When Two Knotty Boys, Dan and J. D., began teaching rope bondage together in 1999, they discovered that most people learn best when they’re shown — close up, step by step, and repeatedly — how to tie basic knots and combine them into bondage techniques. It is this learning process that they duplicate in this book. With the help of world-renowned photographer Larry Utley, they use over 750 photos and captions to explicate the soup-to-nuts techniques for turning great knots into (more…)

Acid Test for Dominants

Over at MyDungeonSpace, we see posts and blogs from newbie subs who want to know how to protect themselves when seeking out a Dominant. Often times, they are exposed to D/s online.

Acid Tests for Dominants. Copyright DrSpankenstein. All rights reserved.

Reprinted as a public service from “Submission and Coffee” BDSM podcast, with permission.

Podcast of Dollie reading The Acid test.

There are plenty of points to discuss in this article.

Basically, “it’s a good  common sense piece of writing,” as one of our frequent posters said before she disagreed with one of the caveats.

After nearly being a drowning victim three times in my life,  this article brought back memories of how it felt.  I could almost feel the suffocation while reading it.  I’m posting a link to it here, because drowning in a pool doesn’t happen to kids only.  Call this a public service announcement.

Alright already . . . So You’re gay.  You wanna medal?

So, my brother is gay, right?  Just about everyone has a gay relative, friend, neighbor, and so on, and on, and on.  I’m an avowed pansexual.  No one has to tell me how difficult life is for gay people, trans, bisexuals, and members of alternative lifestyles, especially in terms of acceptance.

He came out to my family when he was in high school in a very “in your face, accept it, I like boys, bears, and. . . “‘   It continued for about 15 years.  Yes 15!   So alright already.  So one gives a shit.

The only thing that bugs me and my other brother(s) is that he continues to bang the drum when we are together at family functions, most of it is directed at our kids.  It’s not like they live in a bubble.  They ALL know he’s gay . . .  AND they don’t give a shit.

We’ve talked to him about why behaves that way.  So what’s the problem?  Does EVERYONE need to kiss the ring?  Why is your sexual preference our business?  What’s up with that?

Yanno what?  Dead phone.

FYI, you don’t KNOW all the Gay Hanky Codes.  Maybe you should bone up.

Let’s face it, 70 is the new 60, 60 is the new 50, and so on.

Most of us make some serious changes as we get older. Changes for better health are immediately visible. So as public service, I recommend taking this test. It takes a little while to complete, about 45 min.

I’m vain, so I made the time.

The last time I took this test was last year. My biological age with the same as my calendar age. This year, my biological age is 5 years younger than my calendar age!

Have any prescriptions and vitamins handy because they ask the amount of mg in each.

BE HONEST and complete what you can or the time you took to take this test was wasted.

The test provides tips on how you can improve the results as well as why you got the results. Go ahead and take it.

Look better, feel better, live longer. Come on . . . take the frikking test.

RealAge – Live Life to the Youngest.

I just HAD to check this out.  Before you judge the content, know that this article was posted on a site that allows anyone to edit the contents.  Therefore, I will repost it here as it appears today.

How to Be Classy – wikiHow

What IS being classy?

Being classy is not about being stuck up, it is about having style and taking care to be polite to others and to reflect a genuine interest in them. It is also about being confident in yourself. This article will teach you how to move through life with class and ease. When you are done reading this article, you should know how to be classy, or: selfless, generous, compassionate and responsibile.

The how-to details have been edited  for brevity:

• Choose your battles, choose your friends

• Choose your words

• Do not insult, gossip, or slander

• Be independent

• Break the stereotype shackles

• Be assertive

• Avoid getting caught up in trends

• Know when to ask for help, but avoid desperate behavior

• Seek wisdom

• Be open to personal development

• Be knowledgeable and aware

• Be responsible

• Be considerate

Then it came with a warning:

• Changing your behavior may feel unnatural. If it does, remind yourself that you are a work in progress. A classy person is simply one who consistently exhibits classy behavior. Focus on your behavior and attitude rather than your feelings.

• If you slip up, forgive yourself, apologize to anyone who may have been hurt by your not-so-classy behavior, and continue on your way. That’s classy!

What do you think?

Grab a glass of pinot noir and have a listen to the life and times of a way cool groovy chic who happens to be a professional dominatrix, Domina Dea.

Here’s one part, taken from her profile, and the other is on the podcast on DungeonVoice.

I’m a former good girl with bad thoughts. I did well in school and was able to do the corporate gig for quite awhile until I couldn’t take pushing that boulder any more. Now I follow my passions by binding, tormenting, and humiliating subjects. I don’t suffer fools easily and demand a pound of flesh from those who cancel without notice. Of course sometimes I just want my pound of flesh. Most of the time I’m a high maintenance Diva, but then there are those moments when I like to slum it in dank bars filled with strippers. I am a highly educated, bipolar, bitch who loves to watch men take huge cocks up their ass when I’m not reading the Economist magazine. Hot women and successful men are turn-ons, but lowlife scum have their place in life too. While I will do initial sessions with most – to become a special pet you need to be something extreme. Mediocrity is the worst form of boredom.

To learn more, visit her blog, Domina Dea Speaks.

Cecilia Tan Presenting at Frolicon.

As it so happens, this year I have an opportunity to attend Frolicon. As I was perusing the event, I was pleasantly surprised to see a prominent author presenting, Cecilia Tan.

Here is a short bio taken from her website:

Cecilia Tan is a writer, editor, and sexuality activist. She is the author of Mind Games, The Hot Streak, The Siren & The Sword (Magic University, book one), White Flames, Edge Plays, Black Feathers, The Velderet, and Telepaths Don’t Need Safewords. She has the distinction of being perhaps the only writer to have erotic fiction published in both Penthouse and Ms. magazines, as well as in scores of other magazines and anthologies including Asimov’s, Best American Erotica, and Nerve. She is the founder and editor of Circlet Press, publishers of erotic science fiction and fantasy.

Her stories, essays, and articles in have appeared in dozens of magazines and anthologies including Best America Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica, Playboy Online, The Mammoth Book of New Erotica, On A Bed of Rice, Dark Angels, Penthouse, Ms. magazine, Asimov’s, Nerve, Gothic.net, Fenway Fiction, Periphery, and many more.

If you are interested in publishing some of your erotic short stories, there is a circle of writers who collect material for anthologies. Among these writers are Susie Bright, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Carol Queen, and others.

“Susie Bright calls her “simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature.”

If you seriously have an interest in publishing your writing, this is a great opportunity to connect with a publisher and ask questions.

She’s presenting five classes.

Lolita Wolf: The Kinky Lover  New York Characters in The New York Times.

Follow Lolita, America’s kinky every-woman, to her website, Lolita Wolf’s Predictions & Predilections. It’s sleek, has  book reviews and recommendations,  list of Divas, pictures, and, well, I want to stay and read everything.

Call for Leather  Archives Contributions – KinkOLOGY.