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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8238 | Siebel Forecasting Guide > Importing and Exporting >
Scenario for Importing and Exporting
This scenario gives one example of how importing and exporting may be used. You may import and export differently, depending on your business model.
A sales manager at a large company is working on a presentation. She plans to export data from both the Revenues screen and the Forecasts screen into Microsoft Excel so that she can use current revenues and forecasts in her presentation. Later that week, she is given new revenues in the form of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet which she imports into Siebel Forecasting.
The company's forecast administrator has learned that the display name of a field in the Revenues screen has been changed and that a new field has been added. As a result of this change, the administrator now needs to update the mapping in the Revenue Import process.
Siebel Forecasting Guide |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8239 | Designing Conversational Web Services
A single web service may communicate with multiple clients at the same time, and it may communicate with each client multiple times. In order for the web service to track data for the client during asynchronous communication, it must have a way to remember which data belongs to which client and to keep track of where each client is in the process of operations. In WebLogic Workshop, you use conversations to uniquely identify a given communication between a client and your web service and to maintain state between operations.
Conversations are essential for any web service involved in asynchronous communication. This includes web services that communicate with clients using callbacks or polling interfaces, and web services that use controls with callbacks.
Topics Included in This Section
The following sample web services use conversations:
For more information about samples, see Samples.
Related Topics
Getting Started: Using Asynchrony to Enable Long-Running Operations |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8241 | Sun Cluster Concepts Guide for Solaris OS
Sun Cluster System Hardware and Software Components
The Sun Cluster software enables you to combine these components into a variety of configurations. The following sections describe these configurations.
For an illustration of a sample two-host cluster configuration, see Sun Cluster Hardware Environment in Sun Cluster Overview for Solaris OS.
Cluster Nodes
In a cluster that runs on any version of the Solaris OS that was released before the Solaris 10 OS, a node is a physical machine that contributes to cluster membership and is not a quorum device. In a cluster that runs on the Solaris 10 OS, the concept of a node changes. In this environment, a node is a Solaris zone that is associated with a cluster. In this environment, a Solaris host, or simply host, is one of the following hardware or software configurations that runs the Solaris OS and its own processes:
Depending on your platform, Sun Cluster software supports the following configurations:
Solaris hosts are generally attached to one or more multihost devices. Hosts that are not attached to multihost devices use the cluster file system to access the multihost devices. For example, one scalable services configuration enables hosts to service requests without being directly attached to multihost devices.
In addition, hosts in parallel database configurations share concurrent access to all the disks.
All nodes in the cluster are grouped under a common name (the cluster name), which is used for accessing and managing the cluster.
Public network adapters attach hosts to the public networks, providing client access to the cluster.
Cluster members communicate with the other hosts in the cluster through one or more physically independent networks. This set of physically independent networks is referred to as the cluster interconnect.
Hosts in the same cluster should have similar processing, memory, and I/O capability to enable failover to occur without significant degradation in performance. Because of the possibility of failover, every host must have enough excess capacity to support the workload of all hosts for which they are a backup or secondary.
Each host boots its own individual root (/) file system.
Software Components for Cluster Hardware Members
Figure 2–1 High-Level Relationship of Sun Cluster Software Components
Illustration: The preceding context describes the graphic.
See Chapter 4, Frequently Asked Questions for questions and answers about cluster members.
Multihost Devices
Disks that can be connected to more than one Solaris host at a time are multihost devices. In the Sun Cluster environment, multihost storage makes disks highly available. Sun Cluster software requires multihost storage for two-host clusters to establish quorum. Greater than two-host clusters do not require quorum devices. For more information about quorum, see Quorum and Quorum Devices.
Multihost devices have the following characteristics.
A volume manager provides for mirrored or RAID-5 configurations for data redundancy of the multihost devices. Currently, Sun Cluster supports Solaris Volume Manager and Veritas Volume Manager as volume managers, and the RDAC RAID-5 hardware controller on several hardware RAID platforms.
Combining multihost devices with disk mirroring and disk striping protects against both host failure and individual disk failure.
See Chapter 4, Frequently Asked Questions for questions and answers about multihost storage.
Multi-Initiator SCSI
Local Disks
See the section Global Devices for more information about global devices.
Removable Media
Removable media such as tape drives and CD-ROM drives are supported in a cluster. In general, you install, configure, and service these devices in the same way as in a nonclustered environment. These devices are configured as global devices in Sun Cluster, so each device can be accessed from any node in the cluster. Refer to Sun Cluster 3.1 - 3.2 Hardware Administration Manual for Solaris OS for information about installing and configuring removable media.
See the section Global Devices for more information about global devices.
Cluster Interconnect
Public Network Interfaces
You can set up Solaris hosts in the cluster to include multiple public network interface cards that perform the following functions:
See Chapter 4, Frequently Asked Questions for questions and answers about public networks.
Client Systems
Console Access Devices
You must have console access to all Solaris hosts in the cluster.
To gain console access, use one of the following devices:
Only one supported terminal concentrator is available from Sun and use of the supported Sun terminal concentrator is optional. The terminal concentrator enables access to /dev/console on each host by using a TCP/IP network. The result is console-level access for each host from a remote machine anywhere on the network.
The System Service Processor (SSP) provides console access for Sun Enterprise E1000 servers. The SSP is a processor card in a machine on an Ethernet network that is configured to support the Sun Enterprise E1000 server. The SSP is the administrative console for the Sun Enterprise E1000 server. Using the Sun Enterprise E10000 Network Console feature, any machine in the network can open a host console session.
Other console access methods include other terminal concentrators, tip serial port access from another host, and dumb terminals.
Caution – Caution –
You can attach a keyboard or monitor to a cluster host provided that the keyboard and monitor are supported by the base server platform. However, you cannot use that keyboard or monitor as a console device. You must redirect the console to a serial port, or depending on your machine, to the System Service Processor (SSP) and Remote System Control (RSC) by setting the appropriate OpenBoot PROM parameter.
Administrative Console
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8242 | Writing Device Drivers
Third-Party DMA
In general, the driver should perform these steps for third-party DMA.
1. Allocate a DMA channel.
3. Lock the DMA object in memory (see physio(9F)).
Note -
This step is not necessary in block drivers for buffers coming from the file system, as the file system has already locked the data in memory.
4. Allocate DMA resources for the object.
5. Program the system DMA engine to perform the transfer with ddi_dmae_prog(9F).
6. Perform any required object synchronizations.
7. Stop the DMA engine with ddi_dmae_stop(9F).
8. Release the DMA resources.
9. Deallocate the DMA channel.
10. Free the DMA handle.
Certain hardware platforms may restrict DMA capabilities in a bus-specific way. Drivers should use ddi_slaveonly(9F) to determine if the device is in a slot in which DMA is possible. For an example, see "attach()". |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8243 | Sun Java System Identity Synchronization for Windows 6.0 Installation and Configuration Guide
Directory Server
When Identity Synchronization for Windows creates entries in Directory Server without a password, it sets the userpassword attribute to {PSWSYNC}*INVALID*PASSWORD*. The user will not be able to log in to Directory Server until you reset the password. One exception is when you run resync with the -i NEW_USERS or NEW_LINKED_USERS option. In this case, resync will invalidate the new user’s password, triggering on-demand password synchronization the next time the user logs in. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8244 | Skip Headers
Oracle® Secure Enterprise Search Administrator's Guide
11g Release 2 (11.2.2)
Part Number E23427-01
Go to Documentation Home
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Setting Up File Sources
A file source enables users to search files that are accessible from the Oracle SES query nodes through a commonly shared file system.
The following procedures identify the basic steps for setting up a file source using the Oracle SES Administration GUI. For more information on each page, click Help.
To create a file source:
2. For Source Type, select File.
3. Click Create to display the Create File Source page.
4. Complete the following fields. Click Help for additional information.
• Starting URL: The URL of the top directory where the crawler begins. See "Tips for Using File Sources".
5. Click Create or Create & Customize.
6. Follow the steps for crawling and indexing a source in "Getting Started Basics for the Administration GUI".
To customize a file source:
1. When creating a file source, click Create & Customize on the Create File Source page to display the Customize File Source page.
After creating a source, click the Edit icon on the Home - Sources page.
2. Click the following subtabs and make the desired changes.
• Basic Settings: Source name, language, and starting URL.
• URL Boundary Rules: Contents of a URL that include or exclude a page from crawling.
• Document Types: Common document and image types that you can include or exclude from crawling. By default, Oracle SES crawls HTML, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, PDF, and plain text.
• Display URL: URL that users see for security reasons instead of the actual URL.
• Authorization: Configuration of an Access Control List.
or an authorization manager plug-in.
• Attribute Mapping: Maps document attributes to Oracle SES search attributes. See "File Document Attributes".
• Crawling Parameters: Crawling conditions, such as depth, language, HTTP cookies.
3. Click Apply.
File Document Attributes
Oracle SES crawls and searches various attributes. By default, Oracle SES maps these search attributes to common document attributes, such as AUTHOR, CREATOR, KEYWORD, and SUBJECT. You can enter and map additional document attributes.
Oracle SES crawls and indexes these document attributes:
• Title
• Author
• Description
• Host
• Keywords
• Language
• LastModifiedDate
• Mimetype
• Subject
Tips for Using File Sources
This section contains the following topics:
Crawling File Sources with Non-ASCII Character Sets
For file sources to successfully crawl and display multibyte environments, the locale of the computer that starts the Oracle SES server must be the same as the target file system. This way, the Oracle SES crawler can detect the multibyte files and paths.
If the locale is different in the installation environment, then Oracle SES must be reinstalled from the environment with the correct locale. For example, for a Korean environment, either set LC_ALL to ko_KR or set both LC_LANG and LANG to ko_KR.KSC5601. Then restart Oracle SES as described in "Starting and Stopping Oracle SES".
Crawling File Sources with Symbolic Links
When crawling file sources on UNIX, the crawler resolves any symbolic link to its true directory path and enforce the boundary rule on it. For example, suppose directory /tmp/A has two children, B and C, where C is a link to /tmp2/beta. The crawl has the following URLs:
• /tmp/A
• /tmp/A/B
• /tmp2/beta
• /tmp/A/C
If the inclusion rule is /tmp/A, then /tmp2/beta is excluded. The seed URL is treated as is.
Crawling File URLs
For a plug-in to return file URLs to the crawler, the file URLs must be fully qualified. For example, file://localhost/.
If a file URL is to be used "as is", without going through Oracle SES to retrieve the file, then "file" in the Display URL Prefix should be upper case "FILE". For example, FILE://localhost/.... The starting URL is not case sensitive.
"As is" means that when a user clicks the search link of the document, the browser tries to use the specified file URL on the client computer to retrieve the file. Without that, Oracle SES uses this file URL on the server computer and sends the document through HTTP to the client computer.
Crawling File Sources from a Network Drive
If the files are crawled from a network drive, then the Oracle process should be started as a user who has access to the drive.
See Also:
"Required Tasks" for instructions on how to change the user running the Oracle process. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8252 | 1260 (computer virus)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Common name 1260
Technical name 1260
Aliases V2PX
Family N/A
Classification Virus
Type DOS
Subtype Resident .COM
Isolation 1990
Point of isolation Unknown
Point of Origin Unknown
Author(s) Mark Washburn
1260, or V2PX,[1][2] was a computer virus written in 1989 by Mark Washburn[3] that used a form of polymorphic encryption. Derived from Ralph Burger's publication of the disassembled Vienna virus source code, the 1260 added a cipher and varied its signature by randomizing its decryption algorithm. Both the 1260 and Vienna infect .COM files in the current or PATH directories upon execution. Changing an authenticated executable file is detected by most modern computer operating systems.[4][5][6]
1. ^ "Threat Assessment of Malicious Code and Human Threats," History of Viruses, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Computer Security Division, internal report.
2. ^ IBM's PC "Virus Timeline," [dead link] IBM research report.
3. ^ 1982 | Facebook [dead link] Mark Washburn.
4. ^ McAfee Labs Threat Center, Details and results of V2PX virus analysis.
5. ^ "Patricia Hoffman's VSUM Virus Information Summary List," V2P6 virus.
6. ^ "1260 (computer virus)," article. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8253 | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Studio album by Konono Nº1
Released 2004
Length 50:58
Label Crammed Discs
Ache Records (vinyl)
Congotronics is the official debut album by Konono Nº1. It was released in 2004.[1] by Crammed Discs. It has won the band massive favour in the dance and alternative rock scenes as well as in world music circles and in the North American and European media.[2]
Konono Nº1's Congotronics was also released on vinyl by Canadian label Ache Records, who issued three vinyl pressings of the album: the first included 546 on black and 548 on dark green; the next two were each 1,000 copies on black vinyl.[3]
Congotronics will now also be released on vinyl as part of Crammed Discs' Congotronics Vinyl Box Set, a limited-edition box containing 5 albums from the Congotronics Series as well as assorted bonuses.
Konono Nº1's Congotronics was the first volume in the eponymously titled, ongoing Congotronics series of albums devoted to electrified traditional music from the Congo, curated and produced by Vincent Kenis for the Crammed Discs label. Volume 2 of the Congotronics Series is the multi-artist Buzz'n'Rumble In The Urb'n'Jungle album (released on CD and video), volume 3 is In The 7th Moon, The Chief Turned Into A Swimming Fish And Ate The Head Of His Enemy By Magic by the Kasai Allstars collective, and Konono Nº1's 2010 album Assume Crash Position.
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[4]
Pitchfork Media (7.9/10)[5]
Stylus Magazine B+[6]
Initial critical response to Congotronics was positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 87, based on 11 reviews.[7]
The album placed 31st in webzine Pitchfork Media's staff list, "Top 50 Albums of 2005,"[8] and in August 2009, "Paradiso" was named the 386th track in their staff list, "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s".[9]
Track listing[edit]
No. Title Length
1. "Lufuala Ndonga" 9:27
2. "Masikulu" 8:01
3. "Kule Kule" 4:33
4. "Ungudi Wele Wele" 8:27
5. "Paradiso" 7:04
6. "Kule Kule Reprise" 3:04
7. "Mama Liza" 10:22
1. ^ "Konono No. 1". Forced Exposure. Retrieved 1 May 2009.
2. ^ "Sounds & Visuals etc.: CRAMMED DISCS". Retrieved 2012-02-10.
3. ^ "Congotronics LP". Retrieved 1 May 2009.
4. ^ Leggett, Steve. "Congotronics: Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
5. ^ Tangari, Joe (March 16, 2005). "Pitchfork: Album Reviews: Konono N°1: Congotronics". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
6. ^ Powell, Mike (February 23, 2005). "Konono No. 1 - Congotronics - Review - Stylus Magazine". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
7. ^ "Congotronics reviews at". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
8. ^ "Pitchfork Staff Lists: Top 50 Albums of 2005". Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
9. ^ "Pitchfork Staff Lists: The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s: 500-201". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
External links[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8255 | Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
FAIR Home Page
Screenshot from Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (February 26, 2011)
Web address www.fair.org
Launched 1986
Media outlets[edit]
In 1990, Walter Goodman wrote an article in The New York Times comparing FAIR and Accuracy in Media and stated that the two groups' "criticism of television and the press is often provocative. But it is always tendentious", and that FAIR's "target invariably is bias on the right."[4]
FAIR has said that in the range of opinion discussed in the mass media, the right side of a discussion is usually represented by a committed supporter of right-wing causes, while the left side is often represented by a centrist.[5]
Notable events[edit]
In May 2002, Jeff Cohen, a FAIR founder, left the organization to work as a producer on Phil Donahue's short-lived talk show on MSNBC.
In October 2002, FAIR's Action Alert citing the underestimate of the size of a massive anti-Iraq War rally led NPR to apologize to its listeners and a follow-up article in The New York Times that Editor & Publisher suggested was written "in response to many organized protest letters sent to the Times since the paper's weak, and inaccurate, initial article about the march on Sunday."
In February 2004, a FAIR Action Alert led ABC World News Tonight and The New York Times to expand their coverage of the Federal Marriage Amendment to explain the legal ramifications of the issue.[citation needed]
In 2006, FAIR criticized U.S. media coverage of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, taking issue with the assertion that "... Hugo Chávez is an autocrat who has consolidated one-party rule".[6] FAIR has frequently criticized media coverage of the Chávez government.[7][8][9][10][11]
In 2008, FAIR criticized American media for coverage that was too positive during Pope Benedict's visit to the United States, claiming that he got a "pass on Church abuse history."[12]
See also[edit]
1. ^ "What's FAIR?". FAIR. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
3. ^ What's FAIR?, FAIR Website
5. ^ "FAIR website". Fair.org. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
7. ^ "Region: Venezuela". FAIR. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
8. ^ "Coup Co-Conspirators as Free-Speech Martyrs". Fair.org. April 11, 2002. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
9. ^ Naureckas, Jim (September 24, 2006). "Inexplicable Tongue-Lashing". Fair.org. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
10. ^ Rendall, Steve. "The Myth of the Muzzled Media". Fair.org. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
11. ^ "NYT Hypes Venezuelan Threat". Fair.org. February 25, 2007. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
12. ^ FAIR.org
External links[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8256 | Forest Raven
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Forest Raven
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genus: Corvus
Species: C. tasmanicus
Binomial name
Corvus tasmanicus
Mathews, 1912
Distribution map
The Forest Raven (Corvus tasmanicus) is the largest species of the Corvus genus in Australia, and the only member of the corvid family that has a permanent population in Tasmania.[2] It is native to Tasmania and a few small isolated populations in Victoria, such as Wilsons Promontory and Portland. Relict populations are also found in parts of New South Wales, such as Coffs Harbour and Armidale.[2]
Taxonomy and naming[edit]
Gregory Mathews described the Forest Raven as a distinct subspecies Corvus marianae tasmanicus in 1912, its species name derived from Tasmania, the type locality.[3] Preliminary genetic analysis of the genus using mitochondrial DNA showed the three raven species to belong to one lineage and the two crows to another, in the clade of Australasian species. The genetic separation between species is small and there was a suggestion the Forest Raven may be conspecific with the Australian Raven.[4] Subsequent multigene analysis using nuclear DNA by Jønsson and colleagues in 2012 clarified that the Forest and Little Raven are each other's closest relative. The northern subspecies boreus turned out to be nested in the Tasmanian tasmanicus, indicating the populations separated very recently.[5]
The largest of the Australian corvids, the Forest Raven is 50–53 cm in length with a wingspan between 91 and 113 cm and weight of approximately 650 g.The plumage is a glossy black, with a blue or green sheen visible on upper plumage, there is no seasonal variation in plumage. The iris is white. It has a proportionately larger bill and shorter tail than the other mainland corvids. Sexes have identical plumage, however the male is generally larger, although there is considerable overlap in size between individuals.[3]
Juveniles are smaller than adults, with a shorter slightly and greyer bill, and softer plumage that has less sheen. Adult plumage is attained at three years of age, with younger immature birds lacking adult hackles, and retaining the brown coloured irises of juvenile birds.
The call is considered the most reliable means of identification in areas where its range overlaps with other corvids, and is a deep "korr-korr-korr-korr" with a similarly drawn out last note to the Australian Raven.
Forest Raven Vocalization
An outlying population exists in a small area in the tablelands of northeastern New South Wales. The suggestion that this form be given specific rank and be known as the Relict Raven (Corvus boreus) appears not to have gathered favour, and the Relict Raven remains classified as a subspecies, C. tasmanicus boreus. The Victorian Ornithological Research Group is currently conducting research on the Forest Raven (C. tasmanicus) and the Little Raven (C. mellori).
Distribution and habitat[edit]
A Forest Raven perching in a wood pasture within Rocky Cape National Park, Tasmania, Australia
The Forest Raven inhabits a wide range of habitat within Tasmania such as woods, open interrupted forest, mountains, coastal areas, farmland and town and city fringes. It is also found in southern Victoria from Gippsland west through Wilson's Promontory and the Otway Ranges. Further west, it occurs patchily in south-east South Australia.
In its present stronghold — the state of Tasmania — the Forest Raven is one of only three native birds that have no legal protection outside national parks and other reserves. The other two unprotected species are the Great Cormorant and the Little Pied Cormorant. All other native Tasmanian birds are listed as protected under the state's Nature Conservation Act 2002.
The Forest Raven is an omnivore; its diet includes a wide range of foods such as insects, carrion, fruit, grain and earthworms. It has been known to kill and eat birds as large as the Silver Gull (Larus novaehollandiae) using some degree of cunning by pretending to forage near enough to get close for the kill.[citation needed]
The nest is constructed from twigs and lined with available materials such as leaves, wool, grass, bark or feathers. Nests are generally constructed in a similar manner to the Australian Raven, high in a tall tree, however nests have been constructed on the ground in locations such as Tasmania's offshore islands where trees are not available.
1. ^ BirdLife International (2013). "Corvus tasmanicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. ^ a b Thomas, R; Thomas, S; Andrew, D; McBride, A (2011). Storer, P, ed. The complete guide to finding the birds of Australia (2nd ed.). Collingwood, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 9780643097858.
3. ^ a b Higgins et al., p. 717.
4. ^ Haring, Elisabeth; Däubl, Barbara; Pinsker, Wilhelm; Kryukov, Alexey; Gamauf, Anita (2012). "Genetic divergences and intraspecific variation in corvids of the genus Corvus (Aves: Passeriformes: Corvidae) – a first survey based on museum specimens". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 50 (3): 230–46. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2012.00664.x.
5. ^ Jønsson, Knud A.; Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Irestedt, Martin (2012). "Brains, tools, innovation and biogeography in crows and ravens". BMC Evolutionary Biology 12. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-12-72.
Cited text[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8257 | Fuel system icing inhibitor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Fuel System Icing Inhibitor)
Jump to: navigation, search
Fuel system icing inhibitor (FSII) is an additive to aviation fuels that prevents the formation of ice in fuel lines. FSII is sometimes referred to by the registered, genericized trademark Prist. Jet fuel can contain a small amount of dissolved water that does not appear in droplet form. As an aircraft gains altitude, the temperature drops and Jet fuel's capacity to hold water is diminished. Dissolved water can separate out and could become a serious problem if it freezes in fuel lines or filters, blocking the flow of fuel and shutting down an engine.
Chemical composition[edit]
Chemically, FSII is an almost pure (99.9%) ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGMME, 2-methoxy ethanol, APISOLVE 76, CAS number 109-86-4), or glycol monomethyl ether since 1994 diethylene glycol monomethyl ether (DEGMME, 2- (2-methoxy ethoxy) ethanol, APITOL 120, methyl carbitol, CAS number 111-77-3). [1] Prior to 1994, Prist was regulated under the MIL-I-27686E standard, which specified use of EGMME, but subsequently came under the MIL-DTL-85470B, with use of less hazardous DEGMME with higher flash point. [2]
FSII retards the growth of microorganisms eventually present in the fuel, mostly Cladosporium resinae fungi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, known as "hydrocarbon utilizing microorganisms" or "HUM bugs", which live in the water-fuel interface of the water droplets, form dark, gel-like mats, and cause microbial corrosion to plastic and rubber parts.
EGMME had been certified as a pesticide by the EPA, but as the requirement changes raised the certification costs, DEGMME has no official pesticide certification. DEGMME is a potent solvent, and at high concentrations can damage fuel bladders and filters. Long-term storage of FSII-fuel mixtures is therefore not recommended.
Anhydrous isopropyl alcohol is sometimes used as an alternative.
FSII is an agent that is mixed with jet fuel as it is pumped into the aircraft. The mixture of FSII must be between 0.10% and 0.15% by volume for the additive to work correctly, and the FSII must be distributed evenly throughout the fuel. Simply adding FSII after the fuel has been pumped is therefore not sufficient. As aircraft climbs after takeoff, the temperature drops, and any dissolved water will separate out from the fuel. FSII dissolves itself in water preferentially over the jet fuel, where it then serves to depress the freezing point of water to -43°C. Since the freezing point of jet fuel itself is usually in this region, the formation of ice is now a minimal concern.
Large aircraft do not require FSII as they are usually equipped with electric fuel line heaters that keep the fuel at an appropriate temperature to prevent icing. However, if the fuel heaters are inoperable, the aircraft may be still be declared fit to fly, if FSII is added to the fuel.
Storage and dispensing[edit]
It is extremely important to store FSII properly. Drums containing FSII must be kept clean and dry, since the additive is hygroscopic and can absorb water directly from moisture in the air. Since some brands of FSII are highly toxic, a crew member must wear gloves when handling it undiluted. Many FBOs allow FSII injection to be turned on or off so that one fuel truck can service planes that do require FSII as well as planes that don't. Line crew, however, must be able to deliver FSII when it is needed.
Such necessity was illustrated when a Flight Options Beechjet experienced a double flameout over the Gulf of Mexico in July 2004.[citation needed] The crew was able to glide to a lower altitude and restart the engines, and the aircraft landed safely. The FAA investigators found no mechanical problems with the engines, but when fuel samples were taken, FSII concentration was only 0.02%. Either the FSII injector in the refueler was not working at the FBO where the aircraft had received fuel, or the line staff failed to turn it on. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8258 | Grant Shaw
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Grant Shaw
No. 11 Edmonton Eskimos
Date of birth: (1984-08-03) August 3, 1984 (age 29)
Place of birth: Edmonton, Alberta
Career information
Status: Active
CFL status: Non-import
Position(s): K
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight: 220 lb (100 kg)
University: Saskatchewan
CJFL: Edmonton Huskies
High school: Jasper Place
CFL Draft: 2010 / Round: 2 / Pick: 11
Drafted by: Toronto Argonauts
As player:
Toronto Argonauts
Edmonton Eskimos
Career highlights and awards
Career stats
Playing stats at
Grant Shaw (born August 3, 1984 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a professional Canadian football placekicker and punter for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. He was drafted eleventh overall by the Toronto Argonauts in the 2010 CFL Draft and signed with the team on May 22, 2010.[1] He played college football for the Saskatchewan Huskies football team, where he was named a Canada West All-Star at defensive back in 2009. He has a baby, Frank, that has 6 toes.
Professional career[edit]
Shaw began his rookie season with the Argonauts as the team's starting placekicker before being replaced by Justin Medlock and later Noel Prefontaine due to inaccuracy. Shaw remained on the Argonauts roster for the rest of the season as a backup kicker, punter and linebacker and coverage man on special teams. In the final game of the regular season vs. Montreal, Shaw handled both kicking and punting duties after Noel Prefontaine pulled a muscle during pre-game warm-ups.[2] Shaw hit three of four field goals, including field goals from 47 and 52 yards, and each of the four extra points he attempted, and averaged 49 yards on five punts.
On December 12, 2011, Shaw was traded to the Edmonton Eskimos, along with Steven Jyles and a 2012 first round draft pick, for Ricky Ray.[3]
1. ^ "ARGOS SIGN 11TH OVERALL DRAFT PICK GRANT SHAW | Toronto Argonauts". 2010-05-22. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
2. ^ "DEPTH PROVIDES STEP FOWARD | Toronto Argonauts". 2010-11-08. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
3. ^ "Ray Day! Argos land new QB in deal with Esks | | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
External links[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8259 | Dreamboat Annie
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Dreamboat Annie
Studio album by Heart
Released February 14, 1976
Recorded July - August 1975 at Can-Base Studios, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Genre Hard rock, folk rock
Length 40:02
Label Mushroom
Producer Mike Flicker
Heart chronology
Dreamboat Annie
Little Queen
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars[1]
Robert Christgau C+[2]
Rolling Stone (favorable)[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 3/5 stars[4]
Dreamboat Annie is the debut album by American rock band Heart. At the time, the band was based in Vancouver B.C., and the album was recorded in B.C. and first released in Canada by Mushroom Records (Canada) in the fall of 1975.[5] It was released in the United States on February 14, 1976 through the L.A. subsidiary of Mushroom Records (Canada). It contained three hit singles which became staples on FM radio. Producer Mike Flicker helped the group to polish their sound and obtain a recording contract with the label.
Heart's first single How Deep it Goes b/w Here Song (M-7008) received little attention when released in Canada by the small Mushroom label in 1975. The second single Magic Man b/w How Deep it Goes was first picked up for radio play by CJFM – FM 96 in Montreal[6] while the band was on tour playing small club dates.
The Album[edit]
Dreamboat Annie was released following the success of the second single. The album cover was designed by current Emily Carr University of Art and Design communication design instructor Deborah Shackleton[7] Heart's first radio success earned them a spot opening a Montreal concert for Rod Stewart in October 1975.[8] More Canadian airplay soon followed, partly because Heart's recordings qualified for Canadian content broadcast requirements. The album sold an impressive 30,000 copies across Canada in its first few months.
Mushroom then formed a US division and released Dreamboat Annie on Valentine's Day 1976 in the Seattle area, where Heart's members had lived and played before relocating to Canada in the early 1970s.[9] The album was played by Seattle stations KISW and KZOK and promptly sold another 25,000 copies in the local area. The group and their label then began working together to build success for the album city by city.[citation needed] According to Flicker, this was part of a plan to convince record distributors that Mushroom had a hit record, so that the album would get national distribution.[citation needed]
Subsequent events[edit]
The success of the album indirectly led to a break between the band and label. The first cracks appeared when the group tried to renegotiate their royalty rate to be more in keeping with what they thought a platinum band should be earning. For this Michael Fisher, who was Ann's boyfriend at the time, stepped aside as de facto manager and Ken Kinnear was hired. Mushroom's tough stance in negotiations, and their opinion that perhaps the band was a one-hit wonder, led to Mike Flicker leaving Mushroom. (He did, however, continue to produce for Heart.)[10]
The relationship broke down completely when the label bought a full-page ad in Rolling Stone mocked up like a National Enquirer front page. The ad used a photo similar to the one on the Dreamboat Annie album cover, showing Ann and Nancy back to back with bare shoulders. The caption under the photo read "It Was Only Our First Time". The band had not been consulted and was furious with the double meaning of the caption.
Since the label could no longer provide Flicker as producer as the contract specified, the band took the position that they were free to move to another label and signed with Portrait. Mushroom insisted that the band was still bound to the contract which called for two albums. So, Mushroom released Magazine with incomplete tracks, studio outtakes and live material and a disclaimer on the cover.[10]
The band got a federal injunction to recall the album, but not before about 50,000 copies had been sold. The court eventually decided that the band could sign with Portrait, but that they did owe Mushroom a second album. The band returned to the studio to re-record, remix, edit, and re-sequence the recordings. Magazine was re-released in 1978 and sold a million copies in less than a month.[10] See Magazine for information about the differences between the two versions.
Shelley Siegal, the promoter behind the "First Time" ad, died a few months after the re-release, and Mushroom Records went bankrupt a few years later. The episode had at least one more repercussion. Not long after the ad appeared, a radio promoter asked Ann about her lover – he was referring to Nancy, thus implying that the sisters were incestuous lesbian lovers. The encounter infuriated Ann who went back to her hotel and penned the words to what became Heart's signature song, "Barracuda".[10]
The album was recorded on an Ampex MM1000 16-track tape recorder (which formerly belonged to United Western Recorders) at the Can-Base Studios in Vancouver, BC, which were later renamed to the current Mushroom Studios. It was the first major hit album recorded there.
Track listing[edit]
All songs written by Ann & Nancy Wilson except where noted.
Side one[edit]
1. "Magic Man" - 5:28
2. "Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child)" - 1:10
3. "Crazy on You" - 4:53
4. "Soul of the Sea" - 6:33
5. "Dreamboat Annie" - 2:02
Side two[edit]
1. "White Lightning and Wine" - 3:53
2. "(Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song" - 3:20
3. "Sing Child" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson, Steve Fossen, Roger Fisher) - 4:55
4. "How Deep it Goes" (A. Wilson) - 3:49
5. "Dreamboat Annie (Reprise)" - 3:50
# Title Release Date Hot 100
1. "Crazy on You" 1976 35
2. "Magic Man" 1976 9
3. "Dreamboat Annie" 1976 42
Ann Wilson was song writer and lead vocalist on all tracks - i.e. tracks 1-10. She played flute on tracks 3, 8 and 10.
artist song
Guitars Percussion Keyboards Wind orch.
electric acoustic steel bass banjo drums bells conga timp. perc. synth. piano flute
Ann Wilson 1-10 1-10 3,7-9 9 3,8,10
Nancy Wilson 1-8,10 2,3,5-10 1,6 1-10
Roger Fisher[11] 8 1,3,4,6,7,8 1 7
Steve Fossen 8 1-8,10
Howard Leese 8 1,3 2,7 1 4,7,9,10
Michael DeRosier 6,8
Additional musicians
Ray Ayotte 1 4
Before Dawn
Tessie Bensussen
Geoff Foubert
Jim Hill
Rob Deans 3,9 9,10 4,7,9,10
Mike Flicker 10 1
Kat Hendrikse 2-5,7,10
Duris Maxwell 9
Brian Newcombe 9
Dave Wilson 1
Tracks 1-10 1-10 2,3,5-10 1,3,4,6-9 1-10 7 1-10 2,5 1-10 2,7 1 10 1,4 1,3,9 9,10 3,8,10 4,7,9,10
artist song
Guitars Percussion Keyboards Wind orch.
• Mike Fisher - special direction
• Howard Leese - production assistance
• Mike Flicker - engineering
• Rolf Hennemann - engineering
• Patrick Collins - mastering
Chart performance[edit]
Chart (1976) Peak
Australian Albums Chart[citation needed] 9
Canadian Albums Chart[12] 20
Dutch Albums Chart[13] 7
UK Albums Chart[14] 36
U.S. Billboard 200[15] 7
Album certifications[edit]
• US certification: Platinum (1,000,000 as of Nov. 1976) - RIAA
1. ^ Dreamboat Annie at AllMusic
2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "CG: Heart". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
3. ^ Holden, Stephen (1976-10-21). "Heart: Dreamboat Annie : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
5. ^ Read, Jeani (1976-10-02). "Canada! Coast Industry Focuses on Its Uniqueness". Billboard 88 (40): C-20. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
6. ^ Shelley Siegel. "A Canadian Success Story Not To Be Forgotten". Retrieved April 4, 2011.
7. ^ "Deborah Shackleton". Ecuad.ca. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
8. ^ VH1 Behind the Music
9. ^ See the Heart (band) page for the origins of the group.
10. ^ a b c d Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson; Charles R. Cross (2012). "Ch. 12 - Burn to the Wick". Kicking & Dreaming. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062101679.
12. ^ "RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
13. ^ Steffen Hung. "Heart - Dreamboat Annie". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
14. ^ "Heart - Dreamboat Annie". Chart Stats. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
15. ^ "Heart". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-08-04. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8261 | Jean-Gilles du Coëtlosquet
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Jean-Gilles du Coëtlosquet (15 September 1700, Saint-Pol-de-Léon – 21 March 1784, Paris) was a French ecclesiastic, bishop of Limoges and preceptor to the grandchildren of Louis XV.
Chancellor of Bourges, he served as bishop of Limoges from 1739 to 1758 but left behind no written works and little is known of his life. It is known he was a modest and sincerely pious man, which earned him an appointment as preceptor to the duke of Burgundy, who died in 1761 aged 9, then to his brothers, the future Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X. He was elected a member of the Académie française in 1761.
He also gave the tonsure to Marmontel.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8263 | Kelowna Accord
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The Kelowna Accord is a series of agreements between the Government of Canada, First Ministers of the Provinces, Territorial Leaders, and the leaders of five national aboriginal organizations in Canada. The Accord sought to improve the education, employment, and living conditions for Aboriginal peoples through governmental funding and other programs. The Accord was endorsed by Prime Minister Paul Martin, but was wholly disposed of by his successor, Stephen Harper.[1]
The agreement resulted from 18 months of roundtable consultations leading up to the First Ministers' Meeting in Kelowna, British Columbia in November 2005 and was described in a paper released at the end of the meeting entitled "First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders Strengthening Relationships and Closing the Gap"[2] and a separate press release,[3] issued by the Prime Minister's Office at the close of the Kelowna meetings. The Quebec aboriginals were not included in this final accord, as they did not participate in the process.[4]
The term "Kelowna Accord" was never used at the First Ministers' Meeting. The term seems to have first been used in a Toronto Star article dated December 4, 2005.
Aboriginal leaders saw the accord as a step forward, as it involved a process of cooperation and consultation that brought all parties to the table.
The press release [3] issued by the Office of the Prime Minister on the November 25, 2005 outlined $5.085 billion in spending over 5 years, but did not set out the means for the fiscal distribution between federal departments, provincial and territorial governments, and Aboriginal groups.
The Liberal minority government of Paul Martin fell, and the subsequent federal election resulted in a Conservative minority government headed by Stephen Harper. When presenting their first budget on May 2, 2006, the Conservatives indicated that they were committed to meeting the targets set out at the First Ministers' Meeting in Kelowna and the working paper therein produced, but that they did not agree with the approach taken in the funding announcement set out in the former Prime Minister's press release. Rather, focused initiatives and targeted expenditures, coupled with systemic reform, were laid out as the new government's direction.
In June 2006, former Prime Minister Paul Martin introduced a private member's bill, Bill C-292 An Act to Implement the Kelowna Accord [5] calling on the government to follow through on the agreements made in the Kelowna Accord.
During testimony[6] before the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development it was disputed whether or not an accord had been formally signed and whether or not money had been budgeted for its implementation. Former Prime Minister Paul Martin and former Minister of Finance Ralph Goodale testified that the $5 billion described in the press release was in fact booked in the Sources and Uses Table, an internal Department of Finance document.
On March 21, 2007, the bill was passed by Liberal, Bloc Québécois and New Democratic Party MPs, while the Conservatives voted against it. However, by section 54 of the Constitution Act, 1867, a private member's bill cannot contain expenditure of public funds.
Former Canadian Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine has argued repeatedly for the implementation of the Kelowna Accord. He had called the deal a breakthrough for his people. Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national organization representing the Inuit of Canada, said Harper had put Inuit issues on ice, and that Harper had not implemented any element of the Kelowna accord.[7]
The goal of the education investments was to ensure that the high school graduation rate of aboriginal Canadians matched the rest of the population. The money was also aimed at cutting in half the gap in rates of post-secondary graduation.
On health, targets were established to reduce infant mortality, youth suicide, childhood obesity and diabetes by 20 per cent in five years, and 50 per cent in 10 years. They also promised to double the number of health professionals in 10 years from the current level of 150 physicians and 1,200 nurses.[8]
The plan included
• $1.315 billion for health services.
• $170 million for relationships and accountability
• $200 million for economic development.[8]
All of the targets we've set are achievable
—Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, CBC
Harper rejected the Kelowna Accord, and failed to pass any part of it. The budget included $450 million for aboriginals over two years.[4]
I think the pine beetle infestation in B.C. got more money than urban aboriginals
—Larry Wucherer, the president of the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg, CBC
Had the Kelowna Accord been passed, the equivalent one year spending would have been 600$ million.
See also[edit]
First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders: Strengthening Relationships and Closing the Gap (aka 'Kelowna Accord', 25 November 2005) [9]
1. ^ "Charest calls on Harper to honour Kelowna aboriginal accord". 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
2. ^ [1][dead link]
3. ^ [2][dead link]
4. ^ a b "Undoing the Kelowna agreement". CBC. Nov 21, 2006. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
5. ^ "C-292". Retrieved 2012-07-24.
6. ^ "House of Commons Committees - AANO (39-1) - Evidence - Number 025". Retrieved 2012-07-24.
7. ^ "Media Releases | Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami - Canada's National Inuit Organization". Retrieved 2012-07-24.
8. ^ a b "CBC News In Depth: Aboriginal Canadians". Retrieved 2012-07-24.
9. ^
External links[edit]
Aboriginal Roundtable to Kelowna Accord: Aboriginal Policy Negotiations, 2004-2005 by Lisa L. Patterson, Political and Social Affairs Division, Parliamentary Information and Research Service, Library of Parliament, 4 May 2006.
First Nations Implementation Plan At the First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders Meeting in Kelowna, B.C. on November 24 & 25, 2005, First Ministers and First Nation Leaders committed, through the document: First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders Strengthening Relationships and Closing the Gap, to strengthening relationships between First Nations and federal, provincial and territorial governments. In that spirit, First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders have launched a 10-year dedicated effort to closing the gap .... |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8264 | Potato pancake
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Potato pancake
Latkes frying in olive oil
Main ingredient(s) Potatoes, flour, chicken egg, cooking oil
Background and history[edit]
Belarusian Draniki in a traditional crockery dish
Potato pancakes are associated with cuisines of many European and Middle Eastern century-old traditions including Austrian (as Kartoffelpuffer or "Erdäpfelpuffer"), Belarusian (as draniki), Czech (as bramborák or cmunda), German (as Kartoffelpuffer or Reibekuchen), Hungarian (as tócsni and other names), Iranian, Jewish (as latkes or latkas, Yiddish: לאַטקעס, Hebrew: לביבה levivah, plural לביבות levivot), Latvian (as kartupeļu pankūkas), Lithuanian (as bulviniai blynai), Luxembourg (Gromperekichelcher), Polish (as placki ziemniaczane), Russian (as draniki, драники), Slovak (as zemiakové placky,haruľa or nálečníky), Ukrainian (as deruny) and any other cuisines which have adopted similar dishes. It is the national dish of Belarus. In Germany, potato pancakes are eaten either salty (as a side dish) or sweet with apple sauce,[2] blueberries, sugar and cinnamon; they are a very common menu item during outdoor markets and festivals in colder seasons. In Swiss cuisine, the Rösti differs insofar as it never contains egg or flour. It is a traditional favorite in southern Indiana during holiday festivities.[3]
Potato pancakes, Austria
In the North-East of England (particularly County Durham), there is a popular dish known as tattie fish, because the pancake resembles a deep fried piece of fish. The pancake consists of flour, eggs, shredded potatoes and onions. Some people add tomato or cheese to the mix, depending on taste. A form of potato pancake known as boxty is a popular traditional dish in most of Ireland. It is made in a similar way but using more starch. The British also brought the potato pancake to Zimbabwe, Africa when Zimbabwe was a colony of Britain. They are still eaten today, where they are affordable.
The Swedish version of unbound potato pancakes is called rårakor.[4] When prepared with a batter of wheat flour, milk, egg, and shredded potatoes and fried like thin pancakes, they are called raggmunk, the word "ragg" means crispy and "munk" derives from the Swedish "munkpanna", which is literally translated as donutpan.[5] Both kinds are enjoyed with fried pork and lingonberry jam.
Polish monastic tradition[edit]
Potato pancakes, known in Polish as placki ziemniaczane, are often served in Poland topped with meat sauce, pork crisps or goulash, as well as sour cream, apple sauce, mushroom sauce,[6] and cottage or sheep's cheese or even fruit syrup. Placki ziemniaczane was a food staple at the 17th-century Polish monasteries according to written recipe from Stoczek Warmiński with one onion, two eggs and a spoonful of wheat flour per each kilogram of potatoes, served only with salt and pepper.[7] In the 19th century,[8] especially in times of economic difficulty during the foreign partitions, potato pancakes often replaced missing bread among the peasants. The lower-quality crops given to field laborers were sometimes turned by them quickly into pancakes to improve taste and prolong freshness.[9] Also, their popularity is closely associated with the historic presence of one of the largest Jewish communities in the world flourishing in Poland.[8]
The largest potato pancake (possibly in the world) measuring 2 meters and 2 centimeters was made during the annual two-day celebrations of Świt Plinzy (Plinza Dawn festival) in Rzechta, Poland (see photo). The tongue-in-cheek games in Rzechta include the throwing of bad potato pancake, with the record of 29 meters.[10]
Czech version[edit]
Czech potato pancake is called bramborák and it is made of grated potatoes with egg, breadcrumbs or flour and seasoning (salt, pepper, most importantly garlic and marjoram; sometimes ground caraway seeds) and is served as it is. Some regional versions blend in dough, sauerkraut, and/or sliced smoked meat. The same potato dough is used also as coating of fried pork chop called kaplický řízek.
Hanukkah tradition[edit]
Frying latkes at home. Hannukah
Latkes (לאַטקע) are traditionally eaten by Jews during the Hanukkah festival. The oil for cooking the latkes is symbolic of the oil from the Hanukkah story that kept the Second Temple of ancient Israel lit with a long-lasting flame that is celebrated as a miracle.[11] Prior to the introduction of the potato to the Old World, latkes were, and in some places still are, made from a variety of other vegetables, cheeses, legumes, or starches, depending on the available local ingredients and foods of the various places where Jews lived.[citation needed] Despite the popularity of latkes and tradition of eating them during Hanukkah, they are hard to come by in stores or restaurants in Israel, having been largely replaced by the Hanukkah doughnut due to local economic factors, convenience and the influence of trade unions.[12]
The word "latke" itself is derived (via Yiddish) from the Russian/Ukrainian word латка meaning "patch." The word לביבה leviva, the Hebrew name for latke, has its origins in the Book of Samuel's description of the story of Amnon and Tamar.[13] Some interpreters have noted that the homonym לבב levav means "heart," and the verbal form of l-v-v occurs in the Song of Songs as well.
Latkes need not necessarily be made from potatoes. Numerous modern recipes call for the addition of ingredients such as onions and carrots.[14][15]
See also[edit]
4. ^ "Recipe for ''rårakor'' on chef2chef.net". Recipes.chef2chef.net. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
5. ^ sv:Raggmunk
6. ^ Krzysztof Kucharski, "Nie wszyscy pewnie wiedzą.." Gazeta Wroclawska, Poland, 2008-08-22. (Polish)
7. ^ Recipes. "Placki ziemniaczane". Kącik kulinarny (in Polish). Szlak Pielgrzymkowy - Święte Miejsca Warmii. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
8. ^ a b Krzysztof Kucharski, "Nie wszyscy pewnie wiedzą.." (strona 3). Gazeta Wroclawska, Poland, 2008-08-22. (Polish)
9. ^ Different recipes for "placki ziemniaczane" at Onet.pl (Polish)
10. ^ Editorial (August 2011). "Wysmażyli największy placek ziemniaczany świata (They made the largest pancake in the world)". Święto plinzy Rzechta 2011 in Echo Turku (Plinza holiday in Rzechta) (in Polish). Wydawnictwo - Przegląd Koniński (publishing). Retrieved December 31, 2012.
13. ^ Posted by DLC (2006-12-18). "Analysis of the word "latke"". Balashon. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
14. ^ Rachel Ray, Quick Potato and Carrot Latkes, The Food Network, Dec. 20, 2008.
15. ^ Philip and Karen Selwyn, [groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cuisine.jewish/msg/517874a7f50f71a1 Potato-carrot-onion Latkes], rec.food.cuisine.jewish archives, Oct. 11, 1998, 1:00 AM.
External links[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8267 | Maya MacGuineas
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Maya Carol MacGuineas
Born (1968-02-21) February 21, 1968 (age 46)
Washington, D.C., USA
Education B.A. Northwestern University, M.P.P. Harvard University[1]
Occupation Policy Analyst
Spouse(s) Robin Jermyn Brooks [2]
Children William (2004), Annika (2006)[3]
Maya MacGuineas (born in February 21, 1968 in Washington, DC) is the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget—a bipartisan, non-profit organization in the United States committed to educating the public about issues that have significant fiscal policy impact. She is also the Director of the Fiscal Policy Program at the New America Foundation—a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, DC.[4] A native Washingtonian, she obtained a Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
She serves on the boards of a number of national, nonpartisan organizations.
Born in Washington in 1968 to D. Biard MacGuineas and Carol Kalish,[2] MacGuineas attended the National Cathedral School. She graduated from Northwestern University, where she majored in economics and psychology, and she received a Master degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[3]
Professional career[edit]
MacGuineas has run the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget since 2003, and works mainly on issues related to fiscal, tax, economic, and retirement policy. She has also published a number of articles, including in The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Financial Times and the Los Angeles Times. Once dubbed "an anti-deficit warrior" by The Wall Street Journal[5] and "queen of the deficit scolds" by economist Paul Krugman,[6] MacGuineas has appeared on broadcast news and is often cited by the national press.
MacGuineas also served on The Washington Post editorial board in the Spring of 2009, where she covered economic and fiscal policy and wrote extensively on the health care reform debate. She served as a Social Security adviser to the 2000 McCain Presidential Campaign.[7]
Before joining the New America Foundation, which has been characterized as radical centrist in orientation,[8] MacGuineas worked at the Brookings Institution, the Concord Coalition, and on Wall Street. She has also advised numerous candidates for office from both parties, and works regularly with members of United States Congress on health, economic, tax, and budget policy.
MacGuineas served as a member of the Debt Reduction Task Force at the Bipartisan Policy Center.[9]
External links[edit]
1. ^ "Washington Life Magazine - March 2002 - Washington Weddings". Retrieved 29 March 2011.
2. ^ a b "WEDDINGS; Maya MacGuineas, Robin Brooks". The New York Times. 13 January 2002. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
3. ^ a b "Budget panel president's 'exhausting' dream job". Washington Times. 13 December 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
4. ^ "Maya MacGuineas". Retrieved 29 March 2011.
5. ^ Izzo, Phil (1 June 2009). "Secondary Sources: Health Care, Reich on GM, Borrowing - Real Time Economics". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
6. ^ Paul Krugman (22 December 2012), Maya and the Vigilantes The New York Times
7. ^ "Maya MacGuineas". 19 August 1998. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
9. ^ [1] "Debt Reduction Task Force Members" |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8268 | Nikolai Khokhlov
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Nikolai Evgenievich Khokhlov (Cyrillic: Николай Евгеньевич Хохлов) (7 June 1922, Nizhny Novgorod - September 2007 San Bernardino, California) was a KGB officer who defected to the United States in 1953. He testified about KGB activities. The KGB tried to kill him unsuccessfully using poison.
Family background[edit]
Khokhlov's parents divorced when he was very young; he was not well-acquainted with his father, who later served as a commissar in the Red Army. During the Battle for Moscow, the elder Khokhlov was transferred to a penal battalion because he had made unfavourable remarks about Joseph Stalin. Khokhlov's father died in the battalion.
His stepfather, a lawyer, volunteered to defend Moscow in 1941 and died in action almost immediately. As Khokhlov later put it, "The army needed cannon fodder".[1]
NKVD career[edit]
In October 1941, Khokhlov, then 19 years old, was member of an NKVD quartet who were trained to commit a spectacular attack against Nazi officers during their victory celebration in the occupied Moscow. The mastermind behind the plan was Mikhail Maklyarskiy, a senior NKVD official. The four young agents would have played a vaudeville group on the celebration; Khokhlov was chosen for his role on his whistling abilities. During the training he had his first great romance with fellow agent, singer Tasya Ignatova. After the German retreat from the outskirts of Moscow, the deadly show was cancelled.[2]
Nikolai Khokhlov was a member of a successful military unit that fought behind the enemy lines during World War II. He was disguised as a Nazi officer after parachuting into German-occupied Belarus. He played a part in the assassination of Wilhelm Kube, the Nazi Gauleiter of Belarus. After the war, Khokhlov became the prototype for the main character in a 1947 Soviet film, Feat of a Scout ("Подвиг разведчика").
Assassination mission[edit]
In 1954, Khokhlov was sent by the KGB to supervise two other men whose task was to kill Georgiy Okolovich, a chairman of the National Alliance of Russian Solidarists. He decided not to follow the order and discussed the situation with his wife,Yana; she said, "If this man is killed, you will be a murderer. I cannot be the wife of a murderer."[3] Khokhlov went to Okolovich's flat in Frankfurt and told him: "Georgiy Sergeyevich, I have come to you from Moscow. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has ordered your assassination. The murder is entrusted to my group... I can’t let this murder happen."[4] His wife was arrested and sentenced to five years of involuntary settlement in the Soviet Union, in retaliation.
Poisoning by thallium[edit]
Khokhlov was treated for thallium poisoning in Frankfurt in 1957.[5] That was a failed assassination attempt by Thirteenth KGB Department.[4] This case is often claimed to be the first radiological attack by the KGB, especially when comparison with Alexander Litvinenko poisoning[6] needs to be drawn, although it remains unclear what isotope has been used, if any.[7] Former KGB officer Stanislav Lekarev claimed, however, that Khokhlov was poisoned by radioactive polonium (not thallium), exactly as Litvinenko [8]
Life in the United States[edit]
From 1968 to 1992, Dr. Khokhlov taught undergraduate and graduate psychology classes at California State University, San Bernardino, retiring as a professor emeritus in 1993. In 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin pardoned him, and Khokhlov returned Moscow for a short stay, for the first time since the 1950s. He later made an e-mail contact with, then eventually met, his son in Russia of whom he had not been previously aware. In the United States, Khokhlov married again. With his second wife Tanja, he had two daughters and a son, Misha, who died several years ago due to a kidney failure.
In 2006 Khokhlov made a comparison between his poisoning half a century ago and the murder of Litvinenko. "The situation within Russia today is very perilous. There are no more laws, and no more order. Putin brought back many KGB, and there are too many KGB at the top, the old dinosaurs who cannot get rid of old habits", he added.
Nikolai Khokhlov died of a heart attack in San Bernardino, California, in September 2007. He was buried next to the grave of his son.
See also[edit]
1. ^ Andrew Nagorski: The Greatest Battle, 2007, pp. 198-199
2. ^ Andrew Nagorski: The Greatest Battle, 2007, pp. 196-198
3. ^ Times Online
4. ^ a b *Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, Gardners Books (2000), ISBN 0-14-028487-7
5. ^ Meeting with past (Russian)
7. ^ Category: Radiation Basics
8. ^ Who Killed Litvinenko? - Russia
External links[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8270 | PSR B1913+16
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from PSR 1913+16)
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PSR B1913+16
Observation data
Epoch B1950.0 Equinox B1950.0
Constellation Aquila[1]
Right ascension 19h 13m 12.4655s
Declination 16° 01′ 08.189″
Distance 21,000 ly
(6400 pc)
Mass 1.441 M
Rotation 59.02999792988 ms
Orbital decay of PSR B1913+16.[3] The data points indicate the observed change in the epoch of periastron with date while the parabola illustrates the theoretically expected change in epoch according to general relativity.
PSR B1913+16 (also known as PSR J1915+1606 and PSR 1913+16) is a pulsar (a radiating neutron star) which together with another neutron star is in orbit around a common center of mass, thus forming a binary star system. PSR 1913+16 was the first binary pulsar to be discovered. In 1974 it was discovered by Russell Alan Hulse and Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr., of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Their discovery of the system and analysis of it earned them the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation."[4]
The system is also called the Hulse–Taylor binary pulsar after its discoverers.
The pulses from the pulsar arrive 3 seconds earlier at some times relative to others, showing that the pulsar’s orbit is 3 light-seconds across, approximately the diameter of the Sun. Since this is a binary system, the masses of the two neutron stars can be determined, and they are each around 1–3 times the mass of the Sun. Observations have shown that the pulsar’s orbit is gradually contracting, due to the emission of energy in the form of Gravitational Waves, as predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, causing the pulsar to reach periastron slightly early. Also, periastron advances 4º per year in longitude due to the gravitational field (thus the pulsar’s periastron moves as far in a day as Mercury’s moves in a century).
Star system[edit]
The orbit has decayed since the binary system was initially discovered, in precise agreement with the loss of energy due to gravitational waves predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity.[2][5][6][7] The ratio of observed to predicted rate of orbital decay to be 0.997±0.002.[7] The total power of the gravitational radiation (waves) emitted by this system presently, is calculated to be 7.35 × 1024 watts. For comparison, this is 1.9% of the power radiated in light by our own Sun. (Another comparison is that our own Solar System radiates only about 5000 watts in gravitational waves, due to the much larger distances and orbit times, particularly between the Sun and Jupiter).
With this comparatively large energy loss due to gravitational radiation, the rate of decrease of orbital period is 76.5 microseconds per year, the rate of decrease of semimajor axis is 3.5 meters per year, and the calculated lifetime to final inspiral is 300,000,000 years.[2][7]
• Mass of companion: 1.387 MSun
• Total mass of the system: 2.828378(7) MSun
• Orbital period: 7.751938773864 hr
• Eccentricity: 0.6171334
• Semimajor axis: 1,950,100 km
• Periastron separation: 746,600 km
• Apastron separation: 3,153,600 km
In popular culture[edit]
Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke offhandedly speculated, in his television series Mysterious World, that this pulsar was the Star of Bethlehem. He ended the 12th episode with the line, "How romantic if even now we can hear the dying voice of the star which heralded the Christian era."[citation needed]
See also[edit]
4. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1993". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2011-03-12. "for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation"
5. ^ a b Taylor, J. H.; Weisberg, J. M. (1982). "A new test of general relativity - Gravitational radiation and the binary pulsar PSR 1913+16". Astrophysical Journal 253: 908–920. Bibcode:1982ApJ...253..908T. doi:10.1086/159690.
6. ^ Taylor, J. H.; Weisberg, J. M. (1989). "Further experimental tests of relativistic gravity using the binary pulsar PSR 1913 + 16". Astrophysical Journal 345: 434–450. Bibcode:1989ApJ...345..434T. doi:10.1086/167917. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8271 | Mononuclear phagocyte system
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Reticuloendothelial system)
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The mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) is a part of the immune system that consists of the phagocytic cells[1] located in reticular connective tissue. The cells are primarily monocytes and macrophages, and they accumulate in lymph nodes and the spleen. The Kupffer cells of the liver and tissue histiocytes are also part of the MPS.
"Reticuloendothelial system" is an older term for the mononuclear phagocyte system, but it is used less commonly now, as it is understood that most endothelial cells are not macrophages.[2]
Cell Types and Locations[edit]
The spleen is the largest unit of the mononuclear phagocyte system. The monocyte is formed in the bone marrow and transported by the blood; it migrates into the tissues, where it transforms into a histiocyte or a macrophage.
Macrophages are diffusely scattered in the connective tissue and in liver (Kupffer cells), spleen and lymph nodes (sinus histiocytes), lungs (alveolar macrophages), and central nervous system (microglia). The half-life of blood monocytes is about 1 day, whereas the life span of tissue macrophages is several months or years. The mononuclear phagocyte system is part of both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. The mononuclear phagocyte system has an important role in defense against microorganisms, including mycobacteria, fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. Macrophages remove senescent erythrocytes, leukocytes, and megakaryocytes by phagocytosis and digestion.
Cell Name Location
Adipose tissue macrophages Adipose tissue
Monocyte Bone Marrow/Blood
Kupffer cell Liver
Sinus histiocytes Lymph node
Alveolar macrophage(dust cell) Pulmonary alveolus of Lungs
Tissue macrophages (Histiocyte) leading to Giant cells Connective Tissues
Langerhans cell Skin and Mucosa
Microglia Central Nervous System
Hofbauer cell Placenta
Intraglomerular mesangial cell Kidney
Osteoclasts Bone
Epithelioid cells Granulomas
Red Pulp Macrophage (Sinusoidal lining cells) Red pulp of Spleen
Peritoneal macrophages Peritoneal cavity
• Formation of new red blood cells (RBCs) and white blood cells (WBCs).
• Destruction of old RBCs and WBCs
• Formation of plasma proteins.
• Formation of bile pigments.
• Storage of iron. In the liver, Kupffer cells store excess iron from catabolism of heme from the breakdown of red blood cells. In bone marrow and spleen, iron is stored in MPS cells mostly as ferritin; in iron overload states, most of the iron is stored as hemosiderin.
1. ^ Mononuclear Phagocyte System at the US National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
2. ^ Inderbir Singh (2006). Textbook of human histology. Jaypee Brothers Publishers. pp. 90–. ISBN 978-81-8061-809-3. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
External links[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8273 | Takarai Kikaku
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Portrait by Oguri Kanrei (小栗寛令)
Takarai Kikaku (Japanese: 宝井其角; 1661–1707) also known as Enomoto Kikaku, was a Japanese haikai poet and among the most accomplished disciples of Matsuo Bashō.[1][2] His father was an Edo doctor, but Kikaku chose to become a professional haikai poet rather than follow in his footsteps.[2]
One day, Kikaku composed a haiku,
Red dragonfly / break off it wings / Sour cherry
which Bashō changed to,
Sour cherry / add wings to it / Red dragonfly;
thus saying that poetry should add life to life, not take life away from life.[3][4] His master is known to have denigrated Kikaku's 'flippant efforts'. Kikaku wrote of coarser subjects than Bashō, and in this respect his poetry was closer to earlier haikai. Kikaku set the tone for haikai from Bashō's death until the time of Yosa Buson in the late 18th century.[2]
In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Kikaku's death, Nobuyuki Yuasa led an international bilingual (Japanese and English) renku, or collaborative linked poem, which opened with the following hokku by Kikaku:[6]
Springtime in Edo,
Not a day passes without
A temple bell sold.
1. ^ Eighteen Haiku by Kikaku, translated by Michael K. Bourdaghs, in Big City Lit, Feb 2004
2. ^ a b c Katō, Shūichi and Sanderson, Don. A History of Japanese Literature: From the Man'yōshū to Modern Times,Routledge, 1997, ISBN 978-1-873410-48-6 p.159
3. ^ MBR: Reviewer's Bookwatch, October 2001
4. ^ The Conversation Continues - Page 28
5. ^ Takarai, Kikaku. An Account of Our Master Basho's Last Days, translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa in Springtime in Edo. Keisuisha, 2006. ISBN 4-87440-920-2, pp.15-26
6. ^ Yuasa, Nobuyuki et al. Springtime in Edo. Keisuisha, 2006. ISBN 4-87440-920-2, pp.3-9
External links[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8274 | Trouble with Lichen
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Trouble with Lichen
1st edition
Author John Wyndham
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Science fiction novel
Publisher Michael Joseph
Publication date
Pages 189
Preceded by The Outward Urge
Followed by Chocky
Trouble with Lichen (published 1960) is a science fiction novel by John Wyndham.
Plot summary[edit]
The plot concerns a young woman biochemist who discovers that a chemical extracted from an unusual strain of lichen (hence the title) can be used to retard the ageing process, enabling people to live to around 200–300 years. Wyndham speculates how society would deal with this prospect.
The two central characters are Diana Brackley and Francis Saxover, two biochemists who run parallel investigations into the properties of a specific species of lichen after Diana notices that a trace of the specimen prevents some milk turning sour.
She and Francis separately manage to extract from the lichen a new drug, dubbed Antigerone, which slows down the body's ageing process. While Francis uses it only on himself and his immediate family (without their knowledge), Diana founds a cosmetic spa, and builds up a clientele of some of the most powerful women in England, giving them low doses of Antigerone, preserving their beauty and youth. When Saxover finds out about the spas, he erroneously assumes that Diana's motive is profit. Diana's aim, however, is actually female empowerment, intending to gain the support of these influential women, believing that if Antigerone became publicly known, it would be reserved only for the men in power.
After a customer suffers an allergic reaction to one of Diana's products, the secret of the drug begins to emerge. Diana tries to cover up the real source of the drug, since the lichen is very rare and difficult to grow, but when it is finally discovered, she fakes her own death, in the hope of inspiring the women of Britain to fight for the rights she tried to secure for them.
Francis realises that she may not really be dead, and tracks her down to a remote farm, where she has succeeded in growing a small amount of the lichen. Diana plans to rejoin the world under the guise of being her own sister, and continue the work she left off.
Wyndham, John (1960), The Trouble With Lichen, Penguin, p. 91, "This is not the age of reason, this is the age of flummery, and the day of the devious approach. Reason’s gone into the backrooms where it works to devise means by which people can be induced to emote in the desired direction" . Minor adaptations added.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8275 | Umbilical cable
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An umbilical cable or umbilical is a cable which supplies required consumables to an apparatus. It is named by analogy with an umbilical cord. An umbilical can for example supply air and power to a pressure suit or hydraulic power, electrical power and fiber optics to a subsea equipment.
Space suits[edit]
Early space suits used umbilicals, but modern designs carry their own temperature/humidity control, air supply and electric batteries.
Subsea umbilicals are deployed on the seabed (ocean floor) to supply necessary control, energy (electric, hydraulic) and chemicals to subsea oil and gas wells, subsea manifolds and any subsea system requiring remote control, such as a remotely operated vehicle. Subsea intervention umbilicals are also used for offshore drilling or workover activities.
A diver's umbilical is a group of components which supply breathing gas and other services from the surface control point to a diver.
For shallow water surface supply air diving, the diver's umbilical is typically a 3-part umbilical comprising a gas hose, pneumofathometer ("pneumo") hose, and diver communications cable, which usually also serves as a lifeline strength member. The "pneumo" hose is open at the diver's end and connected to a pressure gauge on the surface gas panel, where the supervisor can use it to measure the diver's depth in the water at any time.
A 4-part diver umbilical will also have a hot water supply hose for the diver's exposure suit.
A 5-part diver umbilical will also include a video cable to allow the surface controller to see the video picture transmitted to the surface from the diver's hat camera (video camera mounted on the helmet, facing forward).
Early diver umbilicals were simply the individual components bundled together and taped every metre or so with duct tape. These bundles tend to distort and produce kinks in the components caused by bending (particularly dangerous if the kink is in the divers gas supply hose), and require frequent maintenance.
More recent umbilicals comprise all the components laid together like a twisted rope, so that there is no chance of a kink, no separate lifeline component is required, and no tape is required to hold the umbilical together. An additional component such as a video cable for a diver's camera, or a hat light cable, can be added by manually wrapping this additional component into the lay of the existing cabled umbilical.
Rockets and Missiles[edit]
Within the communities for rockets and missile, the cable running to provide power for the rocket or missile and signals/ communications to its computer and or electronics. Frequently to the physical observation it is a single physical cable, within it there can be more than a hundred different wires, each one used for a particular signal to the missile.
See also[edit] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8279 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I've found this translation http://www.wordreference.com/iten/subordinato but I am not sure if English legals use subordinate to define a party that is subordinated to another.
Any suggestion?
EDIT: An approximation of "subordinato" can be "working for someone that employs you".
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It's a perfectly common usage in English too - but we just call such a person a "subordinate" (not subordinated). – FumbleFingers Dec 12 '12 at 17:56
...most of these thousands of instances of "behaviour towards subordinates" will be for this exact context, which I'm voting to close as General Reference. – FumbleFingers Dec 12 '12 at 17:59
I am drafting an agreement where I am say something like "Section x - Exclusion of partnership relationship and employment of party x" OR "Section x - Exclusion of partnership relationship and subordinate relationship" – mm24 Dec 12 '12 at 18:00
I'm not a lawyer, so I wouldn't want to advise on phrasing of a (legal?) agreement. But if you simply look at a few examples in that link I'd have thought it will tell you as much as any answer here, since "behaviour towards subordinates" is often an area that concerns the law. Sexual language/activity involving a subordinate is often discouraged, and may be illegal, for example. – FumbleFingers Dec 12 '12 at 18:14
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closed as general reference by Rory Alsop, tchrist, MετάEd, Robusto, JSBձոգչ Dec 13 '12 at 19:26
2 Answers
English "subordinate" implies a hierarchy, but not necessarily an employment relationship. For example, the subordinates of a military officer are those of lower rank whom he commands. The word need not refer to a hierarchy of persons at all: it is also used to describe nesting in an outline of an argument or essay. From your comment, I guess a reference to an employer/employee relationship is more precise.
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The legal term subordinated may have a narrow technical definition, which can't be guessed without some context.
For example, subordinated debt will have a specific definition not closely related to normal English use of the word subordinate.
In normal English, the final definition
• militare (inferiore di grado) military :
• subordinate n
is the primary use, and the penultimate definition
• (sottoposto) :
• subordinate, direct report n
• aide, associate n
• pejorative stooge, underling n
would be a less-common but still understandable use.
The other definitions (conditional, dependent or non-autonomous) would be more likely in specific, narrow or technical sense.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8358 | AutoCAD 2013/2014
Posts: 3
Registered: 03-19-2012
Message 1 of 4 (162 Views)
Network profiles
162 Views, 3 Replies
10-04-2012 06:22 AM
We keep our default profile out on a network share. Then distribute a shortcut with a target something like this: "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2013\acad.exe" /p "Y:\Cad Directory\Acad2013.arg" and 19/20 times this works great for us. However if anything happens to the mounting of the user's Y drive (most frequently windows just doesn't bother to actually connect it until you open the drive in Win Explorer) when Acad is launched instead of falling back on the registry cached version of the profile it resets the profile to default and then saves over the registry version. Then on subsequent launches even after the network drive is restored it keeps the default profile and we have to delete the profile and relaunch to reload from the network.
It's certainly not the end of the world, but it is a pain. Any advice? This seems to be new behavior with 2013 since this is largely the same set up we've been using for...more years than I can recall. Originally we had migrated the profile from 2012, and I thought maybe there was some bad legacy left over from that so recreated the profile from scratch using 2013 and that seems to have not helped at all.
Please use plain text.
Valued Contributor
Posts: 85
Registered: 07-25-2012
Message 2 of 4 (155 Views)
Re: Network profiles
10-04-2012 07:15 AM in reply to: MikeSchumacher
First I have never set a network version of Acad up so I might be way off here.
What if you used the network address instead of a share?
Like \\SERVER\Cad Directory\Acad2013.arg
Could this work?
Please use plain text.
Posts: 3
Registered: 03-19-2012
Message 3 of 4 (151 Views)
Re: Network profiles
10-04-2012 08:04 AM in reply to: Rick-K
It has been talked about but has some other challenges. We're spread across over a dozen offices/ home offices / job sites. The Y drive is home to most of our cad support/template/automation data. It's replicated to 3 servers servicing east coast, west coast, and midwest and on a per-user basis the Y drive is mapped to their best geographic match for location.
That said, the profile only amounts to 50k and should only be pulled when a user is running for the first time, or is resetting their profile. I'll try the full network path to our central server and see if the behavior is any better.
Please use plain text.
*Expert Elite*
Posts: 4,615
Registered: 10-12-2006
Message 4 of 4 (146 Views)
Re: Network profiles
10-04-2012 08:34 AM in reply to: MikeSchumacher
I've seen similar problems stemming from AutoCAD being launched before drives are mapped. What we do for new users is run a set-up BAT routine which runs AutoCAD with the default profile to run the secondary installer, then apply a REG file with the initial profile contents. Because its a REG file, it can also be re-applied very easily if needed at a later time.
Adopt. Adapt. Overcome. Or be overcome.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8360 | I have a question about username and password authentication. I have a Nokia firewall running checkpoint Firewall software on a Unix platform. One of the rules I have set up requires end users to authenticate through a web page that is being hosted on the firewall. I am not certain what web engine is hosting the pages. The pages/code came installed as part of the checkpoint package. I was able to get the authentication working with the default pages and code. Because the default forms and their flow are a bit clumsy I was hoping to change them. Since my background is network administration with very little coding I need some help.
The default code/pages for the current process are all in the same directory on the firewall. There are 8 files called...:ahclientd1.html through ahclientd8.html. I am only using ahclientd 1,2,3 and 7. The remaining is for different services.
Copies of the original code can been seen here:
The following is the current process:
1.User goes to
2.Screen 1 prompts for username input
3.Click submit
4.Screen 2 prompts for password input
5.Click submit
6.Screen 3 displays notification of successful or failed authentication.
I would like to change the code so the username and password input were on the same page. I searched a few Nokia / Checkpoint forums and found some code that was suppose to do what I wanted. But it does not work. Can you have a look at the code and help me understand why it does not work? If you can help me with this or if you have ideas on another way to streamline the process I would appreciate your feedback.
Click here to see a copy of the new code that is suppose to combine the username and password into one form:
Thanks for the help, |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8376 | Jump to: navigation, search
Eschenhorst (now Jasionno, Poland) Source: Wikipedia Commons
Eschenhorst (also known as Eichenhorst, Jeżewo, Jasionn, and Jasionna; now known as Jasionno; coordinates: 54.0923, 19.3438 [54° 5′ 32″ N, 19° 20′ 37″ E]; population in 1905, 202; in 2013, 250) is located approximately 9 kilometers (5.5 miles) south-west of Elbląg (Elbing), 20 km. (12 miles) north-east of Malbork (Marienburg), and 20 km. (12 miles) south-east of Nowy Dwór Gdański (Tiegenhof).
Eschenhorst was founded by Dutch colonists between 1592 and 1595. Until 1772 the village was located in what was known as Royal Prussia (also known as Polish Prussia) in the Kingdom of Poland. The First Partition of Poland in 1772 resulted in the creation of a new province in 1773, called West Prussia, in which the village was located. The village was situated in the district (Kreis) of Marienburg until the end of World War I, when it came under the jurisdiction of the German province of East Prussia. In 2013 Eschenhorst (now Jasionno) was a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gronowo Elbląskie, within Elbląg County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.
The 1776 Prussian census lists two Mennonite families in Eschenhorst (Eichenhorst) with the following surnames: Harms and Quiring. The 1820 census does not list any Mennonites in Eschenhorst.
[edit] Bibliography
Stowarzyszenie Konserwatorów Zabytków. "Jasionna." Catalogue of Monuments of Dutch Colonization in Poland. 2005. Web. 9 February 2013.
Wikipedia. "Jasionno." Web. 9 February 2013.
[edit] Maps
Map:Jasionno, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland
Author(s) Richard D Thiessen
Date Published February 2013
[edit] Cite This Article
MLA style
Thiessen, Richard D. "Eschenhorst (Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. February 2013. Web. 16 Mar 2014.,_Poland)&oldid=94552.
APA style
Thiessen, Richard D. (February 2013). Eschenhorst (Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 16 March 2014, from,_Poland)&oldid=94552.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8377 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I saw the HD texture pack for Skyrim on Steam, so I went ahead and clicked install. One thing I forgot to check is the download size, which is important since my connection speeds are throttled if I exceed 9GB of bandwidth before the end of the month. Is there any way I can cancel the download?
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3 Answers
up vote 4 down vote accepted
In the Steam Library Downloads page, you can pause and cancel active downloads. Also by right clicking on an entry in your Steam Library, you can do the same.
Unfortunately, because steam binds this form of DLC to your account, your options are limited. As long as Steam has the DLC bound to the game, it will try to install it. You can turn off Steam's automatic updates for Skyrim, but this means that you won't get any of the updates to Skyrim and even manual updating will try to install the DLC so this is not a long-term solution. Your only real solution is to contact Steam Support and have them remove the DLC from your account.
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Really, that is lame. – Jonathon Wisnoski May 17 '13 at 15:33
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You don't have to cancel the download or burn your one chance to a Steam refund for this. You just need a friend on an unfucked internet connection and then you can just use the SneakerNet.
• If he has Skyrim with HD textures, great. Otherwise, go there and log in with your account there.
• Download the game if necessary.
• Make a Steam Backup of it.
• Log out of your account if necessary.
• Put the backup on a sufficiently large thumbdrive or equivalent.
• Take it home.
• Restore the backup on your machine.
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The only way for me was to turn my internet off when I was playing Skyrim.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8378 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
At level 60, the Nephalem Valor buff kicks in. Killing champion packs increase the effect, which gives a boost to gold and magic find, and increases the number of drops from bosses.
How many stacks can you get? What causes you to lose stacks? How much gold find and magic find does each stack give? How many extra drops from bosses does it give? Is it any boss, or only Inferno bosses?
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Details are going to be scarce until people actually hit level 60, but here are a few facts: It works as soon as you're level 60, regardless of difficulty. Changing your skills will reset the buff. – StrixVaria May 14 '12 at 23:50
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4 Answers
up vote 4 down vote accepted
The entire Nephalem Valor concept has been removed since Patch 2.0.1 (live on Feb. 25, 2014). Along with this change, two new concepts have been added to the game (Official Patch Notes):
Pools of Reflection have been added to the game
• Pools of Reflection provide a 25% bonus to experience
• This experience bonus persists on logout
Nephalem Glory has been added to the game
• This buff can stack up to three times
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great answer so far, but does the game difficulty or character level affect chances of getting the nephalem glory power globe? – z - Feb 26 at 17:18
You are straight up quoting the patch notes. You should probably link it and make it a little more obvious that it's a word-for-word copy. – StrixVaria Feb 26 at 19:30
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Paragon Levels Update : From Blizz blog here.
With the 1.0.4 patch, Bliz has announced that Nephalem Valor will be modified to provide a 15% experience bonus, in addition to the magic find and gold find bonuses that it alread provided. After the patch there is also a cap on MF/GF to 300%, however Nephalem Valor will be added after that cap, so with 5 stacks of NV, it is possible to hit 375%/375% MF/GF.
Edit with added detail: From this thread
Note that I've modified the bold values based on Rapida's suggestion. I found another thread which confirms that the actual values are15% per stack, up to 75% total.
Whenever you kill a pack of Blue monsters, or a Yellow, you receive 1 charge of Valor. This buff currently gives you [+15% Magic Find], per charge. You can have up to 5 charges and each one lasts 30 minutes. (So if you kill a pack of blues/yellow every 6 minutes, you will always have [+75%] MF)
The downside to this ability is, every time you modify any of your skills, all of your charges fall off.
I can add from other comments in the thread that you lose the bonus for logging out (after a small timeout for dropped links), but not for dying. Note also from the below that killing additional champion/elite/unique monsters restarts the 30 min timer for each kill. Note also that killing purple (Elite quest mobs), does not count.
The buff lasts 30mins , but after u kill more magic mobs u get an addition stack till u get to 5 , then u refresh it by killing more magic mobs, u can have it up all the time
Purple ones (quest elite monsters) do not add a stack.
Original Answer (with just a few edits where new details are known)
Blizzard themselves have only released a limited amount of details on this feature, and they have given the caveat that it is subject to change.
Diablofans has a good recap here. Pertinent details are:
• The Nephalem Valor buff increases a player's Magic Find as well as increase the amount of loot drops from a boss.
• The Nephalem Valor buff will be available only to characters of level 60.
• After killing an Elite monster, the Nephalem Valor buff will be activated.
• The Nephalem Valor buff can stack.
• The buff will disappear if you change a skill, skill rune, passive skill or leave the game.
• If a player joins a game, they will not receive the current buff other players may already have.
• Dying will not cause the buff to disappear. If disconnected, there will be a small grace period before disappearing.
In additional clarifications from Blizzard, some more of your specific questions are answered.
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Can you search a little and update the post? I think by now there should be a lot of players playing inferno to give some sources :) – martorf May 20 '12 at 13:40
Good suggestion, added new details from hardcore folks that have already made it to 60. Let me know what you think. I couldn't find any official blue updates yet. – EBongo May 20 '12 at 20:40
@EBongo I can also confirm from experience that you don't need to kill a monster every 6 minutes. One boss kill refreshes all your stack timers, so it is only every 30 minutes. And it is also worth mentioning that it does indeed gold and magic find. – Rapida May 22 '12 at 19:47
I've found that at 4 stacks, bosses are guaranteed to drop at least one rare. 5 stacks guarantees 2. Blizzard is changing this in 1.03, but currently, 5 stacks = two guaranteed rares. – Frank Jun 7 '12 at 14:17
While this answer is accurate and up-to-date, it feels like it's about 10 times longer than it really should be. Especially since it's not possible for anyone to play any version of Diablo 3 except the latest. I feel like the historical versions of this answer should live under the "edited" link, and the current answer (with appropriate historical notes) would be better in simpler terms, in present (not future) tense. – Theodore Murdock Nov 29 '12 at 3:54
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Nephalem Valor is a buff available at level 60 that increases your Gold and Magic Find by 15% per stack to a maximum of five stacks, as well as the amount of loot dropped by unique bosses. A stack is attained by killing a Champion (blue) or Elite (yellow) mob packs - unique bosses (purple) do not charge it. The buff lasts for 30 minutes, and gaining an additional stack recharges it to its full duration. It's only removable by leaving the game, timing out the buff, or changing skills.
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Please note, for Playstation and Xbox versions, this buff stacks to a maximum of 3 for the full nephalem valor effect. It then becomes 25% per stack, which amounts to the full 75% bonus to magic find, and gold find.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8379 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
How does the matchmaking system work in Call of Duty games?
1. Is it completely random with no accounting for player rank?
2. Is it based on player rank?
3. Is it based on a skill ranking of some kind such as kills to deaths ratio or most recent individual ranking in previous matches?
It appears from playing that it is #1 and just random, but I find it a strange way to do it as surely there are enough players to perform a fairer ranking process. A player of any skill can get to level 70 eventually.
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Can you please specify which call of duty? (I think you speak about a specific one) – Lerkes Jul 5 '12 at 11:58
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closed as too broad by Tharius, Frank, FEichinger, kalina, Fluttershy Dec 22 '13 at 1:14
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up vote 1 down vote accepted
Without knowing the inner workings of their matchmaking algorithm, first and foremost I believe the matchmaking is by location-- or more specifically, connection speed, which usually means location as well. It searches for other consoles whose ping is under a certain threshold, and if it finds none, it increases the threshold until a good game is found. As to whether they use other criteria on top of that, I've never noticed any kind of pattern.
I'm speaking from experience based on MW2; it's possible that they've changed the algorithm since then, but I doubt it. Improvements? In the CoD franchise? Psh.
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"Improvements? In the CoD franchise? Psh." I think you're talking a bit too fast here. "In League Play, players will be placed in a division based on how well they do in several test matches. The divisions will be made up of a few hundred or maybe a thousand other players and as they compete, they will work their way up (or perhaps down) the ladder." – rdurand Aug 27 '12 at 14:34
(coming up in Black Ops II) – rdurand Aug 27 '12 at 14:34
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In MW3, I think they build the lobbies according to your geographical situation, due to the lack of dedicated servers. That way, if the people you are playing with are not too far from you, the game will suffer less lag. This is just theoretically, as I live in France and often end up with english-and-other-languages-speaking players...
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8383 | Smartphones Secure Enough For the NSAS
Because BlackBerries and Sidekicks aren't quite secure enough for the NSA—the government agency that knows you called the Nintendo tip hotline way too many times in the late '80s—they're ordering up a bunch of General Dynamics Sectera Edge smartphones.
Not only are these things up to military spec, which means you can drop it on the dirt while taking cover, it's got a personal organizer. The features that makes it NSA-approved are its advanced SIPRNET and NIPRNET access, DoD PKI-enabled Common Access Card Support, DoD 8100.2 requirement satisfaction, Type 1 classified data encrypted storage support, and the ability to be used inside "closed areas" with an SCIF-Friendly mode. Those specs are like security fanfic porn to the NSA tech crew. [GDC4s via Crave] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8384 | The Most Epic Treehouse Ever ConstructedS
My childhood self just passed out from excitement. This thing is 11 stories and 90 feet tall, and it's growing ever-larger. Seriously, I want to live here so badly.
View gallery »
Be sure to follow the link for more pictures of this crazy thing. [ZuZu Top via Make] |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8393 | ddc-core- Disciple Core language and type checker.
Safe HaskellSafe-Infered
equivT :: (Ord n, Pretty n) => Type n -> Type n -> BoolSource
Check equivalence of types.
Checks equivalence up to alpha-renaming, as well as crushing of effects and trimming of closures.
• Return False if we find any free variables.
• We assume the types are well-kinded, so that the type annotations on bound variables match the binders. If this is not the case then you get an indeterminate result. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8397 | View Single Post
02-19-2013, 06:05 PM
Lost a bet. Oh well.
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How do you know you are wayyyy too obsessed with Sim City? When you spend an hour completely re-building a large tile, 3,100,000 population city's subway system because you want to cut that damned commute time stat down by 5 friggin minutes.
But no really the subway system works a LOT better now. What I did was put all the stations on bypasses rather than just having them all on the line like they were. Subways aren't slowed down by intersections, but they ARE slowed down by going through a station that is overloaded to hell, and most of my subway stations in that town are used above 1,000%.
And it wasn't just 5 minutes I cut off the commute time, I outright halved it from 90 to 45.
So yeah, a little bit of an obsession, but worth it it seems.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8428 | Previous Entry Add to Memories Share Next Entry
Something I wonder whenever his songs come up
Could someone who looked like Jim Croce have a big singing career today? The people I see go by in music videos seem to spend more points on comeliness than singers did in the 1970s.
You forget that there were *plenty* of singers that made their bucks by looking good in the 1970s. Luckily, most of them are not remembered that much today.
1971 - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheepy
That's Rock and Roll
(Ok, Shaun Cassidy has since made his name in film production, but I have not heard either of these two songs played since they first came out. For small mercies we are eternally grateful)
And to think I had a crush on that boy when I was about thirteen. Eep.
But...but...he's SHAUN CASSIDY! He was in Dynamite! and everything!
I sing a version of chirpy chirpy cheepy cheep from time to time myself. The last time I heard it on the radio was only a few years ago.
Someone else mentioned Chirpy Chirpy Cheepy Cheep to me today. What are the odds?
1971 - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
Not to make you feel old, but the first time I heard that song was when Lush covered it in the '90s. And I really liked it! I'd never heard the original version before; it's pretty ... different.
It depends what kind of career you want. He couldn't be a pop star, but there are people who come up through indie music, who miss pretty by a wide margin and still seem to be doing pretty well.
Of course you can't be a woman and non-pretty even in indie music. That's just crazy talk.
Yes, just look at Liam Gallagher and especially Thom Yorke. And then ask yourself what kind of hope for a career a woman of similar looks could have in indie rock.
Well, Janis Joplin was considered unattractive.
I'm not sure that it's entirely true that non-pretty women are barred from the music biz. Adele managed to sell a few albums and though I wouldn't call her ugly she is a bit more rubenesque than is currently fashionable.
But aside from her weight Adele's a very attractive woman, in a conventional sense.
Beth Ditto's a different deal, it's true. Then again she comes out of a very specifically feminist/LGBT scene, and she's a much bigger deal in Europe and the UK than in the US.
It's not like there's an actual law, but It's much, much more usual for women in indie music to look like the women in Metric, the Joy Formidable, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and even the Dirty Projectors.
Adele is a beautiful woman, even, or especially, considering her weight.
If Croce hadn't died who knows what effects an extended career might have had on the music business.
Eh, probably not much. Jimmy Buffet hanging around for 40 years didn't stop Britney Spears from appearing.
I can't tell if it is that my hearing is going, or if I am finally headed to codgerdom (at 43), but all these new musicians kind of sound the same. Almost as though whatever hit television reality game show produced them just made everyone just like all the other pop stars. I listen to (against my will) three different radio stations - pop (top 40), heavy metal (pop with a growl), and country (pop with a drawl); mostly, they all sound the same. (before you ask, I'm a mom and rarely exercise control over the car radio)
Or, as I've grumped, "When did it become popular for singers to all sound like depressed mosquitoes?"
I'm 45. Welcome to Curmudgeonville.
Note to self: use Curmudgeonville as a setting.
Population: Get Off My Lawn!
While I think there are pressures to blandify pop music now that the 1970s might been less subject to, I have to admit the passage of time has allowed me to forget most of the industrial-commercial pop music product of my teen years.
Nostalgia helps. Whenever I find myself shooting into overgrump drive, I replay some of my favorite 70s/80s pop and ask myself "Would I have found this intolerably irritating if I had heard this at my current age?" The answer, sadly, is often "Yes."
Don't forget pants that have tops the come to the bottom of the armpits. The pants are held in place by suspenders even though the wearer also is wearing a belt.
And wearing a hat while driving too slowly is also mandatory.
I resent some of that: I never drive too slowly. Everyone else just drives too damned fast. I'm female, so the belt/suspenders thing doesn't happen
Oh, you mean "the 80s," huh?
As far as I'm concerned, if high-waisted pleated pants never come back, it'll be too soon. If I believed in a literal Hell, which I don't, I'd say Satan probably has an entire wardrobe of those bloody things waiting for me.
I thought you were talking about the styles in the late 70s... or at least whenever Mork from Ork was around. Painters pants and rainbow suspenders. *shudder* I was young and didn't know any better!
Croce looks remarkably like Dave Grohl to me.
Grohl is worth about 225 million dollars, so I'd say Croce's looks wouldn't stand in his way today.
Croce would need to trim the pornstache back a bit, but yes.
Jim would have done just fine in any era, he was that talented. Here's a cover by Seth Avett (who I saw at the Winnipeg Folk Festival last week) that's shows the kids these days are still alright:
I missed them* but they were getting great reviews from everyone who saw them on mainstage.
* I missed most of the acts I had planned on catching. i.e. Patrick Watson
I managed to catch nearly all of what I wanted to hear this year, with only one disappointment when I couldn't hear the performers well at Bur Oak thanks to it being incredibly crowded. The find this year for me was Matt The Electrician, who did this song at one of the workshops:
Why is the musician so badly lit?
It's from a house concert, so they don't have proper stage lights. Human eyes can adjust, but cameras not so much.
He is a sweetheart. He reminded me of Robert Pasternak. I was with him when he found out his guitar was missing. It was United.
I wouldn't mind throwing Sean Rowe into that mix as well.
That was lovely. Thanks for the link!
I don't know the answer to your question, but you certainly could have chosen a song of his that doesn't raise horrendous memories of a TV movie Love Story knockoff which scarred my childhood forever (She Lives!, 1973 -- Season Hubley starred opposite Desi Arnaz, Jr.).
This one?
Wow, didn't remember much beyond the chorus. I think the Racism Fairy has been there.
Ok, I didn't listen to the lyrics on this one but it's a similar set up.
De gustibus non disputandum, James. I always thought he was kind of cute.
But no, he's not a teen heart-throb type. Nor was he one back then.
This is where I was going. I remember my libido from that time - and he is a very tasty specimen of manhood indeed. Remember, all the men had massive amounts of unruly hair on their heads, and mustaches you could hide a buick in, and I must say that I am glad my SOGP has kept the side burns and moustache (top hair long gone), because I still think they are spiffy.
Also, when Croce smiles, he looks very appealing, doesn't he? :)
+1 add to cart would do again.
--Dave, he reincarnated as whichever of Hall & Oates was the dark one
But he's CUTE.
The other day, following a link from my Pinterest page (which is primarily devoted to cats, knitting, and gardening -- staid old lady stuff), I ended up at a gay porn tumblr. My, wasn't THAT interesting ...
What I discovered was that bemuscled dudes with tats, looking extremely solid and masculine, don't appeal to me at all. I need porn that features slim guys with spectacles, holding a book. An *interesting* book.
I think it's not that much of a problem? Media people have gotten very good at matching appearance with an image, like matching an unusual tie with a shirt, and the stylists are brilliant.
But Croce was a not unhandsome man to begin with.
A lot of female singers who aren't considered "conventionally" attractive make it chiefly because of their talent, like Adele. There's also kd lang, Tracy Chapman, Joy Walker of the Civil Wars (not ugly, but a little offbeat looking), Queen Latifah, Regina Spektor, etc. None of them are unattractive women per se, but none of them conform to the sort of looks that lead to Taylor Swift modeling for cosmetics ads. (I love, though, that Queen Latifah also has cosmetics ads. She's like the anti-Taylor Swift.)
This comment makes me sad because I find both Queen Latifa and Adele absolutely gorgeous.
I always thought of Regina Spektor as conventionally super-hot. But I guess she's actually not by movie-star/popstar standards.
My feeling is, if Adele (, Regina Spektor (, and Joy Walker ( don't count as conventionally attractive, it's because the constraints are very, very narrow. And Queen Latifah does have a cosmetics endorsement deal.
Much of Croce's presumed unattractiveness is the adherence to 1970s fashion and style. Give him a 2013 look and he'd be as "acceptable" as anyone else.
As much as everyone loves them, I doubt either Franklin Bruno or John Darnielle would qualify as "conventionally attractive" and both seem to be doing swell for their genre. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8459 | Stop Telling Me What To Do!S
Bob Dylan once told a journalist that the first time he heard a recording of Elvis Presley singing "That's All Right", he realized that no one would ever again be able to tell him what to do.
I personally had a similar moment as a ten-year-old, playing Super Mario Bros. 3: I managed to use only my resourcefulness and a raccoon tail to score 99 extra lives on the second stage of the game, with the help of neither a pop-up tutorial nor the instruction manual. Twenty years later, games stop at every tiny opportunity to tell us what to do, how to do it, and sometimes even why we should do it.
Hello, it's me again. For the next .00000129% of your life, I am prepared to type many naive things on a variety of subjects, ultimately (hopefully) zeroing in on the topic of why I personally think that games talk directly to me too much. You see, someone has to say naive things — everyone else is always so serious. Well, I, for one, am not afraid of saying something stupid.
To start with, here is a list of things I hate:
1. Being asked if I have the hiccups when I clearly have the hiccups (aka "being asked what I'm doing when it is very obvious what I am doing")
2. Being told what to do
3. Being told how to do something that I don't want to do / am not currently doing (as a passive-aggressive means of asking me to do something)
4. Being "asked" to do something immediately after I start doing something (if I bring you a Coke Zero from my refrigerator, don't ask "Hey, could you get me a Coke Zero?" immediately before you take the Coke Zero out of my hand)
5. Being asked if I am okay because I drop a shampoo bottle in the shower, and from the kitchen it sounded like maybe I fell, or dropped something bigger than a shampoo bottle, or something
6. Being told / asked to do something immediately after I just finished doing it — right in front of the person / object asking me to do it
And the worst transgression of them all:
7. Being told how to do something that I am clearly doing magnificently.
Modern videogames tend to do all of the above things in infuriating ways. If you'd like, you can start imagining what some of those ways are. By the time I finally start talking about videogames, you should be all prepared to bring something essential to the discussion.
Now here is a short list of things I notice in my every day life.
1. The loudspeakers hovering near my apartment window, just out of reach, blasting advertisements for local businesses: one bike shop (there are six in my town), a jewelry store (which is not in my town), a cat food wholesale store (which sells the same cat food as the supermarket, just at higher mom-and-pop markup), a pachinko parlor (one of twelve in town) and a tiny bar (which seats only six patrons). I am actually 50% of the way finished writing a non-fiction novel about my smaller-than-life experience trying to get these (illegally placed, mafia-owned) loudspeakers removed from my city.
2. The closest excellent supermarket to my house has a downstairs area for the produce and frozen foods. Positioned just above the escalator and the stairs is a loudspeaker that could double as a hair-dryer. It informs you, as you rush down the escalator, thinking of pineapple, that you should not carry "guns or explosive devices" into the grocery store, nor should you leave your small children unattended.
3. Ticket machines in train stations in Japan begin talking to you immediately after your first button press, or immediately after you put money into the machine. If you put money into the machine, it hypothesizes that you might not know that you now have to press a button to choose the price of the ticket you want to buy. If you press the ticket price first, it hypothesizes that you might not know that you now have to put in the proper amount of money. In either situation, the machine immediately presumes that your action indicates you don't know something. I could use some computer programming language to make that last sentence sound decently more sophisticated, though in the interest of sounding down-to-earth, I will resist. For now, reflect on that bolded point: as money is the root of all evil, this is the root of all of the things that infuriate me and people like me (if they exist (please exist (so lonely))). Nothing can prepare my videogame-fed socially starved criminal tendencies, however, for what comes after I have successfully navigated the hyper-user-friendly ticket machine menus and successfully obtained my ticket (or charged my train pass). The ticket (or train pass) — and my change (if there is any) — pops out of the machine. I take the ticket, I take my change. The machine continues screaming: "Thank you very much. Please do not forget to take your money or your ticket. Thank you very much. Please do not forget to take your money or your ticket. Thank you very much. Please do not forget to take your money or your ticket." Yes, it says this three times, very slowly. It screams this with such volumetric excess that, usually, when I walk up to the machine to put my money in, I am able to catch the last two and a half repetitions of the previous customer's warning.
4. It is illegal to smoke cigarettes on the street in the Suginami ward of Tokyo. Look on the ground, and there are these big red signs: "IT IS ILLEGAL TO SMOKE ON THE STREET IN THE SUGINAMI WARD OF TOKYO". It has been illegal to smoke on the street in Suginami for as long as I have been living in Suginami, and that is a pretty decent length of time. Three years ago, they plastered brand-new, shiny, redder signs on the ground next to the "no smoking" signs. "AS OF SEPTEMBER 1st, 2006, YOU MUST NOT SMOKE ON THE STREET IN SUGINAMI WARD". The signs proclaimed that anyone smoking on the street would be fined 2,000 yen if caught. These signs disappeared in December of 2006. Just two weeks ago, new signs appeared. "AS OF OCTOBER 1st, 2009, YOU MUST NOT SMOKE ON THE STREET IN SUGINAMI WARD". These signs, also, announce that violators can and will be fined 2,000 yen if caught. A little asking around at the local government office reveals the knowledge-tidbit that the fine for smoking on the street is, in fact, 22,000 yen. I've never heard of anyone getting fined, and I don't think I ever will. Lately, small and bizarre groups of youths and senior citizens have been patrolling the streets of Shinjuku with hand-held ashtrays, encouraging smokers to put their cigarettes out and obey the law. I don't know if this works, either, though it highlights two things:
A. The citizens themselves, not the policy-makers, are the ones who tend to care most about the rules
B. Nobody likes doing anything anybody tells them to.
When JR outlawed smoking on train platforms in early 2009, did it stop people from smoking on the platforms? Only in the designated areas. Just two weeks ago I saw a man, dressed like a rebel rocker, get chewed out by station staff for smoking right there at the edge of the platform amid two dozen other rush hour commuters. The man threw his cigarette onto the tracks and miraculously lit up another one after getting on the train. People just stared at him like they were watching their own house burn down with their grandmother inside, asleep and dreaming of watermelons and kittens. That was the first time I'd ever seen that.
This highlights two final ideas, which we are going to, for argument's sake, consider the absolute, sad truth:
I. When you tell people not to do something, someone with an authority problem is going to jump at the chance to be a rebel
II. It only takes one jerk to prove any hypothesis absolutely false
Like, have you ever heard the rumor that you can drop cash on the street in Tokyo and the people are so honest that someone will find it, pick it up, and take it to the cops? Well, that's absolutely 100% not true, because I once found a plain envelope on the ground with "6,000 yen" written on it. Inside was 6,000 yen. I put it in my pocket and kept walking.
Sometimes I could swear that we are mere social millimeters from the government installing loudspeakers inside our houses, telling us to consider getting flu vaccines.
notice the sign over the escalator at the end of the video, which reads "ESCALATOR"
I consulted a psychiatric expert friend of mine just this afternoon. He looks a lot like me, and I can only see him when I position a mirror in front of my favorite chair. His chair looks a lot like my favorite chair. I talked to him about this dream I had wherein I opened a store where I only sold photographs I'd taken of myself with my iPhone camera. I asked him what he thought the dream meant. He said he didn't know. Then I asked him about videogames and the people who played them, and why he thought they had such a chronic problem with authority. He gave me an enlightening response.
Games, you see, are about having control.
Videogames, most often, present the player with a world with a single end goal of "winning". They are a perfect contrast to the real world, in which one makes one's own goals, where goals and desires are constantly shifting, and the only ending anyone ever sees involves the main character dying. News flash: most people in the world are not astronaut supervisors or rock-star-slash-helicopter-pilots. Most people never get an opportunity and/or have the balls to be the guy who shows up to his job in a big stuffy corporate office on his first day in a leather jacket and sunglasses, tell the boss "You codgers need to change your game!", and be the flip-flop-wearing CEO by Friday. Games like Dynasty Warriors give us a world with the invincibility code turned on: now we are the badass warrior capable of killing 300 guys before learning what a flesh wound is. We do — and this is a trite a thing as one can say — play games, sometimes, to escape the real world. People talk about that all the time. What I am proposing is that we play games precisely to avoid the parts of the world that tell us what to do, and when to do them, dangling "a more comfortable life" in front of our eyes all the while. Though that's not all: games also present us with things we can finish. Things we can see through to an intended end. And we want to see the end. And the makers want us to see the end. Hence their trying to help us.
We can distinguish mainly two types of games that tell us what to do: we have the type of game that tells us what to do because it is afraid that we have no capacity to figure it out ourselves, and that we will complain to our friends about the difficulty of the game, thus killing its favorable reputation, and we have the type of game that only tells us what to do constantly because its designers fabricated far too many things for us to do in the name of keeping the game's air of "sophistication". Both types of game are equally obnoxious. Some games actually blend these two types, and that's even more obnoxious. I'm going to try to articulate the finer points of these two transgressions; I will probably fail to precisely articulate all my points. So be it!
For two days every August, citizens of Koenji, Tokyo, Japan dance in the streets. They call this the Awa-Odori. It's a festival — of the night — celebrating a traditional Japanese dance. It's fantastic. After it's been going on for three hours, it starts to become near-unbearably noisy, though we'll conveniently ignore that. Participants in the festival tend to be your typical every day people. It's great. Observing the groups of sometimes 50 dancers yields many socio-musicological observations. For example, the theory that if you get together enough people with drums, it'll sound like the erratic rhythm is intentional.
What's most interesting is that this particular form of Japanese traditional music has evolved so that arrhythmia is, in and of itself, a key characteristic. The majority of Japanese folk music can be played with one position of one scale containing only five notes. Players of the shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese instrument) will only play three notes on one string, two notes on another string, and one note on the third string, for any given traditional song. Players of the shakuhachi (a Japanese flute) will also play only those five notes. In an awa-odori dance, the players (we don't call them "musicians", because music isn't the point of this dance (the point would be "atmosphere")) agree on a key and a rhythm. The multiple flute players play the same five notes over and over again, backward and forward, all slightly out of time with one another. What was, long ago, a mere symptom of the participants' lack of "formal music training" has now become a key of the "sound" of an awa-odori dance: the flutes are all slightly out of time with one another, relying only on the drums. The warbling we hear as the flutes interact with one another is pleasant and interesting. (Other genres of music that have evolved this way: rock and roll, etc.)
However. Please watch the following two videos:
Do you see what I see?
One "instrument" in an awa-odori ensemble is a hand-held cymbal-like bell. The man banging the bell is the most important member of an awa-odori troupe. He is the only one that needs perfect rhythm. He is the human metronome, guiding the enormous chorus of taiko drummers. More than just a metronome, however, he also has the role of conductor and of DJ. The rhythms he beats out on his metronome-bell are all unique to one particular pre-agreed drum beat. The flute-players need only remember which key goes with which drum beat. They, too, rely on the sound of the bell to tell them which pre-agreed melody is needed.
One must-mention characteristic of the bell is that it is very, very loud. It possesses a clinking, tinny tambre that is audible over even the pounding of drums and squealing of flutes. In rock and roll band terms we would say it "cuts through the mix".
As it is loud, and noisy, it is impossible to not hear when listening to an awa-odori troupe's musical performance.
As it is so present, it has gradually come to be considered an essential part of the sound. This is why, in one of these videos, we see a troupe with two bells, just being recklessly clanged and beaten within an inch of their lives. An awa-odori troupe only needs one bell, one conductor, one DJ. It doesn't necessarily need twenty drummers, either, where just five will do, though adding more drums can't hurt. Adding more bells, however, can. Some of the troupes I saw last week at the festival had a six-man bell section. That's ridiculous! The most interesting, entertaining, coherent, and exuberant of the troupes, however, only used one bell.
I find this to be a pretty perfect metaphor for games that lump in needless shit in the name of appearing more sophisticated.
I was a child once, and me and my friend Carl had Final Fantasy on the NES. You'd level your dudes up in that game for hours and hours just to save up the money to buy a Silver Sword so you could Do 100 Damage Every Hit. You'd level up forever before your dude had 100 HP.
Then there were pictures of Final Fantasy II in Nintendo Power. We didn't care, back then, that the game was actually called Final Fantasy IV in Japan: we didn't know we were missing two games; we were pumped. One of the first screenshots showed Rydia summoning a Titan. The kid in our class who had said he had Bart vs The Space Mutants and it was the best game ever, when clearly the game wasn't out yet saw the screenshot with the Titan and was like, "Dude, you can summon a Titan! You have to get this game and let me borrow it." All he had to do was read the caption with the words "you can summon a Titan", and he knew he needed the game. He had never seen a Titan, nor had he "summoned" anything in any other game, and it was enough for him. Let's ignore, for now, that summoning a Titan is just pretty wallpaper for a dull room called "attacking a monster", and get to the real issue: Carl pointed at a screenshot of a status menu, and exclaimed:
"Look! Cecil is on Level One and he already has two hundred hit points!!!!!!!"
Fast-forward nineteen years and hundreds of crushing disappointments (some small, some huge). I have grown up into a somewhat responsible adult with many quirky and lovable habits, a bizarre singing voice, and a renowned lyrical style. The global games industry has been married six times, and three of its ex-wives have not been found.
Yesterday, I saw this.
The purple border was my idea. Kotaku editors: please, if you leave one thing from this wall of words here, make it that purple border.
Get a stiff drink and watch that video. Feel free to stop it after two minutes.
Warning: if, in the comments, you try defend this, I will likely reply with something that appears polite and thoughtful, and then, later, when you're not looking, I will remove you from my Livejournal friends list, unless I notice that you have no other Livejournal friends, at which point I will feel socially responsible, sigh, and decide to keep pretending to enjoy your company.
In short: what the hell?
In long: what the fuck is going on, there? If you walked in on someone playing this game, what would you do? Would you ask, "Hey, what is this? It looks pretty cool!" Or would you stare at the screen for the duration of the "conflict" like an old spinster seeing pornography for the first time? That unique mixture of hatred and fascination — fascinatred!
Yesterday, I commented on that video, by the way, with "こういうのはもういいじゃないか", which roughly means "Haven't we had enough of this shit?" in some Asian language that might not be Chinese. My comment was thumbs-upped twice in the past twenty-four hours! Please, if you happen across my comment and you hear what I am saying, thumbs it up. Japanese game companies are scared as hell of people disliking their shit. Remember when Square-Enix said Dragon Quest IX would be an action game, and five people went ballistic on the internet, posting 300 persons' worth of hate? They changed that game right back around! Also — completing this tangent, here — did you know that the people making Sonic the Hedgehog games at Sega in Japan have no idea that people think their games suck? That's a fact. Anyway. Digressing is fun!
Now, the big question: how many dozens of story-point-connected battles do I have to sit through before the game designers have drip-fed me every pop-up tutorial message explaining every tiny incoherent thing that is going on in that action scene there?
Answer: probably a lot! I reckon you'd have to play that game for fifteen hours before it stopped telling you what to do. It seems, to me, that the people designing RPGs in Japan know that their audience consists almost entirely of the types of people who would otherwise and elsewhere have actually applied to medical school because they thought the doctors on "ER" sounded "cool" when they yelled out names of medicines and dosage amounts while sprinting down a hospital hall alongside a gurney on which a man lay with a sucking chest wound.
Nintendo has stated that their chief goal in marketing the Wii was to "win back" the gamers who "gave up" on games after Super Mario Bros. Nintendo stated this many times between detailing the nature of the "Revolution" controller at a press conference at Tokyo Game Show and announcing the first games for the console.
The above paragraph, my inner Expert Scientist tells me, is More Than Enough Text to set off militant Nintendo fans. Disclaimer: I am not dissing Nintendo in the slightest. (Not yet, anyway.) If you are going to immediately jump in my face and comment about how Nintendo made "lots of money" with the Wii and "broke sales records", you're missing something: the very fact that anyone was able to "break" said "sales records" is indicative of the fact that they could have been broken even harder, making even more money. If everyone at Nintendo thought the way internet console fanboys did, we'd still be playing 2D Zelda games! (Come to think of it, that would be grrrrrr-eat.)
What is "wrong" with modern Nintendo is not that their AAA games constantly tell the player what to do, and when, it's that they are more often that not built from the ground up to be enjoyable by everyone, even people who have
1. Lost the instruction manual
2. Hyper-volatile short-term memories
Case in point: there is a stage that requires (I think) 45 stars to unlock in Super Mario Galaxy, with a big lake surrounding a mountain. 45 stars (again, I am not sure of the exact number) is well more than half of the way into the game. Anyway, Mario can't get any peace and quiet in general in Super Mario Galaxy. Every stage has a host of talking animals on hand to present you with not-so-subtle hints re: your objectives and how you're supposed to accomplish them, whether you ask for these hints or not. This stage in question, however, is a particularly obnoxious offender. You get in the water, right, and you're swimming, right? It's a hell of a long distance to swim. The far shore is way out there. Anyway, you get about halfway there, and a penguin glides by in the water, literally unavoidable. When he gets close enough to you, a huge text box pops out flagrantly onto the screen:
Am I not already swimming? Is this not a violation of my Holy Commandment #7: Thou shalt not tell me how to do something when I am already doing it with great verve and gusto?
Well, not quite — there is a chance that the player is not pressing the A button to swim. See, in Super Mario Galaxy, it's possible to swim very, very slowly by simply tilting the analog stick. So it's further possible that the "uneducated", "casual", goldfish-brained, instruction-manual-losing player might not be swimming full speed.
Here's what goes on in the mind of a player who is not swimming full speed, and does not know how to swim full speed:
1. "Man, this sure is taking a long time."
2. "Maybe that penguin was lying to me when he said I had to swim all the way to the far shore."
3. "For God's sake, why does it have to be so far?"
How do we solve this? By telling every player, regardless of his current course of action, that he can press the A button to swim faster (even if he is swimming as fast as he can)? That would be the Nintendo way. I'll give you a minute to think of some better ways. Go ahead. It'll feel good. You'll feel smarter than Nintendo game designers?
Did you solve the riddle? The better solutions would involve:
1. Making Mario swim fast all the time, when you just press the analog stick
2. Making the far shore much closer
Solution #1 would sacrifice some of the game's illusion of "depth".
Solution #2 would sacrifice some of the game's illusion of "scale".
Keep in mind that, when we use the word "illusion", we're not being snippy — games are, in and of themselves, not real. It's all illusions. Just that some illusions are better than others.
Dig deeper into Super Mario Galaxy — a game that is, for all intents and purposes, everything good and bad about modern game design mixed together on a silver-plated platter like so much curry and saffron rice — and we find some delectably irreconcilable examples wherein the level design and game design has allowed the "'win back' the gamers who walked away" motive to seep in all the way to the core. My favorite example would be a particular stage about halfway through the game wherein Mario arrives on a rabbit- and bee-inhabited planetoid. I will now describe the very first "challenge" for this planetoid. Disclaimer: if you happen to like Super Mario Galaxy, that's okay! I like it, too! A lot, even! That doesn't stop the criticism train from rollin', however.
The name of the challenge is "The rabbits are looking for something" (translated from Japanese; I don't know what it's called in English).
Mario arrives on the planetoid. Immediately after his feet touch the ground, a bee throws a text bubble in our faces. He says:
"The rabbits on this planet are looking for something. I wonder what it is?"
Let the record show: we have mentioned the rabbits, and that they are looking for something, twice before the first microsecond of play. The only line of non-tutorial-related script to grace our consciousness is a rhetorical question: "I wonder what it is?"
Ahead of us is a path. Giant boulders are rolling down the path. All we have to do to avoid the boulders is not walk on the path. Directly we see, to our left, a bee, a rabbit, and three posts sticking up out of the ground. (This sounds like the beginning of a bad joke.) The bee sidles in to inform us that this here rabbit is very carefully searching for something. We talk to the rabbit. He says "Where, oh where, is the STAR CHIP?" Except instead of using the words "Star Chip", the dialogue box includes a star chip icon.
Before the dialogue box fades, the camera swings back and pulls up, to reveal that a star chip — looking identical to the star chip icon in the dialogue box — is hovering above the three posts.
The use of an icon to illustrate the star chip in the dialogue box is of key importance: it is the game designers acknowledging that
1. Maybe the player can't read
2. Maybe the player can read, and just doesn't know / remember what a "star chip" is
#1 is born of a subconscious presupposition that the rest of the dialogue in the box is insubstantial, so long as the player is able to make a connection between the "real" star chip floating in the sky and the abstract representation of the star chip within the dialogue box.
#2 is born of a subconscious presupposition that the player hasn't lost the game disc in addition to the instruction manual, the game box, the controller, or the console, or else that he would never recognize a floating, rotating, sparkling item, revealed by a slow camera tilt, as something that he needs to obtain in order to proceed.
Even on a fundamental level, something is wrong, here. We won't snipe at it further. Instead, we will address the problem of "solving" this "puzzle":
What do you do to get the star chip? You try jumping. Mario can't jump high enough.
Well, the solution is obvious, if you've gotten this far in the game. By "obvious" I mean it's something that an absolute newcomer to games would never understand in a million microseconds.
Three posts stick up out of the ground. Mario is capable of performing a hip drop if you press the trigger while jumping. This hip drop is capable of pounding pegs into the ground. The ability to pound pegs into the ground is ingrained in the seasoned player's brain as "something Mario can do".
You pound all three pegs into the ground. Immediately, after the third one is pounded into the ground, a rotating star-like thing appears roughly in between the three pegs.
A seasoned player knows that if he stands in the star thing and shakes the controller Mario will launch high into the air.
You stand in it, and shake the controller. Mario launches into the air, and grabs the star chip.
You go on your way. A bee floats around near the path. He confronts you: "That rabbit over there seems to be looking for something! I wonder what it is?" The camera pans to show a rabbit under a waterfall.
You go to the rabbit under a waterfall. You talk to him. "I can just smell the STAR CHIP! It's got to be around here somewhere!" The camera then pans to show a crate.
The player will know, thanks to the tutorials the game has presented from its outset, that shaking the remote will make Mario do a spin attack. This spin attack can break boxes. Mario walks over to the box, spins. It breaks. The star chip is, of course, inside.
In both of these cases, the player is "rewarded" for remembering what he can do in a given situation (if pegs, stomp pegs; if box, break box; if star-gate-thing, shake remote to fly), and his reward for doing what he can do is something that the game has contrived us to need. They sometimes call this "lock and key" design, though being that in Super Mario Galaxy's case the "keys" in this example are mere sequences of button presses and not items that need to be collected or challenges that need to be surmounted, I feel safe declaring it as a particularly heinous example. Add to this the fact that the rewards are pieces of a thing that, when combined, gives you a thing that lets you perform a simple action to access another area wherein you must collect another thing — and it just gets ridiculous. It's McGuffins on top of McGuffins.
Furthermore, after setting up the story that the rabbits are the protectors of the stars, trying to assemble the stars to assist the Space Princess, after establishing within this very stage that the rabbits have come to this planet looking for something, when it comes right down to the final showdown, when you collect all the star chips and warp to the next planetoid, you find a rabbit who claims to have the star piece. He then says, let's play a game — catch me if you can?
Why has the game gone through the painstaking process of detailing its story if it's only now going to present these benevolent rabbits, protectors of the stars, as playing a stupid little game with the item they are sworn to assemble? (Am I missing something?) Also, how did this rabbit get to this planetoid? The other rabbits were searching for the star chips, presumably so they could make it to this planetoid and get the star piece. Why did this rabbit not need the star chips? Is he an evil rabbit? How does that work?
So now, the game's pretzeled internal logic is making us think too much about the story. We are snapped out of the should-be-blissfull gaming experience. This is, quite frankly, weird. It's a buzz-kill! A hard-off! Chasing the rabbit around the little planetoid is joyful, frictive, fun. However, the designers saw fit to attach a local (level-specific) narrative and a global narrative, which makes us think too much about the whole experience. Shigeru Miyamoto himself said that he was opposed to Super Mario Galaxy having a "story". He just wanted it to be about Mario, in space, jumping on shit! Instead, the game is an interactive instruction manual.
If I were an even bigger jerk than I really am I could pretend to insist that Super Mario Galaxy is Nintendo's attempt at a Federico Fellini "8 1/2"-style "experience about itself". I'm not going to do that!
The Zelda games are notorious (in some circles) for their constant hand-holding. Ocarina of Time might even have been the game to introduce the gaming world to the idea of an omnipresent sidekick who explains anything and everything to you. Zelda games appear duty-bound to always be considering the possibility that the player has lost the instruction manual and that he has ignored all the in-game tutorials. Still, the games carry on heedlessly telling the player, every time he picks up a key, that "This is a Magic Key! It can be used to open a door! You can only use it once." Do we need this, every time we get a key? Seeing as the number of keys we're carrying at any given time is displayed on the screen at all times, shouldn't it be common sense that keys are something we will need more than one of, and shouldn't it logically follow after that that if we can have more than one of them, then we probably should be able to use them only once each? Every time you open a treasure chest containing a blue rupee, the game pauses to inform you, "This is a blue rupee! It's worth five rupees!"
Remember Four Swords Adventures for the GameCube? Yeah, that was about as much fun as getting together with your friends at the local dive, getting plastered, and then doing your taxes. Parts of the games were competitive, parts were cooperative; game-design-wise, it was really shimmering and sparkly and precious. Then there were parts where you were madly dashing to Get The Money, and then you'd touch a blue "force" (they weren't rupees) and the game would freeze to tell you you'd just picked up a blue force, which is worth five force. Literally, every time you picked one up off the ground, they'd do this to you, because they figured that the game was predominantly multiplayer, meaning that someone in any given multiplayer game was probably roped in by at least one more-game-inclined friend.
Zelda games are also guilty of the "You Can Summon a Titan!" syndrome — putting pretty wallpaper on mundane actions. In Fina Fantasy, summoning monsters is wallpaper for choosing "attack". In Zelda, using bombs to blow open walls, or using a hookshot to grapple across a gap are mere wallpapers for the act of moving from point A to point B. The very first Zelda was more or less focused on the thrill of finding and then subsequently penetrating to the core of a dungeon. Later entries place focus on getting The Necessary Item and then remembering the spot where you're supposed to use it.
Zelda games are generous gaming experiences, I'll give them that. They are full of neat set pieces and sometimes the dungeons have really ingenious gimmicks. However, Zelda games are also very popular, and very highly reviewed on Metacritic. So you get big games publishers always thinking about the specter of Zelda.
One great recent example is the game Dead Space. I personally didn't like the game. That's neither here nor there. Here's what I'm talking about: game companies say they genuinely want innovation, they want something new. However, they don't want to make a game that's not about Guy With Gun shooting Freak Bastards, because that's the Genre That Sells. So they decide to funnel the required "innovation" into something more mechanical, something in the way the game handles. I tend to not have a damn problem in the world with this thinking, most of the time — it's what brings us Gears of War, a (don't laugh) near-perfect video game when it comes to the game design / level design elements. However, as Dead Space shows us, sometimes this train of thought barrels down the wrong tunnel.
I can imagine the planning meetings for Dead Space. They must have written on the white board (warning: conjecture ahead)
Hero —> has gun; aliens —> must be killed.
Head shots —> industry standard —> chance for innovation?
So one guy says, "Well, if shooting the enemies in the head isn't the way to go, what does the player have to do?"
"How about he shoots the enemies somewhere other than the head?"
"Remember that scene in 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country', where Captain Kirk kicks that alien in the knee and the alien falls over and he says 'I didn't kick him that hard' and that alien woman says 'Not all species keep their testicles in the same place?'"
"That was bad ass; Kirk is such a dude!"
"How about you have to shoot these guys in the kneecaps to kill them?!?!"
So they set this up, and Producer Guy is in the room a couple weeks later.
"Look at this. You shoot the alien monster freak in the kneecap to kill him!"
"Hmm. Interesting. We can make this into a . . . . . . . . . feature."
Weeks later, the producer is back.
"This breaks with industry standard — and that's innovation, as far as we are concerned. However, the general gaming populace is not quite as open-minded or intelligent as us corporate executives. If they were, they'd be rich, and we'd be living in their mothers' basements! So we need to make the whole kneecap thing a lot easier to swallow."
"How do you suggest we do this?"
"Well, we reckon, you've got kneecaps in there; you might as well throw in elbows, too."
"Okay. That makes sense."
"And then we figure, if you've got knees and elbows, you might as well include shoulders and ankles."
"I follow you."
"And then, while you've got all those parts of all those limbs, why wouldn't you want to multiply the fun — and the thrills — some more?"
"Just what is it you are suggesting?"
"I am suggesting that you give the enemies somewhere between sixteen and forty-two superfluous appendages growing out of all parts of their bodies."
"Whoa! Whoa! You just blew my mind clear into the next room!"
A week later, the producer comes in, sees the mocked-up prototype, and says:
"Okay, this is good. In a perfect world, people would see that an alien has forty-five limbs and go, 'If I were asked to make a list of the "special features" of this creature standing before me, I'd probably put "lots of limbs" at the top'. However, I still can't seem to find Scotch-tape-scented cologne anywhere, so this world is pretty far from perfect. We need to tutorialize this."
"Whatever you say, Uncle Pennybags!"
"There are five ways we can do this —
"1. We can put it in the instruction manual. 'Shoot the enemies in their limbs!'
"2. We can take a hint from BioShock, and make the hint something visible within the game-world (maybe write 'SHOOT THEIR LIMBS' on a wall — in blood!)
"3. We can take a hint from Ocarina of Time, and have a character in the game tell you over the radio that you should shoot the enemies in the limbs — nevermind that this character doesn't have a gun and is currently trapped in the safe part of the space station.
"4. We can make it a 'feature' and advertise it on the back of the box. We can push to have reviewers — those malleable saps — refer to the game's genre as 'dismemberment action'. We can call the demo 'dismemberment demo'.
"5. We can do all of these things.
"All of us producers sat around and discussed this very thoughtfully, and we figured that the only way to truly hammer this idea home — the only way to keep the parents of a thousand underaged gamers from suing us for blowing their kids' minds — is to go with option #5."
The game is released. It sells moderately well. It gets good enough review scores. There you go.
So here's what Nintendo's hypothesis must look like: Super Mario Bros. was undoubtedly a cultural phenomenon. People played it, told their friends, bought their own Famicoms and NESes, and cherished the game for years to come.
Games started to get more complicated.
No games met Super Mario Bros.'s fantastic sales numbers. This could have been because
1. Games weren't "new" anymore
2. Games were "too complicated"
3. No other games matched Super Mario Bros.'s sheer hilarious virtuosity as an entertainment experience
I am a pessimist and a harsh critic by nature; however, I would gladly bet on #3.
Nintendo watched its audience dwindle away for the better part of twenty years. Their strategy for "winning back" the gamers who "walked away" was to make simple, paste-like games such as Wii Sports, where all you had to do was shake the controller to either win or nearly win. The game filled in all the details for you.
Super Mario Galaxy arrived as the sequel to a Mario game that had failed to set the world on fire. Someone high up at Nintendo interpreted Super Mario Sunshine's failure to make the front page of the Wall Street Journal under the headline "Greatest Thing Ever Released" as a result of the game not constantly telling the player what to do. Clearly, it was just a visibility issue: around the time Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in 1989, the world moved on, and games didn't present anything nearly as interesting for a while, hence the declining sales.
It was Brain Training that brought videogames back to the forefront of pop culture. People were suddenly aware that games existed again. Someone coined the term "casual games". Now deep into the age of the internet, with twenty years' more marketing experience pooled in the collective conscious, Nintendo were able to keep hold of their visibility longer. They sold many games of varying degrees of complexity for the DS; they launched the Wii. Eventually, there was Super Mario Galaxy.
The producers must have shit a dozen aluminum bricks and quickly ordered the interns to spray-paint them silver in the process of contemplating a maximum-penetration strategy for Super Mario Galaxy. Eventually, the best they could do was to make the game appear "sophisticated", to mint as many new trademarkable characters as possible, and then litter the game with hand-holding tips so that each and every player can get to the end of the experience, to see what happens, in the end, to every one of these now-registered-trademarked characters.
We've probably all been over this before: when you buy a ticket to a movie, you are guaranteed a "complete" experience. When you buy a videogame, if you can't get past level one, you just paid five times the price of a movie ticket for an incomplete experience. So, in other words, games are risky endeavors, at least when it comes to the stage where you're asking people to pay money to play them.
Why not make a game that's all about the atmosphere, so that merely standing still in the game world is a "complete experience"? I must admit that I am a very harsh critic of BioShock, because I find that much of the actual experience of playing the damned thing is cluttered with so many proverbial tiny keys and tiny locks. However, it gets the atmosphere thing better than right. It gets it all the way right. Right at the beginning of the game, we arrive on some kind of underwater pier, with abandoned luggage and dropped signboards everywhere: "We're not your property", the signs say. We feel like a detective, piecing together clues. Be you a seasoned hardcore gamer or a casual newcomer, as long as you can use the analog stick to look around, you will get something out of the experience. Nevermind that BioShock has a persistently chatty Tutorial Character assisting your silent protagonist at all times, and that the game dares to make Tutorial Man a character with deep importance in the story at some point: for those first few pieces, it's really a glimpse at a fantastically realized world.
Did BioShock need all that . . . shit in it, though? According to the marketing men, most likely, it did.
Game companies employ algorithms correlating Metacritic rankings to sales numbers for every recently released game, and then feature-snipe those games, picking out the features that are name-checked most often in the pullout quotes from all the aggregated reviews. What they don't realize is that those games they are feature-sniping originally feature-sniped other games — maybe based on Metacritic readings, or maybe based on the games designers' personal taste and preference in games. If you go back far enough, way back before Metacritic or even Wikipedia or Gamespot existed, you will find that the great games relied exclusively on the taste and preference of their game designers. In other words, right here, in this paragraph, we stand on the cusp of mathematically proving that you don't need Metacritic to make a great game. Before you try to talk sense into me, let me tell you that I have seen people feature-hunting on Metacritic, and heard stuffed-up businessmen literally say things like "Five out of seven reviews cited 'sensation of speed' as a reason why Burnout Paradise was a good game". Duh! It's got fuckin' cars in it! Anyway, you can see how games pick up dozens and dozens of clashing features, necessitating wall-to-wall tutorials in the process.
What is with this drop-dead conviction, however, that games need to be "complicated" in order to be seen as "sophisticated"? And what's with the belief that a game has to be "sophisticated" to sell millions of copies?
Halo is as simple a game as exists. Point the gun, shoot, hide behind something if you're being shot at. A Google search result for "Halo repetitive" yields about 300,000 results. And the games sell ten million copies.
Dragon Quest sells many millions of copies in Japan, with battle systems infinitely simpler than the cluttered nonsense of other RPGs. For over twenty years, Dragon Quest games have sold millions of copies despite their battle systems never involving pseudo-real-time elements, never contriving a "system" with a terrible descriptive acronym to advertise on the back of the box.
Do you remember when you a kid, and you rented Metroid for two days and you got nowhere in it? You just died hundreds of times. Hell if the music and setting didn't creep you out. Years later, when they announced Super Metriod for the SNES, you told you friend, "Dude, I totally played the first Metroid. It was badass." In short, kids — kids, the ultimate newcomers to videogaming — are capable of loving and beholding as legend a game that they don't even know how to play properly, just because it feels and sounds right.
That's not the point, though.
Hopefully, by now, I have established that I don't like people telling me what to do. Even more, I don't like machines telling me what to do. We face an epidemic of games telling gamers what to do. I have hopefully established that the problem has many confounding and perhaps not-fully-comprehensible origins. Our time is being wasted! We know and accept that video games are evil and a waste of time. However, we can't stop playing them. At the very least, game developers, could you stop wasting our time within our waste of time? You know what I'm talking about — that three-minute, unskippable gratuitous video at the beginning of Wii Sports Resort that explains how to click a piece of plastic onto your Wiimote. Well, more specifically, it tells you how to take the Wiimote condom off, how to slip on the new MotionPlus condom, and then how to take the batteries out if the batteries run out (and you bet your ass they will). At the risk of sounding elitist, the only people who actually need this tutorial wear football helmets in the shower. For those people, the cushioned cover on the Wiimote is already a moot point.
Then there are the tutorials that pop up if, say, you're drunk, and you've just thrown three straight frisbees out of bounds in frisbee golf. Then there's the fact that, during the frisbee-selection phase of frisbee golf (protip: always pick the "recommended" frisbee), a big ugly eyesore of a diagram sits in the upper-right corner of the screen, depicting a hand holding a Wiimote, with a strap firmly fastened around the wrist. That is some serious McDonald's "THIS COFFEE IS HOT" bullshit, right there. Again, the only people this applies to wear football helmets to bed. I am a real adult; I happen to sleep without even a fur hat on. The amount of time wasted by frisbee-golfers who do not realize the game has shunted them into free-play tutorial mode, or by any of the 3 million customers who purchased Wii Sports Resort as they sit through that three-minute opening video — that's a lot of electricity being sucked, that's a lot of rainforest acres burning to the fucking ground. If the rain forest is going to burn as an indirect result of the things I do while eating pizza and drinking Coke Zero, for the love of God, at least let that thing I be doing be something like shooting alien brutes in the chest, arm, shoulder, or head.
While typing this, I remembered an example of a machine that tells me what to do — the elliptical trainer at my gym. It has a display that tells me my current heart rate, the length of time I've been running, the distance I've run, and how many calories, roughly, I've burned. Every minute, on the minute, the screen blanks out and a message slowly scrolls across:
The message crawls so molasses-slowly that, when the screen at last flops back to useful status display, fifteen seconds have passed. This irritates me to no end. Wow. This is a better example than any of the other examples I've given.
So anyway. I've assembled a little list of things that games could do to make it so that I, their loyal customer and proponent of aesthetic cleanliness in all entertainment media, wouldn't feel patronized.
1. LET ME TURN THE TUTORIALS OFF. I am God. Damned. Tired. of starting a PlayStation 3 game, getting up to get a bottle of water, and coming back to see that the game has not loaded up to the title screen. Instead, it's frozen on the "THIS GAME SAVES DATA AUTOMATICALLY TO THE HARD DRIVE. PLEASE DO NOT EJECT THE GAME DISC OR UNPLUG THE CONSOLE WHILE THE HDD ACCESS INDICATOR LIGHT IS FLASHING." The word "OK". Is highlighted. You have to press a button to acknowledge that this is, indeed, OK with you.
Can't we just bury an option somewhere in the labyrinthine system settings menus: "I know that I must not remove a game disc or unplug the console while the HDD access indicator light is flashing; I understand that doing either of these things might result in lost or damaged data, and I fully accept the consequences if I should do either of these things — which I won't"?
Or, more to the point: when the Xbox 360 was first released, many gamers were surprised to find the console asking them, at initial configuration, what their preferred analog input method was for shooting games — normal or inverted. Why can't one of the system options control whether the player wants to see tutorials or not?
Or at the very least include the option somewhere in every game. For example, Dragon Quest IX, a game I love like a little sister, has one terrifying flaw: no matter what level you are on, a little icon sits on the touch screen at all times. It is shaped like an X button, with a little quill pen icon touching it. Beneath the X button and quill pen is the word "MENU". Oh. So you touch there to open the menu. Huh. And if you're not using the stylus, you can press the . . . X button! You can drag and move this little icon around the screen, though you can't get rid of it. At the very least, can't we make it something more abstract, something that looks like it belongs more on the screen? The game is proud of its obnoxious pixie character — why not make it a tiny sprite of the pixie girl? She could even be leaving a fairy-dust-trail. The kids would love that. Also, many other in-game functions can't be performed with the touch screen (like opening the game statistics menu). Why should the menu be any different?
2. BE MORE CLEVER ABOUT THE TUTORIALS. Let's say we have a game about zombies. Okay, zombies are boring. Let's say they are werewolves. No, let's say they are resurrected Roman Legionnaires afflicted with lycanthropy. Let's say your character is in a church. Thunder roars outside. "It is the full moon", the priest says. "They are coming". He hands you a pistol. "Get out the back door while you still can". The camera pulls over, showing us a back door. Our character is already stepping toward it when we resume control. We step out the back door.
We're on a staircase. The camera pulls away from us, zooms forward to the bottom of the staircase. A Werewolf Legionnaire shambles slowly up the steps. Okay, let's just admit that it's a zombie. (Werewolf Legionnaires will have to wait for another game :-/) The zombie shambles up the first step. Maybe there are 32 steps. The camera flies back, reverting to the in-game over-the-shoulder view you're probably already used to.
Let's say you've played a lot of shooting games. You immediately whip the right analog stick around and shoot the zombie in the head. He dies. You walk down the stairs and continue the game.
Let's say you haven't played any shooting games. You take a step forward, onto the first step down. Or you stand there doing nothing, and the zombie steps up. The zombie steps into an invisible "trigger volume".
He triggers the event of a tutorial: text pops up on the screen: "Use the right analog stick to aim". You aim and shoot. Maybe you catch him in the arm, or the chest. Unfortunately, our game is one where headshots are the only way to kill an enemy.
You keep shooting at him, hitting him in the chest. He keeps advancing up the stairs.
As you shoot him in the chest, his head starts to expand. Eventually, it is sixteen times its original size. It is also red, glowing, pulsating. This is a subtle tutorial capsulized in a visual cue: try shooting him in the head now, and he explodes! Whoa! Yeah! So if I shoot guys in the chest, I can pump up their heads, and turn them into moving bombs!
Let's say, if the zombie reaches step #16, it triggers another tutorial, a much less subtle one: the priest bursts out of the door aiming a handgun at a zombie. He yells at you: "Shoot him in the head, you fool!"
There you have it — nothing like a mild insult to drive a point home.
3. MAKE SIMPLER GAMES. Again, not stupid games, or unsophisticated games. Just make games that are fun and simple, which use level design to convey the game designers' intellectual depth and visual elements that convey the game's narrative scope. Halo is simple — it's all about driving vehicles and shooting dudes. It's simple pleasures. Modern Warfare is as simple an FPS as they come as far as mechanics are concerned, and it couldn't possibly be a more spectacular game. These are games they take a simple idea and turn it into fantastic, million-selling games. And what about something like ICO, or Shadow of the Colossus? Sure, the latter has an on-screen icon that tells us if our character is holding his sword or his bow and arrow, even though we can just look at the character and see which one he's holding. (Someone on the team was probably solely in charge of "on-screen interface", and they didn't want him to feel left out.) Very simple games! They do a little bit of tutorializing, to be sure, though that's nothing idea #2 couldn't fix.
Look at games like Portal, or Out of This World — the latter of which is the best game of all-time (as far as I'm concerned). These are games that take one enthralling mechanic and utilize the structure of an entire game to realize its every relevant permutation. Maybe, if you feel like you have to put thirty-two guns with four alternate firing modes each into your game, maybe, if you feel like a particular thirty-foot hallway in a dungeon is "boring" so maybe you should put a spike pit and then a hookshot panel on the other side, forcing the player to see the hookshot panel and go "Oh. Hookshot." and then open his menu and equip the hookshot so he can swing across the pit — maybe this means that nothing in your game is any fun. Try and think about fun, not about the back of the box. We have a saying in the underground rock and roll scene: don't make T-shirts before you make songs (for fuck's sake). (The "for fuck's sake" is silent.)
Then there are games like Super Mario Bros. 3, where some of the things you can do with your limited move-set of running and jumping are so perfectly nuanced that they are unnecessary in the natural course of the game — like jumping on infinitely-spawning enemies and hovering using the button-mashing hover ability so that you can keep stomping them to infinity, earning extra lives. These kinds of things are wholly optional, and make you feel great to figure out. Games seldom do these sorts of things anymore — we have executive producers wanting to turn anything and everything into a "feature". If the Super Mario Galaxy team made Super Mario Bros. 3, there'd probably be a little rabbit sitting by the goomba pipe in 1-2 telling us "I wonder what happens if you use a RACCOON TAIL to HOVER and stomp a bunch of goombas in a row? . . . I bet you can get A LOT OF EXTRA LIVES."
4. BRING BACK THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL. When I was a kid, and I had much, much, much less money, buying a game was a cherished event. Whenever I got a new RPG, I had a silent tradition: I would read the instruction manual while eating a large bowl of Corn Pops. I loved doing this. I have some real great memories of this tradition, like that time I got Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest for ten dollars, brand new, and my big brother started a quest, naming the hero after himself, while I was still in the dining room eating my Pops. (I had no friends aside from Final Fantasy, my big brother, and Corn Pops.)
As many sources report these days with ample amounts of disbelief, the median age of the gamer is a little bit higher than seven and a half years — it's twenty-six. These are college graduates. They have jobs. They no longer ritualize the purchasing of each game, so they probably don't eat Corn Pops while reading the instruction manuals.
Wait — taking a paragraph break right here to shout-out to Corn Pops again! I haven't had them in years! I wonder if they're still as delicious as I remember, because I remember them as being mighty damn delicious!
So, yes. Instruction manuals are an after-thought. Why? Have you seen Wii Sports Resort's "manual"? It's a big poster-thing. I guess they're more worried about making the manual look like a toy of some sort, to keep people from tossing it in the trash along with, you know, all the other little trash-like flyers Nintendo stuffs into their games these days. Still, as far as a manual goes, it's not helpful. Give us something helpful.
On the Wii Sports Resort title screen, right there in the upper right corner, flashing huge, is a clickable icon: "Click here to watch the Wii MotionPlus tutorial video". That — along with the title of the game and "press A+B" — is the only text on the screen. How awkward. Why not make that say "Please read the manual, okay?"
5. SEPARATION OF TUTORIAL AND GAME. Or, how about you make that clickable icon on the Wii Sports Resort title screen "Click here to practice the games"? Make the tutorial something accessible from the title screen. That's how Metal Gear Solid does it — lord knows those games have plenty of other infuriating things to talk about while you're trying to enjoy the actual game.
You might say that this would be irrelevant in the context of playing the game in a party setting, with people who've never played it before. Wow! I wonder what kind of parties you hang out at — the kind where everyone is dead sober and obsessed with winning? You must have some great birthdays, Poindexter!
Okay, maybe that was mean — I'm sure your name isn't really Poindexter. Let's agree, then, that they could make tutorials available on the screen that asks you to confirm and start the game. Games are 16:9 widescreen these days; that's a lot of screen real estate — enough to put an ever-present diagram telling me to make sure the Wiimote is strapped to my wrist — let's devote a little of that to "These Miis have never played this event before. Would you like to play a tutorial round?"
You know, instead of just pushing me straight into the tutorial mode because my Mii has not participated in Frisbee golf since the last time I turned my Wii off.
6. THAT THING NINTENDO IS DOING. You know, that pop-up tutorial thing. You press a button, and suddenly the game grafts a FAQ and a guidebook right there onto the screen. A Japanese game-designer friend of mine calls this idea "manuke moodo". "Moron Mode". There you have it. So long as it's a button I am never required to press, so long as there's not, like, some stupid owl or penguin or puffin or scarlet ibis screeching onto the screen every thirty-five damn seconds crowing in my face with a text box saying "Press the PLUS BUTTON to access MORON MODE, if you NEED HELP!" — so long as no NPCs in town jump up and say "Hey, if you need help, try pressing the PLUS BUTTON" — we'll all be fine and dandy.
I was washing my hands meticulously in a well-kept public toilet the other day, and around the thirty-third time I applied the soap, I noticed something peculiar: a loudspeaker perched right above the mirrors, pointing right out the door. It was blaring, at a psychosis-inducing volume: "THIS IS THE MEN'S REST ROOM. THIS IS THE MEN'S RESTROOM." I swear it just kept saying it, back to back, wall to wall, for five straight minutes. It took me a minute to realize this was for the benefit of blind people.
Tokyo is a relatively blind-friendly city. If you've ever been here, you've no doubt noticed the bright yellow raised sections of sidewalks. These are to assist cane-carrying blind people in navigating the city. People in general do lots of walking here. Blind people, naturally, do lots of walking as well.
One out of maybe every four crosswalks in Tokyo is equipped with a button that, when pressed, will cause a musical jingle to play out of a loudspeaker mounted near a traffic crossing. I always get irked out of my skull about these buttons, because some impatient guy is always standing there, jamming his finger on it, smoking a cigarette like it went out of style yesterday, huffing and puffing, wondering why the light doesn't change. The sign over the button says, in bold letters: "FOR BLIND PEDESTRIANS". It should also say "Will not make the light change faster, jackass."
At any rate: how do blind people know these exist? Well — they're blind. That they are out of their house without the assistance of a sighted relative indicates that they are somewhat used to being blind. Part of being used to being blind is being knowledgeable about one's surroundings. If you're blind, you have a friend or a family member guide you around town, and say, "there's a crosswalk here". "Does it have a crossing button?" "No, it doesn't." "Okay." "Here's another intersection." "Does it have a button?" "It does." "Where is it?" "It's right here."
I got an excellent idea, while writing this: why not install little radio signal emitters in crossing lights, so that blind people can clip a little receiver on their belt? When a light is green, they'll hear a chime of sorts. When they're near a restroom, they'll hear a friendly, soft voice explaining: "The men's room is on the right. The women's room is on the left".
Maybe they could do this for sight-enabled idiots, too. The government could announce a new initiative. They could say they're handing out radio devices with earpieces so that pedestrians can hear warnings on train platforms telling them not to get stuck in the door, in toilets telling them not to fall in, in their own bathtub, telling them not to bring a toaster, in McDonald's telling them not to spill their coffee, or on the supermarket escalator, telling them not to bring guns or knives.
One tidbit: every time you order a pizza from, they send you an email coupon for 15% off your next pizza. Why not just make the prices of the pizza 15% cheaper across the board? Answer: because, sometimes, people get lazy, and they don't bother to redeem the coupon.
So we come back to the signs in Suginami, warning smokers that, starting October 1st, they will be fined for smoking on the street. Why are these signs placed right next to the ten-years-old signs informing smokers that it's not legal to smoke on the street? If the common consensus is that the smokers are ignoring these signs, why not put the "starting October 1st you will be fined" signs in some place other than right beside the signs that the smokers are apparently ignoring? The answer to this question is perhaps infinitely more deceptive than it might first appear. Any attempts to answer it would shake the very foundations of the institution of common sense.
If you managed to read all the way to the end of this and feel as though you learned something, you are probably smarter than me.
I would like to continue to ask you for suggestions for future articles. (I'd be lying if I said that no one emailed me last time with the suggestion that my next article "not exist".)
We will meet again — at Tokyo Game Show! See you at the Kotaku party (winking smiley face)
PS: If you are a bored, talented, good-humored programmer or 2D artist who wants to work (for stunningly low pay) on an independent game, please email me at 108 at actionbutton dot net! I'm sure we can get our game some press on — I know a couple of people there.
tim rogers types an average of 220 words per minute, and is the editor-in-chief of action button dot net; friend his band on myspace! |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8462 | KRVS Local
9:21 am
Fri April 12, 2013
Apres Midi, April 9: "In the Wake of Time" Allume Production; Festival International
Interview 1: Odile Segrest and Richard Geer talk about the Allume Society's upcoming production, "In the Wake of Time"
"In the Wake of Time"
Interview 2: Monica Hebert, president of the Board of Directors for Festival International, talks about the upcoming festival.
Festival International
Community Calendar |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8471 |
Rick Moen rick at linuxmafia.com
Sun Sep 30 01:08:48 PDT 2007
Quoting Asheesh Laroia (asheesh at asheesh.org):
> On Sat, 29 Sep 2007, RBV wrote:
> > One immediate question that comes to mind is that of security. Does
> > running Dovecot create any security issues that don't currently exist
> > with my simple, single-user Ubuntu computer?
> If you configure Dovecot to only listen on localhost, which if I recall
> correctly is the default, then there are no security implications for
> people who are not already sitting at your computer (i.e., no *network*
> security implications).
Exactly. It's great news that people stop to think about security, but it'd
also be nice if they'd not automatically assume that "daemon" implies
"network daemon reachable from arbitrary locations on public networks".
More information about the sf-lug mailing list |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8474 |
GRDDL-enabling microformats
From: Danny Ayers <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 11:52:03 +0200
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
I'm trying to get to the bottom of what is required of a microformat
publisher when they wish to make their documents available to Semantic
Web processors, and hopefully encourage Tantek to do just that...
If I understand the new GRDDL draft [1] correctly, a compatible
document would firstly include a reference to the data-view profile to
say "transformations of this doc have the same meaning as this doc" -
This would be the same for all microformats.
There would then follow a specific transformation link to provide a
stylesheet for the specific doc format, for example with the
<link rel="transformation"
This would vary per format.
Ok so far?
So perhaps the optimal action of a publisher of a microformat
specification would be to build the profile line into the spec (as a
SHOULD?) with a recommended xxx2rdfxml stylesheet for the particular
format (as a MAY?).
There is one pragmatic aspect that doesn't appear to be covered by the
microformats or GRDDL so far. Ok, a generic RDF doc might contain info
about any resources of any kind. But the microformat docs draw on a
small range of vocabularies, so I'm wondering if there may be some way
of unambiguously determining that a document contains a particular
kind of data - "this homepage contains XFN" or "this is a review".
Right now the alternatives would be either scraping the attributes to
look for some specific value (class="hreview" or whatever), or running
the whole thing through the XSLT, then querying the resultant RDF. The
former is unreliable, the latter a lot of work when most docs wouldn't
contain anything of interest.
Might it be feasible to include a big hint, something like:
<meta name="parseProfile" content="http://gmpg.org/xfn/" />
This would also help considerably when it came to data discovery - for
example if I wanted reviews of a specific book I could pass a query to
Google containing the Amazon URI of the book along with
btw, I've got a stylesheet/vocab mostly done for hReview, see [2].
[1] http://www.w3.org/TeamSubmission/2005/SUBM-grddl-20050516/
[2] http://pragmatron.org/docs/misc/hreview.html
Received on Friday, 20 May 2005 09:52:07 GMT
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8476 |
Re: Comment/testcase I18N-01?
From: Martin Duerst <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2003 09:56:41 -0400
Message-Id: <>
Hello Brian,
I agree with your comment below, as amended by Dave Beckett.
The current version of the test case is definitely wrong.
It may be a good idea to make sure that the primer clearly
explains the difference between text with markup and text
that may look like markup. Given the mess that some of the
usage communities have made out of this (e.g. RSS), I think
this is extremely important.
Regards, Martin.
At 13:11 03/07/18 +0100, Brian McBride wrote:
>One of the things that has come out of our discussions with I18N has, I
>think, been that we better understand the relationship between sequences
>of characters and markup. Whilst I18N did not specifically point out
>this flaw in the current syntax spec, I think it should be attributed to
>their input.
>Consider the test case:
> <eg:prop rdf:parseType="Literal"><em><br /></em></eg:prop>
>If my reading of the syntax document [1] is correct, it states that this
>is equivalent to (with a little license in the syntax):
>_:a <eg:prop> "<em><br /></em>"^^rdf:XMLLiteral .
>I believe that should read
>_:a <eg:prop> "<em><br /></em>^^ rdf:XMLLiteral .
>or some variation on that theme, to preserve the distinction between
>markup and content. We need to decide exactly what characters get
>DaveB: is my reading of syntax correct?
>Martin/I18N - would you endorse this comment?
Received on Sunday, 20 July 2003 16:03:33 EDT
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8477 | Re: Refocusing on HTML
Greg A. Smith (
Tue, 03 Sep 1996 16:33:03 -0600
Message-ID: <>
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 16:33:03 -0600
From: "Greg A. Smith" <>
To: Paul Prescod <>
CC: Lee Daniel Crocker <>,
Subject: Re: Refocusing on HTML
Paul Prescod wrote:
> At 11:26 AM 9/3/96 -0600, Greg A. Smith wrote:
> >Java is one of the alternatives. But as soon as we leave the well
> >understood, easy-to-implement world of HTML forms and CGIs, our
> >development costs, time schedule, uncertainty and risk all take
> >a big jump. Managers are not eager to enter the unexplored territory
> >of bleeding edge Java development.
> Most likely this component already exists as a Java applet. You probably
> just have to buy or download it. Why don't you ask around in an html
> authoring newsgroup or a Java development newsgroup. Implementing a
> multicolumn listbox isn't brain surgery. It must have been done already.
But a Java component isn't an HTML FORM element. In order to
be used with the HTML FORM methodology, in which the selected
OPTION row is communicated back to the application via a NAME=VALUE
pair in the query string, the element must be integrated into the
existing technology. I could easily write a Java widget to display
data in this way, but communicating it back to the application when the
user clicks the SUBMIT button as part of a query string comprised
of the other FORM elements on the page is a more daunting task
(brain surgery is safe and well understood by comparison) than most
IS Managers are willing to gamble on.
That is the reason why the WWW is pratically devoid of this type
of application even though it is probably the most common type of
application developed at the corporate level.
Gregory A. Smith |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8478 |
Disabling progress messages
From: Mikesell, Dave <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001 10:27:34 -0400
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Is there any way to disable the progress messages written by HTDialog_progressMessage()? I don't have any tracing or print callbacks enabled in my code, yet I get these messages:
Writing 1Kbytes
Writing 1Kbytes
Read 1Kbytes
...for every request. I've traced (no pun intended) their origination to HTDialog.c and the aforementioned function. Short of hacking the code myself, is there a way to disable this?
Dave Mikesell
Chemical Abstracts Service
614.447.3600 x2993
Received on Wednesday, 26 September 2001 10:28:08 GMT
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8479 |
From: Ian Hickson <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 00:10:52 +0000 (UTC)
To: ray whitfield <[email protected]>
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
On Tue, 28 Jun 2005, ray whitfield wrote:
> I really do not understand the resistance or claims of difficulty
> related to adding additional properties to the col and colgroup
> elements. UAs already have to support background-color, border, width
> and visibility; all of these except background effect the cell size.
> Determining the inheritance of these properties has not proved too
> difficult to implement nor required additional clarification in the CSS
> specification.
Yeah. You know why? Because the spec doesn't define how it works. And thus
every user agent does it slightly differently.
The problem is that 'color' is an inherited property. Inheritance is done
before layout (it has to be, since the layout depends on inheritance).
You don't know what is a column until you've done the layout. To make
'color''s inheritance depend on the layout thus doesn't fit CSS's model.
This isn't to say that the working group isn't aware of the problem and
looking for a solution. But nobody has yet given a solution that is easily
implementable in the CSS model. (What IE does is not implement a large
chunk of the CSS model, thus bypassing the problem, and losing an
important set of features.)
Received on Wednesday, 29 June 2005 00:11:04 GMT
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8480 |
Updated requirements document
From: Austin, Daniel <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2002 00:09:26 -0500
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
I've updated the requirements document to reflect all of the
feedback I have received so far. Thanks to everyone for their feedback. Many
improvements have been made.
The new version is here:
#16 has been reworded
#7 has been cleaned up and made more sensible
some renumbering has been done
lists have been made consistent
many typos fixed
various bits of wording changed
Received on Thursday, 25 April 2002 01:10:39 GMT
|
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8500 | Subject: A new user's comments, part 4
To: None <>
From: Scott L. Burson <>
List: current-users
Date: 06/05/1995 13:26:59
Date: Mon, 05 Jun 1995 08:17:22 -0700
From: Ted Lemon <>
Is the LISP executable undumped? It's possible that the SIGIOT is
actually the result of a bad executable - I had that happen quite a
few times before I got Emacs to undump correctly. There's no way to
prevent that signal from being delivered through GDB. I haven't
messed with executables on NetBSD/i386, so I can't give you any
specific pointers, but that's where I'd look.
Hi Ted!
Not sure what you mean by "undumped" -- this is a Franz Allegro Common Lisp
executable. It starts up fine under SunOS.
Lisp is always a pain in the butt for OS people, though, huh? :-) Still, BSD
Unix grew up supporting the original Franz Lisp, so one would think it would
be able to handle this.
Okay, so let's go with the hypothesis that even though most of my SunOS
executables are working fine, there's something about this one that the kernel
doesn't like. How could I discover what that is? Anyone know?
-- Scott |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8504 | pkgsrc-Bugs archive
pkg/39969: devel/ArX improperly invokes (attempts) python during build
>Number: 39969
>Category: pkg
>Synopsis: devel/ArX improperly invokes (attempts) python during build
>Confidential: no
>Severity: non-critical
>Priority: low
>Responsible: pkg-manager
>State: open
>Class: sw-bug
>Submitter-Id: net
>Arrival-Date: Thu Nov 20 09:15:01 +0000 2008
>Originator: Robert Elz
>Release: NetBSD 4.0_STABLE (pkgsrc current today)
Prince of Songkla University
System: NetBSD 4.0_STABLE NetBSD 4.0_STABLE
Architecture: i386
Machine: i386
I use pkg_comp with libkver to similate a 4.0 release environment.
For this I have 4.0 release sets installed (wthout X sets),
and have X11_TYPE=modular set in (the sandbox) mk.conf. Most
likely none of that is relevant for this problem.
Building devel/Arx cause a script to try running "env python"
which fails, as thee is nothing called python installed (there
is a "python2.4" instaled).
I built devel/ArX starting with an almost empty sandbox (it did
have pkg_install, digest, libkver, linktpksrc, and for the latter,
perl5 installed - all current versions).
Building ArX using "pkg_comp build devel/ArX" ends with ...
checking for python build information...
checking for python2.4... python2.4
checking for main in -lpython2.4... no
checking python2.4/Python.h usability... no
checking python2.4/Python.h presence... no
checking for python2.4/Python.h... no
checking for python2.3... (cached) python2.4
checking for main in -lpython2.4... (cached) no
checking for python2.4/Python.h... (cached) no
checking for python2.2... (cached) python2.4
checking for python2.4/Python.h... (cached) no
checking for python2.1... (cached) python2.4
checking for python2.4/Python.h... (cached) no
checking for python... (cached) python2.4
checking for python2.4/Python.h... (cached) no
results of the Python check:
Binary: python2.4
Library: no
Include Dir: no
checking for gnutar... /usr/pkg/bin/gtar
checking for gnudiff... /usr/pkg/bin/gdiff
checking for gnudiff3... no
checking for gdiff3... /usr/pkg/bin/gdiff3
checking for gnupatch... /usr/pkg/bin/gpatch
checking for pkg-config...
checking for gpg... no
configure: WARNING: Could not find gpg. You can set it manually with the
ARXGPG variable. Your build will not be able to sign or verify revisions by
default. See "arx param -H" for how to set it up on a per user basis.
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating SConstruct
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating src/config.h
===> Building for ArX-2.2.4nb9
env: python: No such file or directory
*** Error code 127
make: stopped in /usr/pkgsrc/devel/ArX
*** Error code 1
After the build aborts, the sandbox contains (if this
happens to be relevant)
pkg_install-20081013 Package management and administration tools for pkgsrc
digest-20080510 Message digest wrapper utility
perl-5.10.0nb2 Practical Extraction and Report Language
lintpkgsrc-4.82 Sanity checks on the complete pkgsrc tree
python24-2.4.5nb2 Interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming
scons-1.1.0 Python-based, open-source build system
pkg-config-0.23 System for managing library compile/link flags
checkperms-1.10 Check and correct file permissions
patch-2.5.4nb2 Patch files using diff output
diffutils-2.8.1nb2 GNU diff utilities - find the differences between files
gtar-base-1.20 The GNU tape archiver with remote magnetic tape support
lzo-2.03 Portable lossless data compression library
libcfg+-0.6.2nb3 Command line and configuration file parsing library
libtasn1-1.5 ASN.1 structure parser library
libgpg-error-1.6 Definitions of common error values for all GnuPG components
libgcrypt-1.4.3 GNU cryptographic library
opencdk-0.6.6 Open Crypto Development Kit
gnutls-2.6.1 GNU Transport Layer Security library
fam-2.7.0nb9 File Alteration Monitor
pcre-7.8 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions library
glib2-2.18.2 Some useful routines for C programming (glib2)
libIDL-0.8.11 CORBA Interface Definition Language parser
ORBit2-2.14.16 High-performance CORBA ORB with C language support
libXau-1.0.4 Authorization Protocol for X from
libXdmcp-1.0.2 X Display Manager Control Protocol library from
libX11-1.1.5 Base X libraries from modular Xorg X11
expat-2.0.1 XML parser library written in C
dbus-1.2.4 Message bus system
dbus-glib-0.76 GLib bindings for the D-BUS message bus system
xmlcatmgr-2.2nb1 XML and SGML catalog manager
libxml2-2.7.2nb1 XML parser library from the GNOME project
GConf-2.24.0 Configuration database system used by GNOME
gnome-vfs-2.24.0 GNOME Virtual File System (v2)
There is nothing relating to python in the sandbox
mk.conf nor the environment (ie: it picked to use
python 2.4 all by itself, the binary packages directory
has 2.1 2.3 2.4 and 2.5 versions available to use).
I assume something needs to patch the script to use
/usr/pkg/bin/python2.4 instead of "env python" - or
some equivalent thereto.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8507 | Subject: NetBSD master CVS tree commits
To: None <[email protected]>
From: None <[email protected]>
List: source-changes
Date: 10/20/1996 19:20:02
Sun Oct 20 12:18:02 PDT 1996
In directory netbsd1:/var/slash-tmp/cvs-serv14822
Modified Files:
Log Message:
Make sure to refer to `sc_ovtype' only when SUN4 is defined, as noted
by `'.
Also, explicitly testwhether we're dealing with a pfour. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8516 | These 11 Olympic Fails Will Make You Cringe
Olympic athletes are at the top of their game, having labored tirelessly for years to prepare their bodies for the grandest of stages. And because of this ceaseless conditioning, no athlete ever makes an error.
Oh, wait. That's not right at all.
SEE ALSO: 11 Inspiring Works of Olympic Fan Art
We are still human, and despite long days spent training, we'll always encounter occasional errors. Luckily, we've caught those Olympic sport errors so you, the Internet audience, can enjoy them for all time.
Are these the best Olympic fails you've ever seen? Show us your favorite fail moments in the comments below.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8517 | Ipad Video Sites
Apple Launches Site Showcasing iPad Video Support
If the lack of Flash support on the iPad concerns you, be sure to check out Apple's new page for video support. The page lists the major sites that will offer compatible video for its newest gadget. While the usual HTML5 sources (Vimeo, YouTube) are featured, other content providers and major publishers are featured as well. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8518 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have the following question:
Matrix $N$ is a diagonal matrix with all entries strictly positive (hence, $N$ is positive definite since it satisfies $x^T N x > 0$). Matrix $M$ is an asymmetric positive definite matrix with all entries non-negative.
Since $NM \neq MN$, it does not follow that the product $NM$ is positive definite. However, given the special structure of $N$, can we still show that $NM$ is positive definite? Or maybe, under certain additional conditions?
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What do you mean by positive definite for an asymmetric matrix? There are different options. – Simon Markett Sep 2 '12 at 13:40
I meant that M also satisfies $x^T M x > 0$. – User2012 Sep 2 '12 at 14:43
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1 Answer
It's not true in general: take $$ N=\begin{bmatrix}1&0\\0&1/5\end{bmatrix},\ \ \ M=\begin{bmatrix}1&1\\0&1\end{bmatrix}. $$ $M$ is positive-definite according to your definition, since $$ \begin{bmatrix}x\\ y\end{bmatrix}^TM\begin{bmatrix}x\\ y\end{bmatrix}=x^2+xy+y^2>0 $$ on nonzero vectors.
On the other hand $$ \begin{bmatrix}1\\-2\end{bmatrix}^TNM\begin{bmatrix}1\\-2\end{bmatrix}=-\frac15. $$
As for conditions, of course one can force $M$ to be trivial enough for the property to hold; but I'll be surprised if there is a meaningful condition on $M$ that guarantees that $NM$ is positive-definite.
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Yes, it does look like that. Thanks for your response! – User2012 Sep 3 '12 at 19:37
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8519 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
Over lunch, my math professor teasingly gave this argument
God by definition is perfect. Non-existence would be an imperfection, therefore God exists. Non-uniqueness would be an imperfection, therefore God is unique.
I have thought about it, please critique from mathematical/logical point of view on
1. Why does/doesn't this argument fall through? Does it violate any logical deduction rules?
2. Can this statement be altered in a way that it belongs to ZF + something? What about any axiomatic system?
3. Is it positive to make mathematically precise the notion of "perfect"?
share|improve this question
The argument begs the assumption. It's a rather old trick, and what worries is that some really believe it holds some water. – DonAntonio Jun 3 '13 at 0:10
This is St. Anselm's ontological argument from the 11th century. – Zen Jun 3 '13 at 0:13
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontological_argument Also I could really go for a perfect ham sandwich right now (which by the same argument also exists). – Rahul Jun 3 '13 at 0:14
@Rahul: One can easily prove that the perfect sandwich is not edible (since being indestructible, for example by digestion system, is an imperfection). Therefore if it exists, the perfect sandwich cannot be eaten. Therefore it isn't so perfect after all... – Asaf Karagila Jun 3 '13 at 0:18
@RahulNarain: Or perhaps, God contains all of its limit points, and every point is a limit point. :P – Prism Jun 3 '13 at 0:21
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closed as not a real question by Andres Caicedo, Austin Mohr, Rahul, srijan, Amzoti Jun 3 '13 at 0:32
3 Answers
up vote 10 down vote accepted
Existence is not a predicate. You may want to read Gödel's onthological proof, which you can find on Wikipedia.
Equally good is the claim that uniqueness is imperfection, since something which is perfect cannot be scarce and unique. Therefore God is inconsistent..?
share|improve this answer
So you are implying that there is no way to make the notion "perfect" mathematically precise? – mezhang Jun 3 '13 at 0:18
No, but any mathematical precision will depend on the interpretation of whoever wrote it/reads it. So in order to argue mathematically we have to suspend our definition of perfect and accept an alternative concept. So God is t perfect, but something else. The main point though is that existence is not a property. – Asaf Karagila Jun 3 '13 at 0:21
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"Non-existence would be an imperfection, therefore God exists." What this statement actually says it that "If God exists, then he would be perfect, and therefore it isn't possible that he doesn't exist, since non-existence is an imperfection."
Well, if God exists, then it is pretty clear that He exists, and this proposed argument is not so useful. But if God doesn't exist, then the argument certainly doesn't prove that He does exist!
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Let's define the following:
'Derp' is defined as something that is perfect whereas perfect is defined as something that is unique, exists, is green and has 3 horns
Clearly a derp exists, there's only 1 derp and it's green with 3 horns.
We can define things that logically will always be true but that doesn't make it in reality a universal truth. A less silly example is the following:
'Set' is a well defined collection of objects
Non-existence of a set would imply that we can't find a well defined collection of objects (whatever that means), so a set exists. However in reality I've never held a 'set'. I've never watched a 'set'.
In other words I can define anything I want but this does not really translate into anything useful (as in the derp example) or anything that's presented in reality (the derp or set example)
I am prepared to be downvoted to all hell, I only ask if/when you do can you leave a comment as to why? Thanks!
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8520 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
Is there some place (on the internet or elsewhere) where I can find the number and preferably a list of all (isomorphism classes of) finite connected $T_0$-spaces with, say, 5 points?
In know that a $T_0$-topology on a finite set is equivalent to a partial ordering, and wikipedia tells me that there are, up to isomorphism, 63 partially ordered sets with precisely 5 elements. However, I am only interested in connected spaces, and I'd love to have a list (most preferably in terms of Hasse diagrams).
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up vote 1 down vote accepted
This question was answered here.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8521 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have this question at MO and I would like to know if we can give hints to get the symbolic sums and products to come out as $\frac{6}{\pi^{2}}\pm\epsilon$ instead of $0.60792710...$ accurate to $\epsilon$.
ε = 0.000000001; s = 0;
Sum[(MoebiusMu[n] + ε)/n^s, {n, 1, ∞}] /
Product[n^(MoebiusMu[n] ε), {n, 1, ∞}] == 1/Zeta[s] + ε
When $s=0$ we get $-2\pm\epsilon$, but we have to use NSum. When $s=2$ or greater, we get the decimal expansion and I would like to see the zeta values $\pm\epsilon$.
Can we do this?
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1 Answer
up vote 1 down vote accepted
I just created a wrapper for the generating function of the LHS.
mcalc[s_,ε_] := {1/Zeta[s], 1/Zeta[s] - (2 π)^(2 ε)
(1 + ε Zeta[s]^2)/Zeta[s]}
mcalc[2, 0.000000000001]
(* {6/π^2, -3.87945*10^-12} *)
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8522 | Hi Everyone,
My name is Faisal Alghamdi and I'm an M.A in Economics at SMU, Dallas. I should also add that I am one of the worst students in math classes. Math is an essential skill or field in almost all sciences nowadays. If you suck at it then you are surely going to suffer and struggle in your studies. One of the sides or fields of math I suck at is mathematical modeling or turning words problems into math model and use it to generate results and explain them and understand the limitation of my model. And my question is there any book I could use to hone my skills?
Thank you
P.S: I am also know among friends by Yaseen =) |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8524 | Ténèsalso spelled Teneztown, northern Algeria. A small Mediterranean Sea port, it is built on the site of the ancient Phoenician and Roman colonies of Catenna. Ruins of the Roman colony’s ramparts and tombs remain, and the Roman cisterns are still in use. Old Ténès, probably founded in AD 875 CE by Spanish colonists, belonged to the city of Tlemcen from 1299 until its capture by the corsair Khayr adal-Dīn (Barbarossa) in 1517. It was occupied by the French in 1843. The modern town of Ténès rests on a rocky plateau overlooking the Wadi Allalah estuary and a harbour sheltered on the east by Cape Ténès. The remains of Old Ténès are 1 mile (1.5 km) southeast. The modern town’s industry includes fish canning and the production of soft drinks. Pop. (latest est.) mun., 26,5102008) 29,220. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8529 | Just thinking down the road to when Careers is accepting employer signups, I think it'd be a really great promotion and informational view to be able to see what types of tags and searches companies are doing.
For example, I think it'd be valuable during the signup process for prospective job-seekers to see:
• 65% of employers are searching for C#
• 22% of employers are searching for Java and Spring
• etc.
I think having some level of visibility into what employers are actually searching for (at an aggregate level) might help the job-seekers know what exactly it is that employers are currently looking for, and how they can better market themselves to those interests - although I suppose the argument could be made that the type of developer that SO Careers is targeting shouldn't need to do that sort of thing.
I just think it'd be great for paid users to be able to see some level of details as to how employers are using the system, so they can tell if they are getting any value for their registration cost.
share|improve this question
I am sure if you have the attitude of Nate over here: meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/27200/… you will have no trouble finding work. ;) – Troggy Nov 3 '09 at 22:35
Duplicate? This question is 21 days older than yours – matt b Dec 2 '09 at 20:59
That's amazing. @George Stocker asks the same question, then tries to get the older one claimed as a dupe. The balls of this guy! – Randolpho Dec 2 '09 at 22:28
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6 Answers
up vote 5 down vote accepted
Update: This feature was removed in Careers 2.0
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Awesome, thanks! – matt b Jan 13 '10 at 5:03
Does this still exist, I don't see it anywhere? – gideon Nov 11 '11 at 12:02
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More important and less controversial than tags is location. Show what are the most solicited locations and see which searches are location limited, and to which locations.
I really want to know if my CV sucks, or if most searches are restricted by location.
share|improve this answer
Same here, I haven't gotten any hits so I'm wondering if it is because of location or because of the tags that I'm using. – rob Dec 2 '09 at 18:22
100% agree. I just came onto meta to ask this question and make this point. – Brent Nash Dec 7 '09 at 2:34
Yeah emphasis on "I really want to know if my CV sucks", with a side of "not sure if I am using the tags appropriately". – James McMahon Dec 23 '09 at 23:24
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I agree that visibility into some sort of volume number would help, but being too specific will lead to users gaming the system.
share|improve this answer
Absolutely I agree - there's some level of detail tradeoff involved – matt b Nov 4 '09 at 13:02
Everybody is gaming everything. There's plenty of stats already out there so I don't see the problem with revealing them here... it would just help people like me reconcile what they want to do against demand. – daf Nov 5 '09 at 17:04
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I'm going to second this, but I'd really like to see more than just aggregate level stats, if possible. I know it'd be a bear to build reports on it, but I'd like to see exactly what each employer is searching for. Keywords, tags, locations... everything.
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If employers are looking for certain aspects that I can do in an area that I might consider, I would like to know that and adjust my CV accordingly. What I really want to know is if they're just not looking for someone like me, or someone close to someone like me. I don't think it's gaming the system to do this - as the goal is to match an suitably awesome employer with a suitably awesome employee. The employer (usually) knows what they want - we need to be able to put ourselves in their line of sight.
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Must be broken, Michigan shows up on there:
alt text
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I'm more surprised with Romania, Serbia and Norway being there. – perbert Mar 17 '10 at 17:33
I upvoted, just to see you rush to make it CW ;) – yoda Nov 14 '11 at 18:06
@yoda Must... resist... temptation...! – Adam Davis Nov 14 '11 at 18:12
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Compiler Warning (level 1) C4944
Error Message
'symbol' : cannot import symbol from 'assembly1': as 'symbol' already exists in the current scope
A symbol was defined in a source code file and then a #using statement referenced an assembly that also defined the symbol. The symbol in the assembly is ignored.
The following sample creates a component with a type called ClassA.
// C4944.cs
// compile with: /target:library
// C# source code to create a dll
public class ClassA {
public int i;
The following samples generate C4944.
// C4944b.cpp
// compile with: /clr /W1
class ClassA {
int u;
#using "C4944.dll" // C4944 ClassA also defined C4944.dll
int main() {
ClassA * x = new ClassA();
x->u = 9;
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About Windows Desktop Sharing
The Object Model
The only objects that can be co-created are the RDPSession object for creating a sharer instance, and the RDPViewer object for creating a viewer instance. All other objects are created and accessed through the methods of these objects.
An application groups the sharable windows within a process. Each application object contains a list of window objects. If an application object is shared, all its windows are shared.
An application filter manages the shared desktop area at the window and process level. Applications can use the enumerators to display lists of objects in the session that can be shared.
Attendee objects are created as a result of clients connecting to the session and being authenticated. After an attendee object is created it is automatically added to the attendees list.
Note Beginning with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, Windows Desktop Sharing uses the Desktop Duplication API. To ensure that your application will work correctly at all dots per inch (dpi) settings, your application must be DPI-aware. The recommended method for doing this is to configure the application manifest to mark your application as per-monitor DPI-aware as described in the paper: Writing DPI-Aware Desktop Applications in Windows 8.1 preview. This will set the application level when the application is launched.
Related topics
Windows Desktop Sharing Reference
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Windows Azure Services
Updated: January 16, 2014
The core documentation for individual Windows Azure services is available in this area of the Windows Azure technical documentation library. If you don’t have an account yet or are just getting started, you might try the getting started tutorials on WindowsAzure.com for the services you are interested in.
Compute Services
Data Services
App Services
Network Services
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IUnknown::AddRef method
Increments the reference count for an interface on an object. This method should be called for every new copy of a pointer to an interface on an object.
ULONG AddRef();
This method has no parameters.
Return value
Objects use a reference counting mechanism to ensure that the lifetime of the object includes the lifetime of references to it. You use AddRef to stabilize a copy of an interface pointer. It can also be called when the life of a cloned pointer must extend beyond the lifetime of the original pointer. The cloned pointer must be released by calling IUnknown::Release.
The internal reference counter that AddRef maintains should be a 32-bit unsigned integer.
Notes to Callers
Call this method for every new copy of an interface pointer that you make. For example, if you are passing a copy of a pointer back from a method, you must call AddRef on that pointer. You must also call AddRef on a pointer before passing it as an in-out parameter to a method; the method will call IUnknown::Release before copying the out-value on top of it.
Minimum supported client
Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server
Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
See also
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8561 | Picross 3D All Stories
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Average Score 8.4 Reviews(36)
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JP 12 March 2009
US 03 May 2010 |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8567 | [an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
watch One-Minute World News
Last Updated: Tuesday, 15 July, 2003, 14:16 GMT 15:16 UK
Q&A: The Niger link
London and Washington have found themselves in a public disagreement over a British Government claim that Iraq tried to get uranium from the West African state of Niger.
The CIA says it was a mistake to have included it in President George Bush's State of the Union address, but the British Government is standing by it. BBC News Online's Paul Reynolds tries to answer some key questions.
What is the origin of the claim?
A memorandum came to the CIA's notice (from the Italians, according to Time Magazine) which appeared to document the sale or proposed sale of uranium by Niger to Iraq in the late 1990's. Such a sale would have suggested that Iraq was seeking to build a nuclear bomb since it had no civilian nuclear programme.
What did the Americans do?
The CIA sent fomer US diplomat Joseph Wilson to Niger, where he had once been based. He spoke to Niger officials who were in government when the deal allegedly took place. One said that he had been approached in June 1999 by a unnamed businessman about expanding trade between Niger and Iraq. There was an Iraqi delegation in Niger. This raised a suspicion that Iraq wanted to buy uranium ore since Niger has little else to offer.
What did the US envoy conclude?
He concluded, as he wrote in the New York Times on 7 July this year: "It was highly doubtful that any such transaction had taken place." He said that controls on Niger's uranium mining were very strict and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He did not mention the memorandum in his report nor did he see it.
What did the CIA do then?
The CIA says that it gave Mr Wilson's report "normal and wide distribution" but that senior Bush administration officials were not told since the Wilson report did not resolve the issue, in the CIA's view. The British Government was not told either.
Why did the British Government mention the claim in its September 2002 dossier on Iraq?
It says that it got its information from a separate source - a "foreign intelligence service" - and that the information was "credible." The foreign service has not been named officially but the Italians have been mentioned in some press reports, though the one report says it could have been the French. But Italy is also named as a source for the CIA so there is a mystery here. If Italy was a common source, where does the British separate intelligence come from?
There is a hint from some sources that it might have to do with the presence in Niger in 1999 of the Iraqi delegation i.e someone on that delegation may have talked, but the British government refuses to say.
Did the CIA challenge the British claim?
Yes, according to a CIA statement which said: "We expressed reservations" but "our colleagues (the British) said they were confident in their reports and left it in their document."
However, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said that "The CIA believed in the veracity of the claims" because there were other sources of this information as well. The CIA has said that there had been reports that Iraq had tried to get uranium from two other African countries.
The evidence appeared not convince the CIA, though, because it removed a reference to the Niger claim from a presidential speech in October.
Did the CIA and the British share all their information with each other?
No. The British Government admits that it did not give the CIA the details about its information. It claims that it was up to the unnamed foreign intelligence service to do so. Maybe that service gave it to the US as well. The CIA in turn did not tell the British about the Wilson mission. This lack of information sharing is perhaps the most surprising aspect of the affair.
So why did President Bush mention Niger in his State of the Union address?
This was, the CIA Director George Tenet says, "a mistake." Although Mr Bush attributed the report to the British Government, the CIA says that the British information was not strong enough to justify inclusion in such an important speech.
Critics, including Joseph Wilson, say that the White House used the allegation as part of a trend towards overstating the Iraqi threat, though the White House denies this.
Was the original memorandum not found to be a forgery?
Yes. This was the memorandum which came to the CIA and which launched the Wilson mission in 2002. In March this year the head of the IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei told the UN that "these documents are in fact not authentic." The documents were faxes apparently exchanged between Iraq and Niger - but it turned out, for example, that they carried the alleged signatures of people not in the Niger Government at the time. Why they were not found to be forgeries earlier is not known.
Did this not shake British confidence?
Apparently not. Britain is standing by its report from the unnamed foreign intelligence service. Mr Straw has told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that the British knew nothing about the memorandum and that the first Britain knew about the forgery was when it was reported in the press.
The BBC's Reeta Chakrabarti
"George Tenet has been forced into an embarrassing apology"
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8609 | When Barack Obama prophesied that his election would mark "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal," people sniggered. What a claim! Did the man think he could command the tides? Yet perhaps Mr. Obama knew something the scoffers didn't. For as his half-sister suggests in a bizarre new picture book, it is not the president but his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who directs the movement of the waters from the surface of the moon. "Ladder to the Moon" (Candlewick, 42 pages, $16.99) imagines Ms. Dunham as a supernatural being, "full, soft, and curious," who "would send tides to nourish [seeds] and weave a net of love around us all." This cloying hymn of praise emerges from the pen of Maya Soetoro-Ng, who, like many women, developed a new appreciation for her mother when she herself had a child. To convey to her own daughters the late Ms. Dunham's apparently boundless compassion, Ms. Soetoro-Ng indulges in the worst kind of pretentious gassiness. In the story, to the degree that there is one, "Grandma Annie" appears one night at the bedroom window of her granddaughter Suhaila and invites her to climb a golden ladder into the sky. Once there, the grandmother lets herself grow "wider and wider, wider than the biggest crater." Snuggling into her vast lap, the child begins to listen: "The songs of the moon are plenty. Some are plain and some fancy, but Suhaila listened to them all, and through listening, she knew more than she had known before." Gazing down at the Earth, the pair observe some children struggling in a tsunami wave. "Come dance and get warm, babies," Grandma Annie calls to them. Leaping to the moon "like flying fish," the children are swathed in scarves and swung by Grandma Annie and Suhaila "round and round until they could all laugh again, loud and long." The moon duo then rescues two girls from an earthquake, vows to "build bridges and buildings and bonds between people," and observes prayerful folk of all religions (of course), each one of whom is (of course) "finding his or her own path to the moon, each path connecting with the others in hope's massive stream." The book goes on like this, page after vaporous page, until Suhaila goes home to bed "feeling proud for having helped others heal—for having helped others learn to move forward and upward and around." The magical drama of Yuyi Morales's illustrations deserves a better text. Can you imagine anyone trying to pull a stunt like this with Lillian Carter or Barbara Bush?
A Yuyi Morales illustration.
"Press Here" (Chronicle, 56 pages, $14.99), by contrast, is anything but soft and dreamy, and it's well-nigh irresistible. Hervé Tullet's brilliantly simple creation starts with a single blob of yellow on a glossy white background and takes us through a series of directives so compelling that even adults may find themselves sticking out a finger and, well, pressing there. Each page invites an action: "Now press the yellow dot again." Naturally, we can't help but press down, even though we know—we know!—that the yellow circle isn't actually a button. Whether we press it or not, the outcome won't change, but such is the book's genius that we cheerfully join the conceit. Before long, we're tapping a colored dot quickly, five times, to turn one dot into five and even blowing on the pages and clapping louder and louder to "create" more exciting, giddy- making effects. This French import is like a cross between a high-concept picture book and an iPhone, only more charming. |
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8620 | User:Kyle A Barlow
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Kyle A Barlow (an artistic interpretation)
Kyle A Barlow (an artistic interpretation)
I work as a graduate student in the Kortemme lab at the University of California, San Francisco.
• 2010, Molecular and Cell Biology BA, UC Berkeley
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2. Protein modelling
1. Miller JC, Tan S, Qiao G, Barlow KA, Wang J, Xia DF, Meng X, Paschon DE, Leung E, Hinkley SJ, Dulay GP, Hua KL, Ankoudinova I, Cost GJ, Urnov FD, Zhang HS, Holmes MC, Zhang L, Gregory PD, and Rebar EJ. . pmid:21179091. PubMed HubMed [Paper1]
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8622 | Experimental and numerical investigation of sprays in two stroke diesel Engines
Publication: ResearchPh.D. thesis – Annual report year: 2007
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The control of the injected spray is important when optimizing performance and reducing emissions from diesel engines. The research community has conducted extensive research especially on smaller four stroke engines, but so far only little has been done on sprays in large two stroke engines. The latter is the subject of this dissertation. The theory and experimental findings on diesel sprays are investigated, including e.g. spray parameters and droplet break up. It is found that no complete theory is yet present and large challenges lie ahead. Generally, there is fairly good consensus on which physical quantities have an effect on the spray characteristics, but there are some discrepancies. It is found that small differences in setup have large effects on the spray characteristics, especially differences in nozzle layout have shown a large effect. The nozzles of large two stroke engines both have different scales and other designs than those used in the literature, so extending results from the literature will require experiments on this particular type of setup. Numerical investigations of diesel sprays are performed using the Eulerian/Lagrangian engine CFD code Kiva. In agreement with other authors it is found that cell sizes applicable in Kiva are inadequate to capture the scales of the spray. Different approaches on compensating for the too large grid are tested, and it is concluded that the problem of artificial diffusion of momentum is the most critical to be solved. A criterion is derived for an absolute maximum grid size for achieving reasonable momentum transfer from liquid to the gas phase. Even smaller cell sizes are required for e.g. resolving gradients in the flow field. An experimental setup is constructed, investigating sprays at atmospheric conditions, using nozzles and an injection system identical to those of large two stroke diesel engines. Specially designed single hole nozzles enables in nozzle pressure measurements. A number of experimental methods are successfully tested, including a high speed imaging system using reflected light, a low cost shadowgraph system, integral mass measurements and transient total momentum measurements. A device for qualitative measurements of spray momentum distribution is also tested but needs further improvements. The measurements are used to quantify the spray by e.g. finding spray angle, penetration and discharge coefficients. A cross correlation analysis is successfully conducted on data series of spray width, giving the average velocities of the spray borders at different positions. The experimental methods are used on four configurations of single hole injectors. It is found that hole type and upstream conditions has an effect on both the amount of injected mass and momentum and on spray angle. Some configurations had the nozzle slide removed to get very stable upstream conditions, which results in a spray with asymmetrical spray distribution. There is a dense main spray carrying the main part of the momentum, and besides that there is a disperse region traveling with a lower velocity. The source for the asymmetrical spray is the upstream conditions, including differences in nozzle phenomena. For nozzles with the slide, typical turbulent sprays are observed but border velocity calculations indicate a disperse region close to the nozzle. The asymmetrical spray distributions means that care should be taken when using spray parameters like spray angle, for e.g. inlet conditionsfor CFD computations.
Original languageEnglish
Publication dateNov 2007
Number of pages176
ISBN (print)978-87-7475-344-5
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8624 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
When her young children became feverish, my sister would undress them and try to bring their temperature down.
However my mother is adamant that the right treatment is the exact opposite- Wrap them up warm, but give them plenty of liquid so they don't become dehydrated.
Which is the correct treatment?
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Our local Red Cross' infant first-aid course made a big point to not overheat the child. A fever can be life-threatening if too high so don't pack the child in thick blankets and clothing. – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun Jan 9 '12 at 11:52
Interesting thanks. If anyone has links to official medical advice that I could show to my mother that would be much appreciated. – Urbycoz Jan 9 '12 at 11:56
I added some links to Beofett's answer. – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun Jan 9 '12 at 13:59
A fever is a symptom, so the key is to try and find out the cause so that you can treat the cause. As for how to handle a fever, you don't want the child to overheat. Prolonged high temperatures cause brain damage or worse. CALL THE NURSE/DOCTOR! Typically they'll want you to treat it with fever reducing medication. – DA01 Jan 10 '12 at 23:08
A few reference points: according to our pediatrist, 37.5 - 38.5 °C (99.5 - 101.3 °F) is a raised temperature, above 38.5 °C/101.3 °F is a fever, and we should call him only when the temperature stays above 39.8 °C (103.6 °F) for more than one hour. Brain damage can occur at temperatures of 42 °C (107.6 °F) and above (see nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003090.htm) – Treb Jan 11 '12 at 10:55
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1 Answer
up vote 5 down vote accepted
As Torben mentioned, you do not want to bundle them up and risk raising the fever.
However, the opposite extreme is not helpful, either. Undressing the child, cold baths, ice, or alcohol rubs can lower the skin temperature without lowering the fever. This can cause hivering, which can actually raise the core temperature further.
• Do NOT bundle up someone who has the chills.
You are spot-on with suggesting plenty of liquids. Water, gelatin, soup, or even popsicles are all good ways to keep your child hydrated.
The old adage "feed a cold, starve a fever" is bad advice. If your child is hungry, let them eat.
As always, call your doctor if the fever gets too high:
Also call your doctor if the fever doesn't show signs of going away:
Here are some official links:
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Thank you for your thorough answer. – Urbycoz Jan 9 '12 at 14:03
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8629 | Frozen Pinewood River
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8640 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
Possible Duplicate:
How to promote an open-source project?
One of my hobby projects currently is about to reach a stage i would call 'public beta' where i would like to see real user feedback.
I've been 'dogfooding' it, i think it scratches an itch, i am currently working on improving the documentation to provide an introduction, it is publicly available in full via SCV (bitbucket) etc.
But, all that will not get users, as far as i can tell, but only keep users from leaving.
Is there any common way of intruducing new projects to the community?
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This surely must have a billion dupes. – DeadMG Sep 27 '11 at 17:26
I found some, but they seem to focus on the 'dogdood it, see that it scratches an itch'. the ones i found did not seem to answer the 'get' but the 'keep' part. – keppla Sep 28 '11 at 6:40
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marked as duplicate by Anna Lear Sep 27 '11 at 17:29
2 Answers
up vote 3 down vote accepted
Conduct an Unconference. jQuery was released at BarCamp.
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that sounds like a good idea! – keppla Sep 27 '11 at 12:05
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Figure out your audience, find the places they're most likely to get information, reach out to the channel's moderator and make signing up for your beta look sexy :)
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8641 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I don't know much about C# but I've been programming in Java for a few months now. I had always heard what C and C++ were, but was a little curious about where C# came from. I'm a little confused about the C# language since even though it's one of the 'C' languages (C, C++, C#), on the other hand all of my professors seem to line it up against Java, and not the others.
If anyone can clarify that would be great :)
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By any chance, have you looked at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_Sharp_(programming_language) ? – Lionel Oct 25 '11 at 1:10
Thank you!! That was very helpful :) – Kaitlyn Mcmordie Oct 25 '11 at 1:14
Just to quote a friend of mine, which is C# dev and teacher when asking him about C# : « you know java ? Then just change the compiler and it should work just fine ». He was obviously ironic, but wanted to emphasis how similar the 2 plateforms are. – deadalnix Oct 25 '11 at 7:55
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up vote 6 down vote accepted
Probably because Java and C# are extremely similar: They are both class-based OOP languages with single inheritance and interfaces, strong static typing, garbage collection built into the language, copy semantics that bind to types (value types vs. reference types), generics, namespace hierarchies, reflection, and they both run on a virtualized environment (JRE / .NET runtime). They also share a large part of their syntax.
The other languages from the "C-like" family are different from both Java and C# in many regards: C doesn't have classes, it is weakly-typed, it does not have garbage collection, copy semantics are explicit on use, it compiles directly to machine code, and it lacks generics (offering C Preprocessor macros and implicit casts instead). C++ does have classes, but uses multiple inheritance instead of interfaces; it also offers templates, which are superficially similar to generics but work differently under the hood; it is similar to C in most other regards. Javascript, also very similar to C in its syntax, shares garbage collection and a virtualized environment with Java and C#, but it uses dynamic typing, prototype-based OOP, and it does not use the half-way compilation approach of Java and C#.
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I'm not sure you can compare java primitives to C# value-types.. – MattDavey Oct 25 '11 at 10:52
@MattDavey: They behave pretty much the same, except that C# lets you define your own value types, beyond the built-in primitives, whereas in Java, all user-defined classes are automatically reference types. Other than that, the mechanisms are the same. – tdammers Oct 25 '11 at 12:08
sounds like you have a broader range of experience across the languages so I will defer to your expertise :) – MattDavey Oct 25 '11 at 13:02
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C# is a managed code (compiled to bytecode and run on a virtual machine) language developed by Microsoft to serve as one of the core languages of the .NET framework. It features garbage collection and easy integration with other languages.
It gets lined up with Java because has most of the same features, a C like syntax, managed code execution model, and an automatic garbage collector. It's also an "easy" Object Oriented Language.
It resulted from an effort by Microsoft to develop a VM for Java until Sun sued them over it. Thus that project was shelved and the .NET project took over as Microsoft's effort to do a managed code environment mainly aimed at desktop applications.
You can write a lot of things in C# and run them in a fair number of places now with the Mono framework but it still lacks the shear power of C or C++ as well as being substantially harder to massacre your ambiguously owned cloned feet.
Anything that uses the XNA framework was likely written at least in part in C#.
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Thank you very much! – Kaitlyn Mcmordie Oct 25 '11 at 1:17
@WorldEngineer Can you provide some references for It resulted from an effort by Microsoft to develop a VM for Java until Sun sued them over it.? I think you are confusing VisualJ++ with C#. – Yannis Rizos Oct 25 '11 at 7:28
What does it means as well as being substantially harder to massacre your ambiguously owned cloned feet? Is this against C++ or against C#? – xanatos Oct 25 '11 at 7:46
@YannisRizos C# was what Microsoft did when they weren't allowed to embrace and extend Java. – user1249 Oct 25 '11 at 7:49
@xanatos C++ - it's an old joke about multiple inheritance and so forth. The original goes along the lines of C: Shoot yourself in the foot. C++: Make 10 copies of the foot, shoot all of them at random. Got to a hospital where they can't figure out which feet to treat as some are alias for others. – World Engineer Oct 25 '11 at 7:52
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8642 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm in a bit of a disagreement with a more experienced developer on this issue, and wondering what others think about it; our environment is Java, EJB 3, services, etc.
The code I wrote calls a service to get things and to create things. The problem I ran into was that I got null pointer exceptions that didn't make sense. For example, when I ask the service to create an object, I get null back; when I try to look up an object with a known valid ID, I get null back. I spent some time trying to figure out what was wrong in my code; since I'm less experienced I usually assume I've done something wrong, but it turns out the reason for the null returns was security. If the user principal using my service didn't have the right permissions for the target service, then it simply returns null. Most other services here aren't documented very well either, so apparently this is just something you have to know.
This is rather confusing as a developer writing code that interacts with the service. It would make much more sense to me if the service thew an exception that would tell me that the user didn't have the proper permissions to load this thing or to create that thing; I would then immediately know why my service wasn't working as expected.
The more experienced developer who wrote the service argued that asking for the data is not an error condition, and that exceptions should only be thrown in an error condition, not when the user doesn't have access to the data. This data is often looked up in a GUI, and for those users without the right permissions, these things simply "do not exist". So, in short: asking is not wrong, hence no exception. Get methods return null because to those users those things "don't exist". Create methods return null when the user wasn't allowed to create that thing.
Is this normal and/or good practice? I prefer using exceptions because I find it much easier to know what's going on. So I would for example also prefer to throw a NotFoundException if you asked for an object with an invalid ID, rather than returning null.
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@ChrisF: 1) is about people shunning null references, which I don't. In many cases they are appropriate, I just don't think they are in this one. 2) is about checking parameters, and wouldn't an assert sort of result in the same as throwing an exception? 3) exceptions vs error codes is also a different issue as they are both ways of "showing" what went wrong. Error codes are appropriate if for example you need to notify a system which doesn't support exceptions or if you don't want the end-user to see anything else than a code. – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 15:09
The issue I ask about here is about "pretending something doesn't exist or didn't happen" vs "telling why something doesn't exist or didn't happen". – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 15:10
I didn't suggest they were duplicates - just that they might have useful information for you. – ChrisF Nov 24 '11 at 15:15
True, sorry about that! Took it as a "possible duplicates" comment for some reason... probably because of lack of sleep, hehe. – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 15:27
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Exceptions should only be thrown when there is an error and asking for a thing is not an error.
Asking for a thing may not be an error, but not having permissions to something you asked for is surely some sort of error. Exceptions are an alternative way of reporting exceptional conditions, to be used instead of special return values (such as null, which, as you wrote, is of absolutely no help if there are > 1 possible reasons why things could go awry (even if there is exactly 1 possible reason now, there could be 2 possible reasons in the next version, so using null as a return value indicating failure would be painting yourself into corner)). If the service doesn't report in any way why it won't do what you asked for, then it's definitely bad design.
Whether to use a special return value (e.g. negative integers are useful for functions that normally return a nonnegative integer), an exception, a global error handler or logger etc., is an implementation detail in the end. The choice depends on the language, on the situation, on conventions, and is also a question of taste. The main point is that there should be some direct way of finding out why something doesn't work. Otherwise your only option is to trash around with different options and whatever to find out what correlates with the black box's behavior, and it's waste of time.
String.substring() throws an IndexOutOfBoundsException if the index is out of bounds. I can't think of any advantages to returning null instead, even though - philosophically - one could argue that a String doesn't contain anything outside its bounds, so null would be a logical return value then. Being logical-philosophical and being practical are obviously two different animals.
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If substring() is going to return a value for out-of-bounds indexes, it should return the part of the string between the indexes, possibly empty. That could save a test in some calling code. – kevin cline Nov 24 '11 at 16:49
Yes, there's this never-ending "empty value" vs. null -discussion: should the substring for out-of-bound indexes be null, or an empty string? I don't know, both are effectively "nothing" (well, maybe null is "more nothing" than an empty string?), but neither gives the amount of information that an exception does. – Joonas Pulakka Nov 25 '11 at 7:24
@kevincline: Unless one is using a framework where a null reference is an idiomatic means of indicating an empty string, I don't see any basis for substring to return a null reference. IMHO, there should be two separate functions--one of which promises to either return the requested number of characters or throw an exception, and one of which returns as much as it can. Each method would be substantially superior to the other in some contexts. – supercat Jan 8 '13 at 18:22
@supercat: I didn't say anything about returning null. I said 'return ... the part ... possibly empty'. An empty string is not null, except to Oracle. – kevin cline Jan 8 '13 at 23:41
@JoonasPulakka: I should have pinged you to my previous comment. – supercat Jan 9 '13 at 1:22
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It comes down to what the contract is. If your contract says you can request something that doesn't exist, it should say what happens (null, or null object).
On the other hand, if your contract says you should call a different method first (DoesSomethingExist()) and then call the Get method, then your contract might say that you can only get things that do exist, and throw an exception if they don't. The exception message could say something like, "Make sure to call DoesSomethingExist() first" which is a useful error message.
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In this case I would say it's not normal to ask for something which doesn't exist, as you probably would not ask for an id which doesn't exist. Usually you would have first gotten a list of things and then look up a particular one of those for more details. So if there was a findAllThings method, then I would say it is appropriate to return an empty list or a subset if there are some or all things you are not allowed to see. In the same way I might on a blog only list posts for editing belonging to the current user. But if that user then tried to tweak the url and edit a different post... – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 15:15
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There is no single one-size-fits-all answer to the question. Whether to use exceptions or return null depends on the situation.
Instead of looking at this purely from a dogmatic point of view, look at the interface as a user interface. User interfaces should be usable. So regardless of your own opinions on the "right" way to do something, pick the method that is the most usable from the perspective of someone using your interface.
If the caller needs to know why an object isn't being returned, an exception is appropriate. If, however, the general concept is "if you don't have permission, it doesn't exist", the null is acceptable.
Specifically in your case, I'd say nulls are perfectly acceptable for looking up an item if the caller is first required to log in or connect to the server. That is when you would be told that you do or don't have permission. Once you get past the gate it's reasonable that when you search for something you don't have permission to see (or even know it exists), you should get a null.
If, on the other hand, you have no initial connection or login step, an exception makes sense. If the caller knows an item exists and they aren't getting it back, the API isn't being helpful to just return a null.
For creating an item, however, that's a different story. Presumably there could be a lot of reasons for that to fail -- no permissions, bad parameters, server out of memory, etc. If the developer is given a null for all those conditions, they have no way to determine a proper course of action.
So, to answer the question, ask yourself what the most usable solution is from the perspective of someone using the service. It may be that the way you are using it is atypical, and for the most common case a null is the right answer.
So, don't get into a religious war over this, decide what's right for this particular problem.
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Not planning on putting on battle gear over this, hehe. Was just curious to know if I was completely wrong in thinking what I was thinking or not. I want to learn, but I don't like to jump to something just because one person says so. And especially not if it goes against my own experience and logic (no matter how small). Anyways, I totally agree that if this was an end-user interface then that could indeed make sense. However, since this is a bean which, as far as I know, can only be accessed by code, I would say that I, as a developer, is the user. – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 14:49
And as a developer I do care about why something is wrong, irregardless of what the end-user should get to know about it. – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 14:54
Fully agree with Bryan. Even develpers are users, ie of consuming some other developers code. Descisions of throw or null is a kind of interface/gui that should be helpful for the specific task. Not just by the general term of logic or philosophy. – Independent Nov 24 '11 at 16:43
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I definitely think it is a bad design. Null-pointer is not a valid answer to me and it can be tricky to manage.
If the user tries to connect a service without the proper credential, I should reply with a clear and concise answer. The answer could be an exception or a special object but not null.
You should leave the null answer when the network link is broken or other unexpected critical malfunction.
Furthermore, the time you spend understanding why you got a null is a strong argument. Any piece of code should be easy to understand and use. Having a null value is not the case.
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By your last sentence, do you mean "You should return null only when the network link is broken etc." or "You should stop returning null when the network link is broken etc." ? – Péter Török Nov 24 '11 at 14:03
@Péter Török: I do not recommend the explicit use of "return null;". However when a major breakdown happens, it is acceptable for some service to return null. – Amine Nov 24 '11 at 14:32
Wouldn't an exception be more appropriate if an unexpected critical malfunction happened? – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 14:57
@Amine: I'd say that that's the least appropriate case for which to return null. – Michael Borgwardt Nov 24 '11 at 14:58
@Svish: if you can detect the major breakdown, of course an exception will be great. – Amine Nov 24 '11 at 14:59
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Returning null isn't great. It tells you nothing. To take your example, if an app is trying to look something up and the response is null for both security problems and if the item doesn't exist, then how do you tell the difference between the two?
A meaningful response may allow the application to make logical choices about what to do next or how to resolve problems.
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You ask how do you tell the difference between an object not there, and you lacking permission to see it. Maybe the design of the system requires that you don't know. I don't think we have enough information to answer in this specific case, and there is no answer that works in all cases. There are perfectly valid use cases where, if you can't see it it's effectively not there. And, there are use cases where if you can't see it you should be given an exception to say why you cannot. – Bryan Oakley Nov 24 '11 at 14:07
What do you mean by "the design of the system requires that you don't know"? What kind of design could that be? – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 14:55
If the security policy says you're not allowed to see it, then in most cases you shouldn't be able to know that it exists, either. That makes returning "not found" perfectly acceptable. – Blrfl Nov 24 '11 at 15:27
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If the root cause is an unauthenticated user then I prefer a hard HTTP 401 response perhaps with a redirect to a pretty-message-page (and a notification to someone that cares). Authorization-related causes are more case-by-case; there are arguments for returning HTTP errors (403, say) and arguments for returning special well-formed codes/messages in the service response.
Exceptions should only be used in exceptional cirumstances and mean that something has gone wrong. I disagree that they should be overloaded to mean "not allowed". (The same is true for the null return value: I disagree that it should be used to mean "not allowed".)
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Well, in the GUI you could do this, but as for the bean implementing the service which does things behind the scenes you only have exceptions and special return values at your disposal. I of course don't mean that the user should get the exception, but the exception could for example be caught in the web service/servlet/whatever and then do what's appropriate. Redirect to somewhere, hard http 4xx page, or something else. – Svish Nov 24 '11 at 14:41
Good point, but you could employ a paradigm like AOP to capture these cases. The Aspect could test for the privilege to call a given operation and redirect/allow processing to continue as appropriate. – Mark Ingram Nov 24 '11 at 15:22
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Bearing good software design in mind, you should think about the life of your project.
By returning null, as it has been said, you do not give any information to the client. Look what happend to you, at first you did not realize where the problem was. Moreover, if no documentation is given, this is a mess.
By throwing an exception, you can tell what went wrong. You can even customize the displayed text to be more specific if you want to.
On the other hand, by returning null you make the client investigate what it is going on.
Furthermore, you realized that there was a problem because you got elsewhere a NullPointerException. Now imagine you do not store the return of that function... You will be forced to surround each call to that function with an if else block...
From my point of view, returning null is a bad practice.
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I think return null is unfriendly, when the client invoke this method and return null, the client do not know what happened and why it returned null. So we should be throw execption which is make sense and provide a documentation to descrip this execption.
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To play devils advocate I will attempt to take the side of returning null.
In my opinion there is just one situation where this kind of response is nearly acceptable and that is, as in this case, when security is involved.
It is very easy to accidentally give away details of your system that unauthorized people should not know about. This should be avoided.
Take, for example, a user name and password checker. Returning a "User name not found" error and a "Wrong password" error as separate error codes would obviously open you up to serious security issues as someone could first look for a valid user name and then look for a password. Returning a generic "Invalid username/password" would be a better option.
Thus, In this particular case I would say that it is almost ok to return null but I agree, it would be very unpleasant to work with.
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Yeah, I would disagree. The proper response there would in my opinion be an exception, but the same one for both username not found and wrong password. FailedToLogin, InvalidCredentials, whatever. – Svish Nov 30 '11 at 10:13
@Svish - But if you are trying to give no hints at all as to the reason for the the failure then returning null is exactly the least helpful response. Almost anything else could potentially be used to discover something about the system. The reason OP complained was because not only did the null return explain nothing it was even unhelpful. That is the deliberate aim ... to say absolutely nothing and to be unhelpful. Mission accomplished in my view. – OldCurmudgeon Nov 30 '11 at 10:44
Well, that might be so, but I'd still say that doing that is bad. At least inside a system. On the edges where the end-user see things, then sure, I may agree. But inside the system, we developers are the users, and why in the world would we want to make things more confusing for ourselves? As if developing software isn't hard enough already... – Svish Nov 30 '11 at 11:03
And with the login example, I'd say it's bad for the user experience to not at least say something about why nothing seemed to happened when they (thought they) entered their credentials. If the page just refreshes and it seemed like it just ignored my attempt to log in, I will assume something is wrong with the system, not that what I entered was wrong. – Svish Nov 30 '11 at 11:04
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Recently I heard of a company that, for interviews, asks potential employees to stand up and write out code on a whiteboard. Apparently that freaked alot of interviewees out.
This got me thinking and even though I consider myself a reasonable programmer, I would be hard pressed to write lengthy code out without referring to previous code I had written or doing a quick Google search.
How many programmers could safely say "Yes I could write all my code out just like I was writing an email"?
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I doubt that you would have to write anything on a white board that would require the need for references. – Pemdas Jan 26 '11 at 17:24
Well you dont know do you? Could be a cruel interviewer? – benhowdle89 Jan 26 '11 at 17:27
I have had to do this many times in interviews. Sometimes a SQL statement, sometimes a full method. It's not all that difficult, and it give you a chance to walk through your solution and your thought process while writing it. Sometimes, if you don't know the method you can just write pseudo code and comment that you'd have to look up the specific call/syntax. – Tyanna Jan 26 '11 at 17:30
Cool Tyanna thats good to know! – benhowdle89 Jan 26 '11 at 17:34
Oh man, I suck at poetry ... three out of three girls that I wrote poems for asked me not to do it again. What am I to do now? – Job Jan 26 '11 at 17:48
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As an interviewer asking for white board coding, I wasn't looking for perfect syntax and I was asking questions about basic algorithms using arrays or strings. I was looking for the kind of knowledge a college kid should have after watching a professor write code on a chalkboard. Not that most professors do that any more, since they all use PowerPoint, but back in the day I promise they did.
Whiteboarding code did seem to freak some of my interviewees out, but in that case I tended to try and talk them through it. All I wanted to see was that they could write code. Since my company didn't take code samples, and since I wasn't the hiring manager dictating how the interview went, this was my best bet for getting that information.
As an interviewee I was interviewed by a Very Big Company whose technical interviews are all whiteboard. I had read on blogs and in articles that for this Very Big Company you had to start off with a moderately optimized answer as opposed to the brute force attack and you had to have perfect syntax. The people writing this on the internet must have gotten the though interviewers and I must have gotten the easy ones, because my experience was that the whiteboard coding was viewed as a thinking tool in the interviews just as it would be in real brainstorming with your team.
Perhaps there are interviewers out there who demand perfect and at least somewhat optimized code on the whiteboard as if it was flowing straight from your stream of consciousness. Really, though, if a person is demanding such things do you want him or her as your co-worker? If so, great. If not, perhaps it isn't so bad if you can't write code like prose.
I wouldn't freak out about writing code on a whiteboard in an interview, though. Just do your best to solve the problem with the tools you have. Interviewers like me are rooting for you to solve the problem as much as you are.
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Last year, I had an interview that featured not only coding on a whiteboard but also developing an actual working application. I was given a laptop with Visual Studio, a connection string for a database and was told to develop a web service that exposed the database and WinForms front-end to query via the web service.
I didn't think a thing of it -- besides the fact that it was the most thorough interview that I'd ever had -- and it wasn't a big deal. Companies that interview this way are generally looking for productive, hands-off engineers, and unless a candidate can demonstrate that he or she has enough mastery of the subject matter to be able to discuss and use it extemporaneously, they are not going to fit that criteria.
Now, there are plenty of competent engineers who are just going to get plain nervous in this circumstance and they will make mistakes. If the interviewer fails to recognize that, both sides lose out, but what are you going to do? The interviewer has to do something to get a reasonable level of confidence that the interviewee's resume and answers aren't made up bullshit. Usually, a faker will get caught before long, but as an employer, you don't want to waste any of your time and money sniffing out a BS artist.
So I can't see any problem at all with whiteboarding code in an interview.
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In my opinion, the interviewer is not looking for the solution to the problem which is free from language syntax error or clean code. Instead, they are trying to understand your thinking pattern, which includes,
1. How you break the complex problem in to series of simple problems.
2. How you handle the stress.
These 2 things differentiates the great and average programmers. Hence if you attend such interviews, just play it cool and don't worry about the language syntax.
Good Luck,
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I don't think it's important that you be able to write perfect and compilable source code like prose, on a whiteboard. I do think it is important to be able to write clear and comprehensible pseudo-code/algorithms like prose on a whiteboard (maybe with bits and pieces of real code thrown in when applicable).
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The questions asked in an interview for a white board should not be on such a level that a programmer who knows what they are doing would have to refer to old code.
One of the main purposes of such a question is to see how you work and how you present code and solutions. If someone is not able to present a solution to a problem on a white board effectively with real code, then that it typically a negative, especially if the position involves working with other programmers.
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I hope I wouldn't have to write a connections string to a DB 4 file, but some basic coding should be expected shouldn't it? I'd ask an accountant or financial analyst how to write an if statement in an Excel formula.
Maybe to be fair, you could get a sample of their code and ask to rewrite a piece for a specific need.
Not sure I would hire someone who couldn't demonstrate their work and hopefully discuss it.
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Poor analogy, asking an accountant to do that! – Ozz Jan 26 '11 at 22:32
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I think it's ridiculous that you should be able to write perfect, syntax correct code on demand (see @justtk's answer). I don't know what it's supposed to test because it's not testing how actual programming work. It's got to be something else they are looking for.
Problem with this approach is that you might very well end up with a narrow guy who knows all the functions in the api, but miss a truly great programmer who finds solutions to real problems, but may have to look up a few constructs.
I'd much rather they give you a realistic problem to solve on your own and then present it to the reviewer with working code.
So no, writing code as prose seems extremely unimportant to me.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8644 | 101 reputation
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No one has said that crime between African Americans isn’t a problem. The point is that blackness has nothing to do with it. “Black-on-black crime” is a frame that presupposes black criminality—that there’s something inherent to blackness which makes intra-group crime more prevalent and more deadly. But that’s nonsense, and all it does is obscure the history that brought us to this point. After a century of anti-black violence and public policy—of manufactured ghettos, forced hyper-segregation, and state-supported peonage—is economic perilousness and heightened violence among the victims and descendants of those people really a shock? And if it isn’t, then why would talk about crime in these communities as a factor of blackness, and not of history and circumstance?
The only thing we accomplish by focusing on “black-on-black crime” as an independent phenomena—distinct from “white-on-white crime”—is justify universal suspicion of black men, and young black men, in particular. This is a problem. It’s absolutely true that “NYPD stats show that 96 percent of all shooting victims are black or Hispanic, and 97 percent of all shooters were black or Hispanic,” but it’s also true that the number of black and Latino offenders is a small fraction of all blacks and Latinos. But stop and frisk turns all blacks and all Latinos into potential offenders—it erases individual consideration and imposes collective suspicion.
This alone should make the program indefensible. When you add data to the mix—in 2012, New York police made 532,911 stops, in 89 percent, there was no criminal activity found, and in only 0.2 percent did the police find guns—it’s hard to see how you could support the policy, much less justify the universal scrutiny of all black and Latino men. And it’s worth noting that this blanket suspicion makes it harder to police communities. A reader explains:
I’ve been a cop for 5 years. I work one of the worst neighborhoods in the city, a predominantly black housing development. In that 5 years I’ve steadily built a rapport with the community, one based on transparency—being frank and open with everyone I talk to, both about police matters and sometimes my own thoughts and tastes.
When an event like the Martin v Zimmerman one occurs, all that rapport goes to hell. All my work is ruined, and my relationship with the people I serve is injured.Instead of being “Cody” or “Red” or “The Flash”, I go back to just being that fucking white cop in the community’s eyes.
Stop and frisk is both racist and damaging to actual police work. Why defend it?
Before I finish this, one last word on Dreher. “It’s being stolen by other young black men.” No one believes that the only threat to young black men comes from the “likes of George Zimmerman.” No one. What we’re trying to say is this: The manufactured image of rampant black male criminality creates fear, and that fear leads people to profile (stop and frisk), barricade themselves (gated communities), and confront individual black men because they must be up to something (George Zimmerman: “Those fucking punks always get away.”).
Not only do black men have to live lives aware of that fear, but they have to be conscious of the fact that—in the wrong situation, at the wrong time, with the wrong person—it could get them killed. And that’s what’s been stolen: The right to walk freely as an individual, and not as the member of a suspect class.
But you SEE...the FACTS REMAIN.....a disproportion of ALL violent crimes are committed by GANG-BANGING, DRUG DEALING, THUGS with their BLING-BLING and their Tony Montana/Tupac Shakur T-shirts.
That is the problem, Jamelle. This Hollywood/BET promotion of "gangster rap" and "pimpin' tha hoes" DESTROYS YOUR TEPID ARGUMENT.
According to Justice Department statistics 84% of white people killed every year are killed by other whites. So, when are you going to send your daughter to a 100% Black Public School? That is probably the safest place for her to be. At least she'll be protected more by Blacks and her chances of being raped would go down dramatically too. Feel free to answer anytime, you slack jawed mouth breather.
Jamelle Bouie writes:
“'Black-on-black crime' is a frame that presupposes black criminality—"
Does "white-on-white crime" make the same presupposition? Don't think so; don't think either do.
I don't think the phrase affects my perception of the prevalence of criminality of blacks an iota, and I don't think it affects Mr. Bouie's. What affects that perception is the prevalence of criminality among blacks.
SO... if a purportedly white guy shoots a black guy, it must somehow be a microcosm of Race in America Today but if a black guy shoots anybody, white or black, it's a sociological issue which is probably somehow the same thing as ... wait for it... Race in America Today. But we must arrive there without noticing the race of the shooter. Got it. This must be the bold, honest conversation about Race in American Today that Mr. Holder seeks.
How about this instead. The undeniable and well-earned moral satisfaction of the civil rights movement of the 1960s is preferable to an inward look at the state of African American America with special attention to policies and ideologies that ultimately caused more harm than good. That inward look is too painful so the search for some vestigial George Wallace, Lester Maddox or Bull Connor becomes ever more desperate. As long as we can pretend they are out there, then white Americans are still solely responsible and with enough guilt they will somehow fix everything because it's all on them.
You have to know there is something horribly wrong when Al Sharpton is called a "civil rights leader". That he is mentioned in the same breath as MLK and genuine moral leaders is a monstrosity and Exhibit A that it's certainly not white people alone who are preventing the great honest discussion.
Hopefully, the great conversation will also open up the fact that fear-of-the-hoodie is a learned response, not something passed on by Confederate race theorists. Tens of thousands of convenience store employees, several million other crime victims and those made aware of those crimes by personal knowledge or news reports have developed empirically-based expectations. Admittedly, crime victim totals may be inflated. For example, I have been robbed at gunpoint, burglarized and subjected to two other robbery attempts-- all by young black males so presumably I show up multiple times in the FBI stats.
Lastly, the honest discussion would have to take note of the fact in the weeks and months of the whole Martin-Zimmerman case, dozens of young black men have been gunned down by other black men and there ain't nobody marching for justice for those victims. Is that selective indifference? Denial? Hypocrisy? Surely we need to discuss that. Honestly.
Your statement, "The disagreement, in particular, has taken the form of incredulousness,” methinks comes from a misunderstanding. Those who disagree with your tenor and approach likely have a different ultimate goal. An analogy from Covey may be appropriate: when you lose your keys you look where you dropped them, not under the lamppost because you can see there. If you were at all concerned with the crimes you would be actively investigating and discussing the 97% (where you dropped the keys). But when that is not the objective, there is no reason to do that (might as well look under the light where I can be seen). As long as there is money to be made by creating a furball over the 3% “racist” crimes, no one will be concerned about the real issue.
500 plus kids killed last year in Chicago, and what do we hear… chirp, chirp, chirp. No money to be made here. But a court case where we do not like the outcome… let the bells ring on high, there’s a buck to be made or extorted!
A shame, really.
Bouie you are an idiot. Black on black crime is a fact. You can blame it on white people all you want. It won't change the fact that most crimes committed in urban areas are committed by blacks. And much of that crime results in dead black people and it is not whites who are killing them. When was the last time that a white guy came into the ghetto and killed a black man. What nonsense. Stop blaming black on black violence on the white man. I am sick of it. And stop celebrating criminal activity with anti-woman rap music, etc. Your full of it. I am one white guy who does not feel guilty about the condition of black America. Jesse Jackson was correct when he said that he is relieved when he is walking down a street, senses someone behind him, and discovers it is a white person. He isn't very likely to be mugged, murdered, etc. with a white person behind him. Too bad he can't say the same if a black person were behind him. Cut out all of your pseudo-intellectual jive and admit the truth.
I am a Black Man, and that's part of the problem. Black people are the only people who are labeled or who self identify primarily by a color. Italians, or Italian Americans don't refer themselves as " white and Chinese people don't refer to themselves as "yellow" and Mexicans or Chicanos don't refer to theselves as "brown people". Now don't get me wrong, there was a time, the 60's and 70s that being Black and Proud was necessary. We needed to feel good about our pigmentation and our connection to a great continent and history: Africa.
Now the law says that we have equal rights as Black people, but psychologically we dobnot as a collective feel equal. We are still a people dazed and struggling from being disenfrachised and stripped of the very things that make a people or culture; lanquage, history, culture, and declared land mass. Additionally the self hate and division that embedded into us as slaves , Willie lynch et al is still ever pervasive today ergo Black people those that inflict Black on Black crime feel less than. As the Tupac Shakir character, Bishop, said in the movie "Juice" if I know I ain't s$%t then you knoe i don't F%K about you. Therefore as simplistic as it sounds Black on Black crime is fostered by Black on Black self hate. Of course the subject ivites further discussion.
You want to discuss Black on Black Crime? Great! Black on Black Crime is the product of years of systematic oppression from the ruling class. Do wealthy or "well off" blacks rob, steal, and desire to kill one another? Of course not. When one exerts the type pressure on a people such as the type that the ruling class has: a. purposefully destroying the black family by selling fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters b. tactfully destroying the black male image c. purposefully denying economic power, social, and political power d. raping the black female for the simple lust of it (sometimes the female was married) e. Jim Crow laws f. Dividing the black race by color (House negro, Field negro, etc. This was done in other colonial attempts in Africa as well such as Rwanda, Congo) g. the effective launch of drugs into the black communities following the civil rights movement. h. blacks have been purposefully taught a euro-centric education that does not represent who they are (cave man stories, history classes, etc)
I could go on for a while but my point is this. These people are not inherently bad or evil. They are born into a system that has been on auto pilot for years that usually pays negative dividends. There is a distinct connection between poverty (mental poverty), and crime. Whites that live in an impoverished state commit atrocities on each other all of the time. AND CHECK THIS OUT, 84% of whites that are killed are killed by whites (justice department stats)! And if you dig deeper, you will learn that whites commit the majority of violent crimes in America. Of course, the media will never publicize any of that. The truth is that crime can 9/10 times be linked to poverty in any race of people. Furthermore, the SOME of the most heinous crimes are linked to whites: Colorado theater shooting, Connecticut shooting, Tuscon shooting, Virginia Tech shooting, Fort Hood shooting, Several sociological explanations for crime suggest that if whites were subjected to the same structural pressures as blacks, well lets just say that we would have a different America.
Oh and btw, imagine if Africans enslaved whites and subjected them to the systematic oppression. Imagine if we raped the women, destroyed the white family, sold the children, destroyed the white male image, separated them by blond hair, black hair, and whatever other ways we could divide them (nose length, cheek bones, etc) and just think about the critical condition that whites would be in today. Can you imagine that? Please, Jim Crow has barely been over 40 years ago. Black people will regroup and once again be strong and united. I am not dangerous and I am working on reversing 400+ years of systemic oppression. I promise you, it won't happen overnight.
You make two different points here. One is right and the other is wrong. New York's stop and frisk law is wrong. It would be wrong if it was fairly applied and we all know it's not. But that black on black crime exists? You are making a crazy nonsensical point, a point that shows you have never lived in a crime-ridden black community with all the stressors that come with it. To blame history is ridiculous. There are no whites walking low-income black neighborhoods with whips, ordering blacks to slaughter each other. This present day slaughter is self inspired. Really you are merely following a rational line of bad liberal thought. If it's always the white man, of course then black on black crime is a lie. However the facts tell a totally different story. Whites are using all their political and economic capital to segregate themselves from blacks and with the new immigrants, they don't need black maids or laborers, like they used to in the good old days. Out here in the real world there is black pathology that declares black life is cheap and in that pathology white life is revered. You contribute to the disease when you say whites are the reason blacks kill each other in such high numbers. American whites have done great historical damage to black America, but there is no time machine and none of us can go back. We all must move forward and for me, I move forward with the assumption that blacks are not forever ruined, because of the slave experience and neither is our only cure hidden in the white community. The issue at present then, is the cure and when you talk about blacks killing blacks in black neighborhoods, the problem and the remedy surely lie with black people.
What rubbish. Quit accusing dark on dark assault on the white-colored man. I am tired of it. And prevent enjoying legal action with anti-woman rap songs, etc. Your complete of it. I am one white-colored guy who does not experience accountable about the situation of dark The united states. Mark Fitzgibbons was appropriate when he said that he is treated when he is strolling down a road, feelings someone behind him, and finds it is a white-colored individual. He isn't very likely to be mugged, killed, etc. with a white-colored individual behind him. Too bad he can't say the same if a dark individual were behind him. Cut out all of your pseudo-intellectual jive and confess the fact. Cheap hajj Packages | Cheap flights To Harare
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8654 | Schizo, ginkgo biloba
from Das Racist – Puerto Rican Cousins Lyrics on Rap Genius
Schizo = Schizophrenia
Ginko biloba is a type of tree, grown mostly in Japan and China. Its been used to make medicine that aids patients with dementia and Alzheimers, which is either what Heems is referring to (which wouldn’t be that clever) or this is just a non-sequitur (making it Dadaist like the previous line).
Oh yeah and ginkgo biloba is strong as fuck, too: it was one of the few living things left in Hiroshima after the U.S. dropped the atom bomb.
To help improve the meaning of these lyrics, visit “Puerto Rican Cousins” by Das Racist Lyrics and leave a comment on the lyrics box |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8655 | The power in my bros is worth the hoes in your soliloquies
from STS – STSisGold Lyrics on Rap Genius
His crew is worthy of being glorified like how you glorify the girl you love. Aka a hoe according to STS.
To help improve the meaning of these lyrics, visit “STSisGold” by STS Lyrics and leave a comment on the lyrics box |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8656 | Jus Daze – Andy Dufresne (Ambition) Lyrics
You pyonged “Jus Daze – Andy Dufresne (Ambition)”
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I have memories that hurt my stomach when I think about em
Thoughts that make me more afraid than horrors that I've seen
My reality is worse than your nightmares
Right...like you even give a slight care
I become alive in the night, (yeah)
With shit that haunts my mind
And makes my gut twist; I tuck lips
Cause music moves my soul and lyrics touch my heart
And sew me together when my emotions tear me apart
It takes me places, that I've never been and I'm bound to go
And people who impose are only hindering their own
Believe in me when I'm nothing and you'll be there when I'm something
In a field of dreams, where when it rains, it pours and I'm sunken
I hate the hate, but without the hate, then I'm nothing
The same ones that pull your card are the same ones bluffin
And old girls that wouldn't date you now are blushin
It's ABSolute time for me to crunch in
And far as time go, make sure you own yours or relucant-
Ly have not enough to be successful or too much of it
We Love havin sex, but Hate Loving
And problems are the answers depending What you take from it
I find it a compliment when those with accomplishments
Start poppin shit, about your confidence
And when you drop hit...shit, they don't acknowledge it
Cause prides a thick ball of snottiness to be swallowin
Yet someone whose buzzin moderate, they'll let rock a set
And that's bc they're comfortable given chances to those who are not a threat
But me
I walk twice as hard...to earn respect
Literally in steps and in heart that I invest
I'm not claiming to be the best, I just got a story to tell
With half an image that sells and the other half that propels
Me to new heights...that's why when I write, I reach a new nice
And gain fame off of my life where I pay a price
Cause I've hard days...where work sucks and I wanna snap
That's called real life...cause in reality I wanna rap
But I'm a working man, facts
Earning meals without snacks
Tryin to reach my goals defending my post without kickin back
So it's hard not react
When every kid that I pass
Taps his mom and he asks
Why does walk like that?
Lookin back....
Do you know what that makes me feel inside?
To be alive on stage, yet wanna be concealed and hide????
It's like being speared alive and being looked in the eyes
While your're dying with disgrace as if you kneeled and died
Is mediocrity being oversold
And nobody cares about the quiet man holding gold?
Stayin humble and taking small steps proves my point
That in time, you'll never be overhyped and disappoint
Like most...and be considered another lame
If the rules don't apply to you, then reinvent the game
At times, I have quiet reminders that I'm sane
And no matter what they say, there's no reason for me to change
Cause I've already changed others thru myself
So if I change what changes others, how does changing that help?
I feel the wave of stayin current and creating stability
But the wind blows whatever direction regardless if they feelin me
Cause no matter what, in due time, most of them are killing me
The spotlight light loses Watts before it does the MC...
The spolight loses what? before it does the mc...
Cause the spotlight loses watts before it does the Mc....
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8685 | Jim Thomason > Basset-1.04 > Basset::Machine
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Module Version: 1.01 Source
Basset::Machine - used to state machines
Jim Thomason, [email protected]
Basset::Machine implements a state machine. This is useful for any thing that requires a process flow. web applications, shell scripts, tk apps, you name it. Anything that you want that requires user interaction and a flow of control.
An example is best. Let's try a simple one.
package My::Machine;
use Basset::Object;
Basset::Object->inherits(__PACKAGE__, 'machine');
sub start {
return shift->state('login');
sub login {
my $self = shift;
my $heap = $self->heap;
if ($heap->{'loggedin'}) {
return $self->state('success');
} else {
return $self->state('prompt');
sub prompt {
my $self = shift;
print "Please enter your username (must be 'bob'): ";
chomp(my $name = <STDIN>);
$self->{'heap'}->{'loggedin'} = 1 if $name eq 'bob';
return $self->state('login');
sub success {
my $self = shift;
print "You are logged in\n";
return $self->terminate;
use My::Machine;
Look at the http://www.bassetsoftware.com/perl/basset/tutorial for more info.
This is the current state of the machine. This is how you move around in the flow of your machine. The default start state is 'start'. If you don't provide a state when your machine starts executing, it will try to enter the start state. You may always provide the state that you want. It is traditional to return the next state from your current state.
sub current_state {
my $self = shift;
return $self->state('next_state');
States are usually methods in your machine module. But, if you have a complicated state, you may put it into its own class, in a subdirectory of the Machine class. methods in the machine class take precedence over external states. External states are entered via their 'main' method.
package My::Machine;
sub some_state {
return shift->state('login');
package My::Machine::Login;
sub main {
my $self = shift;
my $machine = $self->m;
return $self->m->state('jump_pt');
All machines implicitly start in a setup state when they begin running, and end with a terminate state, if those are defined. Note that these states will be entered any time the machine starts or stops running, respectively, so you may need to explicitly check the current state as appropriate.
When entering a state, you receive 1 argument - the state you came from. You may receive additional arguments that the prior state handed in to you.
See Basset::Machine::State for more information.
The heap is a hashref that contains useful information that's local to the machine. You can think of it as a global namespace as far as the states are concerned, but local to the machine.
This is how data is passed from state to state.
sub state1 {
my $self = shift;
$self->heap->{'value1'} = 'foo';
return $self->state('state2');
sub state2 {
my $self = shift;
print 'value1 is ', $self->heap->{'value1'}, "\n";
return $self->terminate;
transitions provides a layer of insulation for you. Instead of explicitly specifying your machine's states in code (for example, in a web app where every html page needs to return the machine's state), you can instead define a transition. This allows you to hide the actual states from the external world. So you can re-define states as desired, but the transitions will always remain the same.
'login' => 'login_prompt',
'analyze' => 'analyze_2', #changed from old 'analyze' method
You then invoke it via a transition call, instead of a state call.
sub state {
my $self = shift;
return $self->transition('analyze');
object attribute, which defaults to true. Normally, this will prevent you from re-entering a state from itself. Most of the time, this means that you forgot to transition out of it at the end of the state.
Nonetheless, there are times when you may want to stay where you are. If you have a machine that functions that way, then make this attribute false, and best of luck to you.
Most machines tend to need extractors. So you have one for free here. Wrappered by the extract method, below.
convenience method which allows you to create and run a machine in one step.
is the same as:
my $m = My::Machine->new();
Will return undef if the machine aborts or is not constructed, and the machine itself upon its termination.
Actually runs the machine, transitions states, does all the magic.
implicit state that executes when the machine starts running. Does not actually affect the current state of the machine (that is, you can check $self->state and it won't return 'setup'). By default, it just returns success and the machine then begins running.
This is a good place to do things like setup database connections, look up frequently used classes, cache data, etc. By default, you get your extractor attribute set to whatever's in your conf file.
If setup aborts, it will teardown the machine and nothing will run.
implicit state that executes when the machine stops running. Will receive no arguments if the machine terminates normally (terminate or interrupt), will receive the single word "aborted" if the machine is stopping due to an abort. Does not actually affect the last run state (that is, you can check $self->state and it won't return 'teardown'). By default, it just returns success and the machine is done running.
This is a good place to do things like close database connections, write things to disk, log messages, etc.
start is the only state that must be defined within the machine class itself. This super method is abstract and aborts the machine. You must override it.
terminate stops the machine normally and clears out the current state.
interrupt expects to be given a state. It will stop the machine from running, and advance it to the state that was provided. This is useful to temporarily suspend the machine and return to it later. Note that re-running the machine will cause setup to be re-run, and that you will still run teardown after the interrupt.
aborts the machine immediately, tears it down, and returns the error passed in. This should be used to report machine errors in place of ->error.
simply returns self. This is a convenience method to make states more readily interchangeable between methods and explicit state modules
transitions the machine to the next state, as per the transitions table.
Convenience method. Simply calls extract on your extractor attribute, if you have one.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8686 | Kjetil Kjernsmo > AxKit-App-TABOO-0.52 > AxKit::App::TABOO::XSP::Story
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AxKit::App::TABOO::XSP::Story - News story management tag library for TABOO
Add the story: namespace to your XSP <xsp:page> tag, e.g.:
AxAddXSPTaglib AxKit::App::TABOO::XSP::Story
This XSP taglib provides tags to store information related to news stories and to fetch and return XML representations of that data, as it communicates with TABOO Data objects, particulary AxKit::App::TABOO::Data::Story.
Apache::AxKit::Language::XSP::SimpleTaglib has been used to write this taglib.
Tag Reference ^
It will take whatever data it finds in the Apache::Request object held by AxKit, and hand it to a new AxKit::App::TABOO::Data::Story object, which will use whatever data it finds useful. It will not store anything unless the user is logged in and authenticated with an authorization level. If an authlevel is not found in the user's session object, it will throw an exception with an AUTH_REQUIRED code. If asked to store certain priviliged fields, it will check the authorization level and throw an exception with a FORBIDDEN code if not satisfied. If timestamps do not exist, they will be created based on the system clock.
If TABOOAkismetKey is set (and spammers will make you want this really fast), it will check the Akismet anti-spam system if article has not been approved by an editor and the user has an authlevel less than 2, and return a FORBIDDEN if it is deemed to be spam. Once the article has been approved by an editor, it is fed to Akismet to teach it what is ham.
Finally, the Data object is instructed to save itself.
If successful, it will return a store element in the output namespace with the number 1.
Will return an XML representation of the data submitted in the last request, enclosed in a story-submission element. Particularly useful for previewing a submission.
Will return an XML representation of the data for a previously saved story, enclosed in a story-loaded element. It needs to get the story identified by storyname and sectionid attributes or child elements.
<number-of-unapproved sectionid="subqueue"/>
Will return the number of articles in a given section that has not been approved by an editor. Especially useful for giving the editors a heads-up as to new articles in the submission queue, like in the example.
See AxKit::App::TABOO.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8687 | יובל קוג'מן (Yuval Kogman) > BerkeleyDB-Manager-0.12 > BerkeleyDB::Manager
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BerkeleyDB::Manager - General purpose BerkeleyDB wrapper
use BerkeleyDB::Manager;
my $m = BerkeleyDB::Manager->new(
home => Path::Class::Dir->new( ... ), # if you want to use rel paths
db_class => "BerkeleyDB::Hash", # the default class for new DBs
my $db = $m->open_db( file => "foo" ); # defaults
$m->txn_do(sub {
$db->db_put("foo", "bar");
die "error!"; # rolls back
# fetch all key/value pairs as a Data::Stream::Bulk
my $pairs = $m->cursor_stream( db => $db );
This object provides a convenience wrapper for BerkeleyDB
The path to pass as -Home to BerkeleyDB::Env->new.
If provided the file arguments to open_db should be relative paths.
If not provided, BerkeleyDB will use the current working directory for transaction journals, etc.
Whether DB_CREATE is passed to Env or instantiate_db by default. Defaults to false.
If create and specified and an alternate log, data or tmp dir is set, a DB_CONFIG configuration file with those parameters will be written allowing standard Berkeley DB tools to work with the environment home directory.
An existing DB_CONFIG file will not be overwritten, nor will one be written in the current directory if home is not specified.
Whether DB_INIT_LOCK is passed. Defaults to true.
Can be set to false if ALL concurrent instances are readonly.
Whether or not lock detection is set. The default is true.
The type of lock detection to use if deadlock_detection is set. Defaults to DB_LOCK_DEFAULT. Additional possible values are DB_LOCK_MAXLOCKS, DB_LOCK_MINLOCKS, DB_LOCK_MINWRITE, DB_LOCK_OLDEST, DB_LOCK_RANDOM, and DB_LOCK_YOUNGEST. See set_lk_detect in the Berkeley DB reference guide.
Whether DB_RDONLY is passed in the flags. Defaults to false.
Whether or not to enable transactions.
Defaults to true.
Whether or not a top level transaction is automatically created by BerkeleyDB. Defaults to true.
If you turn this off note that all database handles must be opened inside a transaction, unless transactions are disabled.
When true txn_checkpoint will be called with checkpoint_kbyte and checkpoint_min every time a top level transaction is comitted.
Defaults to true.
Passed to txn_checkpoint. txn_checkpoint will write a checkpoint if that many kilobytes of data have been written since the last checkpoint.
Defaults to 20 megabytes. If transactions are comitted quickly this value should avoid checkpoints being made too often.
Passed to txn_checkpoint. txn_checkpoint will write a checkpoint if the last checkpoint was more than this many minutes ago.
Defaults to 1 minute. If transactions are not committed very often this parameter should balance the large-ish default value for checkpoint_kbyte.
If true DB_REGISTER and DB_RECOVER are enabled in the flags to the env.
This will enable automatic recovery in case of a crash.
See also the db_recover utility, and file:///usr/local/BerkeleyDB/docs/gsg_txn/C/architectrecovery.html#multiprocessrecovery
Enables multiversioning concurrency.
See http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/berkeley-db/db/gsg_txn/C/isolation.html#snapshot_isolation
Whether or not DB_TXN_SNAPSHOT should be passed to txn_begin.
If multiversion is not true, this is a noop.
Defaults to true.
Using DB_TXN_SNAPSHOT means will cause copy on write multiversioning concurrency instead of locking concurrency.
This can improve read responsiveness for applications with long running transactions, by allowing a page to be read even if it is being written to in another transaction since the writer is modifying its own copy of the page.
This is an alternative to enabling reading of uncomitted data, and provides the same read performance while maintaining snapshot isolation at the cost of more memory.
Enables uncomitted reads.
This breaks the I in ACID, since transactions are no longer isolated.
A better approaach to increase read performance when there are long running writing transactions is to enable multiversioning.
Enables automatic removal of logs.
Normally logs should be removed after being backed up, but if you are not interested in having full snapshot backups for catastrophic recovery scenarios, you can enable this.
Defaults to false.
Enables syncing of BDB log writing.
Defaults to true.
If disabled, transaction writing will not be synced. This means that in the event of a crash some successfully comitted transactions might still be rolled back during recovery, but the database will still be in tact and atomicity is still guaranteed.
This is useful for bulk imports as it can significantly increase performance of smaller transactions.
Enables DB_DUP in -Properties, allowing duplicate keys in the db.
Defaults to false.
Enables DB_DUPSORT in -Properties.
Defaults to false.
The default class to use when instantiating new DB objects. Defaults to BerkeleyDB::Btree.
Flags to pass to the env. Overrides transactions, create and recover.
Flags to pass to instantiate_db. Overrides create and autocommit.
Properties to pass to instantiate_db. Overrides dup and dupsort.
The hash of currently open dbs.
See cursor_stream.
Defaults to 500.
open_db %args
Fetch a database handle, opening it as necessary.
If name is provided, it is used as the key in open_dbs. Otherwise file is taken from %args.
Calls instantiate_db
close_db $name
Close the DB with the key $name
get_db $name
Fetch the db specified by $name if it is already open.
register_db $name, $handle
Registers the DB as open.
instantiate_db %args
Instantiates a new database handle.
file is a required argument.
If class is not provided, the "db_class" will be used in place.
If txn is not provided and the env has transactions enabled, the current transaction if any is used. See txn_do
flags and properties can be overridden manually. If they are not provided build_db_flags and build_db_properties will be used.
Convenience wrappers for instantiate_db that set class.
build_db_properties %args
Merges argument options into a flag integer.
Default arguments are taken from the dup and dupsort attrs.
build_db_flags %args
Merges argument options into a flag integer.
Default arguments are taken from the autocommit and create attrs.
txn_do sub { }
Executes the subroutine in an eval block. Calls txn_commit if the transaction was successful, or txn_rollback if it wasn't.
Transactions are kept on a stack internally.
Begin a new transaction.
The new transaction is set as the active transaction for all registered database handles.
If multiversion is enabled DB_TXN_SNAPSHOT is passed in as well.
Commit the currnet transaction.
Will die on error.
Rollback the current transaction.
Calls txn_checkpoint on env with checkpoint_kbyte and checkpoint_min.
This is called automatically by txn_commit if auto_checkpoint is set.
associate %args
Associate secondary with primary, using callback to extract keys.
callback is invoked with the primary DB key and the value on every update to primary, and is expected to return a key (or with recent BerkeleyDB also an array reference of keys) with which to create indexed entries.
Fetching on secondary with a secondary key returns the value from primary.
Fetching with pb_get will also return the primary key.
See the BDB documentation for more details.
Returns a list of all the registered databases.
cursor_stream %args
Fetches data from a cursor, returning a Data::Stream::Bulk.
If cursor is not provided but db is, a new cursor will be created.
If callback is provided it will be invoked on the cursor with an accumilator array repeatedly until it returns a false value. For example, to extract triplets from a secondary index, you can use this callback:
my ( $sk, $pk, $v ) = ( '', '', '' ); # to avoid uninitialized warnings from BDB
db => $db,
callback => {
my ( $cursor, $accumilator ) = @_;
if ( $cursor->c_pget( $sk, $pk, $v ) == 0 ) {
push @$accumilator, [ $sk, $pk, $v ];
return 1;
return; # nothing left
If it is not provided, c_get will be used, returning [ $key, $value ] for each cursor position. flag can be passed, and defaults to DB_NEXT.
chunk_size controls the number of pairs returned in each chunk. If it isn't provided the attribute chunk_size is used instead.
If values or keys is set to a true value then only values or keys will be returned. These two arguments are mutually exclusive.
Lastly, init is an optional callback that is invoked once before each chunk, that can be used to set up the database. The return value is retained until the chunk is finished, so this callback can return a Scope::Guard to perform cleanup.
dup_cursor_stream %args
A specialization of cursor_stream for fetching duplicate key entries.
Takes the same arguments as cursor_stream, but adds a few more.
key can be passed in to initialize the cursor with DB_SET.
To do manual initialization callback_first can be provided instead.
callback is generated to use DB_NEXT_DUP instead of DB_NEXT, and flag is ignored.
Yuval Kogman <[email protected]>
Copyright (c) 2008 Yuval Kogman. All rights reserved
This program is free software; you can redistribute
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8690 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have a app which transmit the password in clear text. I was planning to use the hash of the password (SHA-512) as the key for encrypting the plain text password. Then send the encrypted text to the server. the password length is minimum 12 chars (including special characters) and max 20 chars.
Is this is bad mechanism ?
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up vote 1 down vote accepted
With a minor tweak this can be made reasonably secure.
The problem with your original approach is that the hash would be the same every time, so it is vulnerable to a replay attack.
If you adjust the protocol to include a variable challenge this can work:
1. Server sends a random challenge
2. Client computes hash = hmac(hash(password), challenge)
3. Client sends cipher = encrypt(hash, password)
4. Server computes hash = hmac(hash(password), challenge)
5. Server computes password = decrypt(hash, cipher)
6. Server checks hash(password) = stored hash
This arrangement is secure against replay attacks and it also avoids the server storing a password equivalent. It's main vulnerability is that a captured login can be used for an offline brute force attack. Also, if you are implementing this in JavaScript, then the JavaScript code could be intercepted and tampered with.
Now, while this is interesting, I should echo the advice from other answers: do not roll your own crypto
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Is this is bad mechanism ?
Yes. Use SSL/TLS and do not attempt to roll your own cryptograhy scheme.
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what if I use en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBKDF2 and use the hash if the password as the salt ? – user851157 Nov 23 '13 at 5:06
@user851157 Unless the connection itself is encrypted, it's still a bad idea. Without that encrypted (and, as another function of SSL, authenticated) connection, anyone could just MitM the user and pass the authenticator on to your system as if it were their own. They don't need the cleartext of the password. They just need the cleartext of the packets being passed between the user and your system. Seriously, don't roll your own crypto. Ever. And don't pass authenticators in the clear. Ever. – Iszi Nov 23 '13 at 5:40
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If your concern is transmitting the password, then yes, absolutely, this is a bad mechanism. Your application is still vulnerable to a form of pass-the-hash attack. Although the password itself won't be available to the attacker, the encrypted password can be intercepted and used, itself, for authentication.
Always go for the standard:
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Yes, this is bad. If all the server needs in order to authenticate you is this (never changing) hash, then the has is your password now. This is no better than sending the password in the clear, because all the attacker needs in order to impersonate you is that hash.
Instead, if you want to hash passwords for transmission, the way you do it is through a challenge-reponse system. This way, the same hash is never sent twice. But this is not a good idea, because...
It's more important that the password not be stored on your server. TLS/SSL is sufficient to prevent any sort of man-in-the-middle attack. That part is solved, Just use TLS and don't worry about it. But you do have to worry about your server getting hacked and your password database getting leaked. Publishing other people's password databases is all the rage these days, and you don't want to be one of those caught not hashing their database. There's just no excuse.
So, transmit your passwords plain-text inside an encrypted connection, but store them hashed on the server. If you do anything else, anything else at all, then you're doing it wrong.
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I don't care if you're using SHA with 8192 bit key, you're trying to authenticate with something traveling in the clear that someone can just MITM so your answer is no. Anyone who's worked with crypto (as the other good answers here) will tell you not to try rolling your own crypto, unless you really know what you're doing, and even then there are plenty of good API's for that.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8694 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I've been trying to install mono ASP.NET onto my debian VPS and I am unable to do so.
I know I need mono which can support .NET 4.0 now.
I am unsure if I need XSP and mod_mono, or just mod_mono. The link http://mono-project.com/Mod_mono says I do, but other sources say I don't. And now I'm not sure. And on another website I saw that XSP2 exists, and XSP doesn't support .NET 4.0. I'm really not sure anymore!
Is there a way to set this up within debian so I can run C# .NET code?
I'm told that xsp is dep for mod_mono ? And it's already part of it maybe?
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Do you want ASP or ASP.Net? – Anonymous May 23 '11 at 22:26
@Tokk ASP.Net so i can use aspx and C# – Anonymous May 23 '11 at 22:34
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migrated from stackoverflow.com May 24 '11 at 12:17
This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.
1 Answer
The simple part is
sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-mono
It will get you the dependencies.
The tricky part is configuring your virtual hosts and integrate that with mod_mono's registered sites. Somehow in Debian there is going to be a directory under /etc (/etc/mono-apache-server?) with a file which you need to edit. This file looks a lot like an xsp2 config file (but XSP2 is not launched, but mono-apache-server2 depends on xsp2-core).
There are numerous resources on the web that try to guide you, but anytime I configured it I spent around an hour getting things right, and I never really got out of the 'confused' state.
Good luck
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Got it. Also note I edited /etc/apache2/mods-available/mod_mono.conf and added MonoAutoApplication enabled MonoServerPath “/usr/bin/mod-mono-server2″ to the bottom to make it work through the browser – Anonymous May 24 '11 at 10:30
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8695 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
So I have a working Active Directory. I've recently added a new machine to act as an Active Directory Certificate Authority.
I've added a Group Policy (Computer level) for automatic certificate enrollment according to this document. And verified that my CA appears in all of my domain members' Trusted Root Certificates.
I've exported the CA's root certificate and added it to my workstation's (computer) Trusted Root CA list.
When I want to remote desktop into my remote servers, it still pops up a warning like this: Remote Desktop Connection untrusted certificate warning
When I view the certificate, it's clear that the certificate that is being sent is the default machine self-signed certificate. How do I get Windows to re-issue machine certificates based on my new trusted root CA? I'm guessing that I need to create an auto-approval policy for machine certificates somewhere with some constraint maybe on who/how such requests can be made. And then I would guess that I need to push a domain policy that somehow instructs all my domain members to get their machine certificate.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? I think the reason I can't find a document on this is because I don't know the correct terminology.
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Ok, so I've updated my group policy, and I see in the (local computer)/Personal certificates, I now have a machine certificate that looks correct, issued by my CA. But Remote Desktop still gives me the old certificate without the CA server in the certificate path. – Eric Falsken Jan 20 '12 at 18:54
see my updated answer. You need to configure rdp to use the cert. – Paul Ackerman Jan 20 '12 at 19:11
I followed the first part of that document, and ended up having to restart the RDP service. I now get the correct certificate. But the warning now reads A recovation check could not be performed for the certificate. – Eric Falsken Jan 20 '12 at 21:22
Ok. Finally got it. The full certificate path wasn't included on the RemoteDesktopComputer certificates. I had to go into the CA management, edit the properties of the CA, on the Extensions tab, edit AIA properties, and make sure that the ldap and http extension was included in all issued certificates. Then revoke all the RemoteDesktop certs I has issued so they could be re-issued again. And it worked! – Eric Falsken Jan 20 '12 at 22:37
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3 Answers
up vote 5 down vote accepted
You need to enroll for a machine certificate on the workstation. You can setup autoenrollment via group policy or you can navigate to the cert enrollment website on your CA (https://yourCA/certenroll and enroll manually.
Autoenrollment is set under Computer Config -> Policies -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Public Key Policies.
EDIT After getting a certificate that can be used for "Client Authentication" you need to setup RDP to use the cert. Follow instructions here for a WMI script to do this.
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To add to that, auto-enrollment will need to be enabled in the ACL on the certificate template as well. – Shane Madden Jan 20 '12 at 18:21
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This microsoft documentation might help you: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281271
"In the following scenarios, if a user from the same domain as a certification authority (CA) requests a certificate, the issued certificate is published in Active Directory. However, if the user is from a child domain, this process is not successful. Also, when users from the same domain as a CA request a certificate, the issued certificate may not be published in Active Directory. "
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Check this detailed article from Microsoft: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2010/04/09/configuring-remote-desktop-certificates.aspx?PageIndex=2
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Please supply a summary for later. – vonbrand Apr 11 '13 at 17:58
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8696 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I really hope this question doesn't come across as trolling or asking for buying advice. It's not intended.
I've just started working for a small ad agency (40 employees). I actually quit being a system administrator a few years ago (too stressful!), but the company we're currently outsourcing our IT stuff to is doing such a bad job that I've felt compelled to get involved and do what I can to improve things.
At the moment, all the company's data is stored on an 8TB external firewire drive attached to a Mac Mini running OS X Server 10.6, which provides filesharing (using AFP) for the whole company. There is a single backup drive, which is actually a caddy containing two 3TB hard drives arranged in RAID 0 (arrggghhhh!), which someone brings in as and when and copies over all the data using Carbon Copy Cloner. That's the entirety of the infrastructure, and the whole backup and restore strategy. I've been having sleepless nights.
I've just started augmenting the backup process with FreeBSD, ZFS, sparse bundles and snapshot sends to get everything offsite. I think this is a workable behind the scenes solution, but for people's day to day use I'm struggling.
Given the quantity and importance of the data, I think we should really be looking towards enterprise level storage solutions, high availability and so on, but the whole company is all Mac all the time, and I cannot find equipment that will do what we need. No more Xserve; no rack storage; no large scale storage at all apart from that Pegasus R6 that doesn't seem all that great; the Mac Pro has fibre channel, but it's not a real server and it's ludicrously expensive; Xsan looks like it's on the way out; things like heartbeatd and failoverd have apparently been removed from Lion Server; the new Mac Mini only has thunderbolt which severely limits our choices; the list goes on and on. I'm really, really not trying to troll here. I love Macs, but I just genuinely don't know where I'm supposed to look for server stuff.
I have considered Linux or FreeBSD and netatalk for serving files with all the server-y goodness those OSes bring, but some the things I've read make me wonder if it's really the way to go. Also, in my own (admittedly quite cursory) experiments with it, I've struggled to get decent transfer speeds. I guess there's also the possibility of switching everyone off AFP and making them use SMB or NFS, but I understand that this can cause big problems with resource forks and file locks.
I figure there must be plenty of all Mac companies out there. If you're the sysadmin at one, what do you use? Any suggestions very gratefully received.
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up vote 5 down vote accepted
Good question. There are a few good solutions available to you. I tend not to trust Apple's plan for enterprise or large-scale deployments following the abandonment of the Xserve and Xraid. Other folks in your position include media-creation professionals, video and audio production and education.
You're going down the right path in looking for supportable and more standard technologies. Think about it like this: Nowadays, you have storage solutions that can provide block and file access. Apple is lacking in this area, yet, their products are being adopted by an increasing number of end-users. There's a gap.
I actually use ZFS-based solutions (NexentaStor) to provide centralized storage to Mac (iSCI), Linux (iSCSI, NFS), Windows (iSCSI, CIFS) and VMWare environments (iSCSI, FC, NFS). This is what I do for professional and personal installations. For example, my Time Machine drive is accessed via the iSCSI initiator on my MacBook Pro, to a ZFS volume on a local server, then replicated to another ZFS filer in a co-location facility.
For the scale of system you need and the use-case, I see two main options...
• Use a Mac server as a front-end/management system using iSCSI or Fibre to leverage block storage provided by a real storage system. I recommend NexentaStor, but that could just as easily be any other ZFS implementation or entry-to-midlevel enterprise storage.
• Some ZFS appliance vendors offer native AFP support. The BrickStor devices from Racktop Systems have this. So, with a native solution, your users could bypass the head server and work directly from this storage. Add the benefits of SSD tiering/acceleration available to ZFS filesystems, and you may gain a good performance boost for users working with files over the network.
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Thanks very much - this is super helpful. The iSCSI stuff in particular sounds very promising and has given me plenty to think about. – mered99 Sep 8 '12 at 23:57
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We've got part of our infrastructure on a mac xserve platform attatched to an ActiveRAID box, and I'm concerned about where things are going in that space too. Anyway, moving on:
Ewwhite has addressed everything I could possibly hope to say about storage but I did want to add one thing regarding backups?
Have you considered cloud-based backup? There are a few providers out there which could work as a solution - both "full service" online backup services (e.g. crashplan) and countless "cloud storage" vendors which you could roll your own backup routine for. I'd personally go for a "full service backup provider" myself, but either way I think these kinds of backup routes are a lot more viable now than they were even a relatively short time ago.
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I would actually love to use cloud-based backup, but the amount of data pushes the cost way beyond what I've got to spend. I've heard really good things about crashplan too, but it's not available where I am (UK). – mered99 Sep 9 '12 at 0:02
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I am also doing some IT work for clients. We switch the servers to run open indiana with ifs data pools. We got the supported commercial netatalk version which works even better than a mac osx server. the only thing missing atm is the spotlight searching which they are working on. Netatalk Spotlight Tech Preview
I am so happy with openindiana/zfs i can strongly recommend it.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8697 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm working with SharePoint 2007 and we're currently working with another organization for a long-term project. We need to access documents in their SharePoint site.
After trying to figure out the wide array of Microsoft products branded with the name 'SharePoint', I'm not even certain that SharePoint can link to an external SharePoint site outside of the domain.
Is it possible to link two separate SharePoint sites together? If so, how is it done? If not, is it possible to program a SharePoint webpart or some .NET component to transfer documents from site A to B?
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up vote 1 down vote accepted
There are a few ways to do it but from what details you've given, I'd suggest implementing ADFS at the sites. This should allow them to grant your account permissions to the site. If however all you need to do is access the docs (like a normal website) they can set up the site to allow anonymous access and you can post a link to it on your internal site.
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Thanks for the ideas. I think ADFS would be a slightly better option in terms of security but I'm unsure if the other organization would be willing to work with us on that. Granted that problem is not in the scope of this particular discussion. What other information would be needed (specifically) from me to come up with other possible solutions? – osij2is Sep 1 '09 at 17:54
Looks like ADFS is the Microsoft approved way of sharing sites. According to MSTechNet and google books online: books.google.com/… – osij2is Sep 3 '09 at 15:32
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8701 | Posts Tagged ‘pictures’
The weekend after we helped Jill move, my parents left for a cruise. My parents weren’t rich by any means, but I had received a lot of scholarship money, Brian had his own job now, and Jill… Well Jill made a lot of friends and seemed to be pretty much independent. My parents never mentioned it, and neither did she, but I was pretty sure she was an escort or something. The new boob job combined with the fact that when we moved she had an awful lot of lingerie and slinky dresses. A few weeks ago I would have scorned her and called her a slut behind her back, but now I felt a deep connection with her. I felt like I had a true friend who I could share my life with.
Nick was overjoyed to be without adult supervision for just over a week. My parents left me money for food and fun, but I probably wouldn’t even need it. Nick’s parents were incredibly wealthy and he had credit cards with ungodly limits. We planned to spend most of the time at Nick’s house, which was a lot larger and nicer than mine.
I did have a few things I wanted to accomplish before relaxing though. I hadn’t cleaned out my room in years, and I had promised my mom I would before leaving for college. I enlisted Nick, promising him a fun night. Nick showed up quickly, bringing with him things to spend the night as well as a bag full of alcohol.
We set to work in the basement, going through a closet full of old toys, clothes, and school things. Just after noon we finished all of that up and decided to break for lunch. I found myself drinking some fruity alcoholic beverage out of a can and eating a sandwich.
“So Emmy, how was it seeing your sister again? I know you’ve always been kind of at odds by her, but you seemed in a really good mood after her visit,” Nick asked me in between sips of his beer.
I had been quite thirsty from all the work and finished off one whole drink while we made sandwiches and was deep into my second. I think that is what caused me to say what I said next.
“Oh god Nick. I guess I haven’t told you, but the two days after that party were really intense! I saw her totally naked and she pulled me into the shower and even taught me how to trim and shave my pubes!” I was getting ready to go on but Nick’s shocked look stopped me. He’d seen my pubes over the past week, but he had credited it to looking at girls on the internet.
“You saw her naked…?” Nick asked me, eyes wide and sandwich halfway between his plate and his mouth. I shyly nodded, suddenly horribly embarrassed. That was when I made my second mistake. In order to avoid having to say anything I raised my drink and drank deeply. All I’d had to eat today was one sandwich and I was now two drinks in. The alcohol made me feel a little less humiliated about the whole weekend, so I went to the fridge and got another one as Nick pestered me with questions.
“Well what did she look like? I mean…Like it’s not like I want her or anything. It’s-Guys just have a thing for hot sisters and the two of you are some pair.” I think he could tell he was entering dangerous territory here. I found his unease cute and in my inebriated state decided to tease him a bit.
“Hrm, well. What do you remember about her?” I asked as I took the sandwich out of his hand, placed it down and slid into his lap. His mouth was hanging open and I giggled at him.
“Come on Nick. I know she’s hot.” I was giving him my best puppy dog eyes.
“I don’t know Emmy. No matter how I answer this I am just making trouble for myself.”
I could see that he needed a bit more motivation. “I’ll tell you what. You’re always asking me to hang out in just my panties so if you tell me what you remember of her and what you think I will go without pants until we are done cleaning.” He smiled at that and I knew I had him.
“Shake on it.” We shook and he pulled me for a kiss. He broke the kiss and his hands started working on my pants. He had a big grin on his face as he pulled them off me, revealing my typical large and boring choice.
“Well, her face is pretty similar to yours. You can really tell you’re sisters. It’s kind of strange how much taller she is than you. If it weren’t for that you two could be twins. Her boobs are pretty tiny, smaller than yours I think, and either one of you could be an ass double for Sasha Grey though.”
“Sasha Grey?” I asked.
“Oh, she’s this skinny little porn star. Sorry… I guess I got carried away,” he trailed off as my eyes widened.
I was shocked at the comparison to a porn star. “How do you know our butts are the same?”
“Oh… Weeeellll You’ve never really worn very revealing clothing, but… well Jill hasn’t been so shy. When she was home for college a summer ago she came out of her room wearing only her panties and didn’t cover up at all. And even before that she was always wearing leggings and yoga pants.” As he told me about her body I felt his penis stiffening below me. At first I was a little miffed at his arousal, but then I remember how she was able to work even me up. Plus, I was more than two drinks deep before 1 in the afternoon. I don’t know what possessed, me but I found myself wiggling my hips into him.
“The only real difference between you two is your tans. She is tan all over. But I mean, you’ve seen all that, you said you saw her naked? Tell me about that!”
I told him all about the rest of the day after I initiated sleep sex. When I got to the shower with my sister he had a full blown erection.
“So wait, some guy paid for her implants? Damn! What’s the tattoo? Where is it?”
“It’s a small knot right where her buttocks meets her leg.”
“Oh shit! How- How big did she make her tits?”
His sudden outburst startled me. “I don’t know. A D-cup at least.”
He was grinning at me. “Follow me, I think I have something to show you.”
I grabbed my drink and he guided me up the stairs to my bedroom where he pulled his laptop out.
“Take your pants off and lay down on the bed,” Nick instructed me as he played around on his laptop. I sipped my drink and thought about why I was comfortable discussing my naked sister with my boyfriend. It had to be the alcohol. Although, the fact that she was so open, even with me seemed to help. I was also surprised that I wasn’t jealous about Nick admiring her, but the thought of the two of them together did make me feel a bit uneasy. In the past even girls talking to him at parties makes me feel jealous and threatened.
“YES! I knew it!” Nick exclaimed. He had an excited grin on his face. “Hurry finish your drink so we can look at these.”
I looked at my drink, there was only about a third left so I tossed it back quick and giggled. I’d never been this drunk at 1 in the afternoon before. Nick set the laptop down in front of me closed and I heard his pants unzip and hit the ground behind me. I spread my legs slightly to give him a small view and felt a small thrill.
“Wow Emmy! You’re already really wet!”
I turned over and Nick was staring right between my legs. I glanced down, and shit he was right. In my drunken state all I could do was giggle. Maybe I was more like my sister than I thought. Nick laughed and rolled me over facing the laptop and started pulling my panties off.
“Open up the laptop and take a look.” I followed his instructions and the screen was filled with the shot of a girl wearing large sunglasses that obscured much of her face and a tight black dress. Her handle was “Sexbot2.0.” She had ample cleavage, blonde hair, and a flat stomach. Confused I started to turn around, but Nick stopped me.
“Keep going Emmy, you’ll understand in a few.” He was really massaging my butt hard now, just the way I like it. The pictures continued with her posing, flashing her boobs and posing seductively. The next shot was a close up of her shaved pussy. The girl was extremely wet and I knew I was just as wet. The next picture gave me a shock. There was a large white erection in frame, and the girl had her tongue out and was licking up it. I felt myself gasp as Nick fingered me a bit. I wiggled my hips trying to get him inside me, but he kept his fingers teasing just my labia.
The girl was able to take the penis all the way down her throat for a few of the pictures, which was pretty impressive. The guy was obviously much larger than Nick, and I couldn’t even take all of him. The next few pictures showed her stripping off her dress showing her full naked body from the front and side. Wow! The girls last week had been pretty, but this girl looked like she had stepped out of the pages of a magazine.
She laid on her back and spread her legs and the guy mounted her. These pictures were from her point of view and it showed off the muscular body of the guy framed between her two large breasts. I must have moaned because Nick started giggling.
“See something you like?”
“Oh god yes,” I responded without thinking.
At that he slid his cock into me slowly. The girl was fucked liked that for a bit and went back and gave him a short blow job. The girl and the guy were both really hot, and I could feel a huge orgasm building. I stopped scrolling.
“Oh god- yes yes fuck me Nick, I’m going to cum,” I gasped out, but he suddenly stopped moving causing me to groan in frustration.
“Not yet, I think it’s just a few more pictures.” He moved in slow shallow strokes to keep me on edge and I quickly went to the next picture. She was on her knees with her ass up in the air, her hands grasping her butt cheeks and pulling it open wantonly.
“Oh fuck-,” I wanted to orgasm so bad. The next picture showed his dick sliding into her from behind, just like Nick was doing to me.
“MMmmmm yeessss, make me cum now Nick, please,” I begged. He started fucking me harder and I could feel an orgasm building.
“Check out her tattoo,” he managed to get out between hard thrusts. I made my eyes come into focus and searched, but saw nothing on her back. I opened my mouth to get some clarification when my eyes found the small knot right where her butt joined her leg, just like I had seen on Jill. Instead of a question a scream came out.
“AAAAaaaagwwwhhhh!” I yelled as I came. My hips thrust back hard as my whole body tense, and I could feel Nick twitching inside of me as well as he held himself inside me. My vision started to go faint with the power of the orgasm and the difficulty in breathing.
As we calmed down Nick stayed inside me.
“See? I told you I had something to show you,” he said to me, laughing. I don’t know why, but I started to giggle uncontrollably.
“I can’t believe we just fucked to pictures of her… Shit though, those were hot.”
“Take a look at the rest of them then!” he told me.
Curious I started scrolling down. They screwed from behind for a bit, then also with her on top, before she got on her knees and took a load to the face. I don’t know why, but that picture of her smiling with cum in her mouth and dripping down her chin got to me. Now that I knew it was her, the sunglasses didn’t do a great job disguising her. I found myself getting aroused again and wiggled my hips, surprised but delighted to find Nick hard again. He started back up a slow fuck and I started reading comments.
Jill didn’t seem to respond to many, but when she did it was usually a question about activities she did or didn’t do. She promised a few guys certain costumes or poses in the future. Lots of people were complimenting her ass, and one guy asked why she wasn’t doing porn professionally with an ass like that. Jill responded that sex was an outlet for her and she would hate to have that ruined by it becoming a job.
Nick was working me towards another orgasm when we found a question about anal. She responded to it saying she loved anal! That shocked me. The girls around school that had tried it all hated it. They said it hurt a lot and the clean up was awful.
A bunch of guys started asking for pictures of her doing anal, and Jill didn’t hold out on them at all. The pictures seemed to be from the same guy. When we got to them Nick stopped thrusting, saying he was getting too close to cumming and pulled out.
“Hold on Emmy, after that first one I think we could both use a drink.” He returned a couple of minutes later with two cold beers and a towel. I got up and peed then had some of my beer before laying back down. Nick started massaging my butt again and placed the tip of his penis inside me to tease me. The pictures started with the guy licking her butt hole! I couldn’t believe anyone would be willing to do that, but then I remembered how thoroughly Jill washed herself in the shower. I guess she wanted to be ready for everything.
She must really enjoy it, because the next picture showed her vagina literally dripping. By this point Nick was working the first inch around inside me teasing me, and I couldn’t help let out a moan. I knew getting aroused while looking at pictures of my sister was wrong, but for some reason I just couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t believe how erotic she looked! Nick shifted behind me, and I felt his tongue lapping at my pussy.
“Damn Emmy! You are dripping!” he told me before lapping away. I felt an orgasm building, but Nick seemed to sense that and just teased my labia with his teeth and lips. Nick’s tongue started working upwards, and his mouth occasionally sucked gently on my skin.
“This is so much better now that your sister taught you how to shave!” I could only moan in response, but the moan quickly turned to a gasp as his tongue moved suddenly upwards across my butt! I felt myself tense and was prepared to tell him off, but his fingers found my pussy, interrupting any complaints with pleasure. Hit tongue was lapping away happily at my butt, and any thoughts of being unclean evaporated. Fuck, no wonder my sister got so wet, this felt amazing! Speaking of my sister I looked back at the computer screen and moved to the next picture.
In this picture the guy used a finger to tease around her butthole some. His finger was shiny with what must be lube, because he started to push it inside of her. I wasn’t surprised when I felt something start to probe at my butt and push its way inside. The tongue had felt so good that I decided to let him explore a little bit. Nick moved very slowly, but there was still a bit of pain and burning.
“Ow! It burns a little bit Nick!” I complained. He pulled his finger out slowly and hopped up.
“Just a minute, let me grab some things.” Nick went over to his bag and fumbled around a bit then headed over to my dresser. He started looking around. I ignored him and went back to looking at the laptop.
In this picture the guy’s finger had been replaced with two of her own. She was also rubbing her clit. I have no idea why, but the sight of her fingering her own ass was hotter to me than the guy doing it. It was just so wanton, so depraved.
“Getting started without me?” Nick said from right behind me. Startled I realized my own hand had slipped down and was working at my clit. Embarrassed I quickly removed my hand.
“I-I don’t know what’s come over me. We shouldn’t be doing this, she’s my sister for God’s sake!” I pulled my knees under me and started to get up.
SMACK! I fell back on the bed. Nick had just spanked my ass!
“What was tha-,” I started to ask.
SMACK! Another pop on my ass. It stung, but in a good way. I couldn’t believe it, but it seemed like I was actually getting more aroused! What was wrong with me?!
“We’re not done yet,” Nick said as he rubbed my ass cheeks. I turned to look at him. He was holding my sunglasses that he must have grabbed from my dresser as well as a small bottle of lube.
“Here, put these on,” he told me as he held out the sunglasses. I took them with shaking hands. The thought of being dressed just as my sister, in only a pair of sunglasses, as we watched her have sex seemed wrong, but I found myself putting them on anyways. I put my head down on the bed, and he licked my ass again. This time he was more aggressive with his tongue and I felt him pushing hard against my rosebud. The pressure felt good. Really REALLY good! I was moaning loudly and I felt my hips rise off the bed pressing back hard against him.
His hand found my clit and I felt my body tense in a small orgasm, which quickly grew when his tongue slipped past the ring of muscles in my butt.
“Oh God yes! Yeeessssssss,” I moaned loudly. Nick obviously didn’t want to waste any time and he quickly removed his tongue, causing a groan of frustration from me. This quickly turned into a surprised yelp as I felt a slippery finger slide into my ass. It felt weird. It didn’t hurt anymore, but I wouldn’t exactly call it pleasurable like his tongue had been. I could feel myself clenching at the new sensation.
Thankfully he just left the finger in and didn’t move it much to let me adjust. His fingers were dancing lightly over my clit, just enough to make me want more. He moved his fingers away from my pussy and I lifted my head to complain.
“Keep looking at those pictures. I know you like it, you’re pussy is dripping on the bed and the whole room smells like you!” I found myself obeying Nick. I have no idea why. In the past I never let him order me around like this. And the bastard was spanking me! The worst part about it all was I thought I liked it. Every time he hit my ass I felt a small jolt straight to my core. Probably had something to do with thinking I deserved punishment for all my wanton behavior.
I looked back at the picture of my sister’s ass, two of her own fingers stuffed inside of her. Nick was now moving his finger in and out of my ass and I was shocked to find that it felt good. I clicked to the next picture.
Jill was reaching back with both hands and pulling her ass cheeks apart, her pussy wet and open and her butt hole not closing completely.
“Copy her,” Nick spoke from behind me as he slowly withdrew his finger. As if in a trance I felt myself reach back and pull my butt cheeks apart.
“Damn, I cannot believe how awesome your two asses are! I can’t wait to get in yours!”
I opened my mouth to tell him that wasn’t ever going to happen, but all the came out was a loud “UUUHHHGGG” as I felt something larger start to work into my butt.
“Oh God, what are you doing?! You’re penis is way too big for me!”
“Relax! It’s only two fingers,” he explained then lightly smacked my ass. “Quit squirming or you’ll hurt yourself.” The slap on my butt caused me to moan.
“Oh you like that?” SMACK “You like when I spank you?” SMACK “Such a naughty slut learning about anal from your big sister.” SMACK
The last one did it. I felt a small orgasm rock through my pussy and his fingers slid right into my ass. I’m not sure he even realized I came since I had been moaning the entire time he spanked me. His fingers were pistoning in and out. I felt full, but it didn’t seem to hurt at all. He worked me like that for what felt like fifteen minutes. Me holding my butt cheeks open, his fingers pistoning in and out of me, and a close up picture of my sister in a similar position on the screen in front of me.
The bed shifted and Nick reached across me to click down to the next picture. My sister had a short message in front: “Hope you guys enjoy me taking this thick cock in my ass, I made a GIF just for you ;)
I felt Nick withdraw his fingers as I read the message. I again felt something at my backdoor and assumed Nick was going to add another finger, so I tried my best to ignore it and looked at the picture. Suddenly I knew that Nick wasn’t trying to add another finger. On the screen was a looping video of my sister’s ass as the cock pressed against her ass, then slid slowly inside her. Nick was leaning harder against me.
“You like that? You like seeing your sister take a fat cock in her ass as I take yours? Damn Emmy, not many girls would go through with this, you are a real slut!”
This story is based on correspondence I had with a couple after they read my submission “Controlling Bobbi” . After sharing some hot older woman / younger guy fantasies based on their teenage neighbour, one day she sent me an e-mail telling me she had actually submitted to his blackmail of her, and that he was now fucking and controlling her. A little while after that, she stopped all correspondence with me, presumably because the young man demanded it. I will let the reader decide for themselves where the reality ends and the fantasy begins. “Emily and Mark” are in their thirties and “Connor” and all the others are over 18.
Dear Diary. God it sounds so trite. The last time I wrote those words in this book was over ten years ago, but I absolutely have to tell someone this story and I’m pretty sure you won’t tell anyone else.
Well Diary, if you had asked me two months ago if this would ever happen I would have told you “never” but this afternoon while Mark was at work, I let the neighbour’s son fuck me in our living room. First, I had to kiss him, and let him feel me up, groping my breasts and squeezing my ass through my slacks before he made me strip naked for him. He ordered me to lay down and then fucked me until he came after which he dressed and walked out the door while I lay there leaking his cum onto the sofa.
Whew. I’m glad that’s out. I couldn’t keep it bottled up inside any more. I had to tell, because I know that this is only the beginning. Well actually the beginning goes back almost a year…
Of course, Mark is really the kinky one. He’s always reading erotic fiction on the net and trying to figure out ways to get me involved. About a year ago, he took me out to dinner at a restaurant but I had to be completely naked under my dress. Our waiter was a young guy and he was really checking me out throughout the whole meal. I’m pretty sure he got a couple good downblouse views. Of course Mark saw the whole thing. When we got home, he was a wild man in bed.
After that, he seemed obsessed with stories about older women and younger men. Our neighbour has an eighteen year old son. He looks a bit geeky to me, not at all my type, but some women might think he is kind of cute, with his short shock of ginger hair and lots of freckles. Mark has been trying to get me to come on to him for a while now. He does silly things like sabotage some item in our home, then get me to call and ask if Connor can come over to help me get it working.
In this game, I pretend that Mark is not home, when in fact he is hiding somewhere he can monitor the action. He always gets me to wear skimpy clothing and hang around exposing myself while Connor tries to help. Sometimes I show a lot of cleavage, other times a lot of leg.
Not long ago we did this and Mark insisted I wear a short skirt with thong panties. I needed to bend over to show Connor what the problem was. Mark, said that Connor took a picture of my partly exposed ass and thong with his phone when I was bent over. Mark has often rubbed my pussy until I cum, as he asks me how many of Connor’s friends I think have seen that picture.
Sometimes, Mark would blindfold me or tie me up and pretend to be Connor and fuck me. Other times he would ask me to call out Connor’s name when I came. It really made him horny and the sex was always volcanic when we did it. Mark sits around on standby a lot at work so he has time to fantasize and e-mail me sexy dirty stories and scenarios involving young men which we can review when we are in bed together. With all this repetition. I have to admit the idea began to turn me on too. Just as a fantasy though, not ever to become reality
So, as I said, these silly games were pretty much harmless until a couple weeks ago, when Mark read a story where the woman left a naked picture of herself jammed in the printer and called a young man to help her fix it. Of course the young guy saw the naked picture, when the printer restarted. Mark absolutely loved the idea but our black and white laser printer wasn’t suitable.
Instead of the printer, he sabotaged my software plug-ins then got me to call Connor for help. Of course before he did that he made sure a revealing picture of me was available from the desktop. No sooner had Connor sat down to try to help me, than Mark rang the house phone from his cell. I had to run to the kitchen to answer it, leaving Connor alone with the computer. There I was in the kitchen with my pussy literally drooling as Mark talked dirty to me about what Connor was seeing. I finally had to hang up on him before he made me cum right then and there.
Well Diary, it seems that after all the teasing we had put him through, and being alone with full unchaperoned access to my entire computer, Connor couldn’t resist snooping around a bit to see what he might find. Apparently he had a memory stick with him and he copied an entire folder of sexy pictures Mark had taken of me, either partially or completely nude. It never occurred to me that he would also have full access to my e-mail folder and he saved copies of dozens of our sexy fantasy conversations about young men in general, and about him in particular.
Mark had kept me talking for quite a while, longer than I realized while Connor was on the computer. When he came down and said it was all fixed, he had a kind of funny smile on his face but he never said a word. Not one word until he came to the door this afternoon that is.
I was not expecting visitors when I answered the door, and was a bit surprised to see Connor. I greeted him politely and asked what he wanted. He seemed very nervous when he said we needed to talk and asked if he could come in. When we got to the living room, he dropped the bombshell. He pulled out two full size pictures of me. One in a bra and panties, the other naked from behind. He told me that if I didn’t want the pictures and stories to be sent to my family and my colleagues at work, including my boss, then I better be prepared to do what he said.
When I threatened to call the police, he laughed and said that would be fine. He would simply say that it was me who was trying to seduce him and he would give them all the supporting evidence he had from the memory stick. I knew I was trapped, but instead of being frightened or angry, I felt my pussy start to melt. Oh my God. He was really going to take control of me, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. When Connor saw the look on my face, he seemed to immediately gain confidence and ordered me to kiss him.
And so it was, Diary, that I found myself standing in my living room being groped through my clothes while kissing Connor and letting him push his tongue between my lips. Having me submit to his attentions made him bolder still, and soon he stepped back and ordered me to strip for him. Having been subjected to Mark’s endless fantasy scenarios, I found that the real act of submission to this young man caused my tummy to melt and my pussy to leak. My brain was screaming that this couldn’t be happening, but it was, and it turned me on like nothing else.
My shaking fingers moved to open the buttons on my blouse. It seemed like time stood still as Connor’s eyes devoured each new piece of my exposed flesh. When the blouse was open he told me to get it off and then drop my slacks. One button, one zip and I was standing in front of my neighbour’s son in nothing but panties and bra. Of course those needed to go too.
After walking around me twice to enjoy the view, Connor made me lie on the couch and spread my legs. His eyes never wavered from my pussy as he dropped his pants to reveal his rock hard cock. When it popped into view, I couldn’t help but stare. It was so pink and so hard. I lay riveted to the spot as he moved between my legs and pressed his cock to my entrance.
I had to reach down to help him line himself up, and when I did he roughly pushed all the way in. This was not lovemaking it was fucking. Without any apparent concern for my pleasure, he roughly gabbed my tits and immediately began thrusting vigorously. My whole body shook and my head banged the arm of the couch on each stroke. In no time at all I heard him grunt and felt the rush of his hot seed as it jetted into my cunt.
It was like a geyser. The strongest jets of cum I ever felt hit the top of my pussy again and again. Finally he collapsed on top of me, laying there in a stupor for a moment before pulling his softening cock from my body. He grabbed my panties and wiped himself with them, pulled up his pants and turned to go. As he left he told me to keep shut up about it if I didn’t want the pictures sent. He said he would be back soon for some more action.
That is why, Diary, as I lay freshly fucked, leaking Connor’s load on our couch, I decided to get you out again. You are the only one I can tell who won’t blab my secret to the world. I only wish you could help me decide what, if anything I am going to tell Mark when he gets home.
Dear Diary. Well, true to his word, Connor stopped by again today. When I let him in he pulled me into a rough kiss and groped my tits. He ordered me to strip and watched closely as I complied. When I was naked, he told me to turn round for inspection. I didn’t see his phone until I was facing him again and heard it click. OH GOD. He had taken at least one picture. I know I should have been afraid, and I was, but I was also aroused. He could do what he wished, I had completely lost control.
Smiling, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the bedroom. After throwing the spread aside, he pushed me down onto the bed and told me to spread myself. This act of submissively exposing my sex to him as he began to disrobe immediately started my juices flowing.
This time he stripped naked and rubbed himself up and down my body before telling me to put him inside. Obediently I reached down to guide his stiff cock into my wet cunt. His hands again went to my tits, kneading them as he pushed himself in to the hilt. He paused there a moment to savour the feeling of being completely enveloped in my, by now, hot wet pussy.
Then he began to fuck me with a passion. He groped my tits, pulled my nipples and pummeled my pussy with his cock as I lay submissively beneath him. I have to admit, Diary, that the whole scenario was making me so excited I was building towards an orgasm when he pushed all the way in, went completely rigid and shot jet after jet into me. When he pulled out, I so wanted more, but that was not to be.
He stepped into the master bath to clean up and take a piss, then dressed. Once again admonishing me to keep my silence as he walked out. For the second time, he had used me for his pleasure, filled me with his seed, and abandoned me.
The sex is rubbish. He cums too quickly for me to reach my peak, but being controlled by this teen boy and having him use me for his pleasure is driving my libido into the stratosphere. I couldn’t stop myself from dipping my finger in his deposit and rubbing it over my clit until I came.
When Mark came home, I broke down and told him what Connor was doing to me. At first he went ballistic. He yelled and threatened and talked about calling the police, but then as he calmed down, he got that funny look on his face and started asking me for details. I told him everything, and let him read my diary entries. We fucked like rabbits all night. Oh Diary. What is happening to me?
Dear Diary. If I thought that Connor might slow down his control I was sadly mistaken. Today he walked right in and dropped his clothes just inside the door. He told me to come over to him and after pulling off my tee shirt and bra, ordered me to take him in my hand and stroke him. Of course, he was giving my naked tits a work over and pushing his tongue into my mouth as I did. Once again, my submission caused me to get soaking wet in no time.
After a few minutes of this activity, he broke away and told me to come into the kitchen with him. Bold as brass, he walked over to the refrigerator and took out a beer. After taking a big drink, he told me to drop my drawers and bend over the kitchen table. When he moved in behind me, I felt his rigid cock brush against my arse before he lined himself up and pushed himself in.
I really like it from behind. That, added to my feelings of being controlled and fucked by this young man had my arousal in overdrive. I felt myself quickly approaching orgasm, but once again, Connor was first to cum. I was close, but not close enough. Even the feel of his hot seed jetting into the top of my cunt was not enough to push me over the top. Spent, he pulled back and wiped our combined juices onto my bottom.
He made me stay bent over like that while he finished his beer. I was so horny, and needed to cum so badly, that I reached between my legs and started stroking my lips and dipping my fingers in the cum leaking down my thigh. I started to stroke first one, then two fingers into my wet tunnel circling my clit every other stroke. I was in my own little world and almost didn’t hear the click of his phone, but when I did the thought of him having and sharing those photos with God only knows who, pushed me over the edge and I came like a freight train.
He’s obviously starting to gain confidence, Diary, and I really don’t know where he might take me on this journey of submission. I don’t know, and there is nothing I can do to stop it even if I did
Dear Diary. I can’t believe his audacity. Today he just walked in the door and told me to drop to my knees. Almost before I was down there, he had his stiff dick in his hand and was pushing it at my face. Of course I have given blow jobs before, but this was so sudden and unexpected, that it caught me off guard.
Connor groaned loudly as I sucked him until my cheeks collapsed. Once again, there was no romance here. I was sucking him off. He was in control and my brain was screaming with excitement and arousal. How can this be, Diary? What is he turning me into?
As I continued to suck and lick him, he grabbed my head and pressed his cock to the back of my throat. I don’t often suck Mark, but when I do I am always careful not to go too far down to avoid gagging. As soon as Connor’s cock approached the back of my mouth, I gagged. I pulled back, but Connor just pressed right back in. When I gagged again, he shot his load directly into my mouth.
I do not really like the taste or texture of sperm and I only rarely swallow for Mark, but Connor gave me no choice. I coughed and gagged, but his whole load was deposited directly in my mouth and he ordered me to swallow it. He then took great pleasure in wiping the leakage from my chin, cheeks and neck with his fingers and making me lick them clean.
After wiping himself off on my pullover, he zipped himself up and was gone, leaving me kneeling in my foyer with the pungent taste of his cum in my mouth and throat. A taste that returned all afternoon in little belches as I digested his load.
I might have wondered where such a young man could gain such confidence and know about so many different things to make me do for him, but I know he read Mark’s sexy e-mails and he’s seen the stories we read. I know he’s getting this stuff directly from our fantasies, and that’s what is making this whole thing so very exciting, and also so very frightening.
When I told Mark about having to swallow Connor’s load he got hard as iron. I spent the night sucking my husband off and swallowing his cum too. I think he is getting too into this, Diary. He told me he can’t wait to hear what Connor is going to make me do next.
Dear Diary. I think that I am developing a conditioned reflex to Connor. When he is doing things to me I am scared, and humiliated, but after he leaves, I can’t stop thinking about him controlling me and every time I do my pussy starts to get wet. I’m in a constant state of arousal and I cannot stop playing with myself and making myself cum over and over. Mark and I are fucking constantly as he questions me about my activities with Connor every night. I can’t believe how hot it is making him and how it has made our sex life so much more intense.
Today when I let Connor in, he told me to strip off my top. He wanted it slow and sexy like an exotic dancer and that’s what I gave him. I felt so cheap being a stripper for this neighbourhood boy, but I had to do it. When I was topless, he made me clasp my hands behind my back and keep them there while he played with my tits and pulled on my nipples. Until he had them sensitive and standing at full attention.
I couldn’t believe that I just stood there, with my pussy leaking and my hands behind my back as he groped me for his pleasure, continuing to tweak and diddle my now throbbing nipples. It was almost a relief when he ordered me to lay down on the sofa and put my hands above my head. When he had me positioned to his satisfaction, he dropped his pants and moved toward me, his stiff cock leading the way.
As I lay there panting from excitement, he straddled my middle and pressed his cock into my cleavage, ordering me to squeeze my breasts together around it. He then began a slow thrusting of his hips, sliding his rigid dick through the tunnel between my breasts. After three or four strokes, he pulled out and spit a huge gob between my tits. Then he ordered me to spit too. It was so humiliating to have him spit on me and order me to spit on myself, but he is in control now. The lubrication of our combined spittle allowed his cock to slide easily between my tits hitting the bottom of my neck on every thrust.
It didn’t take too long before he told me to open my mouth and stick out my tongue. He made me keep my mouth open and insisted that I not swallow as he shot jet after jet of his thick cum onto my tongue and teeth. Then, after ordering me not to move, he jumped off me grabbed his phone and took several pictures of me like that before telling me to swallow it all.
As he was putting his pants on he told me he was tired of waiting for me to open the door when he came and he wanted his own key. At first I refused. There was no telling what he would do if he had full access, and then it hit me. He was already fucking me and making me blow him. I could never refuse to let him in anyway, and so I took a spare key off the rack and gave it to him. My pussy tingled with excitement as I watched him add it to his ring.
When he left, I went to the bedroom, pulled out my vibrator and made myself cum. Twice. Later that night, Mark brought me off another three times while he fucked me. Oh God, Diary. What am I becoming?
Dear Diary. Last night was a hard night at work and I was exhausted, I didn’t hear a thing when Mark left for work this morning, I just slept right through. When I woke some time later sunlight was leaking through the blinds. I felt a warm body snuggled against my back and a hard prick pressing into my ass. Sunlight! It was late, and Mark should be gone. I was suddenly awake and spun round to see Connor’s smiling face. How in hell? Oh yes. He had simply used his key, walked in and crawled into my bed.
Now that I was awake, Connor pasted his lips to mine and pushed his tongue into my mouth. His hands were everywhere. Cupping my tits and pulling my nipples. Sliding behind me to grab my ass and in front of me to rub my pussy. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching down and grabbing his cock to squeeze and stroke it as my arousal increased.
It was only a matter of minutes before he threw off the covers, yanked off my panties, pushed my legs apart and mounted me, sliding his young cock balls deep on the first stroke. I couldn’t stop myself from wrapping my legs around his hips, even if I’d wanted to. In this position, Connor had unobstructed access to my sex. Soon he was pulling almost all the way out, then pressing back in until his pubic hair ground into my clit. I was right on the verge of climax when I felt his body go rigid and the strong jets of cum spray my womb.
Once again, Connor had gotten off and I was left hanging. As he pulled out and rolled off me I let out a sob of frustration. He turned, glared at me and asked what my problem was. When I told him, he laughed and said he didn’t care. He was here to use me for his pleasure not mine. He told me he was in control. I was his slut, his whore, his cunt, and he could do anything he wanted to me because I was powerless to stop him. He ordered me to stop wearing panties so he could have quick access to my sex any time he wanted, and told me that if he ever caught me wearing them again. He would spank my ass red.
It was like I got hit by a truck. It was all true. He was in control of me. I was his sex toy to do with as he pleased. He owned me. And as those thoughts all ran around my brain I felt my tummy melt with excitement. I lay in the bed with my pussy leaking our combined juices onto the sheets as he dressed and left.
Oh Diary. This is really true isn’t it? Our fantasy has become my reality. I just can’t believe this is actually happening to me, or that Mark is enjoying it so much.
Dear Diary. We got the call this morning. Mark’s mom fell in the bath, and had to go to hospital. Mark decided that he needed to go to see her and try to lift her spirits. I had never really gotten on with her and Mark said there was no need for me to come with him.
I hardly had time to walk to the kitchen and start the dishes when I heard a key in the lock. When the door opened, I called out and asked him what he forgot. Instead of Mark’s voice, it was Connor who replied that he was here for a quick fuck from his personal slut. I was just pulling my hands out of the dishwater when Connor entered the kitchen and told me to freeze.
He walked up behind me and undid my robe, opening the front and grabbing my tits in his cold hands. My nipples sprang to hard points and he immediately started to pull and twist them. It was quite painful and I cried out, which caused him to tell me to shut up and take it. His controlling manner made my pussy wet as his hands moved down my belly and pulled my panties down my thighs. It was then that I remembered about the panties, but it was too late.
I didn’t even have a chance to dry my hands, before Connor had pulled me down over his knees, threw my robe aside and started spanking my bare bottom. I cried and squirmed to no avail as the slaps rained down and my cheeks began to burn and turn red. This was humiliating beyond measure. There I was a grown woman draped across my teen neighbour’s lap getting a spanking like a little girl and, God help me, it was turning me on.
When he was satisfied that I had suffered enough for my disobedience, he ordered me to lay face down across one of the kitchen chairs. When he stood and dropped his pants, I could see that he was fully hard and his cock pulsed with life. He told me he had read something interesting that he wanted to try, and asked me if we had any lubricant in the bedroom. An icy chill ran through my center. I could think of only one reason he would want that, and prayed that was not what he was going to do to me.
I told him we had nothing like that, foolishly hoping that would put him off, at least for today, but not a chance of that. As I lay there with my burning red ass exposed, Connor opened the cupboard and found the vegetable oil, then went to the fridge and took a big carrot from the crisper. My brain began screaming for me to run, but I knew there was nowhere to go.
As he stood where I could watch, he rubbed the oil on the carrot and told me that the story said the long taper of the carrot would open me up slowly. Not to worry. I would soon be begging for his cock in my ass. He read our e-mails and stories. He must have seen Mark’s suggestions and my firm refusals. He knew I had no anal experience, and I knew that wouldn’t stop him.
Lost in my thoughts and fear, I hadn’t noticed that he had moved behind me and I jumped a bit when I felt his fingers spread my ass cheeks. The sensation of the cold carrot pressing against my anus spurred me into action. I began to beg and plead with him not to do this to me. I started to struggle to get up. He shoved me down roughly and then quickly straddled my back, effectively pinning me to the chair with his weight. He told me he could do what he damn well pleased, and to shut up and enjoy it.
When I continued to struggle and plead, I received several severe slaps to my ass and another order to shut up. As I lay there whimpering, I felt the small end of the carrot enter my clenched asshole. To his credit, Connor proceeded slowly, adding more lubrication as he stroked the vegetable in and out of my ass. Several times he spanked my ass hard and commanded me to relax. Mercifully, the pain in my ass cheeks took my focus off the carrot invading my arse.
Like it or not, the ever expanding diameter of the carrot slowly dilated my rectum as Connor continued to push it deeper with each stroke. By the time he had the entire length pressed into me, I was beginning to moan with arousal. I was shocked when he stood up, releasing me from the chair, the carrot still pressed fully into my rear passage. He told me to get into the living room, bend over the sofa and pull my ass cheeks apart.
I felt vacant when he pulled the carrot from my butt and tossed it in the trash. As soon as I was in position, I felt his rigid dick press against my stretched hole. He had lubed himself up with the oil and was able to easily push in the entrance. The deeper he went the less stretched I was and I could feel his cock opening me up as he pushed all the way in.
When I was fully impaled he slapped my ass again and asked me to tell him how good it felt. I’m no stranger to dirty talk during sex. Mark loves it and it feeds his fantasies, so I began to tell Connor what he wanted to hear as his cock pistoned in and out of my stretched asshole. Strangely, after several minutes of his fucking, I began to actually enjoy the feeling, and by the time he shot his load deep into my bowels, I was truthfully begging him to fuck my ass harder and faster.
Well, Diary, he sent me out to buy some proper anal sex lube, and spent the rest of the weekend fucking my ass and there was nothing I could, or would, do to resist him. I am now fully owned by my teenage neighbour. He has pumped his young hard cock into me and repeatedly shot his cum deep in every hole possible and I can’t deny that it is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me. I have no idea what is coming next, but I am soaking wet just thinking about it.
Mark calls me nightly for full updates and I can only imagine how many times he has jerked himself off after hearing my reports. He was totally pissed about my anal submission and vowed to drill my arse when he got home. I told him I couldn’t wait for it Diary, and I meant every word.
Dear Diary. Late Sunday night, Mark called to say he needed to stay another night. I had no idea when Connor would return, but there was no question in my mind that he would when he saw Mark wasn’t home yet. I knew he couldn’t pass up another night of uninterrupted access to my body. The next time he opened the door I saw his eyes pass up and down over me and then he ordered me to strip. By the time I was naked, my pussy was wet and my lips were opening in arousal. I was rooted to the spot as he walked up and slapped my ass. I didn’t understand. I had not been wearing panties, Why the spank? I didn’t have any more time to think about it because Connor ordered me to get upstairs, and he followed close behind slapping my ass three more times along the way.
In the bedroom , Connor told me to get out four silk scarves. That scared me and excited me in equal measure. Of course I couldn’t refuse when he tied me spread eagle to the bed, but when I tested the knots and realized that I was truly secured with no chance of escape I started to panic.
Connor started searching through the nightstands and found my vibrator in the bottom drawer. He had an evil smile that never left his face as he asked me where the spare batteries were. I was helpless now, even more fully in his control than ever and I was almost cuming from the experience. When he returned , he sat down beside my hip and started running the vibrator up and down my pussy. I was so aroused I could hardly breathe.
Connor looked me in the eyes and told me he was tired of my not cuming with him and I was going to wish I had been more responsive to his efforts. With those words, he turned on the vibrator and started to slowly stroke it along my slit. I was so excited by being helplessly at his mercy, that even that slight stimulation caused my pussy to spasm. I pulled at my bonds as my first orgasm flushed through me.
I foolishly thought that Connor would stop but he didn’t even skip a beat. He continued to move the vibrator along my lips pausing to focus on my clit on each stroke. I was surprised when the combination of my predicament and the vibrations brought me to another orgasm. I arched my back and grunted like an animal as my second climax rolled through me. And still Connor kept it up. A few minutes later, I was approaching my third orgasm. I pulled and strained at my bonds as he pushed the vibrator into my depths and took me through my biggest orgasm yet.
I was now breathless and begging him to stop. But he kept it up slow and steady. Along my lips, onto my clit and then down and in. Over and over again. I whipped my head back and forth, I begged for him to stop, then I begged for him not to stop. I was delirious, out of my mind with arousal and humiliation when I felt myself spinning and falling, tumbling into the darkness. The last thing I heard before I passed out was a woman screaming through her orgasm. That woman was me.
OH GOD, Diary. It was the most intense experience of my life and he was in complete control the whole time.
When I opened my eyes, there he was smiling down at me. He had released my bonds and removed his clothes.. His cock was rigid and pink between his legs. When he saw me looking, he asked if I wanted to suck him. I meekly nodded my head, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He told me if I wanted to suck his teen cock, I had to beg for it. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started asking him to let me suck him off.
As I continued to beg him, the humiliation increased my arousal and soon I needed his cock in my mouth. I begged and pleaded with him to let me suck. After making me promise not to waste his cum, he finally relented. As he lay back on the bed, his virile young cock sticking straight up. I moved down and attacked him. I took him as far down as possible. Licking and sucking him with abandon. I had never wanted anything more in my life. When he told me to beg for his cum, and promise to savour it, I almost came just from his words. I sucked him and licked him and in between I begged him to blow his load. To fill my mouth. To let me taste and swallow his hot seed.
Suddenly he stiffened and flooded my mouth with his huge load. I was just about to swallow when he told me to stop. He made me open my mouth so he could see his load on my tongue and then ordered me not to swallow until he gave his permission. I tried to protest, but my words were garbled by the mass of liquid rolling around in my mouth. As the pungent taste soaked my tongue and taste buds, he got up and left the room.
And there I sat Diary, with my mouth marinating in his jizz, my pussy leaking and my brain spinning, wondering where he had gone. About ten minutes later, he walked back in with a beer and told me to open my mouth again. Ten minutes of saliva had added to the volume of his cum, and I had to tilt my head way back to keep the mess from running down my chin. When he saw that I had not swallowed, he nodded and told me to go ahead. I needed 3 gulps to get the slimy load down my throat and into my tummy, and it almost made me cum again.
Connor was rock hard again. After pushing me back on the bed, he grabbed my ankles, spread them wide and drove his dick into my pussy. By the time he finished his second pump, I was cuming all over him like the slut I have become. He pumped another big load directly into my center before he pulled out and told me to get cleaned up.
He stayed in my bed all that night. Waking every two or three hours to fuck me. My dreams were peppered with visions of what he had done to me. I could see his hands on me, feel his cock in my cunt and ass, taste him in my mouth. They were so vivid and erotic that twice I woke to find my hand stroking my clit. I was so turned on that I made myself cum both times.
It was mid-morning when when we finally woke for the day. He slapped my ass and told me there was nothing like a night of fucking his whore to bring on an appetite and he wanted me to make him breakfast. When I got out of bed I reached for my robe, but he told me it covered too much, and insisted that I go naked.
After breakfast, Connor was hard again. Oh Diary, he is so young and so virile, I just can’t help myself and soon I was kneeling in front of him swallowing. He instructed me to shower and shave, but to not brush my teeth or rinse my mouth. He insisted that the smell and taste of him remain in my mouth to remind me of him, until his return. After picking out one of my shortest thinnest shifts, he told me to be dressed and ready for instructions when he called.
Dear Diary. I can’t believe what is happening to me, What he is turning me into. I was sitting in the kitchen, totally naked under my hottest outfit. When the phone rang I answered, Connor told me he was on his way back. He instructed me to blindfold myself and stand in the front hall with my hands clasped behind my head, awaiting his arrival. It seemed like an hour before I heard his key in the door, but at no time did I even think about moving away from the spot. There was a lot of rustling as he came in then the door squeaked shut.
I heard him approach and sensed his nearness when he walked around me. The sudden slap to my ass caused me to jump and squeal, but I didn’t dare complain. He ran his hands over my ass, then up my sides and groped my breasts. After enjoying me though the clothes, I felt one hand move to my pussy as the other stayed on my breast. Without the benefit of sight, my hearing seemed somehow enhanced. I heard his aroused breathing catch in his throat as his fingers slid along my soaked cunt. My knees almost buckled as he stroked my clit.
And then he was pushing me down onto my knees. Still blind, the sound of his zipper was like a machine gun. The clink of a belt buckle, a rustle of clothing and I felt his hard cock press to my lips. This was beyond exciting. He was totally in control of me. I opened my mouth and sucked him in as far as I could. Strange, I thought, how different it feels when I can’t see what I’m doing.
Then I heard a cough. An icicle ran straight through my heart. Who had coughed? Of course. All that extra commotion at the door, the blindfold. Someone else was here. Watching. I was riveted to the spot, every muscle rigid, gripped in fear. My voice sounded tiny as I asked who was there.
I almost fainted when I heard Connor reply from down the hall. My brain reeled. If Connor was down the hall watching then who?? My hands came down, to push him away. I reached for the blindfold so I could see who had been manhandling me. Who I had been sucking. Connor’s sharp command made me stop. He told me to shut up, put my hands down, and get back to work on that cock. I begged him not to make me do this, but his reply was a sharp spank to my arse and a terse warning of more to come if I didn’t comply.
Tears of humiliation soaked the blindfold as I tentatively opened my mouth to receive the unknown cock. As I continued to service him, I realized that I had been right. It was a lot different than Connor’s and I started to wonder if it was another neighbourhood teen, or someone I didn’t know at all. I am so ashamed to say, Diary, that at that point it didn’t matter to me. Connor controlled me. Owned me. Could make me suck strange cock. I was powerless to stop him and it turned me on more than ever before. When I tasted the stranger’s thick goo, I came too.
I was helped up to my feet and told to remove the blindfold. My eyes darted around until they landed on him. Another teenager, bigger than Connor. Chubby, with a bit of scraggly beard on his chin. Not my type at all, but I had sucked his cock and swallowed his load and it had made me cum. He leered at me and introduced himself as Donnie, then told me that now we were acquainted, I didn’t need the dress anymore. When I looked at Connor, he simply nodded and told me to drop it.
Donnie’s eyes were fused to my fingers as he followed their motion down the buttons of my shift. When I pulled it open and off, he whistled and told Connor that I looked better than in the pictures. Donnie had seen pictures. The realization was like a lightening bolt. Connor was showing me off. I was his prize possession and he could brag and show pictures to whomever he wanted. There was no way out for me.
By the time I was naked Donnie was half hard again and I could see a bulge in Connor’s pants. Connor dropped his pants and sat on the sofa, motioning me over with a crooked finger. He wanted me on all fours between his legs sucking his cock. Focused on serving Connor, I didn’t notice where Donnie had gone until I felt my knees pushed apart and his hard dick press at my sopping cunt. Connor asked him to wait, until I begged for it. I did, Diary, I was so ashamed, so humiliated, but I couldn’t stop myself from begging Connor to let Donnie fuck me. I even begged Donnie.
It was insane. The more I begged them, the hotter I got. It took about five minutes before they granted my wishes and pressed their cocks into me at both ends. I was bobbing my head on Connor’s straight cock, as Donnie grabbed my hips and pounded my pussy from behind. My mind was a tornado of thoughts and emotions. I had never had two men at once. Never wanted to have two men at once. But here I was on all fours with a young strong cock stroking into each end of my body.
Donnie pushed in hard causing me to move forward onto Connor. The intensity of Donnie’s thrusts caused me to go further down than I ever had and I felt the tip of Connor’s cock at my throat several times, before he groaned and unloaded deep in my mouth. I moaned and swallowed and felt my pussy pulse as I orgasmed around Donnie’s dick. This pushed him over the edge and he flooded my pussy with his seed. They made me lick them both clean and swallow every drop before they dressed and left.
That night, Mark made me suck him while he rammed my vibrator into my pussy. If I wanted two cocks, he wanted to fantasize about it. He made me call him Connor and beg for a cock. I came and came until he finally unloaded in my mouth.
Oh, Diary. I have become such a slut for teen cock and Mark is no help at all. I hate it and I love it all at once. I have never been so humiliated and so excited before in my life. What is he going to make me do next?
Dear Diary. I had been going insane with arousal. I hadn’t heard from Connor in several days, almost a week, and I wondered what was happening. I never really liked what Connor did to me as he was doing it, but it always made me crazy with lust after the fact, and kept me wondering how he might control me next. The last time, when he brought Donnie, had been unsettling, but it was all I could think of now. Two cocks pumping their hot young seed into my body. Two teenagers using me for their sexual release. When would they come back to do me again. Would they bring someone else to join them? Oh God. Why can’t I stop thinking these thoughts?
The long wait was excruciating. Mark and I had sex, but it was nothing as volcanic as when Connor was controlling me. He had no new fantasies and the sex was tepid rather than red hot. Where had my teen master gone? When I heard his voice on the phone, I was flooded with both excitement and fear. What was he going to do to me next? He instructed me to put on a dress, no panties, no bra, and meet him outside. I was to bring my keys. We were taking my car. I called out to Mark to tell him I was going out to run an errand as I stepped outside. Connor was waiting and we drove off together.
With both hands on the wheel I couldn’t stop him from rubbing my bare legs and lifting my dress to expose my naked pussy. It took all my concentration to keep the car on the road as I followed his directions. It wasn’t long before we picked up Donnie, who sat in back leaning forward to watch Connor feel me up.
We stopped at a few traffic lights and I can only imagine what some of the nearby drivers thought when they saw what this boy’s hands were doing. One old gray haired gent, leaned out his window for a better look, and when he did, Connor pulled my dress right up so he could see my shaved crotch. The Geezer gave him a big smile and a thumbs up before traffic began to move again.
Eventually we ended up on a quiet dead end road. Connor told me to shut the car down and move into the back seat. As soon as I got in back, they pulled my dress off and started working me over. It was only minutes before they both had their cocks out and I was stroking them. I had to beg them for their cocks. Beg to suck or be fucked. Plead for them to DP me as they called it. After almost a week of denial, the excitement, danger and humiliation of this new scenario had me so wound up I couldn’t resist.
This time I was straddling Connor who rammed my cunt, while Donnie pushed his stiff dick up my ass from behind. The double penetration I had begged for was pulling and stretching both my holes beyond anything I had experienced before. I could feel their cocks rubbing together through the thin wall between my pussy and ass, sometimes in sync, sometimes alternating, always pumping. I was so aroused, that I didn’t know or even care if anyone was around to see. I was in a strange neighbourhood, naked in the back seat with two teen boys, and it was making me crazy with lust. Apparently, they were excited by it too, because it didn’t take long before both of them were shooting their loads deep inside me.
Donnie said he wanted to see me make myself cum. Shamelessly I spread my legs and started working my clit with my fingers. More humiliation, more excitement. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back. I didn’t see him take out his phone and shoot the video clip of my moaning writhing climax. As I was returning to earth, he held the screen up to my face and showed me the video he shot of my fingers strumming my clit in the throes of orgasm. Oh God Diary. Another teenager with more evidence of my descent into sluthood.
My lewd display had them both excited again. They made me suck them, each one shooting his load into my mouth again before we started the car and headed for home. On the way, Connor reminded me that Mark was still home and that I would be walking into the house simply reeking of sex, with their huge loads seeping down my legs from both orifices. He kept talking about it and rubbing me all over until we got back to the house. Luckily, I was able to rush in and get to the bathroom to clean up before Mark had a chance to see me.
Oh Diary. What if Mark had stopped me? Fantasy is one thing, but what if he had actually seen the boys’ cum leaking from my holes? How would he react? What would he say or do? And what will Donnie do with his video?
Dear Diary. Well, it turns out that my last entry was prophetic. It happened. Conner was reclined on the sofa with me straddling his hips facing him and pumping my ass to push his hard young cock deep into my pussy. We were both nearing climax, and he was sucking hard on my extended nipple, when I heard the front door open.
Before I could react, Mark walked into the room. He’d had a call not far from home and decided to stop in for lunch. The three of us were instantly frozen in time. The shock of discovery, and the resulting fear, caused me to clamp my pussy muscles down tight on Connor’s cock. The extra stimulation made him groan and raise his ass off the couch to press his groin tightly to mine. While Mark just stood there.
I had never been so afraid in my life. It was one thing for us to have fantasized about Connor fucking me, but it was another to have my husband see me doing it. After what seemed like an eternity, I saw a wicked smile slowly dawn on Mark’s face. He told us not to mind him, he was just going to fix some lunch. With that he headed off to the kitchen.
I began to dismount from Connor, but he stopped me, pulling my hips down tight to his. He slapped my arse, hard, and asked me where I thought I was going, then told me to get back to work. He said he didn’t care about Mark’s arrival and he wasn’t done fucking yet. I was gobsmacked. My husband had just found me on our living room couch with our teenage neighbour’s cock buried balls deep in my wet cunt and he had just walked away to make himself a sandwich. Not only that, but I now had to continue with Connor instead of talking to my husband.
There was no question who was in control of this situation and it was neither me nor Mark. Another sharp slap to my backside pulled me from my reverie. Connor told me to get up and bend over the arm of the sofa. In moments he was behind me pushing my head down and pumping into my pussy vigorously from behind. The sofa blocked my vision in the direction of the kitchen, so I saw nothing of Mark until Connor stiffened and shot his load. He grunted three or four times as he pumped the last of his seed into my upturned pussy, then pulled out, wiping himself off on my naked ass.
Connor ordered me to stay still until he told me I could move, and walked off to the bathroom. It was strange lying there, ass up, feeling my teen lover’s sperm leaking down my thigh, knowing my husband was in the other room. As it turned out, he was not in the other room. When I looked around to see Connor return, I saw Mark standing behind me staring at my open cunt.
My eyes never left Connor’s face as he walked up beside Mark and told him he was a fucking wimp and a wanker. He told Mark he was now going to fuck me whenever and wherever he wanted and share me with whoever he wanted and there was nothing either of us could do about it. He then announced that if he ever even suspected that Mark had fucked me he would bring a couple guys and beat him severely.
Connor continued berating Mark, telling him that the only pussy he was going to get from now on would be when he ate out my well fucked cunt. Looking at the tent in Mark’s slacks, he just laughed and said there was no time like the present to begin. Mark was mesmerized as Connor moved him forward and ordered him to his knees behind me. When he pushed Mark’s face into my arse and told him to eat me, I almost lost my mind.
The distraction of Mark’s presence had prevented me from cuming on Connor’s cock but now my brain was on fire. My husband had watched the boy from next door fill me with cum and now he was sucking and licking it out of my drooling pussy. Oh my God, Diary, I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. My brain exploded and I came harder than than ever in my life.
It’s really happening, Diary, It’s not a dream or fantasy. It’s real. We’re both under his control now.
Dear Diary. It’s been a week since I made an entry, and what a week it has been. As I think back, it’s all a blur of Connor fucking me, or me sucking him. Of Mark eating my pussy until I scream, or shooting his cum into my mouth. Donnie has even been here twice to fuck me up the arse. He loves that. I’ve become a total addict to being controlled. A sex toy for my teen neighbour and his friend. I am continually horny and my pussy is always wet. I can hardly get through a night at work now. Connor lets himself in day and night, regardless of whether Mark is home or not.
Yesterday, Connor dropped a bomb on us. He has ordered Mark to move his stuff into the spare bedroom so he can sleep with me whenever the mood strikes him. We spent last evening relocating all of Marks clothes and other stuff from “our” bedroom to “his”. Now Connor and his friend have access to my bed both day and night, and I know they will both take full advantage of that.
I cannot believe that this is actually happening to me. Where is this teenager getting all his ideas? I’m now sexually servicing three men on a continuous basis. My pussy is rubbed raw by cocks (Connor and Donnie), tongues (Mark’s), and fingers (mine). This is insane. I have become an unpaid whore, her bed available at a moment’s notice. Just the thought is making me wet again. OH GOD. This can’t be real.
Dear Diary. I can’t believe that it has gone this far. When Connor and I woke up this morning, he pushed me on my back and fucked me senseless. Then he announced that we were going to a party. The smirk on his face indicated that this was to be no regular party. As he was leaving, he told me to Google “Bukkake” and take notes.
Diary. I sat there in shock as I watched women get bathed in dozens of loads of cum as they knelt in the middle of a room. My mind was swirling with emotion as I watched several women receive the same treatment. As I watched the fourth woman take a sperm bath, I reached down to my pussy and came like a volcano. Is this the kind of party that Connor had planned? Who would be there? How many? I came again.
After supper, Connor came in and told me to get upstairs. When we went into “our” bedroom, he opened the dresser and picked out my hottest lingerie and told me to put it on. He directed me to apply makeup in a slutty fashion, and then led me downstairs. Mark was sitting in the living room when we came in I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. Connor threw me my coat and I saw Mark pulling out his cock as we left.
I was almost naked under my coat as we walked next door, and the instant we entered the house he took my coat leaving me totally exposed. I almost died from humiliation when we walked into the living room. There was a drop cloth on the floor and five teenagers sitting around the room. I turned to Connor to plead with him not to make me do this, but he simply spanked my ass really hard and told me to get on my knees like the slut whore I was.
This was too much. I didn’t like this, didn’t want it, but Connor controlled me, owned me. I didn’t really have a choice. I moved to the center of the room and knelt on the sheet. In no time all six were surrounding me, cocks in hand. Connor just smiled down at me and told me to get to work. I took his cock in my mouth first, just to get started. Pretty soon I had a rigid cock in each hand, one in my mouth, and three more pressing and rubbing against me.
Just like I had seen in the movies, I alternated sucking and stroking each cock in turn, allowing these young men to use me for their pleasure. Since my hands were fully occupied, I had no way to pleasure myself, but that didn’t stop my cunt from drooling down my leg. This was far and away the most intense sexual experience of my life. I was on my knees in my neighbour’s living room and six teenage boys were using me as their cum slut.
As the action heated up, Connor ordered me to lean my head back and open my mouth. Every one of them sprayed their load of cum into my mouth or over my face. I was covered in it. It dripped down off my face and onto my chest and shoulders. My mouth was half full, but I knew not to swallow until Connor told me to. Once everyone had a chance to see my mouth and tongue covered in their goo, I was ordered to swallow, then use my fingers to gather the rest and eat it too.
The guys were going out to a concert so Connor told me to go home to Mark, reminding me that he wasn’t allowed to fuck me. He said that he would look after that when he came back. So here I am Diary, naked in my bed with my pussy soaking wet, waiting for my teenage owner to come in and use me as his toy, and I love it. Will I ever be able to return to normal after this? What is normal? Will there even be an after this?
Dear Diary. I can’t believe what has happened to my mind. I’m constantly horny. I can’t seem to get enough sex. It’s all I think about, day and night, and it has spilled over into my career. As a good looking nurse, I have had patients hit on me for my whole career. Here at the retirement home, there’s hardly a month that goes by that some geezer doesn’t try to cop a feel of my tits or ass. Bath time is particularly troublesome because the old guys are naked and the act of washing them is very intimate. There have been many occasions when the old men have achieved an erection, and several where they have begged me for a favour. I have always respectfully declined and made sure they washed their own privates.
Last night, was bath night for Mr. Johnston. He is a nice old gent who is very friendly with all the staff. Although he has never made a pass at me, I know he has a dirty mind because he is always telling us ribald jokes. I have no idea where he gets them from, but some of them make me laugh right out loud.
Anyway, about half way through his bath last night, He closed his eyes, leaned forward a bit and groaned. I thought he was having a stroke or heart attack and held his shoulders asking him if he was OK. As I leaned him back in the bath, he opened his eyes and looked up at me in a rather sheepish fashion and then nodded is head downward. I glanced down and saw a big stiff cock sticking up out of the bathwater.
I couldn’t help myself. My mind immediately appraised his cock as bigger that either Mark or Connor, but not as rock hard as their considerably younger members. It was sticking up from is mass of gray pubes, large and pale with a fat head, and my eyes were glued to it. Mr. Johnston whispered that it was the first hard-on he’d had in over six months, and lamented that he would have to waste this one too. He asked me for the washcloth so he could cover himself.
As I was handing it to him, be gently grabbed my wrist and started to guide my hand to his cock. When I started to pull away, he looked up into my face with pleading eyes and whispered “please”. My mind is not my own. I have been transformed into a total slut by my teenage master. That is the only excuse I have for what I did next. Yes Diary, I reached down with my wet soapy hand and wrapped my fingers around Mr. Johnston’s dick.
His groan this time was much louder his whole body stiffened at the contact. I couldn’t get my fingers all the way around it and without thinking I brought my other hand up to help out. I now had two hands wrapped around the thick cock of a man who was considerably older than my own father, and I began to slowly and gently stroke up and down. He was stiff, not fully hard. There was still an unaccustomed softness there which, somehow, aroused me even more.
As I was lost in these thoughts, I suddenly felt his hands grope my tits, squeezing and kneading them. The front of my smock was instantly wet and my nipples sprang to attention. When Mr. Johnston saw and felt that, he moaned again and dribbled a load of thick goo over his cock and my hands. I was going to stop, but he begged me to keep going and as I did more and more of his cum dribbled out. I was a bit surprised there had been no squirt, just a slow flow like lava running from the volcano After about a minute of squeezing and stroking his softening member, he thanked me and told me to stop.
Suddenly my mind returned to me, and I freaked out. What in Hell had I just done? I could lose my job and my career for doing something like this. Mr. Johnston must have seen the panic on my face and he smiled, telling me not to worry, that he would keep the secret until next time when maybe I would be kind enough to use my mouth.
The smile never left his face as I quickly cleaned him up dried him off and helped him dress. When we left the tub room, I grabbed a fresh smock and stepped behind a curtain to change. Mr Johnston’s voice boomed in the empty room as he told me to come out of there and let him watch me change, or else. Timidly I pulled the curtain aside and opened my smock. I had worn a fairly sheer bra and Mr. Johnston’s eyes were riveted to my tits as the smock came off. As I was putting on the fresh one, he commented that perhaps next time I could save myself the trouble by bathing him topless if I didn’t want to get into trouble about tonight, that is.
When I heard those words, I felt my core melt. Another man was now going to take control of me. Not a teenager this time, but a man older than my own father. Connor thinks it is hilarious and told me I should blow every old geezer that gets hard in the bath. OH. GOD, Diary. What is happening to me? How do I keep getting myself into these situations? And, what am I going to have to do on bath night next time?
Dear Diary. How can I even begin to explain to anyone what my life has become? It is impossible to believe that a woman can have so much sex from so many men, none of whom is her husband.
Mark decided he needed to take a break. Actually Connor had something to do with that. The other night, Donnie had been in to give my ass a good fucking, and when he left, Mark came into the bedroom. I hadn’t touched him in over two weeks and his cock was as hard and straight as steel. He said he had watched me get fucked and my moans and begging had made him so horny he was going to fuck me.
I told him no. I reminded him about Connor’s demand that I not have sex with Mark any more, but it fell on deaf ears. Before I knew it, I was pushed onto my back and Mark had mounted me. He groaned loudly and shuddered as his thick hard cock entered my sodden pussy. I was just starting to warm up when I felt him stiffen and shoot a huge load of cum deep into my cunt. I was nowhere near my orgasm and I asked him to keep going, but he just slid off me and lay on the bed gasping for breath.
Well Diary, it seems to have come full circle. It is now my teen lovers who are bringing me to intense orgasms every day and night, and my husband who is unable to satisfy me. Tears of frustration and humiliation ran down my cheeks. Of course, Connor walked in at just that moment and started to laugh. He told Mark to get back to his room then took out his phone and sent a text.
I was on my knees kissing and licking Connor’s rigid cock and begging him for his cum when the doorbell rang. It was three huge teens, rugby players by the look. Connor let them in and then called Mark to come downstairs. They beat Mark senseless, then Connor offered me to them as a reward. As Mark lay moaning and gasping, I had my first triple penetration sex.
When it was over, Connor made me give him money for beer and they all left for the pub to celebrate. I spent the next 45 minutes tending to Mark’s injuries as cum dribbled from both my lower holes. When he was somewhat recovered, Mark told me that he was done with our game and he was leaving to bunk with a buddy until I came to my senses. I cried and begged, but in the end I watched as he packed a bag and left me there alone.
Connor came home drunk and bent me over the couch to drill my pussy with his hard young cock. In his drunken state, it took him forever to cum and by the time he did I was exhausted. When I told him that Mark had left, he just laughed, then called Mark a wimp and a pussy saying he was better off gone.
I’m alone at Connor’s mercy now dear Diary. Completely under this teenage boy’s control without any support or comfort from my husband, and my pussy is literally drooling at the prospect. What have I become?
Dear Diary. Connor has been increasingly insistent that I service the old men at the retirement home. He finds the idea of me fucking and sucking these old guys extremely arousing. Whenever he asks me about them, he is instantly hard and he fucks me like an animal every time he makes me tell him about it. I can’t help but think about how Mark used to do the same fantasizing about Connor. Are all men obsessed with such ideas?
The next morning I woke up with a little extra jump in my step. I quickly went through my morning routine, and threw on a random pair of shorts and t shirt to hide my thong while I went downstairs to grab a quick breakfast. Looking around the house, I made sure that nobody was home before I went back to my room to start making my profile for the swingers’ site. I even skipped the my usual morning jog because I just couldn’t get my mind off of what happened with my toy last night and my need to explore some more.
Getting back into my room, I turned on my computer and logged in. I made my way to the site and started to fill in my profile with all the important information:
Age- 18
Height- 5 feet
Weight-110 lbs
Sexual Orientation- Bi-curious
Looking for- Females, Couples, Cross-dressers, TV/TG
Location- Somewhere in Canada (You didn’t think I would really reveal that here did you?)
I know what you may be thinking, why didn’t I include males in the looking for section, but at the moment I thought it may have been easier for myself to start exploring my bi curiosity with a women in the room at the same time or with others like me. I just didn’t feel comfortable being on my own with a man yet. Key word being yet.
Under the section where we were to write a description of ourselves I wrote:
Hi everybody,
I’m a young Chinese male who would love to explore two things here, my desire to cross-dress and my bi-curiosity. I own a decent sized wardrobe, with matching shoes, wig and make up to make me very passable when I dress.
Also I am very open to trying new things because you just never know what you might like until you try it. I try to live by the rule of trying it at least twice before deciding whether I liked it or not. Where I draw the line is anything not safe or dirty, so condoms are a must and please, no watersports or anything along those lines. As for my experience, so far it is only limited to my own toys (a butt plug and dildo)
Hope to hear from you soon
Yes I go by the name Krista when I dress. I liked it, had a good ring to it and the way it sounded just made me feel good in general. After creating my profile with this information, I started to explore, and realized I didn’t put up and pictures yet. I took a look at how the pictures at this site were done and noticed they had two sections, one set for everybody who had a profile on that site and the other set was only for people that you allowed to see. At this point, I started to get excited, and almost ran across my room to the closet where I kept all my feminine clothes. I took out several outfits that I thought would attract some attention on the site and used them in my pictures. Normally I would have thought about using make up too, but because I was going to hide my face, I decided my shoulder length black wig was going to be enough.
I put on my first outfit and walked over to my full length mirror. It consisted of a pair of deep blue spandex leggings that hugged my curves in all the right ways, and one of those shirts that’s long enough to cover just below my bubble butt, but isn’t really a dress. Oh, the shirt was in white, before I forget to mention. I struck my first pose with my side facing the mirror, bending forward at the waist slightly, arching my back forward which made me stick out my chest a bit, and sticking out my butt a little in the back. Although I didn’t have much to speak of when it came to breasts, it was alright, the way my ass looked more than made of for it.
For the next picture, I added a pair of 5 inch white fuck me pumps to the outfit and walked back to the full length mirror. This time I decided to do a really provocative picture. I turned my back to the mirror; spread my legs a little farther then shoulder’s width apart, and bent over forward enough that it caused my shirt/dress to reveal a slight bit of my round ass. Deciding that I liked how these two pictures looked, I went back to my bed for my next outfit.
My next outfit was my favorite bikini. Both the bottom and the top where colored in a pattern where the blue gently faded into white. The top was a triangle top with tassel detailing that had the same color pattern. (If you don’t know what tassels are, think cowboys and the rows of little strands of fabric detailing along their different jackets and such). The bottoms were ring tie sides with a full cut back. To finish off this outfit, I put on a Blue Jays cap (snap back so it had room for a pony tail) and pulled my pony tail through it.
I decided to keep this pose simple because I thought the outfit was sexy enough as it is. I walked over to the mirror in my bare feet, and while looking at it, I placed my left hand on my hip, shifted my weight so it was almost entirely on my straight left leg. This caused me to bend my right leg a bit. Turning my head to the left, so my hair would fall on my right shoulder, I took the picture.
I decided I needed one more picture, and by this time I was having a lot more fun than I had realized so I got a little bit daring with this one. Staying in the same bikini, I basically gave myself a wedgie, revealing almost all off my butt cheeks. Walking back to the mirror, I struck a pose facing a way from it this time. This time I kept it really simple, I stood there with my legs a bit more than shoulders width a part, and again turned my head to the side so my hair would drape over my right shoulder again. But to add some punch to it, using my left hand I pulled on the bottom tie of my bikini top and took a picture, just as the two strings of the bottom strap were falling away from each other. Boy, did that have the effect I was looking for.
I had to admit, I never thought I would have it in me to take pictures like these let alone put them online, but my experience with that butt plug was really making me crave more, and pictures like these on my profile had to help right?
As I walked over to my computer I quickly retied my bikini top and adjusted it to fit comfortably in place. I decided these pictures would all go into the section that was visible to anybody had an account. They weren’t daring enough to have to control who got to see them. I ended up choosing my second picture with the first outfit (the one where I am in the spandex leggings with my back facing the mirror, bent over so that the shirt/dress barely covered my ass) as the main profile picture that was to be displayed by my name. I uploaded the pictures after some quick editing to hide my face. As hot and exciting as this was, I definitely didn’t want to be identifiable from these pictures. As I started to pack things up, my hand brushed by my dildo as I was putting my camera away.
Riding the adrenaline of taking those pictures and placing them online, I quickly grabbed the dildo and the bottle of lube and ran across to my bathroom. Good thing it was in the middle of the day and my parents weren’t home, or I would have a hard time explaining to them why their only son just ran across the hall in a bikini and holding a dildo. Now you may be wondering why I went to the bathroom again for this but think about it this way. The edge of the tub provided a great surface for the suction cup base of the dildo, it was a perfect height for me to ride it easily, and the shower was only a step away for clean up afterwards.
As I sat down in the bathtub, I placed the dildo on the edge of it again like I did with the butt plug the previous night. Now I may not have a lot of experience but I did know that I couldn’t fuck myself with the dildo right away without getting hurt. So I leaned back against the tub, shifted my hole so I had easy access, and I lifted and spread my legs allowing them to rest on the edge of the bath tub wall. I took the bottle of lube, got my right middle finger all slippery, and placed its tip on my hole. I started to apply some pressure, and let out a soft moan as I started to slip my middle finger in section by section, until it was completely buried in my ass. I slowly started to finger fuck myself, working my middle finger in and out slowly at first before rapidly picking up the pace as I was now really turned on and horny. After fingering myself until my cock got completely hard, I slowed down to drizzle a bit more lube on my hand and finger so that I could work in my index finger at the same time. As I slid in two fingers into my asshole, I let out a slightly louder moan, and began to finger fuck myself with reckless abandon. After a few strokes I worked in a third finger, leaving only my pinky and thumb on the outside. I continued to finger fuck myself hard and fast until I couldn’t take it anymore, and the lust for the dildo that had been building inside me had boiled over.
I took my hand and fingers out of my ass, to help me get up quickly and position myself over my dildo. I quickly lowered myself so that the tip was sitting at my now warmed up hole. Pausing there, I made sure to lube it up good, and slowly began to bury the 7 inch cock inside me. As inch after inch buried into me, I moaned in pure joy and ecstasy, the feeling of the dildo inside me just felt so right, it made me feel so full and content. Sitting on the tub edge, with all 7 inches inside of me, I started to rock my hips, in a circular pattern. Using my right hand, I steadied myself on the tub, and using my left hand I began to slowly stroke myself a bit. I continued to rock my hips around in the circular pattern grinding against the dildo that was attached to the tub, moaning, and stroking myself. Slowly I picked up the pace of both grinding against the dildo that was completely buried in me and stroking my cock. The pace got quicker and quicker until I could no longer hold on, and started to shoot a stream of cum. I came so hard, that the first two shots actually hit the bottom of my chin, something I have never done before.
After my first orgasm had finished and I had regained some composure, the first thought was not that I should clean up, it was that I still wanted more. I needed more. Looking around the bathroom, I tried to find something I could use to help make me cum again when my eyes settled on the vibrator I normally used for muscle massages. I slowly got up, feeling the dildo slide out of me slowly, until with a quiet popping sound it came free. I walked over to get the vibrator and plugged it in. Next I went back and got my dildo off the bath tub and took it back with me to where the vibrator was lying. Placing both toys near me, I lied down on my back on the carpet on the bathroom floor. Carefully I re-lubed the dildo, and with my right hand I reached down between my legs and positioned it in front of my asshole for another good fucking.
Slowly I started to fuck myself with the dildo. At the same time using my left hand, I took the vibrator and put it over my now soft cock, and turned it on to the “low” setting. As the machine came to life with a low humming sound I started to moan softly and began to fuck myself faster with the dildo. I continued to work the dildo in and out while making sure to apply a constant pressure on the vibrator to keep it in place. Slowly but surely I felt the sexual tension start to build again as my cock came back to life, stiffening up slowly but surely. I started to angle the dildo in a way that with every thrust into me, it would stimulate the prostate and boy did that ever feel good. I started to pick up the pace with the dildo and after fucking myself like that for a good five minutes, with every thrust hitting stimulating the prostate, I was almost ready to cum again. At this point I threw the vibrator into its “high” mode, and within a few seconds I started to cum again! My legs started to spasm and twitch and my whole body began to shake as I let out a loud moan (I didn’t care if anybody had heard me at that point, it just felt so damn good).
I didn’t shoot as big a load (who can cumming this close together) but the orgasm was still as strong as my first one that happened only a few minutes earlier and actually left me a bit weak in my knees. After I turned off the vibrator, I just lay there in my after orgasm glow, with my dildo still buried completely inside me and the only thing that I could think of was how much I just enjoyed that.
After cleaning up the washroom and a quick shower, I changed into a new outfit, a matching powder blue thong and bra set, and went downstairs for some lunch. After a quick lunch, I went back upstairs to my room and decided to check in on the swingers’ site seeing if I had received any early hits on my account. I know I know, it was early and I shouldn’t expect anything, but I just couldn’t help it. Logging in, I saw that I had a few hits and one message in my inbox. Most of the hits according to the site were from single males which I didn’t want to meet with at the moment, but I took a quick peek at their profiles anyways just in case for later. I mean just because I didn’t want them now, doesn’t mean I won’t want them later if they’re hot.
When I got to the last profile I noticed the name “MrAndMrsT” and quickly went to look at their profile. The profile was not very detailed, but it did provide some good information. MrT was 29 and MrsT was 27. They didn’t list any other physical description, but judging from their two pictures, they took good care of themselves and were actually pretty hot. Scrolling down in their profile I noticed one other valuable piece of information, they lived in the same city as me! Granted that could still mean an hour’s drive away in the best of traffic, but an hour is better than being outside of regular travelling range completely. Scrolling to the bottom of the page, I found their short description/essay about themselves and started to read. It started off with the regular stuff about being polite professionals and discretion is required. They listed a few other non-important things, and just when I thought I wasn’t going to learn anything valuable from this mini “about me” essay they wrote I came across the following line:
“Both of us are very interested in Cross-dressers or TG/TV, especially Asians and Latinos”
If I wasn’t so “drained” from my morning activities, that line would have gotten me really excited. I mean, what are the chances I would’ve found somebody this quickly? I thought to myself, this site may really be worth it. Still riding the high from reading the profile, I just barely remembered about the message in my mailbox. I opened it and found the following message:
Just saw your profile, and the pictures of you are really hot. We would love to chat with you some time. Feel free to add us on Skype at ******.
P.S. Don’t take this the wrong way, but MrsT doesn’t think you’re really. She thinks the pictures are too hot to be true. Would love it if you could help me prove her wrong.
After reading the message I was stunned. After being made fun of for so long because of my looks, somebody thought I was hot. And one of them actually thought I was too hot to be true! My luck was really beginning to turn around. I quickly wrote them a reply saying thank you and that their pictures were very good looking too. I added at the end that I would love to chat with them on Skype, and assured them that I was definitely real.
Over the next two days I never did see them come online, and never received a reply from them on the swingers’ site. I assumed that they had forgotten about me, or worse, they were playing me for a fool. I know I shouldn’t have been too upset about it, but I was. For once it seemed like somebody out there actually accepted me for who I was, and then it was torn away from me again. It was the third night after the original exchange when I came home ready to delete them from my Skype when I saw the message from them. It read:
Sorry for not replying for so long. Things just got hectic here for a few days and we couldn’t get on. Can you do tomorrow at 11am?
I answered and told them that 11am tomorrow would be great and that I looked forward to seeing them. I made sure to set the alarm early so I would have time to get up and get ready properly. The whole nine yards, makeup, hair, clothes, everything to make a good first impression. That night I went to sleep thinking and laughing about what a difference in my personality when I am Krista compared to when I am not. Krista was outgoing and confident. She knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it. When I wasn’t Krista, things were completely opposite, on the other side of the scale. I fell asleep that night thinking, wouldn’t it be nice being Krista full time? To always be so outgoing and confident would be nice for a change.
To be continued………..
It was the third weekend after Paul and Ali’s visit when Rachel expressed an interest in seeing the pictures we had snapped of our evening of debauchery. They captured the moment well and the girls looked very sexy. Rachel joked we should have had a professional photographer capture it in the style of a wedding or something– before, during and after. I responded by asking if this was just a cheeky way of getting a third cock in the room. Rachel denied it and I believed her, but I also think she took to the idea.
Sex between us was still on a high after the visit and I was enjoying the anal rubicon we had crossed from time to time: Rachel would let me penetrate her ass if I had made a good job of getting her off and she had any energy left. She would lay her clit on a vibrating back massager and plant a dildo in her sex that picked up the vibrations off the tool on her clit. I would massage her ass and then slowly slide my well lubricated cock into her. She insisted that I pull out to cum as she wasn’t ready for the mess yet as she perceived it. I knew I could pretend that I had just gotten over excited and do it anyway but thought better of it. She loved it but was still a little nervous. I now understood exactly what it meant for your wife to bite the pillow. She was now having regular chest flushes from the sex in her butt as well as the normal way.
Ali and Paul had been in touch and they were clearly enjoying the post event sex too. Paul had sent me a pic of Ali; she looked flushed and very sexy. It was a picture of just her head and shoulders; she had spunk running down her chin. I asked Rachel to toss me off over it so we could send a pic back of me cuming on it to show them we liked it. Rachel was happy to oblige and demanded we send one of her naked in the shower too. Paul texted back that he loved the reminder of their post run workout.
All these photos had set Rachel off talking about getting some done professionally and we scoured the internet for a local (but not too local) photographer. There are plenty of boudoir photographers out there, I was a little surprised at how many. I asked Rachel if she wouldn’t be more comfortable with a female taking the pics but she said part of the fun would be giving a rise to some random guy. I picked a couple that were within an hours’ travel and emailed them from a new email address that I created for the purpose.
I outlined broadly that we wanted husband wife glamour shots with the emphasis on the woman. I asked about privacy and confidentiality etc. A couple of days later I checked the account and both had come back saying that they could oblige. One had put a little more effort in and sent a link to the sort of thing they had in mind. I liked this because they weren’t sending their own clients photos but had obviously thought about it. That night I lined up a couple of photography stories from the loving wives section for Rachel and once the kids were in bed gave Rachel a back massage whilst she read them. They both involved the girl ending up either fucking the photographer or his assistant(s). Rachel asked as I fingered her pussy how the search was gong and I told her. She said simply, “Arrange a visit it sounds great, now put your cock inside me”.
My cock was raging hard because of her response and that night neither of us lasted long and sleep came early. She must have been tired out though because after I came inside her she just crashed out. Next morning I was treated to a rare sight. Rachel’s pussy was all covered in mostly dried spunk and smelt of me. We made love before she bathed as it turned us both on so. That day I rang Jeff the photographer and made an appointment for a consultation.
We talked on the way there and agreed that this would have to be a cash transaction and that we needed to keep our surname private to keep things simple. The studio was at Jeff’s house which seemed to work for Rachel. I’m not sure she would have been willing to get her kit off in some city centre studio. The studio and office was in a wooden building on the drive of Jeff’s house. He was clearly doing well in his chosen profession. Jeff came out to meet us and showed us into the office and around the studio. Neither was anything special but they were clean and warm. It suddenly occurred to me that the studio didn’t have a bed and it dawned on me there really was no good reason it would have. Jeff was slightly younger than us by his looks and quite fit looking. He seemed like a sincere guy and Rachel made it obvious she was comfortable with our chosen photographer.
Before we could start getting into detail his wife popped in and offered us a drink. I wondered if she was just curious to see who had made the out of the ordinary request. She brought coffee over for us and stayed as Jeff had started to run through some pics on a memory stick I had brought with us that I had copied off the Internet; to illustrate the kind of thing we were after. Jeff’s wife was called Simone and she said she thought Rachel was being brave but would really be glad she had done it. She said Jeff had taken loads of pictures of her but that was no big deal posing for your husband. I thought about asking to see some, she was very pretty, but the moment came and went. Jeff moved through the jpegs to a pic showing a girl on her knees with a cock in her hand ready to be swallowed and we all went quiet. Simone was the first to speak and she said, “Well, we don’t have any of me doing that, but we might have to do something about that!”
We all laughed and the tension was broken. I piped up that she should turn away if she was easily offended as they got more explicit from here on in. Instead she pulled up a stool. In the main the pics showed pretty girls going from a dressed to a naked state and there were the obligatory coupes sex shots too. We explained that Rachel wanted something sexy that she might put up on a wall but not brazen or it would frighten the children, as well as recording what great shape she was in for posterity. I explained I wanted some shots of her for me to masturbate over when I was away from home. I said these would ideally include full sex and oral shots. I told Jeff and Simone how great Rachel looks in her Lycra running gear and wanted some of the shots to show her undressing out of this sort of gear. I asked if the studio could accommodate these requests and Jeff said he was sure it could.
Simone seemed more on the ball and said they had some beanbags and big cushions they could bring over. The final jpeg showed a girl with a cock in her sex and another in her hand. Simone giggled and said she definitely wanted that one herself. I explained that I had tried cutting and pasting such shots and wondered if Jeff might have more success. I went on to explain the challenge, which is the skin tone changes as the light bounces differently off the female body in its single position as the male appears at each end and it is obvious that it is fake. Jeff said he would think about it. Jeff showed some if his own work next and we were impressed, Simone left us to it at this point. There was one very clear black and white picture of an anonymous lady’s ass sticking up as she knelt on her hands and knees. The pussy detail was amazingly clear and it just looked arty not pornographic. The scene was obviously in a wood and Jeff explained it was actually Simone out in their back garden. My cock twitched.
We agreed a time and a date to come back. Simone popped back out as we were heading to the car and asked if we minded if she chaperoned her husband for the shoot and offered to fix Rachel’s hair and makeup too. We agreed and Jeff’s parting advice was to wear loose clothes on the day to avoid obvious bra or pant marks on our skin.
As we drove away I confessed to Rachel that I had had a hard when she had described what she wanted to do. She quipped she hoped I had no problems on the day and she suggested we stop in a lay-by so I could feel how wet she was. Even as I was pulling off the road she was sliding her shorts and pants down. She laid her chair back and opened her legs. I climbed over and opened my trousers and pushed my cock into her. There was no resistance at all. It wasn’t exactly comfortable but we managed a few strokes before I climbed back into my seat and said, “You can keep those off until we hit home.” Whenever I could I rubbed her clit as I drove along, I couldn’t make the angle to finger fuck her but was glad the car is automatic. And no she didn’t flash any truckers if you are wondering; she’s not that type of girl.
That night as Rachel lay beneath me grinding herself on my cock I asked what she thought of our visit and our appointment. After a lot of shallow breathing and a very flushed chest she answered me. She said she like Jeff and his wife and thought the pictures he took were generally what she was after, but she worried that I might get the porn ones I was after. I reassured her that I was comfortable with it all and then after a few long strokes emptied my sacs into her. I don’t think it was recalling the picture of Simone’s pussy that sent me over the edge so quick, I’m sure it was just the general excitement of it all.
For the next few weeks I drank no beer and spent a lot of time doing aerobic exercise as well as the usual dips and bars. There were lots of abs exercises done by us both. Rachel even appeared one day having been for a spray tan, she had clearly been very brave as there was no pale skin left anywhere. She looked great with a tan. Although the excitement was growing we abstained for the two nights before our visit. This was hell as Rachel spent a couple of hours sorting out her best underwear, stockings and Lycra. I talked through with Rachel at some stage my one insecurity. I didn’t want to look like the guy with the average cock beside the gorgeous woman and highlighted how in the first minute or do after a good orgasm my cock is much longer, harder and broader than at any other time. She sweetly reassured me on this point and agreed that for my ego if I got to empty my sacs on Simone’s cushions she would ensure that Jeff captured it well and that my cock looked huge.
The next morning Rachel woke to a cup of tea and an Agent Provocateur gift box. I walked the dogs, fed the horse and dropped the kids at school whilst Rachel bathed and packed. Rachel never normally goes commando so knowing she was doing so as we drove to Jeff’s was a cruel torment.
Once in the studio Simone appeared with her makeup bag and tongs. The girls went into the studio. I sat down and thought we were in for a long wait. Actually they appeared back in 10 minutes flat each of them clutching a full glass of wine. Presumably their second from their aura. Rachel had obviously got dressed with Simone knocking about near her, though I couldn’t be sure she had been watching. Jeff and I had agreed there was little point in doing lots of shots of Rachel clothed so after only one or two shots of Rachel in a blue Polo Ralph Lauren dress he photographed her removing it and revealing her new black stockings, suspenders and push up bra. Rachel looked amazing posing for the camera. Even before she got naked I was hard looking at her flat defined stomach, the knickers that revealed the line of pubic hair and her breasts looking like they could tumble out of the bra at any moment. She did a variety of sexy catalogue poses both standing and laid out on the cushions.
I mentioned that the knickers were ouvert and Jeff said he would bear that in mind. Simone busied herself with all the details as Jeff worked through a series of shot instructing her on how to position Rachel; making sure stocking tops were straight and that rogue hairs were put back in place. I wondered if Rachel was conscious of this attention. It was doing it for me. Simone was in tight Lycra shorts and a vest top. She had clearly thought about how hot it would be under the studio lights. Rachel had no issues with obeying the instructions and Jeff asked at what point I might want to get involved. I said I was there to make the starlet look good and nothing else. He said well get naked then. He took a series of shots of Rachel in all her finery posing with my muscular toned body and finished the set with a couple of her holding my cock and rubbing it on her face. He was as keen as I was to get her out of those clothes but for different reasons perhaps. He wanted to avoid red marks; I wanted to fuck my wife in front of these two strangers. Rachel was clearly a bit buzzed and finished the second glass of white wine.
Before she removed any of the clothes we did a couple of shots of me fingers a couple of finger penetrating her through the ouvert pants and then her sucking my cock. Then she began removing the clothing and substituting each item initially for a cushion before brazenly showing her body to the camera. When she was naked and with her bum up in the air Simone produced from nowhere a glass dildo and handed it me. She squeezed a little lube on it and I posed holding it to Rachel’s sex. I opened her petals with it and when encouraged by our host began sliding it slowly in and out of her. She moaned and started tweaking her own nipples. The camera caught all of this. We finished with a shot of her laid on the cushions with the glass dildo half buried in her sex whilst I fucked her mouth with my over excited cock.
The next scene was more related to what we had planned and involved Rachel posing in her Lycra sportswear. We had brought her road bike wear as it is better suited, with zip top and bib shorts, to a sexy undress montage. I had my cycle wear too and Jeff captured us undressing and kissing. There were pictures of Rachel with her top almost completely unzipped and then flapping exposing her breasts, her nipples hidden behind the bib short braces and then finally taking her top off with her hands high above her head and me shielding her breasts from the camera standing behind her with my head resting on her shoulders. We did a similar one when she was naked and then in the same pose with my cock protruding from her pussy lips as I stood behind her- I was very excited. I loved seeing her in just the bib shorts, she has such a hot body.
The time was flashing by, literally. And we quickly progressed to some arty nudes and I sat naked next to Simone. I pulled a towel over my manhood and she laughed saying it was too late to be shy. She nudged me and pointed at Jeff’s pants. She whispered that she was in for a good time after we left. I replied I was sure we would all be. She quipped that she was looking forward to seeing me having mine very soon. Jeff must have heard as I was soon back on set. Jeff had the camera setup on a low tripod now and the image was clear to us on a monitor. He operated it by a small remote and Simone stood by to change the angle. She seemed to know what she was doing and changed it a few times before he had even asked. Jeff was increasingly hands on making sure that Rachel was exactly where he wanted her for the shot. When it came to the most intimate shots he was rubbing her nipples to make them hard and moving her labia about. I was enjoying this and my cock when it was required was doing me proud. I said to Jeff he needed to give the lips a gentle rub for a minute to make them fill and glisten. He didn’t need a second invitation. Rachel moaned softly as he rubbed her sex.
As he continued to play with her pussy Rachel motioned for my cock and made a mess of her lipstick. Simone made sure all of this was captured for posterity. Whilst Simone reapplied the lipstick I explained to Jeff that things had gone pretty much as far as I was comfortable with. He took this well but asked if I would be interested in Simone being in the shots whilst Rachel and I fucked. What he had in mind was a naked female voyeur masturbating in the background. I said that sounded cool but that there would need to be a good mix of shots. Some with Simone and some without.
I wasn’t disappointed. Jeff explained the idea to the girls and Simone was more or less instantly naked. Simone was a brunette too and had a little landing strip of pubic hair atop her pussy. She too had an all over tan and her breasts were big enough to be hiding implants; if they were they were good ones. Jeff put Rachel and me in a variety of poses showing Rachel being penetrated or giving / receiving oral sex. This was exactly what I was after and I wasn’t sure most of the time which ones Simone was in or out of. I didn’t really fuck Rachel; we really just posed for shots even when my cock was buried in her. The whole room was charged with sexual tension though.
Jeff asked how wanted to finish up and Rachel said she wanted me to cum over her face and chest as she kneeled upright, I knew she was doing this for me. Rachel wanked me hard and Simone slid a hand in from behind through my legs and massaged my scrotum. The attentions of two naked ladies was more than enough and I shots streams of spunk all over my wife as the camera shutter fluttered away. When I opened my eyes Jeff was naked and fucking his wife doggy style. He laughed and said, “It’s your turn with the camera”. I took a few shots of them as Rachel cleaned herself up. By which time Simone was riding Jeff who was laid on the floor on the cushions with his hands out massaging his wife’s ample breasts. I moved behind and took over; they were real, Jeff is just a lucky guy. Rachel insisted that I fuck her properly now as she couldn’t wait until we got home, she lay beside Jeff and I slid my rejuvenated cock into her. She worked my cock all over her pussy walls and her and Simone stoked each other’s breasts as us good husbands were royally laid by their wives.
Rachel wasted no time and milked my cock as hard as she could. Jeff followed suit driving his cock into his wife and cuming loudly, after a quick rest he started snapping away again. He took some pics of his wife as his cum leaked out of her and he took some more shots of Rachel in just her bra. These shots were with Rachel’s legs open in various poses standing, kneeling and leaning, all emphasising her swollen pussy lips. Rachel enjoyed this posing even more now that she was satisfied. She could see the effect on Jeff too; his cock became a flag pole again. Her eyes were following his cock wherever it went and I thought for a moment she was going to go well beyond what we had agreed. However Simone reappeared with more wine and helped Rachel pose for the finale. She posed for a couple that had my cock head just slightly in her ass. My favourite was with me laid out and her doing a crab over my body with my cock clearly going into her ass. Her face glowed and said it all, “I love this man and his cock”. The very last shots were with Rachel in the crab as above but with Simone fucking her with the glass dildo, by this stage my whole cock was buried in her secret passage. I could feel the glass dildo running up and down beside my cock and Rachel clamping down hard on both me and the dildo. Rachel was quickly exhausted with that very physical pose and we rested for a short time.
We dressed and said our goodbyes. By the time we had gotten home Jeff had setup a password protected vault and later that night we looked through the pics of Rachel in her finery and in her birthday suit. We were both very pleased. There was a great one of Rachel kneeling away from the camera but looking back over her shoulder with lustful eyes. I’m sure it had been my cock she was looking at. Rachel selected this one as a black and white portrait. None of the ones I liked would ever be printed but my favourite was one that was taken as I entered Rachel as she lay on some cushions. It captured the tautness of her vagina as it was stretched by my penetration and her facial expression filled with the lust of a woman getting something she wantonly needs. There were plenty of good shots for me to wank over whenever I was away from home. Jeff sensibly hadn’t put any of him fucking his wife in the vault but she was clearly visible in a couple of the shots of the shots of Rachel licking my cock, with her fingers buried in her pussy. In those final very physically demanding shots I was surprised to note that as well as penetrating my wife with the dildo Simone had been playing with Rachel’s clit too. No wonder Rachel had cum so hard and fast. Part of me had wanted Rachel to reposition herself so that she sat with my cock and the dildo in her so that she could wank Jeff. I confessed this to her and she said she recalled being mesmerised by his cock at some stage and wanting to suck it dry but partly because of our agreement and partly because she was so sensationally overloaded she hadn’t reach out to it. I would have loved seeing her suck a cock will being double impaled and even more so if she had sucked him dry.
Jamie had a dish of delicious spaghetti waiting on Dave when he arrived back from his weekend golf outing. He froze though when he entered the kitchen and spotted Jamie for the first time since Katherine and Taylor had given the girl a new makeover. Cutting her long brown hair and leaving in its place a styling that just barely covered her ears on the side with bangs in the front. Jamie had actually grown quite fond of the new look and embraced the new Jamie.
“What did you do to your hair?” exclaimed a surprised Dave.
“A new look for me, like it?” Jamie asked actually beaming over her make over.
“Well it’s different,” Dave tried to reassure himself. “What possessed you to cut it so short?” If only he knew a crazed lesbian had gotten hold of it in a frenzy filled moment.
“I don’t know, just a change of pace,” Jamie shot back trying to appear sincere. Dave continued to look her over and then reached into the fridge for a cold beer. He was far from enthused, preferring the long brown locks that he had known since high school.
Jamie and Dave sat in the den watching TV as they enjoyed a dinner together for the first time in several days. The young girl tried to engage her boyfriend in conversation about the weekend with his buddies but Dave seemed more intent with catching up with scores on ESPN.
Realizing her man was getting more involved in a baseball game, she retired to her bedroom with a Neil Gaiman book she had purchased. Jamie had fallen asleep when Dave slid into the bed wearing just a pair of gym shorts which he typically slept in. As Jamie woke up, she slid her head onto his bare chest, lightly moving her small hand across his broad shoulder. Jamie reached up and tenderly kissed his warm cheek and stretching… his lips.
Dave had been her whole world since high school and now she was so mixed up. She loved him but she also knew, she loved being with Katherine and Taylor. She loved their touch, the way they made her feel. What’s more she loved what she did with them, tasting their sweet young pussies.
Jamie swept her hand down Dave’s hard abdomen and rested it lightly on the top of his shorts, feeling the familiar cock, just waiting to come alive as she moved her hand slowly, grasping, feeling as the cock began to swell under her expert touch. She didn’t wait for an acknowledgment from Dave. She slid down and pushed the shorts just past his cock and balls as she took the warm member in her mouth as it began to fill her moist cavity. Her tongue began teasing its head as she coated the hardening shaft with her slick saliva.
Soon his cock had reached its full seven inches as she moved her head up and down, twisting slightly as she had always done, making Dave groan as his cock stiffened. Jamie couldn’t help but think of a couple of nights earlier when Katherine made her suck on Taylor’s strapon. The 9″ cock stretched her mouth wide as Taylor often pushed too far making her reflectively gag on the huge cock.
She tried to get the images of Taylor out of her head as she moved her lips up and down on Dave’s soft warm shaft until she finally needed to feel his firm cock in her womb. Jamie climbed up and straddled Dave’s body as she eased her already wet pussy down on his stiff cock. Using her hands she pushed up and down, taking his whole member in as he groaned, and his eyes closed with delight.
Jamie moved faster and faster, more deliberate as she toyed with her own little clit. She wanted them to cum together, to climax the way they always had. She loved him. Dave was her lover. They were meant to be together.
Dave rose off the bed and his toes clenched as he moaned loudly, his legs tensing up as he shot stream after stream into her hot wet cunt. Within seconds his body went limp signaling his orgasm had subsided as Jamie slowed her pace coming to a halt as well. She eased down and kissed Dave lightly on the lips, holding her position for a few seconds as she rolled off and went into the bedroom bath, sitting on the toilet allowing Dave’s spent cum to seep from between her soft lips.
It never really occurred to her before tonight about their typical lovemaking ritual – his climax and then her hasty retreat lest she leave a big wet spot in the bed where she would sleep for the fest of the night. Feeling his cum drain out, she peed before wiping off and returning to the bed where Dave was already breathing deeply.
She was unsure if he had already fallen asleep as she cuddled up behind him. She thought about how different it had been over the weekend, a rapid succession of orgasm after orgasm with Kat and Taylor. Jamie flipped onto her back and let her soft warm hand wander to her shaved cunt. Her slender finger slipping in as she brought it up to her mouth, wetting it before returning it back to her anxious clit. Taylor had loved sucking on Jamie’s tits and she twisted her own nipples as she fantasized about Taylor sucking on them now while Katherine fucked her with her strapon like she did last weekend.
God how she had loved it when Taylor ate her pussy, moving her tongue as far as she could up her canal. Jamie’s fingers worked her clit which began to throb, pulse, as she imagined Taylor sucking on it as Kat sat on her face, offering her sweet pussy to Jamie’s tongue. She felt a warm rush over her pussy, her orgasm working its ways from her toes to her fingers as her clit throbbed. Jamie came softly, quietly and then drifted off to sleep.
It was mid week before she received a cell call from Kat asking if she would consider going with her on a photo shoot that Thursday. Jamie informed Dave she might be out shopping and he saw no problem with that as he intended to work late anyway. It was so easy to trick him. She wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. Jamie wondered exactly what assistance she could possibly provide Kat but she didn’t ask her mistress. She simply acknowledged she would be ready. She had to – free will didn’t even enter in to it anymore.
Kat had asked Jamie to dress professionally in a blouse, grey dress and high heels. She of course still wore the thick silver necklace Kat had given her as a symbol of her complete submission. Dave had asked why she was wearing it to bed earlier in the week as she normally removed all her jewelry. But she just indicated it was something she picked up shopping and she really liked it dismissing his question.
Getting in the car, Kat explained that Jamie herself would be the subject of the shoot along with another model she had had worked with before. It would start off with Jamie wearing her professional attire but quickly evolve into an S&M scene.
Kat could see the apprehension in Jamie’s face and she knew, without her saying so, she was concerned about the distribution of the photos.
“The pictures themselves will remain my intellectual property but a few will be purchased by a woman for her private collection. We will also all be paid quite well,” Kat assured.
“So, who’s going to see these photos,” Jamie inquired.
“There will be a few for her private album and she typically takes one or two of them from which she makes a print for her home. At least that’s what’s she done in the past,” Katherine acknowledged.
“A print for her home, like to go up on the wall?” Jamie asked.
“Well that’s up to her, does it turn you on to imagine yourself on public display” Kat asked teasingly. Jamie looked away, it was a moment before she spoke again.
“So you know this lady?” Jamie pressed.
“Yes, very well,” she assured her.
“Why me?” Jamie quizzed.
“I’m shooting it in black and white and with your skin tone, as light as you are, it will be a stark contrast. Plus, I think it’ll be hot for the both of us,” Kat went on.
The girls pulled up in front of what appeared to be a warehouse downtown which had been renovated into studio apartments. “Look, if you want to bail, I’ll call Taylor but I think you’d be perfect,” Kat said giving her a last opportunity to get out of it.
“No, I enjoy you taking pictures of me. Besides, I’ve missed you and I’m a bit horny!” Jamie smiled.
“Well, one more thing,” Kat added. “I said I’m shooting it in black and white. A little S&M deal,” “Yea” acknowledged Jamie.
“The other model is a black woman,” Kat said her eyes staring straight into Jamie’s. Kat’s words hung in the air as Jamie thought about what she had just said. The other woman, another lesbian, was African American. While she didn’t consider herself prejudice in any way, there had been few black women at the schools where Jamie grew up giving her little contact with blacks until she went to the University of Colorado.
“Do you know that actress Joy Bryant that stars in Parenthood on TV?” inquired Kat.
“No,” Jamie admitted.
“Well she’s a former model and really hot. Tiffany looks a lot like her. Really nice figure, and a good bit taller than you, about 5’10″ with gorgeous brown skin. She’s really got it going on,” Katherine smiled.
“Well,” Jamie paused, “Let’s go meet her.”
Katherine and Jamie took the elevator to a fourth floor studio apartment where a tall, slender black lady in a beige housecoat opened the door. Just as Kat had stated, Tiffany was stunning. “Hey baby,” Tiffany exclaimed as she kissed Kat loudly on the lips, hugging her before pulling back and appraising Jamie. “And you must be Jamie. Please come on in.”
The girls spent a few minutes getting familiar before Tiffany got down to business removing the housecoat revealing a black leather corset which barley contained her ample breasts, black panties and high heels. Tiffany seemed to tower over Jamie even though she too wore heels. Kat’s camera began catching images as Tiffany pulled the brunette toward her, roughly, as Jamie felt her warm sweet breath on her face as Tiffany’s soft pink tongue rolled out of her mouth like a snake and licked the girl’s face…slowly.
Jamie was made to undress an article at the time as Kat captured every moment until she was completely naked. Tiffany then produced a black collar with a little silver hoop which she instructed Jamie to put on. Jamie was just about to tell her she was forbidden to remove her necklace when Kat said it was acceptable to trade the collar for the necklace.
Jamie was also provided matching ankle and wrist restraints, also black with silver hoops. Once the leather was in place, Tiffany pushed the younger girl down to her knees, pulling her face to her leather clad pussy telling her to lick her there. Lick her pussy through the leather.
Jamie did as she was instructed to do as her head was pushed further down, licking the woman’s bare legs and then the tops of her high heel shoes in an act of total submission. Jamie was required to pull down the woman’s panties and began tonguing her dark brown pussy lips with a soft pink core.
Jamie was surprised at how much the strong smell of the woman’s sweet pussy, mixed with the leather affected her as her head felt light and she felt a rush through her body. Jamie’s pink tongue eagerly lapped at the black woman as Tiffany teased her, “Lick that fucking cunt bitch. Get you some black pussy baby.”
Tiffany stopped long enough to remove the leather corset, her gorgeous mocha breasts exposed with the large dark nipples. Tiffany had an elaborate tattoo, a series of black stars that started to the right of her pussy, moved up her hip, along her side and became smaller and more compact as they reached her right breast just at her hardening nipple. Tiffany was every bit as attractive as Kat had mentioned and sexier than Jamie could have imagined.
The older black woman who appeared to be in her mid thirties, about ten years older than Jamie, now stood in front of Jamie, legs spread in only a pair of black heels. Jamie herself was completely nude, withstanding the leather collar and restraints indicating her complete submission.
Tiffany pulled the woman up and forced the young girl’s mouth to her erect dark nipple that Jamie hungrily took into her eager mouth. She sucked trying to draw as much of her breast as possible into her mouth as Tiffany pulled her head back sharply by her short brown hair, and then squeezing her cheeks making her mouth open reflexively, allowing a wad of saliva to drain down in a thread from her mouth to Jamie’s.
Kat captured it all as Jamie’s eyes grew wide but she accepted it willingly as a smile of wicked delight swept across Tiffany’s face, a realization that this young girl would do anything she required.
She pushed her head back hard to her tit, “Suck it, suck my nipple slut. You want some of mama’s milk don’t you baby. You like sucking on that juicy tit. Get you some baby,” Tiffany purred as Jamie licked and mouthed the black woman’s titties.
Tiffany then pushed Jamie back down on her knees again and turned around spreading her cheeks. “Lick me there baby. Lick my ass. Show mama how much you like my ass.”
Jamie had a crazed look in her eyes as she dove her face between Tiffany’s soft brown cheeks. She pulled the woman’s bronze globes apart and jabbed her soft pink tongue at Tiffany’s dark opening. Her saliva leaving a wet trail across her skin as Jamie became a woman possessed. She was so turned on! Her whole mind just went away. She felt so naughty, so dirty licking this woman’s ass but she loved it. She couldn’t get enough as she pushed her tongue into Tiffany’s tart ass. It tasted sweet and forbidden and she realized she could lick her there all night but Tiffany had other plans.
She roughly dragged the poor girl who didn’t have a chance to get off the floor as she was pushed onto a bed in the corner of the room. Tiffany moved to the four corners and pulled each limb tight, her arms to the corners of the headboard over her head as her tits were thrust out. Her legs likewise as Tiffany stopped momentarily to admire the perfectly pedicured toenails painted burgundy. Tiffany thought about tickling the soles of her feet but thought better of it as she went into an exposed kitchen and brought back a bucket of ice.
The black mistress took cubes and moved it lightly, ever so slowly over the delicate flesh. The ice cold sensation caused bumps to pop up on Jamie’s white flesh, drawing soft moans. Tiffany traced patterns around her cute breasts, little circles as the ice melted, cold water dripping down the sides of her tit but Jamie still refused to cry out. The ice almost felt as if it stabbed her nipples as Tiffany pushed the cold ice into her soft pink nubs which hardened, causing Jamie to groan loudly.
Then the black woman moved the ice down her taut smooth stomach, around her belly button until she reached her shaved pussy, teasing her delicate cunt lips causing Jamie to try to rise off the bed only to be held fast and secure.
Tiffany then produced a pair of nipple clamps, adjusting them before slipping one and then the other over Jamie’s hardened nipples. As each one was released and the tension took hold, it drew a sharp gasp from the captured brunette. All of this captured on Kat’s camera as she walked around the two taking in the decadent scene.
The black beauty then lit a white candle that she held over her submissive lover allowing the hot wax to drop, forming hard puddles on Jamie’s soft tender skin. Tiffany took delight in allowing the wax to fall on Jamie’s nipples which had already begun to turn white from the tension of the nipple clamps. The poor girl winced and shivered at each drop, both the pain and the pleasure were new to her.
Only when the brunette’s tits were coated in wax as was her pussy did Tiffany remove the clamps causing the blood to surge back into the swollen white nubs causing a painful yet exciting sensation in Jamie’s chest. It was a searing pain which reached to her pussy causing her to close her eyes and thrust her face to the side of the bed.
Tiffany went over to her dresser and pulled out a large strapon black dildo that had to be eleven inches and thick as she lubed it up. She unfastened the girl’s small tender feet but left her wrists shackled over her head as Tiffany adjusted herself between the young girl’s exposed pussy, the top of which was still coated in warm wax.
Generously applying lube to the girl’s cunt, Tiffany began working the large head in slowly causing Jamie to gasp. While it was only two inches longer than the cock Katherine had used on her that weekend, it was much thicker and it further stretched the girl’s tight opening.
“Fuck, oh my God, fuck!,” Jamie finally yelled. As the long black shaft began to inch its way into Jamie’s hungry pussy, Jamie could no longer control herself.
“Oh shit, fuck me. That feels so fucking good! It’s so fucking big… shit. Fill me up, fuck me, fuck my little white pussy with your big black cock.”
Jamie’s cries fed Tiffany’s zeal as she pushed harder, pushing the girl’s legs up and over her own. Kat couldn’t get over the contrast between Jamie’s snow white thighs over Tiffany’s mocha colored legs. Captured in black and white pictures, the contrast would be even more vivid
“Take that cock bitch. I’m getting me some of that white pussy. Kat said you was some kind of straight girl. Says you still got some boyfriend you shacked up with. He know you out here getting fucked by a black sista? He know I’m tapping that sweet little pussy of yours…stretchin’ ya’ hole?” Tiffany sneered.
“No, no he doesn’t know…oh shit,” Jamie cried her head thrashing side to side on the bed as the huge black cock filled her womb, stretching out her cunt. The black cock moved further into her unexplored pussy. Jamie didn’t think it possible to take so much cock as it traveled deep inside, forever changing the contours of her pussy which stretched and accepted Tiffany’s cock.
“Yea, well I’m fucking his bitch now. Matter of fact, you’re my little bitch now aren’t ya’? You’re mamas’ little slut, taking all my black cock, filling that little white pussy of yours. When I’m done with ya’, you ain’t never gonna’ want any of that little white dick no mo’. You gonna’ wanna’ be mama’s bitch from now on. My little ass lickin’ whore. Ain’t that right dyke?” Tiffany chided her.
The more Tiffany talked, the more graphic she sounded as her thighs slapped hard against Jamie’s legs. Kat was trying to get everything but she was getting so turned on herself watching the two lesbians go at it. She felt her own pussy throbbing as she stopped momentarily shooting the scene and rubbed her own pussy through her tight jeans.
“Yes, fuck me, make me yours. Give me your cock. I want to be your little lesbian slut, your whore. Fuck me mama, fuck me…fuuuucckkk that feels so fucccccking good,” Jamie cried as her body convulsed. Her pussy felt like it was literally on fire as Tiffany bent down and kissed the girl hard and passionately on the lips. Her thicker, bigger lips completely covering Jamie’s as the brunette’s tongue immediately filled Tiffany’s warm moist mouth, searching out her tongue, as wave after wave wracked her lean body.
“Shit, shit, shitttt!,” Jamie cried as her legs wrapped tightly around the black woman’s slender waist as Jamie’s pussy tried to pull her in. “Oh my God,” Jamie cried out one last time until she went completely limp, exhausted from the ordeal.
Tiffany pulled the long black shaft out of Jamie’s cunt, which gaped open and twitched from the assault. The cock was coated in a white film of Jamie’s cum that Tiffany had her clean off willingly. Satisfied that the dildo was properly wiped clean, Tiffany rose from the bed and unshackled the brunette whose hair was wet and matted to her face.
Tiffany looked down at her spent lover, “Did you enjoy that baby?”
“That…was fucking amazing,” Jamie shot back. “I’m not sure I have ever cum so hard in my life,” she added.
“And I got it all,” Kat affirmed as she held her camera. “Look, Tiffany, we gotta’ run. I need to get this one back to my apartment. The two of you have got me worked up bad,” Katherine admitted.
The alarm sounded and I hovered for a moment somewhere between sleep and wakefulness before I had the presence of mind to turn it off.
I stretched reaching out a hand for Steve only to met by empty bed, it took me a further minute or two of fuzzy headed recollection before I remembered that he was working away and would not be home until the next day.
Rolling over onto my back I kicked off the duvet, the early morning light seeping through the blinds and shading me in stripes of dark and light.
Feeling a little horny I ran my hands over my breasts squeezing them gently teasing the soft nipples until they hardened standing proud of the surrounding light brown areola, causing a slight dampness to spread between my legs.
With one hand I reached down trailing my fingers over my flat stomach, and along the tiny strip of hair that led to my mound, I drew one knee up and dangled the other leg off the edge of the bed.
Cupping my mound I pressed my fingers to my damp slit, spreading my legs wide as I began to rub back and forth pressing my index finger inwards between my lips.
Rolling over quickly I reached into the bedside table drawer, fumbling around for a moment before I found the long thin vibrator that Steve had bought me as a joke to use ‘when he was away’, I touched the tip to my pussy slowly dragging it back and forth resisting the temptation to plunge it between my lips, taking my time.
The soft vibrations seemed to spread throughout my entire body as I touched it to my clit, I held it there with the tip just making contact, until my juices started to trickle out from between my legs following the contours of my body, running between my cheeks and soaking the sheet.
At last I could stand it no longer, the vibrator met no resistance as I pressed it up and into my pussy until it was completely embedded, pumping the shaft in and out while stroking my other hand over my clit back and forth.
Nearing my peak I pushed the vibrator in as deeply as it would go, leaving it inside of me while I concentrated on rubbing my engorged clit, flicking my fingers back and forth over the sensitive nub, raising my ass up off the bed and rotating my hips, panting caught up in the need to climax, wave after wave of pure ecstasy pulsing through my groin as I tensed up, warmth flooded my fingers as my juices ran and I collapsed back onto the bed gasping at the intensity of my orgasm, pressing my fingers hard against my sex, the vibrator still humming happily deep inside as the last of the convulsions fade away.
I stretched tensing my thighs and squeezing them together not quite ready for the delicious feeling between my legs to fade away, still idly circling my fingers over my clit I brought on a second ‘mini’ orgasm, not nearly as intense as the first, but just as nice.
The second wave came quickly because I was so sensitive, my pussy tingled making me squirm with pleasure as the spasms gained strength, I held the vibrator deep between the wet folds of my labia by squeezing my thighs together until at last my orgasm faded away, leaving me sweaty, wet and spent.
I squeezed the muscles in my vagina, letting the vibrator slip out on its own then flopped back, totally relaxed and ready for the day to begin.
Taking a long hot shower I dressed in a plain white cotton summer dress, a little longer than the dresses I usually wear, sitting just below the knee but still sheer enough to be exciting.
It was the type of strappy dress that does not look good with a bra. Still feeling a little horny and naughty I decided if I wasn’t wearing one of my bras then there was no sense in wearing the matching panties.
Taking a Taxi into town I spent a good part of the morning window shopping.
It was a pleasantly warm day, with a nice breeze that flicked the edge of my thin dress around my legs, tickling the back of my knees the sensation of the soft cotton almost sensual on my skin, my nipples had responded to the thin material rubbing against them and were standing out, the outline and colour of them just about visible. I had drawn several admiring glances from passing men and was understandably feeling pleased with my self.
Riding on the escalators in the shopping centre I had noticed several men looking back at me as I got off them. I was puzzled at first as my dress was not short enough to give anyone standing behind me a glimpse of my bare ass then a little thrill ran through me as I realised that, when I neared the top of the escalator the sunlight pouring through the glass roof and windows of the mall would make it transparent.
As I was naked under the dress the outline would be quite revealing.
Despite my early morning fun I was feeling quite horny.
A new bar had opened and I decided to stop for a bite of lunch, opting for a light salad and large glass of wine. The place was a little crowded so I took my food out onto a patio area, taking a seat at a small table, the smooth wood of the chair cool through my dress fetching goose bumps up on my skin.
Finishing my drink I made my way to the crowed car, the lunch time office rush had started and I was roughly jostled as rude impatient people competed for the bar staffs attention, eager to be served before they had to return to work.
As I stumbled the guy behind steadied me by grabbing my hips.
I turned to thank him and came face to face with Sam. (See the story, visit).
“Hi”. He said, “Hope you don’t mind you looked like you needed a little help there.”
I wiggled my hips.
“You should know me better than that, what brings you down here.”
He shrugged. “Just work, meetings the usual boring stuff, we broke for lunch but to tell you the truth the deals almost done so I am in no rush to get back”
His hands were still on my hips, we were pressed quite close together and I could feel the heat coming off his palms, his musky cologne was subtly pleasant and the slight bulge in his crotch pushing my left buttock didn’t go unnoticed.
I was beginning to get a little damp between the legs.
Leaning back into him I looked over my shoulder and whispered.
“Do you still have a copy of those pictures from the last time we me?”
He flushed a little. “Yes of course I have, I won’t forget that day in a hurry.”
“I’m feeling a little horny; would you like to play a little game?” I whispered.
“What here?” He said a little shocked.
Pushing my hand back between us I touched my finger tips to the front of his trousers, tracing the outline of his cock, he almost jumped but the press of people around us prevented him from pulling away.
“Use your hands to guess what kind of panties I’m wearing.” I said.
He ran his hands over my hips, rubbing hard with his thumb to try and find the outline of my panties. He eventually worked out that I wasn’t wearing underwear and moved one hand over my lower stomach pulling me in even closer.
He whispered in my ear. “I don’t think you’re wearing any.”
Gathering the material of my dress up in the fingers of one hand I slowly pulled it up at the back, lifting it until one cheek was exposed.
Rubbing my ass against his growing bulge I said.
“Do you want to check me out just to make sure?”
Holding me close as we were gently jostled by the crowd he dropped a hand to my side and caressed up along the back of my thigh and over my buttocks.
Holding and squeezing them one at a time he sent electric jolts through my body by sliding a single finger gently along the crack, tickling between them as he explored the soft skin there.
My tummy did a little flutter, this was so surreal. I was in public with my dress bunched up, my bare ass being caressed by a guy who had previously watched me strip for him within the first hour of meeting up for the first time and the people around us so self absorbed that they were unaware of the near naked woman standing next to them.
His touch was making my pussy tingle and I was feeling naughtier every second.
He rested his hand at the bottom of my cheek cupping it and whispered.
“I think I am pretty confident you aren’t wearing any panties.”
“Best to be sure though.” I said.
Shifting my feet apart a little and rising up on my toes I pushed back against his hand wiggling my hips so that his fingers slipped off my buttock and brushed against my pussy. He took in a sharp breath and I thought that I might have gone too far after all not everyone is comfortable ‘playing around’ like this in public.
He let his fingers rest against me for a moment then pushed his fingers along my slit parting the damp lips, adjusting the angle of his hand until he managed to ease the tip of one finger between my lips pushing it in and out for a few seconds.
This was almost too much to bear; reluctantly I turned my hips pulling away from him. He looked a little disappointed until I pressed my glass in his hand and said.
“Glass of white please and then meet me outside.”
Luckily no one had taken the table I had been seated at earlier. I sat down and waited for Sam, there were several people outside but most of them were seated around a table with their backs to me so with some luck they wouldn’t spoil my fun.
At last Sam came out and handed me my drink, sitting opposite me.
He looked a bit awkward so I leant forward exposing a good deal of cleavage while allowing one strap of my dress to slip down over my shoulder exposing the firm curve of my left breast, the dress just catching above the hard nipple, a little pit of brown areola peeking out.
“Have fun in the bar?” I asked.
He flushed a little. “What do you think?” he said.
I sipped my wine taking a moment to think while enjoying the slight buzz that I was getting before replying.
“I think I could be persuaded to get a little more adventurous.”
He glanced at the crowd behind us.
“What here?” I nodded in reply.
Leaning in close he said. “Depends on what you intended doing.”
A wicked idea came to me and I smiled.
“You enjoyed taking those pictures of me when you visited my house didn’t you?”
He nodded. “Hell yes there’s not a week goes by that Jake and I don’t talk about it.”
“Then how about we start with you standing just over there and taking my picture?” I said handing over my camera phone.
He looked it over for a second then stood up, taking a step or two back.
As he lifted it to frame the picture I sat back and lifted my dress pulling it up over my thighs to expose my landing strip but squeezing my legs together to hide my pussy.
He almost dropped the camera but quickly gained his composure and fired off a shot.
A couple of the guys at the table opposite had stood, gathering up empty glasses obviously going to fetch a round of drinks. One of them glanced my way but was so caught up with what his mates were talking about he never even noticed that I was sitting there partly exposed.
Sitting on show and vulnerable sent a little tingle of excitement between my legs, a trickle of moisture seeped out of my pussy adding to the wetness already there from Sam’s touch.
He was glancing down between my legs then looking around nervously to see if anyone else was looking our way, leaning over the table he said.
“Aren’t you worried someone might see you?”
“And what if they do? I hope it has the same effect as it’s having on you.” I said, pointing at the bulge in his trousers.
He shifted a little trying to make himself comfortable.
“Are you ready to take another?” I asked.
He nodded yes so I put down my glass and shifted position sitting slightly to one side so that if the guys behind Sam had looked over my pussy wouldn’t be directly on show to them. Although the thought of them catching a quick glimpse between my legs excited me I didn’t want to be too obvious.
I lifted my dress again but his time opened my legs a touch until I felt my damp lips part a little, showing a little more of myself.
The tiny landing strip was new because I had fancied surprising Steve when he got home; however the rest of my pussy had been waxed smooth the day before so there was nothing to hide my nakedness.
Looking down I could just see a little bit of ‘lip’ poking out, every little detail of my damp slit exposed to Sam. I sat holding my dress up enjoying the slight breeze blowing over my legs, drying my wetness and cooling the heat between them until I heard the rowdy guys coming back with their drinks.
Pulse racing I smoothed it back over my lap and took a sip of my drink, sighing contentedly as the cool liquid hit the back of my throat.
Sam was drinking mineral water with ice and nearly choked on a cube as he took a long pull off it, his hands were shaking slightly as he tried to hand back my phone.
“Lets do one more.” I said winking at him.
He glanced over his shoulder at the guys around the other table.
None of them were looking our way but to be honest I was so turned on at this point I don’t think I would have cared if they had come over to watch.
Sam licked his lips eager to see what I would do next.
His eyes went wide as I eased the straps of my dress off my shoulders and let the flimsy material slip down over my breasts. My sensitive nipples were standing out almost painfully hard as the cool afternoon breeze played across them making me shiver slightly.
Inching forward so that my ass was on the edge of my seat I reached down and took a hold of the hem of my dress, hesitated for just a second then pulled it slowly up towards my waist, lifting my leg over the arm of the chair as I did so.
I could feel the lips of my moist slit part, opening up and exposing all of my most intimate parts to Sam’s gaze.
Butterflies danced across my stomach as I realised if one of the guys at the table had looked over, or someone had walked outside from the bar I would not have time to cover up before they saw my pussy.
I lounged there all but naked so turned on that I almost wished that they would.
Sam stood motionless, seemingly frozen to the spot until I whispered.
“For goodness sake, take a picture.”
He kind of blinked coming out of his daze then quickly took several shots in quick succession.
Sitting back and adjusting my dress I said. “Was that too daring for you?”
He finished his drink before replying.
“Wow Jules if that is normal behaviour for you I don’t know how Steve has avoided a heart attack; I don’t think that I could take it.”
I leant across the table giving him a nice view of my cleavage.
“Well I’m only just getting started,” I reached under the table and touched my fingers to his bulge. “It seems that we both need a little relief, where are you parked?”
He told me that his car was in the multi-storey; I gathered up my bag, finished my drink and said. “The funs not finished yet, let’s go.”
When we got to the car park I was pleased to see that he had parked in the far corner and that he had a large luxury car on hire, so there would be plenty of room.
The windows had a slight tint too although I was so turned on that it would not have made much difference if it was an open top sports car.
As he unlocked the car and opened the driver’s door, I opened the rear door and sat with my legs dangling out of the car, my skirt pulled up over my thighs.
“I think we might have more room back here.” I said.
It took him a second to catch on. “I thought we were going back to my hotel, good god Jules we are not teenagers.” He said.
I smiled and pushed the shoulder straps of my dress down, exposing a good deal of my breasts.
“No but I like to take a risk, it adds to the excitement.”
I slipped back across the seat; he glanced around then joined me, pulling the door shut behind him.
He pulled me close kissing and nibbling my shoulder, moving down until he reached my breasts. He licked my nipples his mouth closing over them, teasing at first then sucking hard, his hand squeezing and lifting both breasts clear of my dress, the straps slipping easily down as I squirmed against him.
He alternated between gently licking and kissing my whole breast working the nipple, flicking his tongue over my sensitive nub while sucking hard. His teeth replaced his lips, making me gasp as he bit gently, tugging, then moving to the other side doing the same there then repeating the whole process licking each of my breasts, circling around the areola before flicking across the nipples, sending jolts of pleasure through my belly, straight down to my clit which was beginning to throb.
His mouth loosened its grip and he moved a hand down between my legs pushing my dress up over my thighs until it brushed against my naked pussy. By this time I was soaking wet so there was no resistance as he used his fingers to spread my lips, exploring every inch of my most intimate parts.
He touched his thumb to my clit, grinding into it and then rubbed it gently.
I pushed down on his hand to ease the pressure.
“Give me a moment.” I said, slipping my dress up over my head and draping it over the front seat.
He pushed me back across the cool leather of the seat, kneeling in the foot well with my legs either side of him. He placed his hands either side of my pussy and used his thumbs to open me up closing his mouth over me as his tongue licked and swirled around my opening, darting in and out with little flicks.
He nuzzled his face into my mound, spreading my legs even wider, hooking one over his shoulder and blew softly on my damp lips sending little shivers coursing through me.
My stomach was doing little flips as he pushed two fingers into my pussy; I reached down and wound my fingers through his hair, pulling his face closer.
Lifting my ass off the seat I ground my hips into him, he teased and fingered me until at last I could take no more and came explosively soaking his face and hand, the walls of my pussy pulsed around his fingers, gripping them as I convulsed and gasped in orgasm.
His mouth continued to work at my clit even as I tried to push him away and move back over the seat but all this seemed to do was urge him on as my ass sank into the soft leather upholstery.
“Sam it’s too sensitive, you’ve got to stop…” I said but he ignored me, holding tight as he lapped at my sopping pussy, his fingers still inside me. He suddenly tongued my clit and another climax hit, wave after wave of excitement fluttered through me making me gasp for breath until he finally let go, kissing along my thighs until he could lean back and look up at me, his finger tips still rubbing at my entrance, both my juices and his saliva and trickled down between my legs pooling in a damp puddle underneath my ass.
He was going to have to get the car cleaned before he returned it.
Pushing Sam back onto the seat I grinned up at him.
“It’s my turn now.” I said, opening his belt and fly, pulling at his trousers and boxers until he lifted his ass off the seat too help me get them off.
His cock was hard and slick with pre cum, I worked some of it up and down the shaft, pinching at the tip making him squirm by running a fingernail along the little slit.
Dipping my head I nuzzled his balls then licked along the shaft, opening my mouth at the top taking him in using my tongue to lick the swollen tip, swirling it round tasting his excitement.
Clamping my lips tightly around him I sucked hard as I took as much of his length into my mouth as I could manage, drawing my head back lapping from base to tip flicking my tongue over the tip before sucking him in again working my head up and down, over and over again in a steady rhythm keeping an even pressure on his member with my lips.
It was just a simple manila envelope, my name and address labeled dead center—the words “photographs, do not bend” stenciled across the bottom. I’d grabbed it out of the mailbox with a thick handful of other letters and was halfway across the porch before I realized what it was.
I absently jiggled it for a second and then dropped myself into one of the old rockers we had out there, the other bills and junk left scattered across my lap as I ripped at the top edge and zipped it open with my thumb. It was all wedged in there pretty tight, two sheets of thick cardboard sandwiching the pictures—another second and I had them out, lifting the top cover away and… …it was a woman…a girl really, eighteen or nineteen maybe, slim and posed slightly to the side, a soft roundness to her hips, a fullness in the deep curve of her partially covered breast, longish chestnut hair mantled across the gently freckled flesh of her shoulders…
Aware of the sudden hammering in my chest as I stared at her, my breathing shallow, almost labored, dizzy with a rush of pure adrenalin as I stared at her. My hands trembled as I shuffled to the next image, the girl squaring a bit more to the lens, a hesitant smile tinged with embarrassment, her right hand blurred as if she were trying to mask her nakedness as the shutter clicked.
A groaning creak as the screen door opened off to my right, “…Hi honey, how was work?”
I looked up blankly, my Mom smiling as she leaned outward, one foot on the porch, one still inside the house.
“…Good,” I managed to mutter, discretely slipping the cardboard sheet back over the pictures.
“Just good?” she teased brightly.
“No, it was good,” I stammered, my mind fluxed.
She rolled her eyes and let the smile come again. “…Clean up and we’ll have dinner, okay? Dad’s going to be running late again.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said, watching as she disappeared back into the house. I lifted the cardboard and slid down to the second photograph again, that same smile, the finely wrought features. I shook my head numbly, tracing down the girl’s visage, down from her chin with the edge of my thumb, along the breasts with their small dark nipples, downward to that darkly rich thatch of pubic hair, along the slender rounded edge of her thigh…
“…Mom,” I whispered, swaying my head yet again.
It was mid October of last year, the 14th or 15th I think. I remember how the leaves of the sugar maple were still that fiery yellow-orange, how they looked almost hot to the touch in the mangled gash the huge tree had torn through the roof of my grandmother’s house. The rain had poured in hard that night, soaking the boxes of Christmas decorations and the old clothes she’d kept neatly hung on a long steel pipe. The place was dead air, even with that six foot hole to the sky, stale and old. I bent to pick up another waterlogged box, the bottom coming apart in my hands as I lifted it up and carried it across to the undamaged portion of the attic.
There were stacks of various sized boxes already piled on this side—”taxes, 71′ to 80′” on scrawled on one of the them, “pay stubs, 1978-83″ in magic-marker on the one immediately beneath it. I sat down thinking that all this shit should get tossed, knowing that my grandmother would shake her head and say that it wasn’t doing any harm sitting up here. I spied an old banana box stashed in the corner—”Anne’s school papers”.
I got up and shoved some of the other junk out of the way and pulled the box into the clear, pulling the string cord to a single exposed light bulb overhead as I crouched and lifted the cover. Pictures mainly, 8×10″ blowups of landscapes and artsy angles on things around the house, black and white shots in a little montage of pots simmering atop a stove, a deer with a whole apple in its mouth—and then there she was, my Mom framed in an old fashioned mirror, a bulky 35mm camera held at her waist as she clicked the nifty self portrait of herself. I smiled at it; at how effortlessly pretty she was even then. I went down through the stack, a group of high school kids kicked back against a counter in a darkroom, all of them with their camera’s dangling ’round their necks, my mom second from the right, jeans and platform heels, a blouse buttoned high to her throat, a guy with thick curly hair casually draping his arm across her shoulders. I picked it out and studied it, looking at her, at the hand over her, that air of possession. I wondered if he was a boyfriend or just some guy buddy. My Mom was always very circumspect on her own youth, always bright about it, never really talking about any particulars really as concerned adolescent romances or boyfriends. I’d never been able to picture her in any type of sexual situation, which I guess you’d say is a pretty normal thing for a young kid. I just kept staring at that picture, trying to imagine her making out with this guy in some beat-up Chevy Nova or some other old 70′s Detroit clunker. Letting him unbutton her blouse maybe, stiffening as he bent to suck on her untouched nipples…a flinching gasp as he bit down on it, this kid rocking his head as he tugged at it with his teeth…
“Man, you are one jacked pervert,” I muttered to myself and finally dropped it back into the stack, stirring through the rest of the pictures with my hand—and then, there it was. One of those plastic film canisters from back when cameras actually used film, the weight telling there was a roll inside. I leaned away from the light and peeked up the lid, sure enough the spool of film was in there. There was no way of telling if it was exposed or just some unused castoff that my Mom had stuffed in the back of a drawer. If it was exposed, I wondered if it was still good or not—hell, I wondered if you could even still get 35mm film developed anywhere. I just figured it would be a nice touch if I did get it done and if the prints were any good at all, I could give it to her for Christmas or her birthday which was in late November.
And so I pocketed the film without any more thought—an internet search told me that under the right conditions exposed film could stay viable for years, though whether or not a blistering hot attic was a “proper” condition was up in the air. That and the fact that I couldn’t get the film developed anywhere local kept it tucked in my nightstand drawer through her birthday, and then through Christmas, right up until I came home for Easter break and finally searched out a company in Illinois who ran 35mm color prints off. I mailed it out before I left for school, a money order for the developing costs and two sets of prints enclosed—the girl I’d spoken with told me that they gave no guarantees on old film and that I might get nothing at all back.
Mother’s day came and went with no pictures, and then the first couple weeks of June when I moved back to work with a friend’s landscaping company for the summer. I’d almost forgotten the whole deal before that hot afternoon.
Nope, it probably wouldn’t have really panned out for a Christmas or Mother’s day gift after all I thought wryly—a print from the center of my pile, my Mom straight and erect as a ballerina, up on her toes, those bared breasts as perfect as a young girl’s breasts could ever be.
“Jesus Christ,” I whispered again, tucking my head to fan through the whole stack. She was stripped completely for some of them, some with those obligatory Playboy poses of the unbuttoned cardigan, one with…
I clamped a hand over the stack, knowing that I had to get out of there, an ache in my head as if my mind was going to hemorrhage. I stood up and quietly slinked into the house, seeing my mother in the kitchen as I edged up the stairs, in my room, closing the door and locking it, setting the pictures on my unmade bed, tossing the cardboard aside and just fanning the pictures out across the mattress. They were all there, or most of them at least, the extra set of prints tucked below the first. I knelt along the bed and started to rifle through them, one after the other, seeing a bit of the tension seem to ease from her features as she went from one shot into the next—the tenth or eleventh shot in and a grin of pure carnal mischief creased her face, leaning against an old wooden desk, her back arched beautifully, hair hanging free behind her, nipples hardened.
I was hard too, ragingly hard, constricted uncomfortably in my grimy jeans. I reached down and unfastened my belt, popping the button and working the zipper blindly, my cock springing free as I tugged my jockeys down an inch or two. Looking back at it now, I guess I’m surprised that I just did it like that, no thought as to the rightness or wrongness of it—actually it was probably the absolute “wrongness” of it that had me engorged like I’d never been before. I touched it and felt the heat, found my grip without looking really and just got a frantic rhythm on it, furiously stroking myself off as my free hand milled through the photos, a picture of her balanced against the footboard of a large bed, legs spaced wide, hands gripped onto the dark wood, the tip of her tongue pressed carelessly against her upper lip, as wantonly innocent as…
It exploded out of nowhere, grunting powerfully as thick ropes of semen spat out of my cock, spasms in my gut as I came so fucking hard, feeling it rippling through my brain as I forced my eyes closed to the room’s light, chewing savagely into the edge of the mattress to stifle a shriek…
I sagged against the bed, utterly spent, aware of myself panting. I carefully opened my eyes and saw what seemed a copious amount of cum plastered against my box spring, dripping downward in crawly rivulets. The photograph was clenched in my hand, crumpled, a balled-up ruin.
And surprisingly there was none of that after-the-fuck guilt I would’ve expected, none at all. I was messed up, I’ll freely admit that. Confused—you better believe it. Shocked that in the course of ten or so minutes I’d got to see my heretofore modest and refined mother stripped bare-assed naked and that within less than a minute had jerked myself into the most wickedly delightful orgasm I’d ever experienced—sure I was fucking shocked, who wouldn’t be. But I’ll tell you square that I was not disappointed—hell, I couldn’t wait to get myself hard and do it again.
I slowly stood up, my erection flagging. Get hard and do it again. And I knew in that exact instant that somehow she was going to know that I’d seen her like this, that she had to know—that I wanted my Mom lying awake in bed at night, eyes wide in the darkness as she wondered whether her only son was jacking off over her old nudie pictures down the hall.
“I need to give this to you,” was how I started two days later, my Mom folding laundry atop the dryer on a Saturday morning, Dad off to an early golf game. I’d already scanned each of the pictures into my laptop, backing up the images on two memory sticks—negatives taped under a shelf in my closet, the second set of prints squirreled away in the bottom drawer of my dresser.
I extended the ripped envelope the photos came in to her, averting my eyes as a sudden wave of embarrassment came over me.
“What is it?”
“I think…I did something I shouldn’t have…I’m sorry I…”
The stammer was genuine, so was the unexpected blush I could feel rising on my cheeks. I pressed the envelope into her hands and forced myself to watch her reaction.
She took it with a worried expression—worried for me. Hesitant as she slid the shortened stack of photographs free.
“I found the roll of film with some old pictures you had up in grandma’s attic. …I thought I’d get ‘em developed and surprise you with them.”
Her hand froze and a minute shudder wracked her body. She lifted the cardboard a speck, closing her eyes and biting down on her lower lip.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I just wanted to…”
“Excuse me,” she rasped, clutching the photos in her hand as she squeezed past me—I watched her stagger back through the kitchen, listening to the clutter of her footfalls as she went up the stairs, her bedroom door slamming shut.
I went up a few minutes later, pausing to listen at her door but hearing nothing, wondering if she was in there looking at them. I tried to imagine how humiliated she must feel about me having seen them. I went to my room and clicked on the laptop, a password protected document where I had the images stashed, a slideshow all my own. I played around with them for a bit and then clicked off. I was agitated, pacing back and forth like a caged zoo animal. Ten minutes passed, then another twenty. I looked out the window, a beautiful summer day. She knocked softly, once, then again.
“Mom,” I said as I opened the door. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, arms wrapped tight about her waist.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, staring at the floor, her voice breaking.
“I’m sorry, I just didn’t know…”
“I was so stupid,” she stammered on, stepping past me, looking around my room, still clutching herself.
“I shouldn’t have gone through your things.”
“It’s not your fault. I should’ve thrown that…that filth out myself. I’m so ashamed of…”
“It’s not so bad, Mom. …It’s not”
“Oh God, don’t ever tell your father about these, please, promise me…”
“I won’t, I won’t ever tell anybody. It’s our secret. …Don’t worry.”
She paced up to the window and leaned forward against the sill. I found myself unconsciously studying her ass, the curve of her hips. She was 43—a good 43, but still 43, her face attractive and softly lined, the long auburn hair of her youth cut stylishly short now, a rich grayness that had come upon her while she was still in her early thirties, peppered now with an occasional strand of darkness. I noted that she was thicker in the torso now than when she posed for her little teenage pictorial, her butt ample but not fat, maybe a bit heavier in the thighs—I caught myself doing the appraisal and stopped it.
“…You looked at them?” she intoned after a moment, voice husky.
“…All of them?”
“All of ‘em,” I answered, nodding.
She straightened herself, wiping her eyes, trying to clear her throat a bit as she got steadied.
“They’re not bad pictures, Mom.”
“They aren’t. They’re just like what you’d see in Playboy. Hell, all the stars pose in there ’cause it’s so classy and all.”
“In Playboy,” she muttered blackly. “…That’s just what he said too…”
“Who’s ‘he’?” I wanted to know who got her clothes off…the fact pretty much evident in my brain that if this mystery guy got her to shuck her clothes for the camera, he pretty much had to have royally fucked her brains out. I’d been playing with the thought for the last two days, every time I was whacking off over her pics, thinking about the guy behind the lens jamming his big cock down her teenaged throat till she gagged, giving her a ferocious, hair-pulling bang on that bed she was posed against, driving her into wrenching orgasms again and again, voice wrecked with shrieks of utter abandon.
“He was such a liar,” she sobbed bitterly, dabbing her eyes as she at last turned to face me. “I’m ashamed that you saw them, and I’m sorry. I hope you’ll be able to…”
“You were beautiful in the pictures and I’m glad I saw them,” I blurted—which wasn’t in any way part of what I’d been planning to say.
“God…” she whispered, covering her face with her palms.
“No one else will ever know about them,” I spoke up. “It’ll just be between us, our secret…and I meant what I said about being glad I got to see them. …You were beautiful in them. Most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh, God,” she groaned, still hiding her expression from me, though I thought I heard a smile of sorts in there, a smile of sheer exasperation. “Now I’m even more embarrassed, if that’s even possible,”
“Don’t be embarrassed about anything, okay,” I said and then on impulse went over to my dresser and took out the other photos. “…Second set of prints,” I chuckled uncomfortably “…It was gonna be my secret stash.”
“You were going to keep looking at them?” she said in genuine horror as she grabbed them from my hand.
“Probably,” I answered.
“…Just don’t think about this anymore, okay. Please.”
“Unless you decide to give me ‘em back?”
“I am so mortified,” she said and stepped for the door, pausing to lean her forehead to the wood, eyes closed. “…You must think I’m such a slut.”
“I don’t think that,” I lied—actually not a lie really, because I didn’t think she was a slut, just a racy little babe with a really terrific body, one with a little more mileage on it than I’d ever imagined just two days prior.
“I feel literally sick over this.”
“I always thought you were the most beautiful mother anybody ever had. Now I know how beautiful you were when you were younger. …I meant it about hoping you let me see them again.”
She walked out without another word and softly shut the door. I sat against my bed and for the first time realized what it was I wanted, what I really wanted.
Nothing like a nasty secret to build a bond of trust between two people, and this deal with my Mom and me was at least to her, about as nasty and dirty as you could get. And I treated it as being off the map, not alluding to it, no thinly veiled comments about it, just a smooth lake without so much as a ripple as I’d have dinner across from her and my dad.
Time was in play, and time had its own pace.
Two weeks passed before she brought it up while we sat alone in the kitchen over dinner, just the two of us.
“How are you doing, honey?”
“I mean about, you know…about that with…”
“Your Playboy spread.” I teased, watching as she stared a hole into her plate.
“Please don’t call it that, you have no idea how humiliating this has all been for me.”
“You ever wonder about all the women who’ve posed for Playboy over the years, Mom. Think of them all…the one from the old Charlie’s Angels, the one who died…”
“Farrah,” she grinned.
“Yeah, her and Cindy Crawford…all those actresses and models.”
“Just stupid naked girls in a dirty magazine.”
“And some of them have sons, right, and you know that sooner or later they’re going to see those pictures,” I winked “…you know, probably hide ‘em under the old mattress.”
“That is such a creepy, creepy image.”
“Look, like I told you that day, I’m glad I got to see them. You’re stunning, amazing.”
“Were stunning,” she arched an eyebrow wryly. “…Past tense.”
“You’d still be stunning, Mom, to anybody.”
“…Thanks for the compliment, phony as I know it is,” she said, standing up, rubbing my shoulder as she took the plate from in front of me.
“So, what are my chances on getting that second set of prints back? I really do want to see them again.”
“Stop,” she laughed, “…You look at some girl your own age, not me. And you shouldn’t be looking at that junk anyway. It’s…it is so goddamned demeaning.”
“It helps if you call it art and I really do want to see ‘em again. …We can look at them together if you want.”
She turned and gave me “the look”—no not that “look”, but the one that I’d gotten when I was fourteen and announced that I was going to built a diving suit from a design in Popular Mechanics and try it out in the local lake.
“I’m serious. I’ve looked at them already so I don’t really see the harm. …Have you looked at them?”
“Just enough to want to crawl off under a rock and die.”
“Come on, did you look at ‘em or not? …I’m betting you did look at them, and that if you were being honest, you’d say they were beautiful. …So?”
“Let’s change the subject, okay.”
“Can you imagine some boy in Florence looking up one day at The Birth of Venus and seeing his mom up there on the canvas? That Botticelli, man. …I found that painting in the encyclopedia at the library when I was like six and I ripped it out and took it home with me.”
Mom turned and smiled at me, as if against her will. “…Vandal.”
“I got a thirst for art, what can I say.”
“Then go to the Met,” she said, playful now, waving me out of the room.
I went upstairs and changed, deciding to take a run before it got to hot out, disappointed that I hadn’t gotten her to talk more. I’d be cagey about it though, determined to be patient with this, to play it out right.
“Here,” came my mom’s voice as I went past my parent’s bedroom. The second stack of prints in her hand. I snatched them so fast that she flinched.
“Thank you?” she chided playfully.
“Please, just make sure daddy never sees them. …You’re actually going to look at them?” she said, blushing now.
“Sure I am,” I stammered excitedly. “…Thanks. Thank you so much.”
“You’re just going to look at them, right?”
I didn’t even try for an answer—and then I did it, I looked at one of them right there while she stood watching me, then the next. I glanced up and smiled. “…Thanks,” I repeated for the umpteenth time and went back to my room, dropping the pictures on my bed and turning to go out and finish my walk, letting the door open more than a crack—carefully gauged the gap.
When I got home, sweaty, keyed up, my run fucked by having better than half a hard-on for most every stride I made, the door was off, closed a little tighter than I’d left it. She’d been in here. She’d seen her pictures strewn atop my sheets. She knew exactly what I was going to be doing in here with them, which, stripping off my perspiration soaked tee shirt and shorts, I proceeded to do with added vigor.
“Do you have any appointments today?” I asked. I’d already spied through my Mom’s scheduling book for the week. It had been a little less than a week since she’d surrendered her pictures to me and neither of us had spoken about any of it since.
“Want to hike up the tubs with me?”
“You have work,” she said glancing up from her checkbook.
“I’ll call off. I haven’t missed a day yet.”
“…It is nice out.”
“We can do the whole loop, up through the bolder field. Then have lunch down by small waterfall.”
“Buy sandwiches at Cellastino’s?”
“Hot peppers and provolone.”
“…Okay, call up and see if you can get it off.”
“I’m feeling pretty sick,” I said, feigning a cough.
“Ask for the day off. Don’t leave Mike in a lurch.”
“Get changed,” I said happily as I snatched up my cell phone.
The tubs were a string of huge potholes supposedly gnashed out of the earth by a glacier. Now a sparkling creek ran through them, cascading down through a series of higher and higher waterfalls, a trail maintained by private hiking groups. I’d been hiking it since I was a kid, my Mom often taking me up there, always angling off through the dark woods to a small isolated waterfall bounded by a deep pond of icily clear water.
She’d taught me how to swim there when I was five, the water so cold that I remember her lips turning blue.
It was a great place to be alone, to just sit and feel the stillness—to talk with someone, to say things that you couldn’t say.
We hiked for just over two hours, a hard climb up over a prehistoric bolder field, Mom in a pair of green cargo shorts and tall leather hiking boots, the outline of a sports-bra underneath her plain white tee.
We ate our lunch there by the base of that waterfall, her eyes rolling when I pulled the bottle of pinot noir out of my pack. A corkscrew—”see mom, just like the boy scouts.”
“That wine is very good,” she whispered after we’d finished, lips stained red, a bit tipsy maybe.
“It was.” I’d had only a plastic tumbler of it.
“You’re only twenty. That probably makes me a corruptor of minors.”
“Hey, I brought the wine, not you.”
“True, but…but I guess I’ve already corrupted you, huh?”
I chuckled, gave her a shrug.
“What do you do with them?”
“…Look at them. You know, once in a while.”
“What’s once in a while?”
“Every goddamned day,” I laughed.
“Don’t swear, honey. …And that is so mortifying.”
I took my boots off and splashed my feet in the water.
“Do you do…do you do anything when you look at them?”
“Yep, what?”
“You know,” I answered, wanting to just scream out what I’d been doing and what I’d been thinking.
“So totally mortifying,” she shot back, laying back on the rock where she sat and draping a hand across her eyes. “…Doesn’t it bother you looking at your mother like that?”
“How old were you in them?”
“…My senior year of high school. In the spring, my last semester.”
“Who took them?”
“That isn’t…”
“Come on, you can tell me. I know you can’t tell dad.”
“…His name was Eric.”
“He was your boyfriend?”
“He was…never mind, let’s not talk about this, okay?”
I sat there in silence for a long while, kicking water with my tired feet, Mom just vacantly staring up through the canopy of leaves.
“He was my teacher,” came her voice finally, a distant echoed tone. “He taught English, but he ran the photography club too.”
I looked over at her, another shocker of shockers from her. I have to admit that it really turned me on, the exact Freudian babble as to why it did an unanswered question to this day. I just let her words hang there, knowing that the silence would let her speak.
“I was seventeen when I signed up for the club, and he was…God he was handsome. He was only thirty-six years old, but to me that seemed so old. He joked with me, always complimented me with the photos I took…’you have some real talent’ he’d say. Always nice to me, talking about things, but never creepy like you’d imagine an older guy talking to a young girl would be. …God, I had such a huge crush on him.”
She sighed and closed her eyes, rays of sun cutting down to her reclined figure.
“Then I turned eighteen…I was so inexperienced, so naïve.” She opened her eyes and looked over at me, meeting my gaze. “…I was a virgin. I wanted to save myself for marriage…I mean I was really into it. I never did anything with the boys I’d date, though they tried hard enough. …I never even let them touch my breasts. …I’m sorry. I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”
“It’s okay,” I whispered.
“I never told anybody about it with him. …I was just so shy.”
Again I let the silence leech after her words, for some reason finding delight in the fact that she’d been a virgin like that.
“He kissed me in the darkroom one day after everyone else was gone. Just a soft kiss, so soft, and I didn’t even close my eyes. …It was so wonderful.
“A week or so later we were there alone again and I…I went up to him and just stood there waiting. He didn’t say a word, just came up and kissed me again, harder this time…I felt his tongue in my mouth and his hands were touching me. He looked at me and cupped my breast, just outside the blouse, really tender. He asked me if I had ever done anything…that’s how he phrased it, ‘done anything’ and I shook my head. …Does it bother you to hear this?”
I shook my head, never breaking our gaze. She smiled hesitantly.
“I stepped back from him and I unbuttoned my blouse for him. I remember the brassiere I was wearing snapped at the front and I…I unsnapped it and held it out for him. He had very rough hands and I can still remember how they felt on me.”
“So, did he…”
“He kissed me again. He kissed down to my breasts…we there in that darkroom and it was just the red light on. He kissed down my stomach and knelt and lifted my skirt…it was…he lifted it and he slowly pulled my panties all the way down, lifting my feet to slip them off. They were pink striped and had a little red bow embroidered on the front, I can still remember that. Then he…you know…”
“He…he kissed me down there. I was standing there, leaning back against the counter with all the developing trays and the sheets of film hanging down from the wires. He…I’d never had one before that. I mean never. He…it was so fabulous, my legs just collapsed and he was holding all my weight and he just kept doing what he was doing and I had to put a hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t…”
I watched her laying back on that flat rock, lost in the memory, her voice fading and far away, a smile that made her look so many years younger.
“Everything looked so new when I walked home that day. The next day he asked if I could get over to his apartment that weekend. I took a bus there Saturday afternoon. I was so scared, so worried someone would find out or see me going there.
“He just took me into his bedroom and undressed me without a word, took off everything and I was standing there naked and he took off his clothes. …I’d never seen one before, and I actually got scared with how big it looked. …I shouldn’t be telling you this.”
“I wanna hear.”
“You’re not supposed to think of your mom like this.”
“Tell me, please.”
“He made love to me, he told me a lot of what to do. I had to put the rubber…the condom on him and you know, unroll it down him. And…I loved when he put all his weight down on me, I was just like mashed under him and it hurt so bad that first time, probably ’cause I was so scared. …After he came he showed me it, all his stuff under the rubber and I was just squishing it around like it was silly putty. I came when he did it to me again a little while later and I now I could be loud. God was I loud.”
“And that’s what you did with him.”
“I did everything with him,” she mused, as if to herself, a sated aspect in her voice, as if she were still that girl curled up next to her older lover.
“Can I take your picture?” I asked.
“Shoot away, kiddo.”
“Not like that.”
“Just here with the water.”
She rolled on to her side and gave me a blurry look.
“…Like he did.” I went on.
I stood up and slipped the Sony digital camera from my belt, the zippy buzz as I pressed the power button and the lens adjusted.
“Come on, trust me.”
She sat up slowly, blinking herself out of the fog. “You’re my son, and there’s no way…”
“Trust me. Let me do this for you.”
“We should go back, it’s getting late.”
I snapped a picture of her sitting there, then another.
“If I ever did it you’d probably feint.”
“…Try me.”
“I should, I should, get you to break off this…”
I snapped another picture.
Her expression changed and she glanced around nervously. “Somebody could walk past.”
“We’ve never seen anybody down here, ever, and not on a weekday.”
I snapped another shot.
“Wait,” she blurted, agitated now, her palm jacked out at me.
“You are so beautiful.”
“Yeah, right,” she muttered, looking around again and then turning her back to me. “…I don’t believe I’m even considering this.”
I clicked a photo.
“Big mistake,” she muttered and quickly lifted her tee shirt up over her head, dropping it on the rock, squatting to undo her boots, peeling down the tall gray hiking socks, undoing her baggy shorts, slipping them down and stepping out of them. Another glance around, apprehensive, breathing hard as she stood there in her white panties and Nike sports bra, a sidelong glance back over her left shoulder.
She lifted the bra over her head and dropped it, a moment’s hesitation before she peeled the panties down her legs. Bared, her back to me—a soft whirl as I took a picture.
“Don’t take one like that. Not with my big butt.”
Her body was definitely older, a bit of crepe high on her thighs, still with a long lovely back.
“You have a great ass, Mom. Turn around for me?”
She pirouetted about, her arms lifting outward. I bit my lip, felt the camera flutter in my grip. A bit of roundness to her belly, her breasts heavier and still firm, slung probably an inch or so lower, the nipples dark and more pronounced. Her pubic thatch was thick, the silver gray unsettling to me even though it was a spot on match for the drapes.
“The quiet ravages of age,” she said in a quavering tone.
“I think you’re gorgeous. You are.”
I snapped through a fast row of pictures as she nervously shifted from foot to foot. “Go over by the water.”
She looked about again and then stepped towards the waterfall. “There,” I said, clicking off half a dozen shots, zooming in closer, framing her as she stretched her hands into the water.
“You know that I’m enjoying this, don’t you,” she whispered.
“Turn to the side…just a little, just like that,” I said, coming closer, placing my feet carefully as I lined up a profile pose. “…Here,” I said, and I reached in and touched her shoulder, a flinch as I angled her for a better view.
“We’d been lovers for only a month or so when he got me to pose for those stupid photos,” she whispered distantly, cupping water in her palm and absently spilling it down over her tits. “…How’s that?”
“Great,” I said in a strained tone, actually light in my head with the lust rising at the sight.
“I was so afraid of someone ever seeing them that I made him use my camera and then when he was done I wouldn’t give him the film. He was so mad.”
“What he’d do?”
“He called me a stupid little prude. He stopped… he made me beg for it…just pulled back a little bit and I was so…”
There was a flash of anger in her eyes, her cheeks mottled with color. I shot a close up of her face like that, clicked another one her eyes so hard for a second that I had to look away.
“After a couple days of him being all cold with me, I went into the dark room with him and I undid my blouse and my bra and I knelt down and I…I unbuckled his belt and pulled his pants down and…”
Her face was fiery now, voice quivering with an unearthed resentment.
“…I sucked his cock, right there, right down on my knees. Let him cum in my mouth and…I opened my mouth and I showed it to him on my tongue and…I swallowed it, swallowed it all. Then I just put my clothes back on without saying a word and I left. I did that every day after class for two weeks straight…but I never gave him his damn pictures.”
“Now you definitely think I’m a slut, right?”
“Back then girls didn’t do that, weren’t supposed to do it. Not good girls anyway. You suck on a man’s thing and you were…he used to tell me ‘get to work, Annie’. Just like that, me down on my knees for him. Get to work and swallow his fucking sperm for him.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, seeing the anger suddenly drain away like rain off glass.
“…I’m sorry I spoke like that in front of you, I really am.”
I reached out and touched her inner thigh, a caress along the back of her knee.
“Don’t do that,” she whispered, but didn’t step away.
I slid my hand up along the back of her leg, a featherlike touch, gooseflesh rising on her skin.
“Please don’t…”
My mother shivered—I leaned forward and kissed her just above the knee, an inch or so higher, another soft kiss, my fingertips brushing across the smoothness of her ass, my thumb tracing out the deep cleft there. I kissed higher, dropped my weight onto one knee, palm wide on backside as I brushed my mouth through the coarse tangle of gray pubic hair.
“Please, baby…” she whispered, shaking her head, her eyes brimming a bit as if she were going to start weeping. “…we can’t, we…”
I dipped my head and softly kissed her vulva, the thick folds of labial flesh reddish pink, bright beads of moisture standing out like dew in the curly coils hair. I swiped my tongue into her turgid crevice, tasting the salt, she was absolutely slick now. I licked deeper, my mom stiffened, a single deep gasp as she rose up almost on her toes. I found her clitoris, flicked the bud one time, her hands grasping my head but not pushing me away. I trolled my tongue deeper, the entire length of her slit, twirling it into her, flicking her clit again, fast, pressing onto it.
Mom throttled down on my head, another ragged gasp, a wheezing cry breaking off her lips as she came, that fast, I licked faster, circling it, sucking it, she smothered my face into her crotch, manic as she hit another orgasm, a moaning shriek, her throat puffing as she gritted her teeth through another, nails plowing into my scalp, I sucked on it, side to side on it with the tip of my tongue, she tried to push me off, but I had my hands anchored into the softness of her ass cheeks, wrestling her hips onto me as we scrunched against the cold rock wall. Sucking it—sucking it.
She stiffened out bodily, convulsing through that final climax like a clubbed fish, a low rushing sound from deep within her vagina as her legs wrapped into my ribcage till I couldn’t breathe.
“Ma,” I whispered a few minutes later, looking around at the empty glade, the sound of birds in the trees and the drum of the water soft after the frenzied riot of her orgasms.
She was weeping quietly—hiding her face from me, balled up as if in shock or shame.
“Hey,” I went on, touching her calf. She pulled away as if touched by fire.
“Oh my god, what have I…”
“Oh god, oh my god…” She was standing, covering her breasts, her crotch as best she could, staggering back to the pile of clothes. Pulling the shorts and shirt on, stuffing the bra and panties and socks into her small day sack.
“It’s okay,” I muttered stupidly.
She struggled with the boots, not lacing them, a glance back at me through tear swollen eyes as she started to walk back to the car. I picked up my camera and stepped down from the rocks, putting my own boots back on, an effort to get my wet feet into them, starting to run after her, seeing her move through the trees like a shadow, keeping pace with her till she got to the car, slamming the passenger door.
I expected to hear her crying when I opened my door, but instead found her staring blankly at the dash.
“Don’t say anything, okay?” she asked hollowly.
I sat there and didn’t say a word.
“…Just please drive us home.”
She didn’t say a word on the long drive back, her body pressed to the door as if wanting to hold a certain distance from me. I sat behind the wheel while she gathered her things and went up the stairs to the empty house. I waited a long while before I pulled the car into the garage and went inside, up the stairs, agitated, wanting to talk to her, to—
“Baby, you stay up in your room tonight, okay?” she said softly from inside her darkening bedroom.
“Just do that for me please, okay? Your father’s going to be home in another hour and I can’t have you down there with us tonight.”
“You’re not going to tell him?” I fairly yelped in dread.
“Of course I’m not!” she shot back—I could make out her silhouette sitting on the edge of her bed, arms hugged about her waist, rocking slightly, back and forth, back and forth. “…It’s just that I know how to lie…I’m just not too sure about you.”
“I can…”
“You stay up here. You’re sick, stomach thing probably. You missed work today and all. Understood?”
“Go get yourself a sandwich or something and a coke. Just don’t come down at all. If he peeks in on you moan and groan about feeling like hell.”
“I love you, you know that don’t you. Love you more than anything or anyone.”
“I love you too.”
“Go get your sandwich, baby. I’ll take care of everything.”
“How’d you sleep?”
I lifted my head off the pillow, my brain fogged. Mom was seated at my desk, a cup of coffee in her hand—a glance at the clock. Six a.m.
“Dad gone to work?”
Revision of 2012 February 10
Published by Alyx Crowley at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 Alyx Crowley
Adult Content: This story contains explicit sexual content that is not suitable for those under 18 years of age, and may be considered offensive by some readers of all ages.
License Notes: Thank you for downloading this free ebook; I hope you enjoy it. Although the book is free, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied, or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes..
Credit where due: Sincere thanks to LaRascasse for editing, and to Tami Flynn for reading, and re-reading.
This is a work of Fiction.
She rolled onto her side, pressing her back against him. His arm was in the way, but she could still feel the warmth of his body. She squirmed back into him a little and turned the page of the paperback. She looked at the words, trying to remember where to start reading again. Her eyes drifted closed. She needed to take off her reading glasses but she was so… drifty…
Click click.
The muscles of his forearm twitched against her back.
Her eyes opened.
She looked over her shoulder.
She sighed and opened the book back up. Upper left corner of the left hand page… Oops. It still didn’t make sense. She turned back a page and re-read. She must have been nearly out when she read this…
She rolled onto her back and read a few pages. The problem was, the…
…made it hard to concentrate.
She looked at him. He had that stupid half-smile on his face. It was an endearing expression, but…
“What are you doing?”
He was engrossed, and didn’t notice she had stopped reading until she spoke again. “You have an erection,” she said.
“Huh?” he said, looking at her and blinking.
She looked over her half-moon reading glasses at him. “An erection. Stiffy. Hard on. Swollen…” She closed her book on her finger and reached her hand down to where the light blanket covered him to the waist, “Member,” she concluded. “Why?”
“Um… your mere presence?”
“Really. I’ve been here all evening. Nothing else?”
He looked at the screen in front of him, then back at her. “Looking at stimulating photographs?” he said, the muscles in his face contorting a little, trying to suppress that irritating, mischievous little grin.
“You mean like dirty pictures.” She put both hands on her book and went back to reading. She finished the page and turned it.
“Depends on what you consider dirty,” he finally answered. “Some of them are quite provocative.”
She didn’t even look at him. “So any picture of a naked, skinny girl is provocative?”
There was no answer for a while; her attention went back into the book. She turned another page.
“No. Some are just boring. To me at least. Some are… not. Not boring.”
“What? Oh. Your pictures.” She glanced at him. “Why not videos?”
“Well, I guess the still photos just capture the moment better. It would be over as soon as you saw it on a video.”
“Whatever. Just don’t think you’re getting any from me while you’re drooling over a bunch of other girls.”
“You were asleep anyhow.”
She read. He clicked, and twitched.
“Besides, movement catches your attention. With the videos, I mean. You’re like a cat that way.”
“What, you’re afraid I’ll pounce on you?” She looked at him for a moment, then reached down, making a claw of her hand. Yes, he was still erect. Very erect, in fact. She rubbed him absently through the blanket. “Those pictures all look the same to me. How do you decide which ones are going to produce this kind of response?” She squeezed him slightly, holding for a moment and feeling his pulse.
“I don’t decide. Its not a conscious process.”
“I think you’re deciding with your co-processor.” She gave him another slight squeeze through the blanket.
“OK, I decide with the little head then. Some just do it for me.”
“Not so little now,” she said, a smile touching her lips. “What makes a picture ‘do it for you’?”
He looked at the screen. “Some kind of detail stands out on some of them, some… I don’t know, some are just hot. Does that bother you?”
She ignored the question. Let him think that it did in fact bother her. “They’re identical. Interchangeable. Same picture, different face, over and over. No art to them. And the hardcore ones are worse. They always seem to end with the guy jerking off on the girl’s face or maybe popping on her tits. Its just stupid.” She paused. “Come on my face doesn’t ‘do it for me’” She took her hand away and turned back to her book.
He went back to looking at the screen, and clicked through three more pictures. “That doesn’t actually turn me on that much either. I’d rather have them come in a condom than all over a girl’s face.”
She looked at him, without putting the book down. “Do they have those?”
“Uh… Yeah. Or creampies.”
“Which is?”
“The guy comes inside the girl, she lets it run out. Usually with a close-up.”
She blinked. “I guess that would be hotter than the stupid facials…”
“Which, the condom or the cream pie?”
She didn’t answer.
“If it bothers you, I’ll stop,” he said. “I can read about canning peaches or fixing chainsaws or something.”
“It doesn’t bother me.” He continued to watch her face as she looked back at her book. Her eyes weren’t moving like she was reading. After a few moments she set it aside. “All right. I give up. Show me some.”
“Show you?”
“Yeah, convince me I shouldn’t be upset by you looking at this stuff.”
He looked at her and after a moment, smiled. “OK. Sure…”
“But you have to tell me what you like about them.”
He looked at her and licked his lips, eyes narrowing. He tensed a little. “I don’t know. Its kind of baring my soul to you. Telling you what I like.”
She smiled, tilting her head back and parting her lips. “But if you tell me what you like… then I’ll know more about what you like.” Her smile became wicked. Her hand brushed across his erection. “And forget the condoms. I don’t care about seeing a bag of jizz.”
“Noted. No points for bags of jizz. Ummmn. Let me start with something… tamer.” He pulled up a picture, and tilted the screen so she could see it.
“She’s pretty.” She sounded annoyed.
“Well, yeah, I do generally prefer pretty girls. That’s one of the things I like about you. He watched her reaction as she looked at the picture.
“So what do you like about this one, besides she’s pretty and young and thin? She’s still kind of covered up.”
“Well… I like the stockings.”
She studied the picture. “Tell me… about that.”
“They’re sort of like clothes that aren’t really clothes. They cover her legs, but really only accentuate them. The don’t cover the more… interesting parts. I like the line up the back…”
“You like the line on the stockings, or you like the little string thong?”
“Well, I like both. The combination has an artistic symmetry to it. See how the lines on the stockings flare out into a triangle at the heel? It looks just like the thong flaring out into the triangular patch… in front.”
She studied the picture, her lips parted slightly. He felt her touch leave him and glanced down. Her hand was now hovering over her body, fingertips trailing along where the blanket draped between her thighs.
“I like the way she’s bent over away from you, but you can still see her face, looking back at you. I like her hair trailing down, and you can see the underside of her tits below the crop shirt.”
“I bet you like the backs of her knees, too,” she said.
He looked back at the picture. “Yeah… but why do you think that?”
“Well, the line in her stockings goes over the back of her knees before it flares out over her heel… but goes over the backs of her knees first. The string of the thong goes over right over her…” She touched the picture, “ass… before it flares out over her pussy. Which looks like it is completely shaved, even through the fabric.”
“So if you know that much about how much I like, why do you have to ask?”
“Tell me something else you like about this one.”
He looked at the picture again. “She has herself… tilted. Her pelvis is tilted forward. It makes her pussy more obvious, and spreads her cheeks out. I like the way it makes her ass look. She looks like you could just pop that string and start fucking her.”
“I don’t usually fuck girls,” she said.
“Well, like I could anyway.”
“You do and I’ll tie your nuts in a knot,” she said. He noticed that her hand had disappeared beneath the covers only after he felt her thigh rub against his, as she bent one knee and spread her legs a little.
“So show me some more. Something… raunchier. Something that makes you get hard.”
He looked at her eyes; she closed them deliberately, trembled, then opened them again and licked her lips.
He stared at her face for a moment longer. “Let me see…” He flipped past a few more pictures, then stopped at one of a different woman, with short dark hair and bright blue eyes. The model lay on her back with her ankles and knees pressed together, knees pulled up near her face and held there with one arm, eyes staring straight at the camera. She wore bright blue stiletto heels that matched her translucent bra, and nothing but skin between the bra and the shoes.
“You just like that one ’cause she’s got her finger in her ass,” she said.
“Hey, you brought up the subject. But yes,I do like that. Quite a bit in fact. But I like the wet, slick looking pussy, and the short trimmed bush. And the look in her eyes… It’s like she’s saying she’s ready for you to fuck her pussy, but not her ass. Its busy entertaining her finger. Maybe later.”
“Its too warm under this blanket,” she said, and pulled the blanket down to her thighs. She put her hand into her thong panties and pressed her legs together. “So you like a woman to keep her legs pressed together like this?”
She spread her legs wide, one across his thighs. He could see her finger tracing circles inside the thin panties. “I thought you preferred her to spread, more like this?”
“Yeah, well, it depends on the angle, the point of view.”
“How so?” she asked, the motion inside her panties increasing.
“Well, if you’re looking at her from the front, spreading everything out is definitely the best.”
She spread her legs a little further, brushing her knee across his rigid dick. “More like this?”
“Yeah, so her pussy lips open up, and you can how wet she is.” He could now see that her wrist was now making quick, in-and-out movements in between circling. “Are you finger fucking yourself?”
“Why, isn’t that on the list of things you like to see?”
“Well, yeah, but you never do that…”
“It was an accident. I was so wet my finger just slipped into my pussy on its own.” The in-and-out motion increased. “Tell me about when you like to see her legs pressed together.”
“When I’m looking from behind, and she’s bent over at the waist, or like this with her legs pulled up. It looks like she’s trying to hide her pussy, but you can still see it well enough to tell its wet. It works even better when the knees are together and the ankles spread. Opens up the thighs and ass cheeks.”
“It looks like she’s so wet her juices are dripping over her ass. Show me more.” He flipped through a few more pictures. “How about something with some dick involved. And take your hand off that tool of yours if you’re going to make yourself come before I can get a taste of it.”
He hadn’t realized where his hand had been. “Oh, I see. You get to play with yourself but I have to behave…”
“I could go back to reading my book…”
“Never mind, let me see what I can find for you.” He pulled up another picture. “So I guess this one I like because of the position. Somehow we never do this…”
A blonde with shoulder-length hair was on her knees, with her chest and shoulders on a blanket on a tile floor, her face half buried in a pillow. Her eyes were closed and a corner of the pillow was clenched in her teeth. Peppermint striped string panties were stretched tight between her knees, her legs spread as much as the fabric would allow. Her calves were angled out even further. She had a slight tan, but no hint of a tan line and not a single strand of hair visible below her eyebrows. A pale, muscular man was on knees behind her. The head of his dick was just splitting the lips of her pussy. Her lips were swollen and very wet.
“And you like this one because of the tall, skinny blonde?”
“Well, she’s pretty, again, but the key is the position. The great thing about this position, from the guy’s viewpoint, is the view of her ass. Guys are very visual. Its almost impossible to look at her pussy and fuck it at the same time, but when she’s like this, you can be buried in her pussy, and still look down at that asshole and imagine how great it would be to slam your dick in there. And I like the way she’s using both hands to spread her cheeks open, inviting him to look.”
“She’s got that tilt in her pelvis too,” she said.
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
She pulled her thin camisole up, exposing one breast and half the other. “But if she’s like that, you can’t really see her tits very well.” She licked a finger and began circling her exposed nipple with it. She played with it for a few moments before saying, “You’re supposed to be showing me pictures, you know, not staring at me.”
“Well, I like the fingers in the mouth thing. And the tits.”
“Oh, you like this sort of thing?” she said, taking her hand out of her panties. All four fingers were already shiny and wet. She licked each one, then put two, then three, then put all four into her mouth; then put her hand back into her panties.
“Yeah, that sort of thing.”
“Get back to doing your job,” she said.
He flipped through a few more pictures; a solo redhead on her back with a long, sliver vibrator, tip resting on her clit – she asked if he liked to watch a girl masturbate, and he affirmed that he did. A pale brunette taking the huge dick of a muscular black man halfway into her mouth while another was buried in her pussy.
She continued the work inside her panties, and started squeezing her entire breast in between playing with the nipple. “I guess some of them aren’t that boring.” She paused. “I’m soaking wet, but I haven’t come yet.” she said, looking into his eyes. He started to reach between her legs and she slapped at him. “Not yet. First show me something dirty.”
“You mean that one’s not dirty enough?”
“Come on. Show me what you like even better than that one…” She arched her back a little.
“Oh, I see. You want me to tell you… Well, show me what put that little smile on your face and made your dick get so hard.”
He smiled, but didn’t say anything.
“Show me something with a pretty girl taking it up the ass.”
“You want it dirty, dirty?”
“Yeah, show me some dirty ass-fucking. If I like it maybe I’ll let you do it to me.”
“I thought you had to be really hot before you would even think about letting me near your ass?”
“Practically melting. But when I am, it makes me come so much harder. I’m starting to think a lot. And starting to melt.”
He turned his attention back to the screen, searched for a moment, and pulled up another picture. “This is one of my favorite poses. The girl is pretty hot. Kind of the reverse of the pussy fucking one…” The picture showed a brunette with long dark curls; she wore a dark green corset pushing up large, soft tits. Her nipples were erect and wrinkled. She lay on her back in a chair, one leg over the shoulder of a tall, thin guy with long, straight blond hair. His dick was thin, and half buried in her ass. Her other leg was splayed to the side, not to block the view. She spread her pussy lips with the long fingers of both hands. “Its kind of posed, but I like it anyway.”
“So this way you get to look at her pussy, open and inviting, while fucking her in the ass?”
“Yeah… hot.”
Her hand was moving inside her panties again. “Is that your favorite?” she said, a little breathlessly. “Position, I mean…”
“Well, I do like that pose…”
” But I bet you like it even better with the girl on her belly, completely helpless…” He looked at her face. “Preferably over a pillow or with something under her hips to prop her ass up in the air.”
He pulled up another picture.
“Yeah, like that,” she said.
“I like the way she’s spreading her cheeks here, and her pussy is open and wet. And the panties not even down to mid-thigh, creasing her skin, about to break from her legs spreading. She was in such a hurry to get fucked that she couldn’t get her panties all the way off. And the guy’s dick looks huge in her ass. I like the way balls just brush the back of her pussy lips.”
“She’s not as skinny as some of the others…” Her breathing was noticeably faster.
“Yeah, makes her ass look rounder.”
“She’s built kind of like me.”
“Yeah, I think she’s built about right, not fat, but not so skinny that she doesn’t have some curve to her ass.”
“I bet you’d like to see me in that position, wouldn’t you?”
He flipped to the next picture. “And this is almost the same pose, but now it looks like she’s climaxing.”
“You just love it when a girl comes when you’re in her ass, don’t you?”
“Yes I do. And this one ends like this…” He pulled up another picture, of the same couple. The girl in the picture still spread her cheeks with her hands, and it looked like the guy had just pulled his dick out of her, though he was still obviously very hard. Milky fluid trailed from the head and was trickling out of her ass, which was still slightly open. The juice was running into her pussy, which also gaped. She smiled back over her shoulder.”
“So that’s a cream pie?”
“That’s what they call it.”
“So you like to see some guy’s semen dripping out of a woman’s asshole?”
“Well, preferably my own semen, but yeah.”
“You like the way it runs down into her pussy?”
“Yeah. Makes it even wetter. I like the way her pussy is open for it to run into.”
“I bet she’s gaping open like that because he pounded her pussy before she let him ass-fuck her. She’s a dirty little cunt. You like watching a dirty little cunt come?”
“Of course!”
“You like to watch her face, or her ass and pussy?”
“Well, depends, but right now ass and pussy.”
“Am I a dirty enough cunt for you?”
“Is that a trick question?”
“Nnnng… No cream pie, but if you want a live show, you better go look,” she said as her breathing quickened more.
He put the screen on her chest, squeezing the breast that was still covered through the thin fabric of her camisole as he swiveled around on his hips and positioned himself to look at what she was doing. Somehow she had the little blue print thong down around her ankles. She drew her knees up and spread her legs, flexing one ankle and causing the thong to shoot off into the corner of the room.
She had trimmed her auburn pubic hair down to just a little more than a stubble, in the shape of a triangle. She was shaven clean around that, with smooth lips, now puffy and soaking wet. Legs still up in the air, she reached behind her and lifted her ass cheek, fingertips catching her pussy lips on that side and pulling them open. The fingers of her other hand swirled around the hood of her clit. Her pussy gaped open. Her ass was a tight pinpoint. She let her legs relax, spreading them wide and resting one across his hip. She was glistening and wet from the swollen bump above her lips all the way back to the cleft behind her ass.
She ran her fingers down her lips, hesitated, then ran them over her ass and back up to her clit. The second time down, two fingers trailed into her pussy. “Those pictures all focused on the girl… I don’t even want to screw a girl, I don’t know why I’m reacting like this…”
Disclaimer: This story, entitled K’s Tenth Playground, and the people, places, and events depicted in it is an original work of fiction, hereafter referred to as THE STORY. Any resemblance of people, places, or events in THE STORY to actual people, places, or events is coincidental. Any resemblance of people, places, or events in THE STORY to people, places, or events in another work of fiction is coincidental. The author of THE STORY has done some research of real techniques, theories, and methods in order to craft THE STORY with details that may help suspend disbelief for any person or persons voluntarily viewing or accessing the content of THE STORY in part or in whole, hereafter referred to as THE READERS. These details are solely for storytelling purposes. THE STORY and the events depicted in it should not under any circumstances be construed as support or encouragement by the author or any other person or persons of any action or actions by any person or persons anywhere or at any time.
Situations or actions depicted in THE STORY may be sexual in nature, including depictions of situations or actions that may be distasteful to or illegal in the jurisdiction or location of THE READERS. THE READERS of THE STORY who do not wish to view material of a sexual nature or consider the depictions of said situations distasteful should not read THE STORY. THE READERS of THE STORY are solely responsible for compliance with and the consequences of any laws or regulations related to the viewing or storage of the content of THE STORY in any jurisdiction or location where THE READERS access or store THE STORY in part or in whole. Any person or persons unwilling or not legally allowed to view the content of THE STORY in their jurisdiction or location may not be shown the content of THE STORY in part or in whole.
All characters depicted in THE STORY are 18 years of age or older.
The next chapter in my story inspired by Kate’s Playground, by MyJimmy. In it Krissy and her father explore their new arrangement together, getting a little dangerous. Yada, yada, yada, don’t try this at home. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
But it could be chapter 10, if you know what I mean…
The next few days passed relatively uneventfully. I returned to work and Krissy continued to enjoy her summer with her friends.
I posted the point of view pics to the website and, as I had predicted, it created quite a surge in traffic. Krissy was well on her way to making her five grand.
A couple of times I tried to engage Susan in some frisky fun. My heart wasn’t fully in it since I knew it would mean the end of my ‘agreement’ with Krissy, but I figured I owed it to Krissy to make a real effort. But Susan was like an icebox and I got nowhere. I decided to step up my game.
It was Friday. I had cooked a candlelight dinner for me and Susan, which got me a big kiss on the cheek from Krissy as she headed out for the evening.
“You are the sweetest man in the world. This is your night daddy, I can feel it.”
But several hours after she was supposed to have been home I got a belated text from my wife telling me that I should just wrap up the leftovers and leave them in the oven as she needed to work late.
Krissy came back to the house to find me alone in the kitchen staring out into space, a beer in my hand and a sputtering candle that had burned down to a nub. She guessed what had happened right away.
“Oh daddy,” she said sadly.
“It’s fine. Her job is important to her,” I said.
“No daddy, it’s not right. You really tried and she didn’t even bother to show up.”
Krissy pulled the beer from my hand and put it on the table.
“Come on. Wallowing won’t do you any good.”
Even though I hadn’t thought I really wanted this to work, I suddenly found myself overwhelmed with the growing realization that my marriage was really and truly falling apart.
“Honey, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, but I really just want to be alone for a bit.”
“Not up to you dad,” Krissy said firmly.
I looked up at her quizzically. She planted a hand on her hip and unbuttoned the front of her jeans with the other.
“We had an agreement. I just spent the night dancing and flirting with boys and had to leave without any getting any. So I’m horny.
“I need a cock to suck and someone to eat my pussy and per our agreement the only person who can service me is you. So mope on your own time. Pull those pants down so I can suck you off. I wanna taste your delicious cum again.”
I was shocked, and almost instantly hard. Not about to argue, I shrugged my pants and boxers off and sat back down on the chair. Krissy kneeled in between my legs and grabbed my cock, staring lustfully at it.
“Mom doesn’t know what she’s missing,” she sighed as she dropped her mouth over my cock and started to suck enthusiastically.
Let me tell you, the best cure in the world for depression is a vigorous blow job. Five minutes later I had forgotten about my wife altogether as I blasted thick loads of cum in Krissy’s eager mouth, then threw her on the kitchen table and ate her out. She came hard on the table, then again on the floor as I pulled her down and she rode my face.
Still we weren’t done. Shedding clothing on the stairs and in the hallway as we kissed and teased one another like lovers we made our way to the bathroom to clean up. Under the hot water of the shower she sucked me off for a second time and I returned the favor once more myself. Finally, both of us completely spent and satisfied, we toweled off and went downstairs, cleaning up the evidence of our crime.
After a few minutes we found ourselves sitting on the sofa in the living room wrapped in towels, our clothes collected into a heap on the chair next to us. For a while we just sat there, smiling at one another and holding hands. We both knew the evening was about to end and neither of us wanted to acknowledge it.
“Hope your old man wasn’t too terrible a substitute for a summer fling,” I joked.
Krissy shook her head and rolled her eyes, smiling.
“This is so weird. I can’t believe I’m sitting here with you and about to tell you…No, forget it.”
“What?” I asked, playfully tugging at the towel fabric around her breasts. “Tell me.”
Krissy looked down, not meeting my eyes. “Telling you that…that for the rest of my life your tongue will be the yardstick I use to measure oral sex. I have never cum so hard on a tongue as I did on yours, daddy.”
Shyly she looked up to my eyes to gauge my response.
“I think you’re just trying to boost your old man’s ego.”
Krissy climbed onto my lap and put her hands on my chest.
“Believe me daddy, I wish I was. It would be so much easier if I was.”
I pulled Krissy in for a kiss. Not a chaste father-daughter kiss, but a deep lovers kiss that Krissy returned with fervor.
After a minute of making out with her squirming in my lap I could feel myself getting hard again. Krissy pulled back from our kiss and glanced down at my crotch, smiling.
“Looks like somebody needs some more release,” she smiled as she slithered out of my lap and onto her knees in front of me.
Tugging open the towel she watched as my rock hard cock sprang up, reaching up to grasp it in her hand.
“You’re like, the perfect guy,” she moaned, “always hard!”
Then she lowered her lips over my cock and started blowing me for the third time that evening.
Our encounters earlier had been sweaty, frenzied events with animal-like intensity. This time, with both of us having already cum multiple times, it was a slower, more loving experience. I leaned back, smiling ear to ear as my daughter slowly moved her lips up and down my cock, mewing softly.
Suddenly we heard the front door open. Krissy froze, my cock still in her mouth. My wife was home and about to catch our daughter with my cock in her mouth!
I heard the sound of car keys being tossed into the bowl in the hall by the door and footsteps as Susan headed to the kitchen. Passing by the entrance to the living room she turned and saw me on the couch, my back to her.
“Oh, hi honey. Sorry I missed dinner.”
She couldn’t see the other side of the sofa where Krissy was kneeling, my cock still in her mouth. But if she walked in here…
I twisted around to look at her. “Hi. No problem. How was work?”
I could feel Krissy’s tongue starting to twist around and lick my cock, which had been deflating in my panic, getting it back to full erection. Jesus, I thought, trying to stifle a moan, did she want to get caught?
“Fine, fine. What are you doing sitting in the dark?”
“Nothing,” I said as casually as I could.
Krissy had started slowly bobbing her head back up and down my prick. I gritted my teeth, my cock throbbing.
“Just fell asleep.”
Susan shrugged. “Ok. Food in the oven?” she asked and moved away towards the kitchen.
I hissed as quietly as I could as Krissy began bouncing her mouth up and down forcefully on my cock, her cheeks hollowed and her lips tightly gripping my shaft.
“Yah. Help yourself.”
I grabbed Krissy’s head and started jerking her up and down my length. She whimpered quietly, sensing my impending orgasm. I heard the sound of the oven door opening.
“Mmm,” my wife called out, “it smells good!”
“Yah,” I replied, “it’s…delicious!”
I groaned softly as I came hard, spurting ropes of cum into Krissy’s eager mouth. She noisily sucked and swallowed each blast, her lips and tongue massaging my cock to get every last drop out.
My mouth was open wide, trying to suck air into my lungs as quietly as possible. In the kitchen I could hear Susan getting out a plate and silverware.
Finally convinced I had given her everything she was going to get, Krissy let my flaccid member slip from her mouth, smiling up at me and winking. Then she quickly turned around and scooped up her clothes from the chair.
As she tip-toed out of the room towards the stairs she turned around to look at me with a wicked grin, moving a hand up to her stomach and rubbing it in circles while she mimed “Mmmm.”
I just stared at her slack-jawed. With a silent chuckle, she quietly bounced out of the room and up the stairs.
Recovering my senses I nervously glanced back towards the kitchen and began tugging my clothes back on. I had just gotten my shirt back on when Susan came back to the living room entrance with a plate of food. I smiled pleasantly at her.
“Do you mind heading up to bed?” she asked. “I was hoping to watch a little TV with dinner.”
“Not at all,” I said, getting up. “Enjoy.”
I headed upstairs, pausing for a few minutes on the stairs to let my adrenaline soaked heart slow down. Holy shit that had been close! Krissy had shown me a side of her that I never knew existed. I began to wonder just how innocent she really was.
Krissy’s door was closed and I could hear soft music playing. I was tempted to open the door, but decided I had had enough excitement for one evening.
Going into my room and closing the door behind me, my eyes began to adjust to the darkness as I undressed. Something tripped my senses and I froze. I wasn’t alone in the room.
Looking over towards the bed I jumped a little when I realized Krissy was sitting quietly on my bed, watching me.
“Holy crap,” I gasped. “Krissy, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Not yet,” she giggled.
“Krissy, your mother is just downstairs. We barely escaped getting caught already. Do you want her to find out?”
“She just started eating dinner,” Krissy replied with a nonchalant shrug as she tugged her panties off. “We’ve got at least half an hour. More than enough time for you to even the score.”
She leaned back onto the bed, rubbing her pussy. “Get over here and eat me out.”
I glanced at the door, considering telling her no. But Krissy’s pussy looked so inviting. Plus, I figured she was probably right, it would be a while before my wife came upstairs for bed.
Screw it, I thought, putting my face down into my daughter’s snatch.
“Mmmm, daddy,” Krissy moaned as I started in on her with gusto.
Twenty minutes and two orgasms screamed into a pillow later, Krissy wobbled unsteadily out of my room with her underwear in her hands and a big goofy smile on her face.
I rolled over and went to sleep. How strange my life had become!
Allison checked the cork board in the hardware store looking for a handy-man to do some work around her yard. One of the employees asked her if she needed any help, and she said she was looking for help with a new garden in her back yard.
“I’d go with this guy here, Shane Masters. He’s good at most yard work, and plumbing sprinklers and stuff. He also has very reasonable rates.”
“Thank you; I’ll give him a call.”
Allison wrote down the number and then headed home to call Shane. He answered on the second ring with a pleasant “hello”. She told him about her idea for a new garden in her backyard, and he agreed to swing by later in the day.
He arrived just after two, and he was anything but what she’d been expecting. He had dark wavy hair, about the color of hers, and beautiful blue eyes. He was about five-foot-ten inches tall, with broad shoulders and an inviting smile.
He was wearing tan cargo shorts, and a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the top four buttons undone. It was long and un-tucked, and on him it looked rather GQ. He had a curl of hair hanging next to his left eye, and it was all she could do not to move it with her finger.
He smiled and introduced himself, and she smiled and did the same before leading him to the back yard. He commented on the beautiful Roman style swimming pool and spa as they walked past it. She talked about it for a minute and then took him a little further back into the yard, and showed him where she wanted a new three tiered flower garden.
“So I’m assuming you want it curved in front, like the other two, and made of the same brick as the others as well?”
“That would be nice, if you can do that? I’d also like it to have its own zone on the sprinkler system, and some accent lighting like the others do.”
“I can do all of that easy enough. I get two-hundred a day, and I’m going to estimate five days to complete it.”
“Do you have any pictures of your work, maybe from jobs you’ve already done?”
“I have a website you can check out, and a few regular clients that don’t mind giving me referrals.”
“Do you mind if we look at it right now?”
“Not at all.”
He followed her to the study where her home office was and she pulled over a second office chair for him. He reached over and punched in the web address and she was impressed by the quality of his work. She sat there flipping through the pictures, while he sat there staring at her from the corner of his eye.
Allison had long dark hair, with burgundy streaks in it, and he was surprised at how shiny and smooth it appeared. Her neck was just a little longer than what might be called normal, and he thought it gave her a very unique look. Her chest was nice as well. It wasn’t small, and it certainly wasn’t large. He assumed it was all natural, but you never knew for sure.
She finished up and he offered to give her the number of a few clients but she assured it that wasn’t necessary. He set one of his cards in front of her and she picked it up between her fingers. Her nails were manicured and had been airbrushed by a top notch salon.
They got up from the desk and she walked him to the door. He couldn’t help but take in her beauty, walking gracefully along in her black bellbottom jeans and fitted navy blue blouse. She turned at the door and caught him watching her hips and ass. She turned red when she realized he was smiling about it.
“So…when can you start Shane?”
“I can start tomorrow if you want me to?”
“That would be great, do I need to sign anything, or give you any money now?”
“No, I’ll be here at nine in the morning if that’s ok, and we can go over the cost of supplies and what not.”
“Do you…mind if I ask your age Shane?”
“Not at all, I’m twenty-six and I’m bonded and licensed.”
“Ok, well I guess I’ll see you in the morning then, and thank you.”
“Oh, it’s my pleasure Miss.”
“Call me Allison, if you’d…like?”
“Ok Allison, I’ll see you at nine in the morning I guess.”
She watched him walk to his lowered Chevy S-10 pick-up and slowly drive away. She wasn’t sure why she was staring at him as he left, but she couldn’t look away until he was out of site.
Allison was up and showered by seven-thirty, and her hair and makeup was done by eight. Unfortunately it took until almost nine for her to find the “right thing” to wear. Eventually she decided on a pair a light rose colored pastel denim shorts and a light weight white fitted sleeveless blouse. She slipped on a pair of Bass leather sandals just as the doorbell rang.
Today Shane was wearing brown cargo shorts and a tan tank-top with his logo, “Shane’s Home & Garden” across the back. He had on suede leather boots and was carrying a leather folder in his hand. They went to the back yard and sat at the patio table by the pool.
They went over everything and about an hour later he started carrying tools in the side gate. She sat at the table and watched as he went back and forth. He smiled every time he looked her way. Eventually he started marking the grass with spray paint for the straight sides, and then put down a long piece of chain marking the free-form curved front wall.
“Is this the idea you had in mind Allison?”
“That looks perfect to me, it matches the others perfectly.”
He went along the edge of the chain marking the ground and then grabbed a flat nosed shovel and started removing the turf where the brick would go. She sat down on the grass a few feet away and watched him work.
“So is this all you do Shane?”
“I do a lot of garden work; I took landscape design in college. I also install new sinks, bathtubs, faucets, things like that. I hang pictures, and have been convinced to set tile as well.”
“I noticed the truck you were driving yesterday was pretty fancy, is that a hobby of yours?”
“Ya, she’s my baby I guess you’d say? My mom bought it for my when I went to college.”
“I imagine she must have a pretty nice garden as well, with you being so skilled at it.”
“She did, before she died, well I mean the garden is still there, at my house, but mom isn’t.”
“Oh, I’m sorry…when did she pass?”
“Five years ago, she had lymphoma.”
“That must have been pretty hard on you and your dad.”
“It was just me and mom; my dad vanished when I was just a baby. My aunt stayed with us at the end though. How about you Allison, you live here alone?”
“I was…married, until five years ago. I got the house, or I guess I should say I bought him out of the house, but yes, I live alone.”
“You sure have a nice place here, I love the yard.”
“Thank you, I have a lot of ideas I’d like to run by you, once this is finished.”
“I’ll take all the work I can get.”
“Would you like something cold to drink, I have iced tea, lemonade, and a pretty big choice of soda?”
“Iced tea no sugar would be great, if it’s no trouble?”
“None at all, I’ll be right back.”
He leaned on his shovel handle watching her walk to the French doors. He couldn’t help but feel she was a little sad about her life. He wasn’t sure why, she seemed to have everything a woman could want, pretty much, and she could land any man she wanted, if she wanted.
He got back to his work and a few minutes later she arrived with two big plastic cups filled with tea and ice. He sat down on the grass and enjoyed the cold drink in silence. She took a few sips and then set her cup between her thighs while she stared into it.
“So what went wrong with your marriage, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Well, I’m still not quite sure…to be honest. I actually thought things were great, until he walked in one night and told me he wanted a divorce.”
“Wait, what…are you serious? No constant fights, or the standard, “We’ve grown apart” line? He just came home and said he wanted a divorce?”
“Yes, that’s what happened, and a year later he married a younger woman, and now they have a four year old daughter.”
“Did he want kids, is that was got between you two?”
“No, when we got married he didn’t want kids, so I got my tubes tied. I guess he changed his mind, and figured I was…broken.”
She had a tear running down her cheek and Shane realized he might have gone too far. He drank the rest of his iced tea and set his cup on the grass. He reached out and touched her leg, causing her to jump.
“I’m sorry; sometimes I forget my place Allison.”
“No, its fine…Just getting older sucks I guess, I was just thinking about how much life you have ahead of you.”
“What are you, like thirty? You have plenty ahead of you as well, I’m sure.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be thirty-nine in August.”
“Get out, seriously?”
“Yes, almost to the dreaded forty.”
“Well you look great…I should get back to work, before I forget why I’m here.”
He hopped up and grabbed his shovel, while she just sat there with her sweating cup held against her crotch. She picked it up to take a sip, and it had made a wet spot on her crotch. He knew it was just water from the cup, but it looked incredibly sexy regardless.
“So…what is it you do Allison? Your office seemed set up for computer work.”
“I’m a web developer. I design websites and graphics for a big firm out of New York.”
“Wow, it must be nice to work from home every day.”
“It is, but it can be lonely at times I guess.”
“So do you date much?”
“Oh…no, not since…my husband…”
“Wait, you don’t date?”
“I don’t get a lot of offers working from home.”
He tried not to stare at her crotch, but it wasn’t easy. She eventually caught him and when she looked down her face turned bright red. He turned his back to her and continued to cut up the turf until he felt less like a jerk.
She took the cups inside and didn’t return for a while, and when she finally did, she sat at the table with a magazine. He continued his work until almost six and then started cleaning up for the day. He caught her watching him a few times as he stacked the sod in a pile. He finished up and then walked to within about five feet of her.
“If it’s alright, I’d like to start around seven thirty tomorrow, I’ll just let myself in the side gate, ok?”
“By all means, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Yes, goodnight Allison.”
She watched him walk around the pool and down the path to the far end of the house and out of site. She dropped the magazine on the table and rubbed her face with her hands. She couldn’t figure out why she was so intrigued with him, he was only twenty-six; he was just beginning his life.
She shook her head and then picked up her magazine and went inside…
The next morning she woke up around eight. She looked out the window and he was already covered in sweat from moving bricks. Her husband was an accountant and never did any real manual labor, but something about Shane made it look sexy.
She sat on the edge of the bed watching him while her fingers slipped down the front of her cotton panties. She watched as he unloaded the next load of bricks from his cart, and then to her joy, he removed his t-shirt and wiped his face and perfect chest.
One hand was teasing her hard excited nipples while the other hand rubbed circles around her hardening clit. She’d spent a lot of time alone, and had perfected her masturbation techniques, but this time her body betrayed her and she exploded with almost no warning at all.
She gasped and moaned out as her fingers rubbed furiously across her clit, and her nipples burned with desire. She rubbed until her breathing got raspy and another orgasm started approaching. This time she used both hands on her pussy, one for penetration, and one for stimulation.
Her eyes were glued to his naked back as he started laying out small stacks of brick, and to her utter amazement he stopped and slipped his hand down his shorts. She watched as he wiggled his leg and adjusted his cock in his shorts.
She squealed out as a flood of emotion ripped through her body and her abdomen got hard like a rock. She rubbed and thrust as wave after wave pummeled her with searing pleasure. It was like nothing she’d felt in five years.
She gasped for air until her head cleared and then slowly dragged herself to the bathroom and started the shower. She washed her hair quickly, and then down her body before climbing out and drying off. She grabbed a pair of bikini cut cotton panties and slipped them up her freshly shaved legs. She stopped just before her unruly bush and stared at it in the floor to ceiling mirror.
“My god, I’ve let myself go…”
She removed her panties and grabbed her razor. Twenty minutes later she’d gone wild and shaved the entire area smooth. She ran her fingers over her full vulva and smiled. She felt sexy for the first time in ages. She slipped her panties back on and went to the closet. She flipped through the hangers until she found a nice floral print dress and slipped it over her head. She decided against a bra, but she wasn’t exactly sure why.
She pulled her hair back and put it in a pony tail, and then went barefoot to the back yard. Shane wasn’t there, but a few minutes later he arrived with a batch of cement. He smiled brightly saying good morning, and she did the same.
“Can I get you some coffee or anything?”
“Uhm…sure, coffee, one sugar and two creams would be great!”
She got almost to the edge of the pool and turned back to him.
“Do you like it strong, or weak?”
“It doesn’t matter to me.”
She took two steps backward and slipped on the edge of the pool, falling in with a big splash. Shane’s eyes shot open wide as he rushed to the edge to check on her. She was treading water and holding her arm where it hit the corner as she fell.
“Well now I look like a moron, I can’t even walk right anymore.”
“…and I was just getting ready to tell you I loved your dress.”
He watched as she swam to the steps and slowly walked out of the water. She was so embarrassed she forgot she wasn’t wearing a bra. He stood there staring at her dark areolas plainly visible through the wet fabric.
“So you like…this dress?”
“Ya, very much…”
“It’s see-through, isn’t it…”
“Uh, ya, pretty much.”
“Oh shit!”
She put her arm across her chest when she realized she was bra-less. He turned red but still took her arm and looked at the small abrasion in the middle of her forearm. It wasn’t bleeding, but it was going to bruise. He wasn’t sure why he did it, it was probably because of his mom, but he leaned down and kissed it.
“All better.”
Her arms turned to goose bumps and she shivered under his lips. Her arm slid down an inch and her hard nipples were leaving dents in her dress.
“I should go change.”
“Don’t change on my account.”
“If I was twenty-six, I probably wouldn’t.”
She couldn’t believe she’d just said that. It was like her body was hitting on him while her mind just stood there and watched in confusion.
“Why on earth would your age matter?”
“I…have no idea; I don’t even know what I’m saying.”
She turned and headed for the doors while he watched her pantie covered ass crack as she walked.
“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you Allison, I wasn’t really thinking.”
“Actually, I’m not embarrassed about the dress, just looking clumsy.”
She walked inside and went to the kitchen. She looked out the window over the sink and he was rubbing the hard lump in the front of his shorts.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, I actually turned him on?”
She was dripping water all over the Italian marble and it got slippery when it was wet, especially in bare feet. She turned, overly excited and her feet slipped out from under her. She screamed and went “thud” on the hard floor.
She opened her eyes, and she was lying in the living room on the sofa. She had on her bath robe, and Shane was looking pale as he started talking to her. She could see his lips moving but all she heard was mumbling. She reached inside her robe and found her breasts covered by a lace bra. Further down she found dry underwear, and she panicked.
“Are you ok Allison?”
“I…I guess, did I change…myself?”
“No, I called 911, and realized you might not want to be hauled away, dressed like you were when you fell.”
“Hauled away, what do you mean?”
“The paramedics are coming; you’ve been out about fifteen minutes…you scared the shit out of me.”
“I’m not going in an ambulance, that’s absurd. I’m fine now.”
She sat up and got dizzy before falling back down on the pillow under her head. A few seconds later there was a loud knock at the door and the doorbell rang a few times. Shane went to the door and let them in.
About ten minutes later they were putting her on a stretcher. She was embarrassed, but glad she wasn’t wearing a wet see-through dress. She told Shane where her house keys were and told him thank you. He said he’d check on her later and a few minutes later they drove away.
He worked until two in the afternoon and then called it a day. He went to her office and found her purse and cell phone, and then he went to her room and found her some clothes. He put everything in his work truck and drove home to clean up before going to the hospital.
He bought her flowers at the florist up the street and then tracked her down on the second floor. Her door was closed, so he knocked before opening it slowly. She was sitting up talking to a doctor, but she smiled when he walked in the room.
“Are you going to be ok Allison?”
“Yes, I have a mild concussion, so they’re keeping me overnight.”
The doctor got up and left the room, leaving them alone. He set the flowers beside her bed while she tried to find something to say. He took her purse and phone from the bag and then showed her the clothes he’d brought her.
“Listen Shane, thank you for getting me out of the wet dress, you’re right, I’m glad I wasn’t half naked when they arrived. The flowers are beautiful too.”
“I’m sorry, I feel bad for removing your dress, I just…I wanted to…protect you I guess?”
“Like I said, I’m fine with it, really.”
“Ok, I also put your dress through the wash so it wouldn’t get bleached from the pool.”
“Thank you, I love that dress.”
“Ya, me too, but I think I’ve said that a few times already.”
“You liked it wet, I remember that part.”
“I won’t lie, you’re a beautiful woman.”
“So, how was it, seeing a naked forty year old?”
“Wow, well…you need to get over the age thing, you look better than my last girlfriend.”
She turned red and looked away. She’d been fishing for a compliment, but nothing quite so bold. She almost jumped when his hand touched her leg and she looked up at him.
“I put my number in your phone, so just give me a call if you need a ride home tomorrow, ok? I’ll still be working if you don’t mind?”
“So, you’re leaving now?”
“Well, I don’t want to bother you, or anything.”
“You can stay if you want; I mean I don’t want to keep you from anything though.”
He walked around the bed and sat down in the padded chair under the window. She smiled and turned on her side so she could see him. A few minutes later they were talking about the future changes to her yard, and things she wanted to do out front under the big leaded glass windows.
They talked until after dark, and eventually the nurse showed up and gave her another pain pill. He kissed her hand and told her goodnight, and when she looked in his eyes she saw something she wasn’t used to seeing in people. A genuine friendly smile…
The next afternoon she called him for a ride, and told him to just use her car to pick her up. He hopped behind the wheel of the Lexus convertible and headed to the hospital. When he arrived at the front door she was waiting in a wheel chair with a bag filled with her robe, and her flowers between her legs.
She was perfectly fine, and got in the car without any help. She told him to step on it, and he raced away laughing. Twice on the ride home he patted her thigh, causing her to blush the first time, and gasp the second, when he got the inside edge of her thigh.
Once they were back at her house, he got back to work in the yard. He had his shirt off when she finally arrived an hour later. Her hair was wet and pulled back in a pony tail again. She was wearing shorts and a white t-shirt, and he would have sworn she was braless.
Most of the brick work was done, and he was installing the sprinkler system. She complimented him on his work, and they talked about the flowers that would be planted at the end of the week. She loved his ideas and decided to let him decide what went where.
The rest of the week flew by, with him bringing in dirt, and then the flowers and bushes. On Friday he installed the accent lighting and the job was finished. He cleaned up a little and then loaded up his work truck. She met him in front of the house and handed him a check for two thousand dollars.
“This is way too much, even with a tip Allison.”
“No, you earned every dime of that. I paid even more for the other bed, and you did a much better job, so thank you.”
She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him, but when she let go, he didn’t. She let him hold on until he was finished, but he shocked her when she stepped back.
“Would you like to go out with me tonight, in my truck, maybe some pizza, and then a little cruise, on Tenth Street?”
“I’m flattered Shane, but you don’t want me in the passenger seat of your truck on a Friday night, I’m sure.”
“So, I’m too young for you then?”
“What…no, I’m too old for you, sweetie.”
“Wow, you really won’t let that go, will you? Ok, I’ll see you on Monday. I’ll start on the flower beds next to the house, in back, like we talked about.”
“Fine, what does a thirty-nine year old woman wear to go for a “cruise” exactly?”
“Jeans and a t-shirt would be fine, underwear is always optional.”
“Shane, is this a…cougar thing?”
“What…Oh hell no…don’t even say that, that’s just wrong…”
“Ok, so when are you picking me up?”
“I’ll be here at seven…see you soon.”
He drove away, and she realized she was already wet between the thighs. She walked inside in a daze, still not quite sure what just happened. Did he really want to date her, or just get in her pants? Was letting him get in her pants such a crazy idea? Her asshole of an ex husband had been in them a thousand times, and where was he, off fucking another woman, no…a girl, half his age.
She went to her room and started digging through her closet. She was done feeling like a forgotten puppy. This was her life and she was going to enjoy it for a change. She pulled out a silk cowl neck top that was open down the back, and hung so low in the front her belly button showed. She grabbed a pair of tight white denim jeans and six inch heels and then started in on her makeup.
Shane pulled up and parked in front of the house. He checked his hair in the mirror and then hopped out and walked to the front door. He was whistling as he knocked softly. The door opened, and his mouth fell open. He felt his dick swelling in his black jeans as he stumbled inside.
“Is this…too much?”
“You look absolutely…incredible….”
She turned around and he almost fell backwards. He’d never actually been with a woman that knew how to look sexy and elegant all at the same time. He wanted to touch her, but he refrained. There was a single thin strap that tied behind her neck, holding the top together. One pull on the bow and it would just slip off her smooth shoulders.
She picked up her small bag and waited at the door while he stepped back outside. She locked it behind them and then let him help her into the lowered truck. The entire interior was done in dark teal suede to match the paint. Behind the seat was the biggest stereo system she’d ever seen.
He showed her how to use the seven inch touch screen, and she went through the almost endless list of music. She was pleasantly surprised to find she liked almost everything she came across. She added about ten songs to a playlist and hit play. He handed her the remote and told her she could turn it up if she wanted.
She started raising the volume until she could feel the music in her abdomen and chest. It made her laugh from the tickling sensation in her gut. He smiled as he drove across town to the pizza place. She’d been expecting someplace bright, like Pizza Hut, but he took her to an Italian restaurant that made a killer deep dish. They were seated in the back near a window where he could see his truck.
“Shane, do you actually want to…date me?”
“Wow, well…that was my intention, does that bother you?”
“It’s a little surprising to me, even if it seems normal to you.”
“I get that you have a hard time with the age thing, and I won’t push, I promise. But there’s nothing wrong with going out and having some fun, right?”
“I’m ready to have fun Shane, trust me…”
The waiter arrived and Allison ordered wine, while he went with a root beer. Once the drinks arrived they ordered a three meat deep dish and then started talking. Shane talked more about his mom, and Allison talked about her failed marriage. They both unloaded their mental baggage until the food arrived.
“Shane, you said I look better than your last girlfriend, what did you mean?”
“I…well; I wouldn’t want to talk about the…details here.”
She realized he wasn’t talking about her overall figure; he was talking about the more intimate areas. Her face turned red and she finished her glass of wine. She waved down the waiter and got a refill before talking again.
“I might not be what you want Shane, I grew up in a different time from you. Women are much more…adventurous now days.”
“You don’t actually think I’m a player or something, do you?”
“I figure you been around the block a few times, and at twenty-six I figured you’re…experienced.”
He leaned forward until he could talk in a low voice and asked her if they were talking about sex. She nodded her head yes, and he turned beet red. She was a little shocked at first, but smiled and returned to her food.
“Wait, are you saying that after eleven years of marriage, you don’t feel experienced?”
She cocked her head and thought about what he’d just said. Somehow she’d equated his youth, with sexual experience. She’d had sex thousands of times, and he might have had it hundreds of times at the most. She felt a sudden rush of control come over her.
“Ok, you’re right; I am pretty experienced I guess. Maybe I can teach you a trick or two.”
The roles had reversed, or maybe he’d never really had the upper hand she’d thought he’d had. Maybe this was really all her doing in one way or another. She had dressed to entice him, and she had already masturbated while watching him. Maybe she was the one doing the seducing in this relationship.
They finished eating and then walked to the truck. He opened the door for her but she stopped and turned to face him with a sultry look on her face. At that moment he realized he’d been dating girls, and Allison was a woman. A hot, sexy, erotic woman…
“Will you kiss me Shane?”
“Uh huh…”
His lips met hers and a few seconds later his instincts took over. He explored her mouth with a delicate touch at first, and then increased the intensity until she was squeezing his ass in her hands. His hand was slowly slipping into the open back of her jeans where he found her naked butt.
She wanted to rub his crotch and feel a cock for the first time in years. She wanted to open his pants and suck on his hard swollen head. She wanted him to shove her over the edge of something and give her a really hard and deep fucking, but she also wanted him to drive her around in his truck. She wanted to be with him, in front of people. She wanted him to show her off; she wanted to feel like she belonged to somebody again.
He broke this kiss amidst his heavy breathing and she blushed red. He helped her into the truck and then drove them downtown. They cruised up and down the three mile strip with everyone else until around ten. After the next pass he turned into the big home improvement store parking lot and parked next to half a dozen other trucks.
They turned out to be his truck club members. He introduced her to everyone and then they walked around looking at all the other parked cars and trucks. Shane had his arm around her waist, and she realized she’d never been out like this before. Movies and dinner was about the most her ex husband ever did with her.
Two or three times over the next hour he stopped to make out with her right there in front of his friends and anyone else in the area. He wasn’t ashamed to be with her, or worried about what people thought. He had his hand in her back pocket while they walked and while he didn’t realize it, every time he pulled, the big seam of fabric running between her thighs rubbed her clit.
A cute little bubble gum chewing girl in a pink plaid miniskirt bounced up and said hello to him. He tried to smile as he introduced her to Allison. Her name was Becky, and she was his ex girlfriend. She was dressed on the edge of slutty, and when she learned it had been his ex she’d just met, Allison gave him a curious stare.
“What, what’s that look for Allison?”
“You think I’m better than that?”
“You’re the first woman that doesn’t embarrass me, to be honest, and yes I think you’re hotter than her.”
“Well in my head, my opinion is the only one that counts, so get used to it.”
She let him win, because it felt good to hear him say it. He steered her back to the truck by her back pocket, and she was actually worried she might have a wet spot on her crotch from all the stimulation. He stopped by the driver’s door and wrapped his arms around her waist.
She looked up at him and he started kissing her again. He slipped his hands in her back pockets and she moaned into his mouth. He looked into her eyes and they were glassy and filled with desire.
“When you pull on my pockets, it rubs me…between my thighs.”
“Oh wow, you mean all this time I’ve been?”
“Yes, and I think I’m ready to leave now Shane.”
He was holding her tight to his body and she could feel his excitement through the front of his jeans.
“I think you’re ready now too.”
He unlocked the truck and helped her inside. He waved to his buddies and drove away. About a block off the strip she let the right side of her top slip to the side revealing her firm breast and hard nipple. She looked out the side window as she revealed the left one next.
“Fuck, you’re amazing! All you ever think of is your age, and all I see is the most incredibly sexy woman I’ve ever met.”
“I feel young tonight Shane, and my pussy is very wet.”
“…and I’m one very lucky guy…”
He raced across town to her house, and she reached in her purse for the garage remote.
“Go ahead and park inside Shane…”
He pulled in and she closed the door behind them.
“Shane, I don’t have to worry about…catching anything, right?”
He started laughing as he climbed from the truck and went around to her door. He opened it and told her no, he was safe, and clean.
“I’ve never had sex without a condom, and I’ve been tested.”
“Good, because I don’t want to use one, ok?”
“Ok, if you’re sure.”
“I am…”
She grabbed the front of his jeans and opened them up. His cock was a vertical bar in his boxer briefs and he looked sexy. She leaned out and started kissing it through the soft cotton and then pulled the font down until he was free.
“Can I suck on it for a minute?”
“I won’t last a minute Allison; I might not last a couple seconds.”
“Then don’t…”
She bent it down and slipped her mouth over his shaft. He gasped out and his hand went to her shoulder. She wanted to get at his balls too, so she held his cock in her mouth while she pulled down on his jeans and boxers until they were clear of his heavy balls.
She returned her hand to his shaft and looked up at his tensed up face. He looked down at her and she smiled at him.
“Will you cum for me, right here, right now?”
“God, like I have a choice…”
She swallowed half his hard cock and started sucking while she slowly moved up and down the hard shaft. At the top she would swirl her tongue around the ridge of his head and then dive back down until he hit her throat.
She rolled his balls in her hand and then ran her finger through the crack of his ass. He gasped and moaned and she felt his cock spasm. He grunted and she was rewarded with a mouth full of warm cum. She’d expected it to be slightly bitter like her husband’s but it wasn’t. It was almost sweet, and she liked it. She sucked and pumped until he was dry and breathing heavy.
“Now, you can watch me play until you’re ready for more.”
She got up and walked to the door leading inside and he followed her into the house. She walked slowly up the stairs not wanting to fall in her high heels. She’d done enough falling around him, and she didn’t need anything getting in the way of the five year itch she was about to get scratched.
He followed her to the foot of the big bed where she removed her heels. He smiled and pulled the string behind her neck. Slowly she let the top fall from her shoulders and to the floor. He pushed her back on the bed and picked up her blouse. He put it over the back of the chair beside the bed and then returned to her small feet.
She was undoing her zipper and he grabbed the leg openings and pulled them from her body. She scrambled up to the pillows and pushed the covers down to her feet. He pulled his shirt over his head and then kicked off his shoes and peeled off his socks. She watched as he removed his jeans and then his briefs.
“God you’re handsome Shane.”
“You think so?”
She nodded her head yes as he crawled on the bed and asked for a pillow. She handed him one and he slipped it under her ass. Her knees fell open and he dropped down between them.
“I talk…a lot.”
“No, you’re fine Allison.”
“I mean during…sex, I talk a lot.”
“You promise?”
“Trust me, I get a little loud.”
“I’m really going to enjoy this then.”
He looked at her open and inviting pussy, and the crinkly folds framing the still-hidden opening to her sex. He licked and sucked on the extended labia, and her head filled with a sudden desire she’d forgotten all about. She got the chills when his tongue slipped across her asshole and up into her bright pink pussy.
He dug around at the soft flesh, drinking in her constantly flowing wetness. Her fingers found his hair just as his tongue slipped across her hardened clit. She hissed his name as he sucked it into his mouth. He heard her gasp, and felt her body tense up. He pressed his tongue against the hard nub and rubbed across it.
He sucked and nibbled and licked until she relaxed and sighed. He slipped his hand between her thighs and his fingers played in the wetness. He rubbed her puckered little rosebud and she begged him for more. He slipped two fingers in her pussy and explored her tight sex.
She started building up to her next orgasm, and Shane could tell by her breathing it was going to be big. He started rubbing circles around her tiny anus and when she started gasping for air he pushed his fingertip up her ass.
He let her ride the waves of ecstasy for a while and then climbed between her wide spread thighs. He grabbed his cock and bent it down until he could press the firm head against her clit. She squealed and then gasped when it hooked her swollen pussy and slipped inside.
She grabbed his ass and pulled him in deep and then started thrusting against his pelvis. Her senses were on fire and she couldn’t get enough of him inside her. All her wants and needs had flooded her mind, and she wanted him to possess her. He dropped down on his hands, and her legs wrapped around his waist.
He started stroking into her and slowly her legs worked their way up his body until she was holding her own ankles. He moved his arms around her legs one at a time and pressed them forward with his shoulders.
“Oh…I like that Shane…”
“You feel so good Allison.”
“God, fuck…me…harder.”
Shane started bouncing them on the bed with his heavy thrusts, and his pelvis was pounding against her swollen clit. Every bump pushed her closer to the next big explosion, until she was begging him to make her cum. He pushed in deep and stopped thrusting. He started grinding against her and she started whimpering.
“Oh ya…fuck, fuck, fuck…SHANE!”
She started shaking and bucking and he started thrusting hard and fast as she exploded in climax. Her head went back and her back arched, and a long low moan escaped her lips before her breath caught in her throat.
When her back finally returned to the bed he released her legs and dropped down on top of her. He covered her mouth with his, and amidst her heavy breathing he kissed her open mouth. His cock was still rock hard and buried deep inside her shaking pulsating pussy.
“That was incredible Shane, my god…it’s been so long…”
He leaned to the side a little and propped himself up on his elbow while he studied her face. She turned red in the cheeks and started laughing, and then pushed him off of her. He rolled on his back and looked down as she turned on her knees and grabbed his still hard cock.
“Wow, he still wants more of me I think.”
She rubbed his cock head between her lips and then opened her mouth and slid down the length of him. He tried getting her to sit on his face but she refused.
“No, I want to play with you for a minute; I used to be pretty good at this.”
“Oh fuck, you…still…are…”
She was slowly working him into her throat in quick strokes, getting past her gag reflexes. Finally after a minute or two her nose was touching his heavy balls on each downward push. She fondled his balls and tickled his ass and he started thrusting. She let him continue for a few seconds and then let him go.
“Get behind me Shane…and play with my ass again.”
He scrambled around behind her and couldn’t believe the view. Her knees were about eighteen inches apart, and her pussy was swollen and wet. The dark edges of her labia were in stark contrast to the bright pink center.
He put his palms on her ass cheeks and spread her open while slowly licking from her clit to her puckered little rosebud. She hissed at the sweet sensation, and he started going at her asshole with more determination. She let out a moan and started twisting and tugging on her own nipples.
“God, fuck me Shane…grab my hips and fuck me.”
He got up on his knees and rubbed his cock between her swollen lips. She pushed back at the perfect moment and forced his cock deep inside her hungry cunt. He shoved forward while his hands pulled back, and moaned out as she clamped down on him.
“Put your…thumb…in my…ass…”
He slid his hand to the center and rubbed around the tiny hole, covering it with her own wetness, and then started pushing it inside. This was a first for him and it was incredible. He could feel his cock in her pussy, and his cock could feel his thumb.
His thumb started moving, and she started moaning. He couldn’t help but pick up speed, the mental feeling was driving the physical, and he wanted to cum. She could tell by his breathing that things had changed, and she started slamming back into him, meting each stroke with her own.
“Oh fuck Shane, I’m gonna cum!”
His thumb was buried as deep as it would go and her body was convulsing on both his invading cock and thumb. He was pumping blast after blast of cum into her and she was whimpering with each thrust.
“God that feels good Shane…”
He was completely spent, and fell forward on her back. She slid forward letting him cover her naked body with his. He couldn’t help but kiss her neck and head while his hands caressed her shoulders. She shivered once from the sweet sensation and then grabbed his wrist in her hand. She pulled it to her face and kissed his fingers before resting her cheek on it.
He hopped up and turned out the light before pulling the covers up and climbing in next to her. She curled up in his arms and he felt wetness on his chest. He looked down and she was crying silently. He kissed her soft forehead and pulled her close.
“Are you ok Allison?”
“I forgot how good it felt to be loved…I mean, made love too. It’s been so long…you made me feel desirable again, which was something I’d given up on.”
“You are an amazing woman Allison, tonight was…unbelievable, to say the least.”
“So…will you stay the night?”
“There’s no place I’d rather be, than right here sweetie.”
She wrapped her leg around his and snuggled up against his firm chest. A few minutes later she was fast asleep. He closed his eyes and thought about the future. He worried she might sabotage what they had, and that scared him. He drifted off to sleep, but his dreams were filled with worry.
In the morning he awoke alone, and felt a little nervous. He checked the bathroom and the shower was wet from recent use. On the toilet were his clothes. They had been washed and were folded neatly on top of a fresh wash cloth and towel.
He hopped in the shower and speed washed everything. He was out five minutes later and drying off. He could smell something amazing, and he realized she was cooking. He dressed quickly and then made his way to the kitchen.
He stopped at the edge of the wall and watched her work. She was singing an old Journey song and practically dancing around the kitchen. She was wearing a very tight pair of pastel blue terry cloth shorts and a white tank top. Her dark areolas and nipples were clearly visible through the thin cloth.
The camel-toe in her shorts got a quick reaction from his groin and suddenly he felt over dressed. She spotted him by the wall and stopped what she was doing. She smiled at him and then asked him if he was staying for breakfast.
“Yes, and lunch…and dinner, and…”
“Shane, last night was wonderful, and waking up in your arms…well, it was a dream come true.”
“I…feel over-dressed all of a sudden.”
“If you want to eat in your underwear, please…please do.”
He laughed, but quickly dropped his jeans and removed his shirt. She handed him a cup of coffee and then kissed him good morning. She served breakfast, which turned out to be a ham and cheese omelet and fresh strawberries with heavy cream.
He sat at the head of the table and she sat right next to him with the corner between them. She had one leg pulled up so her ankle was under her thigh. Her shorts were still splitting her pussy, and the way her chair was turned towards him it was in plain view.
“Allison, will you continue to go out with me? I’m being serious about this…and I want a relationship with you.”
“Shane…I’m sure I’ve caused you to worry about how I feel, but I’m past all that. If I’m what you want, who am I to complain?”
“…but do you want me?”
“I do…I really do.”
He put the last bite of food in his mouth and then got up abruptly. She looked up at him as he stepped closer. She set down her fork just as he bent down and slipped his arm under the back of her butt and scooped her out of the chair. Her legs went around his waist as he walked to the staircase and started climbing.
He got to the bed and set her on the foot of it. He slipped his boxer briefs off while she pushed her shorts down. He pulled them off her legs and tossed them on the floor before crawling between her legs while she worked her way back a few feet.
He found her sopping wet and wasted little time burying his hard cock in her willing pussy. He wasn’t gentle this time, and he started pounding hard and grunting out his desire.
“God Shane, fuck me harder…”
He started heaving and pounding like a man possessed with desire, and she started moaning and panting until she screamed out his name. He didn’t even realize she was cumming; he was all consumed in his own pursuit of orgasm.
His cock exploded like never before, blasting off inside her hot sex. He grunted and flexed giving her every last drop, and then rolled off of her. Her chest was heaving, and her hips were sliding round while she moaned and whimpered.
“I’m sorry, you just…my god you make me so…horny Allison.”
“Sorry for what, my god…I’ve never cum so hard in my life…”
“I never understood the whole “Blinding lust” thing until I met you. When I helped you out of the pool that day, I wanted you more than anything in the world.”
“That morning, I watched you from that window, and played with myself. I hadn’t felt so horny in years Shane. You woke something up inside me, that I must have buried a long time ago.”
“Wow, you got excited looking at me?”
“You’re a very handsome guy Shane…I’m horny all the time now.”
The moment I saw you at the front door I thought, ‘Now this is one classy woman’ and my god you were sexy.”
She got up and grabbed her shorts and then went to the bathroom. She didn’t close the door so he hopped up and walked over to see what she was doing. She was sitting on the toilet peeing, and her cheeks turned red when she saw him.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“It’s ok, I don’t mind you watching. I just…every time I see your dick, I think of the garage…”
His cock jumped and started growing. She watched with interest as it slowly rose up until it was almost touching his belly. She held her finger up and wagged it at him, pulling him towards her like magic.
He stopped in front of her and while she sat on the toilet in nothing but her thin tank top, she started sucking his cock. He couldn’t help but moan as she started taking him down her throat like a pro now. He grabbed her head and she moaned as he slowly started fucking her mouth.
He knew he wouldn’t cum again anytime soon, but her mouth felt incredible. He finally took a step back and she whined at losing her toy. She took some toilet paper and cleaned up before flushing the almost silent toilet.
“Go lie on your Back Shane; I’m going to fuck you for a change.”
He didn’t answer; he just turned and went to the bed. He crawled to the middle just as she hopped on the bed and pulled her shirt over her head. She crawled on his lap and quickly impaled herself on his hard shaft.
He grabbed her breasts while she humped and bounced on his cock. Her fingers went to her clit and a few minutes later she exploded. She dropped down on his chest and a few seconds later her hips were thrusting again. He grabbed her around the waist and she whimpered as she rubbed her clit up and down his shaft, setting her body on fire again.
“I could fuck you all day Shane…”
He slipped his hand over her butt and a few seconds later his finger found her asshole. He rubbed it around his cock for a second and then shoved it up her asshole. She squealed in delight as he buried the digit to the second knuckle.
Shane started finger fucking her asshole and it was like flipping a switch. Her pussy clamped down on him and she started screaming and groaning.
He slowly pressed a second finger in with the first, and once he started thrusting them in and out she started moaning again.
“God Shane, have you ever had anal sex?”
“No, I’ve never even done…this before.”
She felt his cock jump inside her and tried to giggle, but her constant state of orgasm was making it hard. He was pulling on her asshole and sending blinding bolts of bliss through her body. She finally couldn’t handle the sensitivity in her clit anymore and relaxed on his chest.
“Shane, do you want to be the first to…fuck my…asshole?”
“Jesus woman, you just get better by the second!”
She rolled off of him and reached for the nightstand drawer. He climbed over her and moved her hand.
“Let’s see what toys you have in here sexy woman…”
“Nothing much, but I’m not opposed to…getting more, if you like that idea?”
He found a single hard plastic white vibrator and a bottle of lube. He grabbed them both and rolled off of her back.
“Shane, you can stay here whenever you want, and you can keep some…stuff in the closet.”
“I will, first chance I get.”
She rolled onto her knees and put her beautiful ass in the air. He got behind her and started kissing and licking the firm flesh around her crotch.
“God you make me feel so…sexy Shane.”
“You drive me crazy woman, I’ve never had so much sex, and I just want more.”
He slipped two fingers in her wet swollen pussy and started rubbing the roof of her cunt.
“God, just a little further Shane, ugh, that’s my…g-spot.”
“Oh shit, seriously, I can feel it!”
“If you…rub it…until I…cum, I’ll squirt all over…you.”
“Oh fuck, seriously? I can make you squirt?”
“Fuck, you…like that…idea?”
He started rubbing it with firm pressure while he licked around her asshole with his hard tongue. His palm was rubbing her clit and she was started to get pretty wound up. He grabbed the lube and dripped the cold liquid in the crack of her ass, letting it run down to the dent that was her tiny rosebud. He used his thumb to push the clear liquid inside and she moaned at the sudden increase in pleasure.
He used his teeth to turn on the vibrator and then started rubbing the pointed tip around her asshole. She started whimpering again as his fingers started stroking her g-spot slowly. He pushed hard until the tip of the vibrator started sliding into her crinkled little asshole.
“Oh fuck, that feels amazing!”
He pushed harder and it slid in an inch. She pushed back and got almost the whole thing on that stroke.
“Jesus Christ, I feel full!”
He started fucking her ass with the vibrator while his tongue moved down to the bottom of her pussy. He was rubbing her g-spot and clit, and fucking her asshole and she was crying now and begging him to move his face.
“Not a chance woman, I want to be right here.”
“Oh, oh, oh, FUCK!”
Her body froze stiff and liquid shot out around his fingers and all over his face and arm. He was putting almost the entire vibrator in her ass and she was shaking as squirt after squirt of girl cum was blasting into him. Her husband had hated it. He’d never believed she wasn’t pissing on him, and now she had a lover that wanted to bath in it, and drink it.
She started taking deep breaths as her body slowly started to relax. He removed his fingers and slowly pulled the toy from her sexy bottom. She cooed as it slipped free. He dumped it a few feet away and crawled to his knees between her legs. She moved her knees apart and he rubbed lube into to his cock.
“God, are you gonna fuck my asshole Shane?”
“Oh god, are you sure you want this Allison?”
“Yes, I really want this…”
He rubbed the swollen purple head around the wet opening and then started pushing. He had expected some resistance, but the head popped inside easily. He pushed further and she moaned as he slowly sank to his balls.
“Oh fuck, that feels wicked Shane!”
“It’s so…hot, and…tight.”
“Fuck my asshole Shane, give me a good ass fucking lover.”
“My god, I love…you.”
He started fucking her ass and the more he pounded the better it got. She started grunting and rubbing her clit while he started taking long deep strokes. He could feel her rubbing hard on her clit and he could feel his own impending explosion building up in his balls.
They tightened up and he roared out her name as his cock bucked and unloaded blast after blast of cum up her tight hot asshole. She started wailing and he felt her squirt all over his balls and thighs. He started shaking as the last of his cum dripped out and into her ass.
She fell forward panting and gasping for air. He crawled beside her on his side and started rubbing her back and smooth butt. She turned her head to face him, and with a smile she asked if he meant it.
“Mean what?”
“You said you loved me, and even if you were a little gone, I enjoyed hearing it.”
“Wow, I was saving that for…down the line. I don’t want to sound like an infatuated kid.”
“I know what you mean, and no pressure, ok? But I’m glad you said it Shane, I really am.”
“Fuck it, I do love you Allison. I realized it when you fell and hit your head. I was in tears, and I thought you might…die.”
“Well I’m sure glad I didn’t, because the last twenty-four hours have been…life changing.”
He rolled towards her and let his leg slip over hers. His arm was around her and his face was in her hair and he was kissing her neck.
“I love you too, you incredible man.”
The rest of the week was like heaven for both of them. He worked in the yard, and she spoiled him, catering to his every need, especially the nasty ones. They spent one night at his house, where he showed her the gardens. She frowned at the for-sale sign in the yard, but he said it was too much house for one person.
The next Saturday, they took his truck up north to a truck show and had a nice mini vacation together. He took second place in his class, and while he was impressed, she thought he should have won first place. Sunday night they took his truck back to his house and drove her Lexus back to her place.
“So Shane, I’ve been putting this off, but I have a two week company conference in New York coming up. I leave next Sunday night.”
“Wow, two weeks, seriously?”
“Yes, and I wish I could take you, but it’s all about community building and crap. I have a roommate for the whole two weeks, and we’re supposed to “Bond” or some crap.”
“Well, I have a lot of work coming up; I guess I’ll just keep busy until you get back.”
“Will you stay here at my place, some of the time?”
“Do you want me to?”
“I’d like to think about you in my bed every night, waiting for me. That probably sounds silly though.”
“Well then that’s where I’ll be, every night you’re gone sweetie.”
“Can…I take some pictures of you?”
“Like naked pictures of me?”
“Oh wow, I meant to take with me…but…would you let me take nude pictures of you?”
“I would, for you Allison.”
“Wow, do you want pictures of me too?”
“What guy wouldn’t want nudes of your incredible body?”
“I…have a video camera too…”
They scrambled to the bedroom where he grabbed his camera bag from the closet. She had a crappy little digital, but he had a fifteen-hundred dollar Nikon. He set it up on the tripod and showed her how to use it in auto mode.
He wasn’t a model by any means, but she gave him direction while she took picture after picture. At one point she asked him to grab his hard cock and look into the camera. He almost starting laughing, but he was too horny.
“I can picture you playing with yourself while you look at these.”
“God you’re gorgeous Shane, how could I not get turned on by these.”
“Trust me; I’m getting horny just thinking about you.”
“Shane…can I…shave you…down there?”
“Are you serious, you want to do that?”
“Ya, I want to shave them, and then suck on them.”
“Fuck woman, I’m so close to cumming right now, my god.”
She pulled her top off and removed her sexy lace bra as she walked towards him. He just stood there holding his cock wondering what she was doing. She grabbed his digital video camera and handed it to him before dropping to her knees and grabbing his cock.
“Film me sucking your cock Shane.”
He turned on the camera and pointed it at her lovely lipstick outlined mouth as she sank balls deep on his cock.
“Oh fuck, this isn’t going to take long.”
“Cum on my tits Shane, and in my open mouth.”
“Oh shit!”
He grabbed his cock just as it exploded. This wasn’t porn, and his cock didn’t dribble a weak little shot of cum. It blasted straight out into her open mouth. He aimed at her breasts and the next shot hit her nipple. He kept pumping until she wrapped her lips around the head and sucked out the last few shots.
He stepped back while she rubbed his cum into her skin, filming her the whole time. She got up and took him by the hand, dragging him to the chair, and then walked to the bathroom. She returned a few minutes later and proceeded to shave him clean as a whistle.
Once she’d rinsed him off real good she leaned right in and sucked his balls. She was squeezing his cock in her hand and he was already getting hard again. Her finger snaked down to his asshole and he jumped.
“Just let me try this, ok? If you don’t like it I’ll stop. I want to rub your prostate.”
“Uh huh…”
She soaped up her finger and wormed it up his asshole. His cock got hard as steel in a matter of seconds. He couldn’t believe he had a finger in his ass and it felt good. If it had been anyone else, ever, he would have said no. He trusted her, and he wanted to be as willing as she was.
Her finger found its target and he let out a moan as she started sucking his balls and rubbing his cock. He’d never felt anything like it. For him, sex had always been a cock thing. It felt good and then you climaxed. Now he had three places on his body igniting his senses, and while he had just cum, he knew it wouldn’t be long before he did again.
She removed her finger and let him go and he looked at her like she was crazy. She removed her pants while she stared at his amazing cock through glassy eyes. She went to the nightstand and grabbed her lube and the vibrator.
“Oh no you don’t, a finger is one thing…”
“No silly, just slide down and spread your legs wider for me.”
He slid down cautiously while he watched her closely. She oiled up his cock and then turned around to bend over. She grabbed her ass cheeks and he got the idea. He oiled up her winking little asshole until two fingers would slip in easily. She set the camera on the bed pointed at the chair and his cock, and then started impaling her asshole on his shaft.
She reached under him and slipped her finger back inside him. He hissed and moaned and she started massaging his cock with her ass. She grabbed the vibrator and turned it on high, before slipping it up her pussy.
It felt incredibly tight for her and her senses went into overload. She started rubbing her finger inside him and taking short thrusts on his cock. He grabbed her hips and started hammering her as hard as he could.
She lost it and started cumming. The idea of the camera catching the whole act had her wound up tight, and when the slightest hint of an orgasm showed up, his hard pounding shot her over the edge. She arched her back hard, and then she felt him explode deep inside her ass.
She humped and heaved on his cock while she rubbed the vibrator against his embedded cock. Her finger tickled his prostate a few more times and then she fell back against him letting the vibrator fall to the floor.
His cock started going soft, and a few seconds later she climbed off of his lap and turned the camera off. She climbed on the bed giggling and he looked at her through half closed eyes with a smile. She turned and sat Indian style facing him.
“You’re making a mess on the comforter.”
“So what, I’m going shopping tomorrow, and I’m buying more sheets, and blankets, and comforters. I’m buying you a big bathrobe, and some bath sheets, and maybe I’ll buy you a new car.”
“A new car, what on earth are you talking about?”
“I want to buy you a new car to fix up, like the truck. Maybe a Honda, or…I don’t know…what would you enjoy building next?”
“Allison, I have money, and I own the house. My mom made sure I was taken care of.”
“I have plenty as well, and I’d like to watch you build another show car. Maybe get a little greasy with you?”
“So let’s buy and build something together.”
Her phone started ringing but she let it go to voice mail. He went to the shower and turned it on. He returned to the bed and scooped her off the mattress with one arm. He deposited her in the bathroom and they showered together.
March 2014
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8704 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I want to manipulate the columns of an external list view (XsltListViewWebPart), however, as the data loads asynchronously I must wait for the data to load and the table to be generated before my code can run.
I assume I need to use a callback but can't find anything.
share|improve this question
Is this 2010 or 2013? For 2013, using JSLink could be an awesome option for you – Robert Lindgren Jun 20 '13 at 7:41
2010. I ended up just polling for the existence of the table with class ms-listviewtable. – Chloraphil Jun 20 '13 at 13:27
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1 Answer
up vote 0 down vote accepted
I ended up just polling for the existence of the table containing the data, which will have class ms-listviewtable. (I'm using jQuery here.)
var intervalId = setInterval(function() {
if ($('.ms-listviewtable').length > 0) {
// Code here
}, 100);
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8709 | Forgot your password?
Are You Prepared For the Zombie Apocalypse?
Displaying poll results.
I have a partially written document (somewhere)
2527 votes / 8%
Hard copies of my zombie attack plan are in the fire safe
1375 votes / 4%
I already live in a fortified bunker with food and weapons
4126 votes / 13%
I am completely unprepared for this fictional event
12253 votes / 41%
I am a zombie, you insensitive clod!
3091 votes / 10%
I want to eat CowboyNeal
1650 votes / 5%
I don't believe in zombies
4576 votes / 15%
29598 total votes.
[ Voting Booth | Other Polls | Back Home ]
Are You Prepared For the Zombie Apocalypse?
Comments Filter:
• Re:Easy (Score:5, Interesting)
by AliasMarlowe (1042386) on Monday October 17, 2011 @05:30PM (#37744272) Journal
Don't know what these "spring" and "fall" things you speak of are. You make it sound like there's more than 2 seasons.
There are six seasons here in central Finland[*]: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Winter, Winter. But I agree that the Spring and Autumn phases are vanishingly brief muddy transitions between the cool Summer and the frigid first and last Winters. The middle Winter is far worse, and is guaranteed to be utterly devoid of brass monkeys and zombies. Actually, brass monkeys are wary of our Summers as well...
[*] In northern Finland they dispense with the pretense of having a Summer, but they get an extra dose of Winter to compensate. Zombies are welcome, but only if they're edible...
• by iamhassi (659463) on Monday October 17, 2011 @07:15PM (#37745106) Journal
I can't believe no one has posted this yet: 7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail (Quickly) [cracked.com]
1) Too Many Natural Predators, including insects that would render rotting flesh useless pretty quickly.
2) Zombies don't like hot weather: dead bodies bloat within weeks due to stomach gases and start exploding, and in extreme heat they would shrivel like raisins.
3) Zombies don't like cold weather: frozen meat becomes rigid
4) Biting isn't a good way to spread disease: rabies turns animals into violent biting machines, but have you ever been bitten by a rabid dog? Probably not, and these are fast animals with teeth and claws, if rabies doesn't spread well then slow human zombies wouldn't do any better than fast dogs. And remember SARS or the bird flu? That's spread through the air and was difficult to determine who had it but we managed to stop those diseases, zombies would be much easier to identify.
5) Zombies can't heal: every time a zombie fell or was injured they break bones and lose body parts without anyone there to patch them back up, and the human body is pretty weak, many household items could be used to easily kill a zombie like a shovel, bat, hammer, sledgehammer, 2x4, chainsaw, etc. If someone broke in your house to kill you right now what would you use to kill them with? Whatever comes to mind are your zombie weapons.
6) Zombie-Proof Barriers (and zombies don't use tools): Go punch your front door. Ouch! Now kick it. Ouch again! So if you had to break in your door what would you use? Sledgehammer would probably work, but zombies don't use tools so something as simple as a door is enough to keep zombies out. Also anyone in a office building has all the furniture in the building to use to crush zombies with from the roof so any zombies in a city would be in for a world of hurt.
7) We have a lot of guns: there are almost 15 million hunting licenses in the US [nssf.org] and that doesn't count people with guns that don't need a hunting license like handguns or the military and the police. There are 300 million people in the US [google.com] so even if the entire US was zombies except for the 15 million with hunting licenses each person would only need to kill 20 zombies. That doesn't sound too difficult.
8) Zombies feed and reproduce with world's #1 predator: Imagine if every time you wanted to eat something or have sex you had to first kill someone but everyone knew you were coming? How long do you think you would last? Probably not very long, someone would kill you off or you would starve to death quickly, but that's the life of a zombie.
So as you can see zombies are fun to talk about but it's impossible for a zombie outbreak to become reality so there's no need to prepare for a zombie apocalypse. Movies like Halloween [wikipedia.org] and Scream [wikipedia.org] with serial killers sneaking around and killing individuals is far more likely a scenario.
• by Hazel Bergeron (2015538) on Tuesday October 18, 2011 @03:40AM (#37747574) Journal
Oh dear, as soon as I saw your nick I guessed this was going to be some angry, testosterone-filled, macho gun rant...
1. First sentence is as, "Three times as many people die from heart attack than in AIDS-infected-monkey-related deaths." The statistic acts massively against your favour: the US is infecting too many monkeys.
2. Since I'm not a coward, I'm prepared to go out in the streets and take the risk that I'm more likely in the United Kingdom to win the lottery than become a victim of "gun terror". The lack of availability of guns and the fact that the other party isn't likely to have a gun means criminals don't carry guns either - everyone's safer.
3. It's not illegal to defend yourself: it's illegal to own an unlicensed firearm or carry it in an unlicensed manner.
4.Once everyone's allowed to carry a gun with real bullets, laws about the weight of shot or the length of the barrel of your piece are mostly irrelevant.
5. I'm not scared of guns. My school had a cadet force and most people were trained in using them before the age of 16. It's not the arms, it's the arms race.
6. You seem to talk about fear a lot. Recent riots in Britain had few deaths (care to guess why and follow our example?) and everyone got over it and carried on. Twenty years ago we had the US-sponsored IRA (until those idiot Thatcherites were replaced by a group willing to understand that jaw>>war) bombing us every few weeks - my father narrowly missed one attack - and we got over it and carried on. We did not use it as an excuse to fuck over the world and ultimately ourselves (well done!).
You know, what I think it comes down to is that you're scared of other people and like to assume everyone else is the same.
Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU. -- Mt.
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Comment: Privacy (Score 2) 280
by Andrewkov (#46322415) Attached to: Who's On WhatsApp, and Why?
Probably right up Facebook's alley, though.. :)
Comment: Re:Can't you pre-order online? (Score 1) 114
by Andrewkov (#46244419) Attached to: Japanese Man Already Lined Up To Buy iPhone 6
I've never bought an Apple product (and never will), but for pretty much anything else I might want that has a future release date I can pre-order it and get it on day of release. Do Apple not do this?
They do, but pre-ordering doesn't get you an article on Slashdot or make you a hero amongst your friends.
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Comment: Re:Robots (Score 4, Informative) 176
by Tuidjy (#46326825) Attached to: Apocalypse NAO: College Studies the Theological Ramifications of Robotics
> The word robot means slave in Czech
Not quite. It's derived from the word "robota", which means labor due to a feudal lord, and is colloquially used to describe unpleasant work you do unhappily.
A closer match than slave would be serf. The word 'rob' is slave in many Slavic languages, but not in Czech. Funnily enough, in every other Slavic language I know, robota/rabota mean just work, with no negative connotations.
Comment: Re:No such thing as one-way glass* (Score 1) 114
by Tuidjy (#46123541) Attached to: Engineers Invent Acoustic Equivalent of One-Way Glass
You're wrong on so many levels.
First, you assume that 'one-way glass' means 'one-way mirror'. For all we know, they mean 'optical frequency circulators' which use ferrimagnetic crystals, and can definitely let visible spectrum light only way. Look it up.
Second, even for one-way mirrors, the term 'one-way' is appropriate enough. Few things in the real world are 100%. City streets, diodes, etc... we refer to them as one way, even when they really aren't 100% one way - the random car/particle gets through.
Third, we're Engineers. It's about getting results. We invent things that don't exist all the time. Although in this case, I doubt there are as many applications as the original article wishes they were. In a lot of the cases, you will get cheaper results with conventional soundproofing, and if you need the sound on one side, you can get it there with some good old microphones and speakers.
And even fourth. It's good to be looking for new stuff. You never know what's under the rock you turn over, just because it's there. You may be looking for a new way to turn lead into gold, and discover porcelain instead.
Comment: Re:Um.... (Score 5, Interesting) 562
by Tuidjy (#45730507) Attached to: Police Pull Over More Drivers For DNA Tests
Bad compared to what? To the ideal Officer of the Law? The one that hangs out with the ideal Communist Citizen and the ideal Hereditary Autocrat?
Or bad compared to a gang member, a warlord's soldier, or even security consultant?
I have never lived in a neighborhood where law enforcement dares not thread, or a country where warlords are the only authority. They do exist on this planet, though. On the other hand, I've lived in post-Communist Bulgaria, and saw what happened when the police becomes, for one reason or another, unwilling or unable to enforce the law.
One month, you could spend the night in the park, with your girlfriend, on a blanket.
The next, thugs were dismantling public property and infrastructure (from park benches to power transformers) and crooks were running gambling operations everywhere, beating up everyone who dared explaining their tricks to their marks.
One month later, no house, store, or vehicle was safe unless you were willing to defend it yourself. A lot of people learned that being in right does not make you invulnerable.
A few months later, those who had been successful at defending theirs, started defending other people... for a price. So your property was safe, if it bore a sticker saying "This X is insured by Y until Z." Well it was safe until Y was on the top of the heap, and of course, only until Z. And Y's members were raping, beating up and extorting as much as they conscience allowed them. Some had pretty enabling consciences.
I do not know what had happened since. I left. I know that I will take the worst policeman I've ever encountered in the US, before I trust the best 'security consultant' I've heard of.
We need law enforcement. What we have is less than perfect. We should strive to make it better. It is still in a whole different category than not having law enforcement. And anyway, 'Not having law enforcement' is unsustainable. There's enough people who would pray on others that it becomes inefficient for society's member to defend themselves individually. Soon enough, someone steps up to provide the service, and chances are it's not the one you wish would.
And yeah, it is true that those some of those people end up in law enforcement. At least, many of them have incentives to at least pretend to play by the rules.
Comment: Re:Politics as usual (Score 4, Interesting) 348
by Tuidjy (#45717431) Attached to: Red Light Camera Use Declined In 2013 For the First Time
The problem is that no one has interest in doing it right. As far as I am concerned, the camera-at-traffic-light was solved in the 90s, when I was at MIT. I worked on the project for a while, and I remember the problems that we faced (and solved). Even better, time has made every single one of them trivial, through better cameras, faster and cooler processing, and cheap reliable communication.
So, here is how to make traffic cameras that work and save lives:
1. Once yellow is displayed, monitor the speed of the first vehicle in each lane that should be stopping.
2. Do not turn on the green (for any other lane) until every yellow (and later red) facing vehicle has initiated a deceleration that can bring to rest before the intersection.
3. Start flashing the red early if you detect a car that appears to be going too fast to stop before entering the intersection, but too slow to to enter it before the red is scheduled to appear.
4. Issue tickets to everyone entering the interception on red. As you don't delay the appearance of the red, this won't reduce the number of tickets.
5. Send warnings to people who have delayed the green, but have still come to a stop, reminding them that emergency stops are wearing down their shocks, tires, and brakes.
6. Send warnings to people who have crossed at flashing red, or speeding tickets if they did so by breaking the speed limit.
Note that none of this makes the green come earlier, or the red come later. You can still use an underlying, tested, proven reliable system to ensure that the new-fanged system does not give green to the wrong people at the same time.
This is going to save lives, and it was successfully testing in Boston last millennium. OK, so after a few weeks, the hardware went kaput, but that left the standard traffic light in place and there was no harm done. We lost interest. With today's tech, I could rebuild the system for one tenth of the price, and it would probably last a long longer.
by Tuidjy (#45708333) Attached to: Is the Porsche Carrera GT Too Dangerous?
My ass has been saved by the stability control as well.
Once I was passing, in the outside lane of a highway junction, a car that lost control and spun into my lane, while slowing down a lot. I had to break, or I would have hit her. In my Supra, I think I would have joined the other car on the embankment. I was in my Volvo, though, and it let me steer while the ABS was firing, and while the car was drifting and slowing down.
Sure, it was partially my fault because I should not have been taking the curve at the limit of what the car could do. But the fact is, it is hard is at all possible to drive in such a manner that you remain safe even if the cars around do their worst.
Comment: Re:Reflective Armor (Score 3, Insightful) 173
by Tuidjy (#45708111) Attached to: Army Laser Passes Drone-Killing Test
> If you paint them reflective, they don't get destroyed by the laser.
You wish.
Polished metal mirrors reflect about 90%. if you use some really expensive metals, you can push it to 95%. Milar, dielectric coatings, etc. can go up to 99.99%, but only in specific wavelength.
Sounds great? Well, no. That's the reflection you get in vacuum, when the mirror is pristine. Now fire it from a mortar, have it heated by the air rushing past, and then apply even 1% of the output of the laser we're talking about. Your nice upper layer is gone, and your reflection drops like a rock... followed by the rest of your round, once the payload overheats and blows up.
Very expensive reflective coating may buy you a fraction of a second, maybe even a whole one... but mortars are (1) cheap (2) slow to get to the target. So you just made each round a lot more expensive, and you still may not have bought enough time for it to get to the target.
Comment: Re:Fireworks in 3...2...1... (Score 5, Informative) 1251
Did you bother to learn ANYTHING about the cult that wants to donate the monument in question? Check their 'Nine commandments'... They are a mix of agnosticism, Enlightenment, and common sense. As a matter of fact, what they preach is so uncontroversial that I doubt anyone could object to it except from a religious point of view.
Just because they call themselves Satanists does not mean that they promote evil, anymore than other cultists calling themselves Christians mean that they endorse mainstream Christian values (Westboro Baptists, anyone?)
One thing is for sure. The way you judge what's "evil, damage, and chaos", "the blatant promotion of perversion", "conflicts with the constitutions", without even bothering to investigate is why we do NOT want the government to distinguish between religions. Where's the guarantee that that whoever ends up on the 'Religion' committee's going to do any better than you just did?
Comment: Re:Duh (Score 1) 462
by Tuidjy (#45624221) Attached to: U.S. Measles Cases Triple In 2013
A quell surprise! Those that don't share your beliefs don't distinguish YOUR beliefs from other beliefs they consider incorrect.
That was exactly my point. Seriously, your whole post doesn't contain a single line with which I disagree. But the tone makes me think I'm supposed to. In case you wonder, I do dislike people who imply causation between intelligence and religious belief, or lack thereof.
By the way, surprise is feminine in French, and so it's 'quelle surprise'. Not that that the typo reflects of the contents of your post, I just thought you may want to know.
Comment: Re:Duh (Score 3, Interesting) 462
by Tuidjy (#45624011) Attached to: U.S. Measles Cases Triple In 2013
As a matter of fact, I met some fishermen in Greece who pray and even leave offerings at a Poseidon shrine. I am not quite sure how much they actually believe, nor do I know how much my neighbors, who go to Church on Sunday, believe in Jesus's divinity.
But I do know that either one billion of Christians are right and one billion of Muslims are wrong about Jesus's divinity, or vice versa. So, even if I were, for some reason, to accept one holy book before all others, I would still know that significantly more than two thirds of religious people are dead wrong, either because they reject the Savior, or the Prophet, or whomever.
And lets not forget that many Christian denominations' doctrines say that most Christians are dead wrong, or at least wrong enough not to have a shot at Heaven. The same applies across many divides inside other religions. I have not done the footwork myself, but I have read solid arguments that no matter who is right, more than 90% of religious people are wrong.
Now, I do not claim to know the Truth. I believe in small truths, like, for example, that it is impossible to disprove the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing entity. And I know better than to waste time on debating matters that cannot be disproved. But those are facts:facts:
1. More than ninety percent of all people on Earth are wrong in their religious beliefs.
2. The best predictor for people's religious beliefs is what they have been exposed to in their formative years.
3. Most holy texts assign heavy consequences to not having the right religious beliefs, and living according to them.
In light of the above, I have, personally, decided that I cannot respect, let alone worship a deity that's OK with the situation. So, at the end of the day, I make no difference between people who believe in Poseidon, and people who believe in the deity in the Bible/Torah/Qur'an. At at the end of my life, I may be in for a surprise. But I think I'm about as likely to be collected by the Chosers of the Slain as by a devil with a pitchfork.
Comment: Re:or converse rather than proselytize (Score 4, Insightful) 361
by Tuidjy (#45404355) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Communication Skills For Programmers?
I do not identify myself as an atheist. Technically, I am agnostic, because I know that there is no way to disprove the existence of an omnipotent and omniscient entity. I have no objection to people discussing their theories about such an entity, and I will even admit that some are a lot more entertaining than others. On the other hand, I hate it when people try to use their religious beliefs as arguments for or against anything in the real world. "This man has to die because he is an asshole" is a valid argument, "This man has to die because my Holy Book says the penalty for what he's done is death" is not. Thus, I am only 'unconcerned' with theism and theists as long as they do not pretend that their religious beliefs are in any way relevant to me. As soon as that line is crossed, I become, indeed, an anti-theist.
That said, could you please explain why the Atheist League should be called the Antichrist league, as opposed to the Anti-Kali, Anti-Mohammedan, or Anti-Pastafarian league? Sure, there are tons of different sects that profess the divinity of Christ - Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, Mormons, members of the Unification Church, etc... But there are also a lot of sects that do not consider Christ divine, and frankly, I feel a lot more threatened by some of the latter.
The guys who keep trying to bring me to Christ on the streets of Glendora are polite, clean, and well dressed. They bother me a lot less than people who think that I could be killed without spilling blood to fuel a religious rite, that I should pay higher taxes because I am an unbeliever, or that mocking their fairy tales is a capital offense.
So, again, why should people identify as antichrists, instead of atheists if they have no more beef with Christians than they have with other, less... grown-up theists?
Comment: Re:tried it (Score 1) 169
by Tuidjy (#45372081) Attached to: Researchers Dare AI Experts To Crack New GOTCHA Password Scheme
I admit, I have not thought about this, but it sounds beyond stupid to me.
The whole point of the dozens of 'Tell Humans from Bots' methods is that it is relatively easy to automatically generate the challenge, but (ideally) it takes human intelligence to solve it. As an example,
(1) it is easy for an algorithm to randomly choose a few letters, and add colors, extra lines, etc... to the picture.
(2) it is easy for a human to see the letters through all the obfuscation.
(3) it is hard for a OCR (optical character recognition) algorithm to tell the letters from the random crap.
But, in this case:
(1) it is very hard for an algorithm to generate and label the test cases. "body builder lady with mustache and goofy in the center" indeed.
(2) it is quite hard for a human to tell them apart.
(3) sure, it is very much impossible for an algorithm to do so, but at this point, who cares?
That said, the idea may have something going for it. Taking stock images that have already been labeled, and applying obfuscating algorithms can work.
But this particular crap set my bullshit detector... oh, wait, it's actually my stupidity detector.
Comment: Re:Speed is good, but what about range? (Score 5, Interesting) 410
by Tuidjy (#45338123) Attached to: Tesla Model S Can Hit (At Least) 132 MPH On the Autobahn
There is a huge difference between driving for range, driving sanely on the highway, and driving on the track. Here are my numbers, and they are real, recorded on the spot, as opposed to remembered.
The car: Volvo S60-R, modded to 460hp at the wheels, AWD fuse pulled.
Average MPG as of this morning: 29.7mpg. (It got smogged on Saturday, the guy took two tries and two hours, lowering my MPG by a full mile)
Usual average MPG: 31mpg
Best MPG from a trip: 36mpg (Chino Hills/San Diego and back)
MPG from a highway trip where I was driving like a moron: 8.7mpg (Chino Hills/Las Vegas)
Worst MPG ever: 3.3mpg on the track.
I've done 560 miles on a tank, and I have emptied my tank in under 60 miles. It really matters how you drive...
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Comment: Subsidized hardware (Score 2, Insightful) 156
by Falkkin (#28362419) Attached to: Kindle Pricing, Business Models and Source Code
"If I'm buying a Kindle from Amazon that enables me to buy books from Amazon, I'm broadcasting a desire to buy Kindle books. I would welcome some subsidization of the hardware since I'm going to be buying content anyway. No, I really think Amazon priced the Kindle the way they did because they thought they could get away with doing so..."
Why is it only in the tech-gadget industry that people expect manufacturers to sell items for *less than cost*?
Comment: Re:Checked it? (Score 1) 544
by Falkkin (#27805139) Attached to: Options For a Laptop With a Broken Screen?
"... putting it in a separate tray for security."
No need to do that. I just leave the laptop in my bag. Usually the screeners don't notice/care; if they do notice, smile and apologetically say "whoops, sorry, I forgot." They'll then take it out and run it through separately. I've done this probably 10-15 times in the last year or two, and they've only taken it out for a separate scan once.
Exception: if some TSA guy before the x-ray belt asks me directly if I have a laptop, I take it out of my bag. There's no penalty for acting dumb for something you forgot to take out (or every high-school girl with a 6-oz bottle of shampoo would be doing time in federal prison), but I presume there's a significant penalty for lying to a TSA agent.
Comment: Re:Copyright The New York Times?!? (Score 1) 177
by Falkkin (#27786373) Attached to: Canadian Pirates Sell Spurious Songs — In 1897
This seems to be a blanket statement that NYT puts on all their online articles. It might be insane in this case, but from their standpoint I understand why they do it: they put the publishing date there, and the fact that the article was Copyrighted then, and let the user figure out whether the laws in their jurisdiction actually allow the work to be copied. They have no idea what the hell laws Congress might pass (even applying retroactively) in the future, so pass the buck to someone else on determining that a given article is, in fact, not copyrighted.
I also wouldn't be surprised if this is just laziness on the part of some programmer; I can imagine something like this happening:
for (a in articles) { addStandardCopyrightMessage(a.date()); }
(I'm not saying that any of this is *right*; I'm just saying that I can see how this happened, and I'm not at all surprised.)
Submitted by
Link to Original Source
+ - Immersive Media powers Google Maps Street View
Submitted by
PotatoPhysics writes "Immersive Media is feeding data to Google for their Street View panoramic street view [requires Flash]. They collect the views as full motion video from a tricked out Volkswagon Beetle (of all things). You can see the extent of the complete Immersive Media collect at their website as well as see some of the original full motion panoramas [requires Shockwave]."
+ - reCAPTCHA: Stop Spam, Read Books
Submitted by
mcmillen writes "Humans solve about 60 million CAPTCHAs a day. A new project called reCAPTCHA aims to put this human computing power to good use. reCAPTCHA improves the process of digitizing books by sending words that cannot be read by OCR software to the Web, in the form of CAPTCHAs for humans to decipher. With reCAPTCHA, a pair of distorted English words is presented to a human. One word cannot be read correctly by OCR; the other word's answer is already known. The user is asked to transcribe both words. If they solve the one for which the answer is known, the system assumes their answer is correct for the unknown one. reCAPTCHA was developed by Luis von Ahn, one of the original CAPTCHA inventors."
+ - reCAPTCHA - preventing spam and digitizing books.
Submitted by
mikecslashdot writes "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have launched a free service that uses CAPTCHA's to prevent spam and digitize books. When OCR fails at reading words from old books, the words are placed in an image and used as a CAPTCHA. reCAPTCHA can protect your email address against abuse, and plugins are available for web applications to prevent edit and comment spam."
+ - Digitizing Books with CAPTCHAs
Submitted by
greatgregg writes "The guy who invented the ESP Game (now Google Image Labeler) has figured out a way to harness the time spent solving CAPTCHAs for something useful: digitizing books. Books digitization projects use OCR to transform scanned books into ASCII text, but OCR is not perfect. Now, every time you solve a reCAPTCHA you will also be helping to digitize a word that cannot be read by OCR."
+ - Okami, Oblivion Lead GDC Awards Finalists
Submitted by
njkid1 writes "Capcom might feel snubbed by AIAS, but its beautiful action/adventure title Okami is actually up for best game at the seventh annual Game Developers Choice Awards. Both Okami and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion received four nominations apiece. Full finalists list inside... http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1517 6&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000006"
PC Games (Games)
+ - Playing Video Games Improves Vision
Submitted by
cmill-bigft14CM writes "Researchers at the University of Rochester made subjects play games like Unreal Tournament for a few hours a day over the course of a month. Then something incredible happened: Subjects "improved by about 20 percent in their ability to identify letters presented in clutter — a visual acuity test similar to ones used in regular ophthalmology clinics." Or to put it another way, playing Halo could improve your performance on a standard eye chart. Interestingly, the effect only showed up in games like Unreal Tournament — not in games like Tetris."
WARNING TO ALL PERSONNEL: Firings will continue until morale improves. |
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Comment: Re:Show me a climate model for the past 16 years (Score 1) 846
by Forty Two Tenfold (#46019723) Attached to: Global-Warming Skepticism Hits 6-Year High
No, they don't. That's the job for the spokespeople and publicists, some of whom may be these scientists. There's enough high school level information in the abstracts of their publications for the interested to peruse. Somehow though, most "interested" people don't show high school level education. I don't see why anyone should enable their learned helplesness. If people don't really learn they will question even those explanations^Winterpretations.
Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU. -- Mt. |
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The Media
+ - Murdoch Criticizes BBC for Providing 'Free News' 1
Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes "News Corporation's James Murdoch says that a "dominant" BBC threatens independent journalism in the UK and that free news on the web provided by the BBC made it "incredibly difficult" for private news organizations to ask people to pay for their news. "It is essential for the future of independent digital journalism that a fair price can be charged for news to people who value it," says Murdoch. "The expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision." In common with the public broadcasting organizations of many other European countries, the BBC is funded by a television license fee charged to all households owning a television capable of receiving broadcasts. Murdoch's News Corporation, one of the world's largest media conglomerates, owns the Times, the Sunday Times and Sun newspapers and pay TV provider BSkyB in the UK and the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and Fox News TV in the US. Former BBC director general Greg Dyke responded that Murdoch's argument that the BBC was a "threat" to independent journalism was fundamentally wrong. "Journalism is going through a very difficult time — not only in this country but every country in the world — because newspapers, radio and television in the commercial world are all having a very rough time," says Dyke. "That is nothing to do with the BBC, that is just... what's happening.""
Role Playing (Games)
Fable III Announced For 2010 52
Posted by Soulskill
Comment: Re:Common Sense (Score 5, Interesting) 216
by Mithrandir86 (#29054727) Attached to: Open Textbooks Win Over Publishers In CA
Actually, the understanding of historical concepts and trends evolves quite a bit. That is why open textbooks could be such a boon - it will allow teachers to exploit new research, rather than parroting an antediluvian consensus that have been since been altered considerably.
No one, for example, takes Gibbon's argument on the Fall of the Roman Empire seriously anymore; similarly, no one takes the argument that Islamic cultures economically failed (in comparison with Europe) because of anti-capitalist religious precepts seriously either. Yet both were a part of serious teaching a few decades ago (the age of some textbooks).
I remember one textbook I had as a child argued that the reason that Lowland Scots prospered in comparison with Highland Scots was due the Protestant work ethic bestowed upon them through Prebyterianism - in comparison, the Highlanders succumbed to their lethargic Catholic proclivities. Hilarious in hindsight, but slightly disturbing as real teaching.
Comment: Re:So much for the government working for the peop (Score 2, Interesting) 215
by Mithrandir86 (#20061005) Attached to: US Dept. of Justice May Intervene To Help RIAA
That is not how this system works.
The RIAA campaigned for laws that were in the best interest of their respective shareholders. Copyright laws were passed. The RIAA issues lawsuits based on those laws. The Department of Justice carries out the letter of the law. There is no reason to complain about entities that continue to function as they were intended.
Personally, I would be displeased with actions of the RIAA if I was a shareholder. I do not believe that I ever will be, however, as the standard business structure of this industry does not seem to be viable.
+ - Digg fires Google, hires Microsoft->
Submitted by jdelator
jdelator writes "Digg, a reader-powered news site, fired Google as its online advertising partner Wednesday in favor of a company Digg's top executive described as young and willing to take risks: Microsoft. "We at Digg couldn't think of a better partner to get to where we need to go," said Jay Adelson, the company's chief executive officer. "They're a young ad service, they're innovative, they're willing to work with us on the cutting edge." For three years, Microsoft will deliver ads — mostly small, contextually relevant text links — on Digg.com."
Link to Original Source
+ - ExxonMobile glitch sends man 2,000 credit cards->
Submitted by
coondoggie writes "Now this is what we call a legendary computer glitch: Manhattan accountant Frank Van Buren received 2,00 ExxonMobile gas cards then the energy giant refused to take them back when confronted with the problem. The issue started after Van Buren called Exxon Mobile to replace his two existing cards. What he got were two separate deliveries of 1,000 cards each. Published reports indicate the cards were active already as well, sans the usual sticker that provides a number for customers to call to activate. Talk about an identity thief's delight. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/17876"
Link to Original Source
The Almighty Buck
Journal: I think I've fallen into a hole...
Journal by Mithrandir86
... and come out into an alternate universe. That is the only explanation I have for the comments I found in this story.
Did the Unions of the fear-mongering protectionists force them to work instead of reading Slashdot today? That was a joke, by the way.
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Comment: Re:No co-op (Score 1) 263
by darth dickinson (#44823247) Attached to: Valve Announces Family Sharing On Steam, Can Include Friends
Isn't that exactly what "family sharing" does?
Comment: Re:Any Different? (Score 2) 1069
by darth dickinson (#39586897) Attached to: EA Defends Itself Against Thousands of Anti-Gay Letters
In other news, its not like they force the LGBT encounters on you in the game. You pretty much have to consciously chose them.
Finally, some sanity. You have to consciously seek out any "intimate relationship" with the other characters, whether homo- or hetero-sexual in nature. In fact I think it's even possible to go through the first two games without *any* type of sexual relationship (haven't played ME3 yet, but I would assume the same is true there as well).
Comment: "NBC" didn't do anything (Score 4, Insightful) 1005
by darth dickinson (#39575725) Attached to: NBC Apologizes For Editing Zimmerman 911 Call
Comment: Re:First Illegal Troll (Score 2) 474
by darth dickinson (#39575247) Attached to: Arizona Attempts To Make Trolling Illegal
We do pay more taxes, as it happens. I would think as a resident of a state which pays less federal tax than it takes in federal money, you'd be a little less spiteful.
I would posit that most states pay less federal tax that they take in federal funds... otherwise we would not have a budget deficit.
Comment: Re:Next up : Toilet scanners (Score 1) 284
by darth dickinson (#39043977) Attached to: Sony Outlets Control Electricity Through Authentication
OK, so the direct analogy falls apart... but the larger point is made by a commenter upstream, that the military has access to personnel and weapons that would easily decimate any sort of uprising. Heck, your state National Guard probably has access to those weapons - artillery and air strikes can win a conflict :)
Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU. -- Mt. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8720 | Forgot your password?
+ - ClamAV team leaves the project->
Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Ten years after the first release (and five years after the acquisition by Sourcefire) the ClamAV team has left the project and the company.
Is this the end of the only open source anti virus?"
Link to Original Source
+ - MySQL has a new release model->
Submitted by
datacharmer writes "MySQL has a new release model.
Although in the surface it seemed that MySQL, the project, was not being part of the turmoil involving its community activity, internally it was changing. Slowly, but surely and in the right direction.
Today, Tomas Ulin, Director of Engineering for the MySQL Server, announces the new model during a public MySQL University session. With this change, MySQL follows the steps of other projects that have adopted a train model for their development and releases. Features are released when they are ready, and releases are not delayed because of too many bundled features. This new agile model is more open and easy for contributors."
Link to Original Source
The Media
+ - Iranian Missle Test Image Misses The Mark
Submitted by ClockEndGooner
ClockEndGooner writes "An interesting post over at the New York Times on how Sepah News, the media office for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, has apparently altered an image that has been used the world over the past two days on its latest missile tests. From the story:
I find it peculiar that the Revolutionary Guard is giving false evidence, perhaps to provoke the Bush administration, as opposed to the Bush administration fabricating evidence and claims as it had done with WMDs in Iraq before invading. Let's hope calmer and rational minds prevail."
Firefox Download Day To Start At 1 p.m. EST 1080
Posted by timothy
boustrophedon writes "Starting at midnight in their local timezones, downloaders have been asking when Firefox 3 will be ready for Firefox Download Day, June 17, 2008. Mary announced on the Spread Firefox Forum that downloads will commence at 10 AM PST." That means 1 p.m. East Coast time, and, in Justin Mason's view, some pretty annoying times of day for many parts of the world. Reader CorinneI supplies a link to PC Magazine's (very positive) overview of the new version's features, which praises the "speedy performance, thrifty memory usage, and, in particular, the address bar that now predicts where you want to go when you start typing (what Mozilla insiders refer to as the Awesome Bar)." FF3, even in Beta and RC form, and even with the extension incompatibilities I've run into, has quickly replaced FF2 as my preferred browser — for me, the improved drop-down autocomplete behavior alone is enough to justify the switch.
+ - Firefox 3 Download DayToday->
Submitted by
mdrisser writes "I've been eagerly awaiting the newest version of Firefox. I've been using it off and on since the first beta and now the final release day is finally here. From the Spread Firefox blog:
The Official Download Day Time Posted June 16th, 2008 by mary Hi all: Download Day starts on June 17th at 10 a.m. PDT. Check this out for local times: http://tinyurl.com/4e7fv5
Are you planning to help set the download record?"
Link to Original Source
The Internet
+ - Can you see web advertising?->
Submitted by
datacharmer writes "Can you actually see advertising? Some people are blind to ads. They filter off ads in their brain, leaving just an indistinct noise in the page, like an ink stain. This fact could be the side effect of indirect self training, triggered by continuous usage of the web. People using the web on a daily basis don't see the advertising anymore, or don't pay any attention to it. One wonders why the advertisers bother to use these techniques. And you? Do you see web advertising?"
Link to Original Source
+ - Redhat sued for Patent Infringement
Submitted by
tqft writes "http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071011205044141
"The first ever patent infringement litigation regarding Linux. Here's the patent, for those who can look at it without risk. If in doubt, don't. "
For those who can without fear read a patent:
Get your game faces on. Party Time."
Time Running Out for Public Key Encryption 300
Posted by Zonk
from the interesting-times-are-upon-us dept.
holy_calamity writes "Two research teams have independently made quantum computers that run the prime-number-factorising Shor's algorithm — a significant step towards breaking public key cryptography. Most of the article is sadly behind a pay-wall, but a blog post at the New Scientist site nicely explains how the algorithm works. From the blurb: 'The advent of quantum computers that can run a routine called Shor's algorithm could have profound consequences. It means the most dangerous threat posed by quantum computing - the ability to break the codes that protect our banking, business and e-commerce data - is now a step nearer reality. Adding to the worry is the fact that this feat has been performed by not one but two research groups, independently of each other. One team is led by Andrew White at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and the other by Chao-Yang Lu of the University of Science and Technology of China, in Hefei.'"
It's funny. Laugh.
+ - Google Employee Hides Easter Eggs in Translator->
Submitted by
InvisblePinkUnicorn writes "I was looking up information on a painting of Ivan the Terrible, and needed to translate some pages from Russian. Babelfish was working alright, but Google Translate seemed more convenient. It was then that I noticed something strange — every page translated by Google replaced one form of Ivan's Russian name with "Abraham Lincoln". For example: this brief biography. Did Google create its translation table inhouse, or outsource it from some other company? Can anyone else find similar examples of this?"
Link to Original Source
+ - Types of Testing / Testing Techniques : John M's B->
Submitted by
johnm.266 writes "Types of Testing ... its very common for folks in Testing, to encounter terms related to various "Types of Testing" and oftentimes, relatively new comers to Testing tend to wonder if Testing has sufficient challenges and breadth to it ... well, both as a concise one stop list of the different types of testing as well as a good reference point to begin exploring the wide & vast expanse of the Software Testing domain, i'm hopeful that this blog post could serve as a humble starting point. http://blogs.sun.com/johnmorrison/entry/types_of_t esting_testing_techniques"
Link to Original Source
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8722 | Forgot your password?
Comment: How does this compare to OPOC engine? (Score 1) 269
by georgep77 (#30400548) Attached to: Lotus Teases With a Fuel-Agnostic Two-Stroke Engine
I wonder how this compares to the OPOC engine that is being developed by the same guy who did the TDI for VW. Check out the nifty flash animation: http://www.ecomotors.com/ . I think the new found focus on economy is starting to (finally) spur some innovation in this area.
Comment: INFINITY MPG with a slightly better battery. (Score 2, Informative) 1006
by georgep77 (#29028717) Attached to: Chevy Volt Rated At 230 mpg In the City
Very weak. 40 miles on battery and then ~ 50mpg for the remaining 10 miles and you get the stupid mileage figure. Yes you can average 230mpg over the first 50 miles you drive on a fresh charge. Of course driving just another 10 miles would drop the mileage figure substantially. I guess it's time to have two mileage ratings. The first would be gallons per 100 miles with a fully charged battery, the 2nd would be gallons per 100 miles on a fully depleted battery.
Comment: Historical "Adjustments" (Score 1) 1061
by georgep77 (#26620289) Attached to: Global Warming Irreversible, NOAA Scientist Finds
I think it will be a lot harder for these researchers to go back and change their headlines than it has been for them to modify the historical temperature data. In a few years time we will be able to look back at these headlines and have a good laugh at what people were willing to say just to keep their funding.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8723 | Forgot your password?
Comment: Re:In film, frame rate = exposure time (Score 1) 607
by m85476585 (#39829735) Attached to: <em>Hobbit</em> Film Underwhelms At 48 Frames Per Second
You could have exposure times longer than 1/framerate. The simplest way would be to use multiple sensors. Say you are shooting 48fps and you want 1/24s exposure. Simply have each of two sensors looking at the same picture recording at 24fps and interlace them into the video. It might look unnatural because of the overlap between each frame, and if people don't like 48fps I doubt they would like this, but besides that I don't see any problem with it. You might also be able to design a single sensor that gives the same effect, basically by basically accumulating light for the first image from time 0-1/24 and accumulates light for the second image from 1/48-3/48.
Comment: Re:Hypersonic shaped Paper Airplane (Score 1) 183
by m85476585 (#39640501) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: The Very Best Paper Airplane?
I invented a design that sounds like yours. Basically I do this design: http://www.10paperairplanes.com/how-to-make-paper-airplanes/03-the-arrow.html and do a third fold before folding the wings. It makes an extremely fast plane with a deadly sharp point. It won't hold up in a pure distance competition unless you can throw it very fast, but it is accurate and has very low drag.
Comment: Re:The mobsters are licking their lips at this.... (Score 2) 473
by m85476585 (#39531645) Attached to: Canada To Stop Making Pennies
Don't forget the credit card companies charge merchants fees. Usually something on the order of $0.30 + 2%, but maybe less for a very big merchant.
If pricing is random, as many transactions will round up as round down, meaning the net result is no change. If merchants are careful with their pricing, they might be able to get more transactions to round up, or they can just increase all their prices by $0.025.
Comment: Re:Manufacturing jobs worldwide are dying (Score 1) 1303
by m85476585 (#38782363) Attached to: How the US Lost Out On iPhone Work
That's a fairly standard automated PCB assembly line. I can tell you with 99% certainty that Foxconn workers aren't placing surface mount parts by hand. Machines that can do it are relatively inexpensive (On the order of $1 million) and work many times faster than humans (and many times faster than the machines in that video) with near-perfect accuracy. They will also work 24/7 without creating controversy in western media.
What human workers at Foxconn are doing is final assembly work, such as putting the device together, and maybe packaging it. Robots to do that would be more complicated because a lot of dexterity may be required, and programming them for new products may be difficult because of the wide range of possible movements. For a SMT pick-and-place machine, programming is as easy as giving the machine some design files that tells it where to put the parts, and the basic movements are the same every time. To make a robot that places an assembled board into an enclosure, for example, is more difficult because the enclosure could have any number of shapes.
Here's an example of a modern pick-and-place machine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nah4BQ9y8IY Even with a virtually unlimited number of workers, there's no way you could match the output of even one of those machines. Humans make mistakes, so the yield would never be good, and it is extremely difficult for humans to place parts with the fine precision required for ICs with a high pin density.
Comment: Re:Why use utility poles at all? (Score 1) 153
by m85476585 (#38749540) Attached to: Google Fiber Work Hung Up In Kansas City
Ha! 5 years is an eternity for a road around here. There's one section in particular that is resurfaced literally every few months. In just a few months it gets giant potholes that will destroy your car if you hit them. It gets worse faster if it rains (We don't even get much frost here). I don't know why they refuse to dig it up and put in a proper base. Last time I saw them working there, they had removed the road surface to reveal clay soil with big loose rocks (fist-sized, maybe) underneath. It looks like cheap fill that is probably not stable at all especially when wet and probably has no drainage. The base is so rough that when they put down the new layer of asphalt it isn't even smooth (or maybe they just do a bad job with that too).
I can't imagine that getting a crew out there every few months is cheaper than digging down an extra layer and putting down a solid base. They already do 3/4 of the work by tearing up the road and re-paving it, so why not do it right for once?
Comment: Re:Water shortages? (Score 1) 321
by m85476585 (#38707054) Attached to: Pouring Water Into a Volcano To Generate Power
The Colorado river, which supplies most of the water for southwestern cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, no longer reaches the ocean. All of the water is diverted and used up along the way, mostly for agriculture.
Comment: Re:Clueless guy visits a fulfillment center (Score 1) 112
by m85476585 (#38113610) Attached to: Inside Newegg's East Coast Distribution Center
If you are ever going to be around their warehouse you can place an order and select "will call" for the delivery method and go pick it up yourself a few hours later. The nearest McMaster warehouse is about 30 minutes away, and I've been there a few times. I would love to take a tour, but I'm also happy just to see it from the door.
Their delivery is remarkably fast. One time I placed an order, I don't know what time, but they showed up at my house with it at 8pm the same day in an unmarked van. It was an oversize box, so it was cheaper for them to drive it to me than use UPS.
by m85476585 (#37777072) Attached to: US Student Loans Exceed $1 Trillion
Georgia has the Hope Scholarship funded by the state lottery. Students who make a 3.0 GPA in high school and maintain that in college will get 90%of tuition per semester paid for, and if they make at least a 3.3 they pay no tuition. Of course, that's not including the $544 and rising "USG Institutional Fee" and various other fees.
by m85476585 (#36280446) Attached to: Time Lapse Video of the VLT In Chile
I haven't been there, but I've been to Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, and the one on Mauna Kea (but we couldn't stay on top of Mauna Kea much past sunset, sadly). Mauna Kea was surreal even during the day because it feels like you are on top of the world.
The most amazing view of the night sky I've seen was at Kitt Peak. It really does look a lot like this video, but not as bright and without all the color. To be able to see the sky like this requires an absolutely dark location, and you will be seeing at the lower limit of your vision. The rods in your eyes are more sensitive than cones, but they cannot see color well or at all.
The times in the video when it looks like the sun came up are actually the moon. With a camera, it doesn't take HDR to be able to see stars at the same time as the moon- just set it so the moon is overexposed and the stars are correctly exposed. With your eyes, though, you won't be able to see that many stars once the moon is out because it will temporarily ruin your sensitive night vision. When the sun actually comes up in the video, everything goes white since it looks like they are using a fixed exposure setting.
Last time I tried night sky photography with a camera, I couldn't use long exposures because even in the relatively short exposure time the stars would move enough to leave short trails. They might have done this video by registering several shots from a short time frame on top of each other. Or they might have a better camera than I do. It would take a fast lens and a sensor with low noise at high ISO settings.
In short, it would be worth a trip to camp there, or somewhere similar. You won't see a bright, colorful sky, but you will probably see at least as many stars as there are in this video. Seeing the milky way at night never ceases to amaze me, and it is sad how little of the night sky we can see in most places because of light pollution.
by m85476585 (#36277834) Attached to: FDA Sued To Stop Antibiotic Abuse On Factory Farms
I'm allergic to soybeans, but only mildly. And I'm only allergic to forms containing protein, so soybean oil and soy lecithin are OK (otherwise I wouldn't be able to eat 99% of mass produced food on the market). Soy flour is questionable but OK in small quantities. Hydrolyzed soy protein seems to be OK since it is normally used only in small quantities as a "flavor enhancer", and the process seems to denature the protein enough. Even if I do eat soybeans, I won't die from them since it is a relatively mild allergy. And I'm fairly good at avoiding things with soy. If I can prove that I'm only allergic to GMO soybeans, I wonder if I could sue Monsanto?
Remember, UNIX spelled backwards is XINU. -- Mt. |
global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8724 | Forgot your password?
Subject Datestamp Replies Score
Canada's Gov site is a mess. *Friday December 08, 2000 @08:53AM 1
attached to How Should Government Web Sites Be Designed?
Getting Snippy? I would too... *Friday December 08, 2000 @05:01AM 2
attached to Alpha Station: Grumps In Space
Re:The fall of the global empire? *Thursday November 30, 2000 @08:10AM 2
Marvin Minsky? *Thursday November 30, 2000 @08:03AM 1
attached to Up, Up, Down, Down
Yes, there is a need, penis size *Monday October 30, 2000 @01:16PM 1
attached to Debunking The Need For 200FPS
I have BOTH DSL and Cable and i did some tests... *Wednesday September 27, 2000 @11:21AM 2
attached to On the Reliability of DSL Providers...
IMPORTANT things for employment you otta know... *Thursday September 07, 2000 @08:51AM 1
attached to Techies Saying No to College
FileMaker sounds perfect *Tuesday August 29, 2000 @06:28AM 1
attached to Prior Art to Squash Database Patent?
Microsoft apps ported to Mac *Saturday June 10, 2000 @01:56PM 1
attached to MacOS in a World w/ 2 Microsofts
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8725 | Forgot your password?
Comment: Re:9.1 (Score 1) 1009
Comment: Re:Boohoo (Score 1) 572
never to be seen there again.
Comment: Re:CentOS == win 7 of linux (Score 1) 346
by rmdashrf (#45544749) Attached to: The Burning Bridges of Ubuntu
No, RPM is not bad, it's pure EVIL, have you ever gone through the RPM documentation? It's a nightmarish twisty maze of implicit dependencies and inflexible as hell
Just having Yum sitting on top of it obscuring the RPM 'dependency from hell' cycle, doesn't mean that it's ok. If .deb packages leave cruft behind, that means the pre/post install of the particular package needs some work. Nothing to do with the package manager itself.
Using RHEL at the moment, but would drop it in a second if there was a serious contender for Redhat who would do Debian enterprise support.
There is a point of light though, someone is rebuilding RPM from the ground up, which seems to address the issues that plague the current version of RPM
Comment: Re:It's not about innovation (Score 1) 219
by rmdashrf (#45487127) Attached to: Samsung Ordered To Pay Apple $290M In Patent Case
The design is OBVIOUS.
- proportions
Hey it needs to fit in your hand and you need to be able to manage it with your fingers. The proportions of the device are related to the proportions of the human hand.
- size
Even though hands come in different sizes, there's probably a size that will be both usable for people with small hands and people with bigger hands.
- contour
Comment: Re:So here we have an example of our crossroads... (Score 1) 239
by rmdashrf (#45478051) Attached to: Software Patent Reform Stalls Thanks To IBM and Microsoft Lobbying
A govenrments only real power is the threat of violence (through incarceration and other means to enforce laws). Having a government that's unable to enforce the laws it makes, would be the equivalency to having anarchy.
And if there's no government to enforce laws, then who would be making those corporations accountable? If you have a practical answer to this question, you'll have solved most of mankind's problems
What you're proposing would result in countries like Nigeria, where there's a puppet regime, strong enough to keep the threat of violence hanging over the population's head, while not strong enough to hold off corporations plundering any and all natural resources your country may possess.
The only practical solution would be to always ensure that private entities like corporations are always weaker than government. If you have a large corporation, the only option to control them is large government. Making sure that corporations are unable to grow beyond a certain size would reduce the need to large government, since it will never be required to grow large a as counterweight to the power that private entities (in this case corporations, but this also goes for other private entities) can exert.
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global_01_local_0_shard_00000017_processed.jsonl/8732 |
2012 Team Shoot Out Nike
2012 Team Shoot Out Nike
Picture 2 of 8
Peetu Piiroinen had been watching this hip for days. The clouds never totally cleared, but on one day there were enough holes to just go for it. When the elements lined up Peetu blasted this serious method.
presented by
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