ATLANTA—Addressing attendees gathered for this week’s TEDxEvolution Conference, al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri delivered an informative and engrossing TEDTalk on the state of worldwide terrorism, entitled “Terror At A Crossroads: Instilling Fear In The 21st-Century Infidel.” “We find ourselves in an ever-evolving, globally connected community that is confronted with numerous societal and economic obstacles every day. The question is, and it’s a difficult one, how can we, as terrorist cells, overcome these roadblocks while staying true to our vision? How do we adapt?” the 56-year-old al-Qaeda leader and Islamist militant said while audience members reportedly nodded their heads, took notes, and laughed when al-Zawahiri delivered some lighthearted jabs at former boss Osama bin Laden. “For example, what happens when your terrorist organization’s overseas assets are frozen? Do you you lash out, behead a journalist, and destroy an Amsterdam bus station? Or do you regroup, assess the situation, see if you can make a connection—a very real, very honest, very genuine connection—with another terrorist group, and together figure out a way to acquire a nuclear weapon? Connections, folks. Both personal and professional. That’s really what we’re talking about today.” Sources confirmed that at the end of his 18-minute speech, audience members gave al-Zawahiri a standing ovation.
The dame de voyage (French) or dama de viaje (Spanish) was a direct predecessor to today’s sex dolls that originated in the seventeenth century. Dames de voyage were makeshift masturbatory dolls made of sewn cloth or old clothes, used by French and Spanish sailors while isolated at sea during long voyages.
Deranged reprobates are paying money for smelly old used socks. This is taking the foot fetish to a whole new stinking level. No one really knows what kind of demented, unbalanced, unhinged and loopy perverts lurk out there. Keep your eyes open and your noses plugged.
Daily Dot
Have you ever wondered what to do with those ratty old gym socks that have sat in the corner of your room for weeks?
Well, why not sell them on eBay?
That’s exactly what Reddit user TeamYMD, 31, decided to do in 2001 as a joke.
With the help of his girlfriend, TeamYMD auctioned off a pair of used Hanes ankle socks with the back story that they were worn by a “hot college jock,” he said in an email interview with the Daily Dot.
The pair sold for $12.50.
“I really couldn’t believe it,” TeamYMD said in the interview. “My girlfriend was pretty amazed as well. It kind of just snowballed form there.”
Over the next 2-3 years, he sold hundreds of pairs of used socks and earned about $10,000, he said.
Late Sunday night, TeamYMD did a a Reddit IAmA where he answered questions about his used sock empire. The post was insanely popular, collecting more than 1,800 comments and 3,200 upvotes.
TeamYMD sold dress socks, new socks, and random socks he picked up at the Salvation Army. For some buyers, the dirtier the socks, the better, TeamYMD said.
“I shit you not, I found a pair of soccer cleats thrown away in a garbage can outside my colleges soccer field in the dead of winter, frozen in ice,” he wrote on Reddit. “I brought them inside, slipped them on, made up some good story about how they’re ‘super smelly after a rough soccer game I just had’ and took pics and sold them for around $50.”
Selling the socks took some finesse. TeamYMD posted photos of him wearing the socks “pulled tight so you can see my toes through it,” he wrote on Reddit.
It wasn’t just about selling socks, it was about selling a story. And that story was mostly for men with foot fetishes, he wrote on Reddit.
“I didn’t feel sorry for them. I really kept my distance when it came to them contacting me off of eBay (except to buy socks),” he said in the interview. “Sometimes they would ask for more, or ask if I was gay, and I would be straight up with them. I was a college kid making extra money, nothing more.”
It wasn’t just about selling socks, it was about selling a story. And that story was mostly for men with foot fetishes, he wrote on Reddit.
“I didn’t feel sorry for them. I really kept my distance when it came to them contacting me off of eBay (except to buy socks),” he said in the interview. “Sometimes they would ask for more, or ask if I was gay, and I would be straight up with them. I was a college kid making extra money, nothing more.”
It’s been about eight years since TeamYMD has sold a pair of used socks. He’s now married and living in the Northeast. The success of the IAmA caught TeamYMD off guard and got him noticed by a Kansas City radio station who asked him to share his story this morning.
“I NEVER expected the IAmA to blow up like that,” he told the Daily Dot. “I just feel awesome about the people who told me that it made their day and they can’t stop laughing their asses off!”
The Daily Dot asked TeamYMD to share his eBay info with us to see some of his use sock sales. He said that because he sold the socks so long ago, we wouldn’t have been able to trace the auctions and that the sales were private, anyway.
CAMP BASTION, AFGHANISTAN—Completing his four-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, Prince Harry of Wales admitted in interviews this week to having killed a number of “Taliban-looking people” while serving with the British Army Air Corps. “They were definitely dressed pretty Taliban-y, wearing those scarves and robe things, and they were speaking that al-Qaeda-sounding language,” Queen Elizabeth II’s 28-year-old grandson said of the Afghan insurgents he shot and killed while co-piloting an Apache helicopter to provide air support for ground forces. “Who else could it have been? It’s Afghanistan. They’re all over this place in their dirty Taliban homes. Those Taliban kids are hard to hit, by the way—they’re quick.” Upon returning home, Harry, who is third in line to the British throne, reported sighting numerous Taliban insurgents working in shops, running businesses, and walking around London in plain view.
