you might have wondered, but were afraid to ask.

(WebMD) Here are some things you might have wondered about your penis, but were afraid to ask.

No. 1: Your Penis Does Have a Mind of Its Own
You've probably noticed that your penis often does its own thing. You may
remember times when it was completely inappropriate to have an erection; and
yet you couldn't wish it away.
It's true that you have less command over your penis than body parts like your
arms and legs. That's because the penis answers to a part of the nervous system
that's not always under your conscious control. This is called the autonomic
nervous system, which also regulates heart rate and blood pressure.
Sexual arousal usually isn't voluntary. The conscious mind is complicit in it,
but a lot of sexual arousal goes on in the sympathetic nervous system. In
addition, impulses from the brain during the REM phase of sleep cause
erections, whether you're dreaming about sex or about a test you forgot to
study for. Heavy lifting or straining to have a bowel movement can also produce
an erection.
Just as the penis grows without your consent, sometimes it shrinks. "The
flaccid penis varies in size considerably within a given man," says Drogo
Montague, MD, a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Exposure to cold water or
air makes your penis shrink. That's a function of the sympathetic nervous
system.
Psychological stress also involves the sympathetic nervous system, and stress
has the same effect as a cold shower, Montague says. When you're relaxed and
feeling well, your flaccid penis looks bigger than when you're stressed out.
The penis is "kind of a barometer of the sympathetic nervous system," Montague
says. So the greeting, "How's it hanging?" is more apt than you might have
realized.

No. 2: Your Penis May Be a 'Grower' or a 'Show-er'
Among men, there is no consistent relationship between the size of the flaccid
penis and its full erect length.
In one study of 80 men, researchers found that increases from flaccid to erect
lengths ranged widely, from less than a quarter inch to 3.5 inches longer.
Whatever the clinical significance of these data may be, the locker-room
significance is considerable. You can't assume that a dude with a big limp
penis gets much bigger with an erection. And the guy whose penis looks tiny
could surprise you with a big erection.
An analysis of more than thousand measurements taken by sex researcher Alfred
Kinsey shows that shorter flaccid penises tend to gain about twice as much
length as longer flaccid penises.
A penis that doesn't gain much length with an erection has become known as a
"show-er," and a penis that gains a lot is said to be a "grower." These are not
medical terms, and there aren't scientifically established thresholds for
what's a show-er or a grower.
Kinsey's data suggest that most penises aren't extreme show-ers or growers.
About 12 percent of penises gained one-third or less of their total length with
an erection, and about 7 percent doubled in length when erect.

No. 3: Your Penis Is Shaped Like a Boomerang
Your penis is shaped like a boomerang. Just like you don't see all of a big oak
tree above ground, you don't see the root of your penis tucked up inside your
pelvis and attached to your pubic bone.
In an MRI picture, the penis looks distinctly boomerang-like, as noted by a
French researcher who studied men and women having sex inside an MRI scanner.
One method of surgical "penis enlargement" is to cut the ligament that holds
the root of the penis up inside the pelvis. This operation may give some men a
little extra length if more of the penis protrudes from the body, but there are
side effects. This ligament, called the suspensory ligament, makes an erection
sturdy. With that ligament cut, the erect penis loses its upward angle and it
wobbles at the base. The lack of sturdiness can lead to injury.

No. 4: You Can Break Your Penis
There is no "penis bone," but you can break your penis all the same. It's
called penile fracture, and it's not a subtle injury. When it happens, there's
"an audible pop or snap," Montague says. Then the penis turns black and blue.
And there's terrible pain.
Penile fracture is rare, and it typically happens to younger men because their
erections tend to be quite rigid.
Here's how to avoid penile fracture: don't use your penis too roughly. A common
way that penile fracture happens, Montague says, is when a man is thrusting too
hard and fast during sex, and slams into his partner's pubic bone. Also, a
woman who moves wildly while on top of a man during sex can break a man's
penis.
Peyronie's syndrome is a related condition that tends to show up more in older
men, Montague says. An older man's erection may not be as rigid, but still is
hard enough for sex. Over time, if the penis bends too much a certain way
during sex, small tears in the tissue can form scars, and the accumulated scar
tissue gives the penis an abnormally curved shape.
Not all penis curvature is a problem, however. "There is a lot of variability
in what normal is," Cummings says.

No. 5: Most Penises in the World Are Uncut
A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV /AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that worldwide only 30 percent of
males aged 15 and up are circumcised.
Rates vary greatly depending upon religion and nationality. Almost all Jewish
and Muslim males in the world have circumcised penises, and together they
account for about 70 percent of all circumcised males globally.
The United States has the highest proportion of males circumcised for
non-religious reasons. A whopping 75 percent of non-Jewish, non-Muslim American
men are circumcised. Compare that to Canada, where only 30% are. In the U.K.
it's 20 percent; in Australia it's merely 6 percent.
The practice of circumcising baby boys for medical and cosmetic reasons has
become controversial in the U.S. But recently the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the UUNAIDS recommended circumcision for adult men, based upon
evidence that men with circumcised penises have a lower risk of being infected
with HIV.
The CDC estimates that about 65 percent of all newborn boys get circumcised in
the U.S.

By Martin DownsReviewed by Louise Chang©2008 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved.

Now you know, and did not even have to ask!

Getting out of line for the next iEverything

When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, 'Oh yes -- I already have everything that I really need.'

—The Dalai Lama

Recently my cell phone lost its ability to send text messages. Oh the Horror!!! Nope- I have come to find that I do not NEED to have the ability to text, albeit "convenient, it is not a necessity.

When you consider the fact that I have gone most of my life without benefit of a cell phone at all, living without texting is quite freeing.

I still get text messages, but if I choose to respond, I just call the person who sent the message. Much like I choose whether or not to answer, when someone calls me.

Got me thinking about what other "necessities" I do not really need......