Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2007 December 10

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

December 10

Amp question.

With an amp like a Line 6 amp, would different guitars sound different? My only experience with a Line 6 with test-driving my first electric (boy, that was a fun test drive! Three words: Distortion and tremolo!), and I'm just wondering, would different guitars sound different? MalwareSmarts (talk) 00:26, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

yes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.101.53.177 (talk) 05:43, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Help

Hi dose any body know 2 video games that was made from 1990-2005 1 is know or knot 2. talisman or talismans these games are fun —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wonderingaly (talk • contribs) 01:16, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Your going to need to learn how to write legible English before we can answer your question. Esskater11 01:34, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

That should be "You're going to need..." 64.236.80.62 (talk) 16:24, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Esskater, please don't be rude to people.

Wonderingaly, could you clarify your question a little? Do I understand that you are looking for one game made at some point between 1990 and 2005 that was called Know or was called Knot, and another game that was called Talisman or was called Talismans? Could you provide a little more detail about what you remember of these games? That would make it much easier. What machine did you play them on? What sort of games were they? Anything else? 79.77.13.195 (talk) 04:30, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

1990 to 2005 is a fairly long time in the history of video games. Can you narrow it down a little? Can you describe the gameplay at all? FiggyBee (talk) 06:18, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Talisman (video game) says there is a downloadable game that will be released soon and there was a game called Talisman for the ZX Spectrum released in 1985. No information so far on "Now or Not", "Know or Knot" or "Know or not". SaundersW (talk) 09:29, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Re-attachment of genitals

After being exposed to an unpleasant video clip of the "BME Pain Olympics", where the user ties up his genitals and voluntarily cuts it off, aside from a sensation of nausea, I became curious. Should one's testicles and penis be cut off, would it be possible surgically re-attach them (at a hospital of course)? If so, to what degree of success would the result take? As well, would there be a lot of blood loss? Please note the video is completely not-work safe and I recommend not even watching it. Acceptable (talk) 03:00, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

It has happened before. Lorena Bobbitt became famous for severing her husband's penis. It was reattached successfully (so I'm told). There are a lot of blood vessels in the human penis, so there would be quite a lot of blood loss, and would require a very careful and long amount of surgery. I don't know how useful it would be, afterwards, for all purposes, but it would at least function for urination. A man can still urinate after such an accident, I think, although he would not be able to do so standing. Another famous case was William Minor, a major contributor to the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, and long-term patient in a mental institution. Steewi (talk) 03:31, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

It seems there is an article - penis removal. Ouch! Please don't experiment. Steewi (talk) 03:32, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

I hate you becuase now i must watch that video out of courioisty. Esskater11 03:35, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Steewi, it was useful enough for John Wayne Bobbitt to become a porn star afterwards! Adam Bishop (talk) 08:14, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Bobbit is a family name that Charles Dickens might have chosen for a character with a similar challenge. Edison (talk) 03:17, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

futures

how to address a group of professional employees on the subject "How studying about futures helps us in coping the world today?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.88.234.42 (talk) 07:53, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

I think more context is needed before any meaningful response can be given. Which profession are the audience in ? Which country are you in ? Which "futures" are you studying - do you mean social futures, economic futures, scientific futures, or something else ? There is a financial instrument called a futures contract - is this what you are studying ?? Gandalf61 (talk) 11:08, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Identifying an alcoholic beverage

I would appreciate your assistance in identifying this alcoholic beverage purchased in Brno yesterday and given to me as a present. Is this a traditional Xmas drink? I was told that it is sold to be drank worm on the street.--Golf Bravo (talk) 12:10, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

As+,

A spot of Googling indicates that this is a Czech beer with a taste of marzipan and almonds. If you happen to like beer, you better stick to Duff´s. Doh, --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 13:43, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

What is "As+"?--Golf Bravo (talk) 15:25, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

BTW, this beverage is not a beer! Although it is manufactured by a brewery.--Golf Bravo (talk) 19:15, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

It is a metheglin. DuncanHill (talk) 19:19, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Drank worm on the street. Maybe this beverage is a part of the Diet of Worms. :) (Sorry, this was unavoidable.) -- JackofOz (talk) 22:49, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. Medovina is a mead.--Golf Bravo (talk) 09:40, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

District Directors of the Immigration & Naturalization Service (now defunct)

The Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) was folded into the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS). I'd like to know how many of the District Directors (DDs) active pre-DHS (say, in 2000)had been in the Border Patrol I don't need names. A simple statement telling me that of the 35 or 36 there were X with Border Patrol experience.Adegorf (talk) 14:11, 10 December 2007 (UTC)Adegorf

Adegorf, it appears as if there is a lack of people rushing to respond to this question. My personal theory about this is because it is due to the fact that in order to come up with the information you're requesting, the researcher would have to spend a considerable amount of time digging around to find it. There comes a point when you're doing research (such as this question you've asked) when the person who will be doing the legwork to find the data is the person who is asking the question. There are people who will do extensive research - for a fee - they're called Information Brokers, and the going rate right now to hire someone like that starts at $75 per hour, I believe.

The easiest way for you to have your question answered is if someone else has already done exactly what you're looking for. If after Googling it you still can't find it, then things begin to get more complicated.

The second easiest way to have your question answered is to ask it of some group like this or to go to a library and ask the Reference Librarian there. However, even a Reference Librarian cannot spend an inordinate amount of time doing research for you for free - he or she has an obligation to the other patrons of the library, and is also under professional obligation not to turn into one person's private researcher while being paid by the institution he or she works for.

The third easiest way to have your question answered would be to hire an Information Broker. There's a print publication that some libraries (by no means all of them) have which is called "The Burwell Directory of Information Brokers" that lists names and contacts. YOu may also find online services that list Information Brokers by Googling the keywords "directory informaiton brokers".

Finally, the least easiest way to answer your question is to do the research yourself. I would suggest starting with the U.S. Government Publications web page( http://www.firstgov.gov ), which offers a search engine for most of its publications. Keep in mind that the United States Government is the world's largest publisher - the sheer volume of material that has been published by the US is astounding. I'm hazarding a guess that you will be able to locate what you're looking for online. You'll need to chase down two separate lists and compare them - one list will include the name of the District Directors from 2000, and another list of Border Patrol agents from before that time. You'll then need to compare the lists to find which names are on both. This extensive type of research is not something that people are going to want to do for you for free, since it will require a lot of time. Good luck. Saukkomies 12:39, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

XM Fund

Hi,

My dream job would be to be a hedge fund manager. I have been able to consistantly outpreform the S&P 500, and have just recently gained investment selection control for a small partnership--I'm already beating the S&P 500 by a about 7-10% so far. I would like to know how I can use this record and perhaps gain a position as hedge fund manager (or to gain angel investors) without having any formal education in the area (I'm an automath with regard to investing) XM (talk) 17:24, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

It's hard to get a finance job without a diploma in the field. Demonstrated success in this area, at least, enough success to get someone to hire you, would probably make it a moot point -- you'd have to score a lot of money without minimal losses, at which point you'd probably just want to keep rolling in the cheese until you could retire without needing a job. Your best bet would probably be to try and get at least an MBA and then use your record as resume. That said, call some hedge funds, talk to their human resource managers, and see what they think; their ideas of what would impress them are vastly more important than ours :) Good luck! Faithfully, Deltopia (talk) 18:20, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

How much volume do you transfer to make the 7-10%? This is very significant. Its not that hard to make 100%'s in small volumes and even 10% - 30% for volumes of several million. But when you start going beyond this, your trades do not have negligable effect on the market anyway more, which is why big companies with billions struggle to even get a few percent. The best way is to simple invest your own money.--Dacium (talk) 22:46, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

~$20k or so.XM (talk) 21:01, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

If you go around calling yourself an automath, you'll be laughed out of the room by anyone with a reasonable vocabulary. The word you're looking for is autodidact. And your ability to, in a short time frame beat the S&P by 7-10% with a 20K investment is not that impressive. It's like claiming that you deserve a seat at the world series of poker because you won your basement poker tournament. 68.183.18.54 (talk) 18:15, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Truck engine / radio interference

I have a portable XM satellite radio receiver that I can move between my two vehicles, as well as use in a small "boombox" unit in the house. Both vehicles have the same mounting unit / adapter which has a connector for the antenna, a 12VDC power source that goes into the cigarette lighter, and a minijack output. In my car, I connect a cassette adapter to the output and insert the cassette into the car's stereo and everything is OK. The stereo in my pickup truck has an input jack on the face, so I just have short mini-to-mini cable connecting the XM unit. In the truck, there is contantly a whiny/buzzy sound, which gets higher in frequency as the RPMs of the engine increase. Is there something I can plug in somewhere amongst all the connections to make the noise go away? NB: I can't switch to the cassette adapter, because the truck's in-dash unit has no tape capability. --LarryMac | Talk 20:43, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

There are two possibilities:

1. That the 12 volt supply from the accessory socket in your truck is producing a 'noisy' output (very common) and the XM radio has poor power filtering (which would be most reprehensible in something intended to be mounted in a car). If you can run the XM radio from an internal battery and disconnect the 12v input, then if the noise goes away when you do that, then this is likely to be the reason. If that is so, then you need some filtering on the aux input. I believe you can get a gizmo to do this in your local car parts store...if you are somewhat handy with electronics then sticking an appropriate capacitor across the 12volt outlet ought to fix it.
2. It might be that the wire from the XM radio into the trucks input jack is picking up noise from the engine's electrical system. In this case, you probably need better shielding on the wire - you could try (just to see) wrapping some kitchen foil around the wires and perhaps touching a corner of the foil to a bare metal part on the truck body (an exposed screw head or something). It's also possible that the ground wire in your cable is broken or making poor contact so that the only ground connection between the XM radio and the truck's sound system is going the long way around through the 12volt outlet, through the body of the truck and thence to the truck's audio system. Doing the 'running the XM radio from a battery' test would make the radio signal disappear entirely if the wire were broken. Either way, buy another cable - ideally, one with a coaxial cable so that the grounded shielding can better shield the audio signal.

SteveBaker (talk) 22:18, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

All good advice, except an RF choke in the 12V is usual instead of a capacitor at the socket, I'd say. You can get noise filter kits at any auto parts store, but don't be too disappointed if you never solve the problem 100%. Some vehicles are just very noisy that way. Some people even go so far as to replace their spark plug wires with ones designed to suppress RF interference. --Milkbreath (talk) 22:39, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

I wondered about that - but this is a digital satellite box - I don't think it's prone to RF interference. I suspect it's more likely to be audio-frequency interference - and for that, a capacitor might be a better choice. I agree that it may be tough to get a 100% fix though. But I bet you can get it "good enough" with some simple tricks. You'd learn a lot about the problem by running the XM radio on batteries. SteveBaker (talk) 00:47, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Right. If the noise is there on batteries, it's RF. The RF is heard as an audio fequency because it's coming from a device (almost certainly the ignition system) that is sending out bursts of RF at an audio rate which are more or less accidentally detected and rectified amplified in the victim device. --Milkbreath (talk) 01:55, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, guys, I'll try to throw together some kind of battery pack together as soon as I can. Work is insane this week. --LarryMac | Talk 20:02, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Also, try cleaning the battery terminals. --Mdwyer (talk) 22:51, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

If pickup truck is diesel, check if interference is from compressor/turbocharger thing instead of ignition.Polypipe Wrangler (talk) 00:00, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia caught in Iceland White House Scandal

Just heard on FOX News, CNN that some Iceland national got hold of the SECRET phone No.# to the White House, and Google and Wikipedia is involved. Can this be placed in appropriate articles ? This scandal JUST HAPPENED. 65.163.115.114 (talk) 22:48, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

We alredy have material on this here. DuncanHill (talk) 22:50, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

This really doesn't need to be 'placed in appropriate articles' - it's a news story - it's not material for an encyclopedia. Even though it talks about Wikipedia itself, that doesn't give it any special notability - read WP:ASR. SteveBaker (talk) 02:55, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

It's not much of a story - it looks like the kid used Wikipedia to get some biographical information on the current President of Iceland. So what? -- Arwel (talk) 07:51, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

This anon is totally obsessed with following "breaking news" that JUST HAPPENED on Fox, no matter how insignificant. He writes like this frequently. He's annoying but harmless, don't worry about it. Adam Bishop (talk) 17:03, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Ice Storm nails Oklahoma, other states

Can any of this be placed in appropriate articles ? Seen this on The Weather Channel, FOX News, CNN, some of the local channels. The event is still going on. 65.163.115.114 (talk) 23:30, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Has anyone pointed you to WikiNews before? While run-of-the-mill weather isn't really encyclopedic, it is news-worthy, and writing about it would be most suitable there. I've noticed that this distinction is often appropriate for the current events you see on CNN, etc. — Lomn 13:37, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Did you even read the answers to your previous question? The answer is the same. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia - it is not a newspaper. They are not at all the same kind of beast! If we wrote articles about every storm going on everywhere in the world, we'd be adding about 10,000 articles a day just about the weather in various parts of the world! There is no point in looking at the News every day on TV and wondering why every single news story isn't in Wikipedia. Granted some very major events may warrant an article. Hurricanes that hit landfall in inhabited areas are generally going to get an article - and sometimes, the story is written as events unfold - but that's not typically the case. Articles about newsworthy subjects are quite commonly still being researched and written about years after they happened. One article I contribute to (Alexander Litvinenko poisoning) wasn't started until a month after the event happened and is still being edited fairly frequently an entire year later. If these ice storms turn into something very major with hundreds of deaths or major cities being crushed under the weight of ice - then maybe we should consider writing about it - but there is no hurry...quite the opposite in fact. With a space of time between the event and the writing, we can take a more dispassionate view of the events - look at all of the analysis people did as to the causes - treat it as a piece of history - not as something that is uniquely important to us right here and now. An encyclopedia is there for people who want to know about this event in a year, ten years or a hundred years from now. People who want to know whether it's OK to drive to their parents house in Oklahoma tomorrow shouldn't be trying to do that using an encyclopedia for chrissakes - it's about as relevent as trying to find a recipe for chocolate chip cookies by looking up "cookie" in a dictionary! So, please - stop posting these kinds of question every time you see something interesting in the news! SteveBaker (talk) 16:48, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Cunnilingus and Fingering

Whenever I perform oral sex and/or finger my girlfriend, she stops me before she achieves an orgasm, saying that she has an intense feeling to urinate. This is particularly true when I stimulate her g-spot. She is afraid she is going to urinate on me, but as far as I can tell that sensation is normal, and is often supposed to happen. But if we continue would it result in her urinating on me? Or is perhaps the sensation due to ejaculatory fluids about to come out of the urethra? I don't know too much about all of this stuff, and I'm not particularly excited about doing a field test if she will end up peeing on me. Thanks for the help. --71.98.23.145 (talk) 23:27, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

It sounds like she could be afraid of having a female ejaculation. Rockpocket 00:46, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Well she's never had an orgasm before, and doesn't know what it feels like. She tells me she thinks she's going to pee all over me. Will she, or is it most likely female ejaculation? --71.98.23.145 (talk) 01:08, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

You do know that urine is normally sterile, right? In any case, the pressure on the bladder may be coming from a different direction, as Rockpocket correctly states. Dan Savage has covered this topic here, as have numerous other sex writers. Any good sex manual will describe and explain the phenomenon. (I suppose that is an example of the no true Scotsman fallacy.) BrainyBabe (talk) 07:26, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps the best way to solve this would be to encourage your girlfriend to ensure she empties her bladder (in the traditional way) before you begin your sexual activity. Then give it a go and see what happens. Ultimately, no-one can tell you what will happen for sure, if it is a concern for you both you could always discuss it with your doctor. Rockpocket 19:38, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the link BrainyBabe, but I couldn't find which article you were talking about. I enjoyed reading Savage Love anyways (I usually get my fill from The Onion). And Rockpocket, I suppose that is what we are going to try, thanks for the advice. But lol don't worry, this isn't medical advice and we'll go to the doctor if we have any concerns. I suppose my main question was answered though: that it's normal for a woman to feel like she is going to urinate when the g-spot is stimulated. --71.117.35.87 (talk) 21:22, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

I am sorry that the deep link I provided earlier didn't connect you. I've tried copying and pasting but to no avail. Just go to the "Savage Love" homepage and search for "female ejaculation" -- I tested it and it works fine. BrainyBabe (talk) 08:36, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Glad to hear it, 71... Good luck to you both, my money is on you avoiding a accidental golden shower and your GF having a rather enjoyable evening! Rockpocket 19:30, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks once again BrainyBabe, I found it and it answered my question. Hahaha gross Rocket. You've got an interesting sense of humor. lol --71.186.16.100 (talk) 02:08, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

The Savage link above had a syntax error or two; I've corrected it; it works now. —Tamfang (talk) 08:33, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Odd characters

How on earth do I type a lowercase "s" with a dot over it? I don't have one in my special characters, and I can't figure out how to do it in unicode. 138.192.86.254 (talk) 23:31, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Is there such a character? What's it used for? In what language? SteveBaker (talk) 00:43, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps the page Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Unicode) (draft) could help? I don't know a lot about unicode, but that page displays a large number of odd characters that I am able to simply copy and paste elsewhere. The S and s letters with dots over (and under, and both as well!) are shown in the section "Latin extended additional", and perhaps elsewhere too. Let's see if it works here: Ṡ and ṡ -- yes, no? Looks right to me. That's using Template:Unicode, in case it isn't obvious. Pfly (talk) 01:02, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

P.S., the Dot (diacritic) page might be useful too. The Diacritic page contains links to lots of similar pages. Unicode Phonetic Symbols might be a useful jumping off point too. Pfly (talk) 01:06, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

If it is for typing a particular language rather than say, for maths, and if you are using Windows XP (lots of ifs...) then you can set up your keyboard using control panel, regional and language options, language tab, details, add (pick the language you want) and setting up the language bar on your dek top. That way you can switch into the mode that has the s-dot when you need it. This page [1] will then help you to find where the appropriate key is lurking! (well, I looked to see what language it could be, and couldn't identify it from the keyboard, so I checked here Alphabets derived from the Latin and couldn't find it either, so scrub all the above. I've left the post though because it might be interesting to somebody else!) SaundersW (talk) 11:20, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

The language is Sioux, the word is "Tiyospaye" as used in Deloria's book "Waterlily." Thank you all for your help. 138.192.86.254 (talk) 17:32, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

master bateman

2 questions:

• Too much masturbation=bad side effects?
• Circumsised= less pleasure? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.23.77.208 (talk) 23:51, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

For your first question, it depends how much. Masturbating will not harm you in any way, unless you're doing it too rough and injure yourself. Myths used to suppose that masturbating too much would cause blindness, acne, or baldness, but these have been proven false. In short, you can masturbate as often as you like, and if you're gentle enough there will be no negative physical side effects.

For your second question, different people say different things. Some males who were circumsized in adulthood claim that it feels less pleasurable to have sex, others claim it has had no effect at all. If it does make a difference, it would be negligible--that area is so packed with nerves it's going to be very sensitive and feel very pleasurable no matter what. Basically, it's very subjective and we can't give you a definite answer. --71.98.23.145 (talk) 00:07, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

I'd say there's a decent chance of condoms giving you a problem if you're uncircumcised, though. The extra layer might prevent the foreskin from pulling back fully. 138.192.86.254 (talk) 00:17, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

We evolved that little fold of skin for a reason. Chopping it off is mutilation and I predict that one day, it'll be regarded in the same way as female genital mutilation. SteveBaker (talk) 00:42, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

It is already so regarded by many people, and has been for a long time. -- JackofOz (talk) 00:44, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

...though there are genuine cases where it's a good idea. Mine was removed after phimosis became a problem in early childhood. Thankfully my only memories of the period are of a single home visit from a doctor, getting anaesthetised, and of the (quite painful) bruising coming up after bathing for the first time. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 23:49, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and I recall hearing a piece of trivia that a certain Antarctic expedition refused to take circumcised men on the grounds that the extra bit of "padding" made all the difference when it came to frostbite. The story may or may not be apocryphal, though :) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 23:49, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

It's gotta be. The groin is, if I remember correctly, the hottest external part of the body, what with the femoral artery being right there. --Masamage ♫ 06:08, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Guys:

So you won't lose the ability to feel sexual sensation or anything? Like, its not necessarily supposed to tingle with excitement every time its touched by the self, right?

And let's say you, to put this lightly, dry hump once a day and use your hand once a day as well. All of this won't damage or kill the nerves?

I'd say this information all wasn't for me, but, to be frank, you can't see me, so... :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.23.77.208 (talk) 00:51, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Actually it's been shown that, in moderation, male masturbation is physically beneficial for you (beyond the obvious pleasure benefits). Men who go for long periods in their life without ejaculating are more prone to prostate problems, including prostate cancer. As regards the circumcision question, well, "less pleasure" is subjective as it's arguable that not all the pleasure of sex is physical. Less sensitive would be more correct. But yes, in the majority of cases there is some degree of loss of sensitivity of the glans in circumcised men. This is primarily due to 2 reasons. The first one being that the constant rubbing of the glans against underwear over a period of time will ultimately reduce the sensitivity of the nerve endings. The other consideration is that the glans is not skin per se, it's a membrane that should be kept moist. This is the purpose of the foreskin, so when the foreskin is removed then so is its natural moisturising function. This results in the glans drying out to various degrees, this in turn also affects the nerve endings. There is also a combination answer to the combining of your questions. Masturbation of a circumcised penis and an uncircumcised one has to involve different techniques whereby the skin on the shaft of the penis has to take the place as a stand-in foreskin. Over-energetic, errr, errr, "downstrokes" can actually result in splitting the frenulum and/or the skin on the dorsal side of the penis where the shaft meets the glans (where there will be scar tissue from the circumcision op). --WebHamster 04:33, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Masturbation is in itself perfectly harmless, of course, but it is worth noting that any activity carried out to excess (i.e. to the exclusion of normal life) can have negative side effects. Drinking water is a good thing, for example, but it is possible to die from drinking way way way too much water (as Leah Betts is believed to have done, in a misguided attempt to protect herself from the effects of ecstasy). Likewise with masturbation. Sean Thomas wrote a book called Millions of Women Are Waiting to Meet You, a memoir of internet dating (ISBN 978-0306815485), in which he confesses to having masturbated himself into hospital: he was spending so much time with online porn that he forgot to sleep, and got run-down, and caught a (non-sexual) infection, and ended up as an in-patient. I suppose it is all a question of the wank/life balance.

I read of a study that attempted to answer the subjective question of pleasure and circumcision. In the 1990s many Russian Jews immigrated to Israel; many men decided to have circumcisions as adults, not having been circumcised as infants. The researchers leapt upon this cohort, as you can imagine. And the results? When the men were asked to report their sexual pleasure several months after the operation, a third said it was better, a third said it was worse, and a third said there was no difference.

By the way, the general question about masturbation and self-harm goes equally for girls and women as it does for boys and men: perfectly harmless, and may indeed confer health benefits. BrainyBabe (talk) 07:18, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

One (recently discovered?) benefit of regular masturbation seems to be that males who ejaculate on a regular basis are more likely to remain fertile longer. Since regular ejaculation isn't always possible without masturbation (say if a male doesn't have a partner), if a man wants to be able to father children later in life, masturbation becomes a good way of "keeping the tadpoles healthy". Grutness...wha? 08:27, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

One is appalled to find such things in this establishment. Why is it that you young men feel the need to discuss such matters (and also to add the most revolting images [2] to perfectly respectable articles)? There is nothing mentioned above that a good cold shower, a vigorous rub-down with a coarse terry-towel and a stout pair of boxing gloves worn at night won't sort out. That, and an instructive and improving choice of reading material.

Princess Venetia di Cannoli (talk) 11:35, 15 December 2007 (UTC)