BSR

As much as I didn't like most aspects of RWRB, I did like the 2 actors and loved their sexual chemistry. Of course I'll watch Part Deux, albeit with lowered expectations. I didn't know about TZP's marital status either. Wow, lucky hubby.

Even though I follow/post in a lot of threads, I still ignore ~90% of them. I'm guessing the ignore rate far exceeds 90% for most forum members. Now imagine if we all posted "don't care" in every single thread that doesn't interest us. Every thread would disintegrate into an endless stream of don't care's & not interested's. If I don't care about a thread, I just click out and skip past. Nobody cares that I don't care.

My eyes popped when I read the recent entries in this thread because I had no idea anyone still cared about Covid. I got the initial 2-shot vaccine in Mar&Apr 2021, got the booster in October 2021. I got Covid in Feb 2022 (got tested) and then probably again in Nov 2022. The first bout took a while to get over, ~3 weeks, but I've had colds that were worse. I think I got it again Nov 2022 because my mom got it and needed more help than usual. I never bothered to get tested because my symptoms were just a day of the mildest cold symptoms. Since then, I figured I had natural immunity.and never thought about Covid again until I saw this thread. When I told my rheumatologist about my 2 bouts, he didn't even mention getting additional boosters, nor did my primary care physician. Wow, Covid's still a thing ... who knew?

I hate this lie. The pandemic didn’t cause inflation. We printed $trillions out of thin air, which -- oh shock! -- caused runaway inflation. When you ram $trillions of fake money into the monetary system, the value of people's hard-earned money declines --> inflation.

Sometimes you read something so shocking that you initially don't know how to respond ... Inflation is a stealth tax, one that no one votes for but everyone has to pay. The government prints itself "free" money, but the value of people's cash holdings devalues by the rate of inflation. If you were one of the lucky few who locked in a really high CD rate or T-bill, you might come out ahead, but for the vast majority, you just eat the loss. One of the demographics worst hit are seniors, who tend keep their assets in conservative fixed-income securities. CD & T-bill rates were jumpin' the last year, but inflation started soaring much earlier and faster than interest rates. Of course, everyone who kept money in low-interest savings accounts and zero-interest checking accounts got totally screwed. Even for "high-yield" savings and interest-bearing checking, the interest rates lag badly behind inflation. To rub salt in the wound, the government taxes you on all interest earned, even if your yield is far below the inflation rate. Also, some important tax breaks/thresholds are not adjusted for inflation. Social Security is taxed starting st $32,000 for couples, $25,000 for single filers, but that threshold has remained stagnant for decades. Same with the home sale tax exclusion, which has stayed the same amount for 25 years. A couple of Obamacare surtaxes haven't been changed for years. In other words, the thresholds stay the same amount, but because of inflation, more and more people pay more taxes over the years. So no, don't believe the people who tell you inflation is a good thing or inflation is harmless. Inflation is a tax, pure and simple.

Two sexy gymnasts get stuck on the high bar. More arousing than amusing, but I had to put it somewhere ...

The story of this baby chimp melted, then broke my heart ...

Michael Sam might have been dealing with mental health issues, but that wasn't the reason he left football. Frankly, he just wasn't good enough. Plenty of good college players don't make it in the NFL. Sam feared he was shut out/passed over because of homophobia, which is understandable but unfounded. The gay sports website Outsports published a recent article about Sam, written by someone who knows him personally. Some interesting insights, it's a good read.

By December 31, 2024, condos must pass the first round of structural inspections (not sure of the details) and must have fully funded reserves. I've read that a LOT of older buildings won't be able to comply by the deadline. I guess the state could give buildings more time by postponing the deadline, but condo associations have already had 2 years to get their act together. What's the alternative? Shut down all noncompliant buildings, and force the current owners to ... move to a trailer park? Sorry, don't mean to be flip, but if the state gives owners in old buildings more time, they're just kicking the can down the road. If an older building needs $millions in repairs and has woefully underfunded reserves, the owners won't have the money in a year or even a decade. Who knows what will end up happening, but it won't be pretty.

So true, seniors who were barely scraping by before inflation surged are getting wrecked now because the Social Socurity cost of living increases have lagged badly behind increases in food prices. I know exactly how much the SS adjustments are because my mom tells me every year.

Given all the problems that plagued this building, even the new "discounted" price seems awfully optimistic.

When I read this, my initial response was "ouch, that's harsh." But then I googled why she did: she thought some former co-stars would show up not to pay their respects or to grieve, but to get publicity and to improve their image. OK, fair enough. If you get to decide who attends your kids' birthday parties, your wedding, and other milestones, then why not your funeral. Doherty fought a very long and difficult battle with cancer. Hopefully through her podcast she was able to help others fighting the disease. R.I.P.

I never understood the love affair with trains. For a family of four, driving is so much cheaper. Air is so much faster. At least in Spain, the government keeps throwing good money after bad, pouring €billions more into the high-speed rail system which has already lost €billions. Yet everyone sees el AVE as the nation's pride & joy, with no significant opposition to this boondoggle. Interesting stats on what mode of transport Europeans actually take. As much as they say they love trains, their actions speak louder than words.

While I can't vouch for the source, I found this map (#16, #15 not so much) interesting ...

Apparently living conditions in the Olympic Village are so bad that an Italian gold medalist is sleeping in a park instead of in his room: bad food, no air conditioning, and rather uncomfortable cardboard beds. Who knows if he's really been sleeping outside or if the photo was just for social media.

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At his 5th Olympics, after many disappointments and a few tears shed, Novak Djokovic finally wins the Olympic gold medal in men's singles. Alcaraz played well, even great at times, but fell short in the two tiebreaks whereas Novak played great throughout, arguably his best match in years. Both players were reduced to tears after the match -- disappointment for Carlitos, joy and relief for Novak. I believe that in tennis the Slams are still bigger than the Olympics, but something about playing for your country brings out all the emotions. First, a video of Novak dropping to his knees and crying his eyes out, then an interview with Carlos unable to hold back tears ...

The difference is between practicing & secular Muslims. Secular Muslims tend to be fairly liberal and in many cases left their home country to escape strict Islamic legal systems and culture. Practicing Muslims tend to be a lot more conservative and often homophobic. Sharia Muslims (an estimated 15% of Muslim immigrants to the US), yikes, don't get me started. The all-Muslim city council of Hamtramck MI (just outside of Detroit) voted to ban all Pride flags on city property. Muslim parents fought to ban some LGBT-themed books in Fairfax County VA and Dearborn MI. Expect a lot more of this as Muslim immigration increases. I agree with @Vegas_Millennial, I would never move to an area with a significant Muslim population. Secular Muslims are often quite gay-friendly whereas Sharia Muslims believe I should be put to death just for being gay. Unfortunately, you don’t get to pick & choose which one moves in next door. Specific to this topic, I have given much thought to retiring in Spain. I would never move to Barcelona because of Catalan, but a strong secondary issue is the city's flood of Muslim migrants. Madrid has always been my goal, but I would knock it off the list as well if they opened the floodgates like la Ciudad Condal.

We're not on the same page. I was referring to Princess Kate's participation in the men's trophy presentation but not the women's.

I wasn't criticizing you nor dictating how you should feel. I was just confused. When you went, did you know about Cuba's severe penalties for stealing from or harming tourists?

Interesting that you perceived the risk of hiring to be high. It's been 20 years since I visited Cuba, but I remember our guide (I was there for my Canadian cousin's wedding, and part of our group package was a local we could go to for any questions or problems) told us that while one should always take the usual precautions, Cuba was extremely safe for tourists. Because the regime so desperately needed the hard currency that tourists bring in, the penalties for harming or stealing from a tourist were quite severe. Sure, ripoffs ran rampant, like charging foreigners 3x what a Cuban would pay, but that's common in any touristy spot and not really a crime. But outright theft or worse, like assault, was extremely rare. Certainly a lot can change in 20 years, but the current regime is still as starved for hard currency as Fidel was 2 decades ago.

Carlitos (he prefers either Carlitos or Charlie since his dad is also named Carlos) is one helluva big match player. Yet despite winning 2 Slams in just 5 weeks, he's still ranked #3 behind Sinner and Novak because of inconsistent results. For example, he lost his first match at Queens to Jack Draper, who lost in the 1st round at Wimby. So don't bet the milk money on the Chuckster in smaller tournaments, but in Slams the guy is NAILS.

Yes, that's what most people would think, but I doubt that'll placate the feminists.