The news yesterday made me smile, the fuss over the release by the US Transportation Security Admin of some PDF documents, where they thought they'd blacked out all the secret bits of text.
Turned out that black boxes placed over text in a PDF document don't remove the text at all, it's still there and can be cut-and-pasted into a Word or Notepad file for reading.
PDF editing is quite unlike editing a bitmap (.bmp) file, where drawing a black rectangle will destroy everything underneath. PDFs are more like web pages than like bitmaps... much the same as Flickr offering fake security by having spaceball.gif spread out on top of the jpeg. Porn surfers know how to get around that!
Many of us on NBN have things to keep private and so I can sympathise with the TSA officials who made that cock-up. You think you've covered bases and then you have an 'oh, shit' moment.
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Just for the fun of it, I'm going to try to update all five blogs tonight: xanga, newbudnudes, blogger/blogspot, celection and newbienudes.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Sunday, 29 November 2009
I'm signed up to Twitter but I don't use it very often. I agreed with UK politician David Cameron when he said that "the trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it - too many twits might make a twat."
That was back in July and he apologised for his language - seemingly, he didn't know that 'twat' is a potentially-offensive term - but I thought he was on the case, there.
I've just unsubscribed from the 'twibes' (groups) feature, as I was getting swamped by junk. Now, I'll only see tweets from those I'm personally following.
The twibe comment that prompted me into updating this blog was "Social media is a tidal wave. Ride the wave or be crushed."That was back in July and he apologised for his language - seemingly, he didn't know that 'twat' is a potentially-offensive term - but I thought he was on the case, there.
I've just unsubscribed from the 'twibes' (groups) feature, as I was getting swamped by junk. Now, I'll only see tweets from those I'm personally following.
The surfing analogy I'd use is, I'd rather relax on the beach. There may be a bunch of twats posturing with their boards a little way down the beach, and I might glance at them occasionally, but otherwise I'll ignore them. Hope they sober up and go home.
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Secret lives and sex blogging
Saw a news item today about a research scientist employed by the University of Bristol who was also a sex blogger. Her bosses say her former life has nothing to do with her current job, and she has their support.
That's fair enough. I could imagine some employers getting a bit sniffy about it, though, and I'm not surprised she wanted to keep it secret for so long. But, unlike me, her blog earned her a book deal and there was also a tv series based on it - Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
Hmmm, you never know who's reading your blog and who's going to make you a "fame and fortune" offer, lol
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Monday, 26 October 2009
Me as a Twink??
I've noticed a few 'twink' pics recently, and they made me wonder how different my life might have been, had the internet and digital photography existed when I was a twink - ie, when I was 18 or over, but only just.
No pix exist of me as a twink. Well, not so far as I know! Back then, you had to send your film off to be developed and printed, or take it into a chemist. Which meant strangers were seeing the pix. Also, there was a feeling that if you picked the wrong processing place then nudity might be reported to the police. I remember hearing Boots (chemist, drugstore) frowned on nudity, for instance.
Life's so much better, these days. You can do what you want with your own images. But I wonder if any current-day twinks get tempted into rash action, just because it's easy to do.
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No pix exist of me as a twink. Well, not so far as I know! Back then, you had to send your film off to be developed and printed, or take it into a chemist. Which meant strangers were seeing the pix. Also, there was a feeling that if you picked the wrong processing place then nudity might be reported to the police. I remember hearing Boots (chemist, drugstore) frowned on nudity, for instance.
Life's so much better, these days. You can do what you want with your own images. But I wonder if any current-day twinks get tempted into rash action, just because it's easy to do.
[7748]
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Joanna's review of crossdresser sites
I been thinking about how I stick to the same few sites for most of my picture-posting activities and chatting etc. It's not because I'm a creature of habit, but because websites that are pretty poor really don't make much effort to change their ways.
Here's my current impression of the free websites I use... and most of them haven't changed much since I started with them. I'll give each one a rating out of 10.
flickr rating: 5
I like this for the groups, you can add a pic to an interest group and show stuff to like-minded people. Not a dedicated sex site, tries to be all things to all people. Bad thing is, people get banned for reasons that aren't always clear. Read the help threads and you'll see loads of complaints. If it weren't for that nagging doubt, I'd pay for premium membership (to get extra upload capability and the option to create lots of sub-folders or albums).
[edit: on 14 Oct, got another warning and they didn't tell me why. So I'm not going to contribute any more pix. I'm tempted to downrate the site to 2 or 3, but I don't want to rewrite history!]
newbudnudes ("NBN") rating: 9
Current fav. I like the chat and almost always get someone wanting to chat to me. I'm never ignored. Pic gallery is easy to navigate. Easy browsing of male gay porn and lots of crossdressers. Pic voting is strange sometimes. Forum is very quiet. This is the only site EVER where I've spent out on a membership upgrade (so that I can download full-size pix).
celection rating: 7
yep, correct spelling. Site well-coded and excellently laid out. Mixed sex pix, with a regular crossdress contribution. A nice feature is the photo subject 'challenge' (eg, invite tan line pix, or whatever). Drawback is, only paying members can download pix (although you can always use Print Screen, if you can be bothered to.)
yourpantyhose rating: 1
All uploads await moderation approval, and the site code is drab in appearance and function, so I rarely bother visiting. The page formatting convulsions when logging in are enough to put most people off, I would imagine.
tvChix rating: 3
Chat's busy and newcomers can be ignored. Not a porn site, more of a contact site. So there's no decent gallery system. Forum can be friendly or obsessively snotty, depending on who's been posting.
trannyrepublic rating: 7
A new kid on the block, and they're still developing the site options. Rather like a cross between newbudnudes and tvChix: an accessible pic gallery but profile searches can be done too. Forum and chat currently haven't taken off, but I think the site shows a lot of promise.
livevideo rating: 3
Supposedly an adult version of youtube, it strikes me as dead-in-the-water. Nice idea, but it hasn't really worked. Well, not for crossdressers, anyway. Nothing wrong with the site code, it's just lacking in participants.
youporn rating: 6
Some website statistics rank this as the top adult site in the world. Shows videos in FLV (flash) form and allows free download of them. (They can be viewed later on with things like VLC Player.) So many people visit, that you'll get lots of hits no matter how obscure your videos are. Can seem a bit impersonal, though.
xtube rating: 7
Videos can't be downloaded. The site also caters for pix but I rarely bother. It's a very busy site and lots of stuff, so it's easy to feel overlooked. But there's a lot of friendly people there and you'll probably get lots of friend requests if you stick around!
youtube unrated: it's not a porn channel
Anything approaching porn, and you're likely to be banned, so extreme caution required. Slightly erotic is OK, but no more than that. On the plus side, the site coding is pretty well second to none. I'm sure you all know how well the site works, so I'll say no more!
xpeeps rating: 3
Shame this site's a victim of what strikes me as shabby coding. For instance, to upload a new pic, you don't click on 'my photos' or 'xpose yourself' - you have to hover on the 'My Profile' button and ignore the dropdowns, and just click that button. And then, on the new page, select 'Manage my galleries' and then click the 'Upload Photos' link. The coding is better than in 2007 but still not enough to make me visit more than once a month. Page loading failures are still common, so remember where your BACK button is, if you go there.
newbienudes ("NN") rating: 6
A mixed sex version of the gay site 'newbudnudes', the site coding is ahead of newbudnudes in general options. And it's around 10 times more popular than NBN. I go there mainly for the MILFs and BBWs.
OK, so that's my snapshot of what sites I like (and how much I like them). These are my own personal views and I'd be interested to hear what you think!
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Here's my current impression of the free websites I use... and most of them haven't changed much since I started with them. I'll give each one a rating out of 10.
flickr rating: 5
I like this for the groups, you can add a pic to an interest group and show stuff to like-minded people. Not a dedicated sex site, tries to be all things to all people. Bad thing is, people get banned for reasons that aren't always clear. Read the help threads and you'll see loads of complaints. If it weren't for that nagging doubt, I'd pay for premium membership (to get extra upload capability and the option to create lots of sub-folders or albums).
[edit: on 14 Oct, got another warning and they didn't tell me why. So I'm not going to contribute any more pix. I'm tempted to downrate the site to 2 or 3, but I don't want to rewrite history!]
newbudnudes ("NBN") rating: 9
Current fav. I like the chat and almost always get someone wanting to chat to me. I'm never ignored. Pic gallery is easy to navigate. Easy browsing of male gay porn and lots of crossdressers. Pic voting is strange sometimes. Forum is very quiet. This is the only site EVER where I've spent out on a membership upgrade (so that I can download full-size pix).
celection rating: 7
yep, correct spelling. Site well-coded and excellently laid out. Mixed sex pix, with a regular crossdress contribution. A nice feature is the photo subject 'challenge' (eg, invite tan line pix, or whatever). Drawback is, only paying members can download pix (although you can always use Print Screen, if you can be bothered to.)
yourpantyhose rating: 1
All uploads await moderation approval, and the site code is drab in appearance and function, so I rarely bother visiting. The page formatting convulsions when logging in are enough to put most people off, I would imagine.
tvChix rating: 3
Chat's busy and newcomers can be ignored. Not a porn site, more of a contact site. So there's no decent gallery system. Forum can be friendly or obsessively snotty, depending on who's been posting.
trannyrepublic rating: 7
A new kid on the block, and they're still developing the site options. Rather like a cross between newbudnudes and tvChix: an accessible pic gallery but profile searches can be done too. Forum and chat currently haven't taken off, but I think the site shows a lot of promise.
livevideo rating: 3
Supposedly an adult version of youtube, it strikes me as dead-in-the-water. Nice idea, but it hasn't really worked. Well, not for crossdressers, anyway. Nothing wrong with the site code, it's just lacking in participants.
youporn rating: 6
Some website statistics rank this as the top adult site in the world. Shows videos in FLV (flash) form and allows free download of them. (They can be viewed later on with things like VLC Player.) So many people visit, that you'll get lots of hits no matter how obscure your videos are. Can seem a bit impersonal, though.
xtube rating: 7
Videos can't be downloaded. The site also caters for pix but I rarely bother. It's a very busy site and lots of stuff, so it's easy to feel overlooked. But there's a lot of friendly people there and you'll probably get lots of friend requests if you stick around!
youtube unrated: it's not a porn channel
Anything approaching porn, and you're likely to be banned, so extreme caution required. Slightly erotic is OK, but no more than that. On the plus side, the site coding is pretty well second to none. I'm sure you all know how well the site works, so I'll say no more!
xpeeps rating: 3
Shame this site's a victim of what strikes me as shabby coding. For instance, to upload a new pic, you don't click on 'my photos' or 'xpose yourself' - you have to hover on the 'My Profile' button and ignore the dropdowns, and just click that button. And then, on the new page, select 'Manage my galleries' and then click the 'Upload Photos' link. The coding is better than in 2007 but still not enough to make me visit more than once a month. Page loading failures are still common, so remember where your BACK button is, if you go there.
newbienudes ("NN") rating: 6
A mixed sex version of the gay site 'newbudnudes', the site coding is ahead of newbudnudes in general options. And it's around 10 times more popular than NBN. I go there mainly for the MILFs and BBWs.
OK, so that's my snapshot of what sites I like (and how much I like them). These are my own personal views and I'd be interested to hear what you think!
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