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It's the solstice, and tomorrow is a full moon.

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Faked orgasms don't fool brain scans

Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have used scans to show that different areas of the brain are stimulated during an orgasm but are not activated when a woman fakes it.

[...] [Gert Holstege] and colleagues took brain scans of 13 women and 11 men, aged 19-49 who had volunteered for the study, while they were being sexually stimulated by their partner and during an orgasm and compared them to images of their brains at rest.

"We wanted to know what the brain was doing during orgasm," Holstege said.

When women genuinely achieved an orgasm, areas of the brain involved in fear and emotion were deactivated. Those areas stayed alert however when women were faking it.

The researchers also found that the cortex, which is linked with consciousness, is active during a fake orgasm but not during the real thing.

"The deactivation of these very important parts of the brain might be the most important thing necessary to have an orgasm," said Holstege.

"It means that if you are fearful or at a very high level of anxiety, then it is very difficult to have sex because you really have to let yourself go," he added.

***

As someone on neuroscience said, there is a difference between being less active and not being active at all. It's hard to believe that the cortex completely shuts down during actual orgasm.

Also there is a difference between having sex and achieving orgasm.

But finding that the amygdala is deactivated during actual orgasm is quite a discovery.

more of our vaulted democracy

Business on the floor of the House was halted for 45 minutes yesterday after Rep. John N. Hostettler (R-Ind.) accused Democrats of "denigrating and demonizing Christians," prompting a furious protest from across the aisle.

The House was debating a Democratic amendment to the annual defense appropriations bill that would have required the Air Force Academy to develop a plan for preventing "coercive and abusive religious proselytizing."

Hostettler, speaking against the amendment, asserted that "the long war on Christianity in America continues today on the floor of the House of Representatives" and "continues unabated with aid and comfort to those who would eradicate any vestige of our Christian heritage being supplied by the usual suspects, the Democrats."

"Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians," he said.

Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, protested the statement, saying: "I move that the gentleman's words be taken down."

[...] Yesterday, Hostettler had a choice: to agree to withdraw his words, or to stick by them and face a ruling from the chair that he had violated rules against disparaging another member on the floor. If the member's words are taken down, it is considered a serious offense and the lawmaker would not be able to speak for the rest of the day.

Eventually, Hostettler rose and read a sentence that had been written out for him in large block letters by a young Republican floor aide: "Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the last sentence I spoke."

GOP Congressman Calls Democrats Anti-Christian

frightening

This was the message on a machine I just contacted:

Hello. We are not able to take your call right now, but if you leave a detailed message we will get back to you as soon as we can. And remember: Jesus is Lord! Have a good day.

Even machines are proselytizing.

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sophiaserpentia just made a very insightful post about the possible connection between racism/oppression and PTSD. She also cited this article at Psychiatric News, which I very much appreciate.

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Today the phones were a complete 180 from yesterday. I have not been this frustrated in well over a month. (It didn't help that our phone lines were being worked on, and then there was a bleedover/interference thing going on with the main line and the extensions.)

I had planned on putting in some overtime tonight, but not now. I'm outie.