Despite the fact that most of the Dutch people don’t feel at ease the entire day – or even a bit dirty – if they don’t shower in the morning, nearly half doesn’t shower daily.
Palmolive conducted a research about the showering habits of the Dutch people, this research was executed by Goos Marketing Research.
The results concluded that the Dutch were practical minded during showers. For example for useful activities like brushing teeth (31 percent), working out ideas (younger than 65 year olds do this more often: 24 percent to 11 percent) or the cleaning of the shower (23 percent).
Another activity during the shower is singing (17 percent), listening to the radio or a CD (15 percent), or having a conversation with relatives that are present. Only a minority of 16 percent locks the doors during the shower.
A majority of the Dutch people goes to the toilet before showering. Women significantly do this more often than men. (54 percent against 41 percent).
Nonetheless, the shower is as well as a tranquil moment as a moment of irritation. The most often mentioned is a weak stream (52 percent), suddenly cold water (51 percent), a too cold stream (41 percent) or a too hot stream that can’t be adjusted (14 percent), dirt on the floor or the wall tiles (49 percent) and a cloughed up drain (38 percent).
Women are significantly more irritated about untidiness, cloughed up drain and the lack of clean towels than men.
The research by Goos Marketing Research was participated by 502 people. The results are representative on the variables: sex, age and family composition.
Six hours is a long time to sit naked in a wicker chair. It’s a long time to inhale oil paint and turpentine — especially when the old guy who’s auditing the class knocks over a jar of it, pauses, and says “Did I do that?” in a guttural Urkel with emphysema voice while toxic fumes fill the studio and our lungs.
Needless to say, we were all a bit punchy by the end of the night. And then someone busted out the tube wringer. Yes, I know what a tube wringer is for, but I also remember this really old game show called “The Liar’s Club,” where celebrity guests were given a strange object and they would make up stuff about its use. And much like “Match Game,” if they could turn it into something bawdy, they would. I clearly remember this one contraption that was in fact used to circumcise baby penises — and it looked a lot like the tube wringer. ANYWAY, the (other) cute redhead in the class asked what it was for, and I said something about circumcision, giggles ensued, and she squealed, “Ewwww!! I don’t want to touch it! I don’t know how many baby penises have been in that thing!”
After that, pretty much everything we said was followed by “that’s what she said,” and we were all giggling like a gaggle of schoolgirls.
And then today, with that whole Greg Oden thing (all show, no grow, bro) and the iPad (I’m waiting for the iPad with wings). I’m telling you, it’s just too much for a girl with a crude, juvenile sense of humor.
Well, it’s time for me to go get naked for another art class. I have a feeling that I’ll have that damn smirk on my face all night.
The feature that has outraged some of the Cambridge top brass has made the online version of ‘The Tab‘ an instant hit. The section which features skimpily clad students is called Tab Totty.
An epitome of geeky talent and spectacled bookworms has just got some taste of explicit spice. The students of the ‘one of the top education institutions in the world’ have added a new section to their monthly print and online magazine which features students (girls) in skimpy outfits and revealing bikinis.
The feature that has outraged some of the Cambridge top brass has made the online version of ‘The Tab’ an instant hit. The section which features skimpily clad students is called Tab Totty.
This month, the student who featured in a Bikini admitted that she was wary of her father’s reaction to the photo shoot, but did it because she wants to break the ‘boring’ image that Cambridge students are usually identified with.
“Cambridge used to have this preconception that you can’t be both smart and beautiful but the Tab’s kind of smashing that. It’s not like I’m naked, it’s just a bit of fun. I was worried that I’d be really nervous but it was actually really casual. No pressure,” Brittany, the student model was quoted by a news website.
[Heidi as featured on the Tab website]
Student models who appeared earlier in the section were seen wearing boxing gloves, provoking criticism that the photographs demean women. The Tab was launched in May 2009 as the university celebrated its 800th anniversary.
Its controversial section has a blonde student, Becky Adams, standing in a pink bikini and high heels, a brunette English graduate from Downing College called Heidi dressed in a kickboxer outfit, and Emmalina Thompsell, from Gonville and Caius pictured in a bikini on her college lawn.
Cambridge Student Union women’s officer Natalie Szarek has reportedly called for the editorial team to remove the photos, saying: ‘Tab Totty plays into the idea of women as sexual objects.’
bron: www.merinews.com, www.hln.be, www.dailymail.co.uk
Extraordinary contemporary artist Catherine Brooks is based in Richmond, VA and I think she is rad.
“She traveled alone.” My paintings are part of a story, a science fiction diary, rich in allegorical symbolism.
“Mirror Gaze.” They are not self portraits, but instead physical manifestation of the lives within me.
“Waiting for Epimetheus.”
At a superficial blush, I think her paintings deal with imagery and conventional styles that are popular right now in the commercial world of art: lissome nymphs interacting with the natural world, an almost photo-realistic style, like a photograph or illustration recreated with oil paints, but I feel like that is, like I said a superficial comparison. The truth is that she really finds the darkness at the heart even of the popularity of those images, and more nakedly and skillfully tells the story behind them.
“Isabel’s Secret.”
The work has authority. I suppose maybe if you were to just striaghtforwardly describe her painting next to another, similar product on Etsy or something, telling only what you literally see vis-a-vis the subject matter and depiction, it could be accidentally mistaken for one of this genre of lesser and more wanly committed artistic storytellers, trendy but sort of twee, but that is not the case for me with Brooks.
“Wanderingbel.”
Besides her obvious superiority even of strictly mechanical talent — which gives her paintings a sophisticated weight lacking in some illustrations that deal with similar subjects and imagery — for me, there is more going on thematically in her compositions.
“The Gaze.”
I feel like if you look at her work, Brooks digs much deeper, like her work is a more authentic prototype than a lighter imitation, a more complete interpretation of an older and overarching theme.
“Reverent and revered.” I am fascinated by the legends and tales that have been passed down through the rise and fall of empires and how they are weathered by oral tradition and cultural change.
“A Promise to Return.” I work with my own personal mythology to reflect ideas on love, memory, and the inexplicable human talent for anthropomorphizing the cycles of life and all its manifestations. (via)
“Isabel and the Life Web.” Adjusting to being Single and Living in Richmond is a bit of a roller coaster ride, but I’m pretty sure its more Tank Girl and less Hope Floats so it ain’t all bad. (blog)
Love Tank Girl. Sold.
“Driving Into the Sun.” To discuss commissions or wholesale orders (or just to say howdy!) please drop me a line at: Robotroadkill [!at] gmail.com. (etsy)
“Half a second,” my favorite one. I should first mention that all my analogies of life tend to be nature based, I was raised in an all female landscape business that was founded and run by my mother, for years we shared generations of stories over the tops of the flowers we cared for. Those ecosystems provided a framework and context to talk about the more complicated parts of life. That is where my imagery comes from. (interview)
Unable to endure public disgrace, middle-aged man clutches his “nubile lover” and attempts suicide
At 4pm in the afternoon of January 3rd, in a residential area near Changning road in Shanghai, China, a 50-year-old man jumped from the sixth floor, landing on a bed of flowers below, and was knocked unconscious. This reporter made his way to the scene, and found out that the jumper had been sent to hospital. Residents later said: as the man in question jumped he was holding a young girl, and after impacting with the ground she was squashed under him, which is why he wasn’t killed.
Eyewitnesses: the girl exploded under his weight
According to eyewitnesses: “Upon seeing that man clutching that woman while jumping, I thought it was a tragic double suicide. When they landed I heard a loud bang, which sounded like an exploding tyre”, “I went closer and saw a man of approximately 50-years-old laying on the ground, but couldn’t see the girl who he’d jumped with at all. All I could see was some woman’s hair and a pile of clothes, it scared me to death”, “As for what woman, well, it was a dressed up inflatable doll, the kind of fake woman made specially for men to play with, go figure.”
Neighborhood residents: we understand why old Yang would want to play with an inflatable doll
Neighborhood residents revealed: the man in question is surnamed Yang, and is an old neighbor. He has been a widower for some years, his only son studies overseas, and in recent years has always been alone. His neighbors said that whenever they’d see him he’d always be smiling, but didn’t enjoy conversation, and had it not been for today’s accident, they wouldn’t have imagined that he had suicidal tendencies.
When this reporter asked about old Yang playing with an inflatable doll, most neighbors expressed their understanding. “It’s not easy, living for so many years, raising a child”, “I think that playing with something like that isn’t a bad thing, better that than going and doing something not so clean.” “Old Yang wouldn’t be a bad catch, I’d tell him to find another [partner], but he wouldn’t listen, he might have some issues”. His neighbors said that this incident wouldn’t influence their good opinion of old Yang, and in the future will try to have more neighborly communication [with him].
Reason for jumping: he had no one to talk to, life was too lonely
Upon arriving at the hospital, doctors said that the man involved did not have life threatening injuries, and had only broken two ribs and sustained light external injuries, and would be released after ten days’ observation.
By the time his interview began, old Yang’s mood had stabilised, and by just listening to him one would have never guessed that he had tried to kill himself not long before. When asked about why he chose suicide, old Yang said that he usually was alone, and that his life was too lonely.
Now that his child is an adult and had his own life, he was only getting older and older, and didn’t want to become a burden to his child. When the topic of the smashed doll was brought up, old Yang was a little embarrassed, saying that ever since his child had gone overseas to study he has had no one to keep him company, and had no alternative but to buy an inflatable sex doll. Recently there have been many people online who denounce those tho play with such inflatable dolls as BT, but since he himself plays with one often, these words hurt him deeply, which is why he chose suicide.
Old Yang said: This time I wanted to die but didn’t, instead I’ve become a huge joke. Now I won’t be able to even see people. But upon hearing his neighbors’ opinions, old Yang gradually calmed down, and said that he wouldn’t do such a stupid thing ever again.
Stephen Gough (pictured, above), a fifty year old father of two, faces spending the rest of his life in prison – unless he starts wearing clothes.
Gough has been in and out of prison over the past four years for continuously walking around in the buff. But not only that – once in prison, Gough has to be placed in solitary confinement for refusing to wear a prison uniform, and has stood starkers when appearing in court.
Gough was recently found guilty of causing a breach of the peace following his arrest as he left Perth prison in December, where he had just finished serving a 12-month sentence for the same offence. On that and a previous occasions police have been waiting to re-arrest him at the prison gates. Police say if the naked rambler continues his way of life, it is very possible he could spend the rest of his days behind bars. But Gough is unrepentant:
“‘Essentially this is about individual freedom and people’s tolerance to other people being different” the former Royal Marine said. ”‘Walking the amount of miles I have, through towns and cities, it is on the whole a very small moral minority who act in an irrational way. I believe I am behaving in a reasonable way.”
What do you think, BWT readers? Are the British public a bunch of prudes, or should Mr Gough stop being a loony and put some clothes on?
Valentines Day is rapidly approaching!! Only 30 sleeps to go. Your Christmas decorations should be down by now, and your credit card should be starting to recover. Or not.
I have put in a new category over at the shop, and featured all of our Valentines Day Specials on the front page. Chiquita’s Picks are things I have tested and really like. To be frank, if it gets me off, I like it, these are things that are a little bit special, things that really tickle my, umm, fancy..
As it is Valentines Day, I have an extra special something for my blog readers. Both of you…
When you order, use the comments section to tell me that your toy is for Valentines Day, and I will include a box of chocolates in your order! The perfect pick me up to get your energy back, and go again!
BIG Brother millionaire Kenneth Tong last night revealed he’s split from telly lover Karly Ashworth – after she sent her MUM to break things off with him.
The self-styled playboy described how their stormy relationship crumbled as fame-hungry Karly blamed HIM when the reality TV show didn’t make her a star.
And Kenneth told how he was so smitten with the busty glamour model he even PAID skint Karly, 21, to keep their relationship alive.
Last night the 24-year-old, who’s now based in Glasgow (England), blasted: “I looked after Karly’s every need. I gave her the world and she threw it back in my face.
“Love with her is impossible. She loves herself and nobody else. After the show, Karly wasn’t the same. Big Brother sealed our fate.”
In an exclusive interview about their passionate 11-month fling, Kenneth told how Karly:
ACCEPTED a £700 a month allowance for being his girlfriend
FILMED kinky home-made sex tapes in saucy costumes, and
CHEATED on him with her footballer ex Gary Greenhill.
Jilted Kenneth – who made his fortune from setting up an internet search engine in China – added: “I fell in love with her and paid her to be with me.
“She always gets what she wants and there is no doubt in my mind that she was only ever interested in my money. She was a kept woman – a mistress really. She got what she wanted out of it and I got as much sex as I wanted.”
Kenneth told how he first met Karly at a party at a pal’s house in Edinburgh in November 2008.
He’d been dating his then-girlfriend for four years. Karly, meanwhile, was in a three-year relationship with ex-Berwick Rangers star Gary, who was in Australia at the time.
But the pair still swapped telephone numbers. Hong Kong-born Kenneth said: “My friend insisted I couldn’t get a date with her. I’ve always got what I wanted in life so I was determined to have her, even though I was in a relationship.
“Karly was a seductress and I found it impossible to resist her. I knew what I was doing was wrong but I’d never been with anyone like Karly before.
“She made out like she wasn’t with Gary though I knew she was still in touch with him. I was up front with her, making it clear I was cheating on my girlfriend.”
As their relationship blossomed, he lavished cash on Karly and treated her to trips to New York, Honk Kong and Marbella.
But he says Karly, of Methilhill, Fife, soon told him that she needed MORE money to be able to afford to keep seeing him. Kenneth insisted: “She was moaning that she’d need to get a job to pay for things – that’s when we decided her job would be being my GIRLFRIEND.
“She became incredibly attentive, pleasing and desirable – it worked very well.”
Loaded Kenneth paid £700 into Karly’s bank account every month from March until her exit from Big Brother 10 in July this year.
And as he splashed the cash, the couple enjoyed a jet-set lifestyle of five-star holidays, designer clothes and celebrity parties.
Kenneth – educated at posh Edinburgh school Fettes, where Tony Blair was a pupil – admitted: “Life was a permanent vacation, we lived a playboy lifestyle.”
While Kenneth used his money to thrill Karly, she made sure she kept him happy in the bedroom. He said: “Karly was always eager to please and would bend to any desire or fantasy. We were very adventurous – we even made love in the Turkish steam room of the Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh.
“Karly loved making videos in the bedroom and would dress up for me in lots of outfits – one was a kinky schoolgirl.”
But within months, trouble flared between the fiery couple. Despite cheating on his own partner, Kenneth was devastated to learn Karly planned to dump him for midfielder Gary, 24, now playing Down Under for Perth SC.
And in April, the 21-year-old blonde headed to Australia to be with her ex.
Kenneth claims Gary had no idea Karly had been seeing him – despite her agreeing to get a tattoo of his name on her neck in Chinese lettering.
While she was away, Kenneth romped with pretty model Rebecca Cumming, of Glenrothes, Fife. We told in July how he persuaded the 20-year-old to get the SAME tattoo Karly had.
But the pair managed to patch up their relationship when she came back from Oz. And as Karly prepared to enter the Big Brother house in June, Kenneth started a gruelling fitness regime ahead of his own arrival in the house.
To build himself up, he worked out at Gym Jones in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Hollywood hunk Gerard Butler and other cast members trained for the action flick 300.
Kenneth recalled: “Obviously, as her boyfriend, I knew we would be pictured together so I committed to losing weight.
“I was absolutely devoted to Karly and knew that if I wasn’t at my peak when I was thrust into the media spotlight I would lose her.” The pair finally split from their partners for good when they appeared on Big Brother together.
He entered the house 44 days into the series – just MINUTES before Karly was voted out. And after only six days inside, he scaled a wall and left the Channel Four show.
But they struggled to cope with life after BB. And Kenneth claims Karly blamed HIM when she failed to find fame and fortune.
He revealed: “When her 15 minutes ran out and she realised that she wasn’t going to make copious amounts of money, Karly didn’t know how to cope. She took it out on me.
“Karly wanted to be rich and famous but without having to work for it. She would sit and complain about the lack of opportunities but never took any initiative and instead blamed me.”
After a string of blazing rows, the couple finally ended their stormy relationship following a furious bust-up last week. Kenneth said: “I tried so hard to make her happy and nothing was working. It had been coming for a while. She sent her mum round to my flat to tell me it was over, which was pretty cold.”
Heartbroken Kenneth – now in talks to star in an American dating show – is being supported by close pals including Rangers goalie Allan McGregor, 27, and St Johnstone’s Filipe Morais, 24, as he gets over the break-up.
He said: “Everyone within my circle could see I was trying to buy her love and it was only making me miserable. I’ve eclipsed her in fame. I am unique – there is only one Kenneth Tong out there, but there are millions of Karlys.
“I know I’ve made mistakes. Hopefully I’ll fall in love again next year.”
D.C. police reported a woman awoke to find a stranger cuddling her in bed.
Police said they don’t know how the man got into the Glover Park home early Sunday. Sgt. Nicholas Breul said the woman woke up and startled the intruder, who fled the scene. Police said the woman was not injured and she was not able to give a good description.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that the incident is related to others, some including sexual assaults, in the past two years on or near the Georgetown University campus. The most recent was reported in August.
Victims’ descriptions suggest that more than one man is involved.
This month the Naked Girls read letters: love letters, hate letters, fan letters, stalker letters, etc. The theme was originally Naked Girls Fall in Love. Hmmm…not the easiest theme for me to work with. I honestly didn’t know where to begin and I was terrified.
I’m not a romantic, I’m a bit cynical, and if you were to tell me I’m a little jaded too…well…I don’t know that I could argue that. When I first started gathering ideas for the readings, I couldn’t get this saying out of my head: Naked Girls fall in AND out of love. I couldn’t help it. To me, it just seemed like a topic that should come full circle. Now don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe in love and I don’t think that all great things must come to an end. However, I find that the pain from life’s situations and experiences are greatly intensified because of love. I also believe that this pain is something we need to embrace. In writing this, I’m reminded of a quote by William Faulkner: ”Given the choice between experiencing pain and nothing, I would choose pain”. Love and pain are too deeply intertwined to be separated, they will always be holding hands.
Growing up, the middle name used to be something of a feared thing. It only came out when you were in the deepest of troubles, and the worst of yourself. But something has happened recently, and it appalls me. It has suddenly become in vogue for girls to refer to themselves by their first and middle names. Gone is the surname. Maybe it’s a guise to be more of an “individual”, and denouncing your heritage, but it’s just something silly and dumb that girls have taken a shine to. I may just be bitter because I don’t have a middle name, but I’m pretty sure this is a ridiculous thing to do these days. I’ve talked to a few girls and they have the gall to try and tell me that it is “more representative of who I am”. That, my dears, is a load of shit. Your excessive need to express your independence and individuality has resulted in, what else, but a dumb fad that just makes you one of the crowd. I’m sure all of you are the ones that started it, and the others are just copying you, but that isn’t much of an accomplishment. Getting rid of your last name in Facebook isn’t reinventing the wheel, it’s just getting to the radius.
When writing Shiprocked, the tale of my days with Radio Caroline, it was never my intention to “kiss and tell” about various relations and private goings on aboard the Ross Revenge. There were enough funny, scary, and sometimes downright weird things that happened to us as a bunch without having to expose people’s private lives.
There were a couple of incidents however, which were too funny to leave out, and for which the identity of the people involved was not pivotal to the narrative. So these made it in to the book, with the identity of any parties (other than myself that is) suitably obscured.
One of them is the tale of “Lucy“, and of Carry-On style chain of events that unfolded when I went to wake her for her show one morning.
This story shows my shy, catholic-school bumbling persona to great effect, and my confusion and the effect on my morning news shift is the main focus of the anecdote. However, for the sake of the poor lady involved, who did nothing wrong other than imbibe too freely the night before and become “confused and semi-comatose” I have heavily disguised her identity in the book, with a time-shifting of her period on board, and some blurring of her physical description and origins.
I’m asked from time to time to confirm the identity of the lady in question, which of course I won’t, other than to say that her timescale of involvement with Caroline was brief (so not one of the big names then!).
All the events described in the anecdote happened as portrayed, indeed it is a morning that is vividly imprinted on my mind, even all these years later. But it’s not important to the overall tale of the last years at sea to know exactly when, and whom.
It’s the sort of thing that happened from time to time on radioships.
I woke up to a blanket of powder covering my New York City streets, and somewhere out there was a sea of pie-eyed romantics using it as a euphemism for the blank slate of the year to come. I carry the believe that there is no blank slate. You don’t start over, you plow through and try and forget. I took a nice long walk around Midtown, and went to a Starbucks to do break into Big Sur. I stole a spot in a comfy chair and dove in. After about an hour I had developed a series of high-school esque, look-stealing exchanges with a girl I later learned to be named Marisa. She asked me what I was reading and I pointed to the cover.
“Cute”, she fired. And then I looked at her. She was the king of girl who wore tights and a summer dress on a chilly winter day. She had elaborate jewlery and was reading Dickens. I asked her what she was reading, just to be polite. We spent an hour talking about the books we were reading, giving each other recommendations. I told her that she was dangerously distracting. She apologized and told me that she’d go to another coffee shop. I told her to not be ridiculous, I’d leave. We wound up both leaving, and going to a little bistro a few blocks over that she was aware of. She told me that no self-respecting individual goes to Starbucks and chats up a stranger, bistros were acceptable though.
So, we slung our messenger bags on and walked a few blocks. I told her it was a good thing I enjoy coffee as a hangover remedy, and last night was New Years after all. She got a little jittery around cup 2 at the new place, so I bought her a scone and some tea…decaf tea. She playfully touched my arm and asked me if I wanted to grab a drink sometime…other than the coffee we were drinking. I told her I would love to, but I actually had to get going at that point in time. She gave me her number and texted me while I was on the Subway ride home, just to say, ‘Dangerously distracting”.
(originally posted 11/10/09)