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Sorry to hear that, Steven, darling, but soon this place will be dripping with Gold Members and I'm not pissing away my chance!

It doesn't get much clearer than this: since they began importing and eating Western food in the 1980's, their life expectancy has dropped by seven years (!); the obesity rate hit 85%; and half the population has Type 2 diabetes, leading to heart failure, kidney failure, liver failure, amputations, and blindness. And, according to this clip, the diabetes rate in the U. S. is expected to increase in the next forty years from 10% to more than 30%. You'd never know it from the ads, but recent changes in our food supply are doing us in. I don't understand why cigarettes should carry a warning label if Spam doesn't. If, at the very least, we could somehow allocate our increased health care costs to the foods that generate them, we'd start seeing the real cost of a Whopper, fries, and a Coke skyrocket. And that's when we'd start seeing school lunches include a lot more healthy alternatives, which are now priced out of the program. Thanks for posting this! A real eye-opener.

Poor kid. I think I'd lie awake too. Target for critics, pranksters, and parodies Bieber has often been criticized for looking and sounding younger than his age and his effeminacy, teen pop music, image, and frequent media attention. He has been a frequent target for internet bloggers and message board posters—notably by users of internet message board 4chan, users of YouTube, and various Facebook groups. Pranks have included a successful campaign to push "Justin Bieber Syphilis" to the top of the Google Trends Hot Searches list; hacked YouTube videos that were altered so as to redirect users to adult websites or trigger pop-up messages saying that Bieber had been killed in a car accident; his Last.fm photograph being changed to pornographic images; various rumors circulated, from rumors that Bieber had died, joined a cult, or even that his mother was offered $50,000 to pose topless in Playboy magazine—none of which were true. This all forced the affected companies to update their security protocols to reverse the damage, and Bieber himself tweeted to fans reassuring them that he was still living and that false rumors about his mother "just grossed and weirded [him] out." Most notable was the campaign to send Bieber to North Korea as part of his world tour . . . - Wikipedia

531 to start, I've got 27 days to add 25 more. Easy Peasy. Can't wait to join all my fellow Gold Members! I know the time will fly.

I've been wondering the same thing. The folks at the Apple Store turned me on to this AT&T data calculator, which helped me figure out that streaming video chews up a lot more bandwidth than plain text email. They also told me it's pretty easy to start with an entry-level data plan and upgrade later, though I haven't confirmed just how easy. Hope this helps.

Yikes! At the moment, can't see much good coming from this.

All the above understood. What I'm wondering about is Facebook, and why they would be cruising the site, you should pardon the expression. I'm not a Facebook member, so it could be that they have their own search engine or are developing one. I just haven't noticed them before. Seems I recall Facebook doing some pretty snarky things in the area of privacy and, if I knew they somehow got even my eye color in their database, I'd think about taking additional precautions. By the way, many thanks to the folks who got us all these great smileys! Best collection I've seen on any message board.

Sometimes when visiting the Forum, I check the bottom of the main page to see who's here. I'm used to seeing 'Google' logged in, as their bot crawls around grabbing and indexing MER content for their search engine. Usually 'MSN/Bing' is here too, snagging our stuff for Microsoft's search engine. According to this article, webmasters can keep bots from indexing their pages, but I expect most webmasters welcome them with open arms as they drive traffic to their sites. Try typing "Annual Palm Springs Weekend" into Google's search engine, and you'll find Oliver's kind invitation on Page 1 of the results. Add "escort" to the search term, and we garner three of the top four hits! Personally, I'm not overly concerned about my stuff showing up on Google, but I do keep in mind that every word I type will be in their search engine archives within minutes of my hitting the 'Enter' key and, as far as I know, will stay there forever. That's why I rarely include more than two or three of my little proclivities in a single post. As if Google and Microsoft weren't enough, just a few minutes ago I noticed that 'Facebook' was here too. Never saw them here before, and got to wondering why Facebook would be interested in our modest doings. Any ideas?

In fairness, shouldn't a couple of their guys get invited to the Palm Springs Weekend?

Oh, dear! You haven't been canoodling with that bodybuilder again??

TY is indeed much loved. Additionally, your post sent me looking for a favorite clip that also blends a hammer and a way with words. Enjoy!

I've hardly been able to think of anything else for the last two days, missing all the Christmas sales, and turning down dozens of New Year's Eve invitations. Still, nothing. I enjoy 'Lucky's Place', so my suggestion would be to stick with it until somebody comes up with either an absolutely irresistible alternative or an itch for change that's just too strong to be ignored. Not that I've given up trying.

The website I found him on says he's a fitness model named Raymond Martinez. I put a couple more pictures of him in the Potluck thread. Not sure if he's the same guy as Alan Valdez who is certainly no slouch in his own right! Maybe there's time for one more lapdance before retiring.

I should have been clear that my friend is the one who said, 'I'm not a size queen but I can be impressed.', and not the guy in the picture. If my friend were the guy in the picture, do you think that I would be here posting at MER day and night? But he isn't and I am so maybe I'll go put some more of his pictures over in the Potluck thread. PS: My real friend is some years older and some inches less well-endowed than the guy in the picture. I know he'll be delighted when I forward all your kind invitations over to him.

I've heard the same good things from a friend who retired there a year ago. PV would definitely make my short list.

Greatness??

As a friend of mine said, I'm not a size queen but I can be impressed.

I find I agree with all of my esteemed and learned fellow posters. (Well, except for that firing squad stuff. ) He did sign up for military law, so it applies to him, although I doubt military law really requires him to "verbally confirm that he is alright" every five minutes. If true, that piece doesn't seem either humane or constitutional. But, applied fairly, military law is what he gets. I also share Lucky's sense of despair that some are willing to kick him to the curb before he's even been charged, let alone tried. What if we or a loved one ever needed the justice system to be there for us? More urgent, in my opinion, is whether we think as U. S. citizens that we have a right to due process. If we pretend we don't, or pretend that Private Manning doesn't, then pretty soon we won't have it. I think we're giving up a bunch of rights these days and, in my opinion, agreeing to snatch away the rights of others is only going to speed up that process.

Well I sure don't and these posts definitely have me curious! Since it's the holiday season, why not slip a little gift on his desk when he's not looking, and see which way the wind blows? Merry Christmas from your Secret Santa!

No problem. I'm sure there'll be other things to do.

I dunno. I keep worrying that Fred Phelps will be out googling Palm Springs weekends one day, and stumble across our happy home. Of course, with our luck, he'll probably decide he likes the place and start posting under KansasKutie.

If my calculations are right, that's sixty-one pounds, just nine pounds short of an Irish Setter. Congratulations! I probably lost about the same, but it was over a period of five years or so. I'm wondering what changes you've noticed after losing that much. For me it was going up stairs easier, and fitting in some clothes from the back of the closet. Are there any differences you've seen?

Wowsa! Thanks!! Do tell!

Good one Lucky!

I'll probably wait for 3D until they get rid of the glasses. Unless of course Ralph Woods releases something.