in case you don't already know

A surprised reader emailed recently with the comment, "You use really great pictures on your blog. They're good enough to be screensavers. But why are they so small?"

Yes, that's true. Most days I use a photo that's at least 2000 by 1000 pixels and many times much higher. The whole point of that is, in the event you find the entry itself deadly dull or uninteresting, hopefully at least you'll like the picture.

I generally use horizontal images so they don't overwhelm the page, but if you click through or save a photo, you'll often find it's of a very high quality. Depending on what kind of browser you use, you probably will have to left-click or right-click to see it.

Check out the quality of today's picture, for instance. If you need a screensaver and can use a mildly pornographic one (probably not suitable for office use) grab it and save it. I usually try to feature naughty pictures that might be rated as a bit mild for NC-17 but are not full-on explicitly in-your-face hardcore triple-X.

famous lawyer marries some actor

Unless you live in a cave or were in a country like North Korea with a total media blackout, you probably know George Clooney married over the weekend. Most headlines and news leads mention him but not his spouse.

In contrast, this webpage for professional women had a little fun with the story. The headline reads: "Internationally acclaimed barrister Amal Alamuddin marries an actor."

The thespian in question is not named until the eighth paragraph: "she’s tying the knot with an actor, whose name is George Clooney, we’re told."

The coup de grâce comes in the next sentence: "He’s probably a nice man, but seems to be a bit clingy, as since she met him it’s hard to find a photo or footage of Amal without him hanging around in the background."

facing down terrorists

Like most people, you've probably seen recent news crisis of the ISIS situation. In recent weeks, the group has beheaded a number of westerners and then posted videos of that slaughter online.

I have seen news footage about several of the recent decapitations, which includes video released by ISIS and edited by the media outlets so the actual beheading is not shown. From what I've read, in the unedited versions released by ISIS, the killer seems to begin cutting the victims as the video fades to black, and then the beheaded victim is shown.

Before this happens, the victims make no attempt to struggle against or denounce their murderers, at least in the coverage I've seen. Some of them even read statements prepared by the terrorists. Their killer speaks in English as the filming occurs, so that suggests the victims know what's coming.

Now I will almost certainly never be held by ISIS terrorists, but if I were, I don't think I would passively wait for someone to cut off my head. I certainly wouldn't read their statement. I'd be terrified, I'm sure, but I'd also be furious. I would loudly denounce the terrorists' cowardice in attacking innocent civilians. (In related news, an alleged plot by ISIS sympathizers here in Australia was recently reported here; the suspects planned to grab an innocent victim off a Sydney street and then behead him or her.)

Or at least I hope I would renounce them. Maybe the real victims slaughtered by ISIS are drugged or think they have some chance to escape if they cooperate. I certainly don't condemn them, because what they faced was both horrible and inconceivable. I'm just surprised at their apparent passivity.

naked and bitten

I was scrolling through offerings of new erotic shoots for some pictures to post on my Tumblr. When I clicked through to one set, in which the picture below appeared, I noticed something wrong about her skin (click for better version). I enlarged the image and saw what it was.

She's covered with mosquito bites. Sorry, but that's decidedly not erotic. At least she was a trooper to put up with the miserable work conditions. Maybe she wouldn't be paid unless she completed the shoot. She certainly wouldn't have been the first model to put up with that.

Neither the model nor the photographer will be up for genius of the year award. Unless the photographer didn't tell her that the shoot was in a pond, one or the other should have realized to take along some insect repellent.

One of the first things I taught myself as a model was to ask the photographer about the shoot beforehand and to pack as if he/she hadn't answered my questions -- take a jacket in case it got cold, sensible footwear to walk in and out of the shoot, sun screen, sunglasses, something to eat, water, a towel to sit on, etc. All of this always went into a small shoulder back that was pre-packed to be ready whenever a call came in for a shoot.

My husband has told me on more than one occasion that when I'm looking for a job after our son (or children) are a little older, I should work for a modeling agency or management firm. I've actually thought about that some lately.

I could work at an agency for a while, and then try to hang out my own shingle. Given I think I have some entrepreneurial sensibilities, such a career could be a real possibility. Many models are not the sharpest knives in the door, so my bossy nature might come in handy.

six-word stories

You've probably seen something like this before: write a story in six words. Famous writers have done it, like Ernest Hemingway who purportedly wrote, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." This is sometimes called flash fiction, although that form usually is somewhat longer.

I have always liked good ones of these because they can really inspire you to see a story of much more than six words. Someone recently posted a set of good ones on Imgur, likely from a variety of source. My favorite is: "I just saw my reflection blink." I could see that expanded into a novel and movie and maybe even a TV show, using the six-word sentence as a starting point.

Like everyone, I've read some really bad novels that I wonder how they ever were published because their writers were so obviously lacking in talent. That got me to thinking that publishers should give them a test before reviewing their manuscripts. If they can't come up with five really good six-word stories, then they can't send in anything else.

10,000 galaxies

Sometimes I don't like Wikipedia because it's petty and trivial and seriously inaccurate. At other times, however, I learn something different and new and interesting.

Each day the site runs a "today's featured picture" image on the front page. Nine times out of ten, the particular picture in this eclectic mix is something very captivating or instructional or both.

Yesterday, they featured the "Hubble Ultra-Deep Field," a highly detailed photograph taken of far, far space. The image was made over a period of more than three months, with a total exposure time of more than eleven days. If you know anything about photography, you know that a very faint source must be shot over a very long period.

The photo itself is extremely detailed with 6200x6200 pixels. According to NASA, the image contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies, with some as old as 13.2 billion years. (I guess that means the galaxies would be roughly 13.2 billion years from earth, if their image is being recorded now, but I'm no science genius so don't quote me on that.)

I have to imagine that humankind or our successors will never travel that far to see any of those galaxies. That's both sad and somehow exciting at once -- that whole worlds exist about which we will never know anything.

If reincarnation is real, perhaps some of us will come back as residents of those far-away galaxies.

sexting during sex

A recent piece on Politifact referenced a news story from last year with a rather startling statistic: 20 percent of adults aged 18 to 34 admit to using a smartphone during sex.

The poll reporting this tidbit does not detail what specifically people do with their smartphones during sex -- photos, shopping, texting, sexting, etc. Nor did it reveal if the phone was used with their partner's knowledge and consent.

Whatever people were doing with their phones really isn't the issue, however. When you're fucking, that should be 100 percent of your focus. Not for your own sake, but for your partner's. If you're not making absolutely certain that he or she is having the greatest possible time, then you're being selfish.

If at all possible, sex should be the best part of your and your partner's day. It should only be about you and your partner. The phone should be muted until you're both fully satisfied.

(Of course, I use "you" here not to chastise any particular reader but instead to refer indirectly to any person who may be an offending party. And on a slightly related note, if you're not familiar with the Politifact website, it's a fantastic source to check the truthfulness of politicians' attention-grabbing statements.)

unrestrained sexual fantasies

A reader emailed after my recent post about how I felt a little guilty getting turned on by a picture without knowing if it had been made with the full consent of the woman shown.

"Don't feel guilty -- fantasies are guilt free," the email began, then continued to lay out a case that we needn't feel ashamed or guilty about whatever is in our sexual fantasies. "That's the difference between reality and fantasy," the reader wrote. "You don't have to feel guilty about what you only imagine. A sex fantasy is like a revenge fantasy: as long as it never goes beyond the imaginary, you're home free. A fantasy is a way to act out something in theory that you never would actually do."

I never really thought of it this way but I agree. I've wool-gathered about how to commit the perfect murder, but that certainly doesn't mean I'd go out and kill someone. I've imagined what it would be like robbing a convenience store, but again I would never do that in the "real world." I've fantasized about dumping a bucket of horse manure over Kim Kardashian's head, but I don't see myself really doing that, either.

I've shared a few of my darkest sexual fantasies with my husband at times, but he's never chastised me for them. He'll just smile slightly and say something like "kitten, you're pretty twisted."

are tanlines sexy

My husband and I were readying to go out one night recently, and I noticed in the mirror that the dress I had put on was showing a bit of tanlines from a top I wore while sunbathing. I wanted to change, but he said not to bother because "tanlines are sexy."

I don't know about that. I think sometimes they could be sexy but many times not. A bad tanline would be wearing something off the shoulder that showed a dark tanline from a halter top. Sunglasses can leave a bad tanline making you look like a raccoon. Hats can be deadly by leaving a pale forehead and rosy cheeks.

I'd say the first picture below is not a sexy tanline. It's just too much. She's too naturally pale and has spent too much time in the sun. Her white flesh looks like uncooked whitefish.

But I'd argue the second picture has a sexy tanline. It's much more subtle and emphasizes her curves, particularly on her ass.

My husband disagrees, and says both are sexy. (By the way, both of these images appeared recently on my Tumblr, which now has nearly 30,000 subscribers.)

what every pussy needs

Your cat might really like one of these -- a Kim Jong-Un scratching post. Or maybe that should be comrade cat.

Forced labor camps and rigid draconian rule aside, the thing I'd hate the most about living in North Korea would be the total lack of internet access.

putin on the ritz

I wonder if a Russian posted this on the Internet, how long would he put in jail? Putin has certainly turned out to be a loathsome character, but all the more reason to laugh at him.

I almost posted something really sad, but then decided to wait on that. So have a great weekend. Spring is just about here in Australia!

wicked or wonderful?

If he's hurting her in the photograph below without her consent, then this is repulsive. If he's forcing her to do something sexually she doesn't want to do, then that's rape.

But what if he's not? What if this is just roleplaying and she likes and wants and demands it?

My husband often has his hand -- or hands -- around my neck when we're naked and alone in the bedroom and having a good time. I know he'll never hurt me, and he has my complete consent to do this. He might hold me tightly this way without choking me while fingering my pussy. I'll squirm helplessly as he drives me into to an extended orgasm, but I can't break free to catch my breath. He'll whisper in my ear while he does this, "prisoners have to be fingerfucked until the come, missy."

Or he'll hold me firmly around the neck with both hands, again without choking me, as he fucks me in a modulated pace, fast until I'm almost coming but then slowing down, deliberately delaying my orgasm, even pulling out sometimes. It's delicious agony and often I'll just end up coming anyway.

So I think of these things when I look at this picture, and thus the image turns me on. I'm even a little wet now, writing this as I think about him and me and this and oh my. I suspect part of the reason I'm aroused is because I know my husband is strong enough to kill me inside a minute flat but I know he won't -- his power combined with his restraint and his loving, gentle soul and my complete trust in him turns me on. Trust is sexy.

But I can't help feeling a tiny bit guilty when I get excited because I can't stop wondering if the woman in the picture consented to what's happening. Consent, unfortunately, is not something that can really be pictured in a still photograph.

trouble on the starship enterprise

If you're confused about what the image is below, someone has used a gif animator to adjust for sudden camera movement, a cheap effect made to look like the starship has suddenly veered off course when in fact the set has not moved at all. The cast concurrently lunges this way and that to seem like they've experienced extreme turbulence.

In some ways I love things like this because they show how movies and TV shows are made. At the same time, I don't like them, because they make suspending disbelief all that much harder the next time you watch.

Yes, if you watch the original Star Trek, you have to suspend a lot of disbelief already. The Enterprise is supposed to be traveling faster than the speed of light deep into outer space while still using 1960ish technology and cheap old special effects, with a crew in 1960s hairstyles and goofy mod costumes, constantly squaring off against cheesy-looking aliens with dinner theater makeup.

But when the story is good and the writing excellent, you somehow see past all that. I feel the same way sometimes watching The Prisoner and some of the 1960s/1970s British crime dramas from the age when finding a public telephone could be the difference between life and death.

As for this scene, I'm no physics expert by any means, but shouldn't everyone move in the same direction if the starship suddenly lurched one way? And Lieutenant Uhura seems to be overdoing it a bit by literally getting out of her chair to run against the wall.

new dog

Over the weekend, we went to visit the friend of a friend of a friend of my husband with the dog looking for a new home. Needless to say, it was love at first sight between our son and pooch.

She's a sweet quiet little thing and seems calmer and mellower than her 18 months, but the vet confirmed that was her right age. She seems to be a true Heinz 57 and is a little under twenty pounds.

The dog was being cared for by a friend of her original owner who was hardly home except at night so she seems starved for attention. She will not let us out of her sight, which is perfectly fine with Joey.

She was named Zoe by her previous owners (two syllables), which our son pronounces as "Zow" with one syllable. As a result, that may end up being her name.

they came together

I don't understand why movie studios do this (see poster below). Did you spot it?

This looks like a film about two transsexuals. Paul Rudd is a blonde chick while Amy Poehler is a dude with a five-o'clock shadow.

My movie business friend in California told me that credit positions are entirely contractual, for both the movie and advertising, so the name placement cannot be changed. But then, duh, why not find artwork that could put the actor's name above his or her actual face? This is a still photograph from the production so, duh, simply flop the image and problem solved.

It's even dumber when the studios use a drawn illustration of the actors who could be put in any position, but still the wrong actor often ends up under the wrong name.

Meanwhile, in China or India or a bazillion other places where English is not the native language and people don't know American actors' names, some fourteen-year-old boy is wanking off at night to his fantasy blonde American girlfriend Paul Rudd in the poster hanging above his bed.

If he ever travels to the US to stalk his beloved, he'll be in for a big surprise.

visible panty lines

I'm always amazed when professional models and professional photographers shooting an erotic layout don't observe one of the most basic rules in adult entertainment: make sure the model doesn't have clothes and underwear lines and creases on her naked skin. No stripper or exotic dancer of any reputation would be so careless.

The photo appearing below of Faye Reagan is from a high quality shoot, but her skin is marred by lines from her underwear and pants. Similarly, a bra line is visible across her naked chest in other shots (check out the full set). And this is not caused by the dress she's wearing for the shoot, which is obviously loose and actually too big for her.

This is so easy to remedy. Most models worth their fee know how to take care so this doesn't happen. I can only assume that those who know better but don't bother just don't give a shit. They're only in it for the money. And if you're only doing it for the money, isn't that something like whoring?

the bride wore implants

This looks like something a porn actress would wear, not a bride. This was supposedly taken in Russia, and the backdrop, which you can see in the uncropped photo, does look Russian.

I wonder if the groom is in the Russian mob or is some nouveau riche petroleum billionaire. I'd love to see more pictures of the wedding and reception. Those could have some gape value.

flying under the radar

The Wall Street Journal Asian edition, the one I usually see here Down Under, had an interesting article yesterday about American expatriates who face greater difficulties using American banks and brokers. The reason is because institutions are more worried about money laundering and other charges, so they've cut off access for Americans outside the US. (I can't link to the specific article because it's behind a pay firewall.)

Knock wood, but I haven't had any problems at all. Some of the reason may be because I live in Australia and not one of the hinkier countries with lots of money laundering. But part of the reason may be because I planned ahead.

Before I left the US, I made sure of several things. First, I moved all accounts to one firm that handles both brokerage and banking services and also serves a large number of expat customers. Also, I changed my legal address to my brother's and had all mail sent there, even though I was going to be 10,000 miles away.

Once abroad, I continued to act like I was still based in the US and, if the firm ever asked, just on a very long trip overseas. When I sign in to my account online, I use a dedicated proxy that I pay for, so it appears I'm accessing my account from within the United States. The very few times I've had to call the firm, I use a US pay-as-you go cellphone so it appears I'm calling within the US.

It's obvious from credit card and ATM use that I'm out of the country at times, but I try to keep those to a minimum. I can get traveler's checks with no fee from the company sent to my brother, and he then mails them to me in Australia. I also found a place in Sydney that will cash American checks for free in exchange for American currency.

My husband said I have this down to an art so much that I could actually go into the money laundering business. I told him thanks but no thanks.

old hag

Today is the sixth anniversary of this blog. Every day without fail an entry has been published during the past six years, bringing the total posts to near 2,200. I never thought I would stick with this for such a long period of time, but I'm glad I did.

And I'll continue. Some entries are nothing but blather, but I like the idea of recording a thought or two every day. In the past few weeks, I've read randomly around the first year of the blog and can see how much I've changed in some ways but also stayed the same in other ways.

As is the case every year, my blog anniversary falls on my birthday. I turned 29 today. That freaks me out a bit because I'm no longer "a kid." But I still feel young and, demographically, I'm still younger than the median age for all humans now living.

Next year I will turn 30. Eeek! I need to start preparing myself for that mentally. Holy crap.

A friend of mine says "childbirth is much more difficult than turning 30." I'll have to see about that.

window shopping for eye candy

On more than one occasion when I've been out and about with girlfriends, I've shocked them by remarking that a particular man over yonder is cute or hot or nice to look at. They can't believe I make a remark like that as a married woman.

I don't understand why this is a problem. If married men can ogle women, why can't married women ogle men? My husband doesn't care because he knows I have less than zero interest in pursuing an attractive unknown. I would never remark to a stranger about his looks because he might take that the wrong way.

But a remark in passing to a female friend will be unknown by the man in question. Chances are he knows he's good looking and women will look at him, but he can't know what's inside my head. I certainly don't let him see I'm looking.

Remarking that a child is cute doesn't mean I want to give up my own child. So why should remarking that a man is cute be a problem, specifically when it's not an issue to my husband?

is circumcision child abuse?

Aeon magazine has an interesting new piece about the moral issues in circumcising boy infants. I imagine this is largely a non-issue outside of the United States, but a big issue there, given so many American men are circumcised.

My husband and I instantly agreed we would not have our son circumcised. Given my husband isn't American and our son almost certainly will be raised primarily in Australia, for those reasons alone we saw no reason to embrace an American practice.

I also had trouble imposing a decision on our son that could affect his entire life. To me, circumcising an infant is like cutting off his pinkie or giving him a tattoo shortly after birth. It's foisting someone else's beliefs and ideas and opinions on him and rendering them permanent.

He may later have a medical reason in adulthood to become circumcised, and then it will be his decision whether or not to be snipped. But to cut him when he was only a few days old could deprive him of decades of a sexual pleasure he would never achieve. It's too big a decision for someone else to make.

Parents inadvertently or deliberately foist personal beliefs on their children about religion, politics, ethics, morality, and more. But the child can always discard those when moving into and through adulthood. A physical change is impossible to reverse.

Thus potentially life-altering decisions like circumcision should be left up to him if at all practicable.

a sudden goodbye

I've written several times in the last few days about the ancient dog we care for. After seeming on a last, slow decline in recent weeks, she bounced back once again, the eternal Lazarus dog.

Yesterday she was great in the morning, went outside without any problem, and hung around the kitchen, getting up and down without too much difficulty. My son sat on the floor with her as he often does, and she loved the attention as usual. He usually would pet her and rub her while chattering away all sorts of nonsense or just sit beside her and play with his toys.

A little later she put her head down and went to sleep. After breakfast, my husband and I cleaned up and did the dishes while my son went back to playing with the dog on the floor.

At about that time, I noticed she hadn't moved at all in an hour or more. I squatted down and petted her and realized she was dead.

Sometime in the previous hour or so, she quietly and peacefully slipped into death. I later recalled at one point she seemed to sigh and take a deep breath, but she was wont to do that at times. Perhaps that was her last breath.

Before this sudden goodbye, my husband and I were expecting that we would have her put down at some point when her health began failing. We agonized over how to tell our son, who is too young to understand death but was utterly devoted to the dog.

Her sudden dying with my son next to her on the floor turned out to be a blessing. We explained that she had fallen asleep for good this time, and that later in the morning we would take her outside to rest forever in the garden. My husband dug a hole in the yard while my son and I wrapped her in her favorite blanket.

My son was very stoic and said goodbye without tears at our little informal funeral. I was another story but managed to keep it together without completely losing it. My sweet husband had tears running down his cheeks but was otherwise silent.

Several times during the day my son wanted to go out and see her grave and chatted away to her but seemed okay otherwise. We took a long walk and saw several neighbor dogs and he enjoyed petting them. We have yet to tell her owner, because I want to drive out to the care home and do that in person.

The house is so quiet and empty without her. My son has handled it best of all, because it seems like she's still a presence to him at his side. That's very reassuring.

Later this week the three of us will take a little day trip to see a dog in need of a home. It's one of those friend of a friend of a friend deal, but she sounds like an ideal dog for us -- young, small, mellow, and great with kids.

strange beauty

For whatever reason, certain freeway structures have always struck me as beautiful. Perhaps it's their clean modernity or perhaps because they remind me of living in California, where lofty overpasses were ubiquitous.

Not all of them are attractive, however. The thick, squat ones certainly aren't. But the thin ones curving high into the air have a distinctive grace and elegance.

While they can be nice to look at, driving on one is usually uneventful. The barriers on the sides block most of the view, and you're so busy watching the traffic, particularly in Los Angeles, in case anyone cuts in front of you, that the beauty is elusive.

They are best observed as a passive spectator, not as an active participant.

screams of outrage

The Sydney Morning Herald, a highly respected newspaper here, has caused something of a journalistic scandal by using comic book dialog bubbles and fonts on the front page to highlight a political scandal. Apparently purists don't like thinking outside the box.

IMHO, this seems like much ado about nothing. As long as the paper reports the news objectively, honestly, and thoroughly, who cares if they're using a gimmick to make a point? News magazines use artistically designed covers all the time and TV news features sophisticated visuals and graphics, so why can't a newspaper do something eye-catching, too?

Traditionalists too often seem more interested in form than function. They're more ruffled about traditions being "violated" and less about serving the public. Joe and Jane Average probably could care less that a paper is doing something a little different. They're likely more outraged about the subject of the cover story -- the political scandal and intertwined corruption.

death threats

I was reading various news items online about Joan Rivers' death. A piece on TMZ struck me as disturbing -- a report about how the endoscopy clinic where the comic went into cardiac arrest has been receiving death threats.

This seems to be a somewhat common phenomenon today: a crime or incident receives press attention and various involved parties soon thereafter receive death threats. Presumably police and prosecutors don't pursue those making the threats because of the high waste-of-time factor.

Still, this behavior is troubling. What is it with people? They're so lacking in decency and common sense they just lash out by making death threats? I have to hope that a high percentage of people who make death threats have some serious mental health issues.

I guess you know when you become a public figure these days -- you start receiving death threats.

male eye makeup

I may be wrong, but the guy in the photo below sure looks to me like he's wearing eye makeup. I found other photos in this set, and scanning through them only reinforces my opinion.

He didn't have problems getting it up for her, unless he's using drugs, so the cosmetics don't seem to be a sexuality issue. Maybe he thinks they make him look cool or tough or edgy.

I've never been a heavy user of cosmetics -- mostly just lipstick -- and believe many women wear too much. But guys with any makeup is just ridiculous IMHO unless they're hiding scarring.

My husband isn't the sort who would ever wear paint, so I don't have a dog in this fight. I just don't see what men find about it that's attractive. If you're straight, I think it makes you look like a character from La Cage aux Folles.

pooch is rallying once more

After my gloomy post on Sunday about the dog we care for seeming to be near the end of the trail, she has once again bounced back. While she's more frail than she was as recently as a month ago, she has picked up quite a bit in the last two days.

She's able to stand up on her own once again and is walking without sitting every few feet, although she does sit when she's been up for more than a few minutes.

While this seems to be a little reprieve, we're not fooling ourselves into thinking she has too much longer to go. She is now so ancient that the clock will win out before long now.

naked celebrity photo hack

The Interwebs are all atwitter about a stash of celebrity nude selfies and related images that just spilled online like a beached tanker.

I guess the celebrities exposed have never spent much time paying attention to the Internet, where hacks and celebrity nudies are a mainstay.

Far be it for me to judge, considering my own naked selfies have circulated online, but if you're a famous person, how smart is it to share naughty images of yourself digitally?

If you share it, somebody could steal it. It's that simple. This isn't year zero of the Internet.

I'm really surprised about Jennifer Lawrence in particular. She's an A-list movie star. She should have known better.

too tight?

I thought at first this was a fake created by Photoshop, but some research revealed it's real. They're being worn by Marilyn Yusuf, a Bulgarian fetish model.

I like to dress to look good, but at the same time I wouldn't torture myself. Just looking at these Lycra jeans makes my crotch chafe. I imagine they'd take quite a long time to put on and get smoothed. And then you'd have to pee.

professional asshole

Once again Alec Baldwin has thrown a public shit fit about a paparazzo. This is at least the fifth or sixth time this has happened.

When you're a celebrity, paparazzi are to be expected. So why bother about it? The more of a jerk you make of yourself, the more of a target you are. Paparazzi are paid different rates based on a particular celebrity with bonuses for anything out of the ordinary. If that celebrity has a public meltdown, that means more money for the photographer.

So complaining about a paparazzo when you have a history of exploding in public is like complaining about flies when you shit in an outhouse.

Which leaves me to wonder if Baldwin does this all on purpose. He wants the bad boy publicity so he puts on a little performance every time he sees a shutterbug.

Ergo, he's not reacting. He's just acting.