Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves!

Lesbian love is nothing new; Sappho was an Ancient Greek poetess who was born on the island of Lesbos. Many of her love poems were addressed to other women and the female narrators in many of her works speak of infatuations and love for various women. The word "lesbian" derives from the island on which she lived and her name is the origin of the word "sapphic". However, until recently, the idea of one woman loving another, let alone sleeping with another female has been perceived as something either very unusual and rare, or just downright strange. Over the last few years, there's been a gradual sea-change in regard to the general perception of what being 'lesbian' really means. The traditional image of the cropped haired, rather aggressive looking, butch dyke might still apply to some gay women, but now we're coming out of the closet in our millions and the world can see that actually, in most cases, we look just like the girl next door.

This mass 'coming out' is partly due to the proliferation of lesbian-centric resources on the internet; type in the word 'lesbian' into any of the search engines and you'll see a plethora of heavily populated chat rooms, directories, forums and dating sites like PlanetSappho.com which are the exclusive territory of sapphic women. It is this availability of male-free communities that has coaxed so many gay, bisexual and even bi-curious ladies out of their closets and into the open. Also, we now see major cultural icons like Madonna kissing Britney Spears kissing each other full on the lips in front of a television audience of millions which is exactly the right heterosexual seal of 'cool' that we lesbians have waited such a long time to see. Over the years, there have been a great many famous lesbians in both film and music but, unfortunately, they were just too frightened to come out and publicly admit it. Now we have Ellen DeGeneres and KD Lang - both of whom have an army of straight, non-judgmental fans.

The outcome of all this is that there is no longer a social stigma attached to the concept of women dating women or straight women experimenting with their sexuality by taking a same sex partner. Gay guys have been doing it for years but now there's no reason for any woman to feel repressed or uncertain about dating or sleeping with someone of their own sex. Being who we are or want to be is no longer just a possibility, it's a right and it's also something that's now accepted by our straight counterparts.

Whilst the word 'lesbian' is an all encompassing description for a gay woman, it doesn't do justice to the many different types of female who embrace the lifestyle. There are the traditional dykes as well as femmes/lipstsick lesbians whose ultra-feminine appearance would give no clue as to their sexual inclinations and bi-sexual and bi-curious women who occasionally indulge the lesbian side of their sexual and emotional psyches. Just because you don't have the shaved head and the tattoos doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself sexually with another woman if that's what you want to do. So sisters...there's never been a better time to be a lesbian and now is the time to come out of the closet and be loud and proud about joys of lesbian loving!

Dating Safety – Why Your Mother Can't Give You Tips

Women today are more vulnerable than they were in the past. Why? Because the way that people are meeting each other and dating has changed a lot. In the past, people were often set up by friends or family on dates, or met their future mates at work. The risks that women had during their first date were minimized, because there was usually someone who knew both of the people on the date, and could vouch for them. Now, dating is totally different. People today don't always get set up by their friends and family members. In addition, singles are now taking their love life into their own hands and meeting people of interest on the Internet or in bars. There is nothing wrong with meeting people in these places, but if you aren't careful, it could lead to some problems. Follow these five tips, and you can make sure that you're safe during your next date.

Plan your date well. When planning your first, second, or third date, you need to make sure that you are in a public place. This public place should be highly populated by other people, so skip secluded walks in the mountains for your first date. Also, chose an area where you have everything in one place. If you want to go to dinner and a movie, go to an area where you can do both without having to drive from place to place together.

Prepare for your date. In addition to getting yourself looking great for a date, you also have to have someone help you out. Give your friend, your mother or your coworker information on where you are going, who you are with and what time you will be back. Make sure they have all of this information, because your safety could depend on someone else.

Be cautious with your personal information. Don't give out your home phone number or any other personal information until you are certain that you want to give it out. If your heart is saying something different, listen to it.

Don't drink too much alcohol. You can have a good time without drinking. Drinking will slow your reaction time, and can help you get into dangerous situations. Keep a clear head, and keep yourself safe.

Consider getting pepper spray. This can help you if you are ever in a bad situation. There are many different types, but one type especially made for women is one that is made to look like a lipstick. This is great, because if you are ever in a date situation that you feel uncomfortable about, you can pretend to need to freshen up your lipstick, take it out of your purse and have it ready in case you need it. Pepper spray will temporarily stun your attacker, so if you are being attacked, you can get out of the situation. Now, pepper spray isn't for everyone, and if it isn't for you, there are many other date rape protection devices out there, for example personal alarms that will scare attackers away with a loud alarm and lights. If you do decide on getting pepper spray though, you must remember to make sure that you know how to use it before you are attacked.

There are many ways to keep yourself protected when you are dating or just for everyday life. Of course no one plans to get into a dangerous situation, but sometimes even the best plans don't work, and you need something that will help keep an attacker away. Everyone should be prepared, and preparation sometimes includes women's self defense products. Consider carrying pepper spray with you when you go out on a date, to keep you as safe as possible from attack.

Old Tires

By Tara Pingle

In July 2006, twelve people were traveling from New Jersey to Florida in a 12-passenger van. A few months before the trip, the van’s owner had replaced a tire as part of a tire rotation. The tire was 13 years old but looked brand new. Sadly, on this fateful trip, the tire’s tread separated from its steel belt and allegedly caused the van to roll over, killing three of the passengers.

This case highlights a problem with aging spare tires of which consumers are largely unaware. Spare tires are rarely used, if at all, and may look new. But over time they deteriorate within from factors such as humidity, heat and light. In other words, tire strength and performance declines with age, which increases the likelihood of tread separation that can result in a tire blowout and rollover accident.

A Massachusetts consulting firm has documented 115 injuries and 85 traffic deaths due to old, full-sized spare tires since 1992 (smaller, temporary replacement tires do not seem to be as much of an issue since they are not usually driven at the same high speeds and longer distances). According to the same group, close to one hundred aged tire lawsuits have been filed since 1999. The lawsuits involve claims of 57 deaths and 62 serious injuries.

Some experts are calling for tires to have simple expiration dates as many other products have. They also recommend that tires should not be used after ten years and that distributors not sell them after being in storage for six years or more. In Europe, auto manufacturers warn consumers to replace their spare tires after six years.

US tire makers do encode the manufacture date on their tires, but these codes are difficult to interpret by the average consumer. For tires made before 2000, the last three digits in the code represent the week and the year. For example, 121 would indicate the twelfth week in 1991. For tires made in 2000 and after, the last four digits represent the week and the year. 0307, in other words, represents the third week in 2007.

Some tire makers have argued that the solution may not be as simple as putting an easy to read expiration date on tires. They point out that there are many variables that affect tire aging and that there is no evidence that they deteriorate in a predictable chronological timeline. They argue further that consumers will dismiss the stamping of expiration dates on tires as a ploy by tire makers to sell more of them.

Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued new tire performance standards in 2003, it did not include an aging test because of a disagreement by experts on how to conduct such a test. They hope to have a new proposal on tire aging in the future. Meanwhile, however, fatal rollover accidents caused by the invisible threat of tire aging continue to occur across the country.

Click here for more information on car accidents, tire blowouts, and SUV rollovers.