Phoenix

Maybe there's flesh-colored microphone covers?

While I'm otherwise usually on board with the patriarchy narrative, I'm with you here, @hirondelle. Sexual assault comes down to power relations. While it might theoretically be easier to point the finger at rampant testosterone, I would have to imagine there isn't much difference between men and women when it comes to power plays. Another thing to think about is that, in a country that's painfully conservative and slow to progress, Americans have only really started to look at this problem in the workplace dynamic. Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas was just 25 years ago. That charge has also been led by feminists, and I don't know about you all, but I haven't seen any strong voices advocating for men who have been victims over the years.

Physical productivity.

And because da Bearss beat da Steelers, dis meanss dey are the best in the NFL my frent. Really though, for a team that needs draft picks and a new head coach, winning a game on the road against a tough defense isn't a good sign. 8-8 here we come. Ugh.

The uncanny valley effect. Kind of a fascinating concept, really, but it's a big hurdle for the sex robot designers. I'm sure a robot not being at 98.6 degrees doesn't help, either.

Was at the time of that post, which was Sunday, 12:00pm UTC-5. Firefox or Chrome both. It was the domain home page, http://www.thenorthlands.net Didn't matter how I got there, whether if I put in the URL or followed a link (such as the "Browse" link at the top).

This was on desktop. Isn't doing it at the moment on any of the pages.

Yes, but only on the domain home page, it seems.

I wrote smut! Hah, I did, but no, this post is to share that I wrote a little bit more about Japanese, this time on some of the subtleties of the language.

Gahh, that girl needs a microphone cover. There definitely can be a sexual component. ASMR stuff pops up pretty commonly over on GoneWildAudio. I've tried this as I have serious problems getting to sleep, but it didn't work. Neither did binaural beats. Out of the dozens of medications and other things I've tried, the only thing that has worked for me without unacceptable side effects is cannabis indica. Also, very recently, I've been taking a hypertension medication that is making it easier. It's not helping with my blood pressure, but my heart rate is lower. Might be relevant.

Indeed, not controlling too much. I suppose if one were to look at habit forming as a renewable internal resource, I've done pretty well this year and possibly depleted that reserve a bit by removing some negative habits. My binge eating is way down, and I'm pretty solidly hitting my calorie targets. Rolled into all that is actually making and eating meals three times a day--I used to just eat when I got hungry. There's a lot there. I've often thought maybe I don't "want it" enough with meditation. It's experimental for me and the benefits are by no means immediate. It's part of discipline, which, well, has always been lax. I also just don't need another tool like I did before. My depression is far more under control than it used to be. I kind of roll with the flow now, whereas it used to completely take over.

Just noticed she hasn't posted in this thread, so I'm paging @Kenai

Pretty sure I just woke everyone up by busting out laughing. *curls up in a pod* So much physical pain this morning, as is often the case in mornings. Kind of wish I could just turn off my nerves, even for an hour. Hence, sleep.

If you ever put together an FAQ, this probably should be question #1, heh.

My position on this isn't a simple one, with plenty of nuance and perhaps even a little bit of paradox. I will leave a few things to think about, though: Culture and heritage should not be significant factors to consider when drafting or interpreting legislation weighing public safety and civil rights. I won't go so far as to say they are irrelevant, because things that may be as a matter of law are not always necessarily so in practice, but it's pretty close. This is why the American Constitution was drafted as an organic, amendable convention. Nations change. Nations adapt. The Second Amendment to the Constitution, the legal basis for firearm ownership in the United States, was written to be quite narrow. Even by the late 18th century, professional armies were still a relatively new concept to the West, and, especially in the parts of the world along the frontier, militias were important, and militias are armed, private citizens that get called up. The debate on this point has raged back to the ratification of the Constitution and before, and we are long past having militias. However, my argument on this has always been a basic political science concept: governments, by definition, do not put themselves on equal footing with the governed. Governance would be impossible if they did. Despite media coverage on the topic being stronger than ever, violent crime in the US hit a 40 year low recently. It is slowly rising again, especially in urban areas.

I am brutally bad at positive habit forming. I've been trying for years to get into regular meditation, but I never do string sessions together. I've been advised that difficulty forming good habits or maintaining them is common for depressives, and I've been given some tips, such as tying the sessions to an existing habit or starting slow, like twice a week, and ramping up. There's a couple of new-ish habits I've been able to maintain lately, such as my Japanese study and beard care, but not my meditation and, to a lesser extent, regular exercise. I have to figure out how to get this nailed down.

I don't write a lot, but since I started writing erotica several years ago, I think this might have been the first time I've written about something I would find unpleasant. My writing often starts with an idea, a fantasy that I'm trying to give form, even if it's just in that limited way that words in print can yield. More often than not it takes on a life of its own as I write and ends up evolving into something else. That was the case with this short piece, but at the same time I knew how it would end, as it were, given the writing prompt. Edit: thinking about your daemon concept, I'm always found the legend of the succubus fascinating and oddly erotic. Maybe that will inspire my next piece. It's kind of unpleasant, but not, since it would involve death, but what a way to go!

A little while ago, the lovely Goddess asked about culture coming through when studying language. One of the things that's very difficult to translate into English (and is thus blog-worthy) is all the nuance that gets packed into the language in a very compact way. I'll provide a couple of examples looking at names and pronouns. Name appellations Anyone who has heard even a little bit of Japanese conversation has heard the "san" (さん) suffix. It's a default appellation that most closely translates in English to "miss/ms./mrs." or "mister." It is put on the end of a name, so Tanaka-san, or John-san. It's used when addressing someone of similar social standing (i.e., not your upperclassman, boss or governor, and not a child). One of the great things is, it's also used in address when unsure of the addressee's social rank. When using it with someone one isn't familiar with, it carries the connotation of "I'm presently unaware of how you should be properly be addressed, so please forgive me if you are deserving of a more polite honorific." So much nuance in one short syllable! Second-person pronouns "san" is also used with generic second person pronouns, which are the same words as "older brother" (onii-san, お兄さん, and yes, there's different words based on relative age), "aunt" (oba-san, おばさん), and so forth. Used when the person's name isn't known, usage of specific pronouns is dependent on the perceived age of the individual. Being called "oba-san" for the first time is a source of much consternation for Japanese women, kind of like being called "ma'am" for the first time in English. There's also some fun to be had, too. "sama" (様) is a respectful, elevated form of "san," used for bosses, your customers, and so forth. In older times it translated to "lord." Much to the amusement of @Kenai, I recently explained that "ki-sama" means "precious lord," but in a way that's dripping with sarcasm. It's an archaism that when used today, specifically refers to someone in second person rudely. Like "bitch," perhaps. On that note, Japanese is a language that's actually rather devoid of straight profanity like English has so colorfully. No, the Japanese are much more subtle than that--as I've hopefully given you a taste of in this post, they use suggestion, unspoken words and connotation in their language to tell you to fuck off.

Hmm, yes. I may have to tinker a bit. I feel like there's a couple of bells and whistles here I haven't looked at. Hell, I've barely poked around in the settings.

I'm slowly learning how to use "mark as read," and clicking on the icons to take me to new posts instead of clicking on the post titles themselves. I even looked up the Firefox shortcut to open a link in a new tab (shift+middle click, if anyone needs it). I'm feeling so old. It's like I'm trying to interact with some newfangled technology. I remember browsing message boards being so effortless before.

Damn, ladies. I'm gonna have to make me some ice cream.

Yeah, this was well outside my comfort zone for writing erotica. Probably a big part of why I took on the prompt to begin with. I mean, I love gentle femdom in general, but this would be unpleasant, to say the least.

Yeah. It's worrisome, and, more broadly, a frequent topic of conversation in the US right now.