FWIW? Sadly, not much these days. The country seems on track to take more liberties from us without much objection. The Patriot Act was pushed through without real consideration, and I'll bet trying to remove any of its provisions will prove next to impossible.
The alleged source of the Wikileaks documents has now been imprisoned in horrible conditions for seven months, despite not only NOT being CONVICTED of a crime, but not even being CHARGED with one. Bradley Manning is suffering needlessly in a system that Americans should be ashamed of:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/no-naps-and-no-clothes-in-bed-mannings-cell-life-2164841.html
A London department store saw a dozen men in their undies shopping:
http://www.hunkdujour.com/blog/archives/2010/12/aussiebum_boys_invade_selfridges_in_london.asp?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hunkdujour+%28Hunk+du+Jour%29
Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg has another video similar to dick-in-a-box, but this time three guys are singing that they just had sex. I saw the video at HuffPost;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/19/i-just-had-sex-snl-akon_n_798822.html
NY Times photo
This young marine worries about gay men being in close combat situations. Does he have anything to fear?
No, they aren't worried about being sexually propositioned, they say gays would be more likely to fold in combat. That's cuz they don't visit gay message boards and see how well we can fight!
Ah, Hoover, do you think anyone here would fall for that rate? $95 a year gets you the 50,000 bonus miles, along with various other mileage incentives.
For the past six years, the Saturday night dinner was followed by a show at the Palm Canyon Theatre. They are not performing the weekend we have scheduled for 2011, so it looks like The Palm Springs Follies will be the Saturday night entertainment if we can get a good group rate.
Good thing we didn't go to the Palm Canyon Theatre this weekend to see Annie as the production was insufferable!
The Follies
In today's NY Times as in last week's, there is a flier for United Airlines Visa card. It offers 30,000 frequent flier miles to those who successfully apply. But WAIT, there's more. When you go to the website to apply, there is a button to click if you are a Mileage Plus member. Click it! You now have 50,000 bonus miles for successfully applying. You have to make some charges before the miles accrue; I think it is $400.
Calling Adam Smith...Mr. Smith to the message board please...Mr. Smith, calling Mr. Adam Smith. A tattooed Asian hunk awaits awaits you.
Wait any longer and he will remain in Lucky's place.
The movie trailer for the upcoming Terrence Malick Movie starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, called The Tree of Life, looks wonderful and sure makes me look forward to seeing the film. Take a look:
http://www.towleroad.com/2010/12/watch-brad-pitt-and-sean-penn-in-trailer-for-malicks-tree-of-life.html
Can you imagine the excitement at the Vatican yesterday when 4 hunky Russian acrobats whipped their shirts off before performing for the Pope? Well, see for yourself:
http://www.towleroad.com/2010/12/watch-shirtless-male-acrobats-perform-for-pope-benedict.html
Yeah, but think of the ratings if the Blessed Virgin appeared on Oprah. Her message would reach millions, who wouldn't have to wait 151 years to know if it was worthy of belief, plus we'd get some immediate answers to life's dilemmas!
Google spent $500,000 to clean up after a hacker attack. How many smaller websites could afford costs like that?
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/f-b-i-memos-reveal-cost-of-a-hacking-attack/?ref=business
It isn't just that you can't buy anything anymore that isn't made in China, it isn't that we owe them a trillion dollars, it's also that we are dependent on them for at least the next 15 years for valuable minerals that we need!!
"The United States is too reliant on China for minerals crucial to new clean energy technologies, making the American economy vulnerable to shortages of materials needed for a range of green products — from compact fluorescent light bulbs to electric cars to giant wind turbines."
Read the whole story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/business/global/15rare.html?_r=1&hp
Gay activist Dan Choi, known for his leading efforts against the DADT policy, suffered a breakdown this week after the repeal of DADT failed, and was hospitalized. The story is reported on towleroad.com"
http://www.towleroad.com/2010/12/dan-choi-hospitalized.html
More info and a discussion:
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/18211/dan-choi-hospitalized-a-discussion-about-our-communitys-multifaceted-sacrifices
When guys who are nowhere near old talk about how old they are, then us real old guys feel even worse. You are not old until you hit 62, that's my opinion. Or until you have picked 4 or more books to read in one year only to discover when reading them that you have already read them. I picked up a book at the library and was reading merrily along when things started seeming familiar. The saving grace is that each book was good enough that I finished them anyway.