The Beaten Path

Off to the Run!

2007-05-02T23:49:34Z

I'll be off-line for the rest of the week as Daddy and I head off to our first Leather Run for the year, AIDA, sponsored by Tsarus Memphis. I'm a former member of Tsarus, and Daddy is an associate. AIDA (named after the opera about the Nubian Princess who risks everything for the love of an Egyptian soldier) takes places in the wooded hills of Middle Tennessee, near Henderson, 2.5 hours NE of Memphis, on private property owned by Club members. This is the 30th anniversary Run so assuming we don't get rained on the entire weekend, there should be a huge crowd. Camping is the name of the game, although there is a bunk house, open air kitchen, showerhouse, dining pavillion, and fire pit with bleachers as well. We set up Daddy's palatial tent last weekend.

Runs so far:

with Battalion Motorcycle Corp:
Jan. MUSTER (central Texas)
Mar. Shakedown (north Texas)

upcoming:

May IML
June Ballbuster (Battalion- in Arkansas)
July Bivouac Battalion
Sept. Inferno (my first!)
Oct. Mystery Ride Battalion
Nov. Turney Shoot Battalion

Score! More Boots...

2007-05-01T18:03:09Z

I got an unexpected gift from far-off friends yesterday in the form of a new pair of Demonia knee-high boots, which is coincidentally exactly what I've always wanted. These beauties have 30 eyelets from toe to knee and who knows how many feet of laces. With my new Grinders and the low-rise, I've somehow scored three new sets of boots in one month's time. I'm a lucky boy.

doubleringdick @ 2007-04-27T09:34:00

2007-04-27T14:34:28Z

I am an
Echinacea

What Flower
Are You?

I was hoping for a daffodil or water lily.

It's boy-Lite! or boy-Free! or boy-Zero!

2007-04-26T15:21:31Z

Today is fall-out day. I've been off caffeine for 48 hours and buddy, somebody is going to fucking die. The weapon of course will be this mug full of tepid earl grey, which is doing nothing, I repeat, nothing but staining my teeth, which have been bared sharply at everyone who made the sorry mistake of entering my office this morning. The headache has set in, and until about fifteen minutes ago I didn't remember that it's the drug (and lack of) that's causing my foul mood.

This is important, though, I keep telling myself. Need to get Dr. Pepper out of my life, lose about five pounds (I have a run and IML coming up), more important than the caffeine is cutting out the excess sugar, I can have some coffee tomorrow morning, just have to wait though, and with any luck the evening headlines won't read "FUCKED UP NONPROFIT PROGRAM MANAGER EXECUTES IDIOT WHO STOLE HIS FAVORITE PEN!" Please, God, send somebody to whip me! I need pain!!!

doubleringdick @ 2007-04-18T14:07:00

2007-04-18T19:07:28Z

ANIMOLOGY: What Animal Are You? Your Result: Blue Fox You are the blue fox! A total perfectionist and a true born leader. You can never resist a challenge! Your Soul Mate is the Yellow Trout and you loathe the Indigo Beaver.
Teal Cat
Silver and Red Wolf
Ocre and Gray Dolphin
Gold Falcon
Red Jaguar
Tan Giraffe
Yellow Trout
ANIMOLOGY: What Animal Are You?

Curious

2007-04-13T15:49:33Z

For those of you who added me as a friend, I'm curious as to which colors you chose for me on your friends list.

Manic Monday on Friday?

2007-04-13T15:08:39Z

Question #1: On that last motorcycle run in Texas, I got bitten by my former Master's new puppy (no, not that kind, a real dog). It didn't even break the skin, but left fang-like blood blisters on my right pointer finger. Those have now hardened into flat, black spots, which until now haven't bothered me, but suddenly I have the desire to saw off the whole finger just so I don't have to look at them anymore. I feel like Lady Macbeth. How the fuck do I get rid of these things?

Question #2: speaking of my former Master, I wished Him a Happy Birthday yesterday by email and He responded, as He is wont to do, by addressing me as "slave." That irks the hell out of my Daddy, who is His close friend. I don't know that Daddy expects me to do anything about it, or think that i necessarily am encouraging Him to address me under my old title, but He definitely wishes Master would stop calling me "slave" and start calling me "boy" (read: "Daddy's boy"). Somehow I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable correcting Master though, and don't think it's proper that I should try to. Any BDSM ettiquette meisters out there?

Paranoia, rain down on me!

Not Bad for a Sub boy

2007-04-12T15:50:09Z

You Are Wind

Strong and overpowering
A force to be reckoned with, no one dares cross you
You have the power to change everything around you

You are best known for: your wrath

Your dominant state: commanding

What Type of Weather Are You?

BDSM: Boots

2007-04-12T14:48:43Z

I just bought something off of EBay for the first time in my entire life. How I've managed to live almost 33 years without getting to that point I'm not sure, but perhaps that's another LJ entry altogether.

Friends out west pointed out these Doc Martens Grinders in my size and I had to have them. Not sure why- I already have 7 pairs of boots in various styles- but I didn't have any Grinders, and now I do. I rule!

Before you start getting the idea that I'm some rich-type stuff-hound, rest assured that my materialism is limited to leather/boots and my original art collection. And I'm dirt poor anyway and in fact take pride in carrying on the legacy of nonprofit program managers everywhere that survive off spaghetti and peanut butter (not together).

Wearing boots in my leather frame of mind is like wearing a good cologne. It's an aphrodisiac that I can wear to work. I've long given up dress shoes at the office in favor of my boots, a thick leather belt with my maltese cross buckle, and a hanky in the back right pocket. It adds flavor to my khakis and button down shirt. (I'm still trying to decide if I can get away with wearing my braces (suspenders) as well. Too much, perhaps?)

It's makes my Daddy hot and I'm much more likely to find myself underneath Him when thus shod. I enjoy the way the size of my already large feet are exagerated even more by a pair of sturdy black boots. I love the clomping sound they make on my hardwood floors (no, the house hasn't sold yet). I love the weight I feel with every step, and the heat they produce when riding a motorcycle.

My favorites have been my Double H harness boots up til now, but damn these Grinders have me spinning.

Boot lovers sound off, please.

UPDATE: I just got won another pair- 10 eyelet steel-toe workboots, black leather. Fuck, shit, hell! I rule! Fuck, shit, hell! I'm getting addicted!

On the Road Again

2007-04-02T18:15:03Z

Daddy and I spent the weekend cruising to Dallas and back on his motorcycle. The occasion was the second run of the year for his club which is centered in north Texas- Daddy and I are the farthest outliers on the roster. It was a great weekend. Thursday night we headed out after work across Arkansas wrapped in black leather. We made it as far as Arkadelphia before we decided to call it a night and stop at a hotel. The tricky part was that we were facing a wall of storms stretching from the Gulf to Kansas, which was heading east as we drove west. Somehow we missed it though. We had about five minutes of sprinkles outside Bonham, TX but that was it. We made it to my former Master's ranch by dinner time and then the clouds opened up. It rained through the night, soaking several other bikers driving up from Dallas.
Saturday morning, 19 bikers headed out under sunny skies and rode south for about 150 miles, stopping for lunch along the way. Our destination was a gay men's campground and ranch in rural central Texas, where we camped and caroused. Sunday morning, Daddy and i packed up and rode the whole way home in one day, arriving about 10 PM with sore butts.

Naked Jesus?

2007-04-02T17:59:10Z

I found this through an online nudist group and it intrigued me immediately, though I still haven't compeltely formed my opnion of it. "My Sweet Lord" is a life-size sculpture of the crucified Christ, anatomically correct, sans cross, and made entirely from chocolate.

My first thoughts: it makes sense to me that the figure is disrobed and showing all, whereas most crucifixes have Jesus in a loincloth. I like thinking that Jesus was a man just like me- that's why he was sent here in the first place, right? I think his demeanor is less gallant and iconic here as well, which again makes him more human and easier to relate to. Unfortuantely, his face is a little too expresionless.

Then there's the medium: chocolate. Does it cheapen the imagery or belittle it? While I do think think that chocolate is sacred, I wonder if plaster or clay might have been a better choice.

Overall I give it a thumbs up. What do you think? The artist's bio is below.

B I O G R A P H Y

Cosimo Cavallaro was born in Montreal in 1961. The son of Italian immigrants, Cavallaro was raised both in Canada and Italy. He attended art schools in each country respectively including the United States before setting up shop as a sculptor in Montreal in the early 1980's.

Cavallaro eventually fell into film direction when a friend asked him to help out on a movie set. Within days he was assisting with art design. Soon he was a full time production designer working first on features and then on commercials. Directing became the natural progression. As a director Cavallaro has won numerous awards including the Director of the Year Award in Canada and the 1990 Canadian Film Festival Award for Best Video of the Year.

Although film and video monopolized the majority of Cavallaro's time in the 1980's and early 1990's, his art remained evident in all of his work and foremost in his mind. In 1995 he moved to New York where he began focusing more of his time on creating art. His work speaks to a variety of audiences and expresses (in his own words) "the struggle between need and desire; the known and unknown; the warm security of the womb and the chill uncertainty of the world."

Cavallaro's mediums range from photography (Nudes), to large steel sculptures (Knot). His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world. Cavallaro has recently been working with new mediums including cheese (Room 114, Twiggy in Cheese, and Cheese House Wyoming), candy (Candy Chair), and rubber (Inflatable Piano).

Public Nudity: Florida's Not the Naked Paradise You'd Expect

2007-03-21T18:52:18Z

http://www.expressg aynews.com/ 2007/3-9/ locallife/ feature/3516. cfm

The following online journal article talks about nudist recreation in Florida, namely South beach, and how the climate is not as tolerant of public nudity as one would expect in a state known for sunshine.

Proponents of nudism say what it means to them, which is mostly about having a sense of total freedom. For me, it's that as well, but mostly I find that being comfortable naked in front of other people makes me more comfortable with myself. Proud even. And that makes me wonder what ill effects occur in people's psyches when society rules that naked bodies in non-sexual contexts are taboo and even freakish. Shouldn't there be private, geographically secluded beaches for people who are offended by nudity rather than for people who see nothing wrong with their bodies?

Lord knows I get some amount of pleasure whenever I go camping in beautiful rural Arkansas, and stripped down to my shorts, some small child runs screaming to his Daddy after seeing my tattoos and piercings. But really, I don't even think about it anymore. Whereas, as a child I would often refuse to take off my shirt in front of family members, now it never occurs to me that something about my physcial self could be offensive, frightening, or in the remotest way uncomfortable for others. Maybe I'm just in the wrong country.

As I move forward with the sale of my house, I'm starting to look for an apartment and the first priority is a balcony or fenced patio where I can smoke my pipe, sip a Guiness, and watch the sunshine dance off my PA.

"Grin and Bare It"

From beaches to social clubs, S. Fla. gay nudists celebrate freedom
of naturist lifestyle

by JESSE MONTEAGUDO

%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%

Seth Paronick has been a nudist for most of his life. As he tells
it, "I started swimming nude during men's hours in the indoor pool
of my community center when I was 10. At 16, I went to my first nude
beach, readily stripped off my clothes and was hooked."

Paronick continued to frequent San Gregorio Free Beach, a nude beach
south of San Francisco, for several years before "coming out" at the
age of 22 — as a gay nudist. "I finally worked up the nerve to park
my stuff in the gay section of the beach."

Paronick's story is not unique. For Jan Szukala, the magic moment
came back in the mid-1970s.

"I discovered a nude private beach adjacent to the Oval Beach in
Saugatuck, Mich.," Szukala recalls. "Guys and gals would play
volleyball, run naked along the paths in the dune grasses and relax
under the trees on hot summer days."

Joe Lonsway's epiphany came in the early 1980s, when he, too,
discovered the pleasures of textile-free beaches. Soon after that,
Lonsway attended his first gay nudist social event in Orlando in the
late 1980s and then joined Southern Exposure in Tampa in 1993.

S. Fla. nudists active in scene

Lonsway, Paronick and Szukala are not passive participants in the
joys of clothing-optional recreation. In fact, all three men are
active in South Florida's small but burgeoning gay nudist scene.
Lonsway edits the Gay Naturist Informer, published by Gay Naturists
International (GNI), the world's largest gay nudist organization.
Paronick is on the boards of GNI and the WildFyre Society, South
Florida's premiere gay nudist group. Szukala is vice president of
Gold Coast Bare Skins (GCBS), this area's oldest gay nudist club, as
well as a member of GNI.

All are eager to promote the pleasures of the nudist lifestyle. As
Paronick describes it, "I've always loved the feeling of air and
water over all my body, the freedom and comfort of swimming without
soggy fabric hanging off of me, and the primal sense of connection
with the natural elements that being nude outside imparts."

Szukala enjoys being outdoors, whether he's on a sailboat, swimming,
hiking or working in his garden.

`Natural, free and open'

"Discovering how liberating nudity can be heightened my enjoyment of
all that's natural, free and open," he says. Lonsway says he
enjoys socializing in the nude with like-minded men because there
are fewer barriers to communicating and getting to know each other.

"Also, I'm a bit of an exhibitionist, " he admits.

But going naked in Florida has its challenges. In the guide Naked
Places, Michael Boyd writes: "Florida should be a nude beach
paradise, but it simply is not. There is a clash of cultures at play
in the state. Florida's mild weather and beautiful beaches have made
it popular with gay men and with international tourists from places
where beach nudity is not controversial. Despite such cosmopolitan
influences, Florida is still very much part of the Bible Belt."

Nevertheless, though local liquor laws forbid nudity in bars and
clubs, South Florida gay nudists have at their disposal an
assortment of venues. Fort Lauderdale and Key West are two of the
three leading centers of gay nude recreation in the United States.
The third one is Palm Springs, Calif.

"While Florida does not have nearly as many nude beaches as one
might expect, what the Sunshine State does have is the most gay
clothing-optional resorts and guesthouses of any place in the
world," Boyd writes. Such accommodations are overwhelmingly
clustered in Fort Lauderdale, with the island city of Key West a
distant second, Boyd notes.

Haulover Beach is top attraction

Lonsway, Paronick and Szukala all agree that South Florida can be a
hospitable place for gay nudists. Ground Zero for South Florida
nudists, gay or otherwise, is Haulover Beach, located on A1A between
Bal Harbour and Sunny Isles in north Miami-Dade County. Haulover's
clothing-optional section, located at the northern tip of the park,
is a tourist favorite. As noted by USA Today, "while the rest of
Haulover Beach is virtually empty, the clothing optional section
hosts in excess of 1 million beach-goers annually from around the
world."

Gay men flock in droves to the "gay section" of the nude beach,
where they talk, tan, eat, swim, cruise and take in the scenery.

"I've been to many nude beaches in both remote and urban locations,"
Paronick says. "Despite the development around it, [Haulover] is one
of the best in terms of beauty, space, cleanliness, accessibility
and amenities."

Outside of Haulover, South Florida's gay nudist scene centers on
several gay nudist clubs. The gay nudist club scene in South Florida
dates back to the Everglades Rawhides, which was founded in 1982.
The club disbanded in the early 1990s after the deaths of some of
its founders. In 1992, Szukala and a few friends got together to
form Gold Coast Bare Skins (GCBS).

"I'm not one to hang out in bars," Szukala says. "About the only
bars that would get me out on weekends in years past offered
clothing-optional nights. They have all since disappeared. GCBS
filled a great void after the Rawhides disbanded. Fifteen years
later, we still see new faces arrive eager and excited about gay
social nudism."

The WildFyre Society is the largest gay men's nudist club in South
Florida. In fact, WildFyre is the largest gay nudist club anywhere,
outside of national or international groups like GNI. According to
Paronick, a charter member, WildFyre was born in 1998, at GNI's
annual Summer Gathering.

WildFyre has hundreds of members, Paronick notes. Although some
niche events, such as game nights or workshops, may draw only a few
dozen who have a particular interest, the club's big bashes, such as
its pool or dance parties, bring in from 150 to more than 200
attendees, Paronick says.

WildFyre also sponsors SCORCH, a special interest group for nudists
who are into leather or fetish. Last August, more than 100 WildFyre
members attended the GNI gathering in the Poconos. The WildFyre
members represented more than one-eighth of the 800 or so men who
attend the week-long camp.

Clubs attract diverse groups

Though the groups' activities overlap, they each attract a slightly
different demographic.

"WildFyre attracts a younger crowd and offers outings and large
house parties," Lonsway says. "Gold Coast Bare Skins (GCBS) attracts
a little more `mature' crowd, which I'm part of now. They focus on
medium to large house parties and an occasional sailing venture.
South Florida Men Enjoying Nature (SFMEN) attracts the most `mature'
men in the area."

There is also a fourth group, Bear Naked South Florida. The group
attracts nude bears and their admirers.

Though most of the men who attend nudist functions are white, there
is also a small but active component of African-American, Hispanic
and Asian men. Some of the nudists are incredibly hot and some are
incredibly not. But one thing the nudists seem to have in common is
an active social life.

"An inordinate number of [WildFyre's] members are leaders of other
groups, whether social, philanthropic, religious, artistic or
political," Paronick says. "It feels good to be around people that
are so connected and committed to the greater community."

Openly gay nudists probably represent only a small percentage of the
gay population. But for the many people who brave Florida's
puritanical elements to bare it all in public, there are social
benefits to celebrating their God-given gifts with an uninhibited,
clothing-free lifestyle.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2007-03-16T19:04:30Z

From the House of Devin (DRD's real name, and yes I'm Irish), Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Yes, a day early, but I usually stay offline on the weekends.) Your assignment is drink as much Harp as you can and report back on the dreams you have while unconscious!

Luck o' the Irish to ye!

DRD

I am a Non-Geek

2007-03-16T15:01:20Z

What the fuck's a MEME?

Mi Casa

2007-03-15T14:54:37Z

I put my house on the market yesterday. You understand, of course, that I'm not used to being a sentimental type, but my heart's taking a hit. I'm supposed to be Mr. Practical, and practically speaking, I just don't need a three bedroom house on a quarter acre lot. I can save $500-700 per month living in a very nice apartment. And I'm never there anyway- usually sleep with Daddy at his house. But this will be the first down-grade in hosuing I've ever had. It is the first house I've ever owned, and everything I wanted in a house. It's a craftsman bungalow built in 1920, with glorious hardwood floors, a massive stone fireplace, and beautiful antique bronze fixtures and glass gem doorknobs. This pic was taken right after I closed on it so you can't see what I've done to the yard, but it's all landscaped now- English style with tall wildfloweres mixed in with herbs, and walled in by azaleas and roses. I must have 100 different types of lilies. I hung the leather pride flag and the state flag of California off the car port. I ribbon-striped the dinigroom walls in a deep violet called vin rouge- stripes are all the same color but flat versus semi-gloss. The basement made a damn fine dungeon including a toilet stall with glory hole, and the one upstairs room in my painting and writing studio. The good news is it should sell for about $25,000 more than I paid.

Feel free to tell me how you deal with doing what you know is right when you don't want to.

Moving Forward...Slowly

2007-03-14T17:38:44Z

It's a been long couple of weeks, waiting to hear if I got accepted to law school or not, and not too much else to preoccupy my thoughts except doing my taxes, which always sucks. I always get fucked up when doing the paperwork for my side business, which often involves pay without taxes already taken out. Business expensives, and I had plenty this year, usually off-set the taxes pretty much, but you have to go through 5 or 6 forms to list them, and guess what- accountants charge by the form. I came out decently well though after a week of headaches.

My ego is taking quite a hit about school though. I was shocked to find that my LSAT score was not a high as I'd thought it would. Totally, respectable, mind you, but not stunning. And after the confidence I had going into the test and coming out from it, it's still hard to believe. That I could be turned down, waited listed, or not admitted until Fall 2008 blows my mind.

Nothing to about that except concentrate more on vintage porn.

A Respectable Score if I say so Myself

2007-02-28T20:19:22Z

<td>Pholph's Scrabble Generator

My Scrabble© Score is: 25.
What is your score? Get it here.</td>

SUNSHINE!

2007-02-22T18:38:45Z

It's over 66 degrees, the sun is shining, my daffodils are blooming, the rainbow flag is flying proudly from the new flagpole in front of the GLB community center, I'm wearing my short sleeve cowboy shirt with the pearl snaps, and right now I'm so goddamn, mother-fuckin' happy that I could piss in the trash can and drink it for lunch.

Wherever you are, I hope your day is equally as splendid!

Love, DRD

As Long As It's Practical...

2007-02-21T20:49:57Z

You know by now that not much shocks me as it pertains to enjoying myself, but it's nice to know that piss, generally considered for enjoyment purposes only, has a practical side as well. This bit of info comes from the massive library of rotten.com which should tell you something right there, but I found it an interesting read. I'd write more, but I think I want to go wash my hair.

The Practical Uses of Pee
http://www.rotten.com/library/medicine/bodily-functions/pissing/practical-uses/

While most of us think of pee as something to get rid of, some people -- both in modern and historical times -- have thought of pee as something to acquire, that is, as a useful and valuable substance which can be put to such uses as:

Tanning Hides
In the first century AD, the Roman's so valued the use of urine in the tanning industry that they imposed a tax upon it (the Roman Pee Tax. Most cultures never went that far in acclaiming it's worth. However vast numbers of cultures did discover the value of urine in tanning animal skins. Some merely sprinkled (tinkled?) urine on the toughest part of the hide, to soften it for working, while others actually soaked the hide directly in a container of pee.

One of the tasks acomplished through pee soaking was to dissolve fatty tissues and flesh that had remained on the hide after skinning. Once soaked in urine, the tissues semi-dissolved and could be scraped off much more easily. (Flesh left on the hide will stiffen and rot.) In a later phase of the tanning process, urine is rubbed onto the outside of the skin to remove any unwanted hair as well as the out layer of skin. Mixed with quicklime and wood ash, the urine loosens the hair, allowing it to be scraped off.

Color Dying
Urine has a variety of uses in the dying industry. First, it acts as a cleansing agent, removing oils and dirt -- especially important in preparing wool for dying. Reportedly, the resultant wool, once dried, is not only much cleaner, but also extraordinarily soft to the touch.

The second use for urine is as an extracting agent. Specifically, certain natural substances, when soaked in stale urine, will yield up a highly valued and highly useable pigmentation. For example, fermenting the lichen orchil in old pee will yield a lovely purple coloration that can then be used to die wool and cotton.

Finally, urine may be used as a dying medium and fixative. Add your coloring agent to the urine, toss in your wool or cotton, let soak, and voila. Interestingly enough, some who've experimented with the process say that fresh urine is better for this part of the process -- as rotten pee leaves in the fabric a rotton pee odor.

Naturally, if one thinks about the quantity of fabric necessary to make a large item of clothing (such as a dress or cloak), one cannot help but ponder the fact that a large quantity of fabric would require a large volume of liquid in which to be soaked for dying. The obvious question therefore is, "Where is all this urine coming from?"

And the answer is that most folks save up their own or their family's urine for the process. However, urban legend in remote parts of the U.K. would have it that some dyers used to leave a tub out for the lads to fill on their way home from the pub. Certainly there would be a value in having such ready contributors of fresh urine (such as a better smelling and more hygenic dye), but there is no proof that this practice really took place.

A more peculiar piece of folk history claims that some dyers would only use the fresh urine of nursing infants. The urine, which was obtained by squeezing out the diapers, then made from dried moss (in Britain at least), was saved until there was enough for a batch of dye. While this practice may seem a bit peculiar, as though harking back to witchcraft and superstitions, it is worth noting that breast fed babies do not have the same nasty odors in their sweat, urine, and poop as do adults and children eating solid food (especially meat).

Bleaching
While zillions of products marketed in the supermarket and online profess to clean away urine stains, giving the sense that urine is a powerful soiling agent only, urine itself has actually been used as a bleaching agent for centuries -- perhaps millenia. This fact may make more sense when you consider that both bleach and urine are strongly alkali and that both have the ability to dissolve or disintegrate biological material (seen Tanning, above. Nonetheless, most modern folks balk at adding fresh urine to the laundry machine ("But won't it make the clothes stinky?"), although they are quite confident about pouring nasty smelling, caustic bleach in with the wash.

But of course it is not the stink that makes urine a good bleach. It's the ammonia. (Don't believe me? Check the ingredients on a bottle of Mr.Clean.)

Curing Tobacco
While it's hard to tell how extensive this practice really was, it is documented that at least some folks found that hanging their tobacco in the outhouse mellowed it and, oddly enough, lessened the stink it created when burned (as in a gentleman's after dinner cigar). Go figure.

Information about the origin of this practice is sketchy. But it is intriguing to note that the 1771 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica instructs that "A strong decoction of the stalks, with sharp-pointed dock and alum, is said to be of good service, used externally, in cutaneous distempers, especially the itch: some boil them for that purpose in urine. The same is said to be infallible in curing the mange in dogs." We can only speculate whether some accidental steaming of tobacco, during such medicinal concocting, might have led to the discovery of the value of urine fumes. Or then again, perhaps someone was simply hiding his smoke in the outhouse and noticed the subsequent improvement.

Restoring Color To Coral And Odor To Musk
Strangely enough, hanging coral in an outhouse, amidst all the eye-watering fumes, causes it to regain it's vivid color. More perplexing, hanging musk (the key ingredient in sweet smelling perfumes) in the outhouse revives its potency.

Marking Territory
Most of us are familiar with the canine habit of marking territory by lifting a leg and peeing on just about everything in sight -- including your neighbor's leg and the crate of produce at the local fruit stand. But of course many other animals mark territory in a very similar way, most notably large predators such as tigers, lions, bears, and wolves. Human beings have actually found ways to make use of this phenomenon by collecting this urine (from zoos, wildlife rehab facilities, and etc.) and sprinkling it about their yard to ward off the pesky intrusions of deers and other garden gobbling wildlife. With the advent of the World Wide Web, you too can obtain predator pee of your very own. While it may scare off larger wildlife, it is actually a dandy way to attract butterflies.

Cheese making
Although not a common practice, the addition of urine to cheese-making has been known to make a richer, more piquant cheese, highly sought after by those who've tasted it.

Manufacturing "gold glue", aka chrysocollon
The method for creating chrysocollon, a substance which could allegedly repair cracks in gold vessels and other objects, was as follows: an innocent young boy must urinate into a mortar of red copper, while a pestle (also made of red copper) is in motion. Next, the mortar of urine must be exposed in the sun until it has become thick, like honey. It's now ready to spackle up your favorite golden goblet or dinner dish.

Chrysocollon was reputed to cure diseaase as well.

Medicinal
Urine has been used in various ways as a healing substance, both when taken internally (see Drinking Pee) and when applied externally. Native Eskimo people are but one of many cultures to use fresh urine as an antiseptic, and certain tribes of central Africa who mix it with mud to form a paste which relieves insect bites.

Tattooing
Mixed with coal dust, urine was used in some cultures for tatooing. You have to wonder as to who thought of this combination -- not to mention how and why.

Removing Ink Stains
Strangely enough, the pee giveth and the pee taketh away. Although it wouldn't exactly remove your tattoo, pee has been used to dissolve away the dribblings from ye olde quill.

Salt Peter For Gun Powder
Here's yet another item for the "How did they come up with this" category. If you take earth that has been heavily peed on, place it in a bucket with holes (or wire mesh) in the bottom, and then run hot water through it, and so on and so forth, you come up with these funny little crystals (called potassium nitrate). Now, take these crystals and add them to equal parts charcoal powder and sulfur. Guess what -- you've just invented gun powder! Have fun. Don't forget to invent fireworks.

Hair Shampoo
Believe it or not, you can make your hair cleaner by dousing it with urine. Kinda takes those "shower" games you tried to a whole new level doesn't it? I think we can figure out how this one was invented.

The more intriguing part is actually how it works. It turns out that urine shares some similar chemical properties with soap and detergent. Highly alkaline, urine can cut through greasy build-up and leave hair, dare we say it, "softer and more manageable".

Naturally the whole process provides more pleasant smelling hair (according to modern standards) if combined with warm water rinsing and, better yet, a sudsy plant product such as soap root.

Face And Body Wash
Similar to the shampoo above, urine has the ability to clean away dirt and oils from your skin. Some feel it gives their skin a softer, more radiant appearence. Supposedly its very popular with certain women (of the wealthy persuasion) in Japan. Imagine, Asian beauties lolling about in big vats of pee. Truth or folk legend? Here in America we simply distill the urea out of urine and slap it into every beauty product we can think of.

As An Ingredient In Cosmetics And Shampoo

See above.

Washing Cooking Utensils & Food/Drink Vessels
Now this may sound ridiculous and disgusting, but you have to consider where the practice is popular. First of all, it was very popular in cold places, like Siberia. Imagine if you will, living in a frozen wasteland where there is barely enough fuel to light your hovel and cook part of your food. Melting the snow and then further heating it -- just to get hot water for dishes -- is not going to be high on your list of priorities.

But imagine that your utensils have just been awash in smelly blubber and seal guts and whatnot. Assuming your home is at least warm enough that your nose hairs don't freeze and fall off, the odds are that the blubber smears are going to turn rancid and breed bacteria. So what does the smart Siberian housewife do? Passes the dish pan and lets everybody pee in it. Voila! Hot water for washing dishes and utensils. It dissolves grease and is virtually sterile (unless of course you live in a part of the world where no one ever bathes their genitals).

Another part of the world that is big on cleansing things in pee is East Africa-- where they are also big on cows. Here is a land where boys write poetry to their cows, where a woman's worth is measured in the number of cows she can be traded for at marriage, and where life just wouldn't be worth living without a big herd to gaze upon. It is also where -- in the hot, barren months of the dry season -- the blood, milk, pee, and poo of your cow provides all the conveniencs of bovine 7-11. Even shade can be found in the shadow of your four-footed friend.

Here water is sometimes scarce (and sterile water is often absent) and dishes are sometimes cleansed in urine -- although in this case cow, not human urine. Apparently the practice has led to a taste for the flavor of cow urine, as members of some tribes will actually go out of their way to spike a serving of cow's milk with cow pee. Clearly this is a land that cries for Nesquik.

Naked Hiking in CA

2007-02-21T20:23:38Z

I was awfully pleased to see this article about naked hikers in beautiful Palm Springs, CA, especially after reading about the naked jogger getting fined for running nude. My personal philosophy on naked hiking anywhere, legal or not, is that if spotted, it would take someone an awful long time to get somewhere where they could report me, and then they'd have to find me. The couple times I've run into someone naked on a trail have never resulted in offense or problems- usually just some laughs, and once, a really hot interlude with a well-built and lonely park ranger. But we digress...

It's just nice to see men out in the world, enjoying themselves in total freedom and comfort without worrying about useless social morays. I'm drinking to them tonight!

The photos included with the article show some bare asses, so check it out at home.

Read the article

So Moved I Could Cry

2007-02-19T15:54:14Z

I always wondered how many dead people would still be alive now if Howard Dean had been elected president, and I wondered the same if people had listened to the Dixie Chicks a few years ago when lead singer Natalie Maines proclaimed their disappointment in President Bush and his war to a German audience in a concert. The Chicks caught hell for it, and people forsaw the end of their career. But I'm proud to say that they are alive and rocking with new Grammys to boot, namely for their hit, "Not Ready to Make Nice" in which they respond proudly to the flood of hatemail and overt threats they've received since then.

It's not just that I agree with their sentiments, but their entire story. I first saw the Dixie Chicks when they were nothing. They sang to a packed house of college students at the National Association of Campus Activities convention--in other words, they were on the college circuit. But they worked hard and made it to the big leagues of country music.

Music is time-honored self-expression. And yet, when they expressed something unpopular, Americans turned on them venomously. "Not Ready To Make Nice" expresses beautifully their frustration and anger at the ugliness they've been subject to, and their pride in not backing down. It's a beautiful song, passionately written and fiercely performed. And it won. I'm so proud for them i could cry. Daddy bought me their new album, Taking the Long Way, and I can't stop listening to it. It just goes to show that when you speak an unpopular truth, people do hear it eventually.

Freedom of Speech (symbolized by a royal blue ribbon) is my ultimate issue. I believe censorship leads to the destruction of thought, which leads to the denigration of humanity. I hope you can appreciate as much as I do when someone stands up for what they truly believe in.

Naked Jogger Busted in CA

2007-02-19T15:37:49Z

In a perfect world, this would be such a non-issue. I hate that non-sexual, public nudity is viewed as deviant or inappropriate. Understanding of course that the majority of folks will probably always feel uncomfortable about it, and that's important to recognize, I just get concerned about what that means. Is the implicit that there is something abhorrent about a naked man's body? Or is it that his nudity automatically makes him dangerous? I can't decide how I feel about this issue, other than I might be willing to pay $95 myself in order to jog naked in a park for a month...

Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A man whose habit of jogging in a park wearing
nothing but a pair of running shoes said he would keep his clothes on
after he was fined $95 for indecent exposure.

Darryl Delacruz, a Silicon Valley engineer, said he would miss
the "liberating feeling" of running naked in Fremont Older Open Space
Preserve. But he conceded his personal comfort was less important
than the discomfort he caused others.

"I'll go back, but I'll be wearing clothes," he said. "I don't want
people to have the wrong impression."

After other park users complained about Delacruz streaking, park
rangers kept an eye out for him and finally caught him in the buff
Jan. 9. People are allowed to sunbathe naked in the park, but only
out of eyeshot of others.

"We don't see it as appropriate behavior," said Kerry Carlson,
president of the Midpeninsula Rangers Peace Officers Association. "A
significant number of people feel uncomfortable with a nude person
running around."

Delacruz, 43, said his preferred jogging attire was "about getting in
touch with nature, not meeting people."

LSAT Follow-up

2007-02-16T19:10:20Z

I've been a total slacker since I took my LSAT (law school admission test) last Saturday. I needed a break from just about everything after that. Actually it wasn't too bad at all. I've been studying for about two months and did many hours of cramming the week before. The test includes five sections of multiple choice logic questions, some in the form of puzzles, and reading comprehension questions. There's also an argumentative writing sample. I've done really well on all the logic questions in my practice book. In fact, in my last practice test on Friday, I only missed one questions out of 50. That was a dramatic improvement from the first test in which I scored just over 60%. The logic questions are extremely detail-oriented and usually there are three of five answers that are somewhat correct so it takes a good bit of attention to divine the best answer. I felt very strong on these in the actual test. Not so much with the logic puzzles though. Questions resemble this:

Billy and his four older brothers go bowling. Each brother has a different bowling lane and a different colored ball. Each brother is a different age as well. If Billy's oldest brother is two lanes away from the brother with the red ball, and one lane away from the next oldest to Billy, How old is the brother with the yellow ball?

There are formulas to help you diagram all the information and make the correct inference, but it's difficult to wrap your mind around. I did a lot of guessing there. no problem with reading comp, and I blew the writing out of the water. So now I have another two weeks before I get my results. Out of a possible score of 180, I need at least 150 to get admitted to my school of choice; scholarships start at 160.

Assuming all goes well there, I will be offering my mouth and ass to the entire Office of Financial Aid.

Wish me luck guys!
DRD

Enough Said

2007-02-09T15:37:19Z


Leather is Love.

Expression for Expression's Sake

2007-02-08T20:49:52Z

I hadn't planned on doing a whole lot of "diary-ing" in this journal seeing as nothing in my life is truly that exciting or interesting, but for some damn reason I'm feeling the need to expound on my life. Actually, what I'm feeling is the need to relieve some stress, which has been keeping me awake at nights lately.

It's life-change time again, or career-change time, anyway. Some of you know I've happily worked as a nonprofit program administrator for nine years and as such have really felt like the work I do makes a difference for people. It's more than gratifying to watch people work hard and feel better and better about themselves through the course of time. (See, I'm not totally evil, just mostly.)

Now I find myself as the #2 man in rank and seniority at my agency. The director will probably retire in the next few years, but I have never wanted that job. Payroll, fundraising, board meetings, politics- no thank you. The trouble is that there is no other position for me to eventually move into. One does want to get a raise once in a while, but in nonprofit about the only way to do it is through promotion.

To that end, I decided to secretly begin a job search and found to my horror that I wasn't getting callbacks for jobs that I am over-qualified for. The market is apparently flooded at the moment.

So I decided it's time for a new career altogether. I've decided to go to law school in the fall. The first step is to take the LSAT- this Saturday!!! I've been studying my Kaplan book, and I have a history of doing pretty well on standardized tests, and I'm even pretty good at logic-oriented material...but god, I'm nervous.

The law admissions office at my school of choice has made it clear that the LSAT score is really about all they're interested in. Yes, I have a solid resume. Yes, great letters of recommendation. Yes, I'm a non-traditional student age-wise (they have no idea, do they...). But show me the numbers, baby.

This is boiling down to a confidence issue, which I haven't had to deal with in quite some time. I'm finding myself examining, reexamining, and microexamining my self, my character, and my composition to ask myself if I'm good enough. Sometimes I wonder what it is I'm seeing.

So really, what I'd like to ask is for you to tell me what you've seen of me so far. I'm especially interested in hearing from those of you I've never met before- I'm betting I'll hear something I hadn't thought of before. What's the impression?

Thanks,
DRD