lookin

I've never been to Brazil, so please take this with a grain of salt; however, I'm thinking I'll try to find an apartment when I do finally take the plunge. Like you, I'd want to stay for several weeks, and $500 a week would be in the ballpark for me. I've been able to find listings on the internet in that range, so am remaining optimistic. The listings I've seen mention that guests are allowed; however, there won't be anyone to check visitor ID's. I figure I'd do my playing in the saunas, and not invite anyone back until I started getting the lay of the land. So to speak.

The frame rate was standardized at 24 frames-per-second in 1926, when sound was introduced. Prior to that, films were shot at frame rates as slow as 16 frames-per-second. That's why old silent films often look fast and jerky when run at the higher speed. (Probably also why silent-era porn films are so hard to come by, so to speak. )

The 12-hour / 24-hour problem seems to have gone away, but the 10-digit number issue remains, even after clearing the cache. At least now, I can replicate it. If I enter the forum's Main Category page, the date and time for the most recent post in Lucky's Place is Today, 9:41PM. If I enter Lucky's Place and then return to the Main Category page, the Today, 9:41PM has been replaced by 1283748089, which I assume is the 'timestamp' value. If I go back to the site's Home Page, and re-enter the forum's Main Category page, everything's hunky-dory again, and the most recent post in Lucky's Place once again shows Today, 9:41PM. I'm using Safari on a Mac and, since I haven't heard anyone else mention the issue, it may be unique to my setup. Again, I'm not complaining. It won't bother me if it never gets fixed. But if it gives one of those hot Russian programmers another hour's work, you won't hear me complaining about that either. PS: Today, 9:41PM is the date and time when I'm logged in. When I'm logged out, the date and time is Today, 11:41PM. However, in either case, the 'timestamp' value remains constant at 1283748089. Which would make sense, if 'timestamp' is some constant numeric value from which local dates and times are calculated.

Sounds like Blumenthal doesn't want to give up his primary prey. He's probably got a whole game plan built around running Craigslist to ground, and they just disappeared down the rabbit hole. Now he needs to find another rabbit. If Newmark really is thumbing his nose at the censors, good for him. Somebody had to do it.

Alongside the few minor tics, I'm finding several goodies that I'm sure to like, once I get the hang. I've been able to format text in the message composition box without having to insert any code, and any pictures show up in the box too. As do smileys! Who knows what little gems remained to be discovered?

I never watched much porn, but Kevin Dean would definitely be on my Desert Island DVD. Funny, like Ralph Woods, he's also a French-speaking Canadian. Ooh-la-la!

From what I can gather, Craigslist isn't your ordinary website, your ordinary business, or your ordinary anything. Although it ranks 7th in page views in the U. S., and 33rd worldwide, its corporate headquarters is still in the founder's apartment in San Francisco's Sunset District. According to Wikipedia, the CEO told Wall Street analysts that the company "has little interest in maximizing profit, instead it prefers to help users find cars, apartments, jobs, and dates." Although eBay snagged a 25% ownership from one of the original investors, they're not presently calling the shots, and Craigslist is still operating according to the founder's original user-oriented cooperative vision. There's no advertising at all, most listings are free, and much of the money that does flow into the company flows right out again to support community grassroots organizations. I'm sure Craig Newmark could be a billionaire any time he decides to abandon his roots and play footsie with Wall Street, or sell out to someone who will. But he hasn't yet, and my personal hope is that he won't. Until he does, I think you'll find the company doing the unexpected. If Newmark finds the Attorneys General too much of a nuisance, I expect he'll roll out of their way and let somebody else put up with the aggravation. It always amazes me how freeing it can be to be motivated by something other than money.

Same here. Except it sometimes shifts back to a 12 hour AM/PM clock, and it seems to toggle between the two when I log in or out. And sometimes on the main forum page, both date and time are replaced by a 10-digit code. Clearly a spanner has been tossed into the works. PS: It's kind of fun trying to figure out the pattern, so no need to fix it on my account. Plenty of time for that when the programmers return from their dachas next week.

Thank you, axiom2001, for your added thoughts. I was speaking with a friend who lived in Brazil, and mentioned that I'd like to visit Curitiba. She asked why, and I mentioned some of the things that appealed to me from TotallyOz's post. She agreed with everything he said, and added the fact that there was a strong European influence, as you have also mentioned. I didn't ask her specifically if all the men were goodlooking in Curitiba, but she did say that, in general, Brazilian people are very attractive. Even the not-so-attractive ones, if that makes sense. In general, I've usually found people with mixed ethnic backgrounds to be very attractive. Don't know if you recall Bruno Gaucho with his brown eyes and blond hair, but I thought he was a real doll. I didn't ask where he came from, but I believe 'gaucho' is a term for someone from the south of Brazil. I've often wondered if there were any more like him at home! Anyway, thanks for strengthening my resolve to one day travel to that area and see for myself!

So, fellahs, I love a good game of paintball as much as the next guy. But it would be really embarrassing to see this thread closed down, especially since TY was kind enough to open it up for some additional thoughts on a question I asked in another thread that also got closed down. Maybe there's something about the subject matter itself that's just too hot for civil discourse, so I think I'd better withdraw the question. I do appreciate the answers I got so far, and they've given me lots to think about over the evening bowl. I think enlightenment is close at hand. If anyone feels like sending a PM with any additional thoughts, I'd be much obliged. PS: Just saw Caeron's response, and it's an idea that has occurred to me as well. Added to Charlie's thought that the folks who do it aren't likely to share - or maybe even know - why they do it helps me understand why figuring this out has been so hard. Thanks again, guys!

I am so glad I'm not the jealous type!

Since it's the Jersey Shore, maybe the poll is open only to our East Coast members? Doesn't seem fair to me. I'd hate to have to get dressed up and go on all those marches again, but I will!

Matrix, I agree with you that I'd like to have seen that thread open a little while longer, and maybe get some more input on the question I had. (And thanks very much to those who did respond! It was helpful.) But I also have a great deal of trust in the moderators' ability to see when a thread is going somewhere they don't want it going, and complete respect for their decisions to cut it off before it gets there. They may consider it out of bounds before you and I would and, in effect, I think they're setting an editorial tone for the site that they want to own and operate. To answer your question on 'Where's the harm?', I guess for me the harm would come if they found themselves attracting behavior they didn't want, or losing members they did want, and that could eventually jeopardize the site. I notice that TY apologized in the other thread for closing it. As far as I'm concerned, there's no apology necessary. As we all found in August, there's plenty of room for fun inside the lines.

I expect this will run its course pretty quickly, and the thread will be locked but, before it is, I have a somewhat broader question that's been rattling around in my head for a couple of years and I can't seem to come up with a good answer: What's the payoff for someone who sets out to trash other people? I know the standard quick responses: He's an *******, He was dropped on his *** as a child, He doesn't have any ****, etc. Those answers sound OK at first blush, but they don't really give me the insight I'm trying to get as to the why. And I'm not asking the question with one specific person in mind, because I've seen this kind of activity arise more than once on anonymous message centers. I know it can be safe to trash others when the trasher is anonymous, but the fact that it's safe doesn't really tell me about the why behind the behavior. And I'm not talking about the occasional clever putdown. Lots of people get a kick out of being really clever and, if it's at the expense of someone else, so be it. But I'm talking about someone who sets up a whole screen persona for the purpose of embarrassing or belittling or making fun of other people, and always operates that way. What I'm trying to figure out is what the act of trashing others actually does for the trasher. What's the payoff? If I were to trash someone, I can't think of any particular benefit it would bring to me. Maybe if I thought of some especially clever turn of phrase, I'd burst my buttons for a minute or two. But then I'd be left with the feeling that I've hurt someone who never did anything to me, and I wouldn't feel particularly good about myself. There wouldn't be any net benefit from doing it, at least that I've been able to figure out yet. And I sure wouldn't keep doing it unless there were some kind of payoff. I believe that for someone to keep doing it, and not just to one particular person for a particular reason, but to many people over a prolonged period of time, there must be some kind of payoff, or he wouldn't keep doing it. And, if someone does feel good about trashing others, what is he feeling good about? I don't recall ever coming across anyone who admitted to being proud or fulfilled or happy or anything else, just because he continually trashed other people. So what do you good folks think the payoff is? What does the trasher get that he wouldn't get otherwise? Have any of you ever personally known someone who set out to deliberately trash other people? What benefit do you think he got back in return? I'm not trying to judge this kind of behavior, and certainly not until I understand what's behind it. Anyone able to shed some light while the thread is still open? Thanks in advance.

You can raise me a nice bubble ass any time!

Thanks for the great write-up! I'm adding another place to my must-see list.

Not that I don't like other websites too, but during the month of August, I found myself thinking of things I especially like about the MER Forums and decided to make a running list. The list does not include the biggest draw: the many creative, funny, knowledgeable, articulate, caring, sharing, and - dare I say - quite attractive denizens who festoon the fora day and night. It's just a list of site qualities that I think set MER apart. I'm sure I'm not done, as I've added a couple just in the last few days. Others may want to join in. But here's my list, so far, and in no particular order: Lucky and the folks who joined in to create a little magic in August - haven't seen anything like it before Site owners who participate fully and have as good a time as the other posters Erections Fair, evenhanded, no-nonsense moderators Minimal drama, and what little there is can sometimes be entertaining Flexibility and willingness to try new things Respect for users Erections Responsiveness to user requests Any changes are quick and fuss-free General spirit of tolerance Ability to include lots of images in each post Ability to include videos in posts Expressive smilies Attractive layout Erections No unexpected outages - it's here when I'm here Flirt4Free banner - always some new eye candy General feeling that we're all in this together Anticipated forgiveness for leaving something out

Cheaper than you think, my friend. I don't get why you would want to change FourAces though. It's a great name, pops off the screen, ties to an important part of your life, suggests a charmed existence, and carries a history of great posts along with it. Still, if you decide the grass is greener, Lookin can be yours for a song. So to speak. (I'd have to hang on to my avatar though, as he is family.)

Although he never posted a lot, StuCotts has always been one of my favorite posters here or anywhere. I almost always learn something, have a laugh, and usually both. He and AdamSmith can riff through many a delightful thread. I hope the recent traffic hasn't spooked him. I very much look forward to the next sighting.

Only thing is though, I meant my screen name to have a capital "L". When I went back to fix it, it was too late. Ah, well. Still having fun!

I thought surely a good night's sleep would get this out of my head. No such luck. Anyone needs me, I'll be frippin on a philtz.

Funny, I would have taken him for a sugar plum fairy.

It sounds like your Uncle Rob would have made a terrific Moderator.

It's impressive alright, and thanks for sharing it! I watched it with Safari, which seems to work OK. As you said, there are a number of open windows when it hits full stride. On my modest laptop screen, most were partially hidden by others. I kept wondering where the ads were, especially with all those windows. No doubt, Google is experimenting with the technology and will soon figure out how to give us an eyeful.