Podcasts about putative

Yes, the moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived, another Triplet Tuesday Contest! Of course, for those of you who are fans of Kathy Lowden, the constructor of today's crossword, if that was the moment you were waiting for, well, your ship has come in as well -- and the great thing is that we cover both in today's episode. Yes, it's a twofer!Tldr: We've got a great contest and we hope you enter it, deets inside. Kathy Lowden has written a very funny Tuesday crossword, and we hope you'll enjoy our take on it, deets for that also inside.Show note imagery: Putative author of the bon-mot GOLF, "a good walk spoiled", Mark TwainWe love feedback! Send us a text...Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

It does not do, to speak mockingly of erections.By Drmaxc. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. "Men and their erections,""Men and their erections," Tacey laughed shrilly, "if you could harness them you'd solve the energy crisis. Forget the unpredictability of wind power, their erections rise and fall come sun, come rain, come snow; if you could only capture the energy of all those millions of cocks..."The girls giggled and laughed loudly in their gaggle at the bar. They had drunk too much and were being disrespectful of men. Jonathan did not like it, he expected women to speak of such things, the male sexual organ, in hushed, slightly awed tones: not make silly jokes as if, he paused and took a breath, a 'Teors' was something to laugh about. He used the Old English deliberately. To have used a slang term — a 'cock' as the girl had done, a 'willy' or the like would have been wrong. He gripped his glass; something would need to be done.Entering the subterranean halls of the Knights of the Teorsas always gave Jonathan a particular thrill. Unknown to virtually the whole population of London it was a closely guarded secret, not even disclosed to the authorities. All they knew about was the insignificant little house in a backstreet of Covent Garden and it was to that house that the bills for electricity and the like came. It was an unremarkable house that held a remarkable secret as it gave access, through its cellar, to the ancient home of the Knights, the Great Phallocrypt, a network of rooms, halls and passages built in stone many, many, many years ago.Jonathan was much more than an initiate, a Raphe, more than a mere knight but a man who had crossed the Fraenum, the narrow bridge between the Corpus Cavernosum, the great hall where the knights assembled in their pomp, and the grand domed meeting hall of the inner circle, the Corona, who ruled the order. Jonathan was himself a member of the Corona, albeit its most junior having only been erected to the position a bare month before. He had, by virtue of his status, access to the Grand Master of the Order, the Bacalum, and could speak to him as of right.Dressed in his ceremonial robes, the gold badge of the erect phallus woven in gold thread into the red material, Jonathan strode through the Corpus Cavernosum nodding to knights he met but there was no time to pause and engage in intercourse, he had urgent business, a matter of grave importance to report to the Bacalum himself. Crossing the bridge of the Fraenum still gave him a thrill. How many of the knights achieved that? Such a singular honour; he had been speechless for a full minute when he had been told to prepare himself. How many would ever wear the third gold band around their teors? How many of them were ever able to do the thing he was about to do? To raise the great brass phallic knocker and tap three times on the oaken door of the Lacuna Magna, the Grand Master's private office?As always, the Bacalum was dressed in his ancient robes, beautifully decorated with representations of the ancient Roman god, Priapus, and with his great red curving penile hat making him look so much taller than he actually was. A trick long realised by the designers of uniforms; whether the bearskins of the Guards, the Shako of yesteryear or, indeed, the 'tit' of the London bobby. Shaking his grey head wisely he listened as Jonathan described what he had heard only the night before."It will not do, it will not do." The Baculum's words of wisdom enervated Jonathan."I seek permission to use, to wield, the Great Mesmodildo." The words were out; Jonathan had made the request, an act of considerable presumption in one so junior.There was a sharp intake of breath, the great phallic hat jerked upwards, and the penetrating eyes of the Grand Master seemed to bore right into Jonathan. There was a pause, "It will do."They sat for a few moments in contemplation. On the walls were artists' impressions of wonderful buildings not built. Designs by some of the leading architects of their day for skyscrapers intended to be the tallest buildings in the world in their time, all unmistakeably phallic, as skyscrapers are, but not simply because they were structures pointed at the sky but true erections designed to look like erections, buildings particularly phallic in design. Unrealised plans by Mies Van de Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Colonel Seifert and most recently Sir Norman Foster. Designs the Order had not been able to find sufficient backers to fund; statements to the world not yet realised; buildings intended to awe and strike a proper respectfulness, an understanding of their place in the world, in womankind.The Grand Master rose, drawing his robes around him and walked to a cupboard; opening its black ebonised door he drew out something about a foot long and wrapped in a cloth; with both hands he presented it to Jonathan who, standing, accepted it with a bow. "I shall take the greatest care, Grand Master.""Do."Walking slowly back down the Corpus Cavernosa, Jonathan mused on the wise words of the Bacalum and upon his mission. Tucked into his robes was the ancient object — it would not do for the knights to see that which he had been entrusted or to know it was amongst them.Shedding his ceremonial robes in the outermost halls, where the putative knights, the Raphes, met and took instruction in their twin, wonderfully spherical, meeting rooms, Jonathan ascended back into a rainy, wet London morning; the ancient object tucked in his duffle bag along with his laptop and sandwiches. He had his job in the world outside the Order which he must attend to from 9am to 5pm but then he would commence his mission.It was one thing to hold the Mesmodildo but another to set up the opportunity to use it. Jonathan neither knew where Tacey lived nor worked. He did not actually know her name. His only knowledge was that she sometimes frequented: rather had at least once frequented, the bar where he had heard her disrespectful statement. He should have found out more about her at the time; he realised that now — it would have been better to have gathered more evidence before reporting to the Bacalum — but he had been so incensed, so overcome that he had rushed ahead without careful reflection and contemplation. He would meditate upon it later that evening.Meditation was important to the Order. Sitting cross-legged on a mat woven with ancient designs, a knight would sit in contemplation of his teors until turgidity ensued, that First Wonder of the teors; his thoughts would roam free as he sought to better understand himself, resolve his problems and focus on the baseness of his desires whilst seeking to raise the Primo Cumum, that first flowing of the teors so aptly described as its Second Wonder; lastly came the conclusion of the ritual, the ultimate goal of the meditation—the full flowing of the teors, the Ejaculum, a sight wonderful to behold—when the teors of its own volition would spew forth its seed. Putative knights worked hard at achieving this, many sitting for hours trying to create in their heads the necessary images; erotic images necessarily to achieve the apparently spontaneous Ejaculum.At first, and Jonathan had to admit he was as one with them, putative knights would use the Manualum or hand to achieve the necessary final stimulation; but he had achieved so much more -- the result of hard work and dedication. Often appropriate texts or images were used, spread before the knight or novice to assist in his meditation. The Library of the Order, the Curiosa, contained many volumes and meditational material.Traditionally the knight would bow his head and orally accept the bounty of the Ejaculum. Ancient manuscripts, some written in Latin, some Sanskrit testified to this and the beautiful coloured illustrations showed no less. A variant much favoured in the modern Corona, and therefore too the Corpus Cavernosa, was the Art of Felicitation, requiring extensive practice, much suppleness of the body and, Jonathan admitted, a long teors. He, himself, had only managed the briefest of Teorsic Kiss at the moment of Ejaculum but the Bacalum and a few others of the Corona, knights of great experience, could hold the rounded terminus of their teors orally at the moment of the Third Wonder, an ideal act permitting the recycling of the seed so not one drop was lost to the body.Jonathan was lucky, very lucky. Inevitably he had returned to the very bar of Tacey's misdeed as the only reference point he had in relation to her; had sat there nursing a beer and wondering if he would have to use the power of the Mesmodildo on the very pretty bar girl who had, he recalled, been there on the previous night. Perhaps she would know about the disrespectful girl; know who she was and where she lived — and her name. The entrance of Tacey saved the need. It was a relief to Jonathan — the pretty bar girl with the large breasts might not have known anything about the disrespectful girl and left him with no obvious lead in his quest; it also saved the seed he might well have lost to her in the course of extracting the information; she was, after all, very pretty and perhaps worthy of the honour.Tacey moved across the room and sat on a bar stool, her long legs crossed one over the other drawing up the material of her trouser leg revealing a particularly fine pair of high heeled shoes—clearly new by the sight of the soles and undoubtedly expensive.Not for the first time Jonathan wondered both at the impudence and the illogicality of women. There sat the girl in a suit of clothes but with trousers not a skirt. Trousers were a male prerogative and unsuited to women; they were for men. A skirt would have shown her new shoes off but instead they were largely hidden by the trousers. What was the sense in buying shoes to be noticed and then wearing trousers? There was no logic. The girl would look better without the trousers. In his mind he imagined the girl naked but for the shoes; it was an appropriate image he would use for meditation later. He looked down at his own sensible, solid black shoes largely hidden by his own trousers — and that was perhaps just as well. He mentally gave himself a note to polish them in the morning—it was a task he tended to overlook though it would not do to keep the dome of his teors unpolished.A further shock came to Jonathan; instead of a white wine spritzer or some expensive but brightly coloured vodka concoction in a pretty bottle, the girl had ordered beer: not just a half but a whole pint. She was drinking beer from a pint glass! Had she no shame?Jonathan got up and walked across to her, "I have something to show you," he said without introduction and in a deep impressive voice.Tacey looked Jonathan up and down for a moment and then burst into laughter, "Ooh, you little pervert, you!" She seemed to find the whole scene very funny indeed. Jonathan was affronted. What had he said?"Well, what do you want? Who are you?" She said.It was not going well; it should be he who was asking the questions. As the Bacalum had wisely said, "it would not do." Slowly he drew from his duffle bag an object wrapped in a cloth. "I have this to show you," Jonathan said mysteriously, drawing the cloth down the object a little way.Tacey had never seen the like. It was a pearl, a great creamy, misty pearl; far, far bigger than any she had seen before; a pearl far bigger than the cultivated pearls of her best necklace; a pearl far bigger than the one Great Aunt Agatha used to wear when she, Tacey, was little and had so fascinated her on visits. Within it, great streamy swirls of creamy clouds seemed to move, captivating her, capturing her eye; she found it difficult to look away from the pearl, to stop watching the moving clouds of cream that appeared to roll around the jewel.Gradually Jonathan drew down the material covering the object and whilst her eyes could not leave the pearl she could see it was mounted on gold, indeed atop a golden acorn... or was it an acorn? As the material rolled back Tacey realised it was not so much an acorn as the bulbous end to a golden penis — a golden erect penis in exquisite detail surmounted by a great pearl; a pearl representing, quite clearly to her eye now, the bubbling up of semen or rather, what did they call it, yes, it was the 'pre-cum.' She was both shocked and fascinated; her eyes could not draw away and leave the pearl with its swirls of milky cream. Her mind was being taken.Jonathan watched Tacey's reaction; it was how it should be, no woman could resist the Great Mesmodildo, their pretty eyes were drawn to the pearl like moths to a candle and next would come the longing, a certain dryness of the mouth, an increasing need for something they could not quite place—it was no less than the desire for the milk of a man, a teosic longing in their loins. Jonathan had no need to completely un-sheathe the artefact, to reveal its shining golden glory, merely sliding back the material to expose the bulbous head was sufficientTracey's tongue moved slowly across her lips; they felt dry."Shall we sit over there, somewhere more private?" Jonathan sheathed the Mesmodildo. He had taken command of the situation.Tacey took a large swig of beer to ease the sudden dryness in her throat and followed him without question.Once again Jonathan eased back the covering revealing the golden head mounted with its strange pearl. Tacey stared; images of ejaculating penises came flooding into her mind and the thought of taking the head of this gold penis into her mouth, stroking it with her tongue, feeling the sensual smoothness of the pearl—smooth, yes smooth like... like... semen. Her nipples pricked at the material of her bra, they felt as hard as iron or, indeed, the gold of the strange penis before her. Within her panties, the new purple pair her especial friend, Diane, had bought her, she was flowing. Already the material felt soaked as if newly from the wash; it would seep into her trousers—an embarrassing wet stain."May I, may I please suck it," she asked in a small, little girl's voice.Jonathan smiled to himself. It was more like pleading. How easy these women were taken, how powerful the Mesmodildo, how easily their minds were beaten and taken and their lust aroused. In a moment she would be pleading with him to let her suck his teors, desperate to take his seed and feel it slipping down her throat. But now was not the time and not just because they were in a public bar.The bar actually was empty but for the pretty bar girl and the Mesmodildo would handle her easily. Jonathan looked again at her and thought that perhaps another time, if he had not returned the Mesmodildo, he would like to use the artefact upon her and see her kneeling before him."You may," he replied and held it for her, still wrapped, with just the very end, the beautifully rounded head showing, and watched as she made the proper rounded shape with her mouth, the Teoric Circle, that women must make, before bowing her head down and absorbing the smooth gold head. He could imagine within her mouth the rapid flicking tongue; all women did this; the tip caressing the smoothness of the pear imagining it a continuous spurt of male milk to assuage their desperate thirst.Gently he pulled, extracting the Mesmodildo. He liked the need to pull a little to overcome the natural suction of the girl wishing to retain the object. It was a pleasant resistance.Tacey looked up at him, her eyes wide and doe like, her mouth still in the shape of the Teorsic Circle ready for the Mesmodildo, his own teors or, indeed, any other teors. It was a temptation. So very pleasant to have been able to disrobe, but not there, and place his own teors in this girl's mouth; feel her tongue seeking the milk, trying to enter the very end of his teors; feeling the Second Wonder rising and watching, as his teors rested on her tongue, the small first clear drop of the Teorsic Fluid seep and run down from the acorn head; the sudden stiffening as the tongue tasted and induced a frenzy of sucking.From the bar the other girl stared. What had that man offered the girl to eat and why did her face now hold the expression of some plastic inflatable sex doll?"Come," he said — and she almost did — the feeling of arousal was so strong, but he meant for her to follow.It was but a short taxi ride; though Tacey would remember nothing of it nor walking into a small building and down some steps — the stone steps to the Great Phallocrypt, Jonathan leading her by the hand.It might have been thought that no women would have been permitted to enter the ancient halls of the Order. Certainly they could not be of the Order, being mere women and lacking teorsas though it was said in times past there had been exceptions; women who would rather have been men; women with slim boyish hips and small breasts who had worn cunningly made simulated, pseudo-teorsas and had been more than happy to join in the male rituals sometimes made upon and with other members of their sex. This, though, was most certainly not permitted by the current and recent Bacala.It was possible, though, for women to be brought for judgement, correction or punishment: but not for pleasure. It should not be thought the Order was in any way a society for 'randy' old men to enjoy countless women in a social way, a sort of 'Hellfire Club' or opportunity for hedonistic orgiastic activity. The Order's purposes were profound, mysterious and extremely serious. Any sexual gratification was a by-product, almost an accident: though to achieve the First, Second and Third Wonders of the Teors erotic thoughts a plenty were needed and sexual activity was something the knights were required to undertake regularly and in a brotherly fashion. The Wonders of the Teors, after all, had their root in sexual activity.It was appropriate for Jonathan to undress Tacey. It would not do for her to be presented to the Knights in clothes from the city above, least of all in that so wrong trouser suit. She needed to be modestly clad in a simple cream linen shift, a shapeless garment hiding her womanly attributes from the knights. First, though, she needed to be ritually washed; like the undressing it was a task Jonathan would need to undertake and it was a task he did not shirk. There were no female attendants in the Phallocrypt to assist female 'visitors' and, as Tacey was his charge, Jonathan would need to perform the ceremony. He led her into a side chamber, stone vaulted and with a stone bath sunken into the floor. The water splashed into the bath and Jonathan added scents of sandalwood, carbolic and spice.Firstly Jonathan undressed, glad to be free of his workaday clothes ready to dress in the wonderful robes of the Order; it was better for him to be naked whilst bathing Tacey as it would not do to wet his robes. Tacey stood motionless in her trouser suit, still with the Teorsic Circle fixed to her face but her eyes betrayed intelligence behind her fixed expression. It was right for her to be conscious, she now needed to remember the lessons she would be taught. He knew her eyes would be staring at his teors, she could not help it and it was right for women to focus on the teors, to think about its beauty and power. Generously, as he began to take off Tacey's jacket he permitted his teors to rise to help give her focus and bring her back from her Mesmodildo induced trance. His penis swayed magnificently and he paused to watch it in one of the many mirrors of the bath house. Inevitably she would compare it to her own biologically comparable but so much inferior organ, the Clitoris. Almost unnoticeable in some women, a mere pimple in others but for some there was an element of size, a proto-teors but, obviously, none could stand comparison with the Teors. The Bacalum was most particular and expected the size of the erect clitoris to be established and recorded. He thought it important. Jonathan was skilled in this and had a Clitometer ready.Jonathan fumbled at Tacey's bra strap. He always had difficulty with these and then pulled down her panties. Jonathan took a step back and frowned, staring at the naked girl and particularly her pudenda. Her pubic hair had been shaved into a long vertical band rising up with her Cleft of Venus. To Jonathan the upright band had an inappropriate element of the Teors about it, a column of dark curly hair standing vertically up her pubis—did it not represent a Teors—that great column of the male? Why even the top of the column, below her navel seemed rounded. Was this sign of her further disrespect or quite the opposite, a mark of respect? Jonathan did not know. He was torn between seeking out the Bacalum and asking, but thereby displaying ignorance, or leaving be, but that seemed indecisive. Perhaps it would be best for Tacey if he assumed the worse and shaved off the offending symbol leaving her pudenda naked of hair. The Bacalum, he knew, preferred girls like that— innocent and pure was Jonathan's understanding of his reasons.Leading Tacey by the hand into the water Jonathan picked up the soap and began to lather Tacey's skin. It was not an unpleasant task feeling his hands sliding over her smooth young skin, leaving no place uncleansed, but taking especial trouble over the ritualistic four parts of the woman's body which required greatest care—the nipples, the bottom and the pudenda. A full minute being allotted to each in the proper order. First the left nipple, then the right, followed by the bottom and lastly the pudenda. Jonathan looked into Tacey's eyes and saw considerable surprise as his right index finger, liberally coated in soap, slipped up her bottom. It was appropriate. A woman should be surprised at the unexpected acts of a man.Finally Jonathan washed Tacey's hair, lathering it enthusiastically as he stood and she knelt in the bath in the proper position a woman should take when a man is shampooing her hair. Equally properly Jonathan placed his teors between Tacey's lips, still in the Teorsic Circle, and pushed. A woman should always suck the man's teors when he is washing her hair. It was clearly shown in the old manuscripts. Tacey reacted rather dopily but instinctively seeking the Teorsic Fluid. It was not, though, appropriate yet.The full minute spent soapily washing, shaving and examining Tracey's pudenda also ensured, had the Mesmodildo not done its arousing work, the clitoris was fully erect. Drying Tacey with towels he had her lie down and open her legs wide, giving him not only full access but a full view of her sex. He readied his instrument, his Clitometer, adjusting the wheels and shiny metal dividers to measure both circumference and length. The cold metal touched Tacey's sensitive button and she winced slightly. "Why?" she said in a slightly slurred voice. Her faculties were returning."Because it is necessary." He was being kind. It was not necessary to answer a woman's questions or even to listen to her.The last part of the preparation now needed to be undertaken. Jonathan brought Tacey to a curved marble saddle surmounted by a gorgeous golden teors. Of realistic size; unlike many of the beautiful representations in the halls; not too large because this had to fit all women; and more stylistic in design than many more faithful depictions. It was in an art nouveau style which so fitted the curving nature of the teors and the artist had taken liberty with his depiction of the glans which swept unusually far down the shaft giving a particularly streamlined look. A beautiful object which would give any women great pleasure to mount. Carefully he sat Tacey astride ensuring she lowered herself so the teors pushed up inside her. Instinctively, as before, Tacey began to ride the teors. Jonathan smiled a little in pity. Women had such a need for and such a longing to steal the Teorsic Fluid. They could not help themselves.Jonathan depressed a lever and Tacey betrayed surprise. It was not Teorsic Fluid but a sweet Almond oil that was being injected by the golden teors into her as she rode. A cunning contraption pumped out the oil in carefully regulated spurts mimicking the Third Wonder but in a profusion only the most adept knights were able to achieve—and the truth was that Jonathan was not one of them; much to his chagrin. He was, though, working at raising his TFL, performing the exercises at morning and night. He carefully recorded the outcome in a spreadsheet stored on his laptop and the chart did show a rising trend. (TFL = Teorsic Fluid Level).The purpose of the Almond ejaculation was not the pleasure of the women, or deceiving her she had taken Teorsic Fluid, but to prepare her. In Tacey's case the Mesmodildo had caused her to literally drip but the liberal amount of Almond oil being pumped into her would ensure ease of teorsic insertion and a most appropriate sheen of oily lubrication running down the inside of her thighs. The Order expected not just the substance but the appearance of things and it was so very important for a woman appearing before the massed knights not only to be massively aroused by the honour shown but to visibly demonstrate it as well.Prepared, Jonathan dressed Tacey in the linen shift and finished his own ritual. Washed, he merely needed to don the badges of his rank and his robes. At the very base of his teorsic shaft, indeed clasping it tightly behind his scrotum, he tied, with leather thongs, a thin leather belt encircling the shaft forcing the scrotum forwards and the testes into greater prominence. It was the first symbol of a member of the Order and many wore it ordinarily under their street clothes.From a small red leather box Jonathon drew out three intricately engraved gold rings, rings prepared by the Order's goldsmith—a member himself. The first ring for a raphe, the second for a knight and the third ring for a member of the Corona. Jonathan had not possessed the third ring for long, indeed had only recently been erected to the Corona, and was only just getting used to wearing it tightly and impressively below his glans. Lifting his now unerect teors by the prepuce, with an ease gained by long practice Jonathan slipped the first, second and then third ring down the shaft and willed the First Wonder. His teors rose proudly, the flesh expanding into the rings so they were held tightly in their allotted positions as if the shaft was bound in gold. His teors looked magnificent in the mirror; Jonathan admired himself turning to the right and left as if trying on a new suit of clothes; it was big, knurled by veins, beautifully banded in gold and surmounted by the shiny purple head with its eye of mystery. It never ceased to impress him.Only the Bacalum wore the fifth symbol, a gold, bejewelled hat or helmet sitting atop his teors-head.Pulling on his great red robe Jonathan was prepared and led Tacey out into the great hall of the knights, the Corpus Cavernosum. The Knights of the Teorsas were assembled and waiting.The grand phallic ritual is concluded.The shock to Tacey must have been immense, shock and awe at walking into such a beautiful stone vaulted place and seeing the knights and raphes, perhaps a hundred in all, standing in their red robes watching her, their eyes focused just upon her; and, at their centre, the figure of the Bacalum looking so serene and wonderful in his great curving red penile hat. Jonathan could not but sense what she was feeling as he led her down the massed rows of the knights. Certainly her eyes were wide.A low chanting filled the hall as Jonathan led Tacey forward to the centre of the hall. Speaking in a clear voice he outlined to the assembly Tacey's grave misdemeanour. It was certain, very certain they were not pleased and Jonathan felt for Tacey as she must now realise how great was her error, how unwise and wrong it was to speak lightly of the teors and in a flippant manner. It was possible she thought herself there for punishment but that was not often the way of the Order. Perhaps once upon a time Tacey would have been bound tightly and her bottom roundly punished as the Knights watched; the sight of a helpless, naked, bound girl wriggling under torment greatly assisting their meditation.

It does not do, to speak mockingly of erections.By Drmaxc. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. "Men and their erections,""Men and their erections," Tacey laughed shrilly, "if you could harness them you'd solve the energy crisis. Forget the unpredictability of wind power, their erections rise and fall come sun, come rain, come snow; if you could only capture the energy of all those millions of cocks..."The girls giggled and laughed loudly in their gaggle at the bar. They had drunk too much and were being disrespectful of men. Jonathan did not like it, he expected women to speak of such things, the male sexual organ, in hushed, slightly awed tones: not make silly jokes as if, he paused and took a breath, a 'Teors' was something to laugh about. He used the Old English deliberately. To have used a slang term — a 'cock' as the girl had done, a 'willy' or the like would have been wrong. He gripped his glass; something would need to be done.Entering the subterranean halls of the Knights of the Teorsas always gave Jonathan a particular thrill. Unknown to virtually the whole population of London it was a closely guarded secret, not even disclosed to the authorities. All they knew about was the insignificant little house in a backstreet of Covent Garden and it was to that house that the bills for electricity and the like came. It was an unremarkable house that held a remarkable secret as it gave access, through its cellar, to the ancient home of the Knights, the Great Phallocrypt, a network of rooms, halls and passages built in stone many, many, many years ago.Jonathan was much more than an initiate, a Raphe, more than a mere knight but a man who had crossed the Fraenum, the narrow bridge between the Corpus Cavernosum, the great hall where the knights assembled in their pomp, and the grand domed meeting hall of the inner circle, the Corona, who ruled the order. Jonathan was himself a member of the Corona, albeit its most junior having only been erected to the position a bare month before. He had, by virtue of his status, access to the Grand Master of the Order, the Bacalum, and could speak to him as of right.Dressed in his ceremonial robes, the gold badge of the erect phallus woven in gold thread into the red material, Jonathan strode through the Corpus Cavernosum nodding to knights he met but there was no time to pause and engage in intercourse, he had urgent business, a matter of grave importance to report to the Bacalum himself. Crossing the bridge of the Fraenum still gave him a thrill. How many of the knights achieved that? Such a singular honour; he had been speechless for a full minute when he had been told to prepare himself. How many would ever wear the third gold band around their teors? How many of them were ever able to do the thing he was about to do? To raise the great brass phallic knocker and tap three times on the oaken door of the Lacuna Magna, the Grand Master's private office?As always, the Bacalum was dressed in his ancient robes, beautifully decorated with representations of the ancient Roman god, Priapus, and with his great red curving penile hat making him look so much taller than he actually was. A trick long realised by the designers of uniforms; whether the bearskins of the Guards, the Shako of yesteryear or, indeed, the 'tit' of the London bobby. Shaking his grey head wisely he listened as Jonathan described what he had heard only the night before."It will not do, it will not do." The Baculum's words of wisdom enervated Jonathan."I seek permission to use, to wield, the Great Mesmodildo." The words were out; Jonathan had made the request, an act of considerable presumption in one so junior.There was a sharp intake of breath, the great phallic hat jerked upwards, and the penetrating eyes of the Grand Master seemed to bore right into Jonathan. There was a pause, "It will do."They sat for a few moments in contemplation. On the walls were artists' impressions of wonderful buildings not built. Designs by some of the leading architects of their day for skyscrapers intended to be the tallest buildings in the world in their time, all unmistakeably phallic, as skyscrapers are, but not simply because they were structures pointed at the sky but true erections designed to look like erections, buildings particularly phallic in design. Unrealised plans by Mies Van de Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Colonel Seifert and most recently Sir Norman Foster. Designs the Order had not been able to find sufficient backers to fund; statements to the world not yet realised; buildings intended to awe and strike a proper respectfulness, an understanding of their place in the world, in womankind.The Grand Master rose, drawing his robes around him and walked to a cupboard; opening its black ebonised door he drew out something about a foot long and wrapped in a cloth; with both hands he presented it to Jonathan who, standing, accepted it with a bow. "I shall take the greatest care, Grand Master.""Do."Walking slowly back down the Corpus Cavernosa, Jonathan mused on the wise words of the Bacalum and upon his mission. Tucked into his robes was the ancient object — it would not do for the knights to see that which he had been entrusted or to know it was amongst them.Shedding his ceremonial robes in the outermost halls, where the putative knights, the Raphes, met and took instruction in their twin, wonderfully spherical, meeting rooms, Jonathan ascended back into a rainy, wet London morning; the ancient object tucked in his duffle bag along with his laptop and sandwiches. He had his job in the world outside the Order which he must attend to from 9am to 5pm but then he would commence his mission.It was one thing to hold the Mesmodildo but another to set up the opportunity to use it. Jonathan neither knew where Tacey lived nor worked. He did not actually know her name. His only knowledge was that she sometimes frequented: rather had at least once frequented, the bar where he had heard her disrespectful statement. He should have found out more about her at the time; he realised that now — it would have been better to have gathered more evidence before reporting to the Bacalum — but he had been so incensed, so overcome that he had rushed ahead without careful reflection and contemplation. He would meditate upon it later that evening.Meditation was important to the Order. Sitting cross-legged on a mat woven with ancient designs, a knight would sit in contemplation of his teors until turgidity ensued, that First Wonder of the teors; his thoughts would roam free as he sought to better understand himself, resolve his problems and focus on the baseness of his desires whilst seeking to raise the Primo Cumum, that first flowing of the teors so aptly described as its Second Wonder; lastly came the conclusion of the ritual, the ultimate goal of the meditation—the full flowing of the teors, the Ejaculum, a sight wonderful to behold—when the teors of its own volition would spew forth its seed. Putative knights worked hard at achieving this, many sitting for hours trying to create in their heads the necessary images; erotic images necessarily to achieve the apparently spontaneous Ejaculum.At first, and Jonathan had to admit he was as one with them, putative knights would use the Manualum or hand to achieve the necessary final stimulation; but he had achieved so much more -- the result of hard work and dedication. Often appropriate texts or images were used, spread before the knight or novice to assist in his meditation. The Library of the Order, the Curiosa, contained many volumes and meditational material.Traditionally the knight would bow his head and orally accept the bounty of the Ejaculum. Ancient manuscripts, some written in Latin, some Sanskrit testified to this and the beautiful coloured illustrations showed no less. A variant much favoured in the modern Corona, and therefore too the Corpus Cavernosa, was the Art of Felicitation, requiring extensive practice, much suppleness of the body and, Jonathan admitted, a long teors. He, himself, had only managed the briefest of Teorsic Kiss at the moment of Ejaculum but the Bacalum and a few others of the Corona, knights of great experience, could hold the rounded terminus of their teors orally at the moment of the Third Wonder, an ideal act permitting the recycling of the seed so not one drop was lost to the body.Jonathan was lucky, very lucky. Inevitably he had returned to the very bar of Tacey's misdeed as the only reference point he had in relation to her; had sat there nursing a beer and wondering if he would have to use the power of the Mesmodildo on the very pretty bar girl who had, he recalled, been there on the previous night. Perhaps she would know about the disrespectful girl; know who she was and where she lived — and her name. The entrance of Tacey saved the need. It was a relief to Jonathan — the pretty bar girl with the large breasts might not have known anything about the disrespectful girl and left him with no obvious lead in his quest; it also saved the seed he might well have lost to her in the course of extracting the information; she was, after all, very pretty and perhaps worthy of the honour.Tacey moved across the room and sat on a bar stool, her long legs crossed one over the other drawing up the material of her trouser leg revealing a particularly fine pair of high heeled shoes—clearly new by the sight of the soles and undoubtedly expensive.Not for the first time Jonathan wondered both at the impudence and the illogicality of women. There sat the girl in a suit of clothes but with trousers not a skirt. Trousers were a male prerogative and unsuited to women; they were for men. A skirt would have shown her new shoes off but instead they were largely hidden by the trousers. What was the sense in buying shoes to be noticed and then wearing trousers? There was no logic. The girl would look better without the trousers. In his mind he imagined the girl naked but for the shoes; it was an appropriate image he would use for meditation later. He looked down at his own sensible, solid black shoes largely hidden by his own trousers — and that was perhaps just as well. He mentally gave himself a note to polish them in the morning—it was a task he tended to overlook though it would not do to keep the dome of his teors unpolished.A further shock came to Jonathan; instead of a white wine spritzer or some expensive but brightly coloured vodka concoction in a pretty bottle, the girl had ordered beer: not just a half but a whole pint. She was drinking beer from a pint glass! Had she no shame?Jonathan got up and walked across to her, "I have something to show you," he said without introduction and in a deep impressive voice.Tacey looked Jonathan up and down for a moment and then burst into laughter, "Ooh, you little pervert, you!" She seemed to find the whole scene very funny indeed. Jonathan was affronted. What had he said?"Well, what do you want? Who are you?" She said.It was not going well; it should be he who was asking the questions. As the Bacalum had wisely said, "it would not do." Slowly he drew from his duffle bag an object wrapped in a cloth. "I have this to show you," Jonathan said mysteriously, drawing the cloth down the object a little way.Tacey had never seen the like. It was a pearl, a great creamy, misty pearl; far, far bigger than any she had seen before; a pearl far bigger than the cultivated pearls of her best necklace; a pearl far bigger than the one Great Aunt Agatha used to wear when she, Tacey, was little and had so fascinated her on visits. Within it, great streamy swirls of creamy clouds seemed to move, captivating her, capturing her eye; she found it difficult to look away from the pearl, to stop watching the moving clouds of cream that appeared to roll around the jewel.Gradually Jonathan drew down the material covering the object and whilst her eyes could not leave the pearl she could see it was mounted on gold, indeed atop a golden acorn... or was it an acorn? As the material rolled back Tacey realised it was not so much an acorn as the bulbous end to a golden penis — a golden erect penis in exquisite detail surmounted by a great pearl; a pearl representing, quite clearly to her eye now, the bubbling up of semen or rather, what did they call it, yes, it was the 'pre-cum.' She was both shocked and fascinated; her eyes could not draw away and leave the pearl with its swirls of milky cream. Her mind was being taken.Jonathan watched Tacey's reaction; it was how it should be, no woman could resist the Great Mesmodildo, their pretty eyes were drawn to the pearl like moths to a candle and next would come the longing, a certain dryness of the mouth, an increasing need for something they could not quite place—it was no less than the desire for the milk of a man, a teosic longing in their loins. Jonathan had no need to completely un-sheathe the artefact, to reveal its shining golden glory, merely sliding back the material to expose the bulbous head was sufficientTracey's tongue moved slowly across her lips; they felt dry."Shall we sit over there, somewhere more private?" Jonathan sheathed the Mesmodildo. He had taken command of the situation.Tacey took a large swig of beer to ease the sudden dryness in her throat and followed him without question.Once again Jonathan eased back the covering revealing the golden head mounted with its strange pearl. Tacey stared; images of ejaculating penises came flooding into her mind and the thought of taking the head of this gold penis into her mouth, stroking it with her tongue, feeling the sensual smoothness of the pearl—smooth, yes smooth like... like... semen. Her nipples pricked at the material of her bra, they felt as hard as iron or, indeed, the gold of the strange penis before her. Within her panties, the new purple pair her especial friend, Diane, had bought her, she was flowing. Already the material felt soaked as if newly from the wash; it would seep into her trousers—an embarrassing wet stain."May I, may I please suck it," she asked in a small, little girl's voice.Jonathan smiled to himself. It was more like pleading. How easy these women were taken, how powerful the Mesmodildo, how easily their minds were beaten and taken and their lust aroused. In a moment she would be pleading with him to let her suck his teors, desperate to take his seed and feel it slipping down her throat. But now was not the time and not just because they were in a public bar.The bar actually was empty but for the pretty bar girl and the Mesmodildo would handle her easily. Jonathan looked again at her and thought that perhaps another time, if he had not returned the Mesmodildo, he would like to use the artefact upon her and see her kneeling before him."You may," he replied and held it for her, still wrapped, with just the very end, the beautifully rounded head showing, and watched as she made the proper rounded shape with her mouth, the Teoric Circle, that women must make, before bowing her head down and absorbing the smooth gold head. He could imagine within her mouth the rapid flicking tongue; all women did this; the tip caressing the smoothness of the pear imagining it a continuous spurt of male milk to assuage their desperate thirst.Gently he pulled, extracting the Mesmodildo. He liked the need to pull a little to overcome the natural suction of the girl wishing to retain the object. It was a pleasant resistance.Tacey looked up at him, her eyes wide and doe like, her mouth still in the shape of the Teorsic Circle ready for the Mesmodildo, his own teors or, indeed, any other teors. It was a temptation. So very pleasant to have been able to disrobe, but not there, and place his own teors in this girl's mouth; feel her tongue seeking the milk, trying to enter the very end of his teors; feeling the Second Wonder rising and watching, as his teors rested on her tongue, the small first clear drop of the Teorsic Fluid seep and run down from the acorn head; the sudden stiffening as the tongue tasted and induced a frenzy of sucking.From the bar the other girl stared. What had that man offered the girl to eat and why did her face now hold the expression of some plastic inflatable sex doll?"Come," he said — and she almost did — the feeling of arousal was so strong, but he meant for her to follow.It was but a short taxi ride; though Tacey would remember nothing of it nor walking into a small building and down some steps — the stone steps to the Great Phallocrypt, Jonathan leading her by the hand.It might have been thought that no women would have been permitted to enter the ancient halls of the Order. Certainly they could not be of the Order, being mere women and lacking teorsas though it was said in times past there had been exceptions; women who would rather have been men; women with slim boyish hips and small breasts who had worn cunningly made simulated, pseudo-teorsas and had been more than happy to join in the male rituals sometimes made upon and with other members of their sex. This, though, was most certainly not permitted by the current and recent Bacala.It was possible, though, for women to be brought for judgement, correction or punishment: but not for pleasure. It should not be thought the Order was in any way a society for 'randy' old men to enjoy countless women in a social way, a sort of 'Hellfire Club' or opportunity for hedonistic orgiastic activity. The Order's purposes were profound, mysterious and extremely serious. Any sexual gratification was a by-product, almost an accident: though to achieve the First, Second and Third Wonders of the Teors erotic thoughts a plenty were needed and sexual activity was something the knights were required to undertake regularly and in a brotherly fashion. The Wonders of the Teors, after all, had their root in sexual activity.It was appropriate for Jonathan to undress Tacey. It would not do for her to be presented to the Knights in clothes from the city above, least of all in that so wrong trouser suit. She needed to be modestly clad in a simple cream linen shift, a shapeless garment hiding her womanly attributes from the knights. First, though, she needed to be ritually washed; like the undressing it was a task Jonathan would need to undertake and it was a task he did not shirk. There were no female attendants in the Phallocrypt to assist female 'visitors' and, as Tacey was his charge, Jonathan would need to perform the ceremony. He led her into a side chamber, stone vaulted and with a stone bath sunken into the floor. The water splashed into the bath and Jonathan added scents of sandalwood, carbolic and spice.Firstly Jonathan undressed, glad to be free of his workaday clothes ready to dress in the wonderful robes of the Order; it was better for him to be naked whilst bathing Tacey as it would not do to wet his robes. Tacey stood motionless in her trouser suit, still with the Teorsic Circle fixed to her face but her eyes betrayed intelligence behind her fixed expression. It was right for her to be conscious, she now needed to remember the lessons she would be taught. He knew her eyes would be staring at his teors, she could not help it and it was right for women to focus on the teors, to think about its beauty and power. Generously, as he began to take off Tacey's jacket he permitted his teors to rise to help give her focus and bring her back from her Mesmodildo induced trance. His penis swayed magnificently and he paused to watch it in one of the many mirrors of the bath house. Inevitably she would compare it to her own biologically comparable but so much inferior organ, the Clitoris. Almost unnoticeable in some women, a mere pimple in others but for some there was an element of size, a proto-teors but, obviously, none could stand comparison with the Teors. The Bacalum was most particular and expected the size of the erect clitoris to be established and recorded. He thought it important. Jonathan was skilled in this and had a Clitometer ready.Jonathan fumbled at Tacey's bra strap. He always had difficulty with these and then pulled down her panties. Jonathan took a step back and frowned, staring at the naked girl and particularly her pudenda. Her pubic hair had been shaved into a long vertical band rising up with her Cleft of Venus. To Jonathan the upright band had an inappropriate element of the Teors about it, a column of dark curly hair standing vertically up her pubis—did it not represent a Teors—that great column of the male? Why even the top of the column, below her navel seemed rounded. Was this sign of her further disrespect or quite the opposite, a mark of respect? Jonathan did not know. He was torn between seeking out the Bacalum and asking, but thereby displaying ignorance, or leaving be, but that seemed indecisive. Perhaps it would be best for Tacey if he assumed the worse and shaved off the offending symbol leaving her pudenda naked of hair. The Bacalum, he knew, preferred girls like that— innocent and pure was Jonathan's understanding of his reasons.Leading Tacey by the hand into the water Jonathan picked up the soap and began to lather Tacey's skin. It was not an unpleasant task feeling his hands sliding over her smooth young skin, leaving no place uncleansed, but taking especial trouble over the ritualistic four parts of the woman's body which required greatest care—the nipples, the bottom and the pudenda. A full minute being allotted to each in the proper order. First the left nipple, then the right, followed by the bottom and lastly the pudenda. Jonathan looked into Tacey's eyes and saw considerable surprise as his right index finger, liberally coated in soap, slipped up her bottom. It was appropriate. A woman should be surprised at the unexpected acts of a man.Finally Jonathan washed Tacey's hair, lathering it enthusiastically as he stood and she knelt in the bath in the proper position a woman should take when a man is shampooing her hair. Equally properly Jonathan placed his teors between Tacey's lips, still in the Teorsic Circle, and pushed. A woman should always suck the man's teors when he is washing her hair. It was clearly shown in the old manuscripts. Tacey reacted rather dopily but instinctively seeking the Teorsic Fluid. It was not, though, appropriate yet.The full minute spent soapily washing, shaving and examining Tracey's pudenda also ensured, had the Mesmodildo not done its arousing work, the clitoris was fully erect. Drying Tacey with towels he had her lie down and open her legs wide, giving him not only full access but a full view of her sex. He readied his instrument, his Clitometer, adjusting the wheels and shiny metal dividers to measure both circumference and length. The cold metal touched Tacey's sensitive button and she winced slightly. "Why?" she said in a slightly slurred voice. Her faculties were returning."Because it is necessary." He was being kind. It was not necessary to answer a woman's questions or even to listen to her.The last part of the preparation now needed to be undertaken. Jonathan brought Tacey to a curved marble saddle surmounted by a gorgeous golden teors. Of realistic size; unlike many of the beautiful representations in the halls; not too large because this had to fit all women; and more stylistic in design than many more faithful depictions. It was in an art nouveau style which so fitted the curving nature of the teors and the artist had taken liberty with his depiction of the glans which swept unusually far down the shaft giving a particularly streamlined look. A beautiful object which would give any women great pleasure to mount. Carefully he sat Tacey astride ensuring she lowered herself so the teors pushed up inside her. Instinctively, as before, Tacey began to ride the teors. Jonathan smiled a little in pity. Women had such a need for and such a longing to steal the Teorsic Fluid. They could not help themselves.Jonathan depressed a lever and Tacey betrayed surprise. It was not Teorsic Fluid but a sweet Almond oil that was being injected by the golden teors into her as she rode. A cunning contraption pumped out the oil in carefully regulated spurts mimicking the Third Wonder but in a profusion only the most adept knights were able to achieve—and the truth was that Jonathan was not one of them; much to his chagrin. He was, though, working at raising his TFL, performing the exercises at morning and night. He carefully recorded the outcome in a spreadsheet stored on his laptop and the chart did show a rising trend. (TFL = Teorsic Fluid Level).The purpose of the Almond ejaculation was not the pleasure of the women, or deceiving her she had taken Teorsic Fluid, but to prepare her. In Tacey's case the Mesmodildo had caused her to literally drip but the liberal amount of Almond oil being pumped into her would ensure ease of teorsic insertion and a most appropriate sheen of oily lubrication running down the inside of her thighs. The Order expected not just the substance but the appearance of things and it was so very important for a woman appearing before the massed knights not only to be massively aroused by the honour shown but to visibly demonstrate it as well.Prepared, Jonathan dressed Tacey in the linen shift and finished his own ritual. Washed, he merely needed to don the badges of his rank and his robes. At the very base of his teorsic shaft, indeed clasping it tightly behind his scrotum, he tied, with leather thongs, a thin leather belt encircling the shaft forcing the scrotum forwards and the testes into greater prominence. It was the first symbol of a member of the Order and many wore it ordinarily under their street clothes.From a small red leather box Jonathon drew out three intricately engraved gold rings, rings prepared by the Order's goldsmith—a member himself. The first ring for a raphe, the second for a knight and the third ring for a member of the Corona. Jonathan had not possessed the third ring for long, indeed had only recently been erected to the Corona, and was only just getting used to wearing it tightly and impressively below his glans. Lifting his now unerect teors by the prepuce, with an ease gained by long practice Jonathan slipped the first, second and then third ring down the shaft and willed the First Wonder. His teors rose proudly, the flesh expanding into the rings so they were held tightly in their allotted positions as if the shaft was bound in gold. His teors looked magnificent in the mirror; Jonathan admired himself turning to the right and left as if trying on a new suit of clothes; it was big, knurled by veins, beautifully banded in gold and surmounted by the shiny purple head with its eye of mystery. It never ceased to impress him.Only the Bacalum wore the fifth symbol, a gold, bejewelled hat or helmet sitting atop his teors-head.Pulling on his great red robe Jonathan was prepared and led Tacey out into the great hall of the knights, the Corpus Cavernosum. The Knights of the Teorsas were assembled and waiting.The grand phallic ritual is concluded.The shock to Tacey must have been immense, shock and awe at walking into such a beautiful stone vaulted place and seeing the knights and raphes, perhaps a hundred in all, standing in their red robes watching her, their eyes focused just upon her; and, at their centre, the figure of the Bacalum looking so serene and wonderful in his great curving red penile hat. Jonathan could not but sense what she was feeling as he led her down the massed rows of the knights. Certainly her eyes were wide.A low chanting filled the hall as Jonathan led Tacey forward to the centre of the hall. Speaking in a clear voice he outlined to the assembly Tacey's grave misdemeanour. It was certain, very certain they were not pleased and Jonathan felt for Tacey as she must now realise how great was her error, how unwise and wrong it was to speak lightly of the teors and in a flippant manner. It was possible she thought herself there for punishment but that was not often the way of the Order. Perhaps once upon a time Tacey would have been bound tightly and her bottom roundly punished as the Knights watched; the sight of a helpless, naked, bound girl wriggling under torment greatly assisting their meditation.

It does not do, to speak mockingly of erections.By Drmaxc. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. "Men and their erections,""Men and their erections," Tacey laughed shrilly, "if you could harness them you'd solve the energy crisis. Forget the unpredictability of wind power, their erections rise and fall come sun, come rain, come snow; if you could only capture the energy of all those millions of cocks..."The girls giggled and laughed loudly in their gaggle at the bar. They had drunk too much and were being disrespectful of men. Jonathan did not like it, he expected women to speak of such things, the male sexual organ, in hushed, slightly awed tones: not make silly jokes as if, he paused and took a breath, a 'Teors' was something to laugh about. He used the Old English deliberately. To have used a slang term — a 'cock' as the girl had done, a 'willy' or the like would have been wrong. He gripped his glass; something would need to be done.Entering the subterranean halls of the Knights of the Teorsas always gave Jonathan a particular thrill. Unknown to virtually the whole population of London it was a closely guarded secret, not even disclosed to the authorities. All they knew about was the insignificant little house in a backstreet of Covent Garden and it was to that house that the bills for electricity and the like came. It was an unremarkable house that held a remarkable secret as it gave access, through its cellar, to the ancient home of the Knights, the Great Phallocrypt, a network of rooms, halls and passages built in stone many, many, many years ago.Jonathan was much more than an initiate, a Raphe, more than a mere knight but a man who had crossed the Fraenum, the narrow bridge between the Corpus Cavernosum, the great hall where the knights assembled in their pomp, and the grand domed meeting hall of the inner circle, the Corona, who ruled the order. Jonathan was himself a member of the Corona, albeit its most junior having only been erected to the position a bare month before. He had, by virtue of his status, access to the Grand Master of the Order, the Bacalum, and could speak to him as of right.Dressed in his ceremonial robes, the gold badge of the erect phallus woven in gold thread into the red material, Jonathan strode through the Corpus Cavernosum nodding to knights he met but there was no time to pause and engage in intercourse, he had urgent business, a matter of grave importance to report to the Bacalum himself. Crossing the bridge of the Fraenum still gave him a thrill. How many of the knights achieved that? Such a singular honour; he had been speechless for a full minute when he had been told to prepare himself. How many would ever wear the third gold band around their teors? How many of them were ever able to do the thing he was about to do? To raise the great brass phallic knocker and tap three times on the oaken door of the Lacuna Magna, the Grand Master's private office?As always, the Bacalum was dressed in his ancient robes, beautifully decorated with representations of the ancient Roman god, Priapus, and with his great red curving penile hat making him look so much taller than he actually was. A trick long realised by the designers of uniforms; whether the bearskins of the Guards, the Shako of yesteryear or, indeed, the 'tit' of the London bobby. Shaking his grey head wisely he listened as Jonathan described what he had heard only the night before."It will not do, it will not do." The Baculum's words of wisdom enervated Jonathan."I seek permission to use, to wield, the Great Mesmodildo." The words were out; Jonathan had made the request, an act of considerable presumption in one so junior.There was a sharp intake of breath, the great phallic hat jerked upwards, and the penetrating eyes of the Grand Master seemed to bore right into Jonathan. There was a pause, "It will do."They sat for a few moments in contemplation. On the walls were artists' impressions of wonderful buildings not built. Designs by some of the leading architects of their day for skyscrapers intended to be the tallest buildings in the world in their time, all unmistakeably phallic, as skyscrapers are, but not simply because they were structures pointed at the sky but true erections designed to look like erections, buildings particularly phallic in design. Unrealised plans by Mies Van de Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Colonel Seifert and most recently Sir Norman Foster. Designs the Order had not been able to find sufficient backers to fund; statements to the world not yet realised; buildings intended to awe and strike a proper respectfulness, an understanding of their place in the world, in womankind.The Grand Master rose, drawing his robes around him and walked to a cupboard; opening its black ebonised door he drew out something about a foot long and wrapped in a cloth; with both hands he presented it to Jonathan who, standing, accepted it with a bow. "I shall take the greatest care, Grand Master.""Do."Walking slowly back down the Corpus Cavernosa, Jonathan mused on the wise words of the Bacalum and upon his mission. Tucked into his robes was the ancient object — it would not do for the knights to see that which he had been entrusted or to know it was amongst them.Shedding his ceremonial robes in the outermost halls, where the putative knights, the Raphes, met and took instruction in their twin, wonderfully spherical, meeting rooms, Jonathan ascended back into a rainy, wet London morning; the ancient object tucked in his duffle bag along with his laptop and sandwiches. He had his job in the world outside the Order which he must attend to from 9am to 5pm but then he would commence his mission.It was one thing to hold the Mesmodildo but another to set up the opportunity to use it. Jonathan neither knew where Tacey lived nor worked. He did not actually know her name. His only knowledge was that she sometimes frequented: rather had at least once frequented, the bar where he had heard her disrespectful statement. He should have found out more about her at the time; he realised that now — it would have been better to have gathered more evidence before reporting to the Bacalum — but he had been so incensed, so overcome that he had rushed ahead without careful reflection and contemplation. He would meditate upon it later that evening.Meditation was important to the Order. Sitting cross-legged on a mat woven with ancient designs, a knight would sit in contemplation of his teors until turgidity ensued, that First Wonder of the teors; his thoughts would roam free as he sought to better understand himself, resolve his problems and focus on the baseness of his desires whilst seeking to raise the Primo Cumum, that first flowing of the teors so aptly described as its Second Wonder; lastly came the conclusion of the ritual, the ultimate goal of the meditation—the full flowing of the teors, the Ejaculum, a sight wonderful to behold—when the teors of its own volition would spew forth its seed. Putative knights worked hard at achieving this, many sitting for hours trying to create in their heads the necessary images; erotic images necessarily to achieve the apparently spontaneous Ejaculum.At first, and Jonathan had to admit he was as one with them, putative knights would use the Manualum or hand to achieve the necessary final stimulation; but he had achieved so much more -- the result of hard work and dedication. Often appropriate texts or images were used, spread before the knight or novice to assist in his meditation. The Library of the Order, the Curiosa, contained many volumes and meditational material.Traditionally the knight would bow his head and orally accept the bounty of the Ejaculum. Ancient manuscripts, some written in Latin, some Sanskrit testified to this and the beautiful coloured illustrations showed no less. A variant much favoured in the modern Corona, and therefore too the Corpus Cavernosa, was the Art of Felicitation, requiring extensive practice, much suppleness of the body and, Jonathan admitted, a long teors. He, himself, had only managed the briefest of Teorsic Kiss at the moment of Ejaculum but the Bacalum and a few others of the Corona, knights of great experience, could hold the rounded terminus of their teors orally at the moment of the Third Wonder, an ideal act permitting the recycling of the seed so not one drop was lost to the body.Jonathan was lucky, very lucky. Inevitably he had returned to the very bar of Tacey's misdeed as the only reference point he had in relation to her; had sat there nursing a beer and wondering if he would have to use the power of the Mesmodildo on the very pretty bar girl who had, he recalled, been there on the previous night. Perhaps she would know about the disrespectful girl; know who she was and where she lived — and her name. The entrance of Tacey saved the need. It was a relief to Jonathan — the pretty bar girl with the large breasts might not have known anything about the disrespectful girl and left him with no obvious lead in his quest; it also saved the seed he might well have lost to her in the course of extracting the information; she was, after all, very pretty and perhaps worthy of the honour.Tacey moved across the room and sat on a bar stool, her long legs crossed one over the other drawing up the material of her trouser leg revealing a particularly fine pair of high heeled shoes—clearly new by the sight of the soles and undoubtedly expensive.Not for the first time Jonathan wondered both at the impudence and the illogicality of women. There sat the girl in a suit of clothes but with trousers not a skirt. Trousers were a male prerogative and unsuited to women; they were for men. A skirt would have shown her new shoes off but instead they were largely hidden by the trousers. What was the sense in buying shoes to be noticed and then wearing trousers? There was no logic. The girl would look better without the trousers. In his mind he imagined the girl naked but for the shoes; it was an appropriate image he would use for meditation later. He looked down at his own sensible, solid black shoes largely hidden by his own trousers — and that was perhaps just as well. He mentally gave himself a note to polish them in the morning—it was a task he tended to overlook though it would not do to keep the dome of his teors unpolished.A further shock came to Jonathan; instead of a white wine spritzer or some expensive but brightly coloured vodka concoction in a pretty bottle, the girl had ordered beer: not just a half but a whole pint. She was drinking beer from a pint glass! Had she no shame?Jonathan got up and walked across to her, "I have something to show you," he said without introduction and in a deep impressive voice.Tacey looked Jonathan up and down for a moment and then burst into laughter, "Ooh, you little pervert, you!" She seemed to find the whole scene very funny indeed. Jonathan was affronted. What had he said?"Well, what do you want? Who are you?" She said.It was not going well; it should be he who was asking the questions. As the Bacalum had wisely said, "it would not do." Slowly he drew from his duffle bag an object wrapped in a cloth. "I have this to show you," Jonathan said mysteriously, drawing the cloth down the object a little way.Tacey had never seen the like. It was a pearl, a great creamy, misty pearl; far, far bigger than any she had seen before; a pearl far bigger than the cultivated pearls of her best necklace; a pearl far bigger than the one Great Aunt Agatha used to wear when she, Tacey, was little and had so fascinated her on visits. Within it, great streamy swirls of creamy clouds seemed to move, captivating her, capturing her eye; she found it difficult to look away from the pearl, to stop watching the moving clouds of cream that appeared to roll around the jewel.Gradually Jonathan drew down the material covering the object and whilst her eyes could not leave the pearl she could see it was mounted on gold, indeed atop a golden acorn... or was it an acorn? As the material rolled back Tacey realised it was not so much an acorn as the bulbous end to a golden penis — a golden erect penis in exquisite detail surmounted by a great pearl; a pearl representing, quite clearly to her eye now, the bubbling up of semen or rather, what did they call it, yes, it was the 'pre-cum.' She was both shocked and fascinated; her eyes could not draw away and leave the pearl with its swirls of milky cream. Her mind was being taken.Jonathan watched Tacey's reaction; it was how it should be, no woman could resist the Great Mesmodildo, their pretty eyes were drawn to the pearl like moths to a candle and next would come the longing, a certain dryness of the mouth, an increasing need for something they could not quite place—it was no less than the desire for the milk of a man, a teosic longing in their loins. Jonathan had no need to completely un-sheathe the artefact, to reveal its shining golden glory, merely sliding back the material to expose the bulbous head was sufficientTracey's tongue moved slowly across her lips; they felt dry."Shall we sit over there, somewhere more private?" Jonathan sheathed the Mesmodildo. He had taken command of the situation.Tacey took a large swig of beer to ease the sudden dryness in her throat and followed him without question.Once again Jonathan eased back the covering revealing the golden head mounted with its strange pearl. Tacey stared; images of ejaculating penises came flooding into her mind and the thought of taking the head of this gold penis into her mouth, stroking it with her tongue, feeling the sensual smoothness of the pearl—smooth, yes smooth like... like... semen. Her nipples pricked at the material of her bra, they felt as hard as iron or, indeed, the gold of the strange penis before her. Within her panties, the new purple pair her especial friend, Diane, had bought her, she was flowing. Already the material felt soaked as if newly from the wash; it would seep into her trousers—an embarrassing wet stain."May I, may I please suck it," she asked in a small, little girl's voice.Jonathan smiled to himself. It was more like pleading. How easy these women were taken, how powerful the Mesmodildo, how easily their minds were beaten and taken and their lust aroused. In a moment she would be pleading with him to let her suck his teors, desperate to take his seed and feel it slipping down her throat. But now was not the time and not just because they were in a public bar.The bar actually was empty but for the pretty bar girl and the Mesmodildo would handle her easily. Jonathan looked again at her and thought that perhaps another time, if he had not returned the Mesmodildo, he would like to use the artefact upon her and see her kneeling before him."You may," he replied and held it for her, still wrapped, with just the very end, the beautifully rounded head showing, and watched as she made the proper rounded shape with her mouth, the Teoric Circle, that women must make, before bowing her head down and absorbing the smooth gold head. He could imagine within her mouth the rapid flicking tongue; all women did this; the tip caressing the smoothness of the pear imagining it a continuous spurt of male milk to assuage their desperate thirst.Gently he pulled, extracting the Mesmodildo. He liked the need to pull a little to overcome the natural suction of the girl wishing to retain the object. It was a pleasant resistance.Tacey looked up at him, her eyes wide and doe like, her mouth still in the shape of the Teorsic Circle ready for the Mesmodildo, his own teors or, indeed, any other teors. It was a temptation. So very pleasant to have been able to disrobe, but not there, and place his own teors in this girl's mouth; feel her tongue seeking the milk, trying to enter the very end of his teors; feeling the Second Wonder rising and watching, as his teors rested on her tongue, the small first clear drop of the Teorsic Fluid seep and run down from the acorn head; the sudden stiffening as the tongue tasted and induced a frenzy of sucking.From the bar the other girl stared. What had that man offered the girl to eat and why did her face now hold the expression of some plastic inflatable sex doll?"Come," he said — and she almost did — the feeling of arousal was so strong, but he meant for her to follow.It was but a short taxi ride; though Tacey would remember nothing of it nor walking into a small building and down some steps — the stone steps to the Great Phallocrypt, Jonathan leading her by the hand.It might have been thought that no women would have been permitted to enter the ancient halls of the Order. Certainly they could not be of the Order, being mere women and lacking teorsas though it was said in times past there had been exceptions; women who would rather have been men; women with slim boyish hips and small breasts who had worn cunningly made simulated, pseudo-teorsas and had been more than happy to join in the male rituals sometimes made upon and with other members of their sex. This, though, was most certainly not permitted by the current and recent Bacala.It was possible, though, for women to be brought for judgement, correction or punishment: but not for pleasure. It should not be thought the Order was in any way a society for 'randy' old men to enjoy countless women in a social way, a sort of 'Hellfire Club' or opportunity for hedonistic orgiastic activity. The Order's purposes were profound, mysterious and extremely serious. Any sexual gratification was a by-product, almost an accident: though to achieve the First, Second and Third Wonders of the Teors erotic thoughts a plenty were needed and sexual activity was something the knights were required to undertake regularly and in a brotherly fashion. The Wonders of the Teors, after all, had their root in sexual activity.It was appropriate for Jonathan to undress Tacey. It would not do for her to be presented to the Knights in clothes from the city above, least of all in that so wrong trouser suit. She needed to be modestly clad in a simple cream linen shift, a shapeless garment hiding her womanly attributes from the knights. First, though, she needed to be ritually washed; like the undressing it was a task Jonathan would need to undertake and it was a task he did not shirk. There were no female attendants in the Phallocrypt to assist female 'visitors' and, as Tacey was his charge, Jonathan would need to perform the ceremony. He led her into a side chamber, stone vaulted and with a stone bath sunken into the floor. The water splashed into the bath and Jonathan added scents of sandalwood, carbolic and spice.Firstly Jonathan undressed, glad to be free of his workaday clothes ready to dress in the wonderful robes of the Order; it was better for him to be naked whilst bathing Tacey as it would not do to wet his robes. Tacey stood motionless in her trouser suit, still with the Teorsic Circle fixed to her face but her eyes betrayed intelligence behind her fixed expression. It was right for her to be conscious, she now needed to remember the lessons she would be taught. He knew her eyes would be staring at his teors, she could not help it and it was right for women to focus on the teors, to think about its beauty and power. Generously, as he began to take off Tacey's jacket he permitted his teors to rise to help give her focus and bring her back from her Mesmodildo induced trance. His penis swayed magnificently and he paused to watch it in one of the many mirrors of the bath house. Inevitably she would compare it to her own biologically comparable but so much inferior organ, the Clitoris. Almost unnoticeable in some women, a mere pimple in others but for some there was an element of size, a proto-teors but, obviously, none could stand comparison with the Teors. The Bacalum was most particular and expected the size of the erect clitoris to be established and recorded. He thought it important. Jonathan was skilled in this and had a Clitometer ready.Jonathan fumbled at Tacey's bra strap. He always had difficulty with these and then pulled down her panties. Jonathan took a step back and frowned, staring at the naked girl and particularly her pudenda. Her pubic hair had been shaved into a long vertical band rising up with her Cleft of Venus. To Jonathan the upright band had an inappropriate element of the Teors about it, a column of dark curly hair standing vertically up her pubis—did it not represent a Teors—that great column of the male? Why even the top of the column, below her navel seemed rounded. Was this sign of her further disrespect or quite the opposite, a mark of respect? Jonathan did not know. He was torn between seeking out the Bacalum and asking, but thereby displaying ignorance, or leaving be, but that seemed indecisive. Perhaps it would be best for Tacey if he assumed the worse and shaved off the offending symbol leaving her pudenda naked of hair. The Bacalum, he knew, preferred girls like that— innocent and pure was Jonathan's understanding of his reasons.Leading Tacey by the hand into the water Jonathan picked up the soap and began to lather Tacey's skin. It was not an unpleasant task feeling his hands sliding over her smooth young skin, leaving no place uncleansed, but taking especial trouble over the ritualistic four parts of the woman's body which required greatest care—the nipples, the bottom and the pudenda. A full minute being allotted to each in the proper order. First the left nipple, then the right, followed by the bottom and lastly the pudenda. Jonathan looked into Tacey's eyes and saw considerable surprise as his right index finger, liberally coated in soap, slipped up her bottom. It was appropriate. A woman should be surprised at the unexpected acts of a man.Finally Jonathan washed Tacey's hair, lathering it enthusiastically as he stood and she knelt in the bath in the proper position a woman should take when a man is shampooing her hair. Equally properly Jonathan placed his teors between Tacey's lips, still in the Teorsic Circle, and pushed. A woman should always suck the man's teors when he is washing her hair. It was clearly shown in the old manuscripts. Tacey reacted rather dopily but instinctively seeking the Teorsic Fluid. It was not, though, appropriate yet.The full minute spent soapily washing, shaving and examining Tracey's pudenda also ensured, had the Mesmodildo not done its arousing work, the clitoris was fully erect. Drying Tacey with towels he had her lie down and open her legs wide, giving him not only full access but a full view of her sex. He readied his instrument, his Clitometer, adjusting the wheels and shiny metal dividers to measure both circumference and length. The cold metal touched Tacey's sensitive button and she winced slightly. "Why?" she said in a slightly slurred voice. Her faculties were returning."Because it is necessary." He was being kind. It was not necessary to answer a woman's questions or even to listen to her.The last part of the preparation now needed to be undertaken. Jonathan brought Tacey to a curved marble saddle surmounted by a gorgeous golden teors. Of realistic size; unlike many of the beautiful representations in the halls; not too large because this had to fit all women; and more stylistic in design than many more faithful depictions. It was in an art nouveau style which so fitted the curving nature of the teors and the artist had taken liberty with his depiction of the glans which swept unusually far down the shaft giving a particularly streamlined look. A beautiful object which would give any women great pleasure to mount. Carefully he sat Tacey astride ensuring she lowered herself so the teors pushed up inside her. Instinctively, as before, Tacey began to ride the teors. Jonathan smiled a little in pity. Women had such a need for and such a longing to steal the Teorsic Fluid. They could not help themselves.Jonathan depressed a lever and Tacey betrayed surprise. It was not Teorsic Fluid but a sweet Almond oil that was being injected by the golden teors into her as she rode. A cunning contraption pumped out the oil in carefully regulated spurts mimicking the Third Wonder but in a profusion only the most adept knights were able to achieve—and the truth was that Jonathan was not one of them; much to his chagrin. He was, though, working at raising his TFL, performing the exercises at morning and night. He carefully recorded the outcome in a spreadsheet stored on his laptop and the chart did show a rising trend. (TFL = Teorsic Fluid Level).The purpose of the Almond ejaculation was not the pleasure of the women, or deceiving her she had taken Teorsic Fluid, but to prepare her. In Tacey's case the Mesmodildo had caused her to literally drip but the liberal amount of Almond oil being pumped into her would ensure ease of teorsic insertion and a most appropriate sheen of oily lubrication running down the inside of her thighs. The Order expected not just the substance but the appearance of things and it was so very important for a woman appearing before the massed knights not only to be massively aroused by the honour shown but to visibly demonstrate it as well.Prepared, Jonathan dressed Tacey in the linen shift and finished his own ritual. Washed, he merely needed to don the badges of his rank and his robes. At the very base of his teorsic shaft, indeed clasping it tightly behind his scrotum, he tied, with leather thongs, a thin leather belt encircling the shaft forcing the scrotum forwards and the testes into greater prominence. It was the first symbol of a member of the Order and many wore it ordinarily under their street clothes.From a small red leather box Jonathon drew out three intricately engraved gold rings, rings prepared by the Order's goldsmith—a member himself. The first ring for a raphe, the second for a knight and the third ring for a member of the Corona. Jonathan had not possessed the third ring for long, indeed had only recently been erected to the Corona, and was only just getting used to wearing it tightly and impressively below his glans. Lifting his now unerect teors by the prepuce, with an ease gained by long practice Jonathan slipped the first, second and then third ring down the shaft and willed the First Wonder. His teors rose proudly, the flesh expanding into the rings so they were held tightly in their allotted positions as if the shaft was bound in gold. His teors looked magnificent in the mirror; Jonathan admired himself turning to the right and left as if trying on a new suit of clothes; it was big, knurled by veins, beautifully banded in gold and surmounted by the shiny purple head with its eye of mystery. It never ceased to impress him.Only the Bacalum wore the fifth symbol, a gold, bejewelled hat or helmet sitting atop his teors-head.Pulling on his great red robe Jonathan was prepared and led Tacey out into the great hall of the knights, the Corpus Cavernosum. The Knights of the Teorsas were assembled and waiting.The grand phallic ritual is concluded.The shock to Tacey must have been immense, shock and awe at walking into such a beautiful stone vaulted place and seeing the knights and raphes, perhaps a hundred in all, standing in their red robes watching her, their eyes focused just upon her; and, at their centre, the figure of the Bacalum looking so serene and wonderful in his great curving red penile hat. Jonathan could not but sense what she was feeling as he led her down the massed rows of the knights. Certainly her eyes were wide.A low chanting filled the hall as Jonathan led Tacey forward to the centre of the hall. Speaking in a clear voice he outlined to the assembly Tacey's grave misdemeanour. It was certain, very certain they were not pleased and Jonathan felt for Tacey as she must now realise how great was her error, how unwise and wrong it was to speak lightly of the teors and in a flippant manner. It was possible she thought herself there for punishment but that was not often the way of the Order. Perhaps once upon a time Tacey would have been bound tightly and her bottom roundly punished as the Knights watched; the sight of a helpless, naked, bound girl wriggling under torment greatly assisting their meditation.

It does not do, to speak mockingly of erections.By Drmaxc. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. "Men and their erections,""Men and their erections," Tacey laughed shrilly, "if you could harness them you'd solve the energy crisis. Forget the unpredictability of wind power, their erections rise and fall come sun, come rain, come snow; if you could only capture the energy of all those millions of cocks..."The girls giggled and laughed loudly in their gaggle at the bar. They had drunk too much and were being disrespectful of men. Jonathan did not like it, he expected women to speak of such things, the male sexual organ, in hushed, slightly awed tones: not make silly jokes as if, he paused and took a breath, a 'Teors' was something to laugh about. He used the Old English deliberately. To have used a slang term — a 'cock' as the girl had done, a 'willy' or the like would have been wrong. He gripped his glass; something would need to be done.Entering the subterranean halls of the Knights of the Teorsas always gave Jonathan a particular thrill. Unknown to virtually the whole population of London it was a closely guarded secret, not even disclosed to the authorities. All they knew about was the insignificant little house in a backstreet of Covent Garden and it was to that house that the bills for electricity and the like came. It was an unremarkable house that held a remarkable secret as it gave access, through its cellar, to the ancient home of the Knights, the Great Phallocrypt, a network of rooms, halls and passages built in stone many, many, many years ago.Jonathan was much more than an initiate, a Raphe, more than a mere knight but a man who had crossed the Fraenum, the narrow bridge between the Corpus Cavernosum, the great hall where the knights assembled in their pomp, and the grand domed meeting hall of the inner circle, the Corona, who ruled the order. Jonathan was himself a member of the Corona, albeit its most junior having only been erected to the position a bare month before. He had, by virtue of his status, access to the Grand Master of the Order, the Bacalum, and could speak to him as of right.Dressed in his ceremonial robes, the gold badge of the erect phallus woven in gold thread into the red material, Jonathan strode through the Corpus Cavernosum nodding to knights he met but there was no time to pause and engage in intercourse, he had urgent business, a matter of grave importance to report to the Bacalum himself. Crossing the bridge of the Fraenum still gave him a thrill. How many of the knights achieved that? Such a singular honour; he had been speechless for a full minute when he had been told to prepare himself. How many would ever wear the third gold band around their teors? How many of them were ever able to do the thing he was about to do? To raise the great brass phallic knocker and tap three times on the oaken door of the Lacuna Magna, the Grand Master's private office?As always, the Bacalum was dressed in his ancient robes, beautifully decorated with representations of the ancient Roman god, Priapus, and with his great red curving penile hat making him look so much taller than he actually was. A trick long realised by the designers of uniforms; whether the bearskins of the Guards, the Shako of yesteryear or, indeed, the 'tit' of the London bobby. Shaking his grey head wisely he listened as Jonathan described what he had heard only the night before."It will not do, it will not do." The Baculum's words of wisdom enervated Jonathan."I seek permission to use, to wield, the Great Mesmodildo." The words were out; Jonathan had made the request, an act of considerable presumption in one so junior.There was a sharp intake of breath, the great phallic hat jerked upwards, and the penetrating eyes of the Grand Master seemed to bore right into Jonathan. There was a pause, "It will do."They sat for a few moments in contemplation. On the walls were artists' impressions of wonderful buildings not built. Designs by some of the leading architects of their day for skyscrapers intended to be the tallest buildings in the world in their time, all unmistakeably phallic, as skyscrapers are, but not simply because they were structures pointed at the sky but true erections designed to look like erections, buildings particularly phallic in design. Unrealised plans by Mies Van de Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Colonel Seifert and most recently Sir Norman Foster. Designs the Order had not been able to find sufficient backers to fund; statements to the world not yet realised; buildings intended to awe and strike a proper respectfulness, an understanding of their place in the world, in womankind.The Grand Master rose, drawing his robes around him and walked to a cupboard; opening its black ebonised door he drew out something about a foot long and wrapped in a cloth; with both hands he presented it to Jonathan who, standing, accepted it with a bow. "I shall take the greatest care, Grand Master.""Do."Walking slowly back down the Corpus Cavernosa, Jonathan mused on the wise words of the Bacalum and upon his mission. Tucked into his robes was the ancient object — it would not do for the knights to see that which he had been entrusted or to know it was amongst them.Shedding his ceremonial robes in the outermost halls, where the putative knights, the Raphes, met and took instruction in their twin, wonderfully spherical, meeting rooms, Jonathan ascended back into a rainy, wet London morning; the ancient object tucked in his duffle bag along with his laptop and sandwiches. He had his job in the world outside the Order which he must attend to from 9am to 5pm but then he would commence his mission.It was one thing to hold the Mesmodildo but another to set up the opportunity to use it. Jonathan neither knew where Tacey lived nor worked. He did not actually know her name. His only knowledge was that she sometimes frequented: rather had at least once frequented, the bar where he had heard her disrespectful statement. He should have found out more about her at the time; he realised that now — it would have been better to have gathered more evidence before reporting to the Bacalum — but he had been so incensed, so overcome that he had rushed ahead without careful reflection and contemplation. He would meditate upon it later that evening.Meditation was important to the Order. Sitting cross-legged on a mat woven with ancient designs, a knight would sit in contemplation of his teors until turgidity ensued, that First Wonder of the teors; his thoughts would roam free as he sought to better understand himself, resolve his problems and focus on the baseness of his desires whilst seeking to raise the Primo Cumum, that first flowing of the teors so aptly described as its Second Wonder; lastly came the conclusion of the ritual, the ultimate goal of the meditation—the full flowing of the teors, the Ejaculum, a sight wonderful to behold—when the teors of its own volition would spew forth its seed. Putative knights worked hard at achieving this, many sitting for hours trying to create in their heads the necessary images; erotic images necessarily to achieve the apparently spontaneous Ejaculum.At first, and Jonathan had to admit he was as one with them, putative knights would use the Manualum or hand to achieve the necessary final stimulation; but he had achieved so much more -- the result of hard work and dedication. Often appropriate texts or images were used, spread before the knight or novice to assist in his meditation. The Library of the Order, the Curiosa, contained many volumes and meditational material.Traditionally the knight would bow his head and orally accept the bounty of the Ejaculum. Ancient manuscripts, some written in Latin, some Sanskrit testified to this and the beautiful coloured illustrations showed no less. A variant much favoured in the modern Corona, and therefore too the Corpus Cavernosa, was the Art of Felicitation, requiring extensive practice, much suppleness of the body and, Jonathan admitted, a long teors. He, himself, had only managed the briefest of Teorsic Kiss at the moment of Ejaculum but the Bacalum and a few others of the Corona, knights of great experience, could hold the rounded terminus of their teors orally at the moment of the Third Wonder, an ideal act permitting the recycling of the seed so not one drop was lost to the body.Jonathan was lucky, very lucky. Inevitably he had returned to the very bar of Tacey's misdeed as the only reference point he had in relation to her; had sat there nursing a beer and wondering if he would have to use the power of the Mesmodildo on the very pretty bar girl who had, he recalled, been there on the previous night. Perhaps she would know about the disrespectful girl; know who she was and where she lived — and her name. The entrance of Tacey saved the need. It was a relief to Jonathan — the pretty bar girl with the large breasts might not have known anything about the disrespectful girl and left him with no obvious lead in his quest; it also saved the seed he might well have lost to her in the course of extracting the information; she was, after all, very pretty and perhaps worthy of the honour.Tacey moved across the room and sat on a bar stool, her long legs crossed one over the other drawing up the material of her trouser leg revealing a particularly fine pair of high heeled shoes—clearly new by the sight of the soles and undoubtedly expensive.Not for the first time Jonathan wondered both at the impudence and the illogicality of women. There sat the girl in a suit of clothes but with trousers not a skirt. Trousers were a male prerogative and unsuited to women; they were for men. A skirt would have shown her new shoes off but instead they were largely hidden by the trousers. What was the sense in buying shoes to be noticed and then wearing trousers? There was no logic. The girl would look better without the trousers. In his mind he imagined the girl naked but for the shoes; it was an appropriate image he would use for meditation later. He looked down at his own sensible, solid black shoes largely hidden by his own trousers — and that was perhaps just as well. He mentally gave himself a note to polish them in the morning—it was a task he tended to overlook though it would not do to keep the dome of his teors unpolished.A further shock came to Jonathan; instead of a white wine spritzer or some expensive but brightly coloured vodka concoction in a pretty bottle, the girl had ordered beer: not just a half but a whole pint. She was drinking beer from a pint glass! Had she no shame?Jonathan got up and walked across to her, "I have something to show you," he said without introduction and in a deep impressive voice.Tacey looked Jonathan up and down for a moment and then burst into laughter, "Ooh, you little pervert, you!" She seemed to find the whole scene very funny indeed. Jonathan was affronted. What had he said?"Well, what do you want? Who are you?" She said.It was not going well; it should be he who was asking the questions. As the Bacalum had wisely said, "it would not do." Slowly he drew from his duffle bag an object wrapped in a cloth. "I have this to show you," Jonathan said mysteriously, drawing the cloth down the object a little way.Tacey had never seen the like. It was a pearl, a great creamy, misty pearl; far, far bigger than any she had seen before; a pearl far bigger than the cultivated pearls of her best necklace; a pearl far bigger than the one Great Aunt Agatha used to wear when she, Tacey, was little and had so fascinated her on visits. Within it, great streamy swirls of creamy clouds seemed to move, captivating her, capturing her eye; she found it difficult to look away from the pearl, to stop watching the moving clouds of cream that appeared to roll around the jewel.Gradually Jonathan drew down the material covering the object and whilst her eyes could not leave the pearl she could see it was mounted on gold, indeed atop a golden acorn... or was it an acorn? As the material rolled back Tacey realised it was not so much an acorn as the bulbous end to a golden penis — a golden erect penis in exquisite detail surmounted by a great pearl; a pearl representing, quite clearly to her eye now, the bubbling up of semen or rather, what did they call it, yes, it was the 'pre-cum.' She was both shocked and fascinated; her eyes could not draw away and leave the pearl with its swirls of milky cream. Her mind was being taken.Jonathan watched Tacey's reaction; it was how it should be, no woman could resist the Great Mesmodildo, their pretty eyes were drawn to the pearl like moths to a candle and next would come the longing, a certain dryness of the mouth, an increasing need for something they could not quite place—it was no less than the desire for the milk of a man, a teosic longing in their loins. Jonathan had no need to completely un-sheathe the artefact, to reveal its shining golden glory, merely sliding back the material to expose the bulbous head was sufficientTracey's tongue moved slowly across her lips; they felt dry."Shall we sit over there, somewhere more private?" Jonathan sheathed the Mesmodildo. He had taken command of the situation.Tacey took a large swig of beer to ease the sudden dryness in her throat and followed him without question.Once again Jonathan eased back the covering revealing the golden head mounted with its strange pearl. Tacey stared; images of ejaculating penises came flooding into her mind and the thought of taking the head of this gold penis into her mouth, stroking it with her tongue, feeling the sensual smoothness of the pearl—smooth, yes smooth like... like... semen. Her nipples pricked at the material of her bra, they felt as hard as iron or, indeed, the gold of the strange penis before her. Within her panties, the new purple pair her especial friend, Diane, had bought her, she was flowing. Already the material felt soaked as if newly from the wash; it would seep into her trousers—an embarrassing wet stain."May I, may I please suck it," she asked in a small, little girl's voice.Jonathan smiled to himself. It was more like pleading. How easy these women were taken, how powerful the Mesmodildo, how easily their minds were beaten and taken and their lust aroused. In a moment she would be pleading with him to let her suck his teors, desperate to take his seed and feel it slipping down her throat. But now was not the time and not just because they were in a public bar.The bar actually was empty but for the pretty bar girl and the Mesmodildo would handle her easily. Jonathan looked again at her and thought that perhaps another time, if he had not returned the Mesmodildo, he would like to use the artefact upon her and see her kneeling before him."You may," he replied and held it for her, still wrapped, with just the very end, the beautifully rounded head showing, and watched as she made the proper rounded shape with her mouth, the Teoric Circle, that women must make, before bowing her head down and absorbing the smooth gold head. He could imagine within her mouth the rapid flicking tongue; all women did this; the tip caressing the smoothness of the pear imagining it a continuous spurt of male milk to assuage their desperate thirst.Gently he pulled, extracting the Mesmodildo. He liked the need to pull a little to overcome the natural suction of the girl wishing to retain the object. It was a pleasant resistance.Tacey looked up at him, her eyes wide and doe like, her mouth still in the shape of the Teorsic Circle ready for the Mesmodildo, his own teors or, indeed, any other teors. It was a temptation. So very pleasant to have been able to disrobe, but not there, and place his own teors in this girl's mouth; feel her tongue seeking the milk, trying to enter the very end of his teors; feeling the Second Wonder rising and watching, as his teors rested on her tongue, the small first clear drop of the Teorsic Fluid seep and run down from the acorn head; the sudden stiffening as the tongue tasted and induced a frenzy of sucking.From the bar the other girl stared. What had that man offered the girl to eat and why did her face now hold the expression of some plastic inflatable sex doll?"Come," he said — and she almost did — the feeling of arousal was so strong, but he meant for her to follow.It was but a short taxi ride; though Tacey would remember nothing of it nor walking into a small building and down some steps — the stone steps to the Great Phallocrypt, Jonathan leading her by the hand.It might have been thought that no women would have been permitted to enter the ancient halls of the Order. Certainly they could not be of the Order, being mere women and lacking teorsas though it was said in times past there had been exceptions; women who would rather have been men; women with slim boyish hips and small breasts who had worn cunningly made simulated, pseudo-teorsas and had been more than happy to join in the male rituals sometimes made upon and with other members of their sex. This, though, was most certainly not permitted by the current and recent Bacala.It was possible, though, for women to be brought for judgement, correction or punishment: but not for pleasure. It should not be thought the Order was in any way a society for 'randy' old men to enjoy countless women in a social way, a sort of 'Hellfire Club' or opportunity for hedonistic orgiastic activity. The Order's purposes were profound, mysterious and extremely serious. Any sexual gratification was a by-product, almost an accident: though to achieve the First, Second and Third Wonders of the Teors erotic thoughts a plenty were needed and sexual activity was something the knights were required to undertake regularly and in a brotherly fashion. The Wonders of the Teors, after all, had their root in sexual activity.It was appropriate for Jonathan to undress Tacey. It would not do for her to be presented to the Knights in clothes from the city above, least of all in that so wrong trouser suit. She needed to be modestly clad in a simple cream linen shift, a shapeless garment hiding her womanly attributes from the knights. First, though, she needed to be ritually washed; like the undressing it was a task Jonathan would need to undertake and it was a task he did not shirk. There were no female attendants in the Phallocrypt to assist female 'visitors' and, as Tacey was his charge, Jonathan would need to perform the ceremony. He led her into a side chamber, stone vaulted and with a stone bath sunken into the floor. The water splashed into the bath and Jonathan added scents of sandalwood, carbolic and spice.Firstly Jonathan undressed, glad to be free of his workaday clothes ready to dress in the wonderful robes of the Order; it was better for him to be naked whilst bathing Tacey as it would not do to wet his robes. Tacey stood motionless in her trouser suit, still with the Teorsic Circle fixed to her face but her eyes betrayed intelligence behind her fixed expression. It was right for her to be conscious, she now needed to remember the lessons she would be taught. He knew her eyes would be staring at his teors, she could not help it and it was right for women to focus on the teors, to think about its beauty and power. Generously, as he began to take off Tacey's jacket he permitted his teors to rise to help give her focus and bring her back from her Mesmodildo induced trance. His penis swayed magnificently and he paused to watch it in one of the many mirrors of the bath house. Inevitably she would compare it to her own biologically comparable but so much inferior organ, the Clitoris. Almost unnoticeable in some women, a mere pimple in others but for some there was an element of size, a proto-teors but, obviously, none could stand comparison with the Teors. The Bacalum was most particular and expected the size of the erect clitoris to be established and recorded. He thought it important. Jonathan was skilled in this and had a Clitometer ready.Jonathan fumbled at Tacey's bra strap. He always had difficulty with these and then pulled down her panties. Jonathan took a step back and frowned, staring at the naked girl and particularly her pudenda. Her pubic hair had been shaved into a long vertical band rising up with her Cleft of Venus. To Jonathan the upright band had an inappropriate element of the Teors about it, a column of dark curly hair standing vertically up her pubis—did it not represent a Teors—that great column of the male? Why even the top of the column, below her navel seemed rounded. Was this sign of her further disrespect or quite the opposite, a mark of respect? Jonathan did not know. He was torn between seeking out the Bacalum and asking, but thereby displaying ignorance, or leaving be, but that seemed indecisive. Perhaps it would be best for Tacey if he assumed the worse and shaved off the offending symbol leaving her pudenda naked of hair. The Bacalum, he knew, preferred girls like that— innocent and pure was Jonathan's understanding of his reasons.Leading Tacey by the hand into the water Jonathan picked up the soap and began to lather Tacey's skin. It was not an unpleasant task feeling his hands sliding over her smooth young skin, leaving no place uncleansed, but taking especial trouble over the ritualistic four parts of the woman's body which required greatest care—the nipples, the bottom and the pudenda. A full minute being allotted to each in the proper order. First the left nipple, then the right, followed by the bottom and lastly the pudenda. Jonathan looked into Tacey's eyes and saw considerable surprise as his right index finger, liberally coated in soap, slipped up her bottom. It was appropriate. A woman should be surprised at the unexpected acts of a man.Finally Jonathan washed Tacey's hair, lathering it enthusiastically as he stood and she knelt in the bath in the proper position a woman should take when a man is shampooing her hair. Equally properly Jonathan placed his teors between Tacey's lips, still in the Teorsic Circle, and pushed. A woman should always suck the man's teors when he is washing her hair. It was clearly shown in the old manuscripts. Tacey reacted rather dopily but instinctively seeking the Teorsic Fluid. It was not, though, appropriate yet.The full minute spent soapily washing, shaving and examining Tracey's pudenda also ensured, had the Mesmodildo not done its arousing work, the clitoris was fully erect. Drying Tacey with towels he had her lie down and open her legs wide, giving him not only full access but a full view of her sex. He readied his instrument, his Clitometer, adjusting the wheels and shiny metal dividers to measure both circumference and length. The cold metal touched Tacey's sensitive button and she winced slightly. "Why?" she said in a slightly slurred voice. Her faculties were returning."Because it is necessary." He was being kind. It was not necessary to answer a woman's questions or even to listen to her.The last part of the preparation now needed to be undertaken. Jonathan brought Tacey to a curved marble saddle surmounted by a gorgeous golden teors. Of realistic size; unlike many of the beautiful representations in the halls; not too large because this had to fit all women; and more stylistic in design than many more faithful depictions. It was in an art nouveau style which so fitted the curving nature of the teors and the artist had taken liberty with his depiction of the glans which swept unusually far down the shaft giving a particularly streamlined look. A beautiful object which would give any women great pleasure to mount. Carefully he sat Tacey astride ensuring she lowered herself so the teors pushed up inside her. Instinctively, as before, Tacey began to ride the teors. Jonathan smiled a little in pity. Women had such a need for and such a longing to steal the Teorsic Fluid. They could not help themselves.Jonathan depressed a lever and Tacey betrayed surprise. It was not Teorsic Fluid but a sweet Almond oil that was being injected by the golden teors into her as she rode. A cunning contraption pumped out the oil in carefully regulated spurts mimicking the Third Wonder but in a profusion only the most adept knights were able to achieve—and the truth was that Jonathan was not one of them; much to his chagrin. He was, though, working at raising his TFL, performing the exercises at morning and night. He carefully recorded the outcome in a spreadsheet stored on his laptop and the chart did show a rising trend. (TFL = Teorsic Fluid Level).The purpose of the Almond ejaculation was not the pleasure of the women, or deceiving her she had taken Teorsic Fluid, but to prepare her. In Tacey's case the Mesmodildo had caused her to literally drip but the liberal amount of Almond oil being pumped into her would ensure ease of teorsic insertion and a most appropriate sheen of oily lubrication running down the inside of her thighs. The Order expected not just the substance but the appearance of things and it was so very important for a woman appearing before the massed knights not only to be massively aroused by the honour shown but to visibly demonstrate it as well.Prepared, Jonathan dressed Tacey in the linen shift and finished his own ritual. Washed, he merely needed to don the badges of his rank and his robes. At the very base of his teorsic shaft, indeed clasping it tightly behind his scrotum, he tied, with leather thongs, a thin leather belt encircling the shaft forcing the scrotum forwards and the testes into greater prominence. It was the first symbol of a member of the Order and many wore it ordinarily under their street clothes.From a small red leather box Jonathon drew out three intricately engraved gold rings, rings prepared by the Order's goldsmith—a member himself. The first ring for a raphe, the second for a knight and the third ring for a member of the Corona. Jonathan had not possessed the third ring for long, indeed had only recently been erected to the Corona, and was only just getting used to wearing it tightly and impressively below his glans. Lifting his now unerect teors by the prepuce, with an ease gained by long practice Jonathan slipped the first, second and then third ring down the shaft and willed the First Wonder. His teors rose proudly, the flesh expanding into the rings so they were held tightly in their allotted positions as if the shaft was bound in gold. His teors looked magnificent in the mirror; Jonathan admired himself turning to the right and left as if trying on a new suit of clothes; it was big, knurled by veins, beautifully banded in gold and surmounted by the shiny purple head with its eye of mystery. It never ceased to impress him.Only the Bacalum wore the fifth symbol, a gold, bejewelled hat or helmet sitting atop his teors-head.Pulling on his great red robe Jonathan was prepared and led Tacey out into the great hall of the knights, the Corpus Cavernosum. The Knights of the Teorsas were assembled and waiting.The grand phallic ritual is concluded.The shock to Tacey must have been immense, shock and awe at walking into such a beautiful stone vaulted place and seeing the knights and raphes, perhaps a hundred in all, standing in their red robes watching her, their eyes focused just upon her; and, at their centre, the figure of the Bacalum looking so serene and wonderful in his great curving red penile hat. Jonathan could not but sense what she was feeling as he led her down the massed rows of the knights. Certainly her eyes were wide.A low chanting filled the hall as Jonathan led Tacey forward to the centre of the hall. Speaking in a clear voice he outlined to the assembly Tacey's grave misdemeanour. It was certain, very certain they were not pleased and Jonathan felt for Tacey as she must now realise how great was her error, how unwise and wrong it was to speak lightly of the teors and in a flippant manner. It was possible she thought herself there for punishment but that was not often the way of the Order. Perhaps once upon a time Tacey would have been bound tightly and her bottom roundly punished as the Knights watched; the sight of a helpless, naked, bound girl wriggling under torment greatly assisting their meditation.

Over 2,000 garbage trucks worth of plastic waste enter our oceans, lakes, rivers, and estuaries every day. Of the 300 million tons of plastic produced annually, only 10% is recycled. Due to the inertness and durability of plastic materials, current industrial recycling processes employ energetically demanding processes such as combustion and melting which further the global climate crisis by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. As such, enzymatic degradation of plastic has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional plastic recycling approaches since enzymes operate under significantly milder and less energetically demanding conditions. For upcoming interviews check out the Grad Chat webpage on Queen’s University School of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs website.

The gang discusses two papers that investigate evidence of symbiosis in the fossil record. The first paper looks at wormy organisms living inside Cambrian vetulicolians, and the second paper shows potential evidence of hydroids growing in mollusc shells. Meanwhile, Amanda is haunted, James's computer is totally cooperating, and Curt may or may not have had to stitch this podcast together from other sources.   Up-Goer Five (Curt Edition): The friends look at two papers that look at animals that live inside of other animals. Sometimes these things live inside other things and both of the things do well because of it. Sometimes, these things live inside other things and they cause problems for the thing they live in. These two papers look at the ways we can see old bits of things that used to live in other things and how we can try and figure out why they might have lived inside other things. The first paper looks long animals living inside a weird animal from a long long time ago. These long animals are all in a small part of these animals that looks like where these weird animals would breathe. Many long animals live inside one of these weird animals. The second paper looks at how hard parts of animals grow over things trying to live on them and we can use use the way these things grow to get an idea of what could have been living on them.   References: Li, Yujing, et al. "Symbiotic fouling of Vetulicola, an early Cambrian nektonic animal." Communications Biology 3.1 (2020): 517. Wisshak, Max, et al. "Putative hydroid  symbionts recorded by bioclaustrations in fossil molluscan shells: a  revision and reinterpretation of the cecidogenus Rodocanalis." Papers in Palaeontology 9.2 (2023): e1484.

MedLink Neurology Podcast is delighted to feature selected episodes from BrainWaves, courtesy of James E Siegler MD, its originator and host. BrainWaves is an academic audio podcast whose mission is to educate medical providers through clinical cases and topical reviews in neurology, medicine, and the humanities, and episodes originally aired from 2016 to 2021. Originally released: July 18, 2017 This Thanksgiving, amidst all the turkey, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, the ham, and the cornucopia of dessert options, you may be inclined to let the food coma sink in. But for those interested in the science behind this fanciful feast, listen to what Dr. Jason Maley has to say about the neurologic complications of some of the common dishes served at your holiday spread. BrainWaves podcasts and online content are intended for medical education only and should not be used to guide medical decision-making in routine clinical practice. REFERENCES Caruana M, Cauchi R, Vassallo N. Putative role of red wine polyphenols against brain pathology in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Front Nutr 2016;3:31. PMID 27570766Clauss HE, Lorber B. Central nervous system infection with Listeria monocytogenes. Curr Infect Dis Rep 2008;10(4):300-6. PMID 18765103Garcia HH, Del Brutto OH; Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru. Neurocysticercosis: updated concepts about an old disease. Lancet Neurol 2005;4(10):653-61. PMID 16168934Hillbom M, Saloheimo P, Fujioka S, Wszolek ZK, Juvela S, Leone MA. Diagnosis and management of Marchiafava-Bignami disease: a review of CT/MRI confirmed cases. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2014;85(2):168-73. PMID 23978380Richard DM, Dawes MA, Mathias CW, Acheson A, Hill-Kapturczak N, Dougherty DM. L-tryptophan: basic metabolic functions, behavioral research and therapeutic indications. Int J Tryptophan Res 2009;2:45-60. PMID 20651948Sobel J. Botulism. Clin Infect Dis 2005;41(8):1167-73. PMID 16163636Williams ES. Chronic wasting disease. Vet Pathol 2005;42(5):530-49. PMID 16145200 We believe that the principles expressed or implied in the podcast remain valid, but certain details may be superseded by evolving knowledge since the episode's original release date.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.08.01.551579v1?rss=1 Authors: Sanghavi, S., Kar, K. Abstract: A spatially distributed population of neurons in the macaque inferior temporal (IT) cortex supports object recognition behavior, but the cell-type specificity of the population in forming behaviorally sufficient object decodes remain unclear. To address this, we recorded neural signals from the macaque IT cortex and compared the object identity information and the alignment of decoding strategies derived from putative inhibitory (Inh) and excitatory (Exc) neurons to the monkeys' behavior. We observed that while Inh neurons represented significant category information, decoding strategies based on Exc neural population activity outperformed those from Inh neurons in overall accuracy and their image-level match to the monkeys' behavioral reports. Interestingly, both Exc and Inh responses explained a fraction of unique variance of the monkeys' behavior, demonstrating a distinct role of the two cell types in generating object identity solutions for a downstream readout. We observed that current artificial neural network (ANN) models of primate ventral stream, designed with AI goals of performance optimization on image categorization, better predict Exc neurons (and its contribution to object recognition behavior) than Inh neurons. Beyond, the refinement of linking propositions between IT and object recognition behavior, our results guide the development of more biologically constrained brain models by offering novel cell-type specific neural benchmarks. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

It does not do to speak mockingly of erections.By Drmaxc. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.“Men and their erections,”“Men and their erections,” Tacey laughed shrilly, “if you could harness them you’d solve the energy crisis. Forget the unpredictability of wind power, their erections rise and fall come sun, come rain, come snow; if you could only capture the energy of all those millions of cocks…”The girls giggled and laughed loudly in their gaggle at the bar. They had drunk too much and were being disrespectful of men. Jonathan did not like it, he expected women to speak of such things, the male sexual organ, in hushed, slightly awed tones: not make silly jokes as if, he paused and took a breath, a ‘Teors’ was something to laugh about. He used the Old English deliberately. To have used a slang term — a 'cock’ as the girl had done, a 'willy’ or the like would have been wrong. He gripped his glass; something would need to be done.Entering the subterranean halls of the Knights of the Teorsas always gave Jonathan a particular thrill. Unknown to virtually the whole population of London it was a closely guarded secret, not even disclosed to the authorities. All they knew about was the insignificant little house in a backstreet of Covent Garden and it was to that house that the bills for electricity and the like came. It was an unremarkable house that held a remarkable secret as it gave access, through its cellar, to the ancient home of the Knights, the Great Phallocrypt, a network of rooms, halls and passages built in stone many, many, many years ago.Jonathan was much more than an initiate, a Raphe, more than a mere knight but a man who had crossed the Fraenum, the narrow bridge between the Corpus Cavernosum, the great hall where the knights assembled in their pomp, and the grand domed meeting hall of the inner circle, the Corona, who ruled the order. Jonathan was himself a member of the Corona, albeit its most junior having only been erected to the position a bare month before. He had, by virtue of his status, access to the Grand Master of the Order, the Bacalum, and could speak to him as of right.Dressed in his ceremonial robes, the gold badge of the erect phallus woven in gold thread into the red material, Jonathan strode through the Corpus Cavernosum nodding to knights he met but there was no time to pause and engage in intercourse, he had urgent business, a matter of grave importance to report to the Bacalum himself. Crossing the bridge of the Fraenum still gave him a thrill. How many of the knights achieved that? Such a singular honour; he had been speechless for a full minute when he had been told to prepare himself. How many would ever wear the third gold band around their teors? How many of them were ever able to do the thing he was about to do? To raise the great brass phallic knocker and tap three times on the oaken door of the Lacuna Magna, the Grand Master’s private office?As always, the Bacalum was dressed in his ancient robes, beautifully decorated with representations of the ancient Roman god, Priapus, and with his great red curving penile hat making him look so much taller than he actually was. A trick long realised by the designers of uniforms; whether the bearskins of the Guards, the Shako of yesteryear or, indeed, the 'tit’ of the London bobby. Shaking his grey head wisely he listened as Jonathan described what he had heard only the night before.“It will not do, it will not do.” The Baculum’s words of wisdom enervated Jonathan.“I seek permission to use, to wield, the Great Mesmodildo.” The words were out; Jonathan had made the request, an act of considerable presumption in one so junior.There was a sharp intake of breath, the great phallic hat jerked upwards, and the penetrating eyes of the Grand Master seemed to bore right into Jonathan. There was a pause, “It will do.”They sat for a few moments in contemplation. On the walls were artists’ impressions of wonderful buildings not built. Designs by some of the leading architects of their day for skyscrapers intended to be the tallest buildings in the world in their time, all unmistakeably phallic, as skyscrapers are, but not simply because they were structures pointed at the sky but true erections designed to look like erections, buildings particularly phallic in design. Unrealised plans by Mies Van de Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Colonel Seifert and most recently Sir Norman Foster. Designs the Order had not been able to find sufficient backers to fund; statements to the world not yet realised; buildings intended to awe and strike a proper respectfulness, an understanding of their place in the world, in womankind.The Grand Master rose, drawing his robes around him and walked to a cupboard; opening its black ebonised door he drew out something about a foot long and wrapped in a cloth; with both hands he presented it to Jonathan who, standing, accepted it with a bow. “I shall take the greatest care, Grand Master.”“Do.”Walking slowly back down the Corpus Cavernosa, Jonathan mused on the wise words of the Bacalum and upon his mission. Tucked into his robes was the ancient object — it would not do for the knights to see that which he had been entrusted or to know it was amongst them.Shedding his ceremonial robes in the outermost halls, where the putative knights, the Raphes, met and took instruction in their twin, wonderfully spherical, meeting rooms, Jonathan ascended back into a rainy, wet London morning; the ancient object tucked in his duffle bag along with his laptop and sandwiches. He had his job in the world outside the Order which he must attend to from 9am to 5pm but then he would commence his mission.It was one thing to hold the Mesmodildo but another to set up the opportunity to use it. Jonathan neither knew where Tacey lived nor worked. He did not actually know her name. His only knowledge was that she sometimes frequented: rather had at least once frequented, the bar where he had heard her disrespectful statement. He should have found out more about her at the time; he realised that now — it would have been better to have gathered more evidence before reporting to the Bacalum — but he had been so incensed, so overcome that he had rushed ahead without careful reflection and contemplation. He would meditate upon it later that evening.Meditation was important to the Order. Sitting cross-legged on a mat woven with ancient designs, a knight would sit in contemplation of his teors until turgidity ensued, that First Wonder of the teors; his thoughts would roam free as he sought to better understand himself, resolve his problems and focus on the baseness of his desires whilst seeking to raise the Primo Cumum, that first flowing of the teors so aptly described as its Second Wonder; lastly came the conclusion of the ritual, the ultimate goal of the meditation—the full flowing of the teors, the Ejaculum, a sight wonderful to behold—when the teors of its own volition would spew forth its seed. Putative knights worked hard at achieving this, many sitting for hours trying to create in their heads the necessary images; erotic images necessarily to achieve the apparently spontaneous Ejaculum.At first, and Jonathan had to admit he was as one with them, putative knights would use the Manualum or hand to achieve the necessary final stimulation; but he had achieved so much more – the result of hard work and dedication. Often appropriate texts or images were used, spread before the knight or novice to assist in his meditation. The Library of the Order, the Curiosa, contained many volumes and meditational material.Traditionally the knight would bow his head and orally accept the bounty of the Ejaculum. Ancient manuscripts, some written in Latin, some Sanskrit testified to this and the beautiful coloured illustrations showed no less. A variant much favoured in the modern Corona, and therefore too the Corpus Cavernosa, was the Art of Felicitation, requiring extensive practice, much suppleness of the body and, Jonathan admitted, a long teors. He, himself, had only managed the briefest of Teorsic Kiss at the moment of Ejaculum but the Bacalum and a few others of the Corona, knights of great experience, could hold the rounded terminus of their teors orally at the moment of the Third Wonder, an ideal act permitting the recycling of the seed so not one drop was lost to the body.Jonathan was lucky, very lucky. Inevitably he had returned to the very bar of Tacey’s misdeed as the only reference point he had in relation to her; had sat there nursing a beer and wondering if he would have to use the power of the Mesmodildo on the very pretty bar girl who had, he recalled, been there on the previous night. Perhaps she would know about the disrespectful girl; know who she was and where she lived — and her name. The entrance of Tacey saved the need. It was a relief to Jonathan — the pretty bar girl with the large breasts might not have known anything about the disrespectful girl and left him with no obvious lead in his quest; it also saved the seed he might well have lost to her in the course of extracting the information; she was, after all, very pretty and perhaps worthy of the honour.Tacey moved across the room and sat on a bar stool, her long legs crossed one over the other drawing up the material of her trouser leg revealing a particularly fine pair of high heeled shoes—clearly new by the sight of the soles and undoubtedly expensive.Not for the first time Jonathan wondered both at the impudence and the illogicality of women. There sat the girl in a suit of clothes but with trousers not a skirt. Trousers were a male prerogative and unsuited to women; they were for men. A skirt would have shown her new shoes off but instead they were largely hidden by the trousers. What was the sense in buying shoes to be noticed and then wearing trousers? There was no logic. The girl would look better without the trousers. In his mind he imagined the girl naked but for the shoes; it was an appropriate image he would use for meditation later. He looked down at his own sensible, solid black shoes largely hidden by his own trousers — and that was perhaps just as well. He mentally gave himself a note to polish them in the morning—it was a task he tended to overlook though it would not do to keep the dome of his teors unpolished.A further shock came to Jonathan; instead of a white wine spritzer or some expensive but brightly coloured vodka concoction in a pretty bottle, the girl had ordered beer: not just a half but a whole pint. She was drinking beer from a pint glass! Had she no shame?Jonathan got up and walked across to her, “I have something to show you,” he said without introduction and in a deep impressive voice.Tacey looked Jonathan up and down for a moment and then burst into laughter, “Ooh, you little pervert, you!” She seemed to find the whole scene very funny indeed. Jonathan was affronted. What had he said?“Well, what do you want? Who are you?” She said.It was not going well; it should be he who was asking the questions. As the Bacalum had wisely said, “it would not do.” Slowly he drew from his duffle bag an object wrapped in a cloth. “I have this to show you,” Jonathan said mysteriously, drawing the cloth down the object a little way.Tacey had never seen the like. It was a pearl, a great creamy, misty pearl; far, far bigger than any she had seen before; a pearl far bigger than the cultivated pearls of her best necklace; a pearl far bigger than the one Great Aunt Agatha used to wear when she, Tacey, was little and had so fascinated her on visits. Within it, great streamy swirls of creamy clouds seemed to move, captivating her, capturing her eye; she found it difficult to look away from the pearl, to stop watching the moving clouds of cream that appeared to roll around the jewel.Gradually Jonathan drew down the material covering the object and whilst her eyes could not leave the pearl she could see it was mounted on gold, indeed atop a golden acorn… or was it an acorn? As the material rolled back Tacey realised it was not so much an acorn as the bulbous end to a golden penis — a golden erect penis in exquisite detail surmounted by a great pearl; a pearl representing, quite clearly to her eye now, the bubbling up of semen or rather, what did they call it, yes, it was the 'pre-cum.’ She was both shocked and fascinated; her eyes could not draw away and leave the pearl with its swirls of milky cream. Her mind was being taken.Jonathan watched Tacey’s reaction; it was how it should be, no woman could resist the Great Mesmodildo, their pretty eyes were drawn to the pearl like moths to a candle and next would come the longing, a certain dryness of the mouth, an increasing need for something they could not quite place—it was no less than the desire for the milk of a man, a teosic longing in their loins. Jonathan had no need to completely un-sheathe the artefact, to reveal its shining golden glory, merely sliding back the material to expose the bulbous head was sufficientTracey’s tongue moved slowly across her lips; they felt dry.“Shall we sit over there, somewhere more private?” Jonathan sheathed the Mesmodildo. He had taken command of the situation.Tacey took a large swig of beer to ease the sudden dryness in her throat and followed him without question.Once again Jonathan eased back the covering revealing the golden head mounted with its strange pearl. Tacey stared; images of ejaculating penises came flooding into her mind and the thought of taking the head of this gold penis into her mouth, stroking it with her tongue, feeling the sensual smoothness of the pearl—smooth, yes smooth like… like… semen. Her nipples pricked at the material of her bra, they felt as hard as iron or, indeed, the gold of the strange penis before her. Within her panties, the new purple pair her especial friend, Diane, had bought her, she was flowing. Already the material felt soaked as if newly from the wash; it would seep into her trousers—an embarrassing wet stain.“May I, may I please suck it,” she asked in a small, little girl’s voice.Jonathan smiled to himself. It was more like pleading. How easy these women were taken, how powerful the Mesmodildo, how easily their minds were beaten and taken and their lust aroused. In a moment she would be pleading with him to let her suck his teors, desperate to take his seed and feel it slipping down her throat. But now was not the time and not just because they were in a public bar.The bar actually was empty but for the pretty bar girl and the Mesmodildo would handle her easily. Jonathan looked again at her and thought that perhaps another time, if he had not returned the Mesmodildo, he would like to use the artefact upon her and see her kneeling before him.“You may,” he replied and held it for her, still wrapped, with just the very end, the beautifully rounded head showing, and watched as she made the proper rounded shape with her mouth, the Teoric Circle, that women must make, before bowing her head down and absorbing the smooth gold head. He could imagine within her mouth the rapid flicking tongue; all women did this; the tip caressing the smoothness of the pear imagining it a continuous spurt of male milk to assuage their desperate thirst.Gently he pulled, extracting the Mesmodildo. He liked the need to pull a little to overcome the natural suction of the girl wishing to retain the object. It was a pleasant resistance.Tacey looked up at him, her eyes wide and doe like, her mouth still in the shape of the Teorsic Circle ready for the Mesmodildo, his own teors or, indeed, any other teors. It was a temptation. So very pleasant to have been able to disrobe, but not there, and place his own teors in this girl’s mouth; feel her tongue seeking the milk, trying to enter the very end of his teors; feeling the Second Wonder rising and watching, as his teors rested on her tongue, the small first clear drop of the Teorsic Fluid seep and run down from the acorn head; the sudden stiffening as the tongue tasted and induced a frenzy of sucking.From the bar the other girl stared. What had that man offered the girl to eat and why did her face now hold the expression of some plastic inflatable sex doll?“Come,” he said — and she almost did — the feeling of arousal was so strong, but he meant for her to follow.It was but a short taxi ride; though Tacey would remember nothing of it nor walking into a small building and down some steps — the stone steps to the Great Phallocrypt, Jonathan leading her by the hand.It might have been thought that no women would have been permitted to enter the ancient halls of the Order. Certainly they could not be of the Order, being mere women and lacking teorsas though it was said in times past there had been exceptions; women who would rather have been men; women with slim boyish hips and small breasts who had worn cunningly made simulated, pseudo-teorsas and had been more than happy to join in the male rituals sometimes made upon and with other members of their sex. This, though, was most certainly not permitted by the current and recent Bacala.It was possible, though, for women to be brought for judgement, correction or punishment: but not for pleasure. It should not be thought the Order was in any way a society for 'randy’ old men to enjoy countless women in a social way, a sort of 'Hellfire Club’ or opportunity for hedonistic orgiastic activity. The Order’s purposes were profound, mysterious and extremely serious. Any sexual gratification was a by-product, almost an accident: though to achieve the First, Second and Third Wonders of the Teors erotic thoughts a plenty were needed and sexual activity was something the knights were required to undertake regularly and in a brotherly fashion. The Wonders of the Teors, after all, had their root in sexual activity.It was appropriate for Jonathan to undress Tacey. It would not do for her to be presented to the Knights in clothes from the city above, least of all in that so wrong trouser suit. She needed to be modestly clad in a simple cream linen shift, a shapeless garment hiding her womanly attributes from the knights. First, though, she needed to be ritually washed; like the undressing it was a task Jonathan would need to undertake and it was a task he did not shirk. There were no female attendants in the Phallocrypt to assist female 'visitors’ and, as Tacey was his charge, Jonathan would need to perform the ceremony. He led her into a side chamber, stone vaulted and with a stone bath sunken into the floor. The water splashed into the bath and Jonathan added scents of sandalwood, carbolic and spice.Firstly Jonathan undressed, glad to be free of his workaday clothes ready to dress in the wonderful robes of the Order; it was better for him to be naked whilst bathing Tacey as it would not do to wet his robes. Tacey stood motionless in her trouser suit, still with the Teorsic Circle fixed to her face but her eyes betrayed intelligence behind her fixed expression. It was right for her to be conscious, she now needed to remember the lessons she would be taught. He knew her eyes would be staring at his teors, she could not help it and it was right for women to focus on the teors, to think about its beauty and power. Generously, as he began to take off Tacey’s jacket he permitted his teors to rise to help give her focus and bring her back from her Mesmodildo induced trance. His penis swayed magnificently and he paused to watch it in one of the many mirrors of the bath house. Inevitably she would compare it to her own biologically comparable but so much inferior organ, the Clitoris. Almost unnoticeable in some women, a mere pimple in others but for some there was an element of size, a proto-teors but, obviously, none could stand comparison with the Teors. The Bacalum was most particular and expected the size of the erect clitoris to be established and recorded. He thought it important. Jonathan was skilled in this and had a Clitometer ready.Jonathan fumbled at Tacey’s bra strap. He always had difficulty with these and then pulled down her panties. Jonathan took a step back and frowned, staring at the naked girl and particularly her pudenda. Her pubic hair had been shaved into a long vertical band rising up with her Cleft of Venus. To Jonathan the upright band had an inappropriate element of the Teors about it, a column of dark curly hair standing vertically up her pubis—did it not represent a Teors—that great column of the male? Why even the top of the column, below her navel seemed rounded. Was this sign of her further disrespect or quite the opposite, a mark of respect? Jonathan did not know. He was torn between seeking out the Bacalum and asking, but thereby displaying ignorance, or leaving be, but that seemed indecisive. Perhaps it would be best for Tacey if he assumed the worse and shaved off the offending symbol leaving her pudenda naked of hair. The Bacalum, he knew, preferred girls like that— innocent and pure was Jonathan’s understanding of his reasons.Leading Tacey by the hand into the water Jonathan picked up the soap and began to lather Tacey’s skin. It was not an unpleasant task feeling his hands sliding over her smooth young skin, leaving no place uncleansed, but taking especial trouble over the ritualistic four parts of the woman’s body which required greatest care—the nipples, the bottom and the pudenda. A full minute being allotted to each in the proper order. First the left nipple, then the right, followed by the bottom and lastly the pudenda. Jonathan looked into Tacey’s eyes and saw considerable surprise as his right index finger, liberally coated in soap, slipped up her bottom. It was appropriate. A woman should be surprised at the unexpected acts of a man.Finally Jonathan washed Tacey’s hair, lathering it enthusiastically as he stood and she knelt in the bath in the proper position a woman should take when a man is shampooing her hair. Equally properly Jonathan placed his teors between Tacey’s lips, still in the Teorsic Circle, and pushed. A woman should always suck the man’s teors when he is washing her hair. It was clearly shown in the old manuscripts. Tacey reacted rather dopily but instinctively seeking the Teorsic Fluid. It was not, though, appropriate yet.The full minute spent soapily washing, shaving and examining Tracey’s pudenda also ensured, had the Mesmodildo not done its arousing work, the clitoris was fully erect. Drying Tacey with towels he had her lie down and open her legs wide, giving him not only full access but a full view of her sex. He readied his instrument, his Clitometer, adjusting the wheels and shiny metal dividers to measure both circumference and length. The cold metal touched Tacey’s sensitive button and she winced slightly. “Why?” she said in a slightly slurred voice. Her faculties were returning.“Because it is necessary.” He was being kind. It was not necessary to answer a woman’s questions or even to listen to her.The last part of the preparation now needed to be undertaken. Jonathan brought Tacey to a curved marble saddle surmounted by a gorgeous golden teors. Of realistic size; unlike many of the beautiful representations in the halls; not too large because this had to fit all women; and more stylistic in design than many more faithful depictions. It was in an art nouveau style which so fitted the curving nature of the teors and the artist had taken liberty with his depiction of the glans which swept unusually far down the shaft giving a particularly streamlined look. A beautiful object which would give any women great pleasure to mount. Carefully he sat Tacey astride ensuring she lowered herself so the teors pushed up inside her. Instinctively, as before, Tacey began to ride the teors. Jonathan smiled a little in pity. Women had such a need for and such a longing to steal the Teorsic Fluid. They could not help themselves.Jonathan depressed a lever and Tacey betrayed surprise. It was not Teorsic Fluid but a sweet Almond oil that was being injected by the golden teors into her as she rode. A cunning contraption pumped out the oil in carefully regulated spurts mimicking the Third Wonder but in a profusion only the most adept knights were able to achieve—and the truth was that Jonathan was not one of them; much to his chagrin. He was, though, working at raising his TFL, performing the exercises at morning and night. He carefully recorded the outcome in a spreadsheet stored on his laptop and the chart did show a rising trend. (TFL = Teorsic Fluid Level).The purpose of the Almond ejaculation was not the pleasure of the women, or deceiving her she had taken Teorsic Fluid, but to prepare her. In Tacey’s case the Mesmodildo had caused her to literally drip but the liberal amount of Almond oil being pumped into her would ensure ease of teorsic insertion and a most appropriate sheen of oily lubrication running down the inside of her thighs. The Order expected not just the substance but the appearance of things and it was so very important for a woman appearing before the massed knights not only to be massively aroused by the honour shown but to visibly demonstrate it as well.Prepared, Jonathan dressed Tacey in the linen shift and finished his own ritual. Washed, he merely needed to don the badges of his rank and his robes. At the very base of his teorsic shaft, indeed clasping it tightly behind his scrotum, he tied, with leather thongs, a thin leather belt encircling the shaft forcing the scrotum forwards and the testes into greater prominence. It was the first symbol of a member of the Order and many wore it ordinarily under their street clothes.From a small red leather box Jonathon drew out three intricately engraved gold rings, rings prepared by the Order’s goldsmith—a member himself. The first ring for a raphe, the second for a knight and the third ring for a member of the Corona. Jonathan had not possessed the third ring for long, indeed had only recently been erected to the Corona, and was only just getting used to wearing it tightly and impressively below his glans. Lifting his now unerect teors by the prepuce, with an ease gained by long practice Jonathan slipped the first, second and then third ring down the shaft and willed the First Wonder. His teors rose proudly, the flesh expanding into the rings so they were held tightly in their allotted positions as if the shaft was bound in gold. His teors looked magnificent in the mirror; Jonathan admired himself turning to the right and left as if trying on a new suit of clothes; it was big, knurled by veins, beautifully banded in gold and surmounted by the shiny purple head with its eye of mystery. It never ceased to impress him.Only the Bacalum wore the fifth symbol, a gold, bejewelled hat or helmet sitting atop his teors-head.Pulling on his great red robe Jonathan was prepared and led Tacey out into the great hall of the knights, the Corpus Cavernosum. The Knights of the Teorsas were assembled and waiting.The grand phallic ritual is concluded.The shock to Tacey must have been immense, shock and awe at walking into such a beautiful stone vaulted place and seeing the knights and raphes, perhaps a hundred in all, standing in their red robes watching her, their eyes focused just upon her; and, at their centre, the figure of the Bacalum looking so serene and wonderful in his great curving red penile hat. Jonathan could not but sense what she was feeling as he led her down the massed rows of the knights. Certainly her eyes were wide.A low chanting filled the hall as Jonathan led Tacey forward to the centre of the hall. Speaking in a clear voice he outlined to the assembly Tacey’s grave misdemeanour. It was certain, very certain they were not pleased and Jonathan felt for Tacey as she must now realise how great was her error, how unwise and wrong it was to speak lightly of the teors and in a flippant manner. It was possible she thought herself there for punishment but that was not often the way of the Order. Perhaps once upon a time Tacey would have been bound tightly and her bottom roundly punished as the Knights watched; the sight of a helpless, naked, bound girl wriggling under torment greatly assisting their meditation.That was not the modern way. The Bacalum placed great store, not on punishment, but in behavioural correction. He saw the female mind as plastic and easily mouldable. A woman’s mind could change swiftly and, he reasoned, could therefore be changed easily. He believed strongly, much more so than his predecessors, in the use of the Mesmodildo for mind correction. It so eased compliance with change.Tacey had heard the accusation, must understand the gravity of her disrespect. Jonathan knew it was time and was gratified his thoughts were so in tune with the Bacalum for, at that very moment he knew it was time, the Bacalum raised his staff, a rod of iron surmounted by the bulbous end of a teors worked in silver filigree, and pronounced, “Do.”As one the knights, with both hands, pulled apart their robes disclosing to the single woman their rampant male nakedness beneath: it was the ancient and ritualistic Teorsic Flash. The sight of so many erect organs could have but one effect on Tacey, instinctively, as of a folk memory, she made a low curtsy, the obeisance, to the Teors. Awed, she saw each erect organ was bound in one, two or even three gold rings tightly held by the flesh that had expanded into them. They held their robes apart exposing their tumescent maleness to her, just to her; Jonathan could barely credit the honour being done to Tacey; to have revealed to her, to actually see, one hundred teors at a single time; moreover so beautifully bound in gold and framed by the red robes of the Order. It was breathtaking. She was honoured but awed. Never again, he knew, could she be disrespectful of the teors—not after such an experience under the influence of the Mesmodildo.There was a hush, the chanting ceased, and from his robes Jonathan drew out the wonderful golden Mesmodildo. This time, in the great hall of the Knights of the Teors he fully unsheathed it and it shone in the candlelight, its great pearl drawing all eyes to it, perhaps most of all those eyes already weeping the Second Wonder. Jonathan held it aloft and let his robe slip from him. Completely naked, apart from the leather band around his teors, the three gold rings tightly encircling his shaft and the silver ring around the small toe of his left foot (for reasons lost in the mists of time), he advanced upon Tacey. Her eyes widened and her mouth took on the shape of the Teorsic Circle. A proper expression of respect.But it was not between her lips that the Mesmodildo was destined. She had seen and sucked upon the artefact already but now, to complete the ritual, the great pearl must penetrate between her legs and rise up to touch the very entrance to her womb. The Specto, Combibo and Penetralis must be completed.The idea that Jonathan should kneel before Tacey and make the insertion was clearly misconceived. It would not do for a Knight of the Teors to kneel before a woman however important the ritualistic purpose. It was unthinkable. She would have to be raised. Such a lifting would have the benefit of making the act visible to all the knights; and clearly they would all wish to see the Penetralis. It was a problem long ago faced by the Order and brilliantly solved by Meatus XI, Bacalum 1895-1906, by the use of a ladder.In reality the method was somewhat more complicated than a simple ladder; in essence it was a pair of step ladders placed side by side but on castors. The girl, slipping her garment from her shoulders to the floor, ascended the steps, one foot to each set of steps until she reached the summit; when she was there, one foot set on top of each of the set of steps, the pair were moved apart, gradually widening the gap and causing the girl’s legs to open and splay, allowing the Dildick, or dildo wielder, easy access. The system had since been refined. Initially there were unfortunate and undignified situations where the steps kept moving apart due to the free running castors and the girl did 'the splits’ to an excessive degree and fell to the confusion of the knights below. The developed version ran on rails with stops and the splay could be precisely set so the girl was spread according to her height. To steady her and to ensure she did not tumble she was provided, one to each set of steps, a staff to hold onto; the end result rather like a pair of library steps mounted on rails. Properly set the naked girl would appear above the assembled knights spread-eagled with legs well apart and arms akimbo as her hands grasped the finely carved teors at the ends of the two poles.In the Teorsic Trance, Tacey disrobed and ascended the steps; the knights leaning forward out of interest to see her the better; at the top she grasped the two upright teors surmounting the poles and two raphes carefully moved the steps aside opening her legs until fully spread; Jonathan moved forward and looked upwards. Above him, open and vulnerable was Tacey’s sex, visible not only to him but to the other knights as well. There was a pause for meditation and then Jonathon raised the Mesmodildo higher and higher until the great pearl touched Tacey. The effect was electric. As Jonathan continued to push the great gold teors into Tacey, her body shook as if charged with an electric current whilst the strongest orgasm she had ever experienced shook her body. In her befuddled mind, as the waves of pleasure hit her, all she could focus on were the hundred of gold banded teors. Her desire for them was strong.Beneath her Jonathan rotated the Mesmodildo three times, as required by the ritual, and withdrew holding it high for all to see. The chanting returned, filling the hall.Still experiencing orgasmic aftershocks, Tacey’s eyes focused on the Mesmodildo as she descended the steps. Clearly totally captivated by the sight of the golden teors and its pearl, Jonathan could turn Tacey’s head to the left or right simply by moving the object. He lowered it to his own teors and Tacey followed it down to kneel in front of him. Rotating the Mesmodildo from the vertical to the horizontal he slipped the great rounded head with its pearl into Tacey’s mouth. Within her mouth, he knew, would be the rapid flicking tongue, caressing the smoothness of the pearl imagining it a continuous spurt of male milk to assuage a desperate thirst.Jonathan removed the Mesmodildo and, the ritual complete, turned, reluctantly, to pass it to a waiting knight. As the wonderful object was handed one to the other to be wrapped in its cloth their teors touched with just the faintest metallic sound of gold on gold; again a symbolic act.The Mesmodildo now sheathed, Jonathan knew Tacey would focus on his own teors. He smiled as her tongue flicked around her mouth. She would be desperate now, desperate for the male milk. He spoke and the chamber was hushed.“Repeat after me,” and he spoke the ancient words translated from the Latin so Tacey would understand and obey.Below him Tacey listened in rapt attention her eyes focused on Jonathan’s gold banded teors just inches from her face. She thought she had rarely seen anything so beautiful or desirable with its smooth plum head, sinuous veins and beautiful gold bands—bands that she could see were intricately engraved with intertwined teors.In a quiet voice, not loud as Jonathan’s had been, but gentle and modest as a woman’s voice should be she repeated:“Man is my master;The Teors is strong;I sink to my knees before the Teors;I shall drink from the Teors:Man is my master”The whole chamber was silent, hushed and now waiting for Jonathan. He applied all his years of training and meditation. He so wanted to do the thing; the act that marked a great knight—the spontaneous third wonder of the teors. All eyes were upon him not least Tacey’s as she gazed at his teors; Jonathan moved it closer almost as if he was going to place it in her mouth and let her suck. But that was not his intention. His concentration was intense; beads of sweat appeared on his brow and from his straining teors came the second wonder, a little bubbling pearl of Teorsic Fluid. The Bacalum saw it and nodded; from the knights came a low hum; Tacey’s eyes grew round as she saw the liquid pearl and she wet her lips. She had not, though, received permission to touch or lick however much her desperate desire was to taste and accept the teors into her mouth. Jonathan stared at Tacey’s moving tongue, practising all the meditative technique he could muster; so not wanting to disappoint his companions and disgrace himself, a full member of the Corona; so conscious of the rising sound of the humming knights. And then it came.Without touching, without his own hand or Tacey’s lips so much as brushing it, the Third Wonder came. With a groan Jonathan’s teors began to spout in full view of the company, spurt after creamy spurt crossing the air to land perfectly in Tacey’s waiting mouth. The low hum of the knights reached a crescendo and ceased.Tacey was clearly in ecstasy. Finally she had been permitted to drink the Teorsic Fluid; an ambrosia; she had never realised could be so…; had never thought… had never dreamt could be so wonderful.It was obvious to the company that Tacey’s orgasm had returned.The knights still wonderfully erect and gold banded began to process in their robes held open to display their manhood. An impressive sight as they circled the great hall. A group of seven knights advanced upon the kneeling Tacey and stood in a semi circle before her, folding their arms across their chests, their teors standing proud. Again Tacey was awed as first one then another teors began to stream semen without any manual or oral intervention. Her mouth sought the delicious fluid, her head turning first one way and then another. Two knights accepted defeat and allowed Tacey the honour of assisting the discharge of the Teorsic Fluid, her lips eagerly seeking, her mouth sucking, her tongue assisting as the hot ambrosia slid down her throat and her clitoris tingled like it had never done before.Group after group of knights advanced upon her as the ritual of the Discharge of the Teorsic Fluid continued. Despite her best efforts much of the delicious fluid had not reached her mouth. It dripped from her hair, her chin, her ears, her breasts and covered her body. Her skin tingled like she had never imagined it could and her orgasm went on and on as her senses were overwhelmed.Through the waves of ecstasy, all Tacey could hear around her was the tinkling sound of tens of gold rings falling and bouncing on the marbled floor as in her mind over and over again she kept repeating:“Man is my master;The Teors is strong;I sink to my knees before the Teors;I shall drink from the Teors:Man is my master”Jonathan stood; still the only naked person present other than Tacey, watching the ritual, marvelling at the power of the Teors so graphically wielded by the knights, delighting in the ejaculations and the sensual image of Tacey writhing on her knees under the onslaught. It was an image he would recall later for meditation. He was impressed by Tacey’s stamina for, despite the sustaining beverage she was consuming, her continuous orgasm would be sapping her strength. Soon he knew she must faint—again a right and proper thing in a female—a swoon.Still just conscious Tacey keeled over to lie in a pool of teorsic fluid, her eyes blinking and mouth moving. Jonathan was appalled. She should have swooned properly and completely. She should have been still and unconscious. He quickly signalled and, lifted by six raphes, she was brought to the Bacalum. He would know what was required.The Bacalum’s wise old face looked at the prostrate but still conscious girl and a frown came over his ancient features and then he nodded at Jonathan:“Do.”Jonathan attended him, gently lifting the hat from the end of the Bacalum’s teors. It was a magnificent specimen. No other Knight approached it in size—though a couple of raphe were almost equally endowed and great things were expected of them by the Corona.Once more Tacey’s thighs were separated and her sex exposed. The Bacalum stood ready and Jonathan took the Bacalum’s teors in his hand, marvelling at its girth, strength and length. He held it ready as the two raphes brought Tacey’s sex closer and closer to the great, now hatless, purple head. Tacey’s eyes widened as she saw what was to happen. Her eyes wide at the sight of the great gold banded teors but there was nothing she could do to prevent her approach. The great purple head touched, squashed a little and then impaled Tacey. It was not an easy task; such was the girth of the great fleshly member. Tacey had never felt so stretched and with it came a crashing final orgasm like a firework display and she passed from consciousness—quite swooned away as she should.Jonathan nodded thoughtfully at Tacey’s unconscious body. Once more the great wisdom of the Bacalum had been revealed.In awe, Jonathan turned his head to the Bacalum and bowed. The Bacalum nodded gravely and stepped backwards releasing his teors from the confines of Tacey’s sex so that it bounced upwards and stood impressively vibrating like a tuning fork. Carefully Jonathan replaced the hat upon its end to conclude the ritual. Probably as a result of Tacey’s slipperiness the hat slid slightly to one side at a rather jaunty angle as if it was pleased with what it had done.The Bacalum gazed down at the unconscious girl, and his gaze seemed to rest particularly on her shaved pubis. Jonathan had thought all was done but he was wrong; quite wrong. With a small smile the Bacalum raised his arms and with it released the pent up strength of his own meditation. From the great gold banded teors a magnificent ejaculation took flight drawing a gasp of wonder from the assembled company. The little jaunty bejewelled hat flew right over Tacey and beyond her head to clatter on the marble floor as the Bacalum’s own Teosic Fluid poured in great, strong, creamy spurts the whole length of her body. It was a sight for the knights to remember and feel humble.The ritual was concluded and it was time for Jonathan to take Tacey from the Phallocrypt and return her to the world above, the restless city, a better, wiser, more respectful person. One who would never again mock the teors, one who would be careful to be modest and quiet in the presence of men and a woman possessing, as women should, a secret lust for the Teosic Fluid.Jonathan always felt a great sense of regret when he left the Great Phallocrypt. It was where he felt greatest contentment—a sense of worth and belonging. He looked at the slowly regaining consciousness of Tacey as he prepared her for the return to the world above and sighed. Despite his pleasure, indeed his joy in the Order he would really love to have a girlfriend, a really nice girl, perhaps someone like Tacey. It was a sadness to him that he had never had a girlfriend, even as a teenager; had never had a loving relationship with a girl. He could not understand why.It was news, unwelcome news, news of the most distressing kind. After decades of silence, it now seemed the ancient opponents of the Order were not disbanded, not consigned to history but were once more on the ascendant; the Yin to the Order’s Yang, the Seth to its Jedi: the most detested Dames of the Drenched Digit.The Bacalum looked slowly up and along the walls of his office, at the many, many paintings of his predecessors; all of them seemed to be silently sharing his thoughts; even Henri de Coq who, it was said, came across with the Conqueror, bore a frown on his cropped Norman head. “It will not do,” said the Bacalum.By Drmaxc for Literotica.

It does not do to speak mockingly of erections.By Drmaxc. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.“Men and their erections,”“Men and their erections,” Tacey laughed shrilly, “if you could harness them you’d solve the energy crisis. Forget the unpredictability of wind power, their erections rise and fall come sun, come rain, come snow; if you could only capture the energy of all those millions of cocks…”The girls giggled and laughed loudly in their gaggle at the bar. They had drunk too much and were being disrespectful of men. Jonathan did not like it, he expected women to speak of such things, the male sexual organ, in hushed, slightly awed tones: not make silly jokes as if, he paused and took a breath, a ‘Teors’ was something to laugh about. He used the Old English deliberately. To have used a slang term — a 'cock’ as the girl had done, a 'willy’ or the like would have been wrong. He gripped his glass; something would need to be done.Entering the subterranean halls of the Knights of the Teorsas always gave Jonathan a particular thrill. Unknown to virtually the whole population of London it was a closely guarded secret, not even disclosed to the authorities. All they knew about was the insignificant little house in a backstreet of Covent Garden and it was to that house that the bills for electricity and the like came. It was an unremarkable house that held a remarkable secret as it gave access, through its cellar, to the ancient home of the Knights, the Great Phallocrypt, a network of rooms, halls and passages built in stone many, many, many years ago.Jonathan was much more than an initiate, a Raphe, more than a mere knight but a man who had crossed the Fraenum, the narrow bridge between the Corpus Cavernosum, the great hall where the knights assembled in their pomp, and the grand domed meeting hall of the inner circle, the Corona, who ruled the order. Jonathan was himself a member of the Corona, albeit its most junior having only been erected to the position a bare month before. He had, by virtue of his status, access to the Grand Master of the Order, the Bacalum, and could speak to him as of right.Dressed in his ceremonial robes, the gold badge of the erect phallus woven in gold thread into the red material, Jonathan strode through the Corpus Cavernosum nodding to knights he met but there was no time to pause and engage in intercourse, he had urgent business, a matter of grave importance to report to the Bacalum himself. Crossing the bridge of the Fraenum still gave him a thrill. How many of the knights achieved that? Such a singular honour; he had been speechless for a full minute when he had been told to prepare himself. How many would ever wear the third gold band around their teors? How many of them were ever able to do the thing he was about to do? To raise the great brass phallic knocker and tap three times on the oaken door of the Lacuna Magna, the Grand Master’s private office?As always, the Bacalum was dressed in his ancient robes, beautifully decorated with representations of the ancient Roman god, Priapus, and with his great red curving penile hat making him look so much taller than he actually was. A trick long realised by the designers of uniforms; whether the bearskins of the Guards, the Shako of yesteryear or, indeed, the 'tit’ of the London bobby. Shaking his grey head wisely he listened as Jonathan described what he had heard only the night before.“It will not do, it will not do.” The Baculum’s words of wisdom enervated Jonathan.“I seek permission to use, to wield, the Great Mesmodildo.” The words were out; Jonathan had made the request, an act of considerable presumption in one so junior.There was a sharp intake of breath, the great phallic hat jerked upwards, and the penetrating eyes of the Grand Master seemed to bore right into Jonathan. There was a pause, “It will do.”They sat for a few moments in contemplation. On the walls were artists’ impressions of wonderful buildings not built. Designs by some of the leading architects of their day for skyscrapers intended to be the tallest buildings in the world in their time, all unmistakeably phallic, as skyscrapers are, but not simply because they were structures pointed at the sky but true erections designed to look like erections, buildings particularly phallic in design. Unrealised plans by Mies Van de Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Colonel Seifert and most recently Sir Norman Foster. Designs the Order had not been able to find sufficient backers to fund; statements to the world not yet realised; buildings intended to awe and strike a proper respectfulness, an understanding of their place in the world, in womankind.The Grand Master rose, drawing his robes around him and walked to a cupboard; opening its black ebonised door he drew out something about a foot long and wrapped in a cloth; with both hands he presented it to Jonathan who, standing, accepted it with a bow. “I shall take the greatest care, Grand Master.”“Do.”Walking slowly back down the Corpus Cavernosa, Jonathan mused on the wise words of the Bacalum and upon his mission. Tucked into his robes was the ancient object — it would not do for the knights to see that which he had been entrusted or to know it was amongst them.Shedding his ceremonial robes in the outermost halls, where the putative knights, the Raphes, met and took instruction in their twin, wonderfully spherical, meeting rooms, Jonathan ascended back into a rainy, wet London morning; the ancient object tucked in his duffle bag along with his laptop and sandwiches. He had his job in the world outside the Order which he must attend to from 9am to 5pm but then he would commence his mission.It was one thing to hold the Mesmodildo but another to set up the opportunity to use it. Jonathan neither knew where Tacey lived nor worked. He did not actually know her name. His only knowledge was that she sometimes frequented: rather had at least once frequented, the bar where he had heard her disrespectful statement. He should have found out more about her at the time; he realised that now — it would have been better to have gathered more evidence before reporting to the Bacalum — but he had been so incensed, so overcome that he had rushed ahead without careful reflection and contemplation. He would meditate upon it later that evening.Meditation was important to the Order. Sitting cross-legged on a mat woven with ancient designs, a knight would sit in contemplation of his teors until turgidity ensued, that First Wonder of the teors; his thoughts would roam free as he sought to better understand himself, resolve his problems and focus on the baseness of his desires whilst seeking to raise the Primo Cumum, that first flowing of the teors so aptly described as its Second Wonder; lastly came the conclusion of the ritual, the ultimate goal of the meditation—the full flowing of the teors, the Ejaculum, a sight wonderful to behold—when the teors of its own volition would spew forth its seed. Putative knights worked hard at achieving this, many sitting for hours trying to create in their heads the necessary images; erotic images necessarily to achieve the apparently spontaneous Ejaculum.At first, and Jonathan had to admit he was as one with them, putative knights would use the Manualum or hand to achieve the necessary final stimulation; but he had achieved so much more – the result of hard work and dedication. Often appropriate texts or images were used, spread before the knight or novice to assist in his meditation. The Library of the Order, the Curiosa, contained many volumes and meditational material.Traditionally the knight would bow his head and orally accept the bounty of the Ejaculum. Ancient manuscripts, some written in Latin, some Sanskrit testified to this and the beautiful coloured illustrations showed no less. A variant much favoured in the modern Corona, and therefore too the Corpus Cavernosa, was the Art of Felicitation, requiring extensive practice, much suppleness of the body and, Jonathan admitted, a long teors. He, himself, had only managed the briefest of Teorsic Kiss at the moment of Ejaculum but the Bacalum and a few others of the Corona, knights of great experience, could hold the rounded terminus of their teors orally at the moment of the Third Wonder, an ideal act permitting the recycling of the seed so not one drop was lost to the body.Jonathan was lucky, very lucky. Inevitably he had returned to the very bar of Tacey’s misdeed as the only reference point he had in relation to her; had sat there nursing a beer and wondering if he would have to use the power of the Mesmodildo on the very pretty bar girl who had, he recalled, been there on the previous night. Perhaps she would know about the disrespectful girl; know who she was and where she lived — and her name. The entrance of Tacey saved the need. It was a relief to Jonathan — the pretty bar girl with the large breasts might not have known anything about the disrespectful girl and left him with no obvious lead in his quest; it also saved the seed he might well have lost to her in the course of extracting the information; she was, after all, very pretty and perhaps worthy of the honour.Tacey moved across the room and sat on a bar stool, her long legs crossed one over the other drawing up the material of her trouser leg revealing a particularly fine pair of high heeled shoes—clearly new by the sight of the soles and undoubtedly expensive.Not for the first time Jonathan wondered both at the impudence and the illogicality of women. There sat the girl in a suit of clothes but with trousers not a skirt. Trousers were a male prerogative and unsuited to women; they were for men. A skirt would have shown her new shoes off but instead they were largely hidden by the trousers. What was the sense in buying shoes to be noticed and then wearing trousers? There was no logic. The girl would look better without the trousers. In his mind he imagined the girl naked but for the shoes; it was an appropriate image he would use for meditation later. He looked down at his own sensible, solid black shoes largely hidden by his own trousers — and that was perhaps just as well. He mentally gave himself a note to polish them in the morning—it was a task he tended to overlook though it would not do to keep the dome of his teors unpolished.A further shock came to Jonathan; instead of a white wine spritzer or some expensive but brightly coloured vodka concoction in a pretty bottle, the girl had ordered beer: not just a half but a whole pint. She was drinking beer from a pint glass! Had she no shame?Jonathan got up and walked across to her, “I have something to show you,” he said without introduction and in a deep impressive voice.Tacey looked Jonathan up and down for a moment and then burst into laughter, “Ooh, you little pervert, you!” She seemed to find the whole scene very funny indeed. Jonathan was affronted. What had he said?“Well, what do you want? Who are you?” She said.It was not going well; it should be he who was asking the questions. As the Bacalum had wisely said, “it would not do.” Slowly he drew from his duffle bag an object wrapped in a cloth. “I have this to show you,” Jonathan said mysteriously, drawing the cloth down the object a little way.Tacey had never seen the like. It was a pearl, a great creamy, misty pearl; far, far bigger than any she had seen before; a pearl far bigger than the cultivated pearls of her best necklace; a pearl far bigger than the one Great Aunt Agatha used to wear when she, Tacey, was little and had so fascinated her on visits. Within it, great streamy swirls of creamy clouds seemed to move, captivating her, capturing her eye; she found it difficult to look away from the pearl, to stop watching the moving clouds of cream that appeared to roll around the jewel.Gradually Jonathan drew down the material covering the object and whilst her eyes could not leave the pearl she could see it was mounted on gold, indeed atop a golden acorn… or was it an acorn? As the material rolled back Tacey realised it was not so much an acorn as the bulbous end to a golden penis — a golden erect penis in exquisite detail surmounted by a great pearl; a pearl representing, quite clearly to her eye now, the bubbling up of semen or rather, what did they call it, yes, it was the 'pre-cum.’ She was both shocked and fascinated; her eyes could not draw away and leave the pearl with its swirls of milky cream. Her mind was being taken.Jonathan watched Tacey’s reaction; it was how it should be, no woman could resist the Great Mesmodildo, their pretty eyes were drawn to the pearl like moths to a candle and next would come the longing, a certain dryness of the mouth, an increasing need for something they could not quite place—it was no less than the desire for the milk of a man, a teosic longing in their loins. Jonathan had no need to completely un-sheathe the artefact, to reveal its shining golden glory, merely sliding back the material to expose the bulbous head was sufficientTracey’s tongue moved slowly across her lips; they felt dry.“Shall we sit over there, somewhere more private?” Jonathan sheathed the Mesmodildo. He had taken command of the situation.Tacey took a large swig of beer to ease the sudden dryness in her throat and followed him without question.Once again Jonathan eased back the covering revealing the golden head mounted with its strange pearl. Tacey stared; images of ejaculating penises came flooding into her mind and the thought of taking the head of this gold penis into her mouth, stroking it with her tongue, feeling the sensual smoothness of the pearl—smooth, yes smooth like… like… semen. Her nipples pricked at the material of her bra, they felt as hard as iron or, indeed, the gold of the strange penis before her. Within her panties, the new purple pair her especial friend, Diane, had bought her, she was flowing. Already the material felt soaked as if newly from the wash; it would seep into her trousers—an embarrassing wet stain.“May I, may I please suck it,” she asked in a small, little girl’s voice.Jonathan smiled to himself. It was more like pleading. How easy these women were taken, how powerful the Mesmodildo, how easily their minds were beaten and taken and their lust aroused. In a moment she would be pleading with him to let her suck his teors, desperate to take his seed and feel it slipping down her throat. But now was not the time and not just because they were in a public bar.The bar actually was empty but for the pretty bar girl and the Mesmodildo would handle her easily. Jonathan looked again at her and thought that perhaps another time, if he had not returned the Mesmodildo, he would like to use the artefact upon her and see her kneeling before him.“You may,” he replied and held it for her, still wrapped, with just the very end, the beautifully rounded head showing, and watched as she made the proper rounded shape with her mouth, the Teoric Circle, that women must make, before bowing her head down and absorbing the smooth gold head. He could imagine within her mouth the rapid flicking tongue; all women did this; the tip caressing the smoothness of the pear imagining it a continuous spurt of male milk to assuage their desperate thirst.Gently he pulled, extracting the Mesmodildo. He liked the need to pull a little to overcome the natural suction of the girl wishing to retain the object. It was a pleasant resistance.Tacey looked up at him, her eyes wide and doe like, her mouth still in the shape of the Teorsic Circle ready for the Mesmodildo, his own teors or, indeed, any other teors. It was a temptation. So very pleasant to have been able to disrobe, but not there, and place his own teors in this girl’s mouth; feel her tongue seeking the milk, trying to enter the very end of his teors; feeling the Second Wonder rising and watching, as his teors rested on her tongue, the small first clear drop of the Teorsic Fluid seep and run down from the acorn head; the sudden stiffening as the tongue tasted and induced a frenzy of sucking.From the bar the other girl stared. What had that man offered the girl to eat and why did her face now hold the expression of some plastic inflatable sex doll?“Come,” he said — and she almost did — the feeling of arousal was so strong, but he meant for her to follow.It was but a short taxi ride; though Tacey would remember nothing of it nor walking into a small building and down some steps — the stone steps to the Great Phallocrypt, Jonathan leading her by the hand.It might have been thought that no women would have been permitted to enter the ancient halls of the Order. Certainly they could not be of the Order, being mere women and lacking teorsas though it was said in times past there had been exceptions; women who would rather have been men; women with slim boyish hips and small breasts who had worn cunningly made simulated, pseudo-teorsas and had been more than happy to join in the male rituals sometimes made upon and with other members of their sex. This, though, was most certainly not permitted by the current and recent Bacala.It was possible, though, for women to be brought for judgement, correction or punishment: but not for pleasure. It should not be thought the Order was in any way a society for 'randy’ old men to enjoy countless women in a social way, a sort of 'Hellfire Club’ or opportunity for hedonistic orgiastic activity. The Order’s purposes were profound, mysterious and extremely serious. Any sexual gratification was a by-product, almost an accident: though to achieve the First, Second and Third Wonders of the Teors erotic thoughts a plenty were needed and sexual activity was something the knights were required to undertake regularly and in a brotherly fashion. The Wonders of the Teors, after all, had their root in sexual activity.It was appropriate for Jonathan to undress Tacey. It would not do for her to be presented to the Knights in clothes from the city above, least of all in that so wrong trouser suit. She needed to be modestly clad in a simple cream linen shift, a shapeless garment hiding her womanly attributes from the knights. First, though, she needed to be ritually washed; like the undressing it was a task Jonathan would need to undertake and it was a task he did not shirk. There were no female attendants in the Phallocrypt to assist female 'visitors’ and, as Tacey was his charge, Jonathan would need to perform the ceremony. He led her into a side chamber, stone vaulted and with a stone bath sunken into the floor. The water splashed into the bath and Jonathan added scents of sandalwood, carbolic and spice.Firstly Jonathan undressed, glad to be free of his workaday clothes ready to dress in the wonderful robes of the Order; it was better for him to be naked whilst bathing Tacey as it would not do to wet his robes. Tacey stood motionless in her trouser suit, still with the Teorsic Circle fixed to her face but her eyes betrayed intelligence behind her fixed expression. It was right for her to be conscious, she now needed to remember the lessons she would be taught. He knew her eyes would be staring at his teors, she could not help it and it was right for women to focus on the teors, to think about its beauty and power. Generously, as he began to take off Tacey’s jacket he permitted his teors to rise to help give her focus and bring her back from her Mesmodildo induced trance. His penis swayed magnificently and he paused to watch it in one of the many mirrors of the bath house. Inevitably she would compare it to her own biologically comparable but so much inferior organ, the Clitoris. Almost unnoticeable in some women, a mere pimple in others but for some there was an element of size, a proto-teors but, obviously, none could stand comparison with the Teors. The Bacalum was most particular and expected the size of the erect clitoris to be established and recorded. He thought it important. Jonathan was skilled in this and had a Clitometer ready.Jonathan fumbled at Tacey’s bra strap. He always had difficulty with these and then pulled down her panties. Jonathan took a step back and frowned, staring at the naked girl and particularly her pudenda. Her pubic hair had been shaved into a long vertical band rising up with her Cleft of Venus. To Jonathan the upright band had an inappropriate element of the Teors about it, a column of dark curly hair standing vertically up her pubis—did it not represent a Teors—that great column of the male? Why even the top of the column, below her navel seemed rounded. Was this sign of her further disrespect or quite the opposite, a mark of respect? Jonathan did not know. He was torn between seeking out the Bacalum and asking, but thereby displaying ignorance, or leaving be, but that seemed indecisive. Perhaps it would be best for Tacey if he assumed the worse and shaved off the offending symbol leaving her pudenda naked of hair. The Bacalum, he knew, preferred girls like that— innocent and pure was Jonathan’s understanding of his reasons.Leading Tacey by the hand into the water Jonathan picked up the soap and began to lather Tacey’s skin. It was not an unpleasant task feeling his hands sliding over her smooth young skin, leaving no place uncleansed, but taking especial trouble over the ritualistic four parts of the woman’s body which required greatest care—the nipples, the bottom and the pudenda. A full minute being allotted to each in the proper order. First the left nipple, then the right, followed by the bottom and lastly the pudenda. Jonathan looked into Tacey’s eyes and saw considerable surprise as his right index finger, liberally coated in soap, slipped up her bottom. It was appropriate. A woman should be surprised at the unexpected acts of a man.Finally Jonathan washed Tacey’s hair, lathering it enthusiastically as he stood and she knelt in the bath in the proper position a woman should take when a man is shampooing her hair. Equally properly Jonathan placed his teors between Tacey’s lips, still in the Teorsic Circle, and pushed. A woman should always suck the man’s teors when he is washing her hair. It was clearly shown in the old manuscripts. Tacey reacted rather dopily but instinctively seeking the Teorsic Fluid. It was not, though, appropriate yet.The full minute spent soapily washing, shaving and examining Tracey’s pudenda also ensured, had the Mesmodildo not done its arousing work, the clitoris was fully erect. Drying Tacey with towels he had her lie down and open her legs wide, giving him not only full access but a full view of her sex. He readied his instrument, his Clitometer, adjusting the wheels and shiny metal dividers to measure both circumference and length. The cold metal touched Tacey’s sensitive button and she winced slightly. “Why?” she said in a slightly slurred voice. Her faculties were returning.“Because it is necessary.” He was being kind. It was not necessary to answer a woman’s questions or even to listen to her.The last part of the preparation now needed to be undertaken. Jonathan brought Tacey to a curved marble saddle surmounted by a gorgeous golden teors. Of realistic size; unlike many of the beautiful representations in the halls; not too large because this had to fit all women; and more stylistic in design than many more faithful depictions. It was in an art nouveau style which so fitted the curving nature of the teors and the artist had taken liberty with his depiction of the glans which swept unusually far down the shaft giving a particularly streamlined look. A beautiful object which would give any women great pleasure to mount. Carefully he sat Tacey astride ensuring she lowered herself so the teors pushed up inside her. Instinctively, as before, Tacey began to ride the teors. Jonathan smiled a little in pity. Women had such a need for and such a longing to steal the Teorsic Fluid. They could not help themselves.Jonathan depressed a lever and Tacey betrayed surprise. It was not Teorsic Fluid but a sweet Almond oil that was being injected by the golden teors into her as she rode. A cunning contraption pumped out the oil in carefully regulated spurts mimicking the Third Wonder but in a profusion only the most adept knights were able to achieve—and the truth was that Jonathan was not one of them; much to his chagrin. He was, though, working at raising his TFL, performing the exercises at morning and night. He carefully recorded the outcome in a spreadsheet stored on his laptop and the chart did show a rising trend. (TFL = Teorsic Fluid Level).The purpose of the Almond ejaculation was not the pleasure of the women, or deceiving her she had taken Teorsic Fluid, but to prepare her. In Tacey’s case the Mesmodildo had caused her to literally drip but the liberal amount of Almond oil being pumped into her would ensure ease of teorsic insertion and a most appropriate sheen of oily lubrication running down the inside of her thighs. The Order expected not just the substance but the appearance of things and it was so very important for a woman appearing before the massed knights not only to be massively aroused by the honour shown but to visibly demonstrate it as well.Prepared, Jonathan dressed Tacey in the linen shift and finished his own ritual. Washed, he merely needed to don the badges of his rank and his robes. At the very base of his teorsic shaft, indeed clasping it tightly behind his scrotum, he tied, with leather thongs, a thin leather belt encircling the shaft forcing the scrotum forwards and the testes into greater prominence. It was the first symbol of a member of the Order and many wore it ordinarily under their street clothes.From a small red leather box Jonathon drew out three intricately engraved gold rings, rings prepared by the Order’s goldsmith—a member himself. The first ring for a raphe, the second for a knight and the third ring for a member of the Corona. Jonathan had not possessed the third ring for long, indeed had only recently been erected to the Corona, and was only just getting used to wearing it tightly and impressively below his glans. Lifting his now unerect teors by the prepuce, with an ease gained by long practice Jonathan slipped the first, second and then third ring down the shaft and willed the First Wonder. His teors rose proudly, the flesh expanding into the rings so they were held tightly in their allotted positions as if the shaft was bound in gold. His teors looked magnificent in the mirror; Jonathan admired himself turning to the right and left as if trying on a new suit of clothes; it was big, knurled by veins, beautifully banded in gold and surmounted by the shiny purple head with its eye of mystery. It never ceased to impress him.Only the Bacalum wore the fifth symbol, a gold, bejewelled hat or helmet sitting atop his teors-head.Pulling on his great red robe Jonathan was prepared and led Tacey out into the great hall of the knights, the Corpus Cavernosum. The Knights of the Teorsas were assembled and waiting.The grand phallic ritual is concluded.The shock to Tacey must have been immense, shock and awe at walking into such a beautiful stone vaulted place and seeing the knights and raphes, perhaps a hundred in all, standing in their red robes watching her, their eyes focused just upon her; and, at their centre, the figure of the Bacalum looking so serene and wonderful in his great curving red penile hat. Jonathan could not but sense what she was feeling as he led her down the massed rows of the knights. Certainly her eyes were wide.A low chanting filled the hall as Jonathan led Tacey forward to the centre of the hall. Speaking in a clear voice he outlined to the assembly Tacey’s grave misdemeanour. It was certain, very certain they were not pleased and Jonathan felt for Tacey as she must now realise how great was her error, how unwise and wrong it was to speak lightly of the teors and in a flippant manner. It was possible she thought herself there for punishment but that was not often the way of the Order. Perhaps once upon a time Tacey would have been bound tightly and her bottom roundly punished as the Knights watched; the sight of a helpless, naked, bound girl wriggling under torment greatly assisting their meditation.That was not the modern way. The Bacalum placed great store, not on punishment, but in behavioural correction. He saw the female mind as plastic and easily mouldable. A woman’s mind could change swiftly and, he reasoned, could therefore be changed easily. He believed strongly, much more so than his predecessors, in the use of the Mesmodildo for mind correction. It so eased compliance with change.Tacey had heard the accusation, must understand the gravity of her disrespect. Jonathan knew it was time and was gratified his thoughts were so in tune with the Bacalum for, at that very moment he knew it was time, the Bacalum raised his staff, a rod of iron surmounted by the bulbous end of a teors worked in silver filigree, and pronounced, “Do.”As one the knights, with both hands, pulled apart their robes disclosing to the single woman their rampant male nakedness beneath: it was the ancient and ritualistic Teorsic Flash. The sight of so many erect organs could have but one effect on Tacey, instinctively, as of a folk memory, she made a low curtsy, the obeisance, to the Teors. Awed, she saw each erect organ was bound in one, two or even three gold rings tightly held by the flesh that had expanded into them. They held their robes apart exposing their tumescent maleness to her, just to her; Jonathan could barely credit the honour being done to Tacey; to have revealed to her, to actually see, one hundred teors at a single time; moreover so beautifully bound in gold and framed by the red robes of the Order. It was breathtaking. She was honoured but awed. Never again, he knew, could she be disrespectful of the teors—not after such an experience under the influence of the Mesmodildo.There was a hush, the chanting ceased, and from his robes Jonathan drew out the wonderful golden Mesmodildo. This time, in the great hall of the Knights of the Teors he fully unsheathed it and it shone in the candlelight, its great pearl drawing all eyes to it, perhaps most of all those eyes already weeping the Second Wonder. Jonathan held it aloft and let his robe slip from him. Completely naked, apart from the leather band around his teors, the three gold rings tightly encircling his shaft and the silver ring around the small toe of his left foot (for reasons lost in the mists of time), he advanced upon Tacey. Her eyes widened and her mouth took on the shape of the Teorsic Circle. A proper expression of respect.But it was not between her lips that the Mesmodildo was destined. She had seen and sucked upon the artefact already but now, to complete the ritual, the great pearl must penetrate between her legs and rise up to touch the very entrance to her womb. The Specto, Combibo and Penetralis must be completed.The idea that Jonathan should kneel before Tacey and make the insertion was clearly misconceived. It would not do for a Knight of the Teors to kneel before a woman however important the ritualistic purpose. It was unthinkable. She would have to be raised. Such a lifting would have the benefit of making the act visible to all the knights; and clearly they would all wish to see the Penetralis. It was a problem long ago faced by the Order and brilliantly solved by Meatus XI, Bacalum 1895-1906, by the use of a ladder.In reality the method was somewhat more complicated than a simple ladder; in essence it was a pair of step ladders placed side by side but on castors. The girl, slipping her garment from her shoulders to the floor, ascended the steps, one foot to each set of steps until she reached the summit; when she was there, one foot set on top of each of the set of steps, the pair were moved apart, gradually widening the gap and causing the girl’s legs to open and splay, allowing the Dildick, or dildo wielder, easy access. The system had since been refined. Initially there were unfortunate and undignified situations where the steps kept moving apart due to the free running castors and the girl did 'the splits’ to an excessive degree and fell to the confusion of the knights below. The developed version ran on rails with stops and the splay could be precisely set so the girl was spread according to her height. To steady her and to ensure she did not tumble she was provided, one to each set of steps, a staff to hold onto; the end result rather like a pair of library steps mounted on rails. Properly set the naked girl would appear above the assembled knights spread-eagled with legs well apart and arms akimbo as her hands grasped the finely carved teors at the ends of the two poles.In the Teorsic Trance, Tacey disrobed and ascended the steps; the knights leaning forward out of interest to see her the better; at the top she grasped the two upright teors surmounting the poles and two raphes carefully moved the steps aside opening her legs until fully spread; Jonathan moved forward and looked upwards. Above him, open and vulnerable was Tacey’s sex, visible not only to him but to the other knights as well. There was a pause for meditation and then Jonathon raised the Mesmodildo higher and higher until the great pearl touched Tacey. The effect was electric. As Jonathan continued to push the great gold teors into Tacey, her body shook as if charged with an electric current whilst the strongest orgasm she had ever experienced shook her body. In her befuddled mind, as the waves of pleasure hit her, all she could focus on were the hundred of gold banded teors. Her desire for them was strong.Beneath her Jonathan rotated the Mesmodildo three times, as required by the ritual, and withdrew holding it high for all to see. The chanting returned, filling the hall.Still experiencing orgasmic aftershocks, Tacey’s eyes focused on the Mesmodildo as she descended the steps. Clearly totally captivated by the sight of the golden teors and its pearl, Jonathan could turn Tacey’s head to the left or right simply by moving the object. He lowered it to his own teors and Tacey followed it down to kneel in front of him. Rotating the Mesmodildo from the vertical to the horizontal he slipped the great rounded head with its pearl into Tacey’s mouth. Within her mouth, he knew, would be the rapid flicking tongue, caressing the smoothness of the pearl imagining it a continuous spurt of male milk to assuage a desperate thirst.Jonathan removed the Mesmodildo and, the ritual complete, turned, reluctantly, to pass it to a waiting knight. As the wonderful object was handed one to the other to be wrapped in its cloth their teors touched with just the faintest metallic sound of gold on gold; again a symbolic act.The Mesmodildo now sheathed, Jonathan knew Tacey would focus on his own teors. He smiled as her tongue flicked around her mouth. She would be desperate now, desperate for the male milk. He spoke and the chamber was hushed.“Repeat after me,” and he spoke the ancient words translated from the Latin so Tacey would understand and obey.Below him Tacey listened in rapt attention her eyes focused on Jonathan’s gold banded teors just inches from her face. She thought she had rarely seen anything so beautiful or desirable with its smooth plum head, sinuous veins and beautiful gold bands—bands that she could see were intricately engraved with intertwined teors.In a quiet voice, not loud as Jonathan’s had been, but gentle and modest as a woman’s voice should be she repeated:“Man is my master;The Teors is strong;I sink to my knees before the Teors;I shall drink from the Teors:Man is my master”The whole chamber was silent, hushed and now waiting for Jonathan. He applied all his years of training and meditation. He so wanted to do the thing; the act that marked a great knight—the spontaneous third wonder of the teors. All eyes were upon him not least Tacey’s as she gazed at his teors; Jonathan moved it closer almost as if he was going to place it in her mouth and let her suck. But that was not his intention. His concentration was intense; beads of sweat appeared on his brow and from his straining teors came the second wonder, a little bubbling pearl of Teorsic Fluid. The Bacalum saw it and nodded; from the knights came a low hum; Tacey’s eyes grew round as she saw the liquid pearl and she wet her lips. She had not, though, received permission to touch or lick however much her desperate desire was to taste and accept the teors into her mouth. Jonathan stared at Tacey’s moving tongue, practising all the meditative technique he could muster; so not wanting to disappoint his companions and disgrace himself, a full member of the Corona; so conscious of the rising sound of the humming knights. And then it came.Without touching, without his own hand or Tacey’s lips so much as brushing it, the Third Wonder came. With a groan Jonathan’s teors began to spout in full view of the company, spurt after creamy spurt crossing the air to land perfectly in Tacey’s waiting mouth. The low hum of the knights reached a crescendo and ceased.Tacey was clearly in ecstasy. Finally she had been permitted to drink the Teorsic Fluid; an ambrosia; she had never realised could be so…; had never thought… had never dreamt could be so wonderful.It was obvious to the company that Tacey’s orgasm had returned.The knights still wonderfully erect and gold banded began to process in their robes held open to display their manhood. An impressive sight as they circled the great hall. A group of seven knights advanced upon the kneeling Tacey and stood in a semi circle before her, folding their arms across their chests, their teors standing proud. Again Tacey was awed as first one then another teors began to stream semen without any manual or oral intervention. Her mouth sought the delicious fluid, her head turning first one way and then another. Two knights accepted defeat and allowed Tacey the honour of assisting the discharge of the Teorsic Fluid, her lips eagerly seeking, her mouth sucking, her tongue assisting as the hot ambrosia slid down her throat and her clitoris tingled like it had never done before.Group after group of knights advanced upon her as the ritual of the Discharge of the Teorsic Fluid continued. Despite her best efforts much of the delicious fluid had not reached her mouth. It dripped from her hair, her chin, her ears, her breasts and covered her body. Her skin tingled like she had never imagined it could and her orgasm went on and on as her senses were overwhelmed.Through the waves of ecstasy, all Tacey could hear around her was the tinkling sound of tens of gold rings falling and bouncing on the marbled floor as in her mind over and over again she kept repeating:“Man is my master;The Teors is strong;I sink to my knees before the Teors;I shall drink from the Teors:Man is my master”Jonathan stood; still the only naked person present other than Tacey, watching the ritual, marvelling at the power of the Teors so graphically wielded by the knights, delighting in the ejaculations and the sensual image of Tacey writhing on her knees under the onslaught. It was an image he would recall later for meditation. He was impressed by Tacey’s stamina for, despite the sustaining beverage she was consuming, her continuous orgasm would be sapping her strength. Soon he knew she must faint—again a right and proper thing in a female—a swoon.Still just conscious Tacey keeled over to lie in a pool of teorsic fluid, her eyes blinking and mouth moving. Jonathan was appalled. She should have swooned properly and completely. She should have been still and unconscious. He quickly signalled and, lifted by six raphes, she was brought to the Bacalum. He would know what was required.The Bacalum’s wise old face looked at the prostrate but still conscious girl and a frown came over his ancient features and then he nodded at Jonathan:“Do.”Jonathan attended him, gently lifting the hat from the end of the Bacalum’s teors. It was a magnificent specimen. No other Knight approached it in size—though a couple of raphe were almost equally endowed and great things were expected of them by the Corona.Once more Tacey’s thighs were separated and her sex exposed. The Bacalum stood ready and Jonathan took the Bacalum’s teors in his hand, marvelling at its girth, strength and length. He held it ready as the two raphes brought Tacey’s sex closer and closer to the great, now hatless, purple head. Tacey’s eyes widened as she saw what was to happen. Her eyes wide at the sight of the great gold banded teors but there was nothing she could do to prevent her approach. The great purple head touched, squashed a little and then impaled Tacey. It was not an easy task; such was the girth of the great fleshly member. Tacey had never felt so stretched and with it came a crashing final orgasm like a firework display and she passed from consciousness—quite swooned away as she should.Jonathan nodded thoughtfully at Tacey’s unconscious body. Once more the great wisdom of the Bacalum had been revealed.In awe, Jonathan turned his head to the Bacalum and bowed. The Bacalum nodded gravely and stepped backwards releasing his teors from the confines of Tacey’s sex so that it bounced upwards and stood impressively vibrating like a tuning fork. Carefully Jonathan replaced the hat upon its end to conclude the ritual. Probably as a result of Tacey’s slipperiness the hat slid slightly to one side at a rather jaunty angle as if it was pleased with what it had done.The Bacalum gazed down at the unconscious girl, and his gaze seemed to rest particularly on her shaved pubis. Jonathan had thought all was done but he was wrong; quite wrong. With a small smile the Bacalum raised his arms and with it released the pent up strength of his own meditation. From the great gold banded teors a magnificent ejaculation took flight drawing a gasp of wonder from the assembled company. The little jaunty bejewelled hat flew right over Tacey and beyond her head to clatter on the marble floor as the Bacalum’s own Teosic Fluid poured in great, strong, creamy spurts the whole length of her body. It was a sight for the knights to remember and feel humble.The ritual was concluded and it was time for Jonathan to take Tacey from the Phallocrypt and return her to the world above, the restless city, a better, wiser, more respectful person. One who would never again mock the teors, one who would be careful to be modest and quiet in the presence of men and a woman possessing, as women should, a secret lust for the Teosic Fluid.Jonathan always felt a great sense of regret when he left the Great Phallocrypt. It was where he felt greatest contentment—a sense of worth and belonging. He looked at the slowly regaining consciousness of Tacey as he prepared her for the return to the world above and sighed. Despite his pleasure, indeed his joy in the Order he would really love to have a girlfriend, a really nice girl, perhaps someone like Tacey. It was a sadness to him that he had never had a girlfriend, even as a teenager; had never had a loving relationship with a girl. He could not understand why.It was news, unwelcome news, news of the most distressing kind. After decades of silence, it now seemed the ancient opponents of the Order were not disbanded, not consigned to history but were once more on the ascendant; the Yin to the Order’s Yang, the Seth to its Jedi: the most detested Dames of the Drenched Digit.The Bacalum looked slowly up and along the walls of his office, at the many, many paintings of his predecessors; all of them seemed to be silently sharing his thoughts; even Henri de Coq who, it was said, came across with the Conqueror, bore a frown on his cropped Norman head. “It will not do,” said the Bacalum.By Drmaxc for Literotica.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.07.21.550021v1?rss=1 Authors: Georgiou, X., Dimou, S., Diallinas, G., Samiotaki, M. Abstract: Neosynthesized plasma membrane (PM) proteins co-translationally translocate to the ER, concentrate at regions called ER-exit sites (ERes) and pack into COPII secretory vesicles which are sorted to the early-Golgi through membrane fusion. Following Golgi maturation, membrane cargoes reach the late-Golgi, from where they exit in clathrin-coated vesicles destined to the PM, directly or through endosomes. Post-Golgi membrane cargo trafficking also involves the cytoskeleton and the exocyst. The Golgi-dependent secretory pathway is thought to be responsible for the trafficking of all major membrane proteins. However, our recent findings in Aspergillus nidulans showed that several plasma membrane cargoes, such as transporters and receptors, follow a sorting route that seems to bypass Golgi functioning. To gain insight on membrane trafficking and specifically Golgi-bypass, here we used proximity dependent biotinylation (PDB) coupled with data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS) for identifying transient interactors of the UapA transporter. Our assays, which included proteomes of wild-type and mutant strains affecting ER-exit or endocytosis, identified both expected and novel interactions that might be physiologically relevant to UapA trafficking. Among those, we validated, using reverse genetics and fluorescence microscopy, that COPI coatomer is essential for ER-exit and anterograde trafficking of UapA and other membrane cargoes. We also showed that ArfAArf1 GTPase activating protein (GAP) Glo3 contributes to UapA trafficking at increased temperature. This is the first report addressing the identification of transient interactions during membrane cargo biogenesis using PDB and proteomics coupled with fungal genetics. Our work provides a basis for dissecting dynamic membrane cargo trafficking via PDB assays. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.07.07.548151v1?rss=1 Authors: Wise, D. L., Greene, S., Escobedo-Lozoya, Y., Van Hooser, S., Nelson, S. B. Abstract: Forebrain neurons deprived of activity become hyperactive when activity is restored. Rebound activity has been linked to spontaneous seizures in vivo following prolonged activity blockade. Here we measured the time course of rebound activity and the contributing circuit mechanisms using calcium imaging, synaptic staining and whole cell patch clamp in organotypic slice cultures of mouse neocortex. Calcium imaging revealed hypersynchronous activity increasing in intensity with longer periods of deprivation. While activity partially recovered three days after slices were released from five days of deprivation, they were less able to recover after ten days of deprivation. However, even after the longer period of deprivation, activity patterns eventually returned to baseline levels. The degree of deprivation-induced rebound was age-dependent, with the greatest effects occurring when silencing began in the second week. Pharmacological blockade of NMDA receptors indicated that hypersynchronous rebound activity did not require Hebbian plasticity evoked. In single neuron recordings, input resistance roughly doubled with a concomitant increase in intrinsic excitability. Synaptic imaging of pre- and postsynaptic proteins revealed dramatic reductions in the number of presumptive synapses with a larger effect on inhibitory than seen in excitatory synapses. Putative excitatory synapses colocalizing PSD-95 and Bassoon declined by 39% and 56% following five and ten days of deprivation, but presumptive inhibitory synapses colocalizing gephyrin and VGAT declined by 55% and 73% respectively. The results suggest that with prolonged deprivation, a progressive reduction in synapse number is accompanied by a shift in the balance between excitation and inhibition and increased cellular excitability. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.05.02.539121v1?rss=1 Authors: Kirkland, J. M., Patel, I., Kopec, A. M. Abstract: Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://herstontennesseefamilylaw.com/2021/09/20/putative-fathers-can-repent-after-termination-of-parental-rights-petition-filed-in-tennessee-in-re-kierani-c/

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.03.16.533063v1?rss=1 Authors: Farrukh, A., Musabyimana, J.-P., Distler, U., Tenzer, S., Pradel, G., Julius Ngwa, C. Abstract: Some proteins have acquired both ubiquitin ligase activity and RNA-binding properties and are therefore known as RNA-binding Ubiquitin ligases (RBULs). These proteins provide a link between the RNA metabolism and the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). The UPS is a crucial protein surveillance system of eukaryotes primarily involved in the selective proteolysis of proteins which are covalently marked with ubiquitin through a series of steps involving ubiquitin E1 activating, E2 conjugating and E3 ligating enzymes. The UPS also regulates other key cellular processes such as cell cycle, proliferation, cell differentiation, transcription and signal transduction. While RBULs have been characterized in other organisms, little is known about their role in Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of the deadliest human malaria, malaria tropica. In this study, we characterized a previously identified putative P. falciparum RING finger E3 ligase PfRNF1. We show that the protein is highly expressed in sexual stage parasites and mainly present in immature male gametocytes. Using proximity interaction studies with parasite lines expressing PfRNF1 tagged with the Biotin ligase BirA, we identified an interaction network of PfRNF1 in both the asexual blood stages and gametocytes composed mainly of ribosomal proteins, RNA-binding proteins including translational repressors such DOZI, CITH, PUF1 and members of the CCR4-NOT complex, as well as proteins of the UPS such as RPN11, RPT1 and RPT6. Our interaction network analysis reveals PfRNF1 as a potential RNA-binding E3 ligase which links RNA dependent processes with protein ubiquitination to regulate gene expression. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.03.01.530578v1?rss=1 Authors: Walton-Doyle, C., Heim, B., Sinclair, E., Hollywood, K., Milne, J., Holzknecht, E., Stefani, A., Hogl, B., Seppi, K., Silverdale, M., Poewe, W., Barran, P., Trivedi, D. K. Abstract: Background: Parkinson's Disease (PD) has been associated with a distinct odour, strongest in sebum-rich areas. Thermal Desorption Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (TDGCMS) has revealed volatile signatures that distinguish individuals with Parkinson's Disease (PD) from healthy controls. Here, we applied the same method, including subjects with isolated REM sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) to examine the volatiles in sebum and compare this with that found in PD subjects and control participants. Participants with iRBD have a high likelihood for conversion to overt clinical synucleinopathies like PD, Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) or (less commonly) Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). Methods: Subjects with clinically established PD (n=16) or iRBD (n=9) as well as healthy controls (n=9) were included. Following methods established in our laboratory, sebum was sampled from each participant using cotton gauze and the headspace from these swabs, analysed directly with TDGCMS. Univariate and multivariate analysis was employed to probe the differences between volatile metabolites found for each phenotype. Putative identifications were assigned using spectral matching against the Golm metabolome and NIST spectral databases. Findings: We can completely classify each phenotype using the sampled volatilome from which we built models with logistic regression analysis. The classification between PD and control improved on previously published work, from 85% to 100%. Putatively annotated molecules include alkanes, aldehydes, fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), and three metabolites namely purine, tropinone and oleamide. Investigation of highly ranked features revealed 18 features that showed intermediate expression in samples from iRBD participants. Interpretation: TDGCMS can differentiate volatile metabolite signatures from sebum between PD, RDB and control samples. More than 70% of the identifiable metabolites that 2 permit this discrimination were putatively annotated as hydrocarbons and fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). Our prior work indicates that these components arise from larger lipid molecules that decompose during the experiment. Features putatively annotated as tropinone, oleamide and purine, have previously been linked with neuroprotection, sleep induction and antioxidation, respectively, are significantly different between the three groups of participants, along with FAMEs and hydrocarbons. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.02.04.527110v1?rss=1 Authors: Shiers, S., Funk, G., Cervantes, A., Horton, P., Dussor, G., Hennen, S., Price, T. J. Abstract: NaV1.7, a membrane-bound voltage-gated sodium channel, is preferentially expressed along primary sensory neurons, including their peripheral & central nerve endings, axons, and soma within the dorsal root ganglia and plays an integral role in amplifying membrane depolarization and pain neurotransmission. Loss- and gain-of-function mutations in the gene encoding NaV1.7, SCN9A, are associated with a complete loss of pain sensation or exacerbated pain in humans, respectively. As an enticing pain target supported by human genetic validation, many compounds have been developed to inhibit NaV1.7 but have disappointed in clinical trials. The underlying reasons are still unclear, but recent reports suggest that inhibiting NaV1.7 in central terminals of nociceptor afferents is critical for achieving pain relief by pharmacological inhibition of NaV1.7. We report for the first time that NaV1.7 mRNA is expressed in putative projection neurons (NK1R+) in the human spinal dorsal horn, predominantly in lamina 1 and 2, as well as in deep dorsal horn neurons and motor neurons in the ventral horn. NaV1.7 protein was found in the central axons of sensory neurons terminating in lamina 1-2, but also was detected in the axon initial segment of resident spinal dorsal horn neurons and in axons entering the anterior commissure. Given that projection neurons are critical for conveying nociceptive information from the dorsal horn to the brain, these data support that dorsal horn NaV1.7 expression may play an unappreciated role in pain phenotypes observed in humans with genetic SCN9A mutations, and in achieving analgesic efficacy in clinical trials. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 16, 2022 is: putative • PYOO-tuh-tiv • adjective Putative is a formal word meaning "generally believed, supposed, or assumed to be (something)." It is always used before a noun. // The putative reason for their dismissal was poor job performance. // Critics challenged his putative allegiance to the cause. See the entry > Examples: "The putative protagonist [of Lucy Ives' novel Life is Everywhere] is Erin Adamo, a grad student locked out of her apartment one night in New York City in the fall of 2014." — Nina Renata Aron, The Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2022 Did you know? There's no need to make assumptions about the root behind putative; scholars are quite certain the word comes from Latin putatus, the past participle of the verb putare, which means "to consider" or "to think." Putative has been part of English since the 15th century, and it often shows up in legal contexts. For instance, a "putative marriage" is one that is believed to be legal by at least one of the parties involved. When that trusting person finds out that their marriage is not sanctioned by law, other putare derivatives—such as dispute, reputed, imputation, and deputy—may come into play.

Evaluating single cell omics to understand the heterogeneity in immune and tumor cellsMulti-omic biomarkers for patient selection in solid tumor IO: is there a path to more personalized therapy?In an era of ‘targeted' therapies against cell-intrinsic mechanisms (e.g. PARP, NTRK, BRAF) and surface molecules (Nectin-4, HER2), is there a path forward for pan-tumor biomarkers, or is multi-tumor more likely to be the dominant development mechanism? Moderated by: Theresa LaVallee, PhD, VP, Translational Medicine and Regulatory Affairs, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Panelists: Jared Lunceford, PhD, Distinguished Scientist, Biostatistics and Research Decision Sciences, Merck Research LaboratoriesAngel A Rodriguez, MD, Oncology Medical Director, NateraSamik Upadhaya, PhD, Research Analyst, Anna-Maria Kellen Clinical Accelerator and Venture Fund, Cancer Research Institute (CRI) Learn more about the IO360° Summit at www.io360summit.com

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://tcpaworld.com/2022/12/01/discovery-records-chase-comes-to-an-end-when-a-fl-court-orders-defendant-to-produce-plaintiffs-and-putative-class-members-call-records-before-class-certification/

SN 2018gk Revisited: the Photosphere, the Central Engine, And the Putative Dust by Tao Wang et al. on Wednesday 30 November In this paper, we perform a comprehensive study for the physical properties of SN 2018gk which is a luminous type IIb supernova (SN). We find that the early-time photospheric velocity vary from a larger value to a smaller value before the photosphere reach a temperature floor. We generalize the photosphere modulus and fit the multiband light curves (LCs) of SN 2018gk. We find that the $^{56}$Ni mass model require $sim$1.1 M$_odot$ of $^{56}$Ni which is larger than the derived ejecta mass ($sim$0.58 M$_odot$) as well as the derived $^{56}$Ni mass ($sim$0.4 M$_odot$) in the literature. Alternatively, we use the magnetar plus $^{56}$Ni and the fallback plus $^{56}$Ni models to fit the LCs of SN 2018gk, finding that the two models can can fit the LCs. We favor the magnetar plus $^{56}$Ni since the parameters are well constrained and rather reasonable ($M_{rm ej} =$ 2.80 M$_odot$, $M_{rm Ni}=0.16 $ M$_odot$ which is smaller than the upper limit of the value of the $^{56}$Ni mass can by synthesized by the neutrino-powered core collapse SNe, $B=8.47times10^{14}$ G which is comparable to those of luminous and superluminous SNe studied in the literature, and $P_0=$ 10.83 ms which is comparable to those of luminous SNe). Therefore, we suggest that SN 2018gk might be a SNe IIb mainly powered by a central engine. Finally, we confirm the NIR excesses of the SEDs of SN 2018gk at some epochs and constrain the physical properties of the putative dust using the blackbody plus dust emission model. arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.15966v1

MAGIC observations provide compelling evidence of the hadronic multi-TeV emission from the putative PeVatron SNR G106 3+2 7 by MAGIC Collaboration et al. on Wednesday 30 November The SNR G106.3+2.7, detected at 1--100 TeV energies by different $gamma$-ray facilities, is one of the most promising PeVatron candidates. This SNR has a cometary shape which can be divided into a head and a tail region with different physical conditions. However, it is not identified in which region the 100 TeV emission is produced due to the limited position accuracy and/or angular resolution of existing observational data. Additionally, it remains unclear whether the origin of the $gamma$-ray emission is leptonic or hadronic. With the better angular resolution provided by these new MAGIC data compared to earlier $gamma$-ray datasets, we aim to reveal the acceleration site of PeV particles and the emission mechanism by resolving the SNR G106.3+2.7 with 0.1$^circ$ resolution at TeV energies. We detected extended $gamma$-ray emission spatially coincident with the radio continuum emission at the head and tail of SNR G106.3+2.7. The fact that we detected a significant $gamma$-ray emission with energies above 6.0 TeV from the tail region only suggests that the emissions above 10 TeV, detected with air shower experiments (Milagro, HAWC, Tibet AS$gamma$ and LHAASO), are emitted only from the SNR tail. Under this assumption, the multi-wavelength spectrum of the head region can be explained with either hadronic or leptonic models, while the leptonic model for the tail region is in contradiction with the emission above 10 TeV and X-rays. In contrast, the hadronic model could reproduce the observed spectrum at the tail by assuming a proton spectrum with a cutoff energy of $sim 1$ PeV for the tail region. Such a high energy emission in this middle-aged SNR (4--10 kyr) can be explained by considering the scenario that protons escaping from the SNR in the past interact with surrounding dense gases at present. arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.15321v1

MAGIC observations provide compelling evidence of the hadronic multi-TeV emission from the putative PeVatron SNR G106 3+2 7 by MAGIC Collaboration et al. on Tuesday 29 November The SNR G106.3+2.7, detected at 1--100 TeV energies by different $gamma$-ray facilities, is one of the most promising PeVatron candidates. This SNR has a cometary shape which can be divided into a head and a tail region with different physical conditions. However, it is not identified in which region the 100 TeV emission is produced due to the limited position accuracy and/or angular resolution of existing observational data. Additionally, it remains unclear whether the origin of the $gamma$-ray emission is leptonic or hadronic. With the better angular resolution provided by these new MAGIC data compared to earlier $gamma$-ray datasets, we aim to reveal the acceleration site of PeV particles and the emission mechanism by resolving the SNR G106.3+2.7 with 0.1$^circ$ resolution at TeV energies. We detected extended $gamma$-ray emission spatially coincident with the radio continuum emission at the head and tail of SNR G106.3+2.7. The fact that we detected a significant $gamma$-ray emission with energies above 6.0 TeV from the tail region only suggests that the emissions above 10 TeV, detected with air shower experiments (Milagro, HAWC, Tibet AS$gamma$ and LHAASO), are emitted only from the SNR tail. Under this assumption, the multi-wavelength spectrum of the head region can be explained with either hadronic or leptonic models, while the leptonic model for the tail region is in contradiction with the emission above 10 TeV and X-rays. In contrast, the hadronic model could reproduce the observed spectrum at the tail by assuming a proton spectrum with a cutoff energy of $sim 1$ PeV for the tail region. Such a high energy emission in this middle-aged SNR (4--10 kyr) can be explained by considering the scenario that protons escaping from the SNR in the past interact with surrounding dense gases at present. arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.15321v1

MAGIC observations provide compelling evidence of the hadronic multi-TeV emission from the putative PeVatron SNR G106 3+2 7 by MAGIC Collaboration et al. on Tuesday 29 November The SNR G106.3+2.7, detected at 1--100 TeV energies by different $gamma$-ray facilities, is one of the most promising PeVatron candidates. This SNR has a cometary shape which can be divided into a head and a tail region with different physical conditions. However, it is not identified in which region the 100 TeV emission is produced due to the limited position accuracy and/or angular resolution of existing observational data. Additionally, it remains unclear whether the origin of the $gamma$-ray emission is leptonic or hadronic. With the better angular resolution provided by these new MAGIC data compared to earlier $gamma$-ray datasets, we aim to reveal the acceleration site of PeV particles and the emission mechanism by resolving the SNR G106.3+2.7 with 0.1$^circ$ resolution at TeV energies. We detected extended $gamma$-ray emission spatially coincident with the radio continuum emission at the head and tail of SNR G106.3+2.7. The fact that we detected a significant $gamma$-ray emission with energies above 6.0 TeV from the tail region only suggests that the emissions above 10 TeV, detected with air shower experiments (Milagro, HAWC, Tibet AS$gamma$ and LHAASO), are emitted only from the SNR tail. Under this assumption, the multi-wavelength spectrum of the head region can be explained with either hadronic or leptonic models, while the leptonic model for the tail region is in contradiction with the emission above 10 TeV and X-rays. In contrast, the hadronic model could reproduce the observed spectrum at the tail by assuming a proton spectrum with a cutoff energy of $sim 1$ PeV for the tail region. Such a high energy emission in this middle-aged SNR (4--10 kyr) can be explained by considering the scenario that protons escaping from the SNR in the past interact with surrounding dense gases at present. arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.15321v1

SN 2018gk Revisited: the Photosphere, the Central Engine, And the Putative Dust by Tao Wang et al. on Tuesday 29 November In this paper, we perform a comprehensive study for the physical properties of SN 2018gk which is a luminous type IIb supernova (SN). We find that the early-time photospheric velocity vary from a larger value to a smaller value before the photosphere reach a temperature floor. We generalize the photosphere modulus and fit the multiband light curves (LCs) of SN 2018gk. We find that the $^{56}$Ni mass model require $sim$1.1 M$_odot$ of $^{56}$Ni which is larger than the derived ejecta mass ($sim$0.58 M$_odot$) as well as the derived $^{56}$Ni mass ($sim$0.4 M$_odot$) in the literature. Alternatively, we use the magnetar plus $^{56}$Ni and the fallback plus $^{56}$Ni models to fit the LCs of SN 2018gk, finding that the two models can can fit the LCs. We favor the magnetar plus $^{56}$Ni since the parameters are well constrained and rather reasonable ($M_{rm ej} =$ 2.80 M$_odot$, $M_{rm Ni}=0.16 $ M$_odot$ which is smaller than the upper limit of the value of the $^{56}$Ni mass can by synthesized by the neutrino-powered core collapse SNe, $B=8.47times10^{14}$ G which is comparable to those of luminous and superluminous SNe studied in the literature, and $P_0=$ 10.83 ms which is comparable to those of luminous SNe). Therefore, we suggest that SN 2018gk might be a SNe IIb mainly powered by a central engine. Finally, we confirm the NIR excesses of the SEDs of SN 2018gk at some epochs and constrain the physical properties of the putative dust using the blackbody plus dust emission model. arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.15966v1

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.10.03.510687v1?rss=1 Authors: Lanovoi, H. T., Oyama, R., Carcea, I. Abstract: In mammals, inflammatory responses to infections trigger adaptive behavioral changes collectively known as sickness behavior. Among these, lethargy protects the sick individual by conserving energy, and increased anxiety is believed to prevent exposure to threats. However, the characterization of these conflicting behavioral states in sickness could be an artifact of behavioral assessment, particularly in rodents. We adjusted existing behavioral testing and designed a new paradigm to disambiguate between increased lethargy versus increased anxiety. Our data indicate that in mice sickness induces a significant increase in lethargy but not in anxiety. Further supporting our behavioral results, at the neuronal level we found evidence that sickness activates anxiolytic rather than anxiogenic regions of the amygdala, including oxytocin receptor expressing neurons. Putative mechanisms by which sickness could activate CeA-OTR+ neurons were investigated. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by PaperPlayer

From the Stochastic Weather to a Putative Chaotic Earth System by Orfeu Bertolami. on Tuesday 20 September In this brief report we discuss how continuous changes on the physical parameters that determine the weather conditions may lead to long term climate variability. This variability of the weather patterns are a response to continuous random short period weather excitations that are imprinted in the ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere-land system, the Earth System. Given that Earth System is, in the Anthropocene, dominated by the human action, it responds to the intensity and the rate of change of the humankind activities. Thus, we argue, in the context of a specific model of the Earth System, that this rate of change may admit a chaotic-type behaviour. arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.09540v1

From the Stochastic Weather to a Putative Chaotic Earth System by Orfeu Bertolami. on Tuesday 20 September In this brief report we discuss how continuous changes on the physical parameters that determine the weather conditions may lead to long term climate variability. This variability of the weather patterns are a response to continuous random short period weather excitations that are imprinted in the ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere-land system, the Earth System. Given that Earth System is, in the Anthropocene, dominated by the human action, it responds to the intensity and the rate of change of the humankind activities. Thus, we argue, in the context of a specific model of the Earth System, that this rate of change may admit a chaotic-type behaviour. arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.09540v1

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.08.24.505074v1?rss=1 Authors: Nagel, M., Noss, M., Xu, J., Horn, N., Ueffing, M., Boldt, K., Schuele, R. Abstract: Neurons critically depend on regulated RNA localization and tight control of spatio-temporal gene expression to maintain their morphological and functional integrity. Mutations in the kinesin motor protein gene KIF1C cause Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia, an autosomal recessive disease leading to predominant degeneration of the long axons of central motoneurons. In this study we aimed to gain insight into the molecular function of KIF1C and understand how KIF1C dysfunction contributes to motoneuron degeneration. We used affinity proteomics in neuronally differentiated neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) to identify the protein complex associated with KIF1C in neuronal cells; candidate interactions were then validated by immunoprecipitation and mislocalization of putative KIF1C cargoes was studied by immunostainings. We found KIF1C to interact with all core components of the exon junction complex (EJC); expression of mutant KIF1C in neuronal cells leads to loss of the typical localization distally in neurites. Instead, EJC core components accumulate in the pericentrosomal region, here co-localizing with mutant KIF1C. These findings suggest KIF1C as a neuronal transporter of the EJC. Interestingly, the binding of KIF1C to the EJC is RNA-mediated, as treatment with RNAse prior to immunoprecipitation almost completely abolishes the interaction. Silica-based solid-phase extraction of UV-crosslinked RNA-protein complexes furthermore supports direct interaction of KIF1C with RNA, as recently also demonstrated for kinesin heavy chain. Taken together, our findings are consistent with a model where KIF1C transports mRNA in an EJC-bound and therefore transcriptionally silenced state along neurites, thus providing the missing link between the EJC and mRNA localization in neurons. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by PaperPlayer

In this podcast, author discusses her paper 'Emerging signs of autism spectrum disorder in infancy: putative neural substrate' The paper is available to read here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dmcn.15333 Subscribe to our channel for more:   https://bit.ly/2ONCYiC    ___  Listen to all our episodes:  https://bit.ly/2yPFgTC   __  DMCN Journal:  Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology (DMCN) has defined the field of paediatric neurology and childhood-onset neurodisability for over 60 years. DMCN disseminates the latest clinical research results globally to enhance the care and improve the lives of disabled children and their families.    DMCN Journal - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14698749  ___    Watch DMCN videos on our YouTube channel:  https://bit.ly/2ONCYiC    Find us on Twitter!  @mackeithpress - https://twitter.com/mackeithpress   

Un quiproquo autour du mot "putative", du latin putare : "compter, calculer"... Mais les pirates ne le comprennent pas ainsi ! Scène culte du film "Pirates des Caraïbes : La Vengeance de Salazar", avec Johnny Depp dans le personnage de Jack Sparrow. Un régal. © Walt Disney Pictures / Jerry Bruckheimer Films

Make your health an act of rebellion. Join The Healthy Rebellion Please Subscribe and Review: Apple Podcasts | RSS Submit your questions for the podcast here News topic du jour: Democratic Senators call on messaging apps WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal to address “misinformation” Obesity in late adolescence and incident type 1 diabetes in young adulthood   Podcast Questions: 1. 2 Meals A Day [12:05] Ryan says: Huge fan of sacred cow. I like eating 2 meals a day but after listening to book I'm trying to increase my protein to 180 to 200 grams a day. I'm 6'1 210 lbs. Is it beneficial to eat 90 grams in each meal or is that two much for my body to process correctly for optimal absorption? Should I spread it out? Thanks 2. Putative blood flow issues [15:40] Charles says: Hi Robb and Nicki, long-time listener here. I have been following Robb since I was 18, almost ten years ago! Thank you for your work. Background: 6 feet tall, male, 142 lbs, 28 years old. Lenient paleo diet for almost 10 years supplemented with 0.5-1 packet LMNT daily depending on weather/exercise load, generally great sleep hygiene, devote a lot of effort to getting in the sun every day, weights 2x/week, 45 min bike ride at least 2x/week. Recent blood work came back excellent (just the standard LDL, HDL, Hem A1C, Vit D, thyroid stimulating hormone, hepatic enzymes). I do seem to have issues with circulation though, which I think may be related to the problem I describe below. My extremities go numb easily, and when it's cold I have a few finger tips that lose color/sensitivity for extended periods of time after the others have returned to normal temperature. The problem: My erections have decreased in strength noticeably in the past two years. The problem usually isn't so severe that it prevents sex (though a few times it has), but it certainly decreases its quality for both parties involved on a regular basis. Potentially relevant circumstances surrounding the problem: A little over two years ago (when the problem began) I ended a bad relationship, started a new **amazing** one, moved twice, had a very bad car accident, had a very bad cycling accident, lost my grandmother, helped my mother through a traumatic incident, etc. I'd like to point out that this was Winter-Summer 2020, need I say more? It was a whirlwind of a year. I dealt with it in healthy ways (amping up the exercise and protein consumption) and unhealthy ways (picking up a 1-2 drinks before dinner habit that I've since decreased to just on weekends; this decrease happened 6 months ago). Should I talk to a therapist instead of sending this in to a podcast? Probably, but why not both? I'm hoping you and Nicki might be able to connect some dots I haven't. 3. Functional Dyspepsia [21:36] Cristi says: I love your show and the dynamics between the two of you. I'd love to join "the rebellion" when I can afford it. What do we know in natural health about "functional dyspepsia?" I just had an upper endoscopy to diagnose the cause of a burning sensation in my stomach just under my right ribcage usually right after eating/while eating that seems to respond to an amount of food rather than any particular food. Before this, the gastro had me do a stool test that was negative for H. Pylori. They took biopsies during the upper endo, but the doctor says he doesn't expect to find anything. He said he saw irritation in the stomach lining and it was probably caused by "functional dyspepsia" which was an imbalance of acid in the stomach. He said the causes of this could be different things, including stress (which I admittedly have a lot of, but I do what I can to control it) and that otherwise, causes were unknown, but that I could just take Pepsid! How long? Oh, maybe forever...Needless to say, I'm not doing that. SO, if all I know is that the acid is "imbalanced," how do I balance it? At the risk of making this too much longer, my diet, exercise, and supplement regimen are all along the lines of what paleo-centric gurus recommend, so none of the other causes of this "disfunction" (NSAID use, fried/unhealthy fat foods, alcohol excess) make sense. I'm not celiac, but I don't eat gluten and dairy because they just don't feel great. I'm thinking of continuing to take probiotics and add a functional medicine supplement with aloe, licorice root, marshmallow root, NAD etc. to maybe calm the irritation? My only other thought is that maybe I've been taking too much of a natural allergy supplement that has quercitin (400 mg per two pills) -3 pills twice a day-but I doubt that's it, and after stopping it for five days before this procedure as they required, I really noticed my allergies kicking in. The problem is, I'm 5'5, 118-120, and closer to 118 with what I'm able to eat without feeling discomfort. I have to stop before I'm satisfied completely. I wake up at night hungry, and I can't go back to sleep, and I know 118 is too light for me. I weight train 3X per week, and I'm active all of the other days. I'm a highschool teacher, so I'm not really sedentary, either. I'm pretty low carb with starchy carbs (about a cup of sweet potato or rice) only included at dinner. THANK YOU!   Sponsor: The Healthy Rebellion Radio is sponsored by our electrolyte company, LMNT. Proper hydration is more than just drinking water. You need electrolytes too! Check out The Healthy Rebellion Radio sponsor LMNT for grab-and-go electrolyte packets to keep you at your peak! They give you all the electrolytes want, none of the stuff you don't. Click here to get your LMNT electrolytes Transcript: The transcript for this episode can be found on its blog page at https://robbwolf.com/2022/06/10/protein-for-2-meals-a-day-erections-functional-dyspepsia-thrr112/

Putative is an adjective that means generally considered to be. The Latin word putare (poo TAR ay) means ‘to think.' When something is described as putative, it means ‘generally thought to be.' For example: Greg was the putative leader of the trumpet section, but regardless of what everyone thought, I was the one actually leading things.

Oncotarget published "Benzophenone-3 promotion of mammary tumorigenesis is diet-dependent" which reported that Benzophenone-3 is a putative endocrine disrupting chemical and common ingredient in sunscreens. Although benzophenone-3 seemed protective on low-fat diet, spindle cell tumors arising in these mice showed increased proliferation and decreased apoptosis. This points to a need for further studies of benzophenone-3 in both animal models and humans as a potential breast cancer risk factor, as well as a more general need to evaluate endocrine disrupting chemicals in varying dietary contexts. Dr. Richard C. Schwartz and Dr. Sandra Z. Haslam, both from The Michigan State University said, "Ovarian hormones are strongly implicated in the etiology of breast cancer." Putative endocrine disrupting chemicals, particularly estrogenic chemicals, have emerged as suspects in environmental promotion of breast cancer. Environmental EDCs have the potential to act as agonists or antagonists in critical hormonally regulated processes, such as mammary gland development and mammary tumorigenesis - this warrants evaluation of their potential in promoting breast cancer. More recently, BP-3 was demonstrated to have pathological effects on coral. Although BP-3 has a very short half-life, its presence is widespread in human urine, in as much as 98% of the general U.S. population. A recent preliminary study found plasma concentrations greater than 0.5 ng/mL among a small human cohort using heavy topical applications of commercial sunscreens. The present study examined the interaction of BP-3 with HFD on mammary tumorigenesis in BALB/c mice, using the Trp53-null transplantation model. A level of BP-3 exposure was used that yielded levels in murine urine similar to that observed in humans subjected to heavy topical exposure of BP-3-containing commercial sunscreen. These authors found that BP-3 had complex effects that were dependent upon dietary regimen and tumor histopathology. The Schwartz/Haslam Research Team concluded in their Oncotarget Research Output that unlike several earlier studies that found rather minimal BP-3 activity in vivo in rodents with doses higher than those in the current study: 1500 mg/kg BW/d; 1000 mg/kg BW/d; 150 mg/kg BW/d, these authors tumorigenesis experiments showed significant effects at 70 mg/kg BW/d. This dosage elicits levels of BP-3 excretion in urine similar to that observed in humans with heavy topical application of BP-3-containing sunscreen. Furthermore, their initial experiments in wild type BALB/c mice found significant effects on mammary epithelial proliferation at only 7 mg/kg BW/d. These observations suggest caution in the use of BP-3-containing sunscreens. DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27831 Full text - https://www.oncotarget.com/article/27831/text/ Correspondence to - Richard C. Schwartz - schwart9@msu.edu and Sandra Z. Haslam - shaslam@msu.edu Keywords - oxybenzone, benzophenone-3, mammary tumorigenesis, dietary animal fat, breast cancer About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a biweekly, peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com or connect with: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit https://www.ImpactJournals.com or connect with @ImpactJrnls Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957x105 Copyright © 2021 Impact Journals, LLC Impact Journals is a registered trademark of Impact Journals, LLC

The 1890s were a critical decade in the novel science of immunology. Emerging developments in bacteriology and tropical medicine revealed numerous microorganisms responsible for epidemic diseases. Putative vaccines and antitoxins emerged against typhoid fever, bubonic plague and diphtheria. Another strand of immunology from this period, however, has largely been overlooked. Collaborating with researchers around the globe, Professor Thomas Fraser at the University of Edinburgh generated numerous antivenenes, including several developed against Australian snake venoms. This presentation reveals how a President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh collaborated with a former student in the colony of Queensland to develop the theory and practice of applied immunology. Speaker: Dr Peter Hobbins, Department of History, University of Sydney

The 1890s were a critical decade in the novel science of immunology. Emerging developments in bacteriology and tropical medicine revealed numerous microorganisms responsible for epidemic diseases. Putative vaccines and antitoxins emerged against typhoid fever, bubonic plague and diphtheria. Another strand of immunology from this period, however, has largely been overlooked. Collaborating with researchers around the globe, Professor Thomas Fraser at the University of Edinburgh generated numerous antivenenes, including several developed against Australian snake venoms. This presentation reveals how a President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh collaborated with a former student in the colony of Queensland to develop the theory and practice of applied immunology. Speaker: Dr Peter Hobbins, Department of History, University of Sydney

Mark Blyth, political economist at Brown's Watson Institute, and Carrie Nordlund, political scientist and associate director of Brown's Annenberg Institute, share their take on the week's news. On this episode: the G7's shaky promises on taxing the rich, and shaky relationships with China and Russia; regional variations in the Covid-19 recovery in the US; making sense of the tight US labor market; the Supreme Court talks Snapchat and labor organizing; Justice Stephen Breyer's work/life balance; voting rights, critical race theory, and the 2022 midterm elections; can Jeff Bezos just stay in space? You can listen to Mark on Watson's podcast Trending Globally here: [https://soundcloud.com/watsoninstitute/earth-day-special-whats-missing-from-the-climate-discussion] [Transcript forthcoming]

Two things to know today   Colonial Pipeline: the flaw known before, the new regulation, the lawsuit, and the trend https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/05/24/1025195/colonial-pipeline-ransomware-bitdefender https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/05/25/colonial-hack-pipeline-dhs-cybersecurity/ https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20210521/NEWS06/912342021/Putative-class-action-lawsuit-charges-Colonial-Pipeline-with-negligence-Ramon-Di https://www.commercialintegrator.com/control_automation/cyberattacks-against-ot-control-systems-increasing/ PLUS It’s not all dreary on the security front https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/dearthy-star-pleads-guilty-to-selling-info-of-65k-health-care-employees/     Want to get the show on your podcast app, or get the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/   Support the show on Patreon:  https://patreon.com/mspradio/   Want our stuff?  Cool Merch?  Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://shop.spreadshirt.com/mspradio   Follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mspradionews/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/

The quarter-finals have come to a close, and with it, we say goodbye to the last Scottish University still in the competition.  However, they did not leave without putting up a fight, and for a while, it looked like they were going to send Magdalene College home. If this is a sign of things to come, we are going to have very entertaining semi-final matches!

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.11.11.378828v1?rss=1 Authors: Niemi, A. J., Peng, X. Abstract: The spike protein is a most promising target for the development of vaccines and therapeutic drugs against the SARS-CoV-2 infection. But the apparently high rate of mutations makes the development of antiviral inhibitors a challenge. Here a methodology is presented to try and predict mutation hot-spot sites, where a small local change in spike protein's structure can lead to a large scale conformational effect, and change the protein's biological function. The methodology starts with a systematic physics based investigation of the spike protein's C backbone in terms of its local topology. This topological investigation is then combined with a statistical examination of the pertinent backbone fragments; the statistical analysis builds on a comparison with high resolution Protein Data Bank (PDB) structures. Putative mutation hot-spot sites are identified as proximal sites to bifurcation points that can change the local topology of the C backbone in an essential manner. The likely outcome of a mutation, if it indeed occurs, is predicted by a comparison with residues in best-matching PDB fragments together with general stereochemical considerations. The detailed methodology is developed using the already observed D614G mutation as an example. This is a mutation that could have been correctly predicted by the present approach. Several additional examples of potential hot-spot residues are identified and analyzed in detail, some of them are found to be even better candidates for a mutation hot-spot than D614G. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.11.02.365049v1?rss=1 Authors: Verma, S., Dwivedy, A., Kumar, N., Biswal, B. K. Abstract: Background: Over the past two decades, there has been a continued research on the role of small non-coding RNAs including microRNAs (miRNAs) in various diseases. Studies have shown that viruses modulate the host cellular machinery and hijack its metabolic and immune signaling pathways by miRNA mediated gene silencing. Given the immensity of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic and the strong association of viral encoded miRNAs with their pathogenesis, it is important to study Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) miRNAs. Results: To address this unexplored area, we identified 8 putative novel miRNAs from SARS-CoV-2 genome and explored their possible human gene targets. A significant proportion of these targets populated key immune and metabolic pathways such as MAPK signaling pathway, maturity-onset diabetes of the young, Insulin signaling pathway, endocytosis, RNA transport, TGF-{beta} signaling pathway, to name a few. The data from this work is backed up by recently reported high-throughput transcriptomics datasets obtains from SARS-CoV-2 infected samples. Analysis of these datasets reveal that a significant proportion of the target human genes were down-regulated upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusions: The current study brings to light probable host metabolic and immune pathways susceptible to viral miRNA mediated silencing in a SARS-CoV-2 infection, and discusses its effects on the host pathophysiology. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.10.21.349639v1?rss=1 Authors: Kumar, S., Athreya, A., Gulati, A., Nair, R. M., Penmatsa, A. Abstract: Multi-drug efflux is a major mechanism of acquiring antimicrobial resistance among superbugs. In this study, we report the X-ray structure of NorC, a 14 transmembrane major facilitator superfamily member that is implicated in fluoroquinolone resistance in drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains, at a resolution of 3.6 angstroms. The NorC structure was determined in complex with a single-domain camelid antibody that interacts at the extracellular face of the transporter and stabilizes it in an outward-open conformation. The complementarity determining regions of the antibody enter and block solvent access to the interior of the vestibule, thereby inhibiting alternating-access. NorC specifically interacts with an organic cation, tetraphenylphosphonium, although it does not demonstrate an ability to transport it. The interaction is compromised in the presence of NorC-antibody complex, consequently establishing a strategy to detect and block NorC and related efflux pumps through the use of single-domain camelid antibodies. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Cordell & Cordell Executive/Managing Partner, CEO Scott Trout and Texas Litigation Manager Ashley Duffy discuss putative fathers and the legal establishment of paternity. Legislatures in many states have created registries for putative fathers, unmarried fathers of children, in order to legally establish paternity and custodial rights. Mr. Trout and Ms. Duffy dissect the process and how the […] The post Paternity and the Putative Father Registry – Men's Divorce Podcast appeared first on Cordell & Cordell.

Cordell & Cordell Executive/Managing Partner, CEO Scott Trout and Texas Litigation Manager Ashley Duffy discuss putative fathers and the legal establishment of paternity. Legislatures in many states have created registries for putative fathers, unmarried fathers of children, in order to legally establish paternity and custodial rights. Mr. Trout and Ms. Duffy dissect the process and how the […] The post Paternity and the Putative Father Registry – Men’s Divorce Podcast appeared first on Cordell & Cordell.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.08.10.243824v1?rss=1 Authors: Joel, I. y., ADIGUN, T. O., BANKOLE, O. O., AJIBOLA, A. O., OFENIFORO, E. B., AUTA, F. B., OZOJIOFOR, U. O., REMI-ESAN, I. A., AKANDE, A. I. Abstract: Histone deacetylases have been recognized as a potential target for epigenetic aberrance reversal in the various strategies for cancer therapy, with HDAC6 implicated in various forms of tumor growth and cancers. Diverse inhibitors of HDAC6 has been developed, however, there is still the challenge of iso-specificity and toxicity. In this study, we trained a Random forest model on all HDAC6 inhibitors curated in the ChEMBL database (3,742). Upon rigorous validations the model had an 85% balanced accuracy and was used to screen the SCUBIDOO database; 7785 hit compounds resulted and were docked into HDAC6 CD2 active-site. The top two compounds having a benzimidazole moiety as its zinc-binding group had a binding affinity of -78.56kcal/mol and -78.21kcal/mol respectively. The compounds were subjected to exhaustive docking protocols (Qm-polarized docking and Induced-Fit docking) in other to elucidate a binding hypothesis and accurate binding affinity. Upon optimization, the compounds showed improved binding affinity (-81.42kcal/mol), putative specificity for HDAC6, and good ADMET properties. We have therefore developed a reliable model to screen for HDAC6 inhibitors and suggested a series of benzimidazole based inhibitors showing high binding affinity and putative specificity for HDAC6. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.08.07.240762v1?rss=1 Authors: Kling, A., Gogliettino, A. R., Shah, N. P., Wu, E. G., Brackbill, N., Sher, A., Litke, A., Silva, R. A., Chichilnisky, E. J. Abstract: The functional organization of diverse retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types, which shape the visual signals transmitted to the brain, has been examined in many species. The unique spatial, temporal, and chromatic properties of the numerically dominant RGC types in macaque monkey retina are presumed to most accurately model human vision. However, the functional similarity between RGCs in macaques and humans has only begun to be tested, and recent work suggests possible differences. Here, the properties of the numerically dominant human RGC types were examined using large-scale multi-electrode recordings with fine-grained visual stimulation in isolated retina, and compared to results from dozens of recordings from macaque retina using the same experimental methods and conditions. The properties of four major human RGC types -- ON-parasol, OFF-parasol, ON-midget, and OFF-midget -- closely paralleled those of the same macaque RGC types, including the spatial and temporal light sensitivity, precisely coordinated mosaic organization of receptive fields, ON-OFF asymmetries, spatial response nonlinearity, and sampling of photoreceptor inputs over space. Putative smooth monostratified cells and polyaxonal amacrine cells were also identified based on similarities to cell types previously identified in macaque retina. The results suggest that recently proposed differences between human and macaque RGCs probably reflect experimental differences, and that the macaque model provides an accurate picture of human RGC function. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.07.29.226308v1?rss=1 Authors: Joel, I. y., Adigun, T. O., AJIBOLA, A. O., BANKOLE, O. O., OZOJIOFOR, U. O., REMI-ESAN, I. A., SULAIMON, L. A. Abstract: Evading apoptosis is one of the hallmarks of cancer cells, therefore a lot of therapeutic strategies have been developed to induce cell death in these cells. BCL2 family protein governs the intrinsic pathway of cell death. The BCL2 family protein possess both pro and anti-apoptosis members. BCL2 protein, a pioneering member of the anti-apoptosis protein has been implicated in several cancerous cells; with dozens of small-molecule inhibitors developed to inhibit its activity. BCL2 family protein processes BH domains (1-4) for heterodimerization and homodimerization amidst it family members and targeting the BH4 domain is an established new strategy for cancer therapy; however, only BDA366 has been reported so far as a BH4 binding molecule. Using Computer-aided drug discovery techniques (Molecular docking, QM-polarized docking, Induced-fit docking, QM-MM optimization, and QM electronic descriptors) we screened M sample (~ 99,000 compounds) of the SCUBIDOO database to find ligands that interact with the BH4 domain of BCL2 protein with high affinity, we identified 11 putative BH4 specific small molecules with binding affinity ranging from ~ -84kcal/mol to -64kcal/mol with a putative binding hypothesis with BH4 amino acid residues: ASP10, ARG12, GLU13, MET16, LYS17, and HIS20 Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers nutritional psychiatry with expert guest Dr. Laura LaChance, Staff Psychiatrist and Director of Outpatient Psychiatry at St. Mary’s Hospital Centre in Montreal, Quebec and Faculty Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University.   The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:   By the end of this episode, you should be able to…   1)      Define nutritional psychiatry 2)      Understand the mechanisms, common misconceptions, challenges, and current evidence supporting the role for nutrition in mental health 3)      Apply this understanding to clinical cases in psychiatry   Guest: Dr. Laura LaChance Hosts: Dr. Sarah Hanafi (PGY2), Dr. Nima Nahiddi (PGY2), Gray Meckling (CC3) Audio editing by Dr. Alex Raben (PGY5) Show notes by Gray Meckling   Interview Content:   ·       Introduction and learning objectives – 0:35 ·       Dr. Laura LaChance’s professional background – 1:50 ·       Definition of nutritional psychiatry and history of the field – 3:35 ·       Putative mechanisms through which nutrition is implicated in mental health – 7:00 ·       Common misconceptions surrounding the role for nutrition in mental health – 11:45 ·       Current evidence supporting the role for nutrition in the management of psychiatric illness – 16:00 ·       Case-based examples of nutrition in clinical psychiatry – 23:35 ·       Challenges to capitalizing on this mode of intervention in psychiatry – 32:30 ·       Taking a dietary history in the context of mental health – 34:50 ·       Future directions in the field of nutritional psychiatry – 41:20 ·       The gut-microbiome – 43:00 ·       Tips for those interested and how to get involved – 48:00 ·       Closing – 50:15   Resources:   ·       International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research ·       The Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University ·       Future Learn Online Course – Food and Mood: Improving Mental Health Through Diet and Nutrition ·       The Brain Food Academy ·       Dr. Drew Ramsey ·       Food as Medicine Update – Conference   Articles:   ·       Nutritional Psychiatry: The Gut-Brain Connection (Psychiatric Times) ·       Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food (Harvard Health Publishing)   References:   ·       Adan, R. A., van der Beek, E. M., Buitelaar, J. K., Cryan, J. F., Hebebrand, J., Higgs, S., ... & Dickson, S. L. (2019). Nutritional psychiatry: Towards improving mental health by what you eat. European Neuropsychopharmacology. ·       Auction, Monique & LaChance, Laura & Cooley, Kieran & Kidd, Sean. (2019). Diet and Psychosis: A Scoping Review. Advances in Integrative Medicine. 6. S101. 10.1016/j.aimed.2019.03.292. ·       Firth J, Veronese N, Cotter J, Shivappa N, Hebert J, Ee C, Smith L, Stubbs B, Jackson S, Sarris J. What is the role of dietary inflammation in severe mental illness? a review of observational and experimental findings. Frontiers in psychiatry. 2019;10:350. ·       Firth, J., Carney, R., Stubbs, B., Teasdale, S. B., Vancampfort, D., Ward, P. B., ... & Sarris, J. (2018). Nutritional deficiencies and clinical correlates in first-episode psychosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Schizophrenia bulletin, 44(6), 1275-1292. ·       Francis HM, Stevenson RJ, Chambers JR, Gupta D, Newey B, Lim CK. A brief diet intervention can reduce symptoms of depression in young adults–A randomised controlled trial. PloS one. 2019;14(10). ·       Guu TW, Mischoulon D, Sarris J, Hibbeln J, McNamara RK, Hamazaki K, Freeman MP, Maes M, Matsuoka YJ, Belmaker RH, Jacka F. International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research Practice Guidelines for Omega-3 Fatty Acids in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics. 2019;88(5):263-73. ·       Jacka, F. N. (2017). Nutritional psychiatry: where to next?. EBioMedicine, 17, 24-29. ·       Jacka F, O’Neil A, Opie R, et al. A randomized controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the SMILES trial). BMC Med. 2017; 15:23. ·       LaChance, L. R., & Ramsey, D. (2018). Antidepressant foods: An evidence-based nutrient profiling system for depression. World journal of psychiatry, 8(3), 97–104. https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v8.i3.97 ·       Lachance, L., & Ramsey, D. (2015). Food, mood, and brain health: Implications for the modern clinician. Missouri medicine, 112(2), 111. ·       Marx W, Moseley G, Berk M, Jacka F. Nutritional psychiatry: the present state of the evidence. Proc Nutr Soc. 2017;76: 427-436. ·       Lakhan, S. E., & Vieira, K. F. (2010). Nutritional and herbal supplements for anxiety and anxiety-related disorders: systematic review. Nutrition journal, 9(1), 42. ·       Mörkl S, Butler MI, Holl A, Cyran JF, Dinan TG. Probiotics and the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis: Focus on Psychiatry. Current Nutrition Reports. 2020 May 13. ·       Mörkl, S., Wagner-Skacel, J., Lahousen, T., Lackner, S., Holasek, S. J., Bengesser, S. A., ... & Reininghaus, E. (2020). The role of nutrition and the gut-brain axis in psychiatry: a review of the literature. Neuropsychobiology, 79(1-2), 80-88. ·       Parletta N, Zarnowiecki D, Cho J, Wilson A, Bogomolova S, Villani A, Itsiopoulos C, Niyonsenga T, Blunden S, Meyer B, Segal L. A Mediterranean-style dietary intervention supplemented with fish oil improves diet quality and mental health in people with depression: A randomized controlled trial (HELFIMED). Nutritional neuroscience. 2019 Jul 3;22(7):474-87. ·       Sarris J, Logan AC, Akbaraly TN, et al. Nutritional medicine as mainstream in psychiatry. Lancet Psychiatry. 2015;2: 271-274.   CPA Note: The views expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.   For more PsychEd, follow us on Twitter (@psychedpodcast), Facebook (PsychEd Podcast), and Instagram (@psyched.podcast). You can provide feedback by email at psychedpodcast@gmail.com. For more information visit our website at psychedpodcast.org.

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.06.08.139329v1?rss=1 Authors: Nampoothiri, S., Sauve, F., Ternier, G., Fernandois, D., Coelho, C., Imbernon, M., Deligia, E., Perbet, R., Florent, V., Baroncini, M., Pasquier, F., Trottein, F., Maurage, C.-A., Mattot, V., Giacobini, P., Rasika, S., Prevot, V. Abstract: Most patients with COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), display neurological symptoms, and respiratory failure in certain cases could be of extra-pulmonary origin. With reports detecting SARS-CoV-2 in some post-mortem patient brains, the routes, targets and consequences of brain infection merit investigation. Hypothalamic neural circuits play key roles in sex differences, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and aging, all risk factors for severe COVID-19, besides being connected to brainstem cardiorespiratory centers. Here, human brain gene-expression analyses reveal that the hypothalamus and associated regions express angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and transmembrane proteinase, serine 2, which mediate SARS-CoV-2 cellular entry, in correlation with several genes or pathways involved in physiological functions or viral pathogenesis. Immunolabeling in human and animal brains suggests that the hypothalamus could be central to SARS-CoV-2 brain invasion through multiple routes, and that sex hormones and metabolic diseases influence brain susceptibility. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

With Stefanie Dimmeler & Andreas Zeiher, Goethe-University - Germany Link to paper

This Thanksgiving, amidst all the turkey, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, the ham, and the cornucopia of dessert options, you may be inclined to let the food coma sink in. But for those interested in the science behind this fanciful feast, listen to what Dr. Jason Maley has to say about the neurologic complications of some of the common dishes served at your holiday spread. BrainWaves podcasts and online content are intended for medical education only and should not be used to guide medical decision making in routine clinical practice. REFERENCES 1. Williams ES. Chronic wasting disease. Veterinary Pathology Online. 2005; 42(5):530-49. 2. Clauss HE, Lorber B. Central nervous system infection with Listeria monocytogenes. Current infectious disease reports. 2008; 10(4):300-6. 3. Garcia HH, Del Brutto OH, Cysticercosis Working Group in Peru. Neurocysticercosis: updated concepts about an old disease. The Lancet Neurology. 2005; 4(10):653-61. 4. Richard DM, Dawes MA, Mathias CW, Acheson A, Hill-Kapturczak N, Dougherty DM. L-tryptophan: basic metabolic functions, behavioral research and therapeutic indications. International journal of tryptophan research: IJTR. 2009; 23(2):45. 5. Sobel J. Botulism. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2005; 41(8):1167-73. 6. Caruana M, Cauchi R, Vassallo N. Putative role of red wine polyphenols against brain pathology in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2016; 3. 7. Hillbom M, Saloheimo P, Fujioka S, Wszolek ZK, Juvela S, Leone MA. Diagnosis and management of Marchiafava–Bignami disease: a review of CT/MRI confirmed cases. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 2013.

Dr Ruvi Ziegler, University of Reading - 6 November 2014

This podcast features Dr. J. Philip Kaiser discussing his recent paper Putative Mechanisms of Environmental Chemical-Induced Steatosis, published in vol. 31(6) of International Journal of Toxicology. Read the full article here.

Background: Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans can cause a diphtheria-like illness in humans and have been found in domestic animals, which were suspected to serve as reservoirs for a zoonotic transmission. Additionally, toxigenic C. ulcerans were reported to take over the leading role in causing diphtheria in the last years in many industrialized countries. Methods: To gain deeper insights into the tox gene locus and to understand the transmission pathway in detail, we analyzed nine isolates derived from human patients and their domestic animals applying next generation sequencing and comparative genomics. Results: We provide molecular evidence for zoonotic transmission of C. ulcerans in four cases and demonstrate the superior resolution of next generation sequencing compared to multi-locus sequence typing for epidemiologic research. Additionally, we provide evidence that the virulence of C. ulcerans can change rapidly by acquisition of novel virulence genes. This mechanism is exemplified by an isolate which acquired a prophage not present in the corresponding isolate from the domestic animal. This prophage contains a putative novel virulence factor, which shares high identity with the RhuM virulence factor from Salmonella enterica but which is unknown in Corynebacteria so far. Furthermore, we identified a putative pathogenicity island for C. ulcerans bearing a diphtheria toxin gene. Conclusion: The novel putative diphtheria toxin pathogenicity island could provide a new and alternative pathway for Corynebacteria to acquire a functional diphtheria toxin-encoding gene by horizontal gene transfer, distinct from the previously well characterized phage infection model. The novel transmission pathway might explain the unexpectedly high number of toxigenic C. ulcerans.

Attorney Kirk Stange from Stange Law Firm talks about: What is the Putative Father Registry?  This is based on an article on www.stangelawfirm.com.  The exact link is: https://www.stangelawfirm.com/Articles/What-is-the-Missouri-Putative-Father-Registry.shtml With offices in St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson County (Arnold), Franklin County (Union) in Missouri and St. Clair County (Belleville) and Madison County (Edwardsville) in Illinois, you can call Stange Law Firm at 314-963-4700 or contact us at St. Louis Putative Father Registroy Attorneys.

Chromosomal translocations are common in human leukemias. Detailed studies of chromosomal translocation have been useful in understanding the pathogenesis and identifying therapeutic targets in hematologic malignancies. Some translocations result in the formation of fusion genes. These fusion proteins play an important role in leukemogenesis. The t(10;11)(p12;q14) translocation is rare but recurring and results in the formation of the CALM/AF10 fusion protein. Patients with this translocation have a bad prognosis. To understand how CALM/AF10 leads to leukemia, various mouse models have been established. In a murine bone marrow retroviral transduction and transplantation model Deshpande et al. (2006) showed that mice expressing CALM/AF10 in their bone marrow cells developed an acute myeloid leukemia with a penetrance of 100% and a short latency period of 110 days. Using a transgenic mouse model, in which CALM/AF10 was under the control of Vav promoter, Peter Aplan and colleagues demonstrated that only 40% to 50% of mice developed leukemia after a long latency of 10 to 12 months. Two classical transgenic CALM/AF10 models were established in our group using the immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer/promoter (IgH-CALM/AF10) and proximal murine LcK promoter (pLck-CALM/AF10) to drive CALM/AF10 expression. These transgenic mice did not show any leukemic phenotype even after an observation period of 15 months. Taken together these studies strongly suggest that additional collaborating factors are required for the CALM/AF10 fusion gene to induce leukemia. Meis1, a Hox cofactor, is known to collaborate with several Hox genes and Hox fusion genes such as HOXA9 and NUP98-HOXD13. In these studies, Meis1 played a critical role in accelerating the development of leukemia. It could also be shown that MEIS1 is highly expressed in CALM/AF10 positive human leukemia cells. Therefore, I sought to determine whether the homeobox gene Meis1 collaborates with CALM/AF10 in inducing leukemia. In order to achieve this goal, lethally irradiated non-transgenic mice were transplanted with IgH-CALM/AF10 transgenic bone marrow cells transduced with a Meis1 expressing retrovirus. The transplanted mice developed an acute leukemia with a penetrance of 100% and a median latency period of 187 days. The leukemia showed predominantly myeloid features such as the presence of myeloid marker positive cells. The myeloid blast cells infiltrated in multiple hematopoietic as well as non-hematopoietic organs. The leukemic cells were also positive for the B-cell marker B220. Cells that were positive for both lymphoid and myeloid markers, a characteristic feature of CALM/AF10-induced leukemia, were also detected in all the mice. The leukemic cells had clonal DJH rearrangements. Overall, these data suggest that the transformed cell might be an early progenitor cell capable of lymphoid as well as myeloid differentiation or that the leukemia was initiated by a B220+ IgH DJ rearranged cell with blocked lymphoid differentiation, which started a default myeloid differentiation program. By performing serial secondary and tertiary transplantations the leukemic nature of the disease could be confirmed. Colony forming cell assays showed that CALM/AF10 in collaboration with Meis1 failed to induce the transformation of hematopoietic progenitors in vitro. This could either be due to the lack of required growth factors and conditions necessary for the proliferation of the transformable cell or lack of additional events essential for progression towards leukemia development. In conclusion, I have demonstrated that Meis1 collaborates with CALM/AF10 in inducing acute myeloid leukemia. Additional, detailed analyses of the leukemia initiating cell in these models would help to better understand the pathogenesis of CALM/AF10-induced leukemia.

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:00:00 +0100 https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/16528/ https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/16528/1/Rivera-Ordaz_Araceli.pdf Rivera Ordaz, Araceli ddc:570, ddc:500, Faku

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:00:00 +0100 https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/16819/ https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/16819/1/Shao_Lin.pdf Shao, Lin ddc:

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0100 https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/13994/ https://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/13994/1/Qi_Yafei.pdf Qi, Yafei ddc:570, ddc:500, Faku

Background: Spontaneous peritonitis is a rather rare event, even in peritoneal dialysis (PD). As defensins are natural antimicrobial peptides, we hypothesized that adipocytes as the major constituents of the omentum could play an important role in protecting against infection by generating defensin (DEFA1-3). Methods: We isolated adipocytes from the omentum majus and conducted qualitative and quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemical analyses. Results: For the first time described, we were able to detect DEFA1-3 mRNA in highly purified isolated omental adipocytes. The expression of DEFA1-3 in adipocytes was confirmed on the protein level by immunohistochemistry. Conclusion: Our report of DEFA1-3 expression by human omental adipocytes adds to the role of adipocytes in the primary defense against bacterial infection. This may include PD, where the presence of the catheter as a foreign body and the nonphysiological dialysis solution may require constant defense measures to prevent peritonitis, a hypothesis that will require further testing. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel

Whole mount mitotic metaphase chromosomes of different plants and animals were investigated with high resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to study the ultrastructural organization of centromeres, including metacentric, acrocentric, telocentric, and holocentric chromosome variants. It could be shown that, in general, primary constrictions have distinctive ultrastructural features characterized by parallel matrix fibrils and fewer smaller chromomeres. Exposure of these structures depends on cell cycle synchronization prior to chromosome isolation, chromosome size, and chromosome isolation technique. Chromosomes without primary constrictions, small chromosomes, and holocentric chromosomes do not exhibit distinct ultrastructural elements that could be directly correlated to centromere function. Putative spindle structures, although rarely observed, spread over the primary constriction to the bordering pericentric regions. Analytical FESEM techniques, including specific DNA staining with Pt blue, staining of protein as a substance class with silver-colloid, and artificial loosening of fixed chromosomes with proteinase K, were applied, showing that centromere variants and ultrastructural elements in the centromere differ in DNA and protein distribution. Immunogold localization allowed high-resolution comparison between chromosomes with different centromere orientations of the distribution of centromere-related histone variants, phosphorylated histone H3 (ser10), and CENH3. A novel application of FESEM combined with focused ion beam milling (FIB) provided new insights into the spatial distribution of these histone variants in barley chromosomes. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel

Protein expression profiling of human glatiramer acetate (GA) and myelin basic protein (MBP) specific T cell lines from a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient and healthy donors Investigations in MS and the animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) indicate that autoreactive T cells play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis. Putative auto antigens include e.g. MBP. One approved therapy of patients with relapsing-remitting MS is GA (Copaxone®), which induces a shift in the phenotype of CD4+ T cells from TH1- to TH2-type. As the molecular mechanisms involved are largely unknown, we were interested in the regulated proteome of GA- and MBP-specific human T cell lines. We generated GA- and MBP-specific T cell lines from three healthy donors and GA- specific T cell lines from a MS patient before and after 6 months of GA therapy. Proteome analysis of activated and resting GA- and MBP-specific, CD3+ CD4+ CD8- T cells was done by SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. A total of 120 regulated protein spots were detected on the gels. 69 were identified as different proteins by mass spectrometry. A single protein pathway analysis of these proteins led us to five proteins. One of them is known to be a negative regulator of growth factors. Three proteins known for their anti-inflammatory properties were upregulated in GA-specific T cells, one protein with pro-inflammatory characteristics was found upregulated in encephalitogenic MBP-specific T cells. Based on their expression profile and their characteristics these proteins may be involved in immunological mechanisms relevant in MS and/or possibly during GA treatment.

In both humans and animals, a group of transmissible neurodegenerative conditions has been observed which are not caused by classical infectious agents. These disorders include Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Disease (CJD) in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats and chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids. The so-called prion diseases are primarily characterised by the accumulation of a proteinase-resistant protein (designated “prion”) that is an isoform of the endogenous prion protein, mainly expressed in the central nervous system. There are several indications which tasks the cellular prion protein might fulfil but its exact function has not yet been clarified. The pathogenesis of prion diseases is closely linked to the presence of the prion protein in a number of cell types, an association which has been explored by using transgenic mouse models. The basic event in prion propagation seems to be the transformation of the normal -helix rich isoform into another that is mainly composed of -sheets and differs from cellular prion protein in a number of biochemical properties. The ensuing accumulation and aggregation of this latter proteinase-resistant form leads to neurodegeneration. Several models have been proposed in order to explain aggregation. Genetic factors are known to play a considerable role in the conversion process by influencing the structural stability of the prion protein or otherwise its expression levels. Furthermore, interactions of the prion protein with other endogenous protein molecules may have an impact on pathogenesis and phenotype in prion diseases. This also applies to the species barrier, i.e. to transmissibility of the diseases between individuals or from one species to an other. The existence of several prion protein conformations and glycosylation patterns apparently leads to the development of multiple prion strains. Thus disease phenotype seems to be determined by the structure of both the endogenous prion protein and the infectious prion. Genetic factors are strongly associated with these aspects of prion disease as they have an effect on host prion protein conformation. This work outlines the fundamental features of prion diseases including the structural properties of the prion protein and the prion. Different models of prion aggregation are furthermore introduced with a special reference to genetic implications. In addition, the most common prion diseases of humans and animals are characterised and viewed in a genetic perspective. Putative candidate genes that may be associated with prion diseases are discussed together with mechanisms by which they might exert their influence.

A gene (X33) localized on human chromosome 1 has been detected by crossreaction of its fusion protein with a monospecific antiserum directed against human vitamin-D-binding protein (hDBP; group-specific component). Its cDNA sequence analysis showed no evident homologies neither to the sequence encoding hDBP nor to any other sequence. The largest cDNA clone of 3.2 kb includes a 897-bp coding region and a large 3’ untranslated region with at least four polyadenylation sites. Further cDNA amplification using PCR demonstrated a total cDNA length of approx. 3.7 kb. Northern blot analysis revealed signals at about 2.2-2.5 kb and 4.0 kb, the shorter transcripts representing mRNAs using one of the two polyadenylation sites at about 2.0 kb. Synthesis of the 299-amino-acid polypeptide (33 kDa) in the bacterial host, with subsequent Western blot analysis, verified the sequence-specific recognition by the hDBPspecific antiserum. The search of protein databanks revealed no homology of HK33 to any known sequence. Since the gene is transcribed in all cells and tissues tested so far, it is a strong candidate for another housekeeping gene.

We have investigated the properties of nerve cell precursors in hydra by analyzing the differentiation and proliferation capacity of interstitial cells in the peduncle of Hydra oligactis, which is a region of active nerve cell differentiation. Our results indicate that about 50% of the interstitial cells in the peduncle can grow rapidly and also give rise to nematocyte precursors when transplanted into a gastric environment. If these cells were committed nerve cell precursors, one would not expect them to differentiate into nematocytes nor to proliferate apparently without limit. Therefore we conclude that cycling interstitial cells in peduncles are not intermediates in the nerve cell differentiation pathway but are stem cells. The remaining interstitial cells in the peduncle are in G1 and have the properties of committed nerve cell precursors (Holstein and David, 1986). Thus, the interstitial cell population in the peduncle contains both stem cells and noncycling nerve precursors. The presence of stem cells in this region makes it likely that these cells are the immediate targets of signals which give rise to nerve cells.

A new procedure for the construction of linker scanning mutants is described. A plasmid containing the target DNA is randomly linearized and slightly shortened by a novel combination of established methods. After partial apurination with formic acid a specific nick or small gap is introduced at the apurinic site by exonuclease III, followed by nuclease S1 cleavage of the strand opposite the nick/gap. Synthetic linkers are ligated to the ends and plasmids having the linker inserted in the target DNA are enriched. Putative linker scanning mutants are identified by their topoisomer patterns after relaxation with topoisomerase I. This technique allows the distinction of plasmids differing in length by a single basepair. We have used this rapid and efficient strategy to generate a set of 32 linker scanning mutants covering the chicken lysozyme promoter from –208 to +15

Extracellular recordings were performed from neurons of the substantia gelatinosa (SG) in an in vitro preparation obtained from the spinal cord of adult rats. About 40% of neurons were spontaneously active. They could be synaptically influenced by low and high threshold fiber input entering the spinal cord through dorsal and ventral and ventral roots. Repetitive low threshold stimulation led to a transient increase in activity of a number of these neurons, whereas high intensity stimulation predominantly reduced excitability. The majority of non-spontaneously active neurons responded to an increase of stimulus intensity covariantly with an increase in firing rate. The excitatory effect of phoretically administeredl-glutamate as well as synaptically induced and spontaneous activity was reduced or abolished by phoretically administered GABA, glycine or the enkephalin-analogued-Ala2-d-Leu5-enkephalin. The actions of the enkephalin analogue were blocked by phoretically applied naloxone. The findings are consistent with the notion from in vivo investigations of a structurally and functionally heterogeneous population of neurons which display a responsiveness to microtopically applied putative neurotransmitters resembling dorsal horn neurons in deeper layers.