Thursday, March 24, 2016

Architecture Buy Design Construction Of Statues Made Of Eh Mar^Burr^Oles Toe^Back^Oh Or the Wheelbarrow Mucking For The Stall?? Solve The Legion Of Honor At The Base Of The Peer^A^Mid!!



1.)  http://www.iheart.com/live/Talk-650-KSTE-229/?autoplay=true&pname=691&campid=play_bar&cid=index.html

2.)  http://kste.iheart.com/onair/ the Wares of the drop-down menu available NOW ~ 6:13 PM 3/24/2016

3.)  http://kste.iheart.com/

4.)  http://newstalk1290.com/show/glenn-beck-live/



Instant messaging

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A buddy list in Pidgin 2.0
Instant messaging (IM) is a type of online chat which offers real-time text transmission over the Internet. A LAN messenger operates in a similar way over a local area network. Short messages are typically transmitted bi-directionally between two parties, when each user chooses to complete a thought and select "send". Some IM applications can use push technology to provide real-time text, which transmits messages character by character, as they are composed. More advanced instant messaging can add file transfer, clickable hyperlinks, Voice over IP, orvideo chat.
Non-IM types of chat include multicast transmission, usually referred to as "chat rooms", where participants might be anonymous or might be previously known to each other (for example collaborators on a project that is using chat to facilitate communication). Instant messaging systems tend to facilitate connections between specified known users (often using a contact list also known as a "buddy list" or "friend list"). Depending on the IM protocol, the technical architecture can be peer-to-peer (direct point-to-point transmission) or client-server (a central server retransmits messages from the sender to the communication device).

Overview[edit]

Instant messaging is a set of communication technologies used for text-based communication between two or more participants over the Internet or other types of networks. IM–chat happens in real-time. Of importance is that online chat and instant messaging differ from other technologies such as email due to the perceived quasi-synchrony of the communications by the users. Some systems permit messages to be sent to users not then 'logged on' (offline messages), thus removing some differences between IM and email (often done by sending the message to the associated email account).
IM allows effective and efficient communication, allowing immediate receipt of acknowledgment or reply. However IM is basically not necessarily supported by transaction control. In many cases, instant messaging includes added features which can make it even more popular. For example, users may see each other via webcams, or talk directly for free over the Internet using a microphone and headphones or loudspeakers. Many applications allow file transfers, although they are usually limited in the permissible file-size.
It is usually possible to save a text conversation for later reference. Instant messages are often logged in a local message history, making it similar to the persistent nature of emails.

History[edit]


Command-line Unix "talk", using a split screen user interface, was popular in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Though the term dates from the 1990s, instant messaging predates the Internet, first appearing on multi-user operating systems like Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) and Multiplexed Information and Computing Service (Multics)[1] in the mid-1960s. Initially, some of these systems were used as notification systems for services like printing, but quickly were used to facilitate communication with other users logged into the same machine. As networks developed, the protocols spread with the networks. Some of these used a peer-to-peer protocol (e.g. talk, ntalk and ytalk), while others required peers to connect to a server (see talker and IRC). The Zephyr Notification Service (still in use at some institutions) was invented at MIT'sProject Athena in the 1980s to allow service providers to locate and send messages to users.
Parallel to instant messaging were early online chat facilities, the earliest of which was Talkomatic (1973) on the PLATOsystem. During the bulletin board system (BBS) phenomenon that peaked during the 1980s, some systems incorporated chat features which were similar to instant messaging; Freelancin' Roundtable was one prime example. The first[2] such general-availability commercial online chat service (as opposed to PLATO, which was educational) was the CompuServe CB Simulatorin 1980,[3] created by CompuServe executive Alexander "Sandy" Trevor in Columbus, Ohio.
Early instant messaging programs were primarily real-time text, where characters appeared as they were typed. This includes the Unix "talk" command line program, which was popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. Some BBS chat programs (i.e. Celerity BBS) also used a similar interface. Modern implementations of real-time text also exist in instant messengers, such as AOL's Real-Time IM[4] as an optional feature.[5]
In the latter half of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, the Quantum Link online service for Commodore 64 computers offered user-to-user messages between concurrently connected customers, which they called "On-Line Messages" (or OLM for short), and later "FlashMail." (Quantum Link later became America Online and made AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), discussed later). While the Quantum Link client software ran on a Commodore 64, using only the Commodore's PETSCII text-graphics, the screen was visually divided into sections and OLMs would appear as a yellow bar saying "Message From:" and the name of the sender along with the message across the top of whatever the user was already doing, and presented a list of options for responding.[6] As such, it could be considered a type of graphical user interface (GUI), albeit much more primitive than the later Unix, Windows and Macintosh based GUI IM software. OLMs were what Q-Link called "Plus Services" meaning they charged an extra per-minute fee on top of the monthly Q-Link access costs.
Modern, Internet-wide, GUI-based messaging clients as they are known today, began to take off in the mid-1990s with PowWow, ICQ, and AOL Instant Messenger. Similar functionality was offered by CU-SeeMe in 1992; though primarily an audio/video chat link, users could also send textual messages to each other. AOL later acquired Mirabilis, the authors of ICQ; a few years later ICQ (now owned by AOL) was awarded two patents for instant messaging by the U.S. patent office. Meanwhile, other companies developed their own software; (Excite, MSN, Ubique, and Yahoo!), each with its own proprietary protocol and client; users therefore had to run multiple client applications if they wished to use more than one of these networks. In 1998, IBM released IBM Lotus Sametime, a product based on technology acquired when IBM bought Haifa-based Ubique and Lexington-based Databeam.
In 2000, an open source application and open standards-based protocol called Jabber was launched. The protocol was standardized under the name Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). XMPP servers could act as gateways to other IM protocols, reducing the need to run multiple clients. Multi-protocol clients can use any of the popular IM protocols by using additional local libraries for each protocol. IBM Lotus Sametime's November 2007 release added IBM Lotus Sametime Gateway support for XMPP.
As of 2010, social networking providers often offer IM abilities. Facebook Chat is a form of instant messaging, and Twitter can be thought of as a Web 2.0 instant messaging system. Similar server-side chat features are part of most dating websites, such as OKCupid or PlentyofFish. The spread of smartphones and similar devices in the late 2000s also caused increased competition with conventional instant messaging, by making text messaging services still more ubiquitous.
Many instant messaging services offer video calling features, voice over IP and web conferencing services. Web conferencing services can integrate both video calling and instant messaging abilities. Some instant messaging companies are also offering desktop sharing, IP radio, and IPTV to the voice and video features.
The term "Instant Messenger" is a service mark of Time Warner[7] and may not be used in software not affiliated with AOL in the United States. For this reason, in April 2007, the instant messaging client formerly named Gaim (or gaim) announced that they would be renamed "Pidgin".[8]

Clients[edit]

Each modern IM service generally provides its own client, either a separately installed piece of software, or a browser-based client. These usually only work with the supplier company's service, although some allow limited function with other services. Third party client software applications exist that will connect with most of the major IM services.Adium, Empathy, Miranda IM, Pidgin, Qnext, Trillian, and Facebook Messenger are a few of the common ones.

Interoperability[edit]


Pidgin's tabbed chat window in Linux
Standard complementary instant messaging applications offer functions like file transfer, contact list(s), the ability to hold several simultaneous conversations, etc. These may be all the functions that a small business needs, but larger organizations will require more sophisticated applications that can work together. The solution to finding applications capable of this is to use enterprise versions of instant messaging applications. These include titles like XMPP, Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Office Communicator, etc., which are often integrated with other enterprise applications such as workflow systems. These enterprise applications, or enterprise application integration (EAI), are built to certain constraints, namely storing data in a common format.
There have been several attempts to create a unified standard for instant messaging: IETF's Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), Application Exchange (APEX), Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol(IMPP), the open XML-based Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), and Open Mobile Alliance's Instant Messaging and Presence Service developed specifically for mobile devices.
Most attempts at producing a unified standard for the major IM providers (AOL, Yahoo! and Microsoft) have failed, and each continues to use its own proprietary protocol.
However, while discussions at IETF were stalled, Reuters signed the first inter-service provider connectivity agreement on September 2003. This agreement enabled AIM, ICQ and MSN Messenger users to talk with Reuters Messaging counterparts and vice versa. Following this, Microsoft, Yahoo! and AOL agreed to a deal in which Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2005 users would also have the possibility to talk to public instant messaging users. This deal established SIP/SIMPLE as a standard for protocol interoperability and established a connectivity fee for accessing public instant messaging groups or services. Separately, on October 13, 2005, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced that by the 3rd quarter of 2006 they would interoperate using SIP/SIMPLE, which was followed, in December 2005, by the AOL and Google strategic partnership deal in whichGoogle Talk users would be able to communicate with AIM and ICQ users provided they have an AIM account.
There are two ways to combine the many disparate protocols:
  • Combine the many disparate protocols inside the IM client application.
  • Combine the many disparate protocols inside the IM server application. This approach moves the task of communicating with the other services to the server. Clients need not know or care about other IM protocols. For example, LCS 2005 Public IM Connectivity. This approach is popular in XMPP servers; however, the so-called transport projects suffer the same reverse engineering difficulties as any other project involved with closed protocols or formats.
Some approaches allow organizations to deploy their own, private instant messaging network by enabling them to restrict access to the server (often with the IM network entirely behind their firewall) and administer user permissions. Other corporate messaging systems allow registered users to also connect from outside the corporation LAN, by using an encrypted, firewall-friendly, HTTPS-based protocol. Usually, a dedicated corporate IM server has several advantages, such as pre-populated contact lists, integrated authentication, and better security and privacy.
Certain networks have made changes to prevent them from being used by such multi-network IM clients. For example, Trillian had to release several revisions and patches to allow its users to access the MSN, AOL, and Yahoo! networks, after changes were made to these networks. The major IM providers usually cite the need for formal agreements, and security concerns as reasons for making these changes.
The use of proprietary protocols has meant that many instant messaging networks have been incompatible and users have been unable to reach users on other networks. [9]This may have allowed social networking with IM-like features and text messaging an opportunity to gain market share at the expense of IM.[10]

IM language[edit]

See also: SMS language
Users sometimes make use of internet slang or text speak to abbreviate common words or expressions to quicken conversations or reduce keystrokes. The language has become widespread, with well-known expressions such as 'lol' translated over to face-to-face language.
Emotions are often expressed in shorthand, such as the abbreviation LOL, BRB and TTYL; respectively laugh(ing) out loud, be right back, and talk to you later.
Some, however, attempt to be more accurate with emotional expression over IM. Real time reactions such as (chortle) (snort) (guffaw) or (eye-roll) are becoming more popular. Also there are certain standards that are being introduced into mainstream conversations including, '#' indicates the use of sarcasm in a statement and '*' which indicates a spelling mistake and/or grammatical error in the prior message, followed by a correction.[11]

Business application[edit]

Instant messaging has proven to be similar to personal computers, email, and the World Wide Web, in that its adoption for use as a business communications medium was driven primarily by individual employees using consumer software at work, rather than by formal mandate or provisioning by corporate information technology departments. Tens of millions of the consumer IM accounts in use are being used for business purposes by employees of companies and other organizations.
In response to the demand for business-grade IM and the need to ensure security and legal compliance, a new type of instant messaging, called "Enterprise Instant Messaging" ("EIM") was created when Lotus Software launched IBM Lotus Sametime in 1998. Microsoft followed suit shortly thereafter with Microsoft Exchange Instant Messaging, later created a new platform called Microsoft Office Live Communications Server, and released Office Communications Server 2007 in October 2007. Oracle Corporation has also jumped into the market recently with its Oracle Beehive unified collaboration software.[12] Both IBM Lotus and Microsoft have introduced federation between their EIM systems and some of the public IM networks so that employees may use one interface to both their internal EIM system and their contacts on AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! As of 2010, leading EIM platforms include IBM Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Office Communications Server, Jabber XCP and Cisco Unified Presence. Industry-focused EIM platforms as Reuters Messaging and Bloomberg Messaging also provide enhanced IM abilities to financial services companies.
The adoption of IM across corporate networks outside of the control of IT organizations creates risks and liabilities for companies who do not effectively manage and support IM use. Companies implement specialized IM archiving and security products and services to mitigate these risks and provide safe, secure, productive instant messaging abilities to their employees. IM is increasingly becoming a feature of enterprise software rather than a stand-alone application.

Types of products[edit]

IM products can usually be categorised into two types: Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM)[13] and Consumer Instant Messaging (CIM).[14] Enterprise solutions use an internal IM server, however this isn't always feasible, particularly for smaller businesses with limited budgets. The second option, using a CIM provides the advantage of being inexpensive to implement and has little need for investing in new hardware or server software.
For corporate use, encryption and conversation archiving are usually regarded as important features due to security concerns. Sometimes the use of different operating systems in organizations requires use of software that supports more than one platform. For example, many software companies use Windows in administration departments but have software developers who use Linux.

Security risks[edit]

See also: Secure instant messaging
Crackers (malicious or black hat hackers) have consistently used IM networks as vectors for delivering phishing attempts, "poison URLs", and virus-laden file attachments from 2004 to the present, with over 1100 discrete attacks listed by the IM Security Center[15] in 2004–2007. Hackers use two methods of delivering malicious code through IM: delivery of viruses, trojan horses, or spyware within an infected file, and the use of "socially engineered" text with a web address that entices the recipient to click on a URL connecting him or her to a website that then downloads malicious code.
Viruses, computer worms, and trojans usually propagate by sending themselves rapidly through the infected user's contact list. An effective attack using a poisoned URL may reach tens of thousands of users in a short period when each user's contact list receives messages appearing to be from a trusted friend. The recipients click on the web address, and the entire cycle starts again. Infections may range from nuisance to criminal, and are becoming more sophisticated each year.
IM connections usually occur in plain text, making them vulnerable to eavesdropping. Also, IM client software often requires the user to expose open UDP ports to the world, raising the threat posed by potential security vulnerabilities.[16]

Compliance risks[edit]

In addition to the malicious code threat, the use of instant messaging at work also creates a risk of non-compliance to laws and regulations governing use of electronic communications in businesses.

In the United States[edit]

In the United States alone there are over 10,000 laws and regulations related to electronic messaging and records retention.[17] The better-known of these include the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, HIPAA, and SEC 17a-3.
Clarification from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) was issued to member firms in the financial services industry in December, 2007, noting that "electronic communications", "email", and "electronic correspondence" may be used interchangeably and can include such forms of electronic messaging as instant messaging and text messaging.[18] Changes to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, effective December 1, 2006, created a new category for electronic records which may be requested during discoveryin legal proceedings.

World-wide[edit]

Most nations also regulate use of electronic messaging and electronic records retention in similar fashion as the United States. The most common regulations related to IM at work involve the need to produce archived business communications to satisfy government or judicial requests under law. Many instant messaging communications fall into the category of business communications that must be archived and retrievable.

Security and archiving[edit]

See also: Secure instant messaging
In the early 2000s, a new class of IT security provider emerged to provide remedies for the risks and liabilities faced by corporations who chose to use IM for business communications. The IM security providers created new products to be installed in corporate networks for the purpose of archiving, content-scanning, and security-scanning IM traffic moving in and out of the corporation. Similar to the e-mail filtering vendors, the IM security providers focus on the risks and liabilities described above.
With rapid adoption of IM in the workplace, demand for IM security products began to grow in the mid-2000s. By 2007, the preferred platform for the purchase of security software had become the "computer appliance", according to IDC, who estimate that by 2008, 80% of network security products will be delivered via an appliance.[19]
By 2014 however, the level of safety offered by instant messengers was still extremely poor. According to the EFF security review, only 7 out of 39 instant messengers had a perfect score (namely ChatSecure, Cryptocat, Signal/RedPhone, Silent Phone, Silent Text and TextSecure), whereas the most popular instant messengers at this time (Whatsapp, Snapchat, Facebook Chat and Hangouts) only attain a score of 2 out of 7. Skype even just attained a number of 1 out of 7.[20][21] A number of studies have shown that IM services are quite vulnerable for providing user privacy.[22][23]

User base[edit]

See also: List of virtual communities with more than 100 million active users
While some numbers are given by the owners of a complete instant messaging system, others are provided by commercial vendors of a part of a distributed system. Some companies may be motivated to inflate their numbers to raise advertising earnings or attract partners, clients, or customers. Importantly, some numbers are reported as the number of active users (with no shared standard of that activity), others indicate total user accounts, while others indicate only the users logged in during an instance of peak use.
Since the acquisitions of 2010 and later and with the wide availability of smartphones, the virtual communities of those conglomerates are becoming the user base of most instant messaging services:

Statistics[edit]

Instant messenger clientCompanyUsage
BlackBerry MessengerBlackBerry91 million total users (October 2014)[24]
AIMAOL, Inc53 million active users (September 2006)[25]
XMPPXMPP Standards Foundation1200+ million (September 2011)[26]
eBuddyeBuddy35 million users (October2006)[27]
iMessageApple Inc.140 million users (June 2012)[28]
Windows Live MessengerMicrosoft Corporation330 million active monthly (June 2009)[29]
Yahoo! MessengerYahoo!, Inc.22 million users (Unknown)[citation needed]
QQTencent Holdings Limited176+ million peak online users, 840+ million "active" (Q2 2009)[30]
IBM SametimeIBM Corp.15 million (enterprise) users (Unknown)[citation needed]
SkypeMicrosoft Corporation34 million peak online (February 2012),[31] 560 million total (April 2010)[32][33]
MXitMXit Lifestyle (Pty) Ltd.[34]7.4 million monthly subscribers (majority in South Africa (July 2013)[35]
XfireXfire, Inc.24 million registered users (January 2014)[36]
Gadu-GaduGG Network S.A.6.5 million users active daily (majority in Poland) (June 2010)[37]
ICQICQ LLC.4 million active (September 2006)[25]
PaltalkPaltalk.com5.5 million monthly unique users (August 2013)[38]
IMVUIMVU, inc.1 million users (June 2007)[39]

Phallic architecture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phallic tombstone
Phallic architecture consciously or unconsciously creates a symbolic representation of the phallus.[1] Buildings intentionally or unintentionally resembling the human penis are a source of amusement to locals and tourists in various places around the world. Deliberate phallic imagery is found in ancient cultures and in the links to ancient cultures found in traditional artifacts.
The ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated phallic festivals and built a shrine with an erect phallus to honor Hermes, messenger of the gods. Those figures may be related to the Egyptian god Min who was depicted holding his erect phallus. Figures of women with a phallus for a head have been found across Greece and Yugoslavia. Phallic symbolism was prevalent in the architecture of ancient Babylon, and the Romans, who were deeply superstitious, often used phallic imagery in their architecture and domestic items. The ancient culture of many parts of Far East Asia including Indonesia, Mali, and the Buddhist parts of Korea and Japan, also used the phallus as a symbol of fertility in motifs on their temples and in other areas of everyday life.
Scholars of anthropology, sociology, and feminism have pointed out the symbolic nature of phallic architecture, especially large skyscrapers which dominate the landscape as symbols of male domination, power and political authority. Towers and other vertical structures may unintentionally or perhaps subconsciously have those connotations. There are many examples of modern architecture that can be interpreted as phallic, but very few for which the architect has specifically cited or admitted that meaning as an intentional aspect of the design.

History and background[edit]

Antiquity[edit]

Left: The well-endowed Priapus, the Greco-Roman god of fertility. He was the subject of many architectural works in the ancient world. Right: A phallic column in Delos.
The worship of the phallus has existed since the Stone Age, and was particularly prevalent during theNeolithic period and the Bronze Age.[2] Phallic architecture became prominent in ancient Egypt and Greece, where genitalia and human sexuality received a high degree of attention. The ancient Greeks honored the phallus and celebrated phallic festivals.[3] The Greco-Roman deity Priapus was worshiped as a god of fertility, depicted with a giant phallus in numerous public architectural pieces.[2]
The Greeks regularly built a shrine which they called "Herm" at the entrance of major public buildings, homes and along roads to honor Hermes, messenger of the gods.[4] The shrines typically "took the form of a vertical pillar topped by the bearded head of a man and from the surface of the pillar below the head, an erect phallus protruded".[3] It is believed that they sought their inspiration from the ancient Egyptians and their phallic image of Min, the valley god, who was similarly "depicted as a standing bearded king with simplified body, one arm raised, the other hand holding his erect phallus."[3]
Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, documented women carrying large phallic shaped monuments and ornaments the size of a human body in villages in ancient Dionysia.[5] On the island of Delos a pillar supports a colossal phallus, the symbol of Dionysus. Phallus reliefs on buildings on such sites are also believed to have been apotropaic devices to ward off evil.[6] The elaborate use of phallic architecture and sculpture in ancient Greek society can also be seen in sites such as Nea Nikomedeia in northern Greece. Archaeologists excavating the ancient town discovered clay sculptures of plump women with phallic heads and folded arms.[7]
Similar figurines of women with phallus heads from the Neolithic period have been found across Greece, Macedonia and parts of old Yugoslavia. The vast majority of the figurines of the Hamangia culture have cylindrical phallus-shaped heads without facial features, although some, particularly of the Aegean culture, had phallic sculptural pieces with phallic heads with a pinched nose and slitty eyes.[7] In these parts of the ancient world, obelisk like structures resembling the human penis were built, often with phallic symbols, representing human fertility and asserting male sexuality and orgasm.[1] Phallic symbolism was prevalent in the architecture of ancient Babylonia, and in Khametian iconography, the obelisk was considered to be symbolic of the phallus of the masculine earth.[8] The obelisks of ancient Egypt themselves had several functions, existing both as a reference to the cultus of the sun and of the phallus, representing fertility and power.[9]
Although phallic architecture as individual pieces was not prevalent in ancient Rome as it was in ancient Greece or Egypt, the Romans were deeply superstitious and often introduced phallus-related components as architectural pieces and domestic items. Archaeologists unearthing a site in Pompei discovered many vases, ornaments and sculptures unearthed revealing the preoccupation with the phallus,[10] also unearthing an 18-inch terracotta phallus protruding from what was believed to have been a bakery with the inscription, "Hie habitat felicitas" (here dwells happiness), and many Romans wore phallus amulets to ward off the evil-eye.[11][12]
Priapic worship amongst the women of Sicily continued into the 18th century; worshiping phallic votive objects and kissing such offerings before placing them upon the altar in the churches.[10] Fetishism with the phallus architecturally and in smaller implements was also exhibited by certain Christian sects in medieval times, such as the Manichaeans, and was connected with masochism and sadism, a form of religious flagellantism.[5] Smaller phallic shaped monuments in the form of idols, even vases, rings, drinking vessels and jewellery have been well-documented and could be found within medieval churches of Ireland.[5]
Left: The pyramid of Candi Sukuh of East Java, Indonesia. Right: A graphic depiction of a phallus entering a vagina at the temple, one of many.
In Hinduism, the Hindu trimurthi represents Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver and Shiva, the destroyer. Shiva, the main deity in India, is both destroyer and is stated to also include his role of creation; this creation role is represented by the phallic symbol, known as lingam in which form he is worshiped or in the form of male trinity of penis and two testicles.[13] The linga, or phallus, is a common feature of Hindu temples across India, engrained as reliefs or other forms. The Brihadeeswarar Temple of Tanjore in Tamil Nadu, built during the Chola Dynasty, is dedicated to Shiva, and features lingam between the cells; it is especially renowned for its "Hall of One Thousand Lingas".[14]
In Indonesia, the phallic lingga and feminine yoni, remain common symbols of harmony. The Sultan's Palace of Kasepuhan, in West Java, has a number of lingga-yoni carvings along its walls. According to the Indonesian chronicles of the Babad Tanah Jawi, Prince Puger gained the kingly power from God, by ingesting sperm from the phallus of the already-dead Sultan Amangkurat II of Mataram.[15][16]
Candi Sukuh temple of Ngancar, East Java, was built in the 10th century and is dedicated to Shiva and is evidence of Tantric ritual in Hinduism and the fertility cult practiced at the time and preoccupation with the lingga. The temple has numerous reliefs graphically depicting sexuality and fertility including several stone depictions of a copulating penis and vagina.[17] It consists of a pyramid with reliefs and statues at the front. Among them is a male statue clutching his penis, with three tortoises with flattened shells.[17] The temple once had a striking 1.82 metre (5'11.5 ft) representation of lingga with four testicles; this is now housed in the National Museum of Indonesia. Phallic references were also made in Khmer architecture in Cambodia, and several Khmer temples depict the phallus in reliefs.
In Africa, Ancient Malians, particularly the royals of Djenne, decorated their palaces with phallus like piers and columns at the entrance of their palaces and decorated the walls with phallus motifs.[18] Similar features can be seen on the pillars of many temples across Africa, often interpreted by western scholars to be phallic symbols, but may often be more subtle and subject to varying interpretations.[19] Like the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, Aksumite kings built temples with phallic pillars in ancient Ethiopian cities such asKonsu, and monolithic pillars with phallic representation have also been discovered in Madagascar.[20] In ancient Maya, phallic architecture was rare but Uxmal in particular has a considerable number of phallus-like architectural pieces. It contains a temple known as the Temple of the Phallis and phallic sculptures and motifs.[21]

Modern[edit]


The Dionysus Theatre of Athens. Phallic columns can still be seen of the ruined Ancient Greek theatre.
Claude Nicholas Ledoux was a major exponent of architectural development in the 17th century which "articulated across the tensions of form and ornament, symbol, and allegory, dogma, and fantasy", at a time when western society was oppressive and particularly sensitive to public displays of sexuality; blatant and graphic phallic architecture would have been considered an embarrassment and a shameful act.[10] In his initial draft for the House of Pleasure in Chaux[disambiguation needed], Ledoux drew upon allegorical ideas in his design with the union of man and woman, a physiological interpretation of intercourse and penetration. Private bedrooms were designed to "thrust out from the circular ring of the building, metaphorically representing penetration, the circular ring representing the vaginal passage and womb of the female.[10]
The second revised design is said to "subliminate both elevated site and female gender" with a "lonely phallus", without the original planned animated circular ring representing the female reproductive organs.[10] Ledoux drew upon phallic and sexually charged inspiration in other buildings which he designed. His design of Besancon Theatre for instance was fueled by the exigencies of prostitution and ancient sexual ritual.[10] However, in comparison to the likes of Jean-Jacques Lequeu, who gained notoriety for his pornographic architectural concoctions, Ledoux's architectural inspiration was relatively mild, and he is said to have omitted towers from his designs on occasion as he was aware that they would be frowned upon shamefully by general society as a too obvious representation of the phallus; Ledoux's "missing erection" is explained to this effect in Jacques Lecan's Significance of the Missing Phalus.[10]
According to Oscar Reutersvärd, the interest in neoclassical architecture in the 18th century was synonymous with and motivated by a similar interest in masculine virility.[10]Works such as Francesco Colonna's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1467) and Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Campo Marzio (1762) show profoundly the ancient influence of phallic architecture in design and worship, and contain numerous illustrations of Priapic temples and architecture.[10] Piranesi in particular is said to have offered a "prototype for the mysterious architecture of phallic worship that more closely resembles the houses of pleasure" in his etchings.[10]
He located two designs for the Bustum Caesaris Augusti, concluding that they were based upon sexual ritual, with "two phallic plans penetrating the semicircular cubicula". Piranesi believed that the purpose of the phallic designs were to celebrate virility and male regenerative power.[10] Other commentators such as Carl August Ehrensvärd also provided illustrations and analysis of Priapic temples and the meaning of phallic architecture.[10] A work of note to this effect is Neoclassical Temple of Virility and the Buildings with a Phallic Shaped Plan (1977) of the Institute for Art History of the University of Lund, Sweden.[10]
In America, especially in Chicago and New York, and numerous other global cities, high rise skyscrapers of phallic shape grew up in the 20th century. Le Corbusier, the famous architect, propagated it in Europe in place of traditional decorative architecture. Similar futuristic developments took place in Italy with the initiative of Sant’Elia, symbolizing the triumph of man. Yet unlike those of ancient times which were blatant architectural representations of the phallus, in the West in modern times "shrines to the phallus" are more subtle, and may often be subject to interpretation as such; very few architects have specifically admitted the human phallus as a source for their architectural creation.[22] TheItalian Fascists were cited as having an obsession with phallic architecture which was rigid and impermeable.[23] In the last few decades the high-rise phallic skyscraper has been a symbol of government quest for economic power in China, Hong Kong and South Korea and the other ASEAN/Pacific Rim nations. China fuels billions of dollars annually into high-rise office and residential buildings with the aim of increasing GDP, at a rate far greater than they can be occupied.[24]

Symbolism[edit]

Left: Vendome Column, Paris. Right: One of the many penis statues ofHaesindang Park (Penis Park), South Korea.
In art and architecture, acutely vertical buildings are often seen as a symbol of masculinity and horizontal buildings are seen as more feminine.[25][26] The terms "phallic verticality", "phallic erectility" and "phallic brutality" have been referred to by architectural theorists, including the likes of French sociologist Henri Lefebvre, who argued that buildings of phallic architectural type metaphorically symbolize "force, male fertility, masculine violence".[25][27] Phallic erectility "bestows a special status on the perpendicular, proclaiming phallocracy as the orientation of space" while phallic brutality "does not remain abstract, for it is the brutality of political power."[27]
Lefebvre conducted considerable research into the meaning of high-rise buildings.[25] He said "The arrogant verticality of skyscrapers, and especially of public and state buildings, introduces a phallic or more precisely a phallocratic element into the visual realm; the purpose of this display, of this need to impress, is to convey an impression of authority to each spectator. Verticality and great height have ever been the spatial expression of potentially violent power."[25] Sigmund Freud metaphorically drew a comparison between "high achievement and the acquisition of wealth as building monuments to our penises."[28]
In the 19th century, Thomas Mical argues that surrealists "capitalized on the phallic symbolism of monuments such as the ancient Egyptian obelisk from Luxor in the Place de la Concorde or the Vendome Column" by "supplementing these phallic structures with female counterparts".[29] Jules Breton for example suggested moving the obelisk to La Villette abattoir and designing a large gloved hand of a woman holding the obelisk in a suggestive manner, and adapting the Vendome into a factory chimney with a nude woman climbing it.[29] Auguste Bartholdi's 1870 monument Defense of Paris for instance, a commemoration of Leon Gambetta's escape from Paris in balloon during the Franco-Prussian War, was also subject to debate amongst Parisian artists of the late 19th century as they believed it resembled a testicle.[29] Arthur Harfauxproposed turning the monument into "an enormous sex, the balloon forming a testicle and the phallus being horizontal", while Breton proposed turning it into copulating genitals, adding a twin balloon to form two testicles.[29]

Jules Breton (1827–1906), a French realist artist who was keen to advocate phallic architecture in late 19th century Paris.
Contemporary scholars in architectural criticism have investigated the relationship between architecture and the body, sexuality, sex, power, and place.[30] Feminists in particular, such as Margrit Kennedy, perceive high-rise phallic-like buildings on the urban landscape as "phallic symbols of male domination, power and rational instrumentality."[31] Esther M. K. Cheung believes the form of monumental high-rise building which grew up in 20th century America can "be read as a phallic symbol of power".[32] The present trend symbolises "Science and technology over nature, incorporating all the maleness which that with sci-fi utopias."[33] Elizabeth Grosz, however, offers a counter argument to phallocentrism in urban design theories, saying "not so much the dominance of the phallus as the pervasive unacknowledged use of the male or masculine to represent the human. The problem, then, is not so much to eliminate as to reveal the masculinity inherent in the notion of the universal, the generic human, or the unspecified subject."[30] Marc C. Taylor discusses phallic architecture and what makes a building masculine or feminine in his book Disfiguring: Art, Architecture, Religion.[25]

Symbols and shrines[edit]

During the modern era, many sculptors have created some public phallic works of art, with varying degrees of subtlety. One of these examples may be the statue in honor to the Carnation Revolution on the top of a hill in Lisbon, Portugal by the sculptor João Cutileiro.[34]Perhaps the greatest example of a phallic cemetery is the Khalid Nabi Cemetery in hills of northeastern Iran near the border withTurkmenistan, roughly 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Gonbad-e Kavous.[35] According to a popular belief, the cemetery house the tomb of a pre-Islamic prophet, Khalid Nabi, who was born 40 years prior to the birth of Muhammad, in c. 530.[35] The ancient graveyard contains some 600 tombstones of unknown origin, many of which are clear representations of the phallus; from a distance they resemble stone pegs.[35]
Left: Chao Mae Tuptim, Bangkok, Thailand. Right: A smaller version of theKharkarin Rock, near Erdene Zuu Monastery, Mongolia.
Phallic shrines are common in Far East Asia, especially in Buddhist parts of Korea and Japan where they are seen as symbols of fertility or prowess.[36] In Dragon Pool Temple in Jeju City, there is a phallic shrine which is visited by female pilgrims who come to worship it for its perceived fertility blessings. The phallic stone is made from granite, quite small in size and white and was reportedly found in a field nearby by a farmer.[36]
In Thailand, the phallus is also considered to be a symbol of good luck and representative of fertility. There are numerous shrines in the country featuring phallic architecture. Chao Mae Tuptim shrine inBangkok, behind the Swissôtel Bangkok hotel has over a hundred colored circumcised wooden penis statues of all shapes and sizes which are said to possess special cosmic powers and endow good fortune and fertility on anybody coming into contact with them.[37][38]
Near Erdene Zuu Monastery in Ã–vörkhangai Province of Mongolia is Kharkhorin Rock which contains a massive statue of a penis raised on a platform on the steppe. The statue has dual functions; primarily it is a reminder to the monks to remain celibate, but it is also a symbol of fertility and human life.[39] A smaller statue of a phallus is nearer the monastery. Haesindang Park (also known as "Penis Park") in Gangwon Province of South Korea, located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Samcheok, is a nature park which contains a number of erect statues. A tragic legend shrouds them in that a virgin was once swept out to sea and drowned, unable to be saved by her lover. The townspeople were devastated and helpless, and a curse appeared to have been cast over them, ruining the local fishing industry. One day, a local fisherman relieved himself in the sea and miraculously the fishing industry revived. He discovered that her restless spirit could be appeased in such a manner, so the townsfolk compensated for the woman's inability to consummate beyond the grave by placing sexually potent phallic statues in view of the shore.[40] The statues range in size and styles; some have faces on them and are more animated in appearance and more colorful, but others are exact depictions of the human penis.
In some Asian countries such as Bhutan, many have a belief that a phallus brings good luck and drives away evil spirits. Phallus symbols are routinely painted outside walls of the new houses and carved wooden phalluses are hung (sometimes crossed by a design of sword or dagger) outside, on the eves of the new homes, at the four corners.[41] On a road drive from Paro airport to Thimphu explicit paintings of phalluses are a common sight on the white-washed walls of homes, shops and eateries.[41] In the Chimi Lhakhangmonastery, the shrine dedicated to Drupka Kinley, several wooden penises are used to bless people who visit the monastery on pilgrimage seeking blessings to bear a child or for welfare of their children. The glaringly displayed phallus in the monastery is a brown wooden piece with a silver handle, a religious relic considered to possess divine powers and hence used for blessing the spiritually oriented people. It is also said to prevent quarrels among family members in the houses which are painted with these symbols.[41]

Buildings and structures[edit]

Left: Empire State Building, New York City. Right: The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Empire State Building[edit]

The 102-story Empire State Building, located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the intersection ofFifth Avenue and West 34th Street, is one of the world's most famous landmarks, and is generally thought of as an American cultural icon. Cited by Valerie Briginshaw as a symbol of American pride and "the ultimate sign of American phallic power", it was inaugurated on 31 May 1931.[42][43]
Designed in the Art Deco style, it has a roof height of 1,250 feet (381 meters), and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft (443.2 m) high. It stood as the world's tallest building for 40 years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972. Numerous people have mentioned its similarities in appearance to the phallus, with its "tall and glinting" towers.[43][44][45]

Leaning Tower of Pisa[edit]

The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy, dating from around 1173, has long suffered from structural problems. The tower is eight stories high at 55.86 metres (183.3 ft) and before restoration work from 1990 leaned 5.5 degrees. It currently leans about 4 degrees but due to foundation problems it continues to sink about 1mm annually. The resemblance of the tower to a penis has seen the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" became a sexual slang term for a half erect penis.[46] Local retailers have attempted to capitalize on the tower as a phallic architectural piece by making souvenirs featuring underwear with the tower resembling a penis. The Catholic Church denounced the promotion of the tower in such a manner as showing "a complete lack of respect and a "disgrace" and retailers can now be fined up to €500 for selling items promoting the tower as a penis.[47]

Nelson's Column[edit]

Nelson's Column, a monument to Admiral Horatio Nelson, was erected by a grateful nation between 1840 and 1843 to commemorate Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. However the Nelson Memorial Committee ran out of money, having only raised £20,485 in public subscriptions.[48] The column is Corinthian with a granite shaft.[49] In his poem A Ballad of the Good Lord Nelson, Lawrence Durrell included the multiply allusive lines "Now stiff on a pillar with a phallic air/Nelson stylites in Trafalgar Square/Reminds the British what once they were."[50]

Colonna Mediterranea[edit]


Colonna Mediterranea in Luqa,Malta
Colonna Mediterranea is a monumental column in Luqa, Malta. It has been described by its artist Paul Vella Critien as an "Egyptian symbol". However at a glance it could be observed to look similar to a large penile, and therefor was largely described to be a "phallic monument". The monument has managed to attract several international media coverage in specific before and during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Malta as the pope mobile, carrying the papacy, had been planned and passed by it. Similarly the same artist has created another monumental column, the Kolonna Eterna, which was also described as being phallic by critics.[51][52][53][54]

Obelisk of Luxor[edit]

The Obelisk of Luxor, which stands in the Place de la Concorde of Paris, France, was given to the French by the Egyptians in the 1800s. The 23-meter (75-foot) obelisk originally stood at the front of Luxor Temple, honoring Ramses II, pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. According to Michael D. Garval, the French perceived the obelisk as "prodigiously phallic" from the moment it arrived.[55]

Oriental Pearl TV Tower[edit]

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, located in Pudong Park in Lujiazui, Shanghai, China, is the world’s third tallest TV and radio tower at 468 metres (1,535 ft), the tallest such building in Asia. The tower houses restaurants, theaters, a conference hall, and a hotel and is a significant tourist attraction in the city. The tower has been met a mixed reception, however. The New York Times described it as a "great phallic monster of truly monumental ugliness, a bit like an enormous asparagus with a silver ball on top." [56] The long steel column tower is considered by some to be proof of the city's phallic worship, and that such skyscrapers indicative of wealth are an increasing aphrodisiac of the materialist in Chinese cities.[57]

State Capitol, Lincoln[edit]

The State Capitol building of Lincoln, Nebraska has been cited as the "apex" of phallic architecture.[58] At 15 stories and 400 feet (121 m) tall, it is the second-tallest U.S. statehouse, surpassed only by the 34-story Louisiana State Capitol.[59] It is the tallest building in Lincoln,[60] the third-tallest in the state, and also the heaviest Capitol building in North America. The building was designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, who drew upon Classical and Gothic architectural traditions.[61] It was constructed between 1922 and 1932, of Indiana limestone, with a golden dome.[61] The building is nicknamed "The Phallus of the Plains" for its phallus-like appearance.[62]

30 St Mary Axe[edit]

30 St Mary Axe opened in London in April 2004. Designed by Norman Foster, the 180 metres (590 ft) structure, London’s first environmentally sustainable tall building using recycled and recyclable materials, has been compared to the phallus and a gherkin; its nicknames include Gherkin, the Erotic Gherkin, Towering Innuendo and the Crystal Phallus.[63][64][65] Also likened to a "phallic fat cigar", the building has been cited as a "crude anatomical metaphor", yet has become one of the London's most iconic buildings.[64]Cabinet voted it the "Best Uncircumcised Building in the World".[65]

Torre Agbar[edit]

Left: Torre Agbar, Barcelona, Spain. Right: Washington Monument,Washington, D.C., United States
The Torre Agbar is a 38-story skyscraper located in the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes of the Poblenouneighborhood of Barcelona, Spain. Designed by Jean Nouvel, it is named after its owners, the Agbar Group, a holding company whose interests include the Barcelona water company Aigües de Barcelona. An example ofHigh-tech architecture in the city, its design combines a number of different architectural concepts, resulting in a striking structure built with reinforced concrete, covered with a facade of glass, and over 4,500 windowopenings cut out of the structural concrete. The building stands out on the skyline of Barcelona; it is the third tallest building in the city, standing at 144.44 m (473.88 ft), with an area of over 50,000 square metres, of which 30,000 are offices. 2,500 LED bulbs cause the tower to change color at night.[66] It was officially opened by the King of Spain on 16 September 2005. Nouvel claims it to be inspired by a geyser and the nearby mountain of Montserrat, although he does note its phallic appearance.[67] Although many draw comparisons with the phallus, locals refer to the structure as el supositorio (the suppository), a drug delivery system that is inserted into the rectum or vagina.[66][68]

Washington Monument[edit]

The Washington Monument in Washington D.C. is often seen as a prime example of phallic architecture and American masculinity.[69] The towering monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, it is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5 1⁄8 inches (169.294 m) according to the National Park Service.[70] Construction of the monument began in 1848, was halted from 1854 to 1877, and was completed in 1884. In a Journal review, dated 17 October 1911, Arnold Bennett said of the monument, "Saw Washington monument. Phallic. Appalling. A national catastrophe – only equalled by the Albert Memorial. Tiny doll-like people waiting to go into it."[71] Dan Burstein says of it, "Speaking of sex symbols, there is no more phallic symbol in existence than the Washington Monument, and the Capitol dome can be viewed as breastlike."[72]James Webb used a metaphor to praise the "uplift[ing]" power of the Washington Monument as a white phallus, "piercing the air like a bayonet".[73] In the futuristic film Hardwired, set in the United States where everything noteworthy is commercialized, the Washington Monument is used as a giant Trojan condoms billboard.

Ypsilanti Water Tower[edit]


Ypsilanti Water Tower inYpsilanti, Michigan, winner of the "Most Phallic Building contest"
Ypsilanti Water Tower is a historic water tower in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States, listed as a National Register of Historic Places building in 1981. The tower was designed by William R. Coats and constructed as part of an elaborate city waterworks project that began in 1889.[74] Located on the highest point in Ypsilanti, the tower was completed in 1890 at a cost of $21,435.63. Today the tower is frequently joked about for its phallic shape and has earned the nickname "Brick Dick".[75][76]
It has become a well-known landmark in Ypsilanti, and due to the building's shape and location, the tower is frequently used by residents as a point for providing directions for visitors and residents. Iggy Pop said of it in a 1996 interview, "The most famous thing in Ypsilanti is this water tower made out of brick, about 175 years old. It looks like this big penis."[77]
The World's Most Phallic Building contest was a contest held in 2003 by Cabinet magazine to find the building which most resembled a human phallus.[78] The contest originated when writer Jonathan Ames drew the ire of Slate readers by claiming, in a diary that was later published in his book I Love You More Than You Know,[79] that the Williamsburg Bank Building in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, was the world's most phallic. This led Cabinet magazine to initiate a search of its own to find which building was truly the "world's most phallic".[80] Cities and readers subsequently poured in their views and staked their claims to the magazine's editors. After months of entries and discussion, the Ypsilanti Water Tower was announced as the winner,[81][82] although the winner of a readers' poll was the Florida State Capitol building in Tallahassee.[83] Another notable nominee was the Torre Agbar of Barcelona.[84]

Christian Science Church, Dixon, Illinois[edit]

The Christian Science Dixon church in Dixon, Illinois strongly resembles a penis when viewed from the air.The church, however, claims it was tastefully designed around an old oak tree and declared that "We didn’t design it to be seen as what they’re seeing. And we didn’t design it to be seen from above."[85]

Hyde Park, Hyde, Greater Manchester[edit]

In 2012, a beehive metal sculpture by Thompson Dagnall in Hyde, Greater Manchester, was criticized by the council for installment adjacent to the children’s play area in Hyde park for looking too rude and phallic. Although Dagnall was paid £3,500 a week for his efforts, council workers modified the structure by stumping it and moved it to another part of the park.[86]

People's Daily Tower[edit]

A new headquarters for the People's Daily newspaper has been under construction since 2013 and is slated for completion in 2014. In May 2013, China attempted to censor jokes about its phallic shape.[87][88][89]
Left: Hyde Park Obelisk, Sydney. Right: Giant condom covering the Obelisk in November 2014

Hyde Park Obelisk, Sydney[edit]

The 22-metre high Hyde Park Obelisk, located in Hyde Park, Sydney Australia at the intersection of Elizabeth Street and Bathurst Street, is both a former sewer ventshaft and a notable landmark in the Sydney CBD.[90]Its phallic appearance was emphasised on 7 November 2014, when the AIDS Council of NSW (ACON) temporarily installed a giant condom over the Obelisk as part of a HIV awareness campaign. The installation generated a lot of media interest - including many phallic innuendos[91][92][93] - and drew the ire of the Australian Christian Lobby.[94]

Church Office Building, Salt Lake City, Utah[edit]

Completed in 1972, the Church Office Building stands toward the eastern end of Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. The building currently houses the administrative support staff and lay ministry of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The building's form, when viewed from the North or South faces, resembles a large phallus. The building's first four floors extend outward, and are adorned with images of the world rendered in bas relief. These large ovular images are regarded by many locals to resemble testes, reinforcing the building's overall phallic appearance.
at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)