pumping

I put this picture on my Tumblr about two months ago. It has become, far and away, the most popular image I've ever posted. At last count, it had nearly 19,000 likes and reposts.

I have no idea who took the picture. I found it someplace online and, like all my picture posts, gave it the first one-word title that popped in my head.

I don't know how it was made. He has both hands on her ass, so was he holding the camera in his mouth? I don't think he was using a tripod because the legs would be in the shot. Maybe it was on a shelf.

I'm intrigued why this is such a popular picture. It's a great shot, no denying it. I'm just curious why it has really struck so many people. Any ideas?

If you want to reblog, the direct link to the shot is here.

heather has three mommies

The United Kingdom is in the early stages of approving a controversial new in vitro fertilization procedure using genes from three parents. This would strip serious genetic disorders from one parent's DNA and replace that portion with a third person's DNA.

Essentially, good DNA portions would be cut-and-pasted into the spots where bad DNA had been removed. The resulting child would have mostly the DNA of two parents with a little bit of a third.

Some people are, not surprisingly, outraged at this. Cries of "it's playing God" and similar reactions have been heard from certain corners of society. You can see some of that in the comments with this article, for example.

Wel,l call me a heathen because I think that's ridiculous. This breakthrough could prevent horrible birth defects and abnormalities. Because once a disorder was out of a first generation, it would be out for good from every successive generation for centuries and millennia.

I'm sure if God didn't want this, then he or she would put a stop to it. Until then, I think the scientists should carry on and ignore the self-appointed deity spokespersons.

I must admit the big mystery for me with stories like this is: how they can strip out teeny, tiny, sub-microscopic bits of DNA?

sex & architecture

Aeon has a new piece up exploring the impact of sex on architecture and vice versa. The article gets a bit lofty at times, but I think the writer makes some very valid points. Sex and shelter are two of our most basic needs, so it would be silly to think they don't affect each other.

I also think interior design has a big impact on sex. Some rooms feel very sexual while others are very sterile. Most rooms are really boxes, when you think about it, so once you're inside, the overall architecture of the structure becomes less important as far as affecting sex. That room where sex may take place becomes like a stage set -- the total design and look influences what may happen.

I don't think a room has to be expensively or even tastefully designed for a high sex factor. I think cheap motel rooms are sometimes the most erotic. Maybe because the rooms are used as much for clandestine sex as they are for actual sleeping, they often have a sort of intimate privacy. Intentional or accidental, they're just designed for fucking.

porn and ice hockey

The final game of the Stanley Cup was played earlier this week, when Chicago won over Boston. Immediately after the game was over, porn consumption online spiked dramatically in Boston, according to the popular adult website Pornhub.

As you can see from the usage chart below (you probably need to right click to view the larger version), porn watching was way down at the beginning of the game in Boston, then spiked a bit in both cities at what appears to have been the middle of the match. Presumably when hockey gets boring, the viewers are easily distracted by double anal gangbangs.

Toward the end of the game, porn consumption plummeted in Chicago, where men presumably realized the game was more exciting than watching a woman put four dildos into her anus. Once it was over, miserable Boston fans took matters into their own hands and immediately bolted for pornland.

Now all a savvy marketing guru needs to do is figure out a way to combine both ice hockey and porn. A split screen might do the trick, but I think the performers would have to be live so they could get in groove with the game. During a boring period in the play, for instance, they could turn up the sexual heat to keep viewers interested.

vibrator rights

Yesterday I learned that vibrators and dildos have been illegal in Alabama since 1998. You could receive up to a year in jail if you're caught selling one. WTF?

The law was challenged in court, and both the Alabama Supreme Court and a federal appeals court upheld it. The US Supreme Court declined to review the case, meaning the law stands. Repeated efforts to repeal the law have failed.

Both houses of Alabama's state legislature are controlled by a particular party that says it's in favor of small government. So how is this small government, telling women they can't get their freak on with a vibrator?

While poking around online to see if I could find more about the law, I came upon this rather long and scholarly article published in a legal journal about the case. Those with a legal background might find it of interest.

I'm just speechless that any elected official thought it was necessary to outlaw something as harmless as a vibrator. Pardon my language, but what a bunch of fucking prudes. Add Alabama to the list of places I never want to live or even visit, ever.

strippers make lousy drug couriers

If a contest is ever held for Dumbest Stripper Ever, Tiffany Evans might have a good chance at the crown.

In Springfield, Massachusetts late last week, Evans was stopped after allegedly running a red light. The cop who busted her told her to stepout of the car. When she did, 47 bags of heroin reportedly slipped out of her tiny outfit and fell to the ground.

"Since she was just coming from work at a local strip club, she did not have enough clothing on to conceal the illegal narcotic," a police sergeant explained to the press.

I think the moral of the story here is when carrying illegal drugs, obey traffic laws. Also wear sensible clothing. Also maybe put your stash in a paper bag under the seat. Ya think?

You can see the lovely Tiffany here. She looks 20 going on 40. (Meow, I know, but have a look and see if you disagree.)

primogeniture blues

The New York Times had a piece over the weekend about women in the UK, notably those in the aristocracy, chafing about primogeniture. (As a reminder to those who can't place the word, primogeniture is the practice of male-only heirs inheriting an aristocratic title like duke or earl.)

Some women of titled families take exception that their snotty little brother gets the earldom and the fortune while all they have to show for their pedigree is the honorary title "Lady." This is the 21st century so women should be on equal footing and all that. If you've watched any of Downton Abbey, you know about the travails of a family where male heirs are in dangerously short supply. It's time all that is ended, say the more feminist of the blue bloods.

At first blush, it sounds like these women are getting the short end of a sliver-plated stick. But is that any great injustice?

Rather than allow a woman to inherit the dukedom or earldom, wouldn't it be more equitable if the whole system was scrapped? Why should someone receive a preferential title and treatment, regardless of gender, just because a distant and ancient ancestor helped out the king with a loan or won some battle -- or was actually the king's bastard child, as was often the case?

It is somewhat amazing to me that the Brits didn't throw off the aristocracy in the twentieth century. More than 99 percent of the voters could never become peers; it's not a meritocracy. A new peer hasn't been created in decades, and they usually go to former prime ministers. So why are the great masses supporting these party favors?

Of course, if they ever do dump the peers, that won't stop the aristocrats from calling themselves earl or duke. Scores of European countries ended the aristocracy long ago, yet they're still calling themselves count this and duke that.

So if that be the case, then no reason a woman shouldn't be allowed one of those utterly meaningless titles.

earthworm penis

I see these ads regularly on adult pages and they always strike me as somewhat gross. They remind me of earthworm cross sections in a science textbook I had in middle school. I'm waiting for the thing to wiggle and crawl somewhere.

Hmm earthworm, penis, earthworm, penis. Not a connection that men might want. Earthworms are tiny, eternally flaccid creatures with no firmness.

So presumably these ads are not targeted at women. But would they make a man feel fondly about his possibly larger junk? Or would he be so busy looking at the porn he wouldn't even notice these?

ancient art

I recently discovered the great Tumblr Ancient Art, a very nice site featuring notable examples of early antiquities. The example below is Greco-Roman from the second century BC.

Whenever I visited world famous museums like The Louvre or The Metropolitan or the British Museum, I always wanted to see the really old stuff first. I like the idea of being able to connect to someone from several millennia earlier.

The artist was intimately familiar with his (or her) work and stood as close as you or I in the museum. We see a sculpture of a Roman emperor, but the artist may have seen the actual emperor he sculpted. That gives a sort of a connection between time and space for us from that age to ours.

Did the artist ever imagine someone from twenty or thirty centuries later would be admiring the work? I would think someone from a much earlier era would not perceive us as technically far more advanced because tech evolved much slower during those earlier centuries.

scumbag steve vs. the internet

We live in a litigious world where copyright infringement suits are increasing like weeds. I'm surprised more suits aren't filed by people who appear in internet memes and by their photographers. While stopping the proliferation of a particular meme is like trying to stamp out ants at a landfill, you'd think some litigation heat would be directed at commercial sites where they're exploited.

Take a site like QuickMeme, where you can make a giggle like the one of Scumbag Steve below. And then there's sites like Reddit, owned by Condé Nast's parent Advance, where those memes appear by the countless thousands.

Ads are sold on both sites, so they're certainly making money. Are they sharing some of that cash with the model and the photographer? The guy who appears in the Scumbag Steve photo has an agent, but he's also working a full-time job, so he's clearly not earning a whole lot of revenue from his scumbag role.

I didn't bring this up because I have any brilliant solution. I don't. I do find it worth nothing that people like Scumbag Steve are being exploited, and there isn't much they can do to stop it. Compare that to a major Hollywood studio, where a high-paid lawyer will send you a nasty venom-dipped letter if you so much as use a screen capture from one of their movies to illustrate your blog.

I received one of those missives a while back after I used a screen capture on a post here, and you'd think I'd taken home a sample from Fort Knox the way they over-reacted. Being too far away to sue, I didn't lose any sleep over it.

Curiously, "the system" seems more geared to protecting screen captures owned by multinational corporations where no one is losing any money (you'd still see the movie anyway regardless of whether a capture was used). Little guys like Scumbag Steve, who are actually losing money, have little recourse.

RIP tony soprano

As I was getting ready to write my next post, I saw the news flash that James Gandolfini had died suddenly of an apparent heart attack. He was 51, way too early to go in this day and age.

He always seemed like a big rottweiler of a man -- tough when he had to be but usually intensely kind and affectionate. I've watched The Sopranos several times through, from start to finish, and was always mesmerized by his quiet moments of acting brilliance.

There were long-standing rumors that a special movie-length episode or two of The Sopranos would be made, but now that probably could not happen. Even if they did, without James Gandolfini aka Tony, the show just wouldn't be the same.

car trouble

There must be some unwritten law of the universe that when a youngish woman in a skirt has the hood/bonnet open and appears to be having car trouble, complete strangers of the male gender will appear within three minutes.

One of our cars has a wonky thing with the automatic aerial where it sometimes will continuously go up and down after you've turned off the ignition and removed the key. The husband has monkeyed with it a few times and it will behave for a while, but then it goes on the fritz again.

Yesterday I was using the car for errands and, sure enough, it started doing it again. The only solutions are to let it continue, and thus possibly attract vandals, or to remove the corresponding fuse so it will stop.

I parked and noticed it was doing the weird, slightly sexual thing with the antenna. So I popped open the hood, took off the fuse box covering, removed the appropriate fuse, and it stopped. But before I even put the hood back down, I hear, "having trouble there love?" I have no idea from where he appeared but he was ready to help. The fact that I knew what to do and my mention of a husband damped his enthusiasm.

Every time I stopped thereafter on my various errands, I had to do the same thing. And with only one exception, a man or two came up to me and offered help inside three minutes.

Now Australian men are very friendly so this explains some of it. But part of it is the fact that some men regardless of nationality, bless 'em, just love to play knight in shining armor.

When I was a single woman, I never thought about how this would be a great way to meet cute men. Simply go someplace where you're likely to find upscale, attractive, educated, and fit men -- like a gym parking lot in the better part of town. Open your hood and look bewildered. A man will soon appear and, if you like what you see, reel him in.

I can't believe you got it started. When I turned the key, nothing happened. You've got to let me take you out for a drink or something as a way of thanking you.

world's record body modifications

I've seen the picture below several times in the past on Internet travels and always thought it was some kind of Photoshop mashup. Turns out it's not -- it's a man named Stalking Cat who purportedly "held the world record for the most body modifications," according to the linked Wikipedia entry.

He committed suicide last year (you can see more photos of his modifications at that link) so I won't go into my usual rant about tattoos being a lifetime mistake. This does make me wonder about the ethics of the people who performed these procedures on him.

As a doctor quoted in the press said about him, "cosmetic surgery is a practice based on informed consent that needs to balance the risks with the benefits. It is possible to have a coherent view that is nonetheless detrimental to one's well-being. This is a patient who's being harmed by medicine..."

That issue aside, could anyone find him attractive? He's freakish in a circus sideshow sort of way. This look required a lot of money and pain. I just can't get inside the head of someone who would endure that. It's sort of like paying thousands of dollars to experience childbirth without the benefit of actually having a child.

Of course, he should have the freedom to do this if he wants. Because he has that freedom, his friends and family -- and those who performed the procedures -- also have the freedom to step forward and counsel him not to make what could be a very destructive personal choice.

paging pink floyd

I saw a link online to a petition someone had started at the White House petitions website. If you're not familiar with the program, anyone can submit a petition and, if it receives 100,000 signatures, the administration will respond and, possibly, take action.

Some of the petitions clearly have some thought behind them, often for very specific issues. Even though they don't seem like they'll make the 100,000 cut off, one might imagine they'll receive some sort of official scrutiny.

But many of them are written by people who obviously have no idea what a President can and cannot do. Some call for the President to overturn certain acts of Congress, which is not possible constitutionally. Others tell him to do things, like summarily arrest people, as if he's some kind of banana republic dictator.

Now some of these are probably symbolic -- their authors know the President can't actually do what they ask, but they're trying to get some airtime for their cause. Others, however, seem more dubious.

It really is sad that so many American citizens are largely clueless about how our country works. I was a poor student overall in school because many classes utterly bored me, but I always thought civics and current events were fascinating. That stuff just stuck in my head like glue and still does.

The Husband teases that we should move back to the US so I can run for office. I guess I'd have to be a candidate for the Nearly Naked Party or something, because given my past, I would be a prime target for negative campaigning by the two main ones.

this is how it's done

The Pentagon should borrow this guy. I think he only blinked once in this entire video.

The issue of sexual misconduct aside, he also ably demonstrates how you don't have to rant and scream to be authoritative and scare the hell out of whomever you're addressing.

future humans turn into kitsch

According to Dr. Alan Kwan, who holds a PhD in Computational Genomics from Washington University, future humans will look something like the picture below, with massive eyes and big foreheads. He explains in very interesting detail here why he believes that will happen.

My first thought when I saw this was: humankind will turn into Margaret Keane paintings. If you don't know her work, you can see some samples here. I had an elderly relative who collected prints of these, and I always thought they were extremely creepy as a child.

I have to wonder if humans will evolve more than this in 100,000 years. No, I don't hold a PhD in Computational Genomics, whatever that is, but if you look at how far humankind has come in the last 100,000 years, I think changes will be more substantial, considering how our advancement has been exponential.

Think about it: humans may even be able to engineer their own evolution.

Is that possible? I imagine so. Look how much humanity has changed in the last 100 years, for example, compared to the 1,000 years before that and the 10,000 years before that. A century ago, humans didn't even have antibiotics, and now humans are cloning. In a thousand or ten thousand years, humankind could completely control its own evolution.

And then all women will look like Alberto Vargas paintings.

laser polishing the crown jewels

Salon has a little piece up this week about a new fad for men with too much money -- laser scrotum rejuvenation. Apparently the procedure makes a man's balls less wrinkly and also polishes off the hair. It runs about $525 American and takes 45 minutes.

The article doesn't mention exactly how it's done, and a Google search failed to turn up any specific details. George Clooney has referred to practice as "ball ironing." That suggests heat and pressure and possibly pain.

I asked the husband about this while we were driving, whether he'd like to have his balls tidied up with a hot laser. His wide-eyed silent response, complete with horrified peeled-back lips and protective hand over his crotch, told me all I needed to know. While some vain Hollywood types might want their nuts polished, I can't think a whole lot of ordinary men are clamouring to have this done. Particularly at that price.

an addendum to yesterday

Not to sound like a sob sister for Edward Snowden's girlfriend or anything, but I found these two items about her (named Lindsay Mills) to be of particular interest: a Washington Post profile and another piece about her at Talking Points Memo. These both were published after I posted yesterday's entry.

I guess I identify with her because of some similarities in our backgrounds and the fact that we both have a history of unexpectedly being treated shabbily by a former lover. I hope she gets through all this with a strong support system to lean on when necessary. And I hope she's like me and eventually stumbles on a much better man who will help make all of this only a distant memory.

edward snowden's ex-girlfriend

Unless you've been spending time in a cave for the past few weeks with Osama bin Laden's cousins, you probably have heard all about Edward Snowden and the NSA leaks. You've probably not heard very much about Snowden's girlfriend, because very little has been reported by the media. The woman is probably in hiding and for good reason.

Snowden says he left the US without telling her why or what he planned to do, which pretty much means he'll likely never see her again. Putting aside the whole issue of the NSA leaks as to whether they're good or bad, dumping your girlfriend and then telling her on an international broadcast is an incredibly shitty and childish and irresponsible thing to do.

One has to imagine this might have been a relationship with existing problems before his big surprise. He didn't trust his girlfriend enough to tell her what he wanted to do, to ask her advice and counsel and consent. Instead, he trivialized and discarded her. He forced his decision on her before she had a chance to prepare herself and then sent her the ultimate "Dead Jane" letter. He may have left Hawaii thinking he had a girlfriend, but a woman in your bed who you treat like this is no longer your girlfriend once you get on that plane.

If there's any consolation for her, she could dine out on his name by selling her rights and/or writing a book herself. Understandably, she might not want to do that. But if it was me and a male had treated me like this, I would definitely consider this an option. Because if a guy is going to make my life hell, might as well make that hell a bit profitable with some nice creature comforts.

bea arthur naked

You may have read about a painting by artist John Currin of Bea Arthur in her birthday suit (see below). It was falsely reported in the media that Jimmy Kimmel bought it recently at auction. The painting did sell last month for nearly $2 million to a buyer whose name has not been made public.

I'm not an artist, but I think I have a fairly good eye for art. In my opinion, this painting is overrated. It's described as "hyper realistic," but I don't think it is. It has an amateurish feel to me -- maybe because the pose is so wooden. It looks like something a somewhat talented high school student might do before he or she had any actual training.

I also wonder, as an investment, whether will this be worth nearly $2 million fifty years from now when Bea Arthur is no longer really well known. While some contemporary art has gone up in value markedly, quite a lot more has lost much if not most of its value in the last few decades. Some stuff that sold for over a million dollars twenty years ago can't even break above five figures now. That has to suck if you bought high and sold low.

a memoir of female lust

Salon has just published a very interesting interview with a woman named Katherine Angel who wrote a book called Unmastered: A Book on Desire, Most Difficult to Tell. In the book, she writes candidly about the intense sexual hunger she began feeling as a teenager.

"The words I would have put this into, had I felt the urge — the words I still put this into — are these: I feel like a man," she writes. Early on, the interview features this bit with her describing when her lover ejaculated onto her: "I love this. The sudden wet coolness on me. The smell: summer rain on cement. Fresh, open windows."

Wow. I love her already. Rather than recap the whole interview here, you can follow this link and digest at your own pace.

Overall, the book sounds a bit cerebral -- Angel is an academic with a PhD -- but she also addresses an issue that is often not discussed in "polite company." When I was a teenager, I struggled at times wondering why all I could think about was sex. I still feel that way occasionally, but not as much -- I thought about sex more when I was getting less of it.

Still, our western culture frowns on a teenage girl with a high sex drive while males of the same age with the same urges don't face as much condemnation. When a young male thinks about sex constantly, it's often described as "healthy" and "natural" and "part of growing up" -- boys will be boys and all that. When the same thing happens for a girl, too often she's labeled a tramp, a slut, just asking for it, out of control, or -- my favorite -- "something's wrong with her." Oh how many times I heard that.

Angel is a feminist academic so perhaps she never sought the simple solution I found -- fall in love with a very sexual man who believes it's his life's calling to make me orgasm as often as possible.

you are uglier than you think

The Week ran a little item recently, condensing a piece from Scientific American, about how people tend to think they are more attractive than they really are. This was determined by asking people to select their unmodified photo or their "prettied" one as the most accurate; more often than not, participants picked computer-enhanced images that made them look better as opposed to the untouched "honest" image.

I wish I had been asked to participate in this study. I'd like to know how I see myself. I wonder sometimes if I'm too harsh on my looks. (How many times have I posted here about thinking my boobs are too small -- maybe a hundred times?) So an objective test would be nice.

Notwithstanding that, I've met some people with average or even below average looks who, in attractive clothes and with sharp grooming, plus a winning personality and a good sense of style, absolutely light up a room. And then there are those really attractive people who walk around with their own personal rainclouds and act like they'd be anywhere besides where they are.

I'd like to think we remember someone's personality more than their looks when the former outshines the latter. Then again I know I've slept with men because I thought they were hot looking, even if they were lacking in the personality department. But when you're looking for a one-night stand, a winning personality isn't exactly at the top of your list of requirements.

no nights out

Since Joey was born, I can count the numbers of evenings out with the husband on one hand. We line up a sitter, get dressed up, and have a date night out. Since the sitters are always the husband's relatives, they're super easy to secure. If anything, the biggest problem is trying not to hurt anyone's feelings by choosing someone over another.

When we go out, we have a good time. But both of us start to talk about the kid after a while. Then we both start to miss Joey. We check in and he's doing fine. But still -- he's so much a part of our lives now, it seems strange when he's not with us.

We end up going home sooner than we originally planned. He's asleep by the time we're back, but the family unit is all together again. It feels right.

I'm not complaining we have so few date nights out. Neither of us feel like we really have to do it. It's probably a good idea that we have some time to ourselves outside the house, but we're not clamoring to do it, either.

I guess this means I've officially become a boring old married lady. To think, five years ago, I was free as a bird -- being married with a child seemed like the farthest thing from possible. As the husband likes to say, "welcome to responsibility."

good girl voice, bad girl body

For whatever reason, I was under the long-standing impression that men preferred women with low, sexy, sultry voices. Femme fatale voices. Smoke gets in your eyes voices.

I do not have one of those voices. I have a rather high voice that, to my ears, always sounds like it belongs to a fourteen-year-old girl. For a while, I tried consciously to deepen the pitch a few years back, before I met my husband, but that never really worked. I'd forget or talk too fast and it was back in the normal schoolgirl register again.

My pitch probably isn't helped by the fact that I talk rather fast. The more intense the conversation, the faster I tend to speak, which sometimes makes me seem a little breathless and giddy. I end up sounding like a fourteen-year-old girl with a really tight outfit that impairs breathing. I worked at a company in my teens doing telephone surveys, and men I spoke with often told me I sounded very young.

I read a short article in Newsweek recently that completely upended the way I thought about female voices. The piece synopsized a very long article in a prestigious medical and scientific journal called PLOS One.

In terms of sex appeal, it turns out men are turned on most by high, breathy voices -- in other words, the kind of voice I have. A breathy, high voice evokes a woman of relatively small size in the male brain: what men want most.

I don't ever recall talking about my voice with my husband so I asked him what he thought of it when he first met me. "Instant hard-on-inducing voice," he said. "Good girl voice, bad girl body -- the perfect combination." I'll take that as a compliment, although he is my husband, so he's not entirely objective.

Thinking back, I don't ever recall a man saying he didn't like my voice. At various times, men have said I had a "cute" or "sweet" voice, which I always interpreted to mean "you sound really young."

I know some women have said they didn't really like my voice. A few have even accused me of faking the girlishness. Maybe they know what men really like and were just being competititive. One who said this -- a woman I never really liked -- did have a very femme fatale voice.

So I'm feeling happier about my voice now. Here I thought it was a curse when it was really more like catnip. All things considered, if I could somehow magically acquire a femme fatale voice, I might jump at the chance.

visually serendipitous

I don't think there's a word for this -- when a camera spontaneously captures a curious collision of incongruous elements. A few of these might be posed but some obviously are not.

I've only had this happen once when I had a camera at hand. I took a trip to Europe after my first year as an exotic dancer when I had made some serious money. When I was in Siena, early in the morning, it rained, but then the sun suddenly appeared and a spectacular rainbow touched the top of the Mangia Tower.

Just as I was about to take the shot, two dogs started screwing in the foreground and they wouldn't move out of the way. I didn't take the picture. Now I wish I had.

world's record tornado

I grew up in the Chicago area, which is certainly not immune from tornadoes but not hit nearly as often and badly as some other areas in the Midwest. Like many Chicagoans, I never actually witnessed a tornado in person but did see some of the damage after the fact.

Being Midwesterners, we had semi-regular tornado drills in school. A lot of kids thought these were a lark, but the idea of tornadoes always freaked me out a bit. Even though I left the Chicago area ten years ago, I still am both fascinated and terrified of tornadoes.

I was amazed to watch the video below of the widest tornado ever recorded in history, which happened last week in Oklahoma. The tornado is so massive, it's difficult to see at times in this video.

The spectators here are obviously far less fearless than me. I would not be standing around taking pictures. On one of my coast-to-coast driving trips, I had to pass through Oklahoma during a tornado warning. I was glad I didn't witness any first-hand. And I'm also glad they're pretty rare here in Australia.

The storm-chasing videographer here is named Nick Nolte but he's not the notorious one.

cunnilingus and cancer

Michael Douglas caused something of an uproar with statements over the weekend suggesting his throat cancer was caused by cunnilingus, not smoking and drinking. He then sort of retracted his statement.

In truth, cunnilingus in and of itself does not cause cancer. The human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cancer in sexual partners. Fortunately, a woman can be vaccinated against HPV and, if she isn't, a pap smear will reveal whether she is positive or not.

If she's not positive, then no amount of cunnilingus will cause cancer.

Here is where our headline-driven news media is now doing a great disservice to women everywhere. By blasting the headline "Michael Douglas's Cancer Caused by Cunnilingus," that plants the incorrect idea that cunnilingus itself causes cancer.

Had the press been a bit more cautious and put information before sensation, they might have done the story right. But they didn't. And given overall squeamishness about sexual matters sometimes, they may now feel politeness prevents them from telling the more accurate story, albeit a more explicit one.

In a world of drive-by headlines, some men may have seen the title to a news piece and now think cunnilingus causes cancer. I wonder how many men will now refuse to go down on their partners without understanding anything about HPV?

dominant women & strong men

I was searching through photos for my Tumblr, looking for something featuring a submissive man. I found several possibilities and selected the one below.

The rejected images were similar, with a shapely woman dominating a subordinate man. But the men in those photos were meek and pasty looking characters who seemed allergic to hard work. The one I picked would be handy to have around on moving day.

A bigger, stronger submissive man makes the woman seem more powerful to me. She has to be more self confident about her ability to subdue him. If he looks out of shape and timid, any reasonably fit woman would stand a decent chance of overpowering him. Here, however, the woman would stand almost no chance if he decided to assert himself. So as a result she seems inherently more powerful, in my opinion.

But it also makes the connection stronger between the two. She arguably trusts him more than she would a weaker man because she knows he will not attempt to usurp her authority. A weaker man is more uncertain.

Or maybe it's what turns her on more. She knows he could quickly turn the tables to become the dominant one. Perhaps he does that on occasion. She's not so much dominating him here but testing him. She'll drive him to a point where he has to take matters in hand, and then she's the one down on her knees servicing him.

the 125-year-old DVD

I read about this in the newspaper a few weeks ago -- a circa 1885 recording made by Alexander Graham Bell was recently discovered. This is the first time anyone living had a chance to hear his voice.

Yesterday I happened upon this short article that shows what was missing from the newspaper -- a picture of the actual recording plus a chance to hear a portion of it. Bell sounds like a moaning idiot in the first part of it but then his voice becomes distinctly clear.

I was struck at how much this 125-year-old recording looks amazingly like a modern DVD or CD. If you flip over any CD or DVD and look on the back, where the actual tracks are, you'll see how much it resembles Bell's old recording, which you can see below.

I have to think hearing a modern recording would total enchant Bell. To hear what can be done now, compared to way back then.

penis biting and the rodeo

This has to be one of the most bizarre news stories I've seen in a long time. I think the news crew has to be commended for not busting out laughing during this entire piece.

Their overly earnest tone, however, is a bit much, like they were reporting breaking news from Washington or something. And playing the genitals line at least three times was outright overkill.

I think the moral of this story is -- don't live with your husband and your ex-husband at the same time.