lookin

I think somebody's been teasing you with partial info. The $869,000 is for the six-month period from April through September. Since he started in 2009, the trustee has collected about $1.5 billion. And, not that they'll all be successful, there are lawsuits filed seeking to recover another $15.5 billion. Most of this comes from 'clawbacks' from investors who did make some money, and will be given to other investors who lost money. I don't think they're finding much that Madoff himself had squirreled away. I agree that $27 million every six months in legal fees is a bit steep, but I think they have to pull out all the stops in order to discourage the next Ponzi scheme. Getting peoples' attention is expensive. Just ask Meg Whitman.

Personally, I'd have a moderate preference for being able to see images without being logged in, as I often don't log in when I visit. I know I miss some images that migrate downward between logins, but I definitely see the other side of the equation and respect the position that TY and OZ have taken. But I think this thread is about more than images. I intially took Matrix's suggestion at face value, and was surprised by the seemingly outsized reaction to it. I felt bad for Matrix, and thought about posting here for awhile just to keep him company. Now it appears that there's a disturbance in the force here that this poor Wookie just doesn't understand yet. Seeking enlightenment, I have pinged Doobie-Wan Kenobi, Obi-wan's older brother, and a personal friend. Perhaps he knows something.

I prefer to think of myself as emotionally aware and refreshingly candid. Still, I can appreciate your position. Bitch!!

I'm confused. I had originally thought that Matrix had chosen to post in this new oddly-titled forum, although I couldn't figure out exactly why. Now it sounds like the forum was created so his post could be moved there, although, again, I can't figure out exactly why. Anyone care to smarten up a chump?

No worries here! I was only half-joking in my earlier post. I could see having fun splashing some vinegar around as Epigonos suggested, or even a spritz or two of sulfuric acid should the need arise. While I don't feel that good-natured posts necessarily have to be boring, I do understand that others may enjoy a little bloodletting from time to time, and would increase their participation were it more prevalent. I never joined the all-mean all-hateful all-the-time websites and would avoid them like the plague, but it might be fun to toss around a few good insults and engage in the odd bit of character assassination every once in a while. Given the range of personalities here, combined with the limited subtlety of text-based posting, it probably wouldn't be easy to get the right balance between entertainment that would bring some folks in and downright snarkiness that would drive others away. But it might be fun to try. That's why I suggested a one-week trial period providing a chance to see if we could get it right, and giving it an over-the-top name that would remind people that it was all in fun. My hunch is that a few feathers, I say a few feathers!, might get ruffled. But there's also a chance that another rooster or two might be drawn into the henhouse. Maybe it would be possible to devote a separate forum to the nasty posts, and folks could choose to go there or not. With props to both Epigonos and Edward Gorey, I'll suggest calling it The Vinegar Works, then standing by to see who drops in.

Interesting thought, and may be worth testing. We could declare the first week in November Nasty Poster Week and take off the gloves. We'd have to truss up the moderators of course or, better yet, convert them to the cause. At the end of the week, we could do a tally and see if the numbers are up and we've got the site we want. Let me know, though, as I'll need to lay in some supplies.

There's just not room for everything in these skimpy outfits they give us!

Well, they say opinions are like assholes, so here's mine! Both the original post and the response were a smidge too loud for my ears. But so what? Don't friends and families get on our nerves once in a while? It's about the longer term for me. OneFinger, TampaYankee, and TotallyOz are all important posters and all have kept me entertained and informed over the years. If any one of the three backed off from the site, I'd feel a loss.

If it's traffic you want, why not pin 'A really big cock by lurkerspeaks'? That should bring 'em into the tent.

Noticed your reviews on Steve Stacks and DamienDivinus the other day. Looks like you guys all had a good time! Thanks for writing them too! Good info, well written, and enough detail to arouse my 'interest', if you'll pardon the expression.

These are not your father's markets, dominated as they are by algorithmic trading and opaque financial 'instruments' that would make a robber baron blush. I'm coming to the conclusion that these markets are beyond the small investor's understanding and the government's ability to regulate. I wouldn't outlaw them, if that were even possible, but I would try to find a way to completely wall them off from the legitimate raising of capital for the creation of tangible products and jobs. And I'd do it quickly. A major chunk of our economy is buzzing around inside these giant high-speed computerized networks which I believe are fully understood by no one, and certainly not by the government or its citizens. I believe it is only a matter of time before a cyberterrorist gets inside and swings an electronic pickaxe around, just to see where the pieces fall. In the meantime, I'm keeping what little I have left as far away from Wall Street as I can get it.

Worth noting that this guy joined Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan in running Brooksley Born out of Washington twelve years ago when, as head of the CFTC, she proposed regulating the derivatives market. Had her advice been followed, the 2008 meltdown could likely have been avoided. At the time, Levitt insisted that the capital markets could be trusted to regulate themselves, and succeeded in gutting her agency. Now he wants to see what's left of it get merged into the SEC. Probably easier for Goldman Sachs to keep an eye on it.

I think some may underestimate the challenge a lurker faces when deciding whether to post or not. Sure, we have a Community Home Page, but that's only the basic stuff dealing with privacy and stalking and such. It doesn't really describe the unspoken rules that guide our interactions and make us such a lovingly inbred and dysfunctional family. Before I ever considered starting a post, or even replying to someone else's, I spent months just trying to figure out the lay of the land, so to speak. So perhaps it would help to share my own baker's dozen of hard-won insights on what makes our little community of posters tick. I'm sure others will join in and generously offer their own. ● If you don't have anything nice to say, immediately click the 'Register' button in the upper right hand corner. When finished registering, hit the 'Login' button to its left, and start typing at once, before any kinder gentler thoughts have a chance to intrude. ● References to the 'other site' will always attract viewers and responses. Even a single use of the word 'Daddy' will keep your post at the top of the forum for weeks at a time. ● If you are a client replying to an inquiry about an escort you are fond of, add 50% to his published rate and cut his dick size in half. If you really like him, suggest that his ongoing drug problems make him a risky bet for an outcall and that his own quarters have recently become infested with bedbugs. ● If you are an escort here to make some new contacts, try your best to laugh at all client banter. While concurrently rolling on the floor is not absolutely de rigeur, it can be a nice added touch. If a potential client has already begun stalking you, it may be best to keep up this facade until a restraining order has been served and tracking device fitted. ● Should you sense that another poster would appreciate some encouragement or feedback on something he has written, quickly close the thread without replying. It will help him avoid becoming too needy, and he will thank you one day by returning the favor. ● Never start a new thread when you can highjack an existing one. ● Use smiley faces liberally. Nothing gets a snarky comment past the moderators like a well-chosen emoticon. ● If you come across a post containing the letters 'BN', consider it an engraved invitation to dive right in and post the most outrageous stuff you can think of, on either side of the issue, or even both sides at once. It doesn't matter if you even know who this 'BN' fellow is. Post away! Half your readers will consider you a hero, and the other half will assume you know something they don't. ● When making a political post, do not - repeat, do not - include any verifiable facts or relevant information. Always allow the rhetoric to stand on its own. And do try to use the word 'agenda' at least once. ● If you see a post about a city or country you have never visited, be sure and let others know why you would never be caught dead there. ● When sharing pictures, try to find those that have blocked or expired links. If that's not possible, misspell the URL. A picture post festooned with red x's or blue ?'s will immediately endear you to all the other posters whose graphic treasures likewise remain tantalizingly just out of reach. ● All too often, you may find yourself deeply offended by something another poster has written or even by the poster himself. Whatever you do, do not suffer in silence. It will only encourage him. Let him know just how disgraceful his conduct has been, and ask him to seriously consider turning in his avatar and joining the Foreign Legion. ● Always post what's on your mind. If you don't have anything on your mind, don't let that stop you. Remember, there are plenty of us who have even less on our minds than you do, and we are all desperate for something new to read. And now, if I may grow lyric for a moment, I'd like to conclude with a polite and patient plea to people presently perched on the precipice of prolific posting: It doesn't matter who you are, A troll, a , a movie star, Bronzed and young, or old and gray, Bi or straight or proudly gay, If you've got nothing much to say, Come login once and post all day. And if it's not all up to par, You'll fit right in at MER! Hope this helps, and happy posting!

An Armenian lass named Giselle Has an ass that is hairy as hell. In addition it reeks And, although it's been weeks, I just cannot get rid of the smell.

Congrats to you both! I know this sounds like a broken record, but I hope you won't push yourself too hard or too fast. (Unlike when you're reaching orgasm, of course, when the opposite advice would be given. ) It's just my experience, but depriving myself of everything I liked all at once, made me long for the day when I could stop dieting. And, when that day came, I ended up celebrating with what I missed most: food, primarily the fattening kind. And then the weight came back on a lot faster than it came off. Sounds like you're both taking it in manageable steps, and won't make the mistake I did. Anyway, thanks for including us in your journey and, if you find any tricks that work well for you, I hope you'll share.

Very well put, MsGuy. Conway, it's worth noting that Anne Frank also didn't have any ill intentions toward others. I'm struck by the fact that, every few months, we learn something about our government that suggests it knows more about us than we thought, and we know less about it than we thought. While I'd like to think that our government is trustworthy, as for much of my life it has been, things right now don't seem to be moving in a direction that builds on that trust. If we ever do get a government that decides it doesn't like some particular group, as we have in the not-so-distant past, and as some might like to see in the not-so-distant future, it will know where to find them. And one day them might even turn out to be us. As for me, I plan to stay away from any butt plug with a wire hanging out of it.

Well maybe where you come from but, just between us, I don't recall the last time I needed to shave my entrée, let alone truss it up and slide it on a spit. And what's that about poking it all over with a sharp paring knife? Still, as you say, maybe after a few cool ones.

Great question, great answers, and great thread. Thanks, guys! TY, your primer makes so much sense and takes some of the fear out of cooking. Really helpful. I'm not a cook, as much as a recipe-follower, but you've given me hope. NeedSome, do you know of any easy 'big pot' recipes? With winter coming (for some of us anyway), I'd love to find something simple, hearty, and nutritious. Much obliged!

Saw your stuff right after I posted the above and not before, I swear! (It took me an hour to write that one, believe it or not. Hell, it's taking me fifteen minutes™ to get this one live. I keep losing my place. ) So it wasn't in response to your delightful riffs, just a very happy coincidence. Schrodinger's escort! Purrfect! I'm honored to share a forum, and a Lucky one at that.

I wonder why they say someone is 'crazy as a bedbug'. Lucky's wandering mattress dwellers may be sneaky and rude, but how are they crazy? I once met a man who did seem crazy as a bedbug to me. His name was Dr. Zamal. He came to my house one day when I was living in India and asked for my help in getting a patent on the perpetual motion machine he had invented. He insisted on showing me the drawings and explaining exactly how it worked. Something to do with buckets of water on a rope pulley I recall. In engineering school, they taught me that perpetual motion was impossible, and even made me come up with some equations to prove it. But here was Dr. Zamal explaining how his contraption would run forever and, for the life of me, I couldn't show him why it wouldn't. He had a perpetual smile too, and when he got excited and talkative, he'd spritz anyone sitting too close. As he was nearly always excited and talkative, I tried to keep well back, which only encouraged him to move in closer. It was his eyes, though, that made me think he was moving into crazy as a bedbug territory. They were bright and glistening and they seemed to have some kind of a rapid flickering quality, especially when he got to the part about him being the only man in the world who had unlocked the secret of perpetual motion. I thought maybe he was trying to hypnotize me into thinking he was and he had. Of course I couldn't help him get a patent, but that didn't seem to deter him any. He just loved dropping by every week or so and talking about himself and his inventions. Always with the smile, always with the megillah, and always with the radioactive eyes. I can't remember how I got rid of him. I think maybe it was around the time I moved to a larger town. I know it wasn't bowls around my bedposts. How about you guys? Have you ever known anyone crazy as a bedbug? (Present company excepted, of course. )

When they start sending guys down the runway on walkers, I'll know they're serious about my business.

You're right, BiBottomBoy, 'commitment to gays' was probably a simplistic overstatement on my part. Still, I'd rather have his commitment to end DADT 'on my watch' than McCain's position that 'the policy is working and it's been working well'. Can't defend Obama's membership in 'The Church of Homophobia', but I do note his resignation from the church a couple of years ago. Even if done under duress, he still did it. He could have stayed in the church and defended its views, but he didn't. As one whose own views change as the years go by, and as life experiences pile up, I do think it's possible for someone to evolve and to look at things differently over time. I sure hope so anyway! I'd hate to think of being stuck for the rest of my life with the same opinions I had a decade ago, or even the ones I have today, hard as I've worked to shape them. Hopefully we all continue to learn. I liked your comment a few days ago that DADT could be a way for gay men to avoid the draft, should it be reinstated. Made me think that a surefire way to end DADT would be for everyone to show up at the recruiting station wearing 'I'm Gay!' teeshirts. That would hurry things along.

Lots happening. I'm surprised and happy to see public acknowledgement that White House lawyers were divided on whether to appeal or not. There seems to be an openness to this administration that was missing in the last one. And I was very happy to hear Obama say on the radio today that DADT would end on his watch. No equivocation. I haven't bought in to the view that he's abandoned his commitment to gays. It does seem to wax and wane, but I'm inclined to trust him and to believe that he plays a longer game. When DADT ends, it won't be easy for anyone to say that the process wasn't thorough and open. We shall see.

And just when I thought I'd heard everything!