Friday Night Open Thread: I Don’t Like Contacts, Either

In the GQ interview, she admits to needing glasses but not wearing them as much as she should, and that she doesn’t wear contacts because she fears putting things in her eyes.

“So I have to wear glasses, and I don’t wear contacts, which I probably should, but I have a fear of putting things in my eye, which I’m trying to get over. So I’m constantly either wearing my glasses or my eyes are so strained and red, because they’re just constantly not being able to see.”


 


 


 


 


 

Bond Girlathon Friday : Results for 11/21/2028 : New Matches for 11/28/2025

A little late for Thanksgiving, I hope you don’t mind my dressing up for my guest hosting duties.

Results from 11/21/2025

Kim BasingerNo PreferenceRachel Grant
94258

Barbara CarreraNo PreferenceValerie Leon
102226

New Matches for 11/28/2025

Match 1

Ursula Andress (Honey Ryder) vs Aliza Gur (Vida)

ContestantRecordTotal Scores
Ursula Andress3 – 1 – 0659 – 3 – 321
Honey Ryder

Actress:Ursula Andress
Nationality:Swiss
Bond Movie:Dr. No (1962)

Synopsis:

Honey Ryder dazzled cinema audiences, stepping out of the Caribbean sea wearing a white bikini with a large hunting knife at her side. She proved to be immensely popular with fans and set the tone for all Bond girls to come.

Ursula Andress

VS

ContestantRecordTotal Scores
Aliza Gur2 – 2 – 0260 – 29 – 293
Vida

Actress:Aliza Gur
Nationality:Israeli
Bond Movie:From Russia With Love (1963)

Synopsis:

Vida and Zora engaged in an intense cat fight, scratching, fighting and trying to strangle each other. The fight was broken up when an assassin attacked the camp to try and kill Kerim Bey. Bond saved the life of the camp’s leader in the process, who in turn honoured Bond’s request to end the fighting. Happy to have their leader alive, Vida and Zora warmed to Bond, who got to entertain them for the evening.

ALiza Gur

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Who do you prefer?
48 votes · 48 answers

Match 2

Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore) vs Martine Beswick (Zora, Paula Caplan)

ContestantRecordTotal Scores
Honor Blackman3 – 1 – 0524 – 8 – 282
Pussy Galore

Actress:Honor Blackman
Nationality:English
Bond Movie:Goldfinger (1964)

Synopsis:

The evocatively named Pussy Galore was an original Ian Fleming character from the novel. Ms. Galore ran a flying circus of female pilots, who were hired by Auric Goldfinger to fly over Fort Knox and gas the soldiers, so that Goldfinger could break in to the gold vault.

Honor Blackman

VS

ContstantRecordTotal Scores
Martine Beswick2 – 2 – 0386 – 3 – 334
Zora
Paula Caplan

Actress:Martine Beswick
Nationality:English
Bond Movie:From Russia With Love (1963)

Synopsis:

Head of Station in Istanbul, Kerim Bey, took Bond to a gypsy camp, where the two girls Vida and Zora were to fight to the death over a man. Zora was played by Martine Beswick, who would return 3 years later to play another Bond girl in Thunderball.

Actress:Martine Beswick
Nationality:
Bond Movie:Thunderball (1965)

Synopsis:

Paula Caplan was Bond’s liaison in Nassau. She was played by Martine Beswick, who had previously played Bond girl Zora in From Russia With Love. Paula helped Bond to make contact with Domino Derval, but met her end after being captured by SPECTRE agents, taking a cyanide pill to avoid torture.

Martine Beswick

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Who do you prefer?
51 votes · 51 answers


 

Cartoons and Memes

“Wow Miss Welch, dressed like that the Pilgrims would be sure to invite you to the Thanksgiving dinner.”

“But I’m not an Indian.”

“I really don’t think it would matter.”

Winner

9.

This week.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Which one is funniest?
68 votes · 68 answers


 


 


 

Charles Dickens on Moral Infections

That it is at least as difficult to stay a moral infection as a physical
one; that such a disease will spread with the malignity and rapidity of
the Plague; that the contagion, when it has once made head, will spare
no pursuit or condition, but will lay hold on people in the soundest
health, and become developed in the most unlikely constitutions: is
a fact as firmly established by experience as that we human creatures
breathe an atmosphere. A blessing beyond appreciation would be conferred
upon mankind, if the tainted, in whose weakness or wickedness these
virulent disorders are bred, could be instantly seized and placed in
close confinement (not to say summarily smothered) before the poison is
communicable.

-- Little Dorrit

___

Mark Steyn on Men Beating Women

From Pussyhats to Peninas
SteynonLine | November 25, 2025 | Mark Steyn

In the year 2000, The United Nations General Assembly designated November 25th as the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women” – “The premise of the day is to raise awareness around the world that women are subjected to rape, domestic violence and other forms of violence.”

How’s that going?

Twenty-five years later, a man who abused his ex, stole her name and entered the women’s locker room at Gold’s gym is the one being protected:

Surprise! The man in the women’s locker room at Gold’s Gym is a convincted felon who did time for domestic violence. This is what I’ve been saying for years: any man who would go into the women’s change room, locker room, bathroom, whatever is a predator. That’s the red flag…. https://t.co/hUrnEUzKk9 pic.twitter.com/Ifl5uCbU2B — Meghan Murphy (@MeghanEMurphy) November 5, 2025

and, another man has just proven that women are just as strong as men and (by its logical conclusion) no longer in need of special protection:

Jammie Booker, a man pretending to be a woman, just won the title of “World’s Strongest Woman” at the World’s Strongest Woman competition in Arlington, Texas.

Andrea Thompson, the female runner-up, had her title stolen by a man.

“Jammie”?

.

Update: I see they took the title away from him again. But the whole farce went too far.


 

I Always Thought Hayli Gubbi Would Make a Fine President

‘Like a sudden bomb’: See photos from space of Ethiopian volcano erupting for first time in 12,000 years
Live Science | November 25, 2025 | Skyler Ware

A volcano in Ethiopia erupted for the first time in at least 12,000 years on Sunday, sending a cloud of ash and smoke northeast across the Red Sea.

Hayli Gubbi, a volcano in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia, erupted at around 8:30 a.m. UTC (3:30 a.m. EST) on Nov. 23. By 8 p.m. UTC (3 p.m. EST), the explosive phase of the eruption had stopped, according to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) in France.

This is the first time Hayli Gubbi is known to have erupted in the Holocene — the present geological epoch that began at the end of the last ice age, around 11,700 years ago. Generally, if a volcano hasn’t erupted in the Holocene, it is considered extinct.


 


 

Straight Line of the Day: Inappropriate Things Toys Might Do: …

Colorado foundation warns parents of security concerns, inappropriate AI toys on shelves this holiday season
CBS News | November 19, 2025 | Christa Swanson

A Colorado consumer advocacy group says some of the newest toys on shelves this holiday season are equipped with artificial intelligence, and they may not be good for kids.

These robots, and even teddy bears, are equipped with AI chatbots that can talk to your child. In tests, some of the toys could tell kids how to find and light matches or even discuss inappropriate topics.

.

“Rules for Playing Hops/Scotch”

Company pulls AI-powered talking teddy bear toy for giving sex advice
UPI | 11/20/25 | Ben Hooper

An AI-powered talking teddy bear has been removed from sale by a Singapore-based company after researchers found it could discuss sex and other topics.

The Public Interest Research Group said a group of researchers from the U.S. and Canada held test conversations with Kumma, a $99 teddy bear powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o chatbot.

The bear is manufactured in China and marketed by Singapore-based FoloToy.

The researchers said they found it easy to get Kumma to discuss sexually explicit topics, including spanking, roleplay and BDSM.

“We were surprised to find how quickly Kumma would take a single sexual topic we introduced into the conversation and run with it, simultaneously escalating in graphic detail while introducing new sexual concepts of its own,” the report said.