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Happy Birthday to you! And I think I saw that DW's birthday was yesterday, so Happy Birthday to him too! And a very Happy Unbirthday to everybody else!

Ricko, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Just be sure to use a good moisturizer and plenty of mousse.

That is scary. What's also scary is how much money politicians need to spend to get elected. I read that the 2008 Presedential/Congressional election cost $5.3 billion. Gone are the days when all you needed to get elected was a snazzy button.

ROLF! (I actually got Rolfed many years ago, the first five sessions anyway. The pain was made bearable by the fact that the practioner was cute, smooth and nicely muscled, with thick auburn curls ringed around his adorable face. However, he allowed as how the sixth session was the one where he would be shoving his index fingers up my nostrils and prying the fascia away from my eye sockets from the inside. I expect he still has my pants and penny loafers. )

Sorry, MsGuy, the first time I looked at the pic after I posted, I got a blue box (Mac version of red X) too. But it's shown up every time since. I'm posting it again, as I think it's worth a second look, but this time I'm going to try uploading it and then linking to it. As I said earlier, "Might as well enjoy it while it's here!"

Same here! ( Although I'm still hoping for something on a quickie in the passenger lounge. )

Got it, TY. Thanks. I know vaguely what 2257 is, but had no inkling of the other corrals that are already in place. Have to agree then. Who needs it! (Well, except for the folks who must figure it will drive extra traffic to their site, and are willing to pay a premium price for it.) It felt odd being, even temporarily, odd man out on this issue as I'm probably as chary of internet control as anyone. I've long felt that there's going to be much more control of the internet as the years go by, both by government and by business. And by whoever else can figure out how to get their hands around its digital neck. I think those who are scheming for control today are a fairly weak advance guard for those who will follow. There's just too much power and money involved for the raptors not to be interested. I've always thought they would come with data mining, and analysis and control of content and communication flow, rather than something as easy as a domain extension. Ah, well, I guess .xxx is another arrow in the quiver. I've actually been feeling pretty blessed to live in a time when there's as much internet freedom as we have today. Might as well enjoy it while it's here!

Nicely done folks! We are all still inside the tent pissing out. (Still, mind where you stand. )

Everywhere I went, all I heard was people talking about the Palm Springs Weekend. Who was that adorable guy on Lucky's arm? I heard the dinner was to die for! Cher was in the second row, but left during the curtain call. Did Oz really arrive by helicopter? Charlie had to leave early to pick up Andre Agassi. Someone said they're going to bottle the pool water and sell it on eBay. Who was wearing the diamond and emerald thong? Elton was so miffed he wasn't invited! Did someone really sneak in a phone and shoot a video? They had to send to LA for more Dom Pérignon. Don't know if all of this is gospel, but I sure hope the rumor about everyone being on Ellen this week turns out to be true. Especially if they bring back Chord Overstreet.

Thank you all for the logical framework and economic underpinnings of why we're all getting screwed so much these days. Here I was thinking it was just a run of bad luck.

I think it's a toss-up.

Thanks, DM, for your post! I've been waiting for days for some juicy tidbits from the Palms Springs Do. Glad to hear your perspective. Plus, a 'bread and butter' letter is always a nice touch, and will no doubt appeal to many of the higher-class posters here. Of course, you've already got us lower-class posters covered nicely.

I learned that if I made the minimum payment on my credit card, it would take me twelve years to pay it off and cost me almost double my original purchase. The info is right out there in plain sight. Don't recall seeing it before, so maybe the consumer financial reforms are starting to kick in.

I'm as leery of the powers that be as the next guy, but I'm still not sure how this would convert from a voluntary designation to a mandatory one. Granted, I'd be cautious about signing up for it if I were a site owner, even though the guy who set it up seems to think some will pay a premium for the privilege. But no one is making anyone sign up for it. At least not yet. And that's where my question comes in: How would a government make someone sign up for the .xxx domain? Would there be some kind of Porn Czar who decided what it took for a site to be included? Would a single x-rated post by a single poster be enough to mandate the .xxx designation? What if the post were removed in an hour? What if a hacker got a nipple shot splashed across the Vatican website, or an altar boy showed the outline of a morning woody? With content changing so quickly on most websites, I'm just not sure how the process would work. It seems the problem for a website owner would arise if he actually wanted to have an x-rated site, but did not want the .xxx designation. I'm trying to think through why that would be, unless to avoid the fifty dollar premium. Of course, 500 domain names would put a crimp in the old pocketbook, and one may have to consider selling some off. But that's more of a business decision than one of censorship. I believe movie producers go through this same kind of evaluation when deciding the tradeoffs among content, film rating, and audience size. But, unlike a movie, where the content is fixed at the time of rating, a domain name doesn't necessarily have any content at the time it's registered, and who's to say www.bigdicks.com won't turn out to be a website about rude drivers? I really value the discussion here, as no doubt I'm still behind the curve on this one.

While I can't see as far down the road as these guys can, it seems like it would be a pretty messy undertaking for a government to start classifying sites as .xxx. What criteria would they use? Maybe Google's already coming up with an algorithm that would assign a Porn Index to all websites. I notice they've been crawling around here lately. Whoops! They're here now. Better keep it clean fellas!

And it's your Lucky Day! Pisces Hope it's a very happy one.

Thanks, Lucky. Good story. He presents himself well in this video, as does the woman who drove to the courthouse to thank and support him. How nice to have folks, especially young folks, stand up to the assaults on our civil liberties!

No doubt we can find plenty to worry about, and a bad back definitely casts a pall over one's outlook. But bad backs typically get better soon, and the act of worrying today usually means that our norm consists of the better days we remember and the better days we look forward to. Even in the midst of today's turmoil, there are quite a few things I'm happy about. Among them: • Japan is getting about the business of rebuilding in spite of its already lackluster economy and the largest national debt among industrialized nations, and in spite of the wallop Mother Nature delivered. I read an article in the Japan Times yesterday in which the governor of the Tokyo prefecture said he was sending a hundred million dollars of Tokyo's savings to the prefecture where the failed reactors are, in appreciation of all the electricity they have delivered to Tokyo over the years. The fact that Tokyo even had a savings account was pretty remarkable, and sending the cash with a thank you and no strings attached was a very nice touch. • Clinton is hauling her ass all over the world meeting with foreign governments and finally positioning the U. S. as a partner in the world community rather than the boss of everyone else. She's letting others take the lead from time to time and getting them to put some skin in the game. If a U. S. plane flies over Libya, it will not fly alone, and it will be at the invitation of the Arab world. That's a big shift from the way we operated just a few years ago. • We're again working with the Russians to reduce nuclear stockpiles. • Focus has shifted from dysfunctional Democrats to dysfunctional Republicans, where it belongs. Obama has said he'll compromise, but he has also said he'll veto wrong-headed spending bills. • There is more empowerment of ordinary citizens in the Middle East than I can recall. There's a communication infrastructure among ordinary citizens that hasn't been there before. • Insurance coverage for young adults and for people with pre-existing medical conditions is already in place, and coverage will continue to improve over the next few years. • DADT and DOMA are on their way out. • The Koch Brothers have finished up their gathering in Palm Springs, and a much more refined and fun-loving band of miscreants will take their place in just a few short days. Of course, things could always be better but, in fairness, they could be a lot worse. Guess we'll just have to see which way the wind blows.

I'm not ready to give up on Obama just yet. For one thing, although a lot of cleanup yet remains, I'm still not done being grateful that the Bush II years are behind us. I do wish, however, that the administration would think about what Crowley said, rather than why he said it.

Chief State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley resigned today after calling Manning's treatment 'ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid'. Crowley's resignation statement said that his comments about Bradley's pre-trial detention "were intended to highlight the broader, even strategic impact of discreet actions undertaken by national security agencies every day and their impact on our global standing and leadership. The exercise of power in today's challenging times and relentless media environment must be prudent and consistent with our laws and values." Crowley made the remarks at MIT on Thursday, Obama was asked about the remarks at a press conference on Friday, and Crowley was out two days later. Seems like the U. S. has spent two-and-a-half centuries championing our values at home and throughout the world and, now, just when they're needed most, we appear hell-bent on acting like we never heard of them. What gives?

I'm sure even the most casual observer can plainly see that you're a hard act to follow.

Thanks! Really enjoying your posts and living vicariously. Although, I don't think I'd share your disappointment at spending two hours in a sleazy sauna and coming out with a three-way under my belt, smiles all around, and all for under a hundred bucks! Hell, I'd even have thrown in an extra twenty for the guy who came in and pissed in the drain while I was taking a shower!

Who you callin' common ? ? ?