Ode to Chicago-style hot dogs

Thanks to the expansion of the Portillo’s restaurant chain outside of Chicago, people across the country can now enjoy Chicago-style hot dogs without having to venture to the Windy City. I love those “dragged through the garden” franks.
When I was living in Wilmette, Ill., my go-to hot dog joint was Irving’s For Red Hot Lovers. It’s got the traditional Chicago-style beef hot dog topped with yellow mustard, bright green sweet pickle relish, chopped white onion, tomato slices, a dill pickle spear, pickled sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt on a steamed poppy seed bun.
On my regular visits to Chicagoland, I like to stop for a dog and fries at Superdawg in Wheeling, Ill.
On my most recent visit this month, I decided to go to one of the most storied hot dog stands in all of Chicago – Gene & June’s in River Grove, Ill. I was not disappointed.
I ordered the double-dog with fries. Gene & June’s tops its franks with mustard, relish, onion and sport peppers. It’s a good hot dog, but the fresh cut and made French fries are the true standout here.

Chicago mobster grave tour

The Chicago mobsters of the last century continue to fascinate the public. You can take guided bus tours of their neighborhoods and haunts to this day.
Why is it that people want to learn more about old-time gangsters like Al Capone and John Dillinger? I suppose it’s because they had a sense of style and celebrity that ordinary criminals today lack. Plus, they weren’t known for killing civilians just rival gang members and those who wronged them.
There was also the dichotomy of Italian and Irish mobsters being church-going Catholics and yet still committing crimes. Plus, some like Capone gave to the poor and needy. You don’t see inner city gangs today helping widows and orphans.
On a recent trip to Chicago, I visited Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois. It’s the final resting place for many notorious criminals.
I stopped by the graves of Al Capone (Alphonse Capone, 1899-1947), Frank Nitto (aka Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti, 1888-1943), Vincent Gebardi (aka Jack “Machine Gun Jack” McGurn, 1902-1936) and Sam Giancana (1908-1975).
Some “fan” even left a .45-caliber bullet on Machine Gun Jack’s grave.
Also buried at Mt. Carmel Cemetery is actor Dennis Farina, 1944-2013).

Free web platforms are preserving digital artifacts … for now

Over the years, I have spotlighted 450 websites that I found to be useful, educational or entertaining. Many of the early websites have disappeared without a trace because they stopped paying services to maintain them.
But those that set up shop on free platforms such as Google’s Blogger or social media services like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X are still around, even if they haven’t been updated in years. That means the content on those sites is being preserved in a digital time capsule.
I can only hope that the companies behind those free, ad-supported services will continue to keep those websites alive, even when the creators are long gone. But there are no promises like that in the digital age.
Of the 450 websites that I’ve highlighted on Tech-media-tainment since late 2008, 117 are no longer reachable or the data is gone. Three of the websites have gone dark since the last time I checked in February 2025.
A good example of a website that is being preserved is the Twitter/X account of anti-Islam demonstrator Salwan Momika. He risked his life to speak out against the threat of Islamic culture to Western society. He was murdered on Jan. 29, 2025, during a live broadcast on TikTok. His Twitter/X account still exists thankfully. Hopefully his other social media accounts do as well.
It is important to preserve the voices and opinions of people from throughout the years. They are useful for tracking the progress of humanity and also for sentimental purposes.
I still keep voicemails on my iPhone from my mother, who died in January, just to hear her voice every now and then. I also keep old emails from friends and loved ones.

Photo: Salwan Momika burning the Quran in Stockholm on Oct. 21, 2023. (Photo by Frankie Fouganthin via Creative Commons.)

Favorite websites in review, part 18

This is the latest roundup of websites spotlighted on Tech-media-tainment.

426. GooBing Detroit (goobingdetroit.com)
427. AARoads (aaroads.com)
428. Tourons of Yellowstone (instagram.com/touronsofyellowstone)
429. Snicker Cat (instagram.com/thesnickercat)
430. Steve Inman: Non-Essential Commentary (x.com/SteveInmanUIC)
431. Influencers in the Wild (tiktok.com/@influencersinthewild)
432. Passenger Shaming (instagram.com/passengershaming)
433. Mugshawtys (instagram.com/mugshawtys)
434. Rev. Ray Cistman (x.com/RevRayCistman)
435. The TV Answerman (tvanswerman.com)
436. The Sports Fan Project (thesportsfanproject.com)
437. Barry Butler Photography (x.com/barrybutler9)
438. Chicago History (x.com/Chicago_History)
439. Chicago Critter (x.com/ChicagoCritter)
440. SubX.News (x.com/SubxNews)
441. Chicago Contrarian (x.com/ChicagoContrar1)
442. Mark Weyermuller (x.com/publicpolicyman)
443. Libs of Chicago (x.com/Libs_OfChicago)
444. Goofies of Chicago (x.com/Chicago_Goofies)
445. X.com (x.com)
446. Thread Reader (threadreaderapp.com)
447. Press Gazette (pressgazette.co.uk)
448. Ed Zitron’s Where's Your Ed At (wheresyoured.at)
449. Layoffs.fyi (layoffs.fyi)
450. HeyJackass! (heyjackass.com)

Photo: 2025 Chicago Shot Clock (HeyJackass!)

Worthwhile websites on journalism, tech industry and Chicago

I regularly spotlight websites that I find interesting, useful or entertaining. Here’s the latest batch.

Press Gazette

The U.K.-based Press Gazette provides great coverage of the media industry. Its tagline is “Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.”
Of interest to me is the excellent job it does casting a critical eye on the impact of Google search algorithms and, more recently, AI summaries on news publishers.

Ed Zitron’s Where’s Your Ed At

Ed Zitron’s Where’s Your Ed At is a blog run by PR person and writer Ed Zitron. He isn’t afraid to call out bullshit when he sees it in the tech industry, especially when it comes to the recent AI boom.
“I've been railing against bullshit bubbles since 2021,” he said in a recent post. That includes the anti-remote work push, the NFT bubble, the made-up quiet quitting panic and problems with FTX several months before it imploded.
“I believe the AI bubble is deeply unstable, built on vibes and blind faith,” Zitron said.

Layoffs.fyi

Layoffs.fyi has been tracking tech industry layoffs since the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a personal project of Roger Lee, an internet entrepreneur based in San Francisco.
He also tracks government employees laid off by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). So far this year, DOGE has laid off 67,749 government employees

HeyJackass!

HeyJackass! Illustrates the violent crime problem in Chicago with charts and graphics showing shootings and homicides. It also sells funny Chicago-themed T-shirts and other merchandise.

Photo: Chicago Chalkie (HeyJackass!)

Generative AI in the news business: Not to be trusted

As websites and online news operations try out generative artificial intelligence tools, they’re finding that the output can’t always be trusted.
Gen AI is great for some things such as providing quick definitions for technical terms and acronyms or summarizing information from a trove of government documents. But its habit of providing incorrect information and making things up (“hallucinations”) on some subjects make it not ready to supplant journalists.
One problem with AI chatbots is they present information as though they are certain about it. Chatbots may need to provide a certainty scale with the information they present while they’re in the early days of development.
They also do a poor job of citing they work. Users need citations to find out where AI is getting its information and to fact-check its work.
Already some people and business have committed to generative AI for creating articles and even supposed news websites.
NewsGuard has so far identified 1,271 AI-generated news and information sites operating with little to no human oversight. And it is tracking false narratives being produced by artificial intelligence tools.
“The rollout of generative artificial intelligence tools has been a boon to content farms and misinformation purveyors alike,” NewsGuard said in a report.
Some have described these generative AI sites as producing the equivalent of the meat industry’s “pink slime.”
News media are rushing into generative AI out of a “fear of missing out” (FOMO) on the next big thing. While AI has shown its usefulness in some journalist tasks, it is just a tool. It is simply too early to use AI as an automated front-facing application for news.

Related articles:

The good, the bad, and the completely made-up: Newsrooms on wrestling accurate answers out of AI (Nielsen Lab; Aug. 4, 2025)

Politico’s AI tool spits out made-up slop, union says (Semafor; June 8, 2025)

Business Insider recommended nonexistent books to staff as it leans into AI (Semafor; June 1, 2025)

How an AI-generated guide to summer books that don’t exist found its way into two newspapers (Media Nation by Dan Kennedy; May 20, 2025)

Bloomberg Has a Rocky Start With A.I. Summaries (The New York Times; March 29, 2025)

AI chatbots can’t be trusted, proves study, but Apple made a good choice (9to5Mac; March 11, 2025)

AI Search Has A Citation Problem (Columbia Journalism Review; March 6, 2025)

Photo: Pink slime (Wikipedia)

AI summaries are the latest existential threat for news publishers

When I was studying for a print journalism degree in the mid-1980s, newspapers were already in decline. It didn’t deter me from that line of work but it was worrisome.
At the time, broadcast and cable television news were lessening demand for newspapers, especially in major metropolitan areas. It turned out to be one of a series of crises to face the news industry over the years.
When I graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1984, PCs weren’t yet commonplace. The early days of the internet with AOL, Yahoo and the like would create the next crisis for newspapers. But publishers adapted and shifted their operations to the web. And as the internet evolved, they learned how to attract readers and game the Google algorithm using search engine optimization. At the same time, advertising shifted to the web.
The immediacy of the web has great advantages over the dead-tree editions of the news. I imagine that as more Baby Boomers die off so will the newspapers they grew up with.
But now digital publications, including legacy newspapers, are facing their next existential threat from generative artificial intelligence. Google searches now generate AI summaries of news and information requests. And that has led to fewer clicks on weblinks back to the source of the news and information. The result is fewer readers, less advertising revenue and fewer opportunities to sell subscription services.
One recent study found that U.K. publishers are seeing click-through rates cut by nearly 50% because of AI summaries.
Google disputes the results, calling the study inaccurate and based on flawed assumptions, according to Press Gazette.
Still, publishers in the U.S. and elsewhere are seeing a decline in traffic. Many readers might get all the information they’re looking for on a subject from an AI summary.
This has led to a corresponding loss in advertising revenue. News publishers have responded by cutting journalism jobs. The Press Gazette has been tracking the layoffs.
Some publishers are demanding payment for use of their content to create AI summaries. But that would probably only help the largest news companies that have the legal resources to fight Big Tech.
AI summaries will need to do a better job of sourcing in their responses to encourage a click-through for more information.
Online publishers already are preparing for a day called “Google Zero,” when Google stops sending traffic to websites.

Related articles:

Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (Pew Research; July 22, 2025)

News Sites Are Getting Crushed by Google’s New AI Tools (The Wall Street Journal; June 10, 2025)

Google search algorithm changes hurting small publishers (Tech-media-tainment; March 1, 2025)

Photo: Online news illustration (Mike Licht via Creative Commons)

Old newspapers need to be digitized

I recently tried to locate a newspaper article from the 1970s the old fashioned way – in a public library on microfilm. I was unsuccessful in my hunt.
The process was laborious and I eventually gave up after looking through several years’ worth of weekly newspaper issues.
I was trying to find an article that I had only a vague recollection about. When I was growing up in Libertyville, Illinois, a local newspaper did an article on my mother and her experiences raising seven children. The article by the Independent-Register newspaper was published sometime between 1972 and 1980.
The newspaper is no longer in operation. All that’s left are decades of print issues on spools of microfilm.
But trying to find an article with the broad time period that I had is extremely difficult. I even narrowed my search to around Mother’s Day for those years, figuring that was the reason the article was written. But I came up empty. I began to question whether the article even existed and somehow my memory was faulty. After all, I was in junior high or high school at the time.
If the newspaper had been digitized, the search could have been done in seconds. But who’s going to digitize some old suburban newspaper from microfilm? These publications are basically orphan works now.
Maybe one day, the cost for digitizing publications on microfilm will come down and some historical society will do the job. But they should do it before something happens to the microfilm libraries, otherwise the information within will be lost to the ages.

Photo: A publication on microfilm. (Microfilm Imaging Systems)

Thread Reader app solves a problem with long post threads on X

One issue X users have with the social media service formerly called Twitter is following long “threads” of interconnected posts of interest.
Thankfully an independent app has stepped in solve the problem and make those threads easy to read. The app, called Thread Reader, organizes a person’s train of thought in chronological order.
To use the bot, you simply reply to any tweet in a thread and mention @threadreaderapp and the keyword “unroll.” Thread Reader then sends you a link back on X that you can share.
The Thread Reader app was created by a couple of software developers and went live in November 2017.
To see the threads I’ve created check out my page on Thread Reader.

Twitter, I mean X, is better under Elon Musk’s ownership

When Tesla billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022, I was concerned about how it would fair under his ownership. That was especially true after he renamed it X, which I opposed.
I still have a tough time calling it X. Twitter is catchier and more accurate for the short-message social media service.
Nevertheless, Twitter, I mean X, has actually improved under Musk’s ownership. I’m a daily user of X and enjoy reading the posts of accounts I follow and going down the rabbit hole with posts in the “For You” section. X has a lot of funny posts, videos and memes, as well as eye-opening information you don't see in the traditional media. I use X for entertainment and news.
Except for some limited interference by Musk, X is a free speech free-for-all. There’s still misinformation on the service but the Community Notes feature does a good job of crowd-sourced fact-checking. Plus, with the addition of the Grok AI chatbot, users can ask for context and more information on claims in posts.
Like all social media services, X has its share of bad actors, including trolls and propagandists. But you can avoid them if you want. I prefer X to all the other social media services out there, namely Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
I also appreciate that X made “likes” private in June 2024. I use the like button mostly as a bookmark, not to tell people that I like or agree with something posted.
Other changes under Musk include that addition of long-form texts and repurposing the user verification system as a subscription premium.

Chicago X accounts to see the good and bad of the Windy City

As a native of the Chicagoland area, I still keep track of goings-on in the Windy City, even though I live on the East Coast now.
I follow several accounts on X, formerly Twitter, to get different raw takes on Chicago, beyond the local news outlets. Some show the fun, nostalgic and touristy side of the city, while other show the grim reality of problems facing the nation’s third most populous city.
For positive views of Chicago, check out these X accounts:

Barry Butler Photography, @barrybutler9

Barry Butler is a professional landscape photographer who takes beautiful shots of the Chicago skyline, its parks, waterfront, etc.

Chicago History, @Chicago_History

Chicago History describes itself as “Chicken Soup For The Chicago Soul.” It features Chicago nostalgia and takes on its culture.

Given all the problems the city has due to poor governance, there are a lot of critical Chicago X accounts. What follows are just a few.

Chicago Critter, @ChicagoCritter

Chicago Critter provides independent news coverage across the city, highlighting crime and disturbances that go unreported or are downplayed elsewhere.

SubX.News, @SubxNews

SubX.News is a news aggregator that spotlights violent crime, teen takeovers and other problems in Chicago.

Chicago Contrarian, @ChicagoContrar1

Chicago Contrarian provides commentary on urban affairs in Chicago. It shines a light on the ineptness of Chicago politicians and the crooked Chicago Teachers Union.

Mark Weyermuller, @publicpolicyman

Mark Weyermuller is a taxpayer advocate and conservative citizen journalist in Chicago.
One of his initiatives is the “Empty Chicago Storefront Project,” where he documents all the vacant businesses in the city. He blames high taxes, high crime, over-regulation, government corruption and incompetence.

Libs of Chicago, @Libs_OfChicago

Libs of Chicago critiques Chicago’s liberal and progressive politics and the problems they have caused.

Goofies of Chicago, @Chicago_Goofies

Goofies of Chicago provides a look at the dark side of living in Chicago. That includes crime, social disruptions and other negative aspects of the city.

Let me know if I missed any good ones.

The news media oversimplifies business competition

In trying to capture the attention of readers, the news media often oversimplifies the nature of business competition as one of winners and losers.
I’ll admit to doing this as well. But as a stock-focused technology business writer, it’s easier for me to point to companies doing well on the market and compare them to those that aren’t.
In a recent interview, streaming media industry analyst and consultant Dan Rayburn told me that he doesn’t like the popular phrase “streaming video war,” much less crowning Netflix the “winner.”
“As a soldier, someone still tied to the military, war is not good,” he said. “But what we have amongst all these streamers is competition. Competition is great.”
He added, “The media uses that (phrase) because it makes it sound worse than it is. It’s not a war – it’s competition. Competition breeds great things for consumers.”
And further, Netflix is not the only winner. It may have the largest global subscriber base, but others have been successful in the market. He pointed to Alphabet’s YouTube as another highly successful video streamer, one which takes a different approach to the market with ad-supported videos.
On May 9, AMD Chief Executive Lisa Su spoke to students, faculty and guests at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. She was asked about her company’s competition with Nvidia.
“I don’t view these things as zero-sum games,” she said. “The media tends to want to make these very critique conversations. It’s AMD vs. Intel or it’s Nvidia vs. AMD.”
“I don’t think we should think about it that way,” she said. “We should think about things as: the world needs more compute … And there are very few companies that build compute.”
Wise words.

Photo: AMD Chief Executive Lisa Su speaks at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., on May 9, 2025. She was interviewed by RPI President Martin Schmidt at the President’s Commencement Colloquy. (Patrick Seitz)

Text message spam is annoying as hell

A few months ago I wrote about how I unplugged my home landline phone because of all the junk calls I was getting. At the time, I mentioned that every form of electronic communications has been ruined by marketers and scammers.
Lately I’ve noticed an increase in spam and phishing texts on my mobile phone. They’re super annoying because you have to look at them to see if someone you know is trying to reach you.
I wonder if any cellular phone service is better at blocking these messages than others. That’s something that might get me to switch carriers, if the situation worsens.
The spam text messages fall into a few categories.
First, there are the fake delivery service texts supposedly from UPS Ground. Then, there are purported texts from Amazon contacting you about a refund.
I’ve also received fake traffic ticket texts that threaten to suspend my driving privileges and vehicle registration.
The most common type of spam texts I receive are recruiting messages. They say they’ve found my resume online and that I’d be perfect for a job they’re offering. It’s usually a remote position doing miscellaneous things like helping Temu merchants with product reviews.
The oddest ones are short messages that try to engage you. They’ll say things like “hello” or “all good?”
I even got a supposed text from Donald Trump Jr. I couldn’t delete that one fast enough.

Porn movies ‘ripped from the headlines’

Many fictional television shows will feature storylines that are “ripped from the headlines” to be topical. The adult video industry is no different.
To spice up their productions, they’ll glom onto newsworthy subjects, social movements and current events.
One way they do that is with porn parodies of politicians, celebrities and public figures. I’ve already covered that topic.
Another way is to play off the names and slogans of protests, military operations and other real-life subjects.
For instance, the Black Lives Matter social movement that started in 2013, inspired the titles of at least eight porn movies.
Other subjects for porn titles included the Occupy Wall Street protests, Islamic terrorists and military operations such as Operation Just Cause, Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
A list of such movies follows.
Note: This is the last in a series of articles on how the porn industry riffs on current events and pop culture.

‘Black Lives Matter’ porn takeoffs:

Black Wives Matter (2015)
Black Cocks Matter (2015)
Black Cocks Matter 2 (2016), tagline: “Black cocks are politically erect”
Black Loads Matter (2016)
Black Cocks Matter! (2016), tagline “They’re rioting in the sheets”
Black Dick Matters (2017)
Black Wives Matter 2 (2018)
Black Lesbians Matter (2019)

‘Occupy Wall Street’ porn takeoffs:

Occupy Ball Street (2012)
Occupy My Ass (2012)

U.S. military operation porn takeoffs:

Occupation Anal Storm (1991), tagline: “There’ll be no unconditional withdrawal”
Occupation: Anal Freedom (2003)
Occupation Anal Freedom (2007)
Occupation Anal Storm (2007)
Occupation: Desert Stormy (2007)
Occupation Just Cooze (2001)
Occupation Just Cooze 2 (2002)

Islamic terrorism porn takeoffs:

Radical Jizzlam (2019)
Talibang: Mating with the Muslims (2010), taglines “Stolen from al Qweefa. 100% jihad”

TSA porn parodies were a short-lived trend

With news this week that the Transportation Security Administration will allow passengers to keep their shoes on during airport screenings, the TSA became a little less onerous.
After the agency was created in 2001, it was the subject of derision and ridicule. Even the adult video industry took part in mocking the agency, which had been accused of groping travelers and invading their privacy.
From 2011 through 2018, the TSA was the subject of at least six porn parodies.

TSA porn parodies:

TSA – Your Ass Is In Our Hands (2011)
TSA Strip Down (2011)
Airport Secur-titty (2011)
TSA – Touching, Searching And Pussy Pounding (2014)
Fluids On The Flight (2016)
TSA Checkpoint (2018)

Related articles:

TSA to end shoes-off policy for airport security screening (ABC News; July 7, 2025)

The TSA Is Letting Travelers Keep Their Shoes on in Security. About Time. (Slate; July 10, 2025)

Transportation Security Administration (Wikipedia)

‘Fallout’ video games, TV show are popular subjects for porn parodies

The “Fallout” video game series and television show on Amazon Prime Video have inspired at least five porn parodies to date.
Some are full-fledged porn movies while others are cosplay porn videos.
But they aren’t the only post-apocalyptic entertainment franchises that have received the porn parody treatment.
The “Resident Evil” video game series and movies have been the subject of at least four porn parodies.
“The Last of Us” games and TV show have been mocked in two porn parodies.
And even the Japanese manga series “Attack on Titan” and its anime adaptation has been lampooned in a porn parody in 2024. (“Attack on Titan - Mikasa Ackerman and Historia Reiss - A Porn Parody.”)

‘Fallout’ porn parodies:

This Ain’t Fallout XXX (2016)
Fallout, A XXX Parody (2017)
Fallout - Lucy (2024)
Fallout, A XXX Parody (2024)
Fallout Screw Vegas (2024)

‘Resident Evil’ porn parodies:

Resident Evil, A XXX Parody (2024)
Resident Evil 4, A XXX Parody (2024)
Resident Evil - Jill Valentine, A Porn Parody (2024)
Resident Evil - Ashley Graham, A Porn Parody (2025)

‘The Last of Us’ porn parodies:

The Last of Us, A XXX Parody (2019)
The Last of Us Part II - Ellie (2023)

Photos: Promotional photos from “Fallout” porn parodies.

Porn parodies of public figures, a review of X-rated portrayals

The adult film industry has a history of poking fun at politicians, celebrities and other public figures in porn parodies. It is a peculiar way of humiliating a subject by literally stripping them of their modesty.
I recently set up a pair of websites on Google’s Blogger platform to list as many porn parodies of public figures as I could find. The first website, Porn Parodies Of Public Figures, is devoted to modern public figures, essentially those in the post-World War II era. The other, Porn Movies Based On Historical Figures, is for historical figures from ancient times up through WWII.
These websites feature censored photos of promotional artwork, such as physical media cover art. They are behind an age-restriction warning because of their subject matter.
I created the two websites to salvage a collection of images I had gathered and posted on Flickr. Flickr suspended my account in April, saying it violated the terms of its free photo-hosting service.
My interest in porn parodies of public figures stems from my support of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and curiosity over all that it covers. Freedom of speech and expression extends to parody and even sexual content.
But the golden age of porn parodies is over. It ended with the decline of physical media, such as DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.
Adult entertainment companies don’t seem interested in full-length features amid the rise of OnlyFans and other sites. Now anyone with a smartphone can film and distribute porn. And consumers of these videos don’t seem to mind the lack of narratives and acting (beyond faking gratification perhaps).
The closest the industry gets to parody now are cosplay videos, often for VR headsets. Porn actresses will dress up as characters from comic books, anime and other popular fiction. Rarely do they portray real people, except the occasional historical figure like Cleopatra or Pocahontas.
I suspect another issue could be AI deepfakes. With artificial intelligence, porn lovers can virtually put any celebrity or public figure into a sex video.
As of this posting, the most popular subject for porn parodies among modern public figures is President Donald Trump, who has been parodied since his days as host of NBC’s “The Apprentice.” He has been featured in 25 porn parodies to date.

Top real-life subjects of porn parodies:

Donald Trump (25)
Charlie Sheen (20)
Sarah Palin (15)
Barack Obama (13)
Kim Kardashian (11)
Britney Spears (10)
Melania Trump (10)
Tiger Woods (9)
Justin Bieber (8)
Marilyn Monroe (8)
Bill Clinton (7)
Lindsay Lohan (7)
Ivanka Trump (7)

Among historical eras and figures, Ancient Rome is the top subject of porn movies with 13 such movies. These include movies featuring Julius Caesar, Caligula and Mark Antony.

Top historical subjects (WWII or earlier) of porn movies:

Ancient Rome (13)
Cleopatra (11)
Giacomo Casanova (8)
Bonnie & Clyde (6)
Nazi Germany (6)

If you know of any movies I missed, let me know.

Photos: Porn actress Sammi Starfish plays U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). In this political satire, AOC meets with President Donald Trump to discuss her “Green New Deal” when sex happens.

Rock Hall too concerned with checking boxes

There’s no shortage of criticism about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Much of that criticism comes from people who like the hall but want to see it change how it chooses artists for induction. I’m in that camp.
Looking at this year’s induction class, I can only think that the voting committee was overly concerned with checking boxes. And in an effort to please everyone, they pleased practically no one.
The performer and musical influence inductees for 2025 include Bad Company, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa, Soundgarden, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon.
The hall also is inducting musicians Thom Bell, Nicky Hopkins and Carol Kaye in the musical excellence category and music industry executive Lenny Waronker in the Ahmet Ertegun Award category.
As I’ve said before, by having one all-encompassing induction ceremony, the hall limits the size of its annual induction class. I’d love to see a two-night blowout with double the number of inductees, just to put a dent in the massive backlog of worthy artists. They could have ceremonies in two locations: Los Angeles and New York City (or maybe Las Vegas and Cleveland).
It would be interesting to be in the papal conclave where the artists are inducted, just to see the process. But based on this year’s induction class, it looks like the voting body is overly focused on balance. Heaven forbid the class is too rock focused or pop focused. And they have to consider diversity in this day and age.
As they’re horse-trading, the voters are checking boxes: classic rock act (Bad Company), more recent rockers (Soundgarden and The White Stripes), outrageous snubs rectified (Chubby Checker. Joe Cocker and Warren Zevon), MTV-era acts (Cyndi Lauper and Salt-N-Pepa) and well-regarded modern act (Outkast).
Unfortunately, to me, nobody stands out as a headliner for this year’s induction class. It might make a great awards ceremony, thanks to guest performers. But overlooked nominees such as Mariah Carey, Billy Idol and Joy Division/New Order would have made for a better show.
That’s my two cents.

Related articles:

Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, Bad Company, Cyndi Lauper and Outkast get into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (AP; April 27, 2025)

Rock Hall of Fame Inductees Unveiled: Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, White Stripes, Chubby Checker, Warren Zevon and More to Join Class of 2025 (Variety; April 27, 2025)

The 10 Worst Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs (Ultimate Classic Rock; May 2, 2025)

How hip-hop came to dominate the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Axios Cleveland; May 12, 2025)

Flickr shuts down my photo curation website

My offbeat journalistic exercise of reporting on public figures parodied by the adult video industry has run afoul of Flickr’s policies. They’ve suspended my account and blocked everyone except for me from seeing it.
My site documented all the times that porn studios have mocked politicians and celebrities in X-rated movies. It included promotional art and photos from those videos, which I censored when necessary.
But that wasn’t enough for Flickr. In fact, it was all just a money grab. I could keep doing what I was doing as long as I upgraded from a free to a paid account. But I already have a paid Flickr account for family and personal photos and I didn’t want a second one for this side endeavor.
Now, anyone looking to see how many times Donald Trump or Barack Obama has been parodied by the porn industry will get a 404 error page. More dead weblinks in an internet awash in them.
I have downloaded the photos from the “offending” Flickr page and have started uploading them to a new blog on Google’s Blogger service. (See Porn Parodies Of Public Figures.)
I’ve already had to do this several times before. (See links below.)

Related articles:

Tumblr needs to fix its handling of alleged copyright violations (Feb. 1, 2013)

Tumblr terminated my account, killed my three blogs (May 20, 2013)

LFL wardrobe malfunction photos moved to new website (Feb. 20, 2015)

Website attempts to make ‘sports hall of fame directory’

I like websites that specialize on a particular subject and become experts on that area.
That’s not the case with Tech-media-tainment but I have devoted a lot of time to several specific topics such as halls of fame.
I even created a Google map that features 564 (and counting) physical halls of fame that you can visit across sports, music, aviation and other endeavors in North America.
Plus, I have documented more than 180 interesting virtual halls of fame for business and industry, occupations, media and entertainment, food and drink, music, sports and other areas.
I recently came across a website called The Sports Fan Project that is attempting to compile a directory of sports halls of fame.
The Sports Fan Project Hall of Fame Directory is organized by location. It lists a total of 59 U.S. sports halls of fame and museums. Some 24 states and Puerto Rico are covered. It also names 10 international sports halls of fame and museums (in Australia, Canada, England, France, Israel, Japan and Malaysia).
It’s not an exhaustive list, but it covers the major sports pretty well.
However, it includes at least eight halls of fame that don’t have a physical location:

• Eastern States Exposition Equestrian Hall of Fame
• Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame
• National Powerboat Hall of Fame
• USA Bobsled & Skeleton Hall of Fame
• USA Curling Hall of Fame
• U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame
• U.S. Squash Hall of Fame
• World Wiffle Ball Championship Hall of Fame.

As someone who has researched halls of fame, it can be difficult to draw the line on which halls to include in a list. If there’s an exhibit of hall of famers within a larger museum, I’ll include it. But I won’t include a hall that just has a physical location for its sponsoring organization. Chances are there’s nothing to see there.
I decided to include college sports halls of fame on my list, but not high school halls of fame. The latter is at best a display case in a school that only students, teachers and parents can visit anyway.
The Sports Fan Project website is edited by lifelong sports fan Doug Hill.