Disputations: Mao as Art. In his article on contemporary Chinese art (“Mao Crazy,” July 9), Jed Perl is critical of the Guggenheim Museum for hosting a mid-career retrospective of the artist Cai Guo-Qiang, which he views as part of a “globalized political whitewash job” of Maoism and the Cultural Revolution. Perl misreads Cai’s work and words. — The New Republic

Do women really need life tips from gay men? Women are a rum do. Born everywhere without high heels – and then seeking to cripple themselves at the first opportunity by adopting them as some ludicrously alleged weapon of liberation and empowerment – ‘killer’ heels, my arse!… And then there is the way that, having come a good way towards freeing themselves (thanks to a combination of feminism and science) from the tyranny that heterosexual men once held over their lives, they promptly hand the reins over to gay men, the clowns! — Julie Burchill, The Guardian

How To Get PR For Your Startup: Fire Your PR Company. For over ten years I’ve been in the unique position of being both a CEO and a journalist in the technology space. As both subject and writer it feels like I’ve learned a lot about how the PR and the press works–especially in the technology business. My philosophy of PR is summed up in six words: be amazing, be everywhere, be real. You don’t need a PR firm, you don’t need an in-house PR person and you don’t need to spend ANY money to get amazing PR. You don’t need to be connected, and you don’t need to be a “name brand.” — Jason Calacanis, Silicon Alley Insider

The Expansion of Human Knowledge Needs You! Andrew Leigh and his partner in investigative crime Alison Booth are currently doing some research on racial attitudes in Australia. They’ve developed this really spiffy online Implicit Association Test and they need people to go and have a play with it. It really is spiffy – all you need is two fingers to take the test and a spare 5 minutes. Having just done it myself, and thinking about the timing issues involved in the test framework, the results will be fascinating when they’re finalised. — Possum Comitatus