My life in sex: the man with a small penis
‘I’ve heard of women rejecting a guy for his size, then making fun of him to others’
I was 15 when I realised my penis was below average in size. Feeling increasingly ashamed, I gravitated towards humiliation pornography (in which women demean men over their size) and that only made me focus more on my anxieties. I used to upload pictures of my penis anonymously on to sites such as Reddit, and the comments were all about how small it was.
I’m 22 now, and have never had a girlfriend, which I attribute to my low self-esteem. I think that in a loving relationship you accept each other’s faults – that is what I’d try to do – but I’ve heard stories of women rejecting a guy for his size and then making fun of him to other people. I’ve asked out a female friend or two while drunk, but always been rejected. Hell, I’d have rejected myself – I have overeating issues, an introverted personality, no banter. There are a million factors, but I can’t help tying them all up with having a small penis. I used to blame my inability to date on anyone but me, and for a while I gravitated towards incel [involuntary celibate] groups, but I soon realised that their ideology is toxic. I don’t believe women owe men sex.
My partner left me before lockdown and I can't get over him
With so much time on our hands, it’s easy to dwell on loss, says Mariella Frostrup. Try distracting yourself with online dates, box sets and classic novels
The dilemma Several months ago my partner of five years left me very suddenly. He’d gone abroad to work, but as far as I knew everything was fine. I even had flights booked to go and visit. The break-up was a huge shock that left me in a low place. After a few weeks I felt I was beginning to come out of the fog and start moving on with my life, going out and seeing friends, going to classes, etc, but then the lockdown was imposed. Being shut away in my flat all day, alone with my thoughts, I seem to be going backwards.
I’m very aware that we are in the middle of a global crisis and it’s awful for everyone. Luckily, I’m in a good position regarding pay and I’m not paying rent, so I really don’t have any reason to complain. However, all I can think about is my ex. It’s driving me a little bit mad. Do you have any advice on dealing with non-Covid-related troubles during this crisis? Talking to others about it is hard, and I don’t want to make it all about myself.
Continue reading...My happy place: readers' travel tips
Memories of beaches – in the UK or further afield – as well as village bars, sunrise views and days out with tea and cake are sustaining readers during lockdown
A day out in Whitby. Morning tea and fruit cake with Wensleydale at Bothams. Walk to the sea, and out onto the pier. Walk up the beach, climb up the cliff and then back to the town past the whale’s jaw. Fresh crab sandwiches for lunch, then climb the 199 steps to the Priory. Back down, just enough time for afternoon tea and cake before crossing back over the river for a fish supper at the Magpie. Drive back over the beautiful North Yorkshire moors; the end of a perfect day, in perfect weather every time.
Nigel Goddard
150,000 worthless baseball cards in the time of coronavirus
My basement is overrun by sports cards from the 1980s and 1990s, all of which aren't worth the cardboard they're printed on. And they've never been more priceless.
My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade
By Frank Moher On this dreadful day, I don’t want to write about the shootings in Orlando. I want to write about my friend, Rick. Rick lives just outside of Nanaimo, a city of about 80,000, across the water from the island I live on. He’s been a celebrity there for a long time, first as the city’s […]
How coronavirus robbed my family of the opportunity to mourn our brother's death
My brother's death last month caused great pain. COVID-19 and its restrictions, which have delayed his funeral, made grieving so much harder.
Mysterious Planet 9 could be found using futuristic spacecraft, theoretical physicist suggests
The hypothetical Planet 9 has been bandied about for several years, first mentioned in 2014, but researchers have yet to find it. Now, a well-known theoretical physicist believes we could find the mysterious object using "laser-launched spacecraft."
Mangoes off the menu for lonely primates, as Kiev zoo struggles in lockdown
Mykhailo Pinchuk takes a short walk around his empty zoo, greeting some animals with a stroke and a morsel of food.
Mysterious inflammatory syndrome in children potentially linked to COVID-19 reported in Montreal
As Quebec prepares to reopen schools, doctors are poring over 15-20 cases of children with what seems to be the same illnesses reported in U.S. and Europe
My patient's marriage was saved by a brain injury
Our brains influence all aspects of our lives, including our sexual desires. This means brain injuries can have some surprising effects, says Amee Baird
My favourite film aged 12: Gold
My friend Tom convinced me that Roger Moore’s finest non-Bond moment was this 1974 corker about a maverick mining engineer. He’ll convince you, too
- Read all the other Lockdown watch choices
- Read all the other My favourite film choices
- Read all the What I’m really watching choices
- Read the other classic missed films choices
The pre-eminent film in Sir Roger Moore’s non-Bond oeuvre was released in 1974, between Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun.
I was born in 1978, so I was far too young to see Gold in its first flush of youth, let alone mine. So was my friend Tom.
Continue reading...Mysterious ‘Planet Nine’ on the solar system’s edge may not be real
Strange orbits of distant space rocks have been used to infer that the solar system has an unseen ninth planet, but those orbits may be less strange than we thought, meaning there is no need for a new planet
Mysterious crater on Mars could be a good place to look for life
Could life on Mars have hidden from extreme weather in a cavern on the Pavonis Mons volcano? This 2011 orbiter image of an otherworldly crater has NASA asking just that
Mysteriously bright supernova may have smashed up a huge gas cloud
A strange supernova that’s 100 times brighter than it should be has long been a mystery, but it may be explained by the explosion slamming into a cloud of gas
Mysterious radio signal from space seems to have suddenly vanished
Strange blasts from space called fast radio bursts continue to puzzle astronomers with their odd behaviour, as they seem to come from a variety of galaxies
Mysterious drone swarms flying at night are baffling US authorities
Swarms of drones have been seen flying over Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming in the past few weeks, but no one has claimed responsibility
My Spy – Movie Review
My Spy – Movie Review Rating: B (Good) Trailer/Thumbnail Courtesy Elevation Pictures The premise for My Spy isn’t the most original concept in the world. There have been any number of comedies centered on muscled men tasked with watching over children and the humour that ensues. It was probably inevitable that Dave Bautista would be […]
The post My Spy – Movie Review appeared first on The Scene Magazine.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Reactivates HIV-1 via Exosome-Mediated Resetting of Cellular Redox Potential and Bioenergetics
The synergy between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) interferes with therapy and facilitates the pathogenesis of both human pathogens. Fundamental mechanisms by which M. tuberculosis exacerbates HIV-1 infection are not clear. Here, we show that exosomes secreted by macrophages infected with M. tuberculosis, including drug-resistant clinical strains, reactivated HIV-1 by inducing oxidative stress. Mechanistically, M. tuberculosis-specific exosomes realigned mitochondrial and nonmitochondrial oxygen consumption rates (OCR) and modulated the expression of host genes mediating oxidative stress response, inflammation, and HIV-1 transactivation. Proteomics analyses revealed the enrichment of several host factors (e.g., HIF-1α, galectins, and Hsp90) known to promote HIV-1 reactivation in M. tuberculosis-specific exosomes. Treatment with a known antioxidant—N-acetyl cysteine (NAC)—or with inhibitors of host factors—galectins and Hsp90—attenuated HIV-1 reactivation by M. tuberculosis-specific exosomes. Our findings uncover new paradigms for understanding the redox and bioenergetics bases of HIV-M. tuberculosis coinfection, which will enable the design of effective therapeutic strategies. IMPORTANCE Globally, individuals coinfected with the AIDS virus (HIV-1) and with M. tuberculosis (causative agent of tuberculosis [TB]) pose major obstacles in the clinical management of both diseases. At the heart of this issue is the apparent synergy between the two human pathogens. On the one hand, mechanisms induced by HIV-1 for reactivation of TB in AIDS patients are well characterized. On the other hand, while clinical findings clearly identified TB as a risk factor for HIV-1 reactivation and associated mortality, basic mechanisms by which M. tuberculosis exacerbates HIV-1 replication and infection remain poorly characterized. The significance of our research is in identifying the role of fundamental mechanisms such as redox and energy metabolism in catalyzing HIV-M. tuberculosis synergy. The quantification of redox and respiratory parameters affected by M. tuberculosis in stimulating HIV-1 will greatly enhance our understanding of HIV-M. tuberculosis coinfection, leading to a wider impact on the biomedical research community and creating new translational opportunities.
Myeloid-specific deficiency of pregnane X receptor decreases atherosclerosis in LDL receptor-deficient mice [Research Articles]
The pregnane X receptor (PXR) is a nuclear receptor that can be activated by numerous drugs and xenobiotic chemicals. PXR thereby functions as a xenobiotic sensor to coordinately regulate host responses to xenobiotics by transcriptionally regulating many genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism. We have previously reported that PXR has pro-atherogenic effects in animal models, but how PXR contributes to atherosclerosis development in different tissues or cell types remains elusive. In this study, we generated an LDL receptor-deficient mouse model with myeloid-specific PXR deficiency (PXRMyeLDLR–/–) to elucidate the role of macrophage PXR signaling in atherogenesis. The myeloid PXR deficiency did not affect metabolic phenotypes and plasma lipid profiles, but PXRMyeLDLR–/– mice had significantly decreased atherosclerosis at both aortic root and brachiocephalic arteries compared with control littermates. Interestingly, the PXR deletion did not affect macrophage adhesion and migration properties, but reduced lipid accumulation and foam cell formation in the macrophages. PXR deficiency also led to decreased expression of the scavenger receptor CD36 and impaired lipid uptake in macrophages of the PXRMyeLDLR–/– mice. Further, RNA-Seq analysis indicated that treatment with a prototypical PXR ligand affects the expression of many atherosclerosis-related genes in macrophages in vitro. These findings reveal a pivotal role of myeloid PXR signaling in atherosclerosis development and suggest that PXR may be a potential therapeutic target in atherosclerosis management.
My patient's marriage was saved by a brain injury
Our brains influence all aspects of our lives, including our sexual desires. This means brain injuries can have some surprising effects, says Amee Baird
Mysterious Iron Age site may have been a retreat for religious hermits
Shards of pottery probably used for transporting food suggest a mountain site in the Czech Republic may have been a nature retreat for Iron Age religious hermits
Mangoes off the menu for lonely primates, as Kiev zoo struggles in lockdown
Mykhailo Pinchuk takes a short walk around his empty zoo, greeting some animals with a stroke and a morsel of food.
My surprising discovery about women’s opportunities in Armenia -- by Saleha Waseem
Underserved businesses run by women in Armenia need help to create a reliable client base and convince skeptical banks that their enterprises are a good investment.
My 11,000 tilapia and catfish side hustle
Enos Odongo is a building contractor, but on the side, he runs a fish farm as he seeks to cash in on rising demand for the produce
My life on the run from COVID-19
Right now I am in voluntary self-quarantine after returning from overseas. When I flew into Kansai International Airport from the island of Bali on March ...
My Son Is a Nurse. The Coronavirus Means I Worry About Losing Him Every Day.
His New York City hospital has been all pandemic, all the time. ......
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2015: Marching Ahead
My Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2015 model portfolio added a second month to its winning streak, with a 6.1 percent gain for the month and a 5.7 percent gain for the year, despite a continued drag by the strong dollar. If measured in terms of the companies' local currencies, the portfolio would have been up 7.5 percent for the month and 10.5 percent for the quarter or year to date. For comparison, the broad universe of US small cap stocks rose 1.5 percent for the month and 4.0 percent for quarter, as measured by IWM, the Russell 2000 index ETF.
MySQL G0ld Brute Forcing Utility
MySQL G0ld is a program that issues brute force attacks against a MySQL Server using a supplied wordlist.
My Book Insecure Cookie Handling
My Book suffers from an insecure cookie handling vulnerability.
My Journey - From a Layout Designer to an Application Engineer
Today, we are living in the era where whatever we think of as an idea is not far from being implemented…thanks to machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) entering into the...
[[ Click on the title to access the full blog on the Cadence Community site. ]]
Mystery Of The Missing Pound: TikTok Puzzle Leaves Internet Baffled
In the video, a TikTok user challenges viewers to solve the mystery of the missing pound while splitting a restaurant bill equally.
My teaching doesn’t change, why does my EVAAS score?
A conversation with my mentor has always stuck in my mind: Teaching is not about me, directly, it’s about serving my students. Teaching is about providing each of my students what they need to learn the material and to grow academically and as an individual. Teaching is about student learning. [...]
The post My teaching doesn’t change, why does my EVAAS score? appeared first on Government Data Connection.
A Dynamic Computational Model of Social Stigma
Myong-Hun Chang and Joseph Harrington: The dynamics of social stigma are explored in the context of diffusion models. Our focus is on exploring the dynamic process through which the behavior of individuals and the interpersonal relationships among them influence the macro-social attitude towards the stigma. We find that a norm of tolerance is best promoted when the population comprises both those whose conduct is driven by compassion for the stigmatized and those whose focus is on conforming with others in their social networks. A second finding is that less insular social networks encourage de-stigmatization when most people are compassionate, but it is instead more insularity that promotes tolerance when society is dominated by conformity.
5 From 1: Federal Politics and Policy
My top five announcements from each monthly issue of School Improvement Industry Announcements – Policy and Politics. The criterion for selection is information and events that help edbizbuzz readers understand how what happens in Washington shapes our emerging market for school improvement products
My road to commencement: Jessica Sheets
Penn State Harrisburg senior Jessica Sheets and her father, Ethan, have a lot in common, including both having had their commencement ceremonies preempted by historic events — hers by the coronavirus epidemic, and his by Hurricane Agnes in 1972.
Mycophenolate Mofetil Following Rituximab in Children With Steroid-Resistant Nephrotic Syndrome
Treatment of idiopathic steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome is challenging, and therapeutic options are limited. In spite of good initial response with rituximab, responders always remain prone to further relapse, necessitating either repeat course of rituximab or addition of another steroid-sparing immunosuppressant.
Mycophenolate mofetil may be an effective maintenance therapy to consider as an additive immunosuppressant after induction with rituximab in maintaining remission among children with refractory steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome. (Read the full article)
Now is the time to reinvent travel for our economic and environmental futures
MY after work walk on Wednesday was a zig zag, following the sun as she headed west.
My Unlikely Road to Entrepreneurship
There are many entrepreneurs who can claim that "they've always known they would start their own business," but I am not one of them. So how did I end up as an entrepreneur writing this blog?
My 5 Basic Rules for Talking to Young Students About Coronavirus
Students are understandably anxious about COVID-19. Teachers must address those fears in age-appropriate and educational ways, writes 4th grade teacher Ivy Higgins.
I've Changed How I Grade My Students. You Should, Too
My job as a teacher is to help students learn, not to use extrinsic motivation to get them to work, writes Miriam Plotinsky.
800 Degrees, Clarkston, and Baffo, Argyle Street, Glasgow. Ron Mackenna's home delivery reviews
MY mother was known for her pizza but they were never round, not when we were growing up anyway. She would pull them from the ancient coal-fired cast iron range in the living room on long blackened oblong trays, the dough she had spent the day making puffed and undulating but always thin and super chewy.
Who Killed Keylan Knapp?
My childhood friend has joined America’s “deaths of despair.”
My CSWE Journey, Part 3
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My CSWE Journey, Part 2
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