Lucky

The Lucky Reader The Lucky Reader is one man's idea of what makes interesting news. Monday, November 14, 2011 in Two Sections Section 1 Since you are one of the first people to read the first edition of the Lucky Reader, you might think that you are one of the Lucky People. Well, take a look at this short video to see what it really takes to be one of the Lucky People! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLqIfdDXJVs * The movie J. Edgar is receiving plenty of attention. It has name stars, a big budget, and an American icon as director. J. Edgar Hoover himself was an American icon for decades, but his legacy is tarnished by revelations about him that came after his death and those afraid of him could finally speak out. The movie is entertaining. Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover and Armie Hammer as the cute sidekick Clyde Tolson work well together. The makeup as they age is not always credible, especially for the older Tolson. But what is made believable is that they had a very close relationship. We will probably never know if they consummated it. Those things were not made public among the powerful back in that time. So what the film shows about that is all speculation, but credible. We can't imagine two lifelong bachelors being that close without acting on their hormones. Hoover's anti-homosexual policies sound a lot like those of right wing ministers who are also hiding their own proclivities in that department. We do know that Hoover kept power for 48 years,and that he was feared. The movie shows how persuasive Hoover could be before a Congressional committee, especially once he learned what buttons to push. He could instill fear in the likes of Robert F. Kennedy and other top politicians. The movie sparkles with its period sets and costumes. Perhaps we don't know all of the details, but the film seems to get the highlights right. Sunday's Washington Post has a column on the five myths about J. Edgar hoover that is worth a read. Historian Kenneth Ackerman concludes: "But he (Hoover) also stands as a reminder that 48 years of power concentrated in one person is a recipe for abuse. It was mostly after his death that Hoover’s dark side became common knowledge — the covert black-bag jobs, the warrantless surveillance of civil rights leaders and Vietnam-era peace activists, the use of secret files to bully government officials, the snooping on movie stars and senators, and the rest. Hoover’s name, carved in stone at the FBI headquarters on Pennsyl­vania Avenue, should serve as a caution to the public and the dedicated professionals who work inside. The FBI’s license to intrude into people’s lives gives it a special public trust. If the daily reminder of Hoover’s excesses can help impart that message, it will be the best safeguard for the positive side of his legacy: a modern, professional, science-based and accountable detective force serving the public interest. Kenneth D. Ackerman, a D.C.-based lawyer at OFW Law, is the author of “Young J. Edgar: Hoover and the Red Scare, 1919-1920.” Post on Hoover * What makes someone beautiful? It's what's inside, right? If that is so, why do some famous celebrities such as Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey pay as much as $15.000 a day for a makeup artist? And that makeup artist himself once weighed 565 pounds. Is he beautiful, or can he just create it on the faces of the rich? Rutledge We could discuss what makes one beautiful all day and probably not come to agreement. But this Washington Post magazine article is quite interesting, both for the look at people's need to be beautiful and the distinct talent that this man who many might not consider beautiful because of his weight and the deterioration it has caused his body at the age of 50. He has a handsome face though, or so I think. Take a look for yourself at this interesting piece: Article on Makeup King * Police took control of a Rio de Janeiro favela (slum) this weekend, trying to make the area safe for the 2016 Olympics. The bad guys had plenty of notice that they were coming, and I wonder what is going to keep the area safe for the next 5 years. How violent the reaction to this invasion will be is not known, but "...last November, gangs struck back with a week long spree of attacks, burning buses, robbing motorists on highways and spreading fear and chaos. At least 36 people died in the violence, mostly suspected drug traffickers fighting with police." Totally Oz scooped me on it, so read his link in the Pub to learn more. I can provide you this: A concerned Rio resident takes respite from the worries of poverty and crime: * Welling Cute actor Tom Welling, now 34, looks back at the people who influenced him the most in his ten year run as Superboy on Smallville: The article on Welling's Influences: Welling's Influences

Well, the Reader is ready to post, but I got a message that it has too many pix, so waiting to see how to work around that. In the meantime, I have to go to a meeting.

We tease each other from time to time, OZ. But I tease you occasionally too. Breaks the boredom sometimes.

While many of us struggle with our grammar and spelling, work long hours to come up with interesting posts, it is revealed today that hitoallusa, currently today's most prolific poster, has a professional writer to compose his posts for him. That's right, he has a writer! This scoop is not mine. In fact, in another forum, probably where he felt it might go unnoticed, hitoall reveals this himself. His exact words as he tries to get another poster to use the same writer: "...or you can forward it to my writer directly if that's more convenient for you. No names have to come out..." Of course no names have to come out. Could Stephen King be the writer? Now doesn't this change your perspective on things? Is it really hitoallusa who thinks that you are sweet,or is it some unknown writer, perhaps one living in India if he outsources! Did hitoall read the books he reviews, or did some writer living in an ivory tower at Princeton or some other elite university? Let the truth come out, hitoall. And please, write it yourself!

Don't forget that Bangkok is having a little water problem, bringing uncollected trash, mosquitoes, and other inconveniences.

I have a great story about getting my ass licked. It happened in Madrid with a guy I picked up at the Black & White disco/hustler bar... But back to the subject at hand. The Lucky Reader is proving to be a chore. Typically if I see something that I want to share, I just post it. Yes, that results in lots of threads started by Lucky, and even I don't like that. But to formalize it into a reader, well, that requires work as now something is expected of me. It has to look visually appealing, it has to be interesting, and everyone wants pictures of someone cute. So, I will probably post the result of my efforts tomorrow just so they don't go to waste, but I don't see how I can do this regularly without it becoming a job. And who wants that? But one other thing. I live in California, so that means the east coast is 3 hours ahead of me. Don't look to see this before noon!

Ah, sigh. The Politics forum is dead ground. Hardly any interest in my tuna story, and only TY joins me in disgust at this landfill issue. I'm still

I just saw the previews for My Week with Marilyn, about Marilyn Monroe in London. It looks quite good, and stars Eddie Redmayne and Dominic Cooper, both of whom were quite popular in their respective Broadway shows- Red and the History Boys. Eddie Redmayne Also looking good at the previews was War Horse with Jeremy Irvine. He's another cutie. The movie is based upon the children's book, which also was the basis for the current popular Broadway show of the same name. Jeremy Irvine

All of these numbers are not translating into many new posts.As a matter of fact, the place seems kind of dead. Even Harry Shrum cannot stir a comment...well, hitoallusa finally chipped in. As for the Lucky Reader, I tried it out this morning and wasn't very happy with it. News stories seem to work better when they arrive spontaneously rather than have me trying to find them for the Reader. Well, Monday is not yet here. Hito, I would not camp out Sunday night. Monday morning will be just fine...thanks for your interest. I guess I will save my comments on J. Edgar for Monday too, unless someone else sees it and wants to review it. Apparently not many folks are home this weekend. Just these lurkers who don't post, God love 'em.

I'd vote for him. This guy has moves! (Damn. I should have saved this for the Lucky Reader. Nah, it couldn't wait.)

"I definitely feel that there is much more of a "family" type atmosphere here." And that's worth a million views. Good point, lurkerspeaks.

So that's you on the left with the tiny one? hehehe I know a big dick is a delight to see, but if I focused on big dicks alone I would have missed out on some of the best sex I have ever had. Big dicks can be hard to take in the mouth, and, especially if they are curved, hard to take in the ear. I know with crystal meth one can take a telephone poll, but that's going too far! (I read about the meth, didn't try taking the pole!) But I love seeing the pix and reading the stories from Tomcal.

Over at Daddy's, we know they have larger participation than we do here. Our own gcursor started a thread there called "You're fat and you're ugly and..." which received a whopping 3787 views. So what about here? What are the popular threads? The easiest way to find out is to go to the last 8 pages in the Pub and see just what got the most views. The Pub, without doubt, is the site's most popular forum page. So, here goes, not counting pinned topics: Top Threads on each page: Dental Deceit -433 views WeHo GoGo Boy -386 views Steve Jobs -358 views Amanda Knox NG -353 views Risking Everything -315 views and counting In Last 60 Minutes -296 views Yesterday, All My Troubles -281 views TopPosters Often Absent -242 views In those 8 pages, how many threads received 0 views? Well, none. But 25 threads received zero responses in the first 8 pages of threads. You can't win them all! But a topic doesn't have to be gay to get read.

And going over to Daddy's for insight is no help either. I think what we have to expect is that certain people have saintly qualities, and thus they can speak in language that only other saints can understand. Insofar as most of us are not saints, then we cannot understand it, but those who are, such as Totally Oz, have no problem understanding it. Apparently Daddy is not a saint either as he didn't get it. And, if you are wondering, I don't get it either, which will disappoint my mother if she were still alive because she was certain that I was a saint.

My backside? As in licking my ass? I think I could go for that!

It has occurred to me that I have so many threads, if I could cut down on them we might see a rise in threads by other posters. I list my occupation as "internet poster" and it is easy to see why- I post a lot. If I had fewer threads, then others could see their own threads rise to the top. So, on Monday, I plan to introduce The Lucky Reader, a thread that will appear several times a week and contain many of the news items that interest me as well as some commentary. It will even be updated as the day goes along. The Reader will have news items that I have found in my internet reading, as well as some commentary. Although I would like to publish 3 or 4 times a week, I am dependent on things happening in the news and will not post a column just to be doing so. Reader comments will be welcome. If there ultimately does not appear to be much interest, then I will throw in the towel. The Lucky Reader will be plugged at Daddy's as it will also be available as a blog. Your support and interest in it is the main thing that will make it a success of not. It's something new, something different, so I hope that it will appeal to you and at the same time take me off of the daily post leads. Tips on news items of interest to gays are welcome. The pressure will then be on you to keep the number of quality posts at MER at a high level. So, keep your eyes peeled on Monday, and hope that some things happen so the blog will contain some good stuff. Yours, Lucky

Pat Boone wore white shoes too. Does that mean he masturbated? (if you don't know who Pat Boone was, well, Google it.)

...yes,Andy Rooney. Hmmm, is that a compliment? You know, it always bothers me when someone says that I remind them of a person who is dead. Sure, they mean well. But I can't help but think that death is what comes to them when they think of me, not so much the person I am supposed to resemble. So, thanks, but no thanks. I don't need that compliment. I think I will stay around a while. (my best imitation, at least, without thinking about it more.)

I see the pix are back! If they disappear again, Perez Hilton is holding firm. Not that we need to see them, of course.

Now here's a story from the Times about how easy it is to infect your computer without your knowledge. These guys were able to redirect your advertising on your computer to an ad that made money for them. Clever, huh? From the Times: Six men, all in their 20s and early 30s, are under arrest in Estonia for what the United States attorney’s office in New York called “a massive and sophisticated Internet fraud scheme.” A Russian suspect in the case remains at large. The malicious software infected four million computers, including 500,000 in the United States, the prosecutors said. The software was so subtle that most people using an infected computer were probably unaware of it. It was a two-pronged scheme, prosecutors said. One component involved redirecting clicks on search results to sites that were controlled by the defendants. A search for “I.R.S.,” for instance, would lead a user to the Web site of the tax preparer H&R Block. The sites to which users were directed would pay the swindlers a referral fee, prosecutors said. The more traffic they could redirect, the more fees they collected. The other way the group made money, according to the indictment, was to swap legitimate online advertisements on certain Web sites with others that would generate payments for the defendants. Prosecutors said that Web sites for ESPN and The Wall Street Journal were affected — but only when viewed on the infected computers. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/technology/us-indicts-7-in-online-ad-fraud-scheme.html?ref=business

Well, it occurs to me that I post a lot. One reason is that each morning I read a slew of newspapers, all set up on my toolbar. Then, when something interests me, I want to pass it on to you. But, a lot of things interest me, so there ends up a lot of posts. Take this picture, for example: I saw it in the NY Times today, but it doesn't deserve its own thread. So, I was thinking that maybe I could do one thread a day that has my newspaper interests in it. What do you think? Here's another pic to help you mull it over: Both pics from the Times.

This was a case of you had to look fast! Groff said he wan't so concerned about the pix being on the net, but his lawyers must have been as they have disappeared.

A blurb in the Washington Post, supposedly saying how many people recommended the article, came out like this: Remains of war dead dumped in landfill 4,556 people recommend this

"We'll probably have to move this to the Politics Forum after it gets a little more visibility here." Yes, the Politics Forum, that sacred place where lofty topics are buried, where few dare to tread. We must leave the Pub for those more important topics such as Billy's dick size. (This has been a lighthearted editorial comment posted only to encourage people to visit the remote corners of the web site!)

Did you see this on the news? Scientists say they have been able to communicate with comatose patients who heretofore were though to be unable to communicate because they were totally unaware. These brain dead patients, as they have been called, showed signs of brain activity when the doctors asked them to clench a fist or wiggle their toes. Not too much in the way of communication. After all, who would settle for that? But scientists of course are not done: “Can you imagine spending years without being able to interact with anyone around you?” Cruse said. “We can ask them what it’s like to be in this condition. Do they know where they are? Do they know who is around them? What do they need?’ This will lead to very profound implications.” Other experts, while praising the research, cautioned that much more work is needed to confirm the findings and refine the technology. “Laypeople will interpret these experimental results as a clinical test, and they are not ready to be used that way,” said Nicholas D. Schiff, a neurologist at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. As many as 20,000 Americans are in a vegetative state, meaning they are alive and awake but without any apparent sense of awareness, and 100,000 to 300,000 are in a related condition known as a minimally conscious state, in which they exhibit impaired or intermittent awareness. A growing body of evidence in recent years has indicated that a significant proportion might have more awareness than had been thought. (Washingtonpost.com) Ask them what it is like? To be aware that your family surrounds you, worried sick and you cannot communicate with them? What is it like to be locked in this prison called your mind? They have to ask? What this may result in is many more families being unwilling to pull the plug because they now have the faint hope that their loved one is alive and may someday be able to communicate. If it were me, I'd say pull away.