wikipedia you'll find some really interesting statistics regarding the gays and our cities.

Top LGBT populations in U.S. cities and states

The U.S. city with the largest gay population is New York, with an estimated 272,493 gay residents.^[3] Los Angeles is second with 154,270, followed by Chicago with 114,449 and San Francisco with 94,234.

The U.S. metro area with the largest gay population is New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island, with an estimated 568,903 gay residents. Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana is a close second with 442,211, followed by Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI with 288,748.^[4]

The following charts show a list of the top U.S. cities, states, and metro areas with: 1) the highest population of gay residents, and 2) the highest percentage of gay residents within city limits. (GLB population as a percentage of total residents).^[3] The numbers given are estimates based on American Community Survey data.^[5]

Otter Fashion

Oh yeah- It's a movement

Just when you thought you had all the names and subcultures of the bear community down pat some dude in LA comes up with a fashion line and we have to tag one more to the list.

Actually Otter has been around for awhile and I've heard it thrown around a bunch. I suppose Otter and Cubs are brother terms for each other. A cub is usually a young or younger bear while an Otter is a skinny, yet hairy, young bear. I suppose that means cubs are more bear-like and Otters are just skinny bears or friend's of bear that happen to be skinny(ier?) But, then somebody told me that Otters are actually age-less, they're just skinny bears. So, therefore, the sentence would go: All Otters can be bears, but not all bears can be Otters. Right? Oh boy.

According to UrbanDictionary.com an Otter is:
"A gay man who is very hairy all over his body, but is smaller in frame and weighs considerably less than a bear."
"Larry is an otter, and he likes to date bears or other otters."
-or-
"A skiny, hairy gay man."
"Because I am a skinny, hairy gay man, I refer to myself as an otter."

I have always preferred Cub over Otter although I've been called both. In fact one day somebody told me I was actually neither, yet, I am a "Furry Ambassador" since I tend to float between gay tribes while retaining "furry pride" and making "bear" more accessible for all other communities. Riiiiight.

Annnnnywho, without further ado, may I present to you Otter Fashion. The fashion line for otters and their otter friends. Go ahead and check out the site at Otterfashion.com and build a habitat around all their cute clothing and catchy styles.












Otters in media and history:
Jesus Christ- Total Otter
Dominic Monaghan- Charlie from ABC's "Lost"- Punky Otter
Shaggy from Skooby Doo- animated Otter

The Whole World in New York

The New York Talk Exchange (NYTE) uploaded these incredibly cool visuals of how connected and reliant the rest of world is to New York City. Go to the site and watch the videos too.

Check this out:














"In the Information Age, the flow of IP (Internet Protocol) data between locations is nearly ubiquitous. Globe Encounters visualizes in real time the volumes of Internet data flowing between New York and cities around the world. The size of the glow on a particular city location corresponds to the amount of IP traffic flowing between that place and New York City. A greater glow implies a greater IP flow."















World Within New York shows how different neighborhoods reach out to the rest of the world via the AT&T telephone network. The city is divided into a grid of 2-kilometer square pixels where each pixel is colored according to the regions of the world wherein the top connecting cities are located. The widths of the color bars represent the proportion of world regions in contact with each neighborhood. Encoded within each pixel is also a list of the world cities that account for 70% of the communications with that particular area of New York.

coooooooool!