News: Australian Bums, Gabrielle, Gordon Ramsey, Arctic Melt

   Activist Australians going for world-record moon attempt — at President Bush: "Bush is coming to Sydney. Thousands of police, total CBD lockdown, draconian new laws to stifle all protest. Just so nothing disturbs Howard’s moment of glory. APEC’s agenda is more free-market madness, more nuclear power, more warmongers deciding how best to fuck the world over. Is this the future we want? Let’s tell Bush what we really think about his visit. Only 4000 cheeks are needed to make the biggest moon in history – a world record Australia can really be proud of. There will also be an official ‘21 bum salute’ for the 21 countries in APEC."

   Michael Woulfe, costume designer in Hollywood's "golden age" including Judy Garland's gown for A Star is Born, has died at 89.

   Tropical storm swirls off east coast, could become Gabrielle in coming days and threaten seaboard cities including New York. Models.

   MELT: Ice-free arctic could be here in 23 years. "The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low, scientists said last night. Experts said they were "stunned" by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as Britain disappearing in the last week alone. So much ice has melted this summer that the north-west passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the north-east passage along Russia's Arctic coast could open later this month. If the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030."

   Chef Gordon Ramsay demonstrates how to grill his own testicles: "The other day I was standing too close to the hob when I was cooking. I was wearing cotton trousers and underneath I was going commando. Then suddenly I felt this searing heat - my b***s were burning. I burnt my right b*****k and I'm in absolute agony. You wouldn't believe how much this hurts."

   Puncture: Vampires in SoHo?

   Art on the playa: Burning Man's twisted trucks.

   Britney Spears and Criss Angel pull it together for the VMAs.

   Restrictive 2257 regulations set to go into effect against adult entertainment sites that could kill social networking sites like Manhunt, etc. You have until September 10 to object.

   Ohio GOP congressman Paul Gillmor found dead in his apartment, of natural causes.

   ** The source of this item, Digital Media Wire, has issued a correction.  (below) PlanetOut planning 1 for 10 reverse stock split: "Companies typically carry out such transactions to reduce the number of overall shares, and in turn increase the share price. San Francisco-based PlanetOut has seen its share price drop from around $4.50 a year ago to hover closer to $1.50 in recent months. The troubled company was rescued from bankruptcy in July by an investor group ledthat included by Bill Gates, and is undergoing a restructuring that has recently seen the departure of CEO Karen Magee and CFO Daniel Miller, as well as Bob Allen Bob Cohen, chief of its top magazine titles. PlanetOut expects to enact the reverse split on or near Oct. 1." 

CORRECTION: *PlanetOut CEO Karen Magee has not stepped down, CFO Daniel Miller leaves at the end of the month, and Bob Cohen is the magazine chief who left as his magazine contract was not renewed.  Further, Bill Gates' Cascade Investments was one of six investors in the company's funding, but did not lead it. We apologize for the errors and will continue to hone the sources we tap for your news.

   One more word on Larry Craig from the Huff Post's Edward Ugel, though Cindy Adams may have said it more concisely.

News: Steve Wozniak, Compact Disc, Margaret Cho, Rehab

Equality Arizona meets with Scottsdale, Arizona mayor Mary Manross.

The apple of his eye? Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak reportedly dating Kathy Griffin.

Scientists: HIV may stop brain cells from growing. "For some time we've known that HIV can cause a form of dementia, but this had been attributed to the loss of mature brain cells, killed off by an HIV protein called gp120. Now Stuart Lipton and his colleagues at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in San Diego, California, have found that gp120 also slows down the division of adult stem cells called neural progenitor cells (aNPCs), thought to be important for memory and learning. When rat aNPCs were exposed to gp120, 15 per cent of them stopped dividing."

Can he make a career reappear? Britney Spears seen overnighting with magician Criss Angel.

The compact disc is 25 years old.

Provincetown Carnival parade goes through the looking glass, as do the straight tourists: "Honey, we're not in Stockbridge anymore."

New Republic: Don't force Dems to state support of gay marriage publicly. "Perhaps once elected, the next president could take a courageous stand in favor of gay marriage via a televised message to the nation, or he could express support for a gay marriage bill were one to arise in a state legislature or criticize state attempts to ban gay marriage or civil unions. As the leader of his party, a Democratic president who voiced support for gay marriage would immediately render such a position more politically viable for state legislators and rank and file party members. Smith says of the candidates, 'These people are managing a political problem. ...We just need to change the political dynamic.' He's right. Gay marriage advocates need to convince a substantial majority of the country that gay marriage is a moral good before pressuring presidential candidates to take a position on such a highly charged issue."

Amy Winehouse back in rehab, but will she stay? "Amy Winehouse is putting all her touring commitments for this month on hold until further notice in order to address her health issues. Amy will now not be performing at this weekend's V Festival in Chelmsford and Staffordshire. Her family has requested that the media respect Amy's privacy at this time."

Gay singer/songwriter John Wallowitch is dead at 81: "The composer of more than 2,700 songs (by his own count, the majority unpublished), Mr. Wallowitch was a familiar face on New York television, beginning in 1980 with his cable-access show, 'John’s Cabaret,' in which he played piano, sang and joked. With his owlish face, oversize glasses, bow tie and sly Cheshire cat grin, he was the dandified embodiment of a traditional piano man and seemed to know every obscure show tune ever written."

Margaret Cho's film Bam Bam and Celeste gets its San Francisco premiere: "I wrote it because I wanted to do this great fag hag and fag love story, between a girl and her best gay boyfriend. It's the fag hag lament. If you're a fag hag, they always leave with some guy, and you're kind of stuck there, just left behind."

"Fundamentalist fearmongering set" headed to confab in Florida this weekend: "Tampa will host the Family Impact Summit, which will feature Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, failed Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer, the American Family Association's Don Wildmon, the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land, Katherine Harris (just when we thought we'd seen the last of her!), Ohio vote vacuumer Ken Blackwell, Bob Knight of the Media Research Center, as well as "ex-gay" promoters Nancy Heche (actress Anne's mom), and the "ex-gay-for-pay" President of Exodus International, Alan Chambers."

Male Bondage and Barbra Streisand: they go together.

News: Criss Angel, Rufus Wainwright, Thierry Mugler, Mike Jones

Ted Haggard escort Mike Jones talks to Deborah Solomon in the NYT magazine: "I’m really not this left-wing liberal like some people have tried to paint me. I think I’m very moderate. I’m a registered Democrat, but I’ve voted Republican. I voted for Bush in the last election."

Magician Criss Angel begins 24-hour Times Square cement box stunt: "About 100 fans gathered in the rain to watch the spectacle in a parking lot just off Times Square, the same spot where U.S. magician David Blaine spent two days in November shackled to a gyroscope hoisted in the air before escaping. Angel, 39, sat in a four-foot (1.2 meter) square clear box slowly being encased in cement that was suspended 12 feet above the ground as he spoke to reporters and fans. The box will be lifted to 40 feet later on Monday and Angel will try to escape on Tuesday morning before the box is sent plunging to the ground."

Bush nominates James Holsinger for Surgeon General. Holsinger founded Hope Springs Community Church which seeks to "cure" gays and lesbians.

Rufus Wainwright: "I do feel like I live a fabulous life. And I know that’s why a lot of the critics get so mad at me sometimes, because they’re just really jealous.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has begun allowing conjugal visits for gay and lesbian inmates registered as domestic partners: "The change will allow gay and lesbian inmates the same rights as other inmates, who are eligible to spend up to three days with family members in living areas -- usually trailers -- on prison grounds. Corrections officials say they are responding to legislation signed by former Gov. Gray Davis that awarded more rights to registered domestic partners and prohibited state agencies from discriminating against domestic partners...The changes were prompted by complaints from Vernon Foeller, 40, who was serving a 20-month sentence, convicted of attempted burglary, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Foeller's request to have his domestic partner visit him last summer was denied, leading him to contact the ACLU."

Rosie O'Donnell is in Celebrity Detox.

Robbie Williams, football hero?

William Silver, the first openly gay man to apply for ordination in the Methodist Church, has died at 59 of complications from AIDS: "A grandson of Presbyterian missionaries in China, Mr. Silver hoped to follow them into the ministry when he entered the Union Theological Seminary in Manhattan in 1969. It was in his final year there, in 1973, that he came to terms with his homosexuality. Two years later, when applying to the Presbytery of New York for ordination as an assistant pastor at the Central Presbyterian Church on Park Avenue and 64th Street, he shocked committee members interviewing him by saying he was gay. 'It was like electricity had been sent through members of the committee as they sat upright, and we really didn’t know what to do,' Byron Shafer, one of the committee members, recalled in an oral history interview."

Death of American math genius Scott Johnson 20 years ago off Sydney Australia's North Head being investigated as murder by anti-gay gangs: "In 2004 Coroner Jacqueline Milledge ruled that violent gangs preying on homosexuals probably hurled three of the group to their deaths at Marks Park, overlooking Bondi Beach. She also determined that gay bashings in the park were common and that similar attacks might have occurred at gay beats at Alexandria and Randwick. Spurred by the findings, Johnson's brother Steve has hired US investigative journalist Daniel Glick and retired NSW detective John McNamara to determine if the same scenario occurred on Sydney's northern beaches."

Fashion designer Thierry Mugler becomes "Manfred" in extreme makeover. WARNING: Not safe for work at all.