Yeah I’ve just realised I’ve probably lead, and am going to lead, the most sheltered university life ever.

I was talking to a friend you see and he’s been to lots of parties and clubbing e.t.c every week and says his girl total so far (I’m not sure if this is just making out or sex or what, he didn’t really say, although I suspect it’s the latter rather than the former (who really uses ‘latter’ and ‘former’ these days anyway?) because, well, that’s how teenagers are) is 11 – and 4 of those were in freshers week!

I’m going to come out of university even more of a social misfit than when I went in, and will still be a complete virgin for probably a long time after that even. Then again, sex and girls aren’t everything in life.

At least, that’s what I try to tell myself – but it doesn’t ever get through…

“If men could have babies, abortion would be a sacrament.”

I buy 99% of my reading second hand at thrift stores.  I get some really good deals, and after a careful browsing of the back cover I almost invariably pick reading that I enjoy.  I find the best buys at the Bibles for Cambodia thrift shop in Guelph, which is why it is ironic that it was there that I inadvertently chose a “Christian” novel (“Deeper Water,” Robert Whitlow).  Its blurb suggested it was a “legal thriller,” which I love, but I missed the small print that read “Christian novel.”  So be it.  I decided to read it, I made it to the bittersweet end (the crime is solved, but the morally pristine heroine has not yet been able to chosen between her two born-again suitors), and I have no regrets.  The work was well written, the plot and the characters were believable, including the protagonist’s Evangelical family and her Evangelical lawyer associates.

Having once myself fallen into the throes of Evangelical Christianity (back in the early 1960’s, after which I took the message of Jesus seriously, left the hypocritical church and dedicated myself to Marxist humanist revolution), I felt the portrayal to ring true.  The author’s point of view was both Evangelical and fundamentalist, but mercifully lacked the narcissistic and jingoistic neo-Fascist political outlook of contemporary American Fundamentalism.

Two things about the novel struck me.  One was what I consider to be the ingenuous belief that the Christian god of the literalist interpreted Christian Bible concerns himself with the daily minutiae of each and every believer (imagine the mega giga’s on the dude’s computer).  But, beyond that, the obsessive preoccupation with the female protagonist’s virginity.  This we take for granted, but I decided to do some critical thinking on the theme.

First of all, I remember from my theological studies (Princeton Theological Seminary, 1963-1964) that some scholars use “maiden” instead of “virgin” for the original Hebrew and Greek word that traditional Bible translators translate as “virgin.”  “Maiden” would refer to an unmarried woman who is not necessarily, well, virgin, as we understand the word (that is, intercourse-free).

Contemporary Evangelical Christians, not to mention fundamentalist Muslims, Jews, etc. consider that their god is cognizant of the various marriage rituals, secular and religious, that constitute “marriage” in modern society, and that he insists that women shall not have had sexual intercourse prior to entering into that arrangement.  But hey, what about men?  Why not the Virgin Joseph?

Granted that if you asked a believer should a man be “virgin” before marriage, she or he would probably say yes, perhaps however with a sly wink on the side.  To the credit of the author of my Christian novel, he had his female Christian protagonist equally obsessive about her dress and manners so as not to tempt members of the opposite sex into sinful thoughts and desires.  What he doesn’t address, however, with respect to our heroine’s two Christian suitors, is the sexual attraction I would expect to be included in the attraction that induced them to become suitors in the first place (the author does constantly refer to her physical beauty).  Are we to believe that the attraction is strictly limited to the woman’s character and beliefs?  That certainly wasn’t my experience when I fell in love and married when I was an Evangelical Christian, and I cannot believe that I was an exception.  Where is Jimmy Carter when you need him?

Neither did my author give any mention to his heroine’s sexual desires or fantasies.  Does he want us to believe that she was entirely an asexual being?  That Christians have no sexual drive until marriage, at which time it somehow automatically it pops into gear?  I don’t think so.  I think Evangelical Christians acknowledge sexual drives and categorize them as sinful (an offence against their god) before marriage but suddenly somehow transformed into a gift from god after marriage (to be used however, only according to the instructions from the manufacturer that come with the product; that is, with the approved partner, with anyone else we’re back to sinning).

Now let’s go back and look at what it means for a woman to be “virgin,” to abstain from sexual intercourse before marriage.  If she does not have sex with single or married men, then with whom are these men to have sex?  Well, for married men that’s a no-brainer, their wives.  But if unmarried virgin women are not to have sex with single men, and single men are not to have sex with either single or married women, then there is no escaping the logic the Christian god wants good Christian men as well to be “virgins” prior to marriage.

Fair enough.  But why then all the obsessive preoccupation with the Virgin Mary and absolutely no mention of the Virgin Joseph?  You cannot bring in the Old Testament patriarchal values or what Saul of Tarsus (who later became Paul the sexual moralist) wants us to believe about his god’s view of the different roles of men and women, to explain this.  Yes, Christian women are to be submissive and obedient to their husbands, but definitely not to either a single or married man who asks for sexual intercourse while she is still single.  She must remain virgin, and therefore logic allows for no other option for the Christian male to remain virgin as well.

While the Evangelical Christian (as well as Roman Catholics and other religious fundamentalists) will probably acknowledge this to be true, again what they cannot explain why in all their discourse, female virginity takes on the color of an absolute while male virginity hardly deserves a mention.

For me the answer is obvious, especially in light of the patriarchal (man controlled) structures, theologically and institutionally of virtually all organized religion.  It can be summarized in a single word.

Misogyny.

In looking for an image to go with the article, this is what I found on Google under “male virgin”

In Marketing Week werd deze maand bericht over wat innovaties voor de consument moeten zijn. Wat maakt een bepaald merk goed in innoveren? Volgens een onderzoek van Incite moet de innovatie het leven van de consument vooral gemakkelijker maken.

Vooruitgang in technologie en nieuwe dienstverlening is nog steeds belangrijk, maar de meest innovatieve merken moet vooral het leven van de kopers aantrekkelijker maken.

Het onderzoek beweert dat er zes zaken van belang zijn om als merk innovatief over te komen bij de consument (tussen haakjes de evolutie tov vorig jaar). In volgorde van belangrijkheid zijn dat:

1. Is het merk een pionier in wat het doet? (-16%)
2. Kan de innovatie het leven makkelijker maken door echte voordelen te bieden? (+41%)
3. Kan de innovatie en het merk rond zijn activiteiten voldoende “buzz” creëren? (-9%)
4. Wordt het merk als goed bevonden door de omgeving? (-5%)
5. Is het merk te vertrouwen en gerespecteerd door z’n gebruikers? (+14%)
6. Begrijpt het merk wat de consument nodig heeft en speelt het daar ook op in?(-17%)

Merken moeten in tijdens van crisis dus best innoveren door het leven makkelijker te maken. Apple blijkt daar als beste in te slagen: niet hun technologie is belangrijkst, wel vertrouwen en het leven makkelijker maken. Ook Sony scoort goed in vertrouwen, waardoor het op de tweede plaats staat van meest innovatieve merken van het jaar 2009. De top-5 van meest innovatieve merken worden vervolledigd door Microsoft, Virgin en Dyson. Op plaatsen 6 tot 10 staan Samsung, Sky, Google, Tesco en Nokia.

De sterkste stijger is Samsung, ook omdat het merk vertrouwen opwekt bij de consument, er wordt over gesproken en het maakt het leven van mensen simpeler. De zwaarste zakker is Nintendo. In tijden van crisis slagen zij er niet voldoende in om echte praktische voordelen te bieden. Ze zijn wel meester in hype creëren en goedkeuring van de omgeving, maar dit is niet wat van belang is in deze tijden.

Kortom, als merk moet je niet uitpakken met hoe technologisch subliem je innovaties wel niet zijn. Nee, toon hoe je nieuwe product het leven van alledag makkelijker kan maken voor je consument: wat zijn de voordelen voor de koper, zonder alle technologische poeha.

The Kristallis Baby by Natalie Rivers

The Greek tycoon’s virgin bride
Billionaire Nikos Kristallis is shocked when he learns that his orphaned nephew, and the only heir to the Kristallis fortune, is being cared for by personal trainer Carrie Thomas.

Nikos is furious when Carrie refuses to give him the baby. But Carrie is beautiful, sexy, and a virgin – and Nikos has a plan… He’ll whisk her away to his secluded villa in Corfu, where he’ll take her innocence and then claim her as his bride.

4 Words that describe my night.
Since about 7 i’ve done these 4 things, listen to the song Airport by the Motors, play Grid on my Xbox, watch and finally be content with Xfactor and rage about Virgin Media.

My dad had Airport on his iPod which i was using whilst on my treadmill, I fell in love with the song, one of the few songs with real meaning. I really like this at the moment, Im at 65 plays so far today.
Grid, not had much time recently to play much Xbox, it doesn’t bother me at all but this weekend I had some time to myself and instead of watching Wall-E which I’m bored of I went straight into 50 laps of the Nurburgring. Classic track, classic racing. Well earned after making myself a Java Clock today.
Xfactor, finally Jedward have gone and finally 10 good songs by 5 good singers, Lloyd was by far the weakest and strongest is impossible to state. I’m content with the first good show in ages.

Virgin Media, freaking peak hours limited, all I want to do is download Mint 8, it’s free, it’s legal, it’s linux and it’s going at 5 freaking kb/s. Not a happy man.

I also miss my lady

As an iPhone user myself I can’t help wondering whats next for the device, when you think of the features the iPhone lacks, which lets face it is about 5, after that what can Apple introduce to make the iPhone appealing?
App Store
The only answer I’ve been given to that question is the App Store, now with over 100,000 apps (as of Q4 ‘09) but lets face it, you won’t use them all will ya, and once you’ve played one racing game, the others look the same, same with shooters, and more, I’m just wondering whats next.
Since the first iPhone back in 2007, Apple haven’t changed the UI or the way the iPhone works once, whilst some may like that as it makes it an easy transition, I don’t know, to me the iPhone is still missing something which I can’t put my finger on it.
Here’s what I’m basing it on, like I said the App Store has now over 100K applications, but we’ve all got the same apps, everyone seems to have the ‘FaceBook’ app for example, which is more or less essential for anyone, but we can all get FaceBook on all mobiles, even that old Nokia 6233 I’ve got lying around somewhere, and YouTube is also now available for even the basic-est devices.
Touch Screen
Since the iPhone in ‘07, touch screen + phone, lets face it, wasn’t really working out, then Apple did their magic and, boom, touch screen working seemlessly, but now everyone knows how to make touchscreen phone and before you know it, you’ve a whole bunch of different manufacturers interpretation of the iPhone, which is all good and all and don’t get me wrong when you first get an iPhone, or an iPod Touch for that matter, its a great experience, but I’m the type of guy who used to have a new phone every 6-10 months, and whilst I’ve not got a different iPhone than I started with, I feel that everything you can get from the iPhone is now on the iPod Touch, but is also on most mainstream phones, the App Store, Touchscreen, having a touchscreen iPod, is now just a feature that everyone can follow. Speaking of touchscreen, the iPhone was the first touchscreen phone I’ve ever purchased, but after a while you do find yourself itching to actually press a button, I was using a Samsung this week, just a standalone one, nothing special, but it felt great to actually text using actual buttons, and lets face it, you can’t send an SMS with an iPhone on a bus, its more or less impossible, you’re relying on the corrector.
What do you want from the iPhone then?
I think it would go in Apple’s favour if they made an iPhone with an actual button keyboard, sort out the annoying features the iPhone needs, “Hey, can you send us that through Bluetooth?”, “…No, actually”, I’m fed up of answering that!

“You’re my best friend. I don’t want to be weird. But that felt really, really good.”

I liked it best at the beginning, when it was tentative, soft, unknown, exploratory.  Later came the fucking, and that was fun too.  But that was near the end of my first relationship with another woman.

We were girls, really.  Seniors in high school, we had been friends since long before.  We used to play bridge troll near the brook, and make chains of flowers.  I always wanted to keep mine, but we ended up throwing them in the brook to watch them float downstream every time.  We would whisper in the library, the obligatory, “do you like anybody?”  Sometimes the answer was yes, most times the answer was no.  Neither of us had much interest in boys.  I think my parents were relieved that I would ask to go over to Samantha’s house, and not Bobby or Jimmy’s.  A friend was safety, and they could fall asleep before I got home knowing that there was no threat of groping hands or pregnancy.  Not with Sam.

The something more than friendship started with soccer season.  I would go over to Sam’s after practice, and we would take turns showering up.  Then we’d watch a movie or hang out on the porch and talk about the practice.  Sam’s dad wasn’t around, and her mom worked until late most nights.

Practice ended late that day, and dusk was well on it’s way.  Sam called over to me, “Jess!  Meet at my parent’s place?  I have something I want to show you.”

“Sure!  Stay over?”  I would have to tell my mom if she wasn’t going fix dinner for me.

“Yeah, ok!  Mom’s on a conference anyway, I’ll be bored.”

“OK, see ya there.”  I stopped at home for some fresh clothes before heading over to Sam’s.  I walked in.  Sam was already in the shower.  “Hey Sam, I’m gonna use your mom’s shower,” I called.

“Kay, I’m almost done,” was the muffled reply.

The shower was good and hot after a long practice.  We had played well, and coach didn’t even make us run sprints, which was a treat.  I felt merely well-exercised, rather than dead-exhausted.  I toweled off and dressed.  I could hear Sam in the living room, probably setting up a movie.

When I emerged from her mother’s bedroom, Sam was on the living room couch.  “Hey girl,” she said, “good practice!”

“Yeah, nice that coach decided not to kill us today,” I flopped down on the couch beside my friend.  She looked lovely, clean, lithe, skin still damp, hair fresh and wet.  I supposed I looked the same.  “Oh yeah, what did you want to show me?”

“Look, I found this dvd in my mom’s room.  I was looking for some earrings yesterday.  She had this in the bureau drawer.”  Sam picked up the tv controller and pressed play.  The screen showed two women, naked, standing chest to chest.  They were pressing their breasts together to compare the size of them.  Then the taller woman started licking the other woman’s breasts.  The scene cut to the two women on a bed.  There was a close-up shot of the shorter woman’s pussy.

I did a half-laugh, not knowing what to feel about what I saw.  I looked over at Sam.  She was watching the movie with a small smile.  She looked at me.  “Weird, right?  My mom keeps this hidden.”

On the screen the tall woman was licking the other woman’s pussy.  I felt funny, not bad, but a different feeling.  I searched myself and knew that the feeling was arousal.  I felt aroused.

Sam pressed the stop button on the controller.  We sat for a beat in silence.  “So,” she asked, “do you want to try it?”  I looked into her eyes.  My face was very, very hot, I remember that.

“Sex?”  I asked awkwardly.

“Yeah, do you want to try?”

I nodded.  Yes, I wanted to try.

Then we were taking our clothes off.  Sam came near, stood face to face with me.  She was a little taller, but not by much.  She put her hands on me, and we kissed.  That kiss lit my whole body on fire the same as gasoline and a match.  We kissed for a while, bodies held inches apart.  Then we started kissing with tongue.  For the most part we were silent, though I could clearly hear my blood pounding in my ears.  Sam stopped kissing me.  “They did this,” she said, closing the gap between our naked bodies.  Our breasts pressed together, and I could feel her nipples chafe pleasurably on mine.  I looked down to see, I don’t know what, if I was doing it right?  I gently touched her breasts and mine, comparing.

“Yours are bigger,” I said.  Both of us laughed at this, involuntarily breaking the spell and the embrace.  We let out a lot of tension with that laughter.  And in the moments after I had time to consider: did I like this?  Did I want more?  And found the answer to be yes, again, yes.

“Jess,” it looked like Sam had been thinking thoughts along the same lines as me.  “You’re my best friend.  I don’t want to be weird.  But that felt really, really good.”

“Let’s go to your bedroom,” I suggested.

On her bedroom wall was a collage she had made of photographs of all of our friends.  Christmas lights were on the wall, perpetually taped and re-taped to keep them from falling down.  She had a squat bookshelf for a headboard, and a large silver-plastic stereo sat on top of that.  We entered the room naked and awkward, me first, she coming in behind carrying a pile of our clothes.  I turned to face her as she tossed the clothes to the ground.  “Should we…do that again?”  I stepped towards her.  We began kissing.  Her mouth opened.  The smell coming off of her was clean, arousing.  Pleasure again swept through my body as our breasts came together.  She put one of her knees between mine as we wrapped our arms around each other.  I could feel her lightly haired muff on the soft area between my hip and thigh.

Sam began to kiss my neck.  My neck and downward.  The breathed syllable “ohh,” escaped me as her lips reached my breast, gently sucking, finally folding my nipple into her mouth.  My sound of pleasure excited her, and she began to lick my erect nipple.  Bolts of pleasure traveled an electric highway from my cherry-hard nipple to the pulsing bean between my legs.  I buried both of my hands in her damp hair, pulling her head towards my breasts.  She relinquished my left nipple to seek out my right.  Eagerly, hungrily she alternated between my breasts.  My breath came very fast.  Each flick of the tongue made my clitoris throb with need.  I used my hands on her shoulders to guide her to the bed.

Sam lay back on the bed.  I lay on my side next to her.  I kissed her mouth, her neck, copying as close as I could her motions.  I wanted her to feel what I felt.  She gasped as I lightly lapped her breasts.  Then I made my tongue into the hard muscle we all have and grated her nipple with my coarse taste buds.  She tasted, as she smelled, like clean skin, fresh.  I continued to lick her nipples, light and hard as cherry stones.  Her hands had drifted downwards, between her legs.  She rubbed herself while I watched from the corner of my eye, still tasting the sweetness of her breasts.  Her eyes were shut, her head rolled back and to one side as she moaned with pleasure.

Emboldened by her moans and my desire, I moved to straddle on top of her.  I looked into her eyes with a question as I moved my knees to either side of her hips.  The answer in her eyes was yes.  I rotated my hips and used one hand to open my labia.  Sam parted her legs so that I cold see her blue-pink clit.  Slowly, gingerly, I lowered myself until our clits touched.  I felt her frame shudder under me.  I looked up.  “Does that feel good?”

“Yes, Jess,” she breathed.  I looked down again to find the right spot.  My hair fell down around my shoulders.  Sam reached up, caressing the side of my breast.  I sighed, relaxing my hips downward again.  God it felt so good!  Our clits might have given off a spark.  We moved our hips in unison now, rubbing our pussies together wetly.  Back and forth, rubbing and rubbing.  She came first, her cunt contracting hard, her hips pressing strongly up towards mine.  The pressure of her mound on my clit sent me, and the orgasm rocked through me.  Her back went flat on the bed and I humped on top of her through wave after wave of contracting heat, until both of us could cum no more.

When our breathing calmed I laid next to Sam, waiting to see if we were still best friends.  She rolled over and kissed me on the mouth.  She said my name.  We hugged and kissed tenderly on her bed.  We were more than best friends; we were lovers.

Later that night we watched some tv, cooked a frozen pizza, and made out a little bit.  I left in the morning.  Most afternoons I would come over after practice.  Her mom was never home.  We would make love to each other.  We watched the rest of her mom’s porno and tried to do what the ladies did, and whatever we wanted too.  It was always loving, sensual, sharing physical ecstasy with another woman.  But it was fun too.  Months later we went to a sex shop in the city and bought some toys.  We became bold.  And by the time I felt I was an old hand at using my favorite pink strap-on vibrating dildo, it was time to go to college.  For Sam, that would mean it was time for boys.  But I will always remember those first weeks, and that first time with my best friend.

And so Mandelson’s snooping begins to rumble our way… Virgin Media has announced that it will commence a trial of deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to monitor filesharing on its network, but plans not to tell the customers whose traffic will be examined. Called CView, the hardware will be provided by Detica (“specialists in collecting, managing and exploiting information to reveal actionable intelligence”), a subsidiary of BAE whose usual customers are the intelligence agencies and law enforcement.

The system will look at traffic and identify the peer-to-peer packets. In a step beyond how ISPs currently monitor their networks, it will then peer inside those packets and try to determine what is licensed and what is unlicensed, based on data provided by the record industry. An All Party Parliamentary Action Group (APPAG) has already stated this year that: “Any form of DPI is an interception under s1 RIPA and thus illegal unless covered by the appropriate warrant.”

The basic concept has already been labelled Phorm 2.0 by many observers, after the online advertising technology tested on BT’s broadband network without the consent of users. In 2008, BT claimed that Phorm conformed to European data laws, but this was rejected by the European Commission who pointed out that DPI intercepted user data without clear consent, violating online privacy laws.

The Foundation for Information Policy Research (Fipr) argued in an open letter that Phorm contravened RIPA in that it failed to protect users from unlawful interception of information and bypassed the need for both parties to consent to interception, “an extremely basic principle within the legislation [which] cannot be lightly ignored or treated as a technicality.”

Fipr’s Richard Clayton  said: “The Phorm system is highly intrusive; it’s like the Post Office opening all my letters to see what I’m interested in, merely so that I can be sent a better class of junk mail. Not surprisingly, when you look closely, this activity turns out to be illegal.”

This is a helpful way of understanding how Virgins proposed system will work – it will be the same as the sorting office opening and reading all of your mail in the hope of finding something illegal. Would you stand by and let the Post Office do that..?

Back in June the APPAG also disclosed: “We are aware that the Government is testing some DPI-kit with at least one major telecommunications provider and that funding is already allocated for the scheme.” Further evidence for this being a beta trial where Phorm was the alpha, is provided by the revelations that the Home Office were possibly in collusion with Phorm, offering guidance on the legalities of the snooping. This was exposed by e-mail exchanges released under a Freedom of Information Act request made by a member of the public and sent to the BBC. Lib Dem Home Affairs spokeswoman Baroness Sue Miller, who has questioned the Home Office about Phorm, said the e-mails were “jaw dropping”. The Home Office had initially denied that it provided “any advice to Phorm directly relating to possible criminal liability for the operation of their advertising platform in the UK”.

However, e-mail exchanges over a series of months between the department and the firm show the Home Office asking the firm what it thinks of the advice it is drawing up in relation to behavioural targeted advertising, and making specific reference to Phorm’s technology.

In an e-mail dated August 2007, an unnamed Home Office official wrote to Phorm’s legal representative and said: “My personal view accords with yours, that even if it is “interception”, which I am doubtful of, it is lawfully authorised under section 3 by virtue of the user’s consent obtained in signing up to the ISPs terms and conditions.”

In an e-mail dated 22 January 2008, a Home Office official wrote again to Phorm and said: “I should be grateful if you would review the attached document, and let me know what you think.”

In January 2008 the Home Office thanks Phorm for comments and changes to its draft paper, which show the company making deletions and changes to the document. The Home Office official wrote to Phorm: “If we agree this, and this becomes our position do you think your clients and their prospective partners will be comforted?”

Baroness Sue Miller, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on Home Affairs, told BBC News: “My jaw dropped when I saw the Freedom of Information exchanges. The fact the Home Office asks the very company they are worried is actually falling outside the laws whether the draft interpretation of the law is correct is completely bizarre. I couldn’t be more surprised [that] the very department drawing up policy to protect people’s privacy is being that cynical. Anything the Home Office now says about Phorm is completely tainted.”

In a letter to the Guardian responding to an article written by Baroness Miller, Phorm’s chief executive Kent Ertugrul denied there was any “collusion” between the firm and the Home Office. He wrote: “This is untrue and misrepresents the way in which the British legal system works.” He said the advice given by the Home Office was “an informed opinion on ISP-based targeted advertising, but in the United Kingdom it is for the courts to decide what is or is not legal, not the Home Office”.

Baroness Miller said she was concerned that the Home Office was “very interested in the technology” for its own purposes. Jim Killock, executive director of privacy campaigners, the Open Rights Group, said: “The Home Office’s job is to uphold the law: not to reinterpret it for commercial interests. It’s extraordinary, when you think of the blatant disregard Phorm showed towards UK laws in its secret trials, that this sort of lax attitude should be shown.”

The legal analysis of Phorm also raises a relevant issue with regard to CView: while emphasising the anonymity they claim for this processes, you have to realise that these processes are embodied in software which is not open to inspection, and they can in any case change the software whenever they wish without anyone’s knowledge. Their claims cannot therefore be verified, and rest entirely on placing trust in a company that is hand-in-glove with the intelligence and law-enforcement communities.

So what can we do? Write to your MP and MEP asking them to find out if the government is going to uphold your rights to consent before communications are intercepted. Ask if they intend to give powers to the Intercept Commissioner to deal with illegal interception by private companies.

Awesome little report here about Gemstar and Virgin EPG Patent dispute that rules that a table/grid format is not a valid patent.  Hooray for common sense on this day!

Playboy’s Miss November 1986, the lovely and talented Donna Edmondson, was named the Playmate of the Year in 1987, fitting given that her high school yearbook predicted she was “Most Likely to Become a Bunny.” (What the hell kind of high school yearbook adviser approves that as a category?!) However, her more lasting claim to fame has been her reknown as The Virgin Playmate.

Photographed by Arny Freytag and Stephen Wayda

She had at least gotten to first base; that was her position on her softball team in high school (rimshot!). Actually, it was, in all seriousness — she played first base for her high school in Greensboro, North Carolina. But back to the more interesting issue. Quite the controversy was sparked by the 20-year-old real estate agent’s vow of virginity, which she discussed in her Playmate interview.

“Men are wonderful, but I haven’t really let one close enough to me that I can talk about sex the way some girls can. Virginity isn’t something you discuss. I’m not ashamed of still having mine, mind you. It’s just not something I really want to talk about — except, of course, with the man who takes it away from me.” (“Sold on Donna,” Playboy, November 1986)

I thought about that when I posed for my layout — imagining the kind of sex I’ll one day have. I don’t know when or where it will happen. But I do know it’ll be with somebody I know and love.”

That’s pretty much all she said, but some fits were pitched and fell back in because of where America was, pornography-wise at this time. Let me bend your ear a tick on this topic, if it is news to you. What Ms. Edmondson accidentally stepped her pretty feet in was a total quagmire of hypocrisy and legal issues which had not much to do with her but plenty to do with the Meese Commission and how entertainment dealt with and tacitly sold the lifestyle of the modern single, the aftermath of the Sexual Revolution including the devastating consequences of HIV, and general assumptions of viewer maturity made by media distribution outlets vis-a-vis sexual morals at that particular juncture. What you had was a total flood of the market with new porn and ever-developing potential technologies for its procurement. So you had morality cops panicking bigtime.

Think about it. There was an explosion of private media possibilities in the 1980’s, and they were readily affordable to Joe Vaseline, which means, no matter where the man of the house stashed them, the chance lurked that Junior, too, would have access. Suddenly you could get porn in a pack of spank-sock’s worth of new forms, an embarassment of riches: direct-to-VHS format, dedicated adult cable channels, and even at the good ol’ liquor store from the more and more competing –and niche– skin magazines all making porn less controlled and more widely sold than ever before. Oh, the heyday! But of course, religion and politics intervened.

Sitcom stars, rock musicians, magazine publishers, freaking everyone was caught by Tipper Gore and Edwin Meese with their dicks in their hands on Capitol Hill, and the religious right was burning Blondie records for moral turpitude. Like, Jesus Jumped-Up Christ-Bananas! That is some ticklish shit to accidentally have come your way! And you’d think they would have all been proud of her …

I will let Ms. Edmondson’s official Playboy biography tell the rest of this interesting story.

The text to my original pictorial announced my virginity — and that created quite a stir. Also at this time, the anti-pornography report of the Meese Commission had prompted all 7-Elevens to pull the magazine from their shelves. I was thrown right in the middle of the scandal! All the talk shows immediately wanted to book the virgin PMOY from the Bible Belt. Joan Rivers made a huge deal out of my virginity on her show, but I just explained that you don’t have to have sex to be sexy.

On Larry King’s show, one caller accused me of not being religious because I let men see my body. But I don’t think that posing in Playboy has anything to do with whether I’m a good person. I knew I wasn’t hurting anyone. I defended myself by saying that God made us nude. We were born that way!

But I don’t regret a single moment. I thought the pictures were beautiful and tasteful, and all the Playboy people treated me very well. It was a great experience that I will never forget.

So how did the story work out for Ms. Edmondson? Seems it worked out smashingly, so in the haters’ faces. Once again, her words:

I took a job as a tax accountant, and on my first day of work I met the man who would become my husband. It was his last day of work; our eyes met, and I just knew he was the one. So I asked HIM out, we had lunch together the next week and we were together from then on.

As for my former claim to fame — as the virgin PMOY — all I can say is: Not anymore! Lots of love to you!

Dig the cover: ironically, Joan Rivers, who gave Ms. Edmondson such “holy hell,” so to speak, over the next several months after this issue was published, was herself profiled in the magazine the very same month. So it’s okay to be interviewed but not to pose? Or is it just for young women, or ones who you perceive as less bright than yourself, that the you-cannot-be-a-role-model-and-be-in-Playboy’s-pages applies? Is it that if a woman wants to be sexy she must want to be sexual? Do you enjoy pointing out hypocrisy only when it is not you, yourself, who is being a hypocrite? Where are the lines in the sand for you, Joanie? Is it not merely the case that you want attention at any cost and have made a career of glomming on to hot button people and topics in order to clutch every possible shred of spotlight in your cruel, manicured claws? Booyakasha!

Sorry, I do not normally take such personal issue with anyone who has appeared on camera with a Muppet, but Joan Rivers literally makes her living by being a mean hag, so screw her. Her career could have been great, she could have been an important special woman in the history of females on television, and she pissed it away to keep the level of fame she was accustomed to, with no integrity. Fuck Joan Rivers.

Anyway, so, Virgin Playmate. Tight, huh!

They stand in line with arms full as they wait for the doors to open for the masquerade.  They hold rice, toast and newspaper among other odds and ends. They are dressed in their Halloween best – or worst – and most of them aren’t wearing very much at all.

They are the unknown minority, the freaks and weirdoes of an otherwise conservative Southern town. Two nights before All Hallow’s Eve, they gather around the doors of the historic Alabama Theatre for the annual Halloween Masquerade featuring a live performance to the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The night’s hostess promised it would be a night celebrating “expression and debauchery and just being raunchy,” warning all those in attendance that they “better be fucking ready for it!”

If you’ve never been to the Rocky Horror ball in Birmingham, it is hard to be prepared. Every year, those who wish to celebrate Alabama’s most counterculture lifestyles gather to watch and perform the horror cult classic about a couple of normal, uptight kids who stumble upon a castle full of freaks after a car wreck in the rain. Oh, the inhabitants also happen to be a group of aliens from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy Transylvania, whose leader has taken their weapon technology to create his ideal young, hot stud. Yes, it is as dirty as it sounds.

The film gained cult status after being shown at midnight every night in a small New York theatre in the 1970s. Among those die-hard fans has emerged a subgroup, who enjoy dressing up to match the films out-of-this-world characters. This prompted the Alabama Theatre group to create a costume contest before the show, for both general admission (this years winner was Facebook, although Octomom really had a shot) and for those dressing as a character.

Eventually, weekly viewers began to act out the scenes in front of the camera – adding their own dose of shock value, and invented a kind of code to stick with the faithful fans worldwide. Certain phrases, when spoken on screen, elicit a response from the crowd. When Janet, the female “norm” says her name, the audience yells “slut!” When the films transsexual hero, Dr. Frank-n-furtur, proposes a toast over dinner, the crowd literally throws toast, and so on throughout the film.

If you haven’t seen the film, this isn’t the place to start. The film, and all of its hilarious little nuances, stands only in the background of the show. The real entertainment comes from the horrible actors on stage (certainly the only actors as bad as those onscreen) and the crowd itself.

And as the hostess suggested, it is not for the faint of heart. It begins with a sacrificing of the virgins (those who have never seen Rocky Horror live) which foretellingly ends in simulated sexual acts.

The props are horrible, the actors are constantly watching the screen to pick up their cues and the audio is out of sync, but none of that matters if the crowd is good. And man were they good. By the end of the night, everyone was covered in rice and toilet paper, as attendees brought props to spare. Everyone in attendance sang along, screamed along, and danced along throughout the night, the climax of which was the show’s most famous song, the “Time Warp.”

And while the performers themselves often seemed like a bunch of dirty-minded fourteen year olds, their lack of talent didn’t stop them from putting on a good show. They were most in their element when it came time to pop out one of many dildos or act out one of the movie’s more graphically violent moments, but they never forgot about their audience and community. The events of the film were made more topical, as references to Proposition 8 and local Birmingham corruption littered the performance.

As they filed out of the showing, the freaks and weirdoes were talking to each other. They sang together, and danced together, sometimes with strangers, and sometimes with friends. But they never recognized the difference. They are one in their love of something a little bit dirty, a little bit wrong, and just oh-so-perfect for those unconcerned with society.

It’s been almost thirty days since the Formula 1 season finale, the Abu Dhabi dazzle in the twilight. It’s been almost thirty days since I’ve been able to recognize this sport we love so much.

It’s also been almost thirty days since Toyota announced the end of their relationship with us and F1. Since that large blow, Mercedes split from McLaren and bought 75.1% of Brawn GP inevitably turning the team into ‘Mercedes GP.’ A few clicks of your mouse later and Button and Raikkonen were both testing waters for a McLaren seat which Button landed. His salary of peanuts sounded better to Mercedes than Raikkonen’s asking price of a hand and a leg. The Finn decided it was better to ditch next year all together, seeing that Ferrari are paying him enough to get through the inactive year.

With McLaren sitting happily with an all British line-up, it seems reasonable to suggest that Mercedes might be aiming for an all German line-up especially with the news that Rosberg has joined camp. That makes rumors of a Schumacher return tickle our fancy even more.

After BMW’s shocking exit announcement after the 2009 season, their future is not clear until… they announce selling the team back to Peter Sauber.

You consume all that and then take a breather. Oh, and Alonso announced his move to Ferrari. That slipped my mind because after a few pictures were snapped of him walking alongside Massa as an official Ferrari driver, he disappeared into Ferrari Land.

For 2010, refueling has been banned which was an idea proposed to help cut costs rather than improve F1 excitement. Anyone who knows anything about F1 knows that some of the best race moments take place during pit stops. But life is all about money so we shall only nod our heads and hope it helps us enjoy the show.

As of next season, Lotus, Campos, Manor and USF1 will be given a small nudge by the FOM: a $10 million grant including the free transportation of two chassis and 10,000 kg of freight to each race. That’s a good way to encourage fresh interest. Hands up for Volkswagen anyone?

KERS is still permitted in 2010 even though the FOTA have agreed to do without it. The minimum car weight has been increased from 605 kg to 620 kg to eliminate any driver height or weight disadvantage if any team decides to use the electric box.

Mercedes GP, Red Bull Racing, McLaren, Ferrari, Sauber F1, Williams, Renault, Force India, and Toro Rosso have been joined by Lotus, Campos, Manor and USF1. That makes 26 cars. With 24 cars in 2009, qualifying rules have been reevaluated accordingly: 8 drivers knocked out in Q1, 8 drivers in Q2 and 10 drivers fight it out in Q3.

Wheel covers have been banned, in season testing is still banned, a limit has been placed on number of aerodynamic upgrades per season including a limit on the number of team personnel able to attend a Grand Prix – c’mon, the more brilliant minds in the paddock will affect the success of a team? I don’t get it.

ING is gone after the Renault controversy and has been replaced by TW Steel.

RBS has canceled its trackside sponsorship in 2010 and will end its sponsorship agreement with Williams after next season.

YouTube has joined USF1.

Vigin Group have bought a 20% stake in Manor Grand Prix and plan on renaming the team.

Banco Santander is sponsoring Ferrari in 2010 and has extended its agreement with McLaren as well.

Since when has there been this much information during an off season? And in less than 30 days? I can’t remember when. It’s a busy winter and I am sure it’s going to get busier. I just hope all these changes are for the better. KERS had some pros but most of its cons were reoccurring. I honestly think KERS is genius and just needs more time to evolve for F1 to become accustomed to it.

Let’s hope with all these changes Formula 1 is still worth retaining its number: 1.

Se ti sei distratto un momento non importa: te o ripeto io.

Lunedì 30 novembre alle 21, c’è il primo grande Virgin Poker Facebook Freeroll con tutti gli amici della rete.

Iscrizioni aperte da domani, sabato 28 alle 20. Montepremi garantito 100 €.

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E poi? E poi giocare e divertirsi, che altro conta?

Tutto chiaro? Ci vediamo lì?

Been a bit slack on my blog the last week or so. Other then a V cycle class on Tuesday I haven’t done anything else other then work. The industry I am in always gets busy on the lead up to Christmas so I have been doing overtime to ease the burden. So far the past three days I have clocked up 36 hours already, even now I am up at 5am and probably won’t get home until 7am tonight after a 12 hour shift at the fun factory!

My next post will probably be next Tuesday, should have seen a film or two by then and hopefully found time to do the gym a couple of times as well!

Flights to Florida with British Airways or Virgin are now at unbeatable prices for Autumn and october half term 2010.

Flights alone are from just £449. However, Ocean Florida have put together some amazing packages which include your British Airway or Virgin flights.

The half term and october florida deals include:

* 3 star, two week packages, staying at the Quality Inn Plaza on International Drive for just £539

* Ocean Florida exclusive deals staying at Windsor Hills in one of their amazing villas from just £599pp

* 5 star, yes 5 star, family hotel packages at the brand new Waldorf Astoria Disney World from just £799.

For more information on British Airways and Virgin holiday packages to Florida in 2010 visit ocean-florida.co.uk or call 0800 804 8430.

Very happy Sashimi added.

So yes, my long suffering fans… I have returned, perhaps 5 kilograms heavier than when I left, with an immeasurable desire for ostrich biltong, and a nice tan.

The holiday to South Africa rocked. We got to do some familial bonding time, and a fair amount of time got spent with the friends. Mr & Mrs B… many thanks for the awesome trip to Knysna and back… much obliged. Now come and visit us so we can return the favour. Wooz and SPF… it was great to be able to spend so much time with you guys… thanks for taking the leave and making it all possible. Chris and Lily and Megan… thanks for the accomodation and for letting us skank up your bathroom one week before your wedding.

So. This Blog has been built up by three weeks absence, and is bound to be a little longer than normal. As usual, if you want to skip the personal stuff, jump ahead to the line of asterisks at the end of this piece.

South Africa. Well well. It was an absolutely awesome trip. One of my favourite things to do in the whole world is to get a car that I like driving and then to take a long road trip. And the wife and I got to do just that with her family. The four of us piled into their car and drove off on what worked out to be an insanely expensive, but very enjoyable experience. And my god did we shop. Everything from Chutney to Cuckoo Clocks went into that car.

Let’s see, first stop was the Willows in Port Elizabeth. This was a classic little caravan/chalet place, and we got a two-bedroomed chalet for the four of us. Very comfortable, very clean and so close to the sea that even my youngest students could throw a stone into the water from the living room. We were there for two nights… and used the time soaking up some much-needed shopping. And thus began my fixation with finding the perfect pie on the holiday. See… the wife and I recently stopped being vegetarian and started eating seafood. Well… poultry has been added to the pile of edibles now… meaning that Chicken was back on the menu. (For the record, we still don’t eat mammals…. which means that yes, TURKEY is back on the menu for Christmas.) With chicken scratching at the doormat, I started in on Chicken Pies.

Woolworths to the rescue. AWESOME chicken and mushroom pie. Try it. Very good.

An aside – If it feels as if all the wife and I did on this holiday was sleep and eat, well… we feel that way too. It was a great holiday.

After PE, we drove on to Sedgefield…. chosen because it was nice and close to Knysna, which was where our friends Stompie and Jax were getting married. Yes… we did it all on this trip, weddings included. The place in Sedgefield was fantastic, the view was simply unbeatable.

Stompie and Jax threw themselves a Euro-funded Afro-ethnic wedding. And it was really a great evening. Good to be able to catch up with them again, as we hadn’t seen them since leaving Ireland. The wedding itself was out-standing and if their friends are anything to go by, they’ll be blessed in the future.

After the wedding it was a case of doing some family time in and around Knysna and George. We took in the sights of Hoekwil and Wilderness, the former very rustic, the latter full of sea spray.
Much seafood was eaten. Much chicken was eaten.

One of the highlights for the wife and I of the Sedgefield trip was a visit to the Wild Oats Farmer’s market… where local farmers sold their wares. (Mainly foodstuffs, but some raw produce too.) We got to soak up a little culture…

It was here that I found the undisputed BEST chicken pie in South Africa. The Steam Whistle Stop Pie company, operating out of god-knows where, but with a stand at the market.

After Sedgefield, there remained only the trip back to East London, which took much longer than expected. This is because of a little known family problem. Fact: If you place two women with disposable income in the back seat of a car, they will hatch plans to visit as many farm stalls as possible on the way back home. This is in a misguided effort to fill the car with very fattening farm foodstuffs and home produce. Thus, some 600 kilometres, 23 pieces of fudge, a half-dozen bottles of chutney, three full wheels of cheese, and 39 farm stalls later….. the entire Western Cape was denuded of produce, the car was groaning on its springs and we got home. To a huge dinner cooked by my sister in law.

The rest of the trip was spent with friends and family. I got to get in a fair amount of roleplaying with Wooz and the bunch, and even GMed a demo session for Jebb and his bunch. An obnoxiously large amount of time was spent virtually supine on Wooz’ patio drinking coffee… which is the perfect way to conduct oneself on holiday. Besides, the view from there isn’t half bad either.

Three weeks flew by with absolutely no regard for how much it cost us to get there, or indeed just how long 14 hours in economy class feels. (Particularly when you are bloated on fudge and chicken pies.)
There were tears, there were hugs and then we were gone.

To everyone who made the effort, thanks a hell of a lot guys, it was a vastly enjoyable experience.

************

And let’s get on with the jokes and stuff shall we?

The Truth About College:

SOCIOLOGY: For sheer lack of intelligibility, sociology is far and
away the number one subject. I sat through hundreds of hours of
sociology courses, and read gobs of sociology writing, and I never
once heard or read a coherent statement. This is because sociologists
want to be considered scientists, so they spend most of their time
translating simple, obvious observations into scientific-sounding code.
If you plan to major in sociology, you’ll have to learn to do the same
thing. For example, suppose you have observed that children cry when they
fall down. You should write: “Methodological observation of the
sociometrical behavior tendencies of prematurated isolates indicates that
a causal relationship exists between groundward tropism and lachrimatory
behavior forms.” If you can keep this up for 50 or 60 pages, you will get
a large government grant.

This weeks musical talent comes to you from the talented Ms. Nina Simone. This one is called Strange Fruit. And if it is depressing, well, it is meant to be. Give yourself a search for the lyrics. Sometimes, I am sad to be a human.

And that is that.. .. if there appears to be a lack of linkage in this blog, sorry… but 3 weeks without internet means that I didn’t find as many interesting things. Next time. K?

Ciao
Yeti out.

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Клип на первый сингл с одноименного альбома группы. Видео снималось в таких экзотических местах, как Северный полюс, Гренландия и Аляска. А композиция A Beautiful Lie была использована в рекламе сериала Теория Лжи (Lie To Me). Кстати, 14 марта 2010 года в Санкт-Петербурге пройдет концерт группы в поддержку их нового альбома This Is War, подтверждением чего может послужить расписание тура выложенное на официальном сайте группы. Ниже полное описание качества записи и скриншоты.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

• A Beautiful Lie
• by 30 Seconds To Mars
• from the albom A Beautiful Lie
• directed by Angakok Panipaq
• © 2008 Virgin

 

• Качество: HDTV
• Формат: MKV
• Видео кодек: AVC
• Аудио кодек: AC3
• Видео: 1920×1080 at 50.000 fps ~ 10.4 Mbps
• Аудио: 48000Hz 2ch 384Kbps
• Размер: 432 Mb