TotallyOz

I don't want it to be Totally Oz. Although I do enjoy hearing myself talk.

He suggested: The Flying Leap in Silverlake. On weekdays they have very good specials and they have a full bar. Last gay Piano bar in LA. and then to MJ's. It is a short(7-10 minute)walk to Mj's for the dancing boys. Tuesday is a great night at MJ's as they have a LOT of dancing boys. Alternatively you could do something at Bossa Nova in WeHo on a night that here will have dancers/entertainment. Thanks Townie! Also, open to other suggestions and options. I hate Numbers closed as I did enjoy it there!

I have been to this place in the past and am on their newsletter list. They have started to have shared experiences with people which have drastically cute the rates for those that don't require a private condo. For the month of December, they are giving a 20 percent discount to all. It is a great deal and the people at the place are top notch trainers and professionals. I have been there 4 times before and had a fantastic time every time. They are the true biggest loser pros. I highly recommend it and if you have a few pounds to loose and a little spare time in December check them out at: http://liveinfitnessenterprise.com/ Look at some of their success stories on there. It is quite amazing. My friend just left there and spent 5 months and lost 160 pounds in a very successful way!

The LA Marathon announced its new course. The owners of the Dodgers bought the marathon last year so it will start there and the course seems much more interesting than in past years. I am training with the Venice LA road runners club for the event if I am able to be in town then but love the training anyway. For those that live in the area, check out the new course through WeHo, Rodeo Drive and ending in Santa Monica with a big party! http://www.lamarathon.com/

I am thinking about throwing an LA get together for everyone. I have talked to Townie about this and he has given me some suggestions on where to go. My question is who would be interested in this? Is there a demand for it? Would people show up? Naturally, I'd invite Daddy's Boys as well and every escort in LA. But, as a member thing, are any interested?

This has always been one of my favorite shows. It is a lot of fun and I don't miss any episode. I have really enjoyed this season and there are some hotties on there. Now that the merge has happened, who do you think will win?

You may experience some downtime getting to GayThailand as we move it to a new server address. My apologies for the inconvenience.

Perhaps Obama is right in that this is a once in our lifetime opportunity to overhaul the medical system in America. The below is from the Washington Post. Hours after President Obama exhorted Democratic lawmakers to "answer the call of history," the House hit an unprecedented milestone on the path to health-care reform, approving a trillion-dollar package late Saturday that seeks to overhaul private insurance practices and guarantee comprehensive and affordable coverage to almost every American. After months of acrimonious partisanship, Democrats closed ranks on a 220-215 vote that included 39 defections, mostly from the party's conservative ranks. But the bill attracted a surprise Republican convert: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana, who represents the Democratic-leaning district of New Orleans and had been the target of a last-minute White House lobbying campaign. GOP House leaders had predicted their members would unanimously oppose the bill. Democrats have sought for decades to provide universal health care, but not since the 1965 passage of Medicare and Medicaid has a chamber of Congress approved such a vast expansion of coverage. Action now shifts to the Senate, which could spend the rest of the year debating its version of the health-care overhaul. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to bring a measure to the floor before Thanksgiving, but legislation may not reach Obama's desk before the new year. At the Capitol, Obama urged the few Democrats who were still wavering on Saturday afternoon to put aside their political fears and embrace the bill's ambitious objectives. "Opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation," he said afterward. "This is our moment to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us. Even when it's hard. Especially when it's hard. This is our moment to deliver." The House legislation would for the first time require every individual to obtain insurance, and would require all but the smallest employers to provide coverage to their workers. It would vastly expand Medicaid and create a new marketplace where people could obtain federal subsidies to buy insurance from private companies or from a new government-run insurance plan. Though some people would receive no benefits -- including about 6 million illegal immigrants, according to congressional estimates -- the bill would virtually close the coverage gap for people who do not have access to health-care coverage through their jobs. "For generations, the American people have called for affordable, quality health care for their families," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said before the vote. "Today, the call will be answered." The debate on the House floor extended for about 12 hours and settled into a civil, if predictable, pattern, after a heated start. Republicans had blasted the 1,990-page bill as an ominous blueprint for a budget-busting government takeover of the private health-care system that would impose unprecedented mandates on individuals and employers, raise an array of taxes and slash projected spending on Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly. At a time of record budget deficits, Republicans argued that the country could ill-afford a new entitlement program that would cost an estimated $1.05 trillion over the next decade. "Big government doesn't mean better health care," said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.). "This is not the reform families need. This is all about taking a giant first step toward a single-payer national health-care system. Washington will ultimately decide what doctors you can see, what treatments you deserve . . . and, when you're sick, will you be worth their cost?" Throughout the debate, Republican after Republican warned that the legislation would rob Americans of their right to make choices about their health care, cost the nation jobs and unfairly financially burden future generations. Pelosi needed to corral at least 218 of 258 Democrats to push the bill across the finish line. That task appeared to grow easier after party leaders broke a weeks-long impasse over abortion by agreeing to hold a vote on an amendment -- offered by antiabortion Democrats -- that would explicitly bar the public plan from` covering the procedure. The amendment, approved 240 to 194, with 64 Democrats in favor, also would prohibit people who received insurance subsidies from purchasing private plans that covered abortion. The deal cleared the way for dozens of antiabortion Democrats to back the package. The most passionate advocates of abortion rights were not happy, but few were prepared to vote down legislation that promises to achieve so many long-held party goals. The House bill The complex package would affect virtually every American and fundamentally alter vast swaths of the health insurance industry. Starting next year, private insurers could no longer deny anyone coverage based on preexisting conditions, place lifetime limits on coverage or abandon people when they become ill. Insurers would be required to disclose and justify proposed premium increases to regulators, and could not remove adult children younger than 27 from their parents' family policies. For the elderly, the group that has been most skeptical of Obama's initiative, the House package would immediately offer discounts on prescription drugs and reduce a gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage, closing it entirely by 2019. Uninsured people who cannot get coverage could join temporary high-risk insurance pools, and unemployed workers would be permitted to keep their COBRA benefits until the public plan and insurance exchanges started in 2013. In four years, the measure would establish a new insurance system. Businesses with payrolls exceeding $500,000 would be required to offer their workers insurance or pay a fine of as much as 8 percent of payroll. Individuals would be required to obtain insurance or pay a fine of as much as 2.5 percent of income. States would be required to extend Medicaid coverage to as many as 15 million additional people. Low- and middle-income individuals who still could not afford coverage could apply for federal subsidies through an insurance marketplace that would negotiate with private insurers to provide comprehensive policies alongside a government-run "public option." Congressional budget analysts say the package would cover an additional 36 million Americans, leaving 18 million people without insurance by 2019, about a third of them illegal immigrants. To avoid increasing the deficit, Democrats would pay for the coverage expansion by slicing more than $400 billion from Medicare over the next decade, and by imposing a variety of new taxes, primarily a 5.4 percent surcharge on annual income over $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for families. Initially, the tax would hit only 0.3 percent of taxpayers, but that number would climb rapidly, because the income thresholds would not be indexed to inflation. Obstacles overcome Introduced on July 14, the House package was approved in sections by three House committees. Since August, Pelosi has huddled behind closed doors with various factions of her diverse caucus to merge the three parts into comprehensive legislation. The sticking points were clear from the start. Conservatives opposed the bill's price tag and limited efforts to cut costs. Moderates, who face the toughest 2010 reelection battles, were wary of big-government overtones in the public option. Democrats from wealthy districts opposed the tax on high earners, which originally would have affected taxpayers with annual incomes as low as $280,000. One after another, the obstacles were overcome -- except for the simmering dispute over abortion. In early October, Rep. Bart Stupak, an antiabortion Democrat from Michigan, met with Pelosi to express the strong objections of about 40 Democrats to a provision in the legislation that appeared to allow federal funding of abortion. Stupak said they would oppose the bill unless the language was changed. Pelosi was noncommittal. Late Friday, the Stupak coalition was still holding strong, and had gained a powerful ally in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, whose leadership has close connections to Pelosi. Over the strong objections of Democrats who support abortion rights, the speaker relented to Stupak, awarding him the only Democratic amendment on the floor. The Senate bill Attention will now shift back to the Senate. If the Senate acts, negotiations to iron out differences between the two chambers could be wrenching. Among the toughest issues: whether the public option should include an "opt out" clause for states, as Reid has proposed; whether to require employers to provide coverage to their workers or take the less punitive approach preferred by Senate moderates; and whether to tax the rich or tax high-cost health-care policies, as the Senate proposed -- a provision economists call the most important provisions in either bill for reining in costs. In his lunchtime speech to House Democrats, Obama did not touch on any of those issues. But he acknowledged the anxiety felt by lawmakers who watched independent voters abandon Democratic candidates in Virginia and New Jersey in Tuesday's elections, and he warned that voting down the most significant legislation of his young presidency would only complicate the party's political future. "If you think the Republicans are not going to go after you if you vote no," the president said, according to several people present, "think again." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/07/AR2009110701504.html?wprss=rss_print/asection

I had a friend that was recently diagnosed with cancer of the throat. He was worried about HPV and I didn't really know much about that so I started to do some research and found there is a vaccine. From what I read it is mostly for women but men can get it as well. Has anyone gotten this? Know about it? Recommend it? http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/1667_12736.shtml

LOL I read the story about the man getting denied First Class because of his track suit. I had to laugh. I have been in First Class for years with my tie dyed hippie t-shirt (my favorite for travel), Birkenstocks, and $2.50 Thai Cargo Shorts. When I read this story I wondered if I were next in line for an ousting. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=620001025.blog&poe=HFMostPopularUPDATE (10:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 5): United is out with its side of the story. (Scroll down for the original post.) Airline spokesman Robin Urbanski told me in an e-mail Thursday evening that the airline does not have a policy that would prevent a customer from sitting in first class for dressing too casually. Instead, the gate agent apparently thought the customer in a track suit was an airline employee. If that would have been the case, an employee would have been subject to a dress code. "We are working with our sub-contractor that was helping us with this flight to investigate what happened and ensure something like this does not happen again," Urbanski said in the e-mail. "This was an unfortunate miscommunication with the gate agent who speaks English as a second language and was simultaneously assisting another customer when he believed Mr. Alvarez to be an airline employee in which a dress code policy is required." ORIGINAL POST (8:35 a.m. ET on Thursday, Nov.5): An executive with Best Buy claims a United Airlines gate agent refused to allow him to take a first-class seat because he was wearing a track suit, reports FOX 5 News of Washington. Armando Alvarez, a corporate executive with electronics retailer Best Buy, says he used miles to upgrade to first class on his Monday flight from Washington Dulles to Connecticut (presumably Hartford). Alvarez says that once his upgrade cleared, he walked to the counter near the gate to get his new seat assignment. That's when he says the gate agent told him that his track suit was too casual for him to sit in first class. (See a picture and video of the suit on FOX 5’s website). "I was humiliated," Alvarez is quoted as saying to FOX 5 reporter Will Thomas following the incident. "I was embarrassed and when some of the passengers were boarding behind me they said, 'Hey, what just happened?' And I said the agent just said I wasn't properly dressed to go in first class today. And they said, 'Was he kidding?' I said obviously not because I'm boarding and not getting in first class." OTHER PASSENGER NEWS: Southwest kicks mom, cranky kid off flight FOX 5 updates the story with a response from United. On its website, the TV station writes a United "spokesperson says they've identified the gate agent and he is a contract employee who works for Air Wisconsin. The spokesperson says the employee was interviewed and security footage from the terminal is being reviewed as officials for both airlines investigate the incident. United says there is no passenger dress code, but they cited two rules. Ticketed passengers can not be barefoot and must be clothed."

I hear news reports all the time that the recession (I think Depression) is ending and on an upturn. I have not seen it yet. Now this: WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The unemployment rate hit 10.2% in October, surpassing 10% for the first time since 1983. The Labor Department also said Friday that employers cut a deeper-than-expected 190,000 jobs in October. It revised job losses for August and September to show 91,000 fewer jobs lost than previously reported. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected payrolls to drop 175,000 and the jobless rate to edge up to 9.9% from 9.8% in September. The labor market is being watched for signs whether the economic recovery that started in the third quarter can be sustained without government support. The economy grew at a 3.5% annualized rate in the July-September period, probably ending the most painful U.S. recession in 70 years. Payrolls have declined for 22 consecutive months now, throwing 7.3 million people out of work since December 2007, when the recession started. Counting those who have settled for part-time jobs or stopped looking for work, the unemployment rate would be 17.5%, the highest on records dating from 1994. However, the pace of layoffs has slowed sharply from early this year, when nearly three-quarters of a million jobs were lost in January. In October, job losses were across almost all sectors, with education and health services and professional and business services bucking the trend. Manufacturing employment fell 61,000 last month, while construction industries payrolls dropped 62,000. The service-providing sector cut 61,000 workers in October and goods-producing industries slashed 129,000 positions. Education and health services added 45,000 jobs, while government employment was flat.

I am personally salivating waiting for the Quad Core with 16G of Ram to be on the market in November and check the site daily to see if shipping yet. Currently, they have upgraded all their IMac line and the 27 incher looks fantastic. Anyone have one yet?

1944: Weapons-grade plutonium, for the very heart of the Fat Man atomic bomb used to obliterate Nagasaki, Japan, is first produced at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in south-central Washington state. Twenty-seven years later, in 1971, the Atomic Energy Commission detonates the largest U.S. hydrogen bomb, during underground testing in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. The development of weapons-grade plutonium was one of the most tightly guarded secrets of the Manhattan Project. Allied planners feared Nazi Germany was on the verge of producing an atomic bomb of its own. That turned out not to be true, but planners had given top priority to the development of an effective nuclear weapon. Two variants were produced in time to be used against Japan: a uranium bomb, christened Little Boy, which was dropped on Hiroshima, and the plutonium bomb, Fat Man, used on Nagasaki. The early work on developing a plutonium-based bomb was not done at Hanford, but at various sites around the country, including the University of Chicago and the University of California at Berkeley. The Hanford plant, located along the Columbia River, was established in 1943, at the height of World War II. The B Reactor became the world’s first full-scale plutonium-production reactor in the world. The plutonium produced there was used in the first-ever atomic bomb test, at Trinity, in July 1945. Security at Hanford was so tight that less than 1 percent of the workers realized they were engaged in the development of a nuclear weapon. When the Cold War replaced the hot one in the latter half of the 1940s, Hanford continued expanding until it included nine nuclear reactors and five plutonium-processing complexes. The plant produced the vast majority of the plutonium used in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, which eventually reached 60,000 weapons. One of those weapons was expended in an underground test beneath Amchitka Island in the Aleutian chain on Nov. 6, 1971. The hydrogen bomb was the largest ever detonated by the United States: Even buried at a depth of 6,000 feet, it still registered a shock of magnitude 7. The political fallout, however, was even worse. The test was no secret, and opposition to it had been building for weeks. Environmentalists and peace groups, along with a majority of U.S. senators, were beseeching President Richard Nixon to call off the test, arguing that the potential environmental damage — including earthquakes and tidal waves — outweighed whatever the military hoped to achieve by detonating the device. Opposition was not limited to the United States. The Japanese protested, fearing the test could cause a tsunami that might swamp the Japanese mainland. The Canadians, neighbors on the other side of the Pacific, indulged in a wave of anti-Americanism rarely seen north of the border. U.S. consulates were stoned, and several American companies had to shut down their Canadian operations. The Nixon administration defended the test, codenamed Cannikan, saying it was necessary to ensure a U.S. shield against a potential Chinese nuclear attack. That cut no ice with a number of scientists, however, who argued that technology had already rendered this type of system obsolete. After a legal challenge was thrown out, the test went ahead as scheduled. In the end, no earthquakes or tsunamis ensued. Subsequent investigations have turned up little or no nuclear contamination. What was gleaned from the test is known, presumably, only to those who had a stake in its being conducted. In practical terms, however, the Amchitka bomb only stiffened the opposition, helping to hasten the end of nuclear testing. And maybe that’s the silver lining in the nuclear cloud. http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/11/1106nuclear-weapons/

My favorite destination spot is getting a bit heated up due to the former Prime minister taking a role in a neighboring country. I have spent time in the capital of Cambodia and love it there. I hope this does not flare up more! From Voice of America: Tensions between Southeast Asian neighbors Thailand and Cambodia are high after Cambodia's leader appointed a fugitive former Thai prime minister as an advisor. Both countries have withdrawn their ambassadors and claim interference in their internal affairs. Regional political analysts say relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh are the worst they have been in several years. On Friday, Cambodia withdrew its ambassador to Thailand, in retaliation for Bangkok's withdrawal of its ambassador the day before. Thailand's action came after the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed fugitive Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic advisor. The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls the appointment interference in its domestic affairs and a failure to respect its judicial system. Thani Thonthongpakdi is a Foreign Ministry spokesman. He says Thai-Cambodia relations have been tested for over a year, and tensions are rising. "We believe that we had to send a strong signal to Cambodia regarding their recent action. I think that the extant to which our bilateral relations will be affected, we will have to see what the reaction on the Cambodian side is," he said. Thailand says it is now reviewing all its existing agreements and cooperation projects with Cambodia. Thani says the government will most likely postpone or reduce projects if Mr. Thaksin's appointment goes ahead. Koy Kuong, a spokesman for Cambodia's Foreign Ministry, says despite Thailand's objections, the government will go ahead with Mr. Thaksin's appointment. He says the Thai government is interfering in Cambodia's internal affairs by objecting to the appointment. "The government of Cambodia has no intention to worsen the relationship between the two countries because of the appointment of Thaksin as an economic advisor to the government. So, it is the Thai side which views [it] in [a] different way," he said. Koy Kuong says Cambodia views the charges against the former prime minister as politically motivated. Mr. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup and fled Thailand last year to avoid a jail term for corruption. The former leader is still popular in Thailand's countryside and among the poor because of his social welfare projects. The argument adds to growing tensions over a disputed border area where sporadic fighting has broken out. Puangtong Pawakapan is a professor of politics at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. She says Cambodia's appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra is pay-back against the Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for disputing the listing of a temple along the border as a world heritage site. The temple is in Cambodia, but Thailand controls land around it. "I don't think Hun Sen invited Thaksin to be his advisor because he really needs Thaksin's advice no economic issues … I think it's [a] political issue and it's emotional retaliation of Hun Sen on the Abhisit government," said Pawakapan. The Thailand's ambassador was last withdrawn in 2003 when rioters burned down the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh after a Thai actress questioned Cambodian sovereignty over the border temple. Despite the withdrawal of ambassadors, both Thailand and Cambodia say normal business and travel relations will not be affected. http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-06-voa11.cfm

Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has had a helluva decade. Consider that, under his helm, Apple defined the portable music player market with the iPod, has shaken up the mobile industry with the iPhone, rocked the retail music business with iTunes, and re-invented the computing business with OS X in a way that the PC business--with less than 10 percent of market share--is no longer the bread-and-butter of the company. Add to that the brilliant marketing behind Apple and the loyal, almost cult-like following of Apple's fans, and it's no wonder that Fortune Magazine today named him the CEO of the decade. The opening lines of a story written by Fortune editor-at-large Adam Lashinsky (which also includes a nice video segment) explain it nicely: How's this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley. Sound too far-fetched to be true? Perhaps. Yet it happens to be the real-life story of Steve Jobs and his outsize impact on everything he touches. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10391900-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

I have always found the people in NYC interesting in elections. For such a liberal city, it elected Rudy 2 times. Now this election. I like the guy myself but wonder what New Yorker's think of him?

I have changed this to 60 minutes per your requests. Personally, I don't think a good idea as if you need to edit a post, 20 minutes should be OK but I'll all think 60 is fair, 60 it is. We will see how it goes down the road.

What exactly is GHB and what does it do to the body? What are the side effects? Is this a party drug?

(CNN) -- Andrew Lloyd Webber, the award-winning composer and producer of more than a dozen musicals including "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Cats," has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, a spokeswoman said Sunday. "The condition is in its very early stages. Andrew is now undergoing treatment and expects to be fully back at work before the end of the year," the spokeswoman said in a written statement from the London-based public relations firm Brown Lloyd James. They released no further details. In April, the Sunday Times of London included Lloyd Webber, 61, on its annual Rich list, which ranks the wealthiest people in Britain. Lloyd Webber, who lives in Kensington, was the highest-ranking entertainer on the list. He tied for 52nd place, with about $1.1 billion. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/25/lloyd.webber.cancer/index.html

Sexy bartender! So, I'll be in LA for a bit. What will I have to do to see some hot porn stars on stage?

Links now open in new window! For new links posted. If you are sending a message to someone on forum, simply find their name by doing a search, then view the profile. Once done, then hit Send message and it will open a window to send. Does that help?

I tested this with your configuration and it worked for me. I suggest that you clear you log out of the site, clear your cache and see if this solves the problem. If not, please let me know.

Tomcal, I like you and am willing to help you with your alibi. I'll go down with you and you can tell him I need help with my Portuguese from 5 to 10 each night and maybe he can assist me? Just trying to be helpful here.

Welcome! You are right, they can't sing too well, but they are cute!

Hey, we don't beg for money. We have ads and memberships. The ads vanish with a paid membership. We have to make ends meet someway and I prefer not to ask for donations. I just find that bad taste. Yes, go to Reviews and Name Search. I'll ask the programmers about the first 2. To send a message click on any escorts profile and there is an icon at the top to send a message. I think that is an admin thing. I'll ask the programmers to do this. Good idea. Thanks.