Posts Tagged ‘Brisbane’

DOLLY DID IT:

Monday, September 30th, 2013

Wow!, Davecat ended up marrying Sidore, and he now has a mistress Elena, and Sidore is totally cool with it!. I’m so happy for him, he was really distressed the last time we saw him in that documentary ‘Real Dolls’, when Sidore had to be sent away for a little *whispers* ‘down there maintenance’. How many husbands would buy their wife a new body for their tenth wedding aniversary, i ask you.

THIS is the story of a man and his doll.

Davecat bought his now wife from the Abyss Creations website 13 years ago. He saved for a year and a half to buy a $6000 RealDoll, who he named Sidore Kuroneko.

Davecat (the online pseudonym he prefers to go by) was directed to the website by a good friend who knew he had always been in love with various types of artificial women.

He selected her facial type, body type, eye colour, makeup, skin tone and bust size and she soon arrived in a FedEx box at his house.

“The results were entirely worth it … It was love at first sight,” Davecat told news.com.au.

And the rest, he says, “is history”.

Sidore is “anatomically correct” and looks freakishly like a human. Her artificial skin is made of silicone, so it’s soft, and she’s even got a fake tongue. While RealDolls are marketed as sex toys, Davecat and other “iDollators” or “technosexuals” see their dolls as life partners, with whom they experience a real relationship.

Davecat told The Atlantic his relationship with Sidore was “70 per cent sex, 30 per cent companionship”, but that they also share a meaningful emotional connection. They wear matching wedding bands that say “Synthetik love lasts forever” and are considering a ceremony for their 15th anniversary.

In December 2012, Davecat purchased a second doll — a Russian called Elena — who is his mistress and friend to Sidore. Both dolls are bisexual, so are able to “enjoy each other on multiple levels” when Davecat is at work.

Davecat has always been attracted to mannequins and Gynoids (robots made in the likeness of women). There are few success stories among his previous experiences and relationships with humans — the connection with a synthetic felt more natural and meaningful.

“My experiences with ‘Organik’ [human] women have either never lasted, or ended badly,” Davecat said.

“Synthetics have a consistency that you can’t find in most Organiks — flesh-and-blood people can change their tastes, personalities, likes or dislikes at the drop of a hat. An iDollator or technosexual can have their artificial partner change as well, but it would obviously be in a way that isn’t disagreeable.

“Not only do Synthetiks remain the same, but they’ll never cheat on you, lie to you, judge you, or show any other characteristic that can make Organiks unpredictable.”

Part of the appeal of being with a doll seems to be her constant agreeable nature.

Married humans have to negotiate different perspectives, opinions and learn to respectfully coexist. Sacrifice and compromise are words commonly used when describing a successful marriage. For obvious reasons, this doesn’t seem to be an issue for Davecat and Sidore.

“The arguments are extremely few and far between. In the 13-plus years we’ve been together, you can count the number of arguments we’ve had on one hand. I find that I can’t develop her personality as being 100 per cent agreeable with everything, as that would be somewhat boring.

“But really, the differences that we have are almost entirely superficial; usually based on aesthetic or musical tastes, for the most part. We are firm believers in the ‘don’t go to bed angry’ ethos, however. As every couple should be.”

Davecat is a self-confessed introvert and says he’s not really a ‘people person’. He enjoys spending time at home alone with his wife, as they are both “indoor types”.

“We like watching films or telly shows on DVD together, or playing video games,” he said. “She claims that I’ve brought out her inner photo model, so our favourite pastime is doing photoshoots. We’ll set aside a good six or so hours, and I’ll take pics of her in various poses, wearing whatever outfit she’s selected.

But it’s not always smooth sailing when your wife is made of plastic. There are lots of ongoing maintenance costs — Sidore has had three “bodies” since Davecat bought her in 2000. Though, she is easily replaceable.

“If her body becomes too irreparable, I simply save up some money and buy her a new one”, he said. As a gift for their tenth wedding anniversary, he did exactly that.

The 40-year-old machine shop worker considers himself an advocate and spokesman for synthetic love and those with synthetic partners. He’s got a strong online presence, spearheaded by his blog “Shouting to hear the echoes”. He’s also appeared on TLC’s show My Strange Addiction and the BBC documentary Guys and Dolls.

For iDollators who understandably feel ostracised by those around them, the online Synthetik community is a safe haven to discuss the unique struggles they face with their partners. Davecat doesn’t take Sidore or Elena out with him in public. Apart from being physically demanding (carrying around a 35kg body is no mean feat), Davecat fears being attacked.

“I’m not so deluded as to think that taking [my dolls] out and about with me wouldn’t raise more than a few eyebrows. Also, I wouldn’t want to put either myself or whichever synthetic lass I’d have with me in danger. I don’t trust random people enough to think we wouldn’t be verbally or physically attacked. People have a long and sordid history of being violent toward that which they don’t understand,” he told The Atlantic.

So get-togethers with fellow iDollators are affairs he looks forward to. The group of six meet several times a year for “Doll Congress”.

“We travel to the hometown of whoever’s hosting, and we get together for dinner, hitting the shops to buy things for our silicone companions, and chat about all things Doll,” he said.

“It’s one thing to meet fellow Doll owners online, but it’s much more fun to do the meet and greet thing in person. Plus, it’s always exciting to see other peoples’ Dolls in person and take photos of them, as well.”

It seems these are rare occasions of harmony and acceptance from the outside world. Sure, his lifestyle may seem odd, but at the end of the day it’s not really harming anyone. Acceptance and tolerance are messages Davecat tries to promote.

“One of my heroes, Andy Warhol, once said, ‘You have to do stuff that average people don’t understand because those are the only good things’, and that’s the way I live.

“Giving more than one second of attention to those who think being in love with a Doll is weird or unnatural because they think it is isn’t an idea I’m willing to entertain. iDollators and technosexuals harm no one, and we’re making ourselves happier because of our unique partners.”

VANILLA ANAL BEANS:

Monday, September 16th, 2013

I’ve heard of being vanilla, but this is ridiculous.

Sweden admits beaver ‘secretions’ used as vanilla flavouring

The Swedish National Food Agency has confirmed that anal secretions from the beaver can be used to provide vanilla-type flavours in baked goods and sweets.

If you had trouble getting your head around insects in your yogurt, then you might want to put down your vanilla crème doughnut.

Apparently, it’s no longer safe to assume that if you are eating something vanilla flavoured, it has come from the vanilla bean. It can also come from conifer trees, made synthetically, or, if you live in the States or Europe, from the beaver’s anal glands.

Castoreum is scientifically described as the “exudate from the castor sacs of the mature European and North American Beaver”, which beavers use in the wild to mark their territory.

Up until recently, it wasn’t widely known that Castoreum was a source of vanilla flavor. But thanks to whisperings online, the Swedish National Agency has confirmed it, and what’s more, you may not even be aware you’re eating it.

The Food Agency pointed out that “labeling provisions do not require that the kind of flavor is indicated, with the exception of coffee and quinine.”

This means that it will more likely be listed as ‘natural flavouring,’which could be of concern to vegetarians or vegans.

Agency representative Ulla Beckman Sundh said:

“Natural aromas can be extracts from plants, fungi, and in some cases animals.”

She also pointed out the beaver is not bred for it’s secretions and is unlikely to be the common source of food flavouring “so supply is not that great.”

That might have something to do with how trappers harvest it. After the animal is skinned, the glands are removed, smoked or sun dried, and then sold on.
Annual industry consumption is around 136 kg, whereas vanillin is over 1.17 million pounds annually, according to TheLocal.se.

It was the demand for castoreum in natural medicines during the 19th century that almost entirely wiped out the beaver population in Sweden – but the import of beavers in 1920s from Norway has seen the population grow.

As well as baked goods and sweets, Castoreum is also used in perfumes, chewing gum, frozen dairy, gelatins and puddings, and used to contribute to the flavour and odor of cigarettes.

What do you think? Should food manufacturers be forced to list Castoreum as an animal product rather than a ‘natural ingredient’?

NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA REPORT:

Monday, September 16th, 2013

A lack of workplace support is associated with depression, says new research.

“Respondents who reported low levels of support from colleagues had twice the likelihood of having significant depression symptoms compared to those who report[ed] having support,” says the study, The Relationship between Work Characteristics, Wellbeing, Depression and Workplace Bullying.

“Consistent with the association between support from colleagues and depression, low levels of support from one’s manager was also associated with significantly higher risk of depression symptoms.”

The study shows that the risk of depression also appears to be affected by relational justice: superiors who provide consistent and sufficient information, who are willing to listen to problems and who provide criticism or praise.

The study reveals “a pattern of increasing risk of depression with declining levels of relational justice, with those reporting the poorest organisational culture showing significantly greater risk of depression compared to those reporting the best organisational culture”.

Workplace bullying was also associated with increased incidence of depression.

But the report notes, “It is not just the experience of depression symptoms that is seen to be elevated among those who experience workplace bullying.”

Suicidal thoughts are also more likely in those who are currently being bullied at work. They are “about twice as likely as those never bullied to report feeling that their life is hardly worth living, report feeling that they would be better off dead, and report that they had thought of taking their own life”, the report states.

The findings are part of the Australian National University’s Personality & Total Health (PATH) Through Life Project longitudinal study, which began in 1999.

The latest results are from interviews conducted in 2011–2012 with workers who were then aged between 32 and 36 years.

For help and support, phone Lifeline on 13 11 14.

For more details on the study, visit Safe Work Australia.

Link to the report HERE

Miss Tammy responds with a head and gusset full of steam.

Well DUH!!.

I heard this report on the radio this morning, about time someone called out the elephant in the room, but still we’re willing to accept this?, granted, i realise we aren’t living in Russia, but we were on such a great course to lead the world, and be what we now kid ourselves we are.

As i watch my workmates fall by the wayside to suicide, depression and heart disease, the fight for what is fair and safe in the workplace has deserted Ostrayans, replaced with a mantra of apathy, and actions of ‘I’m alright jack, fuck you’. The self proclaimed deluded boast of Ostraya being the land of a fair go, is just another aspect of our bullshit, non reality notion of national pride.

We showed (at least a majority did) what a nation of pathetic, non engaged, self centered, greedy people we are during our recent election.

But still we kid ourselves, with an arrogance that is vulgar and sickening, that Ostraya is quarantined from the worst of the rest of the world, some sort of oasis of fairness, looking out for your mates (she’ll be right mate), non sexist, racist, homophobic or greedy, well i’m calling bullshit. Your mileage mary vary. This is Greg Swan, and yes, it’s Monday morning.

DREAM TOY #1:

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

LIPPY LINE:

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

THE PRODIGAL SON RETURNS:

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

REFLUX:

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

IMOGENE COCA:

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

JAPAN TO ISSUE GRAVEST FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR WARNING IN TWO YEARS:

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

I remember watching this live on tv with my mum, when I saw the explosions at the nuclear plant, I turned to her and said ‘This is really bad, and it won’t be for at least another twenty years before we discover some of the truth, of how bad this really is’. I stand by that, call me a conspiracy theorist, but I bet there is an international agreement to try and downplay what’s really happening, because if we knew, we’d all* be freaking out. (*Except here in Australia, where we’re so piss weak apathetic, and champions of the mantra ‘Im alright Jack’ if its not affecting me personaly, or happening in my actual backyard, I don’t give a shit.)

August 21, 2013, 12:31 pm

Reuters

By Kentaro Hamada and James Topham

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan will dramatically raise its warning about the severity of a toxic water leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant, its nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday, its most serious action since the plant was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

The deepening crisis at the Fukushima plant will be upgraded from a level 1 “anomaly” to a level three “serious incident” on an international scale for radiological releases, a spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said.

That will mark the first time Japan has issued a warning on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) since three reactor meltdowns after the massive quake in March 2011.

Water still leaking from the plant is so contaminated that a person standing close to it for an hour would receive five times the annual recommended limit for nuclear workers in a year.

A maximum level 7 was declared at the battered plant after explosions led to a loss of power and cooling two years ago, confirming Fukushima as the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl a quarter of a century earlier.

Contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation is leaking from a storage tank at Fukushima, the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Tuesday. The leak was classified as an “anomaly” earlier this week.

The NRA’s impending assessment upgrade came in a document posted on the agency’s website on Wednesday, with formal adoption to follow a meeting that is being held by the authority’s commissioners, the NRA spokesman said by telephone.

“Judging from the amount and the density of the radiation in the contaminated water that leaked … a level 3 assessment is appropriate,” the document said.

The leak, which has not been plugged, is so contaminated that a person standing 50 cm (1.6 feet) away would, within an hour, receive a radiation dose five times the average annual global limit for nuclear workers.

After 10 hours, a worker in that proximity to the leak would develop radiation sickness with symptoms including nausea and a drop in white blood cells.

Each one-step INES increase represents a tenfold increase in severity, according to a factsheet on the website of the International Atomic Energy Agency. (www.iaea.org/)

CARRIE WAITING FOR LEON AND TONY TO ROLL IN SUNDAY MORNING:

Tuesday, August 20th, 2013

HEADWEAR:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

REBUILD AND EXCAVATION AFTER THE GREAT MIDSUMMA LESBIAN LANDSLIDE OF 2010:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

DOLL PARTS:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

EXCLAMATION:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

SHOWER HEAD:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

PIE FACED HOMOPHOBE:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

BAT SUREALISM:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

SCHNOOZENPUFF:

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

When my nephews were little, i thought the standard kids records of the day were pretty boring, so i used to sit them down, and scratch mix the records for them. Instead of your standard ‘Ugly Duckling’ i’d be varying the speed, then playing parts in reverse, they seemed particulally fond of the animals in reverse (can’t say i disagree). The following two clips are from the tapes i mixed up for them, if you listen closely you can hear my nephews giggling in the background, and me all fang and hiss at them, threatening to (caringly) throttle them if they didn’t stop giggling. Honestly, i’m too nice for my own good .. and seriously, who else had an uncle cool enough to scratch mix Puff N Toot for them.

Click the highlighted links below:

THE UGLY DUCKLING

SCHNOOZEN PUFF

PARTY SLOCOMBE:

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

BBQ:

Friday, June 28th, 2013

DEPTH:

Friday, June 28th, 2013

MARCH:

Friday, June 28th, 2013

RIGHT ON ARCHIE (COUGH):

Friday, June 28th, 2013

PATTERN:

Friday, June 28th, 2013

FOOTPATH:

Friday, June 28th, 2013

CREATURE FEATURE:

Friday, June 28th, 2013

IN LINE:

Friday, June 28th, 2013

EDIE:

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

BOLTS:

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

DALI:

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

BAT MENAGE AU TOI:

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

PAYING HOMMAGE AT THE L.A GEORGE MICHAEL SHITTERS:

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

FIRST FIVE:

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

What else to do on a freezing, rainy, Sunday afternoon, but list the first five seven inch singles ever given to me, or that i purchased. I have no shame on this list, in fact i couldn’t be prouder, and wouldn’t change one of them.

#1

The EP of South Pacific, given to me by my eldest sister Dianne. ‘Some enchanted evening’ really is the first piece of music i can remember hearing.

#2

A childrens record, i have no idea where this came from, maybe my mum. The opening song ‘Boys and girls come out to play’ was always my favorite, many years later i had it as my answer machine music.

#3

‘Long haired lover from Liverpool’, i’m pretty sure this was gifted to me by my sister Rhonda. I have a memory of being able to, and actually singing this all the way through when i was little, i probably still could .. for the right money.

#4

‘Ben’ by Michael Jackson, this may have been the first song i heard on the radio, and asked someone to buy for me.

#5

‘Hey Paula’ by Ernie Sigley and Denise Drysdale. Without question, this is the very first record i ever purchased, some would feel mortifying shame, i only feel boundless pride, such is the camp value, such is the musical terror, the utter wrongness, that i wear this reality as a badge of filth honor. I vividly remember going up to Corrimal and purchasing the record, it was in a little recod shop up a side ally.

It cost me fifty cents, and i almost wore it out, mostly from playing it backwards. I guess i was about nine when i got this, i had a little record player and cassette machine in my room, i used to make weird tapes, and years before i heard about them, or they probably even existed, i would make ‘Scratch’ recordings, where i would drive the record player backwards using my thumb, and record it onto tape.

I would find a rhythm and rock my thumb backwards, and forwards creating a beat. I was off school one day when i was little, with a chest infection. I was playing with my tapes, and while scratching an ‘Alf Garnett’ comedy album of him singing, i accidently recorded a cough, which came out on the tape looped.

Over the last week while preparing to move, i found a box of ancient cassettes, on some of them were some of these backwards, and scratchy tapes.

Is it any wonder i was a loner and ostracized as a child?, most other kids were outside kicking a ball, i was in my room playing Alf Garnett, and Alice in wonderland records backwards.

You can hear “Hey Paula” HERE

And my looped coughing fit, and guitar, mixed with Alf Garnett titled “Primal Garnett” HERE

SYNCHRONDIPPITY:

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

Only this morning i was discussing with a mate the very first concert i ever attended, Sherbet at Wollongong Town Hall. I was only eleven, but i remember it so well. Later this afternoon in an unrelated post on Facebook, someone posted an ad for the concert, and their memories .. too weird :-)

Photo courtesy of the Lost Wollongong Facebook group.

BABY JANE SERIES:

Monday, June 17th, 2013

BLUE SKY:

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

FILTH:

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

ONLY IN WOLLONGONG:

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

DAYLESFORD:

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013

EAR BOOTS:

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013