We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Short articles about those who believe images are more powerful than reality.
Secret Squirrel
I guess the concept of “trust” has gone out of style. And perhaps I’m old-fashioned or idealistic, but I think it would irreparably shatter my relationship with a person if I found out he or she had used this nasty little Secret Squirrel gizmo on my computer (reproduced exactly as it appeared):
The P0rn Detection Stick is a thumb drive device that will search through all the images on your computer. Scan them for p0rnographic content, and create a report of suspected p0rnographic images. It even scans deleted images and Internet cache files so there’s no hiding Internet activity. This means even if Internet Explorer cache files are deleted, many images can still be recovered and scanned for p0rnography. Best of all, no software is installed on the target machine so they don’t know you’ve performed a search. You can even securely delete objectionable images…Paraben’s P0rn Detection Stick allows you to find images that potentially can include p0rnographic contents. Paraben’s P0rn Detection Stick scans an arrangement of images to determine attributes that indicate the image may be of a p0rnographic nature. It uses sophisticated, analytical processes; consisting of thousands of algorithms. These include 11 different detection methods to provide enough information to reliably distinguish between p0rnographic and non-p0rnographic images.
The thing that boggles my mind most about this ad is the repeated substitution of zero for lower-case “o”; seriously, it hurts my brain even worse than it hurts my eyes, because I cannot comprehend any possible reason for it. Is it supposed to be “kewl”, like the substitution of “z” for “s” in “hip-hop” writing? Or is it something even more stupid?
As annoying as that is, though, it’s inconsequential besides the morally bankrupt philosophy behind the device. Since cops already have their own methods of doing this, the target purchasers must be wives and parents (who stand more to lose from spying than from their husbands or kids looking at porn) and employers (who are pretty desperate if they can’t think of a better reason to fire somebody than that). Am I wrong, or is this a symptom of a serious social illness?
Second Verse, Same as the First
Are these guys like lemmings or something? Well, at least this one was from someplace other than New York; here’s the story from the New Orleans Times-Picayune of June 28th:
Kenner City Councilman Joe Stagni admitted today that he sent a picture of himself in his underwear to a city employee 18 months ago…”I had an inappropriate but consensual relation (sic) with an adult female and we exchanged improper electronic communications which ended (in) 2009,” Stagni, 47, said in a prepared statement. Stagni’s personal smartphone was used to send a text message and the picture to Annamaria Pizzolato, who was Kenner’s internal auditor at the time…”I do not know how a communication appeared on any public transmission or equipment,” Stagni said.
Pizzolato forwarded the image to the work e-mail account of Danna Morris, who was Kenner’s information technology director at the time…”Once you do that, it’s stuck in the city server,” said city attorney Keith Conley, who released the image as part of a public records request. He said it is the only such image that he knows about. Morris…abruptly resigned in April 2010 amid an investigation of computer irregularities. Mayor Mike Yenni fired Pizzolato in September…
Fun Fact for my readers: I was living in Kenner (home of New Orleans International Airport) when I started my escort service; it’s one of those little suburban towns (like Arlington, Texas or the various suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) which has a narcissistic obsession with its own self-importance. This comment on the online story says it all:
No he shouldn’t resign. And I disagree with those who say this is a personal matter- they should publicly embrace his behavior. This man, who imagines someone wants to see his stout belly in a wife-beater in a grainy photo- this man EPITOMIZES Kenner. He is the ultimate expression of that city, the living symbol of its values and class, and should be its next mayor. Perhaps one day they’ll, um, erec- make that, construct- a statute of this photo outside City Hall. Here’s to you, Mr. Stocky Half-Naked Kenner City Council Guy.
OK, Sure
A 21-year-old woman from North London has spent thousands of dollars on surgical procedures to look like a drag queen. Collagen Westwood told The Daily Mail she’s thrilled if she gets mistaken for a man dressing up as a woman. “I’ve admired drag queens since I was a little girl,” she said. “They’re glamorous and beautiful — what woman wouldn’t want to look like that? I have a couple of different wigs that I wear when I go out, and people are always assuming I’m a transvestite. I love it when people mistake me for a man. It doesn’t offend me — I think drag queens look fantastic.” Westwood has had her lips plumped and her nose straightened and says she plans to have some ribs removed so she can fit into smaller corsets. She said she counts Dead or Alive singer Pete Burns as one of her idols.
“Collagen”? Ummmm….no.
“Glamorous and beautiful”? Obviously, she and I aren’t thinking of the same drag queens.
“What woman wouldn’t want to look like that?” {raises hand}
Westwood wants to be mistaken for a man, but since drag queens want to be referred to as “she”, which pronoun does Westwood use?
But no matter how outré I think this is, and no matter how much I think she’ll regret it in ten years or so, I insist that she has a right to do as she pleases with her own body, money and life. Of course, I also have the right to mock her for it.
Another Small Victory
It is my stated position that decriminalization in the U.S. will arrive via judicial fiat, just as abortion and other sexual rights did; the political establishment won’t even let the issue onto the table, and prohibitionists dump millions per year into confusing the public with “sex trafficking” hysteria and myths about pimps, disease and “degradation of women”. But courts aren’t supposed to take public opinion into account when considering issues of individual rights, and many (perhaps even a growing number) do not. This story from July 6th tends to support my view:
A federal appeals court today ruled that the United States cannot force organizations…to “denounce” prostitution…as a condition for applying for or using U.S. international HIV and AIDS funding…The court found that the “prostitution pledge” or “anti-prostitution loyalty oath,” as it came to be known, was not constitutional because it compels organizations to adopt and espouse a government viewpoint, and that “[c]ompelling speech as a condition of receiving a government benefit cannot be squared with the First Amendment…because it requires recipients to take the government’s side on a particular issue. It is well established that viewpoint-based intrusions on free speech offend the First Amendment.”
The pledge was originally inserted by…Congressman Chris Smith as an amendment to the 2003 U.S. Global Leadership Act Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria…as ultimately interpreted by the Bush Administration…the pledge required organizations to promise not to “promote or support prostitution” while implementing U.S.-funded programs…The Obama Administration, to the dismay of public health and human rights advocates, has kept the pledge in force.
The pledge…was and has continued to be criticized by the global public health and human rights communities for a number of reasons. Among other problems, the language of the pledge is incredibly vague and does not effectively define what constitutes “promoting” prostitution…programs recognized around the world for their successes in working with marginalized populations such as sex workers…have been de-funded…[and] health workers [became] quasi-law enforcement agents, undoing years of work building trust among vulnerable populations…[the pledge] prevented U.S. organizations…from supporting the efforts of sex worker collectives to promote universal condom use, safe sex practices, to defend themselves against police violence and corruption, or to fight to secure their basic human rights…the ruling, while a critical step forward… applies only to U.S. non-profit groups and does not lift the pledge requirements from international…NGOs in other countries…
A small victory to be sure, but I think an important one; it’s another stone in the growing pile which will form the foundation of sex worker rights in the United States.
One Year Ago Today
My column for July 16th, 2010 was the first of a two-part column on couple calls, those in which an escort entertains an established (married or dating) couple. If you haven’t read it already I think you’ll be interested, and the third picture is probably one of the cutest I’ve ever included in this blog.
But Maggie-
Porn is the theory. Rape is the practice.
The Porn Detection Stick, for some reason, reminds me of these women who hire a “service” to test their man’s fidelity by sending a hot seductive woman and seeing if he goes for her. My wife and I both thought that any woman who engages such a service deserves what she almost certain to get.
This is like that. Anyone who snoops on someone’s computer to see what kind of porn they’re into (there really is no “if” about it these days) deserves what they get. Good luck, people, trying to forget that your husband, wife, child, employee or whatever is into the porn where the girls all dress up porcupines and pop balloons or whatever
Was it Heinlein who said that no marriage could survive absolute and total honesty?
Sounds like something he would say, and absolutely true.
As for that snooping, there was a movie about that in the past few years and I thought any girl who would cooperate with such a scheme must be self-destructive.
They probably do the o -> 0 substitution to get it past filters people use. Some places won’t let a webpage load if it has words like ‘porn’ or ‘sex’ or other nasty, filthy immoral words like them.
That said, I agree that if you don’t trust someone enough to need that device, you probably shouldn’t be with them.
Ah, is that why so many people spell it “pron”? The internet was invented long after I moved out of my mommy’s house and didn’t become popular until after I stopped working in regular jobs, so I have no firsthand experience of such filters.
Amazingly, Yahoo (or at least UK Yahoo) won’t let you use the word ‘adult’ in group descriptions if you try to form a ‘Yahoo group’. Nope, not even in the ‘adult’ section of Yahoo groups – try it sometime! Is it trying to get everyone to concentrate on children or something? Weird.
I have a Yahoo! group called Future_Sx_Coach_Michaels, because when I called it Future_Sex_Coach_Michaels they wouldn’t let me register it. He teaches sx education.
Now, within the group itself I can tell all the explicit stories I want about the thirty-eight year old man who is paid by the taxpayers to have sex with girls as young as fourteen, but I can’t use the dreaded s-word itself in the group’s name or description.
Oh, I wish I could remember the name of the organization that I found on my website once. It was called the covenant or something. Anyway, basically it is a religiously backed web service that men sign up and pay for where all of their internet activity is reported back to a male “partner against porn” that will recieve transcripts of every site that the member visits in an effort to fight porn. Like a friend that you pay to make you feel guilty if you fall off the porn wagon.
I am irresistibly reminded of this wonderful cartoon.
Laura, DO click this link. I’ve mentioned this one to you before.
Dear Sailor B, it was fun watching it together and me remembering that I had seen it when I was little.
I think ‘pron’ is like ‘teh’, just a typo that became catchy because it looks and sounds similar enough to the original word that there’s no mistaking what it really is. In a vast number of online communities, intentional grammatical and spelling mistakes are part of their culture.
Oftentimes, I’ll see it spelled pr0n.
I lived in Va Beach for a while, which is a huge drag queen city. Got to know all of the “Drag Stars” like Mercedes from the Rainbow Cactus, Jamie Marquis, and Candy. Jamie was my hairdresser, and I have to tell you I only saw her perform once but it literally turned me on, which I felt guilty about and never said a word because we were friends.
Some of them though are very glamorous, but I think that is an area reserved for the penis carrying population. Be a Diva all you want, but I fail to see the necessity of going full circle with a girl that has surgery to look like a guy who looks like a girl. Ummmm, weren’t you already there to begin with?
Most drag queens, (the good ones) are incredibly beautiful, and look like- well, women. So why would a woman want surgery to look like a woman? I don’t get it. I am sorry.
LOL, it reminds me of the time a few years ago (OK, probably a couple of decades ago) that the General Foods International Coffees brand added a new flavor, “Kahlua Cafe”. Now, Kahlua is a coffee-flavored liqueur, so this product was coffee-flavored-liqueur flavored coffee. WTF?
Why? People will buy it.
Of course I don’t understand the flavored drinks. I asked for an ice tea once and they guy behind the counter asked, “Do you want raspberry ice tea or ginger spice ice tea?” After a blank stare and a couple of blinks I said, “Do you have any tea flavored tea?”
I’m goa have to try that squriel thing, pretty sure my brother acidentaly cut and pasted rather than copied and pasted some of my stuff – so if this realy wl recover deleted files, more people will probably use it for that then snooping
You know I follwed a daisy chain of nearly a dozen links and never managed to find a site acctually selling the stick or the software
Weird! I didn’t try going past that page. Couldn’t you try the Paraben website?
But you know, I think they sell software to recover files; I used to do it quite often with the Norton Utilities on my old 80286 machine.
finally tracked it down, 100 bucks is kinda expensive
Mis-spellings throw off computer search programs that are looking for certain words.
“porn” would be detected; “p0rn” would most likely not.
BTW
Your work here is highly regarded by this cowboy.
Thanks, pardner. 😉
If you don’t like that Secret Squirrel gizmo use Linux and encrypt your user data… of course that option doesn’t help your “concept of ‘trust'” going out of style.
LOL, no, not really! I just can’t imagine caring if my husband looked at porn in the first place, much less spying on him to find it! I mean, what would the point even be?
To prove your moral superiority ofcourse, after all only filthy sex obsessed men can be so base as to actually enjoy sex.
Trust me understanding the bizzare, yet perfectly rational to them, motivations of people doesnt really help. If anything it will piss you off even more
I wasn’t even thinking about the “dirty pictures” aspect, I just saw it as a way for someone to spy on someone else, an invasion of privacy. I am sure the software could be easily modified to find anything. That is why I believe in encryption, not because I have anything to hide, but because it is no one else’s business.
Well, that’s just it; the government has succeeded in reversing the presumption of innocence, so it has gone from the accused asking “what business is it of yours?” to the accuser asking “what do you have to hide?” And of course, everyone has something he would rather others not know; that’s why we invented privacy.
I can think of one reason to buy the p0rn stick other than spying: if you think somebody might spy on your computer and you want to make sure the stuff you deleted is really gone, spy on yourself before anybody else does.
Well, now I see that there is another: recovering files you didn’t mean to get rid of.
If anybody asks me “what do you have to hide” because of encryption, I can just say I’m paranoid about my credit card number. But really, anybody whose opinion matters to me already knows I’ve got porn.
The 0 for o thing is related to how search engines work, but not how it’s explained here. People with more family-oriented sites don’t want their posts showing up in searches for people who actually are looking for porn, so they mis-spell it (and other words) to stay out of that particular stream.