Nomad? Doesn't sound terribly threatening.

Clearly you're not a Star Trek fan! Because you say "Nomad," and I imagine a whiny electonic voice screeching "STERILIZE!" and...

Hm. Actually that'd be okay with me. So, point. But I bet some people wouldn't care for it.

On that note, my gladiator name will be Kirok.

I would be very scared that a vacuum bag of wasp would magically end up with me attempting to throw it away, and the wasps getting out of the bag. Much like the proverbial cat.

I managed to finally go over to the pizza place at about 9:45 pm. Thankfully, they finally had the asparagus and prosciutto pizza (by the slice) that their website had kept taunting me with! Mmmm.

On that note, my gladiator name will be Kirok.

My Gladiator name shall be Boompty Boompty.

Couldn't you just mail it to somebody we hate?

No, that would be evil.

I would be very scared that a vacuum bag of wasp would magically end up with me attempting to throw it away, and the wasps getting out of the bag. Much like the proverbial cat.

Yeah, there's that. Unfortunately we can't get a definitive call on how long the little beggars live, so I think we'll need to risk it. Or burn them.

No, that would be evil.

I dunno, there are some people I'd regard it as Chaotic Neutral at worst.

can you put the vacuum bag inside a sealed plastic bag thereby depriving the wasps of oxygen?

No food, not much oxygen--it might be nicer if we just drowned them.

Watching Swingtown. I wonder how much of a morality tale it will turn out to be. So far we have three couples, all clearly set up to represent the uses and the thems of prudity and looseness, and from there, who will win? Speculation only, I'm guessing that the neutral couple will stray towards the dark path, be very shaken, and then if it's pablum heal and go on together stronger than ever. If it's edgy and daring then they break and find peace that way.

What would suprise me the most would be there being no price paid for dabbling with drugs or alternative sexual practices.

Matt--for the record and also not spoilery, Grant Show has been keeping up at the gym. Dayum.

I have to say, I'm impressed that it's not the guy dragging the wife in, and that their sex the next morning seems to have been good too. But can she deal with such a sudden sexual awakening? And what's with the kids--well, obviously the girl wants to boff the English teacher, but I'd thought that the boys were into each other, with Davenport's son being gayer of the two. Now he's all staring at the strange blonde girl (did I miss her introduction? Where did he get her ring?) in ways that make me doubt.

Okay, sleepytime?

But if you deprive them of oxygen, they get a good high before death.

I read a post in a BDSM discussion by a Dr. who was also into BDSM - he said that there's absolutely no way to practice "breath control" on another person without a risk of death. He said that even a short period of restricting someone's breath would cause a risk of heart-attack or... something else bad.

His argument sounded reasonable to me, but I haven't read any more on the subject. I was under the impression that people into "breath control" are (eta: in recent years) less popular in the BDSM community because of this issue.

But I wanna be corrected if I'm wrong, 'kay?

(If all y'all are SO OVER me posting whenever there's a BDSM question, please say so. I can never decide if there's a betting pool on how long it takes me to post OR if there's an LJ filter labeled "Stephshutthefuckupaboutkink.")

Pretty much every "official" discussion I've read on breath play says the same thing: there is no safe way to do breath play, because cutting off oxygen to the brain kills brain cells and *can* lead to brain damage/death. ("Can" doesn't mean "always will.")

I know people who are really, really into it, and I've seen them do it. Carotid artery pressure is really popular, because the choke-ee still breathes while it's happening, but their brain is slowly being deprived of oxygen until they pass out (is that technically "breath play" if you're breathing? maybe it should be called "oxygen play") and it's -- for me -- exceedingly disturbing to watch, because the person being choked gets all spasmy/shaky/etc. (actually, what it looks like, frankly, is a seizure) both when they're passing out and when they're regaining consciousness. (NOT an orgasm, at least according to them, and I don't know why they'd lie.)

I've even been to a couple of demos/presentations on breath play, and the first thing they say is "There's no safe way to do breath play. That said, here are some ways to do it that probably won't cause permanent damage."

Definitely NOT my bag, baby.

On the bit about even a short period of restricting someone's breath causing a risk of brain damage/death -- I guess it depends on the time period we're talking about. Because, for instance, I don't think that holding one's breath to swim underwater or to get rid of hiccups is going to actually kill you or turn your brain to Cheese Whiz. And if that's okay, it seems like that interval of breath restriction would also be okay in a BDSM situation.

But I can't say that for sure, and hey, maybe holding your breath to swim underwater is gonna kill you. (I doubt it, though.)

(I'm only up this late because I had nightmares -- one was about being choked, actually -- and had to get out of bed in the hopes that waking up fully and doing something would re-set my subconscious. I hope that being awake and freaked out was productive.)

t edited Friday morning to correct a 3 a.m. double negative