lookin

Every year our little community dons orange vests, grabs grabbers and trash bags, and picks up litter along the side of our roads. It looks absolutely pristine when we're done. Not even a bottle cap. It lasts for a few weeks and then someone passing through will toss a can or bottle. I've 'adopted' one road that I travel most days and try to keep it looking nice year-round. I believe others do the same as our roads usually look pretty clean.

I thought of 'high' but according to this article it's a shorter rhyming word. Around 1960, a young psychologist named Sarnoff Mednick thought he had identified the essence of creativity. His idea was as simple as it was powerful: creativity is associative memory that works exceptionally well. He made up a test, called the Remove Association Test, which is still often used in studies of creativity. For an easy example, consider the following three words: cottage Swiss cake Can you think of a word that is associated with all three? You probably worked out that the answer is cheese. Now try this: dive light rocket This problem is much harder, but it has a unique correct answer, which every speaker of the English language recognizes, although less than 20% of a sample of students found it within 15 seconds. The answer is sky*. —Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow, Doubleday Canada, 2011) * mouse-over to see word

Thanks, guys, for the thoughtful responses. Seems like my impression that Brazil might be leading the way is a bit premature. In the meantime, I'm going to keep hoping for many more ethnic 'blends' throughout the world not only so that 'they' eventually becomes 'we', but also so that we see many more hotties like Booboo Stewart from the other thread and Shamar Moore from my dreams. /highjack

I thought that too, but I worry some of my moves might be a little rusty.

You don't suppose Dominique Strauss-Kahn set them up do you? . . . . . . .

I expect OZ has developed other ways of dealing with troublemakers.

TY, I'm always surprised by how often I say Exactly! after reading one of your posts. JKane's too. It does seem strange that folks don't give Obama at least some props for steering us away from a depression, leading us and the Russians to reduce nukes, getting insurers to cover pre-existing conditions, making us less of a Lone Ranger in international relations, helping gays get a fairer shake, and being the one voice you can count on to at least try getting everyone under the same tent. I was in a small East Coast town recently where anti-Obama sentiment runs high. My nephew hears it at his job all the time. He says it's almost always coming from older clients, fairly well-off, and not at all shy about expressing their distaste for having a black man in the White House. I find it hard to believe that there could be so many who think like that but, like TY, I'm running out of alternative reasons to explain the level of dislike some folks have for him. PS: I am once again grateful for the respectful tone of discussion here. There's much more to learn when insights are exchanged instead of insults.

I did fine on my math SAT test, but when I entered my freshman Calculus class, I was behind from day one. Many in my class had already had a year of calculus but my high school didn't even offer it. I passed the course by the skin of my teeth, but then came Advanced Calculus, which I eventually flunked. I had never flunked anything in my life and it was a real poke in the eye. I had to repeat the course, and finally 'got it', as TY says. From then on, I was even with my classmates. So my suggestion would be to get your 'remedial' class under your belt before you start college and avoid trying to play catch up while you're there. I think there's a real advantage to feeling that you're even with - or even a little ahead of - your classmates. If there's an evening adult class you can take at either a local college or high school, I'd say go for it. Even one of those 'Quadratic Equations for Dummies' books would give you a leg up. The idea is to not feel like you're struggling in class, but are actually well above average. Who knows, maybe you can even do a little 'tutoring' on the side.

Go ahead, rub it in. . .

Well, at my bank, that would just about cover the $1.00 for the soda.

I'd humbly suggest your number 2 might better apply than the allegedly archaic number 5, as RA1's sentiment was nothing if not forceful. Not that I have any qualms about lobbing in something archaic given the slightest opportunity. In fact, your use of the word encouraged me to find this website. Mayhap you'll enjoy it!

I found the (possibly errant) constructs on this page for ESL students. Neither … nor 'Neither … nor' is used in sentences in a negative sense meaning "not this one nor the other, not this nor that, not he nor she, etc.". Verb conjugation depends on the subject (singular or plural) closest to the conjugated verb. The author, though, may just be blowing linguistic smoke; hence, the question mark in my post. As an undergraduate, I was the only engineering student in my creative writing class so I learned early to defer to the cognoscenti, among whom I count the posters in this thread. When it comes to my own mother tongue, I have barely attained the first rung. If the putative NOR Should, in fact, remain OR, I'll leave up to the scholarly young.

Should that be 'NOR changed their rhetoric'? There are times when I use language that I know is incorrect, just because it feels so weird* to say the proper version. For example, "It is I." sounds so Margaret Thatcher that I just can't bring myself to do it. But maybe that's just me. * So much for 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'.

Never been to Brazil, so this is only an impression, but it seems to me that Brazilians are more relaxed about skin color than are most of us in the U. S. A good friend of mine is from Brazil and I've met or seen pictures of most of his family. There are a quite a variety of colors represented, although no very-white and no very-black. As my bosom pals will tell you, I find a wide variety of folks attractive. But my very favorite skin color would have to be coffee-with-cream. And I'm very attracted to features that are a subtle mix of ethnic backgrounds. I see a moderate number of such folks in the Bay Area, though never as many as I would like. It seems that there's more 'mixing-it-up' in Brazil. Which would also seem to lead to less us-against-them thinking, as we would all be "us". Am I misreading this? I'd love to hear what MER's honorary Brazilians have to say. (I agree with the OP that there wasn't much range in the clip, though there were definitely some attractive 'blends'. )

Two things I've come to appreciate about the new software have to do with images. First, it doesn't fuss when an image is wider than 600 pixels. It just displays it at the maximum size it can. The old software would tell you how much it shrunk the image, as if anyone gave a shit. Second, it seems to allow more than ten images in a post. Not sure what the limit is, if any, but it now seems possible to get a lot more images in a single post. As far as I know, the other site is still limited to four images per post, needlessly chopping up a series of images. The only significant improvement I'm still hoping for is not only to be able to log in from any page but also to be automatically put back on the same page after login, instead of having to meander back manually. I expect the programmers would have to somehow capture the page from which login was initiated and return to it after a successful login. Perhaps no one else minds the extra clicks, so I'm not holding my breath.

Congratulations, and once you are all settled in I would love to discuss the feasibility of a modest unsecured cash advance, say in the two hundred dollar range. Likewise, I'd prefer not to be too specific.

Outfoxing his neighbors, Hitoallusa enjoys a little porn and waits for his escort to arrive. He hopes he will be able to try a little doggy-style without banging his head on the TV.

Relevant article in the New York Times yesterday. The comments provide some useful info and experiences too.

Also no better argument for not being a Sun reporter. Trash reporting at its worst, I think. What child needs to read this about her mother? Since when does having eleven false teeth rise to the level of news? Who will benefit from knowing that she had a 60% blockage in one artery? Or that her bath water may have been 150°? 'Sources claim', 'possible suicide attempts', 'possible falls', 'skin slippage'. Bilge, in my opinion.

I bottomed out in my late forties after losing my partner. I was in commission sales and didn't feel like selling anything. Or getting out of bed, for that matter. At my lowest, I even borrowed five hundred bucks from my Mom, who was getting by on Social Security. I started taking Prozac, with the downside of shutting off most feelings, both positive and negative, but it did let me put one foot in front of the other and get through the day. I had a terrific grief counselor who, when I told her I'd have to start seeing her half as often for financial reasons, told me she thought that wasn't such a good idea, and halved her fee instead. It took a year or so, but I was able to turn things around at work, pay my Mom back, and get off Prozac. I kept seeing the grief counselor for years, reverting to her original fee plus some, and learning a bunch about myself and life in general. One thing I learned is that, for me, ten years is a long time to do one thing. Some folks settle into a career that satisfies them for a long time, but I enjoy learning new things. Once I've got the juice out of the orange, I like looking for a nice ripe mango. So, yes, FourAces, I did start over with a very positive outcome. I think the secret is to keep your communications open with a good friend or two and look for some professional guidance if you feel you are heading in the wrong direction. And, as gcursor says, volunteering is a great way to keep a healthy outlook. You seem like a very social guy who finds home wherever he is, so you may have an easier time than you think. Hope you know that you have some friends here, and please don't hesitate to keep reaching out. We all look forward to seeing your next act.

Doesn't this belong in the fetish forum?

Still, Hi's suggestion is nothing to . . . well, it's not a bad idea.

Thanks! I knew you guys would have the goods. FourAces, you are no doubt right that he has me marked down as a freeloader, and I have had the experience you mention of finding a room locked tight when my feet were at the door. There was a time, though, when Mr. Hottie could have cost himself some business. A few years ago, when I was feeling a bit more flush, I got as far as clicking the Buy Credits button when a brown-eyed brown-haired cutie from St. Petersburg was ringing all my bells. The process got a little tedious and when I popped back to see if he was really worth filling out the form, he was gone. At the time, a minute in private cost six bucks and it seemed a bit steep for any but the most irresistible flirt. However, had he indulged me a few minutes longer, he might well have turned me into a paying customer. MsGuy, I envy you the ease and discipline with which you seem to navigate the Flirt4Free site. I worry that if I were always a click away from buying another round of credits, I'd find my Visa bill busting out all over. And that's not counting any side trips to St. Petersburg or Bogota. However, should I happen to stumble upon the winning ticket for this week's lottery, not only would I buy a fistful of credits, I would seriously consider renting exclusive live feeds from the Flirt4Free studios and streaming them right here into the Pub. Do you think I have a prayer?