Zixar

Okay, I'll have to make a note of that. At any subsequent GreaseSpot gatherings, keep an eye on any ladies who won't get out of the hot tub... ;)--> The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

I didn't start listening to Rush until college, but they grew on me. I think Mr. Peart was one of the better rock lyricists, but Lee and Lifeson's music was hit or miss. Actually, Rush is one of those bands that everyone probably has a favorite album of theirs, but almost no one likes all of them. Call it evolution, call it burning out, but every 3 albums or so, they changed their sound. Me, I prefer their middle stuff, from 80 to about 87. People who prefer the earlier 70s stuff tend to think of the 80s albums as sell-outs to Pop instead of Progressive, and those who like the 90s albums are, well, I've never met anyone who just went nuts over any album past Hold Your Fire. They are good in concert though, if you like their hits. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Oh, btw, if you hate "talky" stay far, far away from The Silmarillion. It's more a history text than a story. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

I think that was one of the few Raymond shows I've watched--can't stand Patricia Heaton, her character is such a shrew. The funniest part was Doris Roberts' realization that it did look just like a woman's labia. But then again, it's not like women actually see their genitalia every day like men do. When I was trying the Novel-in-a-month contest that P-Mosh posted about, there was a discussion forum for all the authors, very much like this one. There was one forum where people could ask people more knowledgeable about certain of their plot points for added realism. Things like, are there undetectable poisons, what form of armor was used in the Peloponnesian Wars, what kind of 70s muscle car would make for a good getaway, and so forth. I wound up spending more time writing there than I did on my novel. One of the threads that astounded me was a multi-page thread on female masturbation. Now, I've been around a bit, thought I knew enough about it, but there were quite a few aspects I had never even considered before reading these ladies' candid and open posts on the matter. (Note: I could have said "frank" but didn't...) Things like, most women's early experiences in self-pleasure happen in or with water. I knew that's why pulsating shower heads with hoses were so popular with women, but apparently the bathtub was a favorite place long before Mr. WaterPik came along. Stuff about women dressage riders and the probable origins of men forcing women to ride side-saddle, etc., etc. Very informative, and sort of amusing that some women didn't know the difference between a dildo and a vibrator. That's why I think the anonymity of the Internet can be a great tool for taking some of the taboo away from a completely natural phenomenon. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

I should have pointed out that since Saturn takes about 30 years to orbit the Sun (we do it in 1, naturally) Saturn will be a fine sight for the next 3 months, it was just closest to Earth (fractionally) on New Year's Eve. Go see it as soon as it's clear! I couldn't get to taking out the scope on NYE, but I'll do it soon. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Steve/P-Mosh: Ah. Should have Googled it myself. Although, seeing as how the two words have vaguely similar phonetic pronunciations and both have to do with sex, I wonder if there's some sort of link between them. (One is an Italian slang term for vagina, used derogatorily as one would a certain other word that rhymes with 'bunt'. The other seems to be tied to a form of Japanese pornography. Very loosely pronounced, one is "boo-KYOK-eh" and the other is "boo-KOK-eh") The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

P-Mosh: You didn't by any chance mean "pucchiacha", did you? (must be a Sopranos fan...) Anyway, I don't think the Internet is really set up for novice computer users to learn more about sex without being inundated with hardcore porn and penis-enlarger spam. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Actually, you could kind of see it onstage as well. To his credit, PFAL was a slick piece of salesmanship--good enough to hook us all, at one point. But listening to some of his older tapes again, you can hear the dictator over the salesman. He'd go off on a rant and everyone would lap it up. "Dass riiiight!" Martindale never knew when to temper his froth with a little song-n-dance, so it was much easier to recognize in him. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

OE: Cool! Equatorial or Dobsonian mount? I've got two Meade scopes: a 10" LX200GPS and an ETX-90. I might just take the ETX out tonight instead of the big one... The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Here's another question: Nobody knows everything about sex, of course, but do you think you know enough about it, or are there things you're still curious about? The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Butt-Head: "You said 'frank', huh huh." Beavis: "Yeah, 'frank' reminds me of 'wiener', huh huh." Butt-Head: "Dude, you just said 'wiener', huh huh." [repeat ad nauseam] Sigh. I'm surprised no one's gone for the obvious "foot-long" yuk-yuks... The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Tonight, Saturn will be closer to the Earth than it has been in three decades, and its rings are tilted near their widest. If you got a telescope for Christmas, you may want to take it out tonight if it's clear and amaze the friends and family. There is no other telescopic sight that compares to Saturn, and it's in easy reach of even the ElCheapo 60mm department-store refractors. It's easy to find, although it has moved a bit since I last gave directions to it. It is currently in southern Gemini, and as long as you can find Orion's Belt, you'll have little problem finding Saturn. Go outside and face South. Put your left arm in front of you, then swing it left to about the 10-11 o'clock position. Lift your hand about a third of the way up and you should be pointing in the general direction of three bright stars in a slightly-diagonal line. That's Orion's Belt. Below them and to their right is a bright blue-white star called Rigel. Above them and to the left at about the same distance as Rigel is reddish Betelgeuse. Start at Rigel, draw a line through the middle Belt star and keep going. Betelgeuse will be slightly above this line as you draw it out. The first bright object you come to past Betelgeuse is Saturn, which will be about the same brightness as Betelgeuse, maybe a little brighter. If you go out a little after sunset to do this, don't get mixed up by the brilliant white star in the west. That's Venus, and bright-red Mars is the other bright object east (left, if you're facing south) of it. If you're looking at Venus, you're pointed at the wrong horizon! Turn halfway around and start hunting for Saturn after you're through being dazzled by the Evening Star. (Don't waste too much time looking at Venus through a telescope. Even though it shows phases like the Moon, it's an otherwise-featureless white disk. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all far more visually appealing in a 'scope.) When you're through with Saturn, turn the scope back to Orion's Belt. Just below and between the two leftmost stars of the belt dangles Orion's Sword, the middle of which will look fuzzy under clear dark skies. That is Messier 42, the Great Orion Nebula, and it's easily visible even in binoculars and finderscopes. This is another "wow" sight in any telescope, although most people are puzzled by the lack of color if they've seen it in photographs, and if they do see color, they're shocked to find out it's GREEN instead of the fiery reds and blues of the Hubble shots. No, don't adjust your scope, the problem's in your eye. The human eye can't see colors very well in dark conditions, and if it can detect any at all, it's usually where the eye is most sensitive--green light. Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars are bright enough to stimulate the regular color receptors, but even though M42 is the brightest nebula to us, we don't get much more than the green light. It takes a long-exposure photograph to pick up the color. Hopefully I'll be able to get a new pic of Saturn tonight to replace the one under my name to the left. BTW, Saturn is nowhere near that fuzzy when viewed through a scope. That's just problems with the astrocamera focusing. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Raf: Thought you might find this link interesting. http://www.lotruk.com/nametranslator/index.html It's a Tolkienesque Name Translator. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Raf: My mistake. The LOTR-UK website's timeline generator lists the timespan as 17 years. Still... The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Actually it's not so bad discussing your sex life with your mother. What's really unsettling is having her return the favor, though: "You did WHAT?" "Oh, don't look so surprised, dear. You just said you did it." "But, but..." "Oh, honestly, don't carry on so. You seem to think nobody thought of doing it that way before 1982, for heaven's sake." "But, Mom..." "'Course, we didn't call it 'doggie style' back then, but...you're not going to faint on me, are you?" The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Well that's more like it. Post on... The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Dot: If you'll pardon the pun, cool! ;)--> I'm glad to see that so far they've all been happy recollections. As a followup question, would you do the exact same thing again today if you could, or would you rather leave it as a unique memory? Me, I'd do it again--her boss was such a prude that it'd probably give her a spasm to know what happened in her office... ;)--> Then again, for all I know she may have had a secret sex life that would make Elton John blush! The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Judas bald-headed Priest on a pony... If one more wiseass can't look up the definition of "frank", I will not be responsible for the hate crime that will follow, the specifics of which have yet to be worked out, but will probably be something along the line of using them as an elephantine butt plug for the nearest prancing pachyderm. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Evan: No, I can't delete a thread, although had I been able to see the picture Rocky posted, I would have certainly asked pawtucket to remove it. As for the concept of soul mates, that sounds a bit too much like predestination to me. I don't think there's just one single person for each of us--the odds are way too high against it. What I do believe is that we tend to gravitate towards ideals, becoming monogamous when a close enough match is found. Sexual compatibility is very important in a relationship, because if one person wants more than the other person does, there's either going to be a high temptation to look elsewhere to fill the need, or someone's just going to be unhappy. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

Garth: Freud would have a field day with you and your obsession with franks... ;)--> The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police. Or so the Germans would have us believe...

The problem is that there is NO evidence that either Dot Matrix or Excathedra were complicit in ANY WAY. I think both of them would swear on any Bible you gave them that neither had any sexual interest in VPW whatsoever prior to their abuse. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police.

Nag, nag, nag... The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police.

I don't know what's going on with that, but I eliminated the HTML in the sig just in case. Very weird. The Secret Signature of the Day has been cancelled by the HTML Police.

Rocky: It was not my intent to start a "Penthouse Forum" type porn-fest here. I can't speak for you, but I believe that most adults can have a frank discussion about sex without it necessarily devolving into an amateur erotica contest. The point of the question is not so much the salacious details as in why one particular sexual experience flashed into mind ahead of all the others. For some folks, it's when they lost their virginity, for others, the first time they masturbated, others still think of an abusive episode, some think of their wedding night. Sex is such a primal part of our lives that examining it past the societal repression can be quite an enlightening experience. Secret Signature of the Day==v testing... [This message was edited by Zixar on December 30, 2003 at 12:52.]

Lorna: Re: baboon & wildebeest You do realize that Adam spoke neither Middle English nor Afrikaans, right? [This message was edited by Zixar on December 30, 2003 at 12:34.]