Links - 10th July 2014

Russian Sex Coaches Tout Orgasms as Means To Prevent Divorce - "The seminar, titled "A Brilliant Male Orgasm," ran for 2 1/2 hours. It involved a great deal of hands-on practice with large rubber penises. The audience consisted of a motley crew of women: from young fashionable women in their 20s to older women who said their husbands had given them gift certificates. Some students continued blushing the whole time... No topic was too taboo to be discussed, and the women attending seemed relieved to hear the instructor speak so openly about male genitalia... Rather than repulsing the participants, the instructor's frank and at times lewd comments only seemed to put them more at ease, which created an atmosphere of female bonding. But the instructor, who declined to be named, also made some questionable claims: if you do this, your partner will fall in love with you; if you do this, your husband will be loyal and will not cheat. Continuing along this line of logic, she said such prostate massages could be instrumental to a man's faithfulness. "He may immediately offer to live with you or get married," she said to a room full of women, some of whose eyes shone a little brighter at that remark. "Think about it, he may have the chance to cheat, and he'll be sitting there in a hotel with this girl and then he'll just realize: wait a minute, why would I do this? I'll get one night with this girl but then lose my wife [who gives prostate massages]"... "Many of our clients note that their relationships get a sort of 'second wind,' some manage to avoid an impending divorce, some of the girls who have been with their partner for a long time finally get a marriage proposal, and some say their family life is improved," said Lyubimova, a young blonde emanating confidence... Sex coaching for men is equally profitable... May comes off as the Tyler Durden of sex coaching, a younger man spouting off macho platitudes to a room full of men eagerly nodding, in awe because they believe May is privy to some secret of the universe they have been woefully ignorant of until this point. "Open up any book about sex, find the author's photograph, take a look at him, at his age, and ask yourself: 'When is the last time this fat face had sex, how many partners has he had and what can he possibly know about the subject?" May was cited as saying by one Russia journalist who attended his seminar. "The quality of your life in bed is a reflection of your life as a whole," is among the aphorisms May favors. Why does May think he is an authority on the matter? Because, apart from being a trained psychologist, sexologist and sex coach, May says he has had more then 200 sexual partners, each of whom taught him something uniquely useful. The aim of May's seminars is to make people "unforgettable in the bedroom," he says on his website, by teaching them to read their partners better... Male sex coaching differs from female coaching in various ways, but one stark difference, according to Mukhamedov, was the seriousness in the room. "There was almost no laughter, all the men are diligently taking notes in their notepads," Mukhamedov wrote."

From teledildonics to interactive porn: the future of sex in a digital age - ""I was inundated with winks, and messages, people trying to chat with me live online, all sorts. Some will send you detailed pictures of their penis, basically. What the hell? You've got a penis. Congratulations." In due course, Jane found ways of negotiating the sexual barrage, and went on to meet 20 or more men; about three-quarters of those have turned into some sort of romantic or physical relationship. "They've all been mini-relationships. I've never had a one-night stand." Online dating is not an unusual story, but Jane has been married for seven years. The site she uses is Ashley Madison... Deeply unhappy in her marriage to a husband who "shows no interest in me sexually", she says Ashley Madison turned her life round. "I don't take antidepressants any more. And I can sleep properly. Mentally and physically, it has changed things. I'm getting on better with my husband"... when you talk to the people who are using these sites, it becomes clear that this is something more complicated than no-strings nookie. "Almost an element of the relationship is that you're counselling each other," Jane says. "It is like a really random marriage guidance session, and then the next minute you're having sex. Most of the men I've met have just been incredibly lonely. One guy, I think we've slept together maybe twice in six months. But we meet frequently for meals, drinks, snogging in the car. He really misses being hugged, being kissed – those basics"... For most people, having a partner use pornography in private probably wouldn't constitute infidelity. But where would you draw the line on interactive pornography? Is phone sex with a prerecorded chatline pornography, but phone sex with another person infidelity? If a virtual sex game – such as Thrixxx's 3D Sex Villa, where your avatar is going to have sex with a bot – isn't a problem, is the same true of something like Red Light Center, in which your avatar is having sex with an avatar controlled by another human being? Then there's cybersex with someone who can bring you to orgasm by remote control: does that count as cheating?... A person who has a five inch penis can operate a 10 inch teledildonic device and see what that does to a person as they operate it. So that augmentation issue is very important: it offers the opportunity to improve, to augment the type of sex that people are having." He adds: "I've yet to meet a person that can vibrate at 120hz"... I ask Levy, a married man, what his wife would think if someone invented a sex robot and – out of academic interest – he wanted to sleep with it. "I don't think she would have a problem from the infidelity point of view," he says. "I do think she would think I was off my trolley."

Spain tries to calculate sex workers' contribution to GDP - "According to Eurostat, illegal activities such as prostitution and drug trafficking, together with accounting changes covering rather less gritty subjects such as pensions – could add about 1% to the GDP of Poland and Romania, 1%-2% to Spain and Italy, 3%-4% to the UK and as much as 5% to the GDP of Finland and Sweden."

CCP clings on after Tiananmen - "The problem facing the CCP now is that most of the factors that enabled it to survive since Tiananmen either have already disappeared or are headed in that direction. Indeed, for all practical purposes, pro-market reforms are dead. A kleptocracy of government officials, their families, and well-connected businessmen has colonised the Chinese state and is intent on blocking any reforms that might threaten their privileged status. Moreover, the CCP can no longer count on rising prosperity to sustain public support. Rampant corruption and rising inequality, together with obvious environmental decay, are causing ordinary Chinese – especially the middle class, which once had high hopes for reform — to become increasingly disillusioned. At the same time, given rapid population ageing, China’s demographic dividend has all but dissipated. And, given that China is already the world’s largest exporter, with more than 11% of the global market share, there is little room left for export growth in the coming years. That leaves only repression and nationalism in the CCP’s post-Tiananmen toolkit."

Robot dinosaur Raptor from Korea runs faster than Usain Bolt

Andy Lee Chaisiri's answer to Stereotypes: What are the racial tropes you are tired of seeing on TV? What would you like to see? - Quora - "There's no more wholesome White families, today every White person on TV is a self-entitled manbaby"

Brazil's sex trade: How the country's one million prostitutes are preparing for the World Cup - ""But look, why feel bad? We're not here because we like it, but it's a profession and we're not going to be grumpy and be treating people badly. If we're there working, we'll be smiling. In any profession you need to be like that. And the sex is pleasurable, honestly. So if people look down on us we don't care. And when people ask, we tell them we're prostitutes, although often they don't really believe us. In fact the worst part of it is probably that we have to pay 130 reais [£35] per day for a room each. The owner makes the most money, so many girls rent an apartment so they make more, but for us that's too dangerous. So we prefer to pay"... Prostitution was legalised in 2000. At the time it was suggested there were as many as one million sex workers, and while that may have been an overestimate, prostitution is undeniably widespread. At one point, the government's own employment website offered tips for those wishing to attempt prostitution, going step by step through preparation, seduction and delivery of service. It was later toned down after much pressure from conservatives and the religious right... Each year there's even a Miss Prostitute pageant that she hopes lessens the snobbery. "There is still much prejudice, though, especially from housewives, because their husbands come to us," she laughs. And the English classes were her idea as well after she took note of the increased sex tourism during the Copa Libertadores (South America's Champions League). "The language gets you ahead. We are learning the basics. They say there'll be 200,000 tourists in Belo Horizonte so it makes a lot of sense.""

Cat People Are Smarter Than Dog People, New Study Shows - "People who said they were dog lovers in the study tended to be more lively — meaning they were more energetic and outgoing — and also tended to follow rules closely. Cat lovers, on the other hand, were more introverted, more open-minded and more sensitive than dog lovers. Cat people also tended to be non-conformists, preferring to be expedient rather than follow the rules."

Five injured as gun goes off at kindergarten’s police safety talk

Here's Why Leaving Work On Time May Be Bad for You | Dharmesh Shah - "What must it be like to work for companies like those? What must it feel like to so badly want to get away from a job that hordes of employees are compelled to make sure they get out the door within seconds of their official quitting time? I've had that kind of job when I was younger, so I know how terrible it feels. And that's why you should never leave work on time."

The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube - "his cubes have seen great success. They've been featured in drinks at Playboy parties, the Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance, and “uber-lux” car shows, and are now part of Sysco's restaurant distribution chain. The company maintains that the true power of their cubes lies in “tastelessness.” Stephen Colbert agrees. “When you spend 75 dollars for a bag of hand-carved ice,” the host told a studio audience, “that is totally tasteless...it’s conspicuous consumption: an hour later you’re literally pissing your money away.”"

Chinese Girl Bludgeoned to Death in Shandong McDonald’s

Thailand’s secret story: the battle for a $37b royal estate - "the main reason Thailand’s crisis is so poorly understood is that a crucial part of the story is routinely left out. The 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is frail and ailing, and an unacknowledged war over the royal succession is being waged by competing factions of the elite. At stake is control of the vast royal fortune, estimated at more than $37 billion. Whichever side wins the struggle to play kingmaker will potentially be able to dominate Thailand politically and economically for years to come. This is why the conflict is so bitter and vicious."