#171

Just received the sad news that Hugh Hefner, the founder editor of Playboy has passed away the age of 91 in California.  To say that he was one of the cultural icons of our times, would be an understatement.  From the kitchen counter of his parents' home in Chicago in 1953, he conceived and executed Playboy magazine, and later on, expanded into a lot of other enterprises.  Today, Playboy is one of the most recognizable brands in the world when it comes to adult entertainment.  For a certain generation of people, not only in the United States but also around the world, hiding Playboy magazine underneath their mattresses was almost a rite of passage into adulthood.  He had enormous respect for all the beautiful women who posed for the publication over the years, not because they had to do it, but because they wanted to.  For they believed in him.  From Marilyn Monroe to Jane Mansfield, from Sharon Stone to Demi Moore, from Cher to Madonna, from Cindy Crawford to Kim Kardashian, the list is exhaustive and long.  But he was much more than this.  He was an uncompromising activist for free speech everywhere.  He supported many philanthropic causes and charitable organizations.  In his heyday, he wasn't shy of taking on puritanical mores of the society in general and religious bigots in particular.  In this day and age when so much grotesque amount of porn is easily accessible on the Internet, Mr. Hugh Hefner reminds me of a relic from a bygone era when guilty pleasure was so much fun.