Two more to cap the night

Use your head

My first is in bridge but not in ridge.
My second is in awake and in mistake.
My third is in danger but not in ranger.
My fourth is in flange and in orange.
My fifth is spline and in wine.
My last is river and in diver.
My whole likes the darkness.
What am I?

Speedo Sunday

Speedo is a swimsuit manufacturer that began on Bondi Beach near Sydney, Australia. Speedo is currently the world's largest selling swimwear brand and manufactures products for both recreational and competitive swimming. Its trademark is a red boomerang-shaped logo.



The company was founded in 1914 by hosiery manufacturer Alexander MacRae as MacRae Knitting Mills in an effort to expand his company into swimwear. In 1928 the name Speedo was first adopted after the firm developed its racerback design of swimwear making it one of the first manufacturers to specifically produce athletic designs. The name was made up by a Captain Jim Parsons who won a company competition with the slogan "Speed on in your Speedos."



During World War II the manufacturer shifted nearly all of its production to war materials such as mosquito nets. Speedo resumed production after the war and became a publicly traded corporation in 1951. In 1955 Speedo introduced nylon into its fabric for competitive swimwear. The 1956 Olympics in Melbourne saw the widespread debut of the new fabric and the introduction of the style of men's briefs that has become associated with the brand. The company quickly expanded into the international arena from there until the present, boasting that 70 percent of swimming medals were won by athletes wearing its products in the Olympic Games of 1968, 1972, and 1976.



During the 1970's and 80's new fabrics such as lycra were incorporated into the company's swimwear design. During the late 1990's the company turned its attention to its aquablade and fastskin product lines of competitive swimwear. The designs employ new fabrics that the company claims will reduce resistance in the water by replicating biological skin characteristics of various marine animals such as sharks.

Though it still manufactures the traditional briefs and racerback designs that made the company famous, Speedo's latest competitive swimwear designs incorporate suits that provide greater coverage to the arms, legs, and even full body for their top end lineup. Their high-end suits often sell for in excess of $300 American for the Fastskin 2 series. The company also continues to manufacture recreational swimwear, goggles, earplugs, swim caps, towels, robes, sportswear and other logo clothing, watches, sandals, beach volleyball and triathlon products, lifeguard gear, and training supplies for competitive and recreational swimmers.



Some athletes who have been sponsored by the Speedo brand include Greg Louganis, Janet Evans, Michael Phelps, Amanda Beard, Dawn Fraser, and Kosuke Kitajima.

Riddle me this

When young, I am sweet in the sun.
When middle-aged, I make you gay.
When old, I am valued more than ever.
What am I?

JUST BECAUSE

Elizabeth Taylor Dying

HOLLYWOOD screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, 74, is close to death from heart failure, according to international reports.



The actor, as well known for her eight marriages as her Oscars, is thought to be bedridden at her Bel-Air, California, home.

The actor has a terminal condition known as congestive heart failure in which the heart weakens progressively and cannot pump enough blood around the body.

"Liz is inching closer to death every day and she knows it. It is not a pretty picture," a friend reportedly said.

"She's not leaving a lot of money to her children. She wants the bulk of her fortune to go to AIDS research."

Her spokesman in Los Angeles denied reports she was on the brink of death.

Taylor made her name as a film star at the age of 12 when she starred in National Velvet.

She won Oscars for Butterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Since breaking her back in 2004, Taylor has been confined to a wheelchair.

Whats in store for May

I have added a top referrer link.
If you would like to be added to my blog list let me know, a link to my blog would be appreciated.
Lets see who is the top referrer for May and who knows maybe a special thank you for the top referrer will be in store.

Axel Hotel

Axel Hotel Barcelona, the first urban designer hotel aimed at the gay community, is about to go from being a one of a kind hotel to become part of a chain.

Following the huge success of Axel Hotel Barcelona, which opened in July of 2003, the Axel Hotels team is now embarking on an ambitious expansion throughout Europe and America, beginning with the construction of the chain’s second hotel, Axel Hotel Buenos Aires, which will make it the first chain of gay hotels in the world.

Currently under construction, Axel Hotel Buenos Aires will have 48 rooms, a restaurant, cocktail bar, chill out area, spa, garden with a pool and a solarium, outdoor bar, wi-fi connection throughout the entire hotel, it will open its doors to the public in April 2007.

Vintage Thursday

Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden was born in Mecklenburg (Northern Germany) in 1856.



In 1878 he went to Italy, hoping to cure his lung problem. He settled in Taormina, a small seaside town in Sicily, which he was to call his 'heaven on earth'. There he regained his health, quite likely also as a result of the erotic fulfillment he found.



Gloeden's talent in getting his models to pose gracefully when composing scenes, as well as the use of special filters and tints to enhance the effect of the pictures, added to the quality of his achievements.



Gloeden paid his many models well and even opened bank accounts for them, which often made it possible for them to start some business of their own. It is said that there are still families in the area who owe their prosperity, next to their own work, to the impetus from the earnings of a great-grandfather who was a model for il barone.



Gloeden had to leave his beloved town in 1915 when Italy entered the First World War against Germany. His house was kept by a former model, then his assistant, Pancrazio Bucini (called il Moro), until the expatriate's return in 1919.



Many of Gloeden's models had lost their lives in combat. With the disastrous upheaval of the war, the changed social climate, and the dwindling importance of former educational ideals borrowed from antiquity, Gloeden's pictures appeared outmoded and were much less in demand. The catastrophe also left its mark on Gloeden, who mourned the loss of former models killed in the war. He reverted only hesitantly to the subject that had made him famous. The time of the Greek dream was over.

Wilhelm von Gloeden died in 1931 in Taormina. In his best days, from about 1890 to 1914, he had been so productive that the complete corpus of his male photographs was estimated to be up to 7,000.

Italy was ruled by fascism, and von Gloeden's estate, then owned by Bucini, was raided by the police in 1933 and 1936. Bucini was charged with selling pornographic pictures, but acquitted in a trial in Messina. Nevertheless, about three quarters of the negatives were destroyed. However, today the work is slowly being pieced together from collections around the world.

Yesterdays Wednesday Woody

Tasty Tuesday

TV talk show host Maury Povich was hit with a $100 million lawsuit Monday by a producer who alleges she was forced to expose herself in the studio for crude videos that were shown to guests of the show.



Rare documents chronicling the rise and fall of Oscar Wilde together with a poem by Wilde's gay lover, Lord Alfred Douglas are among the literary treasures donated to the University of Leeds yesterday by a wealthy New York based couple.

The newly acquired treasures include Wilde's lectures notes from his 1882 tour of America, marking his rise to fame in addition to a rare copy of the Oxford University journal The Chameleon that played a part in his fall from grace.



The Vatican has banned a service for gay Catholics at a church in Bavaria due to its close proximity to a gay pride festival being held in the area.

Josef Heigl, vicar general for the diocese of Augsburg told the Reuters news agency that the Vatican had stopped the service, which has been taking place during the Christopher Street Day gay festival since 1999, to allay fears that it might give the impression that the Catholic Church endorsed gay rights.


A fairy tale about gay marriage has sparked a civil rights debate in Massachusetts, the only US state where gays and lesbians can legally wed, after a teacher read the story to a classroom of seven year olds without warning parents first.

A parents' rights group said overnight it may sue the public school in the affluent suburb of Lexington, about 19 km west of Boston, where a teacher used the book King & King in a lesson about different types of weddings.

"It's just so heinous and objectionable that they would do this," said Brian Camenker, president of the Parents Rights Coalition, a conservative Massachusetts-based advocacy group.

Mr Camenker said he believes the school, Joseph Estabrook Elementary, broke a 1996 Massachusetts law requiring schools to notify parents of sex-education lessons. "There is no question in my mind that the law is being abused here," he said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if in the next couple of weeks there was some kind of (legal) action taken," he said.



One man remains critically injured with stab wounds suffered in an attack by a group of 10-15 apparent skinheads on a street in São Paolo, Brazil, that is a traditional meeting spot for young gays, lesbians, drag queens and punkers.

Police say the attack, which took place in the early morning hours of April 22, was unprovoked and probably motivated by bias, according to local media reports.

Jefferson Marcelo dos Reis Silva, 22, was stabbed serveral times and is still hospitalized after surgery, the newspaper O Estado reported. A 15-year-old male, punched in the face by the attackers, was treated and released, while two females, ages 14 and 15, were less seriously injured, the paper reported.

São Paolo city officials are taking heat for the attack, which came only two days after gay activists met with government representatives to complain about an increase in skinhead activity at that exact location. The April 19 meeting, called by São Paolo's GLBT Advisory Board, had drawn promises of a stronger police presence, according to press accounts at the time.

"It is unbelievable this is happening again in São Paolo in 2006," one activist said at the meeting, Mix Brasil reported. "I remember the case of Edson Néris, who was brutally beaten to death by skinheads in the city's Praça da República," an event that shook the city's large but politically docile gay population, the activist said.

Saturday's attack took place on a stretch of Rua da Consoloção, in São Paolo's well-heeled Jardins neighborhood, that most weekend evenings is a popular hangout for younger gays who cannot enter the street's several gay bars and who often express affection on the sidewalks in a public manner much less common among the city's older gays.

It still happens

An Edmonton man will be sentenced on June 20 for an attack on a 22 year old man on his way to the city's LGBT pride celebrations.

Ryan MacKenzie was punched in the face and head by a man who yelled homophobic epithets at him during pride week events at Edmonton City Hall last summer.

MacKenzie was wearing a T-shirt that said "drama queen" and was described by a defense lawyer as being "flamboyantly dressed". The rest of his wardrobe that day consisted of white jeans, a fur-lined jacket, boots with two-inch heels and hoop earrings.

As he an two friends approached City Hall a group of people yelled out homophobic slurs. The group of young men then began following them.

MacKenzie said he and his friends ignored the slurs and kept walking but one of them caught up with him and attacked him.

Nineteen-year old Nicolas Demers has pleaded guilty to assault. When he was detained by a City Hall security officer Demers said that "there should be a law against dressing like that," and that MacKenzie deserved to be beaten.

MacKenzie says he is still haunted by memories of the attack.

"It's totally changed my life," he told the Edmonton Sun.

"It was like society was attacking me," he said. "That's how I viewed it."

Under Canada's hate crime law Demers could receive a longer sentence. That will be determined once a pre-sentence report is presented in court in June.

The trouble with Harry

Prince Harry has threatened to quit the Army unless he is sent to the front line, it was reported.

The Prince and his older brother, Prince William, have previously made it clear they are determined to see active service with their units.

Harry, 21, was commissioned earlier this month as a second lieutenant in the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals, the Army's oldest and most senior regiment.

The Blues and Royals have been deployed in almost every major Army operation of the past two decades, including the Falklands, both Gulf wars, Bosnia and Kosovo.

The Mail on Sunday reported that Harry told senior officers at Sandhurst before passing out on April 12: "If I am not allowed to join my unit in a war zone, I will hand in my uniform."

This poses serious problems for the advisers tasked with protecting William and Harry, the second and third in line to the throne, and those fighting alongside them.

A spokeswoman for Clarence House said: "Prince Harry is very clear that he is joining the Army, and the Household Cavalry in particular, to serve his country as an operational soldier."

But she added: "On occasion there may be some circumstances in which his presence could attract additional attention, which could lead to additional risk to those he commands or himself.

"In these instances it is a judgment call which would principally be made by his commanding officer."

Earlier this month a senior Army figure said it was "eminently possible" Harry could be in a danger zone within 12 months.

Speedo Sunday

YUMMY YUMMY

Robin Williams

Robin Williams wants to confront the gay men who say they have slept with him because he cannot recall that time of his life.

Williams insists he is 100 percent heterosexual, but many gay men seem keen to "out" him, contactmusic.com reported.

He said: "There are many websites that will go, 'Oh, he is gay - I know he is gay.' Even our chef, who is gay, was at a gay ski lodge, and some guy came up to him and said, 'Robin Williams is gay. Oh, I know he is. I know people who have been with him.' They should tell me, because I don't remember."

Williams says he has never had a guy encounter even when he was taking drugs and bisexuality was the rage.

Scrapblog

A new concept in blogging looks like a great idea have not had time to really look at it.

George slams Elton

George Michael has accused Sir Elton John of stirring up a "soap opera" around his life.

Speaking during an interview with Michael Parkinson he said: "Every artist has a soap opera and people decide where they are in it. The trajectory of my particular soap opera launched from the statement Elton made 18 months ago, when I hadn't seen him in a year.

"Elton said he thought I was miserable for some reason and I've been trying to prove I'm not ever since."

He decided to go ahead with the interview days after police questioned him after he allegedly collided with three parked cars near his north London home. He said of the incident: "I pulled out of a parking space badly."

George also spoke of his recent arrest at the wheel near Hyde Park, Central London, earlier this year saying he had nodded off at 3am.

According to The Sun he added: "I recorded with Tony Bennett the same night. It was my mother's memorial a day later, so I hadn't slept well."

When Parkinson asked him about being found with cannabis George laughed and said: "Are we really going to say that was dramatic?"

He also revealed he will tour again this year.

JUST BECAUSE

Mr and Mrs become Mrs and Mrs

A husband and wife have 'remarried' as a gay couple - 14 years after the groom had a sex swap operation.

Bernadette Rogers 76, formally Bernard (left) and her partner Joyce Rogers, 80 /PA

Bernard and Joyce Rogers wed in 1967 but have lived "like sisters" since 1991, when Bernadette, as she's now known, underwent gender surgery.

The retired physicist is now legally recognised as a woman thanks to the Gender Recognition Bill which became law last year.

And that meant she was able to have a civil partnership ceremony with Joyce.

Bernadette, of Woodford Halse, near Daventry, Northants, said: "We have exactly the same affection for each other we have always had.

"We have an absolutely ideal relationship. We complement each other in every way."

The proud 76-year-old added: "I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom this morning and thought, 'Yes, you have done it now.' It is a sense of completion."

Before "remarrying", the couple first had to divorce - because the Gender Recognition Bill does not acknowledge a change in a transsexual's gender if the person remains married.

A judge this week granted the couple an early release from divorce proceedings at Northampton County Court, giving Bernadette a new birth certificate which showed she is a woman.

They were then able to have their civil union ceremony.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

She has launched 23 ships, sat for 139 official portraits (including one hologram), given out more than 78,000 Christmas puddings and is a patron to more than 620 charities and organizations.

She is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain — let's stick with the shortened version of the title — who will celebrate her 80th birthday Friday.

Her birthday week included a lunch Wednesday for others who celebrate their 80th birthdays the same day. On Friday, Prince Charles will pay a televised tribute to his mother; he will also host a birthday dinner for her and members of the royal family that evening. On Sunday, family members will attend a Service of Thanksgiving at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle to celebrate the queen's birthday.

To mark the event, Buckingham Palace has released 80 facts celebrating the queen's 80 years. While some of the facts are snoozy (she has conferred more than 387,700 honors and awards), others are fascinating (she learned to drive in 1945 when she joined the army). Here are more facts from the life of the long-serving monarch:

Two birthdays: The queen will celebrate two birthdays this year, her actual birthday (April 21) and her "official" birthday (celebrated June 17). Why two? The tradition of having an "official" birthday for the sovereign began when monarchs born in winter were prevented from having parades due to cold and wet weather. King Edward VII, born on Nov. 9, 1841, was the first sovereign to mark his official birthday on a day that wasn't his actual birthday. Queen Elizabeth continues this tradition. She celebrates her real birthday privately with friends and family; her official birthday is marked by ceremonies at Buckingham Palace.

To the moon: Though the queen has never visited the lunar surface, she left her mark there. She sent a message of congratulations (microfilm in a metal container) to the Apollo 11 astronauts who took it to the moon in 1969. The container was left there. She later welcomed the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, to Buckingham Palace, and U.S. astronauts Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin, and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin (first man in space) and Valentina Tereshkova (first woman in space).

Staying in touch: The queen is a busy communicator. During her reign, she has received more than 3 million items of correspondence. She has sent more than 280,000 telegrams to couples in the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth celebrating their 60th wedding anniversaries. She also has sent 100,000 telegrams to centenarians. Along with the Duke of Edinburgh, her husband, the queen has sent 37,500 Christmas cards. She also is a modern royal: In 1997, she launched Buckingham Palace's Web site.

Material girl: According to a statute from 1324 during the reign of King Edward II, the queen owns the sturgeons, whales and dolphins in the waters around the United Kingdom. During her reign, the queen has received many unusual gifts, including jaguars, sloths, beavers and an elephant. She also continues the royal family's long association with racing pigeons. In 2005, she claimed ownership to 88 cygnets on the River Thames.

But the two animals most associated with Her Majesty are horses and dogs. Her first pony was given by her grandfather, King George V, when she was 4 years old. She remains keenly interested in horses and horse racing. The queen has owned more than 30 corgis, starting with Susan, a present for her 18th birthday (a good portion of her dogs have been direct descendants from Susan). She owns five corgis: Emma, Linnet, Monty, Holly and Willow. She also introduced a new breed of dog, the "dorgi," the result of the mating of one of her corgis with a dachshund named Pipkin, which belonged to Princess Margaret. She owns four dorgis: Cider, Berry, Candy and Vulcan.

Vintage Thursday

Hercules was not only the strongest of the heroes (even as a baby he killed two great serpents with his bare hands) but he was also the craziest (he murdered his first three sons in a fit of madness) and the smartest (what he could not accomplish by brute strength he achieved through guile). What is less well known these days is that he was as heroic in bed as he was standing up.

One time he was invited by king Thespios to help him rid the land of a huge lion that was terrorizing the countryside. When the king set eyes on Hercules he had a better idea: "Come and stay the night at my palace, and rest yourself before the hunt," said the king to Hercules, "and meet my family." As Hercules was soon to find out, the king's family was made up mostly of his fifty virgin daughters, for whom he had not found fitting husbands until then. That night Hercules met them all, and made love to forty nine of them (the fiftieth was too shy). The next morning he and the king went off to hunt the lion, and nine months later all forty nine daughters gave birth to sons.

Much as he loved women, Hercules loved youths no less. Plutarch said that the number of his lovers was beyond counting. What we know for sure is that he had more than even the god Apollo (who was no slouch when it came to male love). Most stories about the beloved boys of Hercules have been lost or destroyed, but among his lovers were said to be the young heroes Admetos, Iphitos, and Euphemos, all of them Argonauts, Elacatas, honored by the yearly Elacatia games in Sparta, and Abderus, an Opian boy and son of Hermes, whose love for Hercules cost him his life, and who was honored with his own festival in the city that bore his name.

He was the young man to whom Hercules entrusted the man-eating mares of king Diomedes. Not strong enough to keep them in check, they tore him to shreds and devoured him. Heartbroken, Hercules built the city of Abdera in his memory. There was also a myth, now lost, that claimed that Eurystheus, the king for whom Hercules performs his labors, was one of his lovers, and that Hercules undertook the labors in order to please him. If so, then male love becomes the central motive force of the Hercules cycle, just as the love between Achilles and Patroclos is the fire that drives the story of the Iliad.

Also among his lovers, and not so unlucky, were Philoctetes who inherited Hercules's bow and arrows, and who was called upon to use them in the Trojan war, and Nestor, the youngest son of king Neleus, whom he grew to love more than any other lad. Nireus, Adonis, Jason, Corythus, Stychius, and Phrynx were reputed to have been amongst his lovers as well. But these stories have been lost.

Of all his boyfriends however, the ones he loved the best (besides Nestor) were Iolaos of Thebes, and Hylas of Argos. Iolaos, was also his nephew and, though only sixteen, his helper in many of his labors. It was said that their love was such that Hercules found those labors easier when Iolaos watched him. He was Hercules' charioteer and beloved, just like Patroclos was for Achilles.

As Plutarch tells us: "And as to the [male] loves of Hercules, it is difficult to record them because of their number; but those who think that Iolaos was one of them do to this day worship and honor him, and make their loved ones swear fidelity at his tomb." And also, "It is a tradition likewise that Iolaos, who assisted Hercules in his labors and fought at his side, was beloved of him; and Aristotle observes that even in his time lovers pledged their faith at Iolaos' tomb." The Thebans thought so highly of Iolaos that they worshiped him together with Hercules, named their gymnasium after him, and in his honor held yearly contests, the Iolaeia.

As for the love between Hercules and Hylas, the poet Theocritus, who wrote 300 years before our era, had this to say: "We are not the first mortals to see beauty in what is beautiful. No, even Amphitryon's bronze-hearted son, who defeated the savage Nemean lion, loved a boy-charming Hylas, whose hair hung down in curls. And like a father with a dear son he taught him all the things which had made him a mighty man, and famous.

And they were inseparable, being together both day and night. That way the boy might grow the way he wanted him to, and being by his side attain the true measure of a man. When Jason sailed after the golden fleece, and all the nobles went with him invited from every city, to rich Iolkos he came too, the man of many labors, son of noble Alcmena.

And brave Hylas in the flower of youth went with him aboard the Argo, the strong-thwarted ship, to bear his arrows and to guard his bow."