How to love like smart Machiavelli loved

(The Unknown Void) Early human mating was more savage than thought. [Still this way today?] 

Incels are not real. (Does she have a point?)  - War continues: who uses more of brain? 🤯

No, not like this, Bozo! (Mr. Wolverine) - Wolverine more macho than Batman kissing?

• Incels (the involuntarily celibate)
• Who was Niccolò Machiavelli?

Devolution by funny punk rock

(Mishtah) The Firemen "Jocko Bozo"

Niccolo, does she love me? I need to know!

(Psyphoria Echo) 7 hidden signs a woman wants you: she'll never say it | Machiavelli

(Stoic Universe) The Machiavellian rules of attraction: 7 signs she wants you but hides it

• VIDEO: Machiavelli’s advice for Nice Guys
• Machiavelli's understanding of sexual desire
• Machiavelli's advice on picking up girls

21 million years of kissing (BBC News)

Nazi Nordic ideal of naked apes (Klaus/Barbie)

Humans have only been going at it for less than 5,000 years, according to science: Archaeologists discover evidence of first human kiss -- and it happened 4,500 years ago. However, kissing (smooching, pecking, making out, speaking French) has been going on much, much longer.

The first ever recorded kiss [discovered so far] happened 4,500 years ago, scientists suggest after discovering evidence that puts the event 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. A study published in the journal Science points to evidence of kissing in the ancient Middle East, in early Mesopotamian societies, documented in ancient texts from 2,500 BCE.

It's just a "Complicated Game"

XTC (Ecstasy), British band with a deep message in "Dear God"

• Ah, romance, it will be the death of us, dragging out our time in samsara (the "Continued Wandering On" of death and rebirth, chasing pleasure first here then there always in search of fulfillment that cannot be found in things.)
• Does this mean we're breaking up? 😭

Kissing?

(BBC via MSN) Humans do it, monkeys do it, even polar bears do it. And now researchers have reconstructed the evolutionary origins of kissing. Their study suggests that the mouth-on-mouth kiss evolved more than 21 million years ago, and was something that the common ancestor of humans and other great apes probably indulged in.

The same research concluded that Neanderthals may have kissed too – and that [modern] humans and Neanderthals may even have smooched one another. The scientists studied kissing because it presents something of an evolutionary puzzle -- it has no obvious survival or reproductive benefits. Yet, it is something that is seen not just in many human societies, but across the animal kingdom. More

• Where did kissing come from? | BBC News

• Archaeologists cook like Neanderthals and find something disturbing
• Mysterious 'pyramid' discovered in Antarctica beneath the ice | indy100
• People think guilty Trump is 'nervous' after lengthy rant calling Epstein child molestation files a 'hoax'

Prostitution 'sexbot' doll factory, China

(Miracle Process) More than a doll, how Chinese craftsmanship is redefining intimacy

Industrial sexbot factory gives whole new meaning to "manufacturing consent"

I can't wait to make money for my daddy

Sex robots or "sexbots" are anthropomorphic [human-like] robotic sex dolls that have human-like movements or behaviors and some degree of artificial intelligence [1][2].

As of 2025, although elaborately instrumented sex dolls have been created by a number of inventors, no fully animated sex robots yet exist.

Simple devices have been created which can speak, make facial expressions, or respond to touch [3][4] and even carry babies to term if they get pregnant.

I blame myself...and Hollywood

There is controversy as to whether developing them would be morally justifiable [5][6].

In 2015, robot ethicist Kathleen Richardson called for a ban on the creation of anthropomorphic sex robots with concerns about normalizing relationships with machines and reinforcing female dehumanization [7][8][9].

Questions about their ethics, effects, and possible legal regulations have been discussed since then.

Lexicology

Elon Musk's Tesla is working on cheaper EBs (electric beings) and discount models for Mars. 

First robot pimp: prototype (Futurama)

Human people [as distinct from the nonhuman people/AI robots will one day no doubt be referred to] who are sexually attracted to sexbots are sometimes referred to as digisexuals [10] or robosexuals [11][12].

A person in "love" with a purchased vibrating phallic device is just called a nymphomaniac by the medical profession and a horndog or slamhound in the vernacular.

Sexbots with a male shape design may be referred to as malebots [13] or manbots [14]. Gender neutral terms for sex robots include pleasure bot [15] or sex droid [16].

Sexbots with a female shape design have been referred to as chick-bots [17] or fembots [18] or b*tchbots in some unsavory circles. More: sex robot

• Miracle Process; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Hollywood's Finest: homeless, pregnant

(The Los Angeles Times)

Tilly Norwood new IT girl; who's Bad Bunny?

(The Daily Show) Tech Yeah! Sora 2, Tilly Norwood, Robot Olympics (Grace Kuhlenschmidt)

A.I. actress sparks backlash and controversy

Tilly Norwood is the new IT girl, and by "IT" we of course mean "information technology."

She is less a robot and more a fictional character generated by A.I., less a hologram and more of a figment of some pervert's imagination made of pixels and dollar signs.

I'm so hot and don't even drink coffee

Hollywood moguls rejoice. Actors mourn. Now there is no need for paid "intimacy coordinators" forced on the film industry by do-gooders and nosy Nancys, no more aging actress with short shelf lives. This solves everything in Elon Musk's coming utopia.

Wiki: An announcement at the Sept. 2025 Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) that Tilly was about to be signed by a talent agency attracted strong criticism from Hollywood actors and firms, prompted allegations of personality rights violations, and led to arguments over the impact of the character on production costs in the media industry. Oh, that's our Tilly! More

Desi Lydic Foxsplains Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show

Bad Bunny featured by Cardi B

Who is Bad Bunny?

Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio [no relation to Rep. AOC] was born March 10, 1994, and is known professionally as "Bad Bunny." He is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and record producer [3]. Dubbed the "King of Latin Trap," he is credited with helping Spanish-language rap music achieve mainstream popularity in the worldwide market. He is considered one of the best Latin rappers of all time [4][5]. More

Sydney Sweeney has great bathwater

The world loves me for me.

It isn't just quasi-white supremacist ad campaigns that are adding to bodacious Sydney Sweeney's fame quotient. There is also her bathwater, which has allegedly been added to some expensive Dr. Squatch soap. It's doubtful there is even a molecule of her in any bar, but maybe she looked at the water before it got watered down, spread out, and mixed with fat and lye. Can you imagine anyone liking someone so much that she'd gladly swim in that person's bathwater? If not, ask Gwen about it:

Gwen Stefani's No Doubt "Bathwater"

Sydney Sweeney bathwater bliss (teepublic.com)

• Sydney Sweeney bathwater soap joke tee shirt (womyso.com)
• Halsey begs her fans to see ‘Americana’ even though controversial Sydney Sweeney is in it

Germanic types can be crafty in real herstory.

The rise of robotic sex

Could they, would they, ever build an SS Doll for patriots? Germanic Americans might love it.

We tested 10 female humanoid sexbots/robots and found the best

When I was sex trafficked, I learned this...

What I learned about all kinds of men, love, loneliness, and myself while being sex trafficked

Prostitution: Do escorts have O’s?

(Ms Jessica Jaye) Do I have 😮rgasms with clients working in a business that is so condemned?

Do I 😮? 

Dancer Josephine Baker 1926

(Ms Jessica Jaye) March 14, 2025: Brisbane, AUSTRALIA, Down Under, working it in Sydney. Can a sex worker be candid about the oldest profession in the world? It is not all a sleazy street exchange. In some places, like parts of the state of Nevada (outside of the county Las Vegas is in places like The Love Ranch) in the USA. In countries around the world, this is going on every day. In fact, some would argue that there is no country, no state, no city where it is not. Instagram: msjessicajaye. TikTok: msjessicajaye1.

• Sex workers legal in some parts of the world
• Is it prostitution if there's no pimp or pressure?

Courtesan Cora Pearl

The Five Precepts would seem to preclude this line of "work," given that it is a kind of sexual misconduct (abusing sex) in the eyes of society. Moreover, one might argue that it is "trade in living beings," one of the forms of Wrong Livelihood (from the Noble Eightfold Path), exploiting oneself and/or others, and for all appearances it is corrosive to the individual engaging in it. Does it have to be?

Geisha girl in traditional garb

Weren't there always courtesans (royal call girls) and geishas (well-mannered conversationalists for the rich)? These high-class escorts may not exactly be the same thing. They may be. But they are not regarded as such by the society.

One must take care not to rationalize that all wives are engaged in this line of work for fear of falling into specious reasoning and logical fallacies.

Buddhism and Sex (M. O'C. Walshe)

Ultimately, who is responsible for me but me? The buck stops here. We simply wish to share the Buddha's advice. The British scholar Maurice O'Connell Walshe dared to tackle this topic from a Buddhist perspective.

See Wheel #225 — Buddhism and Sex (Buddhist Publication Society)

• Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Israel's "mass rape" atrocity propaganda

Electronic Intifada, 12/4/23; Ashley Wells, Sheldon S., Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Debunking Israel's "mass rapes" atrocity propaganda

(The Electronic Intifada) Visit website for more reporting: electronicintifada.net. Facebook: electronicintifada, Twitter: intifada, Instagram: electronicintifada, Soundcloud: intifada, Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7g2IMlN..., Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... #TheElectronicIntifada #TheElectronicIntifadaPodcast

Sex for girls' pleasure? Hookup culture (TED)

Peggy Orenstein, 4/5/17; Ananda (DBM), Ashley Wells, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What young women believe about their own sexual pleasure | Peggy Orenstein

"I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world," says plastic surgery-loving Valeria Lukyanova, Ukraine.

.

(TED) Why do girls feel empowered to engage in sexual activity but not to enjoy it? For three years, author Peggy Orenstein interviewed American girls ages 15 to 20 about their attitudes toward and experiences of sex.

It's a Barbie world so I'm a Barbie girl.

She discusses the pleasure that's largely missing from their sexual encounters and calls on us to close the "orgasm gap" by talking candidly with our girls from an early age about sex, bodies, pleasure, and intimacy.

NOTE: Comments are disabled for this video because YouTube's comment moderation tools are not up to the task of maintaining a quality discourse here. All are welcome and invited to comment on the talk at TED.com (go.ted.com/Cy26).

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment, and Design (T.E.D.) -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts, and more. Twitter, Facebook, subscribe to channel: TED.

What about the tantric approach?

LA Tantra says, If we want to experience more love, closeness, vulnerability, and reconnection to our self-love, tantra is one way to do it.

Imagine practicing a seated partner-meditation that would allow for deep healing and growth. Most meditations teach us how to sit and practice mindfulness alone. This reinforces the idea that inner peace is found only in SOLITUDE or what the Buddha called withdrawal (viveka).

True INTIMACY teaches us how to bring mindfulness meditation into RELATIONSHIP with another human being. Why?

Relationships are golden opportunities to do a lot of inner work. And healthy, fulfilling relationships are the cornerstone of a healthy, fulfilling life.

We must learn how to feel energized and connected through relationship rather than overwhelmed or shut down.

This type of mindfulness in relationship will benefit your whole life! Intimacy can be one of the greatest vehicles to personal empowerment and spiritual awakening.

Healing the wound between the masculine and feminine is necessary to support each other and heal the world.

Imagine a group where men and women, singles and couples, and all orientations were welcome to a program about learning how to LOVE and unlocking our intimacy and vulnerability. LA Tantra (Los Angeles, CA) | Meetup

• KINSHIP HIGHLAND PARK (kinshipyoga.com)

#MeToo: Heather Locklear is a domestic abuser

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Associated Press (ap.org, 2/26/18); GMA; ET; Daily Mail UPDATED

Who in the H is Heather Locklear? She was once a famous actress who married rockstars

Heather Locklear's daughter Ava (Twitter)

EXCLUSIVE (dailymail.com): ‘Wasted’ Hollywood has-been Heather Locklear, 56, was arrested after almost biting her boyfriend’s nose, calling cops ‘f*cking assholes’ and kicking one in his balls -- all in front of her humiliated 20-year-old daughter, Ava.

• Cops were called to Heather Locklear’s home in Thousand Oaks, California, on Sunday night to break up a fight between her and her boyfriend.
• When cops arrived at the scene, they noticed a mark on her boyfriend's body and decided to take the actress into custody for domestic violence.

• 

  Don't f with me when I'm wasted!

  As they were trying to handcuff her, the Hollywood star allegedly kicked and struck three officers -- calling one of them a ‘c*nt.’
• A source told DailyMail.com that the boyfriend is Chris Heisser, Locklear’s high school sweetheart.
• Heisser was later arrested for DUI early Monday morning.
• Locklear was previously arrested in 2008 for DUI. More

Has-been

What a jerk, a drunken jerk. Disgusting. There's no excuse for spousal abuse, Heather. You had to go and assault three deputies claiming to just be doing their job trying to handcuff you... Smart.

He's lying! I didn't!

Gay exploitative attorney Harvey Levin, the mogul behind TMZ, was on the radio with Kevin & Bean this morning when he had to rush off. Code red! Hollywood actress going berserk during arrested. It was Locklear on a bender. What kind of drunken haze did you wake up in?

I'm innocent! Just look at me!

With hypocrite California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia making a drunken ass of herself by grabbing crotches sexually harassing underling men, what were you thinking physically abusing your intimate partner?

Why settle for one standard when you can have two, right? Do you want to ruin a movement or be called a "has-been"? My how the mighty have fallen. What kind of sense of entitlement are you riding, what white privilege are you enjoying?

Liar! I never touched him!

And now allegedly-gay Ryan Seacrest -- who brought the world The Kardashians, cringeworthy LA radio, and competitive idol shows for millions of dollars a year -- is being accused of sexual harassment, groping, and sexually assaulting an employee for seven years.

Well, that makes sense, more sense if it were a male. (Maybe this accuser is a "beard" to make him seem str8).

Heather Locklear arrested for domestic violence

Heather Locklear 2011 fashion show, LA (AP) 

THOUSAND OAKS, California (AP) - Actress Heather Locklear was arrested for investigation of alleged domestic violence and fighting with sheriff's deputies at her California home, authorities said today.

Deputies responded to a domestic disturbance around 10:00 pm Sunday in Thousand Oaks, [a ritzy, suburban community] west of Los Angeles, Ventura County Sheriff's Captain Garo Kuredjian said.

Locklear, Sambora, and daughter Ava

The victim of the alleged domestic violence was a boyfriend who had a physical injury, which makes the offense a felony, Capt. Kuredjian said. He did not know details of the injury, but said the man declined treatment.

Locklear was uncooperative with the deputies and became combative, Capt. Kuredjian said. "She was kicking at and pushing our deputies," he said. She was also arrested on three misdemeanor counts of battery on a peace officer. More

• AP correction: Heather Locklear

Hey, Motley Crue, let's party! Forget Pamela Anderson and her Baywatch bod, Tommy Lee!

• Nutty Barbra Streisand clones her pet dog  
• Comedian Patrice O'Neal, Dr. Victoria Zdrok debate male-female differences in dating/mating strategies (Rated R)
• CA Democratic Party dumps Dianne Feinstein
• Denver weighs Olympics bid after withdrawing
• Students return to Florida school with 17 dead
• Case against Florida suspect returns to court

Buddhism and the poet Rilke (audio)

Joanna Macy, Krista Tippett (onbeing, 8-14-16); Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

A Wild Love for the World

Ledecky swims, wins at Olympics (AP)

Buddhist scholar, philosopher of ecology, Joanna Macy’s path wound from the CIA to Tibetan Buddhism [not unlike the current Dalai Lama], to translating the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. On Being takes that exquisite poetry as a lens on Macy's wisdom on the great dramas of our time: ecological, political, personal [even sexual]. Now in her 80s, Macy says we are at a pivotal moment in history -- with possibilities of unraveling, or of creating, a life-sustaining human society. More + AUDIO

GUEST: Joanna Macy is a scholar of Buddhism, translator of Rilke, and philosopher of ecology. Her translations include Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, A Year with Rilke, and the recently re-released In Praise of Mortality. She is the co-author of Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects.

Love, Sexuality, and Awakening: Retreat

Ven. Amma Thanasanti Bhikkhuni (awakeningtruth.org) and Dr. Sharon Beckman-Brindley (metta.org); Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Fragrant blossoming lotus flower, the symbol of opening (tvladusi/flickr.com)

 

Dr. Beckman-Brindley, Ven. Thanasanti

The theme of this retreat is our relationship with various facets of love as part of a path of Buddhist awakening. "Love" includes a broad range of experience -- from a sense of friendliness and compassion, to appreciation toward ourselves, to the desire to release our masks and defenses and rest in a shared intimacy with others [a loss of self and merging with someone or something larger].

Sometimes in our daily life, this shared intimacy is expressed through romantic sexual involvement. [Other times it is sought diving within through asceticism and spirituality.] Ultimately, resting in love, we can embody an unconditional love that has no expectations, where love is an essential quality of "being" rather than a state or circumstance we long for [a trait rather than a temporary state].

 

Time for reflection (true-enlightenment.com)

This will be an eight precept retreat in which we refrain from killing and harming, and from stealing, any sexual activity, incorrect speech, and/or substances which cloud the mind. There will be two meals and an evening snack. We will begin the week using the Foundations of Mindfulness in silent practice. After a few days of silence, we will introduce sessions of Insight Dialogue to explore the theme.

It runs from Saturday May 23-30 in Loveland, Colorado, at Sunrise Ranch within easy access of Denver Int'l airport, yet secluded from the bustle of city life, in the Rocky Mountain foothills. Program contact: Katherine Wolfe (wolfalohalani@gmail.com). More 
 
ELIGIBILITY: This retreat is suitable for anyone self-identified as a woman who has a regular meditation practice and has done a seven-day mindfulness retreat.

DONATION: The teachings are offered on a dana basis (the Pali word for "generosity," the Buddhist practice of giving to one’s capacity).

SCHOLARSHIP: Dana has played an essential role in the Buddhist tradition. In the spirit of this tradition, Awakening Truth does not want cost to be an obstacle to participation and so, are committed to offering financial assistance to those who need it. If you cannot attend the retreat due to cost, please contact the retreat committee: 720-295-1321 or awakeningtruth.retreats@gmail.com.

SPONSORED BY: Awakening Truth, a 501(c)3 organization based in Colorado with the intention of supporting Buddhist nuns, bringing the teachings into the modern world and building a training monastery for [blended-Theravada] Forest Tradition bhikkhunis.

TEACHERS

Sharon Beckman-Brindley, Ph.D., is a Senior Insight Dialogue Teacher who teaches Insight Dialogue retreats worldwide. A clinical psychologist, she has served as team leader for Metta’s Relational Insight Meditation Program; she also serves on the Metta Programs Teachers Council. She has practiced vipassana (insight) meditation for over 30 years. Since 2001 she has studied and practiced the Dhamma and Insight Dialogue intensively with Gregory Kramer. She is also a co-founder and a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville, Virginia and is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She also has over 30 years of practice as a psychotherapist, who has led workshops and retreats on meditation and its integration with psychotherapy for over 15 years. She is a stepmother and a grandmother and lives with her husband and their two cats in Charlottesville.
 
Amma Thanasanti Bhikkhuni is a guest in Metta’s Teacher Training program. She has been meditating for over 30 years, a [Theravada or more eccentric American monastic] Buddhist nun for over 20 years, and has been teaching internationally for over 15 years. He work spans rigorous understanding of Buddhist teachings, non-dual meditation, depth psychology, subtle body energies, and the Divine Feminine. She teaches meditation as an art and skill, integrating body, heart, and mind with finesse and compassion. She founded Awakening Truth [whose rainbow motif suggests a particularly welcome climate for lesbians and gays], whose mission is to create a nun (bhikkhuni)'s training monastery and seeks ways for monastics and lay practitioners to work together to support whole-life practice. She is currently based at the Shakti Vihara Hermitage in Colorado Springs.