Words To Live By of the Day found via The Daily What. Here’s some action steps to learn just in case:
From Wired:
Communicate if Your Government Shuts Off Your Internet
“Scenario: Your government is displeased with the communication going on in your location and pulls the plug on your internet access, most likely by telling the major ISPs to turn off service.
This is what happened in Egypt January 25 prompted by citizen protests, with sources estimating that the Egyptian government has cut off approximately 88 percent of the country’s internet access. What do you do without Internet? Step 1: Stop crying in the corner. Then start taking steps to reconnect with your network. Here’s a list of things you can do to keep the communication flowing.”
Posted by Vixen as Activism at 10:59 PM CST
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From Seal Press:
Hellions: Pop Culture’s Rebel Women by Maria Raha
“Modern pop culture and the media have distorted the notion of rebellion. Classic male rebels appear sexy, nomadic—naturally rebellious—while unorthodox women are reprimanded, made to fit unrealistic roles and body images, or mocked for their decadence and self-indulgence. In order to appreciate our legacy of female rebels—and create space for future cultural icons—the notion of rebellion needs to be reevaluated.”
I expected to love this book. After all, I love rebellious women and consider myself one. Now that I’ve finished it I find I’m ambivalent about it instead.
The book starts off rightly criticizing pop culture’s love of rebellious men and either disdain or ignorance of rebellious women. I’m totally agree with Raha here. But this went on and on. I felt like “I get it let’s move on to the Hellions” and thought that sentiment only needed a paragraph. I wanted the book to be jammed packed with radical icons. Maybe the average reader wouldn’t agree with sentiment? It just made me impatient but perhaps I’m not the target audience here.
After all, I knew most of the women covered in this book. That was ok though-I love reading about Jane Fonda’s anti-war activism and was pleasantly surprised to see Cindy Sheehan included in the politics chapter.
The book seems to have two themes. On one hand it’s celebrating rebellious women. But at the same time it critiques all the ones covered. I don’t think the combination of celebration and critique work here; it’s a buzzkill for the book. It’s as if Raha gets the reader all excited over someone only to take a literary swipe at the end of the description.
Another disappointment was the lack of photos. The cover made me think there would be plenty. A book like this would benefit from pictures of the women described in it. Each chapter starts with a photo but I would have appreciated a snapshot of the particular woman I was reading about. This could have been due to the book’s budget though.
Would I recommend this book? Perhaps. If you don’t know about many rebellious women this book showcases many of them. If you’re already familiar I’d say skip it. This would make an excellent gift book. I’m saving my copy to give to a friend for her birthday.
Posted by Vixen as Reviews at 11:02 PM CST
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From Tied Up Events:
Lap Dances, Sexy Performances & More at Fundraiser for Speak Up!
“Melissa Petro, an art teacher at P.S. 70 in the Bronx, whose writings about having had sex for money, dared to challenge the tired old adage “once a prostitute, always a whore,” resigned from her job on January 21st. That today, in 2011, Melissa, a tenured teacher who had clearly demonstrated competence at her job, should have had to choose between resignation or the likely turmoil of a hearing that could result in her dismissal, is one reason Tied Up Events has chosen to once again support the efforts of Sex Work Awareness and the Red Umbrella Project with their Speak Up Media Training Program by holding a fundraiser on February 4th, 2011 at Madame X, 94 West Houston Street, between Thompson and LaGuardia Place, from 6:30 to 10:00 PM.”
More details at the link above. This sounds like a good event!
Posted by Vixen as Activism, Sex Workers at 11:09 PM CST
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Normally I wouldn’t blog about this type of gossip but as a kinkster I found this video disturbing.
From TMZ:
Octomom — The Baby-Whipping Fetish Photos
“TMZ has obtained the UNBELIEVABLE photos of Octomom whipping a grown-ass man dressed up as a baby in some kind of weird FETISH shoot.
(snip)
The eerily-erotic madness takes place all over Octo’s La Habra home … with Tattoo posing with her kids’ horsey and inside their play castle.”
A video snip is here.
First, she’s holding the bullwhip wrong. Bullwhips are hard to learn and take practice to master. I once met a mistress that could extinguish a candle flame with the flick of her whip but it took her months to learn. Not only does Octomom hold it wrong for photos she whips the adult baby wrong. Folding a bullwhip in half just looks ridiculous. It also teaches bad BDSM habits. Spankings are fun but you have to be careful when doing them, ie don’t hit the lower back or tailbone. Why have her use one incorrectly? There’s plenty of toys she could have used-a riding crop, a leather paddle, a wooden spoon or even a leather slipper. You would think the production company would know better.
Second, she filmed it using her kids’ toys as props. Even if a parent is into adult babies you’d assume they’d have their own toys. Using your children’s toys and rooms in your kink play? That crosses such a line man. And it makes kinky parents look bad.
This certainly isn’t the first kink video made poorly. I’ve seen some bad spanking videos where I winced every time the mistress went in for a badly aimed whack. But since Octomom is sadly in the mainstream gossip news this video will get more notice than others.
I have a few adult babies clients. It’s a misunderstood kink and is one that gets picked on often, even in the fetish community. It’s not my kink but I certainly got secondhand embarrassment watching the fetish be so badly represented.
Posted by Vixen as News at 10:08 PM CST
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During last year’s Red Umbrella Day I picked three names from a jar to read aloud. One of those names was Leslie Brown. I plan to write up a post for each of the victims. It’s important to remember our fallen sex workers.
From the Examiner:
Michael Johnson charged in serial strangulations on Southside of Chicago
“Charges have officially been filed against a man in the murders of three women from the Roseland and Pullman community in recent months.
Shortly after midnight, police announced that Michael Johnson, 24, of 140 East 120th Place, is charged with 3 counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault - bodily harm.
Johnson was arrested Thursday after police say his DNA was a match to DNA found on the victims.
(snip)
All of the victims were black females engaged in what police called “high risk” lifestyles. All were strangled to death and all were found in abandoned buildings.”
—
I found several news sources for this story that said the victims led a “high risk” lifestyle. That’s odd. That could mean anything. Rock climbers live a high risk lifestyle too.
Posted by Vixen as Activism, Sex Workers at 10:03 PM CST
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I especially enjoy outdoor nudes. From this gallery.
Posted by Vixen as Sexy Sensations at 1:32 PM CST
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“Thank you for being patient with me. I know I’m not the easy guy to put up with.”
-regular client
This client is a difficult one. After a session with him I always feel exhausted so this comment was nice to hear.
Posted by Vixen as Quote Book at 2:48 AM CST
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Earlier this month I had an in-person session with a regular client. (His kink isn’t important for this post so I’ll call him RC.) He vacillates between a short session and a long one. Now, I never rely on session money. Anything could go wrong and the whole thing could be canceled on a moment’s notice.
But I still think about the money and make mental plans on how to spend it. At first RC wanted five hours. That morning he had called and said he had changed his mind yet again-he only wanted to do two. Going from five to two-ouch!
As I was driving to the hotel I thought about Anna Nicole Smith. I really do think of her as the Matron Saint of Gold Diggers. Though I’m not a gold digger at that moment I felt like one. I wanted my five hour fee! So I prayed to Saint Anna (as a Discordian Pagan this fits my eclectic beliefs). I asked that RC would change his mind and want to do the full session.
Silly? Perhaps. But when I got to RC’s hotel room he told me he wanted to do the five hours. I went into the bathroom to put on my mistress garb and gave a prayer of thanks.
Posted by Vixen as PSO Confessions, Sex Workers at 9:15 PM CST
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Last week I watched My Own Private Idaho. When I was a girl I loved River Phoenix. I bought tons of teeny-bopper magazines and plastered my bedroom walls with his photos. I even taped pictures of him to my ceiling so I could look up at him while lying in bed. Eventually my infatuation faded and I took the posters down.
While I had obsessively watched most of his movies over and over I had never seen My Own Private Idaho. It came out in 1991 so most likely my girlhood crush had faded by then. If you haven’t heard of the movie IMBd describes it this way-”Two best friends living on the streets of Portland as hustlers embark on a journey of self discovery and find their relationship stumbling along the way.”
I vaguely knew the movie was about hustling but my teenage self never really thought about it. Watching it now I was struck by how different my adult reaction was to how my teenage reaction would have been. I watched it from a sex worker perspective. My teenage self would have watched it from the perspective of a swooning fangirl.
The campfire confession scene was the most powerful moment of the movie. But I was particularly struck by two other moments. First, there was the scene was Phoenix’s characters is picked up a woman. He goes into the living and finds two other male sex workers already there. That was a realistic moment-the quick conversation about the client and the ease that the characters had together. The second scene was one in a diner where it showed several sex workers talking about work. The characters all talked about bad experiences but I still felt it was realistic. I’ve certainly hung out with fellow sex workers in a diner and bitched about work.
What would my teenage self had noticed? Probably how cute Phoenix was in every scene-he certainly was.
Posted by Vixen as Reviews, Sex Workers at 10:42 PM CST
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From Raw Story:
TSA makes ‘nominal’ payment to settle suit over exposing 24-year-old’s breasts
“A woman who had her breasts exposed during an airport search by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was to receive a “nominal” payment as a part of a settlement agreement, according to documents released this week.
The 24-year-old woman was selected for “extended search procedures” prior to boarding a plane to Amarillo, Texas in 2008.
(snip)
“For an extended period of time” other agents made jokes about the incident. “One male TSA employee expressed to the plaintiff that he wished he would have been there when she came through the first time and that ‘he would just have to watch the video.”"
Just another example of how the TSA is completely abusing their self-granted new powers. Like I’ve said in the past if they fuck with you, fuck back. I’m glad to hear this woman fought back even though her payment was “nominal”.
—
From CBS News:
Obama Eyeing Internet ID for Americans
“President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.
It’s “the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government” to centralize efforts toward creating an “identity ecosystem” for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.
Remember when Obama promised to promote a transparent government? That certainly feels light years away. This is some heavy Big Brother bullshit. I would never trust the government with this. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen.
—
From the Daily Mail:
Now 300 dead birds fall from the sky in Alabama (how much longer can scientists keep saying this is normal?)
“Up to 300 dead birds have been found on the side of an Alabama highway in the latest mass animal death to be reported.
The bodies of the birds, identified as grackles, were found strewn along the I-65 highway.
Grackles have also been found dead in their hundreds recently in Arkansas, Louisiana and Kentucky.
(snip)
The Alabama deaths are just the latest in a series of mass animal deaths around the world that have spurred conspiracy theories all over the internet.
First, the blackbirds fell out of the sky on New Year’s Eve in Arkansas. Then it was two million fish in the Chesapeake Bay, 150 tons of red tilapia in Vietnam, 40,000 crabs in Britain and other places across the world.”
I know it’s the Daily Mail but they had several good photos so I linked to them anyway. All these animal deaths freak me out. My first suspicion was the oil spill but there’s birds dropping around the world so I don’t know. Maybe HAARPS has gotten out of hand?
—
From Reuters:
Pennsylvania police to halt profanity citations
“Pennsylvania State Police have agreed to stop issuing disorderly conduct citations to people who use profane language, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said.
The ACLU sued the police in May 2010 on behalf of a woman ticketed for yelling “asshole” at a motorcyclist who swerved close to her.
(snip)
Under the settlement, police officers will be told they can no longer ticket people who use profane words or gestures, even if they are directed at the officers.
Officers will receive mandatory training in free speech, and will be told that “obscene” does not mean profanity, indecent speech, or gestures, the ACLU said.”
I had to double check that this wasn’t a flashback article from decades ago. But no, it’s 2011 and police in PA are just now going to stop ticketing profanity. Wow, that’s crazy.
Posted by Vixen as News at 7:39 PM CST
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From Seattle Pi:
Authorities say Auburn skull is from suspected Green River Killer victim
“The King County Sheriff’s Office say a skull found in an Auburn ravine on Tuesday has been identified as as Rebecca “Becky” Marrero, believed to be a victim of the Green River Killer.
(snip)
Detectives long believed Marrero to be a victim of convicted Ridgway, Donohoe said. She was listed as one of several missing women on the original Green River Taskforce list of 49 possible victims in the 1980s.”
At the Red Umbrella Day event I went to last month the Green River Killer was quoted-”I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.”
We have to remember and seek justice for our fallen sex workers. Marrero may be long gone but at least her remains have been found and identified. Let us hope that for 2011’s Red Umbrella Day the list of victims will be shorter than 2010.
Posted by Vixen as News, Sex Workers at 9:39 PM CST
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I meant to blog some news links about the Giffords shooting last night. But the movie Network had come in from Netflix and I decided to watch it instead. Ironically, Network really gave me a perspective on the shootings. How can a movie made in 1976 give any reflection about 2011 news? I know, I know but indulge me.
If you’re not familiar with the movie IMDb sums it up nicely-”A TV network cynically exploits a deranged ex-TV anchor’s ravings and revelations about the media for their own profit.”
I have read many references to it and finally decided to watch this classic. Wow this movie is amazing. It shows the corruption of the news, of television, of politics, of society-and there’s some comedy too. The film predicts the arrival of infotainment and reality television. The performances are strong and since it was made in the 70’s all the clothing and decor is now vintage. I love 60’s and 70’s styles so this was a treat for me.
At the beginning of the film the news staff is sitting at a table discussing how much time to devote to each news story. The attempted assassination of President Ford by Squeaky Fromme is mentioned with several other stories. That was a surprise since shortly before I was reading about the Giffords shooting.
If you haven’t seen this movie I highly recommend it. It’s become one of my all time favorites.
The movie repeatedly showed the lengths television will go to for good ratings and profit. While reading about Giffords I kept thinking about that. Who’s profiting from this?
The religious groups who cast this as yet another sign of how Godless this nation has become? The WBC crazies are the most extreme example of this one. The politicians who use this tragedy to advance their own agendas? Examples of this here here and here. The media who sensationalizes this story to reap in the ratings? The so called Left and Right movements who try to put Loughner in the other’s camp as a smear tactic? Even the bloggers, myself included, who use this story to shout from their soapboxes? Although this post from Natural News is pretty good.
Network took that profit idea to an absurd level but really made it believable. The main character reminded me a lot of Glenn Beck. He was a nutter but was popular enough that the network kept him on air. They milked that cash cow for ratings just like Fox milks Beck.
Just like the Arizona shootings are now being milked. That’s what I keep coming back to-how easily and often tragedy is milked for profits, ratings and power. But what of Loughner? Was he like the main character of Network and mad as hell and not going to take it any more? He seems more bat shit crazy than politically motivated. That could be because of his mug shot though. There’s some serious crazy staring back at the camera.
Posted by Vixen as News, Reviews at 9:23 PM CST
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From this gallery. I know I’ve been doing PSO work for awhile because the phrase “bathroom nurse” reminds me of an enema scene.
Posted by Vixen as Sexy Sensations at 7:50 PM CST
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“If I were a woman looking at you I know you’d turn me gay.”
-irregular regular
Posted by Vixen as Quote Book at 9:07 PM CST
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