Apologies to all my friends for my meager presence on these precints the last couple of months but moving from the South Coast to the North Coast has taken its toll.

About branding. Thermal burns (hot and cold) is an area that I am unfortunately all to familiar with professionally. All too many years of my life have been wrapped up in the consequences of and treatment of burns, generally in children. Perhaps I am too emotionally involved, even today, to give good advice. Branding is a variety of third degree burn inflicted with a hot piece of metal. It is best left as a drunken fraternity stunt engaged in by stupid adolescent males.

Go with a tatoo. It can be removed if at a later time you want to be rid of it. Removing the residua of a third degree burn (which a brand is) would require sophisticated reconstructive surgery. The guys and gals who repair tissue scarred by burns of this sort would rather spend their time and effort helping rebuild children crippled by fire.

Some sorts of exteme BDSM acts are best left to fiction. Our minds are the most awesome erotic organ ever developed. The plasticity of our minds allow us to explore erotic concepts that we could (and should) not actually experience in reality. Let us never confuse our erotic fantasies with reality and thereby cause injury that will ultimately have to either be lived with, or repaired. There is too much suffering in the world that we need to make right, too many injured children to be healed. Let us not add to the work load.