Gay Fest 2008

In matters of sexuality, the terms people use and identify with can vary widely from culture to culture. The terms “lesbian”, “gay”, “bisexual” an “transgender” (LGBT) are used because they are the English terms most commonly used in the international human rights discourse. However, this is in no way intended to ignore the diversity of other terms and identities, nor to deny the cultural connotations attached to these terms.

Although definitive information about LGBT demographics is not available and estimates are profoundly influenced by how sexuality is measured, LGBT communities represent a diverse and substantial segment of the population whose unique health issues need to be addressed.

Estimates of the total number of men reporting same gender sexuality range from 2.8 to 7.7 percent overall and from 9.2 to 16.7 percent in urban areas. Similarly, estimates of women reporting same gender sexuality range from approximately 2 to 10 percent. LGBT populations are comparable in number and intersect many other demographic groups.

Like other communities, the LGBT community is typified by its own history, customs, values, and social and behavioral norms. It has clearly identified festivals, holidays, rituals, symbols, heroes, language, art, music, and literature.

Gay Romania blog pointed out that LGBT community has demonstrated tremendous past resilience in addressing social problems, and currently possesses many activities for addressing emergent gender issues. This year they have two important and very interesting agenda namely Gay Fest 2008 and Miss Travesti.

Herbal Medicine

Herbal Medicine is the therapeutic use of plants to safely assist the body in healing various disease conditions. Regarded as the oldest known form of medicine, herbs have a history stemming from most ancient cultures of the world, including the Greeks, Romans, Chinese as well as India and Egypt. Still today, it is the primary form of medicine for most of the worlds population.

Herbal medicine originally formed the basis for modern pharmaceutical medications. By isolating a herbs active ingredient, synthesized drugs can be formed. Although orthodox medicine prefers to ignore their true origins within herbal medicine.

Herbs act to nourish and support the body’s organs, restore and strengthen damaged tissue as well as detoxify and eliminate waste. Conditions more commonly treated with herbal medicine include skin disorders, hormonal problems, digestive imbalance, infections, penis girth, as well as nervous system issues such as anxiety, stress, and depression.

According to the Kinsey Institute’s data published back in the late 1940s, the average penis length is 5.5 - 6 inches and the average penis width (circumference) is 4 - 5 inches.

Many women and men will tell that it is not only the length of the penis, but the penis size that matters in the long run. In many ways, this is true. The majority of the nerves that are stimulated during penetration (both the vaginal and anal varieties) are located close to the entrance of the vagina and anus. This makes length less important and width that much greater a factor since it is the stretching of the vaginal or anal walls that stimulates the nerves.

One might be asked how to increase penis size using herbs. There is an invigorating herbal formula that helps men to attain larger and thicker penis sizes called MXMAN. This natural penis enlargement formula not only increases the penis length but also increases the girth for enormous sexual pleasure.

Some Problems to Evaluate Deja Experience

The research evaluating the deja vu experience has been plagued with a number of problems. First, there is often a failure to report some of the basic details of the research, such as the actual survey question used (Buck, 1970; Buck & Geers, 1967; M. A. Harper, 1969; Myers & Grant, 1972) or the incidence rate found through this query (J. C. Dixon, 1963; Osborn, 1884).

For example, for one of the more thorough deja vu questionnaires, Sno et al. (1994) provided considerable detail on the test–retest and interitem reliability, as well as on face and construct validity, but failed to publish the actual questionnaire or any descriptive statistics from four groups of individuals (people with schizophrenia, people with depression, those prone to complex seizures, and controls).

Unrepresentative samples are frequently used in deja vu research. In many instances, a sample of convenience is used. Leeds (1944) queried individuals in a shop where he worked, Zuger (1966) surveyed patients undergoing therapy from him, and Kohr (1980) polled members of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, which studies paranormal experiences and of which he was also a member.

Osborn (1884) distributed his survey “at Princeton and elsewhere” (p. 478) without further clarification, and several studies used hospital patients as representative controls to compare with psychiatric subgroups (Chapman & Mensh, 1951; Richardson & Winokur, 1967). M. A. Harper (1969) sampled workers in a public health department, but to his credit he stated that “no attempt was made to make this a representative sample of

the normal population” (p. 69).

Finally, Gaynard (1992) surveyed students attending a university where he taught a popular course called “Aspects of the Paranormal,” with many students aware of his positive bias toward this subject.

Protection from Education

A person must not only be educated, but she or he must be protected from education itself. The truth-seeking endeavor is what saves people from the iron-clad defect of our own education and, as such, philosophy serves as a conscience to education.

Today, we celebrated our human right day, amid the many pressing problems that we are facing in our contemporary life, be they political, social, or economics.

This is a good time to contemplate and to think seriously about education in general to restore our hope and maintain our sanity. It is very telling to observe that despite our many thousand years experience, our hands are still chained to the wall, and our minds are clouded by a sense of helplessness.

Techniques to Evaluate Deja Vu Experience

Much of the research on deja vu has been conducted with retrospective evaluations of two varieties: short surveys designed to assess its incidence and longer questionnaires aimed at evaluating different aspects of the deja vu state.

Although short surveys involve one or two questions (e.g., Have you ever had a déjà vu experience?; How often do you have a deja vu experience?), retrospective questionnaires are aimed at clarifying more complex physical and psychological circumstances surrounding the deja vu experience.

Neppe (1983) developed both a quantitative (frequency, duration) and a qualitative (emotional intensity, clarity of experience) questionnaire to be administered in an interview format, and Sno, Schalken, de Jonghe, and Koeter (1994) later refined and extended Neppe’s (1983) questionnaires.

Both instruments focus on defining the content (setting, the respondent’s actions, words spoken), frequency (how often, first experience), personal circumstances (where, when, doing what), physical state (fatigued, angry, intoxicated), and psychological reactions (emotions, time sense, body awareness) related to the deja vu experience, as well as auxiliary psychological dimensions (dream memory) and personal habits (travel frequency).

The research evaluating the deja vu experience has been plagued with a number of problems. First, there is often a failure to report some of the basic details of the research, such as the actual survey question used (Buck, 1970; Buck & Geers, 1967; M. A. Harper 1969; Myers & Grant, 1972) or the incidence rate found through this query (J. C. Dixon, 1963; Osborn, 1884).

For example, for one of the more thorough deja vu questionnaires, Sno et al. (1994) provided considerable detail on the test–retest and interitem reliability, as well as on face and construct validity, but failed to publish the actual questionnaire or any descriptive statistics from four groups of individuals (people with schizophrenia, people with depression, those prone to complex seizures, and controls).

Scientific Approach to Deja

This article constitutes a summary of the empirical findings and scientific speculation concerning the dejavu experience. The review is divided into four sections: (a) techniques used to study the dejavu experience, (b) summary of empirical findings, (c) possible scientific explanations from cognitive and neuropsychological perspectives, and (d) directions for future research.

Although the dejavu phenomenon is widely experienced by the general public and is oft-cited in the popular literature (Sno, Linszen, & de Jonghe, 1992), the dejavu experience has been relatively neglected by memory researchers.

The dejavu experience lacks any clearly identifiable eliciting stimulus or verifiable behavioral response, and these lacunae have presented impediments to systematic research efforts. Much of the published literature on dejavu is from the psychodynamic or parapsychological perspectives, and although psychodynamic interpretations may have some explanatory value, these remain generally complex and cumbersome in light of possibly simpler scientific explanations.

Recently, a number of cognitive researchers have begun to relate empirical work to the dejavu phenomenon in an effort to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the experience (Hoffman, 1997; Jacoby, 1988; Jacoby, Allan, Collins, & Larwill, 1988; Jacoby & Whitehouse, 1989; Roediger, 1996; Schacter, 1996; Seamon, Brody, & Kauff, 1983).

A goal of the present review is to provide sufficient information on the phenomenon to stimulate constructive ideas from researchers in the clinical, neuropsychological, and cognitive areas and to bring clarity and focus to an extensive but fragmented literature.

Although much of the prior research on the dejavu experience has been published in journals and books that do not connect with mainstream scientific research, there is sufficient data and speculation available to formulate a nascent picture of the dejavu experience.

Defining the Deja Experience

It took nearly a century to settle on a common term for the deja vu experience. From the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, researchers used a variety of words and phrases in different languages to describe the phenomenon.

Berrios (1995) and Findler (1998) suggested that the term deja vu was first used in a statement by Arnaud (1896), whereas Cutting and Silzer (1990) pointed to the first use by Hughlings-Jackson (1888). Sno (1994), Neppe (1983) and Funkhouser (1983) claimed that Boirac (1876) first used the term de ´ja `vu (“la sensation du de ´ja ` vu”) in a letter to the editor.

Although the term deja vu was clearly introduced in the late 1800s, it did not come into common usage until many decades later. Sno and Linszen (1990) provided a list of 17 different terms (from three languages) that have previously been used to describe the deja vu phenomenon (from paramnesia to illusion of the already seen to sentiment of pre-existence), and Neppe (1983e) gave a chronology of the use of these terms.

Table 1 presents passages from textbooks published by prominent psychologists (Angell, 1908; James, 1890;Titchener, 1928; Woodworth, 1940) that illustrate the diversity of early references to the experience, even into the mid-twentieth century.

These descriptions show that earlier experimental psychologists evaluated the deja vu experience as relatively common and tended to classify it as a disorder, illusion, or hallucination of memory.

The following definition proposed by Neppe (1983e) has recently become the standard in research on deja vu: “any subjectively inappropriate impression of familiarity of a present experience with an undefined past”.

llusion of Recognition

For more than a century, the deja vu experience has been examined through retrospective surveys, prospective surveys, and case studies. About 60% of the population has experienced de ´ja ` vu, and its frequency decreases with age.

Deja vu appears to be associated with stress and fatigue, and it shows a positive relationship with socioeconomic level and education.

Scientific explanations of deja vu fall into 4 categories: dual processing (2 cognitive processes momentarily out of synchrony), neurological (seizure, disruption in neuronal transmission), memory (implicit familiarity of unrecognized stimuli), and attentional (unattended perception followed by attended perception).

Systematic research is needed on the prevalence and etiology of this culturally familiar cognitive experience, and several laboratory models may help clarify this illusion of recognition.

Look of The Year

Most of us already known that lookoftheyear.com hosting an online beauty contest called Look of The Year.

Astonishingly, hundreds of young and beautiful people from all over the world are participate with many that were of exceptional quality and talent.

Here are the to date top rated of each categories :

Female Age 14 – 19



Female Age +19



Male Age 14 – 19



Male Age +19




The top rated of this beauty contest will be receiving checks for $ 10,000 courtesy of lookoftheyear.com.

A Test of Intimacy and Growth

Select a few of your closest relationships with friends or lovers, and take a look at how these relationships affect your growth as an individual and in the relationship.

Write down your reactions to the following questions:

- Are both of us improved by this relationship?

- Does this relationship stimulate each of us to change and grow in a desirable direction?

- Do both of us maintain other interests and meaningful relationships outside this one?

- If lovers, are we also friends?

- Does each of us have a need to give as well as to receive love?

- Can we experience intimacy without giving up our individuality?

- Does each of us feel worthwhile as a person apart from this relationship?

You will probably find that most of your intimate relationship are neither extremely healthy nor dependent and addictive, but a combination of both. Hopefully, this exercise will help you become more aware of the differences between these two types of relationships.

Male and Female

From the moment of birth, infants are classified as a male or female on the basis of biological sex differences. They are also given a name and treated in a manner appropriate to their sex.

Yet much of this treatment is based on cultural expectations rather than on biological make-up. Nevertheless, by the time you and I reach adolescence we take many of the differences between the sexes as unalterable facts of existence, rather than as learned differences. We simply assume members of each sex are naturally inclined toward their respective sex-role expectations.

The core of the prescribed female sex role currently includes an emphasis on:

(1) marriage and having children
(2) reliance on a male provider, both in taking the man’s name and in sharing his income
(3) nurturing behavior, both in mothering children and in caring for the aged and helpless
(4) physical attractiveness and beauty
(5) a ban on direct expression of aggression and power striving

Similarly, the core of the prescribed male sex role includes an emphasis on:

(1) vocational identity
(2) being a provider and protector of women
(3) physical strength and accomplishment
(4) a high degree of control over emotion, with the exception of anger
(5) strong bonds with others, but the avoidance of emotional intimacy with other men or boys.

Sex Roles

Much of your sexual identity, from the way you dress to the way you feel about yourself as a sexual being, results from sex roles – social expectations concerning appropriate behavior for males and females.

Since sex roles are based on learning as well as on biological considerations, they vary from one culture to another.

Yet within a given society sex roles often appear to be relatively fixed, with negative labeling and impaired well-being resulting for those who deviate too far from the prescribed sex roles.

It will be interesting knowing how our lives are shaped by sex roles, especially the restrictive influence of stereotyped sex roles and the growing concern for more flexible ones.

Introverts vs Extroverts

Marked differences have been found in the sexual behavior of people classified as introverts or extroverts according to the Eysenck Personality Inventory.  Extroverts of both sexes tend to masturbate less and engage in more petting and intercourse than introverts.

In addition, it was also found that male extroverts tend to have sex with more partners than male introverts, while female extroverts experience orgasm twice as frequently as female introverts.

As an introvert I agree a hundred percent with those findings, as well as my extroverts' couple.  How about you?

What is the name of your sex organs?

Men and women may experience difficulties communicating with each other because they grow up speaking about sex in two different languages.

Almost two hundred college students in the Midwest were asked to write the word or phrase they used to describe the male and female sex organs and sexual intercourse in four different contexts: with others of the same sex, spouse or lover, mixed company, and parents.  the results showed that men used a greater variety of terms and varied them more with different listeners.

With most people, men were inclined to use slang expressions for the genitals, such as "pussy" or "dick".  They also tended to use aggressive or active terms for sexual intercourse.  Woman were more likely to stick to clinical terms for the genitals, such as "vagina" and "penis".  They were more apt to use the phrase "making love" for sexual intercourse, while men used this phrase mostly when speaking with a spouse or lover.  Women had learned fewer terms for the genitals and had a more difficult time talking about their own genitals than had men.

Another study showed that women were also more likely to have learned euphemistic nicknames for their genitals from their parents such as "bunny", "pocketbook", or "Christmas", which might easily become confusing when the meaning of these words changes in another context.

One of the implications of such findings is that parents should be encouraged to teach children the correct anatomical names for genitals so that they will view their sex organs as an equally acceptable part of their bodies as their fingers and toes.

Gender Awareness

Even though our biological sex, or gender, is genetically determined at the moment of conception, much of our sexual identity and behavior is learned.  Through the way we are treated and taught, we come to see ourselves as male or female and act accordingly.

However, the inherent differences between the sexes have been exaggerated by stereotyped notions, such as that of the sexually driven male and the passive, reluctant female, making for misunderstanding between the sexes.  Then, too, until recently, much of sexual behavior has been shrouded in secrecy and learned through the most unreliable sources, such as friends, anecdotes, or pornographic books and movies.  As a result, our understanding of sex is obscured by many half-truths and outright false-hoods.

But it doesn't have to be this way.  Today there is more openness and honesty about sexual interests, as well as much more reliable information available.