Lucky

A post the other day mentioned that Mexican Coke, popular because it still contains sugar, also contains some ammonia. Now Coke shareholders are pushing an inquiry into whether cans of Coke made here in the USA contain Bisphenol A. "Dozens of laboratory studies have linked BPA exposure to breast and prostate cancer, infertility, early puberty in girls, obesity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 93% of Americans have detectable levels of BPA in their bodies." So, if the high fructose corn syrup is your thing, you get the BPA with it. Here's the article on the BPA: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/04/coca-cola-bpa.html I didn't find any evidence that Mexican Coke really has ammonia in it. This article from the NY Times might make you see why it is so popular: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11fob-consumed-t.html

Gawker saw an interesting twist in the Times report of the news: http://gawker.com/5822508/ny-times-story-on-first-gay-federal-judge-complemented-by-tasteful-bathhouse-ad

Hmmm...targeted, huh? I look that out of shape? Well, recently I guess I do. In re-reading my original post, I made it sound as if he just presented the card. he also gave a sales pitch for the guy which made the interruption a bit more intrusive. I don't think the guy saw himself as doing anything wrong, and I don't think he left with hurt feelings. But I did think it odd that he would admit to eavesdropping and then expect us to be receptive to a sales pitch.

Well, he wasn't cute, kind of dorky looking. But in a coffee shop it is pretty hard when you are alone not to listen in on what is being said around you, so I didn't fault him for that. We let him have his say, took his cards, and then ignored him to continue our conversation. When we left, we didn't say good bye. So, he got to have his say, and we kindly let him know that he had not endeared himself to us. I think if he had timed it better it might have been more appreciated. But he just interrupted, and, if he had been listening in, he should have known to wait for a pause in the conversation. As an aside, I do have a slight prejudice against people who tie up a table at a coffee shop for hours while they work on their computer, long after their coffee is finished. At least when the place is crowded, as this one was. But, it is a slight prejudice.

So today I am at a coffee shop chatting with a friend. We got to talking about diet and exercise when suddenly the guy from the table over who had been sitting at his computer interrupted me to tell us that, yes, he had been eavesdropping, and here, take some business cards of my friend who is a fitness trainer. What you have said to this guy? Was it okay to interrupt and hand out business cards to people you were eavesdropping on?

Eat Kandy during the Festival of the Tooth? That's a new one on me. The closest thing we have here to that is Halloween. I have read that Sri Lanka is becoming the new pedophile haven. Hopefully that is not true.

In what may be one of the biggest milestones in how far we have come, the US Senate voted 80-13 to confirm an openly gay man to the federal bench. Think about that- the divided US Senate managed 80 votes for a gay man: The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed a New York City lawyer to become the first openly gay man on the federal bench. James Paul Oetken - a Greenwich Village resident and adjunct law professor at Fordham University - was approved for the prestigious post by an 80-to-13 margin. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/07/19/2011-07-19_senate_oks_city_lawyer_as_1st_gay_man_for_fed_bench.html#ixzz1SYiJMCBb

Can someone please tell me what this post means and what its relevance to the British scandal is? "For if you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them. " — Thomas More We don't live in an ideal society, do we? I don't approve what New Corps did. But they were able to perpetrate it because of a lot of hidden accomplices. Where do you think the tools they used came from? I find a big irony in that." *****

There was also another person who claimed that more revelations would be forthcoming, and he is now dead. Sean Hoare, the original whistleblower, told a story that is quite interesting, especially in light of the events that followed: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/18/news-of-the-world-sean-hoare

In trying to find out why zipperzone is absent here, I noticed that he started a similar thread to this: http://www.maleescortreview.com/forum/index.php?/topic/5677-my-bucket-list/page__p__30183__fromsearch__1#entry30183 and, perhaps, he is off traveling to the destination of his desire.

Caeron, I am surprised that you find Tokyo boring if you speak the language. For me, when I meet the locals is when places become more interesting. It has been some time since I was in Tokyo, and perhaps they allow westerners into the gay bath houses now, but they did not when I was there.

You guys can sit and make your plans, but after months of planning, mine are made. Now I am going to sit back on the plane, close my eyes, and enjoy the ride to my destination.

Help is on the way! President Obama is sending special troops into the site to help prop us up during the summer doldrums!

Caeron and I are in complete agreement on Tokyo. I have been there 3 times and not enjoyed it once. The Tokyo Tower is ugly, the streets are crowded, albeit clean. The Japanese are very racist* and will ignore you completely unless you are spending money, then they bow and put your purchase in pretty bags. You can walk down the street in Tokyo and not one Japanese person will make eye contact with you. It's as if you do not exist. *E.G.: Westerners are not allowed in gay bars or bathhouses. They have bars specifically for westerners, and a few Japanese might come in. Even in Thailand's Patpong district, one whole street is devoted to Japanese customers and westerners are not welcome.

I always feel left out on these TV threads as I only watch baseball games and The Daily Show. I tried Modern Family on the DVR but gave it up when the shows started piling up and I could never catch up with them. But I am glad that my fellow Mermen are being entertained in an appropriate way!

My belt is pretty tight as it is, not that the Republicans would care.

There's another new show for kids called Breaking Out, about acne. Then there's Breaking Wind, for those on their first visit to Mexico. And then, a surprise summer hit at the UN is the documentary Breaking Bread. I heard all about these new movies on my local TV's Breaking News segment. They are still working on Breaking Up, Breaking Down, a film about a divorcing couple just as their car breaks down on the way to the courthouse. Brad Pitt is in Breaking Well, a show about adopted children adapting to their new homes. And Breaking Teeth, despite being a box office flop, is still popular in juvenile jails across the country!

This was my favorite poster at the Pride festival. The photo there actually had him showing pubic hair. Alas, he was not there.

I once took a friend to a bathhouse in LA. They refused him entry as they said he was too old. He was 46.

I would go to heaven to ready my room for eternity.

Some considered it a modest improvement when the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel became a sponsor of this year's gay pride weekend. The hotel had previously been the subject of a boycott because the owner, Doug Manchester, had donated $100,000 to the Prop 8 folks. So I was surprised to see in this year's pride program that the hotel, now sold, was a sponsor and offering rooms starting at $250 a night. Well, I stayed there, but got my room on Priceline for $100. There was nothing at the hotel to take note of their sponsorship of pride, nor was there anything that I saw at the Festival. Purely a public relations gimmick, and a scam if you actually paid $250 for your room!

We went to the San Diego Gay Pride Parade and Festival for the 4th time this weekend. Although I did see many people wearing NAVY t-shirts, I did not get to see the contingent of soldiers. From the interviews I saw on 2 different San Diego TV stations, many if not most of the marchers were no longer on active duty, nor did any active duty marchers agree to be interviewed by the TV. Nonetheless, it does mark some progress. The parade and festival itself were downhill from previous years. The parade was so G-rated that any Christian family could have taken the kids. Sure, there were a very few guys in their underpants, but that was as raunchy as it got. The folks at the beach were probably showing more skin. The festival entrance price was raised to $20. Would you pay $20 to go to the mall? Because that is what it was like- most of the booths were selling things. Approximately 30% of the spaces marked for exhibitors were empty, unlike in previous years when they were full. Porn stars were virtually absent. The enclosed leather section had nothing going on. I am not normally into twinks, but, there was one young man there who could not have been much more than a day over 18 who was doing acrobatics with some other guys. He did a series of backward flip-flops that were well executed and all the more interesting because not only was he exceptionally beautiful, with a nice little gymnast frame, but his bikini underwear was the thinnest it could be and left little doubt what it covered. So, all hope is not lost. (I doubt the beach had an outfit like his!) Going to an event like this is as close as I get these days to gay teens, and I both admire them for being out so young and fear for them as the ones out are often the ones who are the most flamboyant. Given how cruel teens can be to each other, the flamboyant ones must take some tough ribbing from their school mates. No Helix booth this year with its young stars shocking passerbys with their boyish looks.

KMEM, or RA1, seems to be free and walking the streets, so this must not be a story about him! (I knew it wasn't!) A pilot suspected of possessing child porn is in jail, but, since he is acting as his own attorney, he is allowed to review the evidence- over 28 hours of kiddie porn tapes on about 100 tapes! Far from a cruel and unusual punishment, he is merely preparing his case as any other lawyer would. The UPS pilot is proving to the world what brown can do for you! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/weldon-marc-gilbert-child-porn-jail_n_897564.html

...and lurkerspeaks deserves a lot of credit for trying to keep things lively around here too. I know the frustration of feeling like you are in an empty room, of posting something that just withers without response. But lurkerspeaks just keeps on trucking, and I thank him for that.

Tomcal has Platinum status at all of the Brazilian saunas too! Except there he had to reach one million inches instead of miles!