TampaYankee

That is a silver lining. We have gone from a country of self sufficiency to one depending on imports... all in a generation. Everything from our steel to our computers are manufactured in Asia. Anything that makes 'American Made' more competitive helps restore our self-sufficiency. However, part of that equation requries that the Chinese Yuan be allowed to float in the money markets. As long a China pegs its value to the US$ they will guarantee our dependence on them. Wall Street is all about the bottom line. Why does China chase after so many US$ that continue to decline in value? One reason is that it fuels their economy and modernizes their manufacturing base... for now as they continue to grow out of their economic backwardness. It will be interesting to see what they do with their US$ when their economy slows down. That brings up the second reason. No matter how low the US$ goes it is still great for one thing... buying America. The have started acquiring corporations and land. They are a major player in the US Mortgage Market too. What else can they do with so much US paper on their hands? Keep in mind that these purchases are thru Chinese gov't dummy corporations, not individual moguls driven simply by the acquisition of wealth. That raises the ugly security issues spectre again. Very good point. We seem incapable of dealing with this proactively.

I doubt that the US$ will regain its former lustre without the European and Asian economies totally tanking. That includes serious inflation over there. Probably some serious interest rates over here. Maybe more. Now that we all are joined at the hip (and dependent on China for our clothes, toys and tainted foods) that will also hurt us as their US purchases diminish. Up goes our trade deficit. At least we will still get all the lead we need.... and more. The above based on the fact that other currencies will be abandoned only when there is strong uncertainty in the underlying economies or the US $ will gain as a financial instrument when it becomes a money making vehicle i.e interest rates rise. It won't happen based on US$ scarcity as we print money day and night to give to the Chinese and to support our Foreign Intrigues. It seems that even though the Canadian $ is at parity, Canadians are still paying considerably more than the US for the same basket of goods. Seems the Canadian prices are set a year ahead and thus changes in buying power take that long to pass down... based on an online article read this AM that I cannot locate at present. I dont understand why their economy seems so rigid with respect to changing conditions. However, there is a lot I dont understand about the Canadians. Not a slam as I love the people and the country. The real question remains: How far will the UD$ drop. Will we drag the Canadian $ down with us? A new administration can improve things at the margin without too serious pain. Serious improvment seems to require serious economic dislocations or many years to climb out of the present hole. I hope I am wrong. The above is just an opinion. I am unburdened with any economic training.

The Scarlet X is well deserved considering your past transgressions with that abominable pickle pic of yours.

I have forwarded your message to the programmers. Perhaps they can do something. If it comes to a choice of integrated messages or avatars and signatures then which is your preference. No promises.

Townie, Thanks for the link. I have sent my email to Big Brother. I hope others that are in a position to do so will also communicate their disapproval.

See what happens when you leave. The Gaiety, Stellas, now this!! You have a lot of rebuilding to do. I understand the economy of Thailand is tanking now that in your absence you have't been underwriting that economy. :+

I thought that photo selection might give you an itch if not a twitch.

Townie, I should have asked earlier. In recent years the local constabulary clamped down on the revelry in the streets. How was that aspect this year?

For those inquiring about the ins and outs of posting using the new Invision Power Board message software, here are some rudimentary instructions. This won't make you a power user but it should get you going. Experience is always the best teacher but sometimes it may need a bit of a kick start. To post: Login, access Forums page, click on particular Forum to open that Forum page. To start a new topic in a Forum: Click the NEW TOPIC button on the right hand side above the topics list and across page from the Forum title, e.g. across page from 'The Pub'. Fill in topic title. I ignore optional topic description because it just gets appended to title. So just put up the title. Fill in message, scroll down to SPELL CHECK, POST NEW TOPIC or PREVIEW POST buttons. Ignore stuff in between that area and message block. Choose your poison: among spelling, post or preview. Make any corrections in the message if spell errors are found or based on preview. (You do not have to do these steps, just if you wish.) Finally click POST NEW TOPIC and your message is posted. To add to topic in a Forum: Cick on topic title. You have two options: 1) respond to specific post and 2) add general comment to the whole thread not specific to any comment. To reply to specific post in a Forum: Click on reply button under specific post. A message window will open with the message quoted so that it is clear what the response is in reply to. Add your comments under the quoted text. Scroll down again, do the SPELL CHECK, ADD REPLY or PREVIEW REPLY thing. If you wish to ADD a GENERAL COMMENT to a thread not specific to any individual message then click on topic title, scroll all the way down below all contributed messages and click on the Add Reply button. The standard message text window opens and the process to spell check, add or preview is the same as before.

Townie, Thanks for sharing!! Sounds like you had a great time. Any chance you had a digital camera with your to record all the hotties? Also, were the Montreal boys dancing the Corner Pocket this year? I appreciate the comments about the weather, having emmigrated from the Gulf Coast years ago.

Oz, has gone to the New World version.

That didn't last long -- 24hours. One couple married. I'mtaking bets from all of the optimists out there.

The women always charge more to screw you!! Not to mention "none of this, none of that... " etc.

Tweety, Much thanks for a very interesting and entertaining read.

Different folks... different strokes. Some get off on public sex and its risk. Others just want to get off free and anonymously. In this case it is what happens when the body's irresistable urge meets the immovable midievil intolerant mind. He is not alone in the suffering of this angst (cf. Rev. Ted). I suspect in addition to the urgency, he presumed that this scenario would maintain his anonymity and not leave a paper trail like hotels do. Foolish mistake in this case. Not only paper but lots of ink and gigabillions of electrons. I feel sorry for the guy. His inability to cope with his sexual preferences has destroyed his life and put a big ding in the lives of others.

Well that certainly meshes with the advice to bring your own liquor. All that and extreme winters too. I'm beginning to understand their suicide rate.

LOL... Don't hold it against the boys if they don't recognize you. You are a shadow of your former self . They'll remember fast enough when they hear that money train whistle!

Subtlety has never been your way, at least in my experience. Graciousness yes, subtlety no. Somewhere along the line I heard of those signals... from an escort way back. He was a cruiser when on his own time.

I could have told you that!! She's hung much heavier. I know the reason you turned on a dime for Rio. Itching to try the new svelt body out in the saunas. Yup! Determined to come back with more money that you took, aren't you.

Still the careful, deliberative long-term planner I know and love.

That is a missing feature whose time is way past due. Just needed a squeaking wheel to get the works oiled up. I had a request last week. I hope to have it available soon. TY

LOL... not cheap but inexpensive.

Sorry to see it go. It seem SOCAL is taking a hit on its gay venues this summer. To post hot linked photos imbed the photo URL in the html tags (img)URL(img) where the parentheses are replaced by square brackets. ( ) <-- [ ] Here is an example. Hit reply and check the code in the quote window.

I'll leave this as a comment on economics and avoid venturing into political commentary. The Dollar is like any other over-abundant commodity. When the world is awash in them their value declines in proportion to their ubiquity. The Stewards of Wall Street seem perfectly content to sell the country for cheap so they can amass many cheap dollars -- along with the Chinese. Their sense of value is driven much more by big numbers than by big value. As an example consider that the Euro entered the scene Jan. 1 2002 worth about US$.75. That is US$.75 equaled $EU 1.0. Today it takes $US 1.35 to equal $EU 1.0. That is US$ 60 cent loss against the $EU in less than six years, a dramatic loss in purchasing value in the EU market. The loss against the Canadian $ is roughly US 45/50 cents over the same interval. (The Candian economy is strongly tied to the US economy thus the Canadian gain has been tempered by the $US loss.) Another sanity check is the price of gold. Its value in US dollars has doubled in the same interval. That isn't because there is less gold. Au contraire, if anything there is more gold as mining goes on. There has been no unusual hording schemes to drive up the price either. That means that the present day US $ only buys US$.50 worth of gold in the year 2000 era. Consider this loss of $ buying value on present day oil and it shows that production pressure and political uncertainties account for $20 or so of the present day price, with roughly $25 due to erosion in the value of the Dollar over the last half dozen years. Consider that Dow Jones Index at 14,000 whipped Wall Street into a frenzy. That reflects present day $ value in our market economy. Everythings comes down to dollars eventually. Present day dollars are worth only 2002 US$ .40 as measured by the sixty cent loss against the Euro. That indicates that 14000 on the DJI today converts to roughly 5600 as valued by the 2002 US$ measured against the Euro. Maybe a better number might be 7000. But does that difference really matter much? Now consider that the DJI was at or near 11,700 before 9/11 and maybe 10,000+ shortly after 9/11. What is the intrinsic value of the present day DJI high? Was this Wall Street frenzy a recognition of big value or big numbers? Big idiots IMO. Greed blinds. I am a layman, not an economist. I know that the above analysis is too slick by half. There is a myriad of other factors to consider not to mention higher order contributions to the math. Even with weaknesses in the above argument, its basic thrust is sound IMO. Our soaring economy is based on US dollars of greatly diminished value. The good news: we don't tend to notice it as much in our day to day lives until we come into contact with foreign commodities. (Except Chinese) Most of us are toegether on the Down Elevator. Only when we reach outside of our confines do we realize that we are falling behind -- way behind. Time to put the soapbox away.

Hmmm... might we see a new activity in your future? Weekend i-Loitering.