The Beer Bar

OCTOBER 11, 2009, 12:37 A.M. ET Obama to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Military Policy By ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON WASHINGTON--President Barack Obama on Saturday pledged to end a 16-year-old policy banning gay people from serving openly in the nation's military, in a gesture to a group that provided a major source of support during his campaign. But the president didn't set out a timetable for reversing the policy. As a result, his pledge might not be enough to appease some in the gay community who feel that Mr. Obama hasn't moved quickly enough to address their issues -- even as his message could spark criticism from some conservatives and members of the military…

Was on a business trip to western Michigan last week.First time really outside of Chicago. The boys were so beautiful,nice,and free of ego.They have no idea how handsome they are. BTW Grand Rapids is really charming

Willie Nelson has tossed the satellite dish off the back of his corn-powered tour bus in favor of a little box that fuses wireless data cards from a variety of networks into a single connection. Which is to say Willie is on the net again, seeing things he may never see again. Satellite connections can be made anywhere, but they are expensive and have strict usage caps. Network data cards offer all-you-can eat broadband plans, but any given company’s — AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint — doesn’t work everywhere. The solution? Use an array of network data cards from several companies. What Nelson has done is to tie four wireless USB cards into a Mushroom Networks Por…

This from yahoo's news site today - I for one had no idea that these machines are already in operation in some US airports. Makes me think of a T-shirt I saw in Bhutan a couple of years ago - worn by the organiser of an exhibition of children's paintings

O.K. I admit it. I am an absolute fool for a straight faced put on. Can anybody here tell me if this really happened at a Major League ballpark? Donna Sachet sings the National Anthem If Michael Musto says it, must it be so?

— President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. In a stunning surprise, the Nobel Committee announced in Oslo that it has awarded the annual prize to the president “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The award cited in particular Mr. Obama’s effort to reduce the world’s nuclear arsenal. “He has created a new international climate,” the committee said. The announcement, coming extraordinarily early in Mr. Obama’s presidency — less than nine months after he took office as the first African American president — shocked people from Norway to Washington. The White House had no idea it was coming. “T…

... it looks like he will be baring it all in Playgirl! ;-) http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/707389--father-of-sarah-palin-s-grandchild-to-pose-nude

Afghanistan isn't much of a tourist destination right now, but a few more articles like this could encourage some to take their chances. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/12/dancing-boys-afghanistan

Frankly I find it hard to take computer generated predictions of climate change too seriously when my weatherman still can't tell me whether it's going to rain next week. Evidence from the geological record is a lot more convincing. Turns out that the last time atmospheric CO2 hit 400 ppm, the earth shed it's ice caps, ocean levels were 80 to 130 feet higher than today & average temps 5 to 11F higher. Since we are due to hit 400 ppm sometime in the next decade and spike to over 500 ppm (before declining) even with substantial world wide anti-carbon measures, younger members of this board might want to consider buying their retirement property in Minneapolis/St. Paul.…

There's an interesting article in Britain's Guardian newspaper with some facts about London's Heathrow airport. It's written by a journalist who spent a week there. Each week some 10 people die there! Apparently the most dangerous time for passengers is the 20 minutes after landing. Wonder how many shuffle of their mortal coil at other large airports like JFK and O'Hare? Or even at Suvarnabhumi? And at Terminal 5, the one which failed spectacularly when it opened last year but which now works well, there's a British Airways check-in employee who, if you manage to be especially rude to her, will pretend that her machine has suddenly designated you for an upgrade. T…

French Minister Says He Won't Resign over Sex with 'Boys' PARIS, France (CNN) French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said Thursday he will not resign over his admission in a book that he paid to have sex with "boys" in Thailand. In an interview with French television network TF1, Mitterrand said he "absolutely condemn sexual tourism, which is a disgrace, and ... pedophilia," in which he insisted he has never participated. The minister described his 2005 book, "The Bad Life," as a mix of autobiography and fiction. In one passage, published by the French newspaper Le Monde Thursday, Mitterrand describes in detail a sexual encounter with a "boy" he said w…

Well...........watching television last night,a televised live show called "hey hey its Saturday" ,it seems political correctness has really taken hold of our sense of humour. On this live comedy show,which is compered by a comedian,they had the ameuteur silly acts,where contestants are ding donged out by 3 judges and one of them judges was the very Harry Connick jnr,a American singer who hails from the deep south. Anyway,one of the acts was 5 guys whose faces were painted black pretending to be black 1970s disco dancers. One of the judges being Harry connick,then spat the dummy on live telvision saying this is racist and makes black people feel like "bufoons"…

I have 120k miles this year. I need 5k more miles to make their highest tier. I have a few trips planned and can easily make that. But, they now offer roll-over miles. If I don't make the next tier, I will roll over 45k miles into next year and only need one long trip to get to Platinum again. I don't see the benefits of Diamond vs. Platinum with their new program. At least not that much difference. Any one see things I am missing?

Anybody interested can see no less than six Vermeers in one exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum. http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp? The Frick, an easy walk away, has three more. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/vermeer/index.htm Nine in one city. Nowhere else.

Hard to believe 11 years have passed since this. I remember it almost like it was yesterday and still my eyes welt up when I think of it. http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2009/10/we-held-our-breath.html

Obama Awarded 2009 Nobel Peace Prize (CNN) -- President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The first African-American to win the White House, Obama was praised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population." The…

CANNON BALLS!!! DID YOU KNOW THIS? It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, A supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.. The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this pl…

Leafy greens -- including lettuce and spinach -- top the list of the 10 riskiest foods, according to a study from a nutrition advocacy group released Tuesday. The Center for Science in the Public Interest listed the following foods, in descending order, as the most risky in terms of outbreaks: leafy greens, eggs, tuna, oysters, potatoes, cheese, ice cream, tomatoes, sprouts and berries. The scientists rated these foods, all of them regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, by the number of outbreaks associated with them since 1990, and also provided the number of recorded illnesses. The severity of the illnesses ranged from minor stomach aches to death, the center…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6241440/German-men-are-worlds-worst-lovers-with-English-men-in-second-place.html the summary of the above: WORLD'S WORST LOVERS: 1. Germany (too smelly) 2. England (too lazy) 3. Sweden (too quick) 4. Holland (too dominating) 5. America (too rough) 6. Greece (too lovey-dovey) 7. Wales (too selfish) 8. Scotland (too loud) 9. Turkey (too sweaty) 10. Russia (too hairy) WORLD'S BEST LOVERS 1. Spain 2. Brazil 3. Italy 4. France 5. Ireland 6. South Africa 7. Australia 8. New Zealand 9. Denmark 10. Canada

One of my favorite writers/actors just told about his childhood and abuse that he suffered. Here is the CNN article I read. There's nothing funny about Tyler Perry's latest work: a revealing account of the horrific abuse he suffered as a child. Tyler Perry is the executive producer of the well-received new film "Precious." "I always thought I would die before I grew up," the comedian writes in an uncharacteristically somber letter to fans on his Web site. After watching a screening of the lauded movie "Precious," about a 16-year-old girl who is physically and emotionally abused, the New Orleans native, 40, best known for his comic Madea character, reveals a flood of …

Much of the debate over legalizing gay marriage has focused on God and Scripture, the Constitution and equal protection. But we see the world through the prism of money. And for years, we’ve heard from gay couples about all the extra health, legal and other costs they bear. So we set out to determine what they were and to come up with a round number — a couple’s lifetime cost of being gay. It was much more complicated than we initially imagined, and that’s probably why we’ve never seen similar efforts. We looked at benefits that routinely go to married heterosexual couples but not to gay couples, like certain Social Security payments. We plotted out the cost of health i…

According to Manhunt. http://business.avn.com/articles/36299.html Obviously lots of the guys are lying, but it's still interesting. District of Columbia, 7.59 New York, 7.50 California, 7.45 Florida, 7.44 Kentucky, 7.42 Georgia, 7.41 North Carolina, 7.39 Pennsylvania, 7.39 Rhode Island, 7.38 Minnesota, 7.34 West Virginia, 7.32 Illinois, 7.31 Arizona, 7.31 South Dakota, 7.31 Texas, 7.30 Ohio, 7.30 Missouri, 7.30 Nevada, 7.29 Kansas, 7.29 Mississippi, 7.28 Oregon, 7.27 Tennessee, 7.27 Massachusetts, 7.27 Maryland, 7.27 Hawaii, 7.24 South Carolina, 7.24 Colorado, 7.23 Louisiana, 7.22 North Dakota, 7.22 Michigan, 7.20 Connecticut, 7.20 Wisco…

We are thinking of moving many of the forums together to make it simpler and easier to find topics. What suggestions do you have? A few options that I can think of. 1. Combining a few of the forums together. Ex. Pornification, Word on the Street, and Beyond Vanilla to The Pub. 2. Letting posts occur in the Main Forum The Pub and then moving them to the appropriate forum after discussion dies down after 30 days. 3. A combination of the 2. 4. Other ideas?

Once our redo is complete and all the bugs and issues worked out, the programmers will start implementing ways for escorts to add videos to their profiles. Any suggestions on how you would like this to work? Other things you would like to see? Interviews? Etc. ???

There is a hyperlink on the banner management area that allows for Silver and Gold members to use the site without the 4 banners there. It does make things look very nice and I hope many will take advantage of this. The Flirt4Free guys stay there as they are not part of that system. All other ads will not be seen by Paid Members.