Monday, September 3, 2012
Italian courts rules phone sex is not prostitution
In the case of a man charged with prostitution for engaging in phone sex, Italian judges ruled that a lower court made a bad call.
Phone sex is not, in and of itself, prostitution, Italy's Supreme Court found on Friday.
"Verbally servicing an interlocutor for the purpose of sexual excitement does not constitute a sexual service, if it does not involve the bodily erogenous zones of the person who is getting paid for such a service," the court ruled.
The defendant had paid a woman to provide phone sex to one of his business clients. The lower court said that act constituted a crime.
Prostitution "may well be carried out via telephone or Internet Web chats" if the customer asks the vendor to perform a sex act.
source
Japanese adult TV channel hosts 'breast squeeze' charity event (NSFW)
We've seen some crazy television shows come out of Japan, but this has to qualify as the craziest. Paradise TV, a Japanese satellite adult channel, recently hosted an unusual charity event: a breast squeeze benefit.
The breast squeeze event was part of its "Erotica Will Save The World" event, a 24-hour live-streamed event late this month in Tokyo.
The event went down as follows: after making a donation and sanitizing their hands, participants over the age of 18 were allowed to squeeze the breasts of one of 10 Japanese adult video actresses. A limit of two squeezes per hand were allowed.
All the money raised at the charity breast squeeze went to benefit STOP!AIDS, an organization aimed at promoting AIDS awareness, treatment and prevention. It is not affiliated with the Stop AIDS Project that is run by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
1972 Summit Series: Game 1
There are few events during my lifetime that have had the national attention like the 1972 hockey series between Canada and the USSR. Sure the Kennedy assassination, the first moonwalk, the Canadian centennial, 9/11 attack and the Vancouver Olympics were significant events but I have never seen the country literally stop like it did for the Summit Series.
Today is the 40th anniversary of game 1. I remember the hype but what dominated the country was this feeling of confidence, even smugness. We were going to roll right over the Russians. After all they were amateurs play professionals. They weren't playing the nobodies we send to the Olympics and Worlds at that time. These were Canada's best.
I watched game 1 in my family room with a crowd of friends from camp and school who came to celebrate Canada's anticipated triumph. Everything was going according to the script when Canada scored on the first scoring chance of the game just 30 seconds into the action. Phil Esposito, who seconds earlier enthusiastically won the ceremonial faceoff, potted a Frank Mahovlich rebound past a flopping Russian goalie named Vladislav Tretiak.
By the 6:32 mark Canada upped the score to 2-0 when Paul Henderson wired a hard, but seemingly harmless shot to Tretiak's far side. Tretiak looked awkward as he feebly attempted to knock down the puck.
The predicted rout was on. The party was on. We were high-fiving each other and predicting 8 wins for Canada.
The Soviets settled their nerves after falling behind early. They began to play their game of wonderful passing and skating. The overconfident Canadians eased up, and, as the initial awestruck feeling eased away, the Soviet players took full advantage.
Evgeny Zimin, a miniature speed demon, took a pass from Alexander Yakushev and beat Ken Dryden at 11:40. Before the period was over the Soviets scored a back-breaking goal while killing a Canadian power play. The great Vladimir Petrov scored as he easily tapped a Boris Mikhailov rebound past Dryden.
The score was tied at 2. It was very quiet in my house. The Soviets went on to simply dominate the second half of the period. They mesmerized the unsuspecting Canucks with their precision playmaking, effortless skating, and intricate and inventive offense.
The Soviets continued to impress their opponents and the increasingly quiet Montreal Forum faithful in the second period. Specifically the electrifying Valeri Kharlamov impressed the most. Considered by many to be the greatest Soviet player of all time, Kharlamov scored twice in the middle frame. His explosive speed and scoring ability made him a household name in Canada after that fine period of play.
The rout was still on, but definitely not as predicted.
The Canadians came out in the third period and played their best hockey in the opening 10 minutes, creating several scoring chances only to be foiled by the amazing Tretiak. The scouting reports were wrong about Tretiak -- not only could he stop the puck, but time would prove he was one of the all-time greats.
The Russians used their advantages to their fullest extent. They were a team in the truest sense of the word. They had been playing and practicing together for months, not weeks like the Canadian players, and it showed. They were also incredibly better conditioned -- they trained year round, while the Canadians enjoyed their summers of beer and golf and relied on training camp to get back into playing shape.
When it was all over the USSR beat Canada 7-3 and killed the myth about Canada's hockey supremacy. Valeri Kharlamov was the game MVP for Russia and it was obvious he could step into the NHL and be a star player. Bobby Clarke was Canada's MVP. The cockiness was gone from Canada. Canadians would be biting their nails the rest of the series.
45 years of Maple Leafs frustration: 2007-08
After giving up a top prospect for Andrew Raycroft, Ferguson was desperate for a starting goalie that could carry the Leafs into the playoffs. He gave up 1st, 2nd and 4th round draft picks to San Jose for their backup goalie in addition to having to agree to take on Mark Bell's contract. Toskala started out alright but his game deteriorated likely due to the pressure in Toronto and the heavy workload that comes with being a starting goalie. His fate was sealed with the Leafs when in March, 2008 he let a shot from 200 feet get by him.
This was on top of a goal scored by Bryan McCabe early in the season into his own net in overtime. The once star defenseman had struggled considerable post-lockout and the goal put him into the fan's doghouse which became pretty crowded as the season progressed.
On October 8, 2007, newly-acquired winger Jason Blake announced that he had chronic myelogenous leukemia, a treatable form of cancer. He continued playing during treatment and did not miss a game that season. Despite having a very mediocre year he was awarded the Bill Masterson trophy in the offseason. However, the Air Canada Centre crowd slowly turn on Blake as he became one of the team scapegoats.
To add to the already circus environment, in mid-November, 2007, Jiří Tlustý was caught in a scandal when nude photos of him appeared on the Internet. Tlustý apologized for this incident and admitted he made a mistake.
With the Leafs struggling in the Northeast Division, the future of Ferguson's tenure was widely debated after team president Richard Peddie admitted that hiring Ferguson was "a mistake". The Leafs asked former Toronto GM Cliff Fletcher to serve as interim GM early in January. On January 22 it was announced that Ferguson's time with the club had ended, as the board of directors at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment voted to make a change. Fletcher was named interim General Manager and a hiring committee was formed to find a permanent replacement.
Fletcher's mandate was to clear the table for the GM by trading away veterans for draft picks and prospects. The problem was that all the Leaf veterans has no-trade contracts and refused to move. The group of Mats Sundin, Darcy Tucker, Pavel Kubina, Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle became known as the Muskoka Five because of the country club environment in Toronto. It would take 3 years to move the last of the 5 members.
As a result Fletcher was stuck making minor deals, trading away Hal Gill, Wade Belak and Chad Kilger.
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