t0oL1

I don’t particularly hear the stereotype as somewhere along a masculine-feminine continuum, or macho vs effeminate. Women I know don’t actually speak that way. I hear it as a specifically camp (even then, not quite the best term) or gay-coded style of speech, along an axis of highly marked to relatively understated. A habitual unselfconscious speech pattern rather than a deliberate affectation.
I don’t see a heated rivalry here. Neither physically appeals to me, but that should be no more relevant than any others’ preferences. There are few social contexts where sexual desire activation is the key agenda.
If I were to have the remaining senses of a Helen Keller and some personal sense it might fly with the scent of a Brut pocket atomizer.
I note that one of these lads has rather fangy canines, but he’s no Eric Northman.
ScreenRecording_09-25-2026 06-53-30_1.movScreenRecording_09-25-2026 06-19-56_1.mov

Topic brings to mind SATC S2 ‘the gay straight man’. Some 27 years ago; funny enough to remember. Charlotte dates pastry chef Stephan Bodean, but thinks he could be gay because of his mannerisms. He protests “I’m a pastry chef living in Chelsea. If I were gay, I’d be gay.”
They eventually have sex, successfully. She has a couple of orgasms with him, and the next morning he whips up buttermilk cranberry scones with lemon curd, I think, but then a mouse appears caught in a trap and both of them squeal and neither can deal with it, both equally terrified and squeamish, so that’s the dealbreaker for her and she dumps him.
But Dan Futterman as her brief Bo, also well known for writing and for other acting roles, eventually turns up as a guest character on Will & Grace, as a newly out homosexual man given, or forced to endure, a gayification makeover by Will and Jack.
From straight guy who seemed too gay to gay guy not gay enough.
ScreenRecording_09-20-2026 21-25-51_1.mov

ScienceDaily
Viagra and shingles vaccine show surprising promise again...
A major new study has spotlighted three familiar medicines that could take on an unexpected new role in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease — with a shingles vaccine emerging as the front-runner. Af
Centre for Human Genetics
Respiratory syncytial virus vaccine linked to reduced dem...
A new study, co-led by researchers at the Centre for Human Genetics, shows that a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is associated with a 29% reduction in dementia risk in the following

I cannot recall Hebron without tears in my eyes. I visited many times between 2004 and 2017 and was always warmly received by shopkeepers whose premises had been sealed by soldiers, and by the market sellers who experienced daily violence, threats and abuse from the settlers- most of whom were US and Canadian immigrants- and were protected by a net that had been erected to stop the the bricks and rubbish that was rained down on them.
I have so many memories of those courageous, kind and generous people; the father of two infant children killed by settlers, whose house had an Israeli army machine-gun stationed on its roof, keeping the inhabitants in its sites 24/7; of a brave Israeli Jewish woman who lived there and worked with the mothers and knew , or seemed to know, everyone in the market by name. She was adored. And the little boy of about ten who approached me, beneath that net and said haltingly in carefully- rehearsed English, obviously practised in school , "You are very welcome in Palestine."
A privilege.

all that food is nice but what about boys over there at Ko Samui ? or you become lesbian which happens to me from time to time too but cheer up, it's easily curable.
I found that one of 7/11 musts is to size up guys working there

oh yeah speaking of,the Kit Kat knockoffs too!

I don't think ' economizing' or ' frugal' would do much to enhance attractiveness of one's profile 

I'm cautious about  saying 'generous ', a friend  got blocked after saying that. Others i know put a space in the middle of the word!

The Sun has reported that young Russian men working in Pattaya's nightlife district say they left home partly because they fear being called up to fight in Ukraine.
The newspaper spoke to Sam, 23, from Moscow, and Ilya, 25, from St Petersburg, at a club on Walking Street. Both said they preferred work in Pattaya to the prospect of military service in Russia.
Sam, who had arrived in Pattaya three weeks earlier after first going to Bangkok, performs as a pole dancer at the venue. He said people his age were frightened they could be sent to fight and said he had buried friends and relatives during the war.
"Everything is so hard back home and every one of my age is terrified that they will be sent to fight," Sam told The Sun. He said he believed the conflict would not end until 2034, without explaining why he expected it to last that long.
Work and life on Walking Street

The Big Tool club is on Walking Street, at the centre of Pattaya's extensive red-light district. The venue employs men and women, and attracts male and female customers, according to the newspaper.
Sam said customers could buy drinks from a menu with prices reaching 1,390 baht. Ilya said he worked six days a week, with the club open until 3.30am, and offered hotel visits for 10,000 baht.
Commercial sex remains illegal in Thailand, even though nightlife and entertainment venues are highly visible in Pattaya and other tourist areas. Visitors and foreign residents should be aware that the law can be enforced, and that arrangements made through bars can carry legal, financial and personal-safety risks.
Ilya told the newspaper that Russia had changed sharply in recent years, claiming there was now "no money, no work and no hope". He said he would "definitely have to join the army" if he returned home, and added that he valued the freedom to be himself in Pattaya.
Yana, 26, a dancer from Vladivostok, told The Sun that many men at the club were from Russia or Turkey. She said Russian men would rather be in Thailand than risk ending up in the army and then at the front.
Thailand's growing Russian community
Russia last ordered a major mobilisation in September 2022, calling up 300,000 reservists after battlefield setbacks. The Sun said Moscow has since relied on recruitment incentives, particularly in poorer regions, while dismissing rumours of another imminent call-up.
The report cited Ukraine's claim that Russia is suffering around 1,000 casualties a day, while stating that Russia is desperate to replace losses. It also said that, in the four months shortly after the war began, 233,000 Russians arrived in Phuket, according to the local airport.
Sam summed up his decision simply: "Why would I want to join the army and fight and die when I can be in Pattaya having fun?"
The original source article published by The Sun is behind a paywall so I copied this over from another forum.

He has looted everything else...why should this be any different?!?  

I , being creature of habit , usually don't like this type of changes but must say I found new formula problem free , easy to adjust to it and navigate

Just curious, if you're not logged in, how are you able to post messages on this thread?

Adjacents seats or 2 random seats?

A number of years back a very large passenger sat in the middle seat after I was seated in the aisle seat. Before he sat down, he announced loudly to the window seat passenger and myself that both armrests would be up for the flight, and proceeded to raise them. This was because he couldn't fit between the armrests.
As soon as he sat down, his jelly blubber was rubbing on me, clearly spreading past the edge of his seat, and invading my limited space. I tried to lower the armrest, but could not. I was damned if I was going to endure the flight with his fat snuggled up against me. I notified a flight attendant, and luckily, there was an open seat I was able to move to. I just wanted to get away from that sweaty jelly roll. That was one of my last long haul economy class flights.

Well, whenever my luggage tips over 50# or 23 kg, they attach a red sticker, presumably indicating that it will require two staff members to lift, which is explains the higher fee (though those fees, I agree, are exaggerated and should be regulated). What should be required is extra wide seats on airplanes for hefty passengers. These rows would have 2 seats across in the place of 3, and would cost 150% of the regular fare. Passengers should be required to attest that they can fit into regular seats, or choose the wide seats for the extra fee. If the boarding agent finds a passenger mis-represented his girth, the passenger should be moved to the "hefty row" with a fine in addition to the extra fare (if available, or simply moved to the next flight with available hefty seats). Or, they can just buy first-class tickets. These people know who they are. They almost always pick middle seats, and love spilling over into the seats of hapless fellow passengers on the windows and aisles.

What say you?

So true! I lived and was sexually active throughout those ghastly years. But I was living in Asia where there was not the same bombardment of news about AIDS and all the newspaper obituaries as in the USA. I do not know how many Asians died but the safe sex message did eventually get out and a great many gay men paid attention to it. I was based in Hong Kong and visiting Bangkok at least half a dozen times a year. The bars were all open and some packed at the week-ends. The boys in those I attended had all been instructed about condom use being vital. After a few years, I was saddened when i learned that one guy I had met years earlier had died of AIDS.
The situation in Japan was different. Japanese sauna owners, for example, considered AIDS a western disease that would not affect them, even though westerners like me were often there. There was no safe sex message that I noticed (although I could not read Japanese). Eventually the owners took note and the government finally decided in 1985 to close all the gay saunas. But it was way too late. I had three friends who all had birthdays around the same day in October. I attended their birthday party in, I think it was, 1987. It was a wonderful evening and I paired off with a really hot young Japanese. Two or three years later I was totally shocked to learn that four who attended that party - included all three of the birthday boys - had died of AIDS. 

I worked as a nurse on one of the biggest HIV/AIDS wards in St Stephen's Hospital in London in the 1980's. We had to recruit gay volunteers to help us transport patients as no porters or ambulance staff would touch our patients. The volunteers even had to take the bodies of the dead to the mortuary, and we had to pack and ligate the bodies and put them into big plastic bags. There was so much prejudice and fear. One day a fellow nurse who had only been working on the ward for two weeks was with me making up a bed for a patient waiting on a trolley in the corridor when I looked up and saw that his lips were turning blue, a sign of PCP, a common cause of death. I persuaded him to get into the bed. I went to call his parents who lived in Manchester and his father answered the phone and when I told him his son was dying he shouted "Let the faggot die!" and slammed the phone down. He had only been in London for two weeks so he had no friends, so when my shift ended at 3.30pm I went and sat with him, and he died at 7pm, he was 24 years old. We all lost too many friends. The person who helped most was Princess Diana who was often filmed and pictured visiting patients and holding their hands and hugging them, which proved that AIDS was not transmitted just by touch. 

Our secret is out, fellas! 😆😆
 

Noticed this article about the Netherlands removing their gold from the USA. 
https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/09/02/the-netherlands-just-pulled-86-4-tons-of-gold-out-of-the-u-s-to-improve-crisis-readiness-amid-global-tensions/
France did the same thing.  When asked about it the Dutch did not mince words: we've seen what Trump did to the oval office...how much gold do you think he will need to do the same in the ballroom? We think it is better to keep OUR gold out of reach.  🙈

 

Things appear to be looking up at the Point Bar in the Complex, with a freelance pole dancer:
 

Look at this clip at 7:07 for the same guy and thank me later...
 

For those of you missing Pattaya right now. Courtesy of @purethailandbkk on YouTube.
That sea looks quite rough and the beach is very quiet but it all looks very peaceful and relaxing to me. We're having awful hazy weather in KL right now, thanks to the the slash and burn tactics in Indonesia.🤧🤒😵‍💫
 

like Sanctuary of Truth or Grand Palace

I trust there will be some young midshipmen available!