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Three old posts, three old posts, When are they from, when are they from? They nearly engendered a furious fight, And sparked a debate over wrong versus right. Did you ever see such a thing on the site, As three old posts?

While such a consummation is not without a certain appeal, I must confess to a bit of difficulty picturing it.

That better be a real 11 ½ inches, young man!

Stick around folks. I'm just gettin' warmed up!

Personally, I'd let this 'friend' know that I've been moved to take a vow of silence.

According to this article, acupuncture can result in increased levels of melatonin in the blood. If this is, in fact, the mechanism by which acupuncture works and, if you have concluded that melatonin doesn't help you, then acupuncture may not help. Of course, I doubt it would hurt either, and there may be some other mechanism(s) at work. If I had debilitating insomnia, I'm pretty sure I would head to the Stanford sleep clinic. These folks have been around for a while. I would expect, at the very least, if they couldn't help you, they would tell you why they couldn't help you. Personally, I'd be optimistic that they might uncover the underlying reason for your insomnia, and be able to provide at least some relief. I don't know how insurance companies look at this field of medicine, but a phone call to the clinic should get you some answers. Very best of luck!

I wonder if OZ has any plans for those who post too much?

Last year's winner celebrates his good fortune. Moments later, a hearty pat on the back from the second runner-up turned good luck into bad. Fortunately, the sore loser was able to snatch away the winning ticket just before the wind got it.

Thus proving that there's more than one way to skin a kielbasa.

Three here also: #1, #54, and #87. Somehow, this year's movies weren't quite pulling me in as they did last year and the year before. Wouldn't have seen J. Edgar, had it not been for the discussion on this site. I'm very glad I did, as it provided some good context for Hoover's life, and gave me another opportunity to appreciate Armie Hammer's talents.

Do you mind my asking who you told them you were?

Good gosh! Much as I'd love a $500 Gift Certificate, it seems I'd have to significantly change my relationship with the MER site in order to get one. And maybe that's the whole point. I'm starting with 956 posts after five years, although the statistics tell me I've been hitting an average of half a post per day. With 152 days between January 1st and May 31st, normal practices would get me only about 75 posts - not even enough to earn a place in the hat. I'd have to quadruple my output to do that. And, even then, my little slip of parchment could easily end up getting caught somewhere in OZ's hatband. The most reliable way to snare the five hundred bucks would seem to be getting to 2190 posts as quickly as possible to be among the three shoe-ins. Even if I had all 152 days to achieve that feat, I'd have to post nearly fifteen times a day, or thirty times my present rate. And, if I wanted to have the most posts between now and the end of May, Heaven knows how much I'd have to post, day in and day out, not even stopping to enjoy a little siesta on Cinco de Mayo. As it's a very rare day when even two interesting and sharable things happen to me, let alone fifteen each and every day, I guess my choices are limited to (1) start sharing things like how often I get up to pee during the night (twice last night, although New Year's Eve itself provided quite a bounty of opportunities for renal relief as the champagne continued to flow well past midnight, as did I), or (2) continue sharing only those rare events that may enlighten or amuse, and remain on the sidelines to cheer on my more prolific fellow-posters. Right now, I'm leaning toward (2) although, should there be some significant uptick in the quantity and/or quality of events swirling through this rather mundane life of mine, I promise you all will be the first to know.

If it will cheer you up, I promise to keep kiting writing checks.

Not to be too much of a Pollyanna, but there have been a couple of small consumer victories in the past year or so: ● When Bank of America decided to charge five bucks a month for a debit card a few months ago, the consumer outcry was pretty vocal. Partly, I think, because the Occupy Wall Street movement was just hotting up and partly because so many ATM cards had transformed themselves into debit cards without much fanfare. I figured Wells Fargo wouldn't be far behind, so I lined up a local credit union and was prepared to switch my accounts there within hours of getting my notice. Fortunately, it never came, not for Bank of America customers and not for Wells Fargo customers. I figure they'll try some other way of getting an extra five bucks out of me, but I'm ready to walk the minute they do, and I'm sure I won't be alone. ● The second thing I'm happy about is the prominent box that started appearing on the front of my credit card bill starting a year or so ago. In addition to the minimum payment, it now tells me that it will take me fifteen years to pay off my balance if I only pay the minimum. (!) It also tells me that I'll pay about as much in interest as the amount I owe. Anyone can see that's a bad deal. Plus there's an option to pay the balance off in three years, and save lots of interest. It's pretty obvious why the banks did not want to make this information as visible as it is today, and why they complain about the high cost of regulation. Clearly, the programming required to put this information in simple language on page one of my bill did not cost more than a few hundred dollars. What they were complaining about, in my opinion, is the lost opportunity to pull in ludicrous amounts of interest from their customers by keeping the information less available to influence consumer decisions. The demise of the debit card fee came directly from consumers banding together and just saying 'no'. The more transparent reporting of true interest expense came directly from the Credit Card Act of 2009, with most of the provisions taking effect in 2010. It took a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress to get it done. For those who complain about President Obama, the Democrats, and/or over-regulation, I'll point to this one small example of something good happening on behalf of the U. S. consumer.

Ah, well, that's very different.

I think they're double-talking you. When I got home later that day, I had an email from Wells Fargo telling me that I had left my card at the ATM and could drop by the branch to pick it up. No report of "lost", no deactivation, just the machine eating it because I didn't want to sign up for automatic overdraft protection. Of course, I had already got my card back by then, and knew that it was working. Sometimes I think these 'customer service' reps just say the first thing that pops into their heads, so they can get you off the phone. When they don't help me, I ask for a supervisor. I also ask them to stay on the line until the supervisor answers. Two can play at that game. I don't like being a butt, but, having been in a number of jobs where my livelihood depended on making customers happy, I do not take kindly to the word 'can't'. I'm always polite, but I think of 'can't' as just the first step on the way to 'can'.

Very odd, a Wells Fargo ATM also ate my card last week. All I wanted was a couple hundred bucks of the thousand I had in there, and it flashed this big banner wanting me to OK future overdrafts at thirty bucks a pop. As the last thing I need is somebody else lending me money at a big fat fee, I told them 'no'. Next thing I know, the machine is munching on my plastic, and wouldn't give it back. I went inside the branch and got them to retrieve my card from the machine, hand it over, and come outside with me while I started all over again to get my two hundred bucks. It worked this time, but no thanks to the Wells Fargo computer that had orchestrated all this folderol. Anyway, the point of this screed is that your physical card may still be at your local branch, and you might - emphasis on 'might' - be able to get them to hand it over and reactivate it. If it's already on its way to credit card heaven then you will, as you say, just have to wait for the new one. Good thing you have a business partner who is flush. Bonne chance!

Is he slutty or demure? While most have wondered, no one's sure. Perhaps it's not how he may feel, But what it takes to close the deal.

Every time I find a brand of negativity I like, someone goes and fiddles with the formula. This year, I couldn't even chisel Tiny Tim out of his Christmas goose.

Only one bachelor so far, James Buchanan, who preceded Abraham Lincoln. Though it was probably little more than political backbiting, his alleged 'special friend' was Senator Rufus King, aka 'Aunt Fancy', who used to post over at Daddy's. While I don't personally see a compelling need for a 'gay President', if we were to have one, I'd prefer to wait a bit longer and see if we can draw a better hand than Nixon has given us. Though I do appreciate what he did with China.

Sounds like you did a lot of entertaining. Perhaps the hinges on your door were overheating and tripping the hallway smoke alarm.

Sir Hector Kvetchmore pledges that henceforth no lurker shall escape the sting of his whangee.

TY, you certainly have a big one by the tail. I don't think the full story of Washington/Wall Sreet 'collaberation' is out there yet, but the snippets that do make it over the wall give me the heebie-jeebies. I used to think of my government as the thing that kept the corporations somewhat at bay. I still think that's true to some extent, as the Dodd-Frank Act seemed to have a few teeth and the health-care reform act has already done some good and will do more. But the way that business joins hands with government when legislation is getting crafted seems almost impossible for ordinary citizens to replicate. The 60 Minutes interview with Jack Abramoff was no cause for comfort. It seems that these legislative clerks who actually write much of the legislation that gets signed into law are very likely going to go to work for the companies or lobbying firms that help them write it. How is an ordinary citizen going to get represented in that process? Well, the answer would have to be by electing representatives who know how to look through all of that stuff and retain a commitment to represent their constituents. They're definitely out there and they may even be in the majority. But not for long if these systemic abuses keep piling up. It does show the importance of having a President who represents the people directly. I'd be surprised if much banking reform would have got done without Obama and astounded if universal health care would have. Even he couldn't get a clean public option in the legislation, although I wonder if the 'insurance exchanges' might morph into that. Thanks very much for bringing this topic forward.

Ha! Ha!! Had to look up K. C. (learned it meant King's Counsel), although these days, the honorific would switch to Q. C., or Queen's Counsel. In an especially fitting touch, As members wear silk gowns of a particular design . . ., the award of Queen's or King's Counsel is known informally as taking silk. I'll just bet it is.

What a great catch, FourAces! Woe betide the card counter who sits down at your table. I just toggled back and forth between the Review site and the Forum site and the online number stayed the same. Further, the last on-line-at-once record was set at 8pm one evening, which is probably prime time for checking out escort reviews. This may well mean that we really don't have 80 folks lurking in the Forum right now waiting to see what erudite, witty, and occasionally catty post will drop from above for their edification and amusement. In fact, there may be nobody here but us chickens. That would certainly make sense, as some of the world's finest hectoring has taken place within this very forum, and on more than one occasion. For it to prove fruitless nearly beggars belief. Could it simply be that there's no one here to hear it? By the way, it's fine with me if the present Group stays as it is a while longer, some posting daily, some weekly, some as the spirit moves. As long as there's no one gathering up their wraps and storming out in the middle of one of my posts, I'm happy with the present Merry Little Band. I do wish Lucky would surprise us with a brief cameo or two before the New Year, but I think I heard him say he's fiddling with his Roku and I'm sure no one wants to get in the way of that.