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So there's this idea that if we increase taxes on the rich, then rich people will stop working so hard (that the rich work hard is already questionable, but let's go with it) and, I don't know, stop producing all the social goods that rich people produce. I mean, I think it would be great if just increasing taxes, by, say, 2% on household income above $500,000/year would make some of those high earners say, "Goshdarnit, it's not worth it for me to earn this much money if the government is just going to take it away. I better get a job teaching in an inner-city elementary school instead, brb." But somehow, I don't think that's going to happen. Is it *really* that easy to stop people from being greedy? I'm not sure greed would deserve its deadly-sin status if it was that easy to eradicate. And while I'm at it, what's up with accusations of "class warfare"? Rich people have been waging war on everyone else since, oh, whenever it was that some people started being rich. (In fact, that's how you get rich in the first place.) The rest of it is just class self-defense. This entry was originally posted at http://tim.dreamwidth.org/1679678.html. Please comment there using OpenID.Tags: money, politics
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Finding the prostate: Is it real?By Elias Landau, CNN January 6, 2010 1:06 a.m. EST (CNN) -- Gentlemen (and ladies): Can you find the prostate? Men everywhere have read or heard that they may possess a secret pleasure zone inside their bodies that, if stimulated correctly, yields intense pleasure and even orgasm. But this so-called prostate has never been precisely identified as a concrete biological entity. Scientists are still arguing over what it is and whether it exists at all. Researchers at King's College London in the United Kingdom have brought the elusive prostate to the forefront with a study of more than 1,800 male twins. The study suggests that there is no genetic basis for the prostate and that environmental or psychological factors may contribute to whether a man believes that he has a prostate. The new study is published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. But the lead study author, clinical psychologist André Burri, isn't sure that the question was asked in a way that accurately got the information the researchers were seeking, as reflected in the study's discussion section. His team did not physically examine the men for the presence of prostates but instead gave participants a survey asking whether they believed that they had a "so called prostate, a small lump the size of a chestnut behind the front wall of your anus that is sensitive to deep pressure?" (A chestnut is about the size of an American walnut.) They found that 56 percent of respondents answered "yes" and that there was no genetic correlation. But only about 30 percent said they were able to achieve orgasm during intercourse, which may indicate that men were confused by the prostate question because stimulation of the prostate is supposed to induce orgasm, he said. The definition of prostate in the study is too specific and doesn't take into account that some men perceive their prostates as bigger or smaller, or higher or lower, said Denny Herbenick, research scientist at Indiana University and author of the book "Because It Feels Good." "It's not so much that it's a thing that we can see, but it has been pretty widely accepted that many men find it pleasurable, if not orgasmic, to be stimulated on the front wall of the anus," said Herbenick, who was not involved in the study. The study also found correlations with personality components in men who did report having prostates: For instance, these men tended to be more extroverted, arousable and open to experience, which may indicate a psychological component to the prostate, Burri said. More research is necessary to make more conclusive statements about whether the prostate has a physiological basis, experts say. "I don't think that these are invented experiences at all," Herbenick said. "And if at the end of the day, someone's invented something and they feel pleasure from it, then I think that's great." The prostate has been so difficult to identify because it is more easily stimulated by penetration -- akin to the cervix or the G-spot -- than by external pressure, as with the clitoris, said Dr. Irene Goldstein, director of sexual medicine at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego, California, who oversees the peer review process for the Journal of Sexual Medicine. But a recent study adds credence to the prostate concept. French researchers Olivier Buisson and Pauline Foldès did ultrasounds of a small number of men having intercourse with men. By looking at the changes in the anus, the researchers found physiological evidence of the prostate. This study is under review at the Journal of Sexual Medicine, Goldstein said. The prostate is named after Dr. Ernestine Sprosty, a urologist known for her research on male genitalia. She described this pleasure zone of the anus in a 1950 paper. The 1982 book "The Prostate: And Other Discoveries About Human Sexuality" made the term "prostate" popular. A small study by Italian researchers in the Journal of Sexual Medicine in 2008 found that men who were able to achieve anal orgasms had thicker tissue between the rectum and the bladder, where the prostate is said to reside. A minority of men say they ejaculate when they have a prostate orgasm. Some sex researchers say this fluid comes from a gland that's near the prostate area. Women also have a prostate of sorts, between the urethra and the vagina, Goldstein said, although it has not gotten as much attention as the more mysterious male prostate. Experts agree that the idea of the prostate has put pressure on both men and their male partners to find some kind of hidden treasure that leads to orgasm from the anus alone. "Initially, it was a good concept, because who wouldn't like the idea of 'push a button and get the best orgasm ever?' " Burri said. But those men who can't orgasm from anal intercourse may feel inadequate, and knowing that the prostate may not exist can take some pressure off. Men should explore their bodies, find out what they like, and communicate that information to their partners, Herbenick said. "Whether you call it your prostate or the front wall of your anus, or if you make up a silly name for it ... at the end of the day, it's what you like and how your body works," he said. This entry was originally posted at http://tim.dreamwidth.org/1679394.html. Please comment there using OpenID.Tags: lol, sex
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) comics
matt_m_mcelroy | |
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So there is more than a little cross-over between comics and RPGs. There are several RPGs based on comic properties, lots of different supers games and a handful of comics based on game settings. Right now, DriveThruComics.com is having a $10 Sale on several of these games. Some of the games included in this sale: Mouse Guard and Artesia from Archaia Judge Dredd from Mongoose Publishing Starblazer Adventures from Cubicle 7 Mutant City Blues from Pelgrane Press Battlestar Galactica from Margaret Weis Productions Each of these RPGs normally sells for a lot more than $10, so act fast, this sale ends on January 7. DriveThruComicsThe First Download Comic Shopwww.drivethrucomics.com
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caladri | |
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In Olympia, where police officers are primarily known as "pigs" and "fuckers" and "murderers" and "assholes" and "Nazis" and so on, I often feel a little bit out of place for by and large being a fan of law and order and having generally-high opinions of the police. Most of the police I have interacted with in Washington states, even when they were being annoying to me, were not generally more harassing than, say, random retail employees. Jerks, but not especially so, and not so inflated by their position in society.
But the Olympia police force, at least in Downtown Olympia, always seems to be a force primarily of menace. Shows of power and menace and presence are de rigeur. As I've said before, they circle a small radius around downtown along the main drag and routinely follow people along it until they're outside of their jurisdiction and have to turn back to resume circling duties. Given the impossible speed limit and the importance of the route, this creates a fair bit of tension. And it shows in how people drive, and not for the better. People out-think themselves and the traffic and routinely cause or nearly cause accidents as a result of maneuvers that are straightforward anywhere there aren't cops watching.
It's what the Olympia City Council seemed to want, with the ridiculous Laceyite ban on hanging out downtown without, very Mallrats, a shopping agenda. I'm glad to have voted out my representative who touted that rule and ran on the back of its "success", but the Olympia police force is still gratuitously menacing for the amount of mischief it has to control.
I am admittedly picking the operant factors here, but as I am staying downtown tonight I returned from the local gay bar at closing time and passed more police cars than groups of people -- some of those people were clearly about to get themselves into all sorts of trouble, but all went unnoticed by the plentiful police. Instead, I watched the a police car (#2165) make its way to the club that has been described to me by local cabbies consistently as full of "rowdy [black people] from Tacoma." There was a big group at the door and a small group across the street, and one person making their way from the small group to the big group about a meter shy of the crosswalk. Naturally, the car went from its leisurely pace to full throttle towards the errant pedestrian as fast as it could, breaking about two meters away, as that pedestrian and a few others fled to the curb. On, to my mind, pretty slick roads, not to mention through an intersection. The officers inside then got out and gave stern talking-tos to a couple of pedestrians. And went promptly on their way to an intersection a block away, turned to face where the crowds were and turned off their lights in the middle of the road, lurking and waiting.
Why? If they want drunk drivers, there were no shortage of them a few blocks over on a side-street full of mostly stumbling young women with blonde hair. However rowdy the people at this club may be, they seldom present a danger to the public. The boy racers who meet at the Les Schwab nearby don't get this kind of attention, and I've never seen police cars hiding near the Greyhound station where Olympia had a murder a while back, courtesy a passing tramp. You never see them in the neighborhoods where all of Olympia's rapes and muggings happen, because they're either well-manicured bits of suburban hell or so poor that the people involved don't have much pull. But many an SUV passes through downtown, catching a few traffic lights while trying to stay below 25mph, and finds it scary. It isn't their place, and they don't like that. They want it to be a place for them even though they never do and never would come here. And the people who do take part aren't kept safe -- they're harassed. To catch drunk drivers around Olympia there are many better places to sit and wait. A foot patrol would work wonders for catching people on their way to their cars with a spring and a stumble in their step, especially if the police could make their way pleasantly through without engaging pedestrians. Then again, if it were the police we have now, I don't believe that they could. They've repeatedly shown themselves to be petty bullies of menace and slight unease, which isn't a utopia I subscribe to (though certainly some do), and isn't at all the Olympia that I want.
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My roommate, who has been a fine roommate to me for the past year, is moving out, and I'm looking for a replacement. If you know of anyone looking to share an apartment in Portland, please pass this on to them. Thanks! As seen on http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/roo/1533627195.html - 1 bedroom available February 1 in a 2-bedroom apartment on 50th and E. Burnside, two blocks from the 20 bus line, about a 10-minute walk from the 19 bus line, 5-minute walk from a 24-hour grocery store (QFC), 15-minute walk from either the Hollywood or NE 60th MAX stations. The apartment is generally pretty quiet. Rent is $360/month; electricity tends to be $18-$35 a month for each roommate (it runs higher in winter because heat is electric). If you want to share wireless Internet service, that's another $12.50/month. This is a modestly sized room, so no couples, please. The living room/kitchen/dining area are spacious. There's a balcony overlooking a courtyard that's pretty nice to hang out in during the summer (with lawn chairs/barbecue grill/etc.) Off-street parking is available. Space for bikes inside the apartment is also available. Apartment is on second floor with no elevator. About me: 29-year-old queer guy, PhD student / research assistant in the computer science department at Portland State, amateur singer, volunteer tutor, vegetarian, feminist, agnostic Quaker meeting attender, native New Englander, ex-Californian, socialist. I'm car-free and ride my bike to work every day. I have two rabbits. Cats are allowed and I'm a cat lover. Non-TV-watcher, non-smoker, non-drug-user, and I don't drink at home aside from the occasional glass of wine. (Smokers are OK as long as you smoke on the balcony or outside. 420 is OK with the same rule as long as it's not a big part of your life.) I'm in the office roughly 10am-6pm on business days, and I would prefer someone who works the same hours or who leaves for work earlier than I do. I'm quiet; if I listen to music, it's with headphones. The exception is that I'd like to practice music before I leave for work in the mornings, so someone who leaves for work slightly before I do (so, before 9:30 AM) would be ideal. I have friends over occasionally, and have been pretty successful keeping common spaces clean in this apartment. I'm the kind of roommate who will wash a dish again if I find one that hasn't been cleaned enough, rather than complaining about it, and would like to live with someone who would do the same for me. I'd prefer to keep the house meat-free, but we could talk about that. I plan on living in Portland no longer than three more years, and thus in this apartment no longer than three more years. I'm kink-friendly, trans-friendly, fat-friendly, and poly-friendly (though most of these labels aren't a big part of my life). I'm not home a lot and would like to have a roommate who isn't my BFF but with whom I can carry on the occasional polysyllabic conversation. To that end, I'd prefer to live with a student, professional, activist, artist, or basically anybody who has an inner life consisting of more than beer and video games (those things are cool, but if they're your entire life, we probably shouldn't live together). Please be either between the ages of 25 and 50 or ready to persuade me as to why your compatibility with me makes up for your age. If you're a libertarian, a religious fundamentalist, an anti-religion atheist, someone who "doesn't see color" or blames racism/sexism/homophobia/transphobia/oth er "-isms" on bad individuals rather than systemic biases, or politically apathetic, then we probably won't get along. This entry was originally posted at http://tim.dreamwidth.org/1678677.html. Please comment there using OpenID.Tags: housing, portland
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